Pumpkin Pie Spice

It's almost here! Fall! I'm so excited. I love fall weather, gorgeous fall leaves, boots, and pumpkin, pumpkin, PUMPKIN! I'm finally getting around to sharing how I make my Pumpkin Pie Spice with you! I love mixing my own spice seasonings, I can tweak them to our liking.
This pie spice is fragrant and flavorful. I used some whole spices, but pre ground works great. Sometimes I add powdered vanilla to this mix also.

Pesto Chicken Pasta with Zoodles

Pesto Chicken Pasta with Zoodles

I have some exciting news. I have kept a basil plant alive the whole summer. I know summer isn't over but this is a big accomplishment. I have harvested basil at least three times from the same plant! Amazing!! Usually I can't keep plants alive very long at all. Especially in a pot. I'm so excited about this plant. I baby it. 

So because I have all this basil we've been enjoying caprese, in all forms and pesto! I keep making pesto to freeze, but then I keep pulling it out to make quick dinners. I don't think I'll have any by the time fall leaves, boots, and pumpkin spice make their appearance. Still, we'll keep enjoying this while we can. I use almonds in our Pesto because it's the only nut that my nut free girl can have. Pine nuts of course are beautifully buttery and yummy, so use them if you have them. Walnuts are wonderful also. 

Basil Pesto keeps best if air is kept away from it. To store in the fridge, add a layer of olive oil to the top to protect it. See freezer instructions below.

Simple Salmon Salad

Isn't it funny how kids will surprise you with what they will and won't eat? Like up until a few months ago my girls would eat raw salmon, but not cooked. Now they all will eat cooked salmon, Pixie doesn't eat it raw. I admittedly am not a huge fan of cooked salmon, I'd much rather have it raw. Pixie also only eats "clean" mushrooms, not "dirty". Meaning she will eat raw mushrooms, but not cooked ones. Weird kids here at Give Peas A Chance. I didn't think the kids would like this simple salad at all. I don't know. For one I haven't bought canned salmon in years. Because no one eats it. I remember as a child my mom would take a can of sardines in tomato sauce. She added cilantro, onions, and I don't even know what else. It was so good though. SO thought, everything is better with fresh cilantro, let's try it.
The kids loved it. Not kidding. I made one can for myself and they each had a bite. I ended up using three cans total during lunch. So odd. I really enjoyed it also. Spicy, tart, fresh cilantro. YUM. We just had it over lettuce. I wonder if I made this for them to take to school if they would eat it? Or if this was a fluke?
PS Pixie can't handle the jalapenos so I leave them off of her salad.

Give Peas A Chance Salmon Salad

2 cans Wild Alaskan Salmon, drained well (6 ounces each)

Zest from one lime

Juice from one lime

Kosher salt

Fresh cracked pepper

1-2 jalapenos, chopped (seeded if you don't want it too spicy)
1/3 cup chopped cilantro

Mix- lime zest, half the lime juice, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, and black pepper.

Toss the salmon gently with the lime dressing and jalapenos.
Taste salmon and adjust seasonings, salt, pepper, and lime juice.
Gently fold in cilantro.

Serve with crackers, on top of lettuce, in tomatoes, or just eat it!

-Check your Kosher salt, Diamond Crystal Kosher salt is the only one I've seen without additives. I was so frustrated when I glanced down at my blue box one day and saw that there wasn't just "salt" in there. Sigh.
- If you are making this ahead and want to store it in the refrigerator leave the cilantro out, and fold it in before serving.

- Sliced red onion would be good in this salad also.

Green Goddess Goodness

One of my favorite things at the Melting Pot is their Green Goddess Dressing. It's so good. I love stuffing the mushrooms with it, dipping the veggies in it, eating it off of a spoon. It's embarrassing, but not enough to hide it from you all. The thing about making it at home is that I can do all of that stuff and no one sees me.
This goodness is great stuffed into mushrooms, celery, used as a dip for vegetables. It's also very easy to make. So enjoy!

