Salsa festival

As I mentioned a while ago, Wegmans phased out their organic mango salsa and I haven't been to Wegmans lately to see if they rolled out their new salsa line.

We made nachos tonight with canned refried beans, cheddar, velveeta (a gift), and black olives on Archer Farms blue multigrain tortilla chips with flax seed. (These chips very much hurt my broken tooth, somehow chip ended up over there when I hadn't chewed on that side.)

I had a coupon for $1 off if I bought one 16-ounce Archer Farms salsa and one bag of Archer Farms chips. Hence the chips mentioned earlier. The chips were $2.99 before my discount(s) and coupon. The salsas were between $2.99 and $3.31 a jar. Odd price range.

I opted for two jars: one mild (raspberry with jalapeño, pineapple and red bell peppers) and one medium (corn, black bean & roasted red peppers with roasted jalapeño, red bell peppers and green chiles).

Both are tasty. Now the cheap salsa from Aldi has 10 calories per 2 tablespoons, 180 mg sodium, 2% RDA of vitamin A and no protein or other vitamins/minerals.

My favorite Wegmans mango salsa has 15 calories, 105 mg sodium, no protein, but 8% RDA of A and 15% vitamin C. Much more nutrition.

Archer Farms? Well...

The mild raspberry has 15 calories, 120 mg sodium, 1 gram protein, 4% vitamin A and 6% vitamin C. So it has some punch, but not like the mango. And the corn/black bean also has 15 calories, 220 mg sodium (holy cr*p), 1 gram protein, 2% vitamin A and 10% vitamin C.

Each year I plan my garden hoping to grow enough herbs and ingredients for homemade salsa. Hopefully this summer I'll learn to can and if I don't grow enough, I'll be visiting local farms and farmers markets. Let's make salsa!

Daddy's Turkey Ranch Salad

Today we're going to the theatre to see our first live performance as a family. We're going to see James & The Giant Peach. We read the book. We watched the movie. And today the play! It's very exciting.

After the play, my friend Gayle is joining us for chicken paprika. My husband prepared lunch while I prepped dinner to be heated later...

He reheated the leftover peanut butter noodles. He cut the fresh mango. Then, he engineered this salad of red leaf lettuce, carrot peels, bits of turkey breast and bites of wisconsin cheddar. He added Annie's Organic Cowgirl Ranch dressing and served as his "Turkey Ranch Salad."

I never use regular ranch dressing because it usually has MSG. Organic ranch dressings do not. And since my child adores ranch, I figure it's better to go organic on this one.

The child devours the mango, as she usually does, and so does the tortoise. 

Amazing Turkey Sandwiches and Cauliflower

I nabbed this recipe from Parenting magazine and made my own adjustments, as you could expect. I love grilled cheese sandwiches. My mother was a horrible cook, but she had worked in a diner for many years so she can make two things well: omelettes and grilled cheese.

I learned some of her secrets and can also make a mean grilled cheese, but my mother's remains a comfort food to this day. All she has to say is, "Ange, you want a grilled cheese?" and I'm at the table, whether I'm hungry or not.

 I also love hot turkey sandwiches with apples and had a craving for one several weeks ago that I never got the chance to indulge. As you may have noticed, we rarely use deli meats in this house. I try to choose foods that are as nutritional dense as possible and lunch meats, in my opinion, are too processed.

So I decided to buy some turkey breast and adapt Parenting's Honey Ham and Cheese...

The original Honey Ham and Cheese

2 TBS grated cheese

2 slices bread 

1 thin slice deli ham

2 tsp unsalted butter

1 TBS honey

1. Sprinkle grated cheese on one slice of bread and top with ham. Top with second slice of bread.

2. In small skillet, melt half the butter over medium heat. Add the sandwich and cook about three minutes, pressing down with a spatula. Flip and add remaining butter to skillet. Cook another two minutes.

3. Drizzle with half the honey and let cook another minute. Flip once more, coat with the rest of the honey. Cut into quarters.

Now my version: 

Angel's Amazing Turkey Sandwiches 

For one sandwich: 

2 slices Flax and Fiber bread 

margarine 

about 1/4 cup grated extra sharp Wisconsin cheddar 

2 hearty slices turkey breast 

1 teaspoon olive oil

Several thin slices apple 

1 TBS honey

1. Slice each piece of bread in half. And apply thin layer of margarine to one side of each portion.

2. In skillet, warm very thin layer of oil. Place two of the halves in the pan. (Butter side down.) But not the 'lids.'

3. Sprinkle on some cheese, then apple, more cheese, then one slice of turkey folded, the remainder of the cheese and put lid on.

4. Cook, pressing with spatula. Don't let it get too brown. When almost done, add a slight amount of honey on top of each and flip. As that side cooks, add honey to other side (not too much) and flip again. The honey will burn very quickly so be careful.

Now, to prepare the cauliflower,  I removed the sandwiches and kept them in the oven so they wouldn't get cold. I microwaved a small bag of cauliflower and drained. I wiped the skillet clean, but didn't wash it. I added some margarine and olive oil and put the heat on medium high. I tossed in the cauliflower, salted it slightly, added a few drops of honey, and cooked until it got a tad yellowy with some brown spots. Then I sprinkled with the remaining dregs of cheese. Probably two tablespoons for the whole bag.