I can't get enough tomatoes to eat when they're in the peak of their season.  Tomato salad recipes are just about my favorite way to enjoy this Summer fruit.  Yes, that's right, I said fruit.

HERE'S ALL I DO

• 2 cups grape tomatoes, washed and roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup purple onion, finely chopped
• olive oil
• balsamic vinegar
• salt and fresh ground pepper

Toss the chopped tomatoes and onion in a medium bowl.  Add equal parts of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, enough coat the mix very well.  Season with salt and pepper.  Allow to marry for 30 minutes or so, before serving.  Serve at room temperature or chilled.

What's your favorite way to eat fresh tomatoes?

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All sorts of folks have been making hot wings for some time now and we all know there's nothing new under the sun.  However, not all hot wings recipes are created equally delicious.  Am I right?

A good hot wings recipe needs to start with tender, smoky wings that are juicy, not overcooked.  The heat of the sauce should have a kick right up front but mellows after the wings are gone.  And the creamy dipping sauce should be strong enough to stand up against the spicy wings, but not be so powerful that it stands separate from the other flavors.

I was inspired by a fellow food blogger, Donalyn of dlyn.com,  to make up a batch of hot wings.  I followed the idea of her hot wings recipe with what I had on hand, and her Creamy Feta Salad Dressing recipe, too.  WHAT A HIT! I tell you these wings and a pitcher of homemade Sangria is all you need to start a great night of grilling.

The recipe I'm sharing with you will satisfy four adults as an appetizer.

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES

• 20-25 chicken wings
• 1/3 cup neutral tasting oil (save your olive oil for another recipe)
• 5 large garlic cloves, finely minced (I love garlic.)
• 1 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh black pepper
• 1 teaspoon New Mexico chili powder.

Coat the wings with these ingredients and allow to sit for 1 hour, or chill for as long as you need, or refrigerate overnight.

While the wings are marinating, prepare the spicy after grilling sauce.

After the wings are grilled sauce.

• 1/2 cup Cholula Hot Sauce
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 teaspoon New Mexico chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon smoked hot paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• juice of 1/2 a lemon

Mix together in a microwaveable bowl, heat for up to 2 minutes, until the ingredients come together into a sauce.

That didn't take long, let's go ahead and mix up the Creamy Feta Dipping Sauce, too.

Creamy Feta Dipping Sauce

• 2 large garlic cloves
• 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

Either in a food processor or with a wonderful hand blender, put all the ingredients together EXCEPT the feta.  Blend them until smooth.  Taste for salt (but remember Feta is salty) and pepper.  If you like a thinner dipping sauce, trying adding milk 1 tablespoon at a time, up to 3 tablespoons.  When you got that where you want it, process in the feta cheese with a few pulses.  Leave some the feta in small bits through out.  Cover and refrigerate until it's time to serve the wings.

NOW LET'S GRILL!

Using either charcoal or gas for your grilling, get the temperature up to 325º-350ºF.  Direct heat works well for the wings to give them semi-crispy skins.  The short grilling time will ensure juicy wings.  If you don't have a thermometer to measure your heat, do the hand count method.

Hold your hand at grilling height over the coals. Count the number of seconds you can hold you hand there before the heat forces you to move it.

• 2 seconds, hot coals: 400 - 450º F degrees
• 4 seconds, medium coals: 350 - 375º F degrees
• 5 seconds, low coals: 300 - 325º F degrees

Give the wings one more good toss around in their marinade for a good oily coating, before putting on the grill.  Grill for 5 minutes on each side, set a timer to make sure you don't overcook them.

Remove from heat, transfer to medium to large size bowl.

Pour on the spicy red sauce.

Grab some BIG napkins. Pour the Creamy Feta Dipping Sauce into individual bowls, so you can double dip, and y'all are ready to eat!

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• 1 baguette, cut in 1/2-inch slices
• 1 cup Black Bean Dip
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

• 2 medium tomatoes, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup green onions, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 tablespoons fresh basil, finely chopped
• fresh ground pepper to taste

Heat oven to 400ºF.

