I was feeling in the mood for something a little tangy, something a little sweet… and bright and sunny! How about raspberry vinaigrette! This recipe was a request by my sister to create a fresh raspberry vinaigrette that was healthier than the store bought varieties and easy to …
Creamy delicious homemade one minute mayonnaise. No lie, this literally takes one minute and that includes the time to grab every ingredient outta the fridge and put in the mixing jar. Are you sold on it yet? If not… this even eliminates the step of separating the …
When life (or your garden) gives you lots of tomatoes, you make tomato sauce! Homemade tomato sauce is so simple to make and has a depth of flavor you just can’t match in a can. Think of those rich, thick tomatoes, that sweet sensuous taste coupled with a hint of garlic and onion to round it out and, man, your tastebuds will dance! This tomato sauce is the PERFECT base for a soup, or really any Italian/Mexican/Indian dish that utilizes a tomato based sauce.
So check this out…. just get yourself a boatload of tomatoes from your garden, or the farmer’s market or the supermarket – wherever you can find luscious tasty ripe ones – and toss the whole lot of them cored and cut into quarters in a large saucepan. Add a couple onions, a head of garlic cloves and some salt and cook til they’re soft.
A simple puree with an immersion/stick blender and you’re done! Easy peasy. Look at this fancy swirly action food photo….
After blending, you’ll have a beautiful, nutritious, homemade tomato sauce perfect for your next cooking task. You can certainly can the sauce, or I usually just freeze it since I use it so fast. Plus, freezing is easier if you have the freezer space. It’s a bit liquidy (not an official word, I know) which makes it awesome for soups. If you need it thicker for, say, a marinara sauce, cook it longer until it condenses a bit or add some tomato paste to thicken it up.
Nostalgia…defined by yours truly as a wood crank ice cream machine. I’ve made homemade ice cream many, many times in my youth and in my adult life with one of those old fashioned wood crank varieties that you have to place a bunch of ice …
Okaaaaayyy….. after posting about rich moist chocolately blueberry espresso brownies last week, how could I possibly resist making a creamy caramel sauce to go with, well, rich vanilla ice cream and maybe those brownies on the side? Too much to resist! Let me tell you, …
I hope all of you had a fantastic weekend! The family and I went out camping this past weekend to enjoy the weather and each other’s company. It’s so awesome having a campground within 15 minutes from our house. Not only is it convenient, but we were able to have friends and some additional family come hang out on Saturday for a bonfire and chit chat. It was such a relaxing weekend.
Now for the goodies! My garden is still giving me a good weekly meal of green beans so I decided what better to pair them with than shitake mushrooms! I used to have MAJOR texture issues with biting into mushrooms (and I still can’t fathom biting into a large portabella cap) but smaller fried varieties I’ve come to appreciate and can handle their texture. Maybe because I just love how darn good they taste.
Shitake Green Beans start with sautéing the shitakes in either olive oil or if you want to increase their flavor profile, try sautéing in sesame oil. Yum!
Sauté these guys at least until they give up their extra moisture. I like them best when they just start to crisp a little. While that’s happening, boil some water and give the beans a quick bath until they are tender crisp. Then you simply toss them all together with the rest of the ingredients. Simple. Delicious. Shitake Green Beans…
Hey!!! You know how I said I had this nice little urban garden in my last post and was sharing my herbs with my neighbor? Well, I decided this time not to share and to keep the extra tarragon to make this light lemon tarragon …
