Oh the Cuteness!

I had a barbecue to go to recently and wanted to bring something home made but didn't have a lot of time or money and it had to be vegan-friendly. On hand I had infinite canned goods, tomatoes from the garden, and some frozen peas. I had also seen a tip somewhere online that said if you have a small mustard jar with only a couple tablespoons left you can fill the jar up with vinegar and olive oil, add some spices, and shake it up to make a good mustard vinaigrette. So my game plan was to make a bean salad with mustard vinaigrette, but it turned out so delicious I had to share the recipe! Here you go: Easy Summer Bean Salad *It's very important that you empty your canned goods into a strainer and rinse them thoroughly!* 1 can of each of the following, or feel free to mix it up with what you have on hand, fresh or canned: Corn Garbanzo Beans (Chickpeas) Kidney Beans 1/2 can of Black Olives, Sliced 2-3 Roma Tomatoes 1/2 a Small Package of Frozen Peas 1. P...

Remember when Dennis and I made  pickles with Splenda ? Well I am happy to report that they turned out swimmingly! The sweet onions are superb - you can't even tell that it's not real sugar and the cinnamon and anise make them so spicy I couldn't believe it! Anywho, while we canned the four separate jars, we also took the veggies that wouldn't fit and mixed them in a tupperware and stuck them in the fridge. About a week later I made caldo de pollo and we ate the fridge pickles with the soup and tortillas, and they were so good! So, for those that are intimidated by canning, here's my recipe for quick and easy fridge pickles! Ingredients: Mixed raw veggies, cleaned and cut into manageable pieces. Mine included carrots, beets, and fennel, but cucumbers, cauliflower, etc, would work well too. 2 tbsp dried whole mustard seeds 2 bay leaves 2 whole Thai chilies 1 tsp. whole coriander 1 tsp dried dill 1 tsp. salt Enough cider vinegar (or a mix of a...

So now that you have seen my awesome kitchen I can show off some of the stuff I have made in it! I have been baking a lot of pies lately as I tend to do every time the seasons start changing form summer to fall. I had to take a picture of this bad boy because it turned out so pretty and so delicious! Oh yeah, om nom nom. I will give you my quick-and-easy apple pie recipe at the bottom of the post. Also, I don't know if I mentioned this but Dennis has been on the low-carb diet for a few months now and is doing great! He has lost a lot of weight and it is really fun having him be more involved in the kitchen, seeking out new recipes for us to try, etc. He found this low-carb pumpkin cheesecake recipe and it turned out fantastically! We changed it a bit and used pumpkin pie spice instead of the blend of spices they give. The almond-meal crust was an ingenious substitute for graham cracker too! And lastly, for my birthday I made yet another apple pie: ...