Potato Salad

I used my crock pot to cook the potatoes in my hot kitchen. I find the crock pot to add less heat to my surroundings during the summer, plus to can use it anywhere.

Wash potatoes and dry
Place in the crock pot but don't add water. I actually cooked red beets at the same time with no blending of flavors or color.

Roast them using medium heat for 4 hours.

Open the lid and let them cool. I was able to peel them easily the next day. This salad is best if you don't refrigerate the potatoes. Toss in:

Raw vinegar
Dijon Mustard
Olive Oil-extra virgin
Salt
Pepper-white
Tarragon leaves

After this salad is refrigerated, I think the potato starch is changed slightly and they are not at their best, so I often fry the potatoes for a side dish. They get nice and crispy. This is a good salad for a picnic since it does not need refrigeration for safety. There is no mayonnaise in it.

Green Beans Oriental Style

These green beans are dressed in a soy and sesame sauce that makes a nice change from my usual butter, garlic, and salt method of serving. The Oriental beans are very nice cold or room temperature and would be good for a picnic.

Green Beans trimmed and cut and steamed or cooked and drained
Carrots slivered for color-I used lacto-fermented carrots
Onions cut how you like

Toss with this dressing:

Sesame oil-expeller pressed from un-toasted seeds - about 3 T.
Sesame oil-from toasted seeds-you need about 1 t. of this.
Red wine vinegar-about 1 T.
Garlic cloves, crushed- 2 cloves.
Ginger root grated very finely-about 1 T.
1 T Soy sauce-naturally brewed
1 T Tamari Sauce-naturally brewed (a nice addition but you could use 2 T soy)

3 T toasted sesame seeds-I used the toaster oven but watch them because they brown very quickly. I pulled them out of the oven when they were brown and quickly dumped them onto a dinner plate to stop them toasting on the hot pan.

I topped the beans with the seeds just before serving.

Spoon Bread for Supper Club

I've been experimenting with nixtamalized corn in various dishes. The latest is spoon bread using the blender method.

In blender place:

1 1/2 C. nixtamalized corn. I soak the corn for 2 days rather than 4 hours.
2 C. Milk

Blend this until corn is smooth and add:

1 C. Milk (total milk is 3 C.)
1 1/2 t. baking powder
2 T. Butter (I didn't even need to melt this)
3 Eggs
3/4 t. salt-unrefined sea salt

Bake in a casserole, uncovered, at 325 degrees for about 1/2 hour or until it "wiggles" when you gently shake the casserole.

The corn and custard separate a little which makes a nice layering.

Tentacle Chowder

I found squid tentacles in the frozen section of our Asian store. I used them to make a tomato based chowder which we found to be extra delicious.

Butter and coconut oil to saute:
Onions

Add and simmer until tender:
Chicken broth
Potatoes diced
Carrots diced
Bay leaf
Garlic cloves, cut up

Add:
Tomato paste
Tentacles, cut up

Simmer for a few minutes after you add the seafood. It doesn't take much to cook it.

Serve with Old Bay Seasoning on top. We loved this soup.

Roasted Red Beet Salad-Crockpot method

I had heard about roasting potatoes in the crock-pot, so I tried it today with red beets. I washed and cut the tops from the beets to 1" from the root. I did not cut into the flesh at all and left the "tails" on. I put them in the crock-pot set at medium for 3 1/2 hours. I turned off the pot at that point and took off the lid and let them cool. It was very easy to peel them.

Cubed beets
Diced onions
Sea Salt, unrefined "real salt"
Horseradish, prepared
Sour Cream, Daisy brand it the best commercial brand I have access to.

This makes an alarming but beautiful pink salad and it's delicious. I ate it room temperature.

I liked the fact that these beets maintained their juices and were made even sweeter by not cooking them in water. I found that I could pile them in and amazingly, the clean-up of the crockpot was very easy.