A New Convenience Product

We have become huge fans of tostadas in our house. They make an excellent way to use up leftovers, and are also extremely quick to put together. I couldn't tell you what it really is that makes the difference to the kids when it comes to a tostada versus a taco, but I tell you, they eat the tostadas with relish- they love them. My only issue with them is the shells. We like them on corn tortillas best, and crisping corn tortillas can be done one of two ways. First, they can be fried in oil for the best flavor, but not exactly healthy. Second they can be baked in the oven, but there they go from soft to burnt in no time, so you really have to keep an eye on them. The whole "making of the tortillas" makes tostadas more time consuming and especially messy if you deep fry them.

Well last week when in the Hispanic section of the grocery store I spied my savior. The product that makes tostada night a weekly occurrence. And that is pre-made tostada shells. They are ready to go out of the package- crispy with corn flavor, and no partially hydrogenated fats so no trans fat. I could very well be the last person to discover these, but dinner went on the table last night in the amount of time it took to cook up some ears of corn- so less than 10 minutes. I had shredded BBQ chicken to use as the meat, shredded cheese, and the usual suspects of topping. Accompanied by sweet corn picked fresh that morning and sliced garden-fresh tomatoes. It could not have been better. These pre-made corn tostadas are the greatest thing since, well, sliced bread. A new pantry staple for us to be certain and at $2 for 10 servings- that's at least two meals for us, it's a reasonably priced pantry staple as well.

Everyday Pasta

I returned to my cookbook challenge this week and didn't even realize it. Everyday Pasta by Giada De Laurentiis is a book I picked up simply because. I enjoy both of Giada's other cookbooks and assumed this would be no exception. My kids love pasta, so a book devoted to pasta just couldn't be bad. The other night I was flipping through it looking for nothing in particular, and then I found dinner for the kids. You can read more about that here at Kids Cuisine.

The recipe for Little Stars with Butter and Parmesan means that I can add this cookbook to a completion on the Cookbook Challenge. The cookbook challenge has been sorely ignored by me lately. The biggest reason for that is because it is summer, and summer means salads and grill food- simple fare that doesn't require a recipe. With a great start this year, I'm only at 17 of my cookbooks used. That's better than none, but I'm afraid I have a long way to go yet.

A Poll For My Readers

I have a poll off to the right here. I'm mostly just curious if there's something specific my blog-readers would like to see more of here. Please pick the one that appeals to you most, and feel free to leave a comment here if you want to provide some commentary as to why you chose what you chose. I'm looking forward to seeing what you think.

Zucchini, Zucchini

I really do enjoy zucchini. I keep waiting for my zucchini plants to start going crazy, but so far I have been able to keep up. I've even let a few fruits go and get large for shredding for zucchini bread. And while I could eat zucchini sauteed, roasted, or grilled any day of the week, yesterday I was looking for something different for my daily zucchini. I had in mind a sort of pie or tart, so I went looking for a recipe. All my usual suspects let me down. The few I did find were more like a quiche or frittata- and I did not want eggs. I did not want custard . Then I found a recipe on the FoodTv website from Ellie Krieger for a Cornmeal-Crusted Roasted Ratatouille Tart that sounded good. It was promising, and I thought I could use her tart shell as my base and sort of play with the ingredients a bit, as I didn't have the eggplant or quantity of cheese called for.

I had no idea what I was getting myself into. This was not a quick and easy recipe. I wouldn't say it was difficult, but it was time consuming and there were a lot of steps. Now that I've made it once, it will be easier a second time, but boy, I was very glad it turned out for all the work that went into it!

I started with the tart shell. I don't have a tart pan, so I just used a springform pan that I lined with foil. The crust came together quickly enough, and used both cornmeal and whole wheat pastry flour. This baked for a little while to set and then I attacked the vegetables. Not having the eggplant I planned on using double the zucchini, and then I thought of a lone piece of kielbasa in the fridge and I thought Andy might appreciate this more if it had meat in it. I roasted the zucchini and the tomatoes and assembled all the rest of the ingredients- the cheeses, basil, and at the last minute I decided to add some chopped artichoke hearts to the top. I also sauteed my onions and decided to saute the kielbasa with the onions- that worked very well.

When the roasted veggies were cool enough to handle, I began layering, and I have to admit, I wondered two things- one, I wondered if the crust would hold up, and two, I wondered if Andy would like this. This really could have gone either way. I popped the tart in the oven, made the kids their alternative dinner (because there was no way they were touching a zucchini tart) and simply waited for it to bake. It certainly smelled good while cooking, and I was looking forward to diving in and giving it a try. I served up his piece, and Andy just kind of looked at me like "uh, okay, I'll try it." One bite later though, he was impressed. Overall this was very good. I really liked the crust- it had the flavor of a cornbread from the cornmeal, and had the sandy texture of a shortbread. It also held up very well to the fillings. The fillings all melded together nicely, and I was very surprised that one slice, accompanied by a scoop of potato salad, made a very satisfying dinner.

My version of Cornmeal Crusted Roasted Zucchini Tart is very good, and I daresay, company worthy. Just make sure you have the time to devote to it, and you won't be disappointed.

A Perfect Day for a BBQ

Yesterday was the perfect summer day to have friends over. It wasn't hot, and it wasn't cold. There was a fantastic breeze that kept it from getting too sticky, and Andy wanted to grill some ribs and chicken. It couldn't have worked better. To accompany his BBQ chicken and ribs, how could I make anything other than potato salad, and how could we not slice up a perfectly ripe watermelon.

For the potato salad I opted to go with Emeril's Favorite Potato Salad, which I have made recently. I thought it would have the perfect balance of flavor with the BBQ, and I could leave out the eggs for our egg-sensitive friends without the potato salad suffering. Of course, after I had the potato salad combined, I was reminded that Emeril is a genius, because the potato salad is simple, yet amazing. My changes this time were to leave out the eggs, but add some chopped red bell pepper for color, and a tiny handful of fresh dill from the garden. Make this one a few hours in advance, because it really is spectacular after it's had time to combine.

Then there was the zucchini. One of our friends was bringing a broccoli and cauliflower salad (which was awesome, btw) but I also wanted to use some of the zucchini from the garden. Andy suggested dessert, but I lacked a few ingredients and really didn't want to run to the store. So in an effort to help me out, he spent a little while searching online for a recipe for me to do something different with the zucchini that used hands-on ingredients. The closest he came was a Summer Squash Casserole from Paula Deen. I looked at it, studied it, and came up with my own, lighter version that turned out very well. It was exactly what I wanted- onions and zucchini sweated on the stove top, and then cheese is added along with a crunchy topping, and the whole thing baked in the oven. It was slightly sweet from the onions, and the zucchini really shone. I'm afraid I missed taking a photo of it, but the recipe for my Zucchini Gratin is in the Recipe Trove for anyone interested.

