Gazpacho

I love gazpacho in the summer, when the tomatoes are big and red. I went back to Ed Lester Farms yet again. I brought back huge, beautiful, red, ripe tomatoes. It is so amazing to cut into a tomato and not see white in the center. These tomatoes are as red inside as out. I also found the cucumber, red onion and bell pepper I needed to make this gazpacho. This is a recipe from the WW Recipe Review board. I have made it many, many times. It is really delicious. Over the years I have decided I like a blend of herbs in this recipe. Equal parts parsley and cilantro is perfect. I have used both V8 and tomato juice before. I still can't decide which I like better? As I type this I am thinking this batch of gazpacho was the best yet. But I have to admit I have thought that before. I think it really comes down to the fresh tomatoes and cucumber. This is such a delicious soup! It is almost like salsa in a bowl. It makes a great starter, snack or light lunch. I need to make this recipe a few more times before the summer tomatoes are gone.

Gazpacho 
Makes 1 gallon; 16 one cup servings 

Ingredients

6 ripe tomatoes, diced 
1 purple onion, diced 
1 English cucumber, seeded and diced 
1 green bell pepper, diced 
2 stalks celery, diced 
1 handful each Parsley and Cilantro, roughly chopped 
1 bunch of green onions, sliced 
1 clove garlic, minced
4 cups low sodium V8 vegetable juice (or tomato juice) 
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 or 2 dashes of hot sauce, or to taste 
2 teaspoons of sugar 
Kosher salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes, to taste
1/4 cup red wine vinegar 
1/4 cup olive oil 

Directions

Combine first 8 ingredients in a blender or food processor, pulse until the desire consistency. It will have to be done in batches. Combine all ingredients in a large plastic bowl (I use a 1 gallon pitcher), refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight to blend.

Want More Gazpacho Ideas?

Try These Other Great Recipes.

Creamy Gazpacho

This is a wonderful smooth, very creamy gazpacho from Kelsey Nixion of the Cooking Channel. This one you can sip from a glass. I have made it a few times and really enjoyed it.

Cajun Gazpacho

This is actually one of my recipes that I entered in a recipe contest. It won a prize and was published in Country Woman Magazine. It is an adaptation of the recipe I am sharing with you in this post. I just added lots more spice, flavor and seafood. It tastes like a cross between a bloody Mary and cocktail sauce. Delicious! Don't be intimidated by the long list of ingredients.

Green Tomato Gazpacho

This gazpacho is surprisingly sweet and creamy. You would think the green tomatoes would be tart, but they are not. The best way to describe this one is it is sweet and crisp. It also has a great texture, sort of crunchy like pickle relish. It would be a beautiful starter for summer meal.

Linking to:

Ms. enPlace: See Ya in the Gumbo

The Chicken Chick: Clever Chicks Blog Hop
The Tumbleweed Contessa: What'd You Do This Weekend?
Stone Cottage Adventures: Tuesdays with a Twist
Creative K Kids: Tasty Tuesdays
Buns In My Oven: What's Cookin' Wednesday

Light Spinach Dip

I was first served Knorr Spinach Dip when I was in college. A fellow interior design student made it and served it with Bugles. I was hooked. I started making it for my family and friends. It is still one of my favorite cold dips.

Recently I saw a spinach dip recipe on Pinterest that used cottage cheese instead of sour cream and mayo. I thought I have to try that. But I could not get the Knorr dip out of my mind. I just knew if I made it, I would be disappointed it was not the Knorr dip. So I decided to borrow the technique and modify the spinach dip I craved into a light spinach dip. It worked great. It is a thick, delicious, loaded spinach dip. I love the crunch from the water chestnuts and green onions. It is so thick it will break a wimpy chip. Dear sister and I tried it with corn chips first. It was really good. But my favorite was the veggies. I did not have Bugles on hand this time. But I will next time I make it. The cottage cheese was a great substitute for the sour cream. I think I liked it better than light sour cream or plain Greek yogurt. It has more dairy flavor and is less tangy than the others. I look forward to trying it in other dips and dressings. It did not get completely smooth in the blender. There were a few curds left, but they were hardly noticeable in this dip recipe. This was a great experiment, one for the recipe box.

