"S" is for Salsa, Scones, Smoked Salmon....and Sophie

"S" is for Salsa 
(Green Tomato)

Ingredients

    * 8 lbs green tomatoes (approximately 16 cups chopped)

    * 6 large onions

    * 6 green peppers

    * 3 sweet red peppers

    * 3 – 6 jalapeño peppers (depending on taste)

    * 6 garlic cloves, minced

    * 1 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped

    * ½ cup salt

    * ½ tablespoon black pepper

    * Cayenne pepper to taste (about 1/8 tsp)

    * 3 cups vinegar

    * 1 cup lemon juice

Method

    * Coarsely chop tomatoes, onions, and peppers

    * Combine all ingredients in a large kettle and mix well

    * Heat to boiling, then simmer uncovered for 25 minutes, stirring frequently

    * Ladle mixture into hot pint or quart jars, filling to within ¼ inch from top

    * Wipe jar rims with damp cloth or sponge

    * Adjust lids

    * Process in hot-water bath: 15 minutes for quarts; 10 minutes for pints (start timer after jars have been placed in pot and water in pot has returned to boiling)

    * When processing is complete, remove jars from pot and allow them to cool to room temperature. Check seals. Label sealed jars and store in pantry

    * Jars that don’t seal can be placed in refrigerator (use within three weeks) or immediately reprocess with new lids

    * Makes about 3 quarts (6 pints)

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"S" is for Scones

 

Scones

4    cups flour                                          1                    egg

4 1/2    tsp baking powder                       1           cup sugar

1    cup butter                                         3/4  cup dried fruit

Place all dry ingredients (except fruit) and egg in food processor.

Pulse 4-5 times until crumbles are pea size.  Empty into a large bowl,

add fruit and enough fresh milk to make a soft dough.

Roll out onto a floured surface and cut out with cookie cutter or

thin-rimmed glass.  Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake at

325-350* for 15-20 minutes. 

Bake until lightly golden, then turn out on a cooling rack.

These are delicious when you spread fresh butter or cream cheese on them.

Note*** 

You may use raisins, dried cranberries, dried blueberries or small chunks of dried apricots

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"S" is for Smoked Salmon

Roger is a real "foodie"- He loves bottling and canning, but I think smoking salmon and other fish is probably his favorite food hobby!!  Two years ago, he built his smoker, that holds five trays.....it can smoke a lot fish at once.

Here are a few pics...

 

This time I saved the best for last....

"S" is for Sophie

Sophie is the first great-grandchild for my mom, which makes 

her my great-niece.  She is absolutely adorable and has caused quite a stir in our family

.....take a look at these pics and you'll see why!!

"R"  is for Roger & Rana

Now, I don't want to bore you and I certainly don't want to be accused of using my blog as a "brag rag"----but I have to be honest and post about the first two things that popped in my mind for the letter R---my husband Roger and our beautiful daughter, Rana.

Roger relaxing at out hotel in New York City--night before our cruise (Sept 2011)

Roger, right in his element--he LOVES the outdoors!

Rana, enjoying a glass of white wine

Roger & Rana cod fishing-summer of 2011

.......and  "R" is for Red Lobster!!

Roger, enjoying a cold beer at Red Lobster in New York City

Seafood platter at Red Lobster, NYC

Lobster platter--Newfoundland style!!!!

 Have a great day everyone!

"Q" is for Quinoa

I first heard about quinoa (kin-waa) about two years ago...one of my manager's at work brought a quinoa salad to a "pot luck" function during Public Service Week.  It was quite different to look at---sort of like tapioca, but it was delicious!

Here's a recipe I use:

  

Quinoa-Vegetable Salad

1 cup quinoa

1 each red onion, julienned

1 each clove garlic, chopped fine

½ cup carrots, peeled and sliced thin

½ cup thinly sliced button mushrooms

1/3 cup canned corn, drained

½ cup zucchini, diced

½ cup yellow squash, diced

½ each green pepper, diced

1/4 cup green onion, chopped fine

1/3 cup tomato salsa

salad oil

To taste-salt and pepper

Rinse quinoa with cold water in a fine sieve

Bring 3 cups of salted water to a boil and add the quinoa. 

