Quickie Salsa!

2 beefsteak tomatoes (if you want to use roma or any other type of tomato…that’s fine, too)

1 small bunch of cilantro

1 small white onion

1 jalapeno pepper

Juice from half a lemon

Pepper and Salt to taste

A little warning: When handling any type of hot pepper be extremely careful. The oils will stick to your hands so make sure not to touch your face or eyes before washing thoroughly with soap and water.

Depending on preference, dice one of the tomatoes to size. (ex: I am not particularly fond of chunky salsa so my tomatoes were diced rather small). In a blender, place the other tomato, lemon juice, cilantro and jalapeno pepper, blend to a desired consistency. Place the diced tomatoes and blended ingredients into a bowl, grate half of the white onion, dice the other and add into the mixture, salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!

Story:

Our kitchen at home is always stocked full of random ingredients and my mum and I are usually trying to make something out of all the fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs that we haven’t used for the week. This salsa idea came from wanting to use up a bulk of cilantro. After making it, I put it over some leftover salmon from the day before and BAM! Super salmon leftovers I would have taken a picture of it…but I was kinda hungry and ate it before the thought crossed my mind and my family liked it so, I almost didn't have enough for a picture at all! So instead, we have salsa over quesadillas with sour cream and sprigs of chives.

Jarrod’s Japanese style hamburgers.

Original recipe from:
http://japanesefood.about.com/od/beef/r/jahamburger.htm

My adaptation:

1 pound of ground beef
¼ of a cup of scallions or two healthy stalks worth
1 egg
¼ cup of milk
1 cup honey panko crumbs
Pepper (for seasoning)
3 tbsp Ketchup
1 ½ tbsp of Worcestershire sauce
1 ½ tbsp of shoyu (soy sauce)
1 heaping tbsp of freshly graded ginger

Preparation:

Place all the ingredients in a large bowl (original recipe uses the ketchup and worchestershire at the end to make a glaze but I kinda missed that and mixed it in…I like it mixed in, instead) and kneed well with your hands. (If you prefer not to use your hands, go ahead and use a fork.) Divide the meat and roll into balls, flattening them out just as you place them in the pan. The recipe says it makes four patties but when I made it, they came out HUGE! So, use your best judgment. Because the recipe has a lot of ingredients with sugar and I chose 98% lean beef, the burgers wanted to stick to the pan. An alternative to using a lot of oil would be to place it on the grill.

Garnish:

My friend Jarrod, who the recipe is credited to, isn’t particularly fond of tomatoes and thus I never serve this burger with them. Instead, I found that lettuce, a few thin slices of red onion, and thinly cut cucumbers, served on a hearty bun makes an awesome meal. I hope you enjoy!

Story:

In college, the judo club I worked out with loved socials. Every time they could find a reason to get together, they did. At one of the last BBQ’s of my senior year, Jarrod made these awesome burgers. They were so good, I ate two! (an enormous feat, I tell you…but they were sooooo good!) I love making these burgers because they remind me of all the good times and wonderful people I met and became close too. If your making this for a social event like a BBQ, the honorary way of serving this is with a good bottle/can of beer (for some…maybe two. Tehe! ^.~) Personally, I like it with a nice cool glass of mugicha. (this is an unsweetened ice tea made from roasted barley) Its’ absolutely delicious.

Honey Peach Ice Cream

It's the first recipe posting! Yay! Ah, anyway...here it is my first ice cream of the summer.

Honey Peach Ice Cream
recipe from:
A Well Seasoned Appetite
by Molly O'Neill

5 large ripe peaches, peeled, pitted, and coarsely chopped
1/3 cup of sugar
1 cup of milk
1 cup of heavy cream
1/3 cup of honey

(my suggestions: I over did it on the peaches. We had a bunch so I went all out and probably put in about 7 or 8...I just love peaches! Also, I used skim milk because that was all we had at the time but I really think whole or 2% would make the ice cream better. With skim little ice crystals form, but it was just an experiment to see what would happen)

Put the peaches and 2 tablespoons of sugar in a food processor. Process until smooth. (this makes an awesome puree, so try not to sample it too much ^.^) Whisk together the milk, cream, remaining sugar, and honey in a large bowl. Whisk in the puree. Refrigerate until cold. Freeze in an ice cream machine according to manufacturer's directions.

Makes about 4 cups.

If you don't have an ice cream machine:
As a little kid my sis and I always tried to make ice cream but we had no machine so, we tried to be all pioneer like Felicity or Laura Ingalls and make it on our own. Here is one of the more successful attempts:
Take two different sized coffee tins, one large and one small also, saving the lids. Stick them in the freezer till your ready to make the ice cream. Place the smaller tin inside the larger one, fill the space between the two tins with ice and sprinkle salt over the ice. Pour the ice cream in a large ziplock bag and put the bag in the smaller tin put the cover on the smaller tin, then the larger one. Now, here's where the manual labor comes in...roll the tin gently for about ten minutes ....Yes, I said roll. On a floor or table what have you..if you have a buddy you can make a game of rolling it to eachother. in about ten minutes you should have a VERY soft ice cream. you can stick it in the freezer for a bit and roll again trying to make it a better consistency or you can do what my sister and I did...give up and eat it!

So, here's the story about this recipe. My mom and I have a little ritual when our local library has it's book sale. We pick a genre the night before, pack these giant bags, and first thing in the morning we set off to wait in line with a bunch of early rising bargain hunters. While my mom sets out looking for her books, I usually dash to find my two favorite genres; cooking and history/anthropology. Last July, I managed to pick up this recipe book along with an awesome traditional Japanese cookbook. A cheap thrill at only a dollar for the two! Anyway, I hope you get the chance to try this one out, its mm-mmm delicious!