Dad's Barbecue Sauce with a Mustard-Vinegar Base

This is dad's mustard-vinegar based BBQ sauce that goes with his pulled pork recipe on my blog. 

Ingredients:

1 cup yellow mustard
½ cup sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
¾ cup apple cider vinegar
¼ cup water
2 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp white pepper
½ tsp soy sauce
2 tbsp butter

In a small saucepan, mix all ingredients except soy sauce and butter. Bring to a boil and lower heat to simmer and cook for 30 minutes. Stir in the soy sauce and butter and simmer for 10 minutes. 

Marinara Sauce

Red sauce, tomato sauce, gravy, marinara. It goes by various names. Is there any difference? I started to read and found a lot of information and opinions out there. It seems there are subtle differences in these sauces with one thing in common: it usually goes with pasta or pizza. Marinara sauce is simpler with fewer ingredients than a heavier red sauce, and marinara doesn't include tomato sauce or paste. It also cooks faster. I use this marinara as a base sauce for homemade pizza.

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced

1/3 cup yellow onion, chopped fine

5 vine-ripened tomatoes, cored & quartered
2 teaspoons fresh basil, chopped

1 teaspoon fresh oregano, chopped
Kosher salt to taste

Heat a medium saucepan over medium-high heat and add the olive oil. Add garlic and onion and saute in oil until light brown. Stir in the tomatoes, basil, oregano, and salt. Lower heat to medium-low and mash the tomatoes to help them break down, depending on how chunky you like your marinara sauce. Cook the sauce for 30 minutes.

Cheese Grits

I truly enjoy all of the regional variations in food. For example, grits. Typically seen on menus in the South. This recipe for grits is from a fellow foodie living in the South, who reports the dish to be "quite good". Top your grits with this BBQ Shrimp.

Ingredients:
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup milk
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
1 cup quick-cooking grits (not instant)
4 oz Gouda cheese, shredded
1 tbsp butter

In a medium sauce pan, combine the broth, milk, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil and slowly add the grits. Lower to simmer, cover, and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Turn off heat and add the cheese and butter. Stir to mix. Serve in large bowls.

Orange-Banana Vegan Smoothie

Here's another recipe for a vegan smoothie. All of the orange in this makes this smoothie very refreshing and summery. Put everything in a blender or food processor and enjoy. Quick breakfast too!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup ice
1 orange, peeled & sectioned

1 banana
1 cup soy milk
1/3 cup orange juice
1 tsp raw sugar

Mama's Chocolate-Banana Protein Smoothie

Here's a refreshing chocolate-banana smoothie recipe and it's a great way to use up those frozen bananas in your freezer. 🍌🍌🍌

Ingredients:
2 scoops of your favorite chocolate protein powder

2 cups milk (any kind)

1 frozen banana (or fresh), cut into 3-4 pieces

1/4 tsp vanilla

ice (optional)

Blend everything together and enjoy.

Non-Fat Yogurt Cheese

Yogurt cheese is what's leftover after you strain yogurt through a mesh bag or a few layers of cheesecloth. It's a healthy alternative to sour cream and cream cheese and fun to make. You can mix yogurt cheese with grated cucumber and make tzatziki, roasted or raw garlic, fresh chopped herbs, spices, or whatever you like. Yogurt cheese is good on baked potatoes or as a dip with crackers and veggies.

Here's what you'll need:

1 mesh strainer bag or cheesecloth

1 large colander

1 large bowl
1 32 oz container non-fat plain yogurt

Put the colander on top of the bowl. Put the mesh bag or 3-4 layers of cheesecloth in the colander and scoop the yogurt into the mesh bag. Put the whole contraption in the fridge overnight. 

In the morning, pour the excess liquid out of the bowl. About half of the yogurt will be liquid, or whey. If you use non-fat plain Greek yogurt for this recipe you'll have less liquid. Empty the yogurt cheese out of the mesh bag or cheesecloth into a bowl. You should now have something that looks like sour cream or cream cheese. In the photo, you can see the spoon is standing up due to the thickness of the yogurt cheese. 

Your yogurt cheese is now ready to be used alone or with your favorite ingredients. After mixing ingredients to yogurt cheese, refrigerate it for a few hours to allow the flavors to blend. Enjoy your healthy yogurt cheese.

Roasted Garlic

There are only two things you need for this recipe--garlic & olive oil. If you've ever roasted garlic in the oven, you know just how wonderful your kitchen can smell once the garlic starts to cook. Garlic gets sweeter with roasting, and you can add it to bread, dips, veggies, meats, or whatever suits your fancy.

Heat oven to 350. Remove loose paper from the garlic bulb and put it in the middle of a layer of heavy duty foil on a shallow pan. Pour one tablespoon of olive oil over top of the garlic, wrap it and twist the foil closed at the top. Roast garlic in the oven for 45 minutes.

Let the garlic cool after you remove it from the oven. Next, squeeze the delicious sweet roasted garlic out of each garlic clove and it's ready to use. You can store any leftovers in the fridge.

Italian Quiche

I am calling this recipe Italian Quiche because it includes proscuitto and two types of  cheese-- parmesan and mozzarella. You'll need a 9" deep dish pie crust. You can make one from scratch or you can use a refrigerated or frozen one. This is a fast recipe that can easily be put together and you get a lot of bang for your buck. The quiche ingredients can be changed to suit your own tastes. I've seen recipes for crustless quiche as well. Today, I used what I had in the house. This quiche is good hot or cold, and makes a great breakfast, lunch, dinner, or midnight snack.

Ingredients:

6 eggs
3/4 cup fat-free milk
1 cup mozzarella cheese, grated

1 cup parmesan cheese, grated

1/4 cup blue cheese, crumbled

4 thin slices proscuitto, torn into bite-sized pieces
1/2 tsp mustard powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp salt

Dash of red pepper flakes

Heat oven to 350. Whisk the eggs in a large bowl, then add the milk and whisk again. Add the cheeses, proscuitto, and all of the remaining ingredients, making sure the egg mixture is well blended. Place your crust into a 9"glass pie dish and pour mixture into the pie crust. Put the pie on a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper and bake for 45-50 minutes. Slice and serve. 

Quiche goes well with cantelope and other fresh fruit. Store any leftovers in the fridge or freeze them.

Dicing

Food Tip:  there are mainly three sizes of dicing when it comes to food:

Large=3/4" cube

Medium=1/2" cube

Small=1/4" cube