I have so many recipes that I've either created, or learned how to make that I couldn't list them all here. So, ask me anything, about any kind of food. If I don't know how to make it, Someone else here will. Let me start with something delicious, and nutritious, and for the coming warm weather, it will just be a wonderful thing. I give you, Cantaloupe Soup, from one of my cookbooks. Enjoy.
Cantaloupe Soup
This one is meant to be served cold. It is simply delicious and refreshing on a hot August afternoon. And of course, you can modify it by changing the liquid. I use apple juice as it is a somewhat dry flavor that goes well with most fruits. You could also use white grape juice or whatever you prefer. Enjoy.
Ingredients:
1 large Cantaloupe, seeds removed, chopped
3 tbs. sweetener
½ cup Sour Cream
¼ cup Apple Juice
2 tsp. Orange Zest
Place cantaloupe, and sweetener into a blender. Cover and process until smooth. Add the sour cream, apple juice and orange zest.
Serve in chilled desert cups.
Let's change flavors from sweet to savory. How about some gazpacho? There are all kinds of good things in this cold dish. Again, this is taken from one of my cookbooks.
Gazpacho
Gazpacho originated in Spain and was brought to Mexico by the Spaniards. It is a cold, tomato-based soup that relies on raw vegetables for flavor, texture, and to provide a refreshing zest to any meal on a hot August day.
There are many recipes for this cold soup. Mine is basic, but contains the essential ingredients upon which you can expand. I've taken the liberty of adding an avocado to help thicken and add just one more flavor layer to this soup. The avocado makes it creamier. I've usually experienced Gazpacho without the avocado, or with the fruit sliced and served on the side. But any way you make it, it's good stuff.
Hmmm. As this is a book to help you learn how to create new and interesting dishes from a basic understanding of food, I'm going to also give you a Gazpacho recipe to play with. We'll create it together. You'll see what I mean following the below listed recipe.
Ingredients:
5 ripe Tomatoes, quartered
1 sweet Onion, diced
1 medium cucumber, peeled and cut into chunks
yellow Bell Pepper, diced
3 tbs. Cilantro leaves
2 ripe Haas Avocados, peeled and diced (optional)
1 cup canned diced tomatoes, or canned whole tomatoes (chopped)
3 fresh limes, quartered
salt
Place the 3 fresh tomatoes into the blender along with 2 tbs. Cilantro leaves and the avocado. Blend until smooth. Pour the mixture into a large bowl. Cut the whole, canned tomatoes into bite-sized chunks , or add the diced tomatoes with the remaining ingredients, except the limes, to the bowl. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Serve as an appetizer along with the quartered limes and salt.
Do you have a charcoal grill? If so, you might like this recipe.
Smouldering Chicken
If you love Hot Wings*
If you love hot wings, then I have an outstanding barbecue chicken recipe for you. I call it Smoldering Chicken. It doesn’t burn your mouth, but leaves a warm glow.
And the flavor is amazing. Trust me, when you read the ingredients, you will probably think that this chicken is beyond the taste buds of ordinary mortals. It looks like it will be blistering hot. But it isn’t. It will surprise you. (By the way, this is my eldest daughter’s, and husband’s favorite chicken. She begged for the recipe.)
The technique given is for use with a kettle-style charcoal grill, but can easily be adapted to any covered grill or barbecue, gas, wood, or charcoal. Enjoy.
Sauce:
1/3 cup Sriracha brand Hot Sauce
2 tbs. Tabasco Pepper Sauce
1 tbs. good soy sauce
8 to 10 chicken thighs, with the skin removed
Mix the sauce ingredients together. Pour into a 1 gallon freezer bag & add the chicken pieces. Move everything around inside the bag until the chicken is well coated with the sauce. Press the air from the bag and place it in the refrigerator for two hours. Make your side dishes during this marinating time.
