Roasted Winter Squash Seeds

Pumpkins aren't the only squash that yield tasty seeds for roasting - be sure to try butternut or acorn squash as well!

Source:  allrecipes.com

1 c. winter squash seeds

1 T. olive oil

1/2 t. salt, or to taste

Preheat oven to 275 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil, or use a non-stick baking sheet.

After removing the seeds from the squash, rinse with water, and remove any strings and bits of squash.  pat dry, and place in a small bowl.  Stir olive oil and salt into the seeds until evenly coated.  Spread out in an even layer on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 15 minutes, or until seeds start to pop.  (Pumpkin seeds may take a bit longer.)  Remove from oven and cool on the baking sheet before serving.

Mixed Bean Salad

My mother used to make a similar salad, but I think I prefer this updated version.

Source:  Everyday Food magazine, September 2010

1/2 lb. green beans, trimmed and halved crosswise

2 T. cider vinegar

3 T. olive oil

1 T. fresh oregano leaves, finely chopped

1 shallot, thinly sliced*

2 t. grainy mustard

1 can (15.5 oz.) red kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 can (15.5 oz.) chickpeas, rinsed and drained

sea salt

pepper

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook green beans until bright green and crisp-tender, 2-3 minutes.  Drain and rinse under cold water until cool.

In a large bowl, whisk together vinegar, olive oil, oregano, shallot and mustard.  Add green beans, kidney beans and chickpeas.  Toss well to combine.  Season with salt and pepper.

Serves 6

*Note:  I substituted 1 small red onion and a clove of minced garlic for the shallot.  (I never have shallots on hand!)

Roasted Potato Mix

This is such a simple recipe, but always gets rave reviews.  It's great for company or for just you!

Source:  Mary Beth W.

1 large russet potato, peeled and cubed

1 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed

1 c. diced onion

1/2 t. salt

1/4 t. pepper

2 T. butter

2 T. olive oil

Melt butter and olive oil in 9x13" pan.  Toss with potatoes, onion, salt and pepper.  Bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes.



Swiss Chard with Carmelized Onions and Walnuts

I'm not 100% sure I love this recipe, but I'm determined to come up with a good sauteed Swiss chard recipe, and this is getting close.  I like the fact that it uses the chard stems in addition to the leaves.  It is an odd combination of sweet and savory, but it works for some reason.  I prefer the addition of the chick peas - it keeps the chard flavor from being too overpowering.

Source:  Adapted from chowhound.chow.com

2 T. walnuts

1 T. olive oil

1 large onion, coarsely chopped

1 bunch Swiss chard (about 1 lb. or 10 large stalks), washed

2 T. golden raisins

2 T. balsamic vinegar

1/2 t. sea salt

ground black pepper to taste

Toast the pine nuts in skillet until golden brown; set aside to cool.

In a large, deep skillet, heat oil over medium-low heat; add onions and cook until golden brown and very soft, stirring from time to time, about 10 minutes.

While onions are cooking, prepare chard:  pull leaves off stalks by folding leaf together along stalk and pull the stalk away like pulling a zipper.  Cut the stalks into 3/4" pieces; set aside.  Cut or tear leaves into 2" pieces.

Add chard stalks and raisins to onions and cook until stalks are tender, about 10-15 minutes.  Stir occasionally while stalks are cooking.  Once tender, add chard leaves and balsamic vinegar.  Toss to coat the leaves with oil, and cook for about 5 minutes or until leaves are wilted and tender.  Season with salt and pepper; transfer to serving dish and top with pine nuts.

Note: if you would like to turn this from a side dish into a main dish, add 1 15-oz. can of chickpeas (drained) that have been sauteed in olive oil and 1 clove minced garlic, and seasoned with sea salt and pepper.

Just a warning: This may not be dish you will want to serve for company, to a picky eater, or to anyone who's not committed to the virtues of Swiss chard. But it's a great recipe to introduce you to chard and its magical qualities. You may need to tweak this recipe to suit your own palate, just as I did. However, hopefully it will inspire you to continue on the chard journey, just as it did me!

