Simple Radish Recipes

There is an age old way of enjoying fresh radishes from the garden. You simply make these very English looking bread and butter, radish sandwiches. A hearty bread is a must.

Another twist on this is to make a spread with butter, radishes, and lemon, which works well on bread or crackers. The proportions I used were: 1/4C butter, 1/4C radishes and 1 tsp. of lemon zest. Whir it all together in a small food processor, and thin with a little lemon juice if needed. Truly yummy!

Asparagus Salad with Feta Cheese and Dijon Vinaigrette

This is a salad I made for Easter dinner this year and it was a hit!

Ingredients and Directions:

2 lbs. fresh asparagus
1 garlic clove, minced
1 shallot, minced or 1/8 C minced white onion
1 Tbs. Balsamic vinegar
2 Tbs. white wine vinegar
2 Tbs. Dijon mustard
About 1/2 C olive oil (add until dressing is the consistency and taste you prefer)
salt and pepper to taste
pinch of sugar (optional and depends on your vinegar)
2 tomatoes, seeded and chopped (cherry tomatoes don't need seeding)
1/3 C feta cheese, crumbled

Trim tough ends from asparagus, cut stalks into 2 inch pieces, blanch in hot water or in the microwave, and then plunge into ice water to stop the cooking. You want them to be tender but still crisp. Remove asparagus from the ice water and dry thoroughly by wrapping in paper towels.

To make the dressing, whisk together all remaining ingredients except for tomatoes and feta. You can also make the dressing in a shaker jar or a small food processor.

Toss together asparagus and tomatoes; drizzle vinaigrette over top and mix gently; sprinkle feta over top and serve. Makes 8 servings.

Asparagus and Ham Quiche

Ingredients:

3/4 pound fresh asparagus
1 (10 inch) unbaked pastry shell
2 cups shredded Swiss cheese (or your favorite cheese)
1/2 cup ham, chopped (or crisp bacon, or a little cooked sausage, or...)
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups light cream, or use part or all evaporated milk
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tsp. dried onion (or saute a little chopped, fresh onion)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
dash of paprika for top of quiche

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut asparagus into 1 inch pieces, using only tender parts of stalks. Either by blanching, or steaming about 2 minutes in the microwave, cook asparagus until almost tender. Drain asparagus well and pat dry. In a medium bowl, combine asparagus, cheese, and ham, then place in bottom of pastry shell. In another bowl, beat eggs, cream, mustard, nutmeg, onions, salt and pepper until smooth, then slowly pour into shell. Sprinkle top with paprika. Place on cookie sheet, and bake at for 50-60 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. If top begins to get brown, cover loosely with foil. After removing quiche from oven, let sit for at least 10 minutes before cutting. Makes 4-6 servings. We LOVED this quiche!

World's Best Carrot Cake

Lots of things are called "World's Best", but I will say that I have never served this cake to anyone that didn't think it was the best carrot cake they'd ever had - a truly good recipe. This is especially festive to serve at Easter! Decorate the top with orange icing carrots, or marzipan carrots for extra punch. NOTE: this really needs to be made the day before it's to be served.

Originally published in the Houston Chronicle, July 7, 1993 - and I have modified it in a number of places.

CAKE:

2 1/4 C whole-wheat pastry flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger
1 C dark brown sugar -- firmly packed
1 C granulated sugar
1 C buttermilk
3/4 C vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 lb. carrots -- grated
8 oz crushed pineapple -- drained
1/2 C (6-oz.) raisins, can be regular or golden or a combination, or sub currants
1 C (4-oz.) walnuts -- chopped, black walnuts are the best for this cake
1 C coconut -- flaked

ICING:
8 oz cream cheese -- softened
1/2 C butter -- softened
2 tsp orange rind -- grated
1 tsp vanilla extract
16 oz confectioners' sugar

Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Grease and flour three 8-inch cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper. Or use on 9x13 and one smaller pan, such as a loaf pan, or come up with whatever combination of pans suits your needs. If you're frosting the cake(s) in the same pan, don't line with parchment paper.

