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Main dish ideas

Salads and Sides · Uncategorized

Dilly Beans

Helena HenniganLeave a comment

Yay for summer time and pickling! I planted a whole bunch of beans and as a result now have a whole bunch of beans -funny how that works. I love to fix them with a quick stir fry or blanching too. However, I think my girl’s have a new favorite, dilly beans. Dilly beans are just like making pickles, minus the canning part; so you have to keep them refrigerated.

The brine

Looking at all the colors I still wanted more, so I grabbed some carrots and let my oldest peel them; she loves helping. While she was peeling I grabbed an onion, a head of garlic, and some spices and started the brine. I like to put the onions and garlic in the brine and bring everything to a boil. I’ve found that putting the onions amd garlic in early helps them pickle quicker. I also added the carrots early so they could get a head start on pickling too.

The brine is really easy as long as you remember 2:1 ratio of 2 cups water to 1 cup vinegar. Any vinegar will work; apple cider, balsamic, red wine, white wine or rice vinegar, but I really like the plain white vinegar. You just want to make sure that the brine covers everything. Salt is the other thing, use kosher salt. If you are in a pinch and only have iodized salt, that will work, but it will make your brine cloudy – learned that one from experience.

Some of the purple beans are already changing color
The purple beans changed color so fast.

The grape leaves also change color and pickle in the brine.

There is some condensation on the outside of the jar.

Ingredients

  • 3-4 lbs green beans
  • 3-4 carrots, peeled

Brine Ingredients

  • 1 head of garlic, peeled
  • 1 onion
  • 3-4 stalks of fresh dill
  • 3 allspice balls
  • 1 tspn black peppercorns
  • 1/2 tspn mustard seed
  • 1/2 tspn fennel seed
  • 6 cups water
  • 3 cups white vinegar
  • 1/4 cup kosher salt
  • 4-5 fresh grape leaves (optional)

Directions

  • Pour the water and vinegar into a large pot and set on high. Make sure you have enough liquid to fully submerge all your beans.
  • Peel the onion and garlic. Slice the onion into large chunks and add to the brine.
  • Add the salt and spices into the brine and taste. Add more salt or other spices if you want more of a certain flavor.
  • Peel the carrots and slice into chunks that are about the same size as your beans; add them to the brine.
  • Prep your beans by washing and snapping off the ends. You should have plenty of time before the brine starts to boil.
  • Let the carrots boil for 2 minutes and then add the beans.
  • Gently stir the beans and turn off the heat.
  • If you are using grape leaves, place them on the top of the pot and submerge them.
  • When everything has cooled place your dilly beans inside some containers and refrigerate.
  • They should last at least a month in the refrigerator, unless you eat all them first.

Dinner Ideas · Salads and Sides · Uncategorized

Homemade Tartar Sauce

Helena HenniganLeave a comment

I don’t know what it is about summer time specifically, but I love fish. It can be salmon, fresh caught trout, tilapia or halibut; really just about anything. And while I can eat fish freshly grilled or baked, my husband really likes his fish with tartar sauce, unless it salmon.

For dinner I pulled some really nice tilapia steaks out of the freezer and was ready to fry them in a little bit of oil, salt, dill, and black pepper. While I was thawing out the fish knew my husband would like some tartar sauce.

I grabbed some pickles, half an onion, dill and some sour cream and ranch salad dressing. I grabbed the “whopper chopper”, my little hand held food processor, and put the vegetables to chop away. My daughters saw the chopper and instantly wanted to help. They love to help with anything and everyhing right now, I’ll take all the help I can get.

When everything was chopped into uniformly small pieces, I added some sour cream, and some ranch dressing. I’ve substituted plain greek yogurt for the sour cream and it was just as tasty, I just didn’t have any plain greek yogurt in the fridge.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup of sour cream (plain greek yogurt works too)
  • 2-3 Tbspn ranch salad dressing
  • 3-5 baby dill pickles
  • 1 small onion
  • 1/4 cup diced black olives (optional, but tasty)
  • Salt and pepper- to taste

Directions

  • In a food processor add the onion, pickles and dill and chop until everything is uniform.
  • In a seperate mixing bowl add the sour cream and ranch dressing. Pour the onion and pickles mixture into the bowl and stir. Taste to see if salt and/or pepper is needed.
  • If adding olives, add at the end and stir gently.
  • Serve with your favorite fish and refrigerate when done.
Salads and Sides · Uncategorized

Summer Cucumber Salad

Helena HenniganLeave a comment

You know when you plant a cucumber plant or three, and then your seedlings actually grow, so now you have a total of eight cucumber plants? If you aren’t me and only have a cucumber plant this salad will still work for you.