Stuffed Green Peppers Casserole

I still have a lots of  red and green cubanelle peppers in the garden, as well as some scroungy-looking tomatoes sitting on my kitchen counter, so I decided to make a double batch of this casserole for the freezer.  It also allowed me to make use of some fresh basil and oregano before the frost hits.  It's basically a recipe for stuffed peppers that I turned into a casserole so I could feature cubanelle peppers in place of the bell peppers; the cubanelles don't lend themselves to being stuffed, but they work nicely in this recipe.  Cubanelle peppers are similar to sweet Italian frying peppers and have a wonderful flavor.  Plus, for whatever reason, I have no trouble growing them, unlike Bell peppers!

For the meat, I usually use a mixture of sausage and ground beef for the best flavor.  But, since I'm trying to avoid pork these days (unless I can get it from a reputable source at a reasonable price - not very likely!), I simply used grass-fed ground beef that I get from the farmer down the road.  It was still tasty!

Organic cheese is terribly expensive, so I used just a sprinkle of a non-organic brand.

Source:  Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook

2 large green peppers, or the equivalent of cubanelle peppers (red or green), seeded and coarsely chopped

3/4 pound ground beef, ground pork, ground lamb, or bulk pork sausage

1/3 c. chopped onion

1 8-oz. can tomatoes, chopped or 1 c. fresh tomatoes

1/3 c. brown rice

1 T. Worcestershire sauce

1 t. fresh basil, chopped, or 1/4 t. dried basil

1 t. fresh oregano, chopped, or 1/4 t. dried oregano

1/2 c. water

1/4 t. salt

1/4 t. pepper

1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese

In a skillet, brown meat with onion; drain fat if necessary.  Stir in undrained tomatoes, uncooked rice, Worcestershire sauce, basil, oregano, water, salt and pepper.  Bring to boiling; reduce heat.  Cover and simmer until rice is tender, approximately 45 minutes.

While the meat and rice mixture is cooking, parboil peppers in a pan of boiling water for 3 minutes; drain.

When rice is tender, stir in 1/4 c. cheese and peppers.  Place in an 8x8x2" baking dish.  Bake at 375 degrees for 5-10 minutes or until heated through.  Remove from oven and sprinkle with remaining cheese; let stand for 1-2 minutes.

Serves 4.

Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Salad

Here's another variation on a Tomato Bread Salad.  Again, I used some of my Rustic Italian Bread that I had in the freezer - it was the perfect texture for toasting in the oven; actually, it was the best part of the salad!!

Source:  Everyday Food, September 2010

2 c. crusty bread, torn into bite-sized pieces

5 t. olive oil, divided

sea salt

pepper

2 t. sherry vinegar

1 garlic clove, minced

2 T. coarsely chopped almonds, toasted

2 medium tomatoes, cored and cut into 1/2" wedges

2 red bell peppers, roasted and cut into 1/2" strips

1 T. fresh parsley leaves, chopped

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

On a rimmed baking sheet, toss bread with 2 t. olive oil and season with sea salt and pepper.  Spread bread pieces in a single layer and bake until golden brown, about 7 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine 3 t. olive oil, vinegar, garlic and almonds.  Season with salt and pepper and stir to combine.  Add tomatoes, peppers, parsley and toasted bread; toss to combine.

Serves 4.

Roasted Grape Tomatoes

I made these for breakfast this morning (minus the balsamic vinegar) - yum!  With all the rain we had yesterday (5"!), I thought I had better pick all my grape tomatoes before the skins split from absorbing too much water too quickly.  A number of them had already split, but they worked well in this recipe.

Source:  adapted from fortheloveofcooking-recipes.blogspot.com

2 c. grape tomatoes, washed

1-2 t. olive oil

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

4-5 fresh basil leaves, cut in thin strips

Balsamic vinegar, optional

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Rub olive oil on a 9x9" baking dish.  Add tomatoes, olive oil, salt and pepper.  Toss to coat evenly.  Roast in oven for approximately 15 minutes until plump and just about to burst.  Remove from oven and drizzle with basil and balsamic vinegar (optional).

