dandy wine

We were lucky enough to have a back-yard free of
week killers so had a bountiful harvest of organic dandelions.
Decided to try out some dandelion wine this year.
Will post some finalized recipes depending on what batches turn out well....we've experimented w/ variants of sweetners(honey vs. sugar); using raisins for body; and types of fruits used to flavor. Luckily in addition to our free harvest of dandelion wines we also have a bunch of chemistry equipment in our garage my dad spared from being dumped a few years ago. Did need a couple other items for the wine including wine yeast, yeast nutrient. Took a trip to a really great Wine and Beer Brewing supply store in St. Charles, Home Brew Shop. The clerk, who seemed to be the owner, gave us some really helpful tips for our wine and suggested a couple other items we could use. Really friendly great service, if we ever do any other type of wine making or beer brewing we intend on stopping here. Prices were great, walked out spending about $15 on stuff that will last us at least through at least 20 bottles of wine.

strawberry daiquiris

ingredients:
8 cups crushed ice
1 16 oz. package fresh strawberries
250 mL rum
1/2 cup sugar
4 TBS lemon and/or lime juice

directions:
blend all ingredients and serve

veggie pita pizza

ingredients:
1 large pita wrap
1/2 small can tomato sauce
mozzarella cheese
provolone cheese
cheddar cheese
sliced broccoli
sliced shallots
tuscany blend seasonings(dried sundried tomatoes, garlic, rosemary, salt)
olive oil



directions:
1-spread olive oil on edges of pita wrap
2-spread tomato sauce & seasonings onto middle of pita
3-spread cheese and top w/ veggies, cook about 5-10 min in 400 degree oven

tony's teriyaki sauce

ingredients:
*1/3 cup miren
*1/8 cup sugar
*1 cup soy sauce
*1 TBS rice wine vinegar
*1 tsp ginger powder
*2 tsp garlic powder
*2 tsp sesame seed oil

directions:
1-Heat miren in saucepan and let simmer for 1 minute.
2-Add rest of ingredients and remove from heat

roasted cauliflower

ingredients:
*cauliflower
*olive oil/butter
*thyme
*garlic minced
*s&p

directions:
mix all ingredients in bowl and cook @ 400 degrees until desired texture

veggie quesidillas

ingredients:
homemade corn tortillas(masa mix)
bell peppers
onions
shitake mushrooms
manchego cheese
cumin
chili powder
oregeno

directions:
1-sautee all ingredients and put to side
2-place cheese and veggie mix in tortilla and cook until tortilla is desired crispness and cheese is melted

spaghetti w/ italian veggies

ingredients:
spaghetti
cherry tomatoes
zucchini
black olives
artichoke hearts
garlic

directions:
1-cook pasta
2-meanwhile saute garlic in olive oil add zucchinni, tomatoes, black olives and artichoke hearts in that order.
3-top w/ olive oil and parmesean cheese

broccoli stir fry noodles

ingredients:
tony' homemade pasta
1 head broccoli
3 large carrots
1 small onion
1/2 cup tony's teriyaki sauce
olive oil

directions:
1-Saute onion in saucepan w/olive oil until translucent.
2-Add broccoli, sliced carrots and teriyaki sauce until almost tender.
3-Add cooked pasta and stir in sauce and veggie mix until coated.

stuffed mushrooms

ingredients:
baby bella mushrooms
shallots
garlic
bread crumbs
cream cheese
butter
parmesan cheese

directions:
1-remove stems from mushrooms
2-sautee shallots and garlic in butter for a couple minutes...then add chopped mushroom stems and remaining ingredients.
3-put stuffing in mushrooms and bake @ 350 degrees for about 15 min or until topping starts to brown.

chipotle chili

ingredients:
yellow onion
garlic cloves
diced tomatoes
kidney beans
pinto beans
corn
artichoke hearts
cumin
chili powder
canned chipotle peppers
green bell pepper

pasta maker experimenting

Spent the entire afternoon in the kitchen trying out our new toy!
We each did our own types of dough....here's tony's...
*3/4 cup all purpose unbleached white flour
*1/4 cup whole wheat flour
*1 egg
*3-4 TBS milk

mix all ingredients into a ball and take 1/2 of ball and roll out into a sheet to feed into pasta maker....

our first set of noodles were a bit thicker than we would have liked so we did a thinner set later....

we also experimented running a few already cut noodles back through the dough thinner at the lowest setting and ended up with our "paper thin-pepper-parmesan-pasta" which was so good it almost didn't get a picture of it....

i used to only eat pasta w/ butter and parmesan, spaghetti sauce came much later in life...there is something so satisfying about good noodles w/ butter and parmesan, and the flavor of fresh cooked homemade noodles like this was simply amazing...

i decided to try out some buckwheat pasta...
as tony pretty much mastered the basic one...
i have no idea what i would do to even improve upon it...

buckwheat pasta...
*3/4 cup buckwheat flour
*1/4 cup whole wheat flour
*3/4 cup water(add more as needed)
*2 TBS flax seeds
*1 tbs lemon juice

same process as above to make noodles, i did mine on the spaghetti setting....
and made a stir fried style pasta with...
* 1 cup edamame (cooked in microwave first for about 3 min)
* 5 cloves garlic, minced
*1/2 cup dill
*1/2 lemon's juice
*1 tbs sesame seed oil
(I really love this stuff by the way)
* s&p to taste