Broccoli Salad - Hubby’s Favourite

 This is the BEST Broccoli Salad!  It’s hearty, easy to throw together, keeps well, and hubby’s favourite salad, hands down.  I make at least one big batch of this every week, and vary it only slightly, just for fun.

Assemble your ingredients.  Measure with love.  If you love cranberries, add more of them, or use raisins.  If you like it extra creamy, use sour cream as well as Greek yoghurt, or homemade mayonnaise.  If you’re out of sunflower seeds, use pepitas… this recipe is easy that way.

In a bowl, layer:

Broccoli (I trim the stems and have them as an afternoon snack, or shred them into a mixed slaw)

Marinated white onions or raw red onion (finely diced) or green onions, to taste

Greek yoghurt / sour cream combo (2 Tbsp or more)

Dried Cranberries 

Toasted sunflower seeds or pepitas 

Shredded cheddar cheese (or whatever cheese you have on hand)

Olive oil (to loosen the yogurt / sour cream)

Splash of white wine vinegar / lemon juice, to taste

Season with salt and pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, to taste

Stir, taste, adjust the seasonings, you’re the boss.

Watch your loved ones devour this salad!  It’s soooo tasty!

I layer mine on top of kale (for extra greens) and a tangy chili lime black bean and summer corn salad (recipe coming soon).  This plate was super satisfying… amazing with some smoky grilled steak… it hits all the flavour notes of sweet, savoury, smoky, and bitter.  

Hope you’re inspired to try it!

Bonus:  a cute pic of Aniya in the laundry basket

More Tomato Dishes… and The Best Greek Salad Dressing

 Greek Salad

Greek salad is a staple in my summer salad roundup.  Our homegrown summer tomatoes and cucumbers are still going strong, and there are ALL KINDS of dishes being enjoyed and shared in our home and with family or friends.  

The ingredients:

Orange and yellow peppers

Cucumber (homegrown!)

Tomatoes (homegrown!)

Red (fresh) or white onions (marinated) 

or green onions (chopped finely)

Feta (your favourite kind, or optional)

The so good it’s drinkable dressing:

1:2 proportion of olive oil : red wine vinegar 

(I use about 1 Tbsp : 2 Tbsp wen drizzling)

Equal parts of:

Garlic Powder

Onion Powder

Dried Oregano

Dried Basil

Salt and Pepper

(I just sprinkle evenly over the veggies, about 1/2 tsp each, or to taste)

It never fails to make my lips smack!!!!

Lately, I’m eating toasted tomato sandwiches served open face

…which means MORE TOMATOES in my mouth!

I’m actually working on a hybrid sourdough / lightly yeasted sandwich loaf recipe… I’ll share it when I’ve perfected it.

My Tomato Pie (pictured below) remains our favourite tomato dish of the summer!  Here’s the link if you want to try making this super easy recipe:

https://tastethelovebymj.blogspot.com/2024/09/tremendous-tomato-pie.html 

It’s sooo good!  Enjoy!

Tremendous Tomato Pie

 

This is Tremendous Tomato Pie.

Here are some images from our backyard garden to the table…

Waiting for harvest time… the yellow and cherry tomatoes are almost ready to be enjoyed!

The first cherry tomato… of many!!

And suddenly, it’s time to make Tomato Pie.  

Time to harvest MY OWN TOMATOES and make a Tomato Pie that’s almost 100% HOMEGROWN. I proudly grew and tended the tomatoes in the topping, the 5 year old sourdough starter, and the basil… that is something, for this fledgling urban gardener.

Now I know I have a lot to learn about food photography and the like, but I can follow a recipe… and this isn’t just anyone’s recipe.  It’s Laura Vitale’s Deep Dish Tomato Pie recipe.

Why use someone else’s recipe?  Because it is PERFECT just the way it is.  I wouldn’t change a thing.

I get sooo much inspiration from other food bloggers, writers, and YouTubers.  To be honest, I may start with their recipes, but I give credit where it is due.  Remember, I started this blog to share family recipes, the tried and true recipes, and recipes that I make and tweak and LOVE… and those recipes do change over time, as my cooking style changes.  What comes after that, I may well share… in this tiny humble blog…  from my tiny home kitchen to yours.  

And sometimes, I will just share them just the way they are, like this incredible recipe for Tomato Pie.  I hope you enjoy it as much as we do, every single time, and are inspired in your own way.

This Tomato Pie makes everyone who tries it moan with utter delight.  Yes, it’s THAT GOOD.  

Thank you, Laura!!

I will also say that the crust was made by yours truly, and it’s almost exactly the same as my tried and true sourdough pizza recipe, except that I added a little yeast (5 grams) to the dough mix, as my starter is a little on the lazy side this summer, since I haven’t been using it to bake my sourdough loaves as regularly as I normally do. 

