America’s Test Kitchen Fresh Tomato Salsa

This really is the best fresh salsa I’ve ever had!  (It actually tastes kind of similar to Baja Fresh salsa, which is very addicting). Of course it is best with homegrown summer tomatoes, but in the winter I still make it occasionally, using Roma tomatoes. 
I like to cut a Roma tomato from the pointiest part down to the bottom (but not all the way through, then make 3 more cuts down, making a criss cross pattern.  Then turn sideways and chop.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs firm, ripe tomatoes, cut into 3/8 inch dice (about 3 cups)
1 jalapeno chile, minced.  (Remove seeds and ribs and set aside (to be added later for extra spiciness)
1/2 cup minced red onion
1 small garlic clove, minced or pressed through a garlic press (about 1/2 tsp)
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1/2 tsp salt
pinch ground black pepper
2-6 tsp juice from 1-2 limes
sugar to taste (up to 1 tsp)
1.  Set a large colander in a large bowl.  Place the tomatoes in the colander and let them drain for 30 minutes.  As the tomatoes drain, layer the jalapeno, onion, garlic, and cilantro on top.  Shake the colander to drain off the excess tomato juice.  Discard the juice.  Add the salt, pepper, and 2 tsp of the lime juice; toss to combine.  Taste and add the minced jalapeno ribs and seeds, sugar, and additional lime juice to taste.

2.  Transfer the contents of the colander to the now-empty bowl.  Add the salt, pepper, and 2 tsp of the lime juice; toss to combine.  Taste and add the minced jalapeno ribs and seeds a little bit at a time, sugar, and additional lime juice to taste.

Greek Salad Dressing

America’s Test Kitchen – (Although I must say that my homemade vinaigrette recipe is very similar to this one!)
The following is their recipe x 4, because I knew we would go through it very quickly!
3/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 Tbs juice from 1 lemon
3 Tbs minced fresh oregano leaves
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
4 medium cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups olive oil
wisk ingredients in a large bowl until combined.

Roasted yellow peppers

It is pretty hard for me to pass up a good deal, so when the produce guy at the flea market offered me all of these for $5.00 (about 15 yellow peppers), I couldn’t resist.

Actually, after I accepted the offer, I was upset with myself for not offering him $3.00 because it was towards the end of the morning, and he was ready to finish up, so I’m pretty sure he would have taken that offer. 

I really had no idea what I was gonna do with all of these, but this is how I shop- I only buy things that are a great price, and then I figure out what to do with it later.

I took about 4 of the peppers and chopped them up and froze in 2 separate bags to use next time I make Thai Chicken Soup.

With the rest, I figured I would try roasting them.

When I worked at an Italian restaurant, I realized how simple it was to roast peppers, but I had only ever roasted red peppers, so the question remained, can I roast YELLOW peppers? 

I figured the flavor should be similar to that of red peppers, but that remains to be seen.
First I washed all the peppers in a bowl of soap and water, then put them on the grill (technically I believe you are supposed to slowly roast them in the oven for the best flavor, but I love to grill them when it’s too hot out to use an oven, and they also cook much faster this way).

I usually put the grill cover down, but be sure the heat is turned down to a medium low, and set the timer for about 5 minutes because those hot spots on the grill with char them to a crisp!
You want the skin of the peppers to get nice and black, but you don’t want the whole pepper charred.
Turn them about every 5 minutes, and they should end up looking like this



I then put them in a 13X9 casserole dish and cover with plastic wrap for about 20 minutes while they cool.
Once they are cool, peel the skin off (if they are roasted properly, the skin should slide right off) and remove seeds. 

Now they should look like this.

I froze these to use in one of my favorite recipes- chicken-penne salad with green beans.

Time to make yogurt

About a year ago, a friend of mine was really surprised that I didn’t make my own yogurt.
Of course this prompted my interest, and when I realized you can make yogurt on the stove (instead of a yogurt maker) and with lowfat milk instead of whole milk (by adding nonfat dry milk in step 1), I was psyched!

