BuddhaPesto Toast

A quick easy lunch! very summery if you ask me! 

Italian Bread, toasted
BuddhaPesto
Fresh Mozzarella
Freshly ground black pepper

Smear some BuddhaPesto on the toast, sprinkle with fresh grated mozzarella, top with pepper. Broil until the cheese is melted and edges are golden. Serve with fresh tomato salad or creamy tomato soup! SO good!

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

It's that time of year....where I become obsessed with soups. I was driving home without a plan for dinner (not good friends...not good) We got some butternut squash in the CSA last week and had gone apple picking. Why not combine them and make soup. Genius!

1 small butternut squash, cubed (you can always cheat and by the precut stuff, no judgement here)
1 apple, cubed
1 small onion, diced
veggie stock
dash of garlic powder
dash of onion powder
dash of cumin
salt and pepper

boil the squash, apple and onion in the stock until tender. Puree. stir in the spices and salt and pepper. Garnish with fresh grated sharp cheddar. So yummy! and Warm!

Cauliflower Soup for a Crowd

So we had the Tribe over a few nights back. I was in the mood for something quick, easy, yummy, and warm. Soup! I was inspired by this blog post I read over on Steamy Kitchen. I had picked up a head of cauliflower at the Troy Farmer's Market, and while I was there, I also saw so gorgeous leek and decided to get those too. We had some potatoes from the CSA share as well, so I thought to my self, heck why not throw them in too? Now, I'm going to give you fair warning, this make a TON of soup. If you just want a little, scale the recipe down by half (very easy) or just freeze it!

2 heads of cauliflower chopped into those little floret thingys.
2 leeks, sliced and floated in some water to clean em up real good.
2 potatoes, chopped, skins and all
10 cloves of garlic, peeled
4 boxes of stock. ( I used 2 chicken, 2 veggie)
2 cups heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste

Throw the veggies, stock and garlic into a stock pot. Boil til all the veggies are tender (about 40 minutes or so). Blend the heck out of it. I'd recommend the blender for this task, unless you have the best immersion blender ever. Next add in your salt, pepper and cream. Stir to incorporate everything. Garnish with bacon and gorgonzola. Yumminess and magic happen.

Good summertime marinade

Easiest marinade ever...

1 cup olive oil
1 cup balsamic vinegar
2 onions chopped
10 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning

throw all the ingredients in a blender and puree the heck out em.
great marinade for beef, chicken, pork and veggies. Not to shabby on lamb either, but I'm taking the Mr.'s word for it.

Yummy Corn Salad

So, it's been awhile, but here's another great recipes. Instant smash hit if you ask me...

Here's what you need:
6 ears of corn, corn sliced off
7 scallions or green onion, chopped
5 pieces of bacon, chopped
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar
1/2 cup heavy cream (or a dairy product of your choosin')

In a frying pan, on medium heat, crisp up that bacon. Mmmm...bacon. Take it out of the pan. Try not to eat it all. (but if you do, I won't tell anyone...)Next you want to take those green onions and fry em up in that tasty bacon fat. Add in some salt and pepper to just make it taste yummy! Ok, so now you want to add in the corn. Throw it in the pan for a few minutes, just enough to warm it up, but don't cook it through. Mushy corn = not cool, al dente corn = full of the Awesome.
Ok, so now you want to add in the cream and the cheese, warm it through til the cheese is nice and melty. Add the bacon back in and watch the amazingness happen.
Now if you're like me, you'll eat the whole batch yourself and have to make a second batch to serve your friends.

A Recreation of sorts/ I'm wingin it!

So a few weeks back Mr. Dave wrote about Utica Greens. I was instantly intrigued. As was the Mr. of the household. So I thought I'd try my hand at them. Here's the catch. I had no prosciutto. Couldn't even substitute in some pancetta. But one thing that we do have in the JoJo kitchen is bacon. There's always bacon. Yummy, delicious, thigh thickening bacon. So that's what I went with.
Oh yeah. I can't stand escarole. So I used a bunch of fresh kale. I'm pretty sure I'm off the "original" recipe by now. But it tasted really really good!

Here's what you need:
1 onion, diced
2 italian sweet peppers, diced
4 strips thick cut bacon, diced

bunch of kale
1 cup chicken stock
bread crumbs (cora)
hot sauce

Steam the heck out of your kale. You want it nice and tender. While that's steaming, saute up your bacon. Remove it from the pan when it's crispy. Get rid of the rest of the bacon fat. In the little bit of fatty residue, saute up your onions and peppers. Add in the steamed kale. If you're using it, mix your hot sauce into your stock. Pour it in. let that simmer for a few. Now's the time to salt and pepper the dish, if that's what you're choosing to do. No pressure though. Ok, so you've simmered. Now it's time to add in your bread crumbs. I just added them a handful at a time, until the was no more liquid on the bottom of the pan.

Now Mr. Dave recommended these on top of a chicken cutlet sandwich. My Mr. and I, we ate them as a side dish to, I think we had Grandpa's chicken. What that you may ask? Well my dears, that is a a recipe for another time. Enjoy!

The perfect side dish

Potatoes go really well with pot roast, don'tcha think? I love the rusticness of the whole meal.

Dill Mashed potatoes.

1/2 cup fresh dill, minced
5 potatoes, cubed, skins on
Milk
butter
sour cream

Boil the taters until they're tender, about 20 minutes or so. Drain em. throw em back into the hot pot. add in your butter, I used 2 tablespoons. Next, take 3/4 cup sour cream, and 1/4 cup warm milk and add those in. DON"T STIR YET!!! Add in the dill, salt, pepper. Now you can mix. Just lightly smash them. Don't work them taters too much or they'll turn to glue! (and they don't even taste good in glue format)

Enjoy with your perfect pot roast.