Surprise Jack O'Lanterns in the Garden

In the spring, I swear that I gave Baby Chewy watermelon seeds to plant. Like, I have the empty packet of seeds saved in my garden notebook (that I sometimes add to and sometimes do not add to, I suppose I should take more pictures and just post them here for a record). 

And one day before we went to Colorado over the summer I noticed a small (what I thought was a watermelon) fruit on a vine and was super excited to come back home to show the kids the watermelon we had grown all summer. 

Turns out... not a watermelon.

We grew Jack O'Lanterns. I think what happened was that the plants are volunteers from the pumpkins that we carved last year and the vines sprouted after I spread my compost this spring to replenish all the nutrients lost to tomato plants last year. 

Overall, I have found 4 pumpkins. I think one might not make it because a chipmunk has chewed it already. I put some diatomaceous earth on all the pumpkins to keep them from smelling delicious to critters so I'm hoping I can keep the pumpkins from being eaten until at least the first few weeks in October, after that I can harvest the pumpkins and keep them inside to keep them from squirrels and chipmunks. What a fun surprise this year!

 

Chewie's Favorite Tortilla Soup

Chewie's Favorite Tortilla Soup AKA A Kid-Friendly Version of Thug Kitchen's Tortilla Soup

2 tbsp veggie, grapeseed, or olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped into half moons
2 small jalepenos or 1 large jalepeno, enough for a little kick but not nose-dripping heat
2 small spoonfuls of minced garlic (or like 4 cloves)
2 1/2 tsp each of cumin, oregano, chili powder
1 can of diced tomatoes (I like fire roasted tomatoes in this, Chewie also approves)
1 small can of tomato paste
4 cups of veggie broth (1 whole box)
1 cup water
6-8 corn tortillas cut into 1 inch squares
Bunch of cilantro if you don't think it tastes like soap
Juice of 2 limes or 2 tbsp lime juice
Thug Kitchen calls for chickpeas for topping, but I've never done that :::shrug:::

Heat a stockpot over medium high heat. Toss in the onions, carrots, and jalepenos. Saute for 5 minutes or until soft.

Add in the garlic. Cook for another minute or two.

Add in the spices. Stir it all around until it smells amazing and all the spices have touched the heat.

Add in both types of tomatoes. Make sure the tomato paste is a bit melted and stirable.

Add the broth and the water. If you have 5 cups of broth, do that instead. The Thug Kitchen recipe calls for 5 cups of broth but there's only 4 cups in a box of broth. WTF...

Stir everything together until it's all combined. Simmer for 10-15 minutes. Basically enough time to unload/load a dishwasher, rinse out the recycling cans, set the table, etc...

Add in the tortillas. Simmer for another 5 minutes.

At this point, if you like cilantro, add in a handful of cilantro so it can be blended into the soup. Or you can chop and top as a topping instead.

Using your immersion blender, blend until smooth. Alternatively, you can blend the soup in batches in a regular blender (but cover the hole in the lid with a towel to let steam escape).

Add in the lime juice.

Serve.

Baby Chewie likes to ea

Sausage And Kale Soup

Sausage and Kale Soup

2 tbsp olive oil or grapeseed oil

1 package (approximately 1 pound) mild italian sausage (or spicy, whatever your taste buds like)

1 small-ish onion, chopped

3 larger carrots, diced for small throats (because carrots are choking hazards, weird parent thing)

6 small potatoes, chopped

1 tsp chopped garlic (about 1-2 cloves, depending on size)

4 cups veggie or chicken broth, whatever you have on hand

1 tsp ground basil

1/2 tsp ground marjoram

1 bunch lacinto kale, rinsed and chopped or torn into 1-2 inch pieces

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

Salt and pepper to taste

Optional: 1-3 ice cubes worth of pesto, parsley for garnish

To serve: crusty bread or pita chips

Heat a stockpot over medium-high heat. When hot, add in the oil, then the italian sausage breaking it into bite size pieces. 

