Recipes

A while back we had a recipe sharing thread that I got a lot of good ideas from. I'm in a cooking slump again, so I was wondering if anyone had any good summer recipes to share.

I have a great receipe for fresh salsa:
4 tomatos diced
1 onion diced
1 clove of garlic diced
the juice of 1 lime
start with a 1/4 cup of cilantro and taste add for your own taste
and a little salt..

this is great for dipping and also over grilled chicken...
and this feeds 4 for salsa....

Does anyone like stuffed grape leaves ? I have a good recipe for them. Just wantd to know before i post it, its kinda long...

I like stuffed grape leaves...

Here's my husbands Stuffed Grape Leave Recipe.
I wrote it from how he told me what to do....
Im sure they are made many different ways. Greeks, Armenians, Egyptians, and several other middle eastern nationalities make them. This one is from an Armenian household :) YUMMMMM. and we use plain yogurt instead of the tsatsiki sauce that they greeks use (Which i LOVEEEE, but yogurt seems easier and same great taste !!)
I didnt put in exact measurements of some of the seasonings, just put a pinch or whatever you feel. We dont really measure, lol.

ENJOY !! SAVE ME SOME !!!!!!!!

********

DOLMA - STUFFED GRAPE LEAVES

One 16oz jar of grape leaves
1/4 cup chopped onion
Paprika
Garlic Powder
Parsley
Tomato paste - small can 6oz
¼ cup of water
¾ cups of rice
Lemon Juice
2 packets of ground meat – Pork, veal, and lamb mix OR Ground turkey OR BEEF
Small pack of Plain Yogurt

Put raw meat into a bowl. Put in garlic powder, parsley, chopped onion, ¾ cups of uncooked rice, paprika, ¼ cup of water and 6oz/ 3/4 cup of tomato paste. Mix it up well.

Take out grape leaves. You will need 6-8 spares leaves for the end to wrap the finished ones into the sauce pot. As you cook, if you see any that are ripped or torn, put them to the side, you can use these later on as the spares.

Prepare a flat dish to use for stuffing them, and a flat dish for putting the stuffed ones.
Stuff the grape leaves: Lay the grape leaf out on the dish, place 1-2 teaspoons of meat filling near the stem (remove the stem as you do this). Fold the top of the leaf down onto the meat, and fold the sides over. Make sure all meat is covered, and it is rolled up snug.

When you’re done stuffing all grape leaves, and have 6-8 spare grape leaves on the side:
Lay 3-4 spare grape leaves at bottom of a sauce pot (kind of like a bed of leaves). Pile in all stuffed grape leaves, neatly and snug. Make as many rows as needed, be sure to keep them tight fitted and snug. When all grape leaves are in the pan, put in 3-4 spare grape leaves at the top of all the grape leaves.
Fill the pot with water until it just touches the rim of the grape leaves. Put in ¼ cup of lemon juice. Cover with a plate or the lid of a smaller pot (that fits deep inside the pot, resting on the grape leaves). Then cover the pot with its own lid.

Put on very low flame and allow to simmer for 2 hours. Remove from pot after 2 hours, and let sit for 45 minutes. Place grape leaves onto a flat dish, water will drip out of them. From here, place them onto your serving dish.

Put plain yogurt into a small bowl to be used for dipping as a side. Can be served hot or cold.

BON APPETIT !!!

I'm the type of cook who just throws things together and hopes for the best .. luckily I think I can count on one hand the times my husband has not liked my creations .. the problem is, since I'm experimenting, I don't always remember the things I come up with, so I never make them again!

Anyway, JennRenee, is there certain types of recipes you're looking for .. like something on the BBQ, skillet meals? What kinds of foods do you like? I have some ideas I can share ..

-For chicken on the BBQ .. try marinating it in Italian dressing first.
-For steak on the BBQ .. brush with A1 Steak Sauce before cooking, then sprinkle on McCormick's Montreal Steak Seasoning

As easy 'Stuffed Peppers' recipe I do:
-Brown ground beef in a skillet with chopped onions and chopped mushrooms
-Add Ketchup, Sour Cream & Country Dijon Grey Poupon Mustard to taste .. ketchup should be dominant .. maybe 3 parts ketchup, 1 part sour cream, teaspoon of mustard ... you should use enough so there is a coating over the entire mixture
-Stir well to blend
-Add in coursely chopped peppers, stir well
-Let the peppers warm up, but don't overcook them, or they will loose crispness
-Lay this mixture over a bed of rice.

As easy 'Chicken Ala King' I've done:
-Cook Pasty Puff Shells according to directions on box
-Cut up skinless, boneless chicken tenderloins (about 1lb. or a little less) into bite-size pieces
-Sautee with finely chopped onions and finely chopped mushrooms in just a bit of butter
-When chicken in cooked through, add 1 regular-sized can of either cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup .. campbells light varieties work well
-Do not add water to the soup! As the soup heats up it will loosen and thin out
-Add pepper to taste
-Add finely chopped celery
-Heat frozen peas (the small variety) for a few seconds in the microwave, then add.
-When the shells are done, cut off the tops, remove the doughy inside and fill with the mixture

The latest thing I tried that was really simple, and light on those hot nights:
-Cook a small amount of spaghetti (or any other kind of pasta)
-Sautee diced chicken cutlets with onion and mushrooms till cooked through
-Add a favorite bag of mixed frozen vegatables to the chicken skillet (we like the broccoli, peppers, waterchestnuts, etc) OR use fresh vegatables if you have the time to clean and dice!
-Finally, add the cooked pasta to the chicken skillet and stir together

Hope this gives you some ideas! As you can probably notice, we like using mushrooms .. these can be easily left out. I don't like to use measurements because I like to use more of what we really like, and go easy on things we compromise over .. like peas .. my husband doesn't really like peas, but he doesn't mind them in the Ala King recipe, as long as I don't go overboard with them!

JennRenee,
How was the salsa? did your guests like it?

Heres another summer treat..

Melon Sorbet

Cube melon
put in ziplock in the freezer
wait till frozen
put cubes in food processor
add sugar to taste
a little water to smooth
and thats it!!