Make Your Own Layered Taco Dip Bar

Set out skillets and bowls of your favorite fixings, along with plenty of chips, and let everyone make their own layered taco dip just the way they like.

I think this time of year is an ideal time to strut your stuff. Show off what you've been up to in the kitchen, show off the fabulous job your Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farmers or you cousin's sister's daughter* did in the farm or garden. I think a Make Your Own Layered Taco Dip Bar is an excellent way to do so.

A Make Your Own Layered Taco Dip Bar works for a variety of eaters and appetites. Vegetarians and omnivores alike can heap their plates high, and if you just want a nibble of a few things you're good as well. It can be an appetizer spread or a full on meal. Most of the toppings can be prepared in advance, making this as easy as browning ground beef and whipping up a Fast & Easy 3 Ingredient Bean & Hatch Chile Dip.

You can set up this concept any time of year as fresh vegetables--while delightful--are not integral to the spread. Preserved [I've put up 4 kinds of salsa so far this year] and frozen vegetables work just fine. A Superbowl party, an entertainment industry award event, basketball playoffs, the Stanley Cup . . . [do they do something for baseball?] or just because. Or you could just set up a Make Your Own Layered Taco Dip Bar for a family dinner, like I've shown here.

My brilliant friend Cathy, upon hearing all about the salsas I've been making, suggested I host a Salsa and Margaritas party. I love the idea! Right now is hectic--along with putting up the garden bounty as it comes in fast & furious, I'm spending my energy helping my spouse deploy. The idea of a party is a wonderful thing to clean the house for look forward to, so I've scheduled one for later this year. I'll provide the house, my Cheater Margarita Smoothies and an assortment of salsas [and dogs, I also have an assortment of dogs--but they will be out of the way with the kids]. I will invite my guests to bring their favorite margaritas, guacamole or salsa, chips, or dessert. Let me know if you host one!

For more appetizers, please see my Awesome Veggie Apps and Snacks board on Pinterest. For more Layered Vegetable Appetizers, please check out my Clickable Collages of Recipe Suggestions page and scroll own past the beets. Finally, because I started this blog not to bury Caesar my recipes, I've got both a Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient and a drop down menu of ideas on the right sidebar. Want to know how to use this blog? Click here.

Cherry Peach Salsa

Fresh cherries and peaches with fresh lime juice. Banana peppers make this a mild, kid friendly salsa that is great with chips.

My neighbor called me the other day to let me know she was 30 minutes out with half a cow [and did I want any?]. The kids and I sprang into action, defrosting the meat freezer and making room. Since I was on a roll with defrosting freezers, I continued the following day by defrosting my fruit and vegetable freezer aka microwave stand. I'm happy to report that all freezers are humming along happily.

One way to enjoy local food year round, when you don't live in a place like California or Hawaii where things grow year round, is by freezing plenty when it is ripe. Each summer I put up berries, stone fruits, corn, beans, tomatoes and peppers to enjoy in the winter. In my rush to get enough fruit squirreled away I rarely stop to enjoy fresh fruit. This salsa is one exception.

Fresh cherries and peaches, combined with the bite of banana peppers, makes a mild and fruity salsa. We enjoyed this with blue corn chips for the full Eat The Rainbow extravaganza. It dressed up the leftovers of our anniversary Mexican take out. I added kernels from an ear of cold cooked corn to the remainder for a fruit-veg salsa combo--also good.

For other recipes using cherries, please see my Cherry Recipes Collection. For other recipes using peaches, please see my Peach Recipes Collection. For other recipes using banana peppers, please see my Pepper Recipes Collection. These collections are part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a useful way for folks like me eating seasonal abundance from the farm share, the farmer's market, or the generous gardener next door. I've got a Fruit board on Pinterest, but I'm also going to pin this to my Awesome Veggie Apps and Snacks board because I think it fits.

Zucchini Pancakes for Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner

Patties of shredded zucchini topped with buttery spread and cheese. Make these small for hors d'oeuvres or large for a side dish/vegetarian meal. A terrific way to eat an abundant vegetable.

