I hadn’t even thought about posting/sharing this one.. I was assuming it was universal. But.. I had multiple people ask for the recipe. So – here goes nothing. This may be my shortest/easiest one yet. And not many pictures to share outside of the above.
Fresh peaches.. I mean it’s summer. We were grilling leg of lamb and I wanted a nice, refreshing, light side. I grabbed a few fresh peaches from the store. Sliced into small pieces. In Arizona, mid-summer, gardens don’t grow so amazing… I mean, I can’t complain. My tomatoes are still growing, but most of them are smaller. So.. I didn’t have the large gorgeous heirlooms to slice for caprese. Instead, I just do a bite size caprese. Slice/dice your peaches.. then same thing with your tomatoes. I bought the pre-made mozzarella in the little pearls/beads. You can also slice/dice larger mozzarella. Next, Basil. That is one thing that is growing so well for me this year. I have an abundance planted with my tomatoes under my shade cloth as well as about 10 volunteer plants that have popped up throughout the garden. Maybe I can thank the birds, maybe the wind, maybe the bunnies?? Either way, I’m happy! I just tear the basil or use some herb scissors if you have them. Mix your peaches, tomatoes, basil and mozzarella together. Drizzle with some fresh, local honey and some good quality balsamic.
That’s it – enjoy! So fresh, so yummy, so summer.. I’m not even putting a recipe card together for this one 😉
Refreshing Broccoli Slaw
This is the slaw I was telling you about – the one we topped the Turkey Burgers with! This was pretty simple and turned out really yummy! I used the bagged (or boxed) broccoli slaw to start. It holds its crunch better 🙂 Still, when making slaw I like to make ahead a few hours if possible to let the flavors really mix together.
This is the base that I started with. Mostly broccoli with a few carrots and red cabbage mixed in. Next, I very thinly sliced some fresh radish. About two small ones. Same thing with a cucumber. I had a 1/4 of one left so I used that and another.
Add those to your bowl of broccoli slaw. And lastly, before the dressing I threw in some raw, organic kraut. Basically it’s fermented red cabbage. Fermented foods are good for your gut! I found the jar at sprouts in the refrigeration section. Here is a picture and link to their website for more information on the products!
After mixing those together well, we make the “dressing.” I started with my meyer lemon olive oil. This is something I will be keeping in my pantry from now on. I only used about 1 ounce. I then added in another ounce of citrus champagne vinegar. This is another item we keep on hand. Especially because we make our own salad dressings – as we all should. So much tastier and better for you! Next, I added in some dill weed and some greek yogurt. Probably about 2 tablespoons of the dill and about a 2/3 cup of yogurt. And the final touch, pure maple syrup. I’m also guessing about 2 tablespoons. You can start with less and add more to taste. You can use an immersion blender to mix this or just a tiny whisk works great too. Just mix together really well until it looks like this…
Mix Pour this into your bowl of slaw and stir together really well. Let it sit in the fridge to incorporate. Preferably a couple of hours, but at least 30 minutes. Enjoy it alone as a side or as a topping on your burger!
Refressing Broccoli Slaw
Ingredients
- 12 oz broccoli slaw
- 2 radishes
- 1.5 cucumbers
- 1/4 cup raw, organic kraut red cabbage
- 1 oz meyer lemon olive oil
- 1 oz citrus champagne vinegar
- 2/3 cup greek yogurt plain
- 2 tbsp dill weed
- 2 tbsp pure maple syrup
Instructions
- Thinly slice your radishes and cucumbers. Mix together in a bowl with your slaw and kraut.
- Mix together remaining ingredients until you have a smooth, creamy texture.
- Add your dressing to your slaw mix. Stir together thouroughly. Sit in the refrigerator to let incorporate for at least 30 minutes, but 2+ hours is best.
- Enjoy alone as a side or as a topping on a burger or anything you can imagine!
Better than beef burgers (turkey)
We really enjoy a good turkey burger. I have some old go to recipes that we like, but I decided to change it up this time. And I’m glad I did – they turned out fantastic! Luckily I was silly enough to make a dozen so we now have a few packs in the freezer to enjoy in a week or so. I think you can cook Turkey burgers just about any way: grill, stove top, oven. We usually grill, but it was close to 120 degrees yesterday!! So – I used a cast iron griddle on the stove. It may have helped me keep them together a little better as well? I have one like this ..actually I think it might be that exact one. We like to use it on the grill for breakfast too. Oh.. I should share a few of our favorite grill breakfast recipes soon! Anyway – the burgers..
I had a huge box of fresh spinach so of course spinach turkey burgers are a thing. I decided to chop it up and leave fresh (not cooked). Just a rough chop worked fine. I threw that into a large mixing bowl.
