Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

Just a happy, smiling bowl of hummus 🙂

Ingredients:

1/4 cup tahini

1/4 cup lemon juice

2 tbsps olive oil

2 tsps minced garlic

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

1/2 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp dried oregano

pinch cayenne

15 oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

3/4 cup roasted red pepper, bought or homemade (recipe at the end of this post if you're interested)

Add everything except the chickpeas and roasted red peppers to a food processor and blend until smooth, scraping down the sides. Add the chickpeas and roasted red peppers and process 4 minutes. Add water, 1 tablespoon at a time, if you want a thinner consistency. 

And it's ready for dipping or spreading. Drizzle with olive oil and serve with your favourite crackers, cut veggies or fruit and of course pita chips. And don't forget to spread it on sandwiches and wraps for extra taste and nutrition!

Keeps up to 1 week in the fridge but may also be frozen and thawed overnight in the fridge.

Roasted Sweet Pepper recipe:

https://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.com/2014/09/roasted-sweet-peppers.html

Salsa Verde Fish en Papillote

This method of cooking known as en Papillote ensures that all the wonderful flavours of the salsa verde and lemon steam right into the fish.

Ingredients:

3 basa fillets, or other white fish

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tsp dijon

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley and/or spinach

2 tsps capers

1 tsp minced garlic

1/2 tsp onion powder

zest of 1 lemon

lemon slices

Optionals: sliced black olives, fresh peas, snowpeas

Cut 3 pieces of parchment paper about 12 X 15" square. Zest the lemon then put the zest aside and slice the lemons thinly. Place 3 or 4 slices on each piece of parchment.

Whisk the olive oil, dijon and salt together. Place fish on top of the lemon slices.

To make the salsa verde place the parsley, capers, garlic, onion powder and lemon zest in a food processor and pulse a few times. Or you could chop very well by hand. Spread the mixture over each fish fillet. add the black olives, peas and snowpeas if using.

Now fold the parchment up by the long sides and fold the ends into a point, then tuck underneath to ensure that the steam when cooking stays inside the parcel.

Place the pouches on a baking sheet and bake in a 450°F oven for 18-20 minutes.

Then carefully open a packet. The fish should flake easily.

Lavender - Growing and Using It

Growing lavender ... the bees love it and we all know that we need to save the bees! They go about their business getting nectar and collecting pollen and are happy not to bother you so don't bother them.

But we can share the lavender with the bees. It has many uses. Like in sachets (does everyone's Grandma smell like lavender?), crafting, cooking and baking. I've shared a couple of ideas here, but for more just look on Pinterest or google lavender and there are tons of  things to do with lavender!💜

Cut flowers in the morning for the freshest blooms and leave a 4-6" stem. Tie in small bunches.

And hang them upside-down in a semi-dark room. This storage room in the basement has only one small window so it worked fine. Leave space between the bundles for good air flow.

Or you could tie bundles together then tie them to a wreath, overlapping to cover the strings.

Work them all the way around or you may choose to leave some of the wreath exposed like I did.

Once the bundles are tied to your liking set the wreath lying flat in a darkened room to dry before attaching a ribbon to hang.

Now back to those bundles that were hanging upside-down to dry. Remove the leaves and flowers in separate piles and store them in jars with tight fitting lids to keep the oils and scent from escaping. I like these tins from David's tea because of the see-through top.

There are many uses for both lavender leaves and flowers. As lavender is an herb and a close relative of rosemary it's leaves can be used wherever you might use rosemary. 

The flowers, also edible, can be used (sparingly) in salad for instance. Start off slowly ...don't want to make your food too "perfumy"!

Blueberry Jam infused with Lavender is another way to use the flowers, adding a very subtle taste to the jam.

Here's the link to the one I made:

https://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.com/2021/07/blueberry-jam-with-lavender-infusion.html

Or try lavender in baking like these shortbread cookies:

https://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.com/2019/06/honey-and-lavender-shortbread-cookies.html

It's a pretty hardy plant that doesn't need alot of fussing. Cutting the blooms and giving your lavender a "hair cut" will promote more blooms... so more lavender to use in whatever you like! Just leave some for the bees! 

Blueberry Jam with Lavender Infusion

This small batch of blueberry jam is infused with a soothing hint of lavender, lightly complimenting the berries. 

Ingredients:

4 cups fresh blueberries (3 1/2 cups mashed)

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 cup sugar

2 tbsps Certo pectin crystals

1 tbsp dried lavender flowers

1 coffee filter and string

Lightly mash the blueberries in a large pot using a potato masher. Put the lavender flowers (give them a little crush first) in the coffee filter and tie up to form a bundle. Use 2 tablespoons of lavender if you want a more pronounced essence. Add the lemon juice and lavender bundle to the berries in the pot and bring to a boil. Then simmer on medium heat, stirring regularly, for 10 minutes. Remove lavender. Stir the sugar and pectin together and add to the pot. Return to a boil for 2 full minutes stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir for 3 minutes.

Pour into sterilized jars. My sterilizing method of choice is to pour boiling water into the jars (with a piece of cutlery standing in them to avoid cracking the jars) then submerging the lids in boiling water just before using them.

Using a large funnel for filling really does help keep the mess to a minimum!

This recipe makes about 2 cups of jam. It can be refrigerated or, if you want to keep it on the shelf before opening, process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes. Always remember to refrigerate after opening though.

Watermelon Salad

When your tomato haters are pleasantly surprised ... no tomatoes!

