Mini Caprese Salad

I've always loved miniature things.  When I was a kid my parents' used to get these dollhouse furniture catalogs and I would spend hours looking at tiny sofas and kitchen tables.  So it makes sense that I'm a sucker for miniature versions of classic foods.  This mini caprese salad was inspired by the tiny leaves on my spicy globe basil plant, but if you can't find this type of basil you can just use regular and chop it into small pieces.

Mini Caprese Salad

For each salad you will need about 10 cherry tomatoes, 6 small fresh mozzarella balls (called bocconcini), 6 spicy globe basil leaves, salt, pepper and a splash of olive oil.


Layer into a bowl or a martini glass if you are feeling fancy.  Serve at room temperature.

Herb Biscotti

I really love recipes that lend themselves to lots of variations.  These biscotti can be made with almost any type of herb you like.  I used cinnamon basil, but you could also use regular basil, any variety of mint, thyme (add in a tsp grated lemon zest to this if you want), tarragon, lavender and rosemary (add a tsp grated orange zest, it goes great with rosemary).  These cookies are not too sweet so they are perfect for dunking in a cup of coffee or glass of wine.  Don't be afraid of using herbs in sweet foods.  It is not overpowering when combined with all the other ingredients.

Herb Biscotti

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup white sugar

1 stick unsalted butter

2 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh herbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Mix together flour, baking powder and salt

Chop herbs.  Try to get them chopped as fine as you can.  They will distribute better throughout the dough.

Cream together butter and sugar.  Add in eggs, vanilla and chopped herbs and mix until combined.  Don't be afraid if your dough looks a little green from the herbs.  Once you get all the dry ingredients mixed in it won't be noticeable.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet a little bit at a time until it is all incorporated.  Place dough on a cookie sheet that has been lined with parchment paper.  Form dough into a flat loaf shape about 4 inches wide and 1 inch tall.  The dough might be a little sticky so if you are having trouble just put some flour on your hands.

Bake about 35 minutes.  Let cool 30 minutes.  

Biscotti means twice cooked so the large loaf we have created will need to be sliced and baked again.  Using a serrated knife, slice the loaf on the diagonal into 1/2 inch slices.  Don't worry if it crumbles.  Biscotti are supposed to be crumbly.

Place the slices on the same parchment lined baking sheet you used earlier and bake another 15 minutes, turning them over halfway through.  Let cool completely on a rack before eating.

Cinnamon Basil Sweet Tea

After I posted a few drink recipes a couple weeks ago, my friend who is expecting her first child in November asked if I would do some drink recipes that were alcohol free.  Of course I will!


This recipe uses cinnamon basil, but you could also make the simple syrup with lemon basil or mint.  Just keep everything else the same.

Cinnamon Basil Sweet Tea

Iced tea (made anyway you like)

2 tablespoons cinnamon basil syrup (recipe follows)

Ice

Place syrup in a tall glass and add ice and tea.  Stir to combine.

Cinnamon Basil Simple Syrup

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1 1/2 cups water

5-6 large sprigs cinnamon basil

1 vanilla bean

Combine sugar, water and vanilla in a large pot over medium heat.  Cook until all the sugar dissolves and the syrup isn't cloudy anymore.  Remove from heat and add basil sprigs.  Let basil steep in the syrup for at least 30 min.  Strain and store in the fridge.

NOTE about herb varieties.  I've found it is really easy to find a lot of these more unusual herbs. I don't shop at fancy nurseries, just a regular Home Depot and I've seen lots of cool varieties there.  So don't be scared to grow something a little different than the standard types of herbs.  I'm loving experimenting with my cinnamon basil and orange mint.

Farmer's Market Number 2

What a difference a couple weeks make!  Last Saturday I went to the farmer's market again and it was so different that the first time I went.  For one thing it was packed!  And all the stands were completely bursting with all different kinds of fresh fruits and veggies.


My strategy for navigating the farmer's market is I try to stay away from the huge stands because they are usually the most crowded and the people selling the produce are too busy to talk.  I like to search out the smaller stands.


It was one of the smaller stands where I found these gorgeous cherries.

They were so sweet and juicy and didn't last long before I ate them all.


