Black Mission Figs and cheese for dessert!! Wonderful washed down with a meritage from Orin Swift called "The Prisoner".

Dinner Last Night: chicken and homegrown eggplant parmigiana/scarpariella light!

Adventures in Food, Travel "Flu" and Rainy, Productive Sunday!

So, I've been gone for a bit, traveling it seems for a month with a few days in between locations for buffers and have spent those buffer days stewing with an illness of some sort each time.

The first trip was to Ecuador and Galapagos for a dive trip and I returned with dysentery.  The food on the live-aboard dive boat was good as always.  I tend to use dive trips as a type of "fat camp", since we are eating "out" and diving and even though one burns a lot of calories diving, there's no exercising in between dives, so I feel like a slug.  So, I make smart choices, don't pig out and take advantage of the extra calorie burn.  This trip was full of diving that required much more exertion since we were fighting strong currents (2-3 knots), raging surge and chasing whale sharks.  Unfortunately, the chef prepares yummy snacks in between meals and dives like fresh cinnamon rolls, empanadas, brownies and rich hot chocolate.  I'm not one to turn down a cinnamon roll.  His desserts were also great, but I avoided those mostly and tried to eat veggies, fruits and drink lots of herbal tea.  I couldn't have anticipated the dysentery, though (who can?) or the raging fever and body aches.  Armed with antibiotics and not sure what exactly was going on, I chose from my antibiotic medley, the amoxicillin, carried in case of ear infection.  I loaded up on tylenol and started the antibiotic immediately.  That night (the last night on the boat, thankfully, so I didn't miss any dives or land tours), the boat was traveling and the seas were pretty rough.  After a terrible night's sleep, by fever finally broke, but I was still having "issues".  The next two days were pure hell, sitting in the airport and then having to spend a day and a half in a hotel in Guayaquil as we awaited our flight home. The flight was a red eye and just as torturous.  I finally felt better enough to eat some breakfast, but after two bites, realized there was no way I could eat airport food.  The dysentery got worse and I finally gave in and called a doctor who sent me to the hospital.   Incidentally, if you get a "bug" like that in the Southern hemisphere, your better bet for an antibiotic is Cipro.  If you're not better after two- three days, the antibiotic won't help and can irritate your stomach.

Don't get me wrong, the trip was great, the diving magical, the food was really good, the company was entertaining (hubby, brother and our videographer friend), and the weather cooperative.  Food poisoning can happen anywhere.  TGIF, Mc D's, Pizza Hut, a four star restaurant.  Don't let my story prevent you from traveling to far-flung places.

The good thing about that episode?  A twelve pound weight loss!!!  So, two days after I started feeling normal again, but still on a bland diet, we headed to Philly for work for hubby.  A little dining extravaganza and some clothes shopping and I was better.  Then less than a week later we were off to the capital of all culinary adventuring: Italy.  Hubby had a meeting outside Milan, so I was left to my wanderings solo and then we took a few days at Lake Como for a belated anniversary trip.  Heaven, pure heaven and highly recommended!

Let's just say it's a good thing I arrived with a 12 pound weight deficit, because I made up for it!!  How do the Italians get anything done?  The food!  The wine!!  The cheese!!  The gelato!! The fresh pasta!! The wine!  Oh, already mentioned that one, didn't I?
We ate and ate, and I drank a lot of coffee, wine and aberol spriz's, prosecco and limoncello.  So I think the 12 pounds is back!  Needless to say, I also came back with a sinus infection or bad cold or something.  Heck, it might even be allergies.

So, today, feeling better and inspired, I'm going to try my hand at some of that wonderful homemade pasta.
Also, want to make some risotto milanese and husband is asking for osso bucco, which I've made before and love. I might just pick one thing to make today.

Oh and update on the garden: the cole crops I put in were not happy with the spate of dry, hot weather and were wilting a bit, also under siege by harlequin beetles.  The scarlet okra is coming in, I still have some dainty eggplants and managed two teensy yellow squash before they caved to the torrential amounts of squash bugs.  My second planting of beans that were fruiting when I left were decimated by bean beetles and obliterated when I returned.  The cucumbers, cantaloupe and watermelon were already on the way out, thanks to the heavy rain that came while we were gone to SA (late August) and the vine borers and squash bugs.  I managed to salvage two watermelons and three cantaloupes.

What I do have lots of to use and give away?  Peppers!!!  Still, tons and tons of peppers coming in, mostly hot peppers: super chilis, jalapenos and anaheim.

In a week, I am going to try to start digging sweet potatoes.  I dug one and roasted it with some regular potatoes and pesto and it was really good!  They have to cure once you dig them up so that they become sweet and also hardy for storage.

