Garlic Biscotti and Minestrone Soup

A perfect winter meal!   I have wanted to try a Garlic Biscotti for some time now and thought I would just fine chop the garlic and add to a recipe, but once I discovered this recipe using Roasted Garlic – I knew it was the way to go!

The recipe may need some adjustments since it didn’t rise as much as I had hoped … and I tasted the Rosemary flavor quite a bit and hardly any of the Garlic flavor.   So I will be tweaking the recipe next time around.

Roasting garlic takes about an hour and all you have to do is cut the top of the bulb off, drizzle with olive oil and cover.   Bake in the oven 45 minutes to an hour.   Your whole house will smell like “Garlic”!

The Minestrone Soup was perfect!   I love this soup and it has to be one of the easiest dinners to prepare.   Since the Garlic Biscotti only called for 2 large cloves of roasted garlic, I added the remainder of the bulb to the soup along with the rest of the ingredients.  It was quite delicious and with this soup you can add an assortment of vegetables – whatever  you happen to have on hand …. peas, green beans, cabbage.

I had intended to make a new recipe for dessert called Snowball Cookies, but instead I actually spent the afternoon outside shoveling Snow!   I didn’t pay attention to the weather this morning and had no idea we were in for this much snow … Surprise, Surprise!

Flaxseed in the Garden

Flaxseed seems so mysterious, right?   I seem to find myself drawn to unusual plants and the discovery of  how they grow;  luffa, ginseng, gourds, cotton, so flaxseed seemed to fit right in.   We have been purchasing flaxseed and adding it here and there to our recipes.   The cost is quite high but we figured our health is well worth it.   It lowers cholesterol and is a healthy addition to most any recipe; it does have a strong flavor though.   The flaxseed flower is small, purple in color and grows into swaying stems adding a beautiful scene for your garden landscape.   The flower then goes to seed at the end of the season and each seed head contains several seeds.   Harvesting the seed when they are dry is rather easy, but cleaning for the flaxseed is very, very time-consuming.

Would I recommend growing flaxseed in your garden?   Only if you are looking for an easy flower to add to your garden or if you have the proper cleaning equipment which is a huge investment then yes – Grow Flaxseed.   The seed can be ground up into powder which can be accomplished with a coffee grinder, but the time to get to this point is like I said … very time-consuming.  

I am always looking for the ultimate healthy (sweet) snack so I decided to create another cookie recipe using flaxseed and they are pretty Good!   I named them Oatmeal Apple Flaxseed Cookies and posted the recipe at Mixing Bowl in the new group Garden Dish I recently created.   As with all recipes, ingredients can be added or eliminated depending on your tastes.   I wanted to use the Sage I had just harvested also (another strong flavor) – surprisingly it’s flavor is somewhat faint….maybe more next time.

The batter was somewhat dry so I ended up adding 1 tablespoon of oil – that’s all it needed!

Oatmeal Apple Flaxseed Cookies

On my way to creating the Ultimate Healthy Sweet Snack!

I decided to start some herb seeds now under my grow lights.   I already miss my gardens and the snow hasn’t even started to fall yet!   I have a nice setup with lights to start seeds so I planted a few trays; mostly herbs with a few flower seeds.  

 

This past summer I ordered and planted Stevia seeds.   When I received the seeds there were very few in the package – about 5.   I thought this must be an expensive, unique plant so I saved seed from my own plants and this is one I just planted under the lights.

Stevia seed – I didn’t really do much with the stevia as far as cooking, but I made sure to taste the leaves and they taste just like sweet sugar!   I hope to create some healthy food this coming season – I already see there are a few cookbooks using Stevia out there!

Make sure to “Like” the RunningGarlic fanpage on Facebook and sign up for the Newsletter while you are there!   Thanks!

Garlic Scapes

This year I decided to harvest the garlic scapes from the hard garlic growing in the garden.   Some folks do this and others don’t – last year I didn’t and all the garlic harvested seemed quite large to me.   This year by cutting the scapes (the curly stalks that hard garlic grow) I am giving the bulb in the ground an even better chance of growing larger – the growing energy is directed towards the bulb and not the stalk or scape.   So now I have all these Garlic Scapes

and browsing through the blogs participating in the GROW project I spotted this perfectly timed post by Colleen at In the Garden online  and spent the day yesterday making Garlic Scape Pesto and canning up 6 pints of pickled scapes.   The pickled scapes will make a great addition to my Father’s Day gift since my Dad loves garlic and the garlic bulbs are not ready yet to harvest.

