Pumpkin cheddar muffins

When I was a kid, we used to go fishing with my uncle. We caught mainly perch, which were pretty easy to catch in Lake Michigan. Since there was much more catching happening than there was waiting for a bite, it made for a very fun day. We learned how to bait our hooks, how to cast, how to unhook our catch, how to string it up on a line. I got out of learning how to clean the fish, but I don't think my big brother was so lucky. There were enough fish to keep busy and feel successful, but still it felt like a little bit of luck and a little bit of skill when you did catch one.


Where we camp every summer, there is a creek that is stocked with ... umm, I think trout? (I am not a fisher, and I am definitely not well versed in fish species). Anyway, the creek is stocked with fish on a schedule, meaning that the fish are deposited at specific spots, on specific days, at a specific time.  


In other words, if you want to catch a trout in this creek, you go to the spot where the fish have been released, just after they are deposited there. It makes it pretty easy to catch a fish, since you know that there are tons of fresh, befuddled, fish all in one spot. The poor little fish, who just came from a hatchery, gets to swim his little heart out in a big pool, for just a few minutes, when he finds a big juicy worm (or a smear of weird-looking florescent bait stuff) floating in front of him. He takes a big bite of this opportune treat, and some fisherman gets dinner.


It hardly seems fair. It really doesn't seem like sport at all at this point. I really don't see how you can be proud of outsmarting a trout, let alone a trout that has been put there just for you to catch him.


And that is sort of how I feel about eating meat. I am certainly not opposed to eating meat. I have no problem at all with consuming animal. I strongly believe the human is meant to be an omnivore. However, I also strongly believe in buying sustainable, fairly-treated meat.


It doesn't really seem fair, though, to raise a chicken or a cow in a box barely larger than himself, and then march him up the chute at the slaughter house. There are so many things wrong with that. I know that even if a cow is raised in an open field, eating and drinking a natural cow diet, and getting natural cow fresh air and exercise and a real cow life, he still doesn't stand a chance. He is still going to be forced to the slaughter house. Short of making myself a bow and arrow and heading out to the plains, I can't think of a way to make it a fair fight between myself and the animals I consume. However, some time passes between a cow's birth and his slaughter, and it seems like he ought to at least enjoy the life he does have.


With the abundance on vegetables, and the price of free-range organic meat, there are far more vegetarian days in my house than there are meat days.


Tonight, we are eating a pot of vegetarian chili, along with these butternut squash - cheddar muffins. It was originally a pumpkin muffin, and I got the recipe from A Sweet Swiper, and she got the recipe from Chocolate and Chakra, and she got them from the book Baked Explorations. Rather than make you backtrack through all that, and since I made a couple changes, I am going to just give you my version of the recipe here. 

These muffins are delicious! The squash and the sugar add some sweetness, but the cayenne, black pepper, and sharp cheddar cheese balance them with a punch of spice and savory-ness. They make a perfect side dish with chili, soup, or stew.


And while we are on the topic of butternut squash, look for lots more recipes this week! I got a butternut squash the size of a hippopotamus, and with it I made these muffins, 5 loaves of "pumpkin" bread, a batch of "pumpkin" waffles, and a batch of "pumpkin" cupcakes. Phew!


Pumpkin -- or Butternut -- Cheddar Muffins
1 cup butternut squash or pumpkin puree
3 tablespoons plain yogurt
2 eggs
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 1/4 cups (about 4 ounces) grated sharp cheddar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly oil a 12-cup muffin pan.

In a large bowl, whisk together the squash and yogurt. Add the eggs and butter and whisk until combined.

In another large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cayenne pepper, salt, black pepper and brown sugar.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and fold until just combined. Fold in three-quarters of the cheese.

Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Sprinkle the remaining cheddar on top of the muffins. Bake them for 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Let the muffin pan cool on a rack for 10 minutes before turning out the muffins. Serve them warm. Makes 15 muffins.

crispy daikon radish cakes

I am beside myself with excitement over broccoli. 

Okay, maybe that came out a little too strongly. I am having a decent time fixing broccoli this week for my family. Which is good, considering the 16 heads of broccoli I got in the last two installments of my Abundant Harvest Organics box.

However, before I can tell you about all the amazing broccoli feats that are happening with lightning speed around here, I feel it is my duty to discuss other things first.

So sorry to get your hopes up and then dash them like that. I know you may not sleep well until the broccoli news hits the stands, but just think of how this delayed gratification is making you a stronger person.

Before I can move forward with anything else, really, I feel I have an obligation to discuss the daikon radish.

