Tomato Cucumber Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

This salad is fantastic with seafood! We often have loads of little tomatoes ripen at the same time, and since they aren't the best to can, I try to come up with salads that will set off their distinct flavors. This salad, and the dressing, could easily be transformed into a more Italian flavored dish, by using a traditional Italian vinaigrette, using Parmesan cheese in place of the Feta, and substituting fresh basil for the parsley in the salad.

Salad:
2 C chopped yellow pear tomatoes, or any other tomato you prefer
1 C whole cherry tomatoes
1 small cucumber, sliced thinly
1/4 - 1/2 C crumbled feta cheese
2 Tbs. fresh, chopped parsley
1 tsp. grated lemon zest
salt and pepper to taste

Gently combine all ingredients in a bowl. Pour vinaigrette over the salad and let marinate for 15-30 minutes before serving.

Lemon Vinaigrette:
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 -2 teaspoons white wine vinegar (depends on how tart your lemon is)
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons honey
1 teaspoon Greek seasoning, or a combination of oregano and thyme
1 clove garlic, minced
3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Mix all together in a small bowl and combine thoroughly with a whisk, or mix in a shaker jar.

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

This surely seems like a winter dish, but we've had such cool and rainy weather, and I've been processing cabbage anyway, so this was a natural for late August too. I found many versions of recipes for stuffed cabbage, so like most of my other recipes, I encourage you to suit your own taste and use what you have on hand in your refrigerator to make these your own creation.

Ingredients

* 1 large head cabbage

Filling:
* 1 lb. ground beef, or a combination of beef and pork
* 1 cup cooked brown rice
* 1 small onion, finely chopped
* 2 garlic cloves, minced
* 2 carrots, finely chopped or grated
* 1 small green pepper, finely chopped
* 1/2 C celery, finely chopped
* 1 egg, lightly beaten
* 2 Tbs. steak sauce, catsup, or Worcestershire
* 1 T paprika
* 2 tsp. ground pepper
* 2 tsp. salt
* 1 Tbs. fresh parsley, chopped
* 1 tsp. dried thyme

Sauce
* 2 cups tomato sauce ( I used a combination of leftover tomato gravy from Swiss steak and a chopped fresh tomato)
* 2 Tbs. red wine vinegar
* 1 Tbs. sugar
* salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Carefully remove the larger outer leaves from a large head of cabbage, save the rest of the head for coleslaw or another recipe. I used 8 leaves for this recipe.
2. Drop leaves into boiling water to soften them enough to be rolled around the filling. It should take about 1-2 minutes of cooking, being careful not to overcook. See picture of softened leaf here.
3. Drain and cool cabbage leaves.
4. Heat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9x13 baking dish with non-stick spray.
5. Combine all sauce ingredients, and ladle about half of the sauce into the bottom of the dish.
6. Combine meat with all other filling ingredients.
7. Spoon stuffing into cabbage leaves and roll to enclose filling.
8. Arrange seam side down in a baking dish.
9. Cover cabbage rolls with remaining tomato sauce.
10. Drizzle a little olive oil over the top of the cabbage rolls, to keep them moist, and you may want to baste them once or twice during the cooking time.
11. Bake uncovered, for about 1 hour, or until the cabbage has softened and the filling is completely cooked - I always use a meat thermometer to be sure.

Note: I've seen recipes that are a layered casserole version of stuffed cabbage, in which you shred the cabbage and then layer first the rice, a pre-cooked meat mixture, cabbage, and top with tomato sauce (or a large can of diced tomatoes with juice). It's baked at 350 for 30-40 minutes. This sounds good to me, and I'll bet there's a crock-pot version as well. So many recipes to try!

Rhubarb Crisp

This is a "once in a while" treat since it's so sugary, but adding some whole grain helps keep the balance a little doesn't it??!! The kind of rhubarb we grow doesn't have much of that traditional red color, and I don't like to add food coloring, so it looks a little green in this photo! It's nice and tart though, just the way it should be!

