Mennonite Monday - Dressing for Fresh Cucumbers

Mennonite Monday started because I wanted to make recipes from the Bethesda Mennonite Church Cookbooks (both the yellow and the white cookbook for those of you who own them). I also wanted to take pictures of each recipe that I made, so I would know for future reference what the recipe should look like. I am by no means a great cook, but I think it will be fun to try new and different recipes each week. Not all of these recipes are for ethnic Mennonite food, but the women from Henderson know how to cook, so I can safely say that these recipes will be good. Check back each Monday for a new recipe and feel free to leave a comment if you have a favorite recipe from these cookbooks, or if you have some tips on what I should make and how I should make it.

~

This week I am sharing one of my all time favorite summer recipes! It is so simple and perfect for meals right out of the garden. This weeks recipe is Dressing for Fresh Cucumbers (pg 185 W).  I will make this almost every week this summer because it is the best with cucumbers right out of the garden. 

Dressing for Fresh Cucumbers

2 Tbl mayonnaise

1 Tbl vinegar

dill fern (chopped up really fine)

2 Tbl oil

1 tsp salt

Blend and serve over sliced cucumbers. 

 I like my cucumbers peeled and sliced, but you can cut them anyway you like. 

 Mayonnaise. 

 Oil

 Vinegar

 Salt.  If you want to make the dressing really good, use Natures Seasoning, instead of salt.

 Dried Dill, I didn't have any fresh dill otherwise I would chopped it up and used that. 

 Mix it together.

 Pour over cucumbers. 

I like to add red onion, which is really good.

I could eat these cucumbers, watermelon and corn on the cob all summer and be happy.  If you want to share with your friends, it is easy to make a bigger batch. Just remember 1 part vinegar, 2 parts oil and mayonnaise with salt and dill to taste.The best part is that you only need to get one measuring spoon or cup dirty. 

Another bit of advice. If you mix this up ahead of time and expect to eat it later, your cucumbers will be flimsy and watery.  If you like them that way, good for you, but if you are like me and want crisp cucumbers, eat it right after mixing in the dressing.  

As you can tell I have only made this recipe a few times ;)

Mennonite Monday - Oreo Cookie Dessert

Mennonite Monday started because I wanted to make recipes from the Bethesda Mennonite Church Cookbooks (both the yellow and the white cookbook for those of you who own them). I also wanted to take pictures of each recipe that I made, so I would know for future reference what the recipe should look like. I am by no means a great cook, but I think it will be fun to try new and different recipes each week. Not all of these recipes are for ethnic Mennonite food, but the women from Henderson know how to cook, so I can safely say that these recipes will be good. Check back each Monday for a new recipe and feel free to leave a comment if you have a favorite recipe from these cookbooks, or if you have some tips on what I should make and how I should make it.

~

This week I let Mike choose what I should make for Mennonite Monday, so it is Oreo Cookie Dessert (pg 103 W). I think this would be a great recipe 4th of July gatherings. 

Oreo Cookie Dessert

1 envelope Knox gelatin

1//4 cup cold water

2/3 cup boiling water

1 large pkg Oreo Cookies

6 egg whites

2/3 cup sugar

1 pint cream 

1/2 tsp vanilla 

1 Tbl powdered sugar

Dissolve 1 envelope Knox gelatin in 1/4 cup cold water.  Add 2/3 cups boiling water and allow to cool.  Crush 1 large package Oreo cookies by breaking up with a rolling pin and putting them in a blender till crumbs are very fine. Beat 6 egg whites for 5 minutes.  Add the sugar gradually, add the gelatin mixture.  Whip the cream and add vanilla and powdered sugar.  Stir together cream and egg whites.  Put half of the cookie crumbs in bottom of 9x13" pan.  Put filling on top and top with the rest of the cookie crumbs.  Refrigerate.  

 This is what Knox gelatin looks like.  It can be found in by the jello.  There are 4 envelopes in the box.  

 It was a little thick when you mix it in the cold water. 

 It thins right down when you mix in the boiling water. 

 I skipped the rolling pin and just put the Oreos in my food processor.  

 I could pour milk over this and eat it with a spoon. 

 Mixing the egg whites.  They never got stiff, so I don't know if that was a mistake or if that is how it should be.  

Mixing in the knox gelatin after to had time to cool. 

 I mixed the cream until it was pretty thick.  Then I mixed in the vanilla and powdered sugar with a spatula. 

 After you mix in the egg white mixture it is very creamy 

The oreo crumbs in the bottom of the 9x13 pan. 

Crazy Weather

 We have been having some crazy weather lately.
Tonight we were watching the sky and I decided to take a few pictures.  This is our view to the south.  My camera didn't show it very well, but the sky was very green in the picture above.  Green Sky = Hail.

