Lovin’ Fresh is a series of recipes designed to showcase produce gathered from local farms or grown in my own garden.

Homemade old-fashioned apple dumplings were a thing of sheer indulgence during my childhood.  We didn’t have them all that often, but when we did, it meant life was good.  Truth be told though, I’d almost forgotten about them until a month or so ago, when I was eating out and saw them on the menu.  Of course I ordered a dumpling for dessert, but it just wasn’t what I’d hoped it would be.  The apple dumplings of my childhood were large - gianormous really - made with a whole apple brimming with cinnamon sugary delight and snuggly down in a flaky sugary crust.  What I had at the restaurant was a small half apple with scant cinnamon and a dark egg-washed glossy crust around it.  I knew then and there that I’d have to recreate the apple dumplings of my memory. 

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Lovin’ Fresh is a series of recipes designed to showcase produce gathered from local farms or grown in my own garden. 

I’m sure I’m not alone.  I come home from work, open the fridge door, and blankly stare at its contents for a good five minutes with disinterest, knowing all the while that it’s up to me and my weary brain to yet again come up with something good for dinner.  Sometimes I do a belly flop and settle for a veggie burger (hey, at least I cook it in a pan and not in the microwave).  Other times I am inspired and end up making an elegant swan dive from the fridge to the table.  Now, the challenge remains to be get what was a “little of this and a little of  that” invention into a repeatable recipe for you to try.

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Lovin’ Fresh is a series of recipes designed to showcase produce gathered from local farms or grown in my own garden. 

I really enjoy chowing down on these fast little burritos; something about the couscous is so unexpected and surprisingly filling.  They make the perfect quicky lunch, at home or school or work.  Or in the park when you’re playing hooky from one of the above…

The fillings, aside from the couscous (it’s what makes these puppies fun and unique so don’t skip that), can be whatever is in season.  Right now I’m getting literally buckets of cherry tomatoes from my gardens and a few green peppers so those immediately went into my burritos.  I sometimes add a little scrambled egg for protein.  I bet some bits of grilled chicken thrown in would be tasty too if you’ve got some on hand. 

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Lovin’ Fresh is a series of recipes designed to showcase produce gathered from local farms or grown in my own garden.

Without fail, every trip to a diner sees eggplant parmesan on my plate.  I mean, seriously, you could bet your entire life savings on me getting eggplant parmesan - for me it’s the quintessential diner food.  It also gives me terrible heartburn afterwards, which no doubt begs the question - why do I repeat the experience every single time?  Well folks, I love the combination of breaded goodness with marinara sauce and cheese.  If I ate chicken, I might switch it up once in awhile but those days are behind me.  So it is that I routinely take on the heartburn demons for the sake of melty crispy indulgence. 

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Lovin’ Fresh is a series of recipes designed to showcase produce gathered from local farms or grown in my own garden.

It’s almost here and I thought I’d better prepare all of you for it.  It’s the ying to the yang of vegetable gardening.  Those of you that are fortunate enough to have a little piece of ground to grow your own food will be very familiar with it.  And those of you that visit farmers markets and can’t resist the siren song of all those amazing late summer vegetables know it too.  Perhaps you shudder a bit just to think about it.  Or, if you’re like me, you lie in bed, eyes wide open, conjuring up ways to creatively sidestep it.  

“It” is that deluge of fresh produce that starts to haunt every corner of your kitchen, entryway, and basement, taunting you as it slowly deteriorates while you fret over and hunt out ways to use it up.  By late summer, you’ve grown a tad tired of zucchini, yellow squash, cucumbers, peppers, and even tomatoes.  Actually, I never tire of tomatoes, but I do get full before I can finish each new batch that comes off my prolific vines.  That’s where this recipe, appropriately named Use ‘Em Up Cold Summer Soup, comes into play.  How full of promise is that title?  Question is, does it live up to the hype?

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Lovin’ Fresh is a series of recipes designed to showcase produce gathered from local farms or grown in my own garden.

