tomato, cheddar and walnut salad

I hate to sound like a broken record but I still am not cooking or baking. I mean cooking is down to the bare minimum if I can handle that. The humidity this summer in the NE is fierce! Every summer I love making my famous tomato pie, but I just can't turn that oven on lately. To satisfy my tomato pie craving I made a fabulous tomato salad filled with sharp cheddar, crispy walnuts, and a hint of dill (although I think tarragon might be interesting next time).
Something about tomatoes and cheese; they are the perfect pairing aren't they?

Cook Notes: the next time I make this I will use a hearty 12-grain bread, it went ok with the sourdough roll, but it really would pair better with nice, texture grain bread. Adding some fresh tarragon might be interesting next time too. The dill was good, but don't add in too much.

tomato, cheddar & walnut salad
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(no measurements added, since you can add as much or as little as you like)
ripe heirloom tomatoes, chopped 1-inch pieces
sharp white cheddar, chopped 1-inch pieces
toasted walnuts
hellman's mayo
fresh ground pepper (salt is really not needed)
fresh dill or tarragon (not too much)

Mix all together, refridgerate a bit then serve on your favorite bread or over lettuce.

egg salad w/ olives and sweet pepper relish

Has anyone been baking? I haven't. And lately I consider baking to be putting together a salad in this hot weather. Why? Because my body is baking while doing it. Heatwave indeed. I really don't mind the heat so much as the humidity we've gotten on the cape is brutal, like rainforest brutal you know? And I'm getting kind of tired of sleeping with A/C on; I miss those nice cool breezes at night.
So as of late we've been eating a lot of hummus rollups, salads, and sushi. I have not been eating ice cream as I had a bad cold and need to watch the dairy intake. But I have been enjoying those coconut milk ice creams by Turtle Mountain. Have you tried them? I was amazed at how much they tasted just like dairy and yet it's dairy free. My favorite is the chocolate/pb (of course, no surprise there).
So if you're like me these days and loathe turning the oven on, would rather stay in your bathing suit all day (yes all day morning to night just so you're prepared at a moments notice to jump in the pool or ocean). Well ok you have to turn the oven on for this one, to boil the eggs. This is a fast easy meal with my favorite way to eat: layers of flavor. Complete with black olives, sweet pepper relish, romaine lettuce all served on warm garlic Naan. It's also great with green olives and chopped pimentos too.
What do you like to put in your egg salad? Have you ever kicked it up a few notches?

pimento cheeseburger w/ tomato-balsamic reduction

Let's have a cheeseburger shall we? No no, I mean a real cheeseburger filled with lots of good stuff and layers of FLAVOR. You with me? Good. Because you're going to have to try this. I've never given you homework, and wouldn't think of giving you homework during the summer, but this is mandatory--you must make these. OK? They will not let you down.
I've never tried a pimento cheeseburger. I know, dumb.
Recently on the Food Network I saw bobby flay make pimento burgers, then literally a couple days later paula deen, and then I got curious and hungry, and figured it was a sign for me to make them already.  Bobby nor Paula didn't use a balsamic dressing, I just had to--the burgers, the cheese just went so well with the balsamic reduction.
Are pimento burgers a southern thing? I think so right?
Well they should be a northern thing too. Normally the pimento cheeseburger doesn't have this balsamic reduction, but I just wanted to add an extra layer of flavor, and I'm really glad I did--they blended perfectly. Let me share with you a couple of my cook notes.


Cook notes: I was going to add tomatoes to these but they would have made everything too watery. The pimento sauce isn't that thick and runs a bit when heated up.
Make sure to use a good sharp cheddar cheese.
I think adding a layer of crispy bacon would work well on this, but add it to the bottom of the burger not next to the sauce so the sauce still stands out. Use sweet onions on this not red onions; red onions are a bit overwhelming and the pimento sauce gets lost. Always toast your buns!
You know this already.


pimento cheeseburgers w/ tomato-balsamic reduction
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5 ounces good quality sharp yellow cheddar cheese, chopped fine
3 TB hellmans mayo
1 & 1/2 TB pimentos, chopped
1 & 1/2 TB grated sweet onion
1 TB worcestershire sauce
salt & pepper for the burgers only
(this should be enough sauce for 3-4 burgers)

