I BELIEVE IN BROCCOLI AND BROWNIES
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 The internet seems to be full of posts and pins about a new way to roast potatoes. So, I decided to try it with some freshly dug red-potatoes from the garden. I'm not sure of the actual recipe name, but I'm calling them Browned Butter Potatoes, because the butter browns in the hot oven, giving the potatoes a most delicious flavor. You only need three ingredients (potatoes, butter, and broth) along with salt and pepper to make this delicious dish. Heat your oven to 475 degrees F. Some of the recipes I saw said 500 degrees. I worried that high temp would lead to burning, smoking, and my fire alarms going off, so I went with 475 degrees. Cut the potatoes into 1-inch rounds - that is quite thick. Lay the cut potatoes into a baking dish in a single layer. Dot the potatoes with butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for 30 minutes turning the potatoes over half way through. Pour the chicken or vegetable broth over the potatoes and bake 15 minutes longer until most of the liquid is absorbed. The potatoes are crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside, and the flavor mix up of the butter and broth is yummy. These potatoes make a great side dish for special dinner.  Browned Butter Potatoes
Oven 475 degrees F 1 pound (about 5 medium) red or Yukon gold potatoes 1/2 Cup butter 1 cup chicken or vegetable broth Salt Pepper Preheat oven to 475 degrees F. Wash potatoes, leave skin on. Cut potatoes into 1-inch rounds. Lay potato slices in a baking dish in a single layer. Dot potatoes with butter. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for 30 minutes, turning the potatoes over half-way through. Take pan out of oven and pour broth over potatoes. Return pan to oven and bake 15 more minutes or until the broth is mostly absorbed.
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Summer is the best time for fresh salads. I made this one the other night with ingredients from the garden. Here is what you need to make the salad Lettuce (I got mine from the garden)
Strawberries (I got mine from the garden. They are tiny, but delicious.)
Next add some cashews and feta cheese.  Lastly top it with dressing. I made a vinaigrette with the most delicious Peach Balsamic Vinegar. Other good choices would be poppy seed dressing or a blush wine vinaigrette.   I grow a backyard garden and my tomatoes are plentiful, so I’m constantly finding ways to use fresh tomatoes. My go to uses for tomatoes are Bacon and Tomato Sandwiches, Caprese Salad, and Tomatoes and Cottage Cheese. But every once in a while I venture out and that is how this BB & T (Bacon, Basil, and Tomato) pasta Salad came to be.
Start off by cooking up 8 ounces of bowtie pasta according to package directions. While the pasta is cooking dice 2 medium tomatoes and put in the bottom of the serving bowl. Add 2 Tbs chopped fresh basil.  Corn, tomatoes, peppers are all end of summer vegetables. So, you may be asking “how can you make an end of summer salad in the dead of winter?” The answer – freezing and no, I don’t mean the freezing temperatures of January and February. I mean freezing foods at the peak of ripeness in summer. Here are my bags of peppers diced, cut into strips, and even halved ready for the freezer.
I enjoy gardening. There is something about planting a tiny seed in the spring and harvesting armfuls of produce in fall. Herbs are one thing I grow each year. I have both indoor and  outdoor herbs.  I always have my favorites – basil, rosemary, chives, and parsley and then venture out with a few new flavors each year like lemon thyme, sweet mint, chocolate mint, oregano, or sage. My chives and rosemary usually grow as perennials, so I don’t have to replant them each spring. And after months of coaxing I’ve finally got my pot of parsley to grow year-round indoors. There is not much of it, but it grows year-round.
 Grilling is almost synonymous with summer. Usually the grill is filled with some type of meat, but grilled vegetables are delicious as well. One evening I picked some green beans from the garden. As I walked from the garden, past the grill, and into the house I thought, “these would be great grilled.” And great they were and so simple. Here’s how:
 I’m knee high, OK, ankle high in spinach from my garden. When those greens start to come on it means time to get creative with spinach. And that’s just what I’ve been doing for the past few weeks. I’ve put spinach in salads, soups, smoothies, eggs, and even in popsicles.
 Recently the weather went from summer to almost winter, seemingly skipping fall all together. The cold weather means soft cozy sweaters, warm jackets, and comfort food. A delicious, warm and hardy meat pie is comfort at its best. One of my favorite things about this dish is I can make the pie using almost all home-grown or raised foods: carrots, potatoes, onions, and peas from my garden and beef from the family cattle ranch. Only the crust and few seasoning weren’t grown or raised by me or my family. Start by boiling a couple of large potatoes and dicing some carrots and onions. Make the dices small and all about the same size.
I have a love-hate relationship with my garden. The love comes when I can walk out the back door and grab fresh food for dinner. The hate part comes when all the garden produce seems to come on at once and I need to do something with all the food. It is not that I don’t enjoy all that food, it is just that preserving the food or getting it ready for long-term storage takes time. A few weeks ago when I went out the back door I could see it was time to harvest the carrots.  I must admit I’m not a big fan of carrots –especially the bagged baby carrots from the grocery store. I think they are pretty blah without any flavor. However, I do like to grow a few carrots in the garden for snacking and to use in soups, salads, and side dishes throughout the year. And home-grown carrots have great flavor. I pulled out the shovel and started digging.
The cold raining weather of fall is a signal it is time to clean out the garden and flower beds. The cleanout is sometimes hard on my soul as I pull out blooming annual flowers and cut back perennials.  I sigh as I harvest the last of the potatoes, onions, and vegetables knowing the next few months won’t be as colorful or flavorful.
But I know that cutting back the perennial flowers will make them stronger next spring and that clearing the vegetable garden will make it ready for planting next season. The cleaning is not always pretty, beautiful blooming flowers are cut back and their woody stems and yellowing leaves exposed. But this year I discovered a hidden beauty. As I cut back the zinnias that had seen better days and the salvia and rudebeckia at the end of their blooms . . .  |
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