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!

Oven baked eggplant, onions and tomatoes with airfried chicken breasts

Main Dish, , , ,

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!

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.

Everything in the pot vegetable soup

Soup, , , , , , , , , , , ,

I’m Karen, and I’m just back from the Farmer’s Market and am making a big pot of soup for the week. So nutritious plus a real weight loss aid for me. I’ll make a large amount and vacuum seal in Ball jars to keep it fresh longer.

Here’s the final product. We’ll add rice or noodles or Farro to our bowl if we want when we serve to individualize.

Follow along as I add ingredients to my pressure cooker pot.

Bottom layer has 1 ear of corn cut off cob, 3 stalks celery chopped, 2 carrots thick chopped, 1 cup wax beans cut, and 1 sliced zucchini.

Next is a bunch of Swiss Chard, picked today! Wash and remove the thick center stem, then chop and add to soup.

Add 1-2 leaks! First chopped, soaked to clean to remove dirt.

Add herbs (thyme, Herbs de Provence, salt, pepper). And minced garlic. I didn’t measure these, just throw in what seems right.

Next I added a can rinsed Canelli beans, and a can fire roasted tomatoes.

In goes my quart of home made stock that’s been waiting for this soup vacuum-sealed in my fridge.

But look, not enough liquid.

Adding water and 3 tbs tomato paste to increase volume of liquid. Also added two bay leaves (remember to remove those later).

Now the wait begins, 10 minutes at high pressure in my Fagor LUX LCD Multipot. I can set it and walk away and when it beeps done let it come down from high pressure on its own, or very carefully open and release pressure using a long tong so steam escapes but no where near my hand.

Yum! Time to eat.

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

    • 5-minute Summer Tomato, Mozzarella, Basil, Balsamic Salad

    Salad, , , ,

    Thank you Dorri for sharing a delicious farm-fresh summer salad that’s super quick and easy with 5-minute prep for busy nights. I’m hungry just looking at it. The key is just picked flavor at Gazy Brothers Farm.

  • Ingredients:
      • Farm fresh tomatoes
      Mozzarella cheese
      Farm fresh basil
      Balsamic vinegar
      Salt & Pepper to taste
  • Directions:
      • Slice tomato. Arrange on plate.
      Place basil leaves on top of tomato.
      Slice cheese. Arrange on top of basil.
      Drizzle balsamic vinegar on top of cheese.
      Add salt and pepper to taste.

    Garden Fresh Mixed Veggie Turkey Soup

    Main Dish, 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!

    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.