In a medium size bowl combine flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. Set aside. Combine sugars, buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla in large bowl; stir until all ingredients are well blended. Add flour mixture to buttermilk mixture along with carrots, pineapple, walnuts, coconut, and raisins, stirring just until well mixed.

Pour batter into prepared pans. Depending on the size of your pans, bake 30-60 minutes or until wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean. If you will be removing cakes from pans to frost them, cool in pans for 10 minutes. Loosen cake layers from edges of pans with a sharp knife and invert onto wire racks. Peel off parchment paper and cool completely.

To make frosting, combine butter and cream cheese in large mixing bowl; beat until light and fluffy. Add sugar, orange rind and vanilla, mixing well. Makes enough for 1 (3-layer) cake.
Spread frosting between layers and/or on top and sides of cake. Decorate with extra chopped nuts and orange zest if desired. Cover and refrigerate overnight before cutting.

Rhubarb Upside Down Cobbler

Ever made a rhubarb cobbler? This will make you glad you tried one! BE SURE you chose a large enough dish since it will flow like lava over the sides if you don't! This is a very interesting recipe to watch as it's baking. The batter ends up wrapping itself around the rhubarb filling - nice!

2 C sugar
1 C whole wheat pastry flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
3 Tbs. butter, slightly softened
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 C milk
3 C diced rhubarb
3/4 C boiling water

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a pan, at least 9x9x3, with non-stick spray. Stir together 1 C of the sugar, the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Cut in butter. Add milk and vanilla, stirring in gently. Pour into baking pan. Sprinkle rhubarb over batter. Mix 1 C sugar and the boiling water together, stirring to dissolve sugar; pour over batter and rhubarb - yes really! Place on cookie sheet and bake for 45-60 minutes. The cake should be set when done. Protect from over-browning by tenting the dish with foil if needed. Of course this is fabulous with a dollop of frozen yogurt or ice cream!

Hobo Dinner

This was dinner tonight - we used to call it Hobo Dinner in Girl Scouts. Is that PC anymore?? It can be any combination of meat, veggies, and spices you like. This is particularly good when you have loads of things coming in from the garden at the same time! This lovely pile includes sweet Italian chicken sausage (organic-from Target's Archer Farms line), onion, potato, green pepper (the last two!), and tomato. All drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with Mrs. Dash Seasoning. I wrapped the whole business in parchment paper first and then wrapped it in foil since I'm a little squeamish about having aluminum next to our food. The picture is before cooking by the way. DH cooked it over indirect heat on the BBQ grill until it was all tender and aromatic - probably twenty minutes or so. Ahhhh...

Tomato Alphabet Soup

This alphabet soup was ridiculously simple and very good and warming for a cold, gray day. The amounts you use are totally up to you. I used one frozen container (3 C) of my homemade tomato juice. I brought that to a boil, added a handful of this happy whole grain pasta shown in the picture, added some frozen peas and corn from our garden, plus a little dash of Worcestershire for zing and salt and pepper to taste. It was done in just a few minutes and made for a wonderful lunch. Obviously this is a very flexible recipe and any number of vegetables can be used. Get creative!

Eggplant Tomato Pie

This dish was certainly pushing the limits in our kitchen! DH is not the grandest fan of eggplant, but he's learning to appreciate it. The finished product - very, very good. The topping includes bread crumbs, flax seed (because we were out of wheat germ), and a little Parmesan cheese - can't be too bad right? The recipe is from my old favorite - Joy of Gardening Cookbook.

