Cooking 101.7

Today the fun starts.  I get to do the pre Christmas cooking.  I thought that Tessie and I would share a couple of recipes.

This first one is one that I found on the net several years ago. It's hard to make a bowl of mashed potatoes look exciting...

Tessie is nothing, if not helpful.  She is perfectly happy if I hand her a spoon and tell her to try whatever I am cooking.

You can see that this recipe is well used.  So is the bowl that it is in.  This is one that Seth made for me several years ago and it gets used a lot.  It can go from fridge to oven and has done so many times.  I love the glaze that he put on it.  I will have to show you some of the other ones that he has made for me.  He is a gifted potter.

The other thing I did this morning, was this bean salad.  The original was a pretty plain three bean salad from a Pennsylvania State Grange Cookbook.  One of those where everybody's mom contributed a recipe.

I have played with it for a number of years and it is now a Balsamic Bean Salad.  I still use the canned beans, just like the original, but I have changed the dressing somewhat.

Here Goes.

1 can of yellow wax beans.                I added a can of black beans.
1 can of cur green beans                     1/2 cup raw onion diced
1 can of red kidney beans                   1/2 raw green pepper diced
Drain and rinse all of the beans well.  Then dump them in a large bowl with the onion and pepper.

Dressing
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. garlic salt
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup Pompeian white balsamic vinegar
fresh ground black pepper to taste

Mix well.  Pour over bean mixture and stir well.  Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight before serving.  It gets better the longer you let it sit before serving. 

Very easy and very good.  At least that's what Tessie says...

I have to go now and make a breakfast casserole.

See you tomorrow.