Tomato

When you have foods, you naturally need to find a way to use them. I had an odd selection of items that led to the creation of this recipe. Luckily, my husband was rather impressed with it, and we both enjoyed it. A warning: It was very filling, and for a light Sunday afternoon snack, we were happy eating just half for each of us.

Recipe for Spinach Pesto Quesadilla

• 2 Large Flour Tortillas
• 1/2 cup Spinach Basil Pesto
• 1/2 large tomato, sliced
• 5 black olives, sliced in thirds
• 1/4 shredded Parm/Reg or Jarlsberg Cheese

Warm a large skillet over medium heat. Place one flour tortilla on the skillet. Spread basil evenly to the edges of the tortilla. Top evenly with tomato slices and olives. Sprinkle cheese on top and cover with second tortilla. Warm until light brown and crisped on one side. Flip over
and cook on the other side. Slice with a pizza slicer (on a cutting board so you don't mess up your skillet).

You might call this a replay, but it didn't matter because it went over so well. I made kabobs alternating in new particular order carrot slices, sweet potato slices, Redi-Burger chunks, sweet pepper slices, and chunks of onion. It is recommended to pre-cook the carrots and sweet potatoes. Grilled would have been much more fun, but I was running out of time. Instead, I brushed the kabobs with oil and broiled them. Hence the crisped skewers.

For the Warm Tomato Vinaigrette, I used up the last of the fancy balsamic vinegar on the last go around. This time I used white balsamic instead. Also, this time I chose to use the onion chives out of our herb garden instead of Vidalia onion.

Paul grumbled a bit that I didn't have the other balasmic vinegar, but he couldn't deny that the sauce was again a great success. I still recommend it.

Perhaps I should have tried the Warm Tomato Vinaigrette recipe from Ratio before recommending it to you. However, you would have done well to try it before I got to it. Talk about amazing. Paul was just thrilled. Of course, he claimed what made it good was the fact that I used what I had on hand, which was a very nice (and apparently very expensive) balsamic vinegar that was gifted to us. I also used Vidalia onions instead of scallions. I'm sure there would have been an improvement with the scallions, but this dressing/sauce/gravy was so good, I'm not so sure it mattered.

I served this dressing over sweet/white mashed potatoes and a vegan veggie-meat called Redi-Burger, which tends to have a strong flavor. I'm not a fan of it at all, but Paul likes it a lot. This dressing certainly made the meat more appropriate as an entree.

Clearly this recipe has tons of uses. I encourage you to find your own and come back and share the recommendation with us.

OK. So, it's obvious from the photograph and from proceeding ones that I haven't a clue how to flute my crust. I also think I never seem to have the right size pie plate or the right size crust for these activities. Luckily, they are reasonably forgiving if you can overlook the sometimes unappealing-to-the-eye look. By the way, this is a continuation of yesterday's story about the bright and perfectly ripe flavors of the tomato corn salad I made for my grandmother who requires soft foods to chew. (I also started writing it about 12 hours ago. My how a baby really changes everything!) We get one loan zucchini at a time from our garden. I had already had pasta the day before, and was looking for a better idea for my zucchini. I came across some eggs in the fridge with an expiration date past the return date of my mom and suddenly had my inspiration for the tart. I used my mom's oil crust recipe and created my own zucchini filling recipe. See what you think.

Cost to Make Zucchini Tart

Note: Cost is based on my shopping list even though it used my mother's ingredients.

Recipe for Oil Pie Crust

• 2 C all purpose flour
• 1 t salt
• ½ C oil
• ¼ C cold water

Mix flour and salt. Blend oil and cold water with fork (lots of bubbles). Add liquid mixture to flour and stir. Roll dough between 2 pieces of waxed paper. Place dough in pie plate. Flute if you have the talent. Poke 5 sets of holes in the bottom of the crust with a fork.

For this use, I pre-baked the crust just about 7 minutes. For other uses, it isn't always necessary.

Recipe for Zucchini Filling

• 1 good-sized zucchini, thinly sliced
• 1/3 onion, thinly sliced
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 2 eggs
• 2 Tablespoons milk
• 1/2 cup cheese, finely shredded and divided [my mom had the four cheese blend]
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt or more to taste

Saute zucchini and onion in olive oil about 5 minutes just to soften. Beat eggs, add seasonings, salt, and milk. Beat together. Layer onions and zucchini on pie crust. Top with half of cheese. Pour egg mixture over vegetables. Top with remaining cheese. Bake at 400 degrees until top is golden brown, about 30-35 minutes.