After 3 minutes, add in the onion, carrots, potatoes, and garlic. Soften and let them brown up a bit until the sausage is cooked through, maybe 6-10 minutes. 

Add in the basil and marjoram, stir until it smells amazing, about a minute. 

Add in the broth. Bring to a simmer. Let simmer for 10 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender. 

Add the kale and chickpeas. Simmer for another 5 minutes or until chickpeas are warmed through and kale is nicely wilted. 

If using pesto, add in 1-2 large tablespoons or 1-3 ice cubes of frozen pesto. I think this is the extra ingredient that makes this soup delicious! I used homemade pesto that I made using CSA ingredients last fall and froze in an ice cube tray. Use homemade OR store bought, whatever is easiest for you.

Add Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with pita chips, crusty bread, etc... 

Copycat Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Soup

I'm fairly certain that if Bimmer Man could only eat one soup for the rest of his life he would have a VERY hard time deciding between Zuppa Toscana and Byerly's Minnesota Wild Rice with Chicken soup. I would take Zuppa Toscana.

Simple, delicious, easy to make, and well, I'd consider it fairly healthy. But I'm also NOT a nutritionist and I'm sure a nutritionist would say LEAVE OUT THE CREAM. LEAVE OUT THE CREAM. No, oh, no, I would NEVER leave out the cream. That's what makes it so delicious. Even the Monkey eats this - though she's also been on a soup kick lately, so I've been trying to make as many soups as I can to decipher exactly what my toddler will eat (which is a feat in itself...).

Gather your delicious supplies - basically kale, potatoes, shallots, chicken stock and not pictured is the sausage - I used a bulk sausage instead of sausage in casings. If it's in casings, you can either just slice it to brown it or take it out of the casings. No big deal. Olive Garden doesn't peel their potatoes, I like my potatoes peeled, pick whatever you want. 

Brown the sausage first with the shallots and some garlic. Then add in the chicken stock, potatoes, kale, some salt and pepper. Let it simmer for 25 - 35 minutes or until potatoes are nice and soft.

I wanted to make this so I could freeze it. I put cream in each bowl to serve instead of in the soup. Cream soups that I've frozen have NEVER turned out as well after re-heating. It's like the cream curdles or it just doesn't taste quite right.

Copy Cat Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana

1 lb sausage - I like mild Italian sausage for this

4 Russet potatoes cut into bite size pieces

1 - 2 shallots, chopped (if you like onions, use 2)

1 - 2 bunches of kale, chopped into bite size pieces (I used 1 1/2 bunches of kale because I like kale)

2 cartons of chicken stock (I used 2 cartons of Kirkland brand from Costco)

3 garlic cloves, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

Cream - just enough to serve, so 1 - 2 tbsp per person

Brown the sausage and drain it.

Saute the shallots with the garlic until translucent. Add back the sausage. Add in the potatoes, half the stock, then add in more stock if you want it "soupier." Simmer for 10 - 15 minutes. Add in the kale and simmer another 15 - 20 minutes.

Serve with 1 - 2 tbsp of cream in each bowl. 

I froze the rest of the soup in family size portions - then I just buy fresh cream when I serve this for dinner or lunch.

Super Easy Brown Sugar Sage Squash

Let me start this by saying I LOVE SQUASH. I really think that Fall is so great just because of squash. When I'm seriously tired of chopping tomatoes and eating cucumbers, the weather turns and suddenly there's loads and loads of delicious squash.

And unfortunately for me The Monkey has decided not to eat it. It might leave more for me, but it definitely disappoints me that she doesn't like it. I don't think she's even really tasted it but whatever... she'll eat it when she's ready.

Super easy ingredients: (for each half of squash)

2 fresh leaves of sage

1 tbsp of butter

1 tbsp brown sugar

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425. 

Put each ingredient into your squash half. 

Wrap squash half in tinfoil.

Bake for 1 hour. 

I scoop the squash out and mash it all together in a bowl so it looks like mashed potatoes. It's easier for me to serve that way, but I think as the Monkey grows I'll just plop the squash half on plates. I feel like that's the best way to eat it.

