Category Archives: Main Dish

Oven baked eggplant, onions and tomatoes with airfried chicken breasts

It’s a weeknight and I (Karen) have some fresh vegetables from Gazy Brothers Farm and some chicken breasts from Costco. What can I get prepped fast so I can relax before dinner?

Pulled out my sheet pan, to rough chop vegetables. Toss some olive oil, herbs, salt and pepper. Bake at 350 to 400° for 30 to 40 minutes depending on thickness of vegetable chops. As it cooks, the vegetables caramelize.

Step 1 – clean veggies!

Rough chop them, coat with oil, herbs, salt and pepper.

Bake at 350 to 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes tossing once midway through. Then if you want extra charting put under broiler for 3 minutes! Watch so it doesn’t burn.

Perfection!

Step 2 – Chicken breasts from Costco. These are thick and they come out juicy from the airfryer when spritzed with oil, spices, salt and pepper. Don’t forget to use the smoked paprika too.

Airfry at 300 degrees for 8 minutes and then at 360 degrees for another 8 minutes. Perfection!

Large Roasted Beets

Just back from the Farmers Market and Dominic, one of the Gazy Brothers Farm sons, suggests I try one of the larger beets that was from the “Pick Your Own Garden” but had made its way to the market.

Yay! Something challenging for me to cook. I never cooked a softball or baseball sized beet before and I had two, but don’t just trust me look at the photo taken next to eggs!

So how do I cook? I consulted a New York Times Cooking: Really Big Beets recipe that suggested roasting at 400 degrees after scrubbing, peeling, coating with olive oil, salt and pepper. I wrapped each beer in aluminum foil and roasted on a sheet pan for 80 minutes. The recipe suggests 45 to 90 minutes, so I checked at 45 and 80 it was done when a knife or fork could be easily inserted.

How to’s: peel with knife

Coat with oil, salt pepper

Wrap beets and cook on baking sheet

Test wellness with knife or fork

Eat and enjoy! One suggestion is Greek Beets from Greek Boston. I like sliced with olive oil, vinegar, garlic, onions. Another option is mix in sour cream or yogurt instead of oil. Yum.

Or maybe serve whole – it’s very size is impressive – and have fix-ins on the side.

See size of final product next to large peaches!

Garden Fresh Mixed Veggie Turkey Soup

True it’s a hot summer day but that’s what makes this recipe so good. Pressure cook or slow cook or stove top heat is basically no heating the home.

Final soup looks delicious!

Prep pics are at the bottom. Make this in advance and serve room temp or even cold. Personally I love cold vegetable soup. Do you?

Want it vegetarian? Just substitute vegetable stock and veggie meat product for the turkey).

What’s in the Zavor LUX LCD multipot used to make this?

Turkey or veg stock quart, tomatoes, corn cut off cob, string beans and broad beans, carrots, yellow squash, 1/2 uncooked cup quinoa, torn basil leaves, and cooked turkey pieces.

Pressure cook on low for 10 minutes and let come down from pressure naturally.

This is a dish where quantities don’t matter much.

Season to taste with salt, pepper, and favorite herbs – we used basil.

Serve with crusty bread from the farmers market! Yum.

Follow prep pictures!

Perfect Garlic Scape Pesto

Garlic Scape Pesto

Perfect garlic scape pesto uses the bud of the garlic plant before it flowers. Easy to make and fresh tasting with no added herbs because the garlic scape is the greens!

1 cup garlic scapes, sliced crosswise (about 10 to 12 scapes)

¼ cup toasted pine nuts (or any nut)

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

¼ cup Parmesan cheese

Kosher salt and black pepper

lemon juice to taste

Purée in food processor and enjoy on pasta or chips, spiralized veggies

Air-Fried Green Tomatoes, yes you can!

Tangy, crisp, acidic Green Tomatoes become sweeter and mellower when air-fried. Enjoy the traditional flavor of corn meal coating or combine with almond meal as we did here. For a twist, we created a “mock” buttermilk egg dip using fat free Greek yogurt! Karen & Marni show you how they did it with the Philips airfryer.

Ask Karen and she’ll tell you she’s on the “air-fryer diet” – it’s one of her favorite kitchen tools. Of course you can bake this recipe too at 350F on a lightly greased baking sheet for 30 to 45 minutes until tender (but still firm).

Don’t forget a dash of salt on top when hot out of oven, and stay tuned for the Garlicky Basil Aioli topping recipe soon.