I've been eating zucchini pancakes for over 30 years. Whoa. That's a long time for a staple dish like this. High time I put it on the blog.

Growing up, my folks gradually turned our backyard into an edible space. The old small in-ground pool was filled in and used for rhubarb and other perennials, and I distinctly recall having the responsibility of a hammer (!) to break up the concrete patio that became a strawberry patch. My dad grew up on a farm and with his skills we grew beans, corn, chard, squash and tomatoes. In addition to the strawberries we had cherry and apple trees. Urban homesteading before it was hip.

Although we grew up with a glut of vegetables at different times of the growing season, I don't recall my mom stuffing zucchini into endless loaves of zucchini bread. Perhaps like me she hadn't wanted to turn on the oven. She made these savory pancakes instead. In Mom's curling cookbook, where I found this recipe by Lois Robertson of the City View Curling Club in Ottawa, ON, the title is Zucchini Crepes but we always call them zucchini pancakes. These are similar in preparation/use to my Turnip Fritters and to Meghan's Kohlrabi Fritters. 

Use any summer squash you choose--just shred them as fine as your technology allows you and squeeze as much liquid out as you can. You can also freeze shredded squash for out-of-season pancakes. Freezing the squash breaks the cell walls so that when thawed the liquid seeps out and you get a nice dry squash. Since you lose more moisture after thawing, I generally freeze 1½ times the amount of zucchini that I'll want to use after thawing.

For more recipes using zucchini all day long, please see my Zucchini Recipes Collection, part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient. I've also got a Summer Squash Recipes Collection in case you've got a mixed bunch of summer squash and don't know what to do with it. I pin squash recipes of all seasons to my Squash Pinterest board, and share seasonal recipes and round ups from around the web on my FB page. For info on how to use this blog, click here.

Beet Hummus--and an improved Beet Recipes Collection of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient

Steamed beets + chick peas and tahini make a tasty, pretty, pale pink hummus.

I'm still waiting to find the beet recipe that I will adore. The beet recipe that is the last way I'll ever want to prepare beets. The beet recipe that makes me look forward to beets in the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share box with antici . . . [say it] . . . pation.

I've found that recipe for beet greens. I love them for breakfast or brunch, prepared this way. I could happily eat beet greens like this for the rest of my life. My family doesn't share the beet greens love, so I keep sharing new beet greens recipes on the blog.

In my summer project to transform my little blog Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient into a resource for folks eating from the farm share, I reached out to other bloggers for their beet and beet greens recipes. I'm delighted to show off the fruits of our combined labors [their recipes and my recall of my ABCs] in this post. I've got over 50 recipes to date and more coming!

The beets I used to make this hummus did not come from my farm share. During the window of time between the last Fall share delivery and the first pick up of the 2015 season, the generous folks from Melissa's Produce sent me a lovely cookbook and some packages of steamed beets. If you don't have access to fresh farm share beets, this product would be a good substitute. The beets are small enough to pickle or use as a side dish, and peeled/cooked ready to use. I used mine in hummus, and other I was not required to write nor compensated for this post [other than the beets + the cookbook].

As you can tell from the start of this post, I still haven't found the beet recipe. But this one ain't half bad. It's cute with carrot slices for dipping, it's pretty used as a spread inside wraps, and it tastes great with pretzel thins. Adding chick peas and tahini tones down the vibrant color to a pleasing pink.

Why yes, a kohlrabi leaf does provide a pop of color to your appetizer spread.

For more recipe suggestions to help you find YOUR BEET RECIPE, please see my newly-expanded Beet Recipes Collection, part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient. I'm sharing additional vegetable appetizers on my Awesome Veggie Apps and Snacks Pinterest board and on my FB page. Need help using this blog? Click here.

Red White and Blue Savory Appetizer: Beet, Blueberry and Goat Cheese Rounds

Roasted beets, crumbled goat cheese and fresh blueberries combine in a savory summer appetizer.

I noticed the crisp flags snapping in the warm breeze as I walked Vincent yesterday morning. One block over, the whole street was covered with small flags planted along the edge of the sidewalk. The flags had been up for Memorial day weekend but since taken down.  It's not yet Independence day . . . . aha! Flag day. When we returned home I hung our flag out in front of the house.

