Blog – Page 66

Three Dollar Café Squash Casserole

July 25, 2014

Because we live in Atlanta, it’s pretty much a requirement that you make at least one squash casserole this summer. This recipe came was published recently in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. You can use any combination of summer squash (they use both crookneck and zucchini at Three Dollar Cafe) and top it with any cheese you like, although they definitely use American at the restaurant. If you don’t have chicken base, you can do without it, but it’s a long-lived pantry (actually – refrigerator) staple that adds a boost of flavor without all the liquid of using chicken stock.

Green Goddess Dressing/Dip

July 25, 2014

from Martha Stewart Living Makes 2 cups In a food processor or blender, pulse avocado, buttermilk, herbs, anchovies and vinegar. Season to taste with salt and pepper and chill for at least one hour.

Yogurt-Cucumber Dressing/Dip

July 25, 2014

I’m sharing two dips, one of which use cucumbers in the recipe. Both would work just as well as a salad dressing, but I was thinking of them as dips for fingers of fennel and kohlrabi, and disks of summer squash and cucumber. Green Goddess Dressing is traditionally made with a mixture of herbs and anchovies, but you can adjust it to suit your household’s taste.

notes about cucumbers

July 25, 2014

What an amazing box this week. The cucumbers are my favorites and in my box there were both pickling cucumbers and one beautiful English-type cucumber. The pickling cucumbers are quite ripe, so their seeds will be pretty large. Depending on how you feel about cucumber seeds, you may want to scoop them out like you…
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Spiced Lettuce Cake Bars

July 25, 2014

Finally, I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to try this recipe for lettuce cake, and today’s bounty of lettuce provides the means. I saw this mentioned at SeriousEats.com last year, and although it calls for iceberg, I’m going to try it with our green leaf lettuce. Sounds like an interesting variation on carrot cake. The recipe comes Nicole Weston of BakingBites.com.

Enlightened Chocolate Basil Cake with Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting

July 25, 2014

I also love making a simple syrup (equal quantities sugar and water, heated until the sugar dissolves) flavored with basil. Tonight I made 4 cups of simple syrup and while it was still warm. dropped in all the basil from the box (stems, flowers and all – rinsed well, of course!). Tomorrow I’ll strain out the basil and refrigerate the syrup. I can use it to flavor iced tea, make a frozen ice or sweeten fruit salads. And since it’s not watermelon season yet, I can save my basil syrup and use it to make a modified version of Martha’s margaritas. (It’ll keep at least a month in the refrigerator.) Yum!

Ok – so then Suzanne mentioned basil cake. I found a recipe online for Lemon Basil Cake, calling for Trader Joe’s vanilla cake mix gussied up with the zest of 2 lemons and 1/2 cup chopped basil. And a lemon cake with basil syrup at Epicurious.com. And pound cake with lemon-basil-orange syrup. I can totally see the connection between lemon and basil, but chocolate? There was a chocolate basil cake on the Enlightened Cooking blog. Here’s the recipe. If I hadn’t already put all my basil into sugar syrup, I’d try this tomorrow.

Watermelon-Basil Margaritas

July 25, 2014

Not sure why, but this week’s box has set me to thinking about sweets. Maybe not the traditional reaction to the bounty of squash, cucumbers and greens, but there you are. What may have pushed me to the sweet side was the huge bunch of basil in my box. “Hmm … more pesto? Nah. Chop some into a salad with the beans and potatoes? Ok. But there’s LOTS of basil …”

And then I remembered a drink I discovered last summer, the watermelon-basil margarita. The recipe came out in Martha Stewart Living back in 2007, and like lots of people, I had torn it out and added it to that stack of “recipes I will get to one day”. Well, “one day” came last summer and what a hit! People who were totally not going to try it ended up loving it and we were muddling basil leaves all night long. Here’s the recipe.

Chicken and Summer Vegetable Tostadas

July 25, 2014

You probably didn’t need a tostada recipe, but it’s good to be reminded that all kinds of veggies make great tostadas –AND quesadillas – AND tacos – and they’re wonderful any time of day. This recipe comes from Cooking Light.

Japanese Curry Rice

July 25, 2014

The recipe for Japanese Curry Rice comes from Marc Matsumoto of norecipes.com. He says: “ I make almost everything I post without a recipe. I think cooking is most fun and innovative when you just wing it. I do recognize that not everyone is as adventurous as me, so I post the ingredients and method to give you a starting point.”

So in that spirit, substitute okra for the carrots, thinly sliced green beans for the peas, use applesauce instead of the fresh apple, or make any other substitutions that appeal to you.. You could skip the protein and still have a lovely meal.

Squash and Ham Ribbons

July 25, 2014

serves 4 With a vegetable peeler, sliced squash into wide ribbons. Toss in a bowl with ham ribbons. Grate lemon zest over squash and ham, and squeeze in 2 tablespoons lemon juice. Toss, cover and refrigerate. Reserve remainder of lemon juice for pesto. When ready to serve, make the pesto in a food processor or…
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