Whole Grain Rhubarb Crisp

Topping:

1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2/3 cup softened butter

Filling:

5-6 cups rhubarb,chopped
3/4 cup granulated sugar

Heat oven to 375. Spray an 8-inch baking dish or a 1.5 quart casserole with non-stick spray.

Combine nuts, flour , rolled oats, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut in butter until mixture is crumbly.

In large bowl, toss rhubarb with sugar. Place rhubarb in baking dish. Sprinkle topping evenly over rhubarb . Bake, uncovered, 35 minutes, or until rhubarb is tender and topping is deep golden brown. Place foil loosely over the crisp if it gets too brown during the cooking time. Of course this is traditionally served with ice cream, and if you can find it, cinnamon ice cream is amazing with rhubarb crisp!

Garden Stuffed Peppers

These were truly stuffed with the garden! These are peppers from the garden with onion, carrot, garlic, and tomato from the garden as well. There are so many, many versions of stuffed peppers out there, but this one was different, and a little more work because I used our fresh tomatoes rather than opening jars of diced tomatoes and sauce. It was well worth the effort - one of those "food of love" dishes. Make it because you love the people who are eating it!

Ingredients - all very flexible:

5-6 bell peppers, halved and seeded
I chose to precook these by placing them in a sprayed baking dish (9x13), and microwaving them for 3 minutes. Some people par-boil them instead, and some don't precook at all.

For the filling:
1 lb. lean ground beef, thoroughly cooked in a skillet along with one chopped onion and two chopped garlic cloves
3 C cooked rice - I used "sweet" brown rice, which is stickier than normal rice
2 shredded carrots
2-3 peeled, chopped tomatoes
2/3 C shredded cheese - I used sharp cheddar
Seasoning of your choice - I used 1 Tbs. parsley, 1 Tbs. paprika, 2 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce, 1 Tbs. brown sugar, 1 Tbs. balsamic vinegar, 1 tsp. celery seed, salt, pepper
Mix all of this together in a bowl. It's a good idea to taste this now, to see if it needs any tweaking. If it seems like it's not holding together very well, some recipes suggested adding an egg - like you would with meatloaf. Just do your tasting before the egg goes in!

For the sauce:
3-4 peeled tomatoes, chopped or torn into the same pan in which you browned your beef. Cook the sauce down until some of the liquid has evaporated. Then add a strange ingredient - about 1/4 C of catsup. I know! But it adds just the right punch to the sauce. Skip it if it turns you off!

Assembly:
Fill the precooked peppers with the beef and rice mixture; using your hands is the best way to do this. Set them back in the baking dish and then carefully ladle the tomato sauce down around the peppers, using a little bit of the sauce on top of each pepper as well. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30-40 minutes or until the sauce is bubbly and the peppers are tender.

Fresh Pasta Sauce

One of the nicest ways to use up a flood of garden tomatoes, is to make a splendid fresh pasta sauce! Above are pictured the main ingredients, all of them from the garden except for the sausage of course, which is Archer Farms chicken mushroom, organic sausage. I used somewhere between 6 and 8 pounds of our tomatoes, peeled, cored, and mostly seeded. I never kill myself getting every last speck of seed and pulp from them. Then the tomatoes - 3 different varieties - were torn into small pieces. Our onion and newly harvested garlic were chopped and sauteed in olive oil first, then the fresh tomatoes, chopped sausage, and the chopped basil were added to the pot. Next come seasonings that you like. I used about 2 Tbs. red wine vinegar, 1 Tbs. succanat for sweetener, 1 Tbs. dried oregano, 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes, salt and pepper to taste.

