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!

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!

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 

Fresh Pesto Ideas

Who Loves Fresh Pesto?  I do!

Here's an easy typical recipe for pesto:

Pesto Recipe from the Food Network

Notice the tip in that recipe if you want to freeze your pesto. One tip a lot of people don't know about is to freeze your pesto in ice cube trays. Make it fresh in the summer when you have all of that basil growing in the garden. I like to cut the stems off the basil, I think the stems change the flavor. Don't obsess, just a quick clip w/the kitchen shears.

Variations- You can use other nuts instead of pinenuts like walnuts, almonds, etc. Also, you can use other leafy herbs like cilantro or arugula. While vacationing in Key West this month, a local "Fish Shack" served grilled corn on the cob, after it was grilled they brushed it with a cilantro pesto and then sprinkled it with Parmesan cheese. It was out of this world. When I came home Carli made the pesto, we just used traditional basil pesto, I grilled the corn, put it together & it was great.

Here's a version from Epicurious: 

Cilantro Pesto Grilled Corn                 

When I was in San Francisco last month we visited a great restaurant called the Stinking Rose. They served an awesome pesto as a dipping sauce with fresh warm bread. My guess is they added a little extra garlic then most recipes suggest, but so do we, we're Italian, it's an aphrodisiac for us! :)

A little pesto goes a long way. When you make it, you only need a tablespoon or two for your pasta. When I made some fresh pasta last week I added a little bit of cream (about 1/2 cup) with 2T pesto and 1/4 cup port wine(or sherry), cracked pepper & 1/4c Pecorino Romano cheese & was a delightful alternative for pasta sauce.

You could also use a little pesto as a sauce on a white pizza. 

Here's one other variation of a pesto recipe that's a little better on calories, it's called "skinny pesto."

Skinny Pesto

If you have other ideas for pesto, please add your comments below, let us all share in the ecstasy of pesto!     Mangia Mangia!

Baba Ghanoush

Baba Ghanoush

Roasted Eggplant Dip

Ingredients

2 small-medium eggplants
(I prefer the "Casper" or white eggplants. If you use a  regular eggplant, one medium would probably work fine.)  
3T  Tahini  

Tahini is roasted sesame paste. Typically found in the Greek/Mediterranean section of your supermarket. Look at the ingredient list, be sure to get all natural, pure sesame seeds, no other fillers. 

3T  Lemon Juice

3 cloves minced garlic  To be honest I used 4 because I Like garlic!

1-2 T sesame seeds  You can omit these if you choose or just use one T

Salt/Pepper to taste

1T  EVOO

2T  Sour Cream  I prefer Daisy light sour cream, great flavor for a light. Or, you could also use Greek Yogurt instead.     
(If you like a little heat, roast one hot pepper when you're roasting your eggplant.)

1. First thing is to roast the eggplant. I roasted them on the grill, on a higher heat until their black  all over. If you don't want to use the grill, you could do the same thing on your gas stove burner. Then, I moved it off the heat, left the grill on medium and left it on for another 15-20 minutes.  If you were using the stovetop, after the skin is all black from the frames, wrap in foil, place back on burner on low heat for 20-30 minutes or so.  If you chose to add the pepper, roast w/the eggplants.


If you'd rather use the oven, preheat to 400'  Rub olive oil over eggplant, when using this method make sure you poke some holes in the eggplant (so they don't explode in the oven :) Place eggplants on cookie sheet and roast in oven for about 30 minutes, turn them at least once or twice during that 30 minutes.


Whatever method you use, when you remove from oven, or off the burner, place in glass bowl and cover with plastic wrap, it will make peeling the skin off easier. (When I used the grilling method, I didn't need to do the plastic wrap because the skin just came off.)


2. Remove skin from eggplant. (This pic shows the eggplant after they've been peeled) Some people like to remove the seeds, they think it effects the flavor. I did remove some, easy to swipe with a knife, but I didn't get all of them, no stress.)


3. I let the eggplants soak on paper towels, changing the the towels over night. I left them on the counter for an hour or so, then placed in frig wrapped in paper towels, it releases a lot of water, giving the eggplant more flavor.  I would recommend letting them sit on paper towels for at least an hour.


4.  Place eggplant, tahini, minced garlic, lemon juice & sesame seeds  in a blender or food processor and puree. (If you used the pepper, place in food processor w/other ingredients.) Season with salt & pepper, pour into small bowl & add 1T EVOO, stir. Cover bowl & chill in refrigerator for at least 3 hours. 


5. Stir in the sour cream or yogurt.


6.  Taste, see how you like it, don't be afraid to add a splash of lemon juice if you think it needs it or a little more pepper. My best tip in cooking is to taste & don't be afraid to make changes as you like.  


Serve with pita bread and/or fresh vegetables.