Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Wild Violet Granola (On Mothers and Mentors)

Nutty crunchy granola, sweetened with wild violet sugar and wild violet syrup, is a tasty breakfast or bedtime snack.  The mothering/mentoring part is just bonus.

Nutty crunchy granola, sweetened with wild violet sugar and wild violet syrup, is a tasty breakfast or bedtime snack.

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Mentors are a lot like Mothers.

Both mentors and mothers nurture their protégées.  They provide support--practical, physical, and emotional support.  They want to see their charges succeed.  Mentors gently correct mistakes and provide honest feedback.  Mothers do as well [even if it exasperates us to provide the same feed back again and again].  While I don't think I am exactly friends with my own children, I do consider my mentors to be my friends.

My friend and mentor Meghan is to blame responsible for this recipe.  She handed me a bag of her Basic Granola when we met.  I brought it home and was blown away by the chunks, the tender nuts, and the amazing flavor. [And I'd been pretty happy with the Trader Joes granola I'd eat with kefir whenever the mood struck.]
Granola and kefir?  I got into that tasty combination after spending a lovely weekend with my mom and her college buddies and their daughters. The weekend was hosted by my friend and mentor Alanna, and I hope we honored her mom's memory. We sure did it up right.
My own mom continues to be an excellent mentor.  My attitude towards leftovers I learned from her.  Not being afraid of canning the summer harvest? Learned at my mom's shoulder.  Now she's showing me how to age gracefully. Watching my folks pro-actively move to a more supported living arrangement is something I've observed since they moved out of the big suburban house into a city condo the summer I graduated from high school.


Nutty crunchy granola, sweetened with wild violet sugar and wild violet syrup, is a tasty breakfast or bedtime snack.


What do these three women have to do with the recipe I'm sharing today? Let me braid the strands together. Meghan got me interested in making homemade granola.  My mom taught me to use what I had on hand to create new meals. Alanna has been mentoring my blogging since I first emailed her saying 'I'm thinking of starting a CSA blog' . . . later she told me about the 30 Days to Better Food Photography course I finished a year ago which has helped me improve my images.
We eat first with our eyes, if we are fortunate enough to see, and since I can't have you reach through the screen to sample this granola the least I can do is make it look appealing.

For other recipes using wild violets, please see my Wild Violet Recipes Collection. It's a part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me eating from the front yard, the farm share, the farmer's market, the garden, the neighbor's garden, and great deals on ugly produce at the grocery store.

I'm sharing more recipes on my Pinterest boards, follow me there. If you like a good peek behind the scenes like I do, follow me on Instagram. Need a good read? I'm sharing articles of interest on my Facebook page, follow me there. Want to know How to Use This Blog?

Monday, April 28, 2014

Grilled Cheese with Guacamole and Corn Salsa

Guacamole, hummus, and corn & black bean salsa nestled into the middle of a grilled cheese sandwich.  A delicious leftover repurposed into a snack.

Guacamole, hummus, and corn & black bean salsa nestled into the middle of a grilled cheese sandwich.  A delicious leftover repurposed into a snack.



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Leftover guacamole is like a Christmas tree on the lot on December 26th.  No one wants it.  Sure, you can cover it with plastic wrap . . . or water (check out these terrific kitchen hacks) . . . to help with the oxidation, but the fact is it's a has-been.

Or is it?

I turned some game day leftovers into a yummy grilled cheese sandwich, and before Grilled Cheese month [who thinks of these things? Zucchini bread day?Apple turnover week?] ends I wanted to share it with you.


Guacamole, hummus, and corn & black bean salsa nestled into the middle of a grilled cheese sandwich.  A delicious leftover repurposed into a snack.