Then, I had some beautiful jalapenos from the garden. As you can see they were red/turning red. I don’t know if it’s a wives tale, but I swear it’s true.. the longer they stay on and the hotter/drier it is outside the hotter the pepper. I diced them pretty tiny and added to my bowl of spinach. I then threw in a little Himalayan salt and some fresh cracked pepper.
So then I’m shuffling around the kitchen and pantry trying to figure out what I want to do with these and see some sun-dried tomatoes. I had both jarred and dried. I decided on the dried ones. I chopped them up as much as I could – those weren’t easy to chop. I might suggest a magic bullet or something similar for next time. Of course these need some cheese. I’ve used several kinds in the past and really debated on what type would go best with this burger and I landed on the classic feta.
Throw that all in your bowl and it’s looking like a really yummy and beautiful salad! I debated eating some for lunch! Lastly, before the turkey, I added some olive oil. I chose to use my Meyer lemon infused olive oil. Just a drizzle. Mix it all together really well.
Then, I got out my 3lb package of turkey.. yes that’s right, 3lbs. I started by adding in half and mixing together. Use your hands! I realized I had used such a large bowl that I probably added too much of the above so I went ahead and used the entire package of turkey. Praying these would turn out okay enough to freeze some for future. Trust me – they turned out so good I had to get this recipe written down quickly!
After mixing in your turkey really well – make your patties. These are about 1/4 pound patties. I was making these ahead so they would be ready to go when we got home from a little after work outing together so I put them in the fridge with some saran wrap over. When ready – I heated my griddle on high over my stove (using the grated side, not flat) and cooked on each side for approx 5 minutes. Don’t press down while cooking. You will squeeze out the juice. Just get your pan super hot and flip when ready. I also made a slaw that we served on top of the burgers (my husband with a bun and mine without). I’ll share that recipe with you next! The additional side that night was grilled pineapple – yummy! We also cooked that on top of the cast iron griddle. I hope you enjoy these as much as we did. Let me know what you think!
Better than Beef Burgers (Turkey)
Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh spinach give or take
- 2 jalapenos
- salt and pepper to taste
- 3 oz sun-dried tomatoes not in oil
- 1 cup feta cheese
- 2 tbsp olive oil meyer lemon infused if available
- 3 lbs ground turkey
Instructions
- Wash and chop the spinach. Add to large mixing bowl.
- Seed and dice the jalapenos and add them to bowl.
- Add salt (Himalayan) and pepper to bowl.
- Chop the sun-dried tomatoes. Also add them to bowl.
- Add Feta Cheese and olive oil and mix well.
- Add ground turkey mixing well, use your hands.
- Make your patties. You should have about 10-12 total patties around 1/4 lb each. Make sure you get them formed well so they don't fall apart on the grill, but don't work with them too much either. 🙂
- When ready to cook – heat your grill or griddle to a high heat. Cook on each side for approx 5 minutes. This will depend on how large you make your patties. Enjoy!
Stuffed Garden Peppers
Peppers are easy to grow in the garden. I have had success with them both in the Midwest as well as in Arizona. Currently I am growing.. jalapenos, serranos, poblanos, bell peppers, anaheim, about 6 banana pepper plants (because they grow so well and there is soooo much you can do with them) and then what I thought was pepperoncini, but still have yet to determine what they actually are. I have stuffed all varieties, but find my favorites for this recipe are the banana, poblano , bell and anaheim peppers. I had one large poblano, a couple very large anaheim and quite a few medium size banana peppers ready to go so that is what I used this time around.
I cut the top off of each pepper, slit almost all the way down, but not cutting in half and remove as many seeds as you can. These are all pretty mild peppers so you don’t need to spend too much time worrying about removing each one. Then, I took some tomatoes, also from the garden, and squeezed them into a bowl. They need to be ripe enough for this, that you can actually squeeze them. I then threw in some of my dried oregano (also from the garden) – it has become one of my most favorite spices. I am growing extra right now so that I will have plenty to dry and store again before I use it all up! Next goes in the fresh parsley (a can is fine as well if you don’t have fresh). One thing I have learned about Italian cooking is that all of the best Italian recipes are heavy on fresh parsley. A few sprinkles of some smoked paprika and some fresh ground pepper finish of your mixture in the bowl.
I used ground pork again, you can use whatever ground meat you prefer or keep on hand. I like the mild flavor of the pork in this recipe and it also tends to be one we have on hand the most. I diced up a few of my smaller peppers and threw them into a tiny bit of oil and heated for a minute before adding my pork. Cook the pork all the way through and then add in your tomato and seasonings from earlier.
