Cilantro and Lime Corn "Salad"

While the corn crop was a bit of a failure this year, the Marai sweet corn was delicious through much of the season! And if you know me, you know I'm obsessed with corn.  So when I got a nice batch of ears, I decided to freeze some of it.  I followed directions from the folks at the farm where I got the corn from, blanching it for 5 or 10 minutes, cooling it down, cutting it off the cob, and then freezing it with as little air as possible.

We don't have an ice maker, so yes, there are shoes floating in my corn bowl!



But for some, I kept it out to use as is.  This is so simple, but one of the most delicious size dishes for summer taco type food, and we even used it on some nachos!




Corn off the cob
a little butter
cilantro (dried)
chili powder (Spice Islands is the only way to go in this house! It's the best, Cooks Illustrated even says so!)
Lime juice

Yes, I'm being vague, just add all a little at a time until you love the flavor! Yum!

(corn's under there, just a bit hard to see!)

Cloud Bread Failure

This recipe sounded too good to be true when I found it online, in several places... bread that was as pretty as a delicious golden hamburger bun, and as healthy as can be.  So I thought I would try it.  So here it goes...

3 eggs, separated
3 Tbsp whole milk cottage cheese or 3 Tbsp cream cheese
1/4 tsp cream of tarter
1g splenda

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees
2.  Separate eggs... you must have NO yolk in the whites
3.  Mix together yolk, cheese, and sweetener
4.  Add cream of tartar to whites and beat on high until fluffy with high peaks (but don't beat too long of course)
5. Fold egg yolk mix into whites, attempting not to decrease the fluff
6. Spray cookie sheet with Pam
7. Scoop mix onto cookie sheet into 10 rounds, 3/4'' thick, 4-5 inches across
8.  Cook around half an hour until browned.  Cool on cutting board
9.  After cool, seal in ziplock over night to soften


Ok, so, apparently I'm not great at whipping egg whites, first issue.  And then gently folding yolks back into them, problem 2.  Nonetheless, got these cooked up, put them into the ziplock bag and left them over night.  They tasted like kind of a moist meringue cookie... a little custardy... and just... weird with the cream of tartar I could taste.  But we thought, all right, maybe we can put stuff on them?  Well, apparently the recipe was missing the step of "put them in the fridge" and they turned from weird to AWFUL really quickly.  I know, duh, eggs and dairy and whatnot, but hey, it's bread, I didn't think.

In any case, I'd rather save up my calories and have some real gosh dang bread than deal with this mess again.  So mark one down in the book for failure!

Stuffed Peppers

This recipe is really more of an assembly, which I note mainly because it came from my Grandmother, who is a self proclaimed non-cooker.  My mom made these when the three of us were having a gal's getaway this summer, and I've made them a few times since then with yummy results!

Mom made these with green peppers, and I loved it, and thought we'd love it even more at home with red pepper... but not so! Though red peppers are normally my preference, with the flavors of the beef and tomato sauce, the distinct flavor of the green pepper stands up much better.

6 peppers
1 package rice quick rice (I used garlic whole grain medley that you can microwave in the bag)
sweet onions
garlic
parmesean cheese
1lb lean beef
(I also added mushrooms to ours)

1.  Cut guts out and blanch peppers.  If you are neat about it, you can cut the tops off, save them, and then put back on for cooking to keep stuffing from blackening on top!

2.  Cook other ingredients except beef and set aside

3.  Cooke beef, and the mix with other  veggies and rice

4.  Stuff peppers and top with cheese

5.  Bake at 375 for 30 minutes (covered with foil for the last 10 to prevent charring)