Spicy Asian Cabbage Salad Recipe

This is a recipe I found in The Deerfeild Village Cookbook (from Houston Texas). I changed it a bit, and it is very tasty.

Ingredients:

1 lb. Shredded cabbage
8 Green Onions, chopped

1/2 cup Sesame seeds
1/2 cup Almonds crushed or mashed (slivered Almonds are great to)
1 T. Vegetable oil

(Dressing/Sauce)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup of sweetener of choice (I used Splenda)
1/3 cup Rice Vinegar
1 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp ground Cayenne Pepper

Optional extras: can added shredded carrots, or sliced Bell Pepper to.
Serves 4 adults (estimation)
Put shredded Cabbage and chopped Green Onions into a large bowl.

Now put Sesame seeds and Almonds with 1 T. Vegetable oil in sauce pan to brown lightly.







Then pour into bowl of Cabbage and Green Onions. Let sit to cool a bit before mixing together. Mix dressing ingredients together.

Mix in the dressing. I had to put it all in a bigger bowl to mix.

After mixing I put it back into a smaller bowl.

This bowl fits in my fridge. You can eat it now, but I find that it taste better chilled and after it has been sitting awhile in the fridge. Stir before you serve to mix the dressing.

Cucumber Lemon/Lime Drink Recipe (Agua De Pepino)

I found this recipe online at B's Cucumber pages Recipes.

While working in my garden, I thought to move my pot of Oregano in the cucumber area and string up another vine that was trying to grow into the Oregano. When I moved the pot, I noticed this large Cucumber just hanging off the vine nice and plump.

This is the first time I have grown Cucumber and I love them fresh.

Ingredients:

1 Cucumber, peeled and cubed. You can use more if your cucumbers are little.
1-3 Lemons or Limes or combination
5 cups of water. You can use less or more depending on taste.
Sugar to taste.

Add cucumber and 2 cups of water to blender and puree.

Strain into 2 quart container and add the rest of water, citrus juice and sugar to taste, (I added 1/4 sugar and 1/4 cup Splenda). Serve over ice.

I used a mesh strainer bag. I got it at the paint department of home improvement store. It is a paint stainer, but I use it for straining nuts for nut milks and now Cucumber drink. You can use a metal mesh stainer that looks like a bowl with handle to.

Left over pulp of Cucumber. I ate it. Yum, it was so good. There is baby food right there. Good for any age.

Finished product. Tastes so good. I love the smell and taste of fresh Cucumber.

Dehydrating Basil

Part of buying a dehydrator was to dry herbs. So when I kept staring at one of my fully grown Basil plants that was beginning to bloom and thinking my Tomatoes have not produced yet to enjoy that Basil.
It took another week for me to tell myself to dry that Basil.

I started to chop a lot of stems off before I thought to read my dehydrator booklet. It said to cut only 3-4 inches below the top just as first buds appear. My Basil was beginning to flower but I was cutting to much. Went back outside and cut the rest as the book said.

It is a lot of Basil. Now to fit it into my dehydrator. The book said to cut off the big leaves and  bend or break veins and stems to aid drying. (the Pumpkin in pic. is from my garden, yum.)

I added more to this one and I ended up filling 6 trays. The booklet said dehydrate between 95-100 degrees and no more.This will take a few days.

Will update when done. Well it took about 2  1/2 days to dehydrate it all. Crumbled all the dry leaves into a cleaned out class jar with lid.

It is an old nut butter jar. The smell is very fresh and the taste is fresher than any store bought dried Basil. Well worth it. Now to keep in dark place away from sunlight and heat. The glass jar will help keep the Basil fresher longer to.

My Basil plant is still alive and thriving. I moved it to a spot that gets afternoon shade.  I may dry more for gifting. I have another Basil plant thriving in my garden to. So happy to be able to preserve this herb for winter time.