Place bread slices on a cookie sheet and bake until lightly browned on both sides.

Meanwhile, mix tomatoes,  green onions, oil, basil and pepper together in a small bowl and set aside.

Spread black bean dip on the toasted bread slices, top with tomato mixture and parmesan cheese.

Pop back into the oven for 4 minutes or so, until cheese starts to melt and topping is thoroughly heated.

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• 2 cups cooked or canned black beans, drain and reserve bean broth
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• juice of one lime
• cilantro for garnish

Put all the ingredients in a food processor and blend until you have a smooth paste.  If it is too thick, add 1 -2 tablespoons of reserved bean broth to thin it out.  Place in a small bowl and garnish with cilantro.  Serve with warm tortillas chips, pita bread, or hot flour tortillas cut into bit size pieces.

Black bean dip, also, works great in wraps and Black Bean Brushettas.  It freezes well, so it can be ready when you are.  Go ahead and double the recipe if you plan to freeze some for later.

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My beautiful friend, Cheryl, brought this incredibly addictive salad slash dip to our party the other night.  She carried it in a BIG ol'bowl.  I thought she might have gone overboard and made too much.  It turned out, she knew exactly how much to make.   We couldn't get enough of this tangy sweet collage of goodness.  We walked past it dipping our chips all night long.  And when it was time to eat our grilled fajitas, we went back to the bowl to make it a condiment. I was lucky there was just enough leftover that I could photograph it in good light the next day.

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES

• 1 (14 oz.) can sweet corn with liquid
• 1 (14 oz.) can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (14 oz.) can black eyed peas, drained and rinsed
• 1 small jar diced pimentos with liquid
• 2 bell peppers, red, green, yellow or mix, cored, seeded, medium diced
• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 1 cup celery, finely diced (optional)
• 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded, finely diced

Mix all the vegetables in a large bowl.

• 3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

In small saucepan over medium heat, bring remaining ingredients to a boil.  Pour dressing over vegetables and toss to coat evenly.  Marinade in the fridge 4 hours or overnight.

Serve with tortilla chips as a dip.  Most scrumptious as a condiment with fajitas or as a side salad

Makes 10 cups.

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Simple and quick recipes are always my first choice when throwing together a hot lunch.  My family would eat nachos everyday, if I'd let them. They're similar to salads really, minus the greens.  We can throw just about any vegetable, legume, meat, fruit, salsa, and of course, wonderful cheese on top of a bed a chips.  Slide'em into the oven for less than 10-minutes and then we're ready to chow down.  Any combination of our favorite toppings always seems to work out into a fun & filling lunch.

Better still, making nachos is a great way to clean out the frig of all those half-cut bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, etc.  Leftover grilled meats, cuts of cheese that are too small for a recipe, fresh herbs on their last day can be used to make fabulous nachos.

HERE'S A GOOD COMBINATION

• green bell pepper. diced small
• red bell pepper, diced small
• yellow onion, sliced thin
• tomato, seeded, diced small
• black beans, drained and rinsed
• fresh cilantro
• Monterey cheese, grated
• Cheddar cheese, grated
• Habanero Cheese, grated
• tortilla chips
• sour cream for dipping
• your favorite salsa for dipping

Heat oven to 375ºF. Use a cookie sheet lined with foil for easy cleanup, or not.  Make a layer of chips on the sheet.   Arrange the toppings as you like them.  Cover lightly with grated cheeses.  Bake 7 to 10 minutes.

mmm...hot, veggie nachos

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I've made other garlic yogurt recipes before but I did a something different the other day that was a big hit with my friends.  I made it thicker and added Greek oregano.  Let me just jump right to it.

HERE'S ALL I DID WITH

• 1 (32 ounce) container of plain yogurt
• 1 to 2 garlic cloves crushed
• juice of half lemon, 2 to 3 teaspoons
• 1/2 teaspoon dried Greek Oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

First, I wet a small tea towel and squeezed it dry, then laid it in a wire mesh strainer.  Sat the strainer over a medium size bowl. Placed the yogurt in the cloth, covered and refrigerated for about 2 or 3 hours. (I lost track of time.)