The who?

The Daikon Radish.

It came in my box this week.

You don't need to peel these. You can sort of see here how the
 little hairs all grow in a line down the radish? I just scrubbed well,
scraped off that one line on either side, and left the rest intact.

These three daikon radishes are each about 18 inches long. The sizeof them sort of shocked me. I thought they seemed awfully tiny. You see last year, about our second week into subscribing to Abundant Harvest (but before I thought to regale you with my tales of vegetable heroism), we received the first daikon radish of my life. And it terrified me. I had never seen or heard of daikon radish before that guy landed in my kitchen. And, measuring approximately thirty inches long and about 8 inches around, he was about as big as my arm. There is a daikon recipe in this post, I swear. I am eventually going to get around to sharing it with you, really. But to first give you perspective, the three daikon radishes above make one batch. That giant I had last year? He himself made three batches of crispy daikon cakes. No lie.

I wonder what is more typical. I only have had two polar-opposite experiences with daikon radishes, and I can't begin to imagine what an average daikon looks like. It's like putting my five year-old and Shaquille O'Neal next to each other and saying "These are males."

Anyway, all of this is to tell you that when I saw these junior daikon, I wasn't even fazed. I know just what to do with them, and they seemed so small as to be laughable.

However, over the course of the past year, I seem to have talked 5 or 6 of my friends into subscribing to Abundant Harvest (hi guys!). I am really not a salesperson. The way I talked them into it is through such luring statements as "Dammit. I have to go pick up my veggies tomorrow morning and I am not even halfway done with the last box. And I still have potatoes form weeks and weeks ago. And I just don't feel like dealing with it all!"

Somehow that got them to want to jump on the bandwagon. 

But, I remember clearly my first daikon of last year, and I remember that feeling of bewilderment and befuddlement.  And since I know that a lot of my friends have a daikon radish languishing in the fridge, I can't in good faith wait another day to help them out with a little suggestion of what to do.

And so, my fellow box getters, and all of you out there in the world who want to try out a daikon radish, I have for you this very yummy recipe. These little cakes are similar to a latke, but made with radish instead of potato, and with a little more Asia and a little less Israel. The radish flavor, although there, isn't nearly as strong as your average little red radish. They are divine dipped in a bit of soy sauce, and if you plan to make them, please invite me over!

Crispy Daikon Radish Cakes

I got this recipe from the gal who distributes my box for me each week. I have no idea where she got it, sorry!

Enough daikon radish to make 3 packed cups when grated (about three of these sized daikons)

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 green onions, minced

1 egg

2 Tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1/4 teaspoon white pepper

About 1/2 cup panco bread crumbs

Vegetable oil for frying

Run the daikon through a food processor, or grate by hand. Put it all in a colander with the salt, mix well, and let it sit for 30 minutes (no longer -- it will become something like sauerkraut).

Squeeze the water out of the daikon with your hands.  You want the daikon really dry.

While the daikon is draining, in a large bowl, beat the egg, and stir in the green onion, flour, sesame oil and pepper. Stir the squeezed daikon.

Form cakes, about 1/3 cup of this mixture each,  that are about 1/2 inch thick.  You will make about 8-10 cakes.

Scatter some panko on a plate and bread the top and bottom of each cake with a layer of panko.

Heat a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil (I use a combination of olive oil and a little more sesame oil) in a nonstick skillet over medium heat.

Pan fry the cakes until the bottoms are golden brown.

Flip the  cakes over and add a little more oil and continue to pan fry until golden brown.

Serve with soy sauce.

roast eggplant sandwiches

I think I mentioned before that I am not the world's biggest eggplant fan. I don't have anything against the suckers, but they aren't something I ever find myself craving. But see, that's the thing with getting a CSA box. You don't get to just eat the stuff you are craving, or the stuff that's your favorite. You eat the stuff that gets harvested each week, whether you wanted it or not. The amazing thing about Abundant Harvest Organics is that, due to it being a cooperative of sorts between many farms, there is much more variety than any one single farm could provide on its own. As a matter of fact, years ago we tried a CSA share from a small farm located practically in our neighborhood. They were swell folks, but there was only so much kale that my newlywed self and my young groom could eat in a week. On the other hand, Abundant Harvest makes sure that my box has a whole bunch of variety not just within each box, but also between weeks.

Part of what I love about this whole veggie box experience is the creativity and the new experiences it provides for myself and my family. It has certainly made us all try lots of new things we hadn't before... and likely never would have! And even things that aren't necessarily new are sure making their way into our diets far more that they used to.