I'm sure most people around the world will agree with my sentiment "I love the colors of my country's flag". Now, I'm not narrow-minded enough to think the world loves the flag of my country. I'm referring to people all over the world loving the flags of their countries. With bold crisp colors and simply classic designs, flags are beautiful. Flags are inspirational. Flags are timeless. I am fascinated when a flag seems to reflect the personality of the nation it represents.
Think on that for a while.

In the land of Pinterest it is traditional to serve foods combining the colors of our flag. I am positive Betsy Ross did not intend this sort of craziness, however here we are. I have yet to live in a place where I can get local fresh strawberries and local fresh blueberries simultaneously in early July, and if it ain't a local berry it ain't shOK, a soapbox for another time. I got inspired to try a savory red white and blue appetizer after making these sweet Red, White and Blue Muffins. I wanted to use the colors of my flag in a tasty way and thought of my Beet and Goat Cheese spread. Adding additional goat cheese and some fresh blueberries gives me the look I was going for as well as the fresh flavors I crave.

I spent yesterday sharing my worm bin and love of garlic scapes with the young gardeners in our town's historical society. They got to take home beet greens, but I know beets will soon appear in my Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share in time to make this recipe [and to use those amazing beet greens to make this recipe].

For other recipes using beets, please see my Beet Recipes Collection. For other recipes using blueberries, please see my Blueberry Recipes Collection. These collections are part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks looking to eat from the farm share. I'm sharing additional vegetable appetizers on my Awesome Veggie Apps and Snacks Pinterest board as well as on my FB page. Want to know how to Use This Blog? Click here.

Grilled Green Beans with Garlic Scape Pesto and Parm (side dish and appetizer)

 Fresh green beans, grilled until nicely browned, tossed with a garlic scape pesto dressing and buried under a dusting of Parmesan cheese. Use the leftovers for an appetizer wrapped in salami.

I have been all up in my grill for the past two months. Ever since my spouse assembled the monster, the grill became an never-ending source of inspiration for side dishes and planned overs aka repurposed leftovers. Now that I type it out, my farm share box is often the same sort of inspiration, albeit perishable inspiration.

I started a Grill Life List with a slip of paper, documenting all of the vegetables and meats I've grilled so far. Then I misplaced the slip of paper. I'm switching to notebooks. Speaking of, although I have not tried this system, I know a few folks who use it and it looks cool: Bullet Journal.

Today's recipe was made in that window of time after I've used up all the winter farm share stores, emptied the freezer of bulk frozen vegetables [Garlic Scape Pesto and Green Tomato Bacon Jam remain at the ready] and have to actually shop for vegetables in the store until the farm share starts. I asked my spouse what veggies he felt like eating and he wanted green beans. Green beans can give me something to work with, are good blog fodder, so I picked up a massive bag of the tender fresh ones at Costco.

I'm sharing this recipe both as YET ANOTHER NUDGE to make and freeze garlic scape pesto [my previous nudge is Grilled Garlic Scape Pesto Smashed Potatoes] but also because it fits in with my summer eating plan [more about that in the future when I have space to sit and write]. In a nutshell, though, when you're cooking, cook extra to use on nights when you don't have time/it's too hot to cook. This is not rocket science. I mean, I can come up with plenty of reasons not to cook--it's too hot, too rainy, I get home too late, I'm out of ______ (insert name of key ingredient). This reminds me of Matt Scott's Nike commercial. Point is, when I do cook I may as well cook as many things as I can, and figure out ways to use them later.

After enjoying these beans as a side dish I turned the leftovers into a savory appetizer. I wrapped 3 to 4 beans in a slice of thin salami and served the bundles alongside other leftover vegetables, cheese, and crackers. The pairing of crunchy grilled green beans with salty salami is a good one, and way too easy to make.

For more recipes using green beans, please see my Green Bean Recipes Collection. For more recipes using garlic scapes, please see my Garlic Scape Recipes Collection. These are part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient. You can find more vegetable appetizers on my Pinterest board, Awesome Veggie Apps and Snacks. Want to know how to Use This Blog? Click here.

