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‏إظهار الرسائل ذات التسميات organic. إظهار كافة الرسائل
‏إظهار الرسائل ذات التسميات organic. إظهار كافة الرسائل

Tuscan Vegetable Soup

I wanted a Tuscan Bean Soup. Google that.  Go ahead.  I bet you come up with about 500 soup recipes.  I was baffled so I sat on the floor with my ever increasing collection of cookbooks surrounding me and began my quest the old fashioned way…
Thank you Ellie Kreiger for your cookbook The Food You Crave
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Tuscan Vegetable Soup (adapted from Ellie Kreiger’s The Food You Crave)

Ingredients

  • 2 (15-ounce) can low-sodium canellini beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1/2 large onion, diced (about 1 cup)
  • 2 carrots, diced (about 1/2 cup)
  • 2 stalks celery, diced, (about 1/2 cup)
  • 1 small zucchini, diced (about 1 1/2 cups)
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves (or 1 teaspoon dried)
  • 2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage leaves (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 32 ounces low-sodium chicken broth or vegetable broth
  • 1 (14.5-ounce) can no salt added diced tomatoes
  • 2 cups chopped baby spinach leaves
  • 1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan, optional

Directions

In a small bowl mash half of the beans with a masher or the back of a spoon, and set aside.
Heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion, carrots, celery, zucchini, garlic, thyme, sage, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper, and cook stirring occasionally until the vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes.
Add the broth and tomatoes with the juice and bring to a boil. Add the mashed and whole beans and the spinach leaves and cook until the spinach is wilted, about 3 minutes more.
Serve topped with Parmesan, if desired.
**This was a quick and delicious week night meal  I had some whole wheat macaroni left over in the fridge that I also threw in the pot.  A quick and versatile meal?  You know I’ll be making this again and again…
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Farmer's Market -1st of the season!

This is a picture taken from their website. Don't you just love how pretty everything is???

Anyone who has followed my blog for the past year knows how excited I get about Farmer's Markets. I love to be able to buy locally and I also love to be able to save money on my grocery bill. You also know that I live in Southwest Florida and that my growing season here is completely opposite of the majority of the country.

Today was the very first day of the all organic, sustainably farmed and local Worden Farm Farmer's Market at Fisherman's Village!!! I have been planning a trip there now for about 7 months (hehe that's when they closed for the summer!). This was a thrill though. Myself and one of my girlfriends' who shares a love of good, fresh food and cooking, hoped in the car and headed north to the Farmer's Market! It was a beautiful day. Sunny and warm with an nice breeze that managed to keep it just slightly cool. We were so not disappointed! This market is gorgeous. Not only is the setting nice. Right on the water of Charlotte Harbor but the fresh vegetables, the beautiful fresh vegetables!

My haul - Tat Soi (Asian Spinach), Arugula (see those bags? $3 for organic arugula!!!), lettuces, radishes, shitake mushrooms, cucumber, squash blossoms and a big beautiful loaf of rustic bread!!!

Dinner last night was hectic as T. is working on a deadline and wasn't able to help out with dinner while I did Karate, so it was a big happy bowl of pea soup, with that incredible loaf of bread and some beer battered squash blossoms!


Deep Fried Squash Blossoms (recipe by Mark Bittman-How to Cook Everything Vegetarian)

Heat 2 inches of oil in a heavy bottomed pot to at least 350 degrees.

1 Cup all-purpose flour, plus 1 Cup for dredging
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 egg
3/4 Cup beer or sparkling water (I stole T.'s beer for this one)
Coarse salt for finishing
  • While the oil is heating mix the batter ingredients until just combined. This batter should be the consistency of pancake batter.
  • Dredge each blossom lightly in the plain flour and then dip into the batter and place gently in the oil. Do not crowd the blossoms in the oil, you may have to cook in batches. Cook turning once until a nice golden brown.
  • Drain on a rack or paper towels and serve immediately
I LOVE MY FARMER'S MARKET!!!!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Okay so inspite of everything we have really been eating!

See how nice and simple it looks...Pure comfort food!!!