Light Spinach Dip

Makes 3 cups; Serves 12 (1/4 cup each)

Ingredients

16 oz. light cottage cheese

2 Tbsp. light mayonnaise

1 package Knorr vegetable soup and recipe mix

1 can (8 oz.) water chestnuts, drained and chopped

3 green onions, sliced

1 package (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

Directions

Place cottage cheese in a blender and blend until smooth. Combine cottage cheese, mayonnaise, recipe mix, water chestnuts and green onions. Stir until well combined. Add spinach mixing well until all combined. Chill about 2 hours. Serve with your favorite veggies, corn chips or Bugles.

Nutritional Information per serving*: Calories 58.0, Total Fat 1.5 g, Saturated Fat 0.6 g, Polyunsaturated Fat 0.4 g, Monounsaturated Fat 0.2 g, Cholesterol 5.7 mg, Sodium 418.6 mg, Potassium 78.8 mg, Total Carbohydrate 6.5 g, Dietary Fiber 0.9 g, Sugars 1.8 g, Protein 5.1 g.

WW P+ 1

*Information from the Sparkrecipes calculator. NI may vary depending on the brand or size of the ingredients used to prepare it.

Linking to:
My Turn for Us: Freedom Fridays with All My Bloggy Friends
Ms. enPlace: See Ya in the Gumbo
The Chicken Chick: Clever Chicks Blog Hop
The Tumbleweed Contessa: What'd You Do This Weekend?
Stone Cottage Adventures: Tuesdays with a Twist
Creative K Kids: Tasty Tuesdays
Dizzy Busy & Hungry: Wine'd Down Wednesday
Buns In My Oven: What's Cookin' Wednesday

Grilled Italian Sausage Stuffed Peppers

This is an amazing low maintenance two ingredient appetizer. Just two ingredients! How easy is that? Wait does cooking spray count? I don't think it does. Anyway this is a very simple and flavorful appetizer. All you need is turkey Italian sausage and a bag of mini multi-colored peppers. No salt! No pepper! All the seasoning is in the sausage. So good! So simple. The first time I made them dear sister had brought me a beautiful bag of red, yellow and orange peppers. They were all small about the size of a jalapeno. When I went to buy a bag myself, they were almost all orange peppers. So what you will see here is orange sweet peppers (that look yellow) and a jalapeno pepper for color. Just close your eyes and imagine all the colors. It's beautiful right? No matter the color, these little appetizers taste like sausage and peppers in just 2 or 3 bites. They are great hot and at room temperature. I really liked the jalapeno too. It was not too hot, just a little spicier than the sweet peppers. Dear sister loved them. I can't wait to make them for Mom and Dad. I think Dad will not even mind that it is turkey Italian sausage. Try them on your friends and family. They are so impressive for very little effort.

Now for one more order of business. What do you think of my distressed baking sheet background? This is actually a clean pan that I have been keeping in the oven, upside down to cook my Tortilla Pizzas on. It has really developed a patina or distressed look. I have been seeing all these rustic photos of grilled foods, so I thought I would try it. I can't decide if I love it? Or if I think it is too rustic? Opinions?

Grilled Italian Sausage Stuffed Peppers
Serves approx. 8 to 10

Ingredients

1 lb. sweet Italian turkey sausage, casing removed
1 bag of mini sweet peppers (jalapenos, Fresnos or a mix)
Olive oil cooking spray

Directions

Pre-heat grill to medium-high heat for 10 minutes.

Half peppers from stem to tip. Remove seeds and stem. Stuff each half with turkey Italian sausage. Fill forming a rounded top. The turkey will shrink so over stuff them a little. Spray the turkey with a little olive oil cooking spray.

Grill turkey side down for 4 minutes. Flip and grill pepper side down 4 more minutes. Remove from grill and allow to rest 5 to 10 minutes. Serve as an appetizer or snack.

