Vegetarian (or not) Tin Foil Dinners

When camping in the summer, or even quick dinners at home, I love tin foil dinners! They are so easy and you can easily customize them per person. As a vegetarian, I'm always looking for delicious and filling ideas for tin foil dinners. Most of them I've seen are pretty basic meat and potato varieties. While looking around, we stumbled across this recipe. I've made them a few different times, and they are pretty tasty!




Gourmet Vegetarian (or not) Tin Foil Dinners
(Original recipe found at theveggie-fullkitchen.blogspot.com. The recipe can be found here)

Basil Balsamic Marinade
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Directions:
Combine ingredients and whisk until incorporated.

Tin Foil Dinners
Basil Balsamic Marinade
1 red bell peppers, chopped into bit sized pieces
1 zucchini, sliced into bite sized pieces
8 oz. baby bella mushrooms, sliced (or white button mushrooms work well too)
1/2 large onion, diced
16 ounce bag of frozen, southern style hash browns, thawed
Salt and pepper to taste
**Optional: Chicken, cubed. (My husband and children like chicken in theirs, so I double the basil marinade when I make it and marinate the chicken in one bag and the mushrooms in another)

Directions:
1. Combine the marinade and the mushrooms (and chicken if you want it) and allow to sit in the refrigerator for about 1 hour.
2. Tear approximately 12 inch sheets of aluminum foil
3. On the dull side, layer the potatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the bell peppers, zucchini, onion and mushrooms (and cubed marinated chicken if you want it).
4. Drizzle a little of the leftover marinade over the top.
5. Fold the aluminum foil in half and roll it down tightly to keep any steam in. Do the same on the remaining two sides.
6. Cook in a fire pit on coals or briquettes. 
7. Cook for about 20 minutes or until they are cooked through. The time will vary depending on how hot your coals are and how full your packets are.
8. If you want to bake your foil dinner in the oven, bake it in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 20-25 minutes.
9. Enjoy!

Stuffed Zucchini

Zucchini season is just about here, and I know I need all the zucchini recipes that I can get my hands on! I know this isn't the best picture, but these were really tasty!

Stuffed Zucchini 
(Original recipe on www.kayotic.nl/blog. The recipe can be found here)

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp sour cream
1/4-1/2 tsp salt
Mesquite seasoning
1/2 tomato
1 tsp thyme
2 zucchini's
1 onion
cheese
pepper

Optional: Bacon

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Give the zucchini a good scrub and then slice them in half lengthwise. You can trim the ends if you like. I didn't, I like them to stay whole. They hold together better.

Scoop out the zucchini guts and set aside. Leave about 1/2" of the flesh inside, or they will get pretty flimsy. 
  
Chop up the zucchini pulp, onion and half a tomato. The recipe uses the tomato more for the color than the flavor. If you use too much of the tomato, it might get a little too runny.

Saute the onions in about a tablespoon of butter or olive oil. When the onions are nearly finished, add the mesquite seasoning and cook everything for an additional 30 seconds. I would go easy on the seasoning, a little goes a long way. You can always add more! When they are done, transfer them to a big bowl. 

If you wanted to add bacon, cook that now in the pan you just used for the onions. If you would rather not, then just skip this step. The original blogger said she liked the crunch and saltiness that the bacon added.

Now add the remaining ingredients (minus the cheese) to the onions. 1 tsp dried thyme, 1/4-1/2 tsp salt, 1 heaping tablespoon sour cream, a good pinch of pepper, the zucchini pulp, the tomato and crumble the bacon in if you cooked some.

Lightly butter or spray a baking dish and put the zucchini boats in the dish. Grab a spoon and fill the shells with the mixture. Sprinkle some cheese on top.

Put them in the preheated oven and give them about 20 minutes and then turn on the broiler until the cheese is golden brown. Sprinkle some parsley on top and you are done!

