Tomato Cucumber Salad with Feta Cheese

vThis salad is similar to another tomato and cucumber salad I posted last summer, but it's nice to have several options when cucumbers and tomatoes are pouring out of your garden! We have a local source for fresh Feta and it's nice in everything. Check out the website for Northern Prairie Chevre - they love their goats!

2 cups fresh tomatoes - I used 3 medium sized yellow pear tomatoes, peeled, seeded, chopped
1 medium cucumber, seeded and sliced - I partially peel mine
1 Tbs. chopped, fresh oregano
1 Tbs. chopped, fresh parsley
1/4 - 1/3 crumbled Feta cheese
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp. sugar - I used dried cane sugar
Mix together gently.

Dressing:
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1-2 Tbs. red wine vinegar
2-4 Tbs. oilio
**a general rule of thumb in dressings is to use twice as much oil as vinegar or other acid

Whisk together until the garlic is evenly distributed and pour over salad.

Swiss Green Beans

This recipe is from Mollie Katzen's Enchanted Broccoli Forest cookbook and everyone at our home loved it. I am posting the recipe as we made it, which is just slightly different from Mollie's recipe. BE SURE to remember that if you make this ahead of time to let it marinate, you don't put the almonds, or the vinegar and lemon juice on until the last minute, so that you won't end up with gray colored green beans! Makes 4-6 servings.

1.5 lbs fresh green beans, cleaned and trimmed
1/4 C olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp dried tarragon
1 tsp dried dill
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
black pepper to taste
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 C minced fresh parsley
1/3 lb. Swiss cheese cut into thin chunks
one small can sliced black olives
1 large red pepper, cut into small squares
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3-4 Tbs lemon juice
1 Tbs red wine vinegar
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1/2 C sliced almonds, toasted

Steam green beans until just tender. In a large bowl, combine all other ingredients except lemon juice, vinegar, and almonds. Add green beans, toss well and allow to marinate (tightly covered) in the refrigerator, for at least 2 hours, and up to 24 hours. About 10 minutes before serving, toss with the lemon juice and vinegar, and top with toasted almonds.

Sweet and Sour Green Beans

This is the first thing I made with the batch of green beans we picked from my uncle and aunt's garden. They are really terrific! I used this basic recipe from the Martha Stewart site, and made some changes.

Ingredients
Serves 4

* 4 slices bacon
* 1 large onion, chopped ( I used a sweet Vidalia onion)
* Coarse salt and ground pepper (yeah, just use salt and pepper for Pete' s sake)
* 1 pound green beans, trimmed (I snapped mine into inch sized pieces)
* 1/4 cup cider vinegar
* 1/4 cup sugar (I used Maui raw sugar, which has a great tangy flavor)
* 1/2 cup water

Directions:

1. In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium until browned, 3 to 4 minutes per side. With tongs, transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate (reserve skillet with pan drippings). (I chopped the bacon first and then browned it off.)
2. Add onion to skillet; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion starts to brown,3 to 5 minutes. Add green beans and 1/4 cup water; cook, tossing occasionally, until beans are bright green and tender, about 10 minutes. ( I added more like 1/2 C water and put the lid on for a good part of the cooking time. I don't really know how the beans would be cooked enough otherwise.)
3. Crumble bacon into skillet; add vinegar and sugar. Cook until a syrupy sauce forms, 2 minutes (I let it go a little longer in order to evaporate the extra water I added), tossing to coat. Serve immediately.
**See the recipe for Three Bean Salad for a great way to use any leftovers you may have!

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!