Friday Friend Recipes #278 , 279, 280 and 281Asparagus Oriental, Scalloped Onions, Zuchini-Tomatoes-Onions and corn pudding

Vegetable/Side Dish Palooza!!

This time you get not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4---count 'em---FOUR recipes in one post!

Why, you ask? 

Well, it's apparent that I am posting recipes far and few nowadays.  But I am under 100 now, I must get this done.  At least to prove something to myself if not the Handyman...

 because..

...about 21 years ago, 50 of my closest friends and family, who had been on an

  e-mail forum with me, sent in recipes in different categories and we compiled a cookbook.

I decided to count those down!

Why?

because one night I was looking thru the cookbook and I said, "I should make every recipe in  here for my blog."

The Handyman, who thinks he knows me better than I know myself, said "you'll never EVER do that."

Well, maybe I will!  Maybe I'll show him!

**********************************

I just need to hurry up and  'get 'er done'

Then I'll show him!

And as always,  it's not about the quality of the photos, it's about the family, friends and fun we have all had together!

All of the recipes were sent in by my cousin Linda.

Let us begin with some Asparagus and pea pods.

This was really good.

I don't know what to say, except this was really good.

And then we'll move on to some Scalloped Sweet Onions.

I  have to be honest here--I was skeptical about this one, but you know what? I loved it.

And then we had some 

Tomatoes/Onions/Zucchini

I love tomatoes, onions and zucchini.

TOMATOES/ONIONS/ZUCCHINI

2 T butter

2 small zucchini, sliced

1 med. onion, thinly sliced

2 medium tomatoes, sliced

 2 cups mushrooms, sliced

1/2 t. garlic salt -- 1/8 t. pepper

1 cup shredded mozzarella

Melt butter in a skillet. Add zucchini, mushrooms & onion. Cook over med heat till crisp tender. Stir in tomatoes and seasonings. 

Cook 3-5 minutes, till tomatoes ae tender. Remove from heat. 

Sprinkle with cheese.  Let stand a couple minutes.

Corn Pudding--with so few ingredients I wasn't sure it would become 'pudding', but it did!

And it was good.

And there you have it--Vegetable/side dish PALOOZA!!

All from my cousin Linda

(you can see all her recipes here)

Linda with her daughter, Jen 😃

 

We have many great cousin stories--just click her recipes above to read all about them--but I thought since this was a Vegetablepalooza post, it could also be a cousinpalooza post.

Here are a few of my grandchildren--cousins.

4 years apart at cousin camp both times. 

They recreated a photo--or as best as they could remember it anyway.

Here is to cousin relationships everywhere!

They know all the family secrets!

And these my friends are

recipes #278, 279, 280 and 281

Only 86 left to go!

I can do it!

WOO HOO!  I am below 100 recipes now.  Yay!  Yahoo! Whoopie!

Altho.... do you remember when I counted wrong before?  I think I did it again.

I keep counting what I have left by recipe AND by person and it does not add up to 86- it's more like 73. 

Which would make me very happy, but for now....I'll stick to the 86 until it gets closer to the end and I'll recount what I have left.  

Saturday (even tho it's Sunday) Snapshot-- Cousin Camp

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by

West Metro Mommy Reads!

To participate in Saturday Snapshot: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post to West Metro Mommy Reads!   Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

In July, we had cousin camp again, at our cabin in Oregon. But this time, the Handyman and I were not alone--we had reinforcements as we had most of their parents along.

One day we took a trip up the Tram. 

The Handyman and I have been up the tram many times throughout the years.  We actually don't go up anymore, but the grandkids had never been up and everyone needs to do it a couple times in their cabin life--next stop 5 years.

(it's kind of pricey to take 14 people up.  Or even one people up!)

     *     I was 13 when they built it and my dad got to be a 'test' subject for the escape route.  They stopped the tram and he had to open the emergency window and repel on a little wooden seat on a little nylon rope!

*     One  year, My friend Theda and her husband John, got stuck up on top, the summit, and missed my parents 50th wedding anniversary party. They had to be rescued and taken down by jeeps the back way.

But nothing like that happened this time.

This time, we had a nice hike, the kids got to play in some snow--and to them, that was the best part--and ate a nice lunch at the Summit Grill.

I chose to ride up with the 4 oldest grandkids and the rest of the family came in the tram behind us.

Uncle Mark gives the thumbs up!

And off we go!

