Last of the Tomatoes

I dealt with the tomatoes today that I had ripening on the windowsill. I ended up just chopping up an onion and chopping the tomatoes and cooked them down to get rid of some of the water. I'm just going to freeze them. I didn't put any seasoning or herbs in them because I want to be able to use them the way I would use canned tomatoes.

My Version Chicken Cacciatore

I learned to make this as a young wife. I liked it because it didn't have a heavy tomato sauce on it. I use green bell peppers because I like them but red or yellow could be used.

Heat some oil in a fry pan or braising pan with a lid. A couple of tabs. of olive oil is what i used. Dredge your chicken, about 6 pieces, in seasoned flour. Brown chicken nicely and then add 1 sliced bell pepper, 1/4 sliced onion, about 10 mushrooms sliced and 2 tomatoes skinned and chopped. I crushed them over the other veggies. Cover the pan and lower heat to simmer for about 45 mins. Taste for seasoning.

Linda

Tomato Time

I've been busy freezing tomatoes. The first batch I cut in half, drizzled with olive oil and roasted in a 425 oven for about 30 mins. Then I flash froze them and then bagged them in a freezer bag.

The second batch I froze whole as my daughter did a few years ago. She said she didn't have any problem with not blanching them. She took the skins off when she was ready to use them. Mostly for stews, soups and sauces.

The third batch I sliced in wedges and am flash freezing them. Someone on line did this, so I thought I'd try it and see how I like them. I use tomatoes a lot of frittatas, and stir fries.

I bought a box a tomatoes and have about 20 of them on the window sill ripening. I plan to make sauce with those.

I'm also doing eggplant slices, roasted and flash frozen.

Linda

Green Bean Salad

I was thinking how colorful my plate has become since I started paying attention to the colors of my veggies. Last night I made a green bean salad.

I precooked my green and yellow stringbeans and chilled them. I also roasted a golden beet and chilled it. I've never combined beets and stringbeans before but thought I would give it a try. I just put a vinegrette on them and it was a wonderful combination and very pretty.

I also served fried zucchini coins. I just sliced them very thin and dregged them lightly in seasoned flour and fried them quickly in olive oil. They were good and less trouble than the parmesan zucchini. I was serving sole for my main course.

Parmesan Zucchini Sticks

I love french fried zucchini, but decided to tweak it a bit and make them the same way I do my Parmesan Chicken.

I mix flour and seasoning in one pan.

Egg and a little water in the next.

Bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese in the last.

Then I cut the zucchini in sticks and dip in flour first, than egg, than bread crumb cheese mixture. Then just fry until done but with a little bite left.

Delicious.

Raw Milk and Produce

Went to Squim and got 2 gals. of raw milk. My dd had the idea to freeze it in 2 cup amounts in freezer bags for yogurt. So I'm doing the same. I took my camera and forgot to take pictures. We went to the farm to get the milk.

We also got farm fresh produce at her favorite place. So I got a bunch of stuff strickly to freeze. Here's what I got-

• plum tomatoes to either make sauce or roast and freeze.


• a large eggplant to roast and freeze.


• herb bundles to hang and dry, sage, mint and dill.


• parsley that I'm going to freeze. I saw an idea for making herb rolls to freeze and you slice off what you want.


• purple and green sweet peppers to saute with onions and freeze

Last week I sauted and froze leeks and grated raw zucchini, also slices.

I saw an idea of wilting your greens and freezing in freezer bags that I want to try to. Now that I'm making Fritatta I think I'll be using more greens.

Frittata Mushroom, Bacon and Chard

Preheat oven to 350.

I browned a couple of slices of bacon. Then I sauted in oil and butter and a dash of bacon fat sliced 4 mushrooms and a handful of sliced baby chard (it is more tender and cooks quicker). I cooked until partually done, then crumbled bason on top.

Next I mixed 6 eggs with a splash of milk. I grated a cup or so of cheddar cheese and added 3/4 to eggs. I poured this mixture on top of the veggies. Then a sprinkled the rest of the cheese on top.

I put the pan uncovered in the oven and baked for 30 mins. Cool for 10 mins. before slicing.

It turned out pretty good. This method is a lot easier. I want to experiement with 8 eggs again and 1/4 c. of milk or 1/2 & 1/2. I didn't add any seasoning because of bacon.

Farmer's Market Green and White

I got Zucchini, Baby Cucumbers (heirloom), Baby Chard (heirloom), Green and yellow string beans, Leeks, White onions.

So what are my plans for them. I got regular zucchini and a very large one. The large one I'm going to grate and freeze.

The baby cucs would be good just to eat as is with dip for a snack. They are suppose to be very sweet.

The green and yellow stringbeans I may steam and use cold for salad.

