Farmer's Market

I wanted to post some pictures of the Farmer's Market that I go to. I think I'll do this periodically, just so you can see how wonderful it is :) Next time, I'll try to get some fruits :)

Garden Fresh Pizza

One of my neighbors has a lot of vegetables that she grows in her garden. Yesterday, she left a basket with 2 Japanese eggplants (aubergines), a bunch of tomatoes, a cucumber, and 2 green bell peppers. I knew I wanted to use the aubergine as soon as possible, and I still had some squash blossom to use. So, this pizza was born. Pretty simple, but it is delicious!

Garden Fresh Pizza
1/2 Japanese Eggplant
4 squash blossoms
1/4 cup broccoli
1 pizza dough
1/3 cup mozzarella cheese
1/8 cup crumbed goat cheese
1/4 cup pizza sauce

How to prepare the Japanese eggplant
You have to salt eggplant to get rid of the bitterness. However, Japanese eggplants are a little different, and it works better if you soak them in salted water after you slice them up. Slice them in thin circles, then dump them in the salted water, and allow the water to turn kind of a brownish color. Shouldn't take more than 5 minutes for these little guys.


Build your pizza: sauce, cheeses, veggies. Cook according to your dough directions, and enjoy!
**I decided to tear up my squash blossoms to get a better distribution over the pizza.

Herbed Goat Cheese Stuffed Squash Blossoms

Herbed Goat Cheese Stuffed Squash Blossoms
4 oz of goat cheese (soft)
An herb of your choice - I used fresh thyme
4 squash blossoms

Get Stuffed!
Prep your herb, whether it is removing it from the stem then chopping it or whatever you must do! You want it to be pretty small so that you don't get a huge bite of it.
Mix in the goat cheese and combine thoroughly.
Slit the blossom down one side so that it is easy to get the cheese into.

Stuff your blossoms with the cheese mixture.
Then, while lightly squeezing the blossom, roll the flower around the cheese so that it holds together tightly.


Cooking
Heat up olive oil in a pan that you can just cover the blossoms about half way. Fry them on one side and then flip, until the cheese is melted and soft. Pat off excess oil and let cool for a moment, then enjoy!

**this makes 2 servings!

Gnocchi al Pesto e Pomodoro

Gnocchi with Pesto and Fresh Tomato
Pesto
Gnocchi
Fresh tomato
Lemon juice
Parmesan cheese (optional)

Speckled Green Potatoes!
Sorry I didn't document the making of my pesto! However, you can use any pesto recipe you want for this. I used pistachios, basil, garlic, parmesan cheese, and olive oil. Right before you use it, hit it with some lemon juice. Simple, and delicious! Or... you could just buy it :)

Gnocchi are little potato dumplings, in an essence. I love them, and I have not eaten them since i was in Florence, Italy and had the most amazing gnocchi pesto ever. They only take a few minutes to cook in boiling water, they just float to the top.

Once the gnocchi is finished cooking, drain it and cool down your cooking pot.
Put the gnocchi back in, and then mix it with enough pesto to just coat the gnocchi. Add in chopped tomatoes, and you can add some parmesan cheese if you want. :) But, most importantly, ENJOY!

New Mexico Pizza

New Mexico Pizza!
Pizza dough (again, if you're willing to make it, go ahead!)
Salsa - I used Trader Joe's Peach salsa. It's very sweet, and I thought it would be most delicious.
Cheese - I used mozarella because that is what I had, but I think that monterey jack or pepper jack would be the best.
Olives
Hatch green chiles
Chicken (of course, optional)

Minor construction:
Get your dough out and then add as much salsa as you think you need to get a good layer going.
Next, add the cheese and olives!
Spread out the chiles all over the pizza. I used an entire one of the tiny cans. I love the stuff.
Sprinkle your chicken around in tiny pieces on top, and pop it into the oven according to your directions!


Viola!

The BBL Salad

BBL Salad!
Broccoli florets (as much as you think you'll want for as many servings you'll make)
Bacon (count on two slices a serving *note: I use turkey bacon, 98% fat free and deelicious!)
croutons (a small handful per serving)
Dressing:
*this is for one serving of the dressing. Increase amounts as needed for more servings.
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 tablespoon honey mustard dressing
1/4 teaspoon honey
1/8 teaspoon lemon pepper and salt
*mix all ingredients together for your dressing. I do it in a tiny tupperware so that I can shake it up!

Putting The B with the B
*Preheat your oven to 400.

*Spray your lined cookie sheet with olive oil spray.
*Spread out your broccoli out on the sheet in a single layer, and spray again.
*Bake for about 10 minutes.
*in the mean time, you can cook your bacon in your favorite way!
*Once everything is cooked, assemble it all in a bowl, pour over your dressing, and toss!

Sunny Sunday Dinner

This is the first sunny day we have had here in Southern California since June began. The recipes for the potatoes and meatloaf can be found in the two previous entries to this one. I'll include the simple recipe for the greenbeans at the end of this post!
Hope you enjoy looking at my dinner as much as I enjoyed eating it :)




Red and Green Beans
One serving of green beans
About 7-10 grape or cherry tomatoes
Lemon pepper
Mixing Colors
Steam the green beans (after you have washed and snapped the ends off).
Take the green beans out of the pan, and add the tomatoes with some olive oil. Toss them around in the heat until they start to show marks on the skins. Add lemon pepper, and return the green beans to the pan. Toss until coated with oil and lemon pepper!