This salad is vibrant, refreshing and light with no oily dressing. Simply a little lime juice. A perfect hot summer evening salad!

Ingredients:

4 cups cubed watermelon

1 mango, cubed

1 sweet red pepper, diced

3/4 cup kernel corn

16-18 asparagus spears 

1 small red onion, sliced

1/4 cup pumpkin seeds

4 basil leaves, finely chopped

4 mint leaves, finely chopped

black pepper to taste

2 tbsps lime juice

First prepare the asparagus. Lay the spears in a baking dish and pour boiling water over them. Leave them while you cut and chop the rest of the salad.

Toss everything together in a large bowl, then drain the asparagus and cut into 1 1/2" lengths. Add them to the bowl too, then chill.

May be kept refrigerated for up to 2 days, if there's any left!

Serves 6

Fresh Strawberry Chia Pudding

This pudding is stupid easy to make! I mean how hard is it to throw everything in a food processor and whirl, refrigerate and done!

Ingredients:

2 cups halved strawberries (cutting the berries is the only bit of work) 

7 tbsps chia seeds

2/3 cup milk

2 tbsps maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla 

2 tsps lemon juice

Just add everything to a food processor and whirl until blended, probably less than 1 minute. As the chia seeds absorb the liquid the pudding will start to gel.

Then pour into serving dishes and refrigerate 1-2 hours before serving.

Makes 3-4 servings

Mango Zucchini Loaf

Adding mango gives this tender and moist zucchini loaf a tropical twist!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini

3/4 cup white sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp lemon zest

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 cup diced mango

Shred the zucchini then place it in a clean dish towel, roll it up and squeeze to get some of the moisture out. Then place in a large mixer bowl and combine with the sugar, egg and vegetable oil.

In a separate bowl, sift the flour, whole wheat flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder together. Just dump the grain from the whole wheat that gets caught up in the sifter into the bowl. Add the cinnamon and lemon zest.

Mix the dry ingredients with the wet until just combined. Toss the lemon juice and mango together and fold into the batter.

Flour and grease an 8 X 4" loaf pan and bake at 325°F for 55-65 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Cool 10 minutes before removing from pan.

And cool completely on rack before slicing. 

DIY Flower Tower

Add a splash of colour with this tower of flowers! Vertical gardening gives you more space to plant and can add eye-catching interest.

Supplies needed:

Large pot

Smaller plastic pot that fits inside large one

Tomato cage

Plastic snow fencing

Plastic drain pipe

Duct tape

Black garden fabric

Tie wraps

Gardening soil

Fertilizer (I used hen manure)

Flower transplants (I used 24 for this one)

Scissors and snips

First place the small plastic pot upside down in the bottom of the large one. Then fill around with soil (I used some old soil in the pot because no plants will be in this part). Next duct tape the bottom of the drain pipe, cut a few slits in it all the way up, then stand it in the pot on top of the overturned small one. This will help add moisture to the tower of flowers as well as using up a little space in the middle so less weight. I must tell you though that when this thing is filled it's still mighty heavy! Make sure you build it where you want it !!!

Add more soil to almost fill the pot and secure the drain pipe in place with soil.

Most towers I've seen on the internet use wire fencing, but I like to use what I have around instead of buying more stuff. I took some plastic snow fencing and wrapped the tomato cage with it, overlapping a bit and securing with tie wraps. Then I stood the tower in the pot with the tomato cage's prongs straddling the small upturned pot.

I then measured out the black garden fabric to go about 1 1/2 times around the tower, overlapping to prevent soil from leaking out. And make sure there is enough fabric that can be tucked over the top of the fencing and secured as well. Again, in examples I've seen the fabric is placed on the inside of the tower. But I found that to be a hassle so I just wrapped the outside and poked holes through the fabric at the tomato cage rings to secure the fabric to the tower with tie wraps as you can see in the photo below. Use snips to cut off excess from the tie wraps.

Looking inside you can see that I covered the top of the drain pipe with a piece of fabric and held it in place with a clothespin so that it didn't fill with soil. Now start filling the tower and gently water the soil down 2 or 3 times while filling. Add fertilizer to the soil too

Once filled cut crosses in fabric (you may need to snip the plastic fencing sometimes too), make a hole in the soil with you fingers then slide the transplant in. I used mostly petunias, with some begonias because hubby wanted them, and sweet potato vine on top.

I had this bamboo stick supporting the tower because it is top heavy. Even with the drain pipe and small plastic pot giving some air space this baby is H E A V Y!

But then we removed the bamboo sticks after deciding to secure the tower to a garden post with heavy wire. Fill the top of the planter tucking in the excess fabric, secure with ties and add plants to the top.

I like the look of the fabric on the outside rather than having it inside with the fencing showing, but it won't matter anyways once these beauties fill out!

A few weeks later...

and mid July. Should I have used more transplants and planted closer together?

Grilled Corn on the Cob in Husks

We're smack dab in the middle of corn season and who doesn't love a cob of corn with butter dripping all over it!

But shucking a dozen corn can be a drag. This "in husk" method of cooking corn makes shucking easy and it tastes great too!

Just pull the silk out of the top of each ear. The rest will just fall away when cooked, trust me 😊 Remove just the dry outer leaves then soak in cold water for 20-30 minutes. This will keep your cobs from catching fire on the barbecue.

Onto the grill for 15-20 minutes at medium to medium high heat (375°F -ish) turning every 4 or 5 minutes. 

The husks will very easily come off as will any silk left behind.

And they are ready to be slathered!