I cut the scapes to fit the pint size jars (I made 6 pints) and added the hot brine along with some red pepper flakes and dried oregano.   To make the liquid brine you heat up 3 cups of vinegar, 5 cups of water and 1/4 cup of kosher salt.   Then you use the hot water canning method and cook 45 minutes.   They need to set for 2 weeks before eating to allow the flavors to blend.

I also made the Garlic Scape Pesto and it is totally addicting – I am thinking even better than a Basil Pesto ……. really good!   I modified the recipe a bit.   I cut up 1 cup of scapes and added them along with 1/3 cup of walnuts to the blender.   Blended a while and added 1/2 cup olive oil and lastly about 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese.

 So very delicious!!!   Thank you Colleen for your timely post – I am enjoying my Garlic Scapes to the max!

I recently returned once again from the trip down south and my mailbox was full of wonderful treasures …. 2 new magazines I have subscribed to;  Runner’s World and PaperCrafts.   I have decided I now have to purchase the Provocraft Gypsy to go along with my Cricut simply because of all this back and forth traveling.   The Gypsy will allow me to travel and create without lugging the Cricut machine each trip….how exciting is that!

Renee’s Garden once again floored me with their promptness and generosity.   I received the media kit with my Nasturtium seeds and decided to send for the 18 free packages of seeds they offered.   I received them all within a few days and am overjoyed with all these wonderful new possibilities to add to the gardens down south.

Happy Gardening!!!

Garden Soup and Chili Powder

There is nothing better on a cold winter day than a nice hot bowl of yummy soup … Garden Soup – fresh from the garden!  Only glitch is … we are covered with snow and the temperature is just plain COLD!  The garden regretfully is not producing ingredients for the Garden Soup I dream of.

With a little imagination and the desire to jump in and see what I could come up with I managed to create “one of the best soups I ever made”!  I had some tomatoes in the freezer.  Here is how I made tomato base for the soup and will continue to use it in future recipes.  After canning all the tomatoes, my plants were still producing so I simply cut the whole tomatoes  into quarters and froze them as is in a plastic bag.  Tossing a couple in soups and stews was my intent.  What I actually did was took a whole baggie of frozen quartered tomatoes and simmered them down, removed the seeds & skins as best I could and Voila I had my tomato soup base!  My thoughts were a minestrone soup so I added chickpeas (which I plan on growing this season). I didn’t stop there … I kept adding -

 Garlic

 Peas

Both grown in the garden!!  Then diced celery, carrots, onions, cabbage and spinach.  No exact measurements, just diced and added.  The spinach I blanched before freezing and I have also frozen the spinach just as is.  The only drawback with the spinach frozen as is it takes up a considerable amount of space. I love spinach and last year it actually grew back after the cruel winter weather – quite a surprise!

 Fresh Spinach 

I think the ingredient that really made a difference in this soup was the Delicata squash. Earlier in the week I had baked up several and planned to eat them throughout the week.   Instead I peeled the skin and chopped them adding to the soup.  They acted as a thickener and the taste was Good! 

 Delicata squash 

Several types of beans, corn, broccoli … whatever you have on hand can be used.  Herbs would add great flavor – I just sprinkled parmesan cheese on and enjoyed my Garden Soup!!!

Now for the Chili Powder!  I didn’t add it to the soup, but I could have!  We had made up a batch of chili and were not happy with the chili powder – it seemed flavorless, so we decided to try making our own.  Simple procedure really.  First we purchased the dried peppers and deseeded them. 

 Using the coffee grinder we whirled until we had powder!

 Before

 After

Homemade Chili Powder – the peppers we used are Arbol and if this chili powder stands up in the cooking (not too hot) we will be growing these peppers this year!

               …..   A day spent creating warmth during the deep chill of winter!

Chicken Chicken

I will buy chicken breast on sale and make several dishes.  First I bake the chicken and then bone it leaving me with tons of white chicken meat to cook with.  Chicken Salad and Chicken Chili were the 2 recipes I created this past week.  Healthy and filling and delicious to boot!

