Orecchiette with Swiss Chard, Red and Yellow Peppers and Goat Cheese –Finally a new blog post!!!

So I really don’t want to even look and see when the last time I posted a recipe was. I am very, very ashamed. I really have no excuse besides being totally rushed off of my feet all the time and totally uninspired come dinner time. Usually it’s just a meal thrown together and always an old stand by. Something tried and true (and already blogged more than likely).
I happened to see this recipe though the other day and printed it out immediately. So glad I did! It is really a delicious and simple meal.

Orecchiette with Swiss Chard, Red and Yellow Peppers and Goat Cheese – From The New York Times
When making this easy pasta, be sure to cut the sweet bell peppers into very small dice; that way, they’ll lodge in the hollows of the orecchiette, along with the chard and goat cheese.
Ingredients:
3/4 pound Swiss chard (1 bunch), stemmed and washed in two changes of water
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 red/yellow bell peppers , cut in small dice
Pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)
1 to 2 garlic cloves (to taste), minced
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 teaspoon chopped fresh marjoram (I had just thrown my dry marjoram out so I used 1 teaspoon dried Italian Seasoning)
3/4 pound orecchiette
2 ounces goat cheese, crumbled (1/2 cup)
Directions:
1. Begin heating a large pot of water while you stem and wash the chard. Fill a bowl with ice water. When the water in the pot comes to a boil, salt generously and add the chard. Blanch the chard leaves for one to two minutes until tender. Using a skimmer or a slotted spoon, transfer the chard to a bowl of ice water, then drain and squeeze out excess water. Chop medium-fine. Keep the pot of water at a simmer.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over medium heat in a large, heavy skillet, and add the bell peppers and the red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring often, until tender, five to eight minutes. Add the garlic and salt to taste, and stir for half a minute. Then stir in the chopped chard and the marjoram. Stir together for a few seconds, then turn the heat to very low.
3. Bring the water in the pasta pot back to a boil, and add the orecchiette. Cook al dente, following the timing instructions on the package. Add about 1/2 cup of the pasta water to the pan with the chard and peppers. Stir in the goat cheese. Drain the pasta, transfer to the pan and toss with the chard, pepper and goat cheese mixture. Serve hot.
Yield: Serves four.
***Loved this pasta. The only thing I will do differently next time is to skip the blanching of the swiss chard. I think it will just be fine steamed in with the peppers and garlic. Also won’t loose all the nutrients in the pasta water.

My new found love of brussel sprouts...

Oven Roasted Brussel Sprouts

How weird is it that something you thought you have hated for your whole life is becomming one of you favorite things ever. I'm talking about brussel sprouts. Now maybe I have never had fresh ones before or maybe they were just over cooked or under seasoned? Well whatever the reason it's not how it is now. I mean, I LOVE these things!

Balsamic Roasted Brussel Sprouts (adapted from Kalyn's Kitchen)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

Ingredients:

1 pound fresh brussel sprouts, quartered and trimmed
1/2 onion, chopped
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp extra virgin Olive Oil
Fresh grated Parmesan cheese
about a handful of pine nuts (lightly toasted in a hot skillet)

Directions:

• Toss the brussel sprouts and onion with the olive oil and the balsamic.
• Place on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Cook for about 20 minutes, tossing midway through, or until they are cooked through and starting to turn a nice golden brown.
• Remove from oven and place in a bowl. Top with pine nuts and Parmesan cheese and serve immediately.

Everyone liked these. My oldest one even asked for seconds. You can't beat that!!!

Tomato, Onion and Cucumber Salad

Honest...there are cucumbers on the bottom!!!

I seem to always have fruit and vegetables that are right on the edge of going bad that need to be used up right away! Yesterday it was bunch of tomatoes and a cucumber. Unfortunately the cucumber had lost virtually all of it's flavor but I was still able to use it in the salad that I was going to make.

Very simple salad. Tomatoes, cucumber and red onion. Sliced and placed in a large flat container. I used a glass 8X8 cake pan.

