Mango-Avocado Salsa

 On Mother's day, my mom and I ventured into Half Price Books to spend our time until the other stores opened. We came out with about 7 cookbooks and a canning how-to book. One of the books that I got was The Gloriously Gluten-Free Cookbook by Vanessa Maltin. While there aren't any pictures (I'm a visual person) there are a lot of recipes that use fresh, seasonal items and just reading some of the titles made my mouth water.

  I was going through the books to bookmark certain recipes ,when I found a recipe for mango salsa. I've never had mango salsa, but it sounds delicious and refreshing to me and even better, I had all of the ingredients in the kitchen. This dip is a mix between salsa and guacamole which you can eat with chips or serve on fish or chicken.

Zucchini Tots: Updated

Zucchini Tots, a photo by raylynntexas on Flickr.

  The original name for these was Zucchini Bites, which was okay. But when these were baking, they smelled just like tater tots. I changed up the recipe a little (by using seasoned bread crumbs,parm. cheese, & I drained the zucchini) so I decided to change the name too and called them "Zucchini Tots instead.And "tots" does mean small and these are small (baked in a mini muffin pan) so the name fits.

Zucchini Bites

Recipe adapted: The Naptime Chef

yields: 12 mini muffins

1 cups zucchini, grated
1 egg (1 large egg equals 3-4 tbsp when whisked together)
1/4 yellow onion, diced
1/4 cup cheese (cheddar or Parmesan work the best)
1/4 cup bread crumbs - I used Italian style
Salt and Pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Spray a mini-muffin tin with non-stick spray, set aside.
2. Grate the zucchini and then place in a dish towel to squeeze out the excess water- like when using frozen spinach; if you skip this part, the middle of the zucchini tots will be really soggy while the outside gets crispy and no one wants that.
3. In a bowl combine, the egg, onion, cheese, bread crumbs, zucchini, salt and pepper.
4. Using a spoon or a cookie scoop, fill the muffin cups to the top. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until the top is browned and set.

Some Tips  from others:
>Egg Allergy? Try an egg-replacement product or a mixture of 3 tbsp water to 1 tbsp ground chia or flax seed (it will look gelatinous) and let it sit for 10 minutes before adding into the recipe.   
> Gluten Free? Try almond flour, coconut flour, cooked cauliflower, potato flakes, Corn Chex cereals (g.f), or cooked Quinoa. 
>Flavors: Like I do with any recipe I make, I adjust the ingredients to what I have on hand and what I prefer. You can add fresh herbs, use a different (or even dairy free) cheese, keep the skins on or peel the zucchini, add a bit of heat with red pepper flakes ,or even mix in bacon which on reader did. 
>No mini muffin tin? Some have just placed the mixture onto a baking sheet which has worked okay, but you can use a regular muffin tin. If using a regular muffin tin, fill the mixture to 1/2 full or a little less and press down using your fingers or a tbsp measure. Bake for 18-22 minutes and broil to get the tops crispy.
>Salt: Salt helps draw out the moisture in foods which can help in this recipe. After grating your zucchini and placing it in a towel, sprinkle with salt, and let it sit for 10 minutes or so to draw the excess moisture out. Squeeze the towel really good to get as much of the moisture as you can out of the zucchini. 
>Freezing: I have not tried freezing these so I can't say how they will exactly turn out, but here it goes. Sometimes with zucchini that has been cooked, frozen, and reheated it can tend to be squishy so you have have to turn the broiler on for a few minutes.  
**RaeAnne said: "Made these and then froze them and it worked great. I think it is important to let them cool and then flash freeze them on a cookie sheet before putting them in freezer bag. We even reheated them in the microwave for about a minute on high or in the oven to make them crispier. It is important not to let them thaw before you cook them or it is a big gooey mess. "

Baked Spaghetti Dinner

     Today, the family came out for Sunday Dinner. We actually haven't had a Sunday Dinner out here for a while now since everyone has either been sick or busy and this dinner also counted as my mom's birthday dinner (even though her birthday isn't until the 5th).

Here's the deal: Our family doesn't do the whole "birthday party, birthday cake & ice cream, or party hat" birthdays. How we do celebrate, is every few months, depending one how many birthdays fall in those months, the birthday guy or gal gets to pick a place they want to have dinner at and then we all meet, catch up, and eat good food. Also its usually when my cousin, Jaci Keith comes in and the whole immediate family is complete.

  This recipe was given to me by a family friend, Jan, who lives in Kansas. For a few years, I went up to Kansas with my grandparents for harvest and I generally helped Jan and my grandma make the food to take out to the guys in  the fields and I also helped hand reared a few orphaned kittens. This was one of the favorite meals that we made while in Kansas. Jan actually got this recipe out of a small town newspaper and has been making it ever since., while passing the recipe on to many family members and friends.

This was before it went into the oven. I forgot to get an "after" picture.

Spinach Stuffed Mushrooms

How does this...

Turn into this...?

This was actually something that I made over the  labor day weekend. The mushroom is very "meaty"so you wont be missing the real meat. This could be served as is or you could chop it up and toss with some buttered pasta.

If you only can get the smaller mushrooms; you could stuff them and use them as appetizers at a party.

Spinach Stuffed Mushrooms

serves: 2

• 2 large portobello mushrooms
• 1 garlic clove
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 2 oz. mozzerella cheese, shredded
• 2 wedges of Laughing Cow Swiss Cheese (or cream cheese OR another soft, spreadable cheese) about 2 big tablespoons.
• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

1. Using a damp cloth, wipe off the mushrooms (DO NOT put them under running water). Remove the stem and scrap out the gills using a spoon.
2. Drizzle a small amount of oil on the back of the mushroom.
3. Thaw out the spinach and place it in a cloth and squeeze out the excess liquid. (Spinach contains a lot of water)
4. Grate or finely chop the garlic and place it in a bowl. Add in the swiss cheese, spinach, salt, and pepper and combine.
5. Stuff the mushrooms with the spinach/cheese filling and sprinkle the mozzerella cheese on top.
6. Turn your grill on medium-high heat and cook the mushrooms for 15-20 minutes (with the grill cover closed), or until the mushrooms are tender and the filling is hot.
7. Remove from the grill and enjoy.

>> If you don't have a grill; you could turn your oven to 400 degrees F and cook for about 15-20 minutes.

Broccoli & Cauliflower Mash

Since my dad is termanally ill; his appetite has changed.
Well, sorta.
He likes southern food,biscuits& gravy, pork chops, sweets, dessert,chocolate, potatoes and fried fish.
Did I mention sweets?
One down side of this disease is that his sweet tooth is the size of an elephant.
But, he isn't too keen on healthier things like broccoli,brussel sprouts, steamed fish, and mushrooms. And trying to trick him into eating a veggie burger while telling him that it is a regular burger is not a smart idea.
Its kinda like cooking for a picky child.

The other day, I came across a recipe for mashed cauliflower; It was suppose to be like "fake" mashed potatoes. This was my plan, but then some medical stuff (mine, not my dad's) came up and I forgot all about the cauliflower that was sitting in our fridge. Well, last night I felt a bit better and decided to make a mash of broccoli and cauilflower and then making fritters out of them. like salmon cakes, which my dad loves, so I thought if I fried the mash then he would not ask what he was eating.

Broccoli, Leek, and Aspargus Soup

When we were at store, I decided that i wanted to make a leek and cauliflower soup. Well I ended up buying broccoli and asparagus and forgot all about the cauliflower that I swore I put in the basket.

Rince the leek under running water to remove any grit. Noone wants sand in their soup.

Roughly chop the onion and garlic; its gonna be pureed in the end

Its like a roasted forest in your oven