An easy dish for the grill - potatoes, garlic scapes, purple scallions & summer savory. Also some photos of our summer fun!

One very, very tired little girl enjoying the last moments of July 4th before bed.

One happy girl.

We had the most wonderful holiday weekend, with plenty of time outside enjoying the absolutely beautiful weather. Although, I must admit I got far too much sun on Monday when we took the kids swimming. Eek! My back is extremely burnt, not so much fun there, but besides that all I can think about are the wonderful blessing we were able to enjoy. Like having friends over Saturday evening, watching the kids play make believe games, running barefoot in the grass, lots of wonderful food and just overall some awesome family time. Weekends like this are a must in my mind. There was no stress to feeling like certain things had to be done. Other then having friends over on Saturday evening and then church on Sunday, our whole weekend was about playing-it-by-ear and enjoy what rolls our way.

Over the last week in a half, we've gone strawberry picking (and picked a whopping 20+ lbs), biking, swimming, had friends over for a nice evening of talking and watching kids play, lit fireworks on the driveway and all in all, eaten some pretty fabulous food, most of which was grilled on a new (but very, very used) grill our neighbor was giving away for free. I have to say that we are pretty stoked about the grill (Char-Griller with smoker) because we were looking at buying the exact same one new, which was around $200. The one we got from our neighbor was extremely dirty, as in you couldn't actually see through the cast iron grills because so much junk was cooked onto them.  After several days of cleaning and me getting filthy in the process, we have a very nice, very usable smoker/grill and all we had to do was wheel it from our neighbors house (right next store) to our place. Not too bad if I do say so myself! Now that we have a decent grill again I can get back to enjoying the many fantastic foods that taste best when they are cooked on an open flame!  

Two little kids memorized by the fireworks we did on our driveway.

 

One of the fun activities we did last week, actually we did it for my birthday, was strawberry picking. Have you ever tried visiting a pick-your-own farm? Honestly, it's a must, especially if you want to save money on fresh summer items like berries. At the pick-your own farm we went to (Apple Jacks in Delano, MN) the strawberries weren't sprayed and I think the price was around $1.85 a lb. An extra bonus was they were very friendly to kids (not all farms are). I washed and froze a bunch of our strawberries, made fruit roll-ups, dried some, pureed a bunch for smoothies and made 4 batches of strawberry ice cream. We've been enjoying the strawberries so much that I'm actually heading back out with the kids and a friend tomorrow to do it again!

My daughter trying to help pick strawberries.

I have a new Excalibur Food Deydrator coming in the mail, which was a gift from my mom. Yeah for moms!!! It should get here just in time for me to dry all of my next batches of fruit. My last dehydrator did a better job burning the food then drying it, hence the desire for a new one. One of my goals for this summer and the harvest season is to be able to preserve as much food as I can, preferably without the use of refrigeration or freezing. I'm not sure I'll get to quite as much as I want, because we are moving in Sept., which is right at peak season, but I'm gonna try my best. I'm hoping I can get a couple months of food preserved for the winter months, that way I don't have to rely on the co-op so heavily. I'll be sure to keep you all up to date on my progress there. This desire to preserve our summer bounty also comes from another desire of wanting to learn to live a little or a lot (trying to figure that part out still) off the grid.

Over the weekend, we made sure to use as much of the fresh produce from our CSA box from Driftless Organics as we could. Last week our CSA box was once again loaded with some wonderful vegetables and I am truly enjoying our attempts at figuring out new ways to use all the different foods that come. For instance, last night my husband made a simple, yet delicious, coleslaw, using 1 kohlrabi, 1 turnip, 3 carrots, apple cider, a bit of sugar, a touch of homemade mustard, homemade mayonnaise, sea salt and black pepper. The freshness of this coleslaw was awesome and the different vegetables were great together. I truly doubt we would have ever bought these ingredients at the store for a coleslaw, but because we had the kohlrabi and turnip in the box we wanted to find a new use for them.

CSA box week 3.

