Cheezy Spaghetti Squash Soup

I was happily surprised to see some winter squashes at the local farm store today, they are my favorite part of the fall (and today felt like fall here in NJ).

So I popped one of the spaghetti squashes I bought into the oven for about 45 minutes (first, poke it all over with a fork). But while I was working on making something else, I sliced my finger! Don't worry, no ER visit, no stitches, just a minor freak out (I was home alone!) and 4 tries of wrapping my finger in gauze.

So, once I finally got back to the kitchen, I decided to change my plans, and used a recipe I found a few weeks ago but haven't had time to try out. But, I tweaked it a little, I used the spaghetti squash, veggie stock and didn't have enough parmesan, so I used shredded "Mexican blend" cheese from the grocery store.

spaghetti squash and cheese soup

This was pretty simple, after the squash was cooked, I heated about a tablespoon of olive oil, sauteed two large cloves of garlic (but use more, I added plenty of garlic powder) then melted two tablespoons of butter, added veggie stock (enough to cover the squash), salt and pepper, and brought it to a boil.

Then I added the cheese (about a half cup parmesan and a half cup shredded cheese blend, mentioned above), and let it melt.

Next, I added about a half cup skim half and half and two tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley.

If you checked out the original website, you saw the original recipe looked like a creamy, garlicky sauce that stuck to the pasta. Yum. But, this didn't turn out that way. I was more soupy, but actually really good, sort of like a broccoli cheddar, but with the squash, and not super heavy.

Simple Squash Side Dish

roasted summer squash, peppers and onions

I loved this super simple side dish that used up any extra veggies I had in the fridge.

I set the oven to 350 while I started chopping. I used sweet and hot peppers, half an onion, two cloves garlic, and one large summer squash, threw it in the dutch oven with a little olive oil, salt and pepper, and let it roast in the oven for about a half hour.

This is great as a side dish, but its also great to take to work tomorrow.

Better For You (read not fried) Eggplant Parmesan

eggplant parmesan

Both Pat and I are pretty picky about eggplant. I almost never like it, neither does he. But, we got two large eggplants in a local produce box, so here's our healthier version that we both actually enjoy. And yes, it is a little time consuming, but tastes great.

First, let me say that we don't buy spaghetti sauce, we always make it and freeze what we don't eat. It's more economical, and always tastes better than most brands I've tried. That was a big part of what made this so time consuming, because we didn't have any in the freezer, so I had to make sauce.

So, the most important thing to this recipe is how thick the eggplant is cut. I always believe the thinner the better. It doesn't matter if you cut the eggplant lengthwise or into circles, if you use a knife or a mandolin, as long as the slices are thin.

Then, you lay the slices out on towels, sprinkle with salt, let them sit for about 10 minutes, flip, repeat, wait, rinse, pat dry, and you're ready to go. This pulls all the excess moisture from the eggplant, and helps to make them less bitter, but this step isn't necessary if you use small eggplants because they tend to be less bitter (because they have fewer seeds).

This is the part where many people batter and fry the eggplant, but where we veered off course. We put the eggplant into the oven (about 10 minutes per side at about 350F). Some of the eggplant burnt a little, but we used it anyway (and you couldn't taste any burnt).

I used a 9x9" glass baking dish, and layered marinara sauce, eggplant, mozzarella, parmesan and panko (in that order) until the pan was filled, and left a layer of marinara on top.

We ate this a few days later (it kept well in the fridge, but I know it also keeps well in the freezer), so we cooked this at 350F for about 25 minutes, then added a little panko to the top, set the broiler to high, and cooked for about five more minutes, until the breadcrumbs were brown.

Great to make over the weekend, and save for a week night.

Pan Seared Salmon with Corn Risotto and Peach Salsa

corn and squash risotto with seared salmon

For dinner, we decided to make risotto with some corn and butternut squash we got locally, and topped it off with pan seared salmon. (Sorry for the poor quality photo, my camera battery was dead and I had to use my cell phone.)

Pat actually made the risotto, I helped a little, but I was working on making the salsa and something else.

So, to start, I peeled and cubed a butternut squash, tossed it in a little olive oil, and roasted it at 350 for about a half hour. While that was roasting, I put 2 ears of corn (leave on husks, but get them damp) on the grill for about 12 minutes, then cut the kernels off the cob.

