German Tomato Salts (TomatenSalz)

I was introduced to the deliciousness that is tomato salts by my Canadian boyfriend, who hosted German couch surfers and left some as a gift. They are absolutely delicious! But completely unavailable in the US. I scoured and found some places in Germany to order them, but alas they do not ship to the US. Thankfully, it seems that German labeling laws are stricter, and I found an explicit recipe on one of the brands of German tomato salts! 

 I made a batch to bring down to one of my bestie's weddings. It's a potluck, but I'll be doing some traveling before and don't have a good way to bring down something more intricately crafted. So, I'll pick up some local tomatoes day-of, along with some pumpernickel and liverworst pate and make small hand sandwiches garnished with the salt.

Note: I am still tweaking this recipe, but will update each discovery/trial.

TomatenSalz

based on Bad Reichenhaller

Ingredients:

4 Tbs salt

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1.5 tsp thyme

2 tsp basil

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp rosemary (optional)

Instructions:

1. Combine all ingredients. Server sprinkled generously over fresh tomato slices.

Pumpkin Butterscotch Granola Bar

Wow I've gotten behind on my blogging. Not that I've made a ton of food as of late, but these couple posts I've had in my back pocket for a while now.

I've discovered that the rate of posting per-month I do is directly correlated to how busy I am. Mid-December was my commencement date and since then I've been pretty much solidly on the go.

Now to the food....
These are actually the first granola bars I've ever made, and I was extremely pleased with the results! My only complaint was these were too sweet for my taste, so next time I'll scale back the sugar (probably not include the brown sugar at all) and update my recipe accordingly.

So! Without further ado,

Pumpkin Butterscotch Granola Bar
from Heather Christo Cooks

Makes about 20 granola bars

Ingredients:
4 cups oats
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup brown suga
1/2 cup pumpkin puree (recipe here)
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/3 cups slivered almonds
1/2 cup pepitas (husked pumpkin seeds)
12 oz. butterscotch chips

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 325F and line a 9x13x1" pan with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, combine oats and oil. Stir until well coated.
3. Add honey, brown sugar, pumpkin, cinnamon, and salt and mix until combined.
4. Add almonds and pepitas and mix in. Then add butterscotch chips and mix.
5. Transfer granola to the prepared pan and spread evenly, pressing down with a spatula.
6. Bake for 30 minutes, then take the bars out, press down hard with the back of a spatula to compress, and bake for another 20 minutes.
7. Let bars cool completely before slicing into bars.

Optional: wrap in wax paper or parchment paper and tie with twine to keep bars from sticking to each other and to give a hand-hold

Borscht

My good friend up at Truman State went to study abroad in Russia last semester and made me promise to make Russian foods for her. Now that it's finally winter-vegetable time, I was able to make this borscht from almost exclusively farmers market ingredients. I felt very eastern European making this dish, scrubbing and grating root vegetables in the kitchen, and then throwing them into a large pot that looked like a bubbling, purple witch's cauldron. Definitely made me miss my Ukranian and Slovokian roommates from France!! This was exactly how they cooked, so I'm dedicating this one to them : )

Note: let soup sit overnight for best flavor.

Borscht
from Moderate Oven

Ingredients:
1 pound beets, shredded
1 bay leaf
pinch of caraway seeds
3 cups vegetable broth
1 lb. cabbage, shredded (I used purple, but the original recipe calls for green)
1 lb. potatoes, chopped into 3/4" pieces
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large onion, diced
1 carrot, shredded
2 Tbs. tomato paste
1 cup canned diced tomatoes, drained (I used 2 medium fresh tomatoes, crushed slightly and drained)
3 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 Tbs. lemon juice
1 Tbs. brown sugar + more, to taste
1 Tbs. salt + more, to taste
pepper, to taste
1/4 cup fresh dill, finely chopped + more, for garnish
sour cream, to garnish

Instructions:
1. In a large stock pot, add half of the shredded beets, 4 cups of cold water, the bay leaf, and the caraway seeds. Bring to a gentle but steady boil and cook for 10 minutes to extract color and flavor from beets.
2. Add the vegetable broth, cabbage, and potatoes to the pot. Return to a boil and simmer for 10 more minutes.
3. Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a heavy-bottomed skillet and sauté onions and celery until soft. Add carrots, the rest of the beets, tomato paste, canned tomatoes, and garlic. Ladle a few spoonfuls of broth from the stock pot into the skillet, and let this mixture cook at a low simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Add skillet vegetables to the stock pot along with the red wine vinegar, lemon juice, sugar, salt, and pepper. Thin soup at this point with more water, if desired. Simmer for 5-10 minutes more, or until potatoes are fork-soft.
5. Remove from heat, add the dill, and season to taste. Serve with lots of sour cream and extra fresh dill.

Hawaiian Macaroni Salad

I finally got an outside picture! The great thing about summer is, even if you come home late, there's still sun AFTER you've finished cooking everything to take a decent picture (notice the shadows, though, it was still getting late : ) )

Usually I'm not a big fan of traditional-style pasta salads, or anything involving mayonnaise, really (though I did grow a taste for it in France. It's just plain better quality there). But I definitely recommend this pasta salad for ANY grilling event. I paired this with grilled black bean burgers that had Gates BBQ sauce (if you don't know about this, google it now and buy some online. Link provided) pus cheddar cheese, fresh lettuce and tomato toppings and diced watermelon. Add any seasonal summer beer and you're good to go. WA-BAM. Summer.

Hawaiian Macaroni Salad
from Tide and Thyme

Ingredients:
1 lb pasta (elbow macaroni, spirlini, etc.)
1/2 cup cider vinegar
 2 cups milk, divided
1 1/2 cups mayonnaise (I used Kraft Mayo with olive oil)
1 Tbs. brown sugar
4 scallions, sliced thinly (green part only)
1 large carrot, peeled and grated
1 celery rib, chopped finely
2 tsp. black pepper
1.5 Tbs. salt, divided

Instructions:
1. Bring a pot of water to boil, add 1 Tbs. salt and the pasta and cook until very soft, about 15 minutes.
2. While pasta is cooking, whisk together 1.5 cups milk, 1 cup mayo, brown sugar, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 2 tsp. black pepper
3. Drain pasta and return to pot. Add vinegar and toss until mostly absorbed.
4. Transfer pasta to a bowl with a lid and cool for 10 minutes. Stir in dressing, until pasta is completely coated and then cool completely.
5. Add scallions, carrot, celery, remaining 1/2 cup milk, and remaining 1/2 cup of mayo to pasta. stir to combine and season with salt and pepper to taste.
6. Cover and let sit at least an hour (I left mine over night and it was perfect the next day).