Quinoa is an ancient grain that is making a huge comeback! It has a nutty flavor and is full of protein! Just make sure that you rinse it 5-6 times in a bowl of water before you cook it, as it has a naturally occurring coating that repels bugs and makes it a bit bitter.

1 cup quinoa
1 cup water

1 small heirloom or roma tomato
1 small zucchini – sliced
1/3 cup broccoli florets
1/3 cup sliced cucumber
1/8 cup sliced hot Asian radish
1/4 cup diced green onion
1/2 cup chopped fresh herbs*
~ mexican oregano, chives, rosemary, basil, sage, savory…

1/8 tsp. crushed red pepper
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar (white or dark)

1/4 cup crumbled feta
1/4 cup crumbled goat cheese
3/4 cup leftover roasted chicken – cut up

Rinse the quinoa 5-6 times, or until the water is clear. In a small pot with headroom, boil the quinoa as you would rice and allow to cool.

When the quinoa is cooled, add in the vegetables and herbs. Combine the oil, vinegar and crushed red pepper and pour over the quinoa and stir.

I generally make this the day before, so that the flavors have time to blend. If you are serving it the same day, add in the cheese and chicken, otherwise save them to add in about 30 minutes before serving. For a vegan salad, leave them out.

This is a great salad for hot weather, as the vinegar and veggies have a wonderfully cool flavor! It is great for picnics.

*to chop the herbs, roll them up like a cigar and slice across the roll.

This is one of our favorite summertime beverages – it’s cool and refreshing and tastes great! This recipe makes a concentrate – it’s a bit too much straight. Just add it to a half glass of ice water to make a delicious, cool Summer treat. Check out the add-ins at the bottom for some great alternatives. It also makes great frozen popsicles…

Lavender Lemonade

ingredients:
2 cups water
2 cups sugar
20 sprigs fresh lavender – either blooming, or just before the flowers open
4-6 lemons (depending on your tartness preference)
water

In a small saucepan, heat 2 cups of water and sugar to make a simple syrup. Stir occasionally to dissolve the sugar. When the sugar is dissolved, turn off the heat and place the lavender sprigs in the pan while the syrup cools down. Set aside to cool.

When the syrup is cool, remove the lavender sprigs and pour it into a 2 qt. pitcher.

Juice the lemons and add to the pitcher. Stir. Fill the pitcher up with water.

When you pour the lemonade into a glass, first fill the glass halfway with water and ice, then pour in the lemonade concentrate.

Garnish with a small sprig of lavender, lemon slices or mint leaves.

Enjoy!

Add ins:

- use the juice of limes instead or a mixture of lemons and limes
- add some strawberries to the simple syrup while it is cooling and strain the syrup when cool – crushing the strawberries to get all of the goodies out
- add some mint leaves with the lavender and use limes to make a non-alcoholic mojito – or mix it with your favorite rum for the real thing (obviously not for kids)
- add some grenadine to give it a cherry flavor and a lovely pink color

Just in time for Mother’s Day, we thought we would bring you an easy and delicious recipe that the kids and dad can make!

Easy Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients:
1 loaf frozen bread dough, thawed
2/3 cups brown sugar
4 tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup heavy cream
2/3 cup sifted powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Directions:

Roll dough into a rectangle shape and brush with the melted butter. In a large bowl, combine sugar, cinnamon and chopped nuts then layer over dough.  Then starting with the long end, roll the dough up into a log.  Moisten edges with a little water to seal.

Cut the roll into 1-inch slices (you can make the slices wider if you want taller rolls).  Place rolls into lightly buttered cake pans and set aside at room temperature.  Allow to rise for approximately 1-1/2 hours (dough will have doubled).  Finally pour the heavy cream over rolls and bake at 350F for approximately 25 to 30 minutes.

Combine sugar, milk and vanilla and drizzle over rolls during the last 5 minutes of baking.

Serve warm, fresh from the oven, or bake them ahead of time and warm them up just in time to serve.  Enjoy!

There is nothing quite like the smell of fresh baked bread, and offering your family their own individual rolls cuts down on the fighting over who got the bigger slice!

The nice thing about this recipe is that you can make a big batch and freeze them! Just pull out what you need and finish baking them for 5-10 minutes for fresh-baked bread with dinner.

