Author: thestlouiscooks

The St. Louis Cooks have a love for food and St. Louis. We share recipes, local restaurants, and small businesses.
Garden, Snacks

Guacamole

thestlouiscooks

Spicy Guac

Avocado‘s are something we have never bought or used at home.  I don’t know why. We love guacamole.  We eat it in Mexico all the time.  We order it out when dining at a Mexican or Southwestern restaurant, but we have never made it at home until now.

Fresh Cilantro
Fresh Cilantro

It was so easy and simple to make guacamole.  It was so good especially with our fresh cilantro from the garden. I can’t say the kids loved it.  They do however prefer guacamole vs. avocados solo.

Also, I think back to my childhood.  We never ate guacamole or avocados.  My first experience with avocados was in my early 20’s when I began to travel for work.  It was also when I learned to love so many other different types of food. I grew up in a “meat and potatoes and pasta” kind of family (which was awesome), however we didn’t eat a lot of different kinds of foods.

At our house today, we make the kids taste everything. We eat a lot of different types of food. Our kids have quite a sophisticated palate except Nick, the five-year old, but we are working on that!

Ingredients

  • 3 avocados peeled, pitted, and mashed
  • 3 tablespoons of fresh cilantro chopped (from the garden)
  • 2 Roma Tomatoes (chopped)
  • 1/2 cup of diced red onion
  • 1 tablespoon of minced garlic
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
  • 1 lime (juiced)
  • 1 teaspoon of ground cayenne pepper (optional)

Directions

  1. In a large bowl, mash together the avocados, lime juice, and salt. Stir in cilantro, onion, tomatoes, and garlic.  Stir in cayenne pepper for desired taste. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours.

This is super simple and easy for anyone to make. It was our first time eating the fresh cilantro from the garden too.  Yummy!

Family, Food, Garden

Pasta Salami Salad

thestlouiscooks
Salami, Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Asparagus, and fresh Basil
Salami, Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Asparagus, and fresh Basil

Last week, my husband was in the mood for a cold Pasta Salad.  I was super excited because I love Pasta Salad.  Since he was grilling the flank steaks and making the vegetable, I figured making the salad was the least I could do.

I approached this recipe with some practicality and a little creativity. I used all the ingredients that I had at home.  That is the beautiful thing about cold Pasta Salad, you can use a ton of different vegetables/meats, and use many different types of dressings.

Pasta Salami Salad

  • Servings: 10-12
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Ingredients

  • 1 Box of Pasta (spirals, mostaccioli, bow ties) – cooked and drained
  • 25-30 slices of Hard Salami sliced in slivers
  • 5 Roma Tomatoes diced
  • 20 Asparagus Spears cooked and sliced
  • 1 large Cucumber diced
  • 1 cup of sliced Red Onion
  • 3/4 cup of Italian Dressing of your choice (less or more)
  • 1/4 cup of Fresh Basil from the garden
  • Italian seasonings to taste
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
  • Fresh shredded Parmesan Cheese or Feta Cheese

Directions

  1. Cook pasta according to package directions and drain.  I do not rinse my pasta.  I drizzle a little olive oil so the pasta doesn’t stick. Let cool.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the pasta with all the other ingredients.  Add the seasonings last.  Stir until fully coated with dressing.  Add Cheese last or with each individual serving. Refrigerate for 3-4 hours.

This dish is a perfect summer salad that’s ideal for any large get together. I must admit that I really like the salami in this Pasta Salad.  It adds a lot of extra flavor. Also, I would have added some black olives too, but no one likes them like I do in this family.

There’s so much you can do with Pasta Salad.  I swear that I make a different one every time I make it.

Enjoy this one for now!

Family, Food, Garden

Zucchini Squash Parmesan

thestlouiscooks

 

A family favorite from my Mom
A family favorite from my Mom

When I’m in the mood for a different vegetable, zucchini and yellow squash is always my “go to” vegetable, especially in the summer time.  You can do so many fun things with squash.  Of course, we love to marinate squash and grill it. You can put them on kabobs or eat them raw as a snack with your favorite dip.  My kids are fans of ranch and zucchini, although my kids will eat almost anything dipped in ranch.

