Sunday, January 24, 2010

Catching up

I haven't blogged in a long time :(

So this is a 'catch up' post.

RANDOM NEWS FROM THE PAST FEW MONTHS:

Scary headless kitty decides to move in



My husband hates cats, I kind of like them - so I sneak this neighborhood kitty in occasionally. It showed up yesterday morning after a big snowfall crying at my door. I let it in. It looked around, zeroed in on the softest spot in the house and fell asleep for eight hours!

It has a head - somewhere

I cooked!

Life is so busy lately that this is a rare occurrence.

I made my Dad's dill pickles



I used to can them in the summers - but that was ages ago. Recently I discovered the Costco bag of a dozen or so small tender cucumbers. I brine them and put what's left after sampling in the refrigerator. Here's the recipe:

Put the following into a large glass jar or bowl:
Sliced cucumbers (I cut them lengthwise)
3-4 cloves garlic (sliced)
piece of hot pepper or pinch of pepper flakes

Bring the following to a boil:
1 1/3 cups vinegar
1 quart water
1/3 cup salt

Pour over cucumbers. Cool and store in refrigerator.

We are into Quinoa lately. It's supposed to be a wonder grain - great source of protein and all kinds of good things. We bought a big bag of it at Costco so I went hunting for a good recipe. I came across this Citrus Quinoa salad that was fabulous



Citrus Quinoa Salad

1 cup quinoa
1 cup diced cucumber
1/2 cup diced figs or dried apricots or raisins
1/2 cup drained canned mandarin orange sections, halved (I used the whole little can)
1/4 cup sunflower seeds or toasted almonds
2 green onions, diced
2 Tbs chopped coriander or parsley

Dressing:
1 tsp grated lemon or lime rind
3 Tbs lemon or lime juice
1 Tbs sesame oil (I used olive oil)
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp each ground cumin and coriandor
salt and pepper

Rinse quinoa and drain. In saucepan bring 2 cups water to a boil; stir in quinoa. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until water is absorbed and quinoa is transparent; drain and let cool.

In salad bowl combine quinoa, cucumber, figs, orange sections, sunflower seeds, onions and coriander.

Dressing: In small bowl mix lemon rind and juice, sesame oil, sugar, cumin and coriander; pour over salad and toss to mix. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days.

Makes 8 servings of about 1/2 cup each (it was so good I ate 2 cups)

More catch up news tomorrow - I ran out of time as usual

Friday, January 8, 2010

Fun cooking blog

Fab Frugal Food is a cooking blog created by one of my friends. Take a look. It's fun (and fab)!

And they have a KitchenAid mixer giveaway going on right now!

Friday, January 1, 2010

New youth website

An LDS  website for youth went live yesterday. My hope is that it will bless the lives of young people all over the world by inviting them to keep the commandments and  live the standards the Lord has set to bless them.

It is in Beta version - that means we need feedback on what you like, what you would change, what you would add, and what doesn't work well.

Take a look and tell me what you think via a comment or email - dfrweb@gmail.com

It would really help if you could have young people take a look too since it is all for them.

This is exciting!

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