The get together was perfect. The weather cooperated, the kids had a great time, and way too much food was had by all. Another friend brought a chocolate cherry cake that was the perfect way to finish the evening, and I must hunt her down to get the recipe, because I've never seen my kids so taken by a cake. They always eat a little, then leave the rest on the plate. In this case, although they both filled up on ribs, chicken, and watermelon, they were licking their plates of crumbs!

Oatmeal Scotchies

My first experience with oatmeal scotchies was as a young teenager. I had a friend who was 2 years younger than I, and we started hanging out Sunday afternoons for quite a while. We would go to her house after church every week and bake cookies and ride her horses. We were silly girls. Every week we'd make a different kind of cookie, and one of our trademarks was that we would bake a giant cookie to give to one of the boys that we hung out with regularly. Usually the crush of the week got the giant cookie. Like I said, we were silly girls.

In retrospect, her parents must have loved that we were hanging out all the time, because the kitchen was always stocked with all the ingredients that we could have possibly wanted for cookies. They never complained about the ingredients being combined and then given away to boy after boy. I had never had Oatmeal Scotchies until we made them together one afternoon. One taste of that dough and I was hooked. I loved butterscotch chips, and had only ever had them in a Tollhouse-like cookie, and that just wasn't very tasty. But butterscotch and oatmeal are made for each other. The oatmeal gives the cookies some texture and flavor that tempers the sweetness of butterscotch. A hint of cinnamon in the dough adds the perfect nuance to every bite of cookie.

I have adapted the cookie recipe over the years. I became discouraged time after time again as the cookies would spread too much and I'd end up with lacey, fragile cookies that didn't travel very well. So I took Nestle's original recipe and reduced the butter to keep them from spreading so much. A also reduced the oatmeal a bit, and added a handful of chopped pecans, because butterscotch and pecans are perfect for each other.

I still think about my friend every once in a while- and always when I make these cookies. I can't even remember the last time we talked, but I always think of her as I whip up a batch of Oatmeal Scotchies for my family. And I always wonder if her kids enjoy Oatmeal Scotchies as much as mine do.

More on Being Green

Recently I decided to look into what else we could do as a family to continue greening up our lives and being more eco-friendly. We've been doing what we can as far as recycling and conserving energy goes. In fact, we've only turned on the A/C four days this year so far. And while we lay in bed at night feeling the cool breeze blowing through the house we're serenaded by the chorus of central air units outside. I truly cannot imagine what some of those energy bills are like. Ours just keep getting lower and lower as we remember to do simple things like turn off the lights more often or hang the laundry instead of using the dryer.

Did you know that you can tell your energy company how to spend your dollars that you pay to them? This is our latest attempt to think green. I recently went onto our power company's website and told them that we want to receive 25% of our energy from renewable sources. You can do this in increments all the way up to 100%. It does make the energy cost a little more, but as an example, our energy bill this month came out to $120 for the last month. By telling them that I want 25% of our energy from renewable sources our bill went up to $122. That's not a huge difference, and I don't feel quite as bad about having to run the dryer on a rainy day. According to the website, requesting a 100% change in our energy would result in about a $12 difference in our bill. That's still not a horrible thought- but since we're in saving mode right now, I felt at least 25% was better than none.

If you're interested in finding out how your energy dollars are being spent, contact your local energy company. It's my understanding that most companies are offering similar programs, and if they don't you can let them know that you want them to in the future. It can't hurt, and you'll be doing your part to go green.

My Kind of Bouquet

Some people get excited about flowers.

Some people get excited about more exotic bouquets, like fruit or cookies.

For myself, nothing fills me with delight like that of the herbal variety. And when a friend stops by with a delightful handful of homegrown Italian Flat Leaf Parsley, I can't help but feel the love.

Now what to do with it...

G is for Green Bean

The Cooking Light Bulletin Board is my favorite place to gather recipes. I've been on the board for so long that I know who's tastes match mine and I can always count on someone there having an answer to a question. This recipe is one that I've been making for awhile, but I don't think I've ever shared it. It's simple. Green beans sauteed in garlic butter-how could that be bad? This week I took it a step further and added some garden fresh carrots and zucchini and made it Garlicky Veggies, and it was just as good. Because it's quick and delicious, it's perfect for a weeknight. And should you have any leftovers, they are fantastic folded into an omelet the next day. Frozen green beans do work well for this, but since garden fresh beans are available right now, do try to get your hands on some. Jewel's Garlicky Green Beans are worthy of their superstar status on the CLBB.
In other news, yesterday on one of my other blogs the template I was using punked out on me, so I needed to find a replacement. Of course, after I did one blog and tweaked it and got it looking just the way I wanted, I had to do the rest of them. I still like the way this one looks, so I won't be changing it yet...but I have thought about it! So take a peak at my other blogs if you haven't done so in a while- I think they turned out really well. (And please let me know if you catch a problem I've missed!)

Playing with Zucchini

When we got back from our camping vacation a week ago, I found a monster zucchini in the garden. It had been sitting on the conter all week, and I finally decided it needed to be dealt with. I cut it into wedges and shredded it up and ended up with about 8 cups of shredded zucchini. First up, I made a batch of Zucchini Bread. Then I portioned off two freezer bags with 2 cups zucchini each for future batches of bread. I gazed at the remaining zucchini and thought about what I would do with it. I thought about a few more loaves of bread, and pancakes, or maybe I could just see if the shredded zucchini disappears in mac and cheese or something. Or fritters. Ah- I was onto something.

A few months back when we had our Indian Feast with friends, one of our friends bought Pakoras at an Indian restaurant and brought them along. Sort of a veggie fritter- they were amazing when dunked into raita and chutney. Shortly after that I went out and bought some chickpea flour, since that's what was used in the pakoras. And then I never got around to making them, simply because I couldn't find a recipe. I determined my remaining zucchini was going to give me pakoras.

I began with the chickpea flour- also called besan or gram flour. I added some curry powder, granulated onion, salt, pepper, and baking soda, and then added water until it was of pancake batter consistency. The shredded zucchini were added, and then one grated carrot as well for color. I heated up some oil and made a sort of pancake in the oil. The result was close to what I was looking for. In retrospect, I should have added some garam masala to the flour as well. But other than that, they made a fun addition to lunch, and I'm looking forward to trying them again sometime. They may have been better dropped into a deep fat fryer instead of shallow frying- but I'm not sure I want to find that one out. And I'm sorry to say that I didn't use a recipe, so I don't have one to share. But matched up with some coriander chutney, these pakoras were pretty close to the authentic deal we had many months ago.

Welcome To The Family!

A big welcome to my new nephew, Isaac Christopher. Happy Birthday sweet boy! And congratulations Mom and Dad-enjoy!

A Garden Update

I don't really have much to post about today, so I thought I'd share a garden update. I've really been learning a lot about gardening. I have decided that I need to keep a garden notebook so that I remember things for future reference. For example:

Many of my tomatoes have blossom end rot. This is a result of the soil not being properly amended for them. That's really sad, as my plants are full of tomatoes, but so far every semi-ripe tomato I have pulled has been rotting from one end. Yesterday I discovered that even my little pear tomatoes are beginning to show signs. For next year I need to look into some organic fertilizing options as well as continue with my composting- no doubt that will help a lot. Some of my zucchini have also had this problem, so I think all of my beds will need some TLC in the off-season.