For the risotto itself, we heated about 5 cups of veggie stock in a small pot. In a deep pan, we heated some olive oil, then added about half of an onion and about a cup (maybe a cup and a half) arborio rice, toasting it until the rice started to turn translucent, then added about a half cup of dry white wine, and started adding the stock, stirring constantly, slowly adding stock until it was all incorporated.

After about a 25 minutes, we mixed in the corn, butternut squash, a little butter, pepper, and parmesan cheese.

While we were finishing the risotto, we started the salmon, citing it into probably 3oz portions (so it would cook more evenly), adding a little pepper and salt, and cooking it, skin side down, flipping it to the flesh side once I could see that it was cooked about halfway up on the side. I only seared it on the flesh side because I like my salmon cooked to medium rare (or even a little less).

After we plated dinner, we decided it needed something else, so that's why we added the peach and corn salsa from my last post.

Grilled Sweet and Spicy Salsa

quick and easy salsa

Pat had a peach craving yesterday, so he went to the farm and got about 5 lbs of peaches, again, and a few ears of corn.

So, we turned on the grill and got to work. We threw two ears (leave husks on, but get them damp, this helps to steam the corn inside), one peach, cut in half, and one big tomato from the garden, cut into thick slices, right onto the grill.

On our gas grill (turned to med-high) the corn took about 12 minutes, the peach about eight, and the tomato about five, just make sure you flip everything.

Once everything was cooked, I husked the corn, and cut it off the cob, peeled the skin off the tomato, and cut it and the peach into chunks a little larger than the size of the corn kernels.

The peach and corn held together well, and the tomato started to break down to make the salsa nice and juicy. I added the juice of half a lime, and some of our ghost salt to give it a kick (from Princeton, NJ's Savory Spice Shop, an awesome store that has every spice you can imagine, dried mushrooms, spice blends, and tons of stuff I would never have imagined). You can just use chili or cayenne powder instead, but then make sure you add some salt too.

The final result was sweet, spicy and acidic. You can use it on dinner (I'll show you soon what we added it to, yum!) or let it cool and eat it with chips.

Tomato and Eggplant Salad

tomato, eggplant and herb salad

I love Caprese salads, but with all the tomatoes out in the garden, I'm trying out a few healthier options (all that mozzarella!). Plus, I have other things growing out there that need to be eaten too!

So, I cooked one of my mini eggplants by slicing it in half, and cooking it flesh side down in a pan with a little olive oil until it was soft and a little brown, then I flipped it until the skin side had just a little color.

While this cooked, I went out and got some lemon basil, lemon thyme, orange mint and flat parsley from my garden, and sliced it all. Then I cut the tomatoes and eggplant into smaller pieces, and tossed all of this with olive oil, pepper and some ghost pepper salt we got from this awesome spice store in Princeton, NJ, and added some mixed greens (more for fluff than anything, this was my dinner, after all).

It was good, but I was wishing for some fat in this salad, maybe because I love mozzarella so much, but I think next time this salad is definitely going to have almonds, olives, cheese, or something more on it.

Quinoa and Veggies

quinoa and all the veggies in the fridge

For lunch today, I scoured the fridge and pantry, and, for the life of me couldn't figure out what to eat. I kept thinking, "there's nothing, and I don't want to go to the grocery store..." So, I reminded myself to think outside the box from my every day ideas, and I grabbed the box of quinoa (Peruvian seed that's low in fat, but high in protein and lots of important vitamins and minerals) off the shelf.

I peeled and chopped one carrot, one medium red pepper, one chili pepper, half of a white onion, two cloves of garlic, and tossed them in a pot with just a little olive oil.

After about two minutes on a medium high flame (I just wanted to bring out the flavors a little, not really cook anything through), I added one cup quinoa, one cup water, one cup veggie stock, a little ground mustard, allspice, salt and pepper. I brought this to a boil, then turned the flame to low, covered, and set the timer for 20 minutes.

Then I remembered how awesome couscous is with golden raisins and almonds, so I chopped a handful of each, and tossed them in.

There was so much flavor from all the veggies, and then little bursts of sweetness from the raisins. The only part I would change were the almonds, they were just a little too crunchy, so I would either, cook them longer, leave them out, or add flax seeds instead for a little nutty flavor.

