Updates, Updates, Updates!

Phew. It's been a busy couple of months and it's been a while since I've had the time to sit down and write. I'm still keeping up with environmentally friendly changes in my life (still letting it mellow!). I'm still keeping up with the indoor garden and harvesting the last of the peppers from my outdoor plants (which have produced amazingly throughout the summer!). The biggest bit of news, however, is that I'm beginning culinary school! I can't even really put into words how excited I am about it. I love to cook (and eat) and I can't wait to learn all about it. Since I'm about to be busy with school I decided to post this quick update. I probably won't be writing as often as I previously had.  With that I'll leave you with this quote that pretty much sums up the way that I feel about food...

"When you acknowledge, as you must, that there is no such thing as perfect food, only the idea of it, then the real purpose of striving toward perfection becomes clear: to make people happy, that is what cooking is all about." -Thomas Keller

Freezing Your Herbs

My chocolate mint is starting to take over the pot that it's growing in so I decided to cut some off, but I didn't have an immediate use for it. I recall reading in a gardening book that herbs can be frozen and stored for a few months. Throwing the herbs into a bag and tossing it into the freezer will result in a clump of frozen mint. To prevent the leaves from freezing together, first place them on a baking sheet. Then once they're frozen they can be put into a bag and stored in the freezer until needed.

Rhubarb and Strawberry Dessert

This recipe always makes me think of summer. As far back as I can remember my dad has made this rhubarb dessert during the summer from the rhubarb plant that grows in my parent's backyard. In recent years he added strawberries to the mix to add more sweetness as rhubarb is pretty tart. This year my dad shared some of the rhubarb harvest with me so I got to make it on my own for the first time. Just a side note about rhubarb, the leaves are NOT edible. Only the stalks can be eaten and the stalk looks similar to celery, except it will be red when ripe. This can be eaten hot or cold (I prefer it cold) or even spread over some sponge cake.

Harvested Mini Bell Peppers & Stuffed Mini Bell Pepper Recipe

Last I wrote the mini bell peppers were beginning to turn yellow and in anticipation of a harvest I had discovered a recipe for stuffed mini bell peppers. I was able to harvest some peppers and try out the recipe and now I'd like to share! I found the recipe at this blog. It's delicious! First of all I love all of the ingredients. It could even be made without the bacon for a vegetarian version and would be just as tasty. The feta gives it a nice saltiness so I don't think there is any culinary reason for the bacon in there. In other words, it's just bacon for the sake of bacon! But most people don't mind that at all.

Harvested Serrano Chili Peppers and Mini Bell Pepper Update

I'm just popping in here to write a quick update on two of my plants. My serrano chili pepper plant had a nice amount of full grown peppers ready to be harvested so I picked some yesterday. I'm so excited to make some salsa with them! It's still flowering and producing peppers, but I'm not sure how long that will continue. I also still have the two outdoor serrano chili pepper plants (which are in my parent's backyard) that have their first peppers appearing. My two outdoor mini bell pepper plants are also starting to form little peppers. The indoor mini bell pepper plant is doing fantastic! The two biggest peppers are starting to turn yellow which means that they are just about ready to be harvested. 

Grilled Sausage and Onion Panini

Let me start by saying that I just made this recipe today and I loved it so much that I had to blog about it right away! It's from my Fine Cooking magazine collection, with a few changes. I used spinach instead of arugula and I broiled the sausage instead of grilling it. The reason for broiling the sausage was simply a time saving decision. I don't have a grill (I hate saying that) so I used my grill pan which has limited space. I had to grill the bread in two batches and then grill the onions. In order to save time I had the sausage broiling in the oven in the meantime. This recipe serves 4.

Grilled Chicken and Potatoes with Tomato and Cucumber Salad

It's time for another Fine Cooking recipe! This one is super simple and it will really impress your friends. Especially if you're able to get some nice grill marks on the chicken! I don't have an outdoor grill, because I don't have a backyard, but this recipe can also be cooked using a grill pan on a stove. When using a grill pan the chicken and the potatoes will most likely have to be cooked separately (unless the grill pan is big enough). Everything is tossed in a lemon vinaigrette, which adds a nice brightness. This recipe serves 4.

The Indoor Garden Expands to The Outdoors

The last I updated about the indoor garden everything was moving along nicely. Since then, I've moved some things outdoors. The tomato plant was outgrowing the space that I had for it in my front window, I had some pepper plants transplanted into my parent's backyard and I also planted cucumber seeds in my parent's backyard. It's been an interesting experience to see the plants begin to flower and set fruit. The carrots were recently harvested and they tasted delicious. Although, they were smaller than I had expected (more on that later).

Old Fashioned Kosher Garlic and Dill Pickles

I love cucumbers and an awesome way to preserve them is to pickle them! Pickles have been a favorite of mine since childhood. My sister especially loves them so I knew that the true test for this recipe would be to get my sister to like them. Well, she does! I found this recipe here and I altered the amounts just a little bit. My version will be below. The pickles come out with a more noticeable garlic flavor rather than dill, but I like them that way. Also, I tried this recipe out twice. The first time I left the cucumbers whole, which is what the original recipe calls for, but I found that the pickles still tasted a little cucumber-y and not as pickle-y as I would have liked. So the second time I cut the cucumbers into quarters and it came out perfect!

