Pretty Pizza Pie

So Fresh!

Finally! The first pizza of the summer with OUR homegrown Roma Tomatoes and Fresh Basil!!!

Browned to perfection!

Tried the crust recipe in our amazing book Encyclopedia of Cooking. We were running low on all-purpose flour, so Nate mixed in a little wheat flour and vital wheat gluten to go the rest of the way. Once rolled out, I brushed the dough with olive oil. I topped it with our fresh basil, then the Romas, onions on half (for Nate), fresh mozzarella AND fresh goat cheese. Finally, I dropped some olive oil, freshly minced garlic and Italian herb goodness all over the top. Yum, yum, YUM!!

Today's rewards! That's 7 varieties in one basket. We are RICH!

OMG Squash Blossoms! Tempura Fried!!!

The pretty yellow blossoms on squash and zucchini plants are not just a sign of the fruits to come. They are edible and quite delicious when stuffed with herbed goat cheese and tempura fried!

Summer squash and zucchini are as easy to grow as they are productive.We just planted one of each this year and we have plenty of blossoms and fruit to enjoy. Only the pollinated female blossoms will produce a squash baby, so you may want to harvest only the male blossoms that grow on a long stem. Both are edible, so pick away if you don't mind reducing your production of squash.


We are still new to making these tempura fried squash blossoms, but after two times we are already obsessed! We took a tempura batter recipe from last month's Mother Earth News (Click here to check out the article on "20 Ways to Use Your Zukes"!). Of course, we modified it a bit. We LOVED the whole wheat flour batter. I think next time, we should use a beer batter!

Here's how to make them.. from plant to plate! 

What you will need for 10 squash blossoms:

1 cup all-purpose flour
Salt & pepper to taste
1 large egg, chilled
3/4 cup ice water in a medium bowl
1 cup plus 2 tbsp all purpose flour, sifted & chilled 
         *Less flour is needed for whole wheat. The wheat seems to swell up more than the unbleached. Try 3/4 cup for wheat and add more if needed.
At least 4 oz of goat cheese
Frying pan w/ about 3 inches of vegetable oil
 


Pick'em:

Pick your blossoms in the late morning when they are fully open. Cut the stem about an inch or two below the blossom. Check for bees when you are picking! Remove the stamen and gently rinse the blossoms before preparing to cook.

Stuff'em:

 Carefully stuff your cleaned blossoms with about a table spoon of goat cheese. The blossoms are very delicate, so they will probably rip when stuffing. Fold the sides of the blossom around the filling to seal it in.






Dredge'em:
Combine salt and pepper with the 1 cup of flour. Lightly dredge the blossoms in the flour and set aside.

Make the Batter:
Break the egg into the bowl of ice water. Slowly whisk in the sifted flour and mix just enough to combine the ingredients well. Put batter in the refrigerator while heating the oil to 350 degrees.

 
Batter'em & Fry'em:
 Dip the blossoms in the batter until well coated. Carefully drop them into the hot oil and fry for about 2-3 minutes until golden brown.

 


 
Let'em Rest:
Drain on a paper towel for a few minutes. They are very hard to resist, but try to give them about 10 minutes to cool. The outside may seem fine, but the goat cheese inside is VERY hot! Small nibbles first!








 

ENJOY!
We dipped our blossoms in liquid aminos, which tastes like soy sauce, but not as strong. You can really experiment with different dipping sauces. Check out the article in Mother Earth News (linked above) for their yummy sounding dipping sauce that uses seaweed, bonito flakes, soy and ginger.








So, if you have never grown squash or zucchini before, you should seriously consider it next year. You will be very lucky to find the blossoms for sale, even at a farmer's market. How else can you enjoy this amazing, eyes-rolling-back-into-your-head treat? Grow it or get invited to dinner! Are you that lucky?

Perfect Camping Food

With a little preparation, anyone can enjoy awesome food like this when camping. Of course, Nate and I plan every meal when we camp and we always feel that we are eating like kings, even if we're "roughing it".

