These are a go to breakfast, snack or pre/post workout treat for me. They are so easy to throw together and you can change them up however you like. I have shared these with most of my guests (I’m bad about breakfast…) and I’ve had dozens of requests for the recipe. I’ve been making these for years and they are slightly different each time. I finally just finished another batch so I think I can now share a “recipe” with everyone.
Start with some overripe bananas. I’m talking black, but not quite moldy.. those are how I like them for recipes like this. I used about 7 large ones in this batch. Next, I add peanut butter. You can use whatever your preference is. I prefer an all natural organic peanut butter and the one we happened to have opened at this time was the Sprouts brand (creamy, unsalted and unsweetened). Picture is deceiving.. I’d say there are about 3 tablespoons of peanut butter in this particular batch. Then, I add in some honey (you could substitute pure maple syrup or agave if you choose). I like to add the local, all natural honey where I can as I suffer from allergies and am told it’s supposed to help! I added probably 3 tablespoons give or take of the honey as well. Mix together well – a spoon should work fine. It should look something like this..
Easy enough so far, right? Next, I throw in some shredded coconut (about 1/4 cup), some sprouted rolled oats (I love the One Degree brand) – probably about a cup or more of the oats. I’m not a big sweets person or chocolate for that matter so I need something tangy and chewy to add. This is where I add my dried cranberries. In this batch I added about 3/4 cup. Often I would throw in some sort of crunchy granola. I didn’t have any on hand so I decided to leave out this time. Last two ingredients I add are chocolate chips (either dark chocolate or semi-sweet) and chocolate protein powder. About 3/4 cup of the chocolate chips and your protein powder really depends on what kind you are using. I prefer the Orgain Organic and use their creamy chocolate fudge for this (there are no added sugars which is important to me). I kept adding until my consistency and taste were ok without overdoing it – my guess is about a cup.
Here is what it looks like after you have everything mixed up. This batch is slightly thin, but will be ok – thicker is ok as well – which it would be if you added granola.
Next – line a muffin tin with some paper cupcake liners. This is important.. it won’t work if you just dump into an empty muffin tin. Also, if you don’t have a muffin tin or don’t have enough you can just use any baking dish that is freezer safe and place your liners in that. See examples below.
Place these in the freezer overnight or until hard. Pop the bars out of the liners into a ziplock bag and store in the freezer until ready to enjoy. If they were a thinner consistency when you put in the freezer keep in mind they will melt faster. These are great in the summer time, after a workout or just anytime in Arizona!
I hope you enjoy these as much we do. Let me know if you come up with any additional ingredients that we need to try!
A few suggestions are: any other dried fruits, including raisins if you don’t like dried cranberries or want sweeter. If you are looking for some extra fiber you could add some wheat bran. Any nuts that you like: almonds, pecans, walnuts.
Frozen Protein Bars
Ingredients
- 7-8 bananas overripe
- 3 tbsp peanut butter
- 3-4 tbsp honey
- 1/4 cup coconut shredded
- 1 cup sprouted, rolled oats or more
- 3/4 cup dried cranberries
- 3/4 cup chocolate chips dark chocolate or semi-sweet
- 1 cup chocolate protein powder
Instructions
- Mix your wet ingredients together first: bananas, peanut butter, honey.
- Add remaining ingredients and stir together well.
- Line a muffin tin (or baking dish) with cupcake liners, fill about 2/3-3/4 full and place in freezer overnight or until frozen solid.
- Pop the bars out of the liners into a freezer bag and store in the freezer until ready to enjoy.
Deviled Eggs
A favorite snack of mine – I love eggs cooked just about any way! My friends and family keep asking for this recipe. I didn’t really think there was a recipe for deviled eggs, but I guess everyone has their own little secret. So – I’ll share my process.
First of all – I only buy large, organic eggs. You have to do your research here on who you are buying from as the industry is not regulated very well and the labeling can be very misleading. Local farms are the best, but there are a few grocery store options I am also good with. Farm fresh eggs are just as good as a tomato picked right off your backyard garden plant! Then – I follow this website’s exact process for boiling my eggs. There is no reason to reinvent the wheel here – this one is absolutely perfect! I follow this to the tee and cook mine right around 10 minutes for my deviled eggs.