Recipe for the eggplant filling:
In a large saute pan, melt 2 Tbs. butter. Saute 3 Tbs. diced onion, 2 crushed garlic cloves, and 1 C each of chopped red and green bell peppers. Cook for about 5 minutes. Add 5 C peeled, diced eggplant, and 1/4 C water. Cover pan and cook 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Add 8 oz. of cubed cream cheese, cooking until it melts through the eggplant mixture. Next add 1/4 C grated Parmesan, 1 Tbs. lemon juice, and 2 Tbs. minced fresh basil, or 1 tsp. dried basil. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Recipe for the topping:
Mix together 1/2 C wheat germ, 1/4 C bread crumbs, 3 Tbs. melted butter, and 3 Tbs. grated Parmesan.

Assembly of the pie:
Into one unbaked pie shell, layer half the eggplant mixture, then cover with sliced fresh tomatoes, then the last half of the eggplant mixture. Sprinkle on the topping and bake at 350 degrees for about 60 minutes, or until the pie is firm. Loosely cover the pie with foil if the topping begins to get too brown.

Below is a photo of the pie in progress. It's a picture of the step where you layer tomato slices in the middle of the eggplant filling layers - I never cease to be thrilled at the color of our tomatoes!

Salsa Baked Burritos

We canned a good amount of salsa this year and one of my favorite things to do with it is make smothered burritos. It's much tastier than using tomato sauce. These were made with beef that was braised with onions, mushrooms, garlic, and tomatoes. Then it was rolled up into whole wheat tortillas, covered with our salsa and baked. I topped it with cheese near the end and then served it on lettuce with more salsa and sour cream. This could easily have been spiced up with any kind of peppers in the filling too. My mantra once again, make it your own!

Roasted Tomato Tortilla Soup

When you have a day with a high of ZERO degrees, you just have to think about a warm soup! A few weeks ago when I was down with a very bad cold, DH brought home some tortilla soup from a local health market and it warmed me from the inside out. Then today I came across another recipe for tortilla soup, and I just had the urge to make some. I wanted a cross between the two soups, so I took the basic ingredients in both, and adapted them. Here in the photo are most of the components. Frozen roasted tomatoes and hot peppers from our garden, local wine (for drinking with the soup!) and chicken, plus lots of other good organic ingredients.


Dinner is served! The two biggest recipe changes that I made were removing the chicken after it was sauteed with the veggies, and pureeing the finished soup with a hand held blender. Then to serve, I topped the soup with the chicken, some home toasted tortilla strips, and a dollop of sour cream. A piece of our homemade bread and some melted Jack cheese made for a great dipper!

Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe

Ingredients:
2-3 lbs boneless, skinless chicken cut up, OR use leftover cooked and shredded chicken
2 Tbs. olive oil
1 onion chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 large jalapeno or other hot pepper of your choice, chopped fine
2 C of chopped carrots
32 oz. chicken broth
2 tsp. cumin
3 C canned, or frozen roasted tomatoes
4-5 medium potatoes, cubed
1/4 C cilantro, or more if your a big fan
1 Tbs. lime juice
salt and pepper to taste

If using raw chicken, saute the chicken in the oil, with the onion, garlic, carrots, and hot pepper, in a large soup pot. (If using already cooked chicken, add it at the end or use it on top of the soup as in the picture above.) Cook until the vegetables start to color up just a bit, but be careful not to burn the garlic. If you prefer, you can add the garlic after the chicken and other veggies have been cooking for a couple of minutes. Then add the chicken broth, cumin, potatoes, and tomatoes. Bring this to a boil and reduce to simmer for about 25-40 minutes, until the vegetables are tender. Add the cilantro,lime juice, and salt and pepper, (and the already cooked chicken if that's what you're using), and cook about 5 more minutes. See my notes above if you want this to be a creamy-textured soup. Top with tortilla strips, a dollop of sour cream, or whatever strikes your fancy!

Black Walnut Fudge

Just look at this chocolatey goodness...

This is my black walnut fudge - DH's favorite! We're fortunate enough to have a local source for fresh black walnuts, and there is absolutely no comparison to any other nut. They perfume the fudge like nothing else could. As a base for this fudge, I use an old "Fantasy Fudge" recipe, copied from my mother's recipe box, which I believe was an old Kraft marshmallow creme recipe that everyone used back then! I always substitute the black walnuts and I use butter instead of margarine. This recipe makes a load of gifts!