I know it seems like all of my posts have been about the weather. In between all the fretting, worrying and trying to figure out what to do we have been eating, and quite well at that!

The other night we had some ravioli that we had bought at Costco. We've had it before. See here

This time we had some spinach that we needed to use up so I made a cream sauce with garlic, spinach and some Parmesan cheese. I then topped it with some fresh tomatoes. This was a nice and easy meal which we needed to help take some of the stress away. You'll see that most of the foods that we have eaten the past couple of days have been real comfort foods.

Funny how you turn to food isn't it?

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

So my Mom is here...and sausage and peppers!

Sausage and Peppers!

You would have thought maybe that might simplify my life right? Um nope, it is still as crazy and as hectic as ever but now I am dragging one more body along for the ride!!! Poor Mom, but at least she gets to see the grand kids while we are doing it.

My Mom is truly wonderful. She comes to visit every year (from Canada) at the time of my youngest daughter's birthday. If you remember my oldest daughter was born on the 4th of July. Kind of special huh? So Grandma makes a special trip each and every year to help to make the youngest ones just as special! Pretty cool huh? Well this year was extra special as my youngest daughter had decided to be in a skating recital that was being held at our home ice rink and Grandma was going to be here for it.

This is the youngest one leading into her 1 foot spin!!!

The recital was Sunday and she did a great job...some rough spots getting her out there but once she was on she was a true superstar!

Needless to say we wanted a real nice and quick dinner. Seems like this is becoming a real theme around here huh? Nice and quick?????

Anyway we opted for Sausage and Pepper's. What could be easier then that! I already had the peppers. Remember back a month or so ago I ended up with a whole case of organic peppers that I froze? They went great with the all natural, no antibiotic or hormone pork sausages that I found at the grocery store. Added some garlic, onion, salt and pepper and a touch of oregano and topped ours with some sauteed jalapeños. This made for a great meal for all of us!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Spinach with Raisins and Pine Nuts


I went to the market this morning and the only thing that looked good to me was the spinach. Everything else had that sort of non-glow that comes from being around just a little too long. Now remember, I am not like everyone who lives up North and this is their growing season and they have a plethora of fresh fruits and veggies at their whim. I am in the hot, miserable, "whanna buy some swamp land" called Florida.

Our produce sucks this time of year. You may not even know this about me if you are a new reader and if you are one of my old friends you will know this only too well...I want local produce!!! Organic if I can get it. Well I can't get it right now so I am relying on produce that is organic and generally shipped to my loving hands from California!!!! While I am relying on this we are definitely eating more meat then we ever do during the winter here. So tonight I decided to roast a chicken (yes, it was 95 our today but the a/c works whether I have to oven on or not!) and make some spinach to go with it. I am so tired of the same old sauteed spinach so I wanted to shake it up a bit. After doing a quick search I came across a recipe on chow.com that would work and I had all the ingredients.

Spinach with Raisins and Pine Nuts (CHOW-food, drink and fun)

INGREDIENTS
  • 5 to 6 tablespoons golden or dark raisins
  • 2 packages (each 10 ounces) fresh spinach or 2 medium-size bunches fresh spinach, tough stems discarded
  • 3 to 4 tablespoons fragrant extra-virgin olive oil
  • 6 to 8 whole small peeled garlic cloves, lightly smashed
  • 5 tablespoons pine nuts
  • Coarse salt (kosher or sea) and freshly ground black pepper
INSTRUCTIONS
  1. Place the raisins in a small bowl, add very hot water to cover, and soak until plump, 10 to 15 minutes. Drain well and pat dry with paper towels, then set aside.
  2. Rinse but do not drain the spinach. Place the spinach in a large saucepan over medium heat and cover the pan. Cook the spinach until wilted, 4 to 5 minutes, stirring a few times. Transfer the spinach to a colander, and squeeze out the excess moisture by pressing on the spinach with the back of a spoon. Chop the spinach coarsely. (The spinach can be prepared a few hours ahead up to this point.)
  3. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet or wok over low heat. Add the garlic, pine nuts, and soaked raisins, and cook until the nuts and the garlic are light golden, 3 to 5 minutes. Increase the heat to medium, add the chopped spinach, and cook for about 1 minute, stirring to combine evenly. Season with salt and pepper to taste, transfer to a serving bowl, and serve.
This was a definite hit in our house. I wish I had of had more as this recipe was gone in no time at all!!!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Stuffed Green Pepper's Our Way

