Garden Tomato Salad

Just like with zucchini a surplus of tomatoes happen as well. Our neighbor has brought over about 40 fresh tomatoes in all, so I'm searching my cook books and finding things to make. His tomatoes are so good, a little sweet, juicy, tender, just lovely little things. They even smell wonderful. Anyway here's a recipe we keep going back to because it's so good. We grew our own basil this year so we like it because of that too.

3 to 5 tomatoes, cut into bite size pieces
1 cucumber, peeled and sliced (I chop mine)
2 to 3 leaves fresh basil, finely chopped
2 to 3 tbls red onion, chopped
1 tsp garlic salt (I used 1/2 tsp minced garlic and added plain salt)
1/2 tsp dried oregano
2 tbls olive oil

Mix all ingredients together. Let stand for awhile before serving.

Comfort in a Bowl

I made this soup the other day to take to my friends house. She had a baby about a month ago (her fourth) so I wanted to bring her a dinner. I made her a big pot of this chili one evening and put it in the fridge to chill overnight so the flavors could get to know each other and marry.
I tried a little bit of this soup to make sure it tasted okay, then ended up serving myself up a whole bowlful because it was so good.
Then, circumstances made it impossible for me to visit her on the day I had planned, so now I have a whole pot of soup to enjoy. Next week when I try to visit again, I will have to make it again - but that's okay, because it is pretty fast and easy-peasy. It is so delicious and oh - so- comforting!

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth

1 (18.75 ounce) can stewed tomatoes

1 (16 ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chilis

1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 bag frozen corn

1 pound diced, cooked chicken meat

1 (15 ounce) can white beans

1 pinch salt and black pepper to taste

1. Heat oil, and cook onion and garlic until soft.
2. Stir in broth, tomatoes, and spices. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Add corn, chicken, and beans; simmer 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Chickpea, Tomato and Eggplant Dish

I am not sure where I got this recipe, but it was probably from an Indian cookbook. The meal sounds and tastes Indian in nature. Having said that, I obviously did not write down the title of the dish. Oh well. It is delish. I ate it over whole wheat cous cous because I thought it needed a base, but next time I am eating it all by itself :)

*I halved the recipe (mostly) and it still made a TON of food, but for the sake of being true to the recipe I will post the original amounts.


Chickpea, Tomato and Eggplant Dish
1 15oz can chickpeas, drained
6 Italian eggplants (or 1 large)
2 large onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped fine
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 large cans of 28oz whole, peeled tomatoes, UNDRAINED

Drain chickpeas, set aside. Dice eggplants and onion. Chop the garlic. Heat the olive oil in a big pot and saute the onions, eggplant, garlic and the spices over moderate heat for 10 mins or til onion is transluscent. Stir occasionally.

Season with salt and pepper, add the undrained tomatoes breaking them up with a wooden spoon. Add the chickpeas, cover, simmer for 20 mins. Serve hot.

*As I said earlier, I halved the recipe, but I did add 2 cans of diced tomatoes with their juices( didn't have whole canned). I also added an additional 1/2 tsp of cumin because it's mighty tasty flavor. Also I only diced 2 small eggplants and with the whole onion it seemed like a TON of food, but remember it all cooks down a bit.

enjoy!!

Pico de Gallo

I just made The Pioneer Woman's Pico de Gallo and it's so good I decided to post it. You can just as easily go over to her blog and find it there I'm sure. She says the secret to making great Pico de Gallo is making sure there are equal parts of onion, tomato, and cilantro. Not just a lot of tomatoes and hints of everything else. It's easy, healthy, and delicious for summer. I have a feeling I'll be posting her stuff in the near furture. My Grandma let me borrow her cookbook for a couple weeks and I want to try making most everything in it.



