Seven Layer Dip

Ha ha! Two posts in one weekend! I feel very productive. This is a quick holiday side dish that is a perennial favorite at my house. In fact, my 2 year old was eating it out of the pan with a spoon today. Fabulous with corn chips, this is a great barbeque side dish.

Seven Layer Dip

2 cans refried beans
1 recipe guacamole
1 cup sour cream
2 c. grated cheddar cheese
1/2 can olives, sliced
1 medium tomato, diced
2 green onions, diced

Layer ingredients (in order) in a 9x13 pan. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

Guacamole

This is not an in-depth recipe. It doesn't take a lot of time or a lot of ingredients. But it's WAY better (and much cheaper) than store bought guacamole, takes only a few minutes, and is a great holiday barbeque side dish. Oh, and P.S., on Monday I'll post my 7 layer dip recipe. Also not hard, but delicious.




Guacamole

2 medium avocados (ripe)*
2 tsp. lime juice
1/2 tsp. salt
2 dashes hot sauce















Slice avocados in half. Use a spoon to remove the insides of the avocados.















Remove and discard the pits. Place the insides of the avocados in a medium bowl.















Add lime juice, salt, and hot sauce. Mash and stir until well mixed and mostly smooth.















Keep tightly covered in the refrigerator.

*Ripe avocados are a dark green color and are slightly soft when gently pressed. If they are mooshy or starting to smell funny, they are too ripe. Buy a different one.

Black Bean Salmon

Some people are not fish people. I am not one of those people. I used to be one of those people, but lately, I am really liking the fish. If you, however, are still one of those people, feel free to disregard the following recipe. If you are not one of those people, try this recipe, it is sooooooo yummy. (Notice how many o's I put in that "so"). - Kirsti

Salmon with Black Blean Salsa

Salmon

5–6 salmon fillets
2 Tbs. lemon pepper
¼ c. gluten-free soy sauce*
1/4 c. brown sugar
3 Tbs. olive oil

Make sure salmon is completely defrosted.

Rub lemon pepper onto the salmon. In a small bowl, stir together soy sauce, brown sugar, and oil.

Place sauce and salmon into a Ziploc bag and marinate for 30 minutes in the fridge. Place marinated salmon onto a shallow baking dish. Pour remaining marinade on top of the fish.

Preheat oven to 375°.

Bake salmon 15–18 minutes or until it flakes easily with a fork.



Salsa

2 c. BLACK BEANS (1 can)
1 red onion, chopped
1 Roma tomato
1/4 c. corn
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 Tbs. lime juice
Salt
Pepper

Mix all ingredients in a medium-sized bowl. Salt and pepper to taste.


Spoon generously on top of the salmon and serve.

Coconut Macaroons

Oh, glory. How did it get to be Friday? I have no idea where this week went. Between the peanut butter filled chocolate roses, the mounds-bar-type-filling filled roses, and the fabric partially-sewn-but-kind-of-held-together-with-hot-glue daisies (Teacher Appreciation Week . . .), the whole week has just disappeared. So, in keeping with the "I don't have enough time to do anything" theme, I am posting a quick, quick recipe.

I've tried other recipes for macaroons, but have always been rather underwhelmed. One was so sticky that they wouldn't come off the parchment paper, and the other was more like meringue. (Is that right? Meringue? Merengue? I'm too lazy to open a Word document and use the spell checker to check.) These, however, tasted just like I wanted them to. In fact, if I had more of them right now, I think that I would probably eat them for breakfast. (That is, I would eat them for breakfast if I weren't restricting my sugar intake. But I am, so I wouldn't. Eat them. Probably.) They spread out a little oddly at the bottom, which I'm thinking is because of the lack of gluten to help hold the egg whites together inside the cookie. I'll make them again one of these days and see if they need xanthan gum or if they'll be just fine if I smoosh the cookies down a bit before baking. Maybe one of you will try it and let me know what you find out . . . . In the meantime, this is how I made them.

Coconut Macaroons

1 small bag (7 oz.) coconut
2/3 c. sugar
1/3 c. potato starch
1/4 tsp. salt
3 egg whites
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 325. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper (in a pinch you could grease your cookie sheet, but I don't know how well they'll release).

Combine all ingredients. Mix well. Drop 1" balls of the mixture on the cookie sheet, 1.5 to 2 inches apart. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes (edges will be light brown). Cool on a wire rack.