For example, the eggplant. Whether I was looking for it or not, there it was.

I though about a few different ways I could prepare it, and as I considered and tossed out such ideas as eggplant parmesan and eggplant lasagna, I finally settled on eggplant sandwiches.

I followed the recipe that I found on allrecipes.com, and LOVED it! My husband said, "If we were in a restaurant right now, I would already be planning to return... and place the same order." I take that as a compliment in highest form.

Anyway, the sandwich is very simple... it's just eggplant and some other very delicious ingredients stacked up. Somehow they turn out to be an amazing combination that tastes amazing and is very simple to prepare. Other than mixing up the garlic mayonnaise (which I recommend doing in advance to let the flavors meld) and quickly roasting the eggplant, all you need to do is build the sandwich. I served these with some slaw I made out of bok choy and carrots... and I will give you that recipe tomorrow.

For now, enjoy this one!

Eggplant sandwiches
enough for 2 tall sandwiches

1 medium eggplant, sliced 1/2 inch thick
some olive oil (enough to brush the eggplant slices)
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 cloves garlic
2 (6-inch) sandwich rolls
1 medium tomato, sliced
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves

If you can, prepare the mayonnaise ahead of time and refrigerate. Simply mince the garlic cloves and stir into the mayonnaise. If it is going to sit for any length of time, be sure to refrigerate.

Turn on the broiler element in your oven.

Slice the eggplant and lay out on a baking sheet. Brush both sides with oil. Place the baking sheet in the oven, about 6 inches from the broiling element. Cook for about 10 minutes, or until nicely toasted.

Split the rolls in half and toast. (I do mine by simply placing them, cut side up, directly on the oven rack and leaving for about 3-4 minutes to toast under the broiler). You can use your toaster or toaster oven if you prefer. It's less risky, since they go from toasted to black pretty quickly.

Spread the mayonnaise on the roll. Stack up the roasted eggplant, tomato slices, feta, and basil leaves.

Enjoy!

bell peppers stuffed with quinoa, tomatoes, beans and cheese

Woo hoo! I got meatless Monday back on track. I got lost for a couple weeks there, but now I am back. One in a row.

For our Monday dinner, I wanted to find a way to use up some green bell peppers from the AHO box, but most recipes for stuffed peppers that I could find are made with rice and ground beef or turkey. After thinking a while about this, I decided to use one of the oldest vegetarian tricks in the book... substitute beans for meat, and therefore lose the animal, but retain the protein.

Instead of rice, I went for my new favorite grain, quinoa. (Okay, technicality police, I know it's not a grain. It's the seed from a plant related to the tumbleweed. But really? Tumbleweed? Let's just think of it as a grain. It goes down a little easier that way.)  Ever since my fist quinoa experiment, I have been using it instead of rice just about everywhere. I like it better, and supposedly it is nature's miracle. So I feel better about eating it.

Anyway, I took the quinoa and I took the beans and I saved some tomatoes from death on their vine, and I added some cheese and I stuffed the peppers. Oh my oh my. What a delicious dinner. Lucky for me, there was enough for two days of leftovers! (You may not end up with so much to eat tomorrow. I have kids who won't tough most of what I make, and that leaves more for me. This recipe should serve 4-8, depending on whether you are using it as a main dish or a side.)

This recipe is loosely based on one I found at Vegetarian Times.  I have to warn you, it takes about 2 hours from start to finish!

Stuffed Bell Peppers

4-5 tomatoes, chopped (about 2 cups)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

3 carrots, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon ground cumin
3/4 cup quinoa
2 cups vegetable broth
pinto beans (again, I used some that my husband cooked, but you could use a can. I used about the equivalent of one can of beans)
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
bell peppers (I used 9 very small peppers, because that is what I had. I imagine that 4-5 average peppers would use up this amount of stuffing. But if you have some extra stuffing leftover, lucky you! It makes a great burrito for lunch!)

First, chop the tomatoes. Reserve as much liquid as you can from the cutting board. Place a small colander into a baking dish on your counter.  Put the tomatoes into the colander and let the juice drain into the baking dish. This will help steam the peppers when you bake them, as well as keep them from sticking to the dish). Set this aside to drain while you prepare the rest of the dish.

Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the oil, and then the carrots, onion, garlic, and cumin. Saute for about 5 minutes, until the carrots and onions are soft. 

Add the quinoa and vegetable broth and bring it all to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cover. Let it simmer for 20 minutes, until the liquid is absorbed and the quinoa is fluffy. At this point, start heating the oven to 350.