Fried Green Tomatoes

With all the tomato plants that I seeded and planted, none of them did very well. I've picked a ton of green tomatoes and I can only see two on the vines still that are starting to ripen. I'm a little disappointed. BUT at the same time this means that I get to make fried green tomatoes.

Fried Green Tomatoes

Green tomatoes - sliced into approximately 1/4 inch thick slices

Flour, about 1 cup, more if you have a lot of tomatoes

Sugar, about 1 tbsp

Salt & pepper, to taste

Bread crumbs, meh, maybe 1 1/2 cups, more if you have a lot of tomatoes

Vegetable oil, enough to cover about 1 to 1 1/2 inches in a deep pan

Eggs, 2, maybe 3 if you have a lot of tomatoes

Salt, 2 - 3 tbsp (more if you have a lot of tomatoes)

Slice your tomatoes.

Lay them out onto a sheet pan and sprinkle both sides with salt and sugar. You want the tomatoes to sweat. If they don't have a lot of moisture in them when they're fried, then they'll be super nice and crunchy and they will hold their shape a lot better, plus they won't be mushy. I hate mushy fried green tomatoes. Let them sweat for 15 minutes.

Lay out 3 bowls while the tomatoes are sweating - these are for breading.

Bowl 1 - the flour, salt & pepper

Bowl 2 - the eggs, beaten very well

Bowl 3 - bread crumbs

Once the tomatoes are done sweating fill a deep pan with about an inch of vegetable oil. Heat it over medium high heat, then drop the temp if needed. You'll see when you start frying, it's sort of a form of art...

Now bread the tomatoes. I use my fingers. Drop a slice into the flour and cover, shake off the excess. Put the flour-covered tomato slice into the egg, cover it with egg. Drop the egg-covered tomato slice into the bread crumbs and cover with bread crumbs. I put them onto a separate plate once finished with breading.

Once you have them all breaded take them to the hot oil and drop them into the hot oil one at a time. I can only fry maybe 4 slices at a time before the temp of the oil goes down too far and I get mushy tomatoes. I don't flip the tomatoes at all, I just let the oil do the work, this is why you have a good inch of oil to start with. 

Fry them for 1, 2, or 3 minutes depending on how hot your oil is, once the tomatoes are a nice golden brown then take the tomato out of the oil and put it onto a plate, I put paper towels down to soak up the excess oil.

Serve with ketchup if you want, or BBQ sauce, or ranch, or honey mustard.

Enjoy!!

Freezing Fresh Corn

I LOVE fresh sweet corn. And so does The Monkey and Bimmer Man. I don't feel like I've bought enough of it this year though so I bought 5 ears of fresh, organic sweet corn from the Linden Hills Co-op last week. I opted to freeze it since I have to cut the corn from the cob for the Monkey to eat. 

I don't look at ears of corn when I buy it anymore. After not being able to pick my own ears from belonging to a CSA, I just don't bother to look. Organic corn can have worm damage and sometimes the worms are still alive - that's because there's either no pesticides used on the corn or less harsh or natural pesticides or something else is being used as a pesticide or herbicide (the label "organic" doesn't mean "no pesticide/herbicide" it means there is something else being used in place of the bad pesticides/herbicides, it may be an organic pesticide or a natural pesticide or a different type of farming, I'm not an expert at the organic labels though, so this is just the basic explanation). 

Just cut off the worm damage and carry on with your normal corn cooking routine. 

For freezing, I just boil the corn for a few minutes and then cut it off the cob, freeze it flat in a Ziploc bag (I need to find something to freeze stuff in flat instead of Ziploc bags!). 

The corn above has worm damage, I was surprised that the worm wasn't in the corn. Just chop off the damage and continue on...

Out of the 5 ears I had to cut damage off of a few. I don't mind cutting off the damage - if no one buys this corn at the store then it just goes bad. Might as well eat what we can!

After cooking, just stand the corn on one end when cool to the touch and slice off the corn into a bowl.