I'll keep everyone posted as things come in and post pictures of any creative dishes to come.  Last week I managed to squeak out one dish, Chicken Scarpariello, which was excellent!

Happy cooking and happy gardening and here are some pictures of food from our recent travels!

Three pastas at Osteria in Philly: clockwise, from bottom right: beet and goat cheese plins, postage stamp ravioli with trumpet mushrooms and thyme, lamb sausage with gamelli

Fish (don't remember what kind. rockfish?) with Israeli couscous and green beans also at Osteria

Pineapple mojito at Cuba Libre

Cappuccino at Vanini cafe in Lugano, Switzerland

Snapper Veracruz Style

This will give you a way to use up those last tomatoes of the season, the ones you've saved from the stink bugs.  Yes, the stink bugs!  They are sucking the juice from them right on the vine and then passing some sort of bacteria or virus on to the vine.  I think there are still some questions about what exactly they are doing with them.  Anyway, the tomatoes don't look so pretty anymore, so why not cook them up in a yummy dish like this.

This is taken from the Queen of homemaking and insider trading, so it should be pretty perfect, just like her. (tongue firmly planted in cheek).  It's pretty close to what I do and since I don't have a recipe for what I do (for anything except baking), I am posting this one for you.  Personally, I like to add strips of sweet bell pepper to mine, usually yellow since there's already red and green in the dish.  Saute or grill your snapper with a touch of salt and pepper in butter if sautéing and with oil if grilling.  By the way, Canela is Spanish for cinnamon, but you can use regular cinnamon.  They usually use one that's from Ceylon, but it really doesn't matter unless you're grinding your own.  Cinnamon is cinnamon, lady.

Makes 6 to 7 cups

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 10 garlic cloves, 6 left whole, 4 very finely chopped
• 2 medium white onions, finely chopped
• 8 to 10 large ripe tomatoes, (about 4 pounds), finely chopped, or two 28-ounce cans Italian plum tomatoes (preferably San Marzano), coarsely chopped, with their juice
• 24 pimento-stuffed green olives, sliced if large
• 4 to 6 pickled jalapeno chiles, stemmed, seeded, and cut lengthwise into thin strips
• 2 teaspoons small capers
• 4 dried bay leaves
• 1 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme, or 1/2 teaspoon crumbled dried thyme
• 4 sprigs fresh marjoram, or 1/2 teaspoon crumbled dried marjoram
• 4 sprigs fresh oregano, or 1/2 teaspoon crumbled dried Mexican oregano
• 2 teaspoons coarse salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground canela
• 1 cup dry white wine

Directions

1. In a medium stockpot, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add whole garlic cloves, and cook, stirring, until golden on all sides. Remove garlic and discard. Add minced garlic and the onion. Cook, stirring frequently, until onions are translucent, about 3 minutes. Stir in tomatoes. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly reduced, about 15 minutes.
2. Add olives, chiles, capers, bay leaves, parsley, thyme, marjoram, oregano, salt, canela, and wine. Cook until the sauce has thickened to desired consistency, 15 to 20 minutes. Taste and adjust for seasoning. If using fresh whole herbs, remove and discard before serving.

NEXT TIME: POTATOES!!!!  Including roasted, almost potato chips and mashers!

I'm Finally Getting Melons!!

Anyone who knows me, knows how funny that title is, but the reality is, I've never successfully grown melons.  HA!  That's funny, too.  Seriously, folks, (because you know I'm always serious), this year the melon patch is doing really well. (From here on I will refer to the melon patch, not melons).
"What did you plant," you ask.  I have no idea.  Well, let me clarify.  I know I planted a type of cantaloupe (orange fleshed) and a type of watermelon.  I just don't know the variety.  I'm guessing Muskmelon or Crenshaw cantaloupes and Sugar Bush or Sugar Baby seedless watermelon.  The fun thing is that they will be coming in toward the end of August, maybe middle of September, way after all the others are done.  Maybe any cool nights will make them extra sweet, who knows?  

The only other time I did have mild success with a melon patch was also the year I had a very successful groundhog.  He was extremely good at assessing the ripeness of a cantaloupe which proved to be his favorite thing in my garden.  I was growing a French variety.  (Oui, oui, hunh, hunh)  I would look at the cantaloupe and smell it and say, "One more day and you should be just right" or "Two more days", etc.  Well, Mr. Groundhog was obviously trying to be helpful and just wanted to teach me how to judge a melon's ripeness.  Sure enough, the next day, I would find the carnage in my melon patch.  Usually there would be a half eaten or mostly eaten cantaloupe either still in the patch or right by the gate.  He was crawling under the gate to enter and exit, so I imagined him dropping the melon in a mad dash to escape.  Either that, or he was full, considering he was also eating beans that year.  And by eating beans, I mean he started out with groundhog ADD and ate the bottom half of each bean and then he just mowed the plants down.