I've also discovered bugs. Specifically, the Cabbage Moth and it's little offspring. It wasn't until they obliterated Abigail's cabbage plant that I decided to find out what was eating it. Turns out those little white moths- the cabbage moth, lay eggs on members of the brassica family. Most specifically the cabbage, but also broccoli, brussels sprouts, and cauliflower. I don't have cauliflower, but I have the rest! Every day this week I've been heading out to the garden and spending time plucking those little green worms from my brassica's. Every single one gets shredded into my garbage disposal, and hopefully I'm getting ahead of them. I've also been using a mixture of vanilla and water to spray my plants- the thought behind that is that the vanilla scent will disguise the plants from the moths...we'll see if that works.

I've also learned that a trellis for cucumbers works very well- except that when it's up against a wall, I have a hard time getting behind the trellis to pick the cucumbers. But I have been managing, and three quarts of pickles now hide in my kitchen annex. Today I may have enough to do another jar. But overall, I've been thrilled with the garden. The green beans are keeping my daughter well supplied in snack food, and the zucchini is producing just enough to be able to keep up with it. We're all excited about the melon patch- at last count we had about 10 different melon babies, and we can't wait to be able to try the first one. I've also discovered that peppers do very well in pots. My banana peppers and jalapenos are producing very nicely...I just wish I had the tomatoes to turn them all into salsa.

Anyway, that's about it for today. I have to head out and pluck my daily worms. I would love any gardening tips that anyone has for me! I'm definitely learning as I go, and I'm discovering that organic gardening is definitely tougher than gardening with Miracle Gro. The end results so far have certainly been worth it. Today I'm also going to do some zucchini experimenting, so stay tuned!

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

*This book review is a cross-post. I enjoyed it so much, and feel it so worth reading, that I am sharing it on both Tummy Treasure, and The Savvy Bookworm.

by Barbara Kingsolver

Barbara has been making a few appearances on my reading list lately. This one is a bit different, as it is not fiction. Not in the least. This is the chronicle of one family's attempt to eat local for the period of one year. Essentially, this book chronicles the way of life I so want to attempt, and as such, I loved it.

I grew up on Little House On The Prairie. I loved the books and would read them over and over. I can't tell you how many times I would read an account of food life and think that I could do that. As an example, in Little House In The Big Woods the family slaughters and preserves a pig for winter. It's a big deal, and as I finished reading Laura's account of the process, I felt certain that I could do the same thing if needed-even at the age of 10. I have always felt this deep-seeded desire to return to rustic life and grow much of my family's food and attempt raising our family's meat. We're still a long way off from doing just that, but for a few days I was able to live vicariously through Barbara Kingsolver and her family.

This book is so full of information, that it's hard to know where to begin a proper review. I learned so much about organic farming and why we really should be buying local. I'm still not 100% convinced that eating local all the time is the best way to go, but I loved seeing it done. With young children who practically live on fruit, I don't know how willing I would be to let go of our daily fruit ration- however out of season it may be. One of my favorite parts of this book was the argument against vegetarianism. Ms. Kingsolver actually used to be a vegetarian, and I have also considered it many times in the past. She clearly pointed out that we are designed to be a carnivorous species, and actually took us through the calendar year and proved that during the winter months we are designed to sustain on carbohydrates and proteins from animal products. I do agree with her wholeheartedly about sourcing meat as local as possible. If we lived in the country, you can bet that before I even finished this book I would have been out back building a chicken coop and ordering some chicks. Our family has taken almost exclusively to buying meat from a local butcher who gets all their meat products locally. The only exception is fish- and since we live in the Midwest, fresh fish is hard to come by.

This book was entertaining and informative the whole way through. As I'm reading their daily accounts with the massive garden, I kept heading out to my tiny garden plots, wondering how I could squeeze more into my tiny space. I found out that I am not insane to want to grow all I can and "put it by" for winter times. In fact, yesterday as I finished up the book, I promptly headed into the kitchen and put up three quarts of pickles. It may not be very much, but those cucumbers fresh from my garden will be a welcome addition to my Thanksgiving table. Provided they make it that long. While we are thoroughly enjoying every morsel that comes out of my garden, I am inspired by Animal, Vegetable, Miracle to try and save every scrap I can for leaner months ahead. At the end of harvest, as Barbara talked about the shelves lined with jars of tomatoes and bushels of root vegetables, I want my pantry to look the same.

And I learned about potatoes. Every year I consider buying a big 50# bag of potatoes from local farmers, and I always figure that we'd never eat them all before they spoil. After all, there are plenty of times where a 5# bag doesn't make it before the potatoes begins sprouting an shriveling. I learned in this book that I should buy the local potatoes in the fall and that they will likely survive until March or so without rotting from the inside out. Potatoes have a natural life cycle that permits them to sit in a root cellar for months without sprouting. When we buy potatoes in the grocery store and they begin sprouting shorty thereafter, that means that the potatoes are at the end of their life cycle and were easily pulled from the ground some 6 months ago in another climate. I never knew that! You can bet that I will be on the prowl for some bushel baskets to tuck in my larder and that those jumbo bags of potatoes at the farmer's market will be making their way into them this fall.

Same thing with onions! I always have onions go bad on me in my pantry- and this of course affects the rest of the onions. By purchasing onions at the farmer's market in the fall, I am ensuring that my onions will make it to early spring still intact.

I could go on and on about this book and all that I learned from it. Yes, there were some things that I don't particularly agree with in the book, but those were few and far between. Mostly I learned that it is entirely possible to do what I want to do, and do it in a way that doesn't leave us feeling deprived. The Kingsolver family ate well the entire year- they did not starve come the end of winter. Instead they looked ahead at what was to come, and they continue to eat locally as much as possible. You can see some of their progress and see some great pictures at their website www.animalvegetablemiracle.com. You definitely need to check out their turkeys. The turkeys get a few special sections of this book and I love that they give us a picture of them on their website- they are gorgeous birds.

So overall, read this book. It is an excellent book about sourcing food locally, and the many reasons for doing so. I know I will be going back to it time and time again to re-read a section here and there. Right now I'm thinking about sourcing some heirloom seeds for next year's vegetable garden. We'll see how I do.

Risotto Lessons from a Beet

I am a complete risotto novice. I've only ever attempted it once, to rather poor results. I've never even eaten it out- risotto is just not common on menus here in NE Wisconsin. My one attempt at risotto was a rather awful butternut squash risotto that just didn't do it for me. I figured Andy being gone was an excellent time to attempt risotto again because if it sucked he'd never even know about it.