Roasted Cabbage

Throughout the year, my bountiful basket comes with a lot of cabbage. I try and go through it as quickly as I can, but I can only make so many cabbage salads and cabbage slaw's before I get bored. I decided to make it as a plain old vegetable side dish. I chopped it up in large chunks and left the core to hold it together. I put it on a baking dish and roasted it until it was just barely crispy. It was delicious! Even my husband loved it. I will definitely be making more with my plentiful cabbage heads in my baskets this year.

Roasted Cabbage

Ingredients:

1 head cabbage
Olive oil
Kosher salt
Pepper
Garlic powder

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Chop up the cabbage in large chunks. Make sure to leave the core so the cabbage doesn't fall apart.
3. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste. Toss to coat.
4. Arrange cabbage on a baking sheet and roast until the edges are just crispy, roughly 20 or so minutes. Just keep checking on it.
Serve warm!

Buca Di Beppo Apple Gorgonzola Salad with Italian Vinaigrette

I am a vegetarian. I love vegetables. I like salads when they are made well, but I rarely LOVE salads. I eat them on a regular basis, but don't make them very often. I think they taste better when someone else makes them. :) I also am a little funny when it comes to putting fruit on salads. I'm just not usually a big fan. I don't like to mix sweet and savory. I like them better separate. I don't like the sweet potatoes with marshmallows served at Thanksgiving. Weird, I know. I'd probably like them if they were savory roasted sweet potatoes or something along those lines. I'm weird. As my husband would say "wonderfully weird" (Thanks 'Friends'!)

Back to the salad ... I went to Buca Di Beppo (we don't have one where I live, the closest one is 80 or so miles away) with my family and my mom ordered a salad. Not just any salad. This salad. I was hesitant, but tried it. I LOVED it! I think it's one of my favorite salads, hands down! It's delicious. Even my husband who doesn't eat salad very often craved it for dinner one night, so I had to look up a copycat recipe online. (Thank you Google!) It tasted exactly the same. Try it! You won't be disappointed. If you are. . . sorry in advance.



Buca Di Beppo Copycat Apple Gorgonzola Salad with Italian Vinaigrette
(Thank you meemoskitchen.blogspot.com!!)

Ingredients:
1 granny smith apple (chopped, and sliced for garnish)
8 oz romaine lettuce (washed and chopped)
2 Tb Gorgonzola cheese (crumbled)
2 oz Spiced California Walnuts (chopped .. recipe below)
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup Italian vinaigrette (recipe below)

Preparation:
Make spiced walnuts. (They take roughly an hour) While waiting for walnuts, make the vinaigrette. (This will be best if it sits for at least a half hour) While waiting for walnuts and vinaigrette to sit, slice and chop apple. Chop lettuce and crumble cheese.

Once everything is ready, mix vinaigrette into lettuce. Add chopped apples, 3/4 of the walnuts and 3/4 of the Gorgonzola cheese. Toss well. Plate and garnish with remaining walnuts, cranberries, apples and cheese. Serve immediately.

Buca Di Beppo Italian Vinaigrette

Ingredients:
1/3 cup white wine vinegar
3/4 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp salt
1 pinch black pepper
1/8 cup red onion, chopped fine
1 1/2 tsp garlic, minced
3/4 cup olive oil

Combine the vinegar, oregano, dry mustard, salt and pepper in a blender. Add the onion and garlic. Blend together while slowly adding the olive oil. By adding the olive oil slowly, it will emulsify with the other ingredients creating a thicker vinaigrette. Let vinaigrette sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving. This is best made shortly before using.

Spiced California Walnuts
(Recipe from the California Walnut Board)

Ingredients:
1 egg white
1 Tbsp water
2 cups California walnuts (halves and pieces)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice

Preheat oven to 225 and line a large shallow baking pan with foil.
Combine egg white and water. Beat until foamy. Add walnut halves and pieces and toss to coat. Pour the mixture into a strainer and let drain 2-3 minutes.
Combine sugar, cinnamon and allspice in a plastic or paper bag. Shake to mix.
Add the walnuts; hold the bag shut and shake vigorously to coat the nuts.
Spread the nuts in one layer on the prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.
Cool completely, stirring occasionally and breaking nuts apart if stuck together. Don't worry if they stick to the foil, it's easy to peel them off.