Salad Dressing:

1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/8 cup white vinegar
5 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 tsp fresh basil, chopped
1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/8 cup fresh parsley, chopped

Mix all the ingredients together and pour over the sliced of tomato, onion and cucumber. Place in fridge for an hour or so before serving. Stirring frequently to make sure the flavors are well blended.

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Ugh...and a pasta dish!

First the Ugh part. I have been sick. I have been sick for about 2 weeks but only decided on Tuesday to go and see the Doctor. All of my holistic tricks had failed me and I needed some real stuff now. I have Strep throat. Why the hell I keep getting this I don't know but thank goodness my children never get it. Needless to say I have felt like crap. Today is the first day that I can say I am actually feeling good after several days on the couch watching Maggie and the Ferocious Beast and Hannah Montana!

Quick and easy pasta dish!

Anyway now onto the pasta dish. This is a recipe that I yanked out of the Food & Wine magazine when I traveling up to Toronto a couple of weeks ago. I had intended to make it when I was up there but we just ran out days. I made this the other night and was it ever good! It may be a little spicy from the red pepper flakes in it so if this is for children you might want to add less. My youngest one did fine with it but she likes spicy stuff - 5 years old, go figure???

Fettuccine with Tomatoes and Crispy Capers - (Food & Wine)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup small capers, drained and patted dry
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 4 oil-packed anchovies, chopped
• 2 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 2 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto, cut into 1-inch-wide ribbons
• 2 tomatoes, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1 tablespoon thinly sliced basil
• 1 pound fettuccine
• Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, for serving

Directions

1. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil. In a small bowl, toss the capers with the cornstarch and transfer to a sieve; shake off the excess cornstarch. Add the coated capers to the oil and fry over high heat, tilting and gently shaking the pan, until the capers are crispy and golden, about 3 minutes. Drain the capers, reserving 2 tablespoons of the oil in the skillet. Spread the capers on a paper towel–lined plate.
2. Add the anchovies and garlic to the skillet and cook over high heat, stirring, until the garlic is golden and the anchovies dissolve, about 3 minutes. Add the prosciutto, separating the ribbons, and cook until lightly browned, about 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and crushed red pepper and cook just until the tomatoes begin to break down, about 3 minutes. Stir in the basil.
3. Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the pasta until al dente. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking water. Return the pasta to the pot along with the water and pour the sauce on top. Toss over high heat just until the sauce is thickened, about 2 minutes. Serve the pasta in bowls, garnished with the crispy capers. Pass the grated cheese at the table.

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

A little bit of everything!

Nothing like lounging by the pool and watching your kids and dog swim for a whole day!!

Yesterday was just a really nice day. Usually we have a huge Memorial Day BBQ but this year we decided that T. needed a break. I don't think that I have mentioned this but a couple of weeks ago T. was diagnosed with Epstein-Barr Virus which is just horrible. It actually stays with you for up to 1 1/2 years. He doesn't always feel bad but when he does all he wants to do is sleep and I just couldn't risk him getting too run down by having a big party here! We made the most of it anyway and it was really nice just hanging out with the family. We are all usually running in so many directions that we very rarely take the time we need together just hanging out.

T. made margaritas using fresh key lime, lemon and orange juice

See how nicely he crushed to ice...do you think maybe he's done this before?

Our theme this weekend was zucchini and how many we could use up before I had to start freezing them. One thing about zucchini is a little goes a long way. I barely made a dent in the box and I made Zucchini Double Chocolate Cake and Grilled Zucchini Gratin. Needless to say I have started freezing them already.

See the chunks of zucchini? This was a very light and moist cake. Even if I didn't have a case of zucchini I would love to make this again!

Zucchini Double Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups AP flour
1 1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 medium zucchini, shredded (about 2 cups)
1 cup Ghirardelli semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

• Grease and flour a 13 X 9 baking pan.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Add the oil, milk, butter and vanilla. Beat on low speed until combined.
  
• Add the eggs and zucchini and beat on medium high speed for 2 minutes
• Spread the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 35 minutes and cake tester comes out clean.
• Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack. When cool sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with fresh whipped cream.

Sticking closely with the theme...

