Rhubarb and Strawberry Dessert

This recipe always makes me think of summer. As far back as I can remember my dad has made this rhubarb dessert during the summer from the rhubarb plant that grows in my parent's backyard. In recent years he added strawberries to the mix to add more sweetness as rhubarb is pretty tart. This year my dad shared some of the rhubarb harvest with me so I got to make it on my own for the first time. Just a side note about rhubarb, the leaves are NOT edible. Only the stalks can be eaten and the stalk looks similar to celery, except it will be red when ripe. This can be eaten hot or cold (I prefer it cold) or even spread over some sponge cake.

Harvested Mini Bell Peppers & Stuffed Mini Bell Pepper Recipe

Last I wrote the mini bell peppers were beginning to turn yellow and in anticipation of a harvest I had discovered a recipe for stuffed mini bell peppers. I was able to harvest some peppers and try out the recipe and now I'd like to share! I found the recipe at this blog. It's delicious! First of all I love all of the ingredients. It could even be made without the bacon for a vegetarian version and would be just as tasty. The feta gives it a nice saltiness so I don't think there is any culinary reason for the bacon in there. In other words, it's just bacon for the sake of bacon! But most people don't mind that at all.

Grilled Sausage and Onion Panini

Let me start by saying that I just made this recipe today and I loved it so much that I had to blog about it right away! It's from my Fine Cooking magazine collection, with a few changes. I used spinach instead of arugula and I broiled the sausage instead of grilling it. The reason for broiling the sausage was simply a time saving decision. I don't have a grill (I hate saying that) so I used my grill pan which has limited space. I had to grill the bread in two batches and then grill the onions. In order to save time I had the sausage broiling in the oven in the meantime. This recipe serves 4.

Grilled Chicken and Potatoes with Tomato and Cucumber Salad

It's time for another Fine Cooking recipe! This one is super simple and it will really impress your friends. Especially if you're able to get some nice grill marks on the chicken! I don't have an outdoor grill, because I don't have a backyard, but this recipe can also be cooked using a grill pan on a stove. When using a grill pan the chicken and the potatoes will most likely have to be cooked separately (unless the grill pan is big enough). Everything is tossed in a lemon vinaigrette, which adds a nice brightness. This recipe serves 4.

Aloe Vera Lemonade

I was doing some blog surfing when I came across this recipe for aloe vera lemonade and since I have an aloe plant I decided to give it a try. I found the recipe over at The Thrifty Mama and, as usual, deviated from the recipe a bit. The recipe calls for lemon juice and of course I couldn't just pour it out of a bottle. I had to buy lemons and squeeze them myself. Since lemons are in season right now I was able to buy them at a fair price. If you'd rather used bottled lemon juice, like the original recipe suggests, I would advise against buying Realemon (no offense meant to Thrifty Mama!) Firstly, Realemon comes in a plastic bottle (my awareness of plastic and avoidance of said plastic is ever increasing) and secondly it's lemon juice from concentrate. We can do better! For cooking I purchase Italian Volcano Lemon Juice which is also available at Costco. It's in a glass bottle, it's 100% juice AND it's organic... sold!

Old Fashioned Kosher Garlic and Dill Pickles

I love cucumbers and an awesome way to preserve them is to pickle them! Pickles have been a favorite of mine since childhood. My sister especially loves them so I knew that the true test for this recipe would be to get my sister to like them. Well, she does! I found this recipe here and I altered the amounts just a little bit. My version will be below. The pickles come out with a more noticeable garlic flavor rather than dill, but I like them that way. Also, I tried this recipe out twice. The first time I left the cucumbers whole, which is what the original recipe calls for, but I found that the pickles still tasted a little cucumber-y and not as pickle-y as I would have liked. So the second time I cut the cucumbers into quarters and it came out perfect!

Mint & Lime Mojito

The first time that I had a Mojito was in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico in 2008 while I was on vacation with a few of my girl friends. It somewhat become our signature drink of the vacation as we ordered them every time we were at a bar. Here is 20 year old me enjoying a Mojito in Mexico...

When we came back from vacation we started to ask for Mojitos at bars and restaurants, but most of the time our server would give us a puzzled look. After being disappointed with the few Mojitos that I could find, I decided to make my own Mojito recipe. Some people like granulated sugar in this drink, but I prefer simple syrup (which can easily be made at home and I will include this recipe as well). You can substitute granulated sugar instead of simple syrup if you like.

Mango Salsa

As summer gets into full swing, and the variety of in season fruits and veggies increases, I will most likely be posting more recipe blogs and less environmentally friendly related blogs. Not that I haven't been making new environmental changes to my life, but I've been trying out so many new recipes and I want to share them all! Well, the good ones at least... This mango salsa is perfect for summertime. It still has the spiciness and freshness (from a habanero and cilantro) of a tomato based salsa, but the mango adds a nice fruity layer. I discovered this recipe in my favorite cooking magazine... Fine Cooking! Beware of the habanero, it is one of the hottest chili peppers. It is only about 2 inches long (see picture below), but it packs a punch! For this reason, see my safety tip after the recipe.

Cucumber-Mint Water

Earlier this year I purchased a Jack LaLanne Power Juicer. My thought process was that it would help me drink healthier, because I rarely drink water and I'm usually drinking some sort of artificially flavored juice. I don't know what it is about the taste of water, but I just don't like it! I like something with flavor. So I started juicing and I juiced everything under the sun! Let me tell you, fresh fruit juice is way better than anything you can buy in the store. I then experimented with mixing some veggies into my fruit juices and I discovered that cucumber added a very cool and refreshing note. So when I came across a cucumber-mint water recipe in my Fine Cooking magazine I just had to try it out. You don't necessarily need a juicer for this recipe, but you will need a blender.

