Smoked Sausage with Cabbage and Apples

Sorry it took so long to post this one!

Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds smoked sausage, cut into 2-inch pieces
3 cooking apples, thickly sliced
1/2 head red cabbage, shredded
1 medium onion, sliced
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup apple juice

Directions
Layer the sausage, apples, cabbage and onion in the Crock-Pot® slow cooker in the order listed above.
Sprinkle the brown sugar, salt, and black pepper on top. Pour the apple juice over all the other ingredients. Do not stir.
Cover; cook on Low 6 to 8 hours (or on High for 3 to 4 hours)

Farfalle with Asparagus and Smoked Salmon

Ingredients:
1 (8 ounce) package farfalle pasta
1/2 cup fresh steamed asparagus tips
1 ounce smoked salmon, chopped
1 lemon, juiced
1 tablespoon chopped pistachio nuts
1 teaspoon chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook pasta until al dente, rinse under cold water and drain.

Steam the asparagus over boiling water and cook until tender but still firm. Drain, cool and chop.

In a large bowl, combine the pasta, asparagus, smoked salmon, lemon juice, pistachios, basil, olive oil, and salt and pepper. Mix well and refrigerate for 2 hours. Remove from refrigerator and serve at room temperature

Recipe: RAW TACOS

Raw vegan walnut taco ‘meat’

1 ½ c raw walnuts
1 ½ t ground cumin
¾ t ground coriander
2 t braggs (I just used soy sauce, which is not technically raw)
Pinch of cayenne

Grind walnuts in food processor to a meat like texture add remaining ingredients and mix.

Cashew Cheeze

1 ½ t garlic, about two cloves
½ t sea salt
1 c raw cashews
2 ½ t fresh lemon juice
¼ c filtered water

Place garlic and salt in a food processor; process into small pieces. Add cashews and process into paste. Add lemon juice and water, process well.

Serve on a leafy green (I used romaine) with avocado and homemade pico. Yum!

March 2010: SEX AND THE CITY

“The only thing that I have ever successfully made in the kitchen is a mess. And several little fires. [Carrie]”

Lucky for us we are a lot better in the kitchen than Carrie.

Saturday found Cooking Club a la Sex and the City. Dishes were prepared that boasted aphrodisiac qualities and inspired by S&TC.

Ashley hosted a fun and colorful meeting.

Most of us dressed with character inspiration.

Ashley started the party with pomegranate cosmos garnished with blueberries. Yum.
Michele made Oyster Rockefeller. Amazing! I had four!
Janet prepared a delicious Cream of Asparagus soup.
Christina prepared a Farfalle with Asparagus and Smoked Salmon dish. More yum.
I tried out a Raw Taco recipe inspired by Smith (remember he worked at a raw restaurant). I made ground walnut taco meat and cashew cheeze and garnished the tacos with avocado and homemade cherry tomato pico.
Bonnie concluded the evening with Pistachio and Rose Water Cupcakes. Oh my, these were wonderful. Who needs Magnolia's?
Ashley prepared these wonderfully cute goodie bags filled with all sorts of fun stuff.
It was a fabulous meeting. Conversation as always was very lively and included a very, um, colorful Q&A game. We recalled some of our favorite S&TC moments, discussed our favorite characters and just had a lot of girl fun.

Way to go Ashley. Smashing success.

Note: Pictures were taken with 3 different cameras. Someone's battery went dead. Ooops.