Give Peas A Chance Green Goddess Dressing/Dip/Goodness

8 ounces cream cheese
1/4-1/2 cup sour cream
3 tablespoons chopped or minced  parsley
2 tablespoons minced chives
1 tablespoon minced onion
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
Milk for thinning
Kosher salt
Pepper

Mix it together. Season with salt and a little pepper to taste. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for a good 4 hours or more.
*I use less fresh onion usually because I just don't like raw onions much.
*dried chives are fine, just use less
*sometimes I add Summer Savory too

GPAC Best Caprese Salad

I LOVE Caprese salads. SO for this "Manic Monday" post, I'm re sharing this salad. And the whole post really.
I can't wait for summer and beautiful, juicy, summer tomatoes. Do you like Caprese salads?

Find more "ManIc MoNdaY" posts here.

Grass Jelly Drink

I grew up drinking this. My mom would make it for us as a treat. So refreshing and cooling. The beautiful dark brown/black cubes of jelly is Grass Jelly. It doesn't taste like grass, if it does at all it's mild. Not sweet, not salty. It's cooling. Just slightly bitter, not much. Thicker than Jello, but a little less dense than say Jello Jigglers. You'll often see it being served in Boba tea houses along with beans, jack fruit, Boba/tapioca pearls.

Growing up my mom mixed this with a light simple syrup, sometimes steeped with Pandan leaves and lots of crushed ice. Often she would add a splash of soy milk. Sometimes we'd have it with coconut milk, and it's cream, and a simple syrup. Now, I drink it with almond milk and a simple syrup. Sometimes coconut milk, simple syrup, basil seed, and pandan tapioca.

Free Friday

Sometimes you just want a sandwich made on a roll from the local Mexican bakery.
You just want to spread mayo on that roll, toast it.
Pile on some steak and cheese.
Broil it again to melt the cheese. Then you want to mound fresh spicy guacamole, cilantro, and sliced jalapenos on top.

Sometimes, that's just how it is.

GPAC Smokey Ancho Chile Seasoning

This seasoning can be used for so many things.

Soups

Stews

Grilling shrimp, fish, chicken, pork, beef, vegetables

Roasting meats, vegetables

With meats in the crock pot- sprinkle it on pork or chicken. Once cooked shred it and serve as pictured above, over a salad, in lettuce wraps and more.

Use it to season tortilla, sweet potato, plantain chips, or potato chips

It has a smokey flavor, a little sweet. The Ancho Chilie powder is where the smokey flavor comes from, if you want less smokey use 1 tablespoon of the Ancho and 3 tablespoons of the chili powder. When used as a rub it caramelizes beautifully! Use as little or as much as you'd like. If you've never used coriander seed it is fragrant and so good. I use my spice grinder to grind it up. It is cilantro seed but does not taste the same.

Curry "Noodle" Bowl

MMMM YUMMM. This is so very good, and everyone LOVES it. So very good. It's a quick meal and heats up well. A little heat from the curry and chili powders. Creamy and rich from the stock and coconut milk. It's grain free, sugar free, and dairy free also. Check your coconut milk and fish sauce ingredients to make sure they don't have any added ingredients that you don't want to be eating.
The curry can be made spicy or mild to your liking. Homemade curry powder is most flavorful if you make yours. I like to make big batches at a time.

More yumminess

MYO Vanilla Extract

MMM, vanilla. 

I love using vanilla beans, vanilla paste, vanilla powder, vanilla extract, ground vanilla. I never measure, I just pour or scoop it in. You can't get enough good vanilla.

Recently I ran out of vanilla extract, and I've seen this make your own extract all over Pinterest. So I thought I'd give it a shot. Even if I still have to go buy a bottle of extract until this is ready to use.

I didn't have a dark glass jar or vodka. So I found this little bottle of vodka at the store and decided to use it. Even if it's clear, light glass. I store my vanillas in a cool dark place, so I wasn't too concerned. 

Just about all of the posts I read said any cheap vodka will do. Some said bourbon and some said rum were good also. I picked vodka because I liked this bottle, I know right? I also needed some to make pasta sauce. So that's why some of this is missing out of the bottle.

I think I'll modge podge something on the bottle, a label. But I'm not sure yet.

