Hi friends!
What a beautiful day we were blessed with today! It's a solid 75 degrees, sunshine, a slight breeze, and 0% humidity here in the old Land of 10,000 Lakes. Summer is basically here and that means there's going to be lots of grilling and sitting around bonfires! My favorite :)
I love eating FRESH this time of year! There are gardens everywhere and farmer's markets are opening up for the season which means there's lots and lots of fresh fruits and veggies for the pickin'!
Tomatoes and cucumbers are my top two go-to veggies! They are the two veggies that I constantly have on hand because they are so versatile and DELICIOUS! Seriously, I could eat tomatoes on everything and anything all day every day. I've been known to eat a whole tomato just like an apple. LOVE TOMATOES.
There's a traditional version of this salad with tomatoes, cucumber, and raw red onion. Let me just be very clear here. My love for tomatoes is HUGE, and my hatred for onion is just as huge. Especially raw red onion. Yellow aren't that bad. Cooked onions are a little better, but not ideal. So you can imagine how quick I decided to make my own version of this tomato, cucumber and onion salad since I had 2/3 ingredients in high supply.
The vinaigrette adds a nice tang and the lemon brightens it up immensely! I chose artichokes instead of onion because of the saltiness it brings to the dish. Feta gives it a creaminess and richness and follows the Italian-esque vibe I was going for here. If you like black olives you could add those (not an olive fan either) and the red onion too.
The best part of this salad? Took me about 10 minutes from start to finish, including chopping my veggies and making the vinaigrette. Super easy, super quick, super fresh, super healthy, super DELISH!
First, you're gonna wanna chop your veggies.
I sliced my cucumbers in wheels like this, but they do make for large bites if your cucumber is big so go ahead and cut them in half if you don't have as big of mouth as me.
I sliced the tomatoes in half, then sliced the halves in half, and then sliced those in half as well. So basically cutting your tomato in eighths the long way.
I forgot to take a picture of the artichokes. (#blogfail)
Basically all I did was drain them from the can and rinse, and gave them a rough chop. Remember if you're using whole artichokes cut the woody, fiberous portion off the bottom or else you'll end up with really tough parts that you can't chew in your salad. (I may or may not remembered to do this the first time...) Toss all the veggies in a large bowl.
Combine all the ingredients for the vinaigrette in a separate bowl and whisk thoroughly until combined. Pour over the veggies and mix. Sprinkle the feta over everything and finish by zesting a lemon.
Serve this as a side dish to your favorite Italian meal or as an appetizer!
Roma Tomato, Cucumber and Artichoke Salad
1 large cucumber, sliced
3-4 Roma tomatoes, sliced in eighths
1 can whole artichokes, stems cut and roughly chopped
1/4 cup feta cheese (I used reduced-fat)
Lemon Vinaigrette
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 lemon, squeezed
1-2 tsp salt
1-2 tsp pepper
2 tsp garlic powder
Combine the sliced cucumbers, tomatoes, and chopped artichokes. Mix the vinaigrette separately, then pour over the chopped up veggies. Mix thoroughly, then add the feta cheese. Finish by zesting some lemon over the top of the salad. Serve immediately. Enjoy!
This homemade coffee creamer has YUM written all over it! It's simple, frugal, delicious, creamy, frothy and most importantly NOT full of all those strange ingredients that are in those flavored creamers from the grocery store.
I'll be honest here. I've never been much of a cream-and-sugar-in-my-coffee person. Unless it was an occasional shot o' Bailey's in my cup on Saturday mornings, I prefer my coffee strong and black. Like, really strong. Like almost so you can chew it strong (Just kidding- but still kind of serious. Stay with me). I don't want it to taste like I'm drinking brown coffee-flavored water here. I love COFFEE, and I want it to taste like it's coffee.
That was then. Until I started making my own flavored coffee creamers.
It all started when my future In-Laws were staying with us for a few weeks from Alaska back in May. My Hun-Bun's mother enjoys cream in her coffee, but alas, there was none in our house to be found when they arrived. And I'm pretty sure we went through 4 pints of heavy whipping cream while they were here. 4 pints in about 2 weeks! Now, we used the whipping cream for other things too, like mashed potatoes and such. But about 2 days before the In-Laws left to go back to Alaska, we ended up with another QUART of heavy whipping cream! There was about a tablespoon gone out of the container and I thought to myself "What da heck am I going to do with all this whippin' cream?" I've had straight cream in my coffee before, but the creaminess just wasn't good enough by itself to make it worth putting in there. I enjoy a good latte from time to time, so all the cream needed was a little somethin-somethin to make it delicious! I dug through my dwarf sized pantry to see what kind of yumminess I could toss in.
VANILLA BEANS?!
How did I not think of this sooner?
(Answer: Because I had forgotten I even had them. I bought them way back in December to make my sister some homemade vanilla extract for Christmas and stuffed the leftover vanilla beans into a bag and they got shoved to the way, way back!)
Shame on me.
Anyways, they were still pretty fresh from being sealed up and decided to put them into my homemade coffee creamer! They smelled sooo good once I took them out of the bag! Seriously, if you've never handled fresh vanilla beans, you're missing out.
Make sure that you slice the vanilla bean right down the middle and scrape out the vanilla seeds and pulpy insides. That's where the most intense flavor hides and that's what you want to put into your creamer! {Sidenote: you can certainly use vanilla extract if you can't find vanilla beans for a reasonable price in your area. I was out at the time and we have an awesome little natural foods market close by where I got these organic vanilla beans for about $3.50/oz. Amazon also sells vanilla beans for a decent price if you want to go that route!}
Next I looked at my spice rack to see what other spices I could toss in there. I grabbed some nutmeg and put a couple dashes in, along with a couple dashes of plain sugar to sweeten it up. I also added 2% milk to cut the heaviness a bit.
SO GOOD! Instant coffee creamer fan.
Vanilla Bean Coffee Creamer:
1 cup heavy whipping cream (or half and half, I just had whipping cream on hand)
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp sugar (more or less to taste)
1 tsp nutmeg
Seeds from 2-3 vanilla beans (or sub 2 tsp vanilla extract)
Shake a bit before using, but not too much or it will turn to whipped cream, but hey if you're into that then go for it. A little frothiness never hurt!
The flavored creamer only used up the insides of the vanilla beans. With the leftover pods, all you need is some vodka and a tightly sealed container to make your own homemade vanilla extract to use in chocolate chip cookies, french toast, banana bread, or whatever! Remember to keep in a cool, dry place away from direct heat and sunlight as vanilla is sensitive to extreme temperatures.
After about 6-8 weeks, the vanilla should be completely infused into the vodka and will darken up. I used the expensive vodka (HunBun wasn't too thrilled I used the good stuff) but cheaper vodka would work too.
Homemade Vanilla Extract:
12 oz vodka, any kind
5-6 vanilla bean pods
Put vanilla beans in an airtight glass container away from direct heat or sunlight. Let sit for about 6-8 weeks before using.
What's your favorite way to use vanilla beans?