Ingredients

• Yellow or red onion
• Roma tomatoes
• Cilantro
• Jalapeños
• Lime
• Salt

Directions

• Dice up the onion, tomatoes, and cilantro; equal in quantity to each other.
• Slice in half then dice very fine 1 or 2 jalapeños. Scrape out the seeds with a spoon. If you like some spice, leave some of the white membranes. 
• Dump everything into a bowl, squeeze half a lime over everything, and mix
• Sprinkle with salt. She suggests tasting with a chip so you don't over salt. 

Broccoli-Sausage Sauce

When my husband and I moved from Indiana to Missouri almost a year ago, I couldn't pack up all my food magazines; there were just too many. So I went through them all and torn out the recipes I liked. They were supposed to be organized neatly in a binder, but they still lay in a stack. I finally got around to looking through them and I found this recipe.

It's a pretty simple sauce, but delicious. The amount of sauce it makes is enough for 1 pound of pasta. I used rotini shaped pasta, but any short pasta will do - bow tie, shells, penne, etc.


Source: Family Circle - September 2004
Servings: 8

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, sliced thin
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 pound sweet Italian sausage
8 oz. white mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 (28 oz.) can of diced tomatoes
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoons dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 bunch of broccolli or broccoli, cut in 1-inch pieces

Directions
1. Heat oil in a large pot. Add onions and cook 5 minutes over medium heat stirring occasionally. Add garlic, sausage and mushrooms; cook 10 more minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Add wine; cook 1 minute. Add tomatoes, paste, salt, oregano, nutmeg, pepper. Bring to boil. Lower heat to low and cooked, covered, for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add broccoli during the last 5 minutes.

Tamale Pie

My husband had a tradition in his house that all the kids had a special meal that they made for the family, and they would make them once or twice a month. Well, this is my husbands meal. He's adapted it so far off the original, that it's a recipe of it's own. The only thing that stuck was the name, tamale pie. Funny thing is, there are no tamales and it's not pie shaped - I really have no idea why it was called this. But what I do know, is that it's a favorite of this new family. I probably crave it more than my husband. :) I hope it becomes a family favorite for you as well.

Note: I know a lot of you ladies have little ones, so this may be too spicy for them. So if you want to substitute canned diced tomatoes (with onion and garlic) for the Rotel, it will be just fine. But I definitely recommend the Rotel, it adds so much flavor.


Ingredients
2 pounds lean ground beef
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 medium onion or 2 teaspoons minced onion
28 oz. Rotel original
5 or 6 flour tortillas
4 cups shredded Monterrey and Colby Jack Cheese blend
2 small cans of sliced black olives, drained


Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
1. Cook the ground beef in a large skillet; Drain. Add the garlic powder, chili powder, salt, black pepper, onion, and Rotel. Mix together and simmer for 20 minutes, uncovered.
2. Meanwhile, spray a 9 x 13 baking pan liberally with non stick spray. Place one layer of flour tortillas in the bottom, being sure to go up the edge of the pan as well.
3. Place half the meat & tomato mixture (and the juice) on top of the tortillas. Layer about 1 1/2 cups of the cheese next.
4. Place another layer of tortillas, the rest of the meat & tomato mixture, and the rest of the cheese.
5. Bake for 25 minutes. Top with black olives and bake for an additional 5 minutes.

The leftovers are delicious as well!

Chicken Cacciatore

Cacciatore is Italian for "hunter." Food prepared hunter-style traditionally includes mushrooms, onions, tomatoes and herbs.

This is a pretty good recipe. I think it's something you can make year round. Yes it's a warm meal, but the sauce is thin, so it's not a heavy dish. My husband and I are just crazy about cooked fresh mushrooms, so it was right up our alley.

I got this recipe from annie's eats.

Ingredients:
1 tbsp. olive oil
4 slices turkey bacon, chopped (I used regular bacon)
2 chicken breasts, butterflied in half (4 pieces total)
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 onion, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
12 oz. white button mushrooms, cleaned and halved
3 garlic cloves, crushed
3 sprigs fresh oregano (I used dried)
3 sprigs fresh thyme (I used dried)
1/2 cup red wine
1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 can diced tomatoes with garlic and herbs

Directions:
In a deep saute pan over medium heat, heat the olive oil. Add the bacon and cook, stirring occasionally, until brown and crisp, about 5 minutes total. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate with a slotted spoon; set aside.

Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper. Add the chicken to the pan and brown on both sides, about 7 minutes. Transfer to a platter. Add the onion to the pan and cook until tender and translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the bacon, chicken, mushrooms, garlic, oregano, thyme, red wine, chicken broth, and tomatoes (including juices) to the pan. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer until the chicken is cooked through, about 30 minutes. Serve immediately.

Source: adapted from Williams Sonoma

**I may try and add some cornstarch next time to the sauce so it's just a tad thicker.

Bruschetta

Annie and her husband invited us to their river cottage for dinner tonight so I thought I'd bring something along to share. I've never made this recipe before so I tried it to make sure it is eatable and it is!

3 large tomatoes
2 tbls parsley, finely chopped
2 tbls chives, finely chopped (I only had dried so I used 1 tbls)
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 tbls basil, finely chopped (again, only had dried so I put in two tbls)
1/3 cup olive oil
S&P to taste

I'll cut up a french baguette, drizzle extra vigrin olive oil on the pieces, and broil to make crispy.

Spring Recipes

Spring has arrived, and here is a fantastic way to take advantage of the fresh veggies. Serve this at your next barbecue!


Spring Pasta Salad with Tomatoes, Asparagus and Mozzarella

*1 lb penne pasta
*1/2 lb fresh Mozzarella cheese, cut into small cubes
*1 large bunch of scallions, about a dozen, sliced into thin rounds
*2 dozen ripe cherry tomatoes, cut in half and drained for 20 minutes in a colander to remove excess liquid
*1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
*zest and juice from 1 lemon
*1/2 lightly toasted cup pinenuts
*large handful fresh basil leaves, lightly chopped


1. Put up a large pot of salted water for cooking the pasta and bring it to a boil. Add the asparagus and blanch it until just tender, about 3 minutes. Scoop the asparagus from the water with a large strainer spoon and place in a colander. Run cold water over it to stop the cooking and to preserve the bright green color. Drain well and slice into small pieces on the diagonal, leaving the tips whole.

2. Bring the water back to a rapid boil and cook the penne until just al dente (tender but slightly firm to the bite). Run the pasta under cold water and drain very well.

3. In a large serving bowl, add the pasta, the blanched asparagus, and all the remaining ingredients. Season with salt and pepper, and toss well until all the pasta is well coated with dressing. Taste for seasoning. This is best served at room temperature. Serves 4 to 5 as a main course, or 6 to 7 as a first course or side dish.

4. Note: Another lovely addition to this pasta is about 3/4 cup freshly shelled spring peas. Blanch them for 1 minute in the boiling pasta water after you blanch the asparagus. Drain well and add them to the bowl along with the other ingredients.

Chipotle Chicken and Tomato Soup

I was kind of looking for something new and I came across this great soup recipe on The Recipe Girl. This is a great and simple soup. I'm really starting to love fresh cilantro, so this was right up my alley. My husband even said this might have to become a regular meal for us. It has a little spice to it, but it's not too spicy. The good thing about this recipe is you can control the heat. The serving size is perfect for a small family, but it could easily be double if you have guests.

½ tsp ground cumin
One 15.5-ounce can navy beans, rinsed and drained
One 14.5-ounce can no-salt-added stewed tomatoes
One 14-ounce can fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 whole chipotle chile, canned in adobo sauce, finely chopped**
2 cups chopped cooked chicken breast (about ½ pound)
1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
½ cup reduced-fat sour cream
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

Combine first 5 ingredients in a large saucepan; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes. Partially mash tomatoes and beans with a potato masher. Stir in chicken; cook 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Remove from heat; stir in oil. Place 1¼ cups soup in each of four bowls. Top each serving with 2 Tablespoons sour cream and 1 Tablespoon cilantro.

