How To: Use Your Garden Bounty

Maybe you planted a garden and joined a CSA this summer, maybe only 2 people live in your house, maybe your the only one in said house that enjoys? eating veggies.
No? Just me?
Oh well, here's a couple ways I've decided to handle the overabundance I have brought upon myself.

Breakfast Burritos

This is my favorite breakfast fast, simple, 1 pan clean-up.

Scramble, fry, bake, or cook in whatever way your heart desires an egg, or 3....just me again?  

Then top with anything you want, this time I just used tomato and peppers.

Toss on a little hot sauce or salsa to keep things light.

Wrap it all up, in your favorite 100% whole grain tortilla and you've got yourself a healthy, filling breakfast in minutes.

 

Hot Sauce

                                                          

What else would you do with a bunch of banana and green chili peppers?  I have no idea and probably should have considered it in May.
So, I just chopped 'em up, threw 'em in the blender, added a little vinegar (a little too much in hindsight) to help it keep better/longer in the fridge, and blended till smooth. 
It's no Franks but I've eaten on my egg burritos and sandwiches every morning and that bottle is almost out.


And now for my favorite of all my veggie concoctions as of yet:

Buffalo Chicken Salad

This was born mostly out of necessity.  I needed a lunch, I started throwing stuff in a bowl, and ended up with this.  I loved it, and proceeded to eat it 3 more times that week.
Cooked chicken smothered in buffalo sauce, lettuce, red onions, ranch, Frank's Buffalo Sauce. 
Throw it all together, add a potato and carrots, and call it dinner.


Happy Veggie Eating!
 

I joined a CSA

I joined the Angelic Organics CSA this year.  CSA stands for community supported agriculture.  Basically, how it works is I pay upfront at the beginning of summer, or earlier for 12 or 20 weeks of vegetables.  Angelic Organics not only follows organic practices, they also grow their vegetables sustainably through a process called Biodynamics.  I love that I get to see where my food is coming from each week, and knowing (with as much certainty as one can have without growing the veggies themselves) that I am not filling my body with food covered in nasty chemicals.

These are the contents of my box from week 7.  Things have started to get colorful and the box has gotten much heavier.  Even the flowers in the picture came from the farm.  They have a little U-Pick garden where I can pick myself weekly flower bouquets, among other things.  

 

I was extremely happy to see there were no beets in this box.  We had gotten a bunch of beets every week before this and they started to accumulate in the bottom of the fridge drawer.  I just cannot seem to find very tasty ways to use them up.  I'm hoping I won't see them again this week since the vegetable fruiting season is at its peak.

First Tomato

What do you do when the first tomato in your garden turns red?

You make BLTs!!

Homemade Chicken Pizza

 

Yummy. Healthy. Easy.

 

 

I make this meal quite often.  It is extremely tasty, and can satisfy a pizza craving with much less grease and fat.  It’s also very versatile, you can pretty much add or omit any toppings you want.

I listed my go-to seasonings for chicken pizza, actually I use them for pretty much everything.  Cheese from a block that you shred yourself tastes and melts much better than the pre-shredded, and it really only takes minutes.  (It also has less preservatives, if your into that sorta thing). 

 

Homemade Chicken Pizza               Printable Version

 

1 Pizza Crust (Homemade recipe coming soon)

1 1b chicken breast

1 Green Pepper

1/2 Large Red Onion

2+/- cups Cheese Shredded  – Mozzarella, Cheddar, whatever you have.

1 Can Pizza Sauce 

Olive Oil (for sautéing)

Garlic and Onion powder, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning

 

Preheat oven to 450 (350 if your using more than 1lb chicken)

1.  Cut the chicken into small pieces.

2.  Heat olive oil in nonstick skillet.  Add chicken, cover and cook stirring occasionally for 7-10 minutes, or until no longer pink inside.  Season chicken while cooking with garlic powder, salt, pepper, onion powder, and Italian seasoning.  Use a couple sprinkles of each or whatever you choose.

3. Flatten pizza crust into pan.  If your using more than 1lb chicken, bake the crust for 5-10 minutes on 350.

2.  Dice green pepper and onion.

3.   Spread tomato sauce on pizza crust, then spread chicken on top.

5.  In same pan as you cooked chicken heat olive oil for a minute, add green pepper and onion sauté until soft

6.  Spread onion and green pepper on pizza.

7.  Top with shredded mozzarella cheese. 

8.  Bake in oven at 450 for 15-20 minutes, or until crust has browned and cheese is melted.

Peanut Butter Balls!

