ensalada de col (Mexican coleslaw)

I recently shared this recipe with a friend and when she declared yesterday that it was her favorite salad in the whole world, I thought maybe someone else might enjoy it too. It's not my favorite salad in the whole world (I think that would have to be the chopped salad from Outback with pecans and Gorgonzola.), but it is a very good coleslaw and I don't really care for slaw.

Ensalada de Col

From the Border Cookbook by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison

Makes about 2 cups

2 ½ cups shredded green cabbage, or a mixture of green and red

½ small red onion, sliced think in rings and rings halved

1 carrot, grated

¼ cup vegetable oil

2 tablespoons vinegar, preferably white

1 teaspoon fresh- ground black pepper

¾ teaspoon salt

½ to 1 teaspoon chile caribe or dried red chile flakes (optional)

¼ teaspoon sugar

Place the cabbage in a large bowl. In a small bowl, stir together the remaining ingredients, and when the sugar has dissolved, pour the mixture over the cabbage. Toss the cabbage with the dressing and refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving.

Another Sweet Pulled Pork from Cafe Rio

3-4 lbs pork roast
2 cups Dr. Pepper
1-2 cups brown sugar (I like 2 cups)
2 8 oz cans tomato sauce
1 8 oz yellow can El Pato (Mexican tomato sauce, find it in Albertson's or Macy's Mexican food aisle)

Simmer pork roast with all ingredients 6 hours in a crock pot. Carefully remove roast and pull apart with forks. Add meat back to crock pot and simmer for additional 2 hours. If sauce is too thin, remove 2 cups and thicken with corn starch, then add it back to the crock pot.

Serve over rice or on buns and enjoy.

Tomato Tart

Serves 8


2 Tsp olive oil
3 TBSP whipped cream cheese
All-purpose flour, for dusting
1/2 recipe Pâte Brisée (see next bolg post for the recipe)
2 ounces Italian fontina (or Swiss cheese) cheese, grated (about 1/2 cup)
1 & 1/2 pounds firm but ripe tomatoes (4 medium), cored and sliced 1/4 inch thick (try using a combination or red and yellow tomatoes for a visual delight).
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper


1. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to a 1/8-inch-thick circle, about 12 inches in diameter. With a dry pastry brush, brush off the excess flour; roll the dough around the rolling pin, and lift it over a 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Line the pan with the dough, pressing it into the corners. Trim the dough so that it is flush with the edges; transfer to the refrigerator to chill, about 30 minutes.

2. Heat oven to 450°.

3. Slice tomatoes and lay on paper towels to absorb some of the juice.

4. Spread cream cheese evenly on the chilled crust. Sprinkle with half of the cheese. Arrange the tomatoes on top of the cheese, in an overlapping circular pattern. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with remaining cheese, and drizzle with 2 tablespoons oil. Transfer to oven. Reduce temperature to 400°, and bake until crust is golden and tomatoes are soft but still retain their shape, 30 to 45 minutes. Transfer to wire rack to cool for 20 minutes, and serve warm.

Tomato Tart Crust

PÂTE BRISÉE (PIE DOUGH)

Makes 1 double-crust or 2 single-crust 9- to 10-inch pies
Pâte brisée is the French version of classic pie or tart pastry. Pressing the dough into a disk rather than shaping it into a ball allows it to chill faster. This will also make the dough easier to roll out, and if you freeze it, it will thaw more quickly. For step-by-step photos, see our Piecrust 101 feature.


2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
1/4 to 1/2 cup ice water

1. In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour, salt, and sugar. Add butter, and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal, 8 to 10 seconds.

2. With machine running, add ice water in a slow, steady stream through feed tube. Pulse until dough holds together without being wet or sticky; be careful not to process more than 30 seconds. To test, squeeze a small amount together: If it is crumbly, add more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time.

3. Divide dough into two equal balls. Flatten each ball into a disk, and wrap in plastic. Transfer to the refrigerator, and chill at least 1 hour. Dough may be stored, frozen, up to 1 month.

Creamy Vanilla Syrup

Note: this recipe is from DeAnn's Golden Pinwheels recipe, but I found that it is great over pancakes (see raisin bran pancakes recipe) and easy to make.