Other than the waiting 4-6 weeks to use this stuff, it's really easy to make. 

Free Friday- Chiffonade

We were watching a cooking show the other day, and Diva (7) said, "she's going to chiffonade that."
me- "really, and what is that exactly."
Diva "when you stack up the leaves, roll them and slice them."
(woot, she remembers slicing basil for me.)
me- " that's right, I'm impressed that you remember that."
Piglet- "daddy does that with papers, in his machine." (paper shredder"
me- "awesome."
lol

GPAC Apple Rings

First off, I have to tell you something about these Apple rings. They look crispy, I know they do. But they aren't like a potato chip. Diva and I decided that they were more like a fruit leather with a tiny crispy to them. They are very good and very easy to make. I didn't even pull out my mandolin. Because my mandolin... well it leaves much to be desired. I just used a knife. I did put the apples in a bowl of filtered water with some Fruit Fresh to keep them from browning. This is optional, you can use water and some lemon juice also. Just keep in mind that whatever you put on the apples will be concentrated when dehydrated. So they may be a little tart.
I used Cameo apples and Granny Smith. I love the tart Granny Smith apples. So good. With salt and spicy Thai chili powder. MMM. The Cameo's are so sweet and crunchy. I usually buy sweeter apples for the girls because they like that.

Smashed Potatoes

I'm not a potato kind of girl, I've seen these potatoes before but we just don't eat a lot of potatoes so I just filed it in the back of my head. When I saw these pinned on Pinterest for some reason they looked so good. My friend did say the recipe she pinned wasn't that great so I didn't bother with it.

I tried to season these with each step to add more flavor. This is nothing more than a method, add whatever spices and herbs you like.
These are creamy soft in the middle and crisp on the outside. SO good. I'll be making these again.
UPDATE: To make these potatoes even quicker use a pressure cooker, I use an Instant Pot. I updated the recipe at the bottom.

Caprese Salad with Nicoise Olive Salt

 Straight forward and so good with Nicoise Olive salt.

Lao Omelet

Lao Omelet- is there such a thing? I don't know. But my mom used to make this and we'd have it with sticky rice or jasmine rice. This omelet has crispy sides and is drier or more well done than a fluffy soft Western omelet.  Sometimes she would put both sliced tomatoes and chives, just chives and or green onions in it. Really, just whatever we had on hand. I put oyster sauce, a little soy sauce OR nam pla with a little bit of white pepper in with the eggs also. I *think* my mom did also. I don't remember. I also love putting red pepper flakes on top. This omelet, Lao beef jerky, steamed vegetables like broccoli and cabbage with nam pla dipping sauce. YUM. The girls love sticky rice, so it's always a hit.

No real recipe, just eggs scrambled with seasonings and herbs and/or vegetables.
Here's an earlier post on this:  Lao omelet

Whisk it all together.

Frying it up.

All done.

Steamed broccoli.

Sticky rice.

Kaffir Lime Leaves and Lemongrass

I posted this Larb gai yesterday and thought I put this picture in that post. I didn't. My mom grows these Kaffir leaves so she brings them to me to put in my freezer. I love them. So fragrant and fresh. Great in soups, Thai beef salad, marinades, curries and more.
They can also be dehydrated. Just wash, dry, and put them in my dehydrator.

Larb/Laab Gai

My mom is in town. I'm now the sous chef, with the 4x6 cards in the background frantically trying to eyeball just how much of what she put in where. She's never used measuring utensils, I think that's why it is hard for me to cook with them also. I'm cool with that. Just keep cooking mom.

This is the ONE dish that will make my Pixie girl (who will be two soon)eat lettuce, she likes it wrapped in lettuce and goes to town.

Kaffir leaves. So fragrant and fresh. My mom brought these from home, she grows just about everything. I didn't get that gene. I can't grow mint, basil, nothing.
5/11/207 update= I have made this withOUT the rice powder for a Whole30 compliant salad and it's still yummy! I'll be making it for more Whole 30 meals for sure.

Herbs/Spices/Seasonings- Share your favorites!