I'll take a whole herd of deer over one groundhog. The one time a buck jumped the fence, he only ate a cucumber.  Thankfully, I have a nice fence apron buried down in the ground about two feet and it goes out another four feet or so, so they're discouraged and I have a board buried in front of my gate, so they can't dig under it.  I have my fingers crossed that they won't climb the fence because they can climb.

In the meantime, it's cucumber heaven out there and would be squash heaven if it weren't for the squash bugs (an evil variant of the stink bug) and the worm vine borers.  If you have any leaves just wilt and fall or break off, you've got worm borers.  No real solution.  I used my last organic resort last night.  After finding a dead bumblebee in my cucumbers I worried that it was from the spinosid I sprayed the night before.  I tried to keep it off the blooms and fruits, but it's really hard to do that when the bugs you're trying to eradicate are in that spot.  Also, squash and cucumber blooms close up at night, so I thought they were safe.  I always wait until I don't see any bees buzzing around.  So last night I just did some direct spraying of the bugs with some Espoma Earth Tone.  It contains pyrethrums, an extract of chrysanthemums, but also has canola oil which smothers eggs. I use this only as a last resort because it effects the nervous systems of bugs and I worry about the beneficials getting hit.

If anyone has some suggestions for how to use all these cucumbers, let me know!

Thanks! Happy Gardening!

Provencale vs. Veracruz

And the winner is......

They're both winners because they're easy, tasty and will make people think you've been cooking for hours!!

Following are the two recipes for Provencale and Veracruz that I use.  The first one is for Chicken Provencale but you don't have to make it with chicken the way it describes.  For instance, I made the sauce earlier and used a TBL of butter in place of the chicken fat.  The next day, I flattened a chicken breast, grilled it and then heated my sauce and poured it over, followed by some freshly grated parmesan.  You can also serve it over fish, like grilled halibut.  And you can dump all the ingredients in a crock pot on top of some chicken, set it and forget it and come home to a house that smells incredible and a finished dinner.

Pasta is great with it, too.

Chicken Provencal - Poulet Provencal
Adapted from Cook's Illustrated

6 - 8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
1 tsp of olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
6 cloves of garlic, minced
1 anchovy fillet, minced or 1 1/2 tsp. anchovy paste
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1 C dry white wine
1 C chicken stock/broth
1 14 oz can of diced tomatoes, drained
2 1/2 TBL tomato paste
1 1/2 TBL fresh thyme leaves, chopped
1 1/2 TBL fresh oregano1 bay leaf
1 tsp herbes de Provence (optional)
1/3 C nicoise olives, pitted and roughly chopped
Zest from 1 lemon
2 Tbsp fresh parsley

Heat 1 tsp of olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium high heat. Cook the chicken thighs in batches (4 at a time if you’re cooking 8, since I was cooking 6 small thighs, I squeezed them all in there). Add the thighs skin side down and cook until the skin is crisp and golden brown, about 5 minutes. At first the skin will stick to the pot but when they start to brown, they'll release easier from the pan. Turn the thighs over and brown the second side until golden brown, another 5 minutes. Remove the chicken thighs and set aside. Drain all but 2 tsp of fat from the pot.

Add the onions to the pot and cook over medium heat until browned, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic, anchovy, tomato paste, and cayenne and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds to 1 minute. 

Add the wine and scrape up the brown bits and then add the chicken broth, tomatoes, thyme, bay leaf, and herbes de Provence (if using). 

Remove the skins from the chicken thighs and nestle them into the pot with any accumulated juices. Bring to a simmer then either cook in the oven at 300ºF for about 1 hour or barely simmering over low heat for an hour. 

Remove the chicken and set aside and discard the bay leaf. Cook the contents in the pot over high heat until thickened and reduced, about 5 minutes. Stir in olives and cook for 1 minute. Then off heat stir in the parsley and lemon zest and spoon the sauce over the chicken. Serve with crusty bread. 

Gardenitis Gangbusterus

The cucumbers are coming hot and heavy, so I don't know where the "cool as a cucumber" thing fits in!  Well, of course, I do: after you get them in the fridge and it's too hot to eat anything but frozen grapes and cucumbers!