AKA The Best Treat Ever.

This recipe comes from my mom and ever since I was a kid these have been my absolute favorite treat.

Mix peanut butter & melted butter.

            

Mix 1/2 of the powdered sugar into the peanut butter, then use your fingers to combine the other half.

Roll the peanut butter mixture into balls and put them on parchment or wax paper on pans, stick a toothpick in each ball.  After rolled put pan in freezer or somewhere cold to chill the balls before dipping.

    

Melt chocolate chips and paraffin wax in a double broiler, once fully melted dip the balls in the chocolate, let the excess drain off, and set on parchment paper on pan.  Chill after pan is full.

After balls are chilled take toothpicks out and store in Tupperware, I always freeze the extras.  It makes a lot of balls, but they go fast.

Peanut Butter Balls        Printable Version

4 cups peanut butter (spray the measuring cup with non-stick spray first)
1 pound butter, melted ≈ 1 box
3/4 cup shortening (you don't need to measure, it's just for thinning and making shiny)
3 pounds of powdered sugar
______________________________________________________________________________
1. Mix peanut butter and melted butter with spoon.
2. Add 1/2 of powdered sugar and mix with a spoon.
3. Add the remainder of powder sugar and mix/knead together with your hands until it is completely mixed.
4. Roll peanut butter into balls and put a toothpick in each one.
5. Chill.
6. Melt chocolate chips and shortening in double broiler. (Or once you move out of moms a the microwave in a non-plastic bowl. Do not overheat though!)
7. Once chocolate is fully melted dip balls into chocolate, using toothpick let excess drop of and set ball on parchment/wax paper.
8. Chill balls before storing in Tupperware.  Put leftovers in freezer for longer storage.
         The balls are scrumptious snacks at any point in the process.

Jill’s Spinach Dip

This recipe comes from my good friends mom.  We used to snack on it all of the time when we were hanging out at her house as kids.  To me, “spinach dip” sounds like something that I wouldn’t particularly enjoy but this recipe tastes wonderful much much better than any other spinach dip I’ve tried.  I usually eat it with tortilla chips, but it is also tasty on chicken sandwiches with a little ranch.

    
Chop up the artichokes into small pieces.

The original recipe calls for 16oz of spinach, but lately the only size boxes I can find are 9oz., I just use 2 boxes leaving out a small amount. Make sure to squeeze as much of the water as possible out of the thawed spinach.

To measure the cayenne pepper I just try to fill my 1/4tsp half full since I don’t have an 1/8tsp.

Mix all the ingredients in a bow, or to save dishes in the casserole dish. 

Bake.

Eat.


Jill’s Spinach Dip              Printable Version

1 can (12-16oz) artichoke hearts, dice finely
1 pkg (16oz) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1 pkg (8oz)  cream cheese, softened
1/2c. mayonnaise
1/2c. sour cream
1 shaker bottle of parmesan cheese ≈ 2c.
1 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
3-5 drops Tabasco Sauce

1.  Preheat oven to 350˚
2.  Chop up the artichoke hearts into small pieces.
2.  Squeeze all the excess water from the spinach.
3.  Mix all ingredients in bowl or casserole dish.
4.  Bake at 350˚ for 20-25 minutes, or until sides are slightly golden.

Pumpkin Seeds

Pumpkin seeds are a very yummy treat you can make if you have seeds from a jack-o-lantern or any other reason you may have pumpkin seeds.



Pumpkin Seeds          Printable Version

Olive Oil
Pumpkin Seeds
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Season Salt
Pepper
You can modify the ingredients to your tastes and what you have in your cupboard.

1. Rinse pumpkin seeds in colander and pick out any pumpkin pieces.
2. Drizzle olive oil on cookie sheet.
3. Spread seeds evenly over cookie sheet.
4. Sprinkle spices onto pumpkin seeds.
5. Use spatula to mix spices, oil, and seeds around, be sure entire surface of pan is covered by a layer of oil to prevent sticking.
6. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until browned. ½ way through baking (when I heard the first “popping”) mix up seeds with spatula to prevent sticking.
7. Allow to cool completely place in baggie.

        Dry your pumpkin seeds.  I suggest not using paper towel, they stick…bad!

    Drizzle cookie sheet with olive oil and spread seeds evenly.

           Sprinkle on the spices.             Mix up seeds with spatula to evenly coat.

              1/2 way through baking mix up seeds again to prevent sticking

  (I did this when they started popping)

         Once browned and crispy they are done.  Let cool and put in a baggie.

                                                        
                                                     YUMMY!