This last camping trip, we prepared many things ahead, like the cornbread muffins you see on the side of this dish. That's our homemade strawberry jam on that muffin too! We pre-made turkey burgers and froze them, made slaw to go with our turkey dog meal and even pre-sliced our cheese for easier serving.

The yummy meal in these photos was our last breakfast of the trip. We combined some of our leftover campfire roasted potatoes and hot dogs with our eggs and spinach to make one amazing scrambler mix.  Since it was our last meal at the campsite, we decided to use the camp stove instead of the campfire we usually use for cooking. Either way it's cooked, this meal is quick and easy to make and is quite delicious and filling!

Camp food is one of my favorite things about camping. It's always a memorable experience, preparing the meals together in a gorgeous outdoor setting, using our favorite ingredients. I can't wait until our next camping trip, when we go to pick wild blueberries in the forest! They're almost ready! Stay tuned!

A Tasty Side Dish With A Few Of My Favorite Ingredients

Cheesy Broccoli Barley Bake!

It's not the prettiest photo, but this side dish is delicious!

As promised, I am finally sharing the wonderful recipe which uses the yummy ingredients from my previous post. This dish isn't the quickest to make, but I promise it's worth the extra time. Besides all the cheddar chesse, it's quite nutritious too! Barley is one of the best whole grains out there and we have been cooking with it a lot more lately. It makes a great substitue for rice in many dishes. A few of it's amazing benefits include reducing heart disease and cancer risk, cholesterol and inflammation. It has powerful antioxidants and even has a low glycemic index, meaning that ulike many other "starches", it hardly effects your blood sugar levels. Check out this webiste to learn just about everything you would want to know about Barley. Vegetarian's in Paradise On Barley It has an amazing history, dating back to 8000 BC!

Now, for the recipe!

Ingredients *I try to use all organic or local products!*

1 cup uncooked pearled barley

2 tbs oil

8 oz organic cremini mushrooms, sliced

1 small onion, chopped

1 tbs (or MORE!) garlic, chopped

2 tbs whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups milk

3 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 large head of broccoli

Salt, as much as desired

Non stick spray or butter for greasing your dish

To Prepare

- Cook barley, about 30-45 minutes.

  (We like to use chicken stock in leiu of water for the cooking liquid, giving it a wonderful flavor!)

- Preheat oven to 375 degrees

- Heat oil in a skillet & sautee onion & garlic until onion is soft

- Add sliced mushrooms & cook for about 5 minutes

- Sprinkle flour over mushroom mixture & stir until all are covered

- Add milk and stir

- Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cook 5 minutes

- Stir in 3/4 of the cheese and heat until melted

- Add broccoli and cooked barley and salt to taste. Mix very well!

- Pour into greased casserole dish

- Top with remaining cheese and cover

- Bake 10-15 minutes until cheese has melted and slightly browned

- Serves 4-6

Enjoy!

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things...

 Cheese, Broccoli & Cremini Mushrooms

Always a fabulous combination.

 Tonight's dinner included these most amazing ingredients, combined with deliciously healthy barley.. Recipe to come very soon! 

 Unfortunately, my dearest computer decided not to wake up from it's nap a couple of weeks ago. Thank goodness for my dear man Nate, so I can still do all of the important email and occasional Facebook business. Working on my blog, using quality photos, has now  become a greater challenge.

I have been cooking up a storm, as usual and I have much to share. Hang in there with me, kind readers. I will be posting in a limited capacity until I get my dear MacBookPro, fixed & good as new. I can't wait to share the many Summertime treats we cook up!

What's For Dinner - Nate's Alternative Picnic Meal!

Grilled Portobello "Burger"

Sauteed Swiss Chard  & Garlic

Nate-Style Potato Salad

Nate is responsible for this wonderfully flavorful meal. He marinated the portobello mushroom with balsamic vinegar, liquid aminos and spices. The potato salad turned out dreamy, especially with the celery and carrots he added! He sauteed lots of garlic and I stirred in the Swiss chard, adding a little balsamic and salt. I had about half of his serving (shown in the photo) and I was completely satisfied AND looking forward to lunch leftovers tomorrow! Yum!

