Tomatoes

 

Fresh from the garden, a whole mess of beautiful tomatoes.  I cut them up and sauteed with fresh basil, oregano, garlic, and a splash of balsamic.  It's the same salad I do cold but now I'm sauteing.  Nothing like fresh tomatoes! I made this earlier in the week and am making it again ('cause our tomatoes are prolific!) Good on bread or pasta. You can also take juice out as it's cooking for a very lazy version of tomato soup.  I didn't measure anything, but I am guessing a tablespoon or so of olive oil and 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar?  Maybe?

Lots of fresh basil -- 10-ish leaves? I have a very happy basil plant that needs to be cut back regularly.  If you don't cut it back, it goes to seed.

Garlic -- I used dried, maybe 1 teaspoon?

Oregano -- also dried and I used probably 1 tablespoon?  (I'm a big fan of oregano!)

I cooked it for an hour or two?  It cooked down a lot! 

 

 

I also made roasted zucchini and popped about 4 tomatoes in the oven.  I was curious about that versus pan cooking.

(I'm thinking about trying to make some sort of roasted zucchini and tomato sauce in the food processor for pasta... I'll let you know what happens.)

I also made watermelon (we grew it), basil, (also home grown) and lime (also grown at home with love) granita.  I love it.  The husband, and the younger two daughters don't like it. I think daughter #1 will.  I will let you know.

Super fun cooking day!

Lame blog post

Wow... it's been a while.  I do have new recipes, but no time to blog.

We made an awesome quiche this summer and LOVELY lemon zucchini bread.  A basil plant is giving us lots of pesto. We're getting beautiful tomatoes (and zucchini, but no pictures yet). 

 

I know we made other stuff, but I can't think now.  I just mostly came over to drop this link to a store with vegan leather.  We haven't bought from it yet so I can't tell you if we like it or not.  More soon.

Zucchini

 

It's that time of year again!  

This year, I made a roasted zucchini hummus instead of a raw zucchini hummus.  All I did was slice the zucchini, brush it with olive oil, and then roast it for about 40 minutes.  When it cooled, I made the hummus with the recipe on the previous page with the slight exception of cutting back on the tahini.  

We've also made zucchini bread (3x I think) -- Nick's specialty, roasted zucchini with pasta sauce, and a raw hummus.  The zucchini hummus (roasted or raw) is a very good pasta sauce!  

I'm looking for more zucchini recipes.  I have 2 very large ones sitting on my calendar.  Maybe my friend wants one (or two).  

In sad news, our apricot tree isn't doing so well and we didn't get any apricots from it.  Well, I guess we got about 10, but that's pretty sad considering we were getting so many a couple of years ago. 

Tomato Soup, by Tia

When Tia was little, under 2, she was sitting in my lap while I was eating dinner, I looked down and saw her grabbing the tomatoes out of my salad and licking them.  The phrase, "don't lick my tomatoes" was born that night.  (File under a phrase you never thought you'd have to say.)

She does love tomatoes.  She and Kira wanted a tomato soup.  We tried one recipe last Thanksgiving, and I liked it, but the girls wanted something a little different.  Here's what Tia found; she made it and they loved it. (It's a winner, all 5 of us like it!)

http://coalefinnsoftball.blogspot.com/2016/06/today-i-made-tomato-soup-with-my-nanny.html

This summer, we are doing our reading and writing program.  The reading program started years ago, probably 6 or 7 years ago, and the girls would get paid a penny a page for reading.  The books had to be at or above their reading level and they had to write the titles down, the name of the book, the number of pages, and then at the end of the summer they'd have to total up what they earned.  They all read a ton.  They like to read so it's an easy way for them to earn some summer money.

As they grew older, and all are fantastic readers, we decided the program should evolve a little.  They started blogging for money a couple of summers ago.  They get paid a penny a word.  They blog, and at the end of the summer we grab all the blog posts and word count them in a word processor.  Again, they are responsible for the tallying and they get paid.

We now have a limit on how much money you can earn by reading (it's $75) and no limit on what you can earn by writing.   (Actually, the rule is apparently a little more subtle... After you earn $25 in blogging you can earn more by reading... Next summer it's going to be the simpler rule of 75 for reading and no limit for blogging.)

This summer, I decided that we should evolve the blogging program a little more and if you find a recipe, make it, and blog about it, you get $5 for that post.  (You get $7 if you create a recipe and blog about it.)  I like new recipes and I like the girls to cook.  (We'll see if the payment stays as high for next summer.)  So far, we've gotten a few new recipes.  This post links to the first one this summer.  Go Tia!

It's Summer: Chocolate "fudgesicles"

Or it's nearly, officially, summer!

I love summer!

I love the laid back, no-school thing.  I love school and learning, but by the time summer gets here we all need a break.

Okay, on to the important business, I've been meaning to post this recipe for a couple years.  This winter, I found these great molds and asked for them for Christmas.  

http://www.amazon.com/FoodWorks-Silicone-Maker-Molds-Popsicle/dp/B00D9HQ30W

What I did:

2 packs of tofu (I used this brand)
1/2 cup cocoa
5/8-3/4 cup maple syrup
1 tablespoon arrowroot starch flour
1/4-1/2 cup peanut butter (I didn't really measure) (Next time I'm going to make some cashew cream and use it.) (Note, we made this with almond butter and it tasted like dark chocolate!)

Blend until mixed and smooth.  Pour into silicone molds and freeze. After frozen, run the molds under hot water for a minute. (Or leave out for 10 minutes or so... like any one has the patience to do that.)

I like the molds 'cause the popsicle/fudgesicle comes out much easier 'cause you can squeeze them up!  The molds make BIG popsicles.  If you have little kids, you might want to get smaller molds.  (Not sure if they are smaller ones, but I think there are.)

You can also use dark chocolate chips (vegan) if you want, instead of the cocoa.

Here's the nutrition facts on these wonderful treats!

 

Sunday

On Memorial Day weekend we went to a BBQ. When you're a vegan, there aren't hunks of meat, there are gobs of veggies! My friend marinated the veggies in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, and lots of spices (I need to get her to tell me them again).

The portabello mushrooms were incredible, too. We had some http://www.fieldroast.com/ vegan sausages (Italian and the Apple Sage) that we grilled, too. Some folks had sandwiches on sourdough rolls and some had veggies on salad greens. Either way, it was a great feast! Looking forward to more summer parties when we do it again.

 

 

And just for fun, a picture of their artichoke. We took one home and steamed it.