Store in a tightly-capped jar.
Makes 2 cups.

Kale Chips

I'll admit that kale is not one of my favorite vegetables, so when I received it in my bountiful basket I wanted to find a way to make it that I would like, but also that my 3 year old picky eater son would like. I had heard that making kale into chips was delicious so we decided to give it a try.

Kale Chips

A bunch of kale
Olive oil
Salt to taste


Preheat oven to 350. Clean and trim up the kale. I should have removed more of the stalk, it was a bit tough when it was cooked. I will do that next time. Put all the leaves in a large ziplock bag and add just enough oil to lightly coat the greens. You don't want them dripping in oil. Toss well. Add to cookie sheet, making sure not to overlap them.


Bake until crispy (roughly 15-20 minutes??). Once crispy, remove from oven and salt. If you salt them before you put them in the oven, it will draw out all the moisture and they will be soggy and won't get crisp.

Cabbage Slaw

Normally, I don't care for cole slaw. I think it's bland and just overall not very good. The only thing I like about it is the crunch of the fresh cabbage. This past weekend when I received my bountiful basket it had 2 huge heads of cabbage in it, combine that with the 1 already in my fridge, and well ... I needed to figure out something to do with all of that cabbage. I decided to make a slaw that I actually liked and would want to eat again. My attempt was successful. Not only was this slaw crunchy, it was delicious! I would totally make it again, and probably will with the ever ending supply of cabbage in my fridge.



Cabbage Slaw

2 lbs cabbage, sliced thin
1 small onion, sliced thin and then diced
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can corn, drained
3/4 cup mayo (I made fresh mayo for this slaw, I will post the recipe)
1 tsp celery salt
2 Tbsp white vinegar
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp hot sauce (I used Franks Red Hot)
Salt and pepper to taste

Shred the cabbage and put in large bowl. Add onion, beans and corn. Toss.

In a small bowl, combine the mayo, celery salt, vinegar, sugar and hot sauce. Mix well. Pour over cabbage and toss again. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Put in fridge to let the flavors mingle for about 30 minutes.

Serve!

Homemade Mayo
(Recipe found in KitchenAid, Great Baking and More)

3 egg yolks
2 cups vegetable or olive oil
1 lemon, juiced (I just poured a little bottled lemon juice in)
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp dry mustard
1 Tbsp cider vinegar

Place egg yolks in a bowl and whip for about 3 minutes on high, until yolks are stiff and pale yellow. Reduce speed to med-high and slowly add the oil in a thin stream. If the mixture becomes too thick, thin with a little lemon juice. Continue to add oil until completely absorbed.

Reduce speed to medium and add lemon juice, salt, dry mustard and vinegar and whip until blended.

Store in the refrigerator.

Cabbage and Ramen Noodle Salad

Cabbage and Ramen Noodle Salad

Ingredients:

Salad:
1 small head cabbage, chopped
1 handful of green onions, chopped
1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted
The noodles from 1 package oriental ramen

*Optional: Chicken, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, chives instead of onions, etc.*

Dressing:
3 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 cup olive oil
Seasoning packet from oriental ramen noodles
Salt & Pepper to taste
Season salt to taste
*I also added a little smoked paprika and it was delicious!*

Dressing:
Mix together all the ingredients and set aside.

Salad:
Chop cabbage into bite size pieces and put into large bowl. Add green onions and nuts. Break up noodles into bite size pieces and add to salad.

Toss with dressing and serve immediately

Zucchini Soup

During the summer I always have more than enough zucchini from my garden, plus my neighbor always gives me some of his as well. You can only make so much zucchini bread before it becomes too much so I thought I'd try something new.
My 2 1/2 year old is a super picky veggie eater but LOVES soup! I love to make him soups that are chuck full of veggies and puree them so that he has no idea they are in there but will eat a huge bowl of it and love it. This soup was no exception. He loves bacon which helped but he ate a huge bowl of this soup. It really is delicious for such a simple soup.