I'm glad to even the score between vegetarian grilled cheese sandwiches and those containing meat on this blog, as I think grilled cheese (and tomato soup) is one of those combinations that appeal to a wide variety of eaters.
Earlier this month we stopped for grilled cheese on the way home from a Spring break trip to have my phone stolen at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. [Am I the only one who is scouting the opposite side of the road for places to eat on the way home when we've just barely embarked on a trip?]  We were surrounded by multigenerational families, couples, and individuals all enjoying a grilled cheese sandwich. [We stopped at Fair Oaks Farms and bought gooey grilled cheese sandwiches on bread that managed to be both soft and chewy--must investigate different kinds of bread for my sandwiches.]
Guacamole, hummus, and corn & black bean salsa nestled into the middle of a grilled cheese sandwich.  A delicious leftover repurposed into a snack.


I think I ranted enough about using your leftovers the other day with my Taco Rice Tortilla Pizza post.  Today I'd just like you to enjoy a tasty, if a bit messy, sandwich.  And rest assured I've got some other grilled cheese ideas kicking around for next April!

For more recipes using Avocados, please see my Avocado Recipes Collection. For more recipes using beans, please see my Beans/Legumes Recipes Collection. For more recipes using corn, please see my Recipes Using Corn Collection. These collections are part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me eating from the farm share, the farmer's market, the garden, the neighbor's garden, repurposed leftovers, and great deals on ugly produce at the grocery store.

I'm sharing more recipes on my Pinterest boards, follow me there. If you like a good peek behind the scenes like I do, follow me on Instagram. Need a good read? I'm sharing articles of interest on my Facebook page, follow me there. Want to know How to Use This Blog?

Friday, April 25, 2014

Taco Rice Tortilla Pizza {Leftover} Pizza Night!

A easy and fast pizza for a family Pizza Night--combining leftover taco meat with vegetables and grains on a tortilla pizza covered with cheese. Simple. Frugal. Tasty.

A easy and fast pizza for a family Pizza Night--combining leftover taco meat with vegetables and grains on a tortilla pizza covered with cheese.

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Let's change the way your family perceives leftovers.

While I am fortunate to have a family who not only eats leftovers but fights over them [perhaps that's just sibling rivalry?] I understand we're not necessarily the norm.

[warning, rant ahead--and not about corporate cranberries this time]

Why should you eat your leftovers? For starters, you paid for that food--why throw your money away? [Unless you like to throw money away, in which case I'll finally install that DONATE button the spam commenters are always telling me to install--not that giving me money via the blog would be throwing it away--in fact it would result in an improved recipe index].

Even if you buy every morsel of your food at a big box store, someone worked--hard--to grow/harvest/process** that food, and throwing it away devalues that work.  If you're throwing away edible animal products then the life of that animal is also devalued.
**Processed food:  to me, most of the food I eat has been processed.  Wheat is ground into flour, milk is cultured into cheese and yogurt, and of course my burgers didn't walk out of the field, into town, and hop up onto my grill [they didn't call the class Meat Processing for nothing].  People worked to alter the food before I chose it.
Not to get even more preachy, but unless you're composting all of your food waste, the decision not to use your leftovers is bad for our planet.  I know the raccoons enjoy anything edible in my trash, but it's not a sustainable long term solution.

To me, if the initial food tasted good then the leftovers of that food should also be good [something like french fries, nachos, Banh Mi or Po' boy sandwiches, or tempura would be among the exceptions to this rule]. By this reasoning, since you're starting with good food you just need to change up the accessories a bit.
Good grief I am not giving fashion advice!  I buy my clothes at the thrift shop where I work. I'm just referencing The Uniform Project where a gal wore the same Little Black Dress every day for a year, changing up the accessories each day, to raise money for kids to go to school. You can find the year-in-video here--check it out, it's pretty awesome.
A easy and fast pizza for a family Pizza Night--combining leftover taco meat with vegetables and grains on a tortilla pizza covered with cheese.


I've had good success with this accessories concept, and here's one way I'd like to share:  taco meat.  When I make a batch of taco meat, my recipe is here, my family of four (two teens) doesn't eat it all.  I'll take that leftover meat and combine it with a grain (such as farro or rice) and additional vegetables, and make a meal out of that (my recipe is here).