The other thing I was excited to learn was that you don’t have to buy a “starter” every time you make it.  As long as you save one cup of yogurt before running out, you have your starter. 

The hardest part was finding quart sized jars at a reasonable price.  I felt like I should be able to find these used at Goodwill or at a yard sale, but I couldn’t find them anywhere, and I didn’t want to have to buy a whole case of quart jars.  I finally found these at Home Goods for 2.99 each, and was super excited about it. 


Supposedly, you are supposed to sterilize your jars before making yogurt, but I usually wash them in the dishwasher and put them in a cabinet until I’m ready to make yogurt.  The final jar I usually wash by hand, and my yogurt has always turned out just fine without the sterilization step.

Directions:
1.  Heat 1 gallon of milk over medium heat until it reaches a temperature of 185-195.  (If using 1% milk,      add 2 cups of nonfat dry milk during this step).
2.  Cool on the counter until the temperature drops to 120.
3.  Add starter yogurt (1 cup of plain yogurt with live active cultures) and mix thoroughly.
4.  dump into your 4 jars, put lids on and put the jars in a cooler surrounded by 120 degree water.   I heat a large pot of water (about 16 cups) to 120 degrees, and dump the water in FIRST, then put the jars in and close cooler.  Let them sit for about 4-5 hours, then refrigerate. 
 

Healthy Substitutions

 Below is a few dry recipes to substitute for the processed mixes you usually buy at the grocery store,

cream of mushroom/chicken soup

Dry Italian dressing mix

Vanilla pudding mix

Taco Seasoning is in this post

 1. Cream of mushroom/chicken soup (dry mix)

Instead of cream of mushroom soup or cream of chicken soup in those quick and easy recipes, I use a homemade powdered version consisting of nonfat dry milk, cornstarch and some other spices.


Ingredients:
2 cups powdered nonfat milk
3/4 cups cornstarch
1/4 cup or less instant chicken  (or vegetable bullion)- I try to use the kind with NO MSG
2 TBS dried onion flakes
1 tsp basil leaves
1 tsp thyme leaves
1/2 tsp pepper

directions:
combine all ingredients, mixing well.  Store in an airtight container until ready to use.  To substitute for one can of condensed soup: combine 1/3 cup of dry mix with 1 1/4 cups of cold water in saucepan.  Cook and stir until thickened.  Add to casserole as you would the canned product.

variations:
mushroom soup: add 1/2 cup finely chopped mushrooms
celery soup: add 1/2 cup minced celery
potato soup: add 1 cup diced potatoes, cooked
chicken soup: add 1/2 cup diced chicken, cooked

2. Dry Italian dressing mix

 Some recipes call for the dry packet of Italian dressing mix.  You can make your own!

• 1 ½ teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 2 tablespoons oregano, ground or 2 tablespoons oregano leaves
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons salt or 2 tablespoons salt substitute
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground basil or 1 teaspoon basil leaves
• ¼ teaspoon ground thyme or ¼ teaspoon thyme leaves
• ½ teaspoon dried celery leaves or ½ teaspoon dried celery flakes

      Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients together and store in air-tight container.
2. ITALIAN SALAD DRESSING: Mix 2 tbs of this mix with 1/4 cup vinegar, 2 tbs water, and 1/2 to 2/3 cup olive oil or canola oil.    
3. Shake before using

3.  Vanilla pudding mix (the first 4 ingredients are meant to be a dry mix to be stored for when you need a box of pudding mix.)

  
  4 c. dry milk

  4 c. sugar

  1 1/3 c. cornstarch

  1/2 tsp salt

  2 c milk

  1 Tbs butter

  1/2 tsp vanilla 

mix first 4 ingredients in the food processor until fine.  

when you need a box of vanilla pudding for a recipe, use 1 cup of the dry mix and add milk.  Stir 15 minutes.  remove.  add vanilla and butter.