cucumber pineapple salsa

This recipe only contains approximate measurements. Taste and tweak as needed.

CUCUMBER PINEAPPLE SALSA
From Well Fed

1 cup pineapple, minced
1 cup cucumber, minced
¼ sweet or red onion, finely minced
juice of ½ lime
1 Tbsp minced fresh cilantro
1 clove garlic, minced
¼ tsp salt
½ jalapeño pepper, minced (optional)


COMBINE ingredients in a bowl.

TASTE and add more jalapeño pepper, lime juice, or cilantro, to taste.

REFRIGERATE for 10 minutes to allow flavors to mingle.

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homemade salsa

This recipe only contains approximate measurements. Taste and tweak as needed.

HOMEMADE SALSA
adapted from allrecipes

3 cups chopped tomatoes
1 cup onion, diced
¼ cup minced fresh cilantro
1+ jalapeño pepper, minced
2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp salt
½ tsp ground black pepper

COMBINE ingredients in a bowl.

TASTE and add more jalapeño pepper, lime juice, or cilantro, to taste.

REFRIGERATE for at least 20-30 minutes to allow flavors to mingle.

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homemade apple cake sauce

This sauce is meant to be served over apple cake.

HOMEMADE APPLE CAKE SAUCE

1 cup sugar
½ cup butter
½ cup heavy cream or evaporated milk
1 tsp vanilla

STIR all ingredients in a saucepan.

BOIL over medium high heat, cooking for 3 minutes.

COOL slightly, stirring to combine, and serve over apple cake.

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nacho cheese sauce

I love soft pretzels. I love sharing the joys of homemade soft pretzels with friends overseas. This year, when I decided to make them for a friend's birthday, her love of cheese inspired me to search out recipes for soft pretzel's condiment friend--nacho cheese sauce. Not just melted cheese, but creamy processed cheesy goodness. After searching google and pinterest, I found my perfect recipe, a combination of two other recipes.

NACHO CHEESE SAUCE
adapted from Allrecipes and Kitchen Simplicity

4 oz sliced American cheese or cheese product, torn into pieces
4 oz cheddar cheese, shredded
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1 (12 oz.) can evaporated milk, divided
2 tsp hot sauce
pinch salt

TOSS together cheese and cornstarch, in a medium-sized saucepan, until evenly coated. Stir in 1 cup evaporated milk, hot sauce and salt.

COOK, stirring often, over medium-low heat until thickened, smooth and bubbly.

STIR in additional evaporated milk, if needed, until desired consistency is reached. Taste and add additional hot sauce, if desired.

Note: Sauce can be stored in the fridge. Reheat in the microwave, stirring frequently and adding additional evaporated milk, if needed.

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garlic and tomato hummus

I made hummus this afternoon. Not for a party. Just because there's very little food in my house. I'm moving in three days and combined with the recent loss of a vegetable stand in my apartment complex, I haven't bought food, perishable or not. So looking at the reserves, I found a few cans of chickpeas--protein, score. One can eaten means one less can to move! And so hummus was born.

My roommate informed me that she MUST have this recipe. I informed her that there was no recipe. I made it up as I went along and didn't measure anything. (I'm growing as a cook!) But for future reference, here are some approximate amounts. Adjust to taste.

GARLIC AND TOMATO HUMMUS

1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2-3 Tbsp tahini (or local Chinese sesame paste)
2+ Tbsp lemon juice
4+ Tbsp olive oil
a generous sprinkling of Garlic and Tomato Dipping Spices

COMBINE ingredients in a blender.

ADD more olive oil and/or lemon juice until hummus reaches the desired consistency.

SERVE with crackers, pita, tortilla piece, etc.

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watermelon salsa

In my recent pursuit of non-traditional salsa, I decided to google recipes from watermelon salsa. I had a lot of extra cubed watermelon in my fridge and thought this would be another fancy treat. Like the mango lime salsa, this recipe is done to taste. Feel free to tweak and alter this amalgamation of three recipes as you see fit.