Speaking off hot, what a great year for peppers!  My hot peppers are gangbusters, too.  Trying to find fun things to do with them, but they are SO hot, that's it's challenging.  Give 'em away and freeze them is about the only thing I can do.

I don't even want to think about the beans I have to go out there and pick...RIGHT NOW!!!  It'd be a shame to waste them and I will be wasted if I don't beat the heat.  I already hear the cicadas and katydids, so I better get out there pronto.  I just wanted to let you know that if your tomato plants are looking terrible, that's perfectly normal for this time of year, especially if you planted them early, like April.  Plus, the heat is hard on them.  Any temperatures over 95 and they're irritated little campers.

A warning, too, about a new pest for tomatoes: our friend the Stink Bug.  Yep, they are crawling all over those last little fighting fruits and leaving little white spots on the skin.  I'm looking into finding out exactly what they're doing, so I will be back on that.

If you have any seeds left over, plant them now!  Especially broccoli, cabbage, brussel sprouts, beets, and any other cole crop.  That's cole, not cold.  I always thought it was cold, too, but it's actually cole:

“Cole crops” is a general term used to describe several vegetables in the mustard family, including broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, kale, and kohlrabi. All cole crops are cultivated varieties of the species Brassica oleracea. They are cool-season vegetables that prefer 60° to 70°F temperatures for optimal growth and can withstand light frosts without injury.

So there you go.  It's kind-of like: "a hard row to hoe".  Most people mistakenly say, "a hard road to hoe" which actually combines two idioms.  "It will be a hard road ahead" and "a hard row to  hoe".  Of course you cant hoe a road!  Silly.  But most people have never had a garden, so they don't know what that refers to and they only know the word "hoe" in one illicit context with a different spelling.  So there ya go!

It just so happens that cole crops are also "cold" crops in that they do well in cold weather.  Cooler weather also makes them sweeter, so that's something you got going for you.  But beware the harlequin beetle!  He is so pretty, but when my broccoli was dying off, they were covered with tons of them "Getting down" if you know what I mean (kind-of like "hoeing") and then when I dug my potatoes, I saw millions of leeeetle baby ones all over the place.  They're going to have a field day when they see my little broccoli coming up.  So just be aware and get that Spinosid ready.  And remember spray spinosid only after all the bees and butterflies have bedded down for the night and are no longer feeding.  Spray the leaves of the plant only.

So plant your cole crops, your spinach, lettuce, arugula, etc. and enjoy veggies straight into October.  With our long Indian Summers, you're really not limited very much by growing seasons.  Pick up some old sheets and you can cover them when there are frost warnings.  I'll have more information on this stuff as it gets closer, but for now, enjoy those cukes, squash, eggplants, beans, whatever you have coming in and check the Farmer's Market for anything you need.   Buy local, eat seasonally for better taste and better health!!! (And it's a whole lot cheaper, too!)

Happy gardening!

Technical difficulties

So apparently, the Blogger mobile updates function is buggy.  I noticed that several of my posts were either broken up or missing parts.  Not able to load photos either, so I will only be able to make little tiny posts from my iPhone.  Sorry for the confusion!

Cooking with Kids

Jolie's Pizza

So, what to do with all that bounty and a rainy summer day?  Cook with kids!  Pizza is one of the best things you can do, because it involves baking, assembling and eating one of kids' favorite foods.  Recently, I did this with my girls in culinary kids' camp at Culina, so I thought I would try it again with my friends' kids while they were visiting from the lake.  It's a good thing that I planned on this activity because we had a totally rained out day at the lake during our week there, so in lieu of TV, movies, or computer time, I dragged them into the kitchen for some happy pizza making.  Once they donned their matching girlie Jesse Steele aprons, they were only too happy to cook!

We used the Ina Garten pizza dough recipe, substituting one cup of white flour for wheat and used the bounty of tomatoes from the garden, some handmade mozzarella, turkey pepperoni and some mixed shredded cheese.  What a blast.  Then we made some for the adults, using some leftover pineapple (from Tropical black bean salsa), prosciutto, onion, mushrooms...you get the idea.  Instead of sauce, I just cooked down some tomatoes, skins and all, added some garlic and used those on the par-baked crust.  I must say, that it worked great.

It's a great project with kids and if you use parchment paper to roll out the dough, you can then transfer the parchment right to your stone or cookie sheet and then pull the paper right off the hot sheet (it cools almost immediately) and there's virtually NO MESS!!!!!!