Grilled Zucchini Gratin

I didn't follow a recipe for this but here goes...I sliced enough zucchini, lengthwise, to fill a 13 X 9 casserole dish with 2 layers. Approximately 6. I seasoned them and had T. grill them. I assembled them in the pan with one layer of zucchini which I sprinkled with seasoned bread crumbs. I topped that layer with some sliced tomatoes. I sprinkled all of this with goat cheese and topped it with mozzarella. For the final layer I covered all that with some more zucchini and mozzarella cheese and cooked for about 40 minutes or until hot and bubbling.

Save these recipes just in case you somehow end up with a case of zucchini or those plants that you plant now are huge producers!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Freezing Peppers

Beautiful organic green peppers!

On Saturday before T. and I went away I had him make a pit stop for me to a new Farmer's Market that I had just heard about at Cape Harbour. I am really getting tired of the same old thing that I see at all of the markets around here right now, produce from anywhere but here. Asparagus from Peru, potatoes from Argentina, tomatoes from who knows where. I guess you get my point.

But this one was different!!! I was able to talk to the man who owned the stand and he had a ton of organic produce. We started talking and I was able to find out that he has a friend who has a farm in Labelle, which is north of here, and another friend who has an organic farm in Georgia that he meets up with weekly to get his produce. This was really great info for me seeing as I have been struggling trying to get some fresh produce. Granted this isn't the perfect situation as it really screws up the "local factor" but you know what...sometimes you just have got to bite the big one and look out for yourself.

Here is where it gets really cool. It was getting late and the market closed at 1 so he asked me what I was really looking for. I told him the herbs and stuff that I wanted and then I mentioned that I would like to get a bunch of bulk things that I can freeze for summer use. Get this...he sold be a WHOLE FRICKIN' CASE OF ORGANIC BELL PEPPERS FOR $18.00!!!!

That's a ton of peppers huh?

So last night T. and I cleaned them all up and cut them in half and ripped out the membrane and the seeds and plopped them in the freezer. Peppers freeze great and we can use them a million different ways. So be prepared for many recipes with pepper as a main ingredient!!!

Ignore my rusted out pans. These are only used for freezing things and on top of that EVERYTHING rusts in Florida!!!
These trays get places in my chest freezer and then bagged in freezer bags all ready to be used!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Yep - finally another recipe!

Doesn't that look fresh and yummy?

The last couple of days have just been crazy. My youngest daughter is training for a skating competition so it means a few extra visits to the skating rink and then with just a bunch of busy days I haven't really been cooking but just throwing meals together. Granted they have been very healthy meals but thrown together all the same so I haven't been taking any pictures or trying any new recipes.

Yesterday I was determined to get back on track. I went to the Ft Myers Farmer's Market. It is a "green market" but not organic. This means that there are no crafts and stuff. It only sells what has been grown. I so miss Worden Farm Farmer's Market but enough of my whining! I was able to get some things that I had needed - local oranges, mangoes, lettuce, shallots and information. So I guess I need to at least support the local farmers at this market even though most of the stuff was imported. They need the money to plant in the fall and we all have to make a living somehow!

A couple of days ago though Robin at Caviar and Codfish (one of my favorite blogs) posted a recipe that I knew I had to try. Citrus Sunflower Green Bean Salad. It was using green beans and blood oranges. I had yellow beans and just regular oranges but the flavor was incredible. The only thing different I would say was that mine looked a bit bland compared to the vibrant colors of Robin's!

Segmenting the oranges for the bean salad. This is the easiest way to remove all the pith and skin. Once you have them skinned you just cut along side the membrane to remove the segments!

Citrus Sunflower Green Bean Salad

serves 6-8//adapted from Techniques of Healthy Cooking

For the salad:

• 1 1/2 pounds green beans, washed and trimmed
• 3 blood oranges, cut into segments *You need 4 oranges total in this recipe
• 1 sweet white onion, halved and thinly sliced
• 4 ounces salted and roasted sunflower seeds
• salt and pepper

For the vinaigrette:

• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1/2 cup vegetable stock
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp sherry vinegar
• *1 blood orange, juiced
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 2 shallot cloves, minced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• salt and pepper

Cook beans in boiling water for a few minutes, until barely tender. Drain and run under cold water to cool.

