Fresh Tomato Sauce

A trip to my aunt's house in the country left me with a bag FULL of fresh from the garden tomatoes! I love getting fresh locally grown produce, especially from my own family. The only downside is that I really don't like raw tomatoes. So I thought what better way to use such a large amount of perfectly ripe tomatoes than to try my hand (for the FIRST time) at a batch of home made sauce. I don't have an Italian grandmother who passed down a secret recipe to me (im Irish after all!) so I totally wung it (past tense of to wing it?) Here is my recipe/method:

~Wash all of your tomatoes, and then remove the little core at the top, and cut a shallow "x" across the bottom. (As a note, I think I had around 4lb of tomatoes if you are wondering about quantity. It was enough to fill (to the brim) my little 4qt dutch oven)
~In a boiling pot of water blanch your tomatoes for a few minutes.
~Transfer the tomatoes to a bowl of ice water (now since you cut the bottoms of the tomatoes the skins will already be ready to fall off, but I still did the ice bath so I didn't burn my fingers!) I did the blanching and cooling in batches because well, that was a lot of tomatoes!

~ Peel off the skins and crush the tomatoes with your hands right into the pot you will be simmering in (again I used a 4qt dutch oven) It WILL be messy! haha I also added some chopped onion and minced garlic to the pot at the start to cook down with the sauce.
~Now starts the waiting game... You want to simmer until it reduces down to a thickness that you like for your sauce. I don't like chunky tomato sauce so I took my immersion blender to the tomato mush to even out the texture and let it simmer for about 3 hours

~Seasoning. I always start with salt and pepper and also added some cayenne pepper, which was really potent so I also added a little vinegar and a small palmfull of raw sugar to back off the heat. Then about a tbsp of italian seasoning to top it off.

And there you have some delicious home made sauce! I really hope that you all enjoy this, and that there aren't some seasoned sauce makers out there looking at my sauce thinking "Oi what is she doing!?" Keep your eyes peeled for some more posts about what to do with this delicious spicy sauce! As always, happy eating.

Summer Veggie Hash

Fallen prey to the "life gets in the way" issue yet again. I suppose that's what happens when you work 6-7 days a week! Ack! I have quite a few recipes to write about... which I am pretty sure is what I said in my last post along with the to-be-unfulfiled promise of more posts soon to come.  So I won't promise that this time ;)

The thing that has been keeping me the most busy is the Renaissance Festival, which I am so happy about! Working a regular M-F type gig is what makes for the slim free time but it is my favorite time of year! However before faire started I had some leftover spinach, broccoli, and potatoes that really needed to get used up so veggie hash it was! It was fantastic. And here is how I did it:

Shred up enough potatoes for the amount of people you are serving
Dice a half an onion and some garlic
Cut up broccoli into bite sized pieces
Shred about a half cup of cheddar cheese (or any other cheese you like)

Heat up a combo of oil and butter in a pan and add the onion and potatoes. Saute until both are tender, about 10 min on medium heat.
Add broccoli and saute until bright green (add earlier if you like your broccoli more done)
Add spinach and allow to wilt for a minute or two
Spread the hash evenly across the pan and sprinkle shredded cheese over top and allow to cook until cheese is melted and the hash begins to crust on the bottom.
Serve with eggs for breakfast, or as a side with dinner! Yum!

Hope you enjoy this slightly healthier/nutritious hash recipe, try it with whatever veggies you have on hand! Happy eating!

Sausage and greens soup

Well, it has been a crazy few weeks! I have been so busy I haven't found the time to post my wonderful cooking adventures. But not to worry, I have still been cooking and that means that there should be a fairly steady stream of posts coming up in the next few days :)

So this recipe is actually from the fantastic and must-own book "Simply In Season". Anyone who likes to buy local and cook fresh natural foods for their family's should own this book. It has a section for each season, and a section for "all season" recipes and I have been wandering through the Spring section lately and this soup was great for a not-so-warm spring day a few weeks back. (Not something I would make in this current north-eastern heat wave!!)

Spring veggies can sometimes be hard to cook with, there don't seem to be a lot of common recipes featuring asparagus, peas, leeks, etc... let alone all the greens! How many salads can one person eat realistically... haha. This book totally solves this problem, so many awesome ideas! And with just a touch of creativity you can branch out with the skills and cooking methods you learn to make even MORE unique dishes! But at any rate... on to this soup, as is my habit, I had the recipe out to guide me.... but made some changes in what was written. I will tell you what I did, if you want the original recipe get over to the book store and get a copy, its worth every penny!

Saute up about a lb of bulk sausage (I used hot chicken italian sausage)
Add in a few large (somewhere between a classic green onion and a leek) green onions diced partway up the green part
Add about 4 cups each broth and water (if you sautee the sausage and onions right there will be plenty of flavor)
Add one diced large potato and simmer until potatoes are tender
Dice up your favorite greens (I used about two cups kale, and one and a half cups spinach) and cook until tender (kale takes longer than other greens, simmer that one first if using!)
Garnish with some Parmesan cheese and garlic bread for dipping!