But now that my very own homegrown tomatoes are ripe, I KNEW it was time to make Laura’s Tomato Pie again, and it did NOT disappoint!  It was even sweeter than when made with only red tomatoes, and it’s been a GREAT season for fresh tomatoes this summer.

The recipe for Laura’s Tomato Pie topping can be found here: https://www.laurainthekitchen.com/recipes/deep-dish-tomato-pie/

DO give her a follow - you’ll join the other 4.5 million or so other subscribers that subscribe to her amazing YouTube channel at Laura in the Kitchen.

Here are my notes from her recipe:

 

Basically, you just toss grape / cherry / yellow tomatoes in a bowl with freshly chopped garlic, s+p, oregano, and olive oil.  I use my heaviest, ceramic coated cast iron frying pan.  Gurgle a generous amount of olive oil in the bottom, and press my pizza dough into it (let it relax and gently spread it out like a foccacia a few times).  Then I slather it with tomato paste (or pizza sauce), season it with more salt and pepper and dried oregano / basil, and spoon the seasoned tomato / raw garlic mixture over it all.

Bake it in a preheated oven at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 minutes… it smells AMAZING and comes out perfect every time!!!!!!!!!  Let cool and BE SURE TO TOP WITH FRESHLY CUT BASIL (not always pictured - I don’t add the basil until it’s properly cooled).

I’ve made this incredible recipe FIVE TIMES already this summer, due to popular demand.  It’s a gem.  Thanks, Laura, for this summer’s Best Recipe!  It is MUCH appreciated.

Some process pictures, for your enjoyment:

Tastes tremendous.  Tastes like Summer.  Tastes like Love.

Check out my go-to recipe for the crust… it’s the same as my Homemade Sourdough Skillet Pizza recipe here:  https://tastethelovebymj.blogspot.com/2020/05/homemade-sourdough-skillet-pizza.html

Be sure to check out my upcoming salad recipes and composed plates / bowls of yummy food I’ve been cooking and eating lately.  Likely the posts won’t be so long or the recipes so technical… but that’s actually how I do my most inspired creating in the kitchen.  

Follow me on Instagram or Facebook:  MJ Schropp 

Old School / New School Cook and Foodie

 

It’s TIME.

Time to dust off the blog, and start posting again.  Where’ve I been?  Let’s just say LIFE has been happening, in many of the hardest ways, and it will continue to do so… but COOKING and writing and taking photos… they make me HAPPY.

I’m not big into sharing personal stuff on social media, I guess I’m weird that way, but also I’m super busy, and take lots of photos of my food… I have for YEARS.  But then I just share them with my mom or friends, who also like to cook or bake or eat as much as I do, lol.  I’m generally a very private person.  But food is my PASSION, and lately, I’ve been on a bit of a fat loss journey, despite loving to cook and bake and eat both “healthy” and “unhealthy” foods.  We’ll get into that later.

Why the need for weight loss?  I love to eat, always have… and then I started to eat too much, apparently, and I couldn’t stop.  Why?

It was a perfect storm of life circumstances.  I was unexpectedly diagnosed with breast cancer on February 14, 2020, after a routine scan.  It was biopsied and confirmed March 17th.  Removed on April 1st.  I followed protocol, had 16 treatments of radiation to my right breast, and then I was put on a FIVE YEAR course of chemotherapy pills (the name of which I have blocked from my mind) which my oncologist said would keep the cancer away, but also potentially cause the average woman to gain 30-50 pounds.  I was already post-menopausal and battling the challenge of gaining ever so slightly year after year.  It was during 2020 (nuff said?) and that already had me stressed, stuck in the house (except for lifesaving daily walks), and gaining weight.  Then that chemo med from h*ll made me feel SO AWFUL and SO TIRED and SO HUNGRY that the weight literally piled on… and I gained 50 pounds in just a few months!

I felt awful, I looked awful, and I was growing shockingly weaker from lack of movement and the rare side effect of ligament damage in my wrists and feet / ankles.  So I quit that med cold turkey (with halting permission from my oncologist) and I have been trying to take my body back ever since.  That’s not even the long explanation for it all.  

Suffice it to say, it’s time to start writing and posting again.  I won’t always get this up close and personal about my life, but I WILL get up close and personal about what I’m cooking and eating and I will be sharing my food pics on IG and maybe FB to help you find my recipes here.

I created this blog as a passion project, to share our OLD SCHOOL family recipes with friends and loved ones… but the way I cook has seriously and wonderfully evolved.  I’ve been told I’m very creative with how I put things together, but I’m just a gal who loves to eat, in a very small kitchen, cooking for my husband and I, and eating like kings and queens because I cook with that not so secret ingredient called love… and you can taste it.  So join me, as I just jump in and start sharing my latest passion project, cooking NEW SCHOOL style:  simple, balanced, nutrient dense, tasty REAL FOOD, for a healthy and happy life. 

Won’t you join me?