Dill and Feta Green Beans

•  
•  1 gallon size Ziploc bag of green beans
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup white vinegar
• feta cheese
• dill weed
• garlic (optional)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/4 cup diced red onions

1. Wash and snap green beans.  Immerse in boiling water for 5 minutes.
2. In a small bowl whisk together oil, vinegar, salt and pepper.
3. Combine drained green beans, oil mixture, and red onion.
4. Sprinkle as much dill weed and feta on top as desired.

We had a handful of fresh green beans from the garden.  But, no mushrooms so I couldn't make my normal go-to green bean dish.  We had these green beans last weekend at Jeremy's brothers house.  I really liked them so I thought I'd give them a try.  They are a quick, easy, and interesting alternative to the way I usually have green beans.  Jeremy and I both liked them and will make them again.

Grilled Peaches

We've been getting a lot of peaches recently from Farmer Dan.  Last night we decided to grill some for a yummy treat.  It was simple.  Just take a few firm peaches and cut them in halves or quarters (remove the core) If you want to brush some oil on them you can.  We didn't use any oil and they still turned out great.  Place peaches on a greased grill basket and grill.  Turn halfway through cooking.  Remove peaches when they become soft.  Top with vanilla yogurt, whipped cream or ice cream.

Kosher Dill Pickles

• 6 quarts water
• 1 quart vinegar
• 1 3/4 cup salt
• small pinch alum
• 2 buttons of garlic
• dill

1. Boil water, vinegar and salt.  Pour over sliced cucumbers.
2. Put dill & garlic in bottom of jar.
3. Put cucumber and liquid in jar.  
4. Refrigerate.  Pickles will be ready to eat in 1-2 days.

These pickles are awesome.  I like them so much better than the sweet refrigerator pickles I posted a few weeks ago.  The only thing I will do differently next time is use a little less salt.

Fried Brown Rice

Why use Seasmame Oil: 
The health benetits of this oil have only become apparent over the last decade.  Seasame oil provides a rich source of polyunsaturated fats, monounsatureated fats, antioxidants, and several vitamins and minerals.
Why brown rice:
The milling and polishing that converts brown rice to white rice destroys 67% of the vitamin B3, 80% of vitamin B1, 90% of the vitamin B6, half of the manganese, half of the phosphorus, 60% of the iron, and all the dietary fiber and essential fatty acids.

• 3 cups cooked brown rice
• 4-5 TBS seasame oil
• lightly beaten eggs 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 bunch green onion
• 5 large carrots, diced
• salt and pepper
• soy sauce (optional)

1. Heat 1 TBS seasame oil in a large sauce pan.  Add lightly beaten eggs to seasame oil.  Cook until eggs are cooked/scrambled, but still moist.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Remove eggs from saucepan.
2. Put another TBS seasame oil in large saucepan.  Add peas, onion, carrots and green onion.  Cook until vegetables are tender.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
3. Combine rice, eggs, vegetables and another TBS  seasame oil.  Heat until mixture is warmed through.  
4. Add soy sauce to taste (optional). 

BBQ Pork Quesadillas

We had some leftover pork chops in the refrigerator that needed to be used.  I began looking for BBQ pork chop recipes.  This recipe is based on a recipe of Rachel Ray's that I came across.  I made a few changes like adding BBQ sauce and mushrooms and substituting goat cheese.  I LOVED this meal.  Jeremy liked it too but thought it was a little too spicy.

• 4-5 small leftover pork chops (or 2-3 large), diced
• 2- 3 TBS olive oil
• 1/2 cup BBQ sauce
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 pint fresh mushrooms, washed and diced
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 chipotle pepper in adobe sauce, finely chopped
• monterey jack cheese (substitute: chipotle pepper goat cheese)
• salt and pepper
• 5-7 flour tortillas (substitute: gluten free wraps)

1. Place diced pork chops in bowl and mix with BBQ sauce, cumin, and chipotle pepper.
2. Saute onions & mushrooms in large saucepan for 3-4 minutes.  Add tomatoes and pork mixture.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Cook until warmed through.
3. Once pork mixture is heated, pour into a bowl.
4. Spray a medium saucepan with non-stick spray.  Turn heat to med-high.  Place first tortilla in pan. Spread half the tortilla with pork mixture.  Sprinkle with cheese and close wrap.
5. Cook tortilla until browned.  Flip tortilla over and cook other side until browned.
6. Remove from saucepan and cut into triangles.