Pasta & Shrimp with Fresh Lemon & Cream Sauce

Let me start by saying that this recipe is very easy, has a small number of ingredients and cooks very fast. It's the perfect solution when you're short on time, because the sauce takes about the same time to cook as the pasta. The original recipe is by Lidia Bastianich, but I added shrimp and used box linguine noodles instead of homemade pasta. Feel free to get creative and add whatever you like! It's a very basic recipe. The boyfriend will tell you that I've been on a lemon kick lately, but I feel like spring/sumer is the perfect time for the brightness that lemon adds to many dishes.

Chicken Cutlets with Bell Pepper Ragout

I received my June/July copy of Fine Cooking and as usual flipped through and drooled over all of the awesome recipes inside. One of the recipes that caught my eye was Chicken Cutlets with Bell Pepper Ragout. This section of the magazine provided some great seasonal recipes utilizing boneless skinless chicken breasts. The main ingredients for this recipe had me running to the grocery store! It combines chicken, tomatoes, bell peppers and onions. Sounds delicious, doesn't it?

Chunky Fresh Tomato Salsa

Today I decided that it was time to pick some cilantro and make salsa. My favorite recipe for salsa comes from Rick Bayless. It felt very cool to be able to pick the cilantro myself and use it while fresh! I can't wait until my tomato plant starts producing... for now I have to use store bought tomatoes. Although I am lucky enough to have a nice produce place close by. The following recipe makes 2 cups of salsa and don't forget to have some Mexican style chips on hand for dipping!

Environmental Enlightenment #13 (Natural Easter Egg Dye)

In addition to my magazine subscription to Fine Cooking, I also receive e-letters from them via e-mail. These e-letters usually include recipes related to the season. For example, the most current e-letter features how to plan your Easter menu. It also includes how to make the perfect hard-boiled egg and how to naturally dye your Easter eggs. That last part caught my attention. So I followed the link that they provided and found the recipe for naturally dyeing Easter eggs here. This recipe uses vegetables, fruits, coffee, tea and spices to dye the eggs a wide range of colors. I haven't dyed Easter eggs since I was a kid, but I might just try the recipe out this Easter.

Grapefruit Infused Tequila

I love infusing liquors with my favorite flavors and so far I've made bacon infused vodka (which I used in a Bloody Mary) and also ginger infused vodka (which I used in a Saketini... upcoming blog about this recipe!) So when I came across a recipe in my Fine Cooking magazine for Tequila-Grapefruit Cocktails, I couldn't resist! This recipe features grapefruit infused tequila which is very simple to make. Shave the zest from 2 grapefruits with a vegetable peeler. Add the zest to a 750 ml bottle of silver tequila. Make sure that you pour off enough tequila to make room for the zest in the bottle (I used the tequila that I poured off to make myself a Margarita). Chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 days and up to 2 weeks. Also, don't get rid of those grapefruits that you zested! The cocktail recipe calls for fresh grapefruit juice, so I kept them in the fridge in Ziploc bags until the tequila was ready.

Sweet & Sour Shrimp with Veggies and White Rice

I don't know why, but for some reason when I'm thinking of new foods or recipes to try I tend to lean towards Asian inspired foods. A few days ago I started a search for an easy to make sweet and sour sauce that I already had the ingredients for in my kitchen. I found a recipe By Rhonda Parkinson on About.com and I decided to try it with some shrimp, veggies and white rice. You can substitute shrimp with chicken and use any veggies that you like. I used red bell pepper and onions. I also only made one serving for myself as I was just testing out this recipe, but the ingredients can be multiplied for more people.

Mongolian Beef w/White Rice

This is one of my favorite dinner recipes to make. I developed this from a combination of a couple different recipes that I found online. I tried a few different recipes and then took the parts that I liked from each to make this. One of the recipes had a good sauce, but the meat wasn't all that flavorful. Another recipe marinated the meat prior to cooking which added a lot of flavor to the meat, but the sauce wasn't so great. With a few adjustments this is what I came up with...

Impossibly Easy Cheesecake

I found this recipe in a Costco cookbook and it really is impossibly easy! This is my favorite cheesecake recipe that I've come across because it doesn't have a crust. I've never really been a fan of the graham cracker crust. Also, the outer edge of this cheesecake will cook a little bit more than the rest of it giving it the appearance of a crust anyways.

Beef Braised with Red Wine and Chocolate Mousse

The boyfriend loves beef. He also has a bit of a sweet tooth. So I came up with this menu for Valentine's Day dinner. This was my first time trying these recipes and they both came out great! The meat had so much flavor from the red wine and the chocolate mousse was nice and fluffy. I came across the beef recipe while watching Everyday Food on PBS and the chocolate mousse recipe is from allrecipes.com. Let's start with the main course (this recipe serves 2).

Butternut Squash Ravioli with Basil-Brown Butter Sauce

It turns out that I had some leftover squash after making the Apricot Squash Soup. I decided to try out a new recipe with it. I found this recipe at allrecipes.com which I use quite often. The original recipe called for sage, but I substituted with basil because I have a plant growing and I love to use it! This recipe is fairly easy, but time consuming. Since I only had half a butternut squash leftover I halved the original recipe. The original recipe served 8 and my list of ingredients below will serve 4.

Apricot Squash Soup

Time for another culinary related post. This recipe was give to me by my mother and it's one of my favorite soups to make during the winter.

Ingredients:
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cups peeled and cubed butternut squash
1 can (15 oz) apricot halves in extra light syrup, drained
1 can (14.5 oz) chicken broth
1/8 tsp pepper
1 green onion, thinly sliced