Making and Canning Salsa

A few days ago, Pat bought tomatoes so he could make bruschetta. When I came home from work, I asked him if he was feeling alright, and reminded him about our 30 tomato plants in the yard. He told me he didn't think any were ripe. And that he hadn't even made any bruschetta.

So, needless to say, we have pounds and pounds of tomatoes.

My goal this summer has been to learn more about canning, and to try new recipes with all the produce from our garden.

I thought about making marinara sauce, but we are growing four san marzano tomato plants, and I want to save that adventure for those tomatoes once they are more ripe.

So, instead I decided to make salsa

yummy salsa

Overall, it was pretty easy, but a little time consuming.

First, I took all of the tomatoes we had (maybe 5 pounds, not positive), cut small Xs on them, and dropped them into boiling water in small batches. As the smaller ones started to float, or the larger ones you could see the skin coming off, I scooped them out, and dropped them into ice water (this method is called concasse). I only left them in the ice water for about a minute, because otherwise they got a little water-logged. Now the skin peeled off easily, and the seeds were easy to pull out.

Dump the water, but keep the pot handy, you'll need it in a few minutes.

Once I cleaned all of the tomatoes, I took one medium sized onion, five cloves of garlic, about a tablespoon and a half of chopped cilantro (use more if you like cilantro more), one bell pepper, and five hot peppers (seeds removed, but most of the pith remained, I just didn't want seeds in the salsa), and all of the tomatoes, and chopped them in a food processor. This makes the salsa more smooth, which I prefer, but if you like a chunkier salsa, chop everything with a knife.

Once this was done, I dumped this into the pot, added some cumin, 2 small cans of tomato paste (to give the salsa some body), covered the pot, brought to a boil, turned down the flame, and simmered for about a half hour. If the salsa isn't spicy enough, you can also add more cayenne or chili powder now, or separate into two pots, and make one spicier.

At this point, you can put the salsa in the fridge, and once its chilled, add one and a half tablespoons of lime juice per cup of salsa, and serve it, but it made a lot of salsa, so I decided to can four jars of the salsa.

canned salsa

I don't have a canner, so I took my biggest pasta pot, with the pasta insert, filled it with enough water to cover the jars, and brought it to a boil.

Once the water boiled, I submerged the 8 oz. jars and boiled them for ten minutes. I also put the lids in a separate, small pot of water and boiled these for five minutes. This sanitizes them, and softens the rubber to make it adhere to the jar.

Once the jars were sanitized, I added a tablespoon and a half of fresh lime juice to each jar, and filled it the rest of the way with salsa.

Next, put the lids and rings on, and put them in the pot, with at least an inch of water above the jars. Boil the jars for 20 minutes, bring them out of the water, loosen the rings a little, and turn upside-down. Leave them on the counter over night, and they should be sealed well.

We could have made about seven jars, I think. But I'm glad we didn't because we ate almost all of the extra salsa in one sitting. Its refreshing and just a little spicy.

Caprese Panini

tomato, basil and mozzarella panini

I almost always have fresh mozzarella in the house this time of year because I'm so addicted to Caprese salads. But today I only had one medium sized mozzarella ball left, and I wanted a heartier lunch, so I decided to turn my old standard into a sandwich.

I sliced everything, and then just put it on the George Foreman grill.

The result was a little messy, so next time, I should try to get some of the seeds out of the tomato, and maybe press the bread a little before I make the sandwich so I can get it a little more flat. I would also have loved some sun-dried tomatoes on this (ooh, that gives me an idea for next week...)

Shrimp Quesadilla

shrimp quesadilla with spicy mayo

We have lots of chili peppers yellow grape tomatoes in our garden, so for a quick dinner, we decided to make quesadillas.

I grilled a few shrimp, then chopped them, onions, tomatoes and peppers, and tossed everything (with cheese) onto a flour tortillia. We mixed sirracha (spicy chili paste) and mayo to make a spicy mayo topping.

Simple and delicious.

Bruschetta Take 2

heirloom tomato bruschetta

About a month ago, I shared the bruschetta Pat made, where he used our ninja food processor to chop raw veggies and then baked the whole thing, but I didn't like the look of it as much, and we have a way better selection of tomatoes in the garden now, so I decided to make another go of it.