RoastMary Rainbow Potatoes

"RoastMary Rainbow" Potatoes
2 pounds of baby potatoes (*note: i use a potato medley, with baby purple, red, and gold potatoes. You can use any single group of these potatoes, but I prefer the medley!)
1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 large stem of fresh rosemary
salt
pepper
garlic powder
Prepping Your 'taters
Preheat oven to 375.

*Wash and cut the potatoes so that they're about as equal size as you can get them.
*On an aluminum foil lined baking sheet, spread out the potatoes and cover them with oil. Make sure that it gets all over the potatoes!
*Sprinkle salt, pepper, and garlic over the tops of all of the potatoes.

*Remove the rosemary from the stem and chop it. Sprinkle it over the potatoes.
Cooking!
*Pop them in the oven for about 20 minutes, making sure you toss them around a little at least once.
*When you take them out, hit them with a tiny bit more salt.

Hey Baby Turkey Meatloaf

"Hey Baby" Turkey Meatloaf

1 package (about 1-1.5 pounds) of ground turkey
1 egg
3 tablespoons bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon of garlic, pepper, cumin, lemon pepper
1 tablespoon fresh thyme (you can use dried, too, but fresh is so much better!)


Making Babies
Preheat the oven to 375.
Put all of the spices/herbs into the bottom of a bowl.

Put the turkey on top, and "mop up" all of the spices/herbs onto the turkey.
Make a well in the turkey, and add the egg and bread crumbs.
Mix all ingredients together and form a disk in the bottom of a bowl.

Score the meat into 4 sections and form into small loafs.

Place them on a cookie sheet that has been lined with aluminum foil and parchment, sprayed with oil.
Put olive oil on the tops of all of the loaves and then sprinkle lemon pepper on top.
Pop into the oven for 25-30 minutes, or until the meat is cooked through.

"Beet it, Spinach!" Salad

Another thing I had never bought (or cooked) before was beets. I think I have actually only eaten beets once, but I was pretty sure I liked them, and it sounded like a fun food adventure. I decided I would add them to a salad, and this is one of the concoctions I came up with.

"Beet it, Spinach!" Salad

1 small beet (*this would be for the serving size of the salad, but you can certainly cook more than this)
1 cup of baby spinach
1 tablespoon of blue cheese crumbles
1/4 of a hass avocado
1 1/2 tablespoons of some fruity vinaigrette, I prefer Trader Joe's cranberry walnut gorgonzola!
Cooking Beets
I had to try something new to do this, and that was cooking beets! I looked up recipes online, and combined a few of the cooking recommendations.
*Wash the beets thoroughly, and remove their greens.
*Rub your beets with olive oil, then sprinkle with lemon pepper.
*Wrap them up in aluminum foil and place them in a 375 oven for 45 minutes (* i used my toaster oven!)
*Once they are done, remove them but leave them in the foil to cool. Allow them to cool completely, then remove the skins (they should peel off) under water so your fingers aren't... well, neon.
*Slice them up and put them in tupperware and in the fridge! They will last about 5 days in the fridge this way.
Assembling Your Salad

*Put your spinach in your bowl first! That usually helps.
*Add all of your other ingredients, I usually add cheese last. Then top it off with your dressing, and viola!
*Note that salads are not difficult to assemble, and that is why you should eat lots of them!

"Oh Hey, It's Summer!" Pizza

I went to a farmer's market on Saturday with my dear friend Bemis. I bought a lot of delicious things, but the most unusual thing I bought that I had never bought before was baby zucchini with the squash blossom still attached. When I was in Rome, I ate a pizza with squash blossoms, and it was very good. So, I tried to make something that paid a little homage to that... but better.

"Oh Hey, It's Summer!" Pizza
1 package of whole wheat pizza dough (*you could make your own, but I'm... lazy)
1/4 cup pizza sauce
5 very small or 2 normal sized cloves of garlic
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/8 cup crumbled goat cheese
5 baby zucchinis, with squash blossoms attached (if you can't get them this way, go ahead and get the blossoms separately)
1/3 cup roughly chopped crimini mushrooms
olive oil spray

**Make sure you preheat your oven to your dough's package directions, or your recipes!**
Prepping the toppings:
*Remove the blossoms from the zucchinis, and their insides by tearing down the side, and the middle out. Wash them, and leave them between some paper towels to dry.
*Chop or press the garlic cloves; set aside.
*Slice the zucchinis length-wise as thin as you can. This would be an excellent application for a mandolin slicer!
*Chop the mushrooms (if they're not already done for you).
Starting the construction:
*Once your dough is ready to be rolled out, do so, and place it on your pizza pan or stone.
*Put your sauce in the center of the pizza (Note: you may adjust the amount of sauce to your liking, but I don't recommend a lot of sauce for this pizza!). Add the garlic, and spread the sauce around.

*Add your cheese now, starting with the mozzarella, then the goat cheese.


*Now add your toppings! I started with the zucchini, then moved on to the blossoms, then mushrooms.
*Spray the top with some olive oil spray, if you have some.
Cooking your masterpiece:
*Pop your pizza into your oven (you remembered to preheat, right?) and wait. Should be about 9 minutes if you're using the packaged, ready made dough.
*Let it cool, then enjoy!