cowboy caviar

This was a salsa that Robb brought to the birthday party.  It was made by his mom, Traci, and she graciously shared the recipe.  It was delicious, full of fresh, healthy ingredients, many of which will soon be available from the garden or farmer's market. 

Cowboy Caviar

1 each red, yellow and green peppers, chopped
1 large red onion, chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped
2 cans shoe peg corn or mexicorn, undrained
1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 can garbanzo beans or black eyed peas, drained and rinsed
1 can black beans or black beans with jalapenos, drained and rinsed

Cook the following and pour over vegetables and beans:

1cup canola oil
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup vinegar

Refrigerate overnight and serve with Fritos scoops or chips.

fruit and yogurt salad

My mom frequently makes this salad and she made it for Kaylee's graduation party.  It is a simple fruit salad, just fresh fruit lightly coated in strawberry flavored yogurt.  We usually use a combination of red and green grapes and strawberries as they are usually readily available but many other fruits could be added such as berries like raspberries or blueberries, stone fruits like cherries, peaches or nectarines, and maybe kiwi or mango.  This salad would be great with fresh fruit in season, picked at its peak of ripeness.   For the graduation party it was dished into individual servings in clear wide mouth drink cups.  It was an easy way for guests to grab a cup on their way thru the line and refilling the tray with new cups was easy for the kitchen crew.  Serving only a few cups at a time eliminated the need to keep a salad bowl chilled throughout the open house as the salad could be taken from the fridge to fill a small tray of cups at a time.  Mom prepped the fruit ahead of time and the yogurt was added to small batches as needed.  Mom usually uses the Yoplait strawberry yogurt which is really good but I would think that any sweetened, flavored yogurt could be substituted.   

veggie shooters

For the grad party Lisa was looking for a easy way to serve relishes with dip and this worked out great and couldn't have been easier.  While at the party store picking up paper plates and napkins she found these cute disposable square shot glasses and bamboo skewers.  A squirt of ranch dressing in the bottom of the glass was the dip and then we placed in the shot glass a carrot stick, a celery stick, a green bean and a skewer with two small cherry tomatoes.  Any long narrow vegetable would work.  Red, yellow, orange or green peppers cut into narrow strips would be colorful and tasty.  A pea pod would also work well or a stalk of asparagus.  We had the vegetables all prepped in the kitchen and filled the shooters a tray at a time and swapped out a full tray for the empty tray as needed.  The presentation was nice and they were very convenient for both the guests and the kitchen helpers.

Lisa used ranch dressing thinking that it would be familiar to most people but any favorite dip could be used.  The ranch worked out nicely as it had a squirt type top on the bottle.  Transferring your dip to a squirt bottle would make for filling the shooters neatly. Wouldn't these be good with fresh-from-the garden vegetables at their peak of flavor?

san marzano red sauce used two ways

Lisa served two sandwich choices at Kaylee's grad party.  Both were small, just a few bites, so guests could have one or both of the sandwiches.  One of the sandwiches was a panini grilled cheese and the other was a slider type hamburger.  She had a terrific red sauce that she used as a dipping sauce for the panini sandwiches. Guests could ladle some into a small disposable cup to dip their panini.  For the sliders, the burgers were in a crock pot in the same red sauce and guests were able to build their own sandwich as they went through the line, ensuring that everyone got a freshly made sandwich. The sauce was really good.  Similar to a spaghetti sauce but without the Italian herbs.  This one included only fresh basil.  San Marzano tomatoes are a plum style tomato from Italy.  Some interesting reading about the San Marzano tomato can be found here.

San Marzano Red Sauce

3- 28 oz cans of San Marzano whole peeled tomatoes
4-6 T garlic olive oil
1 red onion cut into small dice
Pinch of red pepper flakes 
Kosher salt and pepper  
4-6 T torn fresh basil
 
Break up the tomatoes with an immersion blender.  Heat oil over medium heat in a large saucepan and add the onion when oil is hot - saute 5-6 minutes.  Add the red pepper flakes.  Add tomatoes and season with salt and pepper.  Reduce heat to med low and saute for 30 min.  Makes a slightly chunky sauce with great fresh tomato flavor

Hambies  Slider Sandwiches

3 # hamburger
1 packet of McCormick Grill Mates Montreal marinade seasoning 
1 tsp season salt
1 egg
1/3 c Panko bread crumbs 

Combine the hamburger seasonings, egg and bread crumbs and form into burgers.  Lisa's burgers were very consistent in size and shape.  They matched the diameter of her bun and were about 3/4 pf an inch thick.  I think Lisa molded hers in a cookie cutter.  She then browned them in an electric fry pan and finished the cooking in the San Marzano red sauce in the crock pot. When building the sandwich, some of the sauce clings to the burger when you put it on the bun.   Delicious.

Grilled Cheese Panini 

The paninis were made with baguettes that were purchased from the Panera restaurant.  They were thinly sliced and buttered on the outside of the sandwich.  Inside the sandwich was a leaf of spinach and a thick slice of sharp cheddar.  They were grilled on the panini press but could as easily be done in an electric skillet, flipping the sandwich to cook both sides.  Once done they were transferred to  the buffet server to keep them warm.  The red sauce was available to use to dip the sandwich in.  We used a whole spinach leaf on the sandwich and in hindsight the whole leaf prevented the second slice of bread from adhering the the melted cheese.  I think that the spinach torn into smaller pieces or placed between two thinner slices of cheese might be something to try to keep the sandwich from coming apart when serving or dipping into the red sauce.  

roasted parnesan green beans

My sister, Lisa, found this recipe and served it at her daughter's graduation party.  These green beans are quick and easy and will be great with fresh beans from the farmstand when in season.  The infused oil and the few seasonings provide a great flavor.  Using freshly grated cheese as they come out of the oven adds a great touch.  A microplane is a great way to grate the Parnesan from a block of cheese right onto the beans.  

