Warm Potato Salad

This is great warm or you can cover and refrigerate overnight to soak up the ingredients (its better warm). It will come out with an orange tint because of the paprika, this also gives it a smokey flavor, great for bbq's. This feeds about 6 but you can double the recipe. enjoy!

Ingredients:

12 Red potatoes

4 hard boiled eggs

1 1/2 cups Mayo

1 carrot grated

2 teaspoons smoked paprika

2 tablespoons parsley

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon mustard

Directions:

Boil potatoes until tender but still firm, about 15 minutes. (You can add your eggs the last 7 minutes and let boil with potatoes) When potatoes are finished drain and let cool for 15 minutes or so. Dice up all the potatoes and chop up the eggs and add to a large bowl. Add remaining ingredients and mix till all is coated.

Pesto Potatoes

Roast about 8 small red potatoes or roughly 2 per person, by chopping potatoes into fours and drizzling them with olive oil, roast for 30-40 minutes in a 400 degree oven. When finished toss in 1/4 cup pesto.

Chicken Chow Fun

Ingredients:

3-4 Chicken breasts

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 clove garlic minced

3 tablespoons oyster sauce

4 tablespoons corn starch

1 tablespoon brown sugar

2 teaspoons fish sauce

1/4 cup chicken broth

1 pkg Chow fun noodles

4 cups mung bean

1 cup nappa cabbage chopped

1 carrot julienned

1 teaspoon sesame oil 

Directions:

In a small bowl mix soy sauce, garlic, oyster sauce, corn starch, brown sugar, fish sauce and broth; set aside. 

Heat wok and add 2 teaspoons vegetable oil. Stir fry chicken and 2 tablespoons of sauce for 5-7 minutes. Add mung bean, cabbage, carrots and stir fry for 5 minutes. Add noodles and sauce, cooking until the noodles have absorbed all the flavors and are heated through. Drizzle on sesame oil.

Pesto

After harvesting a good portion of my basil I decided to make some pesto..This came out super good! We made pesto potatoes and poured it over baked chicken. You can use it in place of pasta sauce or pizza sauce. I used a mix of Italian and purple basil. You usually use Parmesan-Reggiano but I like Asiago Fresco

Ingredients:

4 cups basil

1/4 cup toasted pine nuts 

5 teaspoons minced garlic

2/3 cup + 1/2 cup Olive oil

1 cup shredded Asiago Fresco

Directions:

Add basil, garlic, and pine nuts in a blender and pulse until coarsely chopped. Add 2/3 cup of the oil and cheese, blend then slowly stream in 1/2 cup oil. Blend till smooth.

Swiss Chard

I never cooked or ate Swiss chard before so when my sister gave me a huge bunch I was clueless. I ended up treating it like spinach. It has a real earthy taste and its something i need to buy more of and try out. I read up that you need to use it fresh. If its old like you get form a supermarket its not as flavorful. My sister gave me ones she got from her garden that day so it was very fresh. I guess farmers markets are the way to go if you have no green thumb (like me).

Ingredients:

1 large bunch of fresh Swiss chard cleaned and ribs chopped off

1/2 an onion chopped

1 garlic clove minced

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp water

1 teaspoon butter

Salt

On medium-high heat cook, garlic and onion in olive oil for a couple minutes. Add the chopped Swiss chard leaves. Stir fry for about 7-10 minutes Add salt to taste, and a dollop of butter.

Tomato Basil Quinoa Salad

Me and the DH just started an herb garden and our basil has gone crazy. I needed to use it up and this recipe did the trick. I used 2 cups of cooked quinoa, salt and pepper, a bunch of basil and 1 large chopped tomato. The DH still needed some protein so I added some cooked sausage. You can drizzle on some balsamic vinaigrette to your taste. I refrigerated over night and had it for lunch the next day. It was fresh tasting from the basil and tomatoes but still filled you up from the protein and quinoa. Enjoy!

BBQ Dry Rub

So my husband thinks hes the BBQ master. Hes always trying out new BBQ sauces, he will throw everything but the kitchen sink into his recipe. I on the other hand don't know the first thing about BBqing, so when he said he was coming home late, I thought maybe I could marinate some pork spareribs so they would be ready for him to cook when he got home. I couldn't find any BBq sauce so I tried my hand at a dry rub. It came out great, surprisingly the husband loved it too!The sugar make a sweet crust on top and the hot sauce adds a kick. If you don't want the hot sauce then add 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes to the mix. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2/3 cups brown sugar

1 Tablespoon smoked paprika

1 Tablespoon cayenne pepper

2 Teaspoons garlic powder

1 Tablespoon salt

1 Teaspoon dry mustard

Sriracha hot sauce (optional) Add to taste.

Directions:

Mix all except hot sauce in a bowl and rub on to ribs. I added a couple tablespoons of hot sauce just on the top. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2-4 hours.

Banana Bread

Ingredients:

2 Cups flour

3/4 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoons salt

3/4 cup sugar

6 tablespoons butter softened

2 large eggs

2 cups mashed over ripe bananas (about 5 large)

1/2 cups chopped walnuts or chocolate chips (optional)

1/4 cup water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour 9" by 5" baking pan. Combine flour, soda, and salt in small bowl. In mixing bowl beat sugar, butter, and eggs just till blended. Increase speed to high and beat 5 minutes until light and creamy. Reduce speed to low and add bananas and water, beat until well mixed. Slowly add flour mixture to wet mixture, mix just until blended. (stir in walnuts now if using) Spoon batter into loaf pan. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes until toothpick inserted to center of bread comes out clean.Cool completely on wire rack.

Note: Don't over stir once dry ingredients are in or you'll get a dry and dense loaf... 
You can also add chocolate chips to the batter instead of walnuts