3 cups sugar
3/4 cup butter
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1 12-oz. package semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 7-oz. jar marshmallow creme
1 cup chopped black walnuts

Combine sugar, butter and milk in heavy 2-1/2 quart saucepan; bring to full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Continue boiling 5 minutes over medium heat, stirring. Remove from heat, stir in chocolate till melted. Add marshmallow creme, nuts & vanilla, beat until blended. Pour into greased 13 x 9-inch baking pan. Let cool and cut into 1-inch squares.

Garden Pizza

Digging into the freezer for more garden goodies again! I made a simple pizza sauce by combining some of our frozen roasted tomatoes, a portion of frozen pesto, and a little dash of balsamic vinegar to give it a boost. Summer tomatoes and basil in November just about makes you forget how much work it took to get those tomatoes and basil in the freezer in the first place!
I use a homemade pizza dough - recipe below - tossed into my 11-year-old Zojirushi bread maker on the dough setting - easy stuff. My recipe makes enough for two pizzas and the second half goes into the freezer to save for another quick meal - either pizza or calzones, or even bread sticks. The first picture here, is of the raw dough with only the wonderful sauce so far, and it's sitting on my well worn baking stone from Pampered Chef, which is nice and dark now and missing one corner - but it still works great!

The toppings for this pizza were organic Italian turkey sausage, red and yellow pepper slices, red onion, and mozzarella cheese. Parmesan cheese is always the final touch when it comes out of the oven.

Mmmm...finished product. Fast food at it's best.

Whole Wheat Pizza dough for the bread machine:
2C warm water, 2 tsp. honey, 1 Tbs. olive oil, 1 tsp. salt, 4 C whole wheat pastry flour, 6 tsp. vital wheat gluten/dough conditioner (optional), 3 tsp. yeast. Add these in the order that your bread machine directs. I put mine on the dough setting and that's it. I always watch to make sure the dough is of the correct consistency, and then add a little more water or a little more flour if needed. It shouldn't be too sticky or too rock hard. BTW, you can easily add Italian seasoning, garlic, or whatever else you like.

Black Walnut Cherry Coffee Cake

I was craving something home baked and came up with this, which is a modification of a couple of internet recipes - what a surprise huh?! This dish doesn't utilize anything from our garden, but it does incorporate local honey and local black walnuts, and local food is a growing passion for us - no pun intended. I recently read that the attitude you have while you're eating something can have a great effect on how it's processed in your body. That made a lot of sense to me. Making this was therapeutic, smelling it was therapeutic, tasting it was healing!

Black Walnut Cherry Coffee Cake

3 tablespoons butter
1 C whole oats
1/4 C whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
**********
2 C whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 C honey
1/2 C brown sugar
1/4 cup canola or walnut oil
1 cup skim milk
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 (12-ounce) bag frozen, unsweetened tart cherries, thawed and drained
1/4 cup chopped black walnuts or substitute any other nut of choice

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9-inch round cake or 9 x 9 square pan. Mix butter, oats, 1/4 cup flour and 1/4 C brown sugar in small bowl with fork or pastry cutter until crumbly. Set aside. Combine flour, honey, 1/2 C brown sugar, oil, milk, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and egg in large bowl. Beat mixture by hand or with a mixer for 1- 2 minutes, until well blended. Stir in thawed cherries. Spread half of the batter in pan and sprinkle ½ of oat mixture on top. Add remaining batter and sprinkle with remaining oat mixture and chopped walnuts. Bake 40-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm.