A easy and fast pizza for a family Pizza Night--combining leftover taco meat with vegetables and grains on a tortilla pizza covered with cheese.


But we don't eat all of the next meal--there are leftovers of the leftovers.  So for a Friday Night {Leftover} Pizza Night may I present an easy, fast, simple Taco Rice Tortilla Pizza. After the complicated "pick violets, make wild syrup and wild violet sugar, then make muffins" from earlier this week it's time to kick back, enjoy a Cheater Margarita Smoothie, and have a fast easy dinner.


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Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Cheater Margarita Smoothies

DIY restaurant style fruit margaritas at home--simply blend your fruit with a prepared margarita mix and ice. And for the kids--blend limeade with fruit and ice for a nonalcoholic smoothie

DIY restaurant style fruit margaritas at home--simply blend your fruit with a prepared margarita mix and ice. And for the kids--blend limeade with fruit and ice for a nonalcoholic smoothie.


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Recipe testing for this post has been so. much. fun!  It's my first beverage post, and I started off with a bang, seeing as this is also an alcoholic beverage as well as two recipes in one post.  I'm not going to start any cocktail post trends--Friday pizza and Monday muffins are enough for me--though I do have a lovely winter chai apple blend to share when the weather warrants it, and perhaps a summer ice tea concoction . . . but first--the Cheater Margarita Smoothie. It's too easy and too tasty not to share, and if you've got any lingering fruit in your freezer this will make quick work of it, enabling me you to empty and defrost the freezer before the new Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share season begins.

DIY restaurant style fruit margaritas at home--simply blend your fruit with a prepared margarita mix and ice. And for the kids--blend limeade with fruit and ice for a nonalcoholic smoothie.


I was wondering why it is that I just don't mix cocktails at home, and I've come to the conclusion that it's because I have spent a good portion of my adulthood in states that don't sell hard liquor everywhere.  In Virginia, for example, you need to go to ABC stores (run by the state Department of Alcohol Beverage Control) in order to purchase anything stronger than beer or wine.  [In Hawaii the ABC store is where you get sunscreen and a can of macadamia nuts before heading to the beach.]  Ditto living on a military base, but it's called a Class Six store.  [I have no idea what classes one through five are.]


Since I'm not used to having bottles of spirits around and mixing and measuring, I gravitate to the premixed bottle of margarita stuff.  I can't enter into a debate about the merits of this or that tequila because I just don't know enough about them.  I just know I like the frozen slushy fruit margaritas at restaurants.

During the winter I spent some time in Florida watching my son march with his high school marching band in Disney and sharing HashtagOrangeWeek here.  Our last night there, my daughter and I were too pooped to venture past the TGIFridays in the hotel lobby for our dinner.  Conveniently, it was Ladies Night, and when I ordered the strawberry margarita the server brought two!  Score! Finally I slept well in a hotel room!
DIY restaurant style fruit margaritas at home--simply blend your fruit with a prepared margarita mix and ice. And for the kids--blend limeade with fruit and ice for a nonalcoholic smoothie.
with an Easy Cheesy Vegetable Enchilada bake

The recipe I'm sharing is terrific for a family Cinco de Mayo celebration.  Start by making a pitcher of limeade-based fruit smoothies for the kids, then make a pitcher of margarita-based fruit smoothies for the grown ups.  Everyone gets a fruity drink which makes them happy.


I've made this with blueberries, with blueberries and raspberries, with strawberries, with bananas, blueberries and raspberries, and with peaches.  [Told you recipe testing was fun.] So far my favorite is the mixed fruit with banana--the addition of banana adds a nice creaminess to the base much like it, or yogurt, can do for a standard smoothie.


DIY restaurant style fruit margaritas at home--simply blend your fruit with a prepared margarita mix and ice. And for the kids--blend limeade with fruit and ice for a nonalcoholic smoothie.