Roasted Parmesan Green Beans:

24 oz fresh green beans cleaned and ends trimmed
4 tsp Tuscan Basil Olive Oil
1/2 tsp Kosher salt
1/4-1/2 tsp garlic powder
3 T shredded Parmesan

Preheat oven to 425°.
Lay beans on baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil.  Season with salt and garlic powder - toss to distribute spices.  Spread them on the pan and place in oven on the lower third section of the oven.  Bake 10 minutes - remove from oven and shake the pan to turn.  Return to the oven for an additional 5 minutes.  Remove from oven and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Lisa's kitchen helpers made these in batches and served them from the buffet server, swapping out an empty pan for a full one.  All of the beans were prepped ahead of time and in zippered storage bags.  

source of original recipe not known. 

sweet corn mac and cheese

Lisa found a great macaroni and cheese recipe that calls for corn as an added ingredient.   It tasted  wonderful and one of the fabulous things about this recipe is that it is so easy.  Everything goes into the crock pot and an hour and a half later it is done.  You don't even have to cook the noodles.  This would be a great use for excess sweet corn when it is at its peak of ripeness and abundant from the garden or farmers market.

Sweet corn mac and cheese  

2 C dry macaroni
16 oz regular Velveeta
2 sticks of butter
30 oz of sweet corn, (drain if using canned)
30 oz of cream style corn


Place all ingredients in the crock pot, cubing the cheese for quicker melting and stir to combine.  Start out on high and reduce heat partway through as the cheese gets melty and the noodles are cooking.  Lisa made six separate batches for her grad party.  I think that she had two ready to go at the start of the party and then started a third once the party started.  As the first one was finished she was starting the fourth.  The recipe that Lisa originally found called for cooking in the crock pot for a longer period of time.  She found in her trial of the recipe that it was ready sooner and actually lost quality the longer it was in the crock pot which is why she made smaller batches over the three hours of the open house.  The guests at the end of the party got the same fresh food as the first ones to arrive.      

black bean and corn enchiladas

I had company today.  Nathan and Michelle and their two dogs visited and we tried a new recipe for dinner while they were here.  Michelle wondered if I had a new recipe that I was dying to try and did I want to try it this weekend.  She volunteered to pick up any missing ingredients and we could try it together.

I have an extensive number of pins on pinterest that are food related and I selected a few to send her asking that she pick one.  She selected a vegetable enchilada recipe.  There is a homemade enchilada sauce that goes over top and the filling contains cheese, green onions, spinach, black beans and sweet corn.  We used canned beans and commercially frozen spinach but the corn was from the garden and frozen last fall.

We enjoyed the enchiladas.  We had a little filling left over when we got the tortillas filled and talked about how good it would be as a filling in a stuffed pepper and ended up eating some as a dip for chips.  We made the sauce first and while it was simmering to thicken it we made the filling and filled the  enchiladas.

The filling-cheese, beans, corn, spinach, cumin

filling on the tortilla

a few enchiladas in the pan

enchiladas topped with sauce and more cheese

Vegetable enchiladas

Sauce:

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp cumin
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup tomato paste
14.5 oz can vegetable broth (we used homemade)
3/4 cup water

Heat olive oil in saucepan over medium heat.  Add cumin, flour and tomato paste and whisk, cooking one minute.  Whisk in broth and water and bring to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer and cook 5-8 minutes until slightly thickened.

Filling:

Coarse salt and pepper
1 tsp cumin 
3 cups grated Pepper Jack cheese (divided)
1 15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained (we used one that had jalapenos added)
1 10 oz box frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 10 oz box frozen corn, thawed (we used our frozen from the garden)
6 scallions, sliced thinly, white and green parts separated

16 six inch corn tortillas

Combine 2 cups cheese, beans, spinach, corn and white parts of scallion.  Add cumin, salt and pepper.

To assemble the enchiladas:

Preheat oven to 400°.  Wrap the stack of tortillas in damp paper towels and microwave for one minute on high.  Place a generous 1/3 cup of the filling on the tortilla and roll.  Place in oiled pan (we used 2 8x8 pans) seam side down.  When all are filled top with remaining 1 cup of cheese and sauce, dividing evenly between pans.  Bake uncovered for 15-20 minutes until bubbly then cool 5 minutes.  Garnish with green parts of the scallions and serve.

There were instructions included for freezing the enchiladas before cooking and then cooking from frozen by forming the enchiladas and placing them in the oiled pan.  Top with the cheese but not the sauce.  Wrap the pan in plastic wrap and then foil and freeze.  Freeze the sauce in a separate container.  When ready to bake the enchiladas thaw the sauce in the refrigerator overnight and the next day preheat the oven to 400, remove the plastic and foil from the frozen enchiladas, pour over the thawed sauce and cover with foil.  Bake 30 minutes, then remove the foil and bake another 15 minutes until bubbly.  Cool 5 minutes before serving.

One of the comments for the original recipe suggested that authentic enchilada gravy does not contain tomato products and gave their recipe for a basic enchilada gravy that used chili powder.

We thought these were very tasty and the gravy was easy to make and had good flavor even if it was lacking authenticity 



Source: original recipe