Baked Pumpkin Pudding

We made this close to Halloween, but of course it would be great around Thanksgiving too. The recipe came from a search on the Light and Tasty web site. Click on the link to get the recipe. If you don't have egg substitute, then use egg whites, or whole eggs. Another note, my custard cups are all smaller than 8 0z. so I got 7 puddings out of this recipe instead of 5, and the cooking time was a little longer than stated, so go by the "knife in the center coming out clean test" to check for readiness. This dish is like pumpkin pie without the crust, but all the wonderful smell and taste. True comfort!

Pumpkin Maple Biscuits

This recipe was a combination of ideas I came across over the weekend. One suggestion was adding pumpkin puree to any biscuit recipe and the other was using pancake mix for quick biscuits. We had a buckwheat pancake mix that was a little TOO "healthy" if you know what I mean. Once in a while we stumble across a whole grain mix that has seemingly forgotten the importance of taste as well as health! So in an effort not to waste it, I found some recipes online for using pancake batter as a base for biscuits. These were delicious with our chili (made using frozen garden tomatoes in juice) and they would also be a great way to "use up" some apple butter!

Pumpkin Maple Biscuits
2 1/2 C whole grain pancake mix
1/4 C oil or melted butter
1 egg
1/2 C pumpkin puree
2 Tbs. maple syrup
1/3-1/2 C water
Mix together all ingredients except water. Add water a little at a time until dough is moist but not too wet to pat out onto a lightly floured surface. You also don't want to overwork the dough. Pat out to an inch or a little higher in height, then use a sharp biscuit cutter or a knife to cut into rounds. Bake at 425 for 10-12 minutes. I baked mine on parchment paper. Makes 12-14 biscuits.

Marinated Sweet Potato Fries

This is one of the tastiest ways to have sweet potatoes and one of our daughter's favorites!

Peel two large sweet potatoes, cut them lengthwise into 1 inch spears, and marinate for at least 30 minutes in the following:

1/2 C tamari or soy sauce
2 tsp. toasted sesame oil
1 Tbs. freshly grated ginger, or 1 tsp. ginger powder
1 Tbs. freshly grated garlic, or 1 tsp. garlic powder
2 Tbs. honey

Remove the potatoes from the marinade and bake in a 425 degree oven for 20 minutes or until tender, basting them with the marinade every 5 minutes. Cover with foil if they get too dark. We have also successfully grilled these. When we do that, we microwave them in the marinade first, and then finish them off on the grill, basting along the way. Fantastic!

Sweet Potato and Apple Sausage Bake

Tonight we enjoyed a dish of sweet potatoes, shallots, and organic apple-chicken sausage (from Target). I put all of this into a casserole dish, added some sherry and apple juice to the bottom of the dish and covered it with first parchment paper and then foil. I then baked it in a 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes. Oh my goodness it was wonderful! The sweet potatoes tasted great. It was served with our own garden succotash, and apple butter on homemade bread. Eating from the garden is just sweet in every way!

Shepard's Pie with Ale

Harvest time makes us head back to comfort food, and this baked meat pie is so good and so flexible. It's a great one to use with leftover meat, gravy, mashed potatoes and veggies. If you aren't into the beer, substitute beef stock.

Shepard's Pie with Ale
1 lb. ground turkey (or substitute another meat)
1 medium onion or a combo of onion and shallot, chopped
olive oil to coat pan
2-3 C chopped vegetables of your choice
1 bottle dark beer
1 pkg. gravy mix of your choice (I used brown.)
few dashes of Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste, plus any other herbs that sound good to you
4-6 servings mashed potatoes for the topping - fresh, leftover, or instant
1/2 C grated cheddar or other cheese

Heat oven to 350. Brown meat and onion/shallots in olive oil in a medium pan. Add vegetables and a little of the beer. Cover and cook until veggies are crisp tender. Then add remaining beer, gravy mix, Worcestershire, salt and pepper and any other seasonings. Cook for a few minutes until the gravy mix begins to thicken the filling a little. Pour into a greased casserole dish, spread mashed potatoes on top, sprinkle with the cheese, and put into oven for 30-45 minutes. Place a cookie sheet under the dish to catch any run over. Watch for light browning on your potatoes and the filling bubbling up. Hope it warms you through and through!