 We saw a pretty good lightning show. 

 I will point out that none of these pictures have been digitally enhanced.  As you can see, I left the ground just as crooked as when I took it in the picture above. 

May Favs

Okay, I know it is almost the end of June and I'm just getting this posted now. I will try to be better next month.

1. DVR

Mike and I upgraded our cable this month to include DVR and I feel like I can be so much more productive with my tv watching now. Yes I realize this is completely silly, but I don't waste my time watching boring tv because there is nothing else on anymore.  Instead I can watch something I like that is recorded and when I am watching my favorite shows, I can fast forward through the commercials.



2. Gardening

I was pretty excited to plant my garden in May.  Right now I need to pull weeds, put down newspaper, grass and mulch, but at least it is planted.

3. State Track Meet

 Like I said in my post here, we love going to the state track meet each May. 

4. Picking Mulberries

 In May, Mike and I visited our friends in Kansas.  While we were there, Jodi and I picked mulberries, which is pretty interesting if you haven't done it before.  I will post more about mulberry harvesting in the near future.

Mennonite Monday - Potato Pizza

Mennonite Monday started because I wanted to make recipes from the Bethesda Mennonite Church Cookbooks (both the yellow and the white cookbook for those of you who own them). I also wanted to take pictures of each recipe that I made, so I would know for future reference what the recipe should look like. I am by no means a great cook, but I think it will be fun to try new and different recipes each week. Not all of these recipes are for ethnic Mennonite food, but the women from Henderson know how to cook, so I can safely say that these recipes will be good. Check back each Monday for a new recipe and feel free to leave a comment if you have a favorite recipe from these cookbooks, or if you have some tips on what I should make and how I should make it.

~

Two weeks ago, Potato Pizza (page 76Y) received a good number of votes. Even thought it didn't win the poll, I thought I would make it this week.  I decided to make the recipe for a neighborhood picnic this week and it went over very well.  

Potato Pizza 

1 bag (32 oz) frozen shredded hash browns, thawed

1 can (11 oz) Cheddar cheese soup

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon salt

8 oz Cheddar cheese, shredded

1 pound ground beef

1 can (15.5 oz) canned sandwich sauce for sloppy joes

2 tablespoons minced onion

2 tablespoons sliced ripe olives

To thaw potatoes quickly place in sieve and pour hot water over potatoes.  Drain well.  In a large bowl, mix together hash browns, soup, egg salt and pepper.  Spread potato mixture over a large buttered pizza pan.  Bake in 450 degree oven for 20 -25 minutes.  Meanwhile, saute ground beef and onions; drain fat.  Stir in canned sloppy joe sandwich sauce and simmer five minutes.  Sprinkle 2/3 of cheese over baked potato crust.  Spoon meat mixture over cheese and top with remaining cheese and olive slices.  Bake 5 minutes longer.  Makes one pizza.  

 Defrosting the potatoes. This made so much sense, but I don't I think I would have thought of it on my own. 

 Everything that needed to be mixed into the potatoes. 

 I made this in a rectangle pan, because I didn't have any pizza pans with sides.

 After it baked for 25 minutes the potatoes didn't look much different.  I expected them to be crispier, more like a pizza crust, but instead it was kind of mushy, like mashed potatoes. 

 I kind of cheated with the meat for the recipe because I already had some frozen sloppy joe meat in the freezer, so I just used that because I did not want to use canned sloppy joe sauce.  

This is when it was all done and ready to come out of the oven.  

The thing I love about this recipe, is that the meat can be re-purposed into two meals.  You can make sloppy joes one week, save the left overs (or make extra from the start) and use the meat the following week to make this recipe.

State Track Meet

I should have blogged about this weeks ago, but I was caught up with one thing or another, so I am finally posting some of the pictures from the Nebraska State Track and Field Meet. 

Going to State Track in something that Mike and I love to do.

I grew up going to the state track meeting with my parents to watch the Henderson, and then Heartland, athletes compete.  I think they were trying to create the desire in my brother and me to someday compete at the state meet. Well... I never really got the desire to compete because we did so many other fun things that weekend like shopping and eating out in Omaha, which the athletes didn't do, but Kellen went to the state track meet all four years of high school.

Mike also participated in the state track meet all four years of high school and the Heartland boys team were Class C State Champions 3 of the 4 years Mike was in high school.  I watched Mike run many races at the state track meet before we ever considered dating, which is kind of crazy.

It is always fun to remember the big races we have watched, see the gold medal champions from the weekend, and the state track records be set.

Since I take pictures for our local newspaper at the State Track Meet, I get a press pass, which gets me on to the field for up close pictures.  Here are a few pictures of some of the athletes we went to watch compete.