Tag: parsley (Page 2 of 3)

Wilted Cucumbers? Bake Them!

October 3, 2010 / Lindsey / 0 Comments

Ever wonder what to do with cucumbers that have begun to wilt and lose their crunch? Obviously the first thing you’d think of is to make a Loch Ness monster like the one below, right?

Loch Ness Cucumber, (c) The Herbangardener

The Loch Ness Cucumber

I thought so.

And although that’s fun — yes — the thing that really uses up those cukes is to bake them. This was originally a Julia Child recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, but I’ve tweaked it somewhat to be simpler, with bolder flavors. I never thought to bake a cucumber until my mom made them last year; delicious! And a real bonus is that they freeze pretty well after baking. Thawed, they’re a little softer than the original out-of-the-oven ones, but that doesn’t bother you, right?

Try them out…I think they’re absolutely delicious! They have kind of a pickle-y flavor, yet gentle and buttery. This recipe makes a fair amount, but they do cook down to about half their original volume; and of course, feel free to cut the recipe in half.

Baked Cucumbers

3 lbs cucumbers

1/2 cup finely minced onion

1/4 – 1/3 cup wine vinegar (to your liking)

1/4 tsp sugar

1 1/4 tsp salt

1 Tbsp dry basil

1 Tbsp dry dill weed

4 Tbsp butter, melted

1/4 cup minced parsley (optional, for serving)

Preheat oven to 375*. Peel cucumbers if the skin is bitter. Cut them in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds with a spoon. Cut into lengthwise strips 1/4″ to 1/2″ wide. Cut the strips into pieces that are 2″ long.

Mix all ingredients together, stirring well to evenly coat the cucumber pieces. Divide into two baking pans (I use two 9″x13″ glass pans) and bake, uncovered, for about an hour, tossing every 20-30 minutes. They should be tender, but still have a little crunch. Sprinkle with minced parsley (if desired), and serve. Mmmm!

Recipe Collection For A Bounty of Vegetables

September 21, 2010 / Lindsey / 9 Comments

September is always a very busy month in our kitchen as I scramble to use as much of our fresh garden produce in as many meals, smoothies, muffins, and cookies as possible! I’ve also been freezing meals made with garden produce, as well as freezing the produce itself to use in the coming winter months (so far, cooked kale as well as peach & cucumber slices for smoothies).

So I’ve put together a recipe collection (from my archive) categorized by vegetable in hopes that it might give you some fresh ideas if you’re overloaded with a particular veggie at this time of the year!

**List UPDATED on 2/3/2016**

Homemade Bubbies Pickles (raw, lacto-fermented pickles)

Gazpacho

Israeli Cucumber-Tomato Salad

Quinoa Salad, Greek Style

Cucumber Raita

Grapes

Concord Grape Freezer Jam (sugar & pectin free)

Concord Grape Fruit Leather

Grape Leaves

Pickled Grape Leaves

Zucchini Dolmas

Kale

Kale Chips

Minnestrone Soup

Parsley

Israeli Cucumber-Tomato Salad

Pesto

Tabbouleh

Zucchini Dolmas

Pumpkin

(see Winter Squash, below)

Spinach

Greek Melt Pita Sandwiches

Green Smoothies

Green smoothie frozen concentrate cubes

Spanakopita

Tomatoes

Gazpacho

Israeli Cucumber-Tomato Salad

Fresh Tomato & Zucchini Chili

Greek Melt Pita Sandwiches

Minnestrone Soup

Quinoa Salad, Greek Style

Salsa Fresca (Fresh Salsa with Avocado)

Tabbouleh

Tomato-Quinoa Soup

Zucchini Parmesan

Winter Squash/Pumpkin

Cranberry-Pumpkin Muffins

Japanese Squash and Mushroom Soup

Pumpkin Pie Fruit Leather

Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin Spice Cookies

Zucchini/Summer Squash

Zucchini Dolmas

Zucchini Pie (Crustless)

Fresh Tomato & Zucchini Chili

Zucchini Parmesan

Chocolate Zucchini Cookies

Zucchini Cake with Spiced Frosting

Zucchini Muffins (or Bread)

Israeli Cucumber-Tomato Salad

September 14, 2010 / Lindsey / 2 Comments

I love eating this light, fresh Israeli staple dish almost every day now that the tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and parsley are so abundant in the garden. In fact, preparing and eating this particular salad brings me so much joy because almost all of its ingredients come from our garden. I close my eyes and savor each bite, knowing I’m nourishing my body with the very freshest, purest food possible, and that feels so good! Our homegrown vegetables seem so alive and life-giving! I’m very grateful to have them.

Using quality ingredients in this salad will make it shine!…fresh, flavorful vegetables, good olive oil, freshly squeezed lemon juice, unrefined sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

The ingredient amounts below are approximate, and I never measure when making this salad. Adjust the recipe to your liking!

Israeli Cucumber-Tomato Salad

Makes 1 large salad or two small side salads

1 large tomato, chopped (roughly equal to the amount of cucumber used)

1/2 a cucumber, chopped (roughly equal to the amount of tomato used)

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (approximately!)

2-4 Tbsp green onion (or substitute a smaller amount of red or white onion), finely chopped

1-2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice (about half a lemon)

2 Tbsp olive oil

Sea salt / freshly ground pepper to taste

Combine the tomato, cucumber, parsley, and onion; the proportions are up to you, but the recipe gives a rough idea. Drizzle the olive oil and lemon juice over the salad just before serving; I love the zingy taste of lemon so I use equal parts lemon juice and olive oil, but it’s more common to use 1 part lemon juice to 2 parts olive oil. Add salt & pepper to taste!