WATERMELON SALSA
adapted from All Recipes, Taste of Home, and Eating Well

2-3 cups diced watermelon
2 Tbsp diced onion
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
1 Tbsp lime juice (or lemon juice)
1-2 tsp balsamic or wine vinegar
1 tsp of honey
cilantro, to taste
mint, if desired
garlic salt, if desired

COMBINE watermelon, onion, half of the pepper, lime juice, vinegar, and cilantro.

TASTE and add more pepper, lime juice, and cilantro, to taste. Add a little bit of mint or garlic salt, if desired.

REFRIGERATE for at least 20-30 minutes to allow flavors to mingle.

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mango lime salsa

I'm allergic to mangoes. Not the edible part---just the skin.

Did you know they're related to poison ivy?

The skin contains the same allergenic oil (urushiol) as poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac.

So along with a lifetime of severe reactions to poison ivy, my skin has another enemy. Thankfully, I'm not that fond of the flavor of mangoes (gasp! I know...). Too sweet for me. Green mango, dried, in shakes--they are my favorite!

But yesterday, I was looking for a salsa that used limes and found a mango salsa. It just sounded too good. A great treat for a special taco celebration! So I asked my vegetable lady to deliver the mangoes and asked another friend to cut the mangoes and I only touched them with a metal spoon or with a tortilla chip...

This recipe only contains approximate measurements. Taste and tweak as needed.

MANGO LIME SALSA
adapted from cookus INTERRUPTUS

2-3 cups diced mangoes
6 scallions, thinly sliced or minced
1 jalapeno pepper, minced
1-2 Tbsp of lime juice (or half lemon juice, half lime juice)
chopped cilantro, to taste

COMBINE mangoes, scallions, half of the pepper, lime juice, and cilantro.

TASTE and add more pepper, lime juice, or cilantro, to taste.

REFRIGERATE for at least 20-30 minutes to allow flavors to mingle.

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royal icing

Christmas 2005, I came home to a wonderful surprise—my mom had learned how to make royal icing! The possibilities for sugar cookies were limitless. While we made our fair share of Christmas sugar cookies, complete with intricate designs, I was most excited to make my Valentine’s Day sugar cookies and pipe patterns on the hearts. Polka dots, stripes, plaid, swirls. You name it, we could pipe it.

Flash forward a few years. I forgot to bring meringue powder to China. Thankfully, the same family friend who taught my mom how to make royal icing mailed some to me in a package. The recipe below makes a lot of icing. If you only have a few dozen cookies, or don’t need many colors, consider halving the recipe.

(While you can make royal icing with raw egg whites, I prefer meringue powder for convenience and safety.)

ROYAL ICING

1 lb powdered sugar, sifted
3 Tbsp meringue powder
½ cup warm water
1 tsp vanilla or almond extract
Gel food coloring

COMBINE dry ingredients. Add water and extract.

BEAT for 7-10 minutes.

DIVIDE into bowls for colors. Add gel food coloring to each bowl. Icing will be very stiff. Dilute with a few drops of water until thin enough to pipe comfortably. To flood cookies with icing, dilute further.

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pumpkin butter

Before I moved to China, I bought pumpkin in a can. Even my first two years here, I continued to buy pumpkin in a can (at $6 a can!). Then I heard how easy it is to make pumpkin puree. But won’t it be too watery? My roommate happened to have cheesecloth. Perfect. So this year, I made all my pumpkin puree from scratch. (Truth be told, ayi cut up the pumpkin, but me and the microwave did the rest. A little water in the container, put on the lid, microwave for 15 or more minutes, and puree with an immersion blender. Drain with cheesecloth, even overnight, to thicken.)

Cooking the pumpkin down into butter isn’t fun. It’s time consuming, and you can’t multi-task. But by some coincidence, I was reading Little House in the Big Woods during the same week and was so excited to find out that Ma made pumpkin butter! I guess making this butter in my tiny kitchen in China was my way of connecting with the pioneer women of old.

PUMPKIN BUTTER (makes approximately 1 cup)
from Guilty Kitchen

2 cups pumpkin puree (homemade)
or
1 can of pumpkin puree (27-29 oz)
1 cup brown sugar

COMBINE pumpkin and brown sugar in a small saucepan.

HEAT on medium and stir continually for 1 hour until very thick.

REMOVE from heat and allow to cool. Then make crispy chocolate chip pumpkin cookies…

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