When the quinoa is done cooking, stir in the drained tomatoes, beans, and about half of the cheese.

Cut each pepper in half, and remove the ribs and seeds. Stuff each pepper with a mound of the filling, and place them in the baking dish with the tomato juice.

Cover the pan with tin foil, and bake for an hour. After the hour, remove the foil, sprinkle the rest of the cheese evenly on the peppers, and bake for another 15 minutes, until the cheese is lightly browned.

Enjoy with some crusty bread and a big green salad!

zucchini and herbed ricotta torte

A few weeks ago I made a hummus and roasted vegetable torte that just rocked my world.  Actually, it was the simple, four-ingredient, flaky delicious crust from Soma at ecurry that was the world-rocking part.

And so, on meatless Monday yesterday, at about 4:45, when I had no idea what to make for dinner, I remembered Soma's awesome torte crust. Luckily I had all the ingredients on hand, and away I went!

After making the crust (this time with rosemary), I went about loading it up with the vegetables that are still lingering from last week's box. Ahem. That is to say that this week I am somehow faced with catching up on all the stuff we somehow didn't get around to eating last week, and at the same time tackling this week's bounty. I am not sure how this is all going to work out, but I guess there are worse problems in the world than having too much delicious, fresh, organic produce on hand.

Back to 4:45 yesterday. With my crust safely baking in the oven, I had 12 minutes of free time to figure out how to top it. We have no hummus on hand right now, but while rooting around in the fridge I found some ricotta. Perfect! Mixing the ricotta with some fresh herbs gave it plenty of zip, and topping it with a couple of the veggies I needed to attend to made it perfectly tasty. Again, I think it would make a perfect appetizer, cut into  small squares. However, though, this time it was the main course here, served alongside a big salad.

And so, I give to you, my zucchini, tomato, and herbed ricotta cheese torte!

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon fresh rosemary (or any other herbs you have on hand)

1/3 cup + 2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup + 1 1/2 tablespoons very cold club soda

1 cup ricotta cheese

1/4 cup basil leaves, cut into thin slivers

2 tablespoons chives, chopped finely

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 medium zucchini

about 12-14 cherry tomatoes

crushed red pepper flakes

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Mix the flour, salt, pepper and herbs together. In a separate small bowl, whisk the club soda and olive oil for a couple minutes, until they become creamy and well incorporated.

Pour water-oil mixture into the flour mixture, and combine with a fork just until there is no dry flour left. Using your hands, form the dough into a ball.

Divide the dough into two pieces and roll each one separately. Place the dough between two pieces of parchment paper, and roll in only one direction (not back and forth). Last time I did it, I went for a rectangle. This time, I let it take on the shape it wanted... a sort of loose oval.

Bake it for 12 minutes, until the crust is starting to become golden.

While it is baking, prepare the toppings:

First, mix the ricotta with the garlic, chives, and basil, and set aside.

Using a vegetable peeler (I used my new y-shaped peeler. For $4.99, it is giving me a whole new happy life in the kitchen! Why didn't I invest in this baby sooner?), cut the zucchini into thin ribbons. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half.

When the crusts are done, remove it from the oven and let it sit for a few minutes to cool a little bit.

Spread the ricotta mixture evenly over both crusts.

Spread the zucchini strips in an overlapping layer over the torts, and sprinkle with the crushed red pepper, salt and pepper. Place it back in the oven for about 10 minutes, until the zucchini starts to soften.

When it comes out of the oven, top it with the tomatoes, and cut into pieces.

End of Summer Chili Pot

I had one of those days last week, where I just didn't know what to make for dinner. I needed something to put on the table, but for the life of me, I couldn't think of anything that sounded appealing. It was Monday, so I was looking for something meatless. Unfortunately, Meatless Monday has sort of become "Pasta Monday" around here, due largely to my lack of planning and creativity. However, I am trying to watch my carbs, so I wanted to do something different.  But what?

I was on the verge of cooking a baked potato for each member of the family and handing it to them plain, but I am not so sure that would do much for my carb concerns!

Luckily, I ran into my friend Kirsten who also happens to get the Abundant Harvest Organics produce box every week, and she suggested that I look up their recipe for End Of Summer Chili Pot. She assured me it would be yummy, and that it would use many of the items in my current box.

I am not usually a huge chili fan, but my husband is. I figured it would be good enough for me, great for him, healthy, chock full of veggies, and far better than a plain potato. As a matter of fact, we went ahead and ate the chili on baked potatoes, but it is certainly good -- and hearty -- enough to stand on its own.

