Black Bean & Corn Salsa
1 can black beans
1 can white beans (I like Great Northern)
1 can corn
1/4 C. crushed pineapple, with juice
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 green bell pepper, minced
1/2 red onion, minced
3 T. chopped fresh cilantro
Zest and juice of 1/2 lime
2 T. olive oil
Jalapeno pepper rings, minced, to taste (about 4-5)
Salt & Pepper to taste

Rinse and drain beans and corn. Combine in a bowl with other ingredients except jalapenos, salt and pepper. Mix well.

Add peppers and seasonings to taste and combine. Refrigerate for at least a couple hours before serving. Serve cold with chips. For a variation, serve warm over fish or chicken.

Sweet & Savory Pumpkin Seeds
1 pumpkin’s worth of seeds, rinsed and dried
2 t. olive oil
dash salt
dash cumin
dash chili powder
1 t. pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 t. sugar

Place all ingredients in a sealed plastic bag (think ziploc) and shake to coat. Place on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake at 250 degrees for 30 minutes, turning once. Remove when seeds are golden brown. Eat. Enjoy.

Then you go and ruin its virtue by adding a small bit of oil and nearly a can of sweetened condensed milk.

But it’s totally worth it. Besides – it has wheat germ. It HAS to be good for you, right?

Almost Healthy Trail Mix
2 C. granola
1 C. + chopped nuts (I prefer slivered almonds, but pecans or walnuts would work great, too. Add more if you love ‘em)
1/2 t. almond extract
1 t. ground cinnamon
1 t. salt
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 C. vegetable oil
2 C. dried fruit of your choice

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a large bowl, add granola, wheat germ, nuts, extract, cinnamon, salt and oil. Add in about 1/2 can of sweetened condensed milk and stir. Continue to add milk until the mixture is thoroughly coated. (While the original recipe calls for a whole can, I find that the mix comes out too wet this way. I generally us 2/3 to 3/4 of a can, so use your judgement). Spread on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil (I LOVE Reynolds non-stick wrap, FYI). Bake 45 minutes, stirring every 10-15 minutes. Mixture should come out chewy, but not wet, and will begin to brown, but of course not burn.

Let cool for five minutes, then stir in fruit. Cool completely, and store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Enjoy!

I knew the main ingredients were green apples, cilantro and onion, so I looked through a few green apple salsas online to confirm my suspicions and see what else might be lurking in there. Here’s what I came up with. I’m not sure it’s as good as Black Bear’s – but it’s close enough that if I don’t make it up in April next year, I won’t have to lock myself in my room to cry.

Green Apple Salsa
3 Granny Smith apples
1/3 C. cilantro
1/2 red onion (Note: Black Bear and several other recipes I saw use white onion or sweet onion. The red onion just gives an otherwise green-and-white salsa some nice color)
Zest and juice of one lime
2 T. honey
1/8 t. cumin
Salt to taste

Peel and dice apples, chip cilantro and onion finely, and combine in a bowl. Add honey, lime, cumin and salt. Stir to combine. Refrigerate for several hours, and serve with tortilla chips. You can thank me later. Enjoy!

Mmm. Puff Pastry Dough. I have come to believe it makes just about everything better.

This past Christmas, my mom brought some cocktail weiners to our family get together. She had ordered them off of QVC. True story. Some were wrapped in pretzel dough (delicious), some in bagel dough (also delicious), some in puff pastry (equally delicious). Now, I’m not going to pay $40 for cocktail wieners. Sorry. But I sure did enjoy them.

About a month ago, we had some friends over for a game night, and I found this easy recipe on Food Netork for some puff pastry ham sandwiches. They were a huge hit, even with my hard-to-please husband. A couple weeks later at the store, I noticed a box of puff pastry cocktail weiners in the frozen section. Mmm. I got all nostalgic thinking of Christmas and almost picked them up. Until I saw the price and quantity. $3.50 for 6 wieners. Um…. no. They were good, but not that good. So I marched right over and picked up a pack of cocktail wieners, and over to the freezer section for a box of puff pastry dough, and made them myself – about 24 for $5. Not bad, comparatively. The kids loved them. I’m sure you could make your own dough for even less, but I was looking for a quick lunch, not a weekend baking project.

Puff Pastry Piggies
1 pkg cocktail weiners
1 pkg frozen puff pastry dough
brown mustard

First, lay out your puff pastry dough. You don’t even have to wait for it to thaw – just break it into the three pieces as it’s folded. Once it’s thawed a bit, cut it into about 1″ strips with a sharp knife or pizza cutter.

Put a line of mustard on one of the strips and wrap around the weiner. Place on a baking sheet and bake according to the package directions of the puff pastry dough box.

This day, I had some left over (I was using the leftover wieners from my last batch) – so I put some turkey, bacon and mustard in the pastry dough, folded it over, and made finger sandwiches.

I’m telling you – almost anything tastes fantastic wrapped in puff pastry. And people think you’re a fabulous cook. You can’t go wrong with it.

Make some today. You can thank me later.