One note--Kate over at Diethood asks the hard questions to find out what we all wanted to know: 
how do you get the margarita salt to stick on the rim of the glass? The answer will surprise you.

Friday, April 18, 2014

Creamy Avocado, Bell Pepper and Hatch Chile Enchiladas

A rich vegetarian dish, these avocado, bell pepper, and caramelized onion enchiladas are spiced with roasted Hatch chiles and covered in plenty of cheese.

A rich vegetarian dish, these avocado, bell pepper, and caramelized onion enchiladas are spiced with roasted Hatch chiles and covered in plenty of cheese.


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My New Years Resolution to add more avocados to my life continues.  [Ya think, since I've posted 2 avocado appetizers in the past month or so?] Since we like enchiladas I wondered about using avocado as the filling for a vegetarian dish.  Low fat or skinny this is not--it is rich!  Instead of a tomato-based enchilada sauce like I've used most recently in Confetti Turkey Enchiladas, or a tomatillo-based salsa verde, like in my Fish Taco Enchiladas, I made a spicy white sauce with Hatch chiles. 

A rich vegetarian dish, these avocado, bell pepper, and caramelized onion enchiladas are spiced with roasted Hatch chiles and covered in plenty of cheese.
Simon and I walked down to fetch freshly roasted Hatch chiles last summer.

In this dish I used bell peppers from my Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share plus roasted Hatch chiles from my local grocery store.  Both of these peppers can be frozen when they are harvested and thawed for using in baked dishes like I've shown here.  It's another way I feed my family local foods all year long. The caramelized onions are also freezer-friendly flavor boosters. I use both Dorothy's Slow Cooker Method or Alanna's Flavorful Slow Cooker Onions.

This is an involved dish, with multiple steps, so I'll skip any further chitchat and get to the chopper recipe.


A rich vegetarian dish, these avocado, bell pepper, and caramelized onion enchiladas are spiced with roasted Hatch chiles and covered in plenty of cheese.


Wait--one note--next week I'll share my recipe for the Cheater Margarita Smoothies shown in several of the photos. I rarely suggest wine pairings with my recipes, but I can say with confidence that a Cheater Margarita Smoothie--or two--goes well with these enchiladas.
Another note--if you want to boost the structure of these enchiladas, feel free to add 1 or 2 cups of cooked grains (rice, faro, quinoa, etc) to the vegetable filling. We ate ours with rice on the side.

For more enchilada ideas, vegetarian or with fish, chicken, or pork--hey, no beef, yet, huh--please enjoy my newest Clickable Collage of Recipe Suggestions below.  As always, Anyonita taught me this party trick via this tutorial.


Creamy Avocado, Bell Pepper, Caramelized Onion and Hatch Chile Enchiladas | Farm Fresh Feasts
Click on the top 6 photos to be taken to the recipe, the bottom row are "coming soon"!
Image Map

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Sea Salt, Caramel, and Chocolate Matzoh Toffee

Got leftover matzoh?  Make a decadent dessert! This buttery toffee is topped with caramel and sea salt for an irresistible treat.


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Got leftover matzoh?  Make a decadent dessert! This buttery toffee is topped with caramel and sea salt for an irresistible treat.



Got leftover matzoh?  Make a decadent dessert! This buttery toffee is topped with caramel and sea salt for an irresistible treat.



I gave myself an unexpected gift over the weekend.  I single tasked. 
I single tasked the activity of enjoying nature.





After a busy morning of cooking followed by a walk in the woods while my spouse photographed the daffodils [all of these flower photos are his, I was just the dog wrangler--which, lemme tell you, 3 zippy leashes is HARD!] followed by errand running--I found myself sitting in the grass next to Crystal the Composting Guinea Pig.





I'd brought out with me my copy of MELT [so I could see what I needed in addition to the Humboldt Fog cheese I picked up at the store earlier], my phone [since I hadn't even checked email yet that day], and some sun tea.