Green Garlic Hummus with Green Garbanzo Beans

Freshly harvested mild green garlic and green garbanzo beans make a colorful and flavorful dip.

We are all hungry. My spouse is bike commuting these days and comes home starved. My kids get home from these last weeks of school and are starved. I think about making dinner and get peckish. Having an easy appetizer on hand, one that is protein-packed like hummus, is such a time- and appetite-saver for us all. I'm not worried about mindless snacking when I know what went into the dip.

Sometimes I'm buying the giant vats of Sabra from Costco to get our hummus fix. Sometimes I'm looking around at the contents of our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share box for hummus ideas. I've done quite a few for the blog--here are some of them:

In the spring we sometimes get fresh green garlic in the farm share. I like to play with it and try new things--I grow my own garlic but I've never harvested it as green garlic. Susan of Luna Cafe has a Fresh Primer on Green Garlic and Garlic Scapes--check it out here. [The garlic scapes, however, are something very worth harvesting--here's what a brand new baby scape looked like on my tallest plant the other day]. 

This hummus marks my first foray into green garbanzo beans. I saw some at my local spice shop and couldn't resist. I had no clue that spice shops existed before I moved to Dayton, and now I'm aware of 3--although I primarily shop at Spice Paradise where I got these beans. You can also make this with regular dry or canned chick peas. Whatever's easiest.

Green garbanzo beans and green garlic seemed like a good idea--so I made a hummus. We enjoy hummus with carrots, pita chips, pretzel chips, and even piled up in a plate with other summer eats for an easy dinner.

For other recipes using garlic, please see my Garlic Recipe Collection, part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient. Want to know how to Use This Blog? Click here. For other vegetable appetizers, please see my Awesome Veggie Apps and Snacks Pinterest board. To see what's up in the garden, feel free to check out my FB page. And, for more clickable collages of recipe suggestions like the hummus above, click here. 

Spiced Cottage Cheese Chip Dip

Cottage cheese blended with spices makes a simple dip that is great with potato chips or vegetable dippers. But really, you want it with potato chips. The ruffled kind are best.

On this blog I typically share how I feed my family the seasonal produce of the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share. Occasionally I'll share other, non-produce inspired recipes.

This is one of those times because every summer gathering needs a good potato chip dip.

This is an old family recipe that has been passed onto the 3rd generation. My daughter now makes it, and scribbles the amounts I call out in decimals--".66 mayonnaise", anyone? It seems awfully silly for a family recipe of what amounts to a diet food [used as a way to get more potato chips into my mouth] but no matter.

Growing up my mom didn't buy those tubs of sour cream-based dips for parties. She'd just make up this dip instead. When my brother comes home from overseas, in addition to fried eggs, he wants a bag of chips, a container of cottage cheese, and seasoned salt--the bachelor version. I thought everyone ate cottage cheese as a chip dip, and had no clue cottage cheese was thought of as a diet food until recently.

We are particular about our cottage cheese and prefer a dried style and smaller curd than most nationwide brands. Each time we move I have to find a new cottage cheese source, and here in Ohio it's Michigan brand cottage cheese.  Since I'm still not really sure how to respond when someone yells O-H!, and since my spouse is from Michigan, there is no foolish sports-related reason not to live in Ohio and enjoy Michigan brand cottage cheese. No sponsorship implied--sharing a fine example of 'good' cottage cheese for this dip. Back on the east coast it was Nordica brand. I never found a good brand in Hawaii. I ate sushi and malasadas instead.

For grins and giggles, even though there's not a vegetable in it or a Chip Dip Category on it, check out the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient. If you're still got time to kill while avoiding something more pressing, head over to Pinterest and follow my Awesome Vegetable Apps and Snacks. Still want to poke around? Learn how to Use This Blog here.

Avocado Queso Dip

Avocado blended with queso and salsa verde for a creamy smooth dip. An excellent base for another layered vegetable appetizer.

This is not a sponsored post, though it probably reads like it. It's just on my mind, coming through the pen, and eventually through the screen. There is nothing to disclose.