Don't forget to make a fun playlist of music for your pizza making soundtrack.  Some tunes on mine:

• Louis Prima: Oh Maria, Volare, Buona Sera
• Dean Martin: You're Nobody, Sway, Ain't that a Kick in the Head
• Diana Krall: World on a String, Peel me a Grape
• Jamie Cullum: I Get a Kick Out of You, Get Your Way
• Pink Martini: Hang on Little Tomato, Una Notte A Napoli
• Nat King Cole: Mona Lisa
• Perry Como: Forget Domani, Papa Loves Mambo, Anema E Core, Catch a Falling Star
• The Gaylords: That's Amore
• Peter Cincotti: Ain't Misbehavin', Raise the Roof, You don't Know Me
• Any Sinatra, Dino 
• Tony Bennet: I Left My Heart in San Francisco

Here are some photos from our pizzeria night.

Little Jessica's Margherita Pizza

Nearly perfect crust

FOR THE DOUGH

1 3/4 cups warm (100 to 110 degree) water

2 packages dry yeast

1 tablespoon honey

Good olive oil

4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for kneading

Kosher salt

1. Combine the water, yeast, honey and 3 tablespoons of olive oil in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook. When the yeast is dissolved, add 3 cups of flour, then 2 teaspoons salt, and mix on medium-low speed. While mixing, add up to 1 more cup of flour, or just enough to make a soft dough. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes until smooth, sprinkling it with the flour as necessary to keep it from sticking to the bowl.

2. When the dough is ready, turn it out onto a floured board and knead it by hand a dozen times. It should be smooth and elastic.

3. Place the dough in a well-oiled bowl and turn it to cover it lightly with oil. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and allow the dough to rise at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Cucumbers with hummus, grilled squash, tomatoes, rest of the farm stand corn. Simple dinner :)

{ Skipped the garden today due to all the rain last night. Grilling squash, eggplant from the garden and cucumbers with sweet chili dressing.

Looks like the veggies won't make the grill tonight! Plan B: oven roasted!

Gardenitis Uncontrollus

That's Latin for what happens when you have a heat wave followed by some overcast days, a bit of rain and cooler temperatures.  Oh, and you're gone for a week!     Last night we had quite the thunder boomer to welcome me back.  Before the storm, I managed to get out to the garden and check out how the weather break treated it.  Good news to report!  My cucumbers are going gangbusters, there was a whole new pile of beans, some yellow crook-neck squash and of course, those crazy peppers.  This morning I ventured back out in the mud and picked beans and peppers and some squash and cucumbers that apparently grew overnight!  Last night I had to use my skirt....I wasn't planning on picking anything, and as you can see I was enjoying a glass of wine, just out for a little stroll with the cat and a gander at the garden. So much for that!!!

I should know by now not to go out there without a basket!

One of my little watermelons!!  He's about the size of a softball.  Another one out there is baseball size and I have some cantaloupes that are various sizes and some are as big as two softballs put together.
Judging by the number of fruits on the vines, it's going to be quite the melon bounty.  Hopefully, they'll do okay, because I have never had good luck with melons.  The one year they did well, Mr. Groundhog found them before I could pick them.

In the meantime, I guess I have enough stuff to tide me over for a while.  We visited a stand in Burnt Chimney this week-end and bought some sweet corn, zucchini and peaches from a little lady.  (She was really little, seriously, and her voice was like a munchkin).

I'm thinking a veggie dinner tonight: caprese salad (yes, still have some hanger-on tomatoes), corn on the grill, cucumbers (maybe I'll throw those into the caprese) and...that will probably be enough!

Tomorrow, I'll make some zucchini bread and take a loaf to my friend who just gave birth.

I use the recipe from Cook's Illustrated.  I've tried them all.  No, really, I have.  One year I had a bumper crop of zucchini.  It was INSANE!  So I was on a mission to find the best recipe and I like this one the best.

So here it is.  Don't tell anyone.  THE BLUE NOTES ARE FROM ME, THE ORANGE ONES FROM THE CHEF I GOT THIS FROM!!!

  

Oh, and incase you're wondering where I was for a week and what I was doing?  I was cooking and chillaxin' at Smith Mountain Lake.  Here's a peek:

Zucchini Bread

Yields = (1) 9-inch loaf

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 pound zucchini, washed and dried, ends and stems removed, cut in half lengthwise and seeded if using large zucchini, each half cut into 1-inch pieces
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped coarse *I used pecans because most recipes call for walnuts and they were so good, I don't think I'll ever go back to walnuts in zucchini bread. (This is  note from another chef, not the garden spot.  I think I used pecans once, too.)1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup plain yogurt *I used lemon yogurt, since I didn't have plain yogurt on hand. This worked well and I will stick to the lemon yogurt in future batches. (I've never tried lemon yogurt, so I can't vouche for it.  there will be more sugar in a flavored yogurt, so keep that in mind)
2 large eggs, beaten lightly
1 Tbsp. juice from a lemon
6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees f. and adjust oven rack to middle position. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan; dust with flour, tapping out the excess.

