Posted on 11/11/2016 4:18:00 PM PST by Jamestown1630
Thanksgiving is coming up, and I've seen many versions of this Pineapple Spread recipe, which would be a very attractive appetizer for your feast:
http://cooklime.com/Recipes/Directions/238152-pineapple-cream-cheese-spread#.WCZQjDylxOJ
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When Liz mentioned gluten sensitivity a while back, I got to thinking about Quinoa, which I had eaten plain before, but had never tried in a recipe. I enjoy Tabbouleh very much, and found a recipe for a Quinoa version which actually turned out very well. It's not exactly like traditional Tabbouleh, especially as the Quinoa doesn't really soak up the dressing the way that bulgur does; but it was surprisingly good - the husband really liked it - and it's something that I will make routinely.
This recipe is adapted from the book ‘Quinoa: The Everyday Superfood: 150 Gluten-Free Recipes to Delight Every Kind of Eater’, which is available now as a Kindle book for very low cost, and contains a lot of interesting recipes for using this unusual, high-protein food.
(I adapted the recipe mainly by adding garlic, and quantifying the salt.)
4 cups cooked Quinoa
2 cups chopped fresh Parsley
2 large Tomatoes, seeded and diced
2 medium Cucumbers, peeled, seeded, diced
1 medium red Onion, diced finely
½ cup chopped Mint
½ cup extra-virgin Olive Oil
½ cup Lemon Juice
1-1/2 tsps. Salt (more to taste)
1-1/2 tsps. Minced Garlic (or to taste).
Cook the Quinoa according to package directions (and if you buy it in bulk at a health food store, be sure to rinse very well. Quinoa can be bitter, especially if it isn't polished, and rinsing removes that.)
In a large bowl, toss together the quinoa, parsley, mint, onion, tomato, cuke and garlic. Whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, and salt, pour over the quinoa mixture, and mix well. Adjust for salt, chill, and serve. This is a very forgiving recipe – you can decrease the parsley and mint, if you want.
If you are not familiar with Quinoa, which is technically a seed, Wikipedia is a good place to start:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinoa
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With the election of our new President, I got to thinking about Inaugural party food. I seem to recall a dot gov site that had all of the Inaugural menus, and can’t find it now; but I did find a menu for our first Republican President, Abraham Lincoln, and there was quite a spread for his second inauguration, which reports tell us devolved into something of a 'food fight':
http://www.npr.org/2013/01/20/169840120/an-inaugural-memory-president-lincolns-food-fight
-JT
CRISPY POTATO PAKORA/YOGURT SAUCE
PREP cook potatoes soft in salted boiling water then mash.
BATTER Mix the chickpea flour, cornmeal and the fennel seeds. Stir in the chilies, coriander and onion. Then add the mashed potatoes and as much water as necessary to form a thick, kneadable dough. Heat the oil in a deep frying pan until bubbles appear on a wooden spoon held in the fat. Drop tsp-sized portions of the dough into the oil and fry until golden yellow. Drain.
SERVE with yogurt sauce.
ING Potato 450 g, peeled and cut into chunks Chickpea flour 75 g Cornmeal 50 g Fennel seeds 5 ml Green chili 3 each, finely chopped Coriander 30 ml chopped leaves Onion 1, finely chopped
Sunflower oil As needed, for frying
YOGURT SAUCE Yogurt 250 ml Sugar 5 ml Salt 1 pinch Coriander 15 ml chopped leaves Mint 15 ml chopped leaves
That looks good. I’ve just learned that our office party this Christmas is going to be ‘finger food’, so that will work ;-)
Dreamer. No one in their right mind would give
this gorgeous server to a thrift store for resale.
We used to find a lot of great vintage stuff at our nearby thrift store. Over the past few years, they’ve seemed to move the nicer stuff out to the ‘higher-end’ thrift stores - LOL!
Now and then the folks handling the thrift stores don’t know what they’ve got. They’re getting smarter, and funneling the better vintage items to fancier ‘antique’ stores in better neighborhoods; but things slip through, and I’ve done pretty well.
I know a lady who works at one of those places part-time, just because she loves old stuff and wants ‘first choice’. She’s gotten lots of wonderful things because she KNOWS what she’s looking at.
I’ve been thinking that it might be a nice little part-time retirement job ;-)
Antiques Roadshow proves that point....people have gotten amazing valuables b/c even the dealer did not know the value of an item.
I like ‘Antiques Roadshow’, but I *really* like ‘American Pickers’.
I’m not terribly interested in the monetary value of something. I just want things, on the one hand, that are solid and utilitarian, which I can bring back and use; and on the other, things that simply remind me of times, and feelings :-)
Nostalgia....no price is too great to get that old-timey feeling.
Absolutely!
I keep trying to find the plastic with sparkles in it, that things were made of back in the ‘fifties. I think I had doll-baby ‘accoutrements’ made of it; and I know they made sunglasses and drinking cups out of it, back then.
The hardest things to find are the smallest - I want to find some of those plastic trinkets we used to get out of bubble-gum machines in the late ‘fifties - early ‘sixties.
(I know: I’m nuts :-)
vintage bubble gum machine toys.
I listen to a lot of OTR, and Anchor-Hocking was a sponsor of one show. My sister said she needed another pie plate or two the other day, and I told her that ~1950 the Anchor-Hocking Fire King pie plate was being advertised for 10¢.
LOL! I didn’t know there was a ‘community’ :-)
You can get tons of good Anchor-Hocking at almost any thrift store. It was made so well that even now old, well-cared for pieces have no flaws, even if they were used and over-used. Won’t cost $.10, but maybe 1.99. Look for the hallmark, and buy the heaviest pieces.
This recipe is similar to one I used to make since I was a teen. It’s great with cocoa whipped cream.
Yes, that kind of thing. There was a period where almost everything plastic was ‘sparkly’ like that.
Martha made Jadeite "in." She had sent her daughter on a buying spree
to buy up all the Jadeite she could find in obscure stores and thrift shops.
LOL!
I remember having a conversation with a cousin who had several children, and had done a lot of study on child-rearing.
She saw my collection of Christmas ornaments, and said, “Yes, the oldest child always wants to have the ‘whole set’.
I didn’t understand that, at the time. But I’ve since come to understand the ‘compulsive’ nature ;-)
On her TV show, Martha once showed her “collection room.”
Not just Jadite....she has tons of other collectables....all neatly arranged.
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