Lentils, Chard and One Fabulous Poached Egg

I don’t even know where to start with this. It was so GOOD. I ate every last bit. I loved it, told Anne about it. She made it pronto, and it got rave reviews from her husband, too.

Hands down, amazing. I like my poached eggs pretty cooked, but I know the pic would look pretty with the yolk running down. Suffice as to say, it didn’t happen with mine. I also wished I managed to get this on the table before the sunset. It would be much prettier in natural light. Oh well – excuses to make it soon! I am not a big meal-repeater usually (exceptions for pizza), but I want to make this weekly.

I found the recipe on Dishing Up Delights‘ blog and copied it, word for word.

Roasted Beet and Blue Cheese Salad

1 bunch of beets, trimmed and sliced into half rounds

1/2 bag of baby spinach

1 ear of corn, kernels cut

blue cheese

salt, pepper, olive oil, balsamic

Preheat oven to 350. Put beets in roasting pan. Add a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast about 45 minutes, or until done. In a bowl add spinach, corn (I don’t cook it, and use it right off the cob. Very fresh.), and blue cheese. Add cooked beets to the salad. It’ll melt the blue cheese a little. Add balsamic, olive oil, salt and pepper to taste.

Picnic Lunch

I love monograms. If I could monogram our cat, I would do that. Poor Baby Bean. I’m not sure her opinions on monogramming though. This LL Bean bag is our beach and picnic tote. And it has my married initials on it. AND it’s green. I love it.

It was a Friday and shockingly, we both had the day off. We were Vermont bound the next morning (and for the subsequent weekend). Now, generally on a day off, I’ll do this: workout like a lunatic (whoo hoo, extra workout time!), clean the whole house top to bottom, do all the laundry, cook, bake and then collapse. On this day off – I said screw that! We’re going on a picnic. MUCH BETTER use of time.

I made a Panzanella Salad for Michael (see week 10, same recipe), and a cottage cheese salad for me. Cottage cheese salad is my go-to lunch choice. I eat it All. The. Time. And here is a rough idea of what I do:

1/2 cup cottage cheese

1/2 cup chickpeas (I use all kinds of beans)

yellow tomato

red tomato

avocado

cucumber

dill

salt, pepper

I have about 25 variations on this (I make one with black beans, cilantro and scallions, which I had for lunch on Monday). Mix it all together and nom it up. I use the 2% or 4% cottage cheese. It’s a nice protein hit. I use beans as a carb source and not a protein source, so I don’t feel like I’m missing carbs with this. (Plus, carbs from the vegetables.)

Peach Cobbler

Peaches make me think of my sweet, southern belle of a girlfriend, Zara. She’s off in Mexico with her new husband, and I miss her dearly. She’s from Georgia, and I thought of her when I made this.

4 tbsp butter, melted

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

pinch of salt

1/2 cup milk

4 peaches, sliced

flour to coat

zest and juice of 1/2 lemon

Preheat oven to 350. In a mixing bowl, cream sugar and butter. Add dry ingredients to combine. Add milk and blend until it’s not lumpy.

Cut peaches and toss with lemon juice, zest and a palmful of flour (just to coat).

Put peaches in a greased pan, and top with batter. Bake about 20 minutes or until done. I went a little under with mine, because it looked like it was bubbling and fully cooked.

Top with ice cream or whipped cream, if you desire!

Chickpeas and Swiss Chard: Dinner for One

Alone on a Friday night, I made something that I used to make when I was a single gal in my bachelorette pad. Quick and dirty, and oh so tasty. Recipe is approximate.

5-6 swiss chard leaves, cut into ribbons

1 scallion, diced

bunch of grape tomatoes, halved

1/2 cup chickpeas

few diced pieces of mozzarella

magical herb salt from farm share

Sautee the swiss chard and scallions until the greens are very tender. Add the tomatoes and chickpeas. Sprinkle with salt. Add cheese when you remove from heat. It will melt on contact. I had it with some of that lovely bread.

Brown Butter Green Beans

Not gourmet and by no means complicated, this is just plain old good food. My husband is a huge fan of green beans. I try.