2) Shread zucchini using a food processor, using the shreading blade. Transfer shreaded zucchini to a strainer, toss zucchini with 2 Tbsp. of sugar, then place strainer over bowl, set at least 2 inches over the bowl and allow to drain for about 30 minutes. (you may also want to squeeze the zucchini with a paper towel.

3) Meanwhile, spread the nuts on a baking sheet and toast until fragrant, 5 to 7 minutes. *Jill's Note: Don't skip this step! The toasted pecans added another level of flavor to this bread--so yummy! Transfer the nuts to a cooling rack and cool completely. Transfer the nuts to a large bowl; add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, and whisk until combined. Set aside.

4) Whisk together the remaining 1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. sugar, yogurt, eggs, lemon juice, and melted butter in a medium bowl until combined. Set aside.

5) After the zucchini has drained, squeeze the zucchini with several layers of paper towels to absorb excess moisture. Stir the zucchini and the yogurt mixture into the flour mixture until just moistened. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth surface with a rubber spatula.

6) Bake until the loaf is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55-60 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and cool for at least 1 hour before serving.

Fall Garden

 (yep, time to think about that)!

o Garden Spot will be catching up today from the computer w/ garden updates and photos, recipes, menu recaps, cooking with kids and some fall garden chat.

 Bought some veggies at a farm stand: beautiful Japanese eggplant, zucchini and squash and roasted it with fresh onion, garlic, a couple splashes of soy sauce.  Grill would have been better, but still DEELISH!

Drinking a cup of Super Irish Breakfast Tea waiting for a Bald Eagle to leave his perch and take to the sky again...

Garden is  probably loving the cool snap and rain! A lot of work awaits, I'm sure!!

V Cooking for friends this week! Pictures and recipes coming soon!! Cucumbers and squash are coming in, new bean plants and okra are up and everything is p

It Felt Like Fall (for about 5 minutes)

I was in the garden Monday morning after a three day hiatus (more on that to follow) and for about five minutes it felt like fall.  It was overcast, there was a considerable breeze blowing and for a moment, I paused, stood, and sniffed and sure enough, there was fall.  Maybe it was that I was surrounded by decaying vegetation and the humidity was sliced briefly by the breeze, but there was definitely that fall is around the corner feeling.  Of course, I know fall is imminent, and there will be many more summer days to come, but just for a moment, I was happy for that break.

So we finally got some rain yesterday and I couldn't be happier.  I used the day to clean up my closet and do some much needed, much-delayed Spring cleaning.  It was heavenly to have a break from watering and gardening!  The rain gives the perfect get-out-of-gardening-guilt-free card.

Hopefully the rain will help speed my little propagation project along!  I planted three more rows of beans, mainly to figure out which ones were the ones that were most prolific this year, because I'm not sure which ones they were.  I also tried a row of basil from seed, so I can make some pesto and since my basil is not so good anymore.  I don't think I had that fungus that's affecting basil growers, but maybe.
I also planted some okra and cut some tomato suckers for rooting.  The melon plants are COVERED with flowers and my cucumbers seem happy as do my various squash plants.  I have picked two cucumbers so far!  I planted late, so I'm a bit behind on those.  Hopefully I can wipe out the remaining flea beetles and et my eggplants rockin' and rollin'.


The tomatoes are fizzling out, but the peppers are out of hand.  Today I'm going to make piri piri sauce.  I will post the recipe later if it works out and talk about it.  I'm also going to make some fresh salsa to share with some guests coming for a week.  I've gotten all the paste tomatoes I'm going to get this year I think and have a freezer full of puree now, ready for the winter.

On the menu this week:

• Monday I made a Hereford filet with Victoria Gourmet Kansas City Rub and finished with a bit of balsamic on the grill.  Served with thinly sliced homegrown pink oven garlic potato chips. (yummy!) And of course, Caprese salad with a spinach base.
• Tuesday: Whole Grain linguine with bacon, fresh tomatoes,  garlic, eggplant, zuchini, spinach and basil tossed with a bit of handmade mozz and fresh parm. Everything was farm fresh or homegrown except the bacon and parmesan. 
• Tonight?  We'll see
• Tomorrow night: Shaking beef with flank steak
• Thursday night? Dinner out 
• Friday? Trying my hand at brisket
• Saturday? Pizza night with a 7yr. old and 5yr. old!!
• Sunday: BRUNCH out!!!!
• Monday: Hoisin pork tenderloin

And of course, lots of tomatoes and potatoes piled in there!

