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Post by jen51 on May 5, 2016 8:54:09 GMT -5
Quote from Clotilde when referring to the use of herbs:
"...I use them almost every day. Basil, I use in Asian dishes and curries but also Italian food. I also preserve it by making it into pesto and freezing it in cupcake tins, then wrapping it up. Then I plop it into sauces or soups, if I'm making one that takes basil. I also use the pesto for herb butter and sandwich spread. What I don't use beyond that, I dry (leaving the leaves whole!) It last forever but I usually have it used up by the following year
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This got me to thinking about cooking with garden produce, and I thought it should have a thread of it's own. I hope some others will share their ideas and recipes, too!
Roasted Tomato Sauce
-Slice your tomatoes as thick or thin as you'd like to. Thicker will take longer to roast, but there are some merits to that.
-Arrange them on a single layer on a baking sheet. They can be touching, but shouldn't be overlapping.
-Season them as you wish. I like Italian seasonings on mine, which include salt, pepper, oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary and parsley. I use lots of sliced fresh garlic, but garlic powder will work if you don't have fresh on hand.
-Drizzle olive oil over it. You can skip this step, and it'll still be tasty. But it tastes better with the oil, and EVO is good for you so I see no reason to leave it off.
-Cook them low and slow for a few hours, or if you're in a pinch, roast them high. They're best when done slow, but I usually do it on medium heat.
My husband likes them when most of the moisture is gone, and they're kind of pasty. I like them when their still kind of soggy. When they're pasty, the flavor is incredibly bold.
It's really good on toasted french bread with butter or cream cheese.
Blend them for pasta sauce, and freeze in quart bags (or gallon sized bags if your family is large!)
This is my favorite way to eat garden tomatoes!
I find this way of making sauce much easier than canning. It tastes better, too, and it yields a thicker sauce in less time and effort.
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Post by jen51 on May 5, 2016 9:06:19 GMT -5
Flavored Water- a refreshing way to encourage more water intake. Plus more nutrition! My favorite is cucumber mint. Throw a few slices of cucumber and a sprig of mint in your water bottle with ice and enjoy. I replenish the cucumber and mint every 2 or 3 bottles of water. If you don't like chunks obstructing your drinking, use a strainer of some sort and keep it refrigerated in a pitcher. I used this every day last year until it broke.  Rosemary and blackberry go nice together. Lemon and thyme is always a winner. Bruising your herbs before using them will increase the flavor. Add stevia if you want some sweetness. I don't care for it in flavored water, myself. |
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Post by mundacormeum on May 5, 2016 9:34:04 GMT -5
That tomato sauce sounds really good, and so easy! The one time I tried canning tomatoes, I had several very small children, a very pregnant belly, and it ended with broken glass and lots of tears (mostly shed by me)....I haven't tried it since. Our family favorite way to use up lots of tomatoes is roasted tomato basil soup. Your supposed to peel the tomatoes, but I'm too lazy for all that  . You quarter the tomatoes (8 large ones or so), quarter a couple of yellow onions, and peel 6-8 cloves of garlic (more or less to taste). Season with salt, pepper, and olive oil, and spread on a jelly roll pan. Roast in a 425° oven for about 30-45 minutes, or until the vegetables are cooked well, but not burnt. In a large Dutch oven, add a tablespoon of butter, then place all the vegetables and their juices in the pot. Sautee for about 10 minutes, then cover with chicken stock (or vegetable stock, if it's Friday or Lent). Simmer for atleast half an hour. Add several leaves of fresh basil and simmer another 15 minutes or so. Then, blend with an immulsifucation blender (I transfer to a blender in batches, because it's all I have, but it's kind of a pain). Add some heavy cream - 1/2 C. or so, until it looks right.....can you tell I am not really a recipe follower, yet? I just kind of do whatever. Serve with grated Parmesan and homemade, italian style croutons. All of my kids like this meal, which is no small feat  |
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Post by Clotilde on May 5, 2016 11:48:16 GMT -5
Flavored Water- a refreshing way to encourage more water intake. Plus more nutrition! My favorite is cucumber mint. Throw a few slices of cucumber and a sprig of mint in your water bottle with ice and enjoy. I replenish the cucumber and mint every 2 or 3 bottles of water. If you don't like chunks obstructing your drinking, use a strainer of some sort and keep it refrigerated in a pitcher. I used this every day last year until it broke. Rosemary and blackberry go nice together. Lemon and thyme is always a winner. Bruising your herbs before using them will increase the flavor. Add stevia if you want some sweetness. I don't care for it in flavored water, myself. Just curious, what is your take of the stevia controversy? I know women with fertility issues that avoid it because it can work in the body as a contraceptive. I don't consume anything with it because I dislike the flavor but that side effect I had only known about recently. My favorite mint in water is chocolate mint, apple mint is a close second. |
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Post by mundacormeum on May 5, 2016 12:20:43 GMT -5
I've never heard about stevia being contraceptive. I don't use it, anyway, though.