Chocolate Beet Snack Cake

These two things, frozen applesauce and beet puree from our garden...


became Chocolate Beet Snack Cake.

Is this a scary idea to you?! This cake is moist and delicious and there is no need to fear the beets! They are not discernible in this cake as beets, but simply add lots of nutrition, moisture, and a certain something that you can't quite put your finger on. Did you know that beets are rich in vitamins C and A as well as antioxidants and they have plenty of fiber as well. Here's my recipe for the brave!

Chocolate Beet Snack Cake

Mix these ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside.
1C beet puree (can be made with canned beets in a food processor
with a small amount of added liquid)
1C applesauce
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cider vinegar
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/3-1/2C vegetable oil, more oil means a denser cake, so it's personal preference

Mix these ingredients thoroughly and then combine gently with the beet mixture:
1 1/2C whole wheat pastry flour (or half whole wheat and half all-purpose)
1/2C cocoa
1/2C sugar
1/2C brown sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Pour into a greased 13x9 pan and bake at 325 for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool before cutting. Needs only a little sprinkling of powdered sugar for topping if you like.

Tip - try cutting moist cakes like this and brownies with a plastic knife. For some reason the cake or brownies are less apt to stick to the plastic knife, resulting in cleaner lines as you're cutting through.

Roasted Tomato Bruschetta

On the main blog is a post about the way that we preserve a lot of our homegrown tomatoes, which is roasting them. Here's one of the savory appetizer recipes I made using some of these preserved beauties. The roasted tomato spread was served on homemade crostini - oh the goodness...

I started with a defrosted batch of the roasted tomatoes. Each bag of tomatoes that we froze was around two cups. I added approximately 1 Tbs. of balsamic vinegar, two crushed cloves of garlic, 1/4 C of chopped fresh basil leaves, and salt and pepper to taste. I didn't add any olive oil since these were roasted in olive oil. If you were doing this spread with a can of tomatoes instead, you would drain it and add some olive oil. The inspiration for this came from Susan Branch's book - Autumn. I made the crostini by simply slicing a loaf of Parmesan baguette, lightly coating it with olive oil on both sides and baking it at 425 until it was just browned - turn it over at some point to get both sides crusty. BTW, DH added olives to this spread and used it to top poached salmon. Equally wonderful!

Orange Dip for Pears

My uncle has a pear tree and is such a good sharing gardener! We thoroughly enjoy getting these little pears and here is one of the ways we enjoyed them. This was a dish I took to a women's fellowship meeting. It makes a lot of dip, so for a smaller group you may want to make half this much.

Orange Dip For Pears

2 Tbs. lemon juice
1/3 C sour cream
1/3 C mayonnaise
3 Tbs. orange juice concentrate
zest and juice of one orange
1 tsp. ground ginger
Drizzle pears with lemon juice. Reserve a little zest to garnish dip and whisk all other ingredients together . Serve fruit and dip chilled.

Roasted Tomato Sauce and Grilled Chicken with Roasted Tomato and Olive Sauce

We tried a very new idea to us - roasting fresh tomatoes to make a flavor concentrated sauce. I thought we might try roasting a lot of tomatoes at once and freezing it in batches for things like pizza, spaghetti, and Mexican dishes this winter. It worked best to slice them thin and to squeeze the seeds out as well. I always feel like I'm murdering the poor tomato and wasting something that's tasty, but I know that the wet pulpy part is not always so useful. Spray the pans well with a high temperature canola oil spray, drizzle them with olive oil, sprinkled on salt and pepper and put them in a 425 degree oven. They're just a little sticky to the touch when they're done. It took about 40 minutes altogether for this batch. They turned out just how we wanted them. The flavor is so intensified when you roast them! Here are shots taken before roasting and after roasting.