In a bowl, combine cheese, mayonnaise, pimentos, grated onion, and worcestershire. Cover place in fridge till ready to use.
Season patties with salt and pepper. I like to use an 85% lean ground beef or chuck. Cook burgers the way you like them and when done top with the pimento cheese cover with a bowl and let cheese melt a bit. Serve on toasted onion rolls or ciabatta rolls, top with thinly sliced sweet onions, lettuce and some of the balsamic reduction.

tomato-balsamic reduction

1/4 cup of high quality balsamic vinegar
3- 4 TB ketchup

place in a sauce pan and reduce down over medium to low heat. you know its done when you have a nice thick syrup. this should take about 15 minutes or so.

reuben dip

Did you just ask if I happen to have a really good reuben dip for your summer parties and/or entertaining? Oh ok, I thought you had. Good, I have just the dip for you then. What a wild coincidence!
So you know I've told you I love my homemade ice creams with lots of stuff in them? And you know I love my cookies with tons of junk in them too. Well, I love my dips the same way--tons of stuff, and tons of flavors going on: A party in a dip.
So I'm proud to say I have this dip down to a science, a mere perfection of taste sensation. The flavor is spot on.
Cook notes: I found that using fried pastrami worked best; you could use fried corned beef as well. If you don't like using meat you can use just the cheese chunks and maybe some finely chopped veggies (red peppers, green peppers, cooked corn, etc.. would go very well). If you can, use round dark russian bread as it states in the recipe below. It really melds well with the flavor of the dip. On my first batch I used the dark bread, but on the second batch they had no more russian bread so I used sourdough. I highly recommend using the russian dark and/or marble breads for dipping as sourdough just doesn't quite cut it. Dig it.

reuben dip
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¾ lb. pastrami (fairly lean), finely chopped ½ inch pieces
Less than ¾ lb swiss cheese, finely chopped ½ inch pieces
Almost a ½ cup of yellow or sweet onion, diced finely
¼ cup ketchup
3 TB yellow mustard
¼ cup plus 2 TB sweet pepper relish (not dill)
4 TB hellmans mayo
2 TB creamy horseradish sauce
1 cup sour cream
8 ounces of cream cheese, room temp
A couple dashes of salt & pepper

1 12-inch round dark Russian bread, hollowed out and made into bread chunks
1 large rye bread, cut into chunks for dipping

I like to pan fry the chopped pastrami before adding it into the dip. Just gives it more flavor—this is of course optional but wonderful.
Place everything but the bread in a glass dish, mix well, taste and see if all is good; may have to add more sour cream or mayo. Recipe by dawn finicane. It’s best when the cream cheese is nice and soft, easier to mix.
Let this chill in the fridge at least a couple hours before serving.
When ready to serve place the dip inside the hollowed out Russian bread bowl, serve with the bread chunks on the side on a giant platter, then garnish with chopped fresh parsley or chives.

summer salad days

As I sit down to write this post I remember that the oven hasn't been on in over four days. Wow. Is that a new record for me? I think so. The heat and the humidity have taken over very early this summer and the last thing I want to do is add more heat. So I've been eating a lot of salads, subs, tomato & mozzarella, etc.. and of course ice cream.
I asked on twitter what ya'll wanted me to post next and almost everyone said salad. OK. To be honest I never thought to share salads, but maybe someone out there will dig it as much as I do. My salads are a little out of this world, but that's because I love my salads kicked up too, just like my desserts and meals. But I think you might like this salad as it has a lot of flavor and textures going on in it. Not to mention protein. It's pretty easy to guess what's on this one: avocado's, tortilla strips, black olives, feta, red kidney beans. The dressing is catalina. Yeah big gourmet surprise. But have ya'll tried Catalina? Man that stuff is goooood. I've just tried it in the last two years. That stuff goes with everything. Amazing in taco salads too. What's not in the photo are banana peppers; I saw those in the fridge last minute and had to have them.
What's your favorite way to kick up a salad? Do you eat more salads in the summer?