Month: July 2020

Ok so this weekend I had a golf lesson at the cottage with some friends, the dudes golfed and met us for drinks and lunch on the patio. My friends (the girls at least) were all raving about this salad they had tried before… It was so good I copied it. I have to say I got it bang on too. Made my own falafel but did it in the air fryer – which was super easy and tasty and healthy. Give this falafel salad a try – you won’t be disappointed.

Falafel recipe

For the falafel part of this falafel salad I used this air fryer falafel recipe from Skinnytaste – if you haven’t seen recipes on Skinny taste check it out they are all really good. The only difference mine had was a higher and longer cook time on the air fryer to get a crispy golden outside (400F for 9 min each side). Oh and I did more or less puree it. I like a not too chunky falafel – personal preference.

The basic ingredients you need for this are canned chick peas, cilantro, onion, green onion, parsley and garlic, baking powder and flour. Oh and cooking spray for the air fryer. A bit time consuming but easy. You can also buy pre-made falafel and put it in the air fryer.

Dressing recipe

So this falafel salad had a sun dried tomato dressing. I googled sun dried tomato dressing and got one that popped up and I made some modifications- here it is:

7 pieces of sundried tomato packed in oil

6 tablespoons olive oil (I used 4 plain and 2 spiced with tuscan herbs – next time will use some of the oil from the tomato jar instead of tuscan herb oil)

1 clove of garlic

4 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

1/4 tsp salt

a bit of ground pepper

a spash of lemon juice

Throw all of this into a blender or food processor and puree. I stuck it in a squeeze bottle to store in the fridge.

Falafel Salad Recipe – “the goods”

Ok so you got your falafel (still hot) from the air fryer, and you got your dressing in a squeeze bottle… here we go

Ingredients:

Spinach

thinly sliced red onion

feta cheese cubed

4-5 hot falafel

dressing

avocado (optional)

pumpkin seeds (optional)

On a bed of baby spinach throw a few slices of red onion, feta, avocado and the warm falafel and top with dressing. Mix and enjoy.

This was so good, and I nailed it so well that when I sent pictures to my friends these were their comments:

“Karen!”

“Looks delicous”

and

“So envious!! I am drooling just looking at the picture”

Now I have to publish this so I can send them the link… you know who y’all are 😉

It’s strawberry season! That usually means that I, like my mother before me, go a bit overboard when I pick strawberries. Last week I went out with my son Leo and we picked about 10.5 L (!) So after washing, hulling and making jam I still had a ton! I have had this recipe for strawberry pie for years but totally forgot about it! I have since made strawberry pie twice. It really is amazing.

Strawberry pie ingredients

so here are the ingredients for the strawberry pie. If you want to make your own pastry please see below for a “perfect pastry” recipe for two pie crusts. Otherwise you can use prepared bought pie shells – just be sure to follow the directions on the box and bake it.

one baked pie shell

2 quarts whole strawberries washed and hulled

1 tablespoon lemon juice

one cup sugar

2.5 tablespoons of cornstarch

Directions

Put half of berries into the pie shell whole (please make sure the berries are dry). Put the other half of the berries in a saucepan and crush with a potato masher. Add sugar and cornstarch and boil and stir until clear and thick. Add lemon juice. Let this mixture cool a little then pour over berries. Let stand in refrigerator for 2 hours and serve with whipped cream.

Seriously this is so simple and delicious it is amazing.

Perfect pastry ingredients and directions

If you want to get a bit more complicated here is an easy pie shell recipe that makes really one of the best crusts I have ever made.

3 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 c cold butter

one egg

1/2 c cold lard cubed (or shortening)

2 tsp vinegar

two tsp lemon juice

ice water

In a food processor blend flour and salt and cut in butter and lard until fine crumbs. Beat egg separately in a liquid measuring cup until foamy and add vinegar and water to make 2/3 of a cup. Add egg mix all at once to stuff in processor and mix until it clumps but don’t let if form a ball. Remove and press together into 2 disks and refrigerate 30 min (up to 3 days or freeze 3 mos). Let stand at room temp 15 min before rolling. Bake 450 F for 10 min (rememember to poke with fork on bottom or add pie weights)

Makes 2 single crusts or 1 double 9 or 10″