1 tbsp butter

large bunch green beans, trimmed

salt, pepper

Brown the butter in a pan, and let the pan get very hot. Add the green beans and sautee quickly. You want them to stay green and crisp and too overly cooked. Remove from heat, sprinkle on salt and pepper. There ya go.

My family loves this summer pasta “sauce.” It is a perfect warm summer night dinner. The brie melts onto the pasta and the summer flavors are awesome. Measurements are up to the chef and the ingredients are simple.

• Fresh garden tomatoes cut into bite size chunks
• Handful of chopped basil
• Garlic clove, chopped (or two depending on your love of garlic)
• at least 8oz or more of Brie cheese

1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl.  Drizzle with a good quantity of quality olive oil, salt, and pepper to taste
2. Cover and let marinate at room temp.
3. Put a big pot of pasta on the stove.  Cook, drain, and mix “sauce” with hot pasta.  Enjoy hot or at room temp.

Makes one cocktail

A refreshing use of local produce.

• 8 basil leaves
• 4 mint leaves
• 1 tsp raw sugar
• 1 Tbl lime juice
• 12 local blueberries
• 1 1/2 oz rum
• Top with soda water
• Garnish with more blueberries

1. Muddle basil, mint, sugar, and lime juice in base of a shaker glass.  Add blueberries, and continue to muddle.
2. Add rum and ice and shake.
3. Fill tall glass with ice and and strain muddled rum mixture into the glass and top with soda water.  Garnish with more blueberries.

The goodies:

Week #5 was chockful of: black raspberries, blueberries, zucchini, summer squash, tomatoes, beets, carrots, walnut sourdough, basil vinegar and arugula.

I love the photos my husband takes!

It seemed to be a little cooler this week (or perhaps I have acclimated finally?) so I did more than just salad assembling. What did I do with this lovely haulage? Check it out.

Black Raspberry Bread with Whipped Creme

I was imagining a spongey, lemony, fluffy goodness of a bread. My husband pretty much wants everything with whipped cream (I am incredibly grateful for my KitchenAid stand mixer!) and I wanted something light and refreshing to accompany it.

I adapted it from this Lemon Blueberry Bread recipe over at All Recipes, which is a handy site (espescially if you’re wondering what to do with an ingredient you’ve got on hand. You can simply enter random ingredients into their search feature. It gives me lots of ideas when I get stuck.)

1/2 cup melted butter

1 cup sugar

juice and zest of 1 lemon

 2 eggs

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup milk

1 pint black raspberries

Combine dry ingredients and set aside. Cream together eggs and butter for three minutes. Add milk, lemon juice and zest. Add dry ingredients. After washing black raspberries, toss in flour before adding to cake batter. This assures they won’t sink to the bottom of the bread. Which makes for prettier pictures.

Bake at 350 until it’s done. My oven took about 25 minutes.

For the whipped cream, I used about a cup of heavy cream (I prefer this to whipping cream as I feel it’s got too many unnatural ingredients and I don’t want monoglycerides in my food) and 2 tablespoons of organic powdered sugar. You can use a hand or stand mixer, or, if you’re looking to work your upper body, whisk it by hand! I topped the whipped cream with mint, because mint makes things look fancy. 

Caprese Salad

 I know, right? You can totally taste it. These tomatoes were HANDS DOWN pretty amazing. I wanted to really taste the tomatoes and make them the feature of the dish. I paired with slices of mozzarella, and farm share basil (from the potted herbs in week #1). I arranged in a circle, topped with extra virgin olive oil, cracked pepper and coarse salt. Suffice as to say, there was nothing remaining in short time. We loved it!

Roasted Zucchini and Summer Squash with Lemon Ricotta

Blogging pics of (mainly) everything I cook has opened my eyes a lot. I tend to make a lot of salad! I was trying NOT to do that this week. I decided to roast these up instead.

1 zucchini, diced into even pieces

1 summer squash, diced into even pieces

drizzle of olive oil

pinch of fennel seeds

pinch of cumin seeds

juice of 1/2 a lemon

Salt, pepper

ricotta

Preheat oven to 400. Add veggies and oil to a pan and roast for about 18 minutes. Remove from oven, add spices, toss, and return to oven for five minutes.

