Homemade, homegrown salsa verde

Mmmm. As the winter approaches, we are coming to our last harvests. Today was our tomatillos and pepper.
I roasted the tomatillos and pepper, after halving them, until blackened. In a pot I added olive oil, onion and garlic. I chunked the harvest and added it to the pot. If I had lime, I'd add it now but I just added some salt and veggie stock. Simmered; blended; simmer until thick. Booyah! It is amazing with my black bean quesadillas.

Roasted Sweet Potato Fries!

Is there anything better? A healthy side dish you eat with your fingers! Mmmmm

It took a lot of trial and error. This is the best recipe I could work out.

But I slice up the sweet potato the size of regular fires- not too big. I mix with chopped garlic, maybe 2 cloves. Some times I sprinkle it with some pepper and paprika if I am making a spicy dish. Then dress with olive oil. Oven at 375 for about 30-40 minutes. I line my cookie sheet with foil and put some olive oil under the fries so it wont stick. Also, I don't really put the fries in a single layer... stacked works just fine. Salt after cooking.

Another variation is with a little Parmesan cheese half way through cooking.

I've had most problems with getting them to cook evenly so size matters! Hahaha as long as they are all the same.

Enjoy!

Garden Tea

When I have dinner plans with friends, it is always nice to bring a gift. But that can get expensive... We can always whip something up from our garden or with one of Eli's wood pieces. This time, we made mint tea for our block party. Easy as pie. Even easier!

Boil fresh mint leaves (the more the merrier) with two bags of tea (we also add some pineapple sage leaves for fun). Cool in the fridge. Add ice.

Voila!

It's what you can't see

Tonight I made homemade pizza! Mmmmmm But what you can't see is the roasted garlic smothered on the crust paired with grape tomatoes from our garden-perfect!




I used:
Bella Cucina pizza dough
Mushrooms
garden tomatoes
roasted garlic
rosemary
mozzarella

For a side, and to use up the dough, I made garlic cheesy bread....

Real homemade!

Last night we had a friend over for dinner. The menu was pasta, bread and broccoli with iced tea to drink.

Eli and I made pesto from the basil in our garden and acorns we froze last fall. Of course we had to boil the nuts to make them digest-able. To make garlic bread, I took a loaf and sliced 1 inch pieces, mixed room temp butter with our garden basil and rosemary and a store bought garlic. Mix and spread- then broil until ready. The tea was mint and pineapple sage- both from the garden and a little dried stevia from last years garden.

It was great. And home-grown. I can't wait for our next homemade dinner!