Combine beans, blood orange segments, onions, sunflower seeds in a large bowl. Season a little with salt and pepper.

To make the vinaigrette, combine cornstarch with 1 teaspoon water and mix to make a “slurry.” Set aside. Bring stock to a boil in a small saucepan. Add the slurry and stir until the stock thickens, about 2 minutes. Cool to room temperature. Combine with the remaining ingredients and whisk well.

Pour vinaigrette over the bean mixture. Toss and serve. Can be made a day ahead of time. The leftover salad will last in the fridge for a few days.

I served this with a nice fresh salad with some home made dressing and blue cheese crumbles and a roasted chicken. Another foodie friend Heather at Gild the Voodoolily, had just roasted a chicken the night before and I thought I would use some of her tips. I always butter and garlic the skin but she suggested putting the butter and the garlic under the skin so I did this and coated the skin with olive oil, salt and poultry seasoning. I was soooo good and went perfectly with the salads!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Farmer's Market and dinner last week!

Red Leaf Lettuce, tomatoes, onion, yellow beans, zucchini, scallions, radishes, cilantro, cucumbers, tomatillo's, cucumbers and a huge honkin' eggplant!!!

My week is all messed up now. I am no longer going to the Wednesday Farmer's Market but am now going to a Thursday one that is just in downtown Fort Myers. The location is much closer and the produce is good but not great like the other one...I can't wait until the fall. See everything is completely opposite here! In our hot, hot, hot summers nothing can grow so all of the Farmer's Market close up and we don't see them until the fall again! I am not even finding any of the bitter greens that I was making soup with. I guess it is salad time! I am really loving the nice, tender leaves of the red leaf lettuce. We planted some in a planter box so we'll see if this box planting is successful!

On Sunday T. decided to cook dinner for us. This used to happen all of the time but now I am doing all of the cooking so it was kind of nice just to chill with my wine while my meal was being cooked for me!


He had decided to make Spinach and Cheese Ravioli's (from Costco - picturing me hanging my head in shame!) with a creamy pesto sauce. Yummmm. How could I argue that!

He used up the last of the frozen basil pesto that I had made and added heavy cream and at the end added fresh tomatoes. He topped it with purple and green basil (from our planter boxes) and fresh Parmesan. The raviolis were incredible. If you have a Costco near you need to look for these! Normally I never use processed foods but these were made with organic spinach, eggs and semolina flour. As for the rest of the ingredients I could pronounce and identify everything listed!

This made for a nice quick no mess meal! Great for a Sunday!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

What to post, what to post?

Soft Tacos with Pico de Gallo and Oven Roasted Tomatillo Salsa Verde

I have been so busy lately - yup all my own doing - trying to get all of the things that I wanted to do for the end of the month challenges. For the Daring Bakers I made Dorie Greenspan’s Party Cake and for the Royal Foodie Joust I made Fresh Coconut Fried Shrimp. Aside from that we still ate some really great meals over the weekend and I just couldn't decide what to post. Then I downloaded all of the pictures and I knew I had a winner!

As most of you know I am sadly on the hunt for a new Farmer's Market to go to. The Worden Farm Farmer's Market is done for the year and won't be back again until November???!!! On Saturday I thought I had found my replacement but as we pulled up I saw the great big huge tractor trailer unloading boxes of produce. There were several things there that they did grow themselves and it is a small family run business but I really do want something that is local if not organic. We did buy some tomatoes, jalapeño peppers, tomatillos, and some limes...Can you guess what we were having for dinner???

We made tacos with fresh Pico de Gallo and Oven Roasted Tomatillo Salsa Verde. I love fresh tasting food and this certainly fit the bill! The taco meat was pretty normal. Ground beef with taco seasoning. But the toppings are what made it incredible!


Pico de Gallo

1 bunch of cilantro (cleaned, stems removed and rough chopped)
2 tomatoes (seeded and diced)
2 jalapeños (seeds and membrane removed, finely chopped)
1 large onion (chopped)
juice of 1 lime
1 Tbsp garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and allow to sit for about 30 minutes before serving.

