I usually love garlic, but I would be really careful about adding any more than what is on this recipe.  It gets a little too potent and makes the tzatziki sauce unbearable to eat.

Tzatziki Sauce

 Ingredients

• 1 (8 ounce) container plain yogurt (Preferably Greek or Fage)
• 1 cucumber
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 lemon, juiced and zest
• 1-1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh dill
• 1-1/2 cloves garlic, peeled
• 5 mint leaves, chopped fine
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

1. The night before making Tzatziki, place the yogurt in a paper towel lined strainer over another bowl and leave it in the fridge overnight. This thicker yogurt-cheese is the perfect consistency for Tzatziki. This step is not necessary if using Greek yogurt.
2. Peel and seed the cucumber. Place the cucumbers in a strainer over a bowl and cover with salt. This will leech out a lot of the water and help assure you have a thick sauce.
3. In a food processor or blender, combine all ingredients. Process until well-combined.
4. Transfer to a separate dish, cover and refrigerate for at least one hour for best flavor, over night is suggested.
5. The first 2 steps are very important. If not followed you will make Tzatziki soup, not sauce.

I can’t remember which site I found this recipe on, but it’s delicious.  The roasting of all of the veggies really ads a nice flavor to the salsa.

Note that this makes a lot — a big mixing bowl full.

•  16 full size tomatoes, or nearly a produce bag full of roma tomatoes (we used roma)
• 2-3 yellow onions
• 20-25 Serrano peppers (remove caps) Note: this many peppers makes it hot. Feel free to reduce # of peppers, or scrape the seeds out of them
• 8-10 cloves of garlic
• 1-2 Tbsp salt
• 1-2 bunches cilantro

1.  Halve the tomatoes and onions and lay cut-side up on a cookie sheet along with the peppers and garlic
2. Roast at 375 till the onions look nice and translucent (see bottom left of the next picture), tomatoes look soft, and peppers are getting a nice char on them
3. Let it all cool a bit, then run through the food processor with salt and cilantro (we had to do this in two batches)
4. Stir it all together and eat!

Storage

It’ll last at least a week in the fridge in a Tupperware-type container, although it’ll rarely stay around that long. You could potentially freeze some if you wanted to store it for longer (then defrost it in the fridge), but really, it is at its best when it’s still hot from roasting!

Spiciness

Varies a lot based on personal taste and individual peppers. Sometimes you’ll get a batch of extra hot peppers and other times you might as well have used bell peppers.  If you are very sensitive to spice, cut the seeds out and just use the meat of the pepper. Also, roasting the peppers longer will bring out the sugars in the peppers which will make it less fiery. Use fewer peppers if you’re wary.

Roasting

You can definitely do this on a grill instead of the oven, in fact, that is my preferred method. I typically roast the onions until they’re translucent, the garlic until it’s browned (not too black), and the tomatoes and peppers until the skins are mostly blackened.

• 1/2 C vegetable oil
• 1/4 C white vinegar
• 1/4 C sugar
• 1 T poppy seeds
• 1/4 t paprika
• 1/4 t salt
• 6 oz of Fresh Baby Spinach
• 4 Cups Fresh Sliced Strawberries

Whisk the dressing together.  Can be made ahead and refrigerated.

Add to 6 oz fresh baby spinach leaves and 4 C sliced strawberries.

My friend Jessica made this for me one night for dinner.  I was floored by how delicious it was.  You should make it.  You will love it too.

Wilted Spinach Salad, with Bacon Dressing

Salad Ingredients

• 3 whole eggs
• 7 slices of Thick Cut, Peppered Bacon (reserve grease)
• 1 small Red Onion – sliced thinly
• 1 package of White Button Mushrooms
• 8 ounces of Baby Spinach, (washed, dried and stems removed)

Dressing Ingredients

• 3 TBSP of Reserved Bacon Grease
• 2 TBSP Red Wine Vinegar
• 2 tsp Sugar
• ½ tsp Dijon Mustard
• 1 dash of Salt

Cooking Instructions

 Cook Eggs:

1. Cover with water, and bring to a boil.
2. Turn off the heat and allow them to sit in the water for 20 minutes.
3. Drain off water, and add ice on top of Eggs.

Preparing Salad Ingredients:

1. Fry the bacon until crispy and chewy.  Remove from pan and place on a paper towel to drain off.
2. Remove 3 TBSP of grease and set aside for making the dressing.
3. Add 2 additional TBSP of grease to a separate skillet over medium heat.
4. Slice Red Onions very thinly, and then add to skillet.  Cook slowly until they are caramelized and brown.  Remove from pan and set aside.
5. Chop bacon into bite sized pieces.
6. Peel and slice eggs

 Bacon Dressing:

1. Add the reserved 3 TBSP of bacon grease, vinegar, sugar, salt and Dijon mustard to a small saucepan or skillet over medium heat.
2. Wisk mixture together and heat thoroughly.