What You Need:

1 3/4 C warm water, should be 105 to 115 degrees (check with thermometer)
2 pkg active dry yeast
1/2 C sugar
1 T salt
1 egg
1/4 C soft butter or margarine
6 C sifted all purpose flour
1 T butter or margarine, melted
Freezer paper

How to Make It:

Rinse a large bowl with hot water. Pour the warm water into the bowl. Add the yeast, sugar and salt. and stir until completely dissolved.

Add the egg, soft butter and 3 C of flour – 1/2 cup at a time. Beat together with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth.

Slowly add 1 more C of flour and continue to beat another 2 minutes.

Add the remaining 2 C of flour to the mixture.

Use your hands to work in the flour.

Continue until all the flour is mixed in well and the mixture becomes smooth and elastic.

Brush the top of the dough with the melted butter.

Cover the bowl with a damp towel.

Place the bowl in the refrigerator and allow the dough to rise 2 hours. The dough should double in size.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and punch down the dough.

Dough may be stored in the refrigerator 1-3 days before use. Be sure dough stays covered and punch the dough once a day until ready to use.

When you are ready to make the rolls, remove 1/3 of the dough from the refrigerator.

On a lightly floured surface divide the dough in half.
With your palms roll each half of the dough into a 16 inch rope. Cut each rope into 18 pieces. Roll each piece into a smooth ball.

Place 3 balls in each of a muffin cup that has been sprayed lightly with a non-stick cooking spray.

When all the muffin cups are full, cover with a towel and place in a warm place. Let rise again for 1 hour or until dough has doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Bake the rolls 20 minutes. If you are planning to serve them right away, cook them for 5-10 minutes longer, or until nicely browned.

Remove the rolls from the oven and cool completely.

You can serve them right away or store them in the freezer to warm up as needed.

Wrap in the freezer paper and freeze for up to 12 months.

When ready to use preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Unwrap rolls and place on an un-greased cookie sheet. Bake 5 to 10 minutes or until light brown.

With the kids in school and the temperatures not quite up to balmy, this chili recipe will help you out! It is a great make-ahead chili that you can heat up quickly on evenings when your family is going 20 different directions. Enjoy!

What You Need:

1 lb ground chuck
1 lg onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 (14 oz) cans diced tomatoes
1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce
1 T chili powder
1 t ground cumin
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
2 (15 oz) cans chili beans
2 T cornstarch, optional
1/4 C water, optional

How to Make It:

Place the ground chuck in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic. Cook until meat is browned through and vegetables are tender. Drain well.

Place the tomatoes, tomato sauce, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper into a large saucepan and place over high heat. Bring to a rapid boil.

Add the meat and beans. Reduce heat to low.

Cover and simmer for 1 hour.

Remove lid and continue cooking for 10 minutes.

Place saucepan in the refrigerator for a rapid cool.

Pour chili into freezer containers and freeze for up to 3 months.

To reheat, remove chili from the freezer.
Place 1/4 C of water in a saucepan. Add the chili and cook over medium heat until heated through. To thicken chili mix the cornstarch and 1/4 C water together. Add to the chili and stir well.

Ingredients:

2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 (8-ounce) package shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
1/2 cup Miracle Whip Dressing
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup chopped pecans

Instructions:

With an electric mixer beat all the cheeses together on medium speed until smooth. Fold in onions and pepper. Cover bowl and place in the refrigerator at least 4 hours or overnight. Once chilled form cheese mixture into a ball. Roll in pecans.

Filling:
1 medium head white cabbage
2 cups rice
ground beef/turkey
ground Italian sausage
1 egg
1½ Tbsp mayonaise
spices to taste

Sauce:
½ cup butter (1 stick)
½ large onion – chopped
3 large carrots – chopped
1 can tomato paste
1½ cups water

Wash & core cabbage. Place in a large pot & fill halfway with water. Boil for 25 minutes.

In another pot cook rice.

In a large skillet melt butter. Add carrots and onion. Cook until limp. Add tomato paste and water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and letter simmer 15 minutes.

In a large bowl mix raw meat, rice, egg mayonaise and seasonings. Add a few tablespoons of the cooking sauce.

Pierce cabbage to check for doneness (when knife slides through easily). Strain and gently peel leaves off. Cut large outer leaves in two pieces.

