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Lemony Chickpea (Garbanzo), Tomato and Goat Cheese Salad
Okay Cousin Bonnie, here is the salad recipe you asked for…it was yummy!
Lemony Chickpea, Tomato and Goat Cheese Salad
Recipe by Michela Chiappa from Michela’s Tuscan Kitchen
Ingredients –
600g ripe tomatoes (I just drained a can of diced tomatoes)
1 small bunch fresh basil
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
small handful walnuts
½ jar good quality chickpeas (about 300g)
pinch of dried cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 lemon
2 good handfuls of arugula
1 small round of crumbly, soft goat’s cheese
- Roughly chop the tomatoes and add to a serving bowl. Rip in most if the basil leaves, keep the baby leaves to one side. Drizzle over a little extra virgin olive oil and season with black pepper and salt.
- Place a small frying pan on a low heat, add the walnut halves and cook for 5 minutes until toasted and smelling delicious. When ready tip into a bowl.
- In a separate bowl, drain and the chickpeas. Add the cumin, oregano, lemon zest and half the juice and a drizzle of oil. Toss together with a good pinch of salt and pepper. Add the chickpeas to the tomatoes and toss together. Add the arugula and crumble over the goat’s cheese and walnuts.
Grape, Avocado and Arugula Salad
ATTENTION GROCERY SHOPPERS! I just thought you might be shopping today for tyhe weekend dinner so I am posting this great salad recipe early this week. It is incredibly easy to make. We used seedless green grapes and toasted almonds, but the choice is yours. So get in your car and go buy these ingredients!
Grape, Avocado and Arugula Salad
Ingredients:
Salad Ingredients:
- 6 cups fresh arugula, loosely packed
- 2 cups halved seedless grapes, red or green or a mix
- 1 avocado, peeled, pitted and diced
- 1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese
- 1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts or pecans
- half a small red onion, peeled and thinly sliced
- balsamic vinaigrette (ingredients below)
White Balsamic Vinaigrette Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 3 Tablespoons white balsamic vinegar (or traditional balsamic vinegar)
- 2 Tablespoons honey or agave nectar, to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/8 teaspoon freshly-cracked black pepper
Directions:
To Make The Salad:
Add salad ingredients to a bowl, and drizzle with vinaigrette. Toss to combine. Serve immediately.
To Make The Vinaigrette:
Whisk all ingredients together for 30 seconds until combined.
McIntosh Dark Christmas Cake
Okay…I hear ya! It may seem too early to start this, but trust me, NOW is the right time to make this cake! Once baked and wrapped and stored, you are going to take it out every two or three weeks and brush it with your favourite brandy! Keep doing that right up until the cakes are all gone!! You won’t regret it…
FYI…this is Larry’s mother’s recipe with a slight change. Since we had no cherries, we replaced them with dried cranberries. He also added some Kirsch to make up for the lack of cherry flavour… BTW…MY mother used glazed pineapple too!
Mrs. McIntosh’s Dark Christmas Cake*
Fruit Mixture:
3 cups seedless raisins
3 cups Sultana raisins
1 cup dates cut up
1.5 cup dried cranberries OR glazed cherries
3 cups mixed peel
1 cup chopped pecans OR walnuts
Dry Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
3 tsp.cinnamon
½ tsp. nutmeg
¼ tsp. mace
½ tsp. ginger
¼ tsp. ground cloves
Wet Ingredients:
10 Tablespoons butter
10 Tablespoons shortening (Crisco)
8 eggs
1.5 cups brown sugar
2/3 cup orange juice
Line 2 loaf pans with heavy waxed paper and brown paper.
Preparation:
Soak fruit with 1/3 cup Kirsch liqueur
Add the nuts; dust with ¼ cup flour.
Stir Dry Ingredients (remaining flour and spice) together in a separate bowl.
Cream Wet Ingredients (shortening, butter and sugar), beating together until fluffy.
Add eggs ONE AT A TIME, beating well after each.
Blend in dry ingredients; fold in ½ fruit and nut mixture.
Add orange juice slowly while mixing in, and then add second half fruit mixture.
Fill prepared pans 2/3 full.
Bake in a slow oven (300 degrees) 2 hours or until done. Place a pan of hot water in a shallow pan on bottom rack during baking. Remove after one hour!
Cool before removing paper; re-wrap and store in an airtight container in a cool place.
DON’T FORGET THE BASTING EVERY TWO OR THREE WEEKS….. I personally like brandy!
Marianne’s Pumpkin Cake
Our American friends invited us to celebrate their Thanksgiving in Merida. Besides their beautiful home, we were there with some beautiful people! The deep fried turkey was astounding! So was one of the desserts for the last course… When we made this yesterday, our friends thought it was much better than pumpkin pie!
Marianne Kehoe’s Pumpkin Cake
1 – 15 oz can pureed pumpkin
1 – 12 oz can evaporated milk
3 eggs
1 cup sugar (I used brown sugar but can be white)
4 tsp pumpkin pie spice * (see below)
1 package white, spice, or yellow cake mix
1 c butter
1-1/2 cups chopped walnuts or pecans
* If you can’t find pumpkin pie spice use 4 T. ground cinnamon + 4 tsp. ground nutmeg + 4 tsp. ground ginger + 3 tsp. ground allspice. This makes more than you need!!!
Oven 350 F (175 C). Grease a 9 x 13″ cake pan.
In large bowl, combine pumpkin, milk, eggs, sugar, and spices and pour into pan.
In another bowl, with fingers incorporate butter pieces into cake mix and crumble over pumpkin. (I also added a little more cinnamon to mix here for color because I could only find white cake mix,) Sprinkle walnuts or pecans on top.
Bake for about 1 hour, or until knife inserted near center comes out clean.
We served this with some fresh whipped cream and a mix of chopped walnuts and brown sugar which we had carmelized just a bit…
Chocolate Nut Tart
I first made this recipe for a church function which was called “Broadway and Chocolate”. Members of the choir performed Broadway melodies and during several intermissions, you submitted tickets which entitled you to a plate of various chocolate desserts which had been made by the church members. It was a great fundraiser. That was 7 years ago and still this recipe stands the test of time…I just made it today! Served with a very good vanilla ice cream makes it even better. Keep the slices small as it is quite rich!!!
Chocolate Nut Tart
Makes: One large tart Total Time: 1 hour (can be made ahead)
what you need
- 1 1/2 cup flour
- 1/4 c sugar
- 1/2 cup plus 1 T chilled butter in 1/2″ pieces
- 2 T whipping cream
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 3/4 c toasted whole almonds (4 oz)
- 3/4 c hazelnuts (filberts)
- 3/4 c walnuts
- 3/4 c light corn syrup
- 1/4 c light brown sugar
- 1/4 c melted butter cooled (1/2 stick)
- 3 large eggs
- 1 T vanilla
- 1/2 tsp. almond extract
- 1 c semi-sweet chocolate chips
make it
Cookie Crust – Combine flour and sugar in processor. Cut in the butter using on/off motion. Add whipping cream and vanilla. On/off motion until moist clumps. Add more cream if too dry. Press dough over bottom and up sides of 11″ diameter tart pan with removable bottom. Let stand for 30 minutes. (I think you could also just do these as bars in a square pan).
Filling -Combine all nuts in food processor. Chop coarsely. Whisk syrup, sugar and butter in large bowl. Add eggs and extracts. Mix in chocolate chips. Add nuts. Transfer into crust.
Bake at 350 degrees about 40-50 minutes.