They peel super easy every time (use the ice water bath!) and then the yolks pop right out with no problems. Cut your eggs in half and pop the yolks into a medium size bowl. I made about 18 eggs this time. My carrier only fits 2 dozen (halves), but I was taking to a big party so made a few extra.
Next, I add in some mustard. I make a homemade mustard from my banana peppers I grown in my garden. It’s fantastic – a little tangy, slight spice. You can use a store bought mustard. (I will share my recipe soon as I’m waiting to pick enough banana peppers currently). I would look for a tangy maybe honey mustard – should be kind of dark like this:
Next, add in some mayo. Again, I much prefer to use homemade and it’s so easy to make: avocado oil, 1 whole egg, squeeze of lemon juice, mustard powder, pinch of salt. It’s creamier than the store bought and tastes way better. If you are in a rush it’s totally fine to use one from the store. I like the Primal Kitchen avocado oil mayo (it’s sold on Amazon or lots of other places including Target). For my 18 eggs I used about 1/2-2/3 cup of both the mustard and mayo – it’s all about preference and texture. Just add a little of each and you can continue to add more until it’s perfect for you. I also pour in a little apple cider vinegar or if I have pickled red onions in the fridge I’ll use a little of that juice – just about a tablespoon.
Next comes my secret ingredient! I love this stuff! We purchased this for the first time at the Old Town Scottsdale farmers market, but don’t worry – you can buy it online! Saucy lips have great sauces that you can use to marinade meats, use as dressings, or put in things like deviled eggs! The Zesty cilantro is what I use for this one. I use quite a bit as I want the flavor to show about the mayo and mustard. Just mix in about a 1/4 cup and then keep adding to your preference. Here is what my final mix looks like..
I try my best to get the eggs as smooth as possible so the mix is easier to “pipe” into your egg whites. I do not have any fancy piping tips as – I do NOT bake 🙂 So, I dump this into a zip lock bag and cut the corner off and squeeze. If you have larger chunks of egg you will just have to cut a bigger hole into your baggie.
In case you’ve never done this before.. here is what I’m talking about. Just cut that little corner and start piping! That’s it! If you want to make them look pretty for serving you could sprinkle on some paprika or some diced chives on top. Or some micro-cilantro if you are using the saucy lips already. There are so many different ways you can dress up your eggs! I didn’t this time as they were being transported in my little carry case and I was just keeping it easy. Enjoy!
Easy Deviled Eggs
Ingredients
- 18 Eggs large, organic
- 2/3 cup Mustard tangy, honey mustard
- 2/3 cup Mayo avocado oil
- 1 tbsp Vinegar apple cider
- 3/4 cup Saucy Lips Zesty Cilantro Sauce less sauce to taste..
Instructions
- Cook your eggs according to website instructions – 10 minutes. Put in ice water bath for 5+ minutes. Peel.
- Cut your eggs in half and dump your yolks in a medium size bowl.
- Add your mustard, mayo, vinegar and sauce to taste and texture prefered. Try to get your mixture as creamy as possible, removing any large chunks of egg.
- Dump your mixture into a zip lock bag and pipe into your egg whites.
- Top with anything you desire – or a combination – paprika, chives, cilantro.
Pork Posole
It was a cooler day for us Monday. It was actually quite nice. An overcast day with the high temp around 81 degrees. A few rain showers rolled through our area throughout the day and a large thunderstorm rolled through at night. It was so peaceful. Those are rare days here and a nice break from the sunny and 100 degrees we had over the weekend.
I had some leftover smoked/pulled pork in the freezer I had been saving to make another batch of posole. The cooler temperatures seemed like the perfect day! Although this soup is so bright and and full of citrus that it’s good in the hot summer days as well.
This is pretty simple to put together. It can be done quickly, but I do like to let it simmer a while before serving so the flavors really have time meld. Start by chopping a large, yellow/sweet onion and 2 large green chilies/peppers. I used anaheim peppers. Heat some oil over medium heat in a dutch oven and add your onions. Cook the onions for about 2-3 minutes until mostly soft. Add in 1.5 tablespoon of minced garlic and cook for another minute.
Add about 1 tablespoon+ of each, ground cumin, and oregano. I used dried oregano from the garden.
Stir in your diced peppers, cook for a few minutes and then add your pork.