Oven Roasted Tomatillo Salsa Verde

1 quart basket of tomatillos
1/2 cup onion (chopped)
1 bunch of cilantro (cleaned and picked)
juice from 1 lime
1/4 tsp sugar
2 jalapeños (seeds and membrane removed and chopped)
salt to taste

• Remove the papery husk from the tomatillos and rinse well. Cut each one in half and place cut side down on a foil lined baking sheet. Broil for about 5-7 minutes or until the skin is lightly blackened.
• Place the blackened tomatillos, lime juice, onions, cilantro, jalapeños, and sugar in a food processor or blender and pulse until all ingredients are finely chopped and mixed. Season with the salt to taste.
• Allow to cool in the fridge before serving.

These fresh ingredients made for a great, fresh tasting dinner. Even the girls liked this one (with lots of water!)

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Just Throw it All Together!

Green Beans, Spinach, Garlic and Shitake Mushrooms

I was in a rush to get dinner out one night last week. I was going to make green beans, spinach and shitake mushrooms. Now not altogether but sauteed nicely but seperately. I realized as I was chopping and cleaning (cleaning takes a while I am finding with organic veggies) that I had no meat to make this a meal???!!! We eat a limited amount of meat anyway but the girls did like a little something on their plates. Well that wasn't going to happen tonight so I rummaged around in my pantry to come up with something. We usually just throw pasta at them but they are starting to get a little burnt out. So while searching the pantry I found a box of wild rice. Score! Now I had dinner. I put the rice on (1 hr cooking time so plan ahead). Finished up the veggies and chopped up some garlic, and started to pull down the pans. No way was I going to dirty that many pans! Into one pot they all went! What a nice easy meal and only 2 pots to clean!!!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Fresh boat shrimp and a fresh salad!

Shrimp grilled on a skewer with a nice fresh salad!

Dinner here is still sort of shaky. My oldest daughter is still home recovering from her hive episode. There are no new ones coming out but the ones that she had that had opened are still opening and I am so afraid of her getting an infection in it that I would rather keep her home with me. Needless to say my days are kind of screwy! T. has also been sick with some crazy virus that we thought was pneumonia! He did go to the Doctor yesterday and he said that he would only feel like crap for another 3 weeks of so???!!! Wooo hooo...boy sometimes life is fun???

Anyway last night I was not letting anyone get in the way of my dinner. I made it all ahead of time and all T. had to do while I was at Karate was to cook the shrimp (fresh shrimp that I have been getting from the farmer's market. The shrimp come directly off of the boat that the guys have been out in all night! It doesn't get much fresher than that!) on the grill. All I did with the cleaned shrimp was to skewer them and add salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, and a little coating of oil so they didn't stick to the grill.

For the salad I made a vinaigrette dressing using some of the fresh basil and Greek oregano that we have growing in boxes. I really just went by taste but I used red wine vinegar (start with about 1/3 cup and taste to see if it has enough vinegar for your taste), regular vinegar, oil (use about 1/2 cup), 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp dry mustard and fresh herbs. I let this sit at room temperature until dinner so all the flavors could blend together. I also added a can of garbanzo beans to the salad. They add a little bit more to a nice light meal!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Quick dinner on a crazy night...

***(Ignore the funny type and boxes - blogger seems to have a mind of it's own today!!!)

My meals are starting to develop a bit of a pattern I am finding. I can never remember what I had planned to make so I end up winging it at the last minute. Thank goodness. Because some of the things I have been turning out have been pretty good! It guess it doesn't hurt when you have a fridge full of fresh produce that needs to be used up before it goes bad????

Last night was another of those nights. I had bought some poblano peppers so that I could make "Arroz Verde con Poblanos" from Ramblings of a Frantic Cook. I also knew that I wanted to cook up the fresh boat shrimp that I had bought the other day at the market and roast some of the zucchini and summer squash. How could I pull this altogether so I didn't have such a mishmashed meal????
Arroz Verde con Poblanos

3 Poblano peppers (seeded and membrane removed)
2 cups of warm chicken stock
bunch of cilantro
1 cup rice
1 onion (chopped)
2 Tbs olive oil
salt and pepper


In a blender mix the peppers, chicken stock and cilantro. In a small pan cook the onion in the olive oil. When the onion is cooked add the chicken stock, pepper and cilantro and heat to a boil. Add the rice. Allow to simmer covered for 20-25 minutes. (Francie has some great pictures on her blog so go check them out!)