The recipe calls for ground beef or turkey, but I left that out since it was meatless Monday. I added in some beans instead, since I can't quite reconcile the name "chili" with anything that doesn't contain beans. I happened to have some pinto beans in the freezer, but red beans, kidney beans, white beans or black beans would probably do nicely. Use whatever you like... or whatever you have on hand.

I wasn't thrilled about cooking this dish... it just seemed like a good enough dinner idea when I started. I have to say, though, that I ended up loving it!! As a matter of fact, I think I know what we might have for dinner again tonight!

Here is the chili the way I made it:
(Here is the way Abundant Harvest makes it)


1 tablespoon olive oil
1 red onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 zucchini, chopped
1 bell pepper (red or green), chopped
2 jalapenos, seeded and chopped
salt and pepper
kernels cut from 3 ears of corn
2 tbsp. chili powder
1 tbsp. paprika
12 ounces vegetable stock
3 cups diced tomatoes
2 tbsp. shopped fresh thyme
2 cups beans

Heat a large, heavy pot over medium heat. Add oil. When the oil is hot, add the onion, garlic, zucchini, bell pepper and jalapenos. Season with salt and pepper and cook until the vegetables start to soften (about 6-7 minutes). Add the corn, chili powder, and paprika, and cook for another minute or two. Stir in the stock, tomatoes, and thyme, and cook until slightly decreased, about 10 minutes.  Stir in the beans, cook for another couple of minutes, until the beans are heated through.

Serve over a potato or in a bowl. Top with shredded cheese or sour cream if desired.

Broiled Tomatoes with Asiago and Herbs

Know what my friend told me the other day? "Hey guess what?! You have a blog!" I had almost forgotten. Or so it may seem.

You see, though, we went out of town. And we cancelled the box for that week.

So there's that.

And then my camera battery ran out (you know, from taking millions of pictures of my cute kids while we were out of town.)

So there's that.

And I couldn't find the battery charger for a couple of days, because it went out of town with us, and somehow it came back home with us in the cupholder of my car. I know it makes no sense, but there it is.

So there'e that, too.

And then I finally did get the battery out of the car, charged, and plugged back into the camera. And I got the next box of produce the next week.  And then, about 2 hours later, I was hit with a nasty stomach bug and spent the weekend in bed.

So there's that on top of it all.

And then the dog ate my blog.

Okay, that's not true. But the rest of it is. And although it is just a list of excuses, they are real excuses, and so I can do nothing but work on the assignment and turn it in late and hope that you give me partial credit.

Anyway, what we did do in between all of the doing things wrong and making excuses for them, was to collect a whole bunch of tomatoes out of the garden. Oh my oh my. I am not much of one for pale, orange, mealy tomatoes that you get from the supermarket or at a restaurant. I am, however, quite smitten with fresh, juicy, red tomatoes that come right off of a vine and into my kitchen. Especially when you dress them up with warm melted cheese and crisp bread crumbs.

These particular tomatoes became the focus of our Meatless Monday dinner last week, just before the camera battery died. (ahem. Sorry for the horrible pictures. It was an unexpected death.) We ate them with a twice-baked potato casserole, and a salad. Again, it seems a tad like a dinner of side dishes, but it is working for me right now!

Broiled Asiago Tomatoes

5-6 tomatoes, sliced thickly
1/4 cup asiago cheese, grated
1/4 cup chopped fresh parlsey
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
salt and pepper

Slice the tomatoes and lay them in the bottom of a baking pan, overlapping if necessary.

Mix together the remaining ingredients, and sprinkle evenly over the tomatoes.

Turn the broiler on to high, and place the tomatoes on the oven rack closest to the broiler. Broil for only a few minutes, until the cheese is melted and the bread crumbs are toasted. (they can burn quickly, so watch closely!)

Corn Fritter Stack

Meatless Monday took Labor Day off. Which is not to say that I ate meat. It is just to say that I didn't post anything about it.

I spent the whole weekend with my family at Bass Lake.

For those who aren't from California, (and for some of you who are but have never heard of Bass Lake), it is the best lake in the state. Or maybe the world, but I can't vouch for all the lakes of the world. Minnesota itself has 10,000 that I've never seen, for starters. It is located just south of Yosemite, right about here:

But Bass Lake is beautiful. The water is clean-ish (for a lake), the area is gorgeous, and the air and water temperatures make for tons and tons of hours spent tubing, swimming, floating, canoeing and kayaking.