Nom, nom, nom....

Now we can have fresh corn when it's out of the season!

Tried Green Beans, Still Hate 'Em

I hate green beans. My dad grew them in his garden every year. 5, 6, 7 rows of plain green garden beans.

They were so stringy. And tough. Or squeaky. 

I hate loathe squeaky green beans. Those make me shiver.

And unfortunately today I let The Monkey in on my big secret.

There are certain green beans that I hate and when I made dinner tonight I pulled a bean out of the steamer to see if it was done, I spit it out. I had planted, on accident, the kind of beans that you need to pull the tough strings off both sides before you cook them. You know, the ones that you snap and then peel the stupid strings off of the edges? THE ONLY KIND MY DAD PLANTED.

YUCK.

They were thrown into the compost pile.

Next year I will research my beans. Because I do like green beans... but just not the ones I planted. 

I'm positive my dad is laughing in his grave right now. He actually tried dehydrating them (yes, seriously, DEHYDRATING BEANS) to see if I would like them better. No, I didn't like them better.

And at the end of the day I still had to weed those damn beans.

Lesson was learned, so I'm crossing green beans off of my to-grow list until I can search Burpee's website and find something that I might like. 

Freezer Meal - Breakfast Bowls

Roast about 2lbs of potatoes cut into bite size pieces - season with salt, pepper, paprika.

Make breakfast sausage.

Scramble 9 eggs.

Top with cheese.

Put into bowls in the same order above.

Options: salsa, black beans, more veggies

Bacon doesn't work well in this recipe. BOO.

The trick: put the bowls together after everything has cooled. 

Summer Soup

Chicken Sausage & Kale Soup

Just an FYI, this is a CSA recipe, so the ingredients seem weird! Ha!

1lb Chicken sausage

1 bunch Turnips

1 small bunch Broccoli

4 Leaves of Kale

4 Scallions

2 Garlic Scapes

3 tbsp olive oil

1 Beer

6 - 8 cups of water

Salt & pepper to taste

You can either leave the sausages in their casings or not. If you don't, then drain some of the fat off. Put the oil in the pan, cook the sausage.

Add in scallions & garlic. Saute for a minute or two. Add in the beer.

Bring it up to a boil. Add the water. Add in the broccoli & turnips. Bring to a boil & let simmer 6-8 minutes.

Add in kale. Salt & pepper to taste. 

Serve with fresh parmesan.

Below: Bowl is adult serving, plate is child serving

Requisite Winter Pot Roast

 Pot Roast. Winter. Cold Weather. Those three (ok, four) words go together like macaroni and cheese. YUM. For Christmas I received Mastering the Art of French Cooking (unbelievably I did not own these...) and so I set off to find the perfect roast recipe.

Lo and behold on a Wednesday night I don't have 6 hours to cook a pot roast.

I did have 3 hours though.

SO I adjusted what I could and put it in the oven and prayed to the oven gods to keep cooking.

 My little trick: saute and caramelize your onions and carrots BEFORE you brown the meat. And deglaze the pan with a really BIG glass of pinot noir. DELISH.

And unfortunately it all disappeared so this is what I was left to photograph. Sorry:

The Perfect Winter Pot Roast

3 - 3 1/2 pound slab of beef. Pick something that looks good
Carrots, maybe about 5
Onion - 1 large or 2 small
4 - 5 medium potatoes, cut into roughly bite sized pieces
1 very big glass of wine, I prefer pinot noir but you can use what you like to drink
Salt, pepper
Thyme - maybe about 2 tsp
2 bay leaves
Olive oil & 1 tbsp butter
Enough water to cover the roast halfway

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Heat oil and butter in a pan. Saute onions until clear and parts are brown and delicious. Remove from pan. Do the same thing to the carrots. Remove carrots. Season the meat on all sides with salt and pepper. Add in just a teensy bit more oil to the pan and sear the meat on all sides - maybe 2 - 3 minutes per side? Just until nicely seared. Remove the meat.

