Garlicky Beets

I ordered garlic through my veggie buying group last week (if you are in the Charlotte, NC area you must check out www.farmersfreshmarket.org) and I received this beautiful, albeit large, bag of garlic!  Needless to say, I have been cooking with garlic just about every day since.  

The beets in this recipe were also part of my loot from last week.  I always roast my beets to prepare them for my recipes.  Roasting beets is very, very easy.  The best part is that you can scrub your beets, trim the beet greens, wrap them in foil and throw them in the oven.  Set a timer and then forget about them.  You can eat them warm with dinner, cold in a salad that day or even enjoy them later in the week.  For this recipe, I roasted beets while roasting eggplants and garlic for my baba ghanoush.  The kitchen smelled great!  I had no intention of doing anything with the beets for a day or so - when they were done roasting, I set them aside until they cooled and then peeled the skins.  I sliced a few beets for dinner and chopped the rest for this garlicky beet side dish to be eaten later in the week.  Refrigerate the roasted beets until you are ready to use them.    

How to Roast Beets: 

1.) Trim the beet greens.  Discard or use in salad.  Scrub the beets under cold water.  Wrap in aluminum foil and place on a cookie sheet to prevent your lovely oven from getting speckled with red beet juice.  

2.) Cook at 400 degrees for 40 minutes.  Turn off the oven.  Let the beets cool.  

3.) Peel the skin from the beets using a small paring knife.  

How to Make Garlicky Beets: 

Garlicky beets are so easy and delicious.  Take cooled roasted beets, chop them and toss with a garlic vinaigrette.  Let sit for at least three hours in the fridge.  I prepared these and then ate them for the next two days - they should last for at least a few days in the fridge - tasting more and more garlicky every day!  

Garlic Vinaigrette: 

2 Tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar

3 Tablespoons Good Olive Oil

3 Cloves garlic, finely diced or minced

1 teaspoon kosher salt or sea salt

  

Roasted Garlic Baba Ghanoush

Baba Ghanoush does not generally achieve the same level of popularity as its close cousin, hummus, but it really is just as good, if not better!  During the summer, when eggplants are plentiful, why not try a new dip?  Baba ghanoush uses basically the same ingredients as hummus - simply replace chick peas with roasted eggplant.

For this recipe, I decided to do a little twist on traditional baba ghanoush and use roasted garlic instead of fresh garlic.  The taste is really deep and rich.  Very few people realize how easy it is to roast garlic!  I cut the top off a bulb of garlic, exposing the cloves, and drizzle a few drops of olive oil over the top.  Wrap the bulb in foil and toss it in the oven at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes.  Let the garlic cool enough to touch it and then you will be able to simply squeeze the garlic right out of the cloves.  Incredible.

Coincidentally, when making baba ghanoush, you also need to roast the eggplant for about 30 minutes at 400 degrees so toss them together on the same baking sheet!  So simple!  To roast the eggplant, I slice it so that I have a stack of 1/2 circles.  I sprinkle one side with kosher salt and place them on a non-stick cookie sheet.  After about 15 minutes at 400 degrees, I turn them over and roast them for another 15 minutes.  When the eggplant has cooled, peel off the skin using your fingers or a fork.

Ingredients: 

1 eggplant, roasted
2 bulbs garlic, roasted
1/8 cup tahini
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
handful chopped parsley (if you have it on hand)

Directions: 

Roast eggplant and garlic.  Let cool.  Put in a food processor.  Add remaining ingredients.  Pulse until smooth.  You might want to add more salt, lemon or parsley to taste.  Enjoy!

Kielbasa and Cabbage

I know that summer might not seem like crockpot weather but we have been spending every afternoon at the pool on these hot days so dragging a pile of tired, wet kids into the house and asking them to wait patiently while I make dinner is a disaster in the making! This recipe cooks on low for only 4 or 5 hours and uses only a few ingredients - a perfect combo!

Here in Charlotte, during the summer I have been ordering veggies from www.farmersfreshmarket.org - I have found that ordering the cornucopia box of veggies provides super fresh (and local) veggies. The selection changes weekly so I am challenged to develop new recipes based on what surprises the cornucopia box holds for me every Friday.

This week I had extra cabbage and I found kielbasa on sale at Harris Teeter. The following recipe is so easy and so delicious - my daughter asked for thirds!

Ingredients

1 lb kielbasa, sliced
1/2 head cabbage, chopped
4 red potatoes, chopped
1 onion, sliced
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 T. Worcestershire sauce
1 T. Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon paprika
1 bay leaf

Put first four ingredients in crockpot. Combine chicken broth with remaining ingredients. Pour broth over ingredients. Stir. Cook on low for four to five hours.  Remove bay leaf.  Enjoy!

This recipe goes well with crusty sourdough bread!

Pickles! Make Your Own...

Continuing my garden-a-plenty theme for the week... we had A LOT of cucumbers that looked perfect for pickling.  They are small, green, bumpy little guys that are absolutely perfect for slicing up.  Truth be told, I have never pickled or canned a thing in my life, but at 36+ weeks pregnant, I was looking for a little adventure.  This seemed to do the trick!

Having recently relocated to Charlotte from the slightly cooler climes of New England (go Sox!) I love the fact that my local grocery store here in NC sells a wide array of canning supplies, taking up a substantial portion of one of the food aisles.  I can't say that I have seen either mason jars or pickling salt lining the shelves at my old Stop and Shop.  Not that I was looking...