My Favorite Pasta Dish!

Linguine with tomatoes, basil and roasted garlic!

I know, I know...I just posted this last week but for me a recipe is sometimes like getting a simple song stuck in my head. I crave it and the flavors and this is one recipe that I absolutely love the way that that the flavors and the aromas all come together in a perfect summery blast! I know where most of you are summer is still a ways off and please don't try this with crappy tomatoes. It is truly disappointing then...exercise patience. It is so worth it!

Another reason though that I wanted to try this recipe is that I have been getting some great fresh garlic from my local U-Pick. It is not dry and papery on the outside but soft. Almost like an onion. I was very curious to see how it would roast up...Wonderfully I now know!!!

I also got my hands on some beautiful red scallions that I thought would go very nice with this pasta.

Archer Farms ( Target exclusive) has some really great pastas and spices. If you haven't checked out a Super Target give it a try. I don't generally do too much grocery shopping but I was out of oil and had to pick some things up anyway so I wandered over to the grocery part of the store. Man, was I ever blown away by what they had!!! The herbs and spices were incredible they had just about everything that you can imagine. Asian, Indian, Italian and all of the Spanish spices and herbs all together in one place!!! Huge array of organic as well as regular ones and at decent prices to boot! As I wandered deeper in I hit the pasta aisle. Incredible. I bought one bag and will be going back for more. This tastes every bit as good as the Italian pastsa that I get from my local Italian market!!! Next time you need something from Target do yourself a favor and go the estra distance to a Super Target. Well worth the trip!

Pasta With Fresh Tomato and Basil

1 head of garlic and 2 Tbsp olive oil
3 ripe plum tomatoes (I just use whatever is tasting good right them)
1/3 C fresh basil (chopped)
1 Tbsp capers
1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
1 box of long thin pasta (angel hair, linguine, spaghetti)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

• Peel of most of the paper from around the garlic head. Slice off the pointy top of the garlic. This should expose all of the cloves a bit. Place in an oven proof pan (I use a pie plate). Top with 2 Tbsp of olive oil and coarse salt. Cover with aluminum foil and bake in the oven for about 45 minutes. Allow to cool then remove the cloves and mash with a fork.
• Dice the tomatoes (if the have a ton of seeds squeeze them out).
• Add the garlic, basil, capers, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
• Let stand for at least 20 minutes.
• Cook pasta.
• Mix sauce with pasta and serve warm or at room temperature. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Update on the lizard - The freaking lizard from yesterday haunted me all yesterday and today. I live in a 2000+ SF home. How can he be everywhere??? Anyway the last time I saw him in the office he was looking a little pale and not moving quite as fast. So I was able to grab him and put him outside. Now we are both sooooo much happier!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Strawberry Walnut Bread

Strawberry Walnut Bread

Alright you guys all know by now that I am on a huge, life altering journey into the world of seasonal, local and freshly grown produce. So it would just be natural for me to compete in a challenge based around using goods that were available on a seasonal basis! Except I have almost run out of time. This is another challenge that I am getting in just under the wire!!!

This event is hosted by Ben from What's Cooking? The requirements are that you have to cook something that is in season in the area of the world that you are from. Well, as luck would have it, on Wednesday I was at our local U-Pick and they happened to be running a special on strawberries. For each quart that I bought I got a pint free! How could I refuse that...but what would I do with the extra strawberries?

When in doubt make bread!!!


I made Strawberry Walnut Bread out of my bounty! Was it ever good. I can't wait until next Wednesday to see if I have extra strawberries again!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Farmer's Market Day...Yeah!

Strawberries, Asian spinach, tomatoes, radicchio, lettuce, radishes, summer squash, zucchini, patty pan, red chard, onions, green beens, basil, garlic, and zucchini blossoms!