But not cooking.

So, I don't have much to write about this minute. But I will tell you about these delicious corn fritters that I found on meatlessmonday.com. They should probably be served as a side dish or salad, but we ate them as the main course for our meatless Monday. Along with some potatoes and a green salad, maybe it wasn't the most conventional meal, but it sure made our bellies and our faces happy.

Corn Fritters

1/2 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
corn cut from 3 grilled cobs
1 shallot, minced
oil, for coating the skillet
3 large tomatoes
1 cup (packed) fresh basil leaves
balsamic vinaigrette

Combine the flour and baking powder. Stir in the milk, egg, corn, and shallot.

Heat a skillet on a stove set at medium. When it is hot, coat it in oil. Drop the corn mixture in approximately 1/4 cup mounds, and flatten with a spatula to about 1/2 inch thick. Cook about 2-3 minutes, until it is getting dry around the edges and bubbles are forming. Turn, and continue to cook about a minute more, until it is cooked through.

To serve, stack corn fritters, slices of tomato, and basil leaves. Dress with a bit of vinaigrette.

Roast Red Peppers Sandwiches on Focaccia

It is hot. Hotter than Hades around here. I believe it got up to 107 yesterday. So hot, in fact, that my local hometown newspaper ran an article in which some of my townspeople, I'm ashamed to admit, explain that they have found it necessary to carry water bottles... and (oh! The horror!) rent a movie instead of heading out to the park. My hometown newspaper is fabulous for great tidbits like these.

At any rate, if there is one thing I am not so interested in when it's ridiculously hot out, it's cooking.

I thought that sandwiches would be a fabulous dinner, but I wanted to make them a tad more special than the usual PB&J that makes its way to school in the lunchbox every day.

Veggie sandwiches were the order of the day... and I did end up cooking a little bit. I roasted the peppers, so the broiler was on. But only for about 10 minutes, so that doesn't count. And I did bake the focaccia, but that was early in the morning, so that doesn't count either.

I love love love roasted red bell peppers, and here is how I do them (they work great on the grill as well, but it was to hot to go outside and stand near the grill, so I did them in the oven this time).

Turn on the broiler, and scrub the peppers clean.

Place the whole, uncut pepper straight onto the oven rack, near the broiling element. (If you place a baking sheet on a lower rack, it catches the dripping pepper juices, which will make cleaning up much easier). Turn the peppers every couple of minutes with a pair of tongs. You want the pepper to get as black and blistery as possible all over. It will take a total of about 10 minutes.

After the pepper is blackened, take it out of the oven and place it into a plastic or paper bag, and close up the bag. Wait a few minutes while it gets all sweaty and steamy. When you take it out, the skin should peel right off the pepper, leaving you with a delicious roasted, skinless bell pepper. Cut it up, removing the seeds, stem, and ribs. For sandwiches, I leave it in pretty big planks.

Once you have your bread and your roasted peppers, it's just a matter of stacking up a sandwich and enjoying the life of Riley. Especially if you lived the life of Cinderella earlier this summer and made some pesto and some pickles that you can grab.

Mine had lettuce, tomato, bread and butter pickles, sharp cheese, roasted peppers, and pesto.

Mmmmmm.

Summer Vegetable Tian

Ahhhh. I am content.

We are back in a routine.  School, girl scouts and boy scouts, karate and piano lessons. Dad gets home at dinner time, kids are in bed at 8:00. It's lovely.

Don't get me wrong. I do love summer, what with the sleeping in, running off to the beach on a whim, eating dinner any time between 4:00 and 9:00 pm, and going days at a time without looking at a clock. Now that I think about it, I am not sure why I feel so happy to be back at school.

But it's true. After a couple of months of relaxing, we are ready to get back to normal. I get tired of running a 24-hour diner, and there are only so many times I can ask "Who left the __________ (legos, books, dirty clothes, dirty dishes, towel, shoes, crayons, athletic supporter) on the ____________ (living room floor, dining table, stairway, hallway, entryway, doorway, kitchen counter)?" before I go insane. It's nice that the kids get away from each other and from me for a few hours a day.

Last week, I left some green beans roasting in my oven when we went to karate class. I had it all planned out so that the food would cook while we were gone and I could do the last minute glazing and tossing when we got back. I forgot, though, to set the oven timer. Oops. So the green beans were a little bit shriveled and dry. There are worse things, right? Like... the house could have burned down, and it didn't. So there.