This potato dish was the same way. I actually made it Thursday evening right after my husband brought our CSA box home. It was very hot and I didn't have a real desire to turn on the stove, so instead we prepared all our food on the grill. This is more of a throw-it-together dish and not one you need to be overly precise with measurements and quantities. When it comes to cooking, I let my eyes and taste buds do the guiding. That can make it hard to share a recipe on a blog though. So, here I've given very basic measurements to give you a general idea of what to toss together. The garlic scapes, scallions and summery savory all came from this weeks CSA box, while the potatoes were a mix from the co-op and our CSA box from a couple weeks ago.

What You'll Need

serves 4-6 

2 lbs potatoes, I used a mixture of yellow and red potatoes, chopped into rough 1" chunks

3 garlic scapes, sliced into 1/4" pieces
5 purple scallions, sliced into 1/4" pieces

1 tbsp fresh summer savory, finely chopped

4 tbsp melted, unsalted butter

Celtic sea salt

Fresh ground black pepper

Getting Stared

1. Have your grill nice and hot and allow for about 30 minutes of cooking time. We cooked our vegetables first, set kept the covered for another 10 min. while we cooked our hamburgers. Always have your coals on one side of grill allowing for a cooking place for food that needs more indirect heat.

2. Well, it truly doesn't get easier than this. Grab a decent size cast iron skillet (12" is what I used) with lid or a large piece of heavy duty aluminum foil. Toss in all your ingredients and top of with a generous sprinkling of salt and pepper. Mix everything together to well distribute all the ingredients.

Potatoes have been cooking for about 10 minutes, just took lid of to give them a stir.

I love when my husband grills! 

3. Cover with lid (or make a pouch with the aluminum foil) and place on the grill on indirect heat. If there is a lid for the grill, close it. Check potatoes in about 10 minutes, giving them a good stirring to help make sure they all get well browned. Depending on the heat of your grill the potatoes will likely cook for another 10 - 20 minutes. During the time be sure to continue to check them every 5 minutes to make sure they don't burn and to give them a stir. Also, pull out a small piece of potato to taste test for doneness and seasoning. 

4. Once the potatoes are nicely browned on the outside and have a soft, but not fall apart consistency they are done. Enjoy immediately or keep covered and allow them to sit while you finishing grilling your main course. When we were ready to serve ours we did add a couple more pats of butter, but this isn't necessary.

Enjoy and have fun experimenting with your food!

The end product with a couple extra pats of butter.

Potato & Parsnips with Fresh Basil Pesto

One of the reasons the blog has been so silent is I've been doing research for a big post/series that I'll be sharing when I kick off my new website. It's one of those post that I thought would take a couple of weeks to do and instead has turned into several months. I can't wait for the post to be done, but I want to do it right. Curious about what the topic is? Well stay tuned... :)

In the mean time, since Artistta certainly can't stay quiet forever and I have so many recipes to share, it's time to get back to what I love to do and share what I'm learning and experimenting with in the kitchen. Over the last couple of months I been trying to learn about making more fermented foods, been experimenting with making cultured products, testing out different sourdough recipes and trying out new recipes. Last night we sat down to a fabulous meal of broiled salmon (picked up at Mill City Farmers Market Saturday morning), fresh greens and a mixture of potatoes and parsnips tossed in basil pesto.

Some of the potatoes we pull out of our CSA box.

If you follow Artistta on Facebook, you may have seen the post that I put up late last week mentioning that we received our first CSA box from Driftless Organics. Hurray! Now I have the fun of putting together dishes which incorporate whatever surprises us in our CSA box for the week.

This last week our box included asparagus, collard greens, green garlic, parsnips, pea vines, radishes, fresh thyme and Tsoi-sim. We've used just about everything up. With the asparagus I made an asparagus guacamole, which I added a couple of the green garlic to.  (This was incredible and might be a new house favorite. I'm going to make it again later this week to snap some photos and share the recipe with you all.) With the collards, I sliced them into strips and tossed them with some lard, bacon, cilantro and garlic, then added it all to a pot of pinto beans which I cooked it chicken broth. We topped the beans off with some homemade sour cream, the asparagus guacamole, cheese and salsa. All scooped up and eaten with fresh, homemade tortillas! Once again awesome flavor and an easy, satisfying meal.