Preheat oven to 375 F. Lightly cover bottom of 13” x 9” baking dish with sauce. Roll meat mixture in cabbage leaves & place in baking dish. Pour remaining sauce over cabbage rolls & place in oven.

Cook for 15 minutes, or until sauce begins to boil. Reduce heat to 325 F and continue to cook for 45-60 minutes.

Serve hot. May be frozen or refrigerated and reheated in microwave (about 2 min thawed).

Recipe adapted from the kitchen of Diana Schedrin.

1 bag fresh cranberries
2 granny smith apples
2 Gala apples
2 pints raspberries
1 large can mandarin oranges – drained
1 pomegranate
1/2 cup sugar

Wash and sort the cranberries to remove all bad ones. Put them in a food processor and pulse until they are chopped finely. Pour them into a large bowl.

Peel the apples and finely chop them. Add them to the cranberries. Wash and sort the raspberries and add them to the bowl along with the oranges.

Remove all of the seeds from the pomegranate and add them to the bowl.

Stir the fruit together and sprinkle the sugar over it. Stir the sugar in.

This is best made a couple of days before you plan to eat it – this gives the flavors time to meld together. We like it a little more tart, so you will need to add some more sugar if you want it sweeter.

This also makes a very tasty pie if you cook it down with 2 Tbsp butter and 2 Tbsp. brown sugar. Then use it as you would berry pie filling!

This is an old family recipe that has been handed down for at least 4 generations – with little changes with each generation. I changed it to sourdough bread, but you can make it with any bread – I often mix half sourdough and half whole wheat bread.

This year Thanksgiving almost snuck up on me – I started the chicken carcass last night to make the broth. Can you make the broth using a can? Yes, but it will not have the depth of flavor that homemade will. The longer the stuffing sits before you bake it, the better the flavor it will have.

Grandma’s Stuffing

Requires a minimum of 3 days. Preferably 5 including day you are serving.

4+ loaves Sourdough Bread
4-5 stalks Celery
1 Med to large onion – white
1 can sliced Mushrooms
3 carrots – chopped
1 4 lb chicken
1½ sticks butter
100 oz broth (make your own from chicken)
2 bay leaves

Suggested Spices
Savory
Parsley
Sage
Rosemary
Thyme
White Pepper
Garlic
Oregano
Italian Seasoning
Poultry Seasoning
Salt (if needed)

Day 1
Roast Chicken in oven. Strip most of meat and set aside. Cook carcass in pot on stove with herbs & seasonings overnight. Add Bay leaves.

Day 2
Check chicken on stove. If broth is forming well, remove all bones and bay leaves. Add celery. Carmelize onions and mushrooms, and add to broth. Add some of the chicken meat (dark works better). Let the broth cook for the rest of the day.

Cube and dry your bread. In a large bowl, mix bread and broth in small quantities until you get desired consistancy. Press into a 2 or 3 qt. Baking dish. Cover with aluminum foi and refrigerate for at least 1½ days.

Day 4/5
Cook stuffing in oven at 325 for 30-60 minutes, depending on moistness. Remove foil after 30 minutes.

Makes 2 3qt pans.

2 packets dry Italian or Zesty Italian dressing mix
Water, Oil & Vinegar to make 1 packet of above dressing

1 box pasta – cooked (we use bow ties, shells or radiattori)

dry salami – about a 1″ long section

1/2 lb Cheddar cheese, cubed*

1/2 lb Monterey Jack cheese, cubed*

1 head broccoli, washed & divided into florets

1 red bell pepper, julienned

1 cup carrots, sliced

fresh ground black pepper, to taste (or a dash of white pepper)

Make 1 packet of Italian dressing according to package directions, then pour the contents of the other packet into it & mix well. This gives the dressing a little extra punch!

Combine all ingredients in a bowl & mix well. Chill for at least 1 hour before serving. Some alternate vegetables are listed below.

*If you are planning to have lots of leftovers, or not planning to eat it for a couple of days, leave the cheese on the side for people to add – it can get slimy if it sits too long in the fridge.

You can also add olives, pimentos, capers, onions, etc. Use the veggies your family prefers! We will often add more cheese, as we all really like cheese! Mozzarella works well too.