On the way up the mountain, these three little cousins--these sweet little girls, had the nerve to ask me, who my favorite son was.  They said,  come on, tell us.  We won't tell anybody.

Their daddies are brothers, my sons.  There was no way, I was getting drawn into that conversation, not even to defend the 'mothers love all children the same' line.

I thought they might be a little frightened on the ride up, but -- nope. Not at all.

They just made fun of being afraid, as you can tell.

We were high above the lake!

Christopher rode in my tram on the way down the mountain. He wasn't afraid either, but had just realized he left his Nemo sunglasses on the mountain top.

Apparently they love playing scared? It became evident when I asked them to stand by bigfoot when we were playing miniature golf that same evening.

Smart alecs!

And those are my Saturday Snapshots for the week.

Fiesta Salad and One of a Kind Potato Salad--FF recipes #15 and #16

In the summer, we eat outside on the patio most every night.  We are lucky in Nevada, because we can do this.  We don't have bugs---too dry for many mosquitoes and once in a while we will have the yellow-jacket or two and in late August, those lazy big black flies.  But other than that, nothing.

(okay, for the record,  we had a moth infestation for about 10 days in early summer and I have had a June Beetle or three, but really nothing to write about)

I am getting side-tracked again.... We ate outside the other night, as we usually, do but I purposely made 2 salads from the Friday Friend cookbook!

I am going to countdown these recipes if it kills me.

The first one here is Fiesta Salad, turned in by my friend and cousin, Linda Ornelas.

The Fiesta Salad was a good salad--fresh and cool and crisp--good for a summer evening.  I suppose you could do what you want with it, such as try a different dressing or add some salsa to the French?

It looks pretty in a bowl, doesn't it?

Fiesta Salad

14 oz can kidney beans, rinsed and drained

2 tomatoes, chopped

1 onion, chopped

1/2 cup celery, sliced

1/2 cup French salad dressing

1 head lettuce,shredded

1 cup grated cheese

3 hard boiled eggs, sliced

1 cup corn chips

Layer in order given. Chill 2 hours, sprinkle with chips.

Below is my cousin, friend and  Friday Friend, Linda.  

She grew up with my dad, being only 6 years younger than him. 

She was 13 years older than me.

When I was  a baby, my dad was sent overseas and I lived off and on with both sets of grandparents (and my mom), so Linda was more like a big sister to me.

She would dress me up, and curl my hair and play with me.  I was like her little doll--and I loved it.

Linda has put a lot of recipes in the FF cookbook,so, I have tons of stories to tell about her while doing this cookbook countdown -- just wait until I get up to my 13th birthday!!  (can I say, I danced in a go-go cage in a bar?  With her permission!  I'll just leave it at that till next time)

She's a great cook.  Has always wanted to do her own cookbook.  

She should.

Look!  A photo of both salads!

A great transition.

This "one of a kind" potato salad is from my friend Letty Rodriguez, but I think it's taken from the back of a package of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing.

In the FF Cookbook, I have claimed it as MY recipe.

If you like potatoes and you like Ranch Dressing, how can you not like this?  The bacon is just an added bonus.

Sometimes I add black olives.

It's really good.

One of a Kind Potato  Salad

2 lbs small red potatoes, boiled and sliced

1/2 cup sliced green onions

1/4 cup chopped green pepper

1 cup prepared (from the dry seasoning packet, not bottled) Hidden Valley Ranch dressing

paprika, black pepper, chives

cooked crumbled bacon

Combine potatoes, onions, green pepper and dressing. Toss gently. Dust with paprika (which I forgot to do), garnish with chives and bacon (which I just mixed in with everything)

The original recipe says to serve it at room temp.  I think it is better that way.

We all have those friends whom we've lost contact with,don't we?  Letty is that friend of mine.  It's been years since I've talked to her.

This photo I have of her  is at least 18 years old.  Her daughter must now be 20 or 21.

Although, I claimed this recipe as my own in the FF Cookbook, I originally got it from her.

I wanted to learn to cook 'real' Mexican food, the 'real' way, so one day, Letty invited my friend Sandy and I over and we cooked all day--we made chili rellenos from scratch and refried beans  from scratch and a great green chili chicken dish with fresh tomatillos--but that was years ago,  and I didn't practice, so I did not perfect these great dishes that she made. 

All I can do is dream about how good they were.

I miss her.  I should try to find her again.

And that is this week's Friday Friend Cookbook update!