The Plucky Housewives

Creamy yummy Guacamole I think we have referred to the use of guacamole several times in previous posts, so it seems appropriate that we include a great guacamole recipe.  I prefer a creamy guacamole, primarily because it was the only way I could get my kids (or at least a couple of my kids) to try it.   One of my girls refused to eat it until a few years ago.  I dont think she believed me when I said it was good.....now she does, so good on her! I do use a little of my Tomatillo Salsa in this recipe.  Enjoy! Creamy Guacamole 4 ripe avacado (soft to the touch, but not mushy) 1/2 c red onion, diced small 1 clove garlic, minced 2 limes, juiced 1/4 c cilantro, finely chopped 3 heaping T of  Tomatillo Salsa 2 heaping T sour cream 1 heaping T mayonnaise 1 t kosher salt 1 t cracked black pepper Cut avocados in half, lengthwise.  Remove the pits.  Scoop the flesh out of the shells and place in a medium mixing bowl.  Mash the avocado in...

Delicious Smoky Potato Skins I set out last weekend to make some homemade gnocchi.  Every now and then I like to immerse my hands in dough, be it bread dough or pasta dough.  I think it’s the touch and taste and smell combination.  It is also very therapeutic.  But, anyway, where was I going with this?  I made gnocchi.   I bake my potatoes (instead of boiling them) and I was scooping out the flesh, when I realized I had a stack of potato skins.  I hate wasting anything lately and wondered what would I do with these.  Sort of a duh moment, don’t you think?  So I foraged the fridge.  I had no bacon, but did have polish smoked sausage.  I found cheese and sour cream.  I also had 2 avocados perfectly ripe and some green onions and heirloom tomatoes.    Needless to say, we had scrumptious baked potato skins for dinner that night.  The gnocchi, I ate some too, but gave most of it away to a friend for thei...

This recipe is for my daughter, Kaitlynn.  I have to openly confess to all that if you would have asked me about a year ago, if I liked hummus, I would have been polite and told you it was "alright".  When I think back on it, and using my own slide rule, I must have had some bad hummus in the past, cause it was never something I craved.  Along came Kaitlynn.  She moved back home for awhile and when she did, she brought with her a collection of food tastes that I must admit were not because of my sphere of influence.   Goat cheese and hummus were (and still are) on the top of her list.  She would come home from the grocery store with all kinds of uniquely flavored hummus and I quietly thought to myself, "that makes sense, add some flavor to the stuff, cause alone it tastes pretty nasty".   I never tried it.  UNTIL, I was at a friends house the other night for dinner.  She had come home from house hunting in Florida and brought with her a hummu...

Yellow Morel Mushroom - Wisconsin photography by TAGilephotos  Morel season.  A friend called me up the other night and asked if I wanted a bucket of Morels.  I quickly said yes.  I have fond memories of escaping the house to the woods across the street and hunting for morels for my mother.  The forests near my childhood home were full of Elm and Ash trees and in the spring, she would send us out for a hunt.  (I don’t know if that is because she really wanted the mushrooms or if she wanted us out of the house?).  We would come home with a few buckets full of the mushrooms and she would fry them up.    My husband has similar memories of eating the great wild mushrooms also as a child.  For those of you in and near Wisconsin, this last weekend was  Morel Mushroom Festival in Muscoda WI , the morel capital of Wisconsin. Now my friend wanted to know how to cook them and I thought, what a great idea for the What is… for this wee...

I think I was very late in discovering this wonderful treat!  Once I did, it became a staple at almost every gathering we had.  Then come to find out, everyone I knew had their own "version".  So here is mine, all the subjective yummy components to everyone else's recipes.   FRUIT PIZZA 1 RECIPE (OR TUBE) OF SUGAR COOKIE DOUGH (My recipe follows) 1 Pkg (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened 1/2 c of confectioners sugar 1/2 carton of frozen whipped topping thawed (I use coolwhip) 1 c of red seedless grapes, halved 3 firm bananas, peeled and sliced thin 3 kiwi fruit peeled and sliced 1 can (11 ounces) mandarin oranges 1 pint fresh strawberries, halved, tops removed 1 RECIPE OF FRUIT GLAZE Press cookie dough into an ungreased 14 in pizza pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown.  COOL COMPLETELY! Usine a medium setting on electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth.  Fold in CoolWhip.  Spread over the...