Best of the Month July 2014

A recap of my most popular posts from July 2014

I'm late getting this written and posted.  I like to try to post these on the last day of the month but the end of August was opening weekend of college foot ball, Bacon Day, and then Labor Day on the 1st of September.  I'm still trying to get my blogging groove back with my weekends being occupied with football (my husband and I love football season).  So this is a little late but oh well...what can I do I like to procrastinate.

I finally broke 1,000 followers on Google Plus this month YAY!

**I've noticed that my "pin it" counter buttons don't always show the correct number of pins.  I know that I have personally pinned each picture at least once and usually more when I pin them to group boards but the counter has a big fat zero.  It also makes me wonder if my pins with a large count are correct.  This is very frustrating because I'd like to know actual counts.  Does anyone else experience this?  Know how to fix it?

Wild Rice Cherry Pecan Salad

A salad of wild rice, dried cherries, and pecans tossed in a raspberry vinaigrette.  It makes a great side dish or lunch. 241 views and 67 +1s.

Pudding Popsicles

A simple way to turn your favorite pudding into a frozen treat.  213 views and 37 +1s.

White Wine Sauce and Shrimp Scampi

A delicious and simple sauce made with white wine and butter.  Used to flavor pastas and many other dishes. 210 views and 37 +1s.

Tzatziki

A deliciously cool and refreshing yogurt dip/sauce made with cucumbers and dill.  176 views and 32 +1s.

Blue Cheese Alfredo

Whole wheat pasta tossed in a creamy, cheesy, blue cheese sauce studded with pistachios.  174 Views and 46 +1s.

Enjoy.

Linked to:  Cook Craft Share, Full Plate, Best of the Weekend, See ya in the Gumbo, Merry Mon, Two Cup, Tasty Tues, Tickle my Tastebuds, Wonderful Wed, Wed Roundup, Cook Craft Share


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Wild Rice Cherry Pecan Salad

A salad of wild rice, dried cherries, and pecans tossed in a raspberry vinaigrette.  It makes a great side dish or lunch.

Wild rice reminds me of Minnesota and when I think of Minnesota I think of family.  My husband is from Minnesota and we lived there for a few years.  Much of his family is still in Minnesota and one of my favorite places to go (besides the cities) is Lengby.  Lengby is up north between Bemidji and Fargo and my husband's cousin (P) has a cabin on a lake up there.  We would visit as often as possible to fish, hang out, and just get out of the cities.  It's so relaxing up there and P is laid back and so much fun to be around.

Wild rice reminds me of Minnesota.  [Tweet this]

Wild rice growing in the Mississippi river

Not far from Lengby are the head waters of the Mississippi River.  Being from North Carolina I always thought of the Mississippi being this huge, massive, river.  I thought it was so cool to be able to step over the Mississippi where it was barely a creek.  The head waters are also a great place to canoe.  One summer I talked my husband into taking a 2 day canoe trip.  We had grand plans of going really far but that summer the river was kind of low and not easy to get down.  We still went a pretty good ways, camped overnight and made great memories.  The thing I remember most is where we put in and how much wild rice was clogging the river.  It didn't even look like a river, more of a swampy grassland and we had trouble figuring out which way to go at first.  I had never seen wild rice growing like that before and now when I think about MN I think about wild rice.  So on my husband's most recent trip to Minnesota I asked him to get some wild rice (it's much easier to find in stores, and cheaper, there).  This is the first recipe I made with the wild rice he brought home.

Made with Minnesota wild rice.  [Tweet this]

Wild Rice Cherry Pecan Salad

Ingredients:

1 cup dry wild rice
1/2 cup dried cherries
1/2 cup toasted pecans, chopped
1/4 cup chopped green onions
*Raspberry vinaigrette

*Raspberry Vinaigrette:  mix 1 tbsp raspberry jam with 2 tsp balsamic vinegar until smooth.  Rapidly whisk in 2 Tbsp olive oil until emulsified (alternatively put all ingredients in a jar and shake).  You can make more vinaigrette just keep the proportion of oil to vinegar 3:1 and adjust the raspberry jam to your liking.

Rinse the wild rice under cool water in a fine mesh strainer.  Place rinsed rice in a large sauce pan and cover with about 4 cups of water and a pinch of salt (or you can use broth).  Bring water to a boil then reduce to a simmer.  Cover and cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour until rice is tender. Drain rice and allow to cool.

In a large bowl toss and mix the cooled rice with the cherries, pecans, and onions (finely minced shallot would be delicious as well).  Lastly stir in the vinaigrette a little at a time until dressed to your liking.

Refrigerate until ready to serve.  Serve cold or at room temperature.  Makes 4-6 servings.

Enjoy.

Linked to:  Pretty Pintastic, Best of the Weekend, Share it Sunday, See ya in the Gumbo, Much Ado, Merry Monday, Two Cup, LouLou Girls, Teach Me, Tasty Tues, Cook Craft Share, Full Plate, Plant Based Potluck, Eat Create Party, Freedom Friday

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