My inspiration came, of course, from my humble garden plot in the backyard. I've been eyeing the calendar and my packet of butternut squash seeds, wishing I had a place to get some in before it's too late. Then when weeding, I realized that my beets were all of a substantial size and could really come out of the ground. So the first step to risotto was pulling the beets, preparing some for long-term storage and boiling some to slip their skins. While the beets were simmering away, I amended the soil where they had stood just moments earlier and happily planted my butternut seeds. I let the beets cool, peeled them, and then diced them and headed off to find my beet risotto recipe.

I've been planning on trying this recipe. I was a little leery, because I love beets as much as I love butternut squash, and I hated the butternut squash risotto. I forged ahead regardless, determined that risotto made with beets was going to be delicious and colorful.

I was not disappointed.

The recipe called for the addition of walnuts and gorgonzola and very little else- it's a simple recipe. Sadly though, when I pulled out the gorgonzola I found fuzz, so at the last minute I had to swap in some Parmesan and some Irish cheddar. After my risotto rested, I took the tiniest bite to check for seasoning, added some pepper, and then dug in wholeheartedly. This was my kind of risotto. In fact, this was my kind of beets. Comfort food in a bowl, I could not get enough. I do wonder how it would be with the gorgonzola, but I may be tempted to just use the Irish Cheddar next time anyway. Beet Risotto with Walnuts and Gorgonzola is another favorite way to use beets- and would be an impressive company dish, even if only for the color.
Just check out that color! My camera may not be the best- but it truly was this color on my plate. A bright, vibrant magenta- just screaming about all the antioxidants contained within. Since this risotto calls for cheese, I wouldn't consider it suitable for a vegan, only because I think it would suffer without the cheese. Vegetable stock could easily be substituted for the chicken stock though for a vegetarian version- I plan to do just that the next time. *Sigh* Beet risotto is a really good thing.

Cucumbers...In Soup?

Andy's away this week working out of town, so I thought I should take advantage of the opportunity to try some "out there" recipes for me. Most often I am good at picking new recipes to try, but every once in a while, something is so different from the norm that I just have to try it, and when Andy is away, I use that time to play around. I started with the idea to make a cucumber soup with some of the larger cucumbers I have sitting around. A quick search however, brought up plenty of cucumber soups, but all of them contained copious amounts of sour cream or yogurt. One of my criteria for this soup was that everything be on hand, and since I am out of both sour cream and yogurt, every single soup was out. The ones that didn't contain sour cream or yogurt had plenty of heavy cream instead. I really wanted something lighter, and set out to make my own.

My original thoughts for a cold cucumber soup were quickly swayed to a hot soup as I surveyed the contents of my pantry and garden. But would cucumber be good in a hot soup? There was only one way to find out.

I began with potatoes. I wanted a creamy consistency without the heaviness, so I decided to begin with red skinned potatoes. Next, I was going to boil them with onions, but opted to use a vegetarian vegetable broth instead of just water for the boiling. After about 20 minutes, the potatoes and onions were soft, and I whizzed them up to a silken puree with my immersion blender. At that point, I checked for needed salt and pepper, and then added my garden vegetables. I wanted the cucumber to feature, so I used mostly cucumber with a few green beans and carrots thrown in for interest and color. Once the vegetables softened, I added some low-fat milk and a substantial amount of fresh dill from the garden. A few more minutes for the dill to permeate, and my soup was finished.

It was brightly flavored and delightful. The cucumber, cooked up, resembled zucchini or summer squash. The potatoes contributed all the creamy texture I could have hoped for, and the dill added a fantastic dimension of flavor. The occasional bite of a green bean or garden fresh carrot helped keep every bite interesting. I topped the soup with homemade croutons and Parmesan cheese, but it really didn't need the cheese. I could see potentially adding a few lardons of bacon in the future for a meat-eating crowd, but the soup really stood on it's own feet quite nicely. Zander didn't eat very much of it, but Abigail inhaled it completely. I call that a qualified success and I have named it Dilled Potato Soup with Cucumber and Spring Vegetables. A vegetarian dish with the cheese, a vegan dish without, either way it is an excellent addition to the kitchen garden repertoire.

C is for Cucumber

It had to be so. I'm in the middle of a wonderful explosion. Every day I head out to the garden and pick the cucumbers that are of pickling size and hide them away in the fridge, awaiting the moment I have enough to make homemade pickles. I also manage to find a handful of cucumbers that I missed before and are much to big for pickling, but perfect for eating. Our whole family loves cucumbers, but most often they are eaten straight up. The kids enjoy cucumber slices or spears plain or with a ranch dip to dunk them in. I thought I would try something a little different and make cucumbers in a sour cream sauce and see what they thought.

The result was that Abigail didn't want her cucumbers in anything- she was too busy relishing them straight up and eyed my cucumber salad warily- she simply wasn't interested. Zander, however, enjoyed the cucumbers- but not the onions. He really liked the sauce and probably would have eaten it with a spoon had I suggested it to him. While the onions are important to the flavor, and I wouldn't recommend leaving them out, it's certainly not difficult to leave the onions behind in the serving dish for the onion lovers to enjoy.Creamy Cucumber Salad is a great way to change up cucumber slices. My favorite way happens to be Mom's Fridge Pickles, but we're just getting started with the cucumbers, and there should be several more cucumber recipes to come.

The Bars That Dreams Are Made of

"Erika, what are you doing?"

"I'm baking of course, what does it look like?"

"But it's 96º outside and muggy!"

Such is my devotion to this blog and my readers. And that is how much I truly love these bar cookies. They are worth turning on the oven for on a 96º afternoon.

But before I get to the cookies, a big hi there and hello to all of my local readers from the Seymour area. I'm glad you've dropped in and I hope you'll hang around from time to time to check out what's going on in my kitchen. Feel free to leave feedback at any time, and should you feel like you want to contact me, feel free to do so at tummytreasureATgmailDOTcom. Please poke around and let me know what you think! And for all my non-local readers, this was the week. I arrived home from vacation last night to find myself in the local paper. It was...interesting to say the least. The editor did a great job introducing me, I think, and I'm looking forward to see how the recipes get incorporated in the future. If you want to see the article, I think you can click here- you'll need to scroll down a little, and please let me know if that link doesn't work.

On to the cookies! I have become a recent fan of bar cookies. Normally I seem to reserve them for holidays, but they need so much more attention. They're so easy! Put ingredients in one pan, bake once and when cool, cut into squares. They're usually pretty economical, and the possibilities are limited only by your imagination. This recipe is one I adapted from a recipe I found on Recipezaar. I've had a bit of an addiction to adding mini m&m bits to cookies lately, and I wanted a bar cookie that featured them. I found the perfect one, and set out to make it right away.

First, you make a shaggy cookie dough- flour, oatmeal, brown sugar, coconut,salt, and baking soda are combined and then melted butter is added. Everything is mixed together until combined and the majority of this mixture is pressed into the bottom of a 9x13 pan. This bakes for a while, and while it's baking, sweetened condensed milk is combined with peanut butter for a decadent creamy layer. Once the base is baked, the peanut butter mixture is gently spread on top, followed by chocolate chips, m&m's and the last bit of cookie dough. The hardest part of this cookie is to allow it the time to cool. These cut incredibly better when completely cool, so do what you can to resist cutting into them too soon. M&M Dream Bars have become an instant go-to cookie for me. The link will take you to my adapted recipe.

