Category Archives: cooking

I hear all the rap about cucumbers being a great “de-bloat”  food. Good. I’ll eat them anyway. This another way to enjoy them all summer.

1 cucumber, peeled and de-seeded1 Cup water
Juice from one lemon or lime

Blend and put into ice cube trays. Frozen cubes can be added to water or smoothies. Very refreshing.

I love peanut sauce! Over the past 10 years, I think I have this down. So I’m sharing with you. But I encourage you to experiment. Use a combo of these ingredients to find the version you like: more creamy or spicy or sweeter.

Ingredients:
1 tbsp of crushed red pepper
3/4 cup of sesame oil
.25 cup honey
.25 cup soy sauce
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1 cup Chicken broth

Heat oil and pepper in sauce pan for 2 minutes. Let cool and drain out flakes. Add honey, chicken broth, and soy sauce. Mix well. Whisk in peanut butter and whisk till smooth.

This gives you enough sauce for about 3 meals. It keeps for a month. So make a batch and use it all month. You can thin it with vegetable oil to make a nice salad dressing for cucumbers.

I like to use the sauce tossed with:
Whole wheat spaghetti
Cooked chicken
Shredded carrot and cabbage
Spinach
Topped with cilantro, green onion and chopped peanuts

The newest version has a hot pepper oil to add the SPICE. You can bypass the oil prep and use a tsp of chili paste, which I think has a sweeter taste.

Recipe adapted from http://asmallsnippet.com/2011/03/spicy-thai-noodles.html

With Valentines Day coming, this is a good time to pull this recipe out. These are the cookies that will get you laid, guarantee you a promotion, mend any fence, cure a cold, and in my case, win a blue ribbon at the 1975 4-H Fair.

Just like all cookies:
Cream: 1 stick of butter, ½ cup brown sugar, ½ cup sugar
Add: 2 eggs, 1 tsp vanilla
Stir in 1 ¼ cup of flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda
Fold in 1 cup of rolled oats, ½ cup chocolate chips, ½ cup chopped nuts (I like walnuts or pecans)
Bake 350 for 12-15. (With my elevation and convection oven, these cooked in 8 minutes-watch that first batch closely.)