In the Fridge Soup/Stew

I’m going to start by saying we had a fabulous weekend in New York and the fact that it fell over my birthday weekend was the best. The flights we so so, but the city was as amazing as ever. We went to a conference, toured the 911 memorial, had some amazing dinners, went to 2 museums, reconnected with friends and family, and saw Beautiful; The Carole King Musical - it was magical - I’d forgotten what an amazing songwriter she was!

We’re back home and as expected, the weather is turning to fall, which by the way is my favorite season (I know I say that every year - but it is true). I love the smells, the colors and the feel of flannel and my favorite sweaters and sweatshirts. Bonfires, birthdays, pumpkin, apples, chai and soup - warming, delicious soup. 

Which brings me to dinner. It started out as a soup and then kind of evolved into soup/chili as a way to use up what was in the fridge and pantry before I make that next trek to the garden. I can see there are more tomatoes and peppers anxiously awaiting my arrival and I know that the beets, kale, squash and collards need attention too.

Ingredients:

1 large onion - diced

2 stalks celery - diced

2 carrots - peeled and thinly sliced

1 yellow pepper - diced

1 banana pepper - seeded and chopped

1 spicy red pepper - seeded and chopped

1 1/2 cups cabbage - shredded

1 cup kale - stemmed and shredded

1 can black beans - drained and rinsed

1 can garbanzo beans - drained and rinsed

1 can white kidney beans - drained and rinsed

2 large tomatoes - roughly chopped

2 quart bags of tomatoes - one regular and one spicy

I didn’t measure the spices, I dumped, tasted, added more, tasted and said “yep that works.” I added:

cumin

chili powder

garlic powder

cayenne

red pepper flakes

salt

pepper 

Instructions

Add 2 T olive oil to pan and saute onions, celery and carrots until onions are translucent. Add peppers, cabbage, kale and saute an additional 5 - 7 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and spices and simmer approximately 20 minutes until flavors combine. 

Serve with free bread and a nice glass of wine - it’s good to be home. 

Dinner for Four

Have you been outside today, September 15th and the temperature is 91 degrees - yes I did say 91 degrees - crazy! Normally, at this time of year I’m thinking about chili and cornbread, or portabella stew or a nice spicy curry not so much these days. I’m looking for something cool and fresh tasting.

We continue to harvest tomatoes and last week I thought they were coming to an end but my harvest on Thursday night said otherwise. We’re harvesting peppers, beets, cabbage, kale, collard greens and soon - squash (my favorite). So what to do with ALL THOSE TOMATOES? Good question. We’ve had sandwiches, marinated tomatoes with feta and basil, I’ve even been known to grab a handful and have them for a snack. 

Last night was movie night but before I get to that I want to show you a picture of my Thursday harvest so that you can see what I was up against and how I came to the dinner we served. See 2 heads of cabbage, peppers, tomatoes, beets, and the last of the green beans. 

Movie night -  we’ve been getting together with our friends Gerd and Maria once a month for a few years now. They bring the wine and movie and we make dinner - and we appreciate that they are willing to eat whatever we make. Most of the time, dinner is driven by what we’re harvested from the garden so some meals are more creative than others. 

With all those tomatoes, I decided we hadn’t had bruschetta in a while but I wanted to try something a little bit different than the traditional tomato, garlic and olive oil rendition. We had a nectarine and some ground cherries so I took a couple handfuls of cherry tomatoes, cut up a nectarine and threw in some ground cherries. I added a splash of balsamic vinegar and put it under the broiler for about 10 minutes; until some of the tomatoes burst. I toasted some french bread and we inhaled it. The reviews were excellent. 

Photo credit for the appetizer goes to Maria. 

For dinner I decided on a tofu, veggie, cabbage and cashew stir fry. And since it was Dan’s birthday on Wednesday, I made him an apple pie (thanks to our neighbors Teri and Dennis for the apples from their tree). 