Stuffed Peppers with Rice

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This is one of my favorite go to make ahead meal recipes.  It’s easy, versatile, and delicious. You can make with the ground meat blend of your choice.  I’ve made it as a vegetarian dish by adding sauteed chard and spinach instead of meat.  You can use this stuffing with other vegetables like tomatoes or zucchini instead of peppers.  It’s fantastic as a family meal or dinner for one.  Best of all the stuffing freezes well and can easily be packed up in serving containers of your choice for an easy mid-week, healthy meal.

Ingredients:
1-4 bell peppers
1 minced jalapeno                          IMG_3601
1 chopped banana pepper
1 chopped onion
Calabrian or cherry peppers in oil – to taste
2 cups cooked rice or 1 package ready rice
2 1/2 cups of tomato sauce, divided
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese grated
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
1 egg lightly beaten
1 pound of ground beef, pork or turkey – any combo

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Saute onions and peppers in oil from the hot peppers 5 minutes – till light golden brown. Season with salt, pepper and chili flakes.  Turn off heat and add cooked rice along with 1 cup tomato sauce to pan. Stir together and let mixture cool.

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Mix ground meat, beaten egg, and rice mixture and combine.  Add Parmesan cheese and stir till blended.

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IMG_3617Cut bell peppers in half lengthwise, discard seeds membranes and stem.   Cover the bottom of a glass or ceramic baking dish with sauce.  Fill each pepper half with 1/2 cup of the meat mixture and place in dish. Cover each pepper with sauce.  Cover and bake for 45 minutes.

 

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While peppers are baking portion out any remaining meat mixture into freezable containers.  I usually make batches of about 1 cup of meat mix (enough for 1 pepper). Pack, label and freeze.

 

 

 

Uncover baking dish and add small pieces of mozzarella to the top of each pepper half.

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Bake uncovered 5 minutes or until cheese is melted and slightly brown. Serve and enjoy!

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Panzanella with Sun-dried Tomato Dressing

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When I think of summer I think of tomatoes, cucumbers and fresh Gazy Brothers Farm veggies.   Panzanella is a great way to use leftover veggies and bread.  It’s also a wonderful salad to bring to picnics and outdoor events.

For this particular recipe I started with a basic panzanella recipe from Ina Garten.  Instead of a simple oil and vinegar dressing  I made a sun-dried tomato  vinaigrette .  I really love the flavor and intensity that sun-dried tomato brings to any basic vinaigrette recipe.   Sun-dried tomato vinaigrettes can be used thru the summer as a way to add a depth of flavor into any summer salad; like this panzanella.

Panzanella Ingredients:                                                                                                 010755235d3c80e24995c66dc19c79f908ac68f84e

1 small French bread or boule, cut into 1-inch cubes (6 cups)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 large, ripe tomatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 hothouse cucumber, unpeeled, seeded, and sliced 1/2-inch thick
1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 red onion, cut in 1/2 and thinly sliced
20 large basil leaves, coarsely chopped

 

Ingredients for the vinaigrette:

01a613086b73990d0e39ad4521e15e7c92670ba2293-4 heaping tablespoons of sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained
1/2 pint of cherry tomatoes
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
6 tablespoons good olive oil
1 garlic clove, diced
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Drizzle bread cubes with olive oil and season with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Place on sheet pan and toast in 325 degree oven until golden brown. It usually takes 10-20 minutes.  Make sure to keep your eye on it doesn’t burn.01b7077b9f2532dcbe13d0a4a578dee59b6876a931

Make the vinaigrette by adding sun-dried tomatoes, vinegar, and garlic in food processor blender.  Pulse to combine.  Add cherry tomatoes and olive oil – blend till smooth.  Season with salt and pepper.

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In a large bowl, mix the tomatoes, cucumber, red pepper, yellow pepper, red onion, and basil.

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Add the bread cubes and toss with the vinaigrette.  Season liberally with salt and pepper. Serve, or allow the salad to sit for about half an hour for the flavors to blend.

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Chicken Enchilada

Photo Aug 20, 7 28 57 PM (1)
Ingredients:
1 batch of tomatillo salsa
1 lb ground chicken
flour tortillas
cotija cheese
cilantro crema – sour cream blended with juice of 1/2 lime and a splash of heavy cream.  Add chopped cilantro and use to garnish

Step 1 – Saute ground chicken. Take off heat and mix in 1/2 cup of salsaPhoto Aug 20, 7 19 22 PM

Step 2 – Cover bottom of  baking dish with a few spoonfuls of salsa.  Take 1 -2  tablespoons of meat mixture place in center or wrap and roll.   Place roll seem side down into baking dish and cover with salsa and sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes – till cheese is brown and enchilada is bubbling.Photo Aug 20, 7 19 50 PM

Step 3 Garnish with cilantro and crema to taste.Photo Aug 20, 7 28 57 PM