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Post by Clotilde on May 5, 2016 13:22:47 GMT -5
I have so many recipes of things I've made from the garden that you'd have to tell me exactly what you wanted to see. I've cooked everything from Tatsoi to blueberry basil jam. This category too broad...lol
As for spring vegetables, I like to use up winter root veggies in soups and stews. I love mashed potatoes with garlic and chives, or sliced potatoes baked with cheese, bacon, and fresh chives. There is also chive butter for steak or bread. I love the early greens, some for pesto (baby arugula) or a salad. One of my favorite salads is apples (again a storage item), candied spiced nuts (I have a recipe for this), goat cheese, and spring greens with a raspberry or strawberry vinaigrette.
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Post by jen51 on May 5, 2016 13:26:08 GMT -5
Add stevia if you want some sweetness. I don't care for it in flavored water, myself. Just curious, what is your take of the stevia controversy? I know women with fertility issues that avoid it because it can work in the body as a contraceptive. I don't consume anything with it because I dislike the flavor but that side effect I had only known about recently. My favorite mint in water is chocolate mint, apple mint is a close second. I've never even heard of apple mint. I'm interested in trying it. Peppermint is my favorite in pretty much everything. Have you ever made mojito's with mojito mint? Some people say it tastes bitter? Is that the case for you? I really like it- I can't taste any bitterness at all. I usually use stevia leaves from the garden unless I'm out. I don't put much stock in the stevia as a contraceptive. As far as I know the study was conducted on rats, and was given to them in extremely high doses. There were other faulty practices with the experiment that I cannot recall off the top of my head. Also, what is rarely mentioned is that many other, more accurate experiments were done on other animals, many times, by many other scientists, and no affect was had. I think the other reason people believe it to be a contraceptive is because some Brazilian women said they used it as a contraceptive, but there has been no evidence of this to see whether it's true or not. Let's say that the stevia given to rats really did cause fertility problems... I read somewhere that if we were to take the equivalent, we would have to be consuming pounds of stevia in a very short period of time (I can't remember how long they experimented with the rats). But in short, I don't think anyone is going to be consuming pounds of stevia. To me it seems an awful lot like the sassafras root shenanigans. Root beer was originally made from sassafras roots. Scientists investigated it and sounded the alarm that it had carginogens in it. What they don't tell you is that you'd have to drink barrels of it in order to possibly have an ill effect. It's a crying shame, too. Real root beer is delicious! It is wise to look into the side effects of herbs (or ANY food) before consuming them. There are a few herbs that I'd like to make use of, but I don't even keep them around because of their anti-fertility properties. Stevia isn't one of them for me. Edited to add- I am willing to be convinced otherwise, should the evidence prove me wrong. It's possible that I haven't done good enough research. |
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Post by jen51 on May 5, 2016 13:32:58 GMT -5
I have so many recipes of things I've made from the garden that you'd have to tell me exactly what you wanted to see. I've cooked everything from Tatsoi to blueberry basil jam. This category too broad...lol As for spring vegetables, I like to use up winter root veggies in soups and stews. I love mashed potatoes with garlic and chives, or sliced potatoes baked with cheese, bacon, and fresh chives. There is also chive butter for steak or bread. I love the early greens, some for pesto (baby arugula) or a salad. One of my favorite salads is apples (again a storage item), candied spiced nuts (I have a recipe for this), goat cheese, and spring greens with a raspberry or strawberry vinaigrette. I'm not looking for anything specific. Anything that you particularly enjoy. But now that you mention it, I'd love the recipe for the spiced nuts. I should make more use of chives. They grow all over our yard. We do take advantage of the garlic that grows wild here. We pull pounds of it each year. It's nice to not have to plant it, especially since we use so much garlic in this house. One of my favorite ways to eat mashed potatoes is with fresh dill. I think my husband eats more dill than he does potato. |
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Post by jen51 on May 5, 2016 13:36:34 GMT -5
Does anyone have any favorite salad dressing recipes? I've not made much of it. I cheat and buy the good seasons dry packet that you add vinegar, water and oil to. Sometimes I substitute juice from the veggies I ferment for the water and vinegar.