I also found these...

They are garlic scapes.  Garlic scapes are the top part of the garlic plant and are usually cut off as the plant is growing.  But now they are becoming popular for cooking.  Its one of those ingredients that I've been seeing popping up lately in food magazines and cookbooks so I was excited to try cooking with them myself.  So I decided to make a quiche.

Garlic Scape Quiche

Pie crust (either homemade or store bought)
5 garlic scapes chopped
1 tablespoon chopped chives
3 eggs
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
1 cup shredded cheese (I used a 5 cheese Italian blend)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  


Saute chopped scapes in a little olive oil until they start to soften up a little.  Set aside to cool slightly.


Place pie crust in pie pan and prick bottom and sides with a fork.  This is called 'docking' and lets the steam escape so the crust doesn't puff up.  Bake crust for 15 min.


In the meantime, make the filling.  Mix eggs, cream, chives, salt, pepper and paprika together.  Spread cheese and scapes over prebaked crust and pour filling over the top.  Bake for another 30-40 minutes.  Since it is technically like a custard, I like to pull my quiche while the center is still slightly wobbly.  This insures I never end up with rubbery eggs.  Let the quiche rest for 15-20 min before serving.

Aphids of Doom

WARNING!  This post contains some gross bug pictures so if you are squeamish, scroll past them really quickly.


Last week was kind of a bad week for my garden.  Seemingly overnight my pepper and tomato plants became totally infested with aphids.

I tried a bunch of different things to get rid of them starting with a homemade garlic and dish soap spray I found online.  After that didn't work, I actually broke down and bought commercial pesticide even though I don't like to use it.  Nothing worked and my plants were getting totally destroyed.  


Finally, they were so damaged that I had to pull them out.  This was beyond frustrating because before the aphid attack they actually seemed like they were doing pretty well.


I rallied quickly though and bought some new plants to take their place.  This time I decided on more herbs.  One of the things I was trying to accomplish in my garden this summer was to experiment with what types of plants I could actually grow in the conditions I have (part shade, limited space).  Now that its already late June, I decided to focus my energy on growing plants that I knew would do well.  The herbs I already have growing are doing really well so I bought a few more varieties.  I added rosemary and two more types of basil.

Spicy Globe Basil and Cinnamon Basil

I've never tried either of these types of basil before.  I usually just grow the standard Genovese basil which is what you would use for pesto or caprese salad.  My boyfriend experimented with the spicy globe basil and made this pasta dish.

Sorry no exact recipe because it was kind of an experiment, but it has chipotle pasta that we got at the farmer's market, alfredo sauce, lots of garlic and red pepper flakes, parsley and spicy basil from my garden and shrimp.  Very spicy, but very delicious!

Deviled Eggs

This weekend I was really in the mood for deviled eggs so I decided to make a batch.  Of course a whole batch of deviled eggs is kind of a lot for one person, but I'm not complaining.  I've been bringing them for a snack at work and they are definitely better at keeping me from being hungry than my usual granola bar or 100 calorie pack.  


This is kind of an unusual recipe for deviled eggs because it contains no mayo.  I am not the biggest fan of mayo and it kind of grosses me out to see it in large quantities.  So I substitute cream cheese instead.  This recipe also gets a lot of flavor from a double dose of chives both in the cream cheese and fresh chives from the garden.

Chive Deviled Eggs

10 hard boiled eggs
2 1/2 tablespoons onion chive cream cheese
1 tablespoon honey mustard
2 teaspoons fresh chopped chives
salt and pepper to taste


Split eggs in half and remove yolks.  Mash yolks with remaining ingredients.  Spoon filling into egg whites.  Top with more chopped chives if desired.

Lemon Thyme Cornbread

One of my favorite foods is cornbread.  A little weird for someone in Illinois probably, but I've always loved it.  My mom used to make the Jiffy cornbread mix from the little blue and white box when I was a kid.  Now I like to play around with different flavor combinations.  Here is one inspired by the abundance of thyme growing in my garden.