Stuffed Green Pepper's Our Way

I have a lot of zucchini...I mean a whole lot of zucchini...I went to the Farmer's Market today at Cape Harbor. The same one that I went to last week and got a ton of peppers. This week he sold me a ton of zucchini. This is just too good to pass up. A whole case of the things, organic no less for $15!!! I guess we'll be eating a lot of zucchini in the next couple of weeks!

See...Lots and lots of zucchini!!!

Last nights dinner was pretty great. We held a bunch of the green peppers back from last weekend and decided that we would stuff them one night during the week. Well you all know how that goes. Time just gets away from you and before you know it the week is done and you still have the green peppers that need to be stuffed and eaten. By now you all know that one of my children is a true tomato hater. This is the only pass that either of them get. She has to eat everything else...try stuffing a pepper without using tomatoes!!! This what I came up with...

Stuffed Green Peppers Our Way

4 green peppers, halved lengthwise with seeds removed
1 lb sweet Italian sausage (we used Romano and Garlic)
1/2 onion chopped
4 cloves garlic (use more or less depending on your taste), chopped
2 Tbsp taco seasoning mix
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1 can black beans, drained
2 cups of cooked bulgar
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 (12 oz) pkg of Queso Fresco (crumbling cheese not frying), crumbled
2 chopped tomatoes, seeds removed

Directions:
  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  • Brown sausage and add garlic and onion and cook until tender. Mix in the seasonings. When well mixed add the can of beans and the cooked bulgar. Add the tomato last and cook until heated through.
  • Place prepared peppers on a foil lined baking sheet and fill with about 1 Tbsp of the cheese. Top with enough of the bulgar mixture to fill the pepper. Top with more cheese.
  • Bake in preheated oven for about 35 minutes. Brown the cheese under the broiler.
  • Serve with a side of fresh pico de gallo
This was lunch yesterday! I make the BEST pico de gallo!!!

We removed enough of the stuffing mixture for one pepper before adding the tomato for my daughter to eat. This was a nice, quick, fresh tasting meal. The reason I used the bulgar was because it was faster cooking (about 15 minutes) than brown rice and more neutral flavored.

Now what to do with all of those zucchini??? Looks like zucchini fritters for tonight!!!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Freezing Peppers

Beautiful organic green peppers!

On Saturday before T. and I went away I had him make a pit stop for me to a new Farmer's Market that I had just heard about at Cape Harbour. I am really getting tired of the same old thing that I see at all of the markets around here right now, produce from anywhere but here. Asparagus from Peru, potatoes from Argentina, tomatoes from who knows where. I guess you get my point.

But this one was different!!! I was able to talk to the man who owned the stand and he had a ton of organic produce. We started talking and I was able to find out that he has a friend who has a farm in Labelle, which is north of here, and another friend who has an organic farm in Georgia that he meets up with weekly to get his produce. This was really great info for me seeing as I have been struggling trying to get some fresh produce. Granted this isn't the perfect situation as it really screws up the "local factor" but you know what...sometimes you just have got to bite the big one and look out for yourself.

Here is where it gets really cool. It was getting late and the market closed at 1 so he asked me what I was really looking for. I told him the herbs and stuff that I wanted and then I mentioned that I would like to get a bunch of bulk things that I can freeze for summer use. Get this...he sold be a WHOLE FRICKIN' CASE OF ORGANIC BELL PEPPERS FOR $18.00!!!!

That's a ton of peppers huh?

So last night T. and I cleaned them all up and cut them in half and ripped out the membrane and the seeds and plopped them in the freezer. Peppers freeze great and we can use them a million different ways. So be prepared for many recipes with pepper as a main ingredient!!!

Ignore my rusted out pans. These are only used for freezing things and on top of that EVERYTHING rusts in Florida!!!
These trays get places in my chest freezer and then bagged in freezer bags all ready to be used!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

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