Back In The Game!

All week long I've been planning tonight's post. After a whole week away, I wanted the post to be insightful and wonderful. My initial plan had been to post about a bar cookie that I made for last weekend that is really out of this world. But first, I feel it necessary to bake a fresh batch so that I can have a photo for you and really give it a proper introduction. When we arrived into town around 5:00 pm tonight, we had every intention of stopping at the grocery store for the few ingredients I needed, as well as a few frozen pizzas for dinner. (Hey-sometimes we're entitled to a cheat night!) Then Zander spilled water on himself as we rolled into town and we opted to head straight for home. And once home...well, going anywhere sounds like an awful idea.

After a week of camping in the Wisconsin Northwoods, we have one massive pile of laundry and four filthy individuals needing some bathing, but before we got to any of that, we were all itching for a peek at the garden. We had asked a neighbor to water while we were gone if it didn't rain, and I was a little concerned with what we would find. What we actually found was dinner...and then some. My garden literally exploded! Tonight's cardboard pizza quickly turned into the most local dinner I can put on the table. Here is a photo of my garden gleanings.

I have a bucket full of pickling cucumbers which are past pickle prime, but are oh-so delicious for eating out of hand. I found a monster zucchini along with three smaller sized ones. Abigail was beyond excited to see the bean bushes were full of green beans. She immediately began munching away like a little bunny. I also pulled a few beets, lettuce, and a few baby carrots- real baby carrots, not the processed pretend baby carrots we can buy at the grocery store. Sadly my tomatoes are not doing very well- they appear to have a blossom end rot, and I can only hope that all my plants are not affected. But the rest of the garden looks fantastic and really was the best thing we could have come home to. (Well, almost, ideally we would also have had a message announcing the arrival of a new nephew...any day now!)

The salad was easy and showcased sweet beets in a way I've never eaten them before. I washed the greens and sliced the cucumbers and placed them in a bowl. I boiled the beets to slip their tender skins and sliced them on top of those. For a finishing touch a few cubes of forgotten Irish Cheddar and a simple red wine vinaigrette.

The pasta was just as simple.

Garden Fresh Pasta Primavera

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
2 small zucchini, cut into coins
5 baby carrots, thinly sliced
1 cup tender green beans, stems removed, snapped to bite size
1/2 pound whole wheat pasta, cooked to al dente
salt and pepper to taste
basil leaves, torn
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Heat olive oil in a saute pan over medium-high heat. Add garlic, zucchini, carrots, and green beans. Saute for five minutes, stirring occasionally. Add cooked pasta, salt, pepper, and basil. Serve immediately, topped with Parmesan cheese.

Tummy Treasure on Vacation!

I tried really hard to come up with a last minute "wow" recipe to leave you with. I really did try. Unfortunately, when you plan at almost the last minute to go camping for a week, real cooking tends to take an aside from planning and packing. We're in the home stretch of packing fever, but we still have so much to do, and dinner will be compliments of the frozen pizza section.

We're going to be spending the next week camping in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, and we're really looking forward to the time to relax and play. Unfortunately for all of you, that means no new updates for an entire week! We'll be back late on Friday the 6th, and I'll try to have a little bit of something that night for you. :-)

In the meantime though, a small sample of how we dine when camping. It really isn't that much different from home, the biggest difference being that we cook over a fire. And since we're going camping with my brothers, parents, and a sister (and relative spouses, children, etc.) we all take a turn cooking. One night we'll be having kebabs, one night BBQ ribs, one night fajitas, and one night foil dinners. You may be asking, what's a foil dinner? It's exactly what it sounds like. Ground beef, potatoes, veggies, and seasonings all wrapped up in foil and cooked over the fire. Simple and tasty camping fare- except that our kids wouldn't touch that for all the tea in China. So we have to get creative with our dinners every year. This year, with the discovery of the fish lovers, we're going to try fish in foil. In particular, a recipe from Tyler Florence for foil-wrapped swordfish. We'll be swapping in some Sole, as the swordfish was MIA when I went shopping, but here is Tyler's recipe. And if you click on the link, you'll see a photo on FoodTV- looks really good!

Swordfish Baked In Foil With Mediterranean Flavors

4 fresh baby artichokes, trimmed and quartered (we'll be using canned)
2 tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1 lemon, sliced thin
1/2 cup black olives
1/2 bunch fresh basil
8 sprigs fresh thyme
4 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 fish fillets, about 6 ounces each
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl combine the artichokes, tomatoes, lemon, olives, and herbs. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and toss together. Take an 18-inch piece of aluminum foil and fold it in half crosswise. Fold a 1-inch strip on each side over twice, once to close and once to seal; you should now have a pouch. Repeat for 3 more pouches. Season the fillets with salt and pepper and place 1 into each pouch. Add 1/4 of the artichoke mixture to each pouch. Fold over a 1-inch strip of the top twice to seal. Place the packets onto a sheet pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, depending on the thickness of your fish. Carefully open the pouches and place the fish and vegetables onto warm plates. Spoon any juices that have accumulated over the fish. Serve immediately.

Well, that's about it! Happy 4th of July for all you locals, and I hope you all have a great week! See you back here in a week or so!

A Simple Saute

I had planned on posting about last night's chicken dinner. It was an herbed lemon chicken cooked in the crock pot. And I should have known better. When I put it all in the pot, it smelled fantastic, and it smelled fantastic while cooking- bright and lemony and herby. I was even going to contribute to WHB this week with it. Upon tasting it though... Seriously, this was one of those rare moments (and I mean very rare) where dinner went into the garbage. Thankfully, I had made a side dish that turned into dinner. Not only was it incredibly simple, but incredibly tasty.

I started with a zucchini fresh out of the garden. (Woo-hoo!) I sliced it into thin slices to quickly saute and turned around to see if I had any parmesan cheese. Ah, I did, and next to it I discovered a pint of mushrooms that needed to be used before heading out camping on Saturday. So I sliced the mushrooms and put them in the saute pan first with a tiny drizzle of olive oil. I stirred them occasionally, and when they got to the point where they were obviously well-cooked, I added the zucchini slices, a pinch of salt, black pepper, and crushed red pepper flakes. I tossed this together for about 5 minutes, or until the zucchini was lightly cooked. Then at the last moment, I tossed about 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese with the vegetables. The saute was light and bright and awesome with a side of rice. Unless you are my husband. :-)

Andy arrived home a few minutes after the kids and I had sat down to dinner. I told him to ignore the chicken, but to help himself to the vegetables and rice, and I proceeded to tell him that the veggies were lightly cooked with salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper flake. Don't ask me what he was thinking, but he took that to mean that he needed to season his own veggies. So he had double the amount of crushed red pepper flakes, and it was a bit warm for his tastes. Nevertheless, the saute was a hit and will most likely be repeated many times this summer.