I bought fresh bread from the grocery store (it was still warm!), cut it in half and grilled it to give it a crunch.

While the bread toasted, I chopped garlic and onions and sauteed them in a little oil, until the onions started to soften. Then I chopped my heirloom tomatoes and tossed them in the pot for about a minute.

I put some parmesan cheese right on the warm bread, then put the tomato mixture on top. I finished with just a little ghost pepper salt.

This had such a great roasted, rich flavor, where the one from last month had more of a bite from the more lightly cooked onions and garlic.

Green Beans

best green beans

Today I'm keeping it simple. I picked about a pound of beans from the garden, and while I'm sure there are plenty of ways to prepare them, I always believe simple is best.

Just steam them until they are almost cooked, then toss them in olive oil, salt and pepper until they start to turn brown. This gives them a nice roasted flavor, but without turning the oven on.

Cheese Plate

cheesy dessert

So, I usually try to first eat from my garden, and second, eat local, but sometimes I can't resist. These cheeses are all from Trader Joe's, and are from all over western Europe. But, I figure, they know what they're doing when it comes to cheese, and its ok to bend the rules occasionally.

So for dessert, we decided to have a trio of Goudas. I know, yum. From left to right, its a 1,000 day aged Gouda, a honey goat milk Gouda, and a three year aged Gouda. I love the sweeter goat milk honey Gouda, and Pat loved the crunchiness of the three year aged Gouda (it's like candy!)

To stick with my ideal locavore diet, I added some local honey, peaches and jam. (See, I try.)

Corn and Roasted Red Pepper Soup

corn, roasted red pepper and tomato soup

I know that summer and hot soup aren't always synonymous with one another, but soup is so easy to make, and makes great leftovers to take to work, so I decided to crank up the AC, and pretend it was soup weather.

To start, I took two red peppers and cut each into four, flat pieces. Skin side up, I put them in the broiler for a few minutes, until the skin was blistered and black. Besides adding a nice roasted flavor, doing this makes it easy to get the skin off (which can leave a weird texture in a puréed soup.)

While this cooked, I put on a small pot of water for the tomatoes. Then I coarsely chopped one medium onion, and three large garlic cloves, and set them aside. I then cut the corn kernels off of three ears of corn, and set that aside separately.

By now, the peppers were done, so I carefully (they are very hot) peeled off the skin and added the pepper flesh to the bowl with the corn.

Now, I prepared my tomatoes concassé by cutting a shallow X into the bottom of each tomato, and dropped them into the boiling water. This lightly cooks the tomato, and also makes it easy to get the skin off and seeds out. Because the smaller heirloom tomatoes in my garden are getting ripe, I used a variety of grape and cherry tomatoes, with the largest one just bigger than a golf ball. Using this method, smaller tomatoes will float when they are ready to be peeled. Once the tomatoes were done being peeled and seeded, I added them to the reserved corn and peppers.

In my soup pot, I heated about a tablespoon of olive oil and added my chopped onion. Once the onion started to turn translucent, I added the garlic and stirred for about 30 seconds, then added the corn, peppers, tomatoes, about six cups of vegetable stock, salt and pepper, both to taste. (For a thinner soup, feel free to use more vegetable stock.)

I turned the heat to low, and cooked for about an hour.

Once the corn was soft, I scooped out some of the corn and vegetable mix, trying to mostly get the corn, and set it aside while I used my immersion blender to blend the soup as smooth as I could. After the soup was puréed, I added the reserved corn back in to give the soup some texture.

This surprisingly delicious vegan soup made about four servings.

Caprese Salad

caprese salad

I know its super simple, but its so good. The mozzarella is made fresh at the local grocery store, and the basil and tomatoes come from the garden.

I used purple, sweet and lemon basil.  I use just a little bit of lemon basil, and it adds such a nice hint of citrus.

We have around 12 different types of heirloom tomatoes in the garden, and I love that each variety tastes a little different.

Finish with salt, pepper, olive oil, balsamic, and enjoy.

Pepper Poppers

stuffed hungarian wax peppers

We have a pretty good variety of peppers that are really starting to grow in the garden. I like hot peppers, but can only take them in small doses, so these Hungarian Wax peppers are perfect for my taste. They are similar to jalapenos on the Scoville scale, but I've noticed that there seems to be a pretty large variance, one being much hotter than the next. (Or at least for the ones growing in our garden.)

