Green Salsa (Salsa Verde)

Another product from the yummy goodness from Bountiful Baskets.  A week or so ago, I ordered the Mexican Basket that came complete with tomatillos, cilantro, limes, peppers, onions, etc.  First thought that came to mind was making salsa.  I found this recipe through their message board, and turns out, is VERY yummy.

Green Salsa

Tomatillos (I used every last one that came in my basket, I think there were about a dozen or so in it?)
2 limes
cilantro – to taste (i think i used about 1/2 bunch, maybe less)
4 peppers – I believe they were possibly Serrano's or Anaheim
1 jalapeño
1/2 large onion
2-4 cloves garlic (I tend to use more garlic than needed)

Peel skins of tomatillos, wash, and pat dry.  Toss the tomatillos with olive oil and roast at 425 degrees until brown.

*option – you may broil your peppers until blackened.  Cover for a few minutes
and then peel off the black skins.

Process all ingredients in a food processer or blender until smooth.

*for a creamier sauce/dressing:  Emulsify some olive oil in it (optional) and add 1/4 cup(ish) of sour cream

Dilly Beans

Thanks to Pat, I’ve fallen in love with bottled dilly beans.  However, my new addition to the garden (the beans!!!) are not even close to being ready for bottling.  Recently, in the last two baskets from Bountiful Baskets, we’ve gotten green beans!!!  Dying to get my hands on more dilly beans, I did a search for them and found a fresh version.  Although they aren’t as good as the bottled kind, they’ll totally do (I’ve even been known to eat them for breakfast… shhhh, don’t tell anyone).

DILLY BEANS

Ingredients: 
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 2 cups whole fresh green beans (ends trimmed and cut to bite size)
-  2 Tbsp chopped fresh dill weed 
- 1/4 cup thinly sliced onion 
- 1/3 cup white wine vinegar 
- 2 tsp canola oil
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 2 cloves garlic, slice (i use at least double that)
- 1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

In a 2 quart saucepan, heat water to boiling.  Add beans.  Cover and cook about 3 minutes or until bright green bust still crisp; drain. 

In a medium bowl, toss beans, dill weed, and onions

In a 1 quart saucepan, mix vinegar, oil, sugar, garlic, and red pepper flakes.  Heat to boiling, reduce heat.  Simmer uncovered 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Pour over green beans; mix well.

Cover and refrigerate 20 minutes or until serving.

Keligun Chicken

This past week we got a coconut in our Bountiful Basket.  I wasn't sure what to do with a coconut except eat it straight out of the shell.  Since I was the only that really liked it that way, i thought i'd try to find a recipe, that wasn't a desert, to use up what i couldn't eat all by myself.

This is what i found (of course i took my own little spin on it and combined a little from a bunch of similar recipes into one).  And can i just mention, that it ROCKED!  and it was sooo much better the second day

*It's made to be served as a sandwich filler. The first night, i didn't shred my chicken, but left it whole and then topped with the coconut/green onion mix. It was good. The next day, for leftovers, i shredded the chicken and mixed it in with the coconut/green onion mix and put it in some flat bread... it was to die for! I'd definately recommend it as a sandwich filler, but that's just me.



Keligun Chicken

ingredients:
- 3 chicken breasts
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup vinegar
- 1 teaspoon crushed garlic (i used a HEAPING spoonful of minced garlic from a bottle)
- ground black pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (i used the bottled lemon juice)
- salt to taste (i didn't use any - figured the soy sauce had enough in it)
- 1 cup of unsweetened flaked coconut (this is where my FRESH coconut came into play.  I shredded my coconut meat on a grater till i got one cup... it worked out nicely)
- 1/3 cup chopped green onion ( i used 4 green onions and cut them up with scissors directly into the mix)
- 1 dash of lemon pepper
- 2-3 Tablespoons of dried red pepper flakes (adjust to taste.  If you like a little bit of heat, use the recommended amount, otherwise cut it down a bit)

Marinade:
combine the soy sauce, vinegar, water, garlic and black pepper.  Mix together and marinate the chicken in the refrigerator for 2-4 hours.

remove chicken from refrigerator and dispose of marinade.  Broil or BBQ chicken until juices run clear.  When chicken is cooked, shred the chicken meat.

put chicken meat in a medium bowl.  Add the lemon juice, coconut, green onion, lemon pepper, and red pepper flakes.  Mix all together.  Add more lemon juice to taste.

Raspberry Lemonaide

LOVE LOVE LOVED this lemonaide! I made it for my tupperware party that i was hosting last week and i've been craving it sence then. I imagine you could try a variety of different flavors/fruits here.

Raspberry Lemonaide

1 (12 fluid ounce) can frozen raspberry lemonade concentrate
3 cups water
3/4 teaspoon lime juice
1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle lemon-lime flavored carbonated beverage
1 cup crushed ice
*1 cup fresh raspberries

In a large punch bowl, combine raspberry lemonade concentrate, water and lime juice. Stir in lemon-lime soda and crushed ice.

*I used frozen raspberries and added it all to the mix. I also cut up 2 limes and added that to the mix. I love the look of it and really loved the taste of all the bits and peices of fruit mixed in the drink.

Patriotic Strawberries

this recipe came from a magazine and i've seen it kicking around quite a bit lately... so here it goes:

Patriotic Strawberries

strawberries - washed AND dried. any water on them will totally mess this up
white chocolate chips
blue sprinkles

Melt a package of white chips according to package - stir until smooth.
Dip strawberry 2/3 way in. Then dip in blue sprinkles.
Place on wax paper until hardened

layered summer drinks

I totally stole this from another blog (swiped it word for word, even her picture. I wish i could remember where i got it from though... sorry!!!) and i couldn't resist posting it here:

___________________________________________________________


Ingredients:
Cranberry Juice
Blue Gatorade or Powerade
Diet 7 Up



*Fill a clear glass with ice.
*Pour some cranberry juice into the bottom.
*Next pour in some blue Gatorade making sure you pour directly onto the ice and not into the cranberry juice.
*Fill the rest of the glass with Diet 7 Up, again pouring directly onto the ice and not into the Gatorade.


How does this work? The cranberry juice, Gatorade, and Diet 7 Up all have varying amounts of sugar. The more concentrated a drink is (more sugar it has) the more dense it is. Those that are less dense "float" on top. The other trick is to pour right on the ice otherwise you just end up mixing the colors, which I admit can be fun, but you don't end up with a multi-layered masterpiece. Knowing the tricks of the trade you can create rainbow colored drinks of your own catering the colors to match a birthday theme, baby shower, or other holiday get togethers. The colors will eventually blend together so these drinks can't really be made ahead of time.

Grandma Payne's Sticky Popcorn

I never seen this stuff until I married DarRell. Then i was never too fond of the coated stuff well up until just a year or so ago. Now that Rianne insists on having this every once in a while, i grabbed the recipe from Joline. I just have to remember to leave out some plain stuff for Sam. He's not too fond of the sweet stuff.
_____________________________________________

Grandma Payne's Sticky Popcorn

1 1/3 cube margarine or butter
2/3 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla
regular bag of western familly corn pops (- a cup or so)

melt buttter or margarine in a saucepan. Add sugar and water and bring to a boil. Boil fast for 4 minutes. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Empty corn pops into a large bowl. Pour syrup over pops and stir until well coated. Spread out on a cookie sheet and bake in a 225 degree pre-heated oven for 10 minutes. Cool and serve.