Deglaze the pan with the wine. Scrape up all the bits. Add the meat back into the pan. Add in water until roast is covered halfway. Add in all the veggies (including potatoes), thyme, bay leaves.

Roast in oven for about 3 hours. Meat will fall apart. Serve with garlic bread and salad.

Roasted Squash With Brown Sugar

Squash... I can never get enough squash! If there is one vegetable that I can always eat no matter the season, it's squash.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Cut squash in half.

Scoop out the goop, seeds, etc...

Add in the center 1 spoonful of brown sugar (it can be a heaping spoonful).

Add 1 tbsp of butter.

Sprinkle with pepper and salt.

Sprinkle with a tiny bit of either nutmeg or clove.

Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour.

And yes, I LOVE my squash nice and soft - I don't like stringy squash, I don't like it one bit. So I'm sure I over cook it but man... this is my favorite way!

CSA Recipe - Pasta Sauce & Sauteed Veggies

 Flat onion. Yep, tastes like a regular onion.

 Green beans.

 Trim the stem end from the beans - you can trim both ends if you want to. I grew up with like a half acre for a garden though, so I'm pretty lazy when it comes to veggies. (Ok, so I used to go outside for a snack when I was little - fresh tomatoes, peas, peppers, delish!)

 Zucchini - slice zucchini and summer squash diagonally, not only will they NOT fall through grill grates, but you'll get a better sear and grill marks and you'll be able to season more of the vegetable.

 Delish!

Just use the pasta sauce recipe from a few weeks ago with the flat onion, fresh basil and a package of premade pasta. Whatever kind you like.

Saute all the veggies in a large pan, with a few tablespoons of either veggie oil or olive oil, salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon or lime juice. You can season with spices if you want - anything is really good. I still like my veggies with a good crunch to them, so the beans maybe 4 - 6 minutes total, the zucchini saute until you see it seared on both sides and then pull off the heat immediately. I dislike smushed zucchini!

Pasta With Tomatoes & Fresh Basil

One of my favorite summer meals.

This is just a can of diced tomatoes, a small diced onion, a small spoonful of honey, salt, pepper, olive oil and fresh basil for sauce over spaghetti. You can really use any sort of pasta - I plan on making this same sauce with a different pasta tonight.

CSA Recipe - Pork Tenderloin With Grilled Veggies

Delish!

I purchased a pre-seasoned pork tenderloin at the grocery store and it was fantastic - so I decided to try another one, this time teriyaki, and grab some of the veggies from the CSA box to grill.

The tenderloin was easy - sear all sides of the tenderloin and move to indirect heat for 25 minutes.

Veggies:

Instead of veggie or olive oil, use sesame oil (YUM!!!), a dash of soy sauce, salt, pepper & I sprinkled with a little ground ginger. I tossed into the veggie basket and let grill away! I used snow peas (or snap peas, I don't know which, I'm not exactly the best pea-identifier), asparagus, broccoli and green beans.

CSA Recipe - Grilled Cauliflower

Since I've obtained a grill basket, I've become much more daring with the grill. Bimmer Man grills hot dogs, I grill meals, just to clarify our relationships with the grill. I LOVE trying new ideas, recipes, veggies all the time and if it were my choice to purchase certain veggies at the grocery, I probably would not. When cauliflower and broccoli ended up in the last CSA box, I was pleasantly surprised!

And to the grill they went! And into the grill basket so they wouldn't fall through the grates...

All that's on the cauliflower - Moroccan seasoning, salt, pepper and veggie oil.

Quick tip: Veggie oil has higher smoking rate than olive oil, so I try and use veggie oil on the grill instead of olive oil if I can remember!

Happy 4th of July!!

Yeah, sorry. I've been getting distracted lately by the AWESOME weather. It's been warm, sunny and just perfect to work outside, sit outside and read, cook on the grill, swimming at a friend's pool. Minnesota in the summer is the BEST. So I apologize for not sharing in the fun.

