More Beef Jerky and Dehydrated things

Pineapple-Ginger beef jerky:

Marinate thin slices of eye of round roast in a combo of:
pineapple juice
tamari sauce
dried ginger
dried garlic
salt

Delicious!

More zucchini chips:
One medium (in the sense it's not a huge summer one, but still quite a bit larger than the ones in the store) filled two trays.  Sprinkled with salt and pepper.

Experiment, potentially leading to me attempting to make my own dehydrated camping/hiking type meals:
Take ~16 oz. of frozen veggie medley (cauliflower, carrots, broccoli)
Place them on the other two trays of the dehydrator.

Go time.  Excited to see how this turns out.

Update 8/54/11: Dried them for about 24 hours.  The frozen veggies shrank way beyond expectations, to the point where they were falling though the trays.  Next time - put down some parchment paper on the trays.  Excellent.

Roasted Tomatoes with Pesto

This recipe essentially came from Barefoot Contessa's How Easy is That?

Slice some tomatoes, arrange on a cookie sheet covered with foil.
Brush Olive Oil over them (I used Tuscan Herb Olive Oil from Mountain Town Olive Oil)
Sprinkle with ground pepper, ground salt, and some tuscan herb mix (dried)

Bake at 400 for 10-15 minutes.

Pull out of oven and smear with pesto (see recipe below)

Bake another 10-15 minutes.

P.S. - We roasted salmon, cauliflower, and the tomatoes at the same time and they were awesome!


Garlic Scape Pesto:
Big handful of basil leaves
Equal volume of garlic scapes
Glug of olive oil
small handful of walnuts

Whir in food processor!

Yummy.

Cauliflower "Hummus"

In my I-Love-Cauliflower mode lately, I borrowed this idea from The Cavewoman Cafe.

I was busy cooking multiple things at the same time, so the measurements are a bit rough.  I also have a small food processor, so it took a few batches.

Steam a head of cauliflower until it is fairly mushable.
Cut off the florets, add to food processor with:
Juice of a lime
Small handful of macadamia nuts
A bit of olive oil
Cumin
Smoked Paprika

Process!  Add olive as needed for desired texture.

It was really good - we had chips, carrots, red peppers, and cucumbers to dip into it.

How to make your own sparkling "soda" drink

This could also be titled "How to make you co-workers (continue) to think you're a freak."

Sometimes, you just need, er want, something sparkly to drink.  Bought some plain soda cans at the store.

Attempt one:
Muddled some fresh mint and fresh ginger, poured the soda water over with some ice.  Good, but not as minty and gingery as one might hope, considering the amount of mint and ginger in it.

Attempt two:
Muddled some fresh mint and fresh ginger, poured about 2-3 tablespoons of hot water over it, let it steep until cool.  Pour the soda water into it with some ice.  Much better.

Scooter

Eggs in a Nest

This was inspired by Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle book.

Saute half an onion in a little bit of olive oil
Add half a red pepper after a few minutes
Add a HUGE bunch of greens - mine was a mixture of spinach, kale, and collard greens.
Add a small head of cauliflower, whirred through the food processor.
Add a little bit of water, if you feel like it is needed.
Cover and let the greens wilt for 5-10 minutes.

Make little depressions in the mixture to crack the eggs into.  I put in 5 eggs, should have put in 1-2 more.
Cover again and let eggs cook for 3-5 minutes, depending on how firm you like your egg yolks.

Serve!
It was really, really good, even though there were no spices at all.

Favorite pan!

Scooter

Lamb Burgers!

Combine:

1 lb. ground lamb

two very small onions, minced (less than 1/4 cup)

two garlic cloves, minced

pile of mint, minced

couple shakes of: turmeric, ground coriander, ground cumin, smoked paprika.

one shake of nutmeg

Form into 6 patties, cook on the stove on the cast iron grill pan.....

V. good.

Scooter

Sweet Potato Waffles

This recipe is a riff on the paleo pancake recipe, subbing sweet potato for the banana, inspired by Stesha at the gym....
1.5 sweet potatoes, baked in the microwave, skinned and mushed
2 eggs
bunch of cinnamon
Enough almond flour to get a dough-ish consistency.  I'd guess maybe 1/8-1/4 cup.

Mix together, throw on waffle iron.  Yummy.

Scooter