Mango Salsa

As summer gets into full swing, and the variety of in season fruits and veggies increases, I will most likely be posting more recipe blogs and less environmentally friendly related blogs. Not that I haven't been making new environmental changes to my life, but I've been trying out so many new recipes and I want to share them all! Well, the good ones at least... This mango salsa is perfect for summertime. It still has the spiciness and freshness (from a habanero and cilantro) of a tomato based salsa, but the mango adds a nice fruity layer. I discovered this recipe in my favorite cooking magazine... Fine Cooking! Beware of the habanero, it is one of the hottest chili peppers. It is only about 2 inches long (see picture below), but it packs a punch! For this reason, see my safety tip after the recipe.

Pasta & Shrimp with Fresh Lemon & Cream Sauce

Let me start by saying that this recipe is very easy, has a small number of ingredients and cooks very fast. It's the perfect solution when you're short on time, because the sauce takes about the same time to cook as the pasta. The original recipe is by Lidia Bastianich, but I added shrimp and used box linguine noodles instead of homemade pasta. Feel free to get creative and add whatever you like! It's a very basic recipe. The boyfriend will tell you that I've been on a lemon kick lately, but I feel like spring/sumer is the perfect time for the brightness that lemon adds to many dishes.

Chicken Cutlets with Bell Pepper Ragout

I received my June/July copy of Fine Cooking and as usual flipped through and drooled over all of the awesome recipes inside. One of the recipes that caught my eye was Chicken Cutlets with Bell Pepper Ragout. This section of the magazine provided some great seasonal recipes utilizing boneless skinless chicken breasts. The main ingredients for this recipe had me running to the grocery store! It combines chicken, tomatoes, bell peppers and onions. Sounds delicious, doesn't it?

To Buy or Not to Buy Organic

I loved this book and learned so much that I didn't know about food and how it is grown! The book goes into details about how foods are grown, what type of pesticides/chemicals are generally used and why organic foods are healthier. It also covers 12 foods to only buy if they are organic aka  The Dirty Dozen, because of the amount of pesticides used on their conventionally grown counterparts. What interested me the most was the fact that the author mentions "going beyond organic" by choose local and sustainable foods. This wasn't something that I had given much thought to previously. 

Environmental Enlightenment #15 (Know Your Meat)

I'm about 3/4 of the way through "To Buy or Not To Buy Organic" and already it has encouraged me to discover where my meat is coming from. I'll review the book in a future post, but I do want to say that it brought up a very good point about not only considering organic foods, but also considering local and sustainable foods. Those organic grapes from Argentina may not be worth all the fossil fuels used to transport them to your doorstep. Anyways, it got me wondering where my meat is coming from. So I did a little research...

Chunky Fresh Tomato Salsa

Today I decided that it was time to pick some cilantro and make salsa. My favorite recipe for salsa comes from Rick Bayless. It felt very cool to be able to pick the cilantro myself and use it while fresh! I can't wait until my tomato plant starts producing... for now I have to use store bought tomatoes. Although I am lucky enough to have a nice produce place close by. The following recipe makes 2 cups of salsa and don't forget to have some Mexican style chips on hand for dipping!

Mini-Farming Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre

I finished reading the Mini-Farming book yesterday and I was very pleased by the 200 plus pages of detailed information! Reading this book made me want to throw on a pair of over-alls, grab a shovel and get planting. Unfortunately, as it stands right now, I don't have any "land." The indoor garden is it for now. Although I have made a bargain with my parent's for some of their yard space and I fully intend on applying some of the methods that I learned in this book when I transplant some things over there.

Indoor Garden Update

The indoor garden is coming along just as planned with the exception of the stubborn mint and the addition of a few new plants. I got a strawberry plant for the boyfriend's sweet tooth and a lime basil plant for my Mojito tooth. I never heard of lime basil before, but when I saw the seed packet I had to have it! I immediately imagined it in various cocktails, teas and pasta sauces. Also, I had been waiting for my potato tubers to come and they finally arrived earlier this week. I will be planting them today and I'm so excited!

Environmental Enlightenment #13 (Natural Easter Egg Dye)

In addition to my magazine subscription to Fine Cooking, I also receive e-letters from them via e-mail. These e-letters usually include recipes related to the season. For example, the most current e-letter features how to plan your Easter menu. It also includes how to make the perfect hard-boiled egg and how to naturally dye your Easter eggs. That last part caught my attention. So I followed the link that they provided and found the recipe for naturally dyeing Easter eggs here. This recipe uses vegetables, fruits, coffee, tea and spices to dye the eggs a wide range of colors. I haven't dyed Easter eggs since I was a kid, but I might just try the recipe out this Easter.

Grapefruit Infused Tequila

I love infusing liquors with my favorite flavors and so far I've made bacon infused vodka (which I used in a Bloody Mary) and also ginger infused vodka (which I used in a Saketini... upcoming blog about this recipe!) So when I came across a recipe in my Fine Cooking magazine for Tequila-Grapefruit Cocktails, I couldn't resist! This recipe features grapefruit infused tequila which is very simple to make. Shave the zest from 2 grapefruits with a vegetable peeler. Add the zest to a 750 ml bottle of silver tequila. Make sure that you pour off enough tequila to make room for the zest in the bottle (I used the tequila that I poured off to make myself a Margarita). Chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 days and up to 2 weeks. Also, don't get rid of those grapefruits that you zested! The cocktail recipe calls for fresh grapefruit juice, so I kept them in the fridge in Ziploc bags until the tequila was ready.

Newly Purchased Books!

Online shopping can be a dangerous thing. I went on Amazon for just one book, I swear! But I ended up checking out with four books. Although I'm pretty excited about all of them. I'll be writing up a review for each book as I read it, but for now I wanted to share the titles of the books and what I know about them from their inside covers.