Remembering Some Older Recipes

One of the hazards of blogging is that a recipe that you've tried and enjoyed often gets shelved and forgotten in favor of something new. Since I'm always looking for something new to blog about, a recipe that I've talked about before obviously isn't new. But I thought that today I'd bring a couple of recipes to mind that are excellent for grilling season, which is fully upon us.

The first recipe is one that I made this past Saturday, and realized that I haven't made it since last August, which is crazy because it's very simple and the flavor is excellent. And had I known I didn't have a photo of it, I would have paused long enough to snap a quick one. Regardless, Caribbean Chicken is a great way to grill your chicken breasts. The marinade comes together in a snap, and you can toss the chicken in it first thing in the morning as you head out the door, and when you come home it's ready to throw on the grill. Another reason I love this chicken is that it can also be frozen. Make the marinade in a freezer bag, drop in your chicken breasts, and place in the freezer. A quick dinner is on hand whenever you want it! I served the chicken up this weekend with some fresh pineapple and a lettuce salad.

The second recipe is another marinade, this one for pork tenderloin. Back in February I made this Herb-Roasted Pork Tenderloin and thought it would be fantastic on the grill. We pulled the recipe out of the archives for this past Monday and it truly was meant to be grilled. The changes this time were that I used fresh thyme and fresh marjoram instead of dried in the marinade- and it really was spectacular! I also happen to think that this would be a freezable marinade meal as well, and since it's good grilled or oven-roasted is very versatile.

And finally, the third recipe I want to re-share today is one for barbecued beans. This past winter we discovered we really enjoyed them under the name of Barbecued Kielbasa. On Sunday Andy slow-smoked a sirloin roast, so we ran with the barbecue theme and wanted some beans to accompany. I immediately thought of these beans, and pulled up the recipe. The only change I made was to use half the sausage, and I also cooked it differently. It was going to be a crock-pot creation, so I dumped everything in and turned it on. About an hour before dinner I gave them a stir and realized my error. These always baked in an oven and thickened up, in the crock pot, all the liquid was trapped and I was essentially making a barbecue soup...not what I wanted. So we dumped the beans into a foil pan and Andy grilled them uncovered for the remaining time, and the results were spectacular! Thick and soft and full of smoky flavor, Barbecued Kielbasa is proving versatile indeed.

A fantastic use for beets

And no, B will not be for beets. One of the few veggies that I cannot get my kids to taste- regardless how it's prepared or whether or not we've grown it. Oddly enough, it used to be one of Abigail's favorites when she was an infant. I would make her a beet puree and she would gobble it down, and now she wholeheartedly doesn't care for it. I'm okay with that, I can't expect my kids to like everything we grow. :-) More for me as it's one of my favorites.

My beets are ready to be plucked from the ground. I have these lovely round brown domes poking out from the garden soil, promising the luscious beets below. Having company this weekend, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to try a pesto my dear friend Alanna shared the other day at A Veggie Venture. I loved the pesto. It was deep and earthy and made some excellent crostini appetizers. I chose to add some creamy Gorgonzola to the top of my beet pesto, and the pairing was splendid. I did use a drizzle of the optional olive oil called for, and for my toasted nut I opted for the sunflower seeds. The pesto is an excellent way to showcase garden fresh beets, and well worth the time to roast the beets to sweet perfection. Be sure to check out Alanna's recipe for Beet Pesto.

Weekend Extra...Butter!

Trust me on this... get the ingredients you need to make this fantastic cilantro-lime butter and smear it on freshly roasted corn on the cob. A big thank you to applecrisp on the CLBB for sharing. Yum! We roasted our corn on the grill, and I left the cayenne out of the butter. It was so good, Andy and I were practically fighting over the last ear of corn.

Roasted Corn on the Cob with Cilantro Lime Butter

6 ears corn, shucked
Cilantro Lime Butter, recipe follows

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Coat each ear of corn in 2 tablespoons of the cilantro lime butter and wrap individually in foil. Roast until hot and steaming, about 25 minutes. Serve with extra butter on the side.

Cilantro Lime Butter:
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves
1 lime, zested and juiced
2 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Put the butter in a mixing bowl and, using a rubber spatula, mix in the cilantro, lime zest, lime juice, salt and cayenne. Use immediately or refrigerate.
Yield: 3/4 cup

A Perfect Salad

Thank you everyone for the well wishes yesterday. I was a bit nervous to say the least. Yesterday went okay, essentially we did a Q&A session to introduce me to the newspaper readers and to just let them know that from time to time I'll be popping in with a recipe. I think I did okay, the only thing I didn't get to talk about and wish I had is how wonderful the food blogging community is! I spent a bit of time yesterday afternoon catching up on my blog reading and "visiting" my friends, and I swear that everyday that circle gets bigger. Hopefully I'll have other opportunities to talk about blogging. The article will be out in the paper soon, when it comes out I'll see what I can do about linking to it for my bloggers to check out...

In the meantime though, it's time to cook! Part of yesterday's Q&A was taking a photo, and I wasn't sure if he was going to want a picture of my doing actual cooking or chopping, so I wanted something for dinner last night that I could do some chopping in the early afternoon if I needed. I wanted a Mexican inspired salad and went on a search. I looked everywhere, and didn't find what I was looking for, so I came up with my own Yucatan Summer Salad. And I don't totally mean to toot my own horn, but this salad is really good! It's bright and fresh and completely satisfying. Bell peppers, cucumbers, radishes, red onions, jalapeno, tomatoes, and avocado are tossed with a chili and lime vinaigrette and topped with queso fresco and cilantro. Yum! I added some shredded turkey for a protein, but it really didn't need it. I think next time I will use a can of black beans instead.
What was new to me for this salad was the queso fresco- oh my is that a delightful cheese! For anyone else not familiar with it, it's essentially a Mexican farmer's cheese. It's light in flavor, mildly salty, and just the perfect accompaniment to a summer salad. It's crumbly like feta, and the kids inhaled it- they loved that cheese! I'll be looking for something else to do with the other half of the wheel soon. My original Yucatan Summer Salad is in the Recipe Trove- trust me when I say you need to make this salad, and you need to make it soon. At 363 calories a serving, it's also very waist friendly. I think I may go assemble the leftovers for breakfast...

Letting The Cat Out...

Just a little bit. :-) I have to apologize because my posts over the last week or so have been pretty lame. Sorry, I've been a bit distracted this week. But there is a reason for my distractedness, and before I get to that reason, I have a sincere promise to do better over the next week before I go MIA for a week camping. Anyway... A few weeks back my husband had an encounter with the editor of the local paper, and in the discussion the subject of food came up. My loving husband had to brag about his foodie/blogger wife, and the result of that convo was a business card with instructions to e-mail my blog url. A fellow foodie was interested in a local take on food.

