Watermelon Salad with Feta, Mint and Micro Greens

This is beautiful on a plate. Ramp up your watermelon for the summer holidays. We get our micro greens from our farmers market. The simple Lemon Vinaigrette is wonderful with this salad. 

 

Ingredients:

A small seedless watermelon, chilled

Greek feta cheese, crumbled

A large handful of mint, chopped 

Micro greens

Lemon-Olive oil dressing (recipe follow)

Directions:

Slice the watermelon into discs and trim, and set on plates. Lightly salt the watermelon (remember feta cheese is salty).

Spoon the lemon dressing over the the watermelon discs.

Sprinkle feta cheese on top, then scatter mint and micro greens on top.

Drizzle with more dressing. 

Serve.

Lemon Dressing:

Ingredients:

1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

Large pinch of sea salt

3/4 cup olive oil

Directions:

Place all ingredients in a mason jar. With a hand frother or whisk mix until the dressing is emulsified.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Southern Peach Cake

This is THAT cake. It has been passed down for generations, and once you taste it, you'll understand exactly why. 

The original recipe calls to bake this cake in a 9x13 glass dish. I like a thicker cake, so I use the 8x12 glass baking dish. 

 

 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 Tablespoons of milk

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons flour

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

3 cups sliced peaches 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 8x12 (or 9x13) glass baking dish.

Beat the butter, sugar and eggs in a medium bowl until well blended. Add the milk, stir well. Add 1 1/2 cups of flour mixed with the baking powder, mix well.

Pour into the prepared baking dish.

Combine 1/2 cup sugar, 2 teaspoons flour and 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon in a small bowl. Whisk or stir to combine well. 

Sprinkle half the mixture over the batter. Sprinkler peaches with the remaining cinnamon mixture and stir gently. Arrange peach slices on top of batter.

Bake at 350 for 45 to 50 minutes or until cake test done.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.  

 

 

Southern Almond Iced Tea

From a Junior League cookbook, somewhere in the south. This refreshing iced tea recipe is lovely served in a glass pitcher or punch bowl, with thin lemon slices and sprigs of mint. 

The recipe may be easily doubled for a larger gathering.

Ingredients:

8 cups water, divided  

4 family sized black tea bags or 8 regular tea bags

¾ cup sugar, reduced from the original 1 to 1½ cups

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice 

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Lemon slices and mint sprigs for garnish (optional)

Directions:

Bring 4 cups water to a boil. Remove from heat, add tea bags and steep for 5 minutes. Remove the bags, without squeezing to hard, to avoid bitterness.

While the tea is still warm, stir in the sugar until dissolved. Add the remaining cups of cold water, lemon juice, almond extract and vanilla extract. Stir well.

Chill and serve over ice garnished with mint and lemon slices, if desired. 

 

 

West Texas Chili

 Deep in the Heart of Tex-Mex. 

 

This recipe is adapted from United Taste of Texas by Jessica Dupuy. 

Ingredients:

2 large onions, diced 

1 large jalapeno, seeded and chopped

1/4 cup olive oil

5 cloves of garlic

2 lbs of ground ground 85/15 (venison would work)

1 Tablespoon salt

3 Tablespoons ancho chile powder 

2 Tablespoons ground cumin

1 Tablespoon paprika 

2 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes

1 (6 oz can) tomato paste

1 (12 oz amber beer) 

1 1/2 cups beef broth 

2 Tablespoons masa harina (corn flour)

1 (16 oz can) pinto beans, drained and rinsed (optional)

 

Directions:

Saute onion and jalapeno in hot oil in a large Dutch oven until translucent (about 7 minutes). Add garlic and saute for 1 minute. Add beef and cook stirring often until meat crumbles and is no longer pink. Drain, leaving 2 tablespoons of drippings.

Stir in salt and next 3 ingredients. Stir well for about a minute or two. 

Add tomatoes and tomato paste, stirring well. Add 3/4 cup of beer and 1 cup of beef broth; simmer 20 minutes. Stirring occasionally. Add remaining 3/4 cup beer and 1/2 cup of beef broth and simmer for 30 minutes.

Add masa and cook for 10 more minutes. Add water if needed for desired consistency.