While Crystal moved methodically through the clover I quickly scanned both the cookbook and the unread emails then started to play a game on the phone.  
It was a gorgeous morning and all of a sudden it hit me.

I needed to put down the phone and just experience the warm sun on my prone body, the tickly grass underneath me, and the sound and feel of the breeze.




I lay in the grass in the warm sunshine like I haven't done in probably 30 years.  And when Crystal's maid my daughter came to let us know the cage was ready, I felt refreshed.
[I'd love to say that the feeling lasted throughout the day, but if you've ever nagged a teen to write an essay for an application that they are not motivated to write, you'll understand what an inner-peace destroying experience that can be.]



As I write this, though, I'm sitting on the porch with a Wee Oliver Picklepants in my lap.  His good eye is scanning the yard for pretty, but he's not budging from his comfy perch so all the birds that are enjoying the Spring are safe.  I've regained a bit of that peace.

Spend sometime outdoors when you can.

Single task while you're doing it.

Give yourself that gift.

Monday, April 14, 2014

Overnight Yeasted Carrot Waffles

A light and fluffy waffle tinged with shredded carrots for a Spring breakfast--start it the night before, then enjoy waffles without having to wake up enough to measure the batter ingredients.

A light and fluffy waffle tinged with shredded carrots for a Spring breakfast--start it the night before, then enjoy waffles without having to wake up enough to measure the batter ingredients.


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I promise you I am not that distractible . . . Squirrel! . . . I just have so. many. recipes to share and I want to share them all now.  Easter, Passover, Grilled Cheese month, Spring--ack!  But I don't want to post more than Monday/Wednesday/Friday.  What's a blogger to do?

When I started hashtagcarrotweek last month I fully intended to share 3 recipes, take a brief break from carrots and post some other seasonal recipes, then wrap it up with these waffles.

In the meantime my girl Julie has done WaffleWeek, so I'm awfully excited to point you over to Texan New Yorker if you're intrigued with waffles and want some more options, perhaps without yeast . . .
Me and yeast, we are friends--joining forces on pizza dough and bread.  Me and cutting butter or lard or shortening to make pie crust?  Not so much.
A light and fluffy waffle tinged with shredded carrots for a Spring breakfast--start it the night before, then enjoy waffles without having to wake up enough to measure the batter ingredients.


This is not my first rodeo throwing vegetables into a waffle.  I started with Butternut Squash Waffles, continued through Sweet Corn and Blueberry Waffles, and now carrots?  Carrots.  And not just carrots.  Yeasted Carrot Waffles. Overnight Yeasted Carrot Waffles, if like me you're perkier in the evening and can assemble the batter and let it hang out in the fridge, so that all you need to do in the morning is preheat the waffle iron while your tea is steeping.


Each time I incorporate vegetables into waffle batter I find the flavor of the vegetable subtly enhances the finished product.  The result is a waffle that is familiar enough for those who just want a waffle, dammit, without all this vegetable tomfoolery, but different enough to be a unique change of pace as well.  It is a versatile waffle.

A light and fluffy waffle tinged with shredded carrots for a Spring breakfast--start it the night before, then enjoy waffles without having to wake up enough to measure the batter ingredients.

The first time I made these was for a traditional weekend breakfast.  Subsequent editions got served with fried chicken [store bought--inches of oil are like me and cutting in butter].  All good, though.  This is a flexible, flavorful, unexpected way to incorporate Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share carrots into your family's meal.

For more recipes using carrots, please see my Carrot Recipes Collection. It's part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me eating from the farm share, the farmer's market, the garden, the neighbor's garden, and great deals on ugly produce at the grocery store.

I'm sharing more recipes on my Pinterest boards, follow me there. If you like a good peek behind the scenes like I do, follow me on Instagram. Need a good read? I'm sharing articles of interest on my Facebook page, follow me there. Want to know How to Use This Blog?

