Category Archives: Side Dish

Zucchini and Fennel Soup

Side Dish, Soup, , ,

Summer zucchini is around the corner and this is an enjoyable soup that’s quick cooking especially if you prep your veggies in advance, otherwise prep is about 5 minutes! Thank you Vito Varriale for the fine photos and tip for quick cooling soup leftovers for refrigeration.

Recipe is from 28 Days to Summer Weight Loss Challenge Recipe Manual and it’s both healthy and tasty. See below for ingredients, directions and photos!

Ingredients
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 zucchini, chopped and peeled
1/2 sweet onion, chopped (Vidalia, red onion is good here)
1/2 fennel bulb, chopped
3 cups chicken stock (low-sodium)
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions
Heat olive oil in a large skillet or soup pot with zucchini, onion, and chopped fennel. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for about 10-15 minutes. Add stock, bring to a boil and then simmer until soft. Put everything in blender and blend. Serve immediately and enjoy!

Heating soup with all ingredients.

Blend until smooth, can use blender!

All blended, so smooth and silky.

READY TO EAT!!!

Quick cool leftovers in bag placed in pot with icy water!

Gadget Girl makes Steamed and Smashed Red Skin Potatoes

Side Dish

I’m often teased that I’m a Gadget Girl. Yes, it’s true Karen loves kitchen gadgets so let’s use three gadgets in two potato recipes incorporating meal planning for later in the week.

We’ll enjoy these Smashed Potatoes today and the Steam Potatoes another time, or maybe mashed, or both!

I start with Steamed Red Skin Potatoes in my Zavor LUX LCD multipot and use some for Smashed Potatoes in my Philips XL airfryer and the rest will be vacuum sealed in a Ball jar using my Foodsaver vacuum sealer.

The secret is farm fresh red Skin Potatoes from Gazy Brothers Farms in various sizes.

Which I washed, cut larger ones to even sized and put in Zavor’s steamer basket. That gets placed in the steel pot with 1 cup of water on top of the trivet.

Pressure cook on high for 8 minutes, and when done either do fast release or let it come down from pressure on its own.

See the gauge showing pressure is building! A great feature.

Test potatoes with a fork or knife to see if done.

Remove carefully with a tong since the handles are hot.

Now we’re ready to smash some with a fork. Spritz with oil, salt, and smoked paprika. And airfry at 395 for 10 minutes until crisp (testing timing as you go).

Placed in my Philips XL airfryer.

And here’s how it looks. Serve with sour cream, even bacon pieces. Yum – a healthy mock potatoes skins (not deep fried).

The rest we will eat another day and vacuum seal in a Ball jar when cool.

Large Roasted Beets

Appetizer, Main Dish, Side Dish, ,

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!

Southern Style Greens

Side Dish, Uncategorized, , , , ,

Diane, our Southern Style Greens expert, says the secret is a mixture of the freshest greens from Gazy Brothers Farm at the local Farmer’s Market.

A make ahead staple, it tastes even better the second day!

And don’t throw away the liquid. We call that “pot liquor.” It has loads of flavor and nutrients. I pour into in a cup and drink it following the meal! Yum!

Directions:

  • Sauté chopped onions and garlic in a little olive oil.
  • Add chopped greens: kale, collards, mustard, or turnip (we used fresh Kale and Collards today)
  • Add low salt, organic chicken stock.
  • Bring to a boil.
  • Season with kosher or sea salt, black pepper, and a bit of crushed red pepper.
  • Cover and simmer for about an hour. Done!

Bar-B-Que Basil Corn

Side Dish, ,

For my friend Dorri if it’s summer it’s BBQ season. Have you thought of roasting corn with fresh Basil? You should! Roasting the corn brings out its sweetness and the basil infused fresh herb flavor. You could even wrap the corn entirely in basil before roasting if you want stronger herb flavor. That’s the fun – any herb will add a vibrancy to a simple summer BBQ.

Ingredients:

  • Farm fresh corn on the cob
  • Farm fresh basil
  • Olive oil spray
  • Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

  • Lay corn on an aluminum foil square
  • Spray lightly with olive oil spray
  • Place a basil leaf or rip basil leaves and place on corn
  • Sprinkle salt & pepper to taste
  • Roll and enclose aluminum foil square
  • Place on hot grill for 10 minutes, roll over, cook for another 10 minutes
  • Optional: An interesting twist is to add melted butter infused with more fresh basil, and add a garnish of fresh scallion

    • Bad Weather Kebabs ala Oven

    Appetizer, Side Dish,

    Sometimes the weather doesn’t allow a BBQ so what do you do with your fresh Gazy Brothers Farm veggies? Oven baked veggie kabobs are great! I had mine on skewers but placed them in a pan to oven bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes.

    Marinate or salt and pepper? Olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and salt is a delicious marinade for 25 minutes, and why not add fresh herbs.

    Today’s kebabs were simple with salt and pepper only.

    (If baking with wooden skewers presoak skewers for 15 minutes, then add veggies and cook immediately so skewers don’t burn before veggies are done.).

    PREP: cut peppers, onion, zucchini, squash, mushrooms all evenly sized pieces. Place in dish.

    After baking 10 minutes, ready to eat or is it? Looking good but why not more char.

    Adding 5 minutes to baking time. Viola! Time to eat.

    Baked zucchini chips

    Side Dish, ,

    Fresh zucchini is delicious sliced as rings or spears and baked. Tender but still crisp. Delicious and healthy.

    Slice zucchini, sprinkle with salt, toss with oil and balsamic vinegar. Place on raised mat in baking sheet. Sprinkle with onion powder. Bake 20 minutes at 395 and then remove and sprinkle with a few breadcrumbs and a spritz of oil. Bake again for 6 minutes!

    Enjoy!! Save leftovers, if there are any, for cold salads.

    Amazing “Mashed Potato Squash” and Seeds

    Side Dish, ,

    This variety is white and can be cooked and mashed to eat like a potato, or cooked like any other squash. Enjoy the seeds cooked too!

    Take a look at how it looks both whole and when cut.

    Airfrying seedless halved pieces adds a potato stick taste and quality to the threads that brown in the center.

    So how did we do this?

    We cooked seedless halves in the Phillips Avance airfryer at 390F for 15 minutes.

    Then spray a little oil and salt and cook at 330F for another 15 minutes.

    Cooked looks like this

    Notice outside is browned but inside is tender

    Scoop and mash it all and it’s delicious just like this! Blown away good,

    But adding sour cream and herbs (we used Penzeys Sunny Paris for an onion soup flavor) is amazing too.

    Don’t forget to toast the seeds. We airfryer for about 3-4 minutes at 390F until we heard a popping sound.

    Airfyer Petite Whole Cauliflower

    Side Dish, ,

    Have you used your airfryer for Cauliflower? We tried petite whole cauliflower and it was quick, easy and tasty. You can also cut a section from a larger cauliflower for the same results.

    Play around with different flavors, or do what we did by coating each cauliflower in lemon olive oil, a teaspoon of mustard, salt and pepper, and smoked paprika. Airfry at 390 degrees for 10 minutes, turning once, then continue airfying at 300 degrees for another 5 minutes or until tender to taste.

    Play around and find your perfect temperature and taste – we enjoy it when it’s part crunchy/charred like popcorn and part tender and savory – the best of both worlds.

    Two petite cauliflower, washed and ready to cook

    Coated with lemon olive oil, mustard, salt, pepper and smoked paprika

    The final product. Yum.