Mixed vegetables

When the local farmers market , backyard garden, or store purchases gives you fresh veggies, there’s only limited time to use them.

Usually, I avoid  refrigeration if possible. Processing can take several forms, one being roasting. Here is a combo of rainbow carrots, peppers , onions, hot peppers, white onion Garlic, etc. salt and pepper, season to taste.

lightly drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle from time to time with chicken stock while roasting at low  heat.

cool, refrigerate and serve as a side dish or any other use.

 

 

shopping

packing lunch

what ever the workday throws at you, be prepared….

spicy tomato veggie soup variation #1

 additions to:

spicy-tomato-veggie-soup

this soup also tasty served cold.

Cooked diced potato, chopped raw green pepper, crumbled feta cheese added to the soup.

skipped the basil garnish…..

spicy tomato veggie soup

Much cooler temperatures, so soup is on the menu.

onion , garlic , salt, pepper, sauteed

Diced red (and green) peppers, these were from the garden, the red pepper not as sweet as expected, only several days  from being picked. The green pepper tasted mild, picked right before dicing.

Giving time for the garden to produce more tomatoes, used 1/2 large can of peeled tomato , squeezed, added water for four cups total liquid.
Season with a combo of dried pepper flakes, ancho,dried red pepper, and smoked red pepper.

Adjusted seasoning, salt pepper and a bit of sugar. I held back on adding other herbs and spices.

Add 1/2 cup veggie soup mix, 1/4 wasn’t enough, probably can add more later or pasta, potato. Simmer at this point for 1/2 hour or so.

Soup mix is Bob’s Red Mill, if you make this soup mix alone , that is with just water, it’s very bland.

Done, with just the right amount of spice.

too hot to run the oven

When there’s a heat wave and it’s too hot to add additional heat to the kitchen, it’s time to fire up the outdoor grille. After sundown, cooler temperatures outdoors makes for a comfortable respite while bread bakes.

Similar to a previous posting…..https://pmetro.wordpress.com/2010/08/30/bread-baked-on-the-grille/

This time one loaf of  bread was baked in two  heavy duty bread pans (received as a gift), one placed inside of the other so it was double insulated from the coals.

The temperature reached about 400 degrees, according to the temperature gauge on the top of the grille cover,  baked for about 30 minutes.

This particular loaf had a soft crumb, the sides and the bottom darker from the top, but not burnt.

Light lunch and snacking during the work day

Some times the typical sandwich lunch can get boring. Food from leftovers , meals from restaurants or food prepared from home can be containerized. Multiple small containers can provide quick snacking for those 10 and 15 minutes breaks during the morning and afternoon.
One of my favorites is when fresh food is available from the garden.

just add pepperoni..

deconstructed pizza ….?

Beef stew

this stew was actually left over from several days ago and in this hot weather was the simplest thing to cook (reheat), a break from salads. A typical beef stew recipe made with a small portion of beef chuck, onions and carrots. Now reheating it , added tomato and pinch of dried hot pepper flakes and a few shavings of ginger root.

potato casserole

A recipe from the middle of July, before the hot weather. Similar to a mac and cheese comfort meal.

Prep : peel and slice potato, turnip, onion, garlic. Melt butter.

Assembly: layer potato, turnip, onion and garlic. With a strainer, sift  flour for a dusting , season with salt and pepper. Drizzle melted butter. Repeat as necessary.

Cheese addition is grated mozzarella, also some frozen spinach remnants from the freezer.

Now slowly pour milk (or any combo of milk, heavy cream, 1/2 & 1/2) to just about fill the casserole, leaving room  for the liquid to bubble up when  cooking.

Bake (or microwave) till bubbly.

Can be just the top layer. Bread crumbs or croutons are also a good addition for the top, if microwaving, broil to brown top.

served up..

Again, potato is the main ingredient, what ever else you have can be added. Bacon , sausage ? Tomato ? Leafy greens? Brassicias ?  Legumes? ground beef, pork or lamb ?

smokey salsa

Don’t grab that jar of salsa from the supermarket shelve ! Most likely you already have the ingredients to make an original and kick ass mix in the pantry. Be creative !

  

Here’s what I have have from the market… You can probably do better going to a farm or farmers market.

Sliced tomatoes, sweet onions (salted and peppered), garlic, and  corn. The corn was barely passable, small kernels, not to tasty. This is because I don’t want to make multiple stops at different places when shopping usually.

 

Ok, we’re well into summer so don’t be tied to the stove I’m going to grille all the ingredients for the salsa, besides good time for a homebrew while the charcoal is starting.

The corn and garlic first, the garlic rack is a metal piece from a discarded toaster oven. Some wood chips over the coals periodically for smoke.

garlic roasted and corn charred.

A grille pan, a perforated metal pan makes grilling easy for veggies, Looks like there’s some  sliced turnip there too ! Mix the veggies with some olive oil prior to grilling.

onions are done.

tomatoes are next with the turnip, the turnip didn’t cook long enough with the onions.

.

mix everything together, add and/or  adjust seasoning preferences, if possible let stand to meld flavors.

Since chili peppers were not available, I used a combination of pepper flakes, smoked ancho, habernero, and jalapeno for heat and spice.

Most would serve this with corn chips, didn’t have any or the time to roll some out as I was hungry . Wrapped a small portion  of the salsa in romaine  lettuce leaves, probably better for me  than chips !

You probably associate salsa with a tomato based type from a jar, it can be any combination !

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salsa_%28sauce%29