Cost Per Person $0.36

As I mentioned last week, we sat with my grandmother over Memorial Day Weekend while my parents went away. My grandmother has difficulty chewing, and I was looking for soft foods that would pack on much of the summer flavor, but not be too difficult for her to enjoy. The zucchini tart and accompanying salad really fit the bill. I've even made the salad again since then. The key is to have the freshest ingredients. It helps when it comes out of your own garden! I believe the fresher the ingredients, the less salt and pepper you have to add.

Cost to Make Tomato Corn Salad

• $0.50 Corn (Publix)
• Free Tomatoes (From ours and my parents' gardens)
• Free Chives (Mom's garden)
• $0.04 Lemon (Publix)
• $0.01 Salt (Walmart)
• $0.10 Pepper (Walmart)
• $0.60 Total for three people

Recipe for Tomato Corn Salad

• 2 ears corn
• 3 Patio tomatoes
• 2 Tablespoons chives, chopped (or more if you've got it!)
• Dash lemon juice
• 1/8-1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 twists pepper grinder

Cook corn in microwave. My mom's took 1:30 for one. Peal the corn and stand the ear up in a bowl. With a good knife, cut kernals of corn off cob so they fall into the bowl. (This is easier than it sounds.) Dice the tomatoes. Add all ingredients together. Serve immediately or chill one hour before serving.

Cost Per Person $0.20

Last week we dined on our first zucchini and hope to have another one this week. It isn't a large haul, but it's enough for the two of us to enjoy. (We did eat the first one in pasta mixed with other veggies to serve to my parents as well.)

I'm sorry to say, this week is a little crazy. I don't have any brilliant ideas for food, but Paul and his sister went to the Maitland Farmer's Market yesterday to acquire a beautiful eggplant and some giant tomatoes. We'll be having excellent sandwiches and perhaps baked eggplant parm in the next couple of days.

This is a week for visiting, which means we'll have plenty going on and enough food to be creative. Paul's sister and brother-in-law flew in for the weekend. Elizabeth gets to stay longer while Dag returns to work. And then, Paul and I will be babysitting my grandmother over the holiday weekend so my parents can go to my father's high school reunion. All that being said, we're playing everything by ear, but are grateful for the prolific fresh produce of the summer to allow us freedom to be creative.

My garden has not turned out as well as I had planned. But, I don't beat myself up. I'm new to this. It just kinda feels like a waste of money. I'm happy to hear advice if anyone wants to assist in my cluelessness.

First the positives: The basil is growing like crazy. The parsley is happy. I'm going to replace my depleted tea supply with mint very soon. I'm also imagining a mint chocolate chip shake or smoothie. And tonight we harvested our first tomato. (Not really. I noticed it was missing and made Paul dig in the midst of the basil for it cause I'm afraid to touch anything I can't see in my garden right now. It had ripened and fallen off, but it could stand another day or two on the counter.)

The bad things: Two weeks ago, I walked out to check on my budding green thumb and discovered my large carrot planter picked clean. I mean clean! Even the weed that I left hoping I'd get lucky, and it would magically turn into something edible was gone. The container was dry as the desert. I was heartbroken and even dreamed a couple nights later that I had giant, 5-inch in diameter carrots coming out of my planter at harvest time.

We had such an excess of sweet potatoes last week (But hey, they were a good price!) I looked for all my recipes using the vegetables. One idea came from Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home, one of my favorite cookbooks. The recipe reminded me very much of the quinoa potato pancakes because of the large variety of seasonings. And the concept was just as good. Each seasoning lent its own flavor to the mixture. I can't imagine living without any of them. It only took one shredded potato in between two tortillas each for a full meal. I dressed the plate with green vegetables and tomatoes just for color.

The sweet potato quesadillas had quite an unusual flavor. As I've pointed out before, I don't like highlighting the sweetness of sweet potatoes. I don't enjoy sweet sweet potatoes. I kinda felt the salty cheddar cheese and cumin (although a pleasantly surprising flavor to mix in the shredded sweet potatoes) made the potatoes taste more sweet. But it was still an intriguing enough flavor to make me plan on making them again.

Last week my folks and I went to the Orlando Public Library as a play day for the four of us and Nora. There's a great little coffee shop and cafe in the library run by a couple who are vegetarians and wanted to start a vegetarian restaurant. However, they didn't want to leave out meat-eaters; so for an unusual twist, the vegetarian items can be made with meat as opposed to most restaurants that automatically think meat unless you say otherwise. The owner and his wife were very kind and patient with our slow decision making and called their patrons by name. Even having not tasted the food, I would have returned just because of the customer service.

