Recipes
Chilled Cucumber Soup
- Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Chilled Cucumber Soup
Yields: 6 servings
Total Time: 15 min
Prep Time: 15 min
Ingredients
- 2 cup(s)Greek yogurt
- 1 cup(s)vegetable broth
- 2 English cucumbers, peeled, diced, and divided
- 4 green onions, sliced, divided
- 2 tablespoon(s)chopped fresh dill
- 2 tablespoon(s)chopped fresh parsley
- 4 teaspoon(s)(a little over 1/3 lemon) fresh lemon juice
- 2 teaspoon(s)salt
Directions
- In a large bowl, combine Greek yogurt and vegetable broth; set aside. In a food processor, purée 1 peeled, diced English cucumber, 2 sliced green onions, chopped fresh dill, and chopped fresh parsley. Add the cucumber mixture, fresh lemon juice, and salt to the yogurt mixture; whisk to combine. Stir in 1 more peeled, diced English cucumber and 2 more sliced green onions; refrigerate for 1 hour. Garnish each serving with chopped dill croutons
Submitted by Debbie Brooks, source Delish.com.
RECYCLE BEVERAGES
- Friday, September 06, 2013
Upcycle Your Beverages: 20 Uses for Coffee, Tea, Soda and Beer
by Money Talks News | September 4, 2013 at 11:10 AM
(iStockphoto)
By Angela Colley, MoneyTalksNews.com
Americans consume an average of 44 gallons of soda, 27 gallons of coffee, 7 gallons of tea, and 20 gallons of beer per year.
The problem is, if your house is anything like mine, not every beverage you buy ends up being consumed. I’m always finding half-full cups of coffee, watered-down tea, or unfinished beer in my house. In a perfect world, that wouldn’t happen, but I’m a realist. Sometimes there’s going to be a little left in the bottom of the cup (or leftover grounds in the pot).
But rather than waste it, I reuse it. I like to think of it as upcycling. Here are some examples:
Coffee
- Stain wood. Dab a washcloth in coffee and run it over a scratch in your wood furniture or hardwood floor. The coffee will stain the scratch and help blend it in.
- Kill the garlic and onion smell. After cooking with garlic or onions, rub used coffee grounds on your hands and wash with soap. No more smell.
- Keep bugs away. Used coffee grounds act as a natural barrier to insects. Line your garden or potted plants and keep pests out.
- Fertilize plants. A friend once told me to mix coffee grounds in the soil for tomato plants. I tried it and grew a crop of gorgeous tomatoes.
- Stop fridge odors. Coffee grounds act like baking soda in the fridge. Pour a cupful into a bowl, stick it on the top rack, and the grounds will absorb odors.
Tea
- Soak pots and pans. For grease and burnt-on food, fill the sink with warm water, drop in two used tea bags and soak the pan overnight. In the morning, the pan will scrub clean easily.
- Reduce under-eye circles. Pop leftover tea bags in the fridge. After they’ve completely cooled, place the bags over your eyes for 10 minutes. The cooled tea will reduce puffiness.
- Shine your shoes. Gently rub a used tea bag on your dark-colored shoes in a circular motion, then buff with a dry towel. The tea will clean your shoes and add a little shine. Warning: Liquid can damage suede. Use this trick only for leather or imitation-leather fabrics.
- Clean glass. Fill a spray bottle with half leftover tea and half water. Spray the mixture on windows and wipe off with old newspaper. You’ll get a streak-free shine without all the chemicals.
- Soothe skin. Tea can soothe irritation from poison ivy, sunburns, razor burns or bug bites. Just soak a cotton ball in cool tea and dab on.
Almond Basil Hummus
- Thursday, June 27, 2013
Ingredients:
1 25oz can of garbanzo beans
1 handful mixed basil and parsley
3 cloves garlic, smashed
1/3 c. almond butter (creamy)
dash of smoked Tabasco sauce
juice of 1 medium lime
1/3 c. extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
more basil and parsley for garnish
fresh vegetables, pita wedges or plain crackers for dipping
Directions:
Combine first 6 ingredients in food processor and blend until smooth. Slowly add olive oil while processor is running on low, until desired consistency is reached. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with a drizzle of olive oil and a little chopped parsley and basil.
Makes a generous 1 1/2 cups
submitted (and created) by Allison Liddell
Stuffed Zucchini
- Thursday, May 23, 2013
Ingredients:
1 tbsp sour cream
1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp curry powder
1/2 tomato
1 tsp thyme
2 zucchinis
1 onion
cheese
pepper
Optional: bacon
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 400 (200C).
Give the zucchini a good scrub.
From Kayotic Kitchen
http://www.kayotic.nl/blog/stuffed-zucchini
Submitted by Jacki Brewer
Book Review
- Thursday, May 23, 2013
THE COMPLETE BOOK OF COMPOSTING
Submitted by Jacki Brewer
I found this vintage composting book a while back that was published in 1960. It is The Complete Book of Composting by J.I. Rodale and Staff. Seemed a good book to have in a gardener’s library.
This is the first sentence in the introduction, “Compost is the core, the essential foundation of natural gardening and farming. It is the heart of the organic concept.”
The following is an excerpt from chapter one, The History of Compost. It reads like a descriptive narrative of a wonderful documentary:
“In the soft, warm bosom of a decaying compost heap, a transformation from life to death and back again is taking place. Life is leaving the living plants of yesterday, but in their death these leaves and stalks pass on their vitality to the coming generations of future seasons. Here in a dank and mouldy pile the wheel of life is turning.
‘Compost is more than a fertilizer or a healing agent for the soil’s wounds. It is a symbol of continuing life. Nature herself made compost before man first walked the earth and before the first dinosaur reared its head above a primeval swamp. Leaves falling to the forest floor and slowly mouldering are composting. The dead grass of the meadow seared by winter’s frost is being composted by the dampness of the earth beneath. The birds, the insects and the animals contribute their bodies to this vast and continuing soil rebuilding program of nature.
‘The compost heap in your garden is an intensified version of this process of death and rebuilding which is going on almost everywhere in nature. In the course of running a garden there is always and accumulation of organic wastes of different sorts---leaves, grass clippings, weeds, twigs---and since time immemorial gardeners have been accumulating this material in piles, eventually to spread it back on the soil as rich, dark humus.
‘Because the compost heap is symbolic of nature’s best effort to build the soil and because compost is the most efficient and practical fertilizer, it has become the heart of the organic method. The compost heap is to the organic gardener what the typewriter is the writer, what the shovel is to the laborer and what the truck is to the truckdriver. It is the basic tool to do the job which is to be done. In the case of the organic gardener the job is the creation of the finest garden soil he knows how to build, and compost has proven itself through thousands of years of use to be the best tool for the job.”
Couldn’t be more beautifully written. Probably because Rodale (1898-1971) himself was a writer to begin with before he began his pursuit of promoting a healthy and active lifestyle with an emphasis on organic foods and gardening. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerome_Irving_Rodale
SALAD BURNETT RECIPES
- Tuesday, March 05, 2013