I saw roasted tomato dressing on the grocery store shelf the other day and decided I'm going to try to make my own with roasted tomatoes.
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Post by Clotilde on May 5, 2016 13:46:06 GMT -5
Sometimes I do one batch of walnut and one batch of pecan at the same time, I use two pans because they are for two different things. You will probably need a silpat or parchment.
Just double the recipe below, and rotate the pans, if doing two kinds of nuts, every 10 minutes.
Ingredients:
2 1/2 c. nuts
1/4 c. maple syrup
1/4 c brown sugar (scant cup, not packed)
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon
dash of nutmeg
a pinch of ground ginger
salt (to taste)
2 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
1 egg white
Preheat oven to 300, roasting nuts for 10 minutes. Melt butter and cool. Lower oven temperature to 250. Allow nuts to cool when removed from oven. Combine all ingredients, except egg white, adding nuts after ingredients are well mixed. Beat egg white in a separate bowl until it foams and add to nut mixture. Spread on parchment lined sheet and cook at 250 for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. If doubled, rotate pans when stirring. Remove and allow to cool.
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Post by Clotilde on May 5, 2016 13:52:59 GMT -5
This is my favorite salad dressing that is written down. I've made others but have never bothered to take notes... I know it is from TOH, which doesn't normally reflect my cooking style or skill level (I don't care if that sounds snobby) but it's really good and if you need to get raw apple cider vinegar into your diet, this is a great recipe: www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/strawberry-vinaigrette |
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Post by jen51 on May 5, 2016 13:53:13 GMT -5
That tomato sauce sounds really good, and so easy! The one time I tried canning tomatoes, I had several very small children, a very pregnant belly, and it ended with broken glass and lots of tears (mostly shed by me)....I haven't tried it since. Our family favorite way to use up lots of tomatoes is roasted tomato basil soup. Your supposed to peel the tomatoes, but I'm too lazy for all that . You quarter the tomatoes (8 large ones or so), quarter a couple of yellow onions, and peel 6-8 cloves of garlic (more or less to taste). Season with salt, pepper, and olive oil, and spread on a jelly roll pan. Roast in a 425° oven for about 30-45 minutes, or until the vegetables are cooked well, but not burnt. In a large Dutch oven, add a tablespoon of butter, then place all the vegetables and their juices in the pot. Sautee for about 10 minutes, then cover with chicken stock (or vegetable stock, if it's Friday or Lent). Simmer for atleast half an hour. Add several leaves of fresh basil and simmer another 15 minutes or so. Then, blend with an immulsifucation blender (I transfer to a blender in batches, because it's all I have, but it's kind of a pain). Add some heavy cream - 1/2 C. or so, until it looks right.....can you tell I am not really a recipe follower, yet? I just kind of do whatever. Serve with grated Parmesan and homemade, italian style croutons. All of my kids like this meal, which is no small feat Oooh, that sounds great! I've had a go to recipe for tomato soup that I make and freeze every year, but I'm going to try this one! Roasting the tomatoes always makes it better, imo. (When using cooked tomatoes, that is.) You are much like me! So many times when giving people a "recipe" they get frustrated because I won't give them precise amounts. Some things really are better when adjusted to taste. |
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Post by jen51 on May 5, 2016 13:54:53 GMT -5
