CAULIFLOWER, BROCCOLI AND CARROT SALAD

I recently made this salad for a supper that I was going to.  Everyone was bringing a dish.  I wanted to bring a combination of broccoli and cauliflower but didn't want to cook it as there was a chance it would get overcooked with reheating at the host's home.  A marinated salad was an option but I wanted to make a dressing that was not the usual Italian based marinade.  I like making salad dressings with tahini and lemon juice and knew that the flavours would add taste to broccoli and cauliflower.  This salad involves some chopping and it can be made hours ahead of serving.  When cutting up the cauliflower and broccoli, I discard the large stems and chop the florets for the salad.  I made enough salad for a large group of people.

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 head of a large cauliflower, chopped
3 cups broccoli, chopped 
3 large carrots, chopped 
1 stalk celery, diced 

Dressing:

4 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp water
3 tbsp tahini
1 clove garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste

• DIRECTIONS:

Add the salad ingredients to large bowl.  Mix the dressing ingredients in a two cup measuring cup or a small bowl and combine well using a fork.  If the dressing is too tart for you, add a little bit of honey or maple syrup.  Pour the dressing over the salad and thoroughly mix.  Let it sit for a few hours in the fridge before serving.  Serves 8.   

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SLOW COOKER BEEF SHORT RIBS

Over the past few months I have been making beef short ribs, with the bone and also boneless.  I have cooked them in the oven at a low temperature and without much liquid.  After buying a package yesterday at Costco of boneless short ribs, I decided to make them in the slow cooker.  I like to brown the short ribs before cooking them as searing them adds flavour and some of the fat drains off from the meat.  I also have tomatoes frozen from last year's garden and one method I have been using to use them is to put a number of them semi frozen into a blender with a little bit of water to puree them.  They can be added in this form to soups and to slow cooker recipes.  For this short rib recipe I added pureed tomatoes.  I had pureed enough tomatoes to also add them to soup I am making for the week - sausage barley vegetable soup.  Instead of pureed tomatoes, you can add a large size can (28 ounces) of diced tomatoes.

Just from the smells coming from the slow cooker, I know that the beef short ribs will be delicious.

Browning short ribs.

Onions up next being sautéed. 

Semi frozen tomatoes added to the blender to be pureed. 

Added the sautéed onions to the short cooker.

Tomatoes added to the slow cooker.

Spread the tomatoes to cover the onions and meat.

INGREDIENTS:

2 to 3 pounds of boneless short ribs
1 medium onion. chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1-2 tbsp oil
6 tomatoes, pureed
salt and pepper

DIRECTIONS:

Using a large heavy frying pan, add the oil and heat to medium high heat.  If the strips of short ribs are long, cut them in half and trim any fat that you don't want.  Place the beef short ribs in the pan, add some salt and pepper and cook each side for four to five minutes.  I reduced the heat to medium.  I added salt and pepper to each side.  Place the short ribs into the bottom of the slow cooker.

From frying the short ribs there should be enough fat to sauté the onions.  Saute the onions for a few minutes on medium heat in the frying pan and watch them so that they don't get too brown and the edges burn.  I moved them around while sautéing them with a spoon.  Reduce the heat if the onions are getting too brown.  Remove the onions from the frying pan and add them to the slow cooker.  Add the garlic to the slow cooker spreading it over the onions.  Add the pureed tomatoes to the slow cooker and spread them over the onions and meat. Place the lid on the slow cooker.

Cook on low heat for 6 to 8 hours.  Serves 4 to 6.

BAKED CEREAL

Creamy, smooth and chewy, filling, texture and satisfying are some of the words that describe this recipe after having that first serving.  This recipe was recommended to me by my sister-in-law.  She got it from her daughter.  The recipe is a combination of steel cut oats, pearl barley and wild rice baked in the oven.  The addition of wild rice and barley changes this recipe from just being porridge. I made a batch of this cereal one Sunday and had it for breakfast for the week.  It is easy to heat up the portion you are having in the microwave for your breakfast or any other meal.  You can add fresh fruit including berries to your heated individual portion or you can cut up apricots, add raisins, cranberries or chopped nuts to the oatmeal once it comes out of the oven after it is first baked. I didn't add any dried fruit but added fresh fruit to the individual portion I was having.  It is great recipe that I will continue to make.

Out of oven and cooling in the baking dish.

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup wild rice

1/2 cup pearl barley

1/2 cup steel cut oats

2 tbsp maple syrup or agave

1.5 tbsp coconut oil

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp allspice

6 cups water

DIRECTIONS:

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Add all of the ingredients to a 2.5 quart dish.  I used a corel baking dish with a glass lid.  Mix everything well and bake covered either using a lid or covered with foil. Stir occasionally.  Bake for 1.5 hours.  Cool before refrigerating in a storage container.  Serves 6 depending on your portion size.