Let this simmer for a while to develop flavor. Depending on your preference and the amount of time you have before you serve the sauce, you can thicken it up in a few different ways. One is to let it cook down until it thickens (this could take a while), the next is to add a little cornstarch dissolved in a small amount of water (this is what is in a packet of spaghetti seasoning), or you can add a can (or less) of tomato paste. For this batch of sauce I did a combination. I added a can of paste since I like the contrast of that to the fresh tomatoes, and I simmered it for about 30 minutes while waiting for DH to finish the Friday night mowing - fun, fun job! It came out just great and what a difference a fresh tomato makes!

Grilled Salmon all Wrapped Up!

MMM...this is such a great way to make salmon on the grill in the summer. And obviously this could be done in the oven as well, but then you wouldn't get the carmelization of the shallots that happened on the grill - MMM again!

I make these packets for potatoes and veggies a lot, and the method is just the same. I placed the salmon on parchment paper, drizzled on a little olive oil, then place the sliced shallots and the herb stalks (thyme and rosemary) on top. I seasoned with a little salt and pepper and then carefully wrapped up the paper around the fish. Then I placed the bundle on a piece of foil large enough to seal tightly. Make tight seams as you close the foil around the parchment bundle, then place it on a medium hot grill. We actually cooked ours a wee bit too long, so watch it carefully since the time needed will vary tremendously, depending on the thickness of your piece of salmon.

Obviously the possibilities of ingredient and seasoning combinations is limitless. One note is that if you use potatoes in these packets, it's best to partially pre-cook them by either popping them in the microwave or parboiling them. Here's another "foil packet" recipe on this blog. Experiment and enjoy!

Bruschetta the Julia Child Way

...or at least it's the version of Julia Child's bruschetta that was made in the wonderful movie, "Julie and Julia". This is so very, very adaptable. Add or subtract any number of ingredients. Our daughter made this with pesto, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and pieces of mozzarella cheese added to the tomatoes, and she and her friends loved it! This is another recipe in which the quantities are very hard to list. You should be able to eyeball the amount of tomatoes you need to cover the number of bread slices you choose to make.

Ingredients:

a loaf of quality rustic bread, sliced into one inch slices
one clove garlic
olive oil to coat your frying pan, or as much oil as you like!

an assortment of ripe tomatoes, cut into smallish chunks
fresh basil leaves, torn or cut into pieces
olive oil to dress the tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste

finely grated Parmesan cheese - optional

Method:

Mix the tomatoes and basil. Drizzle on olive oil and toss gently; then salt and pepper the tomatoes. The more salt you use, the most juice will be released. Let this marinate while you prepare the bread.

In a skillet, brown the bread slices in the olive oil on both sides, until it's a nice golden color. Remove the bread from the pan. Cut off one end of the garlic clove, and rub carefully over the hot bread slices. The garlic "melts" into the bread by using this method. If you prefer, you could saute the garlic in the oil before browning the bread, but you need to be careful to remove the garlic before adding the bread, or the garlic will burn and become very bitter.

Now pile on the tomatoes, Parmesan if you wish, and enjoy the juice running down your chin!

Confetti Salad

This salad is so ridiculously simple that I hesitated to post it! However, it's such a great way to use up lots of produce at the height of garden season, and it's also something that I don't always think about making. So here goes!

Ingredients: any assortment of fresh, chopped vegetables - in this pictured version I used red and yellow tomatoes, cucumbers, green bell pepper, and spring onions. The dressing is as simple as cottage cheese and seasoning of your choice. Toss them all together, using enough cottage cheese to moisten the vegetables, but the amount of cottage cheese you use is completely a matter of personal preference. Let the flavors blend in the refrigerator for a few hours if possible. I served this alongside a spicy meal - very refreshing!

I used a grill-type seasoning this time, and fresh herbs, like basil leaves, are especially nice. BTW, I highly recommend an organic brand of cottage cheese called "Nancy's". It's quite different from run of the mill cottage cheese, and it has a distinct tangy flavor. I'm hooked!