Okay, I have a secret to share.  No, it’s not the formula for calculating the volume of a square container with tapered sides (a recent question in my Math for the Green Industry class), but it’s pretty shocking nonetheless.  Here it is: I’ve never made my own risotto before.  GASP!   Seriously, I haven’t.  I always squirmed at the idea of standing around and stirring the stuff for 20 minutes.  And frankly, no risotto I’d had out somewhere had ever piqued my interest enough to make the effort seem worthwhile.  No risotto, that is, until this Green Bean Risotto.

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Lovin’ Fresh is a series of recipes designed to showcase produce gathered from local farms or grown in my own garden.

Today’s recipe is a fresh, healthy, and quite seasonal.  Truth be told, it’s not terribly creative as I’m sure you’ve all had some form of Three Bean Salad at a family reunion or other summer potluck dinner.  However, after perusing many a recipe for this dish, I feel fairly confident that mine is the only one that actually uses just three kinds of beans!  Most had at least five, some even had more!  It got me thinking.  Why the heck are they all called three bean salads then?   Do you know?

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Lovin’ Fresh is a series of recipes designed to showcase produce gathered from local farms or grown in my own garden.

Gardening brings so much pleasure and beauty to my life.  I’m really pleased with how my little plot has been progressing over the past few months.  A friend who stopped by my garden the other night asked me to explain my broad sweeping goals for my garden.  I didn’t hesitate with my answer: “slightly unkempt cozy cottage garden with a purpose.” 

When I was selecting what flowers to grow, I held up a standard in my mind: the best flowers out there are those that can serve one or more of three functions – cutting, preserving, and eating.  As such, borage ranks right up there among the best.  Its cool cucumber taste has long been a key ingredient in the English “Pimm’s Cup” cocktail.  It’s blue star flowers are striking used in salads and as garnish for desserts and drinks.  When you think about it, there just aren’t that many naturally blue ingredients available, making borage extra special.

Nasturtiums are another favorite.  My two small plants have more than quadrupled in size over the past two months, making their flowers a frequent and welcomed peppery addition to my salads.  They’re also great in butter and cheese spreads.  I’m getting so many of them, some quite large, I’m also thinking about stuffing them with soft cheese the way I do occasionally with squash blossoms. 

As wonderful as edible flowers are, the real recipe is for today’s post is a sweet and tangy dressing for the salad.  Buoyed by the delicious results of a batch of homemade strawberry dressing earlier this season, I put some of my stash of fresh blueberries into this one, along with some lavender-infused vinegar I’d brewed myself.  If it’s no longer blueberry season where you are, the same results can be gotten with frozen berries.  Just be sure to thaw them before proceeding with the recipe. 

On a fresh seasonal salad adorned with edible flowers, the blueberry lavender dressing really highlights the floral notes without overpowering the bits of cucumber, carrot and lettuce.  The leftover dressing will keep for a week or two in the fridge.  Use it on more salads or drizzle it over steamed or roasted vegetables, such as beets or squash. 

 
BLUEBERRY VINEGAR
Adapted from www.mealsforyou.com

2 C.fresh blueberries
2 C. white vinegar
1/2 C. sugar
1 T. lemon zest

Put blueberries in a large bowl and cover with vinegar. Let stand for 1 hour. Transfer to a large sauce pot and add the sugar and lemon rind and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes. Strain the blueberry mixture, pressing out as much liquid as possible.

LAVENDER BLUEBERRY DRESSING

3 T. blueberry vinegar
3 T. lavender vinegar or distilled white wine vinegar
1 small Shallot, finely chopped
1 tsp Dijon Mustard
1/2 tsp sea salt
dash white pepper
6 T. extra virgin olive oil

Combine ingredients in a jar and shake vigirously until combined.  Serve over salad or roasted vegetables.

(makes 1 cup)

Lovin’ Fresh is a series of recipes designed to showcase produce gathered from local farms or grown in my own garden.