Linking to:
The Chicken Chick: Clever Chicks Blog Hop
Ms. enPlace: See Ya in the Gumbo
Horrific Knits: Inspired Weekends
Carole's Chatter: Food on Friday - Italian Food
Stone Cottage Adventures: Tuesdays with a Twist
Creative K Kids: Tasty Tuesdays
Dizzy Busy & Hungry: Wine'd Down Wednesday
Miz Helen's Country Cottage: Full Plate Thursday
Hungry Harps: #GetHimFed Fridays
My Turn for Us: Freedom Fridays with All My Bloggy Friends
Buns In My Oven: What's Cookin' Wednesday
Snippets of Inspiration: Weekend Wind Down Link Party

Peach Drop Biscuits

Drop Biscuit experiment number two, no wait? Number three? First there was Goat Cheese Drop Biscuits. Second Blueberry Drop Biscuits and now Peach Drop Biscuits. Of the three this has to be the most aromatic of them all. You can smell the ginger and cinnamon the minute the batter is stirred together. It really fills the house with warm baking aromas when it is in the oven. I loved the little specks of cinnamon in the biscuit, really pretty. The ginger and cinnamon were great with the peaches too. I used a firm under ripe white peach. White peaches were a better deal at the store. In my humble opinion it was a little sweeter than the yellow peaches I have had in the past.

About now you must be wondering why does this girl keep making only two biscuits? Well...the simple answer is I will eat too many biscuits if I cook more! So if you are cooking for the family just double, triple or quadruple the recipe. I know the base recipe works that way. The only ingredient I would be careful with is the ginger. I do plan to make a large batch to share with my family soon. I will let you know about the ginger amount then. That being said there is not one ingredient in the recipe that over powers the others. It is really well balanced. The texture is a little more cake like than the other recipes, but that is not a bad thing. I really enjoyed this experiment too. I can't wait to try it with yellow peaches next. Ed Lester Farms has more and more peaches every time I visit. I see a peach pie in my future too.

Peach Drop Biscuits

Makes 2 biscuits

Ingredients

1/2 tsp. fresh ginger, grated

2 Tbsp. + 1-1/2 tsp. milk (2% works fine)

4 tsp vegetable oil

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt (table salt not kosher)

4 tsp. sugar

1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 to 1/3 cup fresh peaches, diced (I used a white peach)

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Combine liquid ingredients, ginger, milk, oil and set aside. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and cinnamon. Add peaches and toss in the flour. Add oil and milk mixture. Stir until just combined. Drop large spoonfuls on ungreased baking sheet, forming 2 biscuits. Bake 10 to 12 minutes until golden brown.

Linking to:
The Chicken Chick: Clever Chicks Blog Hop
Stone Cottage Adventures: Tuesdays with a Twist
Creative K Kids: Tasty Tuesdays
Miz Helen's Country Cottage: Full Plate Thursday

Blueberry Drop Biscuits for One

Now that I have the family Drop Biscuit recipe down pat. I can't help but experiment a little. This weekend I decided to sweeten the recipe up by adding a little sugar and some fruit. I used some blueberries from my freezer. It worked beautifully! These biscuits have just a hint of sweetness. They are not sweet like a blueberry muffin, they are more like a scone. Delicious just plain, no need for butter. They are great hot from the oven or at room temperature. I did notice that they browned a little faster. Any raised pieces of dough will get dark. So the second time I made them I patted down any peaks in the dough and that help them brown evenly. I am really excited about how this worked out. I can't wait to try some other fruits in this recipe. I have several flavor combinations in mind all ready. Be sure to come back for something "peachy" real soon.

Blueberry Drop Biscuits for One

Makes 2 biscuits

Ingredients

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt (table salt not kosher)

4 tsp. sugar

1/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (do not thaw)

2 Tbsp. + 1-1/2 tsp. milk (2% works fine)

4 tsp vegetable oil

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Add blueberries and toss in the flour. Add oil and milk. Stir until just combined. Drop large spoonfuls on ungreased baking sheet, forming 2 biscuits. Pat down any peaks in the dough with your fingers. Bake 10 to 12 minutes until golden brown.

Linking to:
Ms. enPlace: See Ya in the Gumbo
Jam Hands: Recipe Sharing Monday
The Tumbleweed Contessa: What'd You Do This Weekend?

