 Big Guy was triumphant with his heirloom carrots fresh from @carondeletgarden. The only issue was how quickly the carrots began to soften. @carondeletkitchen to the rescue. I did research and found a recipe for creamy roasted carrot soup. I admit this was new to me, but I would rather try to use the carrots than throw them away from lack of effort. I started by prepping the carrots, tossing them in olive oil with salt and pepper, then roasting them for half an hour. While the carrots were in the oven, I diced an onion and sauteed it in olive oil with garlic, cumin, and coriander. The recipe called next for four cups of vegetable broth and two cups of water. I deviated from these ingredients and used chicken stock as I was looking for depth of flavor. Once I finished roasting the carrots, I added them to the pot. After simmering for fifteen minutes, I slowly added the broth to my @cuisnart to puree the ingredients into a smooth soup with the final addition of butter and lemon juice. It was an outstanding soup which got Big Guy thinking about planting one more crop of carrots before Fall. I call that a winner!
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 We have been enjoying great meals this summer, but on occasion, I like to find an easy alternative to spending hours in @carondeletkitchen. I found a solution that makes prep easy and allowed me more time to spend with family. Big Guy and I enjoy cannelloni with both red and white sauce, but we find it to be a challenge to find at a restaurant. The solution is to buy the cannelloni and sauces from @digregoriosmarket. I pulled out two small cooking pans, placed the sauces individually, then added the cannelloni. I placed them in the oven for fifty minutes and dinner was ready. We packed them up with a nice salad, with Hill dressing, and headed over to visit @abrandt1026 and our great niece. I promise I did not take credit for making it!
 Big Guy has had great successes @carondeletgarden along with failures. The joy, and sorrow, of gardening. We could not stop the hailstorm that took out our snap peas and runner beans nor could we predict its impact on our tomatoes as they matured throughout the summer.
We were positive our carrots were going to be another victim, but the ground protected them. Look at these beauties! I have already used them with hummus and may even make carrot soup. The joy of my being inspired by the garden!  I started @carondeletkitchen in July 2021. Where did the time go?
I understand if folks think this was a COVID project, but it was born from the idea of cooking in my kitchen and sharing my recipes. As I progressed through my family recipes, I found my confidence growing again as I transitioned into retirement. Luckily, Big Guy supports my efforts especially knowing my cookbook collection has grown dramatically along with my cookware and utensils. I still love the process of seeking out new recipes to share with my family and friends. It gives me immense joy to show my love through my food. Here is to another year of adventure and tasty food.  You know it is July when Big Guy and I watch Key Largo. The other sign is adding crab cakes to our menu. It is ironic especially when you know we were not children raised in a coastal community nor given this delicious ingredient as kids. The quest for the recipe happened after our numerous visits to Once Upon a Vine. We became fast friends with the owner and waiters, so they would share tips with us on how to make their recipes at home. We were even privy to a couple of “secret” ingredients! Big Guy has perfected the crab cakes. He blends the white crab meat with sautéed onions and red peppers along with the binder of egg, breadcrumbs, and panko for added crispiness. He uses olive oil to give it the perfect cook and serves with a side of red chili sauce. Summer in one meal. It is even better when shared with family and friends!
 I am pulling out all my favorite summer recipes and dessert is no exception. My parents were snowbirds, so Big Guy and I would enjoy sumptuous meals @crowsnestveniceflorida. Our visits to this gem were never a disappointment as the food and service were exceptional. I was thrilled when our waiter suggested we save room for dessert which was house made key lime pie. It was the perfect bite of sweetness I thoroughly enjoyed at the end of our lovely meal. Once we were home from our trip, I thought about that pie and started to search for a recipe. To my delight, the restaurant shared the recipe on their website. The ingredients include sweetened condensed milk, egg yolks, and key lime juice mixed and poured into a graham cracker crust. The most interesting part is placing it into a 350-degree oven, turning off the oven, and letting it “cook” for twenty-five minutes. Once it cools in the refrigerator, you can serve it with cool whip. I have been making this pie ever since my discovery. As @inagarten would say, “how easy is that?”   Big Guy and I took a flutter on trying to grow eggplant this year @carondeletgarden. It turned out to be a bountiful harvest, so we turned our attention to recipes for eggplant parmesan. We have the joy of spending Tuesdays with our niece, @abrandt1026, and her gorgeous baby, so we focused this meal idea on our dinner plans. Big Guy read a tip by @jamieoliver to cut the eggplant and salt it prior to cooking to leech out any additional water. It was a major tip that allowed us to lightly bread and fry the eggplant in olive oil for the perfect crunch in the dish. Once the eggplant was ready, it was a straightforward process to layer it in a dish with our Bolognese sauce and parmesan cheese. It was baked to perfection and was an enjoyable meal to share with our loved ones.   You would never know Big Guy and I were not past fans of tomatoes by looking at our @carondeletgarden. We have discovered the joy of heirlooms, cherry, Candyland, San Marzano, and our Big Boy “squirrel decoy” tomatoes. As an aside, the decoy plant is not working, and our Doodle is now on patrol trying to outsmart the squirrels!
Our cherry tomato plant went into overdrive and our harvest was plentiful even after sharing our “booty” with friends and neighbors. It seems @nytcooking anticipated our need and published a recipe for spicy and saucy cherry tomato pasta. YEAH! The recipe was a magical alchemy whereby the tomatoes, with two tablespoons of paste and 2/3 cup of pasta water, became a delicious sauce for the pasta. While I did not have capers, I vamped on the recipe and added fresh garlic, onion, peppers, asparagus. and red pepper flakes. I finished off the recipe with fresh basil from the garden. It was a perfect summer meal.  I must have a magic fairy that multiplies food in my freezer! How did all this food get there?
If only this really was the answer. The fact is we are a two-person household, and most packaging is for larger households or multiple meals using the same ingredient. In this case, it was hoagie rolls. We bought them originally to use as small loaves of bread with pasta, but they lingered in the freezer. Instead of giving up, Big Guy suggested we do a hack on a Philly cheese sandwich by buying the beef from the deli. We warmed up the beef in gravy and served it on toasted hoagie rolls amped up with garlic and cheese. It was the perfect quick meal and I no longer have orphaned bread in my freezer!  Big Guy has been busy @carondeletgarden. Our latest harvest was his Yukon gold potatoes which gave us a decent yield considering we only used three bags this year.
Yes, you read that correctly…bags. We are fans of @beechgrove_garden. Big Guy and I look forward to co-host Carol and George’s annual competition to see who grows the best “tatties!” While doing traditional planting of the potatoes, we were intrigued by their additional use of bags. It was the perfect solution for our urban garden since our raised beds were already full of other produce. We will certainly not win any competitions, but I now have the joy of creating meals to highlight these lovely potatoes. All suggestions are welcome! |
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March 2025
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