In anticipation of Earth Day my family spent Saturday morning at our community park. We dug out muck from a drainage ditch, spread mulch across a playground, and enjoyed the pleasant feeling of being tired from physical work. That sounds so snooty, but our workdays are not spent shoveling, raking, and hauling wheelbarrows. It's a nice change to work at something physically and have immediate gratification. We went home and kept on going. Spending a weekend doing yard work is very fulfilling for me, though I understand I'm in the minority. I can deal with that.

See, I've got a secret: I've got good tools.

Just like how sharp knives and pizza stones make my days successful in the kitchen, the right tools make working in the garden a dream. I've mentioned my daughter's peach trees before, but what I haven't said was that the semi-dwarf variety was sneaking up to the power lines. My spouse fretted, then researched and bought a pruner stick. This tool is amazing. After he lopped off the offending branches, my daughter took charge and completed her annual pruning with ease. She's taller than I am, true--but her success comes from this tool. [It's her tree, she's in charge, we just advise and assist as needed.] One success led to another and I decided to do something about the bush that was trying to take over the driveway.

Last year a rogue branch dove down and took root in the mulch, starting a new colony right next to the asphalt and that just wouldn't do. I grabbed a trimmer but got stuck on the whole 'T Rex arm lack of upper body strength' thing. My spouse suggested I try the pruner. Holy cow! That thing cuts through thick branches like butter! After I brushed off some dirt from the blade it went in my finger like butter, too. Don't be like me, treat this tool with respect. [I still have 10 fingertips, I'm healing fine.] I extricated dead shrubs with this workhorse before switching to a smaller tool to remove the spent raspberry canes and transplant some new starts to make a second raspberry bed. On a roll, I fed the strawberry patch a Spring breakfast of coffee grounds and leaf mulch, then decided to feed the rest of the garden beds as well. The kids mowed after I picked violets to make my next Wild Violet treats, and my spouse de-dandilioned the yard with his favorite Japanese tool before spreading mulch on the dogs' race track, re-banking Dead Man's Curve.

We're greening up our little part of the world. Here's a green appetizer for you.

For other recipes using avocados, please see my Avocado Recipe Collection, part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient. For other Awesome Veggie Apps and Snacks, please check out my Pinterest board of the same name.

Spicy Lima Bean Dip with Avocado

Lima bean and tahini dip with avocado for creaminess and salsa verde for spiciness. Top with more veggies and queso cheese for a tasty snack!

Ah, April. Everything is greening up outside. Our grass is enjoying the recent rains which, along with last Fall's snack of finely shredded leaves worked in with the mulching mower, results in a vibrant lawn I'd be proud to let a guinea pig nibble. Sadly after 5 years we are without guinea pigs to nibble grass. Instead, I have a posse of dogs who enjoy lying in the sun of an afternoon.

Vincent with the garlic bed.

I've planted peas and chard in the garden, and each day the garlic looks stronger and taller. Interestingly, there's now garlic appearing in 3 out of our 5 raised beds. I rotate my crops and apparently I have missed several bulbs over the years. If I get them out this time, I'm curious what a 'forgotten for 3-4 years' garlic bulb looks like. I'll share a photo on my FB page.

I wanted to green up our plates, as well. In the months leading up to the start of the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share season I bounce between using put up vegetables from the freezer and buying fresh vegetables from the store. It is a treat to buy avocados because I know I'll be able to enjoy them as soon as they are ready (they won't be preempted due to vegetable triage).

In this recipe, I decided to keep the green theme going and use some lima beans from the freezer. I grew up eating lima bean and corn succotash but my kids are not fans, so I was looking for another way to use them. The lima beans blend nicely in a food processor and make an awesome veggie appetizer.

For other recipes using avocados please see my Avocado Recipes Collection. For other recipes using beans, please see my Bean Recipes Collection. These collections are part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource to help my readers figure out what to do when they've got ____________ to use. For other Awesome Veggie Apps and Snacks, please see my Pinterest board of the same name.

Greek-seasoned Salmon, Artichoke and Feta Dip

Greek-seasoned salmon with feta cheese and artichokes in a baked dip--terrific for a Dip Dinner!