Fresh Peach Cobbler

We've been getting some wonderful organic peaches from a "local" grocery store - I put local in quotes since we have to travel about 30 minutes to get organic produce that we don't grow ourselves. Anyway...the peaches have been delicious and we turned some of them into this summer evening, company dessert. I served it with vanilla frozen yogurt and it was well appreciated!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
4 cups fresh peaches - peeled,and sliced
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup all-purpose flour, or whole wheat pastry flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
3 tablespoons butter, or butter-flavored shortening
1/2 cup milk
raw or decorative sugar for the top (optional)

Spray a 1 1/2 quart baking dish , or an 8x8 baking dish with non-stick spray. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Mix sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice and cinnamon in a heavy saucepan. Add peaches, stir well, and heat filling until the peaches reach a boil, stirring often. Gently boil for about one minute, or until the mixture begins to thicken a little. Keep hot until the biscuit topping is ready.

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg together. With a pastry blender or two forks, work the butter or shortening into the flour mixture, until it's a crumbly texture. Add the milk and fold together just until the flour is all moistened. Drop the biscuit mixture on top of the hot filling - about six equal mounds of dough. Sprinkle the raw sugar on top of the biscuits (to give extra sheen and taste), then bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the biscuits are lightly browned and the filling is bubbling. Makes 6 servings, unless you're greedy!

Waldorf Coleslaw Salad

We have all kinds of cabbage coming out of the garden right now, so here's another coleslaw recipe to help you get creative with your crop too! This one tastes like a classic Waldorf apple salad, but no apples.

Dressing:
3/4 cup sour cream, or plain yogurt
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup walnuts,chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Salad:
1 medium cabbage, sliced or chopped
1/2 medium red cabbage,sliced or chopped
1/2 cup raisins

Directions:

Make dressing by combining first 8 ingredients. Toss together the green and red cabbage with the raisins. Pour dressing over the cabbage and fold in gently. Sprinkle on additional walnuts and/or raisins for garnish. Salad should be refrigerated for about 2 hours for the flavors to combine.
**This salad can be made ahead by preparing the dressing and cabbage separately, then adding the dressing 2 hours before serving time.

Potato Leek Soup

Rich and thick and a wonderful way to enjoy new leeks and potatoes.

These leeks were split down the center and then cleaned thoroughly to remove the sand that hides in the layers.

There are many, many versions of this soup. You're basically sauteing leeks in butter, adding potatoes and broth, seasonings of your choice, and in most cases some sort of milk or cream. It helps to have an immersion blender like we have, to make it a creamy consistency without having to take a hot soup out of the pan and put it in a blender. I chose to leave a few chunks of potato.

Ingredients I used:
4 small leeks, cleaned well and sliced into small pieces
1 Tbs. butter
3 slices of bacon, chopped
1/3 C white wine
salt, pepper, 1 tsp. thyme, and one bay leaf
(DH said he thought tarragon would have been a good addition to the seasoning.)
1 1/2 lbs. potatoes, roughly diced (German Butterball)
4 C chicken broth - divided
1/3-1/2 C half and half

In a heavy saucepan (I use Le Creuset pots), saute the leeks, butter and bacon until the leeks are totally softened. Deglaze the pot with the wine, then add the seasonings, potatoes and 3C of the broth. Cook until the potatoes are tender, then blend all or most of the potato-leek mixture. Stir in the last cup of broth and the half and half until smooth. Taste and adjust the seasonings.

Sweet and Sour Red Cabbbage

Our first red cabbage of the 2009 season was turned into one of our standing favorites and fall back recipes. I've made this in various ways over the years and it's one of my recipes that isn't an exact science. Taste as you go and make it the way you like it. This was served as part of a German style dinner - chicken spinach sausage on top of the cabbage, boiled parsleyed potatoes (some of ours and so yummy!), applesauce and homemade brown bread. A great healthy, comfort food dinner - even if it's not the dead of winter!