Making pickles was not hard.  I promise.  In fact, the hardest part was sterilizing the jars and the lids.  To sterilize the jars, I ran them in the dishwasher.  To sterilize the lids, I threw them in a pot of boiling water for ten minutes.  (Kind of like I used to do when I actually sterilized bottles for my first child...)

The day before I began the pickling process I tossed my cucumbers (about 8 of them) in a bowl of ice water and let it sit in the fridge overnight.  I have read that this helps make them crispier!

The PICKLING PROCESS ...

1. Combine 1/4 to 1/3 cup of pickling salt (I bought a large bag of Ball Pickling and Preserving Salt right at my Harris Teeter grocery store), 3 cups of white vinegar, 2 cups of water, 1/4 c. sugar, 1 Tablespoon mustard seed, 1 Tablespoon dill seed in a non-stick pot.  Bring to a boil.  Stir well until all the sugar and salt is dissolved.  ** This amount of liquid just covered the cucumbers in my four jars - you might want to consider doubling the recipe (but you probably don't need to double the salt) if you have more cukes to pickle.  (My original recipe called for 1/2 cup of pickling salt but that really was a little too salty for my taste!  I recommend cutting it back to 1/4 or 1/3 cup.)  

2. I used four 8 oz. mason jars for my 8 (or so) cucumbers (about 3 to 4 inches long).  Cut the ends off the cucumbers.  Slice the cucumbers (whichever way you prefer) and place them in the jars while your pickling liquid is coming to a boil. I also added sliced onion, garlic, and jalapeno peppers from my garden to some of the jars to add a little zing!  I added about 1/2 teaspoon of mustard seed and dill seed to each jar.

3. Ladle the boiling liquid over the cucumbers until they are covered.  Carefully take the hot lids and rings from the water (hot water, not boiling) and seal the jars.  Place the lid on tightly, hold it down with your fingers and then firmly screw the ring on.  It seemed a little tricky at first, but I eventually got the hang of it.  Let the jars sit until they are at room temperature - then refrigerate.  

I have read that you should let your pickles sit anywhere from one week to three weeks.  They should be eaten within a month or so of opening them.  Enjoy!      

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

After the children came in from their daily "garden check," my kitchen counter was overflowing with squash.  So, in order to gain back some counter space, I set about trying to use as many zucchini as possible for our Fourth of July barbecue today.  After enjoying delicious grilled squash, we all settled back and awaited dessert... chocolate zucchini cake.  Let me warn you, at no point while eating this dessert will anyone say, "Hmm... what is that secret ingredient?  Could it be squash?"  If it weren't for the fact that I shredded the zucchinis myself, I would never believe that this yummy chocolate cake contained that dark green veggie.

My friend Melissa emailed me her mother-in-law's recipe to try but, unfortunately, it was missing an ingredient - sugar.  I googled chocolate zucchini cake, trying to find a recipe that looked vaguely familiar and actually came across A LOT!  Who knew chocolate zucchini cake had such a following?  The following recipe is kind of a compilation of a few versions that looked yummy to me - but my first thanks goes out to Mrs. Vullo for her inspiration!

Ingredients: 

1/2 cup butter (softened)
1/2 cup oil (I used canola)
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
6 ounces yogurt (vanilla or plain)
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder (unsweetened)
2 tablespoons Trader Joe's instant coffee
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups grated or shredded zucchini (use your food processor!)
1 cup chocolate chips (divided)

Directions:

1. Combine softened butter, oil, sugar, and vanilla in your mixer.  Mix well.  Add 2 eggs and yogurt.  Mix again.

2. Combine flour, cocoa powder, instant coffee, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl.

3. Gradually add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture in the bowl.  Continue mixing.

4. After the batter is well mixed, add the shredded zucchini and 1/2 cup of the chocolate chips.  Stir gently.

5. Spread evenly in a greased 9 x 13 baking pan.  Cook at 325 degrees for about 40 minutes.

Glaze:   

This glaze is optional but absolutely delicious (and easy).  Combine 2 cups powdered sugar, 3 tablespoons milk, and 1 teaspoon vanilla.  Blend.



 

Simple Grilled Veggies

Depending on where you live, perhaps your garden is producing tons of veggies right about now.  This morning when I saw about 12 zucchinis on my counter, I knew I needed a plan.  My older daughter immediately requested zucchini bread, but I knew that I would have to come up with something a little more healthy to balance out that request!  Zucchini bread later... for now here is a very simple marinade.

Slice your veggies about 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch thin - we used summer squash, zucchini, tomatoes, and red onion.  Everything but the red onion came from our garden!


Prepare the marinade: 

1/2 cup olive oil
3 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
Lemon juice from about 1/2 of a lemon
2 cloves garlic, chopped
Lemon pepper
Fresh ground pepper
Coarse sea salt
(Any other seasonings you desire...)

Pour the marinade over the veggies.  Cover with plastic wrap and let them sit for about an hour or two (or more).  Turn the veggies over so that both sides are evenly coated.  Cook them on the grill - we grilled some of the pieces directly on the grill and others on a slotted stainless steel tray.  Cook them for about 7 minutes each side - or until they are cooked to your liking.  Enjoy!