Lemon Thyme Cornbread

1 cup cornmeal
1 cup flour
3/4 powdered sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1 1/4 buttermilk
2 tbsp honey
1 1/2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
zest of one lemon
7 tablespoons unsalted butter

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a large bowl.  In a separate bowl combine eggs, buttermilk, honey, thyme and lemon zest.  Pour liquid ingredients into dry and mix just enough to combine.  Melt 6 tablespoons of the butter and add to the batter.

Pour into greased pan.  I like to use a springform pan because it looks pretty, but you could also use a square baking dish or cast iron skillet.

Bake 30-40 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  While cornbread is still hot brush the top with the remaining tablespoon of butter.

Gettin' My Drink On

It's almost summer and time to kick back with a refreshing summer cocktail.  Here are two recipes I've been playing around with using herbs from the garden.

Orange Mint Mojito

This recipe uses the orange mint that I've been growing, but regular mint would work too if that's all you have.


5-6 fresh orange mint leaves
1/2 lime, cut into wedges
1/4 orange, cut into wedges
2 tablespoons white sugar
ice cubes
2 ounces white rum
club soda


Place mint, lime wedges, orange wedges and sugar in a glass and muddle until the the citrus juices are released and the sugar is dissolved.  Don't rush this step or your finished drink won't be as good.  Fill the glass with ice.  Pour rum over the ice and top with soda.  You can do anywhere from just a splash of soda to a 1/2 cup depending on how strong you like it.  I tend to like a little more soda, but I'm also a bit of a lightweight.

Madagascar Sunrise

This drink gets its name from the combo of vanilla vodka and citrus.  It doesn't taste strongly of any of its individual ingredients.  It is just sweet, light and fruity.  Some of my favorite adjectives!

1 1/2 ounces vanilla vodka

1/2 ounce orange liqueur

2 ounces lemon juice

1/2 to 1 ounce lavender simple syrup, to taste (recipe follows)

In a shaker, combine all ingredients with ice and shake until well combined.  Strain into a glass and garnish with a lemon twist or small sprig of lavender.

Lavender Simple Syrup

1 cup white sugar

1 cup water

3 tablespoons dried or fresh lavender buds (Note: You can use either fresh or dried lavender.  It will be less strong with fresh)

Combine sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat and cook until all sugar is dissolved, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat and add the lavender.  Let lavender steep in the sugar mixture until cool, then strain to remove the buds.  Store in the refrigerator for about a month.

Syrup can also be used to sweeten tea or lemonade.  It doesn't taste overly strongly of lavender to don't worry about overpowering your drinks.  It just adds a nice floral element to the background of whatever you are making.

Sweet Feet

Lt. Dan Taylor: Two standing orders in this platoon. One, take good care of your feet. Two, try not to do anything stupid, like getting yourself killed.
~Forrest Gump

It's almost Memorial Day which most people consider to be the official start of summer.  This means it is also sandals weather for us girls.  I've always been one of those people who is kind of weirded out by feet so I try to keep mine looking cute.  I've started making this easy foot soak.  Its a great way to keep my feet refreshed and pedicure ready and also a great way to use up some of the giant mint plant in my parent's garden.  Mint is naturally soothing and deodorizing so its great for tired summer feet.

All you need is some epsom salt and plenty of mint.  I used orange mint in this picture because it was what I had handy, but you can use any kind.

Fresh Mint Foot Soak

1 gallon warm water
1/2 cup epsom salt
As many sprigs of mint as you want.  At least five, but really you can't have too many.  I leave the leaves on the stems because it makes it easier to fish them out when I'm done.

Crostini with Microgreens

When one of my plants dies, I die a little inside, too. 
~Linda Solegato

A couple weeks ago I mentioned that I might have overplanted my lettuce a bit.  This is definitely true because now it looks like this.

It’s like a tiny delicious jungle.  I knew I had to start thinning out the lettuce plants if I wanted to give any of them a chance to actually grow to full size.  I hate thinning though because it feels like such a waste.  And I always get this weird paranoia that somehow I’m jinxing the rest of the garden if I start just throwing away perfectly healthy plants.  Clearly I’m terrible at sacrificing a few individuals for the greater good.  This is one of many, many reasons why I’m not president or a general or cult leader or something.