Three of the magazines I subscribe to: Parenting The Early Years, Parents, and Bon Appetit, had falafel recipes in their March 2010 issues. (Sorry, only Bon Appetit seems to have their recipe on line.) Is this some special month or just falafel screams "SPRING!"? Either way, the stories brought back great memories of our research of "The Best Falafel in the World" when we were a couple weeks away from a trip to Paris last year. The difference being, we are in Sunny Florida and no where near the Stravinsky Fountain. I knew I just had to give one of the recipes a shot.

After a little comparison, I chose the Parents recipe, and was quite happy with it. Just for kicks, I may try the others. . .or I may track down someone who has a secret ingredient that will make it out of this world.

We went to Freidman's Lunch on the advice of Paul's parents who we're lucky to say visited New York just weeks before we did and gave us lots of recommendations for our long weekend. Sadly, their experience was better than ours. Paul had the housemade veggie burger with tomato, fennel jam, avocado, and a side of herbed fries. The fries weren't special, but the burger definitely was. I chose to be different and ordered the rice bowl. It came with brown rice, bean sprouts, edamame, carrots, cilantro, mint, sesame lime dressing, peanuts. It was dry and smelled and tasted burned even though it didn't look like it. Normally, I would blame it on pregnancy (Remember, this was back in December at 30 weeks.), but even Paul said it tasted funny, Luckily, I have a sweet husband who shared his sandwich with me.

The conclusion: New York is too big and too full of fantastic restaurants to spend time on mediocre ones. I'd say, if veggie burgers are the only that peaks your interest, visit Freidman's. Otherwise, pass.

Although you can get a wheat pasta for cheaper sometimes, I purchased a box for $1 when it was on sale and thought it was a good idea to try it since we do like pasta a lot. Our first use was with a basic spaghetti sauce. I like to always make a basic spaghetti sauce when I am tasting a new pasta product. Our spaghetti sauce doesn't change much since I fell in love with Muir Glen brand of tomatoes. This allows me to focus on just the pasta and not on evaluating the entire dish. The second night, I used the leftover pasta and leftover fresh veggies from the shower I hosted to make a pasta primavera.

Our final decision is that whole wheat pasta tastes very robust (although the pictures look just like regular pasta). It doesn't work well for a delicate pasta sauce, but is more appropriate with hearty veggies. Still, it wasn't a favorite. We are content eating enriched semolina flour pasta instead.

Here is the spinach pesto I made to serve on pizza with fresh tomatoes instead of a marinara sauce. The rosemary bread at $5 for two loaves from Costco makes the pizza easy and tasty because it adds lots of flavor leaving only a need for a little salt and pepper on the tomatoes.

You can find the recipe for my spinach pesto from my post last year. Plus, you can search for other recipes I use the spinach pesto with, like spaghetti squash or butternut squash lasagna, which will be made again this year. I will tell you I passed on the Parmesan and sprinkled a little olive oil in the food processor as I was stirring up and dishing out the pesto. Also, be careful with the garlic. All I had were large cloves left, and it was very potent for the amount I made! Unfortunately, my basil needs more care than I have been giving it; so, I didn't have as many leaves as I am used to or wish for. That's the beauty of the spinach in the pesto. It eliminates the need for so much basil, but still allows for fantastic and healthy flavor.

We should probably wait until Garrett Nudd comes this week to add this post, but we'll just take our chances. It seems that we finally have a situation where Garrett's guacamole may actually have a rival. Paul's Aunt Marsha did something amazing for our Mexican dinner, but we were playing on the beach or something and missed the exact creation. As near as I can tell, the ingredients were simply diced avocados, smaller diced tomatoes and red onions, fresh cilantro, one fresh squeezed lime, and a couple dashes of Cholula and salt. Maybe there was a diced garlic clove, too. Perhaps we won't hurt Garrett's feelings too much if we just recommend that he not smash the avocado, and we'll offer to dash some cholula to see if that's all it takes.

Paul wanted some corn bread, and I thought it would go great with the asparagus, but when I measured out the corn meal, I realized that I was very short the needed amount for the cornbread; so, I checked out the recipe for Corn Scones in Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home and found it needed the 1 cup corn meal I had. The batter mixes up easily and is easy to cut into nice triangular shapes with a pizza cutter. Naturally, the corn scones don't get as fluffy and are a bit crunchier than regular corn bread, but it's a nice change or an easy way to get the same flavor when you are short on corn meal. By the way, the recipe calls for currents, which I intentionally left out.