When I go out to the garden with my just turned 3 year old, I pick all the ripe cucumbers, and she helps me find the ones I missed. There are always some hiding, and even after you swear you have picked them all you go out the next day and there is a giant cucumber that was missed.

This salad is super simple and can use a lot of cucumbers, or a little depending on how many you need to use. We had a church picnic, and I used four English cucumbers and two pickling cucumbers. I wanted to make a lot, but you can easily make this for a few people.

I added some fresh dill and basil to the cucumbers

Ingredients

  • 2-3 English cucumbers, peeled
  • 1 red onion, sliced thinly
  • 4 Tbspn vinegar or lemon juice
  • 2-3 Tbspn Olive oil
  • 1 tspn salt, to taste
  • Optional: fresh garden herbs- dill, basil

Directions

  • Peel and slice the cucumbers thinly, and place in a mixing bowl. Slice the onion thinly and add to the mixing bowl. If you are using an herbs, rough chop the herbs and put them in the bowl as well.
  • Drizzle Olive oil over everything, then the sprinkle salt. Drizzling the Olive oil first, gives the salt something to stick to, and then add the vinegar and/or lemon juice
  • Mix carefully and taste to see if more salt, oil or vinegar is needed.
  • Let it sit for ten minutes or so to soak in the flavors, or serve immediately. This can also be made the night before.
Dinner Ideas · Salads and Sides · Uncategorized

Salad Rolls

Helena HenniganLeave a comment

For the longest time I tried authenticating my favorite salad rolls, sometimes called spring rolls. The one I was trying to replicate have BBQ pork, rice noodles, Thai basil and some lettuce; and then there is the usual peanut sauce to dip them in. The rolls are so good! It has been so hard to replicate the BBQ pork. I don’t know what seasoning or marinade they use for the pork, but I habe yet to figure that one out.

Yesterday, I had a total epiphany when I was walking through the garden. Salad rolls, can be made with anything you would make a salad with. I don’t know why it took so long to figure that out. I thought why not use everything from my garden in the salad rolls and see how well it goes.

I already had some pulled pork and ground beef in the fridge, and had some peppers, carrots and green onions. My peppers and onions in my garden aren’t ready yet, thankfully I was able to pick; cilantro, arugula, spinach, Romanian Lettuce, and baby dill.

The longest part is prepping everything. Just slice everything super thin, juliened, for the thicker stuff -like carrots and peppers. Everything else just wash and cut to the length of the roll that you plan on rolling.

Once I realized that my rolls didn’t have to taste exactly like our favorite restaurant spring rolls, I was able to enjoy the taste of the freshness from the garden. The baby dill was and unexpected burst of yummy, even my two year old (almost three) picked up the flavor of the dill. She did call it a “pickle” but hey thats what you use for pickling so I’ll take it. I also like that if there are any leftovers you can make a salad the next day since everything is already prepped.

Rice paper rolls don’t have to be too intimidating, I took a picture of the brand that I use. When everything is prepped heat your water for the rice paper. Soak one paper in some very warm water and then load everything in the middle of the circle and fold and roll. It takes a little bit of time to figure out your technique for rolling the delicate rice paper. I figured out the longer you leave the paper in the warm water the easier it is to manipulate.

This is a simple sample of what you can in your spring rolls; also it is what I had in the fridge.

Ingredients

  • 1-2 lbs cooked protein, chicken, pork, or beef will work
  • Rice paper
  • 1 package wide rice noodles
  • 1-2 carrots, juliened
  • 1 bunch cilantro
  • 1-2 bell peppers, juliened
  • Sprigs of fresh dill
  • 2-3 green onions
  • Handful of spinach leaves
  • Sweet and spicy sauce

Directions

  • Cut all the vegetables into just about the same sizes and widths, wether you have to slice, julien or chop.
  • Fix the rice noodles according to the package directions
  • Warm a shallow pan of water for the rice paper rolls, and dip one in at a time. Submerge the rice paper until it becomes soft nd pliable.
  • Place one sheet of rice paper on a plate and layer on the goodies.
  • I like to start with a little bit sweet and spicy sauce, a little meat, noodles, and the vegetables and herbs.
  • Fold two parallel ends and then roll.
  • They are great as is or you can dip in more sweet and spicy sauce or yummy peanut sauce.

