A few new recipes

I'm trying to get back to normal blogging, but it is so hard. Life is still kind of crazy. I spent this weekend cleaning things out, so the house doesn't look all that much cleaner. I did do away with 3 kitchen bags full of toys! I listed them on freecycle, and the first response was also another blogger! A blogger I didn't even know about. So you know who I chose to give the toys to.

I do want to share a few recipes with you. One I've been making over the last few weeks and it's a huge hit with my family. I grew up eating cucumbers and onions, also known as quick pickles. It's good, but the vinegar can be overwhelming. The other day I had a ripe cucumber and ripe tomatoes. So I made:

Cucumber & Tomato salad
1 Thin-skinned cucumber (homegrown or english works well)
1-2 Ripe tomatoes
Thinly sliced onion to taste
Rice Wine Vinegar
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

Thin slice the cucumber into rounds. Put in shallow dish. Add the thin sliced onion. I used yellow, but red would work great too. Sprinkle salt all over the cucumber. You don't need a whole bunch, but you need to make sure each cucumber slice has some salt on it. Let sit while you work on the rest of the meal. After 20-30 minutes, drain any water that is in the dish. Add sliced tomatoes. Then drizzle the rice vinegar and olive oil over the top. Add pepper. Toss. The Rice Vinegar is a bit pricey up front, but most recipes call for just a small amount and the mild flavor really lends itself to this dish. We have not had any leftovers when I've made this.

Homemade Honey Mustard Dressing
Mayonnaise
Jalapeno Mustard
Lemon Juice
Honey
Pepper

I mixed it to taste. I used about 3/4 cup of Mayo, 3 Tablespoons of the Jalapeno Mustard, fresh squeezed lemon juice from a quarter of a lemon and a tablespoon of honey. Then added pepper liberally. I let it sit for 15 to 20 minutes to bring it to full flavor. We had this on top of steak salad last night.