Here's a quick run down of how we made our potato and parsnip dish last night.

Potatoes and Parsnips with Basil Pesto

What You'll Need

serves 4-6

1 tsp unrefined sea salt

5 small to medium organic potatoes

3 small to medium organic parsnips

3 tbsp organic butter

1/3 cup of fresh basil pesto (click HERE for my recipe)

Unrefined sea salt to taste

Fresh grated Parmesan cheese to garnish with

Getting Started

 1. Bring 2 quarts of filtered water and 1 tsp of salt to a boil in a 4 quart pot. While waiting for water to boil, wash and slice potatoes into ~1/3" chunks. (I like to leave the skin on my potatoes, since most of their nutrients is removed when you peel them.) Also, peel and slice the parsnips into similar size chunks.

2. Add the potatoes and parsnips to the boiling water and cook until fork tender but not falling a part, about 6-8 minutes. Drain from the water, then set aside. If you wanted you could easily do all of this the day before you make this dish or even earlier in the day and then set the potatoes and parsnips in the fridge until you are ready to use them.

3. In a large skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat then add potatoes and parsnips. Fry until everything is golden brown. Remove from heat and place potatoes and parsnips into a large bowl. Season with a bit of salt and toss with pesto. Garnish with the fresh grated Parmesan and enjoy!

Sweet Potato Roulade - perfect for brunch or as a special treat with dinner (grain free)

 

Once in awhile you need something special and elegant to accompany your dinner and a roulade is an easy way to accomplish this. They aren't overly difficult to make, yet looked nice and taste great. They can easily be made ahead of time and can also travel well.

This roulade recipe comes from the cookbook The Best-Ever Vegetarian Cookbook by Nicola Graimes. It's slightly sweet from the sweet potato and the allspice berries add a wonderful extra flavor. We enjoyed this so much with dinner last night we practically ate the whole thing. Even my 12 month old daughter and 3 year old son each had two slices.

Nutritious and Delicious On the Go: Picnic Loaf with Sage & Garlic Potato Chips and Fermented Veggies for Sides

Welcome to a perfect meal for those of us who want something delicious to eat and can travel easily from point A to point B. Friday evening my family and I headed to a nearby park to enjoy a homemade meal while also getting to enjoy the beautiful fall weather. We even got a little play time at the playground with the kids. As the days of warmth are fleeting we couldn't help but want to take advantage of a 65° sunny evening. So, with my new Project Food Blog cooler slung across my shoulder and a meal anyone should be more than pleased to enjoy we set out and had ourselves a delicious and nutritious fall picnic.

Oven Baked Potato Chips

What You'll Need 

 - serves 2-3

1 lbs of organic potatoes

4 tbsp. olive oil

1 tsp. fresh ground pepper

1 tsp. sea salt

Getting Started

1.  Pre-heat oven to 450º. Slice your potatoes 1/8" thick. Leave the skin on for the extra nutrients and great flavor. Do your best to make sure they are all sliced to the same thickness so they bake more evenly. 

Fresh Zucchini and Millet Salad

I'm always looking for ways to use up all the zucchini that makes it ways into my hands each year. Until recently, I had no idea you could eat it raw, it simply had never occurred to me, because all the recipes you typically see for it has you cooking or baking it at some point.
Right now I've been working on cleaning out our pantry and deep freeze, trying to eat up everything that's been sitting on the shelves for awhile, so I can add this seasons produce. When you get down to the odds and ends, which is where we're at, you have to start getting creative with how to use everything up. I had exactly 1/2 cup of millet left in the cabinet. Typically I mix millet in with my oats for a hot breakfast cereal, but this time I decided to make it for a salad.
 It was a great way to use some of my fresh herbs, veggies and fruit. This salad was a perfect compliment to our main dish of skirt steak rapped asparagus. 