Once your pork is heating and mixed in well, add your pinto beans (one can, drained), hominy (29oz can) and chicken broth (I used a 32oz box of organic, low sodium). Squeeze in the juice of about 2 limes. Simmer together with the lid on for at least 20 minutes. In my opinion, the longer the better. We probably simmered for a little over and hour.
Just before serving, prepare a couple of tortillas – trust me, this is one of the best parts. I found some great gluten free, ancient grain tortillas. They are from La Tortilla Factory, and I found them at Sprouts. Lay them on a baking sheet and brush with a little bit of ghee butter. Place them under the broiler for about 3 minutes. Then, use a pizza cutter to cut into triangles for serving.
Add diced avocado, fresh cilantro and another squeeze of lime juice into individual serving bowls and serve with the tortillas. Enjoy!
Pork Posole
Ingredients
- 1 quart pulled pork smoked, or grocery store
- 1 large sweet, yellow onion
- 2 large green peppers anaheim (or similar)
- 2 tbsp olive oil or other oil
- 1.5 tbsp garlic minced
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp crushed, dried oregano
- 1 can pinto beans drained (14 oz)
- 2 can hominy 30 oz
- 32 oz chicken broth or stock low sodium, organic
- 4 limes
- 2-4 tortillas gluten free 🙂
- 2 avocado
- 1 tbsp ghee butter
- fresh cilantro to taste
Instructions
- Chop your onion and peppers. Heat your oil over medium heat in a dutch oven and add onions. Cook 2-3 minutes.
- Add minced garlic and cook for another minute.
- Add your cumin and oregano and stir in diced peppers. Cook for a few minutes.
- Add pork and cook for a few minutes until heated through. Add pinto beans and hominy.
- Pour in chicken broth and squeeze in juice of about 2 limes. Simmer with lid on for at least 20 minutes – up to a couple of hours.
- Place tortillas on baking sheet and brush with a little ghee butter. Place under broiler for about 3 minutes (until starting to brown and/or puff up).
- Cut tortillas into triangles using pizza cutter. Serve soup in bowl with diced avocado, fresh cilantro and another squeeze of lime – and tortilla strips. Enjoy!
Creamy, Roasted Tomato and Chicken Zoodles
Like usual, we had a few things in the fridge that needed to be eaten before going bad.. rotisserie chicken and cherry tomatoes were a couple of those things. I tend to overbuy tomatoes anytime I find beautiful heirlooms.. I just can’t get enough! Any day now we will start picking our own right out of the backyard! In my opinion there is nothing better than eating your own homegrown tomatoes. In my family we call the cherry’s “Karen’s candy.” That’s because my sister ate them as if they were candy.
I used a mixture of zucchini and yellow squash zoodles this time. You can make your own or at our local grocery store I like to purchase the Cece’s: https://cecesveggieco.com/products/#noodled. First thing I do is wrap my “zoodles” in paper towels to soak up any extra moisture. Then on to the tomatoes. Set the oven to 450 degrees. Roll your cleaned tomatoes onto a jelly roll pan with some olive oil. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt, add some minced garlic, crushed red pepper and some vinegar (I used champagne vinegar, red wine vinegar works as well). Toss together well and place in the oven for approx 10 minutes. They are finished when they start popping open.
Next, add a little oil (olive, avocado or ghee work) enough to coat the pan. Over medium heat, add a little minced garlic for flavor and throw in your rotisserie chicken. Stir occasionally until the chicken is heated through. Squeeze your zoodles in your paper towels and add them to your pan. Stir together until the zoodles are cooked through. Should take about 6-7 minutes.
Grab your pan of tomatoes from the oven and stir into the mix. Use a spatula to scrape any bits left on the pan into your mixture. Mix this together well and you are almost done. I wanted to make this a little creamy and decided to add some goat cheese.
Stir in just enough crumbles to make your creamy texture. The flavor of goat cheese is strong enough that you don’t need much. And it soaks up the juices in the pan well. If you are a goat cheese lover like myself, you can add a few extra crumbles on top of your bowl. That’s it – enjoy! How simple right?!
If you don’t like goat cheese you could use cream cheese or even a little plain yogurt. Also on the red pepper flakes – they add heat so if you are sensitive to spicy use sparingly.