Servings: 4

** I used 2 chiles and the soup just had a little heat, for me anyways. Next time I'm using 3 maybe 4. The can of chiles has at least 6 in it, so it's not like you're paying more for more heat.

Sausage and Tomato Risotto

Yet another recipe from Smittenkitchen.com (she borrowed it from Martha Stewart - Everyday Food). Actually, Neil found it and made it for his game night, then he and I made it when we had some dance friends over for a game night. It's quite yummy, but you do need to keep an eye on the risotto.

Also, we made a double batch of it for New Years and found that it's better to make two single batches (of the risotto) and one big pot of the broth. Otherwise you'll end up with too much thick risotto and the broth won't be able to be incorporated. You'll get burned risotto.

Tomato and Sausage Risotto
Martha Stewart Everyday Food

Serves 4

1 can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes in juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
3/4 pound sweet or hot Italian sausage, casings removed
1 small onion, finely chopped
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 cup Arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 bunch flat-leaf spinach (10 to 14 ounces), washed well, tough stems removed, chopped (about 7 cups)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving (optional)
2 tablespoons butter

1. In a small saucepan, combine tomatoes (with their juice) and 3 cups water. Bring just to a simmer; keep warm over low heat.

2. In a medium saucepan, heat oil over medium. Add sausage and onion; season with salt and pepper. Cook, breaking up sausage with a spoon, until sausage is opaque and onion has softened, 3 to 5 minutes.

3. Add rice; cook, stirring until well coated, 1 to 2 minutes. Add wine; cook, stirring until absorbed, about 1 minute.

4. Add about 2 cups hot tomato mixture to rice; simmer over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until absorbed, 4 to 5 minutes. Continue adding tomato mixture, 1 cup at a time, waiting for one cup to be absorbed before adding the next, stirring occasionally, until rice is creamy and just tender, about 25 minutes total (you may not have to use all the liquid).

5. Remove pan from heat. Stir in spinach, Parmesan, and butter; season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately (risotto will thicken as it cools), and sprinkle with additional Parmesan, if desired.

Guacamole

There are so many ways to make guacamole. Personally, I am really picky about mine - I like it pretty simple.

Ingredients:
ripe avocados (when softly squeezed they must give only slightly)
tomatoes
lime juice
something to give it a little "heat" (a jalapeno finely chopped or I use hot sauce)
garlic (fresh chopped or powder)
salt

Cut avocados in half lengthwise, discard pits and peel skin from each half. Mash avocados in bowl. Squeeze lime juice all over. Chop tomatoes and mix with avocados. Add your jalapeno or hot sauce/salsa. Add garlic and salt. Mix everything together. Refrigerate. Eat until you feel sick to your stomach!

*Honestly, I could not say how much of each ingredient to put in. When I make it, I usually use five avocados and two tomatoes. Then I add a little bit of all of the remaining ingredients and then taste it. Then I usually add more of everything. This goes on until I think it tastes perfect. Of course, by then most of it is gone! Other ingredients that could be used are cilantro or onions. I personally do not like cilantro at all, and I could never imagine onions in mine, so I do not use those.

Fast and Easy Veggie Skillet

I love summer food, especially the vegetables that are abundant and cheap. This is a little meal that I kind of pulled together at the last minute, but I had gone to the store that day and picked up all the vegetables. It's yummy and easy and you can basically use whatever vegetables you want. If you want you can even skip the pasta and add some grilled chicken or shrimp.

Easy Veggie Skillet

2-3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion (you can use the whole onion if you want)
1 zucchini
1 yellow squash
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
1/2 pint grape tomatoes
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
1/2 box penne or rotini pasta
1/2-1 cup Parmesean cheese

Dice up all the vegetables and saute them (all except the tomatoes) in the oil for about 5 minutes until they're soft. Add the tomatoes toward the end of the 5 minutes. Sprinkle the bread crumbs over the top and stir to coat the vegetables. Meanwhile cook pasta and drain. Preheat oven to 350. In a quart baking dish combine the cooked pasta and vegetables, sprinkle generously with Parmesean cheese (as much as you want) and stick it in the oven for about 20 minutes to warm everything up and melt the cheese.

