Fresh Pico De Gallo

My dear friend and her husband were recently blessed with a beautiful baby girl. My future daughter-in-law, in fact. Because I said so.

We had a lovely pink baby shower at my house (and let me tell you, it was PINK! I have 3 boys, so I do it when I can). I made this fresh salsa to go on the food table. Not exactly pink, but tomatoes don't come in that colour so I'll settle for red. It was gone faster than the cupcakes (doesn't usually happen). A sweet little 7 year old guest approached me very politely and asked if Iwouldn't mind giving her the recipe because she loved it so much. I believe she'll make it too, this girl loves to cook.

Poor Matt was so sad to discover that it was all eaten, so he ran to the store for another jalapeno so we could do another batch. So, FYI, you might want to double it.

Fresh Pico De Gallo

• 4 regular sized tomatoes, my fav is on the vine
• 1 white onion
• 1 jalapeno pepper
• 2/3 cup fresh cilantro
• 2 tsp lime juice
• salt and pepper

Chop up your tomatoes and onion and put in a big-ish bowl.

USING GLOVES, chop up your jalapeno pepper pretty small and add to the tomatoes and onions. If

    you like the heat, add some of the seeds. I left them out. If you don't use gloves while chopping,

    you could get a nasty acid burn on your fingers. I made this mistake one, it was definitely not fun.

Chop the cilantro, add.

Add some salt and pepper, how ever much you usually like.

Pour in the lime juice.

Mix it all together and serve with tortilla chips!

-Jessica

Strawberry Apple Jam

I'm not what one might call a patient person. When I want something, I want it NOW, thank you very much. When I decide I need a haircut, tomorrow is not soon enough. Waiting is agony. Maybe it's because I am the youngest child of 4 and I got sick of waiting for things. Or maybe it's just my personality (likely). Whichever it is, I like things right away. Delayed gratification? Not for me.

I have never made jam before, but a few weeks ago I decided I would like to make my own. My hubby is a sucker for jam, and I thought he might like some fresh. Of course once I got this in my head, I wasn't about to wait until the next day to go pick up some pectin, now was I? Of course not.

This is me, remember?

So I did a little research and found out that apples are full of natural pectin. And I just had some sitting in my fruit bowl. Ha. Now, granny smith's would probably be a little better because strawberries, especially once cooked down are really sweet. But Fuji is what I had, and the jam was fab. So if you're impatient like me and don't have any pectin in your house, this is your jam. If you do have pectin, congratulations on being more organized (and probably more patient) than me, but I'd make this anyway because it's pretty yummy.

Strawberry Apple Jam

• 3 cups (or so) or sliced, hulled strawberries
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar (possibly more if you're using a granny smith apple)
• 1 large apple, peeled, cored, and grated
• 2 1/2 tsp lemon juice

In a large, heavy duty pot, dump in your apple, berries, and sugar. Cook over medium/low heat for about 20 minutes, stirring every few minutes and breaking up the berries as they soften.

Once the jam has thickened, grab a hand held blender (they are pretty amazing for things like this) and blend until most of the chunks are gone, unless of course you like really chunky jam.

Stir in your lemon juice and transfer into jars. I got one regular and one teeny mason jar full, you could probably get 2 medium out of this. Let chill for about 2 hours before eating.

-Jessica

Lemon Butter Salmon with Spicy Potatoes

I totally got married under false pretenses. I thought I was marrying a terrible cook. On our first date, he couldn't even tell the difference between lettuce and cabbage. I thought I was doomed to a lifetime of cooking myself, or tacos (without lettuce).

Then one morning he made me an omlette. It was amazing. Way better than I could have done in a million years (eggs and I aren't friends). I though, ok, not a great cook, but breakfast he can do.

Then one night, he announced that he was making dinner. He made peppercorn steak with foil-grilled yams, peppers and red onions. Who was this man?

Then one day, he said he wanted to make salmon. Not being a seafood fan, I told him fine but I wasn't going to eat it. Well, let me tell you, that man converted me. He made the best, moistest salmon I have ever had. I don't know what's gotten into him, but I really hope it stays there.