Creamy, Roasted Tomato and Chicken Zoodles
Ingredients
- 4 Zucchini and/or squash Large
- 2 Pints Cherry tomatoes
- 4 Tbsp Olive oil Divided
- 2 Tbsp Minced garlic
- 2 Tbsp Red pepper flakes Approx
- 2 Tbsp Red wine or champagne vinegar
- 2 Tsp Salt Himalayan
- 1.5 Cups Rotisserie chicken
- 2 Tbsp Goat cheese Crumbled
Instructions
- Spiralize your zucchini and squash (if not already done). Place between paper towels to soak up moisture.
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place cherry tomatoes and 1/2 of olive oil on jelly roll pan. Add pinch of salt, crushed red pepper and 1/2 of minced garlic. Mix together well. Place in oven for approximately 12 minutes.
- Heat remaining oil and garlic in pan over medium heat. Add the rotisserie chicken and stir until heated through.
- Squeeze the zucchini noodles and add to the pan. Mix together well until cooked to desired doneness. Approximately 7 minutes.
- Once your cherry tomatoes are popping open, remove from oven. Use a spatula to scrape all juice and any remaining bits from pan into zoodles mixture. Cook for a few minutes to let flavors mix.
- Add in your goat cheese crumbles. Stir until mixed together.
- If you love goat cheese like we do, top your bowl with a few extra crumbles.
Smoked Salmon and Steamed Green Beans
Alright – it’s not my best plating, but aside from the picture this dinner turned out fantastic. I’m loving using the Traeger and also so incredibly happy that I was able to get my husband to admit he actually loves green beans! I know a lot of people that love smoked salmon. I don’t know why you wouldn’t. It’s healthy and so easy, great leftover and doesn’t take too long (compared to other things you would smoke)
Usually we will smoke an entire large filet, but this time we decided on just a couple of smaller pieces. We always try to buy the sustainable, wild-caught. We are not on a coast so our fresh options are slightly limited. I like to purchase the salmon the same day I plan to cook it – maybe one day before, but I don’t like to freeze and then re-thaw before smoking. I put these on a pan so that I could season and throw back in the fridge for a couple of hours before putting on the smoker.
I kept this pretty simple based on what I typically always have on hand in my kitchen/spice cabinet. Start by dusting the entire filet with a little Himalayan salt. I then added some lemon powder – if you don’t have this you could use lemon zest and/or just squeeze some lemon juice on top. Next, I drizzled each with some honey. I only use the local honey – much better for you and a better guarantee of where it actually came from. Then, sprinkle on some paprika and garlic powder. Sit in the fridge until ready to smoke.
I cooked these on smoke temp (150-200 degrees) for about an hour. The sun was going down and the smoker was staying on the lower side of temps so I decided to turn it up to medium heat and finished that way. Overall they took about another 45 minutes. You can tell when they are done with the fork test – they should flake and not show any raw pieces. That’s literally it – done with the salmon. Depending on what kind of smoker you have and temperatures we have found the average time is 1.5-2 hours total smoking time.
I served our salmon with some lemon, buttered brown rice and steamed green beans with roasted garlic. I think I’ve mentioned just how much I love veggies? Several years ago my husband declared he hated green beans. I was slightly devastated and trying to figure out why. I went with it as he will eat almost everything else. However, I couldn’t keep my eyes off the fresh beans at the store and bought some thinking I’d just make them for myself.
So easy.. break off the ends, wash and place in a pan just about covered with water. Bring to a boil. Cover the pan and simmer for 10 minutes. Drain the water. I added a little butter and roasted garlic (they had pre-roasted garlic in the deli section at the grocery store – score/time saver!). I let the butter and garlic and beans cook together for another 5 minutes and done!
Smoked Salmon & Green Beans
Ingredients
Smoked Salmon
- 1 filet salmon wild caught
- Himalayan salt
- honey local
- lemon powder
- garlic powder
- paprika
Green Beans
- grean beans
- butter
- roasted garlic
Instructions
Smoked Salmon
- Sprinkle you salmon filet with the salt. Drizzle the honey on top and add remaining ingredients. Just a dusting of each one across the entire filet.