This recipe is a long time family favorite from my Mom, Carol DeFrancesco.  With many recipes, I may tweak it a bit for personal preference.  For this particular recipe, I use olive oil to brown and sauté my squash.  My Mom used butter for the most part.   The olive oil seems to be an easier and healthier alternative.  This side dish is great with any meat of your choice.  It’s easy to make, but it does take a little time to sauté the squash so be sure to plan accordingly.

Zucchini Squash Parmesan

  • Servings: 6-8
  • Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

Directions

  1. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large pan on medium heat. Meanwhile, chop both the zucchini squash and yellow squash in large 1 inch pieces.  (If you cut them too thin, they get mushy.)
  2. Brown and sauté the squash approximately 2-3 minutes on each side.  Once finished, remove squash and add more until all finished.
  3. Next, put all the cooked squash back into the pan over low heat.  Spread the Rotel tomatoes or diced tomatoes evenly on top of the squash.
  4. Season the squash with fresh basil and/or Italian seasonings and salt and pepper.
  5. Last, sprinkle the fresh parmesan cheese all over the squash.  Cover the pan to melt the cheese.  Serve and enjoy!

Like with any recipe, you can alter this to your preference or what you might have at home.  In the past, I always used Italian seasoned diced tomatoes, but then I tried a can of Rotel tomatoes with chiles.  We love the extra kick from the Rotel.

Stay tuned for some more recipes using squash!

 

Family, Food, Garden

Garden Success – Basil

thestlouiscooks
Fresh Basil
Fresh Basil

I’m a city girl who just started gardening. Last year, I had so much success that I couldn’t wait for Spring of 2013. This year we tried out a few herbs, basil being one of them. I left the herbs in pots thankfully so because I have some creature taking over my garden that I planted in the ground (will give you more details about that in another post).

Back to the basil, I was craving a salad to accompany my meat loaf, conveniently so, I had a box of Near East Taboule Wheat Salad Mix on hand. I decided to follow a Greek Taboule Salad recipe that also called for fresh basil. I was so excited to cut my first batch of basil. Holy cow, it smelled so good. I cut my basil leaving the bottom leaves in tact so that I could ensure more growth in three weeks.

It’s pretty awesome enjoying the sweet success of planting your own seeds, not to mention a tasty quick Taboule Salad with fresh basil!

Greek Taboule Salad
Greek Taboule Salad

Ingredients

  • 1 package of NEAR EAST Taboule Wheat Salad Mix
  • 2 Tablespoons of olive oil
  • 1 cup of crumbled feta cheese ( I like the Athenos Garlic and Herb variety)
  • 2 large Roma Tomatoes, chopped
  • 1/2 cup of cucumbers, chopped
  • 1/4 cup of fresh basil
  • 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
  • Lettuce Leaves
  • Lemon wedges

Directions

  1. In a large mixing bowl, combine wheat salad mix and contents of spice packet.
  2. Stir in 1 cup of boiling water and oil. Let stand for 30 minutes.
  3. Stir cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, and lemon juice into wheat mixture. Cover and chill for 2 hours.
  4. Serve on top of lettuce leaves with fresh ground pepper if desired.

This quick salad was so good. Do you have any good recipes using basil? I’d love to hear them.

Life in General

Festive Flag

thestlouiscooks

Perfect Festive Snack for today! Happy 4th!

thestlouiscooks's avatarThe St. Louis Cooks

Festive Flag

It doesn’t have to be Memorial Day, Fourth of July, or Labor Day, to enjoy this awesome snack.  Last year, I came across this idea from Pinterest.  I saw this cute picture of a flag snack using skewers.  I had a ton at home so I decided to try out the recipe, but I changed it up a bit.  The recipe that I found on Pinterest used bananas for the white part.  I swapped the bananas for marshmallows because I worried the bananas would brown and I figured it would add a little more excitement!  It was a HUGE hit at the house!

This year the kids demanded that I let them make it all by themselves.  I was a little reluctant, but I gave the go ahead. My oldest, Melanie, was the head chef, Jack and Nick were the assistants (plus my hubby was in the…

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