Zucchini Soup
(Courtesy of sisterscafe.blogspot.com)
*I altered this recipe slightly from the original*


1 cup chopped onions
2 Tbsp butter
2 tsp minced garlic
3 cups sliced zucchini
2 cups chicken broth (I used veggie bouillon cubes in water)
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup half and half or milk will work fine
*Optional garnishes*
Shredded cheddar cheese
Sour cream
Bacon cooked crisp and then crumbled

In a large saucepan cook onions in melted butter until tender. Season with salt and pepper. Add garlic and sliced zucchini. Stir. Add broth and bring to a boil. Simmer until tender (about 15 minutes). Cool slightly. Pour mixture into blender and puree it. Stir in half and half or milk. Return to saucepan and reheat, but do not boil. Taste to test seasoning, add more salt and pepper if needed. Garnish with cheese, sour cream and bacon bits.
Makes 6 small servings.

Grilled Veggie Pasta Salad

Grilled Veggie Pasta Salad
(Courtesy of Cooks Illustrated)

Ingredients:
1 bunch (about 1-1 1/2 pounds) of asparagus, tough ends trimmed
3 large red bell peppers (I used red and orange)
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more to toss with vegetables
1/4 cup fresh squeeze lemon juice from 2 lemons
1/2 tsp grated lemon zest
1 medium clove garlic, minced
1 pound short, bite sized pasta
2 Tbsp chopped fresh chives
2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

1. Grill peppers and asparagus on grill until lightly charred and tender. Cool to room temperature (They could also be roasted if you'd prefer that)



2. Chop the veggies up and toss with oil, salt and pepper to taste.
3. Bring water to a boil over high heat. Add pasta and salt to boiling water. Cook until pasta is al dente and drain.
4. While pasta is cooking make dressing. Whisk lemon juice, zest, 3/4 tsp salt, garlic and ground black pepper to taste in a bowl. Whisk in 3/4 cup oil in a slow, steady stream until smooth.
5. While pasta is hot toss with veggies, chives, basil, parmesan cheese and dressing and mix thoroughly. Cool to room temperature. Adjust seasonings and serve.

(Can be covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated for 1 day; return to room temperature before serving.)

Roasted Asparagus with Balsamic Butter Sauce

Roasted Asparagus with Balsamic Butter Sauce
(Courtesy of sisterscafe.blogspot.com)

Ingredients:

1 bunch fresh asparagus
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
2 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut or snap the ends off the washed asparagus and place on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake for 12 minutes or until tender (but not mushy). Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in soy sauce and balsamic vinegar. Let it lightly simmer until the sauce thickens a little bit or it won't stick to the asparagus.

Pour finished sauce over roasted asparagus and serve!

Sauteed Brussel Sprouts

Sauteed Brussel Sprouts

Ingredients:

Fresh brussel sprouts
Olive oil
Garlic, minced
Salt and pepper

Cut the brussel sprouts in half or quarter them if they are huge. In a frying pan, heat some olive oil and the minced garlic. Be careful not to burn the garlic! When the oil is hot, add the brussel sprouts. Toss in the oil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Saute in olive oil until the sprouts are as tender as you want them to be. I like a little crunch left in mine.

Salsa

I love salsa, especially with tomatoes fresh out of the garden. My neighbor gave me a huge bag full of tomatoes, so to use some of them up we made salsa.


Fresh Salsa

Ingredients:

Fresh tomatoes, diced
1 onion, diced
1 can green chilis
1 handful cilantro, chopped
The juice of 1 lime
Salt and pepper

Basically just chop everything, put it in a bowl and mix. Season with salt and pepper until it tastes right to you.

Southern Dill Potato Salad

(Sorry about the weirdo shadow on the picture, it was the best one I got)


At school Amy was making a potato salad and it looked really yummy. I am normally not a huge fan of potato salad, but she gave me a taste and I was hooked. This is probably one of my favorite potato salads I've ever had. I don't like a lot of mayo and try not to use it very often, so I really liked that this was half mayo and half sour cream. There are also a few other things I might change for next time, I will put my notes in the recipe.