Fire up the grill with a solid bed of charcoal and let it go until the coals are glowing. Place the chicken on the grill, leaving space between the pieces. Cover and close all vents half way. Cook for 7 minutes. Remove the lid and turn over. Cover and cook for 7 additional minutes. Test with an instant read meat thermometer. Remove the chicken when the temperature reads 160 degrees.
Serve with vegetable kabobs, baked beans, or other summertime foods such as salads, grilled fruit, etc.
Or, how about this summertime favorite
Best Ribs in SSM
Summer is here, a perfect time to break out the grill. A perennial favorite for this holiday is succulent, smoky spare ribs. Though the baby-back ribs are all the rage these days, meaty spare ribs are less expensive, and have more meat on them. When treated properly, in my humble opinion, they beat baby-back ribs for flavor and texture any day of the week.
As every barbecue pit master will tell you, phenomenal ribs take a day’s worth of loving care in a smoker that will cost you a month’s salary, with three hundred pounds of hardwood fuel, right. Wrong. I’m giving you a recipe that will produce fall-off-the-bone tender, juicy, and succulent ribs that require a night in the fridge and 40 minutes in a covered kettle or gas barbecue, and a few sticks picked up from the woods, or a bag of cheap hickory chunks that can be had at the supermarket.
Here’s how I did them two days ago, to rave reviews from guests and family alike (I was told by one guest that these were the only ribs she’d ever had that required no sauce, and by my wife that they were the best ribs she’d ever eaten). Best of all, these are easy to make, and inexpensive. Now what more can a guy ask for?
The Chief's Smoky Spare Ribs
Ingredients:
2 racks pork spare ribs
3 tbs. salt
4 tbs. mild chili powder
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 tbs. granulated garlic powder
2 tbs. granulated onion powder
1 tbs. rubbed sage
Wood chunks/branches cut into 6-inch lengths, maple, hickory, mesquite, cherry, or tag-alder wood.
Combine the salt, chili powder, brown sugar, garlic, onion, and sage in a bowl and blend together until evenly mixed. Lay out the ribs on a covered working surface. Rub both sides of the ribs, massaging the seasoning mixture into the meat. Place in a suitably sized plastic bag, and seal. Refrigerate overnight.
To cook, place the ribs into a large roasting pan, cover and place into a 200 degree oven for eight hours; or, place into and electric turkey roaster, set for 200 degrees, and let it hang out for eight hours or so. An hour before serving time, fire up the barbecue and let it heat up for 15 minutes. Place the wood on top of the charcoal, or wrap in heavy duty foil and put on the fire in a gas grill, and place the ribs on the grill. Cover and reduce heat by either closing all vents by half on the charcoal grill, or at lowest setting on the gas grill. Let the ribs cook in the smoke for 45 minutes. Remove and serve with your favorite barbecue sauce.
Best ever French Toast
2 slices whole wheat bread per person
favorite fruit pie filling
1 recipe crumb topping
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 dash of nutmeg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbs. sweetener
Preheat oven to 350' F.
While the oven is heating, make the crumb topping by combining 1/4 cup each, flour, and oatmeal, together with an equal amount of brown sugar. Cream in 1/2 stick of warm butter. Add 1/2 tsp. of salt. Mix with a fork until crumbly.
Beat the eggs, milk, and all ingredients except for the pie filling, and crumb topping together. Dip a slice of bread into the egg mixture. Press one side of the bread into the crumb topping. Place onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet, crub side down. Put t tbs. of the pie filling onto the side of the bread that has only the egg mixture.
Dip a second piece of bread into the egg, and coat one side with the crumb coating. Place egg-side down on top of the first slice to cover the pie filling. This will make a french toast sandwich. Make as many of these "sandwiches" as needed. Place into the oven and bake for twenty minutes. Serve hot with sweetened Marscapone cheese.
Ok, that's all for now. And I know, I didn't give her the famous pancake recipe.
Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North
. There will be lots of help here. Lots of recipes and plenty of advice. Glad you decided to join us and great to hear that your DH has "turned a corner"
And one for my daughter. 