At this point, the yogurt becomes VERY thick, almost like a soft goat cheese..mmm goat cheese.  Anyhoo.

Plop the thick yogurt into a container that has a lid.  If you like a little garlic flavor then, add one crushed garlic clove.  If you're looking for eatable mosquito repellent, then crush 2 garlic cloves.  I prefer eatable mosquito repellent.

Add the remaining ingredients, lemon juice, Greek oregano, salt & pepper, stir well, and cover with lid.

The yogurt and spices need time to get their mojo on, at least an hour.  The longer they have together, the stronger the flavors become.  The next day is completely different from the first hour.  And you can't tell anything in the first minutes after mixing, except that your salt is right.  So be patient, Grasshopper.

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Now you can use this as a dip with Homemade Pita Bread.

It's creamy garlic-ness is wonderful as a spread on the Olive Oil Bread from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.

OR I just used it in place of the sour cream in my Creamy Biscuits recipe.  The garlic comes through the biscuit without leaving a heavy garlic taste in the mouth.  We ate them for breakfast, lunch and snack, all in one day.

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Mango Salsa
1-1/2 cups finely diced fresh mango
2 T. green onion, minced
1 T. fresh lime juice
1 T. fresh cilantro, minced
1 red serrano or jalapeno pepper, seeded, finely chopped

Combine all the ingredients; wait 30 minutes or so for the flavors to get busy with each other, then chow down.

It's suppose to be wonderful with grilled chicken, fish tacos, fajita condiment, or always with tortilla chips.

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So FRESH, so hard to stop eating.  I could skip the chips and eat it with a spoon or on top of anything grilled.  D

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES

Chunky salad bits

• 1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained & rinsed
• 1/2 (11 oz) can sweet corn
• 2 small ripe tomatoes, chopped
• 3/4 cup seedless cucumber, chopped
• 1/4 cup purple onion, finely chopped
• 3 green onions, finely chopped
• 2 jalapenos, seeded & finely chopped

• 1 avocado, chopped but wait until the last toss before adding
• Feta cheese, crumbled (Athenos Basil & Tomato flavored is good)

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Inspired by Michael Chiarello's book Flavored Oils: 50 Recipes for Cooking with Infused Oils.

I have, rolling around my head, the idea to make a loaf of garlic bread.  Not the bread with garlic spread on it's slices.  Garlic stirred into the dough itself.  Is your mouth watering just thinkin' about it?  But first, I need to roast a few heads of garlic. And while I'm at it, I may as well make garlic olive oil, too. Right?

HERE'S WHAT I DID

• 4 or 5 whole garlic heads
• 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• a pinch or two Italian seasoning (optional)

Heat the oven to 375ºF.

Peel away the garlic skins and toss the clean cloves into a shallow baking pan.  Get your kids to help, they love to pick things. Sprinkle on the salt, pepper and optional seasonings, then pour the oil over the top.  Cover the pan, loosely, with aluminum foil, allowing for steam to escape.  Bake for 3o to 45 minutes.  (30 minutes produces a fork tender clove, 45 minutes produces a softer spreadable clove.)

Drain off the oil in a tightly covered, sterilized glass jar or bottle and USE WITHIN 1 WEEK.  Makes about 3/4 cup roasted garlic oil.

To make the paste, mash the cloves with a fork or give them a quick spin in a 1 cup food processor.  Makes about 1/2 cup garlic paste.

Last night, I put a dollop of roasted garlic paste on my pasta plate like a condiment; that was good.  I spread it over a fresh slice of Bran-Enriched Bread; that was good.  I stirred it into my homemade tomato sauce; lip smacking smooth.

The roasted garlic oil is said to be wonderful added to vinaigrettes, for sauteing vegetables, or in any recipe calling for roasted garlic oil.

COOK'S NOTES

If you have concerns or questions about storing garlic oil, or have only heard about botulism in homemade garlic oil.

PLEASE visit these links:

GARLIC,Safe Methods to Store, Preserve and Enjoy, Calaveras County Agriculture Extension

Cook's Illustrated Forum: Garlic oil & botulism

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