Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Guest Recipes from Susan!

Happy Birthday Susan!!

Susan, has emailed me a couple of her favorite recipes and I have been saving them for today!  
I thought her Birthday would be the perfect day to share them with you all!

Susan's Heirloom Tomato Salad

Another quick yum yummy recipe. 
My own.. sorta made it up because I LOVE heirloom tomatoes.

3-4 heirloom tomatoes ( try for 4 different colors too)

Half red onion
fresh basil leaves ( small hand full)
olive oil
sea salt ( the really course pink seas salt is wonderful , Co-Op bulk section little goes a long way super nutritious too)
very course ground black or multi colored pepper corns ( I have a mill)
then you can go one of two ways.. you can use a dash of Cabernet, or balsamic vinegar...
optional - feta.. I use just a dash of feta it just adds the right amount of flavor variety to it all.

Slice tomatoes 1/4 inch thick.. lay in a pie place or flat pan.. , slice red onion in very thin rounds , tear basil in med sized pieces, arrange over tomato slices. drizzle with olive oil liberally, top with salt, pepper, and balsamic/wine.. and of course feta if you want. I sort of toss it all after I have it put together, then straighten it out to make it look pretty, and allow it to sit out while you make rest of your dinner.. it is very delicious. 

Note * I didn't have heirloom tomatoes, but had  a bunch of homegrown tomatoes, so I used those for the pictures, I also did not have the coarse ground pepper, but I think you all get the idea :-)




Her second recipe is for a making a mocha, you can use either decaf or regular, depending on your preference.  The first recipe is Susan's and the second is my adapted version of her idea.

Susan's Mocha Yuminess!

So for the Mocha Java people out there. I took a whole can of coconut milk, added 2 heaping tbsp of raw unsweetened cocoa powder and 2 packets of Stevia and blended it. Then poured into a jar and put it in the fridge .. basically chocolate mousse right? Well, instead of eating it like a desert, I make my decaf coffee in the morning in my french press then stir in a heaping spoonful of my chocolate mousse. instant mocha. It's like a rich dark chocolate Mocha add as little or much as you need. 
Chocolate mouse ready to put in your coffee.
 So...my variation on it is this, I melted 1 whole Lindt dark chocolate bar with coconut milk, combined it well, then chilled into mouse and added by the spoonful to  coffee.  Same idea just without the Stevia.  Or maybe substitute a little maple syrup for the stevia in her recipe.
  Enjoy. Pin It