The leek I'd like to saute and put in one of my Fritatta's along with the chard. This is an interesting recipe using chard and leeks in a Walnut Sauce

The onion use in stir fry with cabbage.

Eating the Rainbow

On fitness blog I decided to start trying to get the different colors of fruits and vegetables in each week or daily if possible. This is what I bought at the grocery store. There is no green because I already had some.

So what am I doing with all these veggies plus what I all ready had.

• Baked tomatoes with goat cheese
• Sauted red cabbage with balsamic
• Roasted beet salad with goat cheese
• Red cabbage and walnut salad
• Sausage with onions and peppers
• Mushroom and bacon Frittata
• Blueberries and yogurt
• Pork chop with blueberry sauce
• Spinach, bacon and mushroom salad
• Stroganoff and french fried zucchini
• Raw carrots, pepper strips, hicama and pea pods with dip

More Frittatas

OK I tried a goat cheese and heirloom tomatoes slices frittata. Also I used 8 eggs and 1/4 c. cream. It still didn't have a lot of flavor. I still need to put more in. Maybe because I had more eggs I didn't add enough stuff. I wanted to try more eggs to make it deeper, but it took longer to cook and got overdone on the bottom. I was kind of in a hurry and just wanted to get it done.

Next time cook at a lower temp. the pan was really hot when I put the eggs in and I think it scorched them right away. Put more stuff in and more seasoning. I think I'll go back to 6 eggs and 2 T. cream. I may just try Barefoot Contessa's recipe next time. She bakes hers.

More Herbal Vinegar

My daughter mentioned after I made the first batch that they would make good Christmas gifts and I'm hoping to make a lot of my gits this year, so I'm making more. The pink is Cinnomon Basil. I also made Pineapple Mint. The last one is a combo of Sage and Lemon Thyme. I'm not sure if I put enough herbs in them. I tasted the last batch and I felt the wine vinegar fought with the herbs and so I used regular white vinegar this time. After 2 weeks you strain out the herbs and rebottle if you want.

Zucchini and Tomato Frittata

This is what I did-

• Heat 10" fry pan with oil.
• Saute-red onion, zucchini, and red pepper
• Throw in pear tomato halves
• Mix 6 eggs, 2T heavy cream, some mild green chilies (canned), S&P
• Grate Irish Cheddar, about a cup, add 1/2 to eggs
• When vegs. almost done pour eggs on top and turn down heat, cover and cook until set.
• Put rest of cheese on top and put under broiler to melt cheese and brown slightly.

It was pretty good, could have had more flavor. Texture was fairly dense. I liked it better than Quiche. Next time add more flavor and try 8 eggs and 1/4 c cream.

Herbal Vinegar

I made Cinnamon Basil White Wine Vinegar and Lemon Thyme Vinegar. This how I did it.

Wash and dry herbs, sterilize jars by boiling 15 mins. Wait until jars dry. Fill jar 1/3 with herbs. Bring vinegar to a boil and pour over herbs. Cool and tighten lids than refrigerate for 1-2 weeks.
Strain and bottle in sterilized bottle. Keep in frig.

I'm not sure why they tell you to keep in frig. Another recipe says to keep it in a cool dark place.

I want to make some more of the Cinnamon Basil and some Sage or Oregano.

Crustless Quiche for Freezer

Here's what I ended up doing-

Saute 2 sliced leeks, cool
Partually cook frozen artichoke hearts, cool
Defrost chopped spinach and squeeze out the water

Mix 4 eggs, 2 cups 1/2 and 1/2 ( can be any combination of milk, cream or 1/2 and 1/2. Add 1/4 tsp. of salt and 1/4 tsp. of pepper. Add 1/4th of veggies and about 1 cup of grated cheese. I used gouda. Place in freezer bag and freeze. Do this 3 more times to make a total of 4 quiche in bags.

To use defrost and put in an oiled pan. I used an 8x10 retangular. Bake at 350 for 40 mins.

The only problem I'm having with this is water coming out of the quiche. So I may play with less milk next time and see if that helps. My dd thinks 1 cup is enough.

What's Cooking + Zucchini Recipes

I'm making a Cucumber, Radish, Tomatoe Salad with Tahini Yoghurt Dressing from here.

I made ham rolls with pickle for my snack today.

I wasn't crazy about the recipe for Quiche in a Bag and so I'm trying some other recipes, sort of making up my own. It's going to be Leek, Spinach, Artichoke and Gouda Cheese. I'm not going to freeze one until I find the recipe I like.

I want to freeze some zucchini grated for zucchini patties

and slices for fried zucchini and more fried zucchini, zucchini gratin, zucchini bake,

zucchini casserole

and zucchini salad.