Tis The Season For Fresh Strawberry Jam!

Strawberry season! We missed it last year, so this year we made sure to get to the farmer's market in time to add to our jam collection. We are still savoring the last couple of jars of peach and pear jams, and apple jelly. Now it's time to finish those off and make room for a new season of canning goodness.

Making strawberry jam is pretty easy, compared to the work involved in canning other fruits and veggies. While I won't be covering precise step by step instructions on how to make the jam, I am hoping the the photos and descriptions below are helpful in showing exactly how easy it is to make this precious addition to the pantry. This was the first time we made the stuff, and it still turned out amazingly delicious!

If you have never canned, you should read up on it before attempting to can anything.  Having sterile jars and lids and following all proper procedures will prevent a life threatening illness called Botulism, that can result from improperly canned food. Please do not take the risk and try canning before you have done some research and feel comfortable with all of the steps necessary to can food safely. Check out this link from the National Center for Home Food Preservation and get all the info you should need. http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/general.html

This is what we used to get started.. 2 gallons of freshly picked strawberries from the farmer's market & 2 boxes of fruit pectin to make 2 batches. We like to get the kind that allows for "No Sugar Needed Recipes", as we like to use less sugar. The recipe we used did call for sugar, but about half of the usual amount. Directions on how to make the regular and low sugar recipes are in the box of fruit pectin.

First, you have to wash and cut the tops off the berries. This takes a little while, but not even close to the amount of time involved in apples and peaches, with having to peel & core them. There is no need to slice them either! Just toss the strawberries in a blender or food processor to puree. You will need to wash jars and lids and have ready to use before starting to prepare the strawberries for canning. You should have your lids in a small pan of water on low heat, to soften the seal.

Following the fruit pectin box directions, you will cook the pureed strawberries, adding a sugar and fruit pectin mixture and allowing to boil only a few minutes.

You should already have the sterile jars ready for filling, as it is important to get the cooked mixture in the jars and in a water bath as quickly as possible.

Once the jam mixture is fully cooked, ladel it into the jars, filling about 1/8 of an inch from the top. Wipe the rim of jars before putting on the lid and rings on the jars. Fill your jar rack and you are ready for putting in the already boiling water bath.

Canning can make the house very hot, so we used an outdoor propane cooker for the water bath processing. It's a lifesaver, especially since we have no AC!

Processing times vary by elevation. Be very careful removing the jar rack once the processing is complete. The jars are very, very HOT and can cause a lot of damage if falling and breaking at your feet!

 Place the jars on a rack to cool. Within a couple of minutes, you should start hearing the tabs on the lids starting to pop. This lets you know that you did the job right and they are properly sealing! I love that POP sound!

After the jars have fully cooled, press on the center of each lid, to make sure they are completely sealed. If you are able to press the lid and it pops back up, your jar is not fully sealed and the contents are now perishable. Don't worry about it being a waste, just put it in the refrigerator and eat within a week or two.

It's a beautiful and tasty payoff for only a couple of hours of work! With our 2 gallons of fruit, we made about 16 half pints of jam and had a few pints of leftover pureed strawberries that we froze for making syrup, smoothies or whatever else we can dream up. Leftovers are always a plus! We will be enjoying the sweet, fresh taste of strawberries all year long. And if you're lucky, we might even share some!

What's For Dinner - Easy, Delicious & Amazingly Nutritious Soup!

We were working hard for a few hours this evening making strawberry jam! (Post on that coming soon.) We wanted an easy meal and this soup fit the bill, as it was made with stuff we generally have around at all times. Our homemade veggie stock was the inspiration for this meal. To the quart of veggie stock, I added equal parts chicken stock, then egg noodles, fresh garlic, baby bellas, carrots, home grown kale, and to top it all off.... white miso paste. Absolutely scrumptious and packed with vitamins & minerals! I didn't even want the bread with it. I wanted to taste every bit of the tasty broth.

