Plum Mustard Dipping Sauce

I love to dip ham and cheese turnovers in this or sweet potato fries.  It's fantastic on ham sandwiches as well!  You can use any jam or mustard, but my favorite combo is plum jam from our italian prune tree in the backyard and honey mustard.  The first person that can give me a honey mustard recipe that tastes like French's honey mustard wins my gratitude!  It would probably be phenomenal with a good stone-ground, course mustard.

Fruit and Mustard Dipping Sauce
Jam
Mustard

Stir to combine.  Yes, that's it!  I normally just mix it on my plate because NO ONE else in my family will eat mustard, and I don't eat meat often enough to make up a larger batch.  If anyone tries to store it in the fridge, let us know how that works?  I imagine it would be just fine.

Apricot Frozen Yogurt

Nectarine Frozen Yogurt
Ingredients
2 cups vanilla yogurt
8 apricots
Sugar to taste

Rinse, halve and pit apricots, and blend with yogurt and sugar in a bowl using a hand blender. Skins will either be blended up or will wrap around the blade of the immersion blender- you can clean them out when you're done. Taste for sweetness and add sugar as needed.

Pour into ice cube trays and freeze until solid. Working with half the batch at a time, "pulse" cubes in a food processor 20-30 times until finely blended and it's gathered into one or two "football shaped" balls. Serve it up! It will be a little on the soft side- you can refreeze if you like to "ripen." Because of the low fat content, this has a grainy/flaky consistency- if it's made with a proper ice cream custard base, it's quite creamy and perfect! (HT to Kenji Alt-Lopez for this technique)

Glass Noodles with Cucumber and Shrimp

Serves 4
Glass Noodles with Shrimp and Cucumber
4 bundles glass noodles (mung bean thread noodles)
1/2 red onion, chopped
2 or 3 cloves of garlic, chopped a few times into large pieces
cucumber, halved, seeded, and sliced
5-10 shrimp, cooked
2-4 Tablespoons oil
basil leaves
Sauce (sweet chili sauce, soy, terriyaki, etc.)

Heat 2 Tbsp oil in a wok over high heat until it smokes- add the onions and garlic, and stir for a few minutes until they smell good and are softened. Scrape into a bowl and set aside. Add more oil to the wok if you need to and let it heat. Add noodles and stir fry quickly until translucent, about 2 minutes- they want to stick together, so stir and separate and lift as best you can. Scrape noodles into a bowl and set aside.

Let everyone make their own noodle bowls, and top with sauce.

Creamy Lemon Pasta

Creamy Lemon Pasta
Paraphrased From Moosewood Restaurant: Simple Suppers


In a small skillet on low heat, melt 1/4 cup butter.  Add 1 cup of cream, and heat slowly.  Stir in 3 Tablespoons of lemon juice and set aside.

Stir sauce into 1 pound of cooked pasta, with a cup of grated parmesan cheese.  Thin with reserved pasta water if needed.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  (We didn't need any salt, but everyone peppered theirs lightly at the table.) 

Balsamic Parmesan Vinaigrette

Balsamic Parmesan Vinaigrette
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar (white or red is good)
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 Tablespoon mustard (all I have is yellow, but dijon would be amazing)
2 garlic cloves, finely minced or smashed
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
3/4 cup olive oil

Dump everything into a screwtop jar and shake shake!  It's best if it gets to sit for a while.  This is exceptionally garlicy- dial it back if you don't want it so strong.

Oven Baked Salmon

Oven Baked Salmon
Sprinkle salmon fillets with your favorite seasoning salt liberally, and wrap individually in foil.  Place in a single layer in a baking pan and bake at 350 until flaky.  (Ours were frozen so it took about an hour.)  Our favorite seasoning salt is Cavendar's Greek Seasoning- it's amazing on green beans and eggs, too.



Dipped in yoshida sauce and topped with slices of sweet onion and pineapple is another family favorite, as is lemon slices, onions, and generous pepper.

Spicy Mayo Sauce

I mix this with canned tuna for a kid-friendly pantry version of "spicy tuna roll" sushi.

Spicy Mayo Sauce
1/2 cup mayonnaise
3 Tablespoons sriracha sauce (to taste- you'll be surprised how much you can use before this gets spicy)
2 or 3 Tablespoons rice vinegar

Mix mayonnaise and sriracha sauce in a bowl, and add enough vinegar to make a sauce.  It shouldn't be runny, but more like the consistency of salad dressing.  Decant leftovers into a squeeze bottle and use to garnish the top of your sushi rolls- this stores well in the refrigerator.

Skillet Croutons

Makes enough for 2 exceptionally large bowls of salad.

Skillet Croutons
2 thick slices of bread (I used 3-day-old french bread), sliced into cubes
3 or 4 Tablespoons olive oil
seasoning (I used Cavendar's greek seasoning)
2 Tablespoons parmesan cheese

Stir everything together and tip into a preheated skillet on medium high heat, in a single layer.  Let brown and flip.    If the heat is on the high side, the outside will brown while the inside will be chewy and spongy with the oil (delicious!)  If the heat is lower, you will get a crunchier crouton before it starts to burn.  Shake and stir skillet occasionally.