Category Archives: Cooking & Recipes

My Guacamole Recipe

I generally don’t measure the ingredients but I think this is pretty close.

Ingredients:
3 avocados
1/4 cup cilantro chopped
3 green onions finely chopped
1 Roma tomato (seeds and pulp removed), finely chopped
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 – 1 Tbsp lime juice
Several twists of crushed black pepper corns.

Optional:
Fresh or pickled jalapenos or crushed red pepper flakes to taste.

Directions:
Slice the avocados in half, remove the seed and scoop the meat in to a mixing bowl.
Add all other ingredients and mix well.

A pastry cutter works great for mashing the avocados.

Avocado masher.

Kung Pao Cauliflower

Kung Pao Cauliflower

Notes: This is a mash up of a couple different recipes. We both liked it. Pictured above with chili peppers and not pepper flakes.

Ingredients:
1 cauliflower cut into bite sized pieces
1 red bell pepper diced
1 yellow or orange bell pepper diced
2 garlic cloves minced
5 green onions chopped
1/3 cup raw peanuts
1 tsp red pepper flakes

Sauce
4 tbsp tamari
2 tbsp ketchup
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp maple syrup
1/4 cup water
1 tsp ground ginger
3 tsp cornstarch

Directions:
In a wok cook the cauliflower on medium high for 5 minutes.
Remove the cauliflower and set aside.
Add the peppers to the wok and cook for 3 minutes.
Add the cauliflower back in and and cook for another 5 minutes.
Add the garlic, white part of the green onion and the peanuts and cook for a couple more minutes.
Stir in the sauce and red pepper flakes and cook for an additional minute.
Serve over rice.
Garnish with the stalks of the green onion.

Bread Slicer And Storage

We recently bought this Kitchencraft bread keeper and slicer to use with bread we make in our bread machine. So far I’m happy with it. We got it at a pretty big discount otherwise we probably wouldn’t have bought it.

Bread slicer and storage

Bread slicer and storage

Steel-Cut Oats with Kale and Red Pepper

Steel-Cut Oats with Kale and Red Pepper

Notes: This was better than we were expecting. Makes 5 or 6 servings.

Ingredients:
1 cup steel cut oats
1 tablespoon Olive oil
1/2 large onion chopped
1 Garlic clove, chopped
1 Medium red bell pepper, diced
6oz Mushrooms chopped (I used Shitaki)
4 cups kale (or other green) chopped
3 cups vegetable broth

Directions:
1. In a 12-inch skillet set over medium-high heat, toast oats until slightly golden and fragrant, about 2 to 3 minutes, stirring frequently to keep oats from scorching. Transfer oats to a bowl and set aside. Wipe away any remaining oats from skillet, return skillet to burner, and reduce heat to medium.
2. Add olive oil to pan. When oil starts to shimmer, add chopped onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and bell pepper, and cook 1 minute. Stir in sliced kale and cook until kale is reduced in volume by half, about 5 minutes.
3. Stir in toasted oats and veggie broth. Bring to a boil, cover pan, and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook for 25 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed.

Steel-Cut Oats with Kale and Red Pepper