So when I was trying to decide what to have for a snack, I decided that stuffing a few peppers was a great idea.

I mixed up some low fat cream cheese, pecorino romano, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Then I cut one side of each pepper, so I could take a few seeds out, and put the stuffing in.

At this point, I was planning on dipping the peppers in egg and breading them, but we were out of eggs, so I switched course.

I skewered all of the peppers together, cut side up, put them in a pan with cooking spray, covered them (which helped to steam them and make them softer faster), and cooked them for about five minutes.

When they came out, the bottoms were a little dark, and the cheese was starting to melt out, but the peppers were tender, delicious, and easy to eat. I topped mine with some bread crumbs to give it a little crunch, but they didn't stay on very well when I actually ate the peppers, so that isn't really necessary.

Pickling

Tonight was all about the pickle. I've been wanting to can for a while, but I never had anyone to teach me, and I always heard it was very hard, time consuming, HOT, and very possible to make someone sick. So I guess I was a little scared off. But, I planted pickling cucumbers in the garden because I wanted to make pickles, how hard could it be?

And we've been getting lots of cucumbers in the garden, but I keep having to toss them because I pick them but then just leave them in the fridge. WHAT A WASTE! Pat was getting annoyed, and I was feeling guilty.

So I poked around the web, asked a few friends, and bought my supplies. And today, I faced my fear.

that's right, 14 jars

As nervous as I was, the more I talked about pickles, the more excited I got. And the more I wanted to go further than just a few dills. So today, I went to my favorite local pick your own farm and stocked up.

I know, you're thinking, "but wait, don't you have these things in your own garden?" Well, I do, but I figured go big or go home (we bought a 12 pack of jars and already had the other 2), plus I wanted everything to be really fresh.

The final count was 7 jars dill pickle spears, 4 jars green beans, 1 jar cayennes, (I used the same brine liquid for all of these) 1 jar bread and butter pickles, and 1 mini jar watermelon rind (these both used the same brine also, which sounds a little weird).

dill spears

The dill brine was 2 cups white vinegar, 2 cups water, 1/4 cup salt and lots of seasoning (dill, mustard seeds, bay leaf, cinnamon stick, whole clove, peppercorns, red pepper flakes, and who knows what else, I looked at so many recipes that I just created my own with what had.)

You're supposed to use a non-metal pot to boil the brine, so I just kept remaking it because I didn't have a very large pot .

One thing I did read somewhere was to cut off both ends, it keeps them from getting as soggy.

bread and butter style

For these, you're supposed to use apple cider vinegar. But I didn't make a shopping list, so I forgot it. Instead, I used rice vinegar, and I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed. I used 1 cup rice vinegar, 1 cup water, 1 cup sugar, 2 tbsp salt, and some seasoning. (I used mustard seeds, a little turmeric, coriander, and whole clove.)

pickled watermelon rind

I don't know much about pickled watermelon rind, but I figured it was worth a shot since I did have the one small jar. I used the exact same brine and the "bread and butter" style pickles. We'll see how it goes.












For everything, I put the veggies in the sanitized jar, then filled with brine, capped and boiled for 10 minutes. Then, I put them all upside-down (except for when I forgot, and I heard one pop! Oh no! Guess I will have to eat those first!) to leave overnight.

Now I can't wait for the next 3 weeks to pass.

(Oh and by the way, it was HOT and a little time consuming, but not so bad.)

Salmon with Zucchini and Tomatoes

salmon with cherry tomato salad and zucchini

Today I picked some cherry tomatoes and a zucchini from the garden. Salmon was on sale, so we had that in the fridge, so this super simple meal seemed obvious.

I sliced the zucchini super thin, and sauteed that with a little olive oil and Old Bay seasoning (I'm from Baltimore, I put it on everything!) Then I put the salmon, with just a little salt, in a second pan, skin side down (this way the skin gets nice and crispy and you can eat it). I didn't time anything, but I think the salmon cooked for about 6 minutes on the skin side, 3 on the opposite.

For the tomatoes, all I did was slice them in half and toss them in a little olive oil, salt and lemon basil, and put them right on top of the salmon.