Sometimes I do one batch of walnut and one batch of pecan at the same time, I use two pans because they are for two different things. You will probably need a silpat or parchment. Just double the recipe below, and rotate the pans, if doing two kinds of nuts, every 10 minutes. Ingredients: 2 1/2 c. nuts 1/4 c. maple syrup 1/4 c brown sugar (scant cup, not packed) 1 tsp vanilla 1 tsp. cinnamon dash of nutmeg a pinch of ground ginger salt (to taste) 2 tbsp butter, melted and cooled 1 egg white Preheat oven to 300, roasting nuts for 10 minutes. Melt butter and cool. Lower oven temperature to 250. Allow nuts to cool when removed from oven. Combine all ingredients, except egg white, adding nuts after ingredients are well mixed. Beat egg white in a separate bowl until it foams and add to nut mixture. Spread on parchment lined sheet and cook at 250 for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. If doubled, rotate pans when stirring. Remove and allow to cool. I've got about 10 pounds of local pecans in the freezer that need used up. This will be an excellent way to chip away at them. Thankyou! |
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Post by jen51 on May 5, 2016 14:01:38 GMT -5
This is my favorite salad dressing that is written down. I've made others but have never bothered to take notes... I know it is from TOH, which doesn't normally reflect my cooking style or skill level (I don't care if that sounds snobby) but it's really good and if you need to get raw apple cider vinegar into your diet, this is a great recipe: www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/strawberry-vinaigretteI have all of that on hand except the strawberries. I'm adding them to my grocery list! This will be a winner with my husband- he loves poppyseeds. I'll probably double the amount of poppyseeds though. Lol. "Doesn't reflect my skill level." TOH recipes are very simple 98% of the time. I get their e-mails, and every once in awhile I print off a recipe from them. A lot of them I skip over because of the types of ingredients they use. I can't count the number of times that I've been skimming over one of their recipes, and everything is looking good, then there it is... Cream of Mushroom (or cream of anything). |
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Post by Clotilde on May 5, 2016 14:39:22 GMT -5
This is my favorite salad dressing that is written down. I've made others but have never bothered to take notes... I know it is from TOH, which doesn't normally reflect my cooking style or skill level (I don't care if that sounds snobby) but it's really good and if you need to get raw apple cider vinegar into your diet, this is a great recipe: www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/strawberry-vinaigretteI have all of that on hand except the strawberries. I'm adding them to my grocery list! This will be a winner with my husband- he loves poppyseeds. I'll probably double the amount of poppyseeds though. Lol. "Doesn't reflect my skill level." TOH recipes are very simple 98% of the time. I get their e-mails, and every once in awhile I print off a recipe from them. A lot of them I skip over because of the types of ingredients they use. I can't count the number of times that I've been skimming over one of their recipes, and everything is looking good, then there it is... Cream of Mushroom (or cream of anything). I'm just nodding away in agreement. You are on my team. If I ever control an empire, you will be allowed to live. |
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. You quarter the tomatoes (8 large ones or so), quarter a couple of yellow onions, and peel 6-8 cloves of garlic (more or less to taste). Season with salt, pepper, and olive oil, and spread on a jelly roll pan. Roast in a 425° oven for about 30-45 minutes, or until the vegetables are cooked well, but not burnt. In a large Dutch oven, add a tablespoon of butter, then place all the vegetables and their juices in the pot. Sautee for about 10 minutes, then cover with chicken stock (or vegetable stock, if it's Friday or Lent). Simmer for atleast half an hour. Add several leaves of fresh basil and simmer another 15 minutes or so. Then, blend with an immulsifucation blender (I transfer to a blender in batches, because it's all I have, but it's kind of a pain). Add some heavy cream - 1/2 C. or so, until it looks right.....can you tell I am not really a recipe follower, yet? I just kind of do whatever. Serve with grated Parmesan and homemade, italian style croutons. All of my kids like this meal, which is no small feat 