What You'll Need: serves 4-6
     • 1/2 cup dried millet
     • 1 1/2 cups water, or alternatively your
       favorite broth or stock
     •1 tsp. sea salt
     • 2 cups fresh zucchini chopped into 1/4"
       or smaller chunks
     • 2 cups red grapes, halved
     • 1 tsp. dried thyme or 3 tsp. fresh thyme
     • Several sprigs of fresh parsley, chopped
     • Small bunch of garlic or regular chives, chopped
     • 1/4+ cup extra virgin olive oil
     • Salt and pepper to taste

Getting Started:
1. In a small saucepan bring your 1 1/2 cups of liquid and 1 tsp. of salt (if you are using unsalted water or broth/stock) to a boil, then add your millet. Allow to cook for approx. 20 - 25 minutes until millet is still very slightly al dente. If you overcook the millet, it will come out the consistency of mashed potatoes, not particularly pleasing for a salad.

2. During the last 5 minutes of cooking stir in your thyme.

3. Remove millet from the stove and place into a large bowl. Stir in your olive oil while millet is still hot.

4. Stir in the rest of your ingredients and then season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve either warm or cold. Enjoy!

Layered Eggplant, Zucchini, Summer Squash With Mozzarella Cheese

A while back my husband made some delicious eggplant parmesan, a truly delicious dish when you follow the right Italian recipe. As I've been thinking about new ways to prepare veggies for dinner a similar style dished popped into my head, so I gave it a whorl and boy did it turn out good. This is great as a side-dish, but could be easily eaten as a main dish if you're a vegetarian or want a lasagna style dish minus the meat and noodles.

What You'll Need - serves 4-8 depending on portion sizes

• 2 medium zucchini sliced length wise into 1/8" thick pieces
• 2 small to medium summer squash sliced into 1/8" thick pieces
• 2 small eggplants or 1 medium to large one sliced into 1/4" slices, skin can be left on if it's not overly tough
• 2 teaspoons of dried thyme or 3-4 teaspoons of fresh thyme
• 1 lb of mozzarella cheese sliced as thinly as possible
• Olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/8 - 1/4 cup salt to sprinkle on eggplant

Getting Started 
   
1. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Sprinkle salt onto each side of each eggplant slice, then set in a colander that has been placed over a bowl or in the sink. This step removes excess moisture in the eggplant.

The salt should stay on the eggplant for about a 1/2 hour, then thoroughly rinse the eggplant off in water and dry it with several pieces of paper towel.

The picture below shows you how much water came out of my eggplant. All that liquid would turn this dish into a stew! :-)

2. Coat the inside of six 3" ramekins or one 8" x 8' square baking dish with olive oil. If you use ramekins it's nice to be able to lift the vegetables out once they are baked. To do this, place two 1" x 12" strips of parchment down to form an x, these will act as handles to pull your vegetables out at the end. Then place a piece of parchment that has been cut into a circle on the bottom of the ramekin on top of the two strips.  

 

3. Mix together your 1/4 tsp. of sea salt and your thyme. If possible, use a motor and pestle to crush and grind the thyme and salt together.

4. Now it's time to start layering those vegetables. I start with the zucchini and then put a layer of summer squash down. Brush the top of the summer squash with a little bit of olive oil and then sprinkle a little bit of the the thyme/salt mixture on top. Put down your layer of eggplant and then a thin layer of the mozzarella cheese. Continue layering your ingredients like this until they are gone. If you run out of one of the vegetables, no worries, just keep layering the rest until they are gone too. Depending on how thinly you were able to slice your cheese you may not use it all.

5. To finish, place one final layer of mozzarella on top and sprinkle with the thyme/salt mixture. Place in the oven and bake for about 30 minutes or until the cheese is melted and has a bit of a brown crust.

Enjoy!

Oven Baked Potato and Yam Fries

Every time we drive by a McDonald's my son asks for french fries. Now there are those occasions when McDonald's works for a little treat. There have also been those times when we've been so busy running errands that we can't get home for lunch, so we've stopped at the golden arches. We hardly make a regular occasion of this, especially when I think about what's in the food. However, with that said, that doesn't mean we still don't like to enjoy french fries. If you don't deep fry them they're pretty good for you and if you add an extra veggie to the mix, like yams or sweet potatoes, you've got a great side dish that kids will even enjoy.