CHEERS!

Orzo, Opa! and Ouzo...

Do those three things go go together?  They do in this recipe although you'll have to find a use for the ouzo.  You might be able to use a dash of it if you don't have enough basil because the two are flavored similarly, but make sure you are at home with people who love and respect you, because I cannot be held responsible for what you do after consuming ouzo.  Or you could have some ouzo as a beverage on the side to commemorate the distinct Greek overtones in this dish.  Is Ouzo a Greek spirit?  You bet your fisherman's cap it is!  The island of Lezvos (or Mytilini) is well known for it's Ouzo with claims of the best in Greece.

Anyone who has had a Greek relative, friend or lover knows that food is foremost and drinking a close second in the Greek culture.  My first boyfriend was Greek and his mom ALWAYS had food either cooking in the kitchen or covering the dining room table.  She was very glamorous and beautiful, not the type of Greek mama that usually comes to mind and certainly not the type you'd think would be cooking all the time.  She was more the Fendi bag-buying, Gucci sunglass-wearing type.  I can still hear her voice, though, which belied that glamorous woman and was definitely more robust Greek mama-with- Apron.  She did try to ply me with food at all times a la "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" and I loved it.  The dining room table was filled with pastries mostly, nuts and dried fruits.  Cookies with pine nuts, baklava and some crazy wheat and honey things that looked like my hair in the morning (or after too much Ouzo).  Ouzo has never been my thing and I'm not crazy about licorice, but I like fennel, fennel bulb, basil and some things flavored with it, save for those horrid Stella Dora sticks.  My brother used to scarf those things up!

I digress.  Be careful with ouzo.  It's 40 percent alcohol, about 80 proof, and it hits hard.  The only time I can remember seeing my mom a bit tipsy as a kid was after the Hellenic festival.  OPA!  I can hear her yelling with delight.  The next morning you would have thought we had tortured her with hammers all night.  She would have gladly sent us to live with Heidi's grandfather in the Alps if she could have. I wondered what in the world was wrong with her, what horrible thing had happened between last night and this morning for her to be so grumpy and filled with such disdain for everything earthly.  It was the Ouzo hangover.  Vicious,  as I found out much later in life.  Not something to play with lightly and there should be a warning on the bottle.  Something like, "If you're not Greek consider finding something else to drink." Or: "Warning, this product will give you a hangover no matter how macho you think you are". Or: "Only to be consumed in the company of people you already hate".  Because you WILL hate them the next day and blame them for your misery!

The reason for all of this oozing over ouzo?  I was looking for a little alliteration this morning and with my Orzo pasta salad that is Greek-inspired, I couldn't help myself.  So following is a light and lively salad, perfect for a summer's eve.  It's a recipe from Cooking "Lite" magazine (don't need any pesky copyright lawyers hassling me) and is probably the one that I used when I first made this.  Now I tweak it based on the green stuff I have handy.  Spinach would be good in this as would a little broccolini or even asparagus. For even less cooking, use cucumber.  Orzo is fun to eat, but be careful because the fact that it is small will make you consume more than intended.  If feta is not your thing, use some crumbled chevre, parmesan, or fresh mozzarella. But then you don't have a very Greeky salad anymore and you'll have to put down that bottle of  ouzo.  OPA!!!!

Whip up this easy orzo salad for a light and healthy side dishalternative to potato salad.

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 3/4 cup)

Ingredients

• 1  cup  uncooked orzo (rice-shaped pasta)
• 1 1/3  cups  diced zucchini (cooked or raw)
• 1/3  cup  diced red onion
• 1/3  cup  minced fresh parsley
• 3  tablespoons  fresh lemon juice
• 1  tablespoon  minced fresh or 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1  tablespoon  olive oil
• 2  teaspoons  minced fresh mint
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1/4  teaspoon  black pepper
• 1  cup  diced tomato
• 1/3  cup  (1 1/2 ounces) crumbled feta cheese
• 2  tablespoons  chopped pitted kalamata olives

Preparation

Cook orzo according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain well. Combine orzo, zucchini, and onion in a large bowl; toss well. Combine parsley and next 6 ingredients (parsley through pepper); stir well with a whisk. Stir into orzo mixture; add tomato, cheese, and olives, tossing gently to coat.

Nutritional Information

Calories:

199 (22% from fat)

Fat:

4.8g (sat 1.5g,mono 2.3g,poly 0.6g)

Protein:

6.7g

Carbohydrate:

32.7g

Fiber:

1.8g

Cholesterol:

6mg

Iron:

2.1mg

Sodium:

307mg

Calcium:

58mg

Just did a weigh in and in the past four days, I've gotten 35lbs of tomatoes from my garden!!!