It is Wednesday and true to my routine I went to the Worden Farm Farmer's Market. I look forward to this all week. I am able to go and get a whole pile of vegetables that are organic, in season, and grown locally for a very reasonable price. All of the food that you see about has cost me $39. This is food that will feed my family for a whole week! Yes I supplement it with other things like shrimp and chicken but the majority of our food is bought at the market. Pretty sweet deal huh?

Every week I buy one thing that I have never used before. This week it is the zucchini blossoms. They look so beautiful but I have never tasted them before so this should be fun! Last week it was the fennel which we cooked up last night.

They looks so nice...now to figure out what to do with them!

Coconut stolen from my neighbors yard in preparation for this months Royal Foodie Joust!

Off to figure some stuff out for dinner!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Creamed Leeks with smoked Gouda - As promised!

Do you ever get the feeling that your life is just going way too fast? I really need it to slow down so I am going to spend the day searching for the slow down button (yeah in all of my spare time!). I have my oldest daughter home with me today. She seems to be really tired and says she is not feeling well. I really don't want a repeat of the last time she said that and I sent her to school anyway! I'm sure they don't want that either!!! So she is going to have to tag along with me all day!

I have to drop my youngest one off at the new school that she started yesterday (we don't mess around here-things happen fast!), run to the dr's office and pick up the form that I dropped off yesterday to allow her new school to inject her with an Epipen is she starts to swell all up from an ant bite (I guess I should have considered this earlier???), drop that and her Benadryl (for the same thing) off at her school and then I have to go to my girlfriends house and help get her packed up and moved, then come home and make dinner so that when we go ice skating tonight T. can come home and just cook all of the prepped food! God, just typing it all has exhausted me!

Anyway onto the Creamed Leeks with Smoked Gouda!

This is one of T.'s favorite things. It is one of the reasons that he loves Truluck's so much. It is on their regular menu! I had gotten some fresh leeks last week at the Farmer's Market and he had just been dying for me to make this. Click for recipe!

Smoked Gouda, Cheddar, jalapeño, garlic and shallots

Cooking the leeks in butter

Stirring in the cheeses and the cream and milk

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Farmer's Market Day!

Romanesco, fennel, radicchio, golden beets, purple kohlrabi, celery, red swiss chard, baby Asian spinach, shitake mushrooms

I am so going to miss the Worden Farm Farmer's Market when the season ends here but at least I have it nice and fresh right now!

Waiting for the Eggplant to be served!

It has been a couple of really busy crazy days here. Yesterday we had company come. T.'s Aunt and Uncle were visiting Florida for their vacation and were able to squeeze in a day to come and visit with us. This was so nice because as the girls have gotten older and our lives busier we have not spent our vacations visiting the families like we should. This gave us a wonderful chance to reconnect with some of our favorite people!!!

We served garlic bread, salad, and T. now famous Eggplant Parm! You can believe everyone left full and happy!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Sunday was Soup Day...

Just about every Sunday morning I put a put of water on the stove and throw in all of the onion tops from the week, garlic remains, an onion, a carrot and anything that will make a nice rich stock. If I have roasted a chicken during the week the bones go into the stock to make chicken stock. This week though all I had was vegetable. So I threw all of my stuff in the pot and let it simmer away. I had found a recipe last week that I wanted to try. It was from Heidi's 101 Cook books. Now I am an omnivore (I was corrected by my very sweet oldest daughter last week that I am not a carnivore???? yeah she's only 7 cute huh?) but I love vegetarian recipes. I find that I can usually alter it to include what I want to have it. Most of Heidi's recipes are like that. You may remember the split pea soup of hers that I made of couple of weeks ago? I used chicken stock for it and it was incredible. Now she had a recipe for Chickpea Soup. I was very intrigued by the recipe. It had chickpeas, bulgur, cauliflower, and swiss chard. All things that I love and had on hand!

For this recipe I made my own stock but I used chicken stock as my base instead of water so really I was just enriching it. When all the veggies that I used had cooked down enough I simply removed them and threw them out. Then I went ahead and followed the recipe. I cooked mine a bit longer to get the bulgur softer so the girls didn't complain about it and I used romanesco instead of cauliflower. I also wanted mine a bit soupier so I added some more liquid near the end.

We loved this soup and I can't wait to try it again!