Tips

  • When you are looking at your rice paper circle, imagine a rectangle in the middle and put all the meat and veggies inside that “rectangle”. Then when you fold, take the two “short” ends of the rectangle in the middle and then roll like a sleeping bag.
  • Use your favorite vegetables in the roll, and whatever is in season tastes delicious.
  • Have everyone make their own rolls. It’s really fun and then they get exactly what they want in each roll.
  • Leftovers make for a great salad the next day
Uncategorized

No Bake Play Dough

Helena HenniganLeave a comment
If you look closely, you can see a clump of food coloring in the dough.

So i know this isnt technically something you you, but this was too good not to share, because who doesnt like play dough? This is the easiest recipe to make, plus it smells so good! It has two ingredients, cornstarch and hair conditioner. When I first read about it I thought it had to be too good to be true, but thankfully I was proven wrong.

It was such a hit with my two year old that she played with it for 2 hours! Two whole hours of quietly playing by herself, this mommy almost didn’t know what to do with herself.

For full disclosure I did add a few drops of food coloring. I also didn’t have 2 cups of cornstarch so I just halved the recipe. Just remember the ratio of 1:2 for either having or doubling.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup hair conditioner
  • 2 cups cornstarch

Directions

  • In a bowl pour your cup of hair conditioner. If you are adding food coloring add it to the conditioner, not the cornstarch or else you will get little clumps of color -not that I would know. 😄
  • Add your cornstarch carefully to the conditioner and mix with a spatula by hand.
  • When it starts clumping nicely, feel free to mix with your hands and enjoy.
  • If it is to sticky, add more cornstarch, or if it is too dry add more hair conditioner.
Breads · Dessert · Uncategorized

Breakfast Bites

Helena HenniganLeave a comment
Look at all those yummy ingredients

I have been wanting to make these for a while now. The last time I made them was before Christmas and I didn’t take pictures. When I had my second baby I wanted something that was easy to grab, healthy, but could still satisfy my sweet tooth.

These breakfast bites are perfect for breakfast or even a quick snack for on the go. Think of them as a cross between an oatmeal cookie and a granola bar, on steroids. I packed these full of different grains, seeds, dried fruit, and a little bit of chocolate.

Don’t be intimidated by the ingredients list, it is well worth it. A bonus is how many you get. I like to make them about an inch and half across and get about 4 dozen. This last batch I made them slightly bigger and almost got three dozen, just to give you a rough estimate.

This is before refrigerating the dough

Ingredients

  • ¼ cup butter (1/2 stick)
  • ¼ cup applesauce (if no applesauce, 1 stick butter)
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tspn vanilla
  • 1 cup milk
  • ¼ cup chia seeds
  • ¼ cup quinoa
  • 1 cup flour
  • ½ cup cornmeal
  • 1 cup oats
  • ½ tspn salt
  • 1 tspn baking soda
  • 1 tspn cinnamon
  • 1 tspn ginger
  • 1 tspn cloves
  • ½ cup raisens or dried cranberries
  • ½ cup pumpkin seeds, peppitos
  • ½ cup chocolate mini chips

Directions

  • Preheat the oven to 350°
  • Put the chia seeds into a ½ cup milk
  • Put the quinoa in a ½ cup milk
  • Let the seeds sit for a bit, stirring occasionally.
  • Melt butter, pour onto eggs, sugar, vanilla
  • Mix together dry ingredients, saving the chia and quinoa for last
  • Use a spoon to mix everything together
  • Refrigerate 1 hour or overnight before baking
  • Bake 8-10 minutes or until golden brown around the edges.
Uncategorized

Chex Mix

Helena HenniganLeave a comment

The other day when the snow was falling and we had already made some homemade play dough. My 2 year old asked for Chex mix. She quickly got out the measuring cups and tried to get the Chex cereal out. After opening up the pantry doors, she quickly got distracted by my one year old, and they went and played together while I was able to quickly throw this together.

Besides the usual Chex mix, peanuts and pretzels, I added her favorite, gold fish crackers. I wanted something sweet, like chocolate, but I didn’t want it to melt, so I threw in some dried cranberries. I really like how it turned out. Maybe next time I will remember to add some cheerios.