Reduce heat immediately to simmer and cook until the quinoa 

looks “popped.” About 15-20 minutes.

Once the quinoa is cooked, drain through a sieve, rinse with cold 

water and set aside until ready for use.

Place a large pan over high heat and add just enough oil to barely coat the bottom. 

Add all the vegetables except for the green onion and corn, and cook, 

stirring constantly for 5 minutes.

Add the corn and cook for an additional minute just to heat the corn up. 

(You do not want the vegetables to brown-if they start to brown, add just a splash of water.)

Place all ingredients and 1 T of oil and the salsa into a bowl double the size of the 

ingredients and mix with a spoon.

Adjust seasoning if necessary.

Serves 4-6

Quinoa-Vegetable salad

My niece Tonya also introduced me to chocolate covered Quinoa this past Christmas.  Now anything covered in chocolate, I'm in!!  Check it out if you a chance, it's delicious....sort of the texture of really tiny chocolate covered nuts.

Chocolate-covered quinoa

Lastly.....

"Q" is for Quat

Do you quat much???
I quat a lot when I'm berry picking!
Quat is an old Newfoundland term in my region.

When you go to the link for Quat, select the letter Q at the top of the page,

come down the list and find quat...then decide if you would be 

comfortable to quat while eating your Quinoa salad!!!

What are some Quaint sayings or terms in your area??   I'd love for you to share some with me!

Have a great day ;o)

"P" is for Pea Soup and Polar Bears!!

First, my pea soup.  Pea soup is a very old traditional Saturday meal in rural Newfoundland.  I remember being a kid and absolutely hating it!!  Now, I find it is one of my favorite "comfort foods".... Pea soup and green onion dumplings---Yuuummmie!!

I made a small pot last Saturday and I remembered to take a snap...here's how it looked:

Here's my recipe..

Pea Soup

1  cup salt beef (diced) -- or a ham bone
2  cups yellow split peas
1 cup each of onion, turnip and carrot--all chopped to desirable size for soup
1/2 cup diced celery
2-3 potatoes, chopped in large chunks
Pepper -- to taste

Soak salt beef and peas, separately in cold water overnight

Drain meat and place in pot, add 3 cups of cold water and bring to a boil.  Simmer for 40-50 minutes.  Add drained split peas and onion and pepper.  Simmer gently for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally, until peas start to get tender.  Add more water, to desired thickness.

Add turnip, carrot and celery, simmering for another 20 minutes.  Add chunks of potato and simmer on a very low heat for another 10 minutes before adding dumplings for last 15-20 minutes.

Dumplings
1 cup flour
1/2 cup margarine
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup finely chopped green onion

Mix, flour, baking powder and green onion together in a medium bowl, then cut in margarine until all margarine is no larger than pea size.  Add enough water to form a soft dough that is easy to shape into golf ball sized dumplings.  Drop the dumplings into the slowly simmering pot and cover.  Cook for remaining 15 minutes or so.  Remove cover, lift dumplings out with slotted spoon onto a large plate, serve up soup and place a dumpling on top.  Delicious.

You can experiment with the texture of your soup...some like it really thick, some not so thick.  This is controlled by you and the amount of water you add as it cooks.    

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"P" is for Polar Bears

In my husband's job, he sometimes is involved with relocating stray or wandering polar bears.  This usually happens around March and April.  These bears come down from Labrador on drift ice and sometimes find their way in to land in coastal communities.  There has been several incidents this spring so far.  The bear is usually tranquilized and brought back to it's natural habitat by helicopter, using a net/harness.

Here are a few photos of one such adventure.  Every precaution is taken to ensure the bear is not harmed during this process.

Approaching the bear by helicopter--the bear is shot from the air with an immobilizing dart.

He looks pretty cozy now--notice the tranquilizer dart in the bear's side.

Here, the bear has been prepped for his flight back home.  The covering over the eyes is for protection while in flight as well as to help reduce on the amount of stress, as they remain awake, but totally immobile during this exercise.

Fly, fly away!!!