Creamy Vanilla Syrup
1 ½ cups sugar
4 TBSP Flour
2 cups water
2 Tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla
Combine Sugar, flour and water in pan. Stir over medium heat until thickened. (Or microwave in large bowl). Add butter and vanilla. Stir until butter is melted.
May also add chopped fresh or dried apples and/or cinnamon for an even better topping.

Raisin Bran Microwave muffins and pancakes

I am still working on perfecting this recipe, but wanted to share it even though it may not yet be quite there yet.

4 C Boiling water
1 (15 oz) box Raisin Bran Cereal
1 C Oil or shortening
4 eggs
1 1/2 C Sugar
1 qt buttermilk or 1 qt plain yogurt or 1 qt water +3/4 C dry milk + 2 Tbl lemon Juice
5 C. flour
5 tsp baking soda

Combine boiling water and cereal and let it sit while you gather additional ingredients. Then add additional ingredients and mix. Store in the refrigerator up to 6 weeks.

To microwave pancakes, spoon 1/2 Cup onto a small plate and then microwave for 1 min for a wonderful easy pancake ( If the middle is not cooked put it back in or try spooning the batter in an O shape leaving the middle empty). Repeat to make additional plates of pancakes.

To make microwave muffins fill silicon cups 1/2 full and bake according to the following directions:

2 muffins bake at 1/2 power for 1 min then full power 30 sec
4 muffins bake at 1/2 power for 2 min then full power for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes
6 muffins bake at 1/2 power for 4 1/2 min then full power for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes

May also make pancakes on the stove or muffins in the oven bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

One Pan Meat and Noodle Dinner

While this recipe is not exciting it is a nice standby to have for one of those days that you just need to make something easy that your family will eat.

One Pan Meat and Noodle Dinner

1 lb. ground beef, chicken, or ham
1 ¼ cups macaroni
2 cups water
2 cups sauce (tomato sauce, cream soup, etc…)
1 tsp bouillon
1 tsp minced onion
For tomato add: ½ tsp basil, ½ tsp oregano, ½ tsp garlic powder
Optional: Top with 1 cup shredded cheese

Brown meat or simply add precooked meat. Add macaroni, water, choice of sauce, and choice of spices. Bring to boil; stir once to prevent sticking, cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 15-20 minutes, until macaroni is tender. Serves 5.

Fresh Basil

I feel like it is finally summer because there is enough basil in my garden to make pesto. If you have never tried pesto it is a flavoraful basil pure that works great as a pasta sauce or as a filling for quesidillas. It also freezes beautifully.

Here is my favorite recipe.

Spinach Pesto Makes 2-3 cups

5 cups Packed Spinach, washed and dried

½ bunch Parsley

1 Garlic Clove

½ to 1 cup Fresh Basil

½ cup olive oil

1 tsp salt

2/3 cup pine nuts or unsalted shelled sunflower seeds

1 ¼ c grated Parmesan cheese

Put all ingredients into a food processor. Process to a coarse paste, this will take a few minutes, be patient. Serve over pasta (be sure to save some of the pasta cooking water to thin the pesto), or for the filling for a quesadilla.

My other favorite recipe is from April and is in the Hellewell cookbook it is the bread salad. MMM. if you haven't tried it you should.

Layered Banana Pineapple Dessert

from Grandma Hellewell

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup margarine or butter, melted

3 bananas, sliced
1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese softened
3 1/2 cups cold milk
2 pkg (small) vanilla flavored instant pudding
1 can crushed pineapple, drained
8 oz whipped topping

Mix graham crackers, sugar and margarine. Press into bottom of pan in 13 x 9" pan. Arrange banana slices on top of crust. Beat cream cheese until smooth, gradually beat in milk. Add pudding mixes, beat until well blended and spread over banana slices. Spoon pineapple evenly over the pudding mixture. Spread whipped topping over pineapple. Chill three hours or until ready to serve.

Putting food by (aka Canning)

I've been thinking about canning lately and thought this might be a good forum to get some good ideas. Here in North Carolina there don't seem to be many people who can—maybe it's a generational thing or maybe a geographical. I don't know. But I wonder do you can? And if you do, is there something that you have found really successful? Or anything that turned out disastrous? Use the comments to tell us about it.