Whew! People are paying attention!

Got hit with the comment "you haven't posted anything in 3 days" this morning, so here is a random post about nothing.

I have been making smoothies everyday, just been too busy to take pictures to post.  My smoothies have been random and sometimes downright weird.  Been putting avocado in everything lately - don't know where that is coming from.  BUT, it makes the smoothie creamier and more like a milk shake so I like it.

I have also gotten out the spirulina powder and occasionally add that in too even though it turns everything green, no matter what else you have in there.  Yesterday I raided the freezer and came up with pineapple and strawberry which I added to the fresh banana and half an avocado.  Used orange juice and vanilla protein powder with that one.

AND, on another note, I got the urge to make homemade mayonnaise yesterday too!  Still playing around with the actual ingredients but yesterday took one whole egg and added some mustard powder, white vinegar and salt and 1/4 cup light sesame oil.  Using my stick blender I whisked  that together and then added another 3/4 cup olive oil and kept blending.  Little to olive oily for my taste but worked well for what I was attempting to make in the end, which was honey mustard dressing.  After I had the mayonnaise made I just added dijon mustard, honey and some lemon juice.  Been making that for a couple weeks now and we love it!  Plus this time I knew exactly what had gone into it.  Only keeps a couple weeks but that doesn't seem to be an issue!

So, I use the allrecipes.com website and app on my ipad for a lot of my recipe ideas, but yesterday my daughter invited me to pinterest.  I see major time wasting on the internet in my future!  OMG so much stuff and so little time.  I may have to take up blogging and web surfing as a full time occupation.  Do you think there is money in this kind of stuff?

Since this is a rambling entry, I must also tell you that we had a "mess" of dandelion for the 3rd time this spring last night for supper.  Tried to make some dandelion tea, but that did not work out so well.  The tea was made but no amount of additives could take away the dandelion bitterness.  Oh well, I tried!  But the way I make it wilted with ham or bacon over boiled potatoes would make my PA Dutch grandmas proud!  (BTW - be on the look out for my PA Dutch Grandma's Cookbook, which is in process!) 

Anyway, back to the dandelion.  It must be picked from a non-sprayed yard or garden and cleaned thoroughly before using.  Oh, and no flowers!  Once the flowers are produced, the greens are even more bitter.  Use only the green tops of the plant, however the roots can also be used for tea or a tonic for the liver.  Check other places for this as in our family we only used the greens.  Oh, okay some of my relatives were known to make dandelion wine.  But I digress again, back to my supper last night.

So after a thorough cleaning and soak in cold water, I chop up the dandelion and set aside.  While boiling the potatoes (I leave the skin on), I fry the ham or bacon and prepare the "dressing".  I start with an egg or two and add flour to make a paste whipping with a whisk, then I add sugar and vinegar to taste.  I make mine a little over tart at this stage since I will be adding water later on.  You may also add onion and mustard powder for added flavor.  I just shake some in so I would guess at maybe 1/2 tsp each.  I am now ready to proceed.

I remove the bacon or ham from the frying pan, leaving some grease from the meat.  Last night the bacon stuck to the pan a bit so I poured some of the potato boiling water into the pan to loosen this up and add even more flavor to the dressing.  Then I poured the entire dressing mixture into the pan and began to stir so as not to stick or thicken too quickly.  As it thickens I add more potato water to get to the consistency I want (now you know why I go heavy on the vinegar to start as I do not want my dressing "watered down" so that it looses it flavor).  As it is cooking I also add in the dandelion so that it "wilts".  When the dressing is to the desired consistency and the dandelion is wilted, it is ready.  Let cook for a bit longer to lock in the flavor of the dressing and serve over hot, boiled potatoes.  It can't get any more PA Dutch than that!

So enough of this ramble.  Hope you enjoyed and came back with one or two of my random recipes.