Dry Ingredients

  • 2 cups rice Chex mix cereal
  • 2 cups wheat Chex mix cereal
  • 2 cups corn Chex mix cereal
  • 2 cups goldfish crackers
  • 2 cups salted peanuts
  • 1 cup pretzel
  • 1 cup dried cranberries

Spices

  • 1 stick of butter
  • 1 1/2 tspn salt
  • 1 Tbspn worchestire sauce
  • 3/4 tspn powdered garlic
  • 3/4 tspn onion flakes
  • 1/2 tspn cayenne (more or less according to spiciness)
  • 2 Tbspn brown sugar

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 350°
  • Measure and pour all the dry ingredients into an oven roaster pan.
  • In a glass measuring cup, or microwave safe bowl, melt the butter in 20 second intervals until it is completely melted. When the butter is melted, add the rest of the spices to the butter and stir.
  • Pour the butter mixture over the dry ingredients and stir gently.
  • Place in preheated oven for 15 minutes, take out and stir. Return to oven for another 15 minutes, take out and stir. Repeat one more time.
  • Let it cool and enjoy!
Dinner Ideas · Uncategorized

Not Your Boring Oatmeal

Helena HenniganLeave a comment
Peppita, cranberries and oatmeal

We had a snow day a few days ago and some friends came over to play. I remember playing outside and coming in starving. I wanted something that I could fix ahead of time, that was warm and filling; oatmeal sounded perfect.

I quickly threw some oatmeal in a pot, saw some flax seeds and threw those in, and then added some cranberries. I didn’t know how picky the kids would be, but I figured I would make a big pot, because left overs are great; especially whem my two year old insists on “cold oatmeal” for breakfast.

I added some brown sugar and a pinch of salt and some cinnamon, lightly toasted and mixed everything together. When everyhing smelled toasted, I added some almond milk and water and let it boil. I turned off the burner when it looked done, right as our friends showed up.

After snow ball fights and snowman all over the yard the kids were cold enough and hungry enough to come in for a bit to warm up. I asked my friend if oatmeal was an okay snack. A four year old and two two year old devoured the entire pot! So much for leftovers, safe to say it was a hit.

I always flavor my oatmeal while it is cooking, not after. While it is cooking I feel like it can absorb more of the flavor and I end up using less sugar and salt. I also really like adding other textures to my oatmeal, it gives it more flavor and makes it look prettier.

I love using milk to make the oatmeal, it makes it creamier and adds some extra vitamins. Feel free to use water, or substitute with almond milk or other nut milk.

If you have an over ripe banana in your fruit bowl, throw that in. The banana folds into the oatmeal perfectly so that you get a wonderful real banana oatmeal flavor. Or if there is an apple in the fruit bowl that is not as crunchy, grab that thing and peel it. Slice it up into little bite sized slices and throw that it in.

Basic Ingredients

  • 2 tspn butter
  • 2 cups Oatmeal
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar to taste (substitute white sugar, honey or maple syrup)
  • 1/8 tspn salt to taste
  • 1/2 tspn cinnamon
  • 1/2 tspn ginger
  • 2 -2 1/2 cups milk or water

Yummy Add Ons

I usually eyeball these. If I add more ingredients, it is usually less of each. For example if I’m just adding dried cranberries, I will add a half cup, but if I’m adding dried cranberries and peppitas, I add 1/4 cup of each. Also, if I’m adding fresh or frozen fruit, I usually leave out any dried fruit.

  • Dried cranberries
  • Raisens
  • Dried mangos
  • Flax seed
  • Chia seeds
  • Coconut flakes
  • Fresh/frozen fruit: blueberries strawberries, raspberries, bananas, apples

Directions

  • Put the butter and oatmeal in a pan to toast; add the sugar, spices, and salt. Give it a quick stir.
  • When the oatmeal is smelling toasty, about 3-7 minutes or so, add the 3/4 cups dried cranberries and 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds and stir. (Any dried fruit and any seeds can be substituted, or left out)
  • Pour your milk or water on the oats and cover. Cook for about 5 minutes and serve.

Great Combinations

  • Dried mango and coconut flakes
  • Dried cranberries and Peppita
  • Banana and pecans
  • Apples and cinnamon

Of course these are just some suggestions of combinations, that work with the basic oatmeal recipe. I also like to make the basic when I’m adding frozen fruit. That way when the little ones are starving for breakfast and waiting an extra 2 minutes seems way to long, frozen blueberries cool the oatmeal to be almost instantly edible.

The frozen blueberries haven’t had a chance to warm up yet
  • Mango and coconut oatmeal
Uncategorized

Food as a love language

Helena HenniganLeave a comment

I love cooking, eating and sharing with friends and family. When people come over I open the fridge to see what they need to eat, and if there isn’t anything then I try to get something going quickly.

I enjoy reading different recipes, but hardly ever follow them perfectly. I use what I have in the fridge and pantry and if I don’t have all of what the recipe calls for I can do without or make substitutions. Or I will open the fridge and see what I have and then throw stuff together and when people ask for a recipe, I have to smile and say I threw some of this or that until it tasted good.

So now I’m going to try and put some of the food ideas into a recipe format for all my friends and family. Hope you enjoy.

People who love to eat are the best kind of people – Julia Childs