Some Spaghetti with Meat Sauce on a cold day

Well, this is my first post on here. Thank you so much for inviting me. I was cooking one of my winter favorites today and thought I would share. It is my grandmother's meat sauce recipe. Measurements are not exact, but it is delicious and very yummy on a cold soggy winter day.

Meat Sauce

2 lbs ground beef
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
one handful parsley
1-2 TBS oregano
28 oz. can crushed OR diced tomatoes
14 oz. can of tomato sauce
6 oz. can of tomato paste

Dice up onion and garlic and put in a pan. Add ground beef and brown. Switch to a large pot and add all the rest of the ingredients and turn down to low and let simmer. I feel the longer you simmer, the better it is. Sometimes, though, just for 20 minutes will do if you are in a pinch. Today, I got it done early, and it will simmer for 2 hours.

It's cold out! I need soup!

I don't remember where I got this recipe. It may have been from the time Danielle Bean had everyone submit easy recipes? I decided to make it because it looked easy. I wasn't sure how it would work -- it kind of looked like I was just throwing in a bunch of stuff that tasted good individually.... would they taste good together?
It did!

Tortellini Soup
9 oz. tortellini
14 oz. can whole tomatoes
1 can navy beans
1 jar artichoke hearts
1 c. chopped onion, 1 c.red pepper and garlic (amount to taste)
1 1/2 large box vegetable broth
1 bag fresh spinach
Heat in crockpot. Serve with Parmesan cheese and sourdough bread.

So this is what the recipe looked like.... not very specific, though! How big of a jar of artichoke hearts? How big is a "large box" of broth? And is the red pepper and garlic TOGETHER a cup, or is it a cup of both? And is that red pepper, like the vegetable, or red pepper flakes?
So... I used real red pepper, and used about half of that, and then threw in a couple of cloves of garlic, chopped up. I think I would use less artichokes next time, too -- I got a big jar, and I think I would get a little jar next time.
But it was good! Anne, perhaps you can throw something in there instead of tortellini so it would fit the regulations?
(Italians wouldn't like this, because the tortellini gets very soft and very un-al dente! Hee hee!)

Guacamole Salad - ala Ina Garten

So, as I mentioned in the previous post, Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa) made a guacamole salad. I wanted to expand upon that because she didn't make guacamole...as is, she made it into a salad, which I thought was genius. She took all the components of guacamole and mixed them together, only without all the mashing and such. Here is the recipe.

Guacamole Salad © Barefoot Contessa
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and 1/2-inch diced
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup small diced red onion
2 tablespoons minced jalapeno peppers, seeded (2 peppers)
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated lime zest
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (2 limes)
1/4 cup good olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
2 ripe Hass avocados, seeded, peeled, and 1/2-inch diced

Place the tomatoes, yellow pepper, black beans, red onion, jalapeno peppers, and lime zest in a large bowl. Whisk together the lime juice, olive oil, salt, black pepper, garlic, and cayenne pepper and pour over the vegetables. Toss well.
Just before you're ready to serve the salad, fold the avocados into the salad. Check the seasoning and serve at room temperature.

I don't like bell peppers, and I would probably skip the salt and pepper, but since not everyone shares my tastes, I decided to just copy/paste the whole recipe. It looks so good, especially with the black beans, which I imagine you can subsitute any kind of bean. I think what I would do is forget most of the measuring and just throw evetything together to taste. It reminded me of another very similiar side salad that my mom makes.

Mix cut up avocado, tomatoes red onions in bowl. Stir in olive oil and balsamic. That's it. It's delicious.

So instead of doing the guacamole salad, I made a single sized portion of the above because we had cherry tomatoes, half an avocado and somoe red onion already cut up. Okay done, sorry I feel like I am hogging this website.