In a bowl, add a few spoonfuls of ricotta, and juice of the lemon half. Mix up, and plate next to the zucchini and squash. Add a wee bit more olive oil to the ricotta. They’re really good when you eat them together!

Roasted Beets with Rosemary

My girlfriend Anne and I could talk about food and recipes for days on end – and we sometimes do! So when she sent me a link for a recipe for roasted beets, I jumped right on it. We made the same thing for dinner that night. And when your dear friend is all the way in Kentucky, it’s a nice little feeling.

You can check it out right here: Roasted Beet Wedges

Moroccan Tagine

This is 1) a favorite in our house and 2) a total joke in some ways. I have “threatened” to make this on many a hot night, only to scrap it at the last minute. Hey, I always have the best of intentions. And while I can do lots of things, I can’t control the weather. So now “moroccan” is synonymous with “we’re-totally-getting-takeout-instead”.

I came across this recipe this past winter, and ohhhhh, I have been in love with it since. I used the farm share carrots for this little gem.

Moroccan Tagine from Bon Appetit is a great recipe. I make it exactly as it reads here. I think you could substitute ground chicken, turkey or ground meatless, for the vegetarians. It’s really REALLY good. I hope you make it and LOVE IT!

• 8 ripe medium tomatoes
• ½ red onion, chopped
• 2 ripe peaches, cut into ½” pieces
• 1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded, cut into ½” pieces
• kernels from 2 ears of corn
• 6 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
• 1 ¼ tsp sea salt, plus more to taste
• freshly ground black
• ½ cup fresh basil leaves plus sprigs for garnish

1. Slice off tops of tomatoes (about ½ inch). Scoop out seeds and ribs and coarsely chop.
2. Stir together chopped tomatoes, peaches, cucumbers, corn oil, lime juice, salt and pepper. Let stand for 15 minutes.
3. Stir in basil.
4. Season inside of tomato shells with salt and pepper. Fill tomatoes with tomato mixture and garnish with basil sprigs.
5. Serve immediately

To remove the rind from the brie, chill it well in the refrigerator; cut the wedge in half (like a piece of pie) and stand each piece up, cut-side down. Use a knife with a long, thin blade to slice off the rind. You can omit the sun-dried tomatoes and/or kalamata olives, if you don’t have them on hand.

•  1 lb brie, rind removed, cut into small pieces
• 5 oz sundried tomatoes in oil, drained and cut into thin strips
• 4 ripe tomatoes, cut into cubes
• 1/2 cup Kalamata olives, pitted
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 cup chopped fresh basil
• 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
• 2/3 cup olive oil
• 18 ounces fresh linguine or 1 pound dried
• freshly grated fontina or parmesan cheese, to taste

1.  In a large bowl, combine Brie, sundried tomatoes, tomatoes, olives, garlic, basil, pepper and olive oil. Cover and let sit at room temperature for 2 hours. (Optional: occasionally remove cover, stir and inhale the heady aroma of your future dinner). 

2.  Prepare pasta according to package directions. Drain pasta and immediately toss with tomato mixture (the brie will melt a bit, depending on the butterfat content and state of your cheese – the riper the brie, the more melting). Serve immediately with grated cheese. Serves 4-6 as a main course.

Serves 1

• 2 cups loosely packed baby spinach leaves, rinsed and patted dry
• 2 slices (2 ounces) Canadian bacon, cut into strips (Chris has used precooked regular bacon.)
• 1 ounce goat cheese, crumbled (Chris notes it’s also good with bleu cheese)
• 4 small tomatoes on the vine or plum tomatoes, coarsely chopped
• 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
• Salt and pepper, to taste

1. On a microwave-safe plate, spread the spinach leaves. Scatter Canadian bacon and goat cheese on top.
2. Place a paper towel loosely over the plate and microwave on high for 1 1/2 minutes or until the spinach is warm and the cheese melts slightly.
3. Add tomatoes, olive oil, basil, salt, and pepper and serve.

Feel free to switch up the herbs and play with the butter to herb ratio. This butter is an EXCELLENT start to other recipes, or heck- even to just fry things in and eat as-is. Good eats.