Amy's Southern Dill Potato Salad

4 lbs unpeeled red potatoes (about 10)
5 hard boiled eggs

Sauce:
3/4 c. sour cream
3/4c. mayo
1 Tbs apple cider vinegar
1 Tbs dijon mustard
1/2 white onion, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
1 tsp celery salt
Salt and black pepper to taste
1 Tbs fresh dill (recipe calls for dried, but we used fresh and it was super good!)

(Kelsie's changes: I would probably not use the entire half an onion and maybe grate it up instead of dicing to keep the flavor but not have the crunch and intensity of it. Also, I would add 1-2 additional stocks of celery. It's also very good with a little paprika on top)

Cook the potatoes whole until tender. Cool.
Boil eggs, cool and peel.

Dice the potatoes and eggs up so they are about the same size (bite size). Mix sauce and coat potatoes. Chill.

Fiesta Corn Salad

Tuesday Amy (a lady in my class) and I made a fiesta corn salad for a lunch meeting we were catering that day. It was delicious! I didn't have my camera that day, but the recipe was blog worthy so here it is without a picture.


Fiesta Corn Salad

Ingredients:
Corn on the cob (maybe 5 or 6)
1-2 Roasted red bell peppers
1 red onion, diced
Cilantro leaves
1-2 tomatoes, sliced into wedges
1-2 avocados sliced
Salt and pepper to taste
The juice of 1-3 limes (it just all depends on how big you are making your salad)
Toasted cumin seeds (Just put whole cumin seeds in a hot pan and toss for a minute or two until they smell cooked and nutty!)

Blanch the corn (drop into boiling water for just a minute or two) and pull out and put into cold water to stop the cooking process. Cut the corn from the cob and put in a bowl. Add diced red onion, diced roasted red peppers and a handful of torn cilantro leaves. Coat with lime juice and season with salt, pepper and toasted cumin seeds. Put on top of a bed of fresh romaine lettuce and top with a lime wedge, a couple of tomato wedges and a few avocado slices. The lime juice should have enough flavor to not need any dressing, but if you want it, you can add ranch and it would be delicious that way as well.

Roasted Rosemary Tourne Potatoes

The other day at school, I had to cut 80 potatoes in a style called Tourne. It's a nit picky way to cut a potato but they are pretty. They are only for presentation. I came home and made roasted rosemary Tourne potatoes to practice cutting them. They turned out very good! I cut mine a lot fatter than you are supposed to cut them because I didn't want to waste a lot of my potato. A Tourne potato is shaped a bit like a football, it's skinny at the ends and fatter in the middle and it has 7 sides.

I found some pictures of a proper Tourne potato online so you can see them.





Roasted Rosemary Tourne Potatoes

Ingredients:
20 small yukon gold potatoes or reds cut into a Tourne shape (If you don't want to bother with this, just peel them)
2 Sprigs fresh rosemary, removed from the stem (Add more if you like the rosemary. Mart doesn't like a lot so I use very little)
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven as hot as it will go, mine goes to 550.

Bring a pot of water to a boil and boil the potatoes until they start to get tender. Don't cook them all the way through. Drain. While potatoes are draining, heat olive oil in the pan you used to boil them and throw in the rosemary. This will make make the oil rosemary flavored. Don't burn! Just let it heat on medium or medium low to infuse the flavor.

Put potatoes back in pan and coat with the rosemary oil, and salt and pepper to taste.

Put in a baking dish and bake until the sides are golden brown and delicious!

Eggplant Parmesan

I love Eggplant Parmesan. If it is done correctly, it is one of my favorites! Here is a pretty easy recipe that tastes pretty good too.