Luckily, inspiration struck me after reading The Beekman 1802 website and seeing the lovely spring salad the guys made using a whole bunch of untraditional and foraged ingredients (like forsythia flowers and pea shoots).  I decided to use the seedlings that I was removing to top a simple crostini.  They are perfectly edible so not only was I able to add something fresh from the garden to my meal, I was able to thin the lettuce ‘crop’ at the same time.  Being a garden wimp does occasionally pay off.

Crostini with herbed cheese spread and microgreens (this recipe also uses chives and dill from the garden!)

For the cheese spread:

8oz. Neufchatel or cream cheese softened

About a cup ricotta cheese

1-2 tablespoons finely chopped chives (my chives are still pretty young so I used more.  If your chives are really strong you can use less)

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh dill

1 clove garlic

1 tsp grated lemon zest

Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and let sit in the fridge for at least half an hour before using

To assemble the crostini:

Slice a baguette into half inch slices and toast.  I brushed mine with olive oil and toasted them on the grill, but the oven works just as well.  Spread each piece of toasted bread with some of the cheese mixture and top with a few of the washed greens.

With the combo of chives, lemon and fresh greens this tastes like Spring on a plate to me.  Any leftovers can be used as a dip for veggies.

Garden Update: Late April

Inch by inch, row by row
Gonna make this garden grow
~Peter, Paul and Mary

It's been about 3 weeks since I planted my garden and I'm already getting excited by how well it's growing.  Although it is still pretty early (i.e. cold) in the season for gardens in Illinois, I'm very encouraged by how well my little plants are doing.

What growing now: Late April

The biggest change in the garden is that I had to replant my herbs in bigger pots.  I had planned to keep them in this cute little 3 pot planter, but they were already getting too big for it. The parsley especially wasn't doing very well in the small pot.  The leaves kept wilting and turning yellow.  Its doing much better since I moved it to a bigger pot and has a bunch of new leaves coming in.  All of the herbs have been growing well and they seem big and sturdy enough now for me to start harvesting some to cook with.

Parsley

Chives

Orange Mint

Dill

Thyme

You can really tell in this picture of the thyme how my plants have been growing in the direction of the sun.  I have been turning the pots fairly often to try to help them get sun on all sides of the plant.

The strawberry plant has been growing a bunch of new leaves too.  And 2 tiny berries and a flower!  Serious gardeners tell you to remove the first couple berries to help the plant grow stronger and have a bigger yield later, but I haven't been able to bring myself to do it yet.

The lettuce and spinach seem to be doing well.  They still seem very fragile and delicate (actually 'wimpy' is the word I keep using) so I'll be excited when they get stronger and more substantial.

Lettuce

Spinach

The cubanelle pepper plant has been my 'problem child' in the garden so far.  It has been extremely finicky.  It hasn't been growing as fast as all the others and it wilts constantly so I have it water it more often than the rest of the plants.  In the last few days though it has seemed more stable so hopefully it won't give me much more trouble.

Finally, the tomato plant has been growing very well.  It also seems very hardy so far which has been nice.  I don't have to do too much to it and it just keeps getting more leaves.

Black cherry tomato

The tomato plant also is getting these little buds, which I'm pretty sure are going to eventually open up into flowers.

Coming soon...updates on the flowers in the garden!

Space Saving

Well, now that he's finished one building, he'll go write four books about it.
~Frank Lloyd Wright

I’m having a minor space problem on my balcony.  The problem is that I want to keep buying plants, but I only have so much space to put them.  Only the very front edge of the balcony gets any sun so all my herbs and vegetables have to stay there.  And I share it with my neighbors so they get half of the only sunny spot I can plant in.  And while they have commented that my plants look nice, I doubt they enjoy them enough to want to give up any of their space to feed my plant addiction!

However, I have come up with a solution to cram more plants into a small space.  And as a bonus, its super easy.  Can you guess what it is?

Before

After

Stacked planters!  So simple, I don’t know why I didn’t think of this earlier.  All I did was take 2 planters of different sizes, fill the bottom planter with dirt, and then stack the smaller one on top.

Here is a combo thyme, lavender and dill (another new garden addition) planter…

And this one looks empty, but it is actually planted with flower seeds that haven’t come up yet.

