Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Garden Dreams

Garden Dreams

Sungold Cherry Tomatoes


My garden is exploding right now, I can hardly keep up with all of the goodies! I went a little crazy this year, I have 14 different varieties of tomatoes, about a dozen pepper plants, White, Tuscan & Japanese eggplants. 2 different zucchinis, sorrel, and let's just say a ton of herbs, lol. The picture above is of "Sungold" cherry tomatoes, they are SO good! Carli & I can't walk by the plant without picking one & popping it in our mouth, they are so delicious! 

I'm really excited about the place I got a majority of my plants this year and for those of you who live in Pittsburgh, I wanted to share with you. It's called Garden Dreams, click on this link...Garden Dreams

Garden Dreams is an urban farm in the east end of Pittsburgh. They have a huge variety of plants, lots of unique finds and a great selection of heirloom seeds. I'm totally a huge fan. They do participate in the May Market at Forbes, but I actually went to the East End location. I looked at the website (see link above) and went through their list of plants, highlighting my "wishlist." When I went there, they were a great help in locating my choices and giving me recommendations.  On the homepage they list whatever's currently available. They also have great growing tips.

Can you tell I'm a big fan? They are "natural" and working on organic status. Like them on Facebook by clicking this link: Garden Dreams on Facebook

HAPPY HARVESTING!

Monday, August 6, 2012

Thai Chicken Wrap w/Peanut Sauce

Yesterday we made White Chicken Chili, well we had leftover chicken & my daughter Carli put this creation together for lunch today. A while back she found this peanut sauce recipe & made a fantastic Thai Chicken Pizza. She went back to this peanut sauce recipe and created a chicken salad out of it, she also had the great idea that you could put the chicken salad in lettuce leaves for a Thai Chicken Lettuce Wrap,mmmmn doesn't that sound good?

Thai Chicken Wrap w/Peanut Sauce

Let's Start with this awesome Peanut Sauce Recipe from Jeramyn Feucht at AllRecipes.Com.

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
  • 1 tablespoon crunchy peanut butter (optional) (We used reduced fat Jiff :)
  • 3 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon sesame oil
  • 2 teaspoons minced fresh garlic
  • 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root
  • 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Directions

  1. Stir together the honey, peanut butters, soy sauce, rice vinegar, olive oil, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes in a small bowl.

CHICKEN WRAP
2c shredded chicken
1 medium onion, chopped
1 yellow/red/or orange bell pepper, chopped
1 medium cucumber, diced

Toss together and then add sauce.  Wrap in tortilla or in large lettuce leaves.

ENJOY!





Sunday, August 5, 2012

Roasted Tomatillo White Chicken Chili


Roasted Tomatillo White Chicken Chili

Ingredients:

Part 1A
1 lb. tomatillos, husked & cleaned
(Tomatillos are found grocery stores with a nice produce selection, they should be near the tomatoes. They are typically green. The pic you see here is from my garden, I grew purplish ones.)
2 Poblano Peppers
(One of my favorite peppers, a little kick but not too hot, these are from my garden too in the pic)
2 whole jalapeno peppers  

(If you don't have fresh jalapenos, you could use a 4oz can of diced chilis found in the Mexican food isle in the grocery store)
2 medium onions, peeled & quartered
4 whole/peeled cloves garlic  
4 medium green tomatoes (or just a can of diced tomatoes; if you use the can, just add in part 2 do NOT roast :)
Olive Oil

Part 1B
2 t cumin
1 t salt
pinch of hot pepper seasoning or chili powder
1/2 cup chopped cilantro leaves
1/2 lime juiced or 2-3T concentrated lime juice



Part 2
1/4 c EVOO(Extra virgin olive oil) or if you have it I used grapeseed oil
1-2 medium onions, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 t ground cumin
1 T Coriander (ground or crushed seeds)
2 T flour
32 oz lower sodium chicken stock
(I like to buy mine from Costco, they have an organic lower sodium-see pic)
2 16 oz cans Great Northern Beans (drained & rinsed)
2 16 oz cans White Hominy (Hominy is Dried Maize, found near the canned corn)
1 roasted chicken (I roasted mine {beer butt style}, but you could just buy one in the deli) About 3 lbs in size. Boned, Shred the meat.

For Garnishing:
Chopped Cilantro, Shredded Monteray Jack or Cheddar Cheese & Sour Cream

Procedures:
PART 1
1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
2. In a baking dish, place tomatillos, onion, garlic & peppers
3. Drizzle & coat w/olive oil
4. Bake for 30 minutes (I usually turn pan halfway through cooking time)
You can see the pics above of my veggies going in to the oven, then after roasting.
5. When they are finished, remove the jalapeno & Poblano peppers. Place them in glass dish & cover with plastic wrap for 10 minutes or so. Then core & peel the skin off of the peppers.
6. Scoop the rest of the roasted veggies & any juices into a food processor and pulse. Then add the peppers. 
7. Add all of the ingredients listed in PART 1B
Now, I pureed the beans too, I like the texture better that way, you can either puree them or add them later when you add the hominy.
PART 2
8.  Heat olive oil in large stock pot (8qt or so) over medium heat.
9.  Add chopped onion & saute until soft & slightly caramelized. (about 5-7 minutes)
10.  Add minced garlic, cumin, pepper & cook for another minute.
11. Sprinkle in the flour and stir constantly to avoid clumps.
12. Gradually add the chicken stock, continue to stir until liquid begins to simmer.
13. Add your roasted tomatillo mixture from the blender. 
(If you like, reserve a little of this mixture and you could use it as a garnish on top.)
14. Add the hominy & if you didn't puree the beans, add them now.  If you didn't roast tomatoes, add your can of diced tomatoes now.
15. Fold in the shredded chicken (or turkey is fine too! :)
16. Season to taste w/salt & pepper
17. Simmer on a low heat for about 20-30 minutes.
18. Spoon into a bowl, sprinkle with cheese, place a dollop of sour cream on top w/a little of the reserved salsa & a chopped cilantro leaf.
19. ENJOY! (I HOPE)

FOOTNOTE:
If you were wandering about my Chipolte Seasoning, I highly recommend this company. They have old native seeds for sale as well as a wonderful selection of chili & pepper powders/seeds. Check them out by clicking on this link:      Native Seeds Company