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Zucchini "Pasta"

At dinner with my friends Cara and Katri the other night, they both ordered the Zucchini "Tagliatelli," broad thin strips of zucchini made to look like pasta. I tried to recreate it at home and the only problem was that there wasn't enough!

Ingredients:

(to serve 4)

5-6 meduim zucchini

1 T olive oil

1 clove garlic, chopped finely

1 medium tomato, diced

salt

pepper

grated parmesan

1/4 c. chopped fresh basil (optional)

Here's how I did it: I peeled the zucchini first to try to fool Lily into thinking it was real pasta, although I don't think that's necessary. She took one bite and proclaimed, "Squash!" Thankfully that didn't deter her from eating the same 2 bites she normally eats at dinner.

After peeling the zucchini I sliced it on my handy mandoline, which you sort of need for this recipe because it would be really hard to do by hand. But maybe that's just me-- I can't even cut paper in a straight line.

After I had all of the zucchini sliced, I heated up the olive oil in a saute pan and added the zucchini and a clove of garlic. I then chopped up a tomato and added that for the last couple of minutes. I sauteed the zucchini for no more than 5 minutes total, then added salt, pepper and parmesan and served it. So simple! If I would have been thinking I would have added some fresh basil. But I wasn't. But it was yummy anyway-- I will definitely make it again.

Ok, so I know ribs aren't a vegetable...

I am probably going to get fired for putting a recipe for ribs on a blog that's supposed to be about produce. Oh wait, the three of you who read this can't actually fire me! So I'm going to put this on here because I'm so proud of myself for conquering ribs-- I've always been intimidated by them, but my fear is gone thanks to this easy and delicious recipe.

Ingredients:

4 lbs of baby back ribs (figure about 1 lb for each person)

1 onion, coarsely chopped

5 cloves of garlic

2 t salt

1 t peppercorns

Your favorite barbecue or teryaki sauce

Directions:

Place the ribs in a big pot and fill with water. Add the onion, coarsely chopped, the whole, unpeeled garlic cloves, salt and pepper and bring to a simmer. Simmer uncovered for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until tender. You will know!

Remove the ribs from the pot and place on a baking sheet. Baste generously with the sauce of your choosing (I used Stubbs Teryaki Marinade and will definitely use it again). Heat on the grill for 10-15 minutes and serve to people you really like.

Broccoli Green Bean Salad with Basil Oil

Ok, so I know summer is basically over, but this one can be served pretty much year round since you can usually find fresh basil at the grocery store even after your herb garden is long gone.

I blanched about a half pound of green beans for about 3 minutes and roasted a head of broccoli with olive oil and salt for about 10-12 minutes (just past bright green, not yet soggy). I threw the green beans in with the broccoli for the last 3 minutes, mostly to warm them up since I'd blanched them earlier. I tossed the veggies in a bowl with some grape tomatoes for a fresh and colorful addition.

Then I picked a handful of basil (about 1/2 cup, packed) and put it in the food processor with some olive oil (about 1/4 cup) and salt and pepper, and viola- basil oil. It was pretty and delicious!

Salmon Burgers with Spinach

I know salmon burgers don't sound very produce co-opy, but trust me on this one. I had a bag of spinach and the thought of more sauteed spinach didn't appeal to me, and I'm never able to make plain ol' salmon taste all that great, so I looked up recipes to combine the two and found this.

I omitted the ginger (didn't have any), used a little less spinach, a little more scallions, and the whole egg instead of just the white.

I served them on onion rolls and had bacon, red onions and tomatoes for toppings. They were DELISH-- my only regret was that I didn't double the recipe. It made 6 small-ish burgers and we all wanted two.

Blueberry Crisp

I haven't tried too many blueberry recipes because we usually just eat them straight out of the carton, but when we picked nine pounds of them last week I started searching for something else to do with them.

I don't have extraordinarily happy thoughts about anything I've eaten with cooked blueberries except for muffins, so I was a little unsure how this blueberry crisp would turn out, but I tried it anyway. In a word, it was AWESOME.

I didn't measure the blueberries, just used enough to fit in the bottom of an oval 13x9ish casserole dish and I tripled the topping. Everyone loved it! If you don't have (or don't like) almonds, I'm sure you could substitute walnuts or pecans, but honestly you couldn't even really taste the almonds. They just gave some nice texture.

Enjoy!

You will never make baked potatoes again

Even though these are technically roasted potatoes, they are almost as easy as baked potatoes and even tastier, if that is even possible.  I love a buttery baked potato. But I digress... My mom introduced me to these recently and I haven't baked a potato since. 

To make these tasty treats, just cut any ol' potato in half long-ways, like you would cut open a baked potato before you loaded on the butter, and place them on a baking sheet. You probably already know what 2 ingredients I'm going to tell you to drizzle and sprinkle on.... you guessed it, my favorite vegetable companions, olive oil and salt. Turn the potatoes over and slide them around the pan so they get olive oil and salt on both sides, and leave them cut-side down.  Pop them in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes or so, depending on the size of the potatoes. You want them in long enough for the bottoms to get golden and crusty-- delish! 

For a company-friendly version, add your favorite fresh herb, like oregano, thyme or sage fresh garlic and sprinkle with parmesan. 

For a kid-friendly version, get out the ketchup for dipping and tell them it's a giant french fry boat.