If the kids continue to be as involved in after-school activities as they are now, I see a lot of crock-pot cooking in my future. Crock-pot cooking seems so autumn-ish, that I think I'll wait a while yet.

Anyway, part of the new routine is Meatless Mondays, and here is a roast vegetable dish that I managed not to overcook. Although it is probably considered to be a side dish, I served it as the starring attraction, along with some crusty bread and a green salad.

Summer Vegetable Tian
(I got this recipe here.)

1 sweet onion, cut in half and then sliced
2 Tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 potatoes, un-peeled
1 zucchini
1 summer squash
4 roma tomatoes
salt and pepper, to taste
dried thyme, to taste
1/2 cup grated Asiago cheese

Preheat oven to 375. Coat a round baking dish with cooking spray.

In a skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil. When hot, add the onions and saute for about 9-10 minutes, until translucent. Add the garlic and continue to saute for about another minute.

Transfer the onion mixture to the baking dish.

Slice the potatoes, zucchini, summer squash, and tomatoes into 1/4 inch slices. Stand them upright in a spiral in the baking dish, alternating the vegetables. Sprinkle the salt, pepper, and thyme on top, and drizzle the remaining olive oil over it all.

Cover the dish with foil, and bake until the potatoes are tender (about 40 minutes). Uncover, and sprinkle the cheese over it all. Bake another 25 minutes, until the dish is browned.

basil pesto

As I mentioned last week, this here little blog is now adhering to the concept of Meatless Mondays.

I have decided to start buying free-range, organic, grass-fed beef and chicken, and it's not as cheap as buying the equivalent meat in a supermarket or at Costco. However, here's the thing. The meat at Costco and the supermarket isn't the equivalent. Once I started reading about feed lots and factory farms and the stuff that the animals consume (as in cheep feed, antibiotics, and hormones) I decided I just can't give that stuff to my kids.

I am not so much worried about the chances of them dying of e coli or mad cow disease. I realize that the chances are very slim, and there are slim chances that they could die form anything at any moment. Lightning might strike one, or a plane could crash. If I lived my life worried about the things that could happen, I would have them all stuck in the house, wrapped in bubble wrap and eating only organic water chestnuts.

I am more concerned about the things that will happen over time. And my kids have a lot of time left for things to build up in their systems. (Let alone all the things building up in our ecosystems). Studies are showing that kids are hitting puberty earlier and earlier (thanks, in part, to hormones in the milk and meat), which leads to problems physically and socially. Doctors are finding kids who are obese, and yet malnourished (thanks, in part, to food that is primarily made of soy and corn... and yes, even cows are primarily made of soy and corn). A huge percentage of the food we eat is processed and sold by a very few companies, with very few ingredients. We are also in a race to keep developing new antibiotics faster than the diseases are developing resistance to them. The diet the food animals are being fed is so different than the diet they would have had naturally that the animals constantly get sick. Rather than change the diet, though, the factory farms just treat the sickness, by adding antibiotics right into the very food that weakens the animals in the first place. I don't want my kids' bodies to have a baseline of antibiotics already in their systems from the meat they eat. I want them to be able to fight disease.

There are so many ways to fight the problems in our food supply. One is to eat more fruits and veggies than we are currently eating. Another is to avoid the empty calories and processed foods that we are inundated with. We need to eat a bigger variety of foods, and we need to be careful about where we get the food, in order to avoid eating pesticides, antibiotics, meat from diseased animals, and chemicals.

One of the things I am focusing on is eating better meat. However, I do realize that it costs more. I am glad it does, because I find something wrong with 50 chicken nuggets for $9.99. That can't be quality food. I am willing to pay the money that the farmer requires to keep his livestock healthy and happy. I don't think $1.99 a pound is a bargain when I think about what I got for my $1.99.

I haven't found a tree (organic or otherwise) that grows money, however.  I can't afford to buy great meat as much as I was able to buy bad meat. And so, we will eat less meat.

I had a neighbor years ago who had moved here from Afghanistan. As she was preparing food for an Eid celebration, she mentioned to me that she would be cooking different dishes than she usually feeds her family. She said, "This is a party to celebrate the end of a month of fasting. I will have to honor my guests by serving them meat. Ordinarily we don't eat much meat."

I think I need to readjust my way of thinking to be more like that. Meat is a luxury. I don't plan to become a vegetarian, but I don't need to eat meat at every meal. It can become a special food. I don't plan to fast every day for a month either, but I am sure that the more I go without meat, the more I will appreciate it when I eat it.

