Farmer's Market Finds

Hey! It's been a while hasn't it?  I'm smack dab in the middle of transition stage right now, but I'm back for a little bit.  Endings, beginnings, life is so full of changes and transitions.  Anyway, blogging just didn't seem to fit in the puzzle over the past few weeks.   I'm honestly not sure where my blogging will go from here.  The posts certainly won't be as frequent, but I don't quite want to stop all together either.

Oh, and I've been stress-baking a lot lately.  You know, when you have a million things to do and somehow end up doing none of them but just bake cookies instead.  Yeah, that kind of baking.

A few of those...occurrences, were captured on camera, but most were the non-recorded throw in some of this and that type thing.  I will have a few recipes for you in the near future, but for today we'll just go with some (rather careless) snapshots of this weekend's Farmer's Market Finds.  One of these days I'll bring my camera to the market instead of taking pictures of wilted produce that's sat in a hot car for an hour.  One of these days, but not today. 

Fresh green beans, which I prefer to eat raw.  Is that weird?  Whatever, that's just what my family does. 

Zucchini and yellow summer squash at 50 cents a piece.

I fell for this Swiss Chard at only $1 a bunch.  I wasn't really sure how I was going to use it, but the vibrant pink stalks were so pretty.

Mmmm, fresh basil smells so good.  Again, only $1 for a large bunch...much cheaper and more efficient than the $4+ plants I can only keep alive long enough to grow 6 leaves.

Crunchy cucumbers.  I made a batch of pickles yesterday, but really I just prefer to munch on the raw cucumbers.  One day I will like pickles, especially if I keep making them.  

This Russian Kale came from the garden of a generous friend.  She also shared her sweet corn and tomatoes.  Thanks!

Everything  but the green beans and cucumbers went into a super tasty quinoa dish based off of these Farmer's Market Skillet and Easy Summer Quinoa recipes from Iowa Girl Eats.  I've made this twice in the past two days and both times I inhaled it quicker than the click of a camera.  Don't skip the honey-lemon dressing.  Fresh basil is also a must.  And now that we've eaten our vegetables, I'd say it's time for some baked goods.  Cookies are coming up next.  

Food for Thought: "I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With an unfailing love I have drawn you to myself." -Jeremiah 3:31 (NLT)

Tuesday's Twist: Lemon-Basil Lentil Soup

Tuesday's Twist:  A basic recipe with a fun twist.  In other words, just another excuse for me to play around with weird recipes I've been dying to try.

Chilly winter days call for soup.  Fun bowls and spoons definitely help chase away the winter blues.  The bowl was a Christmas gift from my mom.  It was handmade for the Empty Bowls project to help fight hunger.  After a simple meal of bread and soup participants take home an empty, handcrafted bowl as a reminder of the all the hunger and empty bowls around the world.  The hand-carved wooden spoon stands up on its own and is nothing short of amazing.

Weird Recipe Wednesday: Peanut Butter-Banana Soft Serve with Basil and Chocolate Chips

Weird Recipe Wednesday: Because some recipes are so weird I just HAVE to try them.  My curiosity always gets the better of me.

After their last get together, peanut butter, banana, chocolate chip and basil decided to give it another try.  Okay fine, I made them go, but sometimes you just need that extra push out the door.

Fermented Friday: Sun-Dried Tomato and Basil Appetizers (part 2)

Fermented Friday: recipes featuring yeast, wine, beer or some form of fermentation.

What started out as a recipe for Tuesday's Twist has taken all week, thanks for your patience. After a third try I finally got the pictures to work.  Something is still a little goofy with the formatting, but at least I can see pictures instead of blank, invalid images.  I wasn't intending to use this recipe for a Fermented Friday, but such is life.  Technically speaking it does contain yeast and balsamic vinegar, both of which involve fermentation, so let's just go with that.

The Sun-Dried Tomato and Basil Filling I posted on Tuesday was inspired by two recipes for stuffed tomatoes.  I wasn't in the mood to stuff and bake tomatoes, so I decided to play with won ton wrappers.  These thin sheets of dough are extremely versatile and perfect for bite-size appetizers.  The squares can be stuffed with a wide variety of fillings and then baked, fried, boiled or steamed.  I liked the idea of baking, but also tried making tortellini by boiling the filled pockets.  Since I'm playing with my food again, it's probably easier to just show you what I did (which is why I wanted to wait until my camera was working).

Tuesday's Twist: Sun-Dried Tomato and Basil Filling (part 1)

Tuesday's Twist:  A basic recipe with a fun twist.  In other words, just another excuse for me to play around with weird recipes I've been dying to try.

I'm on the schedule to work a lot more this week.  I'll still be serving food or in the kitchen, but it will be at work, not here.  I'd love to tell you I'm way ahead of the game and got all the posts for this week done over the weekend, but I didn't.  After waking up around 3 A.M. Saturday morning to take my mom to the airport I suppose I could have stayed up and gotten a few things done.  I was home by 6:30 that morning but gave in and went back to sleep around 8.