Having an assortment of dips for dinner is a nice way to change up the dinner hour. Dips are easy to assemble in advance--no last minute work involved!
After spending time outdoors enjoying the return of warm sunshine I'm not necessarily ready for a heavy meal--but I'm happy to turn on the oven.
A dip dinner like this makes a good compromise meal. I like to offer choices, knowing that my spouse will clean up whatever is left another night as a pre-dinner snack. [Sometimes it can drive me batty that dinner will be ready in 7 minutes and he has to eat something NOW, but if I've got a bit of this or that to use up I'm all over it.]

It is hard to show a black dog against a dark background.

For this Dip Dinner I had this Greek-seasoned salmon, artichoke and feta dip, a vegetarian spinach feta artichoke dip (to be coming soon) and a mash up of this dip and the vegetarian one. That mash up won't be written up for the blog--it was too wishy-washy of a dip.

This recipe came from my friend Sarah while we were both living in Hawaii over a dozen years ago. She served it at a rubber stamping party and I immediately requested the recipe. I've played with the recipe over the years, sharing a slow cooker & swiss chard variation early on the blog, Slow Cooker Salmon Swiss Chard Artichoke Dip, as well as an arugula & artichoke version, Baked Artichoke & Arugula Dip.  I like my apps, and you can find many more ideas on my Pinterest board, Awesome Veggie Apps and Snacks.

I opted to try a Greek version using this new spice blend I picked up at a shop downtown (see Note below) along with feta cheese covered in a magical markdown sticker. This is a very good combo which we'll have again. For more recipes using Salmon, you're out of luck until I add protein to the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient. I have worked my way through the whole salmon I bought at the grocery store down the street (wild caught, overnighted from Alaska, and cut & wrapped to order). For more recipes using marinated artichokes, please see my Recipes Using Veggies In Jars Collection, which is really quite a mouthful but a tasty one at that.

Loaded Pizza Fries #EatWithWest #ChubbyChasingMission #CysticFibrosisAwareness

Beef and salami sautéed with farm share vegetables then coated in a seasoned tomato sauce top these baked fries. Mozzarella and cheddar cheese covers the whole pan in cheesy goodness.

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For the first year of this blog I posted a new pizza recipe every Friday night. I shared recipes for pizza dough, savory pizzas with fruit, vegetarian pizzas and pizzas with meat toppings. I posted so many pizza recipes that I even created a Visual Pizza Recipe Index to keep them all tidy, and a Pinterest board devoted to pizza, Friday Night Pizza Night.
Over the second year I added to the Index more slowly, interspersing Friday pizzas with other types of recipes but broadening the types by adding Deep Dish pizzas [I'll probably add a Deep House Dish category to the VPRI at some point since I'm amassing a collection in my notebook].

Today's post is a three-way collision between a Friday pizza recipe & meaty appetizer, a bonus alternative use for the topping, and a request for my readers to help out a family in my town by posting photos on social media. Let's start with the food, which weaves its way throughout the post. I admit I'm slightly surprised by how this idea of mine turned out. When I started thinking about this recipe, I envisioned some sort of pizza-flavored sloppy joes served on slider buns. Kinda like these:

The flavor of the filling was fine, but it was too . . . sloppy for me. This is when the kids are pretty tickled to come home from school and hear "I'm trying a new recipe. Eat one of these pizza sliders for after school snack and tell me what you think." [They like those days better than the "we've got too many beets in the freezer, here's a smoothie" or "find something to eat, I'm busy editing" days].

I'm posting these photos of my kids eating on the blog for one reason--to encourage a little guy in my town, Weston, to take another bite of food. Weston is 3 and needs to gain some weight, and if he doesn't do it by eating he'll need to have a feeding tube inserted in his tummy. Seeing photos of folks eating tasty food encourages Weston to take another bite, so I've tagged this post with the hashtags #EatWithWest, #ChubbyChasingMission, and #CysticFibrosisAwareness. I'd really appreciate it if you could tag and share photos of you/your kids/your uncle eating and share them on your favorite social media channels too. 

You can read about Weston and his mom's social media campaign here.