Stir together until heated through. Then, we stuff the peppers. Line the stuffed peppers in a baking dish. Top them with your favorite marinara sauce. Homemade is great, canned is just fine. If I am going to use a jar one of my favorites is the Sprouts Brand – organic, tomato basil. Come to think of it, I probably should have added basil in our spices above. I guess the sauce will help make up for that!
Try to spread your sauce out as evenly as possible, covering as much of the peppers as you can. This will help them become a little softer as they cook. Lastly, sprinkle some shredded Parmesan cheese on top. I baked these at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes. We seem to think these are very filling and one large pepper is more than enough for a meal for myself! They are pretty darn good leftover as well.
Stuffed Garden Peppers
Ingredients
- 1 dozen peppers assorted sizes and kinds
- 6 fresh tomatoes medium size, approx
- 1 lb ground pork
- 1/4 cup dried oregano
- 2 tbsp parsley fresh or jar
- 1 tbsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 tbsp fresh ground pepper
- 25 oz marinara sauce fresh or jarred (standard jar size)
- 1/2 cup shredded parmesan
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Cut the top off of your peppers and cut a slit down one side, almost all the way down. Wash out and remove seeds.
- Squeeze your fresh tomatoes into a mixing bowl. Peel and all. Add your spices including: oregano, parsley, paprika and pepper.
- Dice a small pepper or two (that you aren't stuffing) and add to the stove with just a bit of oil. Heat for a minute before adding your ground pork. Cook through.
- Add your tomatoes and seasonings from your bowl to your cooked pork and stir together until heated through.
- Stuff your peppers and place them in a baking dish. You can squeeze them up next to each other.
- Top with your marinara sauce. Spread evenly and cover as much of the peppers as you can. Sprinkle the top with fresh, shredded parmesan cheese.
- Bake in the oven for about 35 minutes. Enjoy!
Garden Zucchini Bowl
It is such a great feeling when are able to make entire meals (or most of the meal) from your own garden! I had some monster zucchini as my lead producers this year. We were headed out of town and I couldn’t risk them going bad so I spiralized and threw in the freezer to enjoy when we returned.
I love this spiralizer. I borrowed a similar one from a neighbor previously – Lindly. It might be the same one actually.. I ordered from Amazon. Zucchini really holds water and therefore tends to lose some density, especially when it’s been frozen. Fresh is definitely the best! I used 2 pretty large zucchini for this recipe.
Even when using fresh, start by wrapping your spiralized zucchini in between some paper towels. Try to get as much of the water out as you can.
These are the garden goodies I picked this day to use in this dish (minus the peppers – I didn’t include them). That’s fresh basil, oregano, parsley, cherry tomatoes (several varieties) and some fresh thyme.
Heat up some olive oil and add some minced garlic and a diced shallot. Cook for a few minutes and then add in a pound of ground pork. I also threw in some fennel seeds and crushed red pepper. Simmer until your pork is cooked through.
Slice your tomatoes in half or if you are using larger tomatoes you will want to quarter or smaller. Chop up your herbs (Basil, oregano, parsley, thyme) and add the tomatoes and herbs to your pork.
Next, I added approximately two cups of tomato sauce. I had some in the freezer from last years garden. I simply cook the tomatoes down on the stove, pour in a freezer bag and freeze until ready to use. You could use a canned one as well (but it won’t turn out as good – sorry!).
I let this simmer for a couple of hours. The longer the better, but if you are short on time – 20 minutes should suffice.
Lastly, I squeeze out my zoodles. Heat some olive oil and minced garlic for flavor and add the zucchini. It only takes about 7 minutes to cook through – maybe less. That’s it – place your zucchini in a bowl and top with as much sauce as you would like. Enjoy!
Garden Zucchini Bowl
Ingredients
- 2 zucchini large
- 2 dozen cherry tomatoes
- 5 tbsp olive oil
- 1 shallot medium
- 1 lb ground pork
- 4 tbsp garlic minced
- 1 tbsp fennel seed or more to taste
- 1 tbsp crushed red pepper
- 2 cups tomato sauce
- 2 tbsp thyme fresh
- 3 tbsp basil chopped
- 3 tbsp parsley chopped
- 2 tbsp sage chopped
Instructions
- Spiralize your zucchini. Wrap in between paper towels to get the moisture out.
- Heat olive oil in a pan and add diced shallot and minced garlic. Cook until fragrant.
- Add ground pork to pan, fennel and crushed red pepper. Cook pork through.
- Add your sliced tomatoes and chopped herbs. Stir together well and add in tomato sauce. Simmer for 20 minutes or more.
- Heat some olive oil in another pan with some minced garlic. Add the Zucchini noodles and heat through approx 7 minutes. Use a medium-high temp to try and crisp up the zucchini a little more.
- Top the zucchini noodles with your sauce and serve hot.
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.
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.
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.