Eggplant Parmesan

Ingredients:
2 medium eggplants, cut into 1/4" thick rounds
1 Tbsp kosher salt
8 slices high quality white bread torn into quarters
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 cup all purpose flour
4 large eggs
6 Tbsp vegetable oil

Tomato Sauce:
3 cans (14 1/2 ounces each) diced tomatoes
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 medium cloves garlic, minced (about 1 generous tablespoon)
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves chopped
2 cups mozzarella, shredded
1/2 cup grated parmesan
10 fresh basil leaves, torn for garnish

1. Toss eggplant slices and salt until combined and set in a large strainer. Let stand until eggplant releases about 2 Tbsp liquid (maybe 30-45 minutes). Arrange eggplant slices on triple layer paper towels; cover with more paper towels. Firmly press each slice to remove as much liquid as possible, then wipe of excess salt.

2. While eggplant is draining, adjust oven racks to upper and lower middle positions, place rimmed baking sheet on each rack and heat oven to 425.
Pulse bread in a food processor to fine, even crumbs. (You should have about 4 cups). Transfer crumbs to pie plate and stir in 1 cup parmesan, 1/4 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper. Set aside.

3. Combine flour and 1 tsp pepper in a second pie plate.

4. Beat eggs in a 3rd pie plate

5. Put eggplant slices in flour, coat the eggplant. Remove eggplant shaking off excess. Dip in eggs, then coat evenly with bread crumbs. Set breaded slices on a wire rack set over a baking sheet.

6. Remove preheated baking sheets from oven. Add 3 Tbsp oil to each sheet, tiling to coat evenly with oil. Place half of breaded eggplant on each sheet in a single layer. Bake until eggplant is well browned and crisp, about 30 minutes. Switch and rotate baking sheets after 10 minutes. Flip eggplant slices over with a spatula after 20 minutes or when the bottom is browned. Remove but do not turn off oven.

7. While eggplant bakes, process 2 can diced tomatoes in a food processor until almost smooth. Heat olive oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes in a large pan over medium high heat, stirring occasionally, until fragrant and garlic is light golden. (About 3 minutes) Stir in all the tomatoes. Bring sauce to a boil, then reduce heat to medium low and simmer, stirring occasionally until the sauce is slightly thickened. (About 15 minutes). Stir in basil and season with salt and pepper to taste.

8. Spread 1 cup tomato sauce in the bottom of a 13x9 baking dish. Layer the eggplant slices, overlapping to fit. Put about1 cup sauce over eggplant, sprinkle with half the mozzarella and parmesan. If there is leftover eggplant you will need to use a second dish. Make the layers the same as the first dish. (If there is not enough eggplant to make more than one dish, use all the cheese on the first pan)
Leave majority of eggplant on top exposed so it will remain crisp. Bake until bubbling and cheese is browned about 13-15 minutes. Scatter basil over the top and serve.

Roasted Red Pepper and Basil Salad

This salad is super easy and really delicious! If you've never roasted peppers before, it's really easy, it just takes a little bit of time. It's well worth the effort though!

Also this salad has basil cut into thin strips (That is called a chiffonade) on top and mixed in the salad, but it's not added until the end. The basil is fantastic with the peppers, it is light and fresh!

(This picture was taken right before it was put in the fridge to marinate, so there is not basil in it yet)




Roasted Red Pepper and Basil Salad
(This salad has 16, 6 oz servings. If you want bigger portions it won't stretch as far. If you don't need as much, just cut the recipe in half)

Ingredients:
10 Bell peppers (Use mostly red, if you want some color add just a couple of either green or yellow or one of each)
2 cups Extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup White wine vinegar
Salt and Pepper to taste
Handful of fresh basil


1. Roast and peel the peppers.

How to roast peppers:

Hold the peppers over an open flame (just on your stove if you have a gas stove). Leave them there turning every couple of minutes until the skin is black all the way around. If you do not have a gas stove you can put them under a broiler or in a hot oven. If you do this, they will not turn as black, but the skin will loosen enough for you to peel off.

If you are putting them in the oven, cut them in half, clean out the seeds and the veins and put open side down on a cookie sheet lined with foil. Broil on high for 7-10 minutes or until skins are very black.


Once the peppers are black, put them in a bowl covered tightly with plastic wrap or in a ziplock bag. (Put them in as soon as they are finished, one at a time if you need to). This will keep the moisture from the peppers on the peppers making it easier to peel the skin off. When you are finished with the peppers.