Ingredients:
1 lb. red cabbage, sliced or chopped
1/2 C diced red onion
1 Tbs. butter
1-2 Tbs. olive oil
1/4 C apple cider vinegar
2 - 3 Tbs. brown sugar
2 tsp. beef bouillon concentrate or granules
1/4 C water (for dissolving bouillon)
1-2 tsp. caraway seed
salt and pepper to taste

Saute the cabbage and onion in the butter and olive oil. Stir often, and when it has begun to soften, about 5 minutes, add all the other ingredients. You can dissolve the bouillon in the water in a separate cup before adding it, or you can make a little well in the cabbage and stir the bouillon and water together before incorporating it into the other ingredients. Continue to cook over medium heat. I usually cover the skillet partially, to help steam the cabbage, but at the same time allowing the excess water to cook out a little. Keeping it partially uncovered will also help retain the purple color. The final cooking can take as long as 20 minutes, but as little as 1o. Just depends on your cabbage and how crunchy you like the final product.

Citrus Tarragon Chicken Kabobs

I used a marinade recipe from The Food Network website as the base for this shish kabob dish. It is so tangy and full of flavor - really good and the marinade tastes don't disappear even after grilling. Yummy, yummy, yummy. Do note that this is a do-ahead recipe.

Marinade ingredients:
1 orange, zested, then juiced
1 lemon, zested, then juiced
1 lime, zested, then juiced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon fresh tarragon leaves
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Kabob ingredients:
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes
assorted vegetables, like zucchini, bell peppers, onions and mushrooms, cut into approximately 2 inch pieces (leave the mushrooms whole unless they're huge!)

Mix together all the marinade ingredients in a large zip lock baggie. Drop in the chicken cubes and marinate at least 4 hours - I almost always marinate meats overnight. After marinating time is up, thread the vegetables and chicken on skewers. I will often do this part well ahead of time, and if I'm using bamboo skewers I find that stringing them ahead eliminates the need to soak the skewers. (Of course the kabobs should go back into the fridge until time to grill.) Grill slowly, turning every so often, to prevent burning, and ensure thorough cooking of the chicken.
***A tip for well cooked shish kabob is to soften crisper types of vegetables, like peppers and onions, by microwaving them briefly. This helps to get them totally cooked on the grill, instead of having the problem of cooked meat and slightly raw veggies, which I don't care for!

Basil and Walnut Cheese Spread on Cucumbers

This is adapted from a recipe on RecipeZaar.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1 teaspoon minced fresh garlic
1 Tbs. finely snipped, fresh basil
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
salt and pepper to taste
1 medium cucumber, sliced into rounds
paprika for garnish

Mix all ingredients together until well blended. Chill for at least 2 hours to incorporate the flavors. This will be quite firm once refrigerated, therefore, if you want to pipe it onto cucumbers or anything else, you'll need to bring it back to room temperature. Sprinkle on a little paprika for a nice color pop. It's addictive, so watch out!

Roast Beef and Pasta Salad with Green Beans

The basis for this recipe came from Cooking Light Magazine, but I changed it to use more green beans and leftover roast beef. It would be great with any leftover beef. Seasoned grilled beef, grilled chicken, and even grilled shrimp would be delicious with this combination of ingredients. The vegetables you add to this salad could be switched up too. I also changed the dressing recipe to add a little more olive oil, since dry pasta salad is not our bag! Check your fridge and make a great summer salad!

Ingredients:

* 2 cups uncooked penne or other pasta
* 1 pound green beans, trimmed
* 1/2 - 1 lb. leftover beef roast or any other grilled meat or shrimp
* 1 cup thinly sliced red onion
* 1 1/2 cups thinly sliced red bell pepper
* 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
* 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
* 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
* 3 tablespoons olive oil, plus a little extra for the pasta
* 2 teaspoons honey
* 1 teaspoon minced garlic
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
* 1/4 cup (1 ounce) crumbled blue cheese

Preparation:

Bring 3 quarts water to a boil in a large pot. Add pasta; cook 5 1/2 minutes. Add green beans, and cook 3 minutes or until pasta is done. Drain and rinse with cold water. Drain well and place in a large serving bowl. Drizzle a little olive oil over the pasta and green beans and toss to coat. This will prevent the hot pasta from immediately absorbing all the dressing, and causing the salad to be too dry.