What You'll Need - serves 4-6

• 2 organic yams, peeled
• 6-8 medium sized, organic potatoes - washed but not peeled
• Extra virgin olive oil
• A couple sprigs of fresh rosemary
• Sea salt

• Large bowl
• Sharp knife
• 2 cookie sheets - lined with parchment paper if possible

Getting Started

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

1. Slice your yams and potatoes into slices preferably no larger then 1/4" and then place them into your large bowl. The larger you make your fries the longer they take to cook and they are harder to get crispy.



2. Finely chop the leaves of your rosemary and toss them into your large bowl with the yams and potatoes, then pour in enough olive oil to thoroughly coat the fries. Around a 1/4 cup should work, but I'd just start tossing the fries as you add the olive oil and stop when they are all coated.

3. Spread the fries out in a single layer on your cookie sheets, then sprinkle them with sea salt. The more the fries overlap the less crispy they'll be, so try to not put too many on one cookie sheet.



4. Place both cookie sheets in the 500 degree oven and bake them for 30 minutes, then switch the cookie sheets so the bottom one is on top and bake for an additional 30 - 45 minutes. Approximately every 20 min. stir the fries around so they don't stick to the cookie sheet and they crisp up more evenly. If you use parchment paper on your cookie sheets the fries won't stick at all. You'll know the fries are done when they are golden and crispy on the edges. The longer you bake them the crispier they'll get, just be careful to not burn them. I've done that before and it's very disappointing, especially when you are craving fries! :-) The potatoes will crisp up more than the yams, so use the potatoes as a guide for doneness. The yams actually stay pretty soft, but they are still delicious especially with the rosemary and salt on them.



If you happen to have left overs don't pitch them. We like to enjoy them for lunch the next day. Just warm them up under the broiler in your oven. Don't put them too close to the broiler (the middle of the oven works) or you'll be left with a fry burnt on the outside and cold on the inside.


Enjoy these fries either by themselves or with your favorite dipping sauce. Our personal favorite is a combination of ketchup, mayonnaise and sriracha hot sauce. Yum, Yum.

A Healthy and Delicious Vegetable Rice Medley

I've been wanting to put this post up for a while, but every time I've made this dish, without fail, I'm running way behind in my day and run out of time to do the pictures or I do them too quickly and they don't turn out. Luckily I make this dish a lot! Probably because my 2 year old loves it and it's a great substitute for bread in our dinner meal. I don't know about you all, but I like to have some type of bread with my dinner meal. However, my son is showing possible signs of gluten intolerance, so I'm trying to cut back on our consumption of wheat. Believe it or not, we actually don't eat that much wheat, at least not in comparison to most, despite my recent posts.

Rice is a great alternative to bread and it fills you up in the same way. Plus, in this dish you get tons of great vegetables and I cook the rice in broth. It's packed with nutrition. That's my type of dish!

You can make this recipe with frozen or fresh vegetables. If you don't want to slave over the stove, use frozen, simply because they are already cut up and ready to go. It doesn't take long to prep fresh vegetables and I personally prefer fresh, but there are those days... You can also use the rice of your choice, although brown rice is more healthy than white. I usually use a long grain brown rice. The only rice I'd strongly recommend not using is any type of instant rice. I know, I know, it's so much easier to make the instant stuff, but I kind of equate it to eating rice shaped Styrofoam. Harsh, but it's important to make every meal count for nutrition and cooking regular rice isn't harder, it just takes a bit longer and it's worth it for the extra nutrition.

Below is an excerpt from an excellent article about the health benefits of brown rice. I'd highly recommend reading it. I believe when we are armed with the right information we are more likely to pursue a healthier form of eating. It's easy for someone to tell you to eat a certain way because it's healthy, it's entirely another thing when you actually understand why what your eating is healthy.

