….Salsa.

It took a few hours to make the salsa. First to chop up the veggies, cook, and can them. Dennis helped me with the canning effort, as it goes much faster with two people.

The salsa turned out to be very mild, in part due to the mild ingredients: green tomatoes, red onion, garlic, pimento, lime juice, and banana peppers. I also mixed in a few ripe tomatoes, just so it wouldn’t be too bitter.

Ingredients: Red Onion, Noodles, Butter, Soft Melting Cheese, and Parmesan Cheese
Clue: This dish is a traditional german dish served for lunch or dinner.
There are *many* options for making this dish, including adding meat or other veggies.
Question: What is this dish?

If you guessed Käse spätzle, you guessed correct! Essentially, German style Mac & Cheese. It’s comfort food at it’s finest.

This is how it turns out after cooking in the oven. It is so simple to make, and it is absolutely delish! The Spätzle Noodles can be made fresh by hand or bought in a package from a specialty shop.

Directions:
Cook the noodles in rapidly boiling water.
While they are cooking, pan grill the onions until they are well done.
Then, strain the noodles and make sure they are very dry.
Place noodles in a buttered casserole dish, layer the onions, butter, and grated soft cheese (Swiss, Manchego, or Mozzerella).
Sprinkle a layer of freshly grated Parmesan on the top.
Bake until the cheese is browned on the top, and it’s bubbly.

Serve by itself, with meat, or with a salad. It reheats fabulously, so you can enjoy it for lunch after the first meal.

I was watching an episode of Daisy Cooks on PBS and I just had to have this dish. It is a traditional mexican dish called Chilaquiles. It is delicious, a very enjoyable main course or a great dish to bring to a potluck!

The basic ingredients are shredded pork (I used chicken), tortilla chips, chiles (green), sofrito (green salsa), and cheese (manchego is fantastic for this!). I used green salsa (medium spicy), and augmented it with roasted diced green chiles & jalepeno. Another way to cheat is to use corn tortilla chips instead of making the tortilla chips by hand. It came out a little salty, since the chips are salted, but it was still awesome.

For a full recipe, look online. I got mine from jotting notes from the show, and still had to tweak it a bit! The dish is made by layering all the ingredients in a casserole dish, just like lasagna. Stick it in the oven, and voila it’s done. Super easy if you have the ingredients in your fridge.

This dish is at virtually all Mexican eating establishments. It’s a fantastic accompaniment to a meal, or filling as a meal itself. Vital ingredients are chicken, white onion, tortilla chips, red pepper, green pepper, garlic, avocado, diced jalepeno, and finally a little cheese.

If you guessed “Tortilla Soup” you got it right! It has always been one of my favorite soups, so I ventured into our cozy kitchen to take a stab at it. What I found was that it was not a complex soup to make, I threw the ingredients in the pot and waited.

The order of the ingredients as they entered the pot seemed to matter more in getting the timing right. I wanted the vegetables to have a strong flavor, and the meat to be tender.

This year, for my friends’ Barry & Ann’s B-days, I made this concoction. It made my kitchen smell fantastic, and dicing all those peppers sure was a challenge! Last time I made this dish, it came out with a very mild and smooth texture. My main goal this time was to kick up the heat and make it chunky for chip dipping delight!

If you guessed SALSA, you win! It is Clare’s Spicy Six Pepper Salsa, and it is an adventure in a jar. We decided to try our first jar of this salsa with some fried plantains. What a great combo, and a fun dish to prepare! The sizzling and crackling of the plantains in the frypan, readied our pallette for the crunchy bitesize wonders topped with pure joy.

………………………….Voilla!!!!………….Yummy Vietnamese Spring Rolls!

If you guessed Spinach Artichoke Dip, you got it right! It was served cold with celery and sourdough bread as dippers. The recipe I had is super easy and can be done in advance.

I got the recipe online somewhere-I can’t remember now where. The Ranch dip powder packet could be left out (if ya don’t like processed foods), and in it’s place some herbs of your choice could be mixed into the dip.

16 oz sour cream
2-3 heaping tablespoons of cream cheese
14 oz Artichoke hearts chopped & well drained
10 oz Spinach chopped & thawed & well drained
1 packet Ranch Dip seasoning
2 oz pimentos
1 clove garlic finely minced
Bread of Choice and/or Veggies

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Pour half into a bread bowl to be served with bread, and the other half into a serving dish to be served with veggies. For our tiny get together, this quantity was a little overkill. For a party of 10 or more, it’s perfect. For any less, maybe cut recipe in half…???

If you guessed Potato & Leek Soup, you win! I first remember having this delicious starter at my sis’-in-law’s wedding. Such a fabulous soup it was, I have ordered it at restaurants several times since.

When I got married, she (Jiji) gave me THE best cooking book “Cooking Essentials” by the Cooking Club of America (Berry & Spieler). If you want the recipe, get it from this book. It has fantastic step by step instructions, and such helpful tips about preparing veggies, meats, and more. I’ve never cut up a leek before-or even thought of buying one-, but with the assistance of this book, it was no problemo!