I am also not going to make a huge stink about it. I won't turn away dinner at a friend's house if she buys her chicken breasts at Costco. I won't avoid restaurants (although I may opt for meatless entrees). As it is, though, I have this huge box of vegetables to eat my way though every week, so I am not going to restaurants much these days anyway!

And so, Meatless Mondays. I will certainly have more meatless days than just Monday. I just want to make sure that at least once a week we eat no meat. I figure if I make a point to do it on Monday, and I happen to eat meatlessly any other days, all the better.

There we have it. The long-winded version of why I made pesto. But wait! There are other reasons to make pesto. Don't do it because you are denying yourself meat. Do it because it is delicious, versatile, and easy. Do it because it freezes well, so you can have quick delicious meals any weeknight you want. Do it because basil is the food of the gods, and there could never be enough ways to enjoy it.

Basil Pesto
2 cups packed fresh basil leaves
2 garlic cloves
1/4 cup cashews or pine nuts (I happened to have cashews on hand, and although they have different tastes, both work well)
2/3 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Place the basil, garlic, and nuts in a food processor and pulse until it is chopped.
Add the oil. (If you plan to freeze it to use later, only add 1/2 cup of the oil at this point. If you are going to use it right away, add it all). Add salt and pepper and cheese and pulse until it is smooth.

If you are going to freeze it, put it in a airtight container, and pour the rest of the oil on top (this will help it keep the beautiful bright green color, and keep it fresher).

The pesto works great with pasta, on pizza, or spread on crostini. You can also use it to flavor chicken or fish. On Tuesday.

I used my pesto to make a pizza. I used this pizza crust recipe. After rolling out the dough, spread a thin layer of the pesto over it. Top it with fresh mozzarella slices and slices of ripe tomatoes.

You can grill it (like I did) or cook it in the oven. Either way, it's a little slice of heaven.

salt potatoes

I can't decide whether you want to hear my soapbox speech or not.

hahahaha. Who ever wants to hear anyone on a soapbox?

You can guess what it's all about anyway (eating locally, healthfully, and sustainably), so let's just skip ahead to the conclusion:

.... and that is why I have decided to force offer the opportunity for my family to go meatless one day a week.

Have you heard of the movement Meatless Monday? The gist of it is that it is very much good for your health and the planet if you abstain from meat one day a week. It doesn't have to be Monday, but "Meatless Thursday" lacks a little... je nais se quoi.


Click on that link up there if you want to know more about the reasons or get some recipe ideas. You can also find out about chefs who have made their restaurants meatless every Monday, and celebrities who are following the plan. In case you want to eat like a celebrity.


This family is going meatless on Mondays from here on out. At least until I get bored of it, anyway.

Here is the thing, though. Don't tell anyone around here. Lucky for me, no one in my house reads this blog, so they won't know. They are so used to eating what is placed in front of them, that they won't question me. We eat meatless meals fairly often, so it shouldn't be a noticeable issue.

My blog, too, is going meatless on Mondays. That's right, if it's Monday and you are craving a big ole' steak, don't come here. You ain't gonna find it.

Since we are starting this evening (with pesto pizza), I had to go through some older pictures in order to share something meatless with you today.

But it's a good one!

Salt Potatoes
New York Times 

In Syracuse, where this dish originates and still holds its own at state fairs and restaurants alike (so I'm told), in the 1800's Irish workers in the salt mines ate this as their daily lunch. While boiling the brine to distill the salt, they threw in some small potatoes to boil just before lunch time. In the summer, when the baby potatoes are coming out of the ground, you can buy a bag of potatoes and the salt in a combination package.




This is a very simple recipe, and one that you won't regret trying. The potatoes, after boiling at an extra-high temperature in the very salty water, come out with crinkly skins and creamy insides. Combine that with the salty flavor and some butter and herbs. Mmmm mmm mmm.

It's a crazy amount of salt in the boiling water (spill some while you cook and you can watch the water evaporate and leave a salt deposit on your counter). However, since the potatoes aren't peeled or pierced in any way, they don't get salty on the inside.

8 cups water
1 1/2 cups Kosher salt
3 pounds baby potatoes (scrubbed and with skins intact)
1 stick butter
fresh rosemary (you can use whatever herb you like, but I am partial to potatoes and rosemary)
pepper

Bring the salt and water to a boil. Add the potatoes, and cook until tender. It will take about half an hour.

Drain the potatoes (and watch the salt show up immediately on their skins).

Melt the butter in the cooking pot, add the herbs. When the butter is fully melted, add the potatoes back into the pot, toss and serve hot.


Enjoy!