Friday, April 11, 2014

Dainty Radish Pizza and Tender/Crunchy Pizza Crust (Pizza Night!)

Thinly sliced radishes with feta, goat cheese, and shredded cheeses in a spring radish pizza.

Thinly sliced radishes with feta, goat cheese, and shredded cheeses in a spring radish pizza.

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In the early weeks of Spring, while we're eating out of the tail end of the Strategic Winter Squash Reserve and scraping frost off the bags of vegetables in the freezer, I start to moon over the upcoming Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) season.  I dream about trying old favorites, or new recipes with the vegetables I know I'll be getting, and ponder what might be new on the farm this year. One standby that will be in Spring farm share boxes is the radish.


Thinly sliced radishes with feta, goat cheese, and shredded cheeses in a spring radish pizza.


I knew I was going to put radishes on a pizza long before the CSA season began.  Shoot, I throw so much other CSA produce on pizzas, such as kohlrabi greens, kale, broccoli rabe and sweet potatoes--see my Visual Pizza Recipe Index for ideas--why not radishes? Since I'm the primary radish fan in the house, and I don't want to overwhelm the neighbors with radish gifts, I wanted to try to entice my family in a new way.


Thinly sliced radishes with feta, goat cheese, and shredded cheeses in a spring radish pizza.


One way for me to keep things interesting is to change up the way I prepare a vegetable.  If I'm used to roasting something, why not shred it, like this butternut squash-stuffed Chicken Saltimbocca?  I've already enjoyed slicing radishes on sandwiches, and shredding them in sandwich spread--but when I sliced a mess of pretty Easter egg-colored radishes on my Benriner (link to Alanna's post that had me searching one out for my own) I needed share this, and share this in time for Easter.


Thinly sliced radishes with feta, goat cheese, and shredded cheeses in a spring radish pizza.


I knew that radishes with butter and salt make a lovely sandwich, and that's where I was going with this pizza.  What I didn't expect was how delicate the pizza would look and taste.  It's a very dainty pizza, feminine, if you will, just like Crystal the composting guinea pig's delicate, feminine ankles [you're welcome for my not posting a picture of a dainty pig ankle, but know that I really wanted to]. However it is robust enough for my son (who would happily live on meat forever) to eat all the leftovers.  I think the combination of cheeses put it over the top for him--feta, goat, and shredded Italian blend? I'm in!


For more recipes using radishes, please see my Radish Recipes Collection. It's part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me eating from the farm share, the farmer's market, the garden, the neighbor's garden, and great deals on ugly produce at the grocery store.


I'm sharing more recipes on my Pinterest boards, follow me there. If you like a good peek behind the scenes like I do, follow me on Instagram. Need a good read? I'm sharing articles of interest on my Facebook page, follow me there. Want to know How to Use This Blog?

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Grilled Cheese with Country Ham, Leeks, and Tomato Jam

Sweet and salty, tangy and gooey, this grilled cheese sandwich with country ham, leeks, and tomato jam hits all the right notes.

Sweet and salty, tangy and gooey, this grilled cheese sandwich with country ham, leeks, and tomato jam hits all the right notes.

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You ever make a large quantity of a condiment, and then not know what to do with it? Yeah, that happened to me, too.  I had so many tomatoes that after putting up crushed tomatoes, seasoned and plain tomato sauce, green tomato bacon jam and salsa . . . whew . . . I decided to try making tomato jam.
I got the idea, and the recipe, from Marisa's first cookbook, Food In Jars (link to her eponymous website--hey, did I use that word correctly? Do I get points?).  Tomato jam sounded like something I ought to try, and since I'd nearly filled up my pantry with other tomato products I gave it a go.  It was easy because Marisa's directions are clear and simple to understand, she anticipates my questions and answers them before I think to say 'but, what about . . .'.  I got her book out of my local library.