 

This soup is proof that it's not hard to make an extremely healthy and totally satisfying meal... FAST!

Heaven for less than Seven!

All the Homemade Chocolate Covered Strawberries you can eat.... for less than $7!

I walked into the grocery store yesterday to see organic strawberries on sale for $1.99. I was inspired! Who doesn't LOVE chocolate covered strawberries? I swoon anytime I see them! I rarely can afford to buy them, and I found that making them myself can not only save me money, but allow me to eat as many as I desire! Three is never enough, right!?!

So, the strawberries were $2 and I got a block of gourmet chocolate for less than $5! I melted the chocolate in a bowl that rested in a pot of boiling water (I don't have a double boiler), dipped the berries in the hot melted chocolate and placed them on a wax paper lined baking sheet. Once they were all dipped, I put them in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes to chill. We ate nearly all of them very quickly, with the help of our good friends Eliza and Aaron. We were in heaven!!! This treat is so easy, inexpensive and absolutely DIVINE! I urge everyone to go get some strawberries while they are in season and treat yourself to heaven!

Sleeping Beauties

MMMMM Meringue Cookes!

These Sleeping Beauties were made with Heath Bar pieces! Wow!

 Meringue cookies have always intrigued me. I finally got to make them for the first time about a year ago. These heavenly little cookies go to bed when you do. They actually "cook" over the course of several hours in a shut off oven that started at 350 degrees and is turned off when the cookie sheets go in. When you wake, they are crispy and chewy little delights. Yep, they're crispy AND chewy. Texture perfection if you ask me. I got the recipe from a this cool cookbook that includes a diverse mix of recipes compiled by my great aunt's church. There are so many interesting and wonderful recipes contributed by the good southern folks that attend Nacoochee United Methodist Church in the quaint little town of Sautee Nacoochee, in Northeast Georgia. Here is the tasty recipe by Carole Miller. I imagine that Carole has quite the sweet tooth.. like me!

Sleeping Beauties 

2 egg whites

2/3 cup sugar (I used a little over 1/3 cup and that was plenty!)

1/4 tsp. cream of tartar

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup chocolate chips 

1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Beat whites to peaks; add cream of tartar, then the sugar, a little at a time. Stir in chocolate chips, pecans and vanilla. Drop on foil or parchment lined cookie sheets. Put in oven, turn off and leave overnight or for at least six hours. (Supposedly) makes 55 servings.... I haven't gotten that many, but my servings aren't so small. 

Trying to be lazy about giving the recipe, I took a picture of it on the page in the book. It looked great in this post! Then, I realized that I could be violating copyright laws. It's a small town church cookbook, but still... What a moral dilemma! Since I typed almost exactly what the recipe said, I guess I felt it was necessary to mention that the "Spirit of The Sautee-Nacoochee Valleys" cookbook was published and printed by Cookbook Publishers, Inc in Lexena, Kansas in 2000.

What's For Dinner - B-for-D!

Oh, the good ol' fail-safe Breakfast-for-Dinner! It saves the day when it's 7:00pm and you have no meal planned. Here are a couple of ways we have enjoyed it, tonight and last Friday.

Tonight, it was..

 Fried eggs, baked turkey bacon and garlic potato pancakes.

And Friday, we had..

Home grown kale, sauteed in white wine and garlic. We poached the eggs in the pan with the kale. They were slightly overcooked, but delicious nonetheless. It's served on top of crispy homefries and onions.

  

*These yummy, healthy meals were almost completely free range and organic. It tastes better!*

AppeSnack!

Meet the treat that inspired Nate to say the word AppeSnack.

 

 

My old roomie John told me about this fresh and light tasting treat. Fresh endive with Boursin cheese. It's the perfect Appetizer/Snack to nosh on while you cook dinner. It's not always easy to catch fresh endives at the grocery, so grab'em while you can! 