Once they cool off enough you can easily handle them, you can just rub the skin right off just using your fingers. There will be black pieces left on the pepper, that is completely normal.

2. Quickly rinse off the pepper under water to get any remaining black or skin off that is loose. Don't leave the peppers under the water, it will wash away flavor so just quickly put it in and pull it out.



3. Cut off the top and the bottom of the pepper and one side of the pepper. Roll out into a flat rectangle. Remove the core, seeds and veins

4. Cut the pepper into strips about 1/2 inch wide and you can either leave them the length of the pepper or cut them in half lengthwise so they are easier to fit in your mouth.

5. Combine the oil, vinegar salt and pepper to make a dressing. Pour over the peppers in a bowl and marinate for at least 2-3 hours.

6. Just before serving, finely shred most of the basil leaves and mix with the peppers, reserving a few leaves for garnish.

7. If you want, serve with bread to dip in the dressing.

Grilled corn with herb butter

Summer gardens bring lots of corn on the cob! Boiling it gets a little old after a while, so here is a fun way to change it up a bit. Grilled corn on the cob with an herb butter. I tried two different herb butters, both were very good.

After making the corn, I had some leftover herb butter. I melted it in a frying pan and sauteed some summer squash in it.



Grilled corn with herb butter

Ingredients:
Corn on the cob
Herb butter (See recipes below)

Peel husks down far enough to remove the corn silks. Soak in water for 15 minutes. This keeps the husks from catching on fire while they are grilling. Once they have soaked rub the butter all over the cob and pull the husks back up. Grill on Medium heat for 10 or so minutes, checking to make sure they aren't burning.

Herb Butter #1

Ingredients:
Butter, room temperature (Amount will depend on how many ears of corn you are making. I have been making about 5 or 6 small ears and using about 1/2 stick or less.
Fresh Herbs:
Basil
Flat leaf Italian parsley
Sage
Lime Thyme
Salt and Pepper

(Would be really good with some fresh garlic in it as well!)

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, mix well.

Parmesan Herb Butter #2

Ingredients:
Butter, room temperature (Amount will depend on how many ears of corn you are making. I have been making about 5 or 6 small ears and using about 1/2 stick or less.
Fresh Herbs:
Flat Leaf Italian Parsley
Sage
Lime Thyme
Oregano
Salt and Pepper
Fresh grated Parmesan cheese

(Would be really good with some fresh garlic in it as well!)

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, mix well.



Ethan loved the grilled corn on the cob!

Roasted Root Vegetables

Roasted root vegetables (with a few extras)

Beets
Turnips
Potatoes
Carrots
Onions (I cooked them separately, someone I cooked for doesn't like onions)
Zucchini
Salt and Pepper
Roasted garlic and herb seasoning
Tonys
Olive oil

Preheat oven to 425. Put a sheet of tin foil on a cookie sheet (this helps with clean up). Chop all the vegetables and put on cookie sheet. Drizzle with olive oil. Season with salt, pepper, tonys and roasted garlic and herb seasoning. Bake until tender, at least 30 minutes.


Before:

After:

Garlic mushroom and spinach quesadilla

I have lots of spinach in my garden and tried to come up with a new way to use it.

Kelsie's garlic mushroom and spinach Quesadillas:

Ingredients:
Half a small carton of mushrooms, sliced
A handful of fresh spinach, chopped
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced (don't use too much, if your cloves are big only use 1)
Shredded cheese
2 tortillas (I like the kind you buy raw and cook yourself on the spot!)
1 Tbsp butter
Salt and pepper


In a frying pan, melt butter. Add sliced mushrooms and garlic. Cook until they are the way you like them. Season with salt and pepper. (Don't salt before they are cooked, it draws out water and causes them to take longer to cook) Add spinach and cook just a minute or two until not bright green anymore. As soon as it has all changed colors (to the cooked color of spinach), set aside.

Put one tortilla in pan and top with cheese. Add spinach and mushrooms and second tortilla. Cook until cheese is melted.

Cut and serve. Yum!