Time is flying by, and I'm not totally sure I remember all the story to go with this yummy, thick, salad-dressing-of-sorts. Perhaps Lisa will edit it soon. If I remember correctly, a Yumm Sauce is more from an Indian background. Lisa says although Indian food is a favorite for them, most foods are not made gluten-free. So, Lisa found this recipe on line and it makes a perfect topping. I'm most impressed by the quality of ingredients, like garbanzo beans and almonds, which add good nutritional value to the sauce.

Notes from Lisa

This sauce is great with rice or pasta. It can also be used as a dressing for salads, a topping on soup & chili, a spread for sandwiches, a dipping sauce for veggies, a basting sauce for grilling, or a mayo alternative. It's really quite versatile! But best of all, it's egg free, dairy free, wheat free, gluten free, sugar free, cholesterol free and low in sodium. There are nuts in it, however, for anyone with allergies to nuts. My kids love it! I'm sure if you make it you'll find a ton of creative uses for such a flavorful, yummy sauce. Go for it!

Recipe for Original Yumm Sauce

Source: http://mpchickchat.blogspot.com/2005/11/recipe-rip-off-edited.html

• ½ cup oil
• ½ cup almonds
• ⅓ cup brewers yeast
• ⅓ cup garbanzo beans, (or more- 1/2 c.)
• ¼ cup soybeans, (or 1/2 c. silken tofu)
• ½ cup water
• ½ cup lemon juice
• 2 cloves garlic
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon curry powder

Blend nuts, beans and oil in food processor. Then blend in yeast and liquids one at a time. Puree until smooth. Voila!

We loved these vegeburgers. I could see putting Grillers out of business with these. But beyond that, these make something pretty rare for people on a gluten-free diet. Most vegetarian meats have gluten or wheat products in them, which makes it hard to fill that empty spot in your stomach wishing for a vegetarian hamburger. Lisa has come through with what I think is a family recipe. And Paul hopes I make it a family recipe as well. By the way, the bun in the photograph is a whole wheat and not a gluten-free item.

Notes from Lisa

Here's the veggie burger recipe as best as I can replicate it. I've never made them exactly the same twice.

TSP=Textured Soy Protein can be interchangeable with TVP=textured vegetable protein. You'll sometimes see them in ingredient lists. The TVP is sometimes a red flag for gluten because they aren't committing to what type of vegetable protein it contains. So that's something I watch for. Just search on Google or on Amazon.com. Check to make sure the TSP or TVP used is gluten-free. Unless stated on the package, TVP (textured vegetable protein) is a red-flag for possibly containing gluten since the manufacturer is not stating what type of vegetable is used to make the product.

Gluten-Free Vegeburgers

Ingredients

• 2 ½ cups chicken-style dehydrated TSP
• 3 cups water, boiled
• 1 onion, grated or diced in sm. pieces
• 1-2 tablespoons oil
• ½ cup gluten-free bread crumbs
• ½ cup rice crackers, crushed
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 2-3 eggs
• 1-2 tablespoons chicken-style seasoning [like McKay's]
• 3 tablespoons liquid aminos
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

Method

Boil water and combine with TSP to reconstitute it. Fluff with a fork. In a medium sized bowl, combine reconstituted TSP with onion and remaining ingredients. Depending on the consistency of the mixture, use 2 or 3 eggs to achieve a consistency that will hold together when formed into balls (or use 2 egg whites to equal 1 egg). If mixture is too dry, add another egg. If mixture is too wet, add more bread or cracker crumbs (can
use one or the other, don't have to use both). When desired consistency is achieved, form into balls and press down into an oiled skillet. Cook for several minutes on each side until done. When the first batch is done, taste a patty to determine if seasoning if
just right. Adjust as needed. Makes about 18 3-in. patties.

Exactly a week ago, we attended a wedding at the Omni Resort in Champions Gate, Florida. We loved the wedding and are so happy for Sarah and John, but more importantly, we enjoyed this (see photo) particular menu item so much that the efforts of a duplication will likely be part of our menu this week.

I have fallen off the wagon of my menu plan to eliminate unnecessary stress in my life the last couple of weeks due to friends and family visiting, which throws off my schedule a bit. (I'm a creature of habit.) But, I'm back on this week!

Menu for Week of June 1

• Cold Wild Rice with fruit and nuts salad, veggie-meat
• Open-faced grilled cheese with aged white cheddar on dark wheat bread and mixed green salad
• Pizza on Flatbread with veggie-chicken spinach, and zucchini
• Cereal or Smoothies and Sandwiches
• Corn(?) and. . .