"The difference between brown rice and white rice is not just color! A whole grain of rice has several layers. Only the outermost layer, the hull, is removed to produce what we call brown rice. This process is the least damaging to the nutritional value of the rice and avoids the unnecessary loss of nutrients that occurs with further processing. If brown rice is further milled to remove the bran and most of the germ layer, the result is a whiter rice, but also a rice that has lost many more nutrients. At this point, however, the rice is still unpolished, and it takes polishing to produce the white rice we are used to seeing. Polishing removes the aleurone layer of the grain-a layer filled with health-supportive, essential fats. Because these fats, once exposed to air by the refining process, are highly susceptible to oxidation, this layer is removed to extend the shelf life of the product. The resulting white rice is simply a refined starch that is largely bereft of its original nutrients.

Our food ranking system qualified brown rice as an excellent source of manganese, and a good source of the minerals selenium and magnesium. The complete milling and polishing that converts brown rice into white rice destroys 67% of the vitamin B3, 80% of the vitamin B1, 90% of the vitamin B6, half of the manganese, half of the phosphorus, 60% of the iron, and all of the dietary fiber and essential fatty acids. By law in the United States, fully milled and polished white rice must be 'enriched' with vitamins B1, B3, and iron. But the form of these nutrients when added back into the processed rice is not the same as in the original unprocessed version, and at least 11 lost nutrients are not replaced in any form even with rice 'enrichment.'"

~ www.whfoods.com, Brown Rice


What You'll Need - Serves 4-6

• Olive oil
• 1 1/2 cup brown rice
• 3+ cups of chicken, beef or vegetable broth
• 1 tsp of salt for unsalted broth plus more for seasoning with later
• 1 cup diced fresh fresh/frozen carrots
• 1 cup fresh/frozen green beans
• 1 cup onion chopped
• 1 cup cashews
• 1 tsp of dried thyme
• 3 cloves of smashed and diced garlic
• 1 cup fresh/frozen peas
• 1 cup fresh/frozen corn

• Skillet
• Pot with lid to cook rice in
• Sharp knife
• Stirring spoon

Getting Started
1. Cook your rice per directions on package, except use the broth as your liquid instead of water. If you are using unsalted broth add 1 tsp of salt to it for extra flavor. If you buy your rice in bulk, 1 1/2 cups of rice to 3 cups of broth usually works pretty good. An FYI... if you think you can try to speed up the cook time on brown rice by turning the heat up higher, forget it. I'm telling you this, because I've been guilty of trying to do this! Brown rice usually takes about 45 minutes to cook and you need to cook it at a simmer, otherwise you boil away all the liquid and will find yourself burning your rice on the bottom of the pot. No fun! If you know you'll be in a time crunch on the day you're going to make this dish, you can make the rice ahead of time and then re-heat it.

2. If using fresh vegetables, steam your carrot pieces, which shouldn't take long, probably 10 minutes at the most and they only need to be cooked until they are soft on the outside and a bit hard on the inside, i.e., al dente, because you'll cook them a bit more later. When the carrots are getting close to being done add your fresh green beans and let them finish steaming together, then set them aside.

3. Heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy bottom skillet (I like to use my Lodge cast iron skillet; it works great for recipes like this). Toss in your chopped onion and cook over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes until onion has softened. Add your cashews and cook for a couple more minutes until the cashews start to turn brown/toasted on the outside.



4. For fresh vegetables: Add your garlic, thyme, cooked carrots, cooked green beans, fresh peas, fresh corn and a bit more olive oil if it's needed and saute over medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes.

5. For frozen vegetables: Add your garlic, thyme, all your frozen vegetables and a bit more olive oil if it's needed and saute over medium-high heat until they are hot, about 3-5 minutes.

Note: If you are using a mixture of fresh and frozen vegetables, which I often do in the winter, simply make sure to add your frozen vegetables at the end and saute them for just a couple minutes. You don't want to overcook them.



6. Finally, add your cooked rice and approx. 1 tablespoon of olive oil and saute everything together for about 1 minute. Dish it up and enjoy!

This dish is best hot, but can be eaten at room temperature too, for instance if you wanted to take it to a potluck. It also makes great leftovers!