Our first use of these wonderful tomatoes was topping some grilled chicken. We added olives, sauteed shallots and fresh basil to some of the roasted tomatoes, then spooned it over a grilled chicken breast sitting on top of a slice of toasted French bread. The bread soaked up all the lovely juices - the whole thing was fabulous!

Two Delightful Beet Salads

Both of these beet salads start with roasted beets. Here's an easy method for roasting.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Trim the beet tops to about one inch, and leave on the root end. Rinse beets, then coat lightly with oil. Wrap beets in aluminum foil, place on a baking sheet, and roast in the oven until cooked through, approximately 45 to 60 minutes. This will be a shorter time if the beets are very small. Remove from the oven, let cool for 10-15 minutes, then peel and cut into chunks or slices.

This beet salad was dressed with sherry vinaigrette, rosemary goat cheese and toasted walnuts.

Here's the vinaigrette recipe:
2 Tbs. sherry vinegar (or combine a little sherry with a white wine vinegar)
4 Tbs. olive oil
1/2 tsp. dijon mustard
pinch of sugar
salt and pepper to taste

If you can't find rosemary goat cheese, use plain goat cheese and add a little dried rosemary to the dressing. Toasting walnuts is done in a skillet or an oven. Just do it on a low temperature and keep an eye on them as they burn easily.


This beet salad had mandarin oranges and green onion added in, and is dressed with curried honey dressing. The recipe for this vinaigrette comes from The Joy of Gardening Cookbook.

Honey Curry Dressing
2/3 C olive oil
3 Tbs. lemon juice
2 Tbs. white wine vinegar
1/4 C honey
1 tsp. curry powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper

Combine well with a whisk or in a shaker jar. Makes 1 1/2 C

You will probably not need all of this dressing for your beet salad. Just dress it to your taste and save the remaining dressing for a tossed salad. Fresh orange slices in place of the mandarin oranges would be very good as well.

Eggplant Parmesan

We grew Japanese eggplant in 2008 and it was a lovely, slender, mild vegetable. We started throwing together Eggplant Parmesan on a regular basis and developed a few techniques that we really liked. I didn't know how it would work with the smaller eggplant, but I just cut each one into 4 spears and then dredged and breaded it the same way you would the larger slices, browned them in olive oil, layered them with sauce and cheese, and it worked quite well. I even skipped the step of salting the eggplant and letting it sit to leach out extra water.

For the breading, we really like Panko bread crumbs. I thought they were a bit trendy, but after trying them, the crunchy difference is really outstanding. If I don't have them, I will toast fresh bread crumbs to get a similar texture. My order for breading the eggplant spears is dipping first into flour seasoned with salt and pepper (we use whole wheat pastry flour almost exclusively at our house), then into eggs beaten with a little water, then into the bread crumbs that have been seasoned with Italian seasoning. I then pan fry them on low heat in olive oil, and let them sit on paper towels after they are browned.

We make a homemade sauce, sometimes with, and sometimes without meat. Look at the post on Stuffed Zucchini to get the components of our sauce. We also will add some Provolone or Mozarella cheese to the Parmesan Cheese to make it a little more "melty".

I generally bake it at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour. It depends on the size of your pan and how tender the eggplant are. I just poke into the dish with a sharp knife to see if the eggplant is thoroughly cooked. In this last picture you can see the individual spears of eggplant. It is just as delicious as it looks!

Mini Caprese Salad

Caprese salad is a classic dish of layered tomato slices, fresh mozzarella cheese slices, and fresh basil, all drizzled with olive oil. However, I needed a use for a glut of cherry tomatoes coming from the garden! I made the salad with our cherry tomatoes, globe basil, and some tiny fresh mozzarella balls called "perlini", plus a generous drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Couldn't be simpler, couldn't be tastier and it compliments nearly any main dish.

Stuffed Zucchini

This stuff is fabulous! This is a shot taken just before they went in the oven. I have an old photocopied collection of recipes for zucchini, from the Colorado State University Extension Dept., and the stuffed zucchini has remained a favorite of mine for about 25 years. Jeesh I'm feeling old!

