Cucumber / Yogurt Dressing / Dip

Cucumber / yogurt is completely healthy - and the garlic makes it even more so. Give me a bowl of this - and a bag of chips - and that's my evening.

(Photos in progress)

Ingredients [I double the quantity, to make the effort worthwhile.]

• 1 1/2 t [1 T] minced garlic
• 3T [3/8 C] olive oil
• 2T [1/4 C] vinegar
• 2C [1 Pint] yogurt, plain fat-free
• 1T [2 T] dried mint
• 1 [2] cucumber, chopped

Preparation

1. Combine garlic, olive oil, vinegar in large bowl, mix well.
2. Add yogurt, mix well.
3. Clean the mint well, and crumble it. Try and remove all stems and sticks, if any are found. Add it to the yogurt mixture, and mix.
4. Add cucumber, mix again.
5. Chill in refrigerator, for an hour or so (if you can wait)

Variations

• Slice the cucumber - serve as salad (this is the original Greek recipe).
• Chop the cucumber coarsely, makes a good salad dressing.
• Chop the cucumber finely, makes a good dip for pita bread, or taco chips.

California Taboulli

Tabouli (Taboulli) is completely healthy, all ingredients are beneficial to your body in some way or another.

Ingredients

• 1 C Bulgar wheat / Couscous
• 1 C boiling water
• 1 bu green onion
• 1 cucumber
• 1 bu parsley
• 2 - 3 tomatoes, nice and firm
• Mint - carefully chosen
• 1/2 C olive oil
• 1/2 C lemon juice
• 1/4 t pepper
• 1/4 t salt

Preparation
Hand chop all ingredients, the flavour and texture will make it worth the inconvenience.

1. Pour Bulgar wheat / Couscous into air tight refrigerator container.
2. Pour boiling water onto the wheat, swish around so all wheat gets nice and well mixed with water. Cover and let sit for 1/2 hour or so, until wheat is well cooked, and dry.
3. Wash and thoroughly dry parsley, onions, tomatoes, mint.
4. Separate parsley flowers from stalks, chop flowers well.
5. Chop onions well.
6. Chop tomatoes as small as you can get without being mushy.
7. Chop mint (sorted, and cleaned) as small as you can get.
8. Peel, then chop cucumber as small as you can get.
9. Fluff cooked wheat up, scrape off bottom of dish, combine vegetables with wheat, mix well.
10. Combine lemon juice, oil, salt, pepper in shaker, shake well, pour over salad mixture, mix well.
11. Cover air tight, and refrigerate.
12. Keep it cool, and eat it fast. Fortunately, eating it fast is not hard - or unhealthy.

Buying, Extracting, and Sorting Mint

Mint is the key ingredient in the tabouilli, so get the best possible.
Grade the mint in the store before buying:

• A Grade: If you get to the herb counter and smell the mint before you see it, you have A Grade. Buy 1 bunch.
• A- Grade: If the air smells of it as you pick it up, it's A-. Buy 2 bunches.
• B Grade: If you pick it up, and your fingers stink from it, it's B. Buy 2 of the best bunches.
• B- Grade: If you wave it around, and it smells sort of good, it's B-. Buy the 2 absolutely best bunches on the shelf. Then go to another store, and look for some better too. Buy at least 1 more bunch at another store.
• C Grade: Anything less is C Grade. If this is the second (or third store) buy 2 or 3 bunches of C Grade, and prepare to sort leaves. If this is the first store, buy the 1 absolutely best bunch, then go elsewhere for another 2 bunches.
• If you cannot get better than C grade, and it looks like you may have to buy 4 or 5 bunches and sort them, maybe it's not a good week for Tabouilli. Unless your audience is set on having Tabouilli, maybe you should consider another offering, like Cabbage / Mushroom / Shrimp / Tofu Salad. Don't serve substandard Tabouilli.

Bag the mint immediately, before putting it in the shopping cart. I carry a couple 1 gallon zip loc storage bags when I go shopping, and squeeze all the air out of the bag, before sealing it. Obviously you have to prepared to tell the cashier what it is. If there is a product tag on the mint, try to bag so the tag is visible without opening.

When you get home, separate and sort the leaves. Break the leaves off, cleanly, from the stalks. The best leaves are 2 - 3" long, and crisp. Not limp, not thick and heavy. Thin and crisp. You will want the best leaves, and you will want enough to fill a 2 quart mixing bowl to the top, without being packed down - just tossed in while sorting.

If you bought 3 or 4 bunches, sort into 2 bowls, put the not so good leaves into a second bowl. If you don't get enough top quality leaves to fill the first bowl, add not so good leaves, but try to fill 1 1/2 - 2 bowls, total, with those.

Wash the leaves, gently, in cold running water. Drain well, then spin dry in a salad spinner. Repeatedly spin, until no water comes out. The dryer the better.

Potato Salad

Ingredients

• 7 - 8 medium potatoes
• 3 eggs, hardboiled and chopped
• 1 small onion / 1 bu green onion, minced
• 2 stalks celery, minced
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 2 T pickle relish or Olive water
• 1 T garlic pickle water
• 1 T mustard
• 1/2 t mustard powder
• 1/2 t cajun hot sauce
• 1 t dill weed

Preparation

1. Chop potatoes - 1/4" cubes.
2. Cook in microwave oven on high 3 minutes, stir well, repeatedly cook 3 minutes then stir, until potatoes start to crumble when being stirred. Then microwave one more 3 minute period. Should be really soft yet still have shape.
3. Cool potatoes in refrigerator until potatoes are cool.
4. Mix potatoes, eggs, onion, celery.
5. Mix sauce, pour over potato mix, mix well.
6. Refrigerate again - overnite (best flavour) if you can wait.

