Cooking from the Garden Round 2 : My first pesto!

Hello!  This is the second post I am terrifically behind on writing about using basil from my garden.  I made pesto!  I love pesto and never tried to make it before.  But now I have so much basil and a great food processor.

For this recipe I just googled basil pesto and picked the first one I liked.  As usual, the link will be at the bottom of this post.

For ingredients it is pretty simple.  Lots of basil, garlic, pine nuts, olive oil, salt, parmesan cheese.  Yum.

First, mince the garlic.  Easy.

Measure out the basil.  Two cups of basil is a lot more basil than I originally thought!

Grate some cheese, dump everything but the olive oil in the food processor.

Turn it on to start blending, slowly adding oil until everything is incorporated.

Blend until smooth and done!  Delicious pesto!  Made a lot less than I was expecting, but still delicious.

Pour over your favorite pasta.  I chose to boil up some cheese tortellini and it turned out amazing.  I am super proud and will definitely be making this again as my basil continues to (hopefully) flourish!

Here is where I found the recipe: http://www.chow.com/recipes/24530-basic-basil-pesto

As always, thanks for reading, more to come tomorrow night most likely!

-Liz

Cooking from the Garden! Caprese Salad with Peaches

Hello!  As always, sorry for the lag in posting.  What I am writing about tonight I made over a week ago on last Saturday, I've just been busy/forgetting to post, so sorry.

Anyway... this post and the next are all about the basil from my garden!  I originally planted two basil plants, one unfortunately died early on, but the other is growing like crazy.  So much basil!  Thus I had to make some of my favorite basil dishes: Caprese salad and pesto.

First, this post is the caprese.  Literally one of my favorite foods on earth.  Usually I make it traditionally with tomato, mozzarella, basil, salt, pepper, olive oil, basil vinaigrette.  This time I found a recipe online for the same thing, but including peaches.  Yummy!

To start you chop up the ingredients.  I cut the tomatoes in some nice thick slices,

the peaches the same way,

and the mozzarella the same (you can buy this pre-sliced if you wish).

Then put it all together!  I layered tomato on the bottom, then peaches, then cheese, then basil.  Then I realized I needed a bigger plate!

Sprinkle with however much olive oil, balsamic, and salt and pepper as you wish.

And enjoy!  Super delicious, super easy, and no heat involved!

Looks beautiful too!

For the link to the original blog I found this on look here: http://iowagirleats.com/2013/07/16/peach-caprese-salad/

As always, thanks for reading, more to come!

-Liz

Fajitas, Guacamole, and a Garden Update!

Hello!

This weekend Robert and I made a delicious dinner of chicken fajitas and guacamole!

They turned out super amazing, especially for only the 3rd time I/we have ever made them.  There is no written recipe for this online or anything, so I will type it all out here.

First off, ingredients.

For the guacamole:

Avocados (however many you want), 

tomatoes (we used 1), 

about half an onion (a little too much for my taste, but whatever you feel like will be good), 

lime juice to taste.

You could also add salsa or some other spice or cilantro to it if you would like.  

We make it differently every time.

For the fajitas:

Chicken breasts (however many you want), 

green peppers (we used 1), 

the other half an onion, 

a marinade from the store made just for fajitas (found in the marinade/salad dressing aisle), 

cheese to sprinkle on top, 

and tortillas of course.

Since there were two cooks in the kitchen we were able to split up duties, Robert making the guac while I chopped the veggies for the fajitas.  So whatever order you want to do the first steps is up to you.  I would recommend making the guacamole first and setting it aside in the fridge so the flavors can meld before enjoying.

To make the guacamole first you cut the avocados in half and scoop out the insides.

Dice up the onion, add it and the lime juice to the bowl.  Mash, mash, mash.

Then you can add the tomatoes and whatever else you might mike and mix it all together.  Set in the fridge until ready to serve.

On to the fajitas.  There are a couple of ways you can do this.  You definitely need to cut the pepper and onion into thin strips.

The way you do the chicken is up to you.  Basically at some point the breasts need to be cut into strips and at another point cooked to not-quite-done in a pan and it's up to you what order that happens in.  You can either cut when raw and then cook already in the strips, or cut whole and then cut into strips.  I prefer the first method.

Robert was the designated chicken-cutter!

All ready for the pan.  

We cooked them in a saute pan with a bit of olive oil and a bit of butter, a few minutes on each side.

Then you remove those from the pan and cook up the peppers and onions, sauteing until pretty much fully cooked.

When almost done you add the chicken back in and smother in the fajita sauce.  Totally your preference as to how much sauce you want to use.

Let cook for a few more minutes, stirring to cover everything in sauce.  Then you're done!  Heat up your tortillas for a couple of minutes if you'd like (I always do).

What a delicious spread this turned out to be!

Really, really happy with how these turned out.

On a side note, the garden is going like gang-busters.  Growing like crazy and really starting to produce.

The main box with tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and zucchini/yellow squash:

Side boxes with extra tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, and rosemary:

And the last box with the herbs: basil, rosemary, thyme, and  cilantro.

This was the harvest from today!  Two zucchini, two cucumbers, basil (I may attempt pesto this week!), and tomatoes that weren't ripe, but fell off the vines as we were cleaning up and weeding the garden.

Yum, yum, yum; can't wait to eat all of this and use it in some recipes!

As always, thanks for reading and look back this week for some pesto hopefully!

-Liz 

Pasta with Zucchini and Feta: Yum!

Hello!  I can't believe it has been two weeks since I posted.  Too long.  I blame it on being sick a week and then on vacation in Maine all last week.  But I am back and ready to post!

Tonight I made a simple, but delicious dish.  Pasta with sauteed zucchini and feta cheese.  Yummy.  I got this recipe from my mom who made it for me while on vacation.  She said she got it from her friend when she was visiting in Maine and she got it from her daughter.  So no written recipe for this or other blog post to send you to.

So delicious and easy!

So ingredients.  Only 4, as shown below.  Feta, olive oil, pasta, and zucchini.  The little zucchini came from my garden!  The second vegetable (after lettuce) that I have harvested and eaten.  Very exciting.  I used thick spaghetti.  When my mom made it she used angel hair and I preferred that.  But you gotta work with what you have on hand.  Finally, when people have made it in the past they used part butter, part olive oil to saute.  I used all olive oil, about a tablespoon.

First step, chop up the zucchini.  This is about how much I got from one big and one little zucchini.  I wanted plenty for dinner and leftovers.  It turns out I could have cut these a bit thinner, but it still turned out well.

I got some water boiling for the pasta and the oil in a pan warming.

I added the zucchini to the pan and sauteed for about 10-15 minutes.  It probably wouldn't have taken so long if I had cut everything thinner.  While this was going I was also cooking the pasta.

This is what it looked like when it was all done.  Some looks over cooked, but it really tasted delicious this way.

I then added the feta right to the pan, but not right after turning off the heat.  I didn't want to melt the cheese totally, so I waited for the pan and zucchini to cool down a bit first.

Finally, I added the drained pasta right to the pan and tossed everything together.

This turned out very well and I am super happy to have leftovers for the next few days!

Once again, sorry for the lack in posting the last few weeks.  I promise to get back on top of things and keep cooking and posting.  I also hope to have many more posts soon about using all the vegetables coming out of my garden!  There are so many tomatoes and cucumbers almost ready! Super excited.

As always, thanks for reading and look for more soon.

-Liz