I made this savory filling and then tested and photographed 5 different ways to use it.  When I went to transfer the pictures to my computer nearly all of them were black rectangles with red text reading "invalid image".  Not helpful.  I have a few hours of daylight before work to try it all again, so maybe you'll see pictures tomorrow.  Anyway, all that to say the posts for today and tomorrow are related. We'll make the filling today and I'll show you a few fun things you can do with it tomorrow (assuming I figure out what's up with my camera).  While this recipe stands on its own as a delicious dip or spread, we're going to use it soon as a filling for something a little more adventurous.

Oh, by the way, I "forgot" to mention this is one of those reoccurring tofu recipes I alluded to way back when Tofu Tuesday was discontinued.  Thankfully that tofu flavor is completely hidden by the tang of balsamic vinegar and citrus of fresh lemon.  Nutritional yeast and sun-dried tomatoes lend salty and savory notes that pair perfectly with the last of our summer basil.


Sun-Dried Tomato and Basil Filling/Dip/Spread
inspired by Baked In and Running to the Kitchen

Ingredients:

1 clove garlic
10 oz firm tofu*, drained and pressed
1 cup cooked white beans, drained and rinsed
1 Tbsp nutritional yeast
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp freshly grated lemon peel
1/4 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
6 sun-dried tomato halves (not oil-packed), chopped
1/4 cup packed fresh basil leaves, chopped

* After 15 minutes of pressing my tofu weighed 8 oz.  I used half of one box of the water-packed tofu from Trader Joe's with the hot pink label.  It doesn't specify a firmness level, but medium-firm or firm is my best guess.


Instructions:
* In a food processor pulse garlic clove until finely chopped. Add tofu and beans; process until smooth, stopping to scrape down sides if needed. Add nutritional yeast, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, lemon peel, salt and black pepper.  Process until combined.  Add sun-dried tomatoes and basil; pulse to incorporate. Refrigerate at least 1 hour to allow flavors to develop.  Serve as a vegetable dip or cracker spread. Also works well on sandwiches and tortillas. Stay tuned for ways to use in hot appetizers.

Update: See this post for some ways to use this filling.

Food for Thought: "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail . They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." -Lamentations 3:22-23

Tuesday's Twist: Strawberry-Mango-Basil Frozen Yogurt

Tuesday's Twist:  A basic recipe with a fun twist.  In other words, just another excuse for me to play around with weird recipes I've been dying to try.

Let's squeeze in a little more summer, shall we?  I made several varieties of this frozen treat over the summer.  Each time it was so deliciously refreshing that I ate every last spoonful before my camera could even think about blinking.  Even this time around I gave up on the pictures and just ate it.  I tried putting it back in the freezer, hoping it would firm up enough to snap some better pictures.  But each time I went to check the freezer, a spoonful found its way to my mouth.  And then, all of a sudden, it was gone.  So much for that idea.   One velvety smooth spoonful and you'll understand my dilemma.

Weird Recipe Wednesday: Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chip Basil Mini Muffins

Weird Recipe Wednesday: Because some recipes are so weird I just HAVE to try them.  My curiosity always gets the better of me.


Just hear me out on this one.  Peanut butter and banana are good friends.  Peanut butter and chocolate were made for each other.  Chocolate and banana also get along nicely.  So far, so good.

A while back we introduced peanut butter to basil.  Not long afterwords basil met chocolate.  Since they all seem to like each other, I decided they needed to hang out.  At the same time.  In muffins.  Mini muffins, to be exact.  Oh, did I mention I like to bake weird things?

Weird Recipe Wednesday: Grilled Watermelon Salsa

Weird Recipe Wednesday: Because some recipes are so weird I just HAVE to try them.  My curiosity always gets the better of me.

It wouldn't be summer without bright, juicy watermelon and the charred flavors of grilling.  Watermelon hits the grill in this recipe before finding it's way into a summer salsa.  

Weird Recipe Wednesday: Chocolate Basil Zucchini Muffins

Weird Recipe Wednesday: Because some recipes are so weird I just HAVE to try them.  My curiosity always gets the better of me.

Chocolate and basil?  Yep, you know me, I just had to try it.

Calling these muffins is a bit of a stretch, but they don't have butter, eggs or oil, so they're not quite cupcakes either.  Regardless of what we call them, the point here is the intriguing combination of chocolate and basil.

Fermented Friday: Peanut Sauce Pizza with Beer Chicken, Veggies and Basil

Fermented Friday: recipes featuring yeast, wine, beer or some form of fermentation

I actually had something completely different in the works for today, but I found out the hard way that the spare jar of baking powder was expired.  Of course I used up the last of several other key ingredients at the same time.  After trips to several grocery stores and a few empty shelves, I still didn't have all the ingredients for a second attempt.  With a sore throat and zero energy I decided to save that recipe for another day and go with pizza instead.

Weird Recipe Wednesday: Peanut Butter and Basil Quinoa Salad

Weird Recipe Wednesday: Because some recipes are so weird I just HAVE to try them.  My curiosity always gets the better of me.

I haven't been able to get the idea of peanut butter and basil out of my head since I saw this Peanut Butter and Basil Sandwich.  A million weird ideas are floating around my head. In fact, they're probably too weird to share with you right now.  Instead, I'll introduce you to this flavor combination in a dish that's a little  more normal.  (After it grows on you I'll utilize this duo in an application even I consider weird.)