Heidi's Chickpea Hot Pot Recipe

Leftovers are going to thicken up ovenight - thin with a bit of water/stock while reheating, and adjust for seasoning again. You can find bulgur in the bins at most natural food stores and Whole Foods Markets.

1 large yellow onion, chopped
a splash of olive oil
a couple pinches of salt
2/3 cup uncooked bulgur
1 14-ounce can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
4 1/2 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup orange juice
1 1/2 cup cauliflower, trimmed into small trees
2 cup kale or chard, destemmed and cut into thin ribbons

olive oil for finishing drizzle
red onion, chopped for garnish

In a large pot over medium-high heat saute the onion in the olive oil along with the salt - for a minute or until the onion begins to soften a bit. Stir in the bulgur. Stir in the chickpeas and the stock. Bring the ingredients to a simmer. Cook for another few minutes, it should start to thicken. Taste to see if the bulgur is cooked through, if so add the orange juice. If not, simmer for a couple more minutes before adding the juice. Stir in the cauliflower and the kale as well - simmer another few minutes, until the cauliflower is just tender. If the stew is on the thick side, thin with a bit more water or stock. Taste, and add salt if necessary.

Serve garnished with a drizzle of olive oil and red onions.

You don't have to be a vegetarian to enjoy a great vegetarian recipe!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Arugula Pesto - who knew?

All the ingredients needed!

Who would have thought that when you Google Arugula Pesto you will come up with 51,800 items that relate to it. All I wanted to know is are the properties of it similar to basil???!!! I think maybe I have mention before that I don't really pay very well attention to things and if there are too many directions in a recipe there is no way that I am going to get through it!!! Just me I guess. I am sure it all stems from the concentration issues but I hate to do things that are too complicated. Cooking should be simple if you have wonderful, fresh ingredients to work with and I did! While reading a couple of recipes for Arugula Pesto what I found is that it is definately more bitter than Basil Pesto so I needed to counteract that with something. Some of the people suggested walnuts??? instead of pine nuts??? I decided that I was just going to go by taste so this is what I ended up with!

It is wonderful, fresh tasting with a hint of bitterness that will go so well with pasta and on sandwiches. I have been freezing my pesto flat in a Ziploc freezer bag.

Nice bright green arugula pesto

Dakota wondering what in the H*** I am doing?

Arugula Pesto

2 cups of fresh arugula
1/2 cup of freshly grated parmessan
1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup of toasted pine nuts (i just lightly toasted them in a dry pan)
6 garlic cloves (you can use less but I love garlic)
2 pinches of sea salt

Add arugula, Parmesan, toasted pine nuts, garlic,sea salt to the bowl of your food processor. Chop until well chopped and mixed. Add the Olive Oil slowly to the mixture. There you have it it Arugula Pesto!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

What is this????

What is this? At the Farmer's Market they told be it was cauliflower and I would hate to use it in something that I wanted cauliflower in when it was broccoli????

Looks like broccoli to me????

When I went to Worden Farm Farmer Market yesterday I bought a ton of stuff but every week I try to buy one thing that I have never cooked with before and will have to challenge myself and family (by eating it). This week I bought Leeks. I don't think that I have ever even tasted a leek but T. was really excited and told me that I need to make creamed leeks with smoked Gouda. So I bought everything that I need to do this so now I just have to find a minute to do it!

I also bought this purple cauliflower. Does it look like cauliflower to you? It looks like broccoli, acts like broccoli and strangely enough, it even tastes like broccoli...but they told me it was cauliflower!!! Any ideas?

Yogurt

Blackberries cooking down for the blackberry yogurt!

Boiling the milk for the yogurt!

I started another batch of yogurt today. The bad thing about this is that it takes about 11 to 12 hours to incubate the yogurt so I am finding that I have to either make it first thing in the morning or late at night for it to be done at a good time for me. This time I made 2 jars plain (my oldest daughter keeps telling me that she likes it plain) and the rest I made blackberry (yummmm!). They should be done around 11 so that isn't too bad and the girls will have fresh yogurt for breakfast in the morning! I need to figure out how to make granola so they can have some of that to mix in!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com