Home-canned Grape Juice

Photo Credit:  Melissa Binder

This has been my specialty for years, and yet is one of the easiest things there is to can!  My mother always made it with  our own grapes on the farm, and I have fond memories of the smell of concord grapes in the fall, as well as drinking grape juice on special occasions; I feel connected to that era every time I can a batch.  I used to can 50-70 quarts every other year so that I would have plenty to give as hostess gifts, etc. but in recent years I've scaled down to more reasonable amounts so that I have just enough on hand for my own use and for company (and so I don't OD on canning!).  I wanted to use local grapes to stick with my local produce goals, but the PA grapes were in and over before I realized it.  These grapes came from New York and were sweet as well as beautiful.  I used 10 pounds of grapes which yielded 21 quarts of juice (three canner loads).

Source:  Adapted from Mennonite Country-Style Recipes Cookbook

Remove grapes from stems and wash thoroughly; drain.  Place 1 c. grapes and 1/2 c. sugar in each quart jar.  Fill with boiling water, leaving 1/2" headspace.  Stir to dissolve sugar.  Add lids, tighten and process 15 minutes in boiling water bath. 

When ready to serve, strain into pitcher, discarding grapes.

Note:  Depending on how sweet the grapes are and your preferences, you can use less sugar.  This year I used a heaping 1/4 c. sugar per quart.

Rustic Swiss Chard and Mozzarella Tart

Source:  Adapted from Better Homes & Gardens Magazine

Pastry:

1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour*

1/4 t. salt

1/2 c. cold butter

1/4  c. cold ice water

1/4 c. sour cream*

2 t. fresh lemon juice

In a large bowl, combine flour and salt.  Cut up butter; cut into flour until mixture resembles coarse meal.  Combine water, sour cream and lemon juice.  Add half the sour cream mixture to flour mixture; toss with a fork.  Add remaining sour cream mixture; toss with a fork until mixture is moistened.  Form into a ball.  Wrap and refrigerate (up to an hour) while preparing filling.

Filling:

1 bunch Swiss chard, washed and chopped (about 5 c.)

1 c. chopped leeks*

4 gloves garlic, minced

1/4 t. dried thyme, crushed

1/4 t. salt

1/4 t. black pepper

1 T. olive oil

3/4 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

Fresh Italian (flat leaf) parsley

Preheat oven to 400 deg.

In a large skillet, cook chard, leeks, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper in hot oil over medium heat for 4 minutes or until chard wilts and leeks are tender.  Cool slightly.  Stir in cheese, set aside.

On a lightly floured surface, roll pastry to a 12" circle.  Transfer to a parchment-lined or greased baking sheet.  Spoon filling into center of pastry circle, leaving a 2" border.  Fold dough over filling, leaver center open and pleating edges of dough.  Bake for 30-40 min., or until golden.  Sprinkle with parsley. 

Serve hot.

Makes 4 main-dish or 8 appetizer servings.

*My substitutions:
whole wheat pastry flour for the all-purpose flour,
 my homemade yogurt for the sour cream,
 and onions plus 2 extra cloves of garlic for the leeks.

Panzanella Salad (Italian Bread Salad)

I discovered "Chef Tim's Sweet Balsamic Vinaigrette" earlier this year at Root's - Chef Tim has a stand there, and he always has samples of this yummy salad.  Tonight was the first I actually tried his recipe, which is listed on the bottle.  The Country Store also carries this dressing.  Instead of croutons, I used cubes of leftover homemade Italian bread I had in the freezer.

6 cubed roma tomatoes
1 peeled, deseeded cucumber
1 T. minced red onion
16 medium fresh basil leaves, cut into thin strips
3 c. cooked, cubed seasoned chicken breast
3 c. croutons
8 oz. Chef Tim's Sweet Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing

Toss all ingredients with dressing and place on a bed of 8 c. lettuce greens.  Drizzle greens with additional dressing.

Serves 4
Note:  This is a perfect use for the roasted chicken breasts that I keep in the freezer.