As we were going through our pictures this morning it seems neither of us remembered to take a photo of the stir fry - sigh. We do have a picture of the pie.

Veggie and tofu stir fry

Ingredients:

3 stalks celery - diced

2 carrots cut into small matchsticks

8 ounces of mushrooms - quartered

2 small onions - medium dice

~ 2 lbs green cabbage - chopped

1 1/2 red peppers - julienne 

1 cup whole cashews

~ 1/2 cup white wine

1/3 cup soy sauce

3 dashes sesame oil

2 T cooking oil

garlic powder to taste

pepper to taste

Instructions:

In a wok or large deep skillet, heat cooking oil over medium-high heat. Stir-fry onion, celery, and carrot for about 5 minutes. Add mushrooms, pepper, and cashews, and stir-fry another 3 minutes.

Add wine, soy sauce, and cabbage. Stir well, cover, and steam until cabbage wilts slightly, about 5 minutes. Stir in sesame oil and garlic powder.

Continue stirring until cabbage is done to your liking. May season with black pepper if desired. 

Dan cooked up a package of tofu (he is the best tofu cook on the planet) and added it to the stir fry for some added protein. We served it with brown rice and fresh strawberries and cantaloupe on the side. Now what to do with the beets, kale, collards, peppers and other heads of cabbage just waiting for me to come back to the garden and get them?

A Night as a Sous Chef

Sometimes you’re the cook and sometimes you’re the helper. 

We’ve been making our way through this years garden bounty; cucumbers, beans, peas, tomatoes, tomatoes and did I say tomatoes? Now we’ve moved into peppers, eggplant, cabbage, beets, kale, collards and in the not to distant future - squash; acorn and butternut. 

We’ve made 3 batches of tomato sauce; regular, spicy and super spicy, I can’t wait to use them over the winter months. It will be like brining a bit of summer to those cold and stormy days. And making collard greens stuffed with a tofu and veggie mixture is just around the corner; another dinner to pull from the freezer on a night when cooking doesn’t sound fun - although I don’t that will happen for a while. 

We were at the farmers market last weekend - a little crazy I know - but we don’t have everything in the garden. We were searching for okra to make bhindi masala. Then we got home life got in the way (ok well all that other produce got in the way) and finally last night it was  okra night but we had so many other things to use like eggplant, peppers, onions all begging to be cooked up and eaten.

So we took pity on all those veggies and started chopping, sautéing and simmering up a batch of curried eggplant and okra, this time I was the chopper and Dan was the cook. 

Ingredients:

4 Japanese  eggplants, sliced on a bias

2 c. okra, stems sliced off

2 yellow onion, chopped 

1 1/2 bell peppers, cored and sliced - I used a mixture of red, yellow and green

1 tsp minced ginger

1 tsp minced garlic

1 - 2 tbsp red curry paste

1/2 c. coconut milk

1/4 c. water

Juice of 1/2 lime

Sea salt, and pepper to taste

2 tbsp coconut oil, separated

Instructions:

This is essentially a stir fry so having all ingredients chopped in advance makes the cooking time shorter and keeps the veggies from getting over done. 

Over medium high heat, melt a tablespoon of coconut oil. Add the okra and cook until just beginning to brown (be careful to not over cook the okra or it will get slimy). Remove the okra from the pan to a bowl and set aside. 

Fry the eggplant until golden brown, remove from the pan and set aside. If the eggplant has absorbed the oil add a little more to pan and add the garlic and ginger until fragrant. Add the onions and saute until softened. Add the curry paste (if you like things a bit spicy you can add additional curry paste) and cook until the onions are well coated. 

To the onion mixture add the bell peppers and stir fry until crisp tender 1 - 2 minutes. Slowly add the coconut milk, water and lime juice scraping up any browned bits. Reduce heat to low and add the okra and eggplant into the pan. Simmer for 3 - 4 minutes and serve over brown rice. 

It was delicious - thanks to Dan for being the saute to my chop. 

Thanks for stopping by!