 

 

Excited about Brussells Sprouts

My grandma's old steamer pot jumps for joy! It's because the amazingly healthy and tasty Brussells Sprouts are cooking inside. Did you know that this cruciferous vegetable is rich in fiber, protein, antioxidants and has even been linked to reducing cholesterol and the risk of cancer? Amazing stuff! In fact, there are so many health benefits, you should check out this website to get the complete nutrition facts. You'll jump for joy too! They're so tasty and SO good for you!

 http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/brussel-sprouts.html

What's For Dinner - Pasta & Steamed Artichokes!

Simple whole wheat pasta with tons of garlic, sauteed with olive oil, spinach from the garden, baby bellas and black olives. I added a touch of salt & pepper but the bold garlic flavor required little addition. Of course, it had to be topped with freshly grated parmiagiano reggiano.


We steamed 3 artichokes for about 30 minutes. It probably could have cooked for longer. It was supposed to be the appetizer, but we didn't realized it took that long! Dipped in freshly melted butter, it tasted dreamy. 


I think the black olives and parm were the only un-organic elements of this meal. We are slowly trying to convert as many of our staples as possible. It takes time, as it is NOT a cheap endeavor. But, the taste makes it sooooooo worth it!

New feature for my current and future followers!

Thank you to all of my wonderfully supportive readers & "Followers"! I LOVE working on this blog and your support keeps me inspired! I hope to increase my following and to make a difference in your lives in the kitchen.

Staying up to date on my posts just got easier! You can now submit your email address (at the bottom of the page, above the follower's list) and get emailed every time I post something new. Don't worry, you won't be getting emails every day.. I am lucky if I can post more than 2 times per week. I don't want Facebook to be my only outlet for sharing the new posts. Depending on when I share it on Facebook, you could miss my latest post if it gets lost in your new feed.   

I hope that all of my current followers will consider submitting their emails! I would love to know that people are consistently reading my blog. Thank you and I hope you will keep Sharing the Food Love!

Family Treasures

My Great Grandma Bryant's Chocolate Meringue Pie

Sorry folks, I won't be sharing this family recipe. I am the 4th generation to carry on this recipe. There is something so comforting about this pie. It takes some patience to master, but it's so worth the tired arm from the constant stirring!

  This pie won the "Family Recipe" Cook-Off in 2008 when Nate & I hosted our last Cook-Off at Dolphin Head on Hilton Head Island. The photo shown here was my first stab at the recipe. Turned out with perfect peaks! The one I made for the competition had a pathetic, fallen meringue. Apparently, looks aren't everything and the incredible taste took the cup! Made my Momma proud! I wonder if anyone else in the family has won a competition with it. 

 ~

I have a challenge for you, my readers. What is your classic family recipe? The one that must be served at every special family dinner.. or else someone is in trouble! Have you tried making it yourself?  Can you make it just like _____ used to make? Give it a shot & tell me how it turns out. It feels so good to be able to carry on a tradition.... and to enjoy the comfort of that special taste that brings back so many memories.

What's For Dinner - Miso Soup, My Way

On a whim, I bought some white miso paste at the grocery store and decided I would give the soup a try. (But of course, with my personal touch.) I searched online for some basics on how to make it and took it from there. The most important thing about making miso soup, I learned, was that you can't let the miso boil. No problem.

I already had tofu and baby bella mushrooms in the fidge. I picked some kale from the garden. (Yes, it survived all winter, through a few dumpings of snow.) I had some chopped chives in the freezer that we harvested from the garden at the end of the season. It really helps when you have good stuff in the fridge at all times. You could be really creative with this recipe, I think. It was so easy!