- Prepare your smoker and add the salmon. If using the smaller Traeger like I was – use the smoke setting for the first hour and then turn up to medium for another 45 minutes. Fork test the fillets for doneness – they should easily flake. Enjoy!
Steamed Green Beans with Roasted Garlic
- Snap the ends off of your beans, wash and throw in a saute pan with water just about covering them.
- Bring to a boil. Cover your pan and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Drain the water. Add Butter – tablespoon depending on how many beans you are making. Add your roasted garlic. Cook for another 5 minutes or so.
Spiralized Cucumber & Tomato Salad
Last night.. I actually got my husband to eat fresh green beans – and he loved them. Polished off the pan! I am so happy. I will share that simple recipe with you later this week. It’s absolutely gorgeous weather in the Phoenix metro right now. We are all trying to enjoy this and soak up as much as we can before the ovens are turned on.. and ran all summer long. So I often take my lunch to the patio and enjoy it outside this time of year.
Most of the time I am looking for a super quick, simple and healthy lunch option. The spiralizer that I have is so easy to access, use and clean it really helps speed up the process for things like this. I knew that I had a few cucumbers in the fridge and wanted to be sure to use them up while they were still fresh! So I pulled 2 large cucumbers out, washed and cut off one end and started spiralizing. I used the coarse noodles – like spaghetti noodle size blade. So much fun.. I love transforming foods into noodles and such.
If you have ever made a cucumber salad before, or actually if you have ever eaten a cucumber before, you know that they are very watery. So – for the first time, I decided to use a little of the salt method for this. I sprinkled on some Kosher salt and mixed together well letting the (cucudooles) sit while I dug for what other ingredients I had in my fridge to turn this into a salad. Hehe.. I will have to think of a better name for them! About 5 minutes later – I squeezed the cucumbers between a LOT of paper towels to take out quite a bit of liquid. You will never get it all and if you do – I’d like to see what that looks like.
Next, I added some cherry tomatoes, cut in half. I cut them in half because it’s so much better when those tomato juices mix in with everything else. I also had some quick pickled onions already in my fridge – so I added the remainder of a jar. I have found I really enjoy keeping the pickled onions on hand and they are so easy to make!
I then added some dill weed – you can use a dried or fresh. And then top off with about 1/2 cup of plain, non-fat, Greek yogurt. (organic of course) That is something else I like to pretty much always have on hand. Much better than sour cream, so many uses and it really stays fresh for a long time. Mix this all together really well. You might want to cut up your cucudooles if they were in the really long strands. Just like you would cut up a kid’s bowl of spaghetti noodles at a restaurant.
There is is – that simple. It’s great when you eat it right away, but even better when you let it sit at least for a few hours. Great idea for a summer BBQ side or if you are like me, lunch. You could even throw in some rotisserie chicken if you wanted to add some protein for your lunch. This will still get pretty watery – that’s just what you get with cucumbers!
Spiralized Cucumber & Tomato Salad
Ingredients
- 2 large cucumbers
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes approx
- 1/3 cup pickled red onion
- 2 tbsp dill fresh or dried
- 1/2 cup plain, non-fat, Greek yogurt
Instructions
- Wash your cucumbers and cut off one end. Spiralize using the coarse noodle (spaghetti noodle size) blade.
- Sprinkle with Kosher salt and let sit for approx 5 minutes. Squeeze out the water between several paper towels as much as you can.
- Wash and cut your cherry tomatoes in half. Add your cherry tomatoes and pickled red onion to your cucumbers.
- Sprinkle in your dill. Mix in the yogurt and still well.
- Refrigerate for a couple of hours before enjoying. OR – eat now if you don’t want to wait.
Tuna “Zoodle” Casserole
I believe there are thousands of versions of tuna casserole online. My husband enjoys tuna and I was looking for inspiration for what to do with the canned version. I also recently obtained a new spiralizer and just really enjoy using it. And.. zucchini is in season here! Mine is not ready yet, but hopefully we will have some soon. For this dinner I basically took my mom’s old tuna noodle casserole recipe she had written in the cookbook she gave my sister and I each when we got married – and I used that as my inspiration. You have canned tuna, egg noodles, cream of mushroom soup and breadcrumbs.