Hurry!  It’s almost over!  Like any good thing, the blueberry season is all too short, and the smart cook embraces it for all its worth while it’s here.  The same could be said about the sour cherry season, but, frankly, I’m really only in this (“this” being the making and eating of Berry Cherry Pie) for the blueberries. 

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Lovin’ Fresh is a series of recipes designed to showcase produce gathered from local farms or grown in my own garden.

I bet you and your friends have a few summertime traditions. An annual 4th of July BBQ? Maybe a no-excuses-we’re-going-to-the-beach-the-same-weekend-every-year outing? Or perhaps a camping trip instead? A group of my friends, who have long scattered across several state lines and life stages (singles, newly weds, divorcees, and new parents are all among them), come together one night a summer to sit under the same tree in a big back yard, drink a lot of beer, play horseshoes and pretend for a little while that we’re still carefree and 20.

Quite frankly though, I’ve outgrown what little taste I had for a keg of lager beer. So, this year I decided I’d try a taking along the ingredients for a cocktail. Spurred by my success with the Lavender Lemon Soda recipe, I thought I’d try another simple syrup infused with a fresh herb that would add a little somethin’-somethin’ to my cocktail. The rosemary plants in my garden called out to me immediately.

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Lovin’ Fresh is a series of recipes designed to showcase produce gathered from local farms or grown in my own garden.  

No matter how much I enjoy them, I always feel a little strange about eating dandelion greens.  It’s also strange to think about somebody purposely growing dandelions, don’t you think?  But the truth is, they’re mighty tasty, in that slightly bitter way. 

The urban farm I volunteer on is growing dandelions for the first time this year, and the large bunch I brought home with me landed on the counter next to the mesh bag of baby red potatoes I’d just picked up at the store.  Fate would have these two ingredients married together over the course of the next hour into a hearty warm salad, one of those concoctions where I raided the fridge and threw in whatever seemed viable, including some chicory from the farm too.

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Lovin’ Fresh is a series of recipes designed to showcase produce gathered from local farms or grown in my own garden.  

I’m really putting my lavender plants to work already this summer.  First a bubbly lavender lemonade, and now lavender scented ice cream!  I’m running to catch up to the bandwagon here, flagging it down like a speeding city bus.   Many folks have long been touting how sublime the marriage of lavender and cream is.  But I hadn’t bought into it until this batch of ice cream.   

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Lovin’ Fresh is a series of recipes designed to showcase produce gathered from local farms or grown in my own garden.  

We’re in full swing with the growing season in the mid-Atlantic region.  I certainly enjoy all the fresh produce spilling out of my garden, but none tickle my taste buds quite so much as Swiss chard and sorrel.  For those of you not familiar with these delightful greens, here’s a little primer that should get you well on your way to enjoying both!

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Lovin’ Fresh is a series of recipes designed to showcase produce gathered from local farms or grown in my own garden. 

“Hot. So very hot.”  These words, or some variation of them, echo through my head at least a dozen times a day now that summer is officially here.  Interspersed among them are a sundry of other fleeting thoughts, most prevalent among them being, “Is it lunchtime yet?”   You see, laboring as I do outside so much of the day in my horticulture work, I tend to quickly get a little parched and hungry.  Concocting refreshing icy beverages has become a priority.

This desperation for refreshment brings us to a truly revitalizing Lavender Lemon Soda that is the ideal remedy for a sweaty brow.  It is downright cleansing with its effervescent flavors. I have been intrigued by herbal sodas since last summer when I had one at a local café, but I surprised even myself with how tasty this particular combination turned out to be.  

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Lovin’ Fresh is a series of recipes
designed to showcase produce gathered
from local farms or grown in my own garden.  

With the rising costs of food (and everything else to boot), I’m sure I’m not the only one who has vowed to be more frugal with menus by using up what’s already in the fridge before heading to the market.  To this I say, “here, here!!”   That was until I started looking around my own fridge and realized I should have taken on this resolution about four months ago - moldy cheese, sad-looking shriveled carrots, and dried out halves of onions that I was sure I’d use up the next day but forgot all about and ended up cutting a fresh onion.   Frugal I am not.