Our Garden

We had a nice little greenhouse to start seeds

We got started early this year because the weather was so warm so early. I bought a ton of seeds online starting in January, and started reading gardening ideas to see how to improve on last year's garden (which was my first garden ever.) Then, we started some of the seeds the first week of March and kept them in a little greenhouse in front of a window. The boxes at the bottom are wooden wine crates I got from the restaurant where I work. I loved the idea, but I didn't think to seal the wood. Because they were in such a humid environment, I was worried about mold, so I lined them in plastic, but then there wasn't proper drainage, so they didn't work out very well. If I try this again next year, I will seal the boxes and drill holes in the bottom. I think this would be best for herbs or lettuces because they don't have very deep roots.

first planting

In early April, we started the garden. It measures 11'x31' and is surrounded by wood, stone, dirt and netting. I would love for it to all be surrounded by stone, but that's so expensive! Anyway, we bought a few plants from the garden store and put them in the ground this early, even though I was still a little nervous about frost. We planted broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts and lettuce, figuring most of these plants could survive the low temperatures.

we gradually added more plants

By early May, I planted the peas and some beans, kale, corn seeds (that never took), a few store bought tomato plants and cucumbers (in the pots in the front right). I think we bought a hot pepper plant or two, and put those in too.

cauliflower, broccoli, brussels sprouts

Within a few weeks, we were eating fresh veggies!!

about 10 different types of heirloom tomatoes

We planted so many tomatoes this year because last year so few made it from seed, so we had no idea how many would take. Well, a lot grew. To support them, we had some tomato cages from last year, but we decided to build trellises for the rest, and as the tomatoes grow, I plan to add more twine.

the garden today

Now that it's July, things have changed quite a bit. We're learning about canning so we can pickle the cucumbers and make sauce with all the tomatoes that will soon be ripe. This picture was taken today while I sat outside with the dog and worked on plans for next year's garden.

Citrus Blueberry Pancakes

pancakes with blueberries, lemon juice and keylime Greek yogurt

We still have some of the blueberries we picked last week, so for breakfast this morning, we decided to have pancakes. We normally have Greek yogurt in the house because it is so high in protein, and I thought this would be a great addition to the normal pancake recipe.

Mix 1 egg, 2 tbsp oil, 1/2 c milk, 1/2 c keylime Greek yogurt, 1 tsp lemon juice.

Separately, mix 1 c flour, 1 tsp powder, 1/2 tsp soda, 1/2 tsp salt.

Add wet to dry ingredients and mix lightly. Fold in 1 c blueberries. Cook on griddle or nonstick pan.

You don't need to add sugar because the blueberries are sweet and there's already sugar in the yogurt. You can really taste the sweetness of the keylime and with pops of blueberry.

Lamb's Quarters

I recently decided I wanted to get into foraging. Call me a hippie if you want, for me it is partially because I know that some of the weeds in my yard are better for me than whats in the fridge, but I also love the idea of being able to fend for myself if I ever had to (hello, my dream desert island companion is Bear Grylls). Anyway, great idea, but you can get really sick (even die!) if you don't know what you're doing. So far, I've only eaten a few things out of the yard that I didn't plant. Lamb's quarters were one of the first, and are probably one of the best weeds for you.

This is a baby lamb's quarter, looks pretty much the same as the more mature plant below, with a smoother leaf. But you can eat this whole.










I would try to avoid eating any of the half-eaten or discolored leaves.

This is a more mature plant. Be more on the lookout for bugs on the larger leaves. Pinch or use shears to snip off the leaves, and either eat raw or use in place of spinach. When the plant gets even bigger, you can find black seeds inside the stem. These can be eaten as well. Cook them like quinoa.





Lamb's quarters are a lot like spinach, both in flavor and in nutrients, but way better for you. We tested and found that they are actually heavier than water. Really! They are full of water and tons of nutrients. The leaves are rich in vitamins A, B, C, K, iron, calcium and potassium (great for any other non-meat eaters!) The seeds are high in protein, calcium, phosphorus and potassium.

Like spinach, you can eat them raw, but the larger they get, the better they taste cooked. It may be hard to find a lot in the yard, I try to let them grow freely in the garden if they aren't in the way of the plants, so, a great idea is to mix lamb's quarters into spinach you buy at the store. Or, my favorite idea? Add them to an egg white omelet. You don't need a lot for an omelet.