For packed lunches, I like to mix up the tomatoes, cucumbers, parsley, onion, and ground pepper the night before, and then pack the olive oil and lemon juice in a small glass jar, adding that — along with the salt — at the last minute.

I love mine plain, but you can also serve this with rustic crackers or toasted pita bread.

For a nice variation, add Feta cheese and Kalamata olives! Or, add some cooked quinoa for protein to make it more of a main dish.

Nourishing Mixed-Herb Pesto

August 17, 2010 / Lindsey / 1 Comment

Oregano, parsley, & cilantro pesto

Pesto is such a versatile condiment — it’s wonderful over fish or chicken, on crackers, tossed with pasta, spread over eggs or sauteed zucchini, in a roasted vegetable sandwich, used as a pizza sauce, or straight off the spoon. And although basil pesto is the most common type, pesto can be made with any combination of herbs. In fact, I think I like mixed-herb pesto even better than basil-only — it has more layers of flavor! And don’t forget that herbs are mineral rich and packed with nutrition, and can definitely be thought of as a medicinal food.

Pesto, goat cheese, zucchini (c) The Herbangardener

Make a healthy snack with goat cheese and mixed-herb pesto on a raw zucchini slice "cracker"

Use any combination of fresh herbs that you want; pesto is a great way to use up heaps of herbs at once, such as the cilantro sitting in the back of your fridge and the overabundance of oregano in your garden. It’s also a nice way to preserve those herbs for use later in the year; use ice cube trays to freeze pesto into small portions and thaw as needed over the winter.

One nice combination is oregano, parsley, and cilantro — this is probably my favorite. Use equal parts…or not! Just combine according to the amounts you have. I do suggest, however, that you go easy on the fresh sage if you choose to use it; it lends an overpowering (and not all that tasty) element. Also, mint is nice as an added “splash” but go easy on that too, since it can also overpower.

My basic pesto recipe is as follows, though you’ll probably find you don’t even need a recipe. Just gather a bunch of herbs, add a clove or two of garlic (start with less garlic and add more later if needed), add nuts, cheese, and salt, and then olive oil to form a paste.

Basic Herb Pesto

1 cup fresh herbs, packed

2 garlic cloves, small-medium size

3 Tbsp olive oil, approx.

3 Tbsp shredded parmesan cheese, approx.

1-2 Tbsp pine nuts or walnuts, approx. (optional)

Salt to taste

Put everything into the food processor and blend until a paste is formed.

Instead of using the food processor, though, I like to make mine the old fashioned way using a knife and cutting board. If you use a nice sharp chopping knife, the task goes faster and is more fun than the food processor (at least for me — I get angry at my food processor when making pesto!). The key is definitely the sharp knife. Chop your herbs, garlic, and nuts as finely as possible, add the parmesan (chop it up too, if you like), and then add olive oil until a loose paste is formed. You can replace a little of the olive oil with water if you want. Add salt to taste. The texture will be more rustic than paste-like, but that’s not a bad thing. 😉

Making pesto without a food processor

Italian-Style Lamb Meatloaf

January 13, 2010 / Lindsey / 7 Comments

Italian-Style Lamb Meatloaf

Today’s recipe is for a traditional meatloaf, using ground lamb as the meat. Amazingly, I had never made a meatloaf before, so I read through quite a few different meatloaf recipes from my 1940s cookbooks before finally cobbling this one together. It turned out great and we absolutely snarfed it up!

And oh! Speaking of meatloaf, I must tell you a story. *Snicker.* 😉 When I was about 6 years old, I received a pet turtle as a gift from my sister. I guess turtles eat canned dogfood — or at least mine did — so we bought canned dogfood for Nutley and kept it in a Tupperware container in the fridge. One evening around this time, my mom made a meatloaf for dinner. After dinner, the leftovers were put into a Tupperware container, into the fridge. (Can you see where this is going?)

The next day, my dad ate his usual lunch of leftovers from the fridge. And later that same day, my mom and I went to the fridge to get out Nutley’s dogfood. Curiously, though, the dogfood was gone…but last night’s meatloaf was still there.

OH NO.

Um, dad? What did you have for lunch??

“Meatloaf.”

Are you sure????

Yes, he actually really did eat the dogfood for lunch, thinking the whole time that it was leftover meatloaf. That story has become something of a legend in our family; I’m afraid he’ll never live that one down! 😉

Anyway, here’s the recipe:

Italian-Style Lamb Meatloaf

1 ½ lbs (approx) ground lamb

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

1 egg, beaten

1 ½ tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

3 Tbsp parmesan cheese

8 oz spaghetti sauce

1 cup finely chopped bread (or dry breadcrumbs). (I use two slices of Ezekial 4:9 Sprouted Grain sandwich bread.)

1 ½ tsp Italian Seasoning

Mix all ingredients together, spread into a loaf pan, and bake at 350* for about 1 to 1 ½ hours, or until the top is nicely browned and/or the internal temperature measures about 160F.

Italian-Style Lamb Meatloaf

Since this delicious, hearty dish will feed a family for not much more than the cost of the ground lamb (I get mine in the freezer section of my health food store), it’s actually pretty frugal…and is therefore part of Pennywise Platter Thursday over at The Nourishing Gourmet.