Instead, those bright and shiny new bunch of beets I’d plucked from the farmer’s market immediately caught my attention.  I know I had opened the fridge with the intention of salvaging something that might otherwise go to waste, but as it was, I thought I’d give the beets a chance before they too shriveled up in the crisper drawer.  After all, the spring beet season is fast drawing to a close. 

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Lovin’ Fresh is a series of recipes
designed to showcase produce gathered
from local farms or grown in my own garden.  

Kohlrabi season is upon us!  Rejoice and partake! And it looks like I’m not the only one finding locally grown kohlrabi in the kitchen.  I am ridiculously fond of kohlrabi, perhaps somewhat in part due to its alien appearance.  It’s crisp and refreshing when sliced thin and eaten raw or grated into a slaw, but I actually like it even better when sauteed.  It releases its juices and becomes almost buttery in texture. 

As for the squash, it’s not quite here yet in the Northeast so if you don’t have it locally grown, just use the kohlrabi by itself or add another in-season vegetable.  At the time I created this recipe, I was desperate to use up as much squash as possible.  I figure I’ll give you a head start with ideas for this summer’s onslaught!

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Lovin’ Fresh is a series of recipes
designed to showcase produce gathered
from local farms or grown in my own garden.  

Reading Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant, which is where today’s recipe comes from, got me thinking about the pleasure and occasional shame that is a solo diner’s.   In a restaurant, dining alone, you may cower, or worse yet, be forced to dine at a table squeezed in beside the kitchen door. But at home, cooking for one can be a real joy when you throw in a bit fancy flare and fresh healthy ingredients.   

A long-time solo diner myself, I’m prone to falling back on my old stand-bys instead of trying something new that will give me a more balanced menu.  As tasty as baked beans piled over two slices of whole wheat toast is, no one can pretend such a dish makes for a well-balanced meal (although beans and toast does make a “complete” protein).   So, a salad made of those ingredients that bind spring and summer produce together is a welcome breath of fresh eating. 

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Lovin’ Fresh is a series of recipes
designed to showcase produce gathered
from local farms or grown in my own garden.  

I love eating with my eyes first.  I know many a foodie has said that before, but the look of a dish can often mean more to me than the taste.  Lucky for everyone, this post’s recipe has it all - vivid color, dramatic presentation and refreshing deliciousness.  The flavors in this beet salad were meant for each other, although I wouldn’t have thought to put them together myself if Chef Bill Telepan hadn’t suggested it.  By the way, Mr. Telepan is a man after my own heart, using lots of citrus and unusual seasonal ingredients like kohlrabi in his own special style of ”lovin’ fresh” recipes.   

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Lovin’ Fresh is a series of recipes
designed to showcase produce gathered
from local farms or grown in my own garden. 

It’s been brought to my attention that croutons aren’t “much of an entry” (this from a man that goes pale at the mere mention of his participation in the nightly dinner preparations), but I beg to differ.  While making your own croutons isn’t hard, it’s something most folks rarely think to do.  The recipes I post aren’t meant to be revolutionary.  Rather, they are here to prompt you, noble Eat.Drink.Better readers, to embrace the freshest, local food you can find.  Homemade croutons made with a fresh herb butter fit in perfectly with that scheme, don’t you think?  I certainly do. 

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Quiche is something I covet, particularly for brunch.  I personally enjoy it more when chilled, but any and all quiche is welcome to apply within (my mouth).   When my partner and I met, he was trying to go from vegetarian to vegan (a mission since abandoned due to our mutual “interest” in ice cream).  Being especially eager to prove my culinary prowess in those first few months of dating, I gave my first tofu quiche a whirl.   While I didn’t miss the eggs in the least, I did lament the absence of cheese.  So we compromised and now I have a “standard” tofu quiche recipe that I typically make with spinach.

Now, if you’re scrunching up your nose at the idea of an eggless quiche, don’t despair.  I’m sure if you have a standard quiche recipe of your own (or care to do a quick search for one), you can easily use the flavor components of this recipe with an egg base instead.

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