Add the meat, onions, peppers, and basil to the pasta and green beans. Combine the mustard, vinegar, oil, honey, garlic, salt and pepper. Mixing it all together in a shaker jar is an easy way to make a dressing. Pour over the pasta salad, tossing gently to coat. Sprinkle the blue cheese over all. Great served with a loaf of rustic bread!

Cranberry Pecan Coleslaw

The first recipe I made with our newly picked heirloom cabbage, was this slightly different coleslaw. I think it would be good in the fall too with some chopped apple added. The dressing is really just a poppy seed salad dressing, which could be used for any salad. Make it a little sweeter and it would be good for fruit salad.

Ingredients:

1 head cabbage, sliced, shredded or chopped
2/3 C dried cranberries
1/2 c chopped pecans
1/3 C chopped red onion
S&P to taste

Combine in a large bowl. Keep in mind that salt makes water come out of the cabbage, so don't use too much or your slaw will turn runny.

Dressing:

1 C mayo (we've started using Hellmann's canola mayo, which has NO soy oil)
1/4 c milk
2 Tbs. apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 Tbs. honey
1-2 tsp. poppy seed

Whisk together well, and pour over cabbage mixture. Combine gently and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before it's served.

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!

Three Bean Salad

I made this the day after I made Sweet and Sour Green Beans. It was a great leftover recipe! As with all recipes using leftovers, make sure the leftovers are not too old and have been stored properly. Food poisoning is not what you want to achieve when trying not to waste food!

leftovers from Sweet and Sour Green Beans
1 can garbanzo beans (chick peas)
1 can dark red kidney beans
1/3 C finely chopped green pepper
olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, sweetener

Drain both cans of beans. Toss together the leftover green beans, drained beans, and green pepper. Then use your judgment and taste buds and dress the salad with the oil, vinegar, salt and pepper, and some sort of sweetener, such as honey, raw sugar, or whatever you like.

**A note about sweetening foods - the mass media being what it is, and having the agenda that is does, we have gotten a little crazy with our fear of using any sugar at all. And the harm of using artificial sweeteners is becoming more obvious all the time. But one of the secrets in experienced kitchens, is that many things have just a little sweetener added to enhance all the other flavors, or even provide a balance to something with vinegar for instance. If you look at the labels of many purchased foods, like spaghetti sauce, you'll see really high amounts of sugar and especially the harmful high fructose corn syrup. So when you're at home, a teaspoon or so of sweetener in a whole batch of soup, or chili, or sauce, is not going to hurt anything - unless you have some medical reason for avoiding it of course! There are good choices of natural sweeteners out there too, like sucanat and raw sugars, some of which have a lower glycemic index than processed sugars. The glycemic index measures how quickly the sugar affects the insulin levels in your blood stream, which affects so many other things - read up on it. However, one slice of pasty white bread has a higher glycemic index than does a whole tablespoon of plain old, processed, white sugar!! So throw out the white bread with fear and trembling, but go ahead and add a little sweetener to your cuisine when it needs it - it's a cook's secret you'll be glad you learned!

Avgolemono Soup from Roasted Lemon Chicken

From Sunday leftovers, this soup came to be. I made a roasted lemon chicken in a Dutch oven and used the drippings, leftover chicken, and rice to make one of my husband's favorite soups. Avgolemeno is Greek style, lemon flavored, chicken soup, and it's just delicious. I used a combination of recipes to come up with the amounts for this soup recipe, so feel free to alter it some more. One source for this recipe, a notoriously snobbish food magazine, actually called for 8 egg yolks to be added - now come on! I get practically offended when these companies use excessive ingredients just for the sheer decadence of it - not cool. Anyway, hope you give this a try and make it your own!