The really cool thing about this project is that it can be customized to match any décor or taste.  I kept it simple with the same planters I used everywhere else, but there are so many other possibilities.  You could keep it classic with basic terra cotta pots.  Or go modern with sleek black or dark gray square planters.  Or look for mismatched or vintage pots if you are into the shabby chic look. 

You can also customize the number of pots you use to work with whatever your needs are.  If you did 3 or more stacked pots, you could probably fit an entire herb garden in the space of one planter.  I wouldn’t use real terra cotta for that one though because it would get super heavy!

P.S. If you are looking for vintage stuff check out my friend Audrey at The Hepburn House.  She specialized in vintage items and 'found treasures'
http://hepburnhouseblog.blogspot.com/

New addition to the garden...Lavender

Lavender's blue, dilly dilly, lavender's green,

When I am king, dilly dilly, you shall be queen

~English Folk Song

One of the advantages of finally having my own garden is that I can plant some more unusual plants that never seem to make the cut to be included in my parent's garden.  Lavender is one of those plants.  I've always wanted to try growing it, but my dad can't stand any 'stinky stuff' in the garden so I've never been able to.

Here is what it looks like now:

So mostly leaves at this point, but I found a few tiny buds already.

Even though it isn't flowering yet it still smells amazing.  I didn't realize that the entire plant is fragrant and not just the flowers so that was a very nice surprise!

I'm really looking forward to the recipes and crafts I can create using this lavender.  I hope my friends like lavender sachets...

Attack of the Killer Mint

I think you should send us the biggest transport plane you have, and take this thing to the Arctic or somewhere and drop it where it will never thaw.
~The Blob, 1958 version

While this is the first year I am gardening on my balcony (mostly because this is the first year I’ve had a balcony), I am not entirely new to the whole garden experience.  I’ve shared a medium sized garden with my parents at their house for the past few years.  My favorite area is the herb garden.  In the past few years I have tried (unsuccessfully) to grow mint in a container.  I envisioned an endless supply of mojitos to enjoy all summer.  However, we have never had luck growing mint (or really any herbs) in containers so last year we made the bold and potentially foolhardy decision to grow the mint directly in the ground.  If you have never grown mint before you might not know that it is extremely invasive.  Invasive being a nice way of saying that it will take over the entire garden if you turn your back for 5 minutes.  Fortunately we were able to keep it mostly in check last summer.

However, last weekend I went to look at the planters because my mom told me quite casually that “the mint came back this year” and I noticed that we had a situation happening.

Mint explosion!

More mint...Yikes!

I had no idea that it would not only survive the winter, but would have taken over so much by the middle of April.  So needless to say, even after pulling a lot of the more scraggly looking runners out, I had quite a lot of mint to use up.

Since I think my liver would have an issue with me drinking enough mojitos to use all this mint, I decided to make ice cream.

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream (Adapted from Martha Stewart’s recipe for Fresh Spearmint Ice Cream)

Ingredients

   1 cup packed fresh mint (next time I’ll add more mint as it wasn't quite minty enough for me)

   1 cup whole milk

   2 cups heavy cream

   2 large eggs

   3/4 cup sugar

   Pinch salt

   About a cup mini chocolate chips

Directions

   1.     Prepare an ice-water bath. Cook mint in a small saucepan of boiling water until bright green, about 1 minute. Using a slotted spoon, transfer mint to ice-water bath. When cool, drain, and squeeze out excess water.

   2.     Puree mint and milk in a blender until mint is finely chopped. Transfer to a medium saucepan, add cream, and bring to a simmer over medium heat.

   3.     Meanwhile, whisk together eggs and sugar in a medium bowl.

   4.     Gradually whisk 1/3 of the cream mixture into the egg mixture, then pour egg-cream mixture into the saucepan with the remaining cream mixture. Add salt.  Set over medium heat, and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until thick enough to coat the back of the spoon, about 8 minutes. (Do not let the mixture come to a simmer.)

   5.     Strain through a fine sieve into a heatproof bowl, pressing on mint to extract liquid. Set bowl in ice-water bath. Let cool completely, stirring occasionally. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions. Add in chocolate chips in the last 5 minutes of churning time.  Transfer to an airtight container, and freeze until firm.