Nori Spicy Tuna Salad Wrap

I think I mentioned that I tried some other bloggers recipes recently. The first was a Nori Salad Wrap that Aylin at Glow Kitchen shared on her blog. Such a smart idea. I loved the salty sea flavor of the nori with the salad ingredients. But the best part was the drizzle of the soy and tahini. I LOVED IT! The sesame soy combo was so good. It made a great toasty and salty dressing for this wrap. I will definitely make this wrap again and again.

The second blogger recipe I tried was a Spicy Tuna Salad that Caroline shared on her blog Pickled Plum. I was looking for a a new protein for another Sushi Salad. This did not disappoint. I love her spicy twist on tuna salad. It really elevated plain canned tuna. It would be great in a sushi salad, a lettuce wrap, sandwich, stuffed into a tomato or just with crackers. I am definitely going to make another sushi salad soon with this as the star ingredient.

But first I was inspired to mash up these two great recipes into my own Nori Spicy Tuna Salad Wrap. I used some leftover grilled tuna from my Baja Beach Fish Tacos. I mixed it with mayo, Sriracha, sugar, rice vinegar and a touch of sesame oil for my filling. Then I wrapped it up with crisp veggies in a nori sheet. It was delicious! Spicy, salty, fresh, crunchy and a little messy. That last two bites of each roll was all over my fingers. It's okay, it is a finger licking good wrap. So no worries, just sit down with a stack of napkins.

Nori Spicy Tuna Salad Wrap

Serves 1

Ingredients

1 Tbsp. mayonnaise

1 to 2 tsp. Sriracha sauce, or to taste

1/2 tsp. sugar

Splash of rice vinegar

1 or 2 drops sesame oil

5 oz. canned light tuna or leftover grilled tuna

1 green onion, chopped fine

1 nori seaweed sheet

1 romaine lettuce leaf

Carrots, shredded

Cucumber, julienned

Directions

Mix mayo, sriracha, sugar, vinegar and sesame oil together in a small bowl. Add tuna and green onion stir to combine.

Place nori shiny side down on a flat surface. Place lettuce leaf on the bottom of the nori. Top with carrots, cucumber and tuna mixture. Roll up, cut in half and serve.

Linking to:
Ms. enPlace: See Ya in the Gumbo
Jam Hands: Recipe Sharing Monday
The Tumbleweed Contessa: What'd You Do This Weekend?
Carole's Chatter: Food on Fridays - Leftovers

Ground Beef Chili Rellenos Tacos

When I went to Ed Lester Farms this last time I got four pretty poblano peppers. I knew I wanted to make a new Chili Rellenos Taco recipe. This is perhaps the spiciest of all the Chili Rellenos Taco recipes I have shared with you. You have the heat of the poblano, the spices of the taco seasoning and the Rotel in the Cucumber Ranch Salsa. Dear sister and I commented on the heat level but just kept on munching. I think her exact words were, "the heat just keeps building". So you have been warned. I used cheddar for this taco because that was the norm in my house with taco meat. I really liked it with all the other flavors. This recipe made for a deliciously spicy taco night.

Ground Beef Chili Rellenos Tacos
Serves 4

Ingredients

4 poblano peppers
1 lb lean ground beef
1 packet Taco Seasoning
8 small flour tortillas
1/2 cup 2% cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup Cucumber Ranch Salsa (click here for recipe)

Directions

To grill the poblanos: Pre-heat grill to medium-high heat for 10 minutes. Place poblanos on the grill. Grill for five minutes on each side until skins are charred. Remove poblanos and cover with plastic wrap. When poblanos are cool enough to touch, peel off the skin of the poblanos. Cut poblanos in half from stem to tip, remove seeds, stem and veins being careful not to split open the sides of the pepper.


To prepare the beef: Brown ground beef in a skillet over medium high heat. Add taco seasoning and water as directed on the package. Simmer until all water is absorbed. Turn off heat.

To assemble the tacos: Warm the tortillas on the grill or in the microwave for a few seconds. Place a poblano half on each tortilla. Spoon the seasoned beef over the chili, top with cheese and salsa.