Hitting the Wall

I don't know what happened, but I hit a wall on the cooking thing!  I think it was a combination of the garden fizzling a bit with the lack of rain, me getting side tracked with some other fun endeavors (see my All Things Andrea blog!), trying to sort out the implications of my numerous food allergies, and just plain laziness on my part when it comes to food prep.  Meanwhile, my garden produce was rotting away in my refrigerator....  I should be back around shortly, though.  I have a few recipes I still need to post, then plan to post the rest of the recipes from my collection, even if I didn't actually get them prepared this summer.  All in all, it's been a great venture - I've been stretched in lots of meaningful ways.  But, best of all, the season isn't over!  There's all kinds of wonderful produce coming in season (even if it's not happening in my garden!), and I still have a stash of recipes I want to try.  So, check back shortly!

Sauteed Green Beans and Red Onion

Source:  adapted from Everyday Food

This is one of my favorite ways to use up an abundance of green beans, as well as red onions, which don't store over the winter as nicely as yellow onions.

2 T. olive oil
1 t. sea salt
1/8 t. ground pepper
1 lb. green beans, trimmed and cut into 3" lengths
1 medium red onion, cut into 1/2" wedges
2 t. balsamic vinegar

In a large nonstick skillet, bring 1 c. water, olive oil, salt and pepper to a simmer over medium heat. 
Add green beans and red onion.  Cover; cook until beans are crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. 
Uncover; continue cooking, stirring often, until water has evaporated, beans are tender, and onions are beginning to brown, about 5-8 minutes more.  Stir in balsamic vinegar and serve.

Rustic Plum Tart

Photo Credit:  R. Charles

Oh my, I don't know why my several attempts looked nothing like the pictures in the magazine.  I guess I used the wrong varieties of plums, even though I used firm, slightly ripe plums on my 2nd try.  The plums were just too juicy, and the juice leaked all over the place - not the cute little bubbly leaks of juice to give it a rustic feel like in the picture!!  But, it was a breeze to make, and the flavor was delicious - everyone enjoyed it.  I didn't attempt making my pie crust from scratch - had too much other cooking to do that day!

Adapted from Everyday Food Magazine, July/August 2006

1/2 (15-oz.) package refrigerated pie crust

Filling:

1 1/2 lbs. red plums, quartered, pitted, and sliced 1/4" thick

1/2 c. sugar

1 T. all-purpose flour*

1 large egg yolk mixed with 1 T. water (egg wash)

Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil, then parchment paper.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In a large bowl, toss together plums, sugar, and flour.  Mound plum mixture in center of prepared crust, leaving a 2" border all around.  Fold border over fruit in a pleated pattern.  Brush dough with egg wash.

Bake tart until crust in brown and filling is bubbling, about 45 minutes.  Transfer baking sheet to a rack; let cool 20 minutes.  Slice and serve warm or at room temperature.

* I don't know what to suggest on the flour amount!!  I used 1/4 c. flour, but it was still too juicy!

Tomato-Mozzarella-Basil Rounds




Photo Credit - Melissa Binder

These are so simple that you won't need the recipe, but the flavor is out of this world!

Simply layer slices of mozzarella cheese, fresh tomatoes and fresh basil, then drizzle with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Or, if you have access to Chef Tim's Sweet Balsamic Vinaigrette, that's all you need.  I could live on these!

Photo Credit:  Melissa Binder




Parsley Pesto

Photo Credit:  Melissa Binder

I discovered this recipe last fall; I had tons of Italian parsley left in my garden and hated to see it go to waste. So, I looked up parsley recipes on line and found one for parsley pesto. I made a bunch of different variations, before I came up with the perfect recipe. Yum, YUM, YUM! It’s fabulous and freezes well.

(Adapted from the following link: http://www.ilunchbox.com/recipes/recipes-categories/dressings-and-dips/parsley-pesto.php?searchresult=1&sstring=parsley+pesto)

4 cups flat Italian parsley leaves, washed and drained *

½ cup pine nuts **

½ cup olive oil

3 cloves garlic

1/2 - 1 t. sea salt

pepper to taste

Process above ingredients in food processor until the pesto is smooth, scraping down sides as necessary. Add more oil as needed to get a smooth consistency.

Freezes well.

MY NOTES:

* Be sure to use Italian parsley – the flavor is much better.

**Walnuts are just as good – pine nuts aren’t worth the expense!