I used my spiralizer to make zucchini ribbons. You just use the flat blade and it’s super easy. I spread them out on a cookie sheet on top of a couple of layers of paper towels and added another layer on top. I let that sit for 20-30 minutes. You don’t necessarily have to wait that long, but I had other things going on. Then you squeeze all of the water out with the paper towels and throw your ribbons in a bowl awaiting the rest of the mixture.
A typical start for me.. I melted some ghee butter (about 4 tablespoons give or take). I added some garlic – probably 3 tablespoons of that as well. And then a package and a half of organic white mushrooms. Cook that down until the mushrooms are done all the way through.
Then, I added some white wine. Any dry white will do – this particular night I had a California sauvignon blanc. I added about a cup, maybe a little more and let it simmer for about 12 minutes.
Then, I removed from the heat and stirred in about 1.5-2 cups of non-fat, plain Greek yogurt and some cracked peppercorns. Stir together well. Make sure you stir constantly – you don’t want the yogurt to curdle. Once that was done and mixed well – I drained a large can of tuna and added to my bowl of zucchini ribbons. Finally, I poured my sauce or “cream of mushroom” over the tuna and zoodle mixture.
Pour your mixture into a baking dish and top with breadcrumbs. In our case I found a great gluten free rice option at the grocery store. The gluten free breadcrumbs are larger and hold their texture better than the regular, fine breadcrumbs. I threw this in the oven at 350 for 20 minutes.
The only thing I would have changed was I would suggest if you have extra long ribbons – cutting them up before adding to your mixture. Just makes serving a little easier – and maybe prettier than above. Otherwise it’s just like serving long spaghetti noodles and doesn’t impact the taste at all. My husband and I both agreed this will be added to a regular rotation for us!
Tuna “Zoodle” Casserole
Ingredients
- 5-6 medium zucchini
- 1 can tuna organic, low sodium
- 4 tbsp ghee butter
- 3 tbsp minced garlic
- 1.5 pckg white mushrooms
- 1 cups white wine dry
- 2 cup greek yogurt plain, non-fat
- 2 tsp cracked peppercorns
- 3 tbsp italian breadcrumbs gluten free
Instructions
- Using the flat blade of a spiralizer, create zucchini ribbons. This makes them more like the traditional egg noodles. It will seem like you have a lot – until you squeeze the water out.
- Layer a baking sheet with several layers of paper towels – spread your zucchini on top of the paper towels and then cover with additional layers. Let sit for approx 20 minutes.
- Over medium heat, melt some ghee butter in a saute pan. Add your minced garlic and saute for a few minutes. Add in your mushrooms and stir occasionally until cooked through.
- Once your mushrooms are cooked through, add your dry white wine and let simmer for 10-12 minutes.
- Remove your mixture from the heat and stir in your yogurt and cracked pepper. Stir consistently until well mixed – do not let your yogurt curdle.
- Squeeze the water out of the zucchini ribbons with the paper towels and toss into a mixing bowl. Drain your can of tuna and add to your ribbons.
- Add your sauce to the bowl and mix well. Pour everything into a baking dish.
- Top with your breadcrumbs and bake in the over at 350 for 20 minutes.
How Does Your Garden Grow?
I was late this year getting everything planted. I think most of the US had a crazy weather pattern just like we did in AZ. With the late possible frosts and my travel schedule, I was about a month behind. That is a HUGE deal here as our growing season for certain things – ie: Heirloom tomatoes can be pretty short. And that is probably my most favorite thing to grow. So – fingers crossed – along with a lot of extra attention to the garden! I follow some garden sites on Facebook and such and I see that some people have continuous gardens here (year round). Sometimes I envy their persistence, but I’ve also come to realize that it can be very good to take a break. You end up more energized and excited when it’s the season to get back to whatever it is you are taking a break from. It might be a week off at the gym, a vacation from work or a winter off of gardening.
I pulled almost everything out of the garden over the winter to prep for this next season. The only things I left were a few herbs that were hanging in there and my eggplant (because I wasn’t strong enough to pull those roots out!). This is the Rosemary that I left.. it won’t stop growing! Also – my eggplant produced all winter long – about 5-8 at a time. I never watered, pruned or did anything to it for that matter and it would NOT give up. Don’t get me wrong, we do love eggplant in this house, just not enough to know what to do with that much. So – I forwent the eggplant this time around.