In a ham sandwich, this tomato jam just sings.  The sweetness of the jam perfectly balances the saltiness of a slice of ham, and you bet I'll be blowing through a jar eating Easter ham leftovers*. But tomato jam with a chicken sandwich? It's not that terrific. Turkey? Um, no thanks. I needed to get creative.


Sweet and salty, tangy and gooey, this grilled cheese sandwich with country ham, leeks, and tomato jam hits all the right notes.


After I used country ham and leeks on a pizza, with asparagus and egg, I was inspired to try that combination of country ham and leeks in a grilled cheese sandwich with tomato jam.  Bingo!  The combination of salty bits of country ham [I like to bite my sandwich neatly, and not have the entire piece of meat pull out from between the bread, so I diced it] and sweet and tangy tomato jam is excellent. Add leeks, cheddar, and a griddle and you're golden.  Serve it alongside creamy tomato soup and you'll have such a sense of accomplishment, a la The Little Red Hen (and no shortage of folks to help you eat it!)--Amazon affiliate link if you're not familiar with the book.


For more recipes using leeks, please see my Recipes Using Leeks Collection. For more recipes for what to do with a glut of tomatoes, please see my Red and Yellow Tomato Recipes Collection. Yes, there is a Green Tomato Recipes Collection. All of these collections are part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me eating from the farm share, the farmer's market, the garden, the neighbor's garden, and great deals on ugly produce at the grocery store.



I'm sharing more recipes on my Pinterest boards, follow me there. If you like a good peek behind the scenes like I do, follow me on Instagram. Need a good read? I'm sharing articles of interest on my Facebook page, follow me there. Want to know How to Use This Blog?

Friday, April 4, 2014

Grilled Goat Cheese, Fresh Fig, Speck and Honey Sandwiches

This grilled cheese sandwich is creamy, sweet, and salty all in one gooey bite. Fresh figs, honey, goat cheese and crispy ham make an irresistible combination. Got fresh figs?

This grilled cheese sandwich is creamy, sweet, and salty all in one gooey bite. Fresh figs, honey, goat cheese and crispy ham make an irresistible combination. Got fresh figs?


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I'm just a big ol' tease these days.  The other day I teased you with the idea of canning your own tomatoes to make Creamy Tomato Soup, even though tomatoes are just a twinkle in my garden's eye right now.  Today I'm going to tease you with fresh figs.

I had my first fresh figs from our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share back in Virginia (link to their FB page).  Our farmers had a giant fig tree and shared the fruits with us lucky subscribers.  If you ever make have an opportunity to eat fresh figs I advise you to grab that opportunity with both hands.  I did, literally [technically one hand was holding a dog leash] and I'm so glad.  You will be too, when you see the variety of recipes I'll be sharing using fresh figs this coming summer (pizzas to chutney?).

This grilled cheese sandwich is creamy, sweet, and salty all in one gooey bite. Fresh figs, honey, goat cheese and crispy ham make an irresistible combination. Got fresh figs?


For my first of three grilled cheese sandwiches, I'm sharing a Grilled Goat Cheese and Honey sandwich with fresh figs and speck.  Next up will be a Grilled Cheese with Country Ham, Leeks, and Tomato Jam.  Finally I'll share another vegetarian grilled cheese since my first one, My Favorite Grilled Cheese Sandwich was getting lonely. This one with Hummus, Guacamole, and Corn Salsa.

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Creamy Tomato Soup with Home-Canned Tomatoes

A creamy tomato soup made with home-canned tomatoes, pesto, and roasted garlic.

A creamy tomato soup made with home-canned tomatoes, pesto, and roasted garlic.



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Grilled Cheese Sandwich month (season? day? week?) is coming, and before I share my fig-filled, or my tomato jam-spread, or my guacamole & corn grilled cheese creations I'd like to share the perfect accessory for all good grilled cheese sandwich meals--tomato soup.



A creamy tomato soup made with home-canned tomatoes, pesto, and roasted garlic.