Corn Succotash

Baked corn and veggie "succotash"

It seems silly, to me, to go to one of the many farms around here and buy just two of anything. So when I went and picked these ears of corn, I couldn't stop at two. Once I had picked two, I thought, "that was fun! I need to do that again!" And while there are only two of us around here, I always think "oh well, we'll use them." But, it's so often that I never do. Obviously, I've been trying to avoid throwing so much amazing produce away.

So, as they sat in the crisper, I wondered what would be the best way to use up all three of these extra ears of corn, and on top of the corn, we have so many veggies from the garden. Then it hit me.

Corn succotash.

I know, the frozen corn and lima beans from my childhood sounds terrible, but I think it's perfectly fine to make my own variation with fresh veggies (common', it's 2012!) So, I took all of the corn, all of the veggies from our garden (zucchini, jalapenos, bell peppers, green beans, peas),  added some garlic, onions, salt, pepper, oil,  and dried spices (rosemary, oregano, basil), chopped everything to be about the size of the corn kernels, and threw them all in a large dutch oven. I baked everything for about 45 minutes at 400˚.

I know its a long time to wait, but it's super simple, and all of the veggies were soft and delicious. I topped mine with a little parmesan cheese.

I ate double that amount, and called it dinner...

Cacciucco

Cacciucco

Sorry I haven't posted all weekend! I'm a server and I've been a little busy! I'm sure you understand. Today, we worked at an event at our sister restaurant that showcased local meats and veggies (just my style!!!), and everything was delicious! But when we cooked dinner, we didn't use anything local (slap on my wrist!). So I will instead provide a yum dish we made a few weeks ago.

We made a cacciucco, or seafood stew, with corn, potatoes and tomatoes. We took local canned tomatoes, cooked them down, added potatoes, and slowly added the seafood and corn to make it all cook evenly. If I remember correctly, there were scallops, shrimp, mussels and some sort of white fish. A traditional cacciucco is supposed to have 5 types of fish (that's why there are 5 C's in the name!) but its really not necessary. (And on this occasion I will let improper spelling slide.) The point is to cook down all the fish and tomato flavors and have a delicious stew that tastes like its been cooking all day. This is the Italian version of bouillabaisse, and yum! I want it.

Important tip: don't forget to save some bread to dip into your leftover broth!

Tomato Bruschetta

tomato bruschetta

It's still a little early for tomatoes, but we have gotten a few from our garden, the cherry tomatoes have been ripe for a few weeks, and we finally picked a few Cherokee tomatoes yesterday. I had a little caprese salad with the cherry tomatoes, but Pat opted for a bruschetta with the Cherokee tomatoes.

He bought some bread from a local bakery (scraped out the insides), picked the tomatoes and basil from the garden, diced up some garlic and red onions, and topped with a little Parmesan before browning in the oven for about 10 minutes.

Peach Tartlett

Mini peach tart

We went to a local farm yesterday and picked a ton of peaches, so we're trying out a bunch of new ways to cook and eat them.

I made a simple galette dough (with 1 1/4 C flour, 1 Tbsp. sugar, 1 stick butter, pinch of salt and 1 C + 1 Tbsp ice cold water) and let it firm up the the fridge for a half hour. Meanwhile, I macerated peaches in spiced rum, a little vanilla and just a pinch of sugar.

Once I put the tart together, I sprinkled a little brown sugar on top and cooked it at 400˚ for 30 minutes. I topped it with some fresh orange mint from my garden.

The result was not super sweet, more like a breakfast tart, but Pat told me he thought it was amazing (without being prompted). Next time, maybe a little vanilla ice cream. Yum.


Followup:

Blueberry peach tart

 The next day we went and picked blackberries at another local farm (one of the nice things about living in the "Garden State"). So I took the same recipe but added blueberries and the sliced mint into the peach/rum mixture. This one looks good too, but it could have been cooked a little longer.

Taco Tuesday

grilled peach and fish tacos

We decided to celebrate "Taco Tuesday."

We went to a local farm today and picked peaches, corn and cabbage. Then when we came home, we grilled the peaches, some tilapia and flour tortillas, boiled the corn, and just tossed the cabbage in some lime juice, salt and pepper. We added just a little sriracha (extra on Pat's), and yum!