Well, the short version of this is that some of my cooking is going to be featured in the local paper. We still don't know all the details or how everything is going to work out, but today is the first step, as he is coming to my kitchen to take some pictures and do some chatting. Who knows where this may lead, but I am a little nervous. The idea is to do an occasional food story with a recipe that I come up with, and that I am excited about. But I'm nervous about being more out there- if that makes any sense. So you'll forgive me if I don't have a recipe for you today, and I'll try and be back later with a re-cap of the afternoon for you. In the meantime, I have a stunning summer salad to compose and kids to get ready for tumbling class, so Happy Thursday everyone! Wish me luck today!

In Search of Cudighi

This has been a bit of a quest! A few months back we were given some cudighi. I tucked it in the freezer and didn't really think about it again until recently. I just didn't know what to do with it, and to add to not knowing what cudighi tastes like, ours was made from wild boar. Now we know and love wild boar, so every scrap of the stuff that we can get our hands on we treat as best as possible. Then the other night, the kids asked for spaghetti with meat sauce for dinner, and not having any ground meat for the sauce, I thawed the cudighi. As I was browning it, it smelled remarkably like pepperoni, and I was looking forward to tasting it.

The flavor is unlike any other sausage I've ever tried. It did taste a little like pepperoni, but I also tasted all-spice and fennel seeds. And as it turns out, I'm not that far off the mark.

Cudighi is a sausage found only in two parts of the world- one small part of Italy, and one small part of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. And finding a recipe is just as difficult as finding the sausage. I found two recipes that are very different, but I think by using both recipes as a guide, I could recreate the cudighi we had. Here is the first one, which looks close, but doesn't have the fennel seeds or crushed red pepper flakes that our sausage had. It also has more cinnamon than ours did- as the cinnamon was not noticeable at all.

Cudighi

1 (6 pound) pork butt
2 tablespoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 to 1 cup dry red wine
6 garlic cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1 clove

Have the pork coarse ground and DO NOT have fat trimmed (you want about 25% fat). Put through the meat grinder TWICE.

Mix the following ingredients together: salt, pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. Work into ground pork with your hands.

Combine wine, cinnamon sticks, garlic and cloves. Boil this mixture for 5 minutes and let completely cool.

Strain this mixture, reserving the liquid and work the liquid into the meat.

Let meat season in refrigerator for 2-3 days.

Then there is this recipe, which looks more like the one we had, but is very different, and might not have the depth of flavor the sausage we were given had. If anyone has any insight into this treasures sausage, I would love to hear it. The sausage is delicious, and worked really well in a pasta sauce, and equally well on last nights oyster mushroom and cudighi pizza.

Cudighi

6 lb coarsely ground pork(pork butt recommended)
1 clove garlic chopped fine
1 T. Crushed red pepper
6 T. Salt
1-2 T. fennel seed

Mix well and keep in the fridge for 24 hours.

Form into thin, to about 1/2 thick patties into oblong shape or depending on the type of Roll you will serve it in.. can be squared shape if desired. Brown in oil , cover and simmer fry, but not crispy brown, use just a little water(optional) to simmer to help with the dryness, for 25-30 minutes or until no red shows and pork is fully cooked.

Serve on fancy Deli roll type bun, such as hard roll, Kaiser roll etc.

Things to compliment this is combinations of grilled green pepper rings and grilled sliced onion, mustard, catsup, pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, whatever combination you desire and to your liking. My favorite is with a little mustard, the grilled green pepper and onion.

this recipe makes a lot of patties so cut recipe by half
or make-up patties and partially cook,cool, then freeze patties for quick sandwich's later.

Do You Have What It Takes?

To Build A Better Burger? I keep thinking I do... with so many variations on a hamburger, how do you decide what makes the best burger? Here is my entry from last year... not good enough to be a winner, but obviously good enough to put up on their site. My problem is too many ideas, not enough time. I wonder if my fascination with Indian Cuisine would translate well to a burger?

W is NOT for Watermelon Radish

The other day as we were looking at the garden, Andy pointed to a flowering stalk and asked what it was. Hmm. That looks like one of my watermelon radishes underneath, but at last check, they weren't radishes yet. So we pulled the flowering one up, and sure enough, no radish yet. Frustrated with the garden space devoted to the radish that wasn't, I pulled them all up, and out of about 20 plants, I had 3 radishes. I learned a thing or two, I think. First up, here is a picture of the Watermelon Radish from the outside.It looks like a smallish turnip- unassuming really. For taking twice as long as the French Breakfast radishes, I really expected something grand and glorious. Not so much, apparently. I suspect that I actually planted them too late, that they need the cool weather to germinate and grow, and should probably be sown just past the frost danger. I'm going to save my seeds and try again this late September/October, and see if they fare better in cooler weather. But this next picture, this is where the watermelon radish gets their name.Sliced open, they are impressive. The have a stunning rosy color on the interior that contrasts beautifully with the creamy white shell. One taste though told me that we were not going to be exploring the virtues of the watermelon radish. Wow- these guys pack some heat! These are a very spicy radish, with quite the cumulative effect as well. Andy couldn't even eat a whole radish-and that says a lot. Again though, I wonder about the timing. Regular radishes are sweeter when grown in the cooler weather- they get that heat from hot weather, and it has been a bit warm the last few weeks, so that may have something to do with the heat.

So Sadly, the watermelon radish is a bit of a dud, but up next on the horizon, my zucchini plants have babies and blossoms. In fact, after all the rain last night, I could pluck two zucchini today, but I think I'm going to let them go a little longer. I'm hoping to have them for veggie kebabs this coming weekend. My tomato plants are also all loaded with little green tomatoes, I have a jalapeno on my pepper plant, and both the cucumbers and the melons are in full blossom. I'm a little concerned about leaving my garden in two weeks when we go camping... the veggies may just take over then.

S is for Sugar Snap Peas-Eating Locally

I meant to post about this yesterday, but the day got away from me very quickly. Saturday we had a long day, and is it crept closer to dinner time, Andy suggested that we go out for dinner. And while I was tempted for a brief minute, the fact was that I had fresh farmer's market produce, and I wanted to use it freshly plucked from the ground. So I pulled a flank steak from our local butcher, Maplewood Meats, and got to work. The steak received a simple rub of Penzey's Old World seasoning. I happen to consider Penzey's local as well, as its home is here in Wisconsin in Milwaukee, and since that's less than 200 miles away, I consider it local. The steak went on the grill along with the new potatoes. The potatoes and a few of the spring onions were tossed in a foil packet with some fresh rosemary from my garden, salt, pepper, and olive oil.