Lemon Butter Salmon with Spicy Potatoes

• 4 center cut salmon fillets
• 1-2 lbs baby red potatoes
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 head garlic, minced and divided
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1  1/2 tsp roasted red pepper flakes (more or less, depending on how spicy you like)
• juice from 2 lemons
• salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Chop up your potatoes into bite sized pieces and put in large bowl.

Add olive oil, half (or so) of the garlic, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper (to taste).

Line a baking sheet with tin foil and dump potatoes on.

Bake for about 45 minutes or until soft and crispy.

Once your potatoes are in the oven, line another baking sheet with parchment paper.

Put your salmon fillets on, skin side down.

Salt and pepper your salmon.

Melt the butter and add the rest of the minced garlic.

Using a brush (if you have one) brush garlic butter on top of the fish.

Squeeze lemon juice on top of that, using 1/2 a lemon per fillet.

When the potatoes only have 15 or 20 minutes to go, put your fish in. Salmon is a fatty fish and has a short cooking time.

Remove, and enjoy!

-Jessica

Excitement!

Hello fellow food lovers. We have some exciting happenings going on around here. We are turning our little blog to a real dot com! It's not quite ready yet, but it's getting close and we can't wait! We will continue to post on here for the time being, but keep your eyes open! Thanks for reading!

J and L

Cinnamon Bun White Chocolate Rice Krispie Squares

Remember like 15 years ago when they made Rice Krispie treat cereal? I don't know why, but as soon as I found out about this cereal, I knew I had to have it. I begged. In fact, I think my siblings got in on it too. We had to have it. Well, good luck convincing my mom. The answer was no. Not healthy. Too expensive.

One morning, though, we woke up to homemade (that's right, homemade) Rice Krispie treat cereal. My mom had woken up early, made a big batch or Rice Krispie Squares, broke it up into bite size pieces and let us eat it as cereal. It was the best ever. I don't really remember if it actually tasted that good, or if I just thought my mom was the awesomest.

Well, now that Kraft makes these new cinnamon bun marshmallows (I know, right!), how could they not be tasty as Rice Krispie squares? I added some whit chocolate morsels for good measure.

I was actually not going to blog about this, because it's hardly a recipe, but my hubby went crazy for them, and told me that if I didn't post it, he would. So here it is, people. Let's call it breakfast.

Cinnamon Bun White Chocolate Rice Krispie Squares

• 1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
• 1 package (250 grams) cinnamon bun marshmallows
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 6 cups Rice Krispies
• 1 cup white chocolate morsels

In microwaveable bowl, melt the butter and marshmallows for 1 minute. Stir, and zap again for 1 more minute, or until the marshmallows are really puffy.

Add the Rice Krispies and mix until combined. Add the white chocolate.

Press into 9x13 casserole dish and leave for at least 15 minutes (if you can wait that long).

-Jessica



Chocolate Zuchinni Muffins

My sister-in-law Emily is a garden queen. She has the world's greenest thumb. I often think about growing a garden in my back yard, but I will pale in comparison. (Although she is coming over to help me plant some tomatoes- let's hope I don't kill them).

One year, her garden exploded zuchinnis. They were everywhere. Literally all of her counter space was taken up by beheamoth zuchinnis. If you didn't know they were home grown, one might believe them to be genetically modified and pumped full of water. There was so much zuchinni, so, naturally some was sent home with me.

I turned some into meals and some into desserts, and in doing so I realized something: Zuchinni is fab. It's good in everything. Throw some into the next spaghetti sauce you make- I promise it won't disappoint. I made a few bread/muffin recipes and decided I liked this one best. It's quite moist with a lot of substance to it, but somehow it's still light feeling. And it's a really sneaky way to get your

I-don't-like-vegetables kids to eat them without turning up their noses.

Chocolate Zuchinni Muffins

recipe can be found here from Our Best Bites

-Jessica