Truth be told, I was a huge fan of the red & white can as recently as last year.  Heck, some of my favorite winter school day breakfasts as a kid were cups of tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich. What changed for me was the realization that I had the key ingredient to make a deliciously flavorful tomato soup right at my fingertips--a pantry with jars of home-canned tomatoes.  I'm going to tell you about canning tomatoes when it's NOT canning season for one reason:  to lay the groundwork/plant the seed in your brain, so that when summer comes you've had time to mull over the concept. [I'm honest and upfront with my brainwashing techniques.]

A creamy tomato soup made with home-canned tomatoes, pesto, and roasted garlic.
Canning need not be 3 generations slaving away in the kitchen. But it's fun if it turns out that way :)

Putting up tomatoes is a terrific way to step into the Big Scary World of Canning.  With a tall pot, a bunch of quart-sized canning jars--I would borrow from a friend a funnel and a pair of tongs jar lifter your first time--you can have the building blocks for a variety of meals.  If you don't grow your own tomatoes you've got plenty of options for amassing a canning quantity.


A creamy tomato soup made with home-canned tomatoes, pesto, and roasted garlic.
You do NOT need all of these supplies to can a few quarts of crushed tomatoes!
  • If you've got neighbors who are overrun with ripe tomatoes, especially neighbors who are older than you, offer to put up the whole mess and share the preserved bounty with the gardener. 
  • Ask your Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farmer to sell you extras.  Your farmers will be delighted to have ripe tomatoes go quickly and easily to a good home.
  • If you don't participate in a CSA but do frequent the farmer's market, tell a farmer that you're interested in "seconds" or "canning tomatoes", and when tomatoes are abundant you'll be doing each other a favor buying ripe and ready, perhaps slightly cosmetically damaged, tomatoes for a good price.
When I put up crushed tomatoes I follow the basic method--shared on the Pick Your Own website, on the National Center for Home Food Preservation website, on the Food In Jars blog, and in the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving (Amazon affiliate link) that I checked out of my local library a bunch of times before buying my own copy.

A creamy tomato soup made with home-canned tomatoes, pesto, and roasted garlic.
Gratuitiously long caption as I don't know how to make words appear when you hover over the photo (though I do know how to link parts of a collage to other posts):  All you need to can is a tall pot with some sort of shelf to keep the jars off the bottom; and jars, and water--lots of water; and a heat source to heat that water (and heat the tomatoes, too); tomatoes, lemon juice and salt and a sharp knife to cut the tomatoes plus a bucket to store the peels before they go to the compost, and a flat surface for them to cool, and a pantry to store your bounty. And the floating tomatoes?  I screwed up and let them get cool in between packing and processing. No problem, still good eating.

Canning crushed tomatoes is safe and easy if you follow the directions.  Just peel the tomatoes, squish the tomatoes, pack the squished tomatoes into clean jars with salt and lemon juice, and stick 'em under boiling water according to the methods I've linked to above.
Honestly, it's trickier to bake a cake--and not from scratch, I'm talking from a mix.  Did you measure the oil and water correctly? Are there shells in the batter? How do you know you've beaten it long enough?  How do you know if the pan is properly prepared?  How do you know if the top springs back enough? Sheesh! Tomatoes are acidic enough to start off, and you further make the environment hostile to undesirable stuff by adding lemon juice to each jar.  Follow the method from the sites above and you'll be successful. [/brainwashing]


A creamy tomato soup made with home-canned tomatoes, pesto, and roasted garlic.


Once you've got a quart of crushed tomatoes, soup is a short simmer away.  [Or a long simmer, if your spouse is unexpectedly delayed and dinner is late.]

For other recipes using tomatoes, canned or otherwise, please see my Red & Yellow Tomato Recipes Collection or my Green Tomato Recipes Collection, part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me eating from the farm share, the farmer's market, the garden, the neighbor's garden, and great deals on ugly produce at the grocery store.

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