But I have a problem in my garden - my Clematis died. Again. This is the only plant that I kill outside. Continuously. Well, besides the tomatoes that I had to replant. Whoops. Mostly because I don't think the Clematis is in a spot where the soil drains well. I think I'm going to have to go to Sunnyside Gardens and get another one and then plant it right next to the house on a trellis since that soil seems to drain well. GAH. Gardening. It never ends!

Recipes I've made:
Mostly brats on the grill. Who wants to see pictures of brats? Well, not me.
Potatoes AND asparagus on the grill (this is sort of a weekly staple in our house in the summer, I never bother taking pictures because otherwise I'd be posting the same thing over and over again - just seasoned with salt, pepper and Moroccan spices for both veggies)
Chicken on the grill - seasoned with Mediterranean seasoning and sprinkled with lemon juice
Scrambled eggs, bacon, toast

See - I'm boring when it's nice outside. But I found a recipe for Cherry Crisp, so I think I'm going to run to the store and pick up another bag of cherries and maybe make that for dessert tonight. Simple, but delicious!

Happy 4th of July - be safe with the fireworks and hope that everyone's day is AWESOME!

CSA Recipe - Week 1

I mixed fresh thyme with olive oil and then later added the green garlic (which BTW, I LOVE green garlic, the garlic flavor is much more subtle and so I cut it up in chunks much like green onion).

 Asparagus from the CSA box that I grilled as well. I literally just tossed everything into the veggie basket and let it cook.

 And this, my lovelies, is green garlic. Doesn't it look like green onion? At first I thought it was weird that green onions were smelling like garlic but then I went back and read my list. Green garlic.

Potatoes are also from the CSA box. I par cooked the potatoes in the microwave for about 4 minutes and then tossed them with the garlic and olive mixture.

Just grill until there's grill marks and you're good to go!

Now I can't wait for the next box. YUM.

Mushroom, Cheese & Spinach Omelette (CSA Box Recipe)

 Mushrooms were unfortunately NOT from the CSA box this week, but the spinach is. I love omelettes. I love how easy they are. I love that if you don't get it perfect, it still looks great on your plate. I also love that there's no leftovers and eggs are so easy to make for one person. (Hey, Bimmer, I know you don't like omelettes, but can you appease me for one weekend and JUST TRY ONE? And it doesn't have to be with mushrooms)

 Spinach is from the CSA box. I obviously sauted the mushrooms first, then added in the spinach to wilt it. When cooking mushrooms, add salt in at the very end. Salt draws out the natural juices and makes the mushrooms tough and chewy. Then add in your regular omelette mix (2 eggs + 1tbsp of milk or cream, salt & pepper). Wait until the eggs have set a bit.

And then when I have a lot of chunky veggies, I don't make a normal omelette. I'd rather consider it a "french" omelette where you shove the food around pan until it's barely cooked, flip it over on itself and then dump it on a plate.

So basically then your plate looks like a pile of eggs and veggies and not really a traditional omelette. But it's still delicious mixed with fresh cheese.

Enjoy!

What's in the CSA Box This Week?

Asian Greens Mix

Asparagus

Broccoli - Raab

Collard Greens

Green Garlic

Pea Vine

Radishes

Spinach

Spring-dug Parsnips

Thyme

Yellow Potatoes

 

I'm so freakin' excited!!!

We're sharing a CSA box with our neighbors this year and I cannot wait! This pick-up location is super close to our houses as well so it makes it so much easier. 

Well, well, you might think that living in Minneapolis there's not much local food but alas! There is! There are usually farmer's markets in all the suburbs (I've bought eggs, meat, cheese, pickles, veggies, etc...) AND there's lots and lots of local farms.

My AWESOME neighbor did some research and decided upon Driftless Organics which is based just across the border in Wisconsin. So not only are they organic BUT they send us emails with photos of all of their hardwork! Awesome, no?

So this summer my goal is to blog about what I make with the food and to let you know if it's worth the price (we each paid $130 for 10 boxes of food). I can't wait to try new veggies and new recipes!