I love to plant lots of herbs and most of them do quite well year round here. Cilantro is a finicky one.. it does not like the heat. So – it won’t be here much longer. It’s still holding on.. you can even see the little sprouts of new growth that might make it before our temps get it. I will cut it down over the next week or so and make some chimichurri that I can freeze. I also have planted: oregano, parsley, sage, lavender, thyme and lemon thyme, chives and lots of basil.
I am so excited to see the first fruits – tomatoes, peppers, cucumber flowers. These pictures were taken over a week ago so they are slightly bigger now.
I love having these pictures for comparison. In about a month it will be amazing how big these plants all are. This year we added some height and some chicken wire to help keep the bunnies out.. last year I had a few baby bunny nests in my gardens. They are so cute, but need to find another place to sleep!
Lastly, I will share with you a funny story about this hole you see. We do struggle with a few pocket mice in our yard. They like to burrow under our palm trees and eat the roots. The make messes everywhere! We cannot and do not want to put poison out for several reasons, 1)the bait simply attracts more mice and 2)we do not want to kill our beautiful owls and other predators in the area. Therefore we try our best to manage the problem with grains and sprays filled with essential oils that are supposed to deter them. One day – ONE day after I planted my garden and put up my chicken wire.. I walk outside the next morning to find this hole. It looks a lot like the holes the mice make throughout the yard. However, they hadn’t eaten anything so I was slightly confused – thinking they are just waiting for the veggies to grow. I spent a very long time at the local hardware store researching and buying about 10 different products to get rid of whatever was making this hole. Be it a vole, mouse, rat, ground squirrel.. you name it, I was going to get rid of it. I sprayed, sprinkled, filled in, said a prayer.. and the next day, the hole was back! So.. fast forward about a week (of this same thing). I was heading out of town on an early flight. Which meant, I was tending the garden earlier than normal. We have a drip system sprinkler throughout the yard and one of the zones was on at the time.. can you believe this entire time – the hole was caused by a broken drip line?! I caught a video of it bubbling and shared the good? news with my husband. The things we learn while gardening 🙂
Sauteed Carrot Ribbons
Have I mentioned just how much I love veggies? Really any veggie, I just can’t get enough. I also love the colors you can find in these organic carrots. As I was smoking my chicken the other day – it felt like summer out and that called for some colorful summer sides. I was wanting to use my spiralizer for these, but found out quickly it is just much easier to use a vegetable peeler. The carrots just weren’t fat enough. Carrots are a great veggie to saute as they are firmer than other veggies and hold their texture well.
This may not look like very many carrots, but it makes a lot more than you would think. This was plenty for the 2 of us with leftovers for both as well. So.. cut off the top and skinny little bottom parts of each carrot. Then, take our your vegetable peeler and peel the carrot down the long side – lay the carrot flat on a cutting board and hold onto the large end. At least that is what I found the easiest. Also – for consistent ribbons, I just kept shaving down the same side. I think my favorite are the purple carrots – they are yellow in the middle. One of them was a lighter purple and my husband joked that it looked like bacon!
You end up with a bowl looking something like this. Of course you can use all orange carrots or whatever you prefer. Next, I melted some ghee butter in a pan over med-high heat. I added some mushrooms and a couple of rosemary sprigs. The mushrooms really soak up the ghee butter so I added a little extra. Probably between 2-3 tablespoons total.
Rosemary grows like a wild weed in Arizona – and it’s one of my favorite smells. Does anyone else do that? ..walk out to your garden and run your fingers through the herbs to smell the wonderful scents? Sometimes that is how I get my dinner inspiration. Some people don’t like how rosemary can be tough to chew in certain dishes. It will soften enough here that it should be fine, but leave the sprigs and you can easily pull them out if you prefer and still have plenty of the wonderful flavor.
Next – add your carrot ribbons to the same pan. Stir together and kind of rotate your carrots with the mushrooms so that everything in the pan soaks up the rosemary flavored butter. I also added about a tablespoon of garlic powder. I like how the powder sticks in this a little better, but you could always use fresh or pre-minced garlic as well.
Once your carrots are cooked through – sprinkle in some shredded Parmesan cheese just before serving and Enjoy! Pull the rosemary sprigs out if you would like before serving.