I also wanted to do something with half of the sugar snap peas. At first I had been thinking a stir fry with my oyster mushrooms, but I decided that since the kids were gobbling up the peas, a salad was more in order. I wanted to sweeten up the peas a little bit more, as I thought in their completely raw state they were slightly starchy. So I got out my steamer and steamed the peas for about 4 minutes, and then ran cold water over them to shock them. This worked perfectly, it brought out the sweetness and eliminated the starch, while still retaining the crunch of the raw snap peas. I tossed the barely cooked peas with a chopped yellow tomato, and the large cherry tomatoes. I drizzled these with a raspberry-walnut vinaigrette that the kids have been fond of lately, and everyone enjoyed it. The salad was perfect, the snap peas and the tomatoes played off each other perfectly with the vinaigrette. Both kids enjoyed the Sugar Snap Peas, and since I still have half of them, tonight I am going to get to that stir-fry and see how they like them cooked. Next year I guess I'll have to plant some peas as well.
It felt really good to eat locally, and to know that everything on the table was fresh and at its peak. There will be much more to come from the local farmer's markets, and I'm contemplating a drive out to our favorite produce stand to see if they have anything out there yet. We may get to that later today yet, if not... it will be later this week.

My Farmer's Market Finds

We have 1 bunch of small beets, 1 bunch of spring onions, 2 pounds of sugar snap peas, one potted sunflower, 2 yellow tomatoes, a handful of large cherry tomatoes, 1 pound new red potatoes, and 1/2 pound of oyster mushrooms. Not pictured are the Amish Cinnamon Rolls and the Blue Moon Gelato Abigail inhaled at the market. Today we learned to go early- it got busy very quickly, and produce was gone very quickly. Tonight's dinner will be completely local as we add a flank steak from our local butcher. And while I'm excited about the oyster mushrooms- this is the first time I've seen mushrooms at the market- I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them. Suggestions anyone?

Strawberry Day!

We started with six generous pails of freshly picked strawberries.And ended with about 45 pints of homemade strawberry jam goodness.Whew. And only someone who is insane would spend the day with a helper and make 8 batches of jam, only to forge ahead and do 3 more batches on her own. I turned almost all of the strawberries we picked into jam, so we'll have to make another trip to the patch for strawberries for the freezer. I think I'm okay with that. :-) If you happen to be reading this and you live near me, head on out to Bodart's to pick strawberries. The berries are wonderful, and there's never anyone else out there picking! Go to the back of the patch for the big ones- but the small ones are just as sweet and delicious.

For other delicious ways to use strawberries, head to the Recipe Trove and check out Banana Split Salad, or Strawberry Ice Cream, or Strawberry Bread. Classic Buttermilk Waffles are on the menu for tonight, and while I'm certain I also posted about Strawberry Pancakes, I'll have to send you to Recipezaar for that one, cause I can't find it.

Sweet Simplicity

Sometimes all you need is a plate of grilled New Zealand Greenshell Mussels, some butter, olive oil, garlic, red pepper flakes, and a scattering of parsley.
Pure decadence. I doubt Andy enjoyed them as much as I did, but it was exactly what I have been craving, and now I know we can make mussels at home. Pre-cooked mussels on the half shell have to be one of the greatest inventions ever.

Returning To The Pantry

I've spent the last day with my nose in a book. (Much to the dismay of my dirty home.) After seeing several blogs this past week discuss a photo-essay published by Time Magazine, I decided I needed to read the book. Hungry Planet:What The World Eats by Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio is nothing short of amazing. I will likely be devoting a post or two to it over the next few weeks, because it really has been thought provoking to me. Most notably so far is all the families who are conscious of waste. The Peruvian family who sells two sheep at the market and receives $35 which has to buy groceries for their large family for two weeks. They buy little to no meat, focusing on the staples like potatoes, beans, and rice, then they buy fruits and veggies, with nothing special or extra. The Darfur refugees who eat the same thing three meals a day, and worry about the cost of one tiny handful of dried vegetables to flavor their soup.

After a successful winter of stretching my food dollar and utilizing as much as possible out of a scrap of food, it hasn't taken long to return to some of my more wasteful methods. Truly not as bad as it once was, but I do have several containers of leftovers in my fridge that are going to need to be tossed. And I find myself at my local grocery store looking for something for dinner at the last minute all-too-often. So last night I decided to raid the pantry for dinner. I began in the freezer where I discovered a package of frozen cheese ravioli and a partial package of bacon. In the pantry I found several cans of beans, selecting the Great Northern variety, as well as a small onion and some cloves of garlic. A trip through the fridge found a small handful of cherry tomatoes that I wasn't likely going to use. After a second thought, I also grabbed a cucumber well past its prime, some blueberries, and a balsamic salad dressing that I keep wanting to like.

I made one final trip through the garden, snipping off a few beet greens and a few leaves of romaine, as well as a few tiny sprigs of my newly potted basil. Dinner was on it's way. I set some water to boiling for the ravioli, and cut off a tiny portion of the bacon, returning the rest to the freezer for another time. The bacon went into the saute pan, followed by the onion, tomatoes, and garlic, and then later on the white beans, some seasoning, and the basil. A little pasta cooking water loosened up my white bean sauce a bit, and while that simmered away I cobbled together a quick salad. My greens were washed and tossed with thinly sliced cucumber, a handful of blueberries, and that balsamic dressing- whisked with a tablespoon of honey to enrich it a bit.

30 Minute Meals indeed! The whole dinner, including the walk through the garden, pantry, and fridge took less than 30 minutes. And the pasta was fantastic! The sauce worked really well to lightly coat the ravioli, and topped with a scattering of Parmesan, it compares to pasta I've had out. The smoky sauce was balanced out nicely by the sweet/sour green salad, and the only thing I would potentially change about this dinner is the bacon. I would use it, but I would render it down and remove the bacon, crisped, from the saute pan and add it to the salad, leaving the bacon fat to flavor the sauce. Nevertheless, dinner was fantastic, and I felt really good about the pantry meal. I wrote down the recipe for White Bean Sauce with Bacon and popped that into the recipe trove. An excellent dinner on the fly, and packed with vegetables as well. No doubt, the white bean sauce would be equally good in a vegetarian version, subbing in some earthy mushrooms for the bacon, and using a little more olive oil to saute the onions and garlic.

I'm not sure I'll have much of a chance to post tomorrow. The strawberry patch is open, and that means it's time for some jam-making, so I will try if I get the chance.

Carrot-Pineapple Bread

Loyal readers already know how much I adore a good quick bread. Whether it be a muffin, scone, or loaf of a lightly sweetened bread. My Recipe Trove has quite a few recipes for quick breads, but I'm always looking for more. A few weeks ago I wanted a quick bread, but lacked many of the basic ingredient. Read: something fruity as my bread base. Whether it be banana bread, blueberry bread, or zucchini bread. Enter the carrot. I realized I didn't have a tried and true carrot bread, so I set out to find one. I ended up tweaking one up a bit that I found on Recipezaar, and the end result is exactly what I was looking for.

A sweet quick bread full of flavor, carrot-pineapple bread is a perfect start to a new day. You could easily make this into muffins by using a muffin pan, just make sure you check the cooking time. After I'd made it, I was also thinking that some sunflower seeds would be an excellent addition, so feel free to throw in a handful of those as well. I will confess, it's not that far off from a carrot cake, and as such, a smear of cream cheese may just be the icing on the cake, so to speak. But for myself, give me a slice straight up, and I'll be in quick bread heaven. Carrot-Pineapple Bread, it's worth getting up early in the morning for.