First the basic recipe for the roasted chicken:

One three to four pound bird, giblets and extras removed, cleaned, and patted dry. Tuck under the wings and place in a covered Dutch oven. I cut up a lemon, squeezed the juice into a bowl, and placed the lemon wedges under the chicken to keep it from getting too soggy on the bottom as it roasted. I poured about 1/2 C white wine into the bottom of the Dutch oven, then poured the lemon juice over the chicken, drizzled on some olive oil, and sprinkled on some Greek seasoning blend. You could use any combination of seasonings you like. I covered the Dutch oven and roasted the chicken at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours - just cook until it reaches the safe temperature of 180 degrees. I always use a meat thermometer to be sure! If you don't know the best places to check the internal temperature of a cooked bird, look on the internet and inform yourself.

Now for the recipe for Avgolemono Soup!

For cooking this soup, I used the same Dutch oven in which I had roasted the chicken, since all the juices and goodies were still in there. Feel free to skim off some of the fat on the top if you wish.

1. Start with leftover roasted lemon chicken. Carefully take the cooked chicken off the carcass and watch for bones, since they get pretty soft after being oven roasted. You might have just a little meat left, but that's o.k. The flavor is in the drippings anyway!
2. Chicken stock - I use a boxed, organic chicken stock, but anything along the lines of chicken stock or broth will do. I used a whole box, or about 4 Cups.
3. Fresh parsley - around 1/3 C , chopped
4. 2 C cooked brown rice
5. 2 Tbs. lemon juice - bottled or fresh, but use fresh if you have it
   
6. 2 eggs
7. 1 Tbs. water
8. S&P
9. honey or other sweetener to taste (see the note on this post about sweeteners)
   
10. lemon zest

Add the chicken, chicken stock, parsley, and rice to the Dutch oven containing the drippings. (Note - I made the decision to leave in the lemon rinds that were used with the roasted chicken - don't, they get too bitter.) Then bring this to a simmer. Next whisk together the lemon juice, eggs, and water. Slowly add to the soup, whisking while you're adding it. After the soup has thickened enough for you, adjust the flavor with salt and pepper, honey or another sweetener, and some lemon zest. The amounts are up to your taste buds!

Balsamic Glazed Beets

Wow, this was amazingly good. This little dish of baby golden and albino beets was my first serving idea for this yummy vegetable. Then I was trying to figure out what kind of salad dressing to make for dinner (one that wouldn't clash with the strong flavors in the beet glaze) and I came up with plan B, which was to dump the beets and glaze over the garden lettuce and sprinkle on a little chopped bacon. Oh my - it was a winner!
---based on a recipe printed in the Washington Post 6/6/07

Ingredients:
16 baby beets
(this recipe would work with regular beets, but they would need a longer roasting time)
fresh rosemary sprigs
1/2 C balsamic vinegar - I used white balsamic for my lighter varieties of beets
2 Tbs. brown sugar
2 Tbs. butter

Step 1
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Trim the beet tops down to about one inch, leave on the root end, and gently scrub the outside of the beets. Wrap the beets and rosemary sprigs in enough heavy foil to make a packet that seals. Place the packet on a jelly roll pan or something else with sides. Roast for about 30-40 minutes for small beets. You should be able to pierce the beet easily when they're done. Let them cool completely, then trim off both ends and peel off the skins. Discard the rosemary. Step 1 can be done up to a day ahead of time.

Step 2
Combine the vinegar, sugar, and butter in a small saucepan. Heat gently until slightly reduced. Add the beets to the sauce and heat through. Serve warm, or use on a lettuce salad with added crumbled bacon.