Children in the Kitchen!!!!

All hands on deck!  There will be children cooking in the Culina kitchen tomorrow.  And I'm in charge!!  Yikes! Culina's wildly popular Culinary Kids' Camp will be starting tomorrow.  There are four spots left, so come in and sign up if you're interested.  Fun times ahead!!

Last Night's Dinner (and the night before and tomorrow's)

Luckily I'm the type of person who can eat the same thing regularly if it's really good.  It helps, of course, if it's something I've worked for, in this case I'm working hard for my tomatoes.  The work involved makes it worth it to repeat.  If I were served it everyday, that might be a different story, or if I were eating this when the produce wasn't in season or fresh, I might think differently.

But since, I am toiling and creating it, it doesn't seem to get tiresome.

What am I talking about?  Caprese salad of course.  Last night I changed it up a bit and added a sliced cucumber care of my friend, Cliff from Chateau Z Vineyard.  It was deliciously sweet and I was kicking myself for not getting more than one.  Tonight I'm fixing some of his zucchini since mine's not coming in yet.  I have two little baby ones for dinner and a big "husband club" that I will use for zucchini bread.

Today I picked several more pounds of tomatoes, although they're starting to fade a bit.  Checking on the plants, I noticed a few teeny cucumbers starting, some blooms on zucchini, melons and eggplants and a little round eggplant that is a bianca variety I think.  tomorrow, I'm going to have to hit the garden again with some spinosad, because although I found one dead squash bug, I also found a live one in the process of laying eggs.  The flea beetles are hitting the eggplant and my cucumbers, too.  Those things are nearly impossible to eradicate.  Next year I will experiment with planting eggplant in pots aon the deck and in various spots in my flower beds.  The one I have in one of my beds is doing exceptionally well. It's nestled among the zinnias, Russian sunflowers, dahlias and lisianthus.  Maybe those flowers are a deterrent or are attracting some pest eating insects.

Enjoy your fresh tomatoes while you can get them.  I'm pondering some late plantings of tomatoes, and definitely starting some more beans and my fall stuff.  Yes, people it's time to start thinking about a fall garden.  More on that later.....

Oh, and please, please, please use GOOD quality balsamic on your caprese salads.  Those tomatoes deserve it and so do you!

Come visit me at the community market tomorrow if you're in the area!! I'll be wearing my nature nerd hat...

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

There are all kinds of ways to do these and I take a shortcut (and probably add more calories) and use Stonewall Kitchen Korean BBQ sauce and hoisin sauce. Half of each depending on your heat tolerance because the BBQ sauce is spicy.

You can wrap these in Romaine which is sturdier, but I prefer the delicate, butter texture of Boston Bibb or Butter lettuce.

I top mine with thinly sliced red bell pepper, sliced water chestnuts, cucumber, chopped cashews, and sliced green onions, but you can use anything you like.

This recipe is a lighter version and is made without the sauces mentioned above, but you could cook your chicken in those sauces instead if you prefer.

ENJOY!!

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 2 wraps and 2 lime wedges)

Ingredients

• 1  tablespoon  canola oil
• 1  tablespoon  dark sesame oil
• 1  tablespoon  rice vinegar
• 1  tablespoon  low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 1/2  teaspoons  chili garlic sauce (such as Sriracha)
• 1  teaspoon  grated peeled fresh ginger
• 1/2  teaspoon  grated orange rind
• 2  garlic cloves, minced
• Dash of sea salt
• 4  (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• Cooking spray
• 8  Boston lettuce leaves (about 1 head)
• 1  cup  fresh mint leaves (about 10 ounces)
• 1/2  cup  bean sprouts (about 2 ounces)
• 1  lime, cut into 8 wedges
• Chopped peanuts (optional)

Preparation

Combine first 9 ingredients in a small bowl; stir with a whisk. Reserve 2 tablespoons oil mixture. Place remaining oil mixture in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add chicken breast halves; seal and marinate in refrigerator for 1 hour, turning occasionally. Remove chicken from bag, and discard marinade.

Heat a large nonstick grill pan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add chicken to pan; grill 12 minutes or until chicken is done, turning once. Let stand 5 minutes before thinly slicing. Divide chicken evenly among lettuce leaves; top each lettuce leaf with 2 tablespoons mint, 1 tablespoon sprouts, and about 1 teaspoon reserved oil mixture. Serve with lime wedges. Garnish with chopped peanuts, if desired.