This is how I made it:

I added the kale and green onion to 6 cups of water and brought almost to a simmer before adding a table spoon of Chicken flavored Better Than Bullion paste. (In stead of the bullion paste, you could just replace 1 or 2 cups of water with chicken or veggie stock.) Once dissolved and barely simmering, I added half a block of cubed tofu and a few thinly sliced mushrooms. I let it cook a few minutes on low heat, almost but not quite simmering. Once the mushrooms seemed barely cooked, I removed the pot from the heat. I ladeled out about 1 cup of the broth into a measuring cup and dissolved the miso paste in it. I used about 3 tablespoons of paste total, dissolving  about 1 cup broth to 1 tablespoon at a time then dumping back into the pot of soup. I tasted it once all mixed and added a few shots of liquid aminos to add some soy sauce flavor. No salt or pepper and it turned out delicious and miso-y! YUM!

I think you can really play and come up with many variations of this recipe. Of course, you could make it more traditional, with kelp and bonito. Or, you can just take what you have in the fridge and play with the amounts of water, stock, miso and veggies you use. Have fun!

Miso is very, very good for you. Check out this link to read about it's health benefits and get another (more traditional) recipe. NaturalNews.com on Miso Soup 

Artist & Philosopher.. I like that!

 In my planning of the blog, I found several great quotes about cooking and food. 

Here is one that I can relate to... 

“The true cook is the perfect blend, the only perfect blend, of artist and philosopher. He knows his worth: he holds in his palm the happiness of mankind, 

the welfare of generations yet unborn.”

- Norman Douglas (1868-1952)

Oh yes, in the palm of my hand. :-)

Homemade Stock. It's easier than you think.

If you have the freezer space, it's a great idea to make your own veggie or chicken stock and have it on hand at all times. It adds the best flavor and nutrition to homemade soups and sauces, without all of the sodium you get in the store bought stuff. 

Making your own stock is pretty simple. It really just comes down to having the space in the freezer; for storing the veggies or bones and then storing your containers of stock after it's made. 

The photos shown here are of our most recent and long over-due stock making session. Unless you have 3 huge pots like us, you will probably want to make your stock once you have about 3 or 4 gallon zipper bags of veggies or bones. You will have less yield, but it will also take up less space in the freezer. We got 8 quarts of veggie stock and 2 quarts of chicken stock from this batch.

1. Start saving all of your unused vegetable stalks and skin and put in gallon sized freezer bags. You can even use onion skins! In separate bags, keep any chicken carcasses, cleaned of meat. Once you have a few bags full, it's time to make the stock.
 

2. Fill your large pot with veggies, pushing them down to fit as much as possible, leaving a couple of inches space from the top.

We put our chicken carcasses in a separate pot and put some old celery from the fridge in with it. We also saved the broth from cooking a chicken in a crock pot and added that to the chicken carcass/ celery mix. 

 

 3. Pour water over the veggies/carcasses until completely covered. 

4. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, allowing to simmer, uncovered. Stir occasionally. Keep simmering for about 4-5 hours, until more than half of the water has cooked down and liquid is a rich brown color. Your house will smell amazing!

 

 5. Time to strain! Strain first with a regular colander and dump veggie pieces into a bucket or large bowl for composting.  Strain again, through a cheese cloth lined colander. For chicken stock, dump bones and large pieces into a trash bag and discard. 

Strained and ready to use chicken stock!

Vitamin packed vegetable stock!

6. Allow stock to cool in the pot before transferring to freezer safe containers. We like the quart sized screw top kind.

7. Write the date on the lid and put in the freezer. Try to use within a couple of months. We try to use all of our frozen stock before making a new batch.

It just makes sense for us to make stock. We are taking up less space in our kitchen compost bucket and can dump it less often, since all of our veggie parts are going in the freezer. We are getting all of the health benefits from those inedible or unappealing parts of the vegetable skin and stalks. We are saving money because we are utilizing every part of the vegetable or chicken, creating little to no waste. Once the veggies are all cooked down, they end up in the compost anyway, only most of the work for breaking it down in compost is already done when it gets there. Making the stock requires little hands-on time and we actually save time by having stock on hand, instead of having to get it at the store. And, by not getting it at the store, we are reducing our intake of sodium and other additives that are in the store-bought kind. It's a small commitment of time for such great rewards! Did I mention that it tastes amazing too?