This makes a pretty big pot of soup so be prepared to have leftovers at work for lunch, or to freeze some to use later! It is very hearty and filling but I definitely recommend garlic bread with just to get some carbs goin' on to make your tummy more satisfied! Please share and subscribe and as always Happy Eating!

Strawberry-Rhubarb Crumb Pie!

What is it about the combination of strawberries and rhubarb that is just so delectable? What's even better is they are both a spring seasonal ingredient! It's like the universe made them for each other! And what better way to serve them than in a warm baked pie topped with buttery sweet crumb topping?

This was pretty much a wing-it recipe, as I had not made the rhubarb sauce recipe I wanted to late last week and I needed to use up my rhubarb. I did use a frozen pie crust because I had one on hand. But definitely make one by hand if you have the time! Here is the recipe as close to what I did as I can make it :)

Filling:
Enough chopped strawberries and rhubarb to fill the pie crust to about 3/4 of the way full
1/3 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar

Crumb topping:
6tbsp butter
1/4 cup each flour, quick oats, brown and regular sugars.

For the filling mix strawberries, rhubarb, sugar and flour together and dump into pie crust

For the topping put all ingredients into a food processor and pulse till combined and crumbly. Sprinkle evenly over the top of the pie.

Bake the whole thing in a 400 degree oven for 25-35 min. Let stand at least 10 min before serving.

It comes out perfectly delicious, I know because I just finished my second slice... And I am pretty sure my fiancé is ready for a third! :) please enjoy and share my blog! Happy eating.

Spinach Pesto!

What is more delicious than a bowl full of fresh pesto over pasta? The spicy bite of the garlic, the saltiness of the Parmesan, just heavenly! But basil can be expensive in the quantities needed for a batch of pesto, and store bought varieties are full of preservatives and some don't even use olive oil!

My solution was to replace the basil with my seasonal ingredient, spinach! Pesto is easy enough to make at home, and spinach is so cheap you can make big batches at a time and freeze the leftover! Spinach is also super healthy for you, and this recipe might be a great way to get picky kids and/or husbands to eat it willingly.

The dish I made today was just pesto over shaped pasta with Italian seasoned tofu. Simple an delicious!

Here is the pesto recipe:
1 lb of spinach (less if using baby spinach)
2-4 large cloves of garlic, peeled
1/3 cup walnuts
1/4 cup Parmesan
Enough extra virgin olive oil to make smooth sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

Toss garlic cloves into your food processor and pulse until they are finely chopped
Add walnuts and Parmesan and pulse until walnuts are also finely chopped
Add a few glugs of olive oil and as much of the spinach as will fit and pulse until well mixed, and repeat adding spinach and olive oil as needed
Season with salt and pepper

A spoonful of pesto mixed in with some shaped noodles and some pasta water really brings it together. I added some seasoned tofu for a protein.

This fresh tasty dish is super fast and easy to whip up and very very filling at the same time! Enjoy if you decide to try it, share and subscribe please! Happy eating.

Sausage, Asparagus, and Rice

Mmmm.. Spring is here and that means asparagus! A visit to my local farmers market yielded a lovely bunch of the green spears, along with some fresh locally made chicken sausage among other treasures.

This dish was very simple, the sausage was just grilled over medium heat. The asparagus was also grilled in foil packets with a small pat of butter, whole garlic cloves, and smoked sea salt.

The rice was made to do double duty for this dish and also to make burritos to freeze for lunch the next few days. Here is the "recipe" I used:

1 1/2 cups rice
1/2 onion diced
1 small tomato diced
Dash of the following to taste: garlic powder, pepper, cumin, cayenne, creole seasoning, salt.
3 cups water
1 bullion cube (chicken or veggie)
2-3 tbsp olive oil

Sauté onion in oil until softened, then add tomato and sauté another 4-5 min.
Add rice and spices and sauté about one min, until fragrant.
Add water and bullion cube and bring to a boil stirring occasionally.
Cover and simmer until liquid is absorbed, about 20 min.

There is a nice very simple dish, especially since you can make the rice in advance because this recipe makes enough to do double duty with another recipe. Speaking of, the rice was *perfect* in the bean burritos I made and froze, perfect for taking to work and heating up whenever I get a chance for lunch!

I hope you enjoyed my first food related post! Please share if you would like and I would love comments and feedback! If you try the recipe out let me know how you liked it. Happy eating!

Welcome to my new blog!

Hello! Welcome to what I hope will be a fun and successful blog experience about simple cooking with seasonal ingredients!

I am very much a food and cooking enthusiast, but not a professional cook. I have a passion for cooking (and eating!) and I am very excited to share that with anyone who wants to read! I hope that people will enjoy what I have to say and will share my blog with people they know! Look for my first food related post soon!

And yep... That silly chick with the rhubarb is me!