 Combining Salad:

1. Add Spinach to large bowl.
2. Add onions, mushrooms and bacon on top.
3. Pour hot dressing over the top, and toss to combine.
4. Arrange the sliced eggs over the top, and serve.

Enjoy!

Serves 6

Candied Almonds

• ½ Cup Sliced Almonds
• 3 TBSP Sugar

Preparing Candied Almonds

Melt sugar in large frying pan with sliced almonds, stirring continuously until almonds are coated.  Don’t let the sugar burn.  Spread out on foil to cool.

Dressing

• ½ tsp Salt
• ½ tsp Pepper
• ¼ Cup Oil
• 1 TBSP chopped Parsley
• 2 TBSP Sugar
• 2 TBSP White Wine Vinegar

Preparing Dressing

Mix all ingredients together.  Let sit while making salad.

Salad

• ½ Head Green Leaf Lettuce, torn into bite sized pieces
• ½ head Romaine Lettuce, torn into bite sized pieces
• 1 Cup Celery, chopped
• 4 Green Onions, chopped
• 1 – 11 oz can of Mandarin Oranges
• 1 Avocado, cut into chunks
• 1 Apple, diced
• ¼ Cup Dried Currants
• ½ Cup Crumbled Bleu Cheese
• 3 Chicken Breast Halves, cooked and shredded

Preparing Salad

Mix all salad ingredients, and candied almonds together.  Toss with dressing, and serve.

Ingredients

• 1 (8 ounce) container plain yogurt (Preferably Greek or Fage)
• 1 cucumber
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 lemon, juiced and zest
• 1-1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh dill
• 1-1/2 cloves garlic, peeled
• 5 mint leaves, chopped fine
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

1. The night before making Tzatziki, place the yogurt in a paper towel lined strainer over another bowl and leave it in the fridge overnight. This thicker yogurt-cheese is the perfect consistency for Tzatziki. This step is not necessary if using Greek yogurt.
2. Peel and seed the cucumber. Place the cucumbers in a strainer over a bowl and cover with salt. This will leech out a lot of the water and help assure you have a thick sauce.
3. In a food processor or blender, combine all ingredients. Process until well-combined.
4. Transfer to a separate dish, cover and refrigerate for at least one hour for best flavor, over night is suggested.
5. The first 2 steps are very important. If not followed you will make Tzatziki soup, not sauce.

Now that I live in Wyoming, I don’t have the ability to go to The Bayou every time I have a craving for their fries & aioli.  I had to find a recipe that captured the flavor of The Bayou’s aioli sauce.

When I went to make the aioli, I realized that I didn’t have the chipotle seasonings that the recipe called for.  I did have Chilies in Adobo sauce though.  So I used that instead.  It turned out AMAZING!!

I haven’t had time to try making my own sweet potato fries, so I’ve just been using the frozen Ora Ida version.  They aren’t as bad as I had anticipated.

Chipotle Aïoli

Bon Appétit | July 2007

Yield: Makes 6 servings

• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped chives
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
• 1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder or chipotle hot sauce
• Salt and pepper

• 1. Whisk mayonnaise with chives, garlic, lime juice, and chipotle chili powder or chipotle hot sauce to taste.
  1. Season with salt and pepper;
  2. Chill until ready to serve.

Substitution: I didn’t have chipotle chili power or hot sauce, so I used Adobo Chilies in Adobo Sauce.  I finely chopped up the chilies, added it to the mayo mixture and added a couple of tablespoons of the adobo sauce as well.

Serving Ideas: The adobo version of this dip was awesome with celery, corn tortilla chips as well as sweet potato fries.

Place all ingredients in your food processor and run until they are completed blended.

Serve with chips or on top of cream cheese or whatever sounds good.

3 cups of Oil (Canola, Corn, Peanut or Olive Oil)

¼ cups of hot red chilies (dried & crushed)

Instructions

1. Combine oil and crushed hot chile in a heavy-bottomed pan. Starting on the lowest heat possible, bring oil temperature to 140 degrees (use a deep-fry or candy thermometer), and maintain temperature for 10 minutes.
2. Take oil off of heat and let stand until it comes down to room temperature. Let sit for at least 1 day before using. Pour into a clean, tightly sealed glass jar and refrigerate. Use within 1 month.

This is great with balsamic vinegar to dip bread into.  Works well brushing onto a chicken prior to cooking.