Stuffed Zucchini

The last couple weeks I haven't been very creative with dinner.  This week I decided it was time to try some new things.  Since we are entering the season of abundant zucchini, my focus was to find a new zucchini recipe.  I read 8-10 different stuffed zucchini recipes on line and developed my own.  It was much easier to make than I thought it was going to be.  Jeremy and I both give this recipe 2 thumbs up; It had great flavor.  I would highly recommend this recipe.

We decided to go vegetarian but you
could easily add some ground turkey or beef.

• 1 medium - large zucchini
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 small onion, diced
• sprinkle of pepper
• 3 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp poultry seasoning
• 1 fresh tomato
• 1/4 cup dry bread crumbs (I made my own using some gluten-free bread I had on hand)

1. To make your own dry bread crumbs: Preheat oven to 300.  Place 1 slice bread of your choice on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Cook 8 - 15 minutes or until desired dryness.  Let bread cool and cut or crumble into small pieces.
2. Cut zucchini in half lengthwise.  Use a spoon (my ice cream scoop worked nicely) to scrap out the contents of the zucchini.  Leave 1/8 inch of insides attached to skin.
3. Chop up zucchini insides and mix in a bowl with bread crumbs, onion, pepper, garlic powder, cheese and poultry seasoning.
4. Bring a pot of water to a boil.  Place zucchini halves in boiling water for 1 min 30 seconds.  Remove from water
5. Fill zucchini halves with mixture.  Top with small pieces of fresh tomato.
6. Place zucchini in a greased baking dish and bake at 400 degrees for approximately 20 minutes.

Sweet Refrigerator Pickles

Last week we harvested our first 2 cucumbers from the garden.  We were so excited.  I decided to try making pickles.  (Our refrigerator already contained an abundance of cucumbers from our CSA).  It was so easy.  After very little work and a few days of refrigeration we had homemade pickles.  At first I was mildly disappointed; these pickles are rather sweet and I prefer dill pickles.  But, Jeremy really likes them and I have found that on sandwiches/burgers they are quite good.  I only had 2 small cucumbers so I used 1/3 of the following recipe.

• 1 cup distilled white vinegar
• 1 TBS salt
• 1 cup white sugar
• 6 cups sliced cucumbers
• 1 cup sliced onion (I used red onion)

1. In a saucepan over medium heat bring vinegar, salt and sugar to a boil.  Boil until the sugar has dissolved. (5 - 7 min)
2. Place cucumbers and onions in a large bowl.  Pour vinegar mixture over cucumbers.  Transfer mixture to sterile containers and refrigerate.  After 3-4 days pickles should be ready to eat.  You can store pickles in refrigerator for 1-2 months.

Risotto Primavera

My cousin shared this tasty recipe with me. Jeremy and I had it for the first time last night. It took about at hour to make but, it was worth the work. Plus we had a lot of leftovers for lunch today.

• 4 cups chicken broth
• 3 TBSP olive oil
• 1/2 yellow onion, diced
• 3 carrots, peeled & finely diced
• 1/2 cup broccoli pieces
• 1 whole yellow squash, diced
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 1/2 cup Arburio rice
• 1 cup dry white wine (I used white cooking wine)
• 1 additional tsp kosher salt
• 4 green onions, diced
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 4 oz goat cheese
• substitute or add asparagus, mushrooms, zucchini, red bell pepper

1.         Pour chicken broth into small saucepan. Heat to a simmer.

2.        In large pan heat 3 TBSP olive oil. Cook onions & carrots for 2 minutes. Add broccoli & cook for another 30 seconds. Add squash & cook another 30 seconds. Sprinkle in salt and stir. Remove from pan and set aside in bowl.

3.        Add another TBSP olive oil to pan. Add rice and stir, cooking for a couple minutes until rice lightly colored.

4.        Add 1/2 c. wine and 1 tsp salt. Stir until liquid almost absorbed. Over the next approx. 30 min, add 1 cup simmering broth at a time cooking & stirring until each batch almost absorbed. Add 1/2 cup wine at the end and cook until absorbed. Add green onions & peas, stirring to combine. Taste rice and add more broth if still to firm. Check salt content & add more if needed.

5.        Remove from heat and stir in cheese and vegetables until well combined.