Sauteed Carrot Ribbons (with Mushrooms and Rosemary)
Ingredients
- 1 bunch carrots organic, mixed colors
- 3 tbsp ghee butter or regular butter or oil if you prefer
- 1 pckg white button mushrooms
- 2 sprigs rosemary
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese shredded
Instructions
- Wash your carrots and cut the top and bottom off. Using a vegetable peeler, hold the carrot down flat on a cutting board and run the peeler along the carrot to create ribbons. Do this until the carrot is too thin to peel.
- Over medium-high heat, melt some ghee butter. Add your mushrooms and rosemary.
- Once your mushrooms are cooked about 1/2 way through or more, add your carrot ribbons and garlic powder.
- Stir together well until carrots are cooked through.
- Pull our your rosemary sprigs (if you choose to). Sprinkle with shredded Parmesan cheese.
Carrot Top Pesto & Cold Stuffed Tomatoes
Along with my smoked beer can chicken, I made sauteed carrot ribbons and cold stuffed tomatoes. I stuffed those tomatoes with quinoa and carrot pesto. I’d honestly never eaten carrot tops before and wasn’t sure how this was going to turn out, but I just went for it. I hate letting those gorgeous greens go to waste.
Look at all off of those greens just from a few organic carrots. This made more than enough pesto to last us for a while. I also recently received a new food processor from my husband, for my birthday, and I always get excited to break it out so another reason for the pesto. Remove the greens from the stems (and carrots) just like you would cilantro. Set aside. Gather your remaining ingredients – you can adjust to your personal preference, but here is what I included: pine nuts (about 1/2 cup), Parmesan cheese (shredded or cubed), minced garlic, crushed red pepper, 1/2 a large preserved lemon, a handful of mixed greens (baby spinach and fresh greens mix), a handful of fresh basil and olive oil.
With the large bowl and large chopping blade in your processor, running on high – put in your pine nuts and Parmesan cheese until chopped. Add your garlic, crushed red pepper and pulse a few times on high. Add in your carrot tops, greens, basil and preserved lemon and pulse about 10-15 times on high. Scrape the sides of the processor and turn it back onto high. Pour your olive oil slowly through your small food feeder until mixed well. I added about 2/3 cup. Mine was pretty salty as most of these ingredients are and the tartness of the carrot greens didn’t help balance that. I decided to add some sour cream. I added about 1/2 cup. If you want it sweeter you could always add some honey or brown sugar.
Next, cut the tops off of your tomatoes and scrape out the inside using a grapefruit fork. Turn them upside down for 10-15 minutes to let the juices run out. You can sit on a wire rack or just a plate works fine.
Cook your quinoa per package instructions. Let it cool. If you are in a rush you can put on a plate in the fridge for a bit. Mix together your pesto and quinoa and stuff your tomatoes. There you have it! I forgot a complete picture, but grabbed one with our dinner. (at the top)
Carrot Top Pesto
Ingredients
- 1 bunch carrot tops
- 1/2 cup pine nuts
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese shredded or cubed
- 2 tbsp minced garlic
- 2 tbsp crushed red pepper
- 1/2 large lemon preserved
- 1 handful mixed greens
- 1 handful fresh basil
- 2/3 cup olive oil
- 1/2 cup nonfat greek yogurt, plain (or sour cream)
Cold Stuffed Tomatoes
- 3 or 4 tomatoes large
- 1/2 cup quinoa
Instructions
- Cut off carrot tops and set aside.
- Chop your pine nuts and parmesan cheese on high. Add your crushed red pepper, preserved lemon, garlic and pulse on high until mixed well.
- Add your greens (carrot tops, mixed greens and basil). Pulse on high about 10/15 times until chopped. Scrape the sides.
- With processor on high, slowly add your olive oil until mixed well.
- Taste and add any honey or sugar your might want. Pour into a bowl and mix with 1/2 cup of yogurt.
Cold Stuffed Tomatoes
- Cut the top off of your tomatoes and scrape the insides out using a knife or grapefruit spoon.
- Turn your tomatoes upside down for 10-15 minutes to let the juices run out.
- Cook your quinoa per package instructions and let cool.
- Mix your cooled quinoa with your pesto – to taste. about 1/2 and 1/2, maybe a little more quinoa.
- Stuff your tomatoes and enjoy!