basil

CSA week 4

July 10, 2015 by Leave a Comment

This week I received basil, white cherries, raspberries, kohlrabi, kale, and snap peas. I let my mom keep all the asparagus. This week will be linked to the week of July 12th, coming soon!

Basil

Dinner- Fresh mozzarella, tomato, and basil panini. I used the rest of the sorrel pesto I made a few weeks ago
Dinner- Pasta with basil and cherry tomatoes
Pesto

White cherries

Snack

Raspberries

Breakfast- Morning shake with kale, raspberries, apple, ground flax seed, and almond milk
Snack

Kohlrabi

Dinner- Coleslaw. Served on the side of left over pulled pork from Father’s Day lunch

Kale

Breakfast- Morning shake with kale, raspberries, apple, ground flax seed, and almond milk
Lunch- Kale salad with roasted shallots/garlic, grilled snap peas, cranberries, and sliced almonds

Snap peas

Dinner- Grilled snap peas on the side of grilled salmon
Lunch- I saved some of the grilled snap peas and added it to my kale salad

This was an easy week night recipe, especially since I already had the pesto made up. If you don’t, no worries, it’s still simple to make. I used the pesto I made from sorrel. Click here for the pesto recipe. And I used store bought dough.

I LOVE fresh basil!!

Spray pizza stone and roll out dough, use flour if needed

Spread pesto on top

Ingredients

1 package of store bought dough
Fresh pesto, click here for pesto recipe
Mozzarella cheese, shredded
1-2 tomatoes, slicked
5-6 basil leaves, sliced

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2. Spray a cookie sheet or pizza stone and roll your dough out. Use flour if sticking to rolling pin

3. Spread pesto over dough

4. Add shredded cheese

5. Add slicedtomato

6. Bake for 12-15 minutes

7. Add basil slices

Summer pasta salad with asparagus, roasted peppers, and fresh mozzarella

June 4, 2015 by 8 Comments

I made this pasta salad for a work cook out, but it’d also be perfect for a Father’s Day BBQ. I was able to use some of the fresh asparagus from my CSA farm box! This recipe was inspired by apples and sparkle .

Asparagus ends snapped off and cut into 1 inch pieces

Roasted red peppers, stemed 10 minutes in bowl

Pasta cooling

Ingredients

2 red peppers
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspon red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper
1 bundle of asparagus, tough ends snapped off, cut diagonally into 1 inch pieces
1 lb penne pasta (I used veggie penne)
8 oz fresh mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

Steps

Roast the red peppers – Turn oven to broil and let it heat up for 5 minutes. Wash the peppers, cut the top and ends off, then slice open and remove the seeds and stems. Lay down flat, skin side up on a foil lined cookie sheet. Broil 7-9 minutes, turning pan halfway through cooking time.Peppers are done once they start to turn black and blister. Remove from oven and place into bowl. Cover tighly with plastic wrap and let peppers steam for around 10 minutes. Scrape away skin and cut peppers into 1/2 inch pieces. Set aside
In a large bowl combine the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, basil, garlic, red pepper flakes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix together and remove 3 tablespoons of the vinaigrette and place into a medium sized bowl.
In large dutch oven, bring 4 quarts of water to a boil, add 1 tablespoon of salt and the asparagus. Cook until just barley tender (about 3 mintues). Use slotted spoon to remove asparagus pieces, place in colander, and rinse under cold water until cool.
Add pasta to boiling water and cook until done. Drain pasta and add the hot pasta to the large bowl and toss to coat in the dressing.
Add the roasted red peppers and mozzarella to the bowl with the asparagus and mix in the vinaigrette.
Once the pasta has cooled, add the asparagus mix to the bowl of pasta.
Enjoy!

Zucchini pasta with avocado cream sauce

May 14, 2015 by Leave a Comment

First off, let me tell you I debated for a while about buying a spiralizer. I read about them, saw recipes about them, but it wasn’t until I recently read some reviews about the Veggetti, that I decided to take the plunge! And I do not regret it. I bought it from Bed, Bath, and Beyond for $15. Can’t beat that price. I used it a few weeks ago to add zucchini to my egg muffins. But this is the first time I’ve used it for a full meal. I was a little nervous, I anticpated calling for take-out if it ended badly, but thankfully I didn’t have to resort to that.

Most recipes say you can cook the veggie any way you like, saute, boil, microwave (ew, gross), or eat it raw. I decided to eat it raw because that meant one less step to do! I used two zucchinis, which was enough for two people. And used a food processer to make the avacado-basil sauce. Toppped it off with cherry tomoatoes and you have a heathy, vegetarian meal! My recipe was inspired from this one, from Damn Delicious.

Spiralize zucchini into a bowl

Add avocados, basil, garlic, salt and peper into food processor bowl

Pulse while slowly adding 1/4 cup olive oil

Pour avocado mixture over noodles, add cherry tomatoes

Ingredients

Two zucchinis- washed, ends cut off, do not peel
Two ripe avocado, halved, seeded , and peeled
1/2 cup fresh basil
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

1. Insert zucchini into one end of the Veggetti, hold over a bowl and twist the vegetable clockwise while pushing forward.

2. Add avocado, basil, garlic, and lemon juice in the bowl of a food processor. Season with salt and pepper. Turn on to pulse, while machine is running, slowly add olive oil.

3. Pour sauce over pasta and add cherry tomatoes.

Enjoy!