This is one of those do-your-own-thing kinds of recipes for the most part. But here are the basic steps and ingredient suggestions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Spray your baking dish, the size depends on how many zucchini you're filling of course. This works with either smaller zucchini or even overgrown zucchini.
3. Wash and trim the zucchini, cut them in half lengthwise, and scoop out the pulpy centers. Some people par boil the zucchini, but I just microwave them for a couple of minutes to begin cooking them. Place the zucchini cut side up in the baking dish. If they won't sit flat, trim a strip down the center of the undersides of the zucchini to help stabilize them.
**It helps to steam the zucchini if you put a little water or plain tomato sauce in the bottom of the baking dish before you place the zucchini in the pan.
4. Prepare your favorite meat sauce - mine usually includes a large can of ground tomatoes, one can of tomato paste, either Italian sausage or ground beef, onion, basil, garlic, vinegar, dry Italian seasoning, a pinch of sugar, salt and pepper. To thin it down I either use stock, wine, or water. For this dish, the sauce should not be too thick since the liquid will help to cook the zucchini. In a crush, you could use a jarred sauce of course. Try to add a little bit of extra spice, garlic, basil, etc., to wake up the flavor of the jarred sauce.
5. You can stretch the sauce with cooked rice or other grains you have leftovers. You could actually leave out the meat if you prefer.
6. Spoon the meat sauce into the centers of the zucchini, top with a little grated cheese of your choice, and pop into the oven. Cook for 30 minutes, or until the zucchini are tender and the sauce is bubbly. If the cheese starts browning too much, tent the pan with a piece of foil.

Turkey Burgers full of Greens

These turkey burgers are full of good green things! Fresh basil, green onion, and chopped chard leaves. I "melted" the greens in the microwave, which simply means they were washed, a little of the water was left on them, and they were microwaved for about 20 seconds until they collapsed down. Then you chop them and mix them into the meat mixture. You can use any sort of greens in this recipe and also add any sort of seasoning you like. We usually put a good amount of grill seasoning into any burger we're making. Tucked in the middle of this beautiful burger is a small piece of blue cheese, which you can see is pooling out of the top of the burger on the left - what more could you need?!

I got this basic idea from my little sister who came up with tiny turkey burgers loaded with herbs and a hidden piece of Manchego cheese. These were one of the many wonderful things she had for her gracious graduation reception for my niece last May. So I combined her idea with the Joy of Gardening Cookbook tip, which says to add chopped greens to anything that comes out of the kitchen, and my burgers were born. So, so good, and good for you!

Blue Ribbon Rhubarb Cinnamon Bread

I entered this bread into our county fair last year and it won a blue ribbon. The recipe is an adaptation of one that was in a Denver newspaper many, many years ago. It's even better if you can let it rest in the refrigerator for a day, but good luck resisting eating it immediately!

Rhubarb Cinnamon Bread

1 1/2 C brown sugar

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 C whole wheat flour

1 C all-purpose flour

3/4 C chopped pecans

1 C milk, soured with 1 Tbs. vinegar

1 tsp baking soda

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla

1/3 C oil

1/3 C applesauce

1 1/2 C finely chopped rhubarb, fresh or thawed frozen

Topping: 1 Tbs. melted butter, 1/2 C sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine brown sugar, salt, flours, and nuts in a large bowl. Add soda to soured milk. In a separate bowl, mix egg, vanilla, oil, and applesauce; add to dry ingredients alternately with milk. Fold in chopped rhubarb. Turn into two well-greased loaf pans.

Combine topping ingredients and sprinkle half on each loaf. Gently press topping into batter with back of spoon. Bake 45-60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let stand for several minutes in pans before turning them out. Serve warm or cold.

**Note - by substituting part whole wheat flour and replacing half the oil with applesauce, you increase the fiber, reduce the fat, and improve the nutritiousness of any quick bread!