Kahlua Cake

Kahlua, and everything else, is not healthy - but it has chocolate. Enough said.

Allow 2 days to make this, the results are worth it.


Ingredients

• 1 Cake, German Chocolate or Dark Chocolate
• 1 C Kahlua
• 1 - 2 7 oz Cans whipped cream
• 6 - 8 Heath bars

Preparation
I highly recommend using genuine Kahlua - accept no substitute.

1. Cook cake until dry (add 1/3 extra cooking time over instructions).
2. Let cake cool overnite in pan. (That's one day).
3. Poke holes in cake thoroughly, pour Kahlua over cake.
4. Let Kahlua seep into cake well (Overnite is best - and that's the second day).
5. Cool Heath bars overnite in refrigerator (they crumble better).
6. Crumble / crush Heath bars into crumbs.
7. Crumble cake with fingers (the fun part), and layer in glass bowl (3 - 4 layers), each layer in proper order.
   
   • Cake.
   • Whipped cream.
   • Heath bar crumbs.
8. Lick fingers when done (the best part of preparation).
9. Serve quickly (if you can wait).

California Hummous

Or is it hummus? homos? Who cares??!!




Ingredients

• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 cans garbanzo beans
• 2/3 C water
• 1 fresh lime, well squeezed
• 3 T Tahini
• 1/4 t oregano
• 1/4 t parsley flakes
• 1/2 t black pepper
• 1/2 t cumin
• Trace of olive oil
• Pinch of parsley flakes, crushed

Preparation

1. Peel and dump garlic whole, into food processor.
2. Process on high until garlic is well minced, and pieces stick all over inside of bowl. Scrape pieces off sides.
3. Drain, then wash garbanzo beans, then drain again.
4. Puree garbanzo beans and garlic, mixing water while pureeing.
5. Add lime juice and tahini, blend again.
6. Add oregano, parsley, pepper, cumin; blend thoroughly.
7. Dump puree into large serving bowl.
8. Drizzle olive oil over top, crush and sprinkle parsley flakes on top.
9. Serve with chips or pita bread, or as sauce over baked potatoes.

Mango Salad

Ingredients

• 3 - 4 large mangoes, peeled and chopped
• 1 lime
• 1 jalapeno pepper, minced (** Follow safety precautions)
• 1/2 bunch cliantro leaves, chopped
• 1/4 red onion, diced
• 1/2 sweet red pepper, chopped

Preparation

1. See Slicing a Mango, to learn how to prepare your mangoes.
2. Squeeze 1/4 lime over mango, mix well as chopping mango.
3. Squeeze 1/4 lime over mango and jalapeno, mix extremely well.
4. Squeeze 1/4 lime over mango, jalapeno, and cilantro, mix well.
5. Squeeze 1/4 lime over mango, jalapeno, cilantro, onion, and pepper, mix well.
6. Pour mix into serving bowl, put inside refrigerator container.
7. Refrigerate a few hours.
8. Sample once - let it chill. You can eat the skin, and suck the seeds while you clean up the remainder.
9. Enjoy over cuban style black beans, and sesame mint rice.

Peanut Butter Stew

Peanut Butter Stew is a great way to use up leftovers. It's good either hot (over rice, as a soup) or cold (as a salad).

>> See it done!


Ingredients

• 5 Medium / 3 Large onions, diced (1/4" chunks) (when chopped, almost 2 Quarts)
• 2 T oil
• 28 oz tomatoes, canned (5 large), chopped, drained
• 3 C water
• 1 - 1 1/2 t ground ginger
• 1/2 t cayenne pepper
• 1 - 1 1/2 T curry powder
• 1 t paprika
• 8 - 16 oz crunchy peanut butter
• 1/4 C leek leaf, diced (opt)
• 4 - 8 oz bean sprouts, chopped into 1/2" pieces (opt)

Preparation

1. Mix spices well in cup.
2. Add oil to well heated deep pot.
3. Fry onions on high until soft, stirring constantly.
4. Add tomatoes, fry 2 minutes.
5. Add water and drained tomato juice, bring to boil, add spices and mix well.
6. Add peanut butter with a fork, mix well.
7. Sir constantly, bring to a boil.
8. Reduce heat to simmer, cover, cook 3 minutes.
9. Uncover.
10. Add bean sprouts (opt).
11. Stir, cook until oil appears on top.
12. Stir again, garnish with whatever is on hand:
    
    • Leftover bits of chopped leek.
    • Coarsely chopped green onion.
    • Leftover bits of parsley.
    • Chunks of fresh tomato.
13. Serve over cooked potatoes or rice, and whatever cooked or raw veggies come to mind. Or as a dip for taco chips. Or as a sauce for meat.

See it Done!

Red (sweet) pepper, onions, spices, peanut butter, tomatoes.

Put spices in a bowl, and mix well.

Add cooking oil to a dutch oven, heat until water droplet sizzle when sprinkled.

Fry onions, then peppers and tomatoes.

Add tomato juice and water, then spices and peanut butter. Bring to a boil - then simmer, until oil appears on the surface.

Chop green onions.

Mix chopped onion, and serve over rice.