Cool as a Cucumber

Hello friends! It's been a busy summer being the at-home mom of three tween to teens. And I have been thinking of all sorts of blog topics, but with little time to write!  I have certainly shared with you many stories that end up with a mess, or a botched recipe, so much so that I'm guessing I am resembling some old  "I love Lucy" episodes. So, I am taking a slight break from that. I have a twist on the blog...inspired by my booth at a farmer's market. It's held weekly on Wednesdays and I have been enjoying seeing my customers, friends and my awesome buddy, Betsy at the booth next to me. Each week at the Market I have been trying to focus on a different food or specifically fruit or vegetable. And for those that aren't near a market, you may just be inspired to pick up the veggie of the week at your supermarket or else, if you are lucky enough to grow these in your garden... well hurray for you:

This week it's not just any old vegetable: it's a Super Food! Yes, it's the CUCUMBER!

Some of the MANY Health benefits of cucumbers *1
Hydration: Keeps you hydrated, regulates body temperature and flushes out toxins!
Skin Care: High water content, and vitamins A,B,C and minerals are all great for skin, and help reduce water retention, diminishing puffiness and swelling.  That must be why you always see the ladies at the spa with cucumber slices on their eyes!
Cancer fighter: the lignans found in cucumbers have been recently linked to reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and several cancers.*2*3
Stimulates hair growth AND keeps your nail health tip top - keeps them from splitting and cracking! And that is JUST a Few of the benefits. WOWZA -that is some amazing stuff!

Ok so now you know WHY you should get your hands on a cucumber! Now what? Yes, you can just slice and eat it - but there are a lot of fun Recipes with Cucumbers in them...

Last week on my  Pinterest page  I added a recipe that I made at a recent demonstration.  It involved cutting the cucumber into 1-2 inch sections and then hollowing out the top to make a Cucumber Cup. The cups you can make from a cucumber are amazingly cool - you can fill these with a number of different fillings - from a chicken salad to a salsa - to a bacon water-chestnut filling that has teriyaki sauce in it.

Another cool idea is the baby shower favorite: Cucumber sandwiches, with a touch of dill weed (or my favorite Pampered Chef Dill Mix).  There are so many fun ideas. I thought I had invented an idea last summer of adding cucumber to your salsa - but if you do a google search you can see that many other people also agree, adding some diced cucumber to your salsa makes a COOL combination.

Cucumber Canapes is another favorite "concept" of mine - where you take the cucumber and slice on the bias (45 degree angle) and then take your decorator set and add your favorite dip. I found a fantastic dip that is more of a cheese spread than a dip, the name is Kaukana's Garden Vegetable Cheese Spread - and it's amazingly light.   I like to call it Garden Vegetable Mousse.  THAT recipe was inspired by a different one (see picture)  called: Creole Shrimp & Cucumber Canapés. 

So many ideas, so little time. Come visit me in Aurora at the West Plaza Farmer's Market - and pick up a sheet of fantastic cucumber recipes. Here is one that is delicious!

Kathy



Creole Shrimp & Cucumber Canapés
Ingredients:
1/2 cup (125 mL) ketchup
2 tbsp (30 mL) Creole Rub, divided
1 tbsp (15 mL) finely chopped onion
1 tbsp (15 mL) finely chopped green bell pepper
1 tbsp (15 mL) finely chopped celery
1/4 tsp (1 mL) hot pepper sauce
4 oz (125 g) cream cheese, softened
1 seedless cucumber
24 cooked medium shrimp (41-50 per lb), peeled and deveined, tails removed
2 tbsp (30 mL) finely chopped fresh parsley

Directions:
1.  Combine ketchup, 1 tbsp (15 mL) of the rub, onion, bell pepper, celery and hot sauce in (1-cup/250-mL) Prep Bowl. Combine cream cheese and remaining rub in Small Batter Bowl; mix well. Attach open star tip to Easy Accent(R) Decorator; fill with cream cheese mixture.

2.  Cut cucumber on a bias into twenty-four 1/4-inch-thick (6-mm) slices using Santoku Knife. Pipe cream cheese mixture evenly over centers of cucumber slices. Place shrimp over cream cheese mixture; spoon cocktail sauce over shrimp. Garnish with parsley.

Yield:  24 servings

Nutrients per serving:  (1 appetizer): Calories 30, Total Fat 1.5 g, Saturated Fat 1 g, Cholesterol 5 mg, Carbohydrate 2 g, Protein 2 g, Sodium 80 mg, Fiber 0 g
(C)The Pampered Chef, Ltd. 2012


Cucumber Health Benefits taken from the following sources:

1. http://www.healthonlinezine.info/15-health-benefits-of-cucumber.html
2. http://www.naturalnews.com/035719_cucumbers_anti-aging_vegetables.html
3 http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/cucumber.html