I have purchased fresh corn on sale at differing grocery stores for the last two weeks. It's a great summer treat and so inspiring because the fresh flavors make you want to do something just as fresh to go with it. We've already eaten this week's supply of corn, and I hope to acquire more on Thursday or Friday when I do my big bi-weekly grocery shopping.

A few weeks ago, I excitedly clipped a $1.50 coupon for a Kraft Salad Dressing out of the newspaper. I'm not obsessed with using coupons, but if there's a coupon for something I really want, I'm gonna use it. The salad dressings were $1.58 at Walmart, which meant I would pay just $0.08 for my bottle of Peppercorn Ranch Salad Dressing. Sadly, Walmart was out of my preferred store-bought dressing. But, I came across this new Green Goddess dressing, which rang a bell because the vegan restaurant, Dandelion Cafe, uses a vegan dressing by the same name. I took a chance, and was glad I did.

Honfleur is a beautiful seaside town with a great history. We suspect that our ancestors sailed to Nova Scotia, Canada, from this port in search of a new life. The day was quite chilly and rain was in the forecast during the first Saturday in March. We took pictures quickly and searched for a restaurant along the warf that had a reasonable vegetarian option. This was especially hard near the sea when almost everything had fish.

These are pictures of our lunch visit with Tim and Magally Putt to Ethos Vegan Kitchen. Paul and I shared the vegetable lasagna and a 10" pizza. Tim and Magally shared the vegetable lasagna and a black bean burger. Tim said the sandwich was twice the size of the lasagna but half the price.

I made this meal pretty soon after returning from Paris with our French dijon mustard by Maille. The recipe comes from The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper, and I must say that it wasn't disappointing. None of the previous recipes from this cookbook have been disappointing. I really, really enjoyed this light salad with high protein. I suppose I have to add high cholesterol, too, due to the whole egg, but only about half of the yolk survives as the rest of the of the room is taken up by onion and garlic and seasoning.

At the corner of Rue Vieille du Temple and Rue des Rosiers is a restaurant with attached street stand painted in red that boasts "Best Falafel in the World." A block down the road at 34, Rue Rosiers, 75004 Paris, is another restaurant with a street stand painted in green and another message saying "Best Falafel in the World." Read a few reviews in English and in French for each restaurant and you'll see.

I had a zucchini that was looking bad and some tomatoes the might not have much of a future; so, I put my thinking-cap on and came up with a pasta dish because most of the time we feel like you can't go wrong with zucchini and pasta. I pulled out a box of my "Buy One, Get One free Pasta" from Publix and started boiling some water. Meanwhile, I sauteed onion in 1/2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, adding the zucchini pretty quickly, and topping with garlic. When those three ingredients were cooked to my liking, I added diced fresh tomatoes, which I love using because it makes its own sauce.

One day last week, our office had a free lunch delivered by a drug rep. The menu was Tijuana Flats, a chain Mexican restaurant started by some local college kids that has done incredibly well with its fast food and HOT sauces with funky names. I was very impressed with the amount of food delivered because we are a large office and generally the amount set aside to allegedly serve 50-60 people only feeds 40 or less. So in case you were looking for a casual catering recommendation, this is my vote. Naturally, the salsa isn't special, but it's fresh. The same goes for the guacamole.

My cupboard, fridge, and freezer looked really full; so, for a few weeks I did limited to no grocery shopping. Toward the end of the cleaning-out-the-cabinets process, I was left with the ingredients to try a recipe from the Vegetarian 5-ingredient Gourmet. I thought I could get away with using the frozen corn in my freezer and the canned Hunt's tomatoes in the cabinet that I was stuck with after our educational experience with the pasta taste test. The concept was really good, but Paul's comment solved any question as to whether or not the soup was good.

Our friends, Frank and Emily had seen the movie, Ratatouille, enough that they wanted to see what ratatouille<

This week, I will feature a series of posts, the inspirations of which came from the fascinating cookbook, The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper. It is more than just a list of recipes. The book also highlights little known facts, dispels myths, and makes specific grocery list recommendations. Perhaps after I highlight some fabulous experiences with the book, you will want to acquire one of your own.

This is a small, hole-in-the-wall restaurant with a Mediterranean food store attached. It has a Greek menu and has been voted Orlando's Best for a few years, with framed advertisements above the cash register. However, when you look at the plastic table covers with pictures of different kinds of pasta and the "silk" leaves and plastic grape clusters hanging from the ceiling, you might get slightly confused. Paul had a falafel sandwich in a great thick bread wrap. I had the hummus and tabouleh sandwich. Both had lettuce and tomato added with a creamy cucumber dressing coating every bite.