Bean Risotto

From: Blue Zones Kitchen One Pot Meals cookbook

Ingredients:

Directions:

Hot Mama Grade: tbd

Hot Mama Grade:

Mushroom & Walnut Bolognese Spaghetti Sauce

From: Blue Zones Kitchen One Pot Meals cookbook

Ingredients:

Ingredients:

Hot Mama Grade: TBD

Hot Mama Notes: This recipe is a lot of work. I like the crock pot option. If I decide to make this again, I would choose that option. 

Spanakopita Pasta

From: Blue Zones Kitchen One Pot Meals cookbook

Ingredients:

Directions:

Hot Mama Grade: C-

Hot Mama Notes: This recipe was not that good, and it was a TON of work. And I had to buy a bunch of new ingredients to make recipes from this cook book. And I have every spice known to man and a very well stocked pantry and kitchen. And it wasn't tasty. I live Spanakopita, but I didn't feel like this recipe was a good representation. Sad! I had to substitute individual spices for herbs de provence. I had to buy wheat spaghetti, miso, tofu, nutritional yeast, and parsley.

I was excited to use my immersion blender. It worked well. 

Wintermelon Boba

From my many boba experiences and nyt for reference

Ingredients 

Wintermelon tea, brewed

Heavy whipping cream 

Boba, cooked

Brown sugar

Directions

Cook boba per package directions. It was 15c of water for 1.5c boba. Boil water, add boba, wait for it to float to the top. Cover and cook over medium heat for 3 to 5 min (I did 4). Then turn off heart and simmer 2 to 5 min (I did 3 I think). I removed the pot from heat as I have an electric stove that retains heat. Quench boba for 20 seconds in cold water then remove to dry bowl. Coat with simple syrup and wait a minimum of 30 minutes or a max of 5 hours, at room temperature only. No frig or they get hard. Instead of simple syrup, I added brown sugar (about a cup) to the water that came with the Boba from the quench bath.

I divided the Boba into 3 glasses, and put in the Wintermelon tea and cream along with alot of ice. Add in a boba straw and voila! Boba! 

Hot Mama Grade: A

Hot Mama Notes: the kids loved it! It was very delicious. Even making boba tea yourself is not cheap. I used an entire bag of 3-minute boba, and I think it was about 6 dollars. The Wintermelon tea brews up a large batch, and it freezes well. Heavy cream isn't cheap, either, but it is still much cheaper than going out to get boba! 🤣😁❤️😊

The Boba aren't sweet by themselves. And I thought I overcooked them as they were quite gooey coming out of the simmering water. But after sitting for 30 minutes, they firmed up to be a good consistency. 

Baked Salmon - Italian Seasoning

From: https://www.lecremedelacrumb.com/best-easy-healthy-baked-salmon/#wprm-recipe-container-25580

Ingredients 

4 salmon fillets, about 6 ounces each

▢2 tablespoons olive oil

▢½ teaspoon salt, or to taste

▢¼ teaspoon cracked black pepper, just a pinch if using finely ground black pepper

▢2 teaspoons minced garlic

▢1 teaspoon Italian herb seasoning blend , OR herbs de provence, or ¼ teaspoon each dried thyme, parsley, oregano, and basil

▢1 medium lemon

Instructions 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease a large baking pan. Arrange salmon fillets on the baking sheet and season generously with salt and pepper.

Stir together olive oil, garlic, herbs, and juice of 1/2 lemon. Spoon over salmon fillets being sure to rub all over the tops and sides of the salmon so it has no dry spots. Thinly slice remaining 1/2 of lemon and top each piece of salmon with a slice of lemon.

Bake for 12-15 minutes until salmon is opaque and flaky when pulled apart with a fork. You can broil the last 1-2 minutes if desired.

Hot Mama Grade: A

Hot Mama Notes: This recipe was really tasty. I like the Italian seasoning! 

Shortbread Jammers

From nyt

Hot Mama Grade: A

Hot Mama Notes: I used all regular flour as I had no rice flour. These are super tasty and easy to make. Buttery goodness! Yum! I used roots brand raspberry vanilla jam. Deliciousness. The blueberry lavender jam would also be an excellent choice. 

Summer Vegetable Salad

From: Good Enough cookbook

Hot Mama Grade: A

Hot Mama Notes: This salad is a nice twist on an old favorite of mine, the cucumber chick pea salad. I like the extra variety. I used a whole cucumber and 1T of lime juice. I used a single roma tomato along with a handful of mini tomatoes from my garden. I used frozen corn. I skipped the croutons and sausage, though I would like to try them next time! I also don't have any feta to add, but I am sure these things would be delicious.