Chicken Salad - can be served in wheat pitas or on wheat crackers.  I used 2 cups of the cooked chicken and diced it up.  Then I added 1/4 cup of nonfat plain yogurt, 1/4 cup light mayonnaise, 1/2 small diced onion, 1 clove minced garlic, 1 tablespoon tarragon vinegar, 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce and 2 tablespoons of fresh parsley.  (The parsley was picked fresh and frozen in a plastic baggie and it worked just fine in this recipe).

Chicken Chili - combine 2 cans of crushed tomato (28 oz. each), 3 cups water, 1 cup pearl barley, 1 medium onion, 2-3 cloves of garlic, 1 tablespoon cumin and 2-3 tablespoons of chili powder.  Simmer for 45 minutes.  Due to the barley swelling you may have to add additional water.  Add 3 cups cut up cooked chicken breast and 1 can (11 oz) vacuum packed yellow corn.  The vacuum packed corn remains crisp in this dish.  Cook an additional 30 minutes.

Gearing up for the New Year ahead!

This year I decided to get serious about making one New Year’s resolution that I will totally commit myself to and that is getting back in shape.  Ever since the age of 40 has come and gone the pounds have crept up and refused to leave as they did in my younger years.  I have been searching the web the past few months looking for worthwhile resources in the areas that really interest me and I found two great sites recently.  The first is a site called Spark People and I have been captivated by it since joining.  Each time I visit I learn more about navigating myself around (there is a TON of information) and I even pre-ordered the book The Spark today from Amazon.  For 4 days now I have tracked my food intake which I believe will be a major factor in losing the weight.  I pick all day long … I mean ALL day long and I need to stop that!  One of the goals they stress is 8 cups of water a day and today I finally did this!  Instead of mindless snacking I sipped on water; which I thought would be very boring, but I got hooked on reaching the goal.  The site looks to have every aspect of nutrition and fitness covered and I am really loving the recipe section.  They will select a meal plan for you if you choose and figure all the calories, etc.  Recipes are supplied and you can create cookbooks.  It is fabulous so if you are looking for a social site to join that is motivational and fitness nutrition orientated this is the one!

The second website is FoodBuzz which also takes some time to learn, but will be worth the effort I am sure.  This site appears to be all about food!  One of the major goals I have in mind is healthy eating and living.  Using the harvest from my own garden and creating easy healthy dishes that will serve as a basis for losing the weight and learning a new lifestyle of health and happiness.

I also created my latest set of hot pads that centers around this idea of fitness and being focused with hopes that they will serve to inspire!

I also have to report that I received my first order of seeds!  This order came from Pinetree Seeds and arrived promptly and in good condition … all seeds accounted for and anxiously waiting to be planted!

I do have a few containers of herbs growing under the plant lights and just the other day I did plant some spinach seeds so I can have a winter harvest of baby spinach.  These were seeds that I had saved.

 Spinach seeds broadcast in tray under planting lights for the winter.

Gearing up for the New Year ahead …. I am ready!!!

Delicious Pasta Dish

Portabella, Parsley Pasta dish – sounds fancy but is quite easy to make.  I will admit I am not the main chef in the house; I leave that role to the dear husband – he has a natural knack and loves cooking….so why interfere with a natural talent???  It is remarkable how he can pull together a fantastic meal with a few ingredients.  Here is the dish we dined on over this past weekend.

 Portabella Parsley Pasta

The five main ingredients for this dish includes 6 oz. portabella mushrooms, sliced thin, 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley, 5 chopped garlic cloves, 1/4 cup sundried tomatoes and 1 lb. fine pasta.

The garlic I did grow in the garden this past season and the parsley was the ingredient that actually prompted this dish.  It was still growing with a passion outside in the middle of December!  The tomatoes I call sundried were dehydrated in my Excalibur a couple months back and are very sweet and keep well this way.

Cook up the pasta separately.  Saute portabella mushrooms, garlic, tomato, in olive oil until tender.  Add 1/4 cup romano cheese, 1 1/2 cup water with bouillon cube dissolved to make a broth and 1 teas. corn starch.  We also included 2 chicken breasts which were sauted in olive oil – this is optional.