pizza!

Last night we made pizza with multigrain dough, fresh mozzarella, parmesan and ramps.

AND another one with asparagus, roasted peppers, pesto and eggs!

fajitas

You know what I like about fajitas? Everything! But I especially like the fact that they require almost no cooking, are super fast, and that there is only one pan to clean. So, it's kind of like the perfect meal. You can use whatever vegetables you want for this dish, the method just makes it special, and totally adaptable to anything you want to throw in the pan. (If you want to do something with meat in it, I would recommend cutting the meat into small pieces to assure proper cooking.) But anyway I digress. Let's fajita!

Ingredients:
1 package of seitan, roughly chopped
1 can of black beans, drained
2 peppers, julienned
2 carrots, julienned
1 yellow squash, julienned
1/2 onion, juli- gotcha!, sliced
1 scallion, sliced
3 Tbsp. fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
4 Tbsp. safflower oil
2 Tbsp. lime juice (2 limes)
1 Tbsp. cumin
1 tsp. smoked paprika
salt and pepper to taste

OK, here it goes in 50 words or less: Heat pan smoking hot. Mix oil and juice with spices. Toss with other ingredients. Add to pan, cook for four to six minutes, tossing constantly. Serve on warm tortillas. Top with cheese or sour cream. Eat fajitas! Only wash one pan!

chorizo and potatoes for brunch

This was a quick breakfast idea when we woke up kind of on the wrong side of the bed (read: hungover) one morning. It requires little action, but reaps great rewards.

Ingredients:
1 pound fingerling potatoes, sliced into approx. 1/2" rounds
1 yellow onion, coarsely chopped
2 peppers, whatever color you have, coarsely chopped
1 package Light Life Chorizo Style "Sausage", cut into 1/2" slices
1/4 cup crumbled Cotija Cheese, or Queso Fresco
2 Tbsp. Canola Oil
1/2 Tbsp. Cumin
Salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste
Fried Egg (optional)

Wake up. Grab glass of water and Emergen-C. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Chop stuff. Mix everything except cheese and eggs in a bowl. Put into baking dish and put that into the oven. Put on pot of coffee. Set timer for 25 minutes. Crawl back into bed.

When the timer goes off, get out of bed and check the potatoes. Are they fork tender? OK, good. Remove the dish from the oven and top with cheese. Cook some eggs if you like and throw them on there too. Grab your coffee, sit down and watch some cartoons.

chile infused beet and radicchio salad

Ingredients:

1 head radicchio, whole leaves

2 carrots, thinly sliced

1 lb beets

2 dried ancho chiles

1 tsp salt

8 small radishes

3 peppers

juice from 1 lime

3 Tbsp olive oil

1 1/2 tsp chili flakes

cilantro, whole leaves for garnish

1/4 lb queso fresco, crumbled

Add beets and ancho chilis to a pot of boiling water with 1 tsp of salt. Adjust to a simmer and cook for 35 minutes. Remove beets from liquid and cool. Remove the chilis. Slice radishes and carrots thinly, and peppers in a 1/4" dice. Mix olive oil, lime juice, chili flakes, and salt and pepper to taste, in a dressing shaker. Let sit while beets cool so that the chili can permeate the dressing. When the beets have cooled, add them over the radicchio leaves. Top with other veggies and dressing. Then crumble queso fresco over the dish, and top with whole cilantro leaves.

I ate this for dinner the other night, and for lunch the past two days. The dressing and dish flavor just gets better with age. Sweet, spicy, salty, and just damn delicious. I kind of wish we would get this all in the box again sometime soon.

potato medley!

If you have known me for a grip, you know that there are two things I (and most of the Hub/Cone) were addicted to from Trader Joe's. I work at Whole Foods, and so do most of my friends. We shop there, and budget it well. (Don't even start the Whole Paycheck ish, you get what you pay for, or you aren't doing it right.) BUT, there were two amazing items that lead me back to TJ's again and again, and both have been discontinued within the last year or so. The first, which we will address here, is potato medley, the second (which would take a miracle to produce) were the veggie gyoza. There were many nights when our sustenance depended on these items, late nights, early mornings, bonding moments sharing recipes. In truth, some of the best times of my life.

So fuck you TJ's for letting these items go by the wayside; but I understand. If something is too popular with your customers, the factory HAS to produce it instead of giving you leftovers, and that makes the price go up for you, lessening your profit. Just raise the price and bring them back, I will buy cases, seriously. CASES!

Ingredients:

1 lb red potatoes, cut in 1/4" slices

1 onion, 1/4" slices

2 carrots. Julienned

3 peppers, Julienned

1 head broccoli, roughly chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp garlic powder
olive oil, for cooking

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Get a pot of salted water on the stove to boil. Slice potatoes and onions. Spray 2 baking sheets with oil and layer the potatoes and onions on them, seasoning with salt and pepper, and adding a layer of sprayed oil on the top. Place in oven for 35 minutes. Remove and let cool to room temperature.

Blanch all other veggies. Carrots 4 mins. Peppers 3 mins. Broccoli 1/2 a minute. And let them cool with the potato/onion mixture. Sprinkle with garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste. Let cool, and store in the fridge. This should last 6-7 days, if you can wait that long. I have already eaten twice with this as an ingredient, and I am not near done!

Kenny's legendary vegan cheese sauce

Ingredients:

5 slicing tomatoes, seeded and chopped

1 pint cherry tomatoes, seeded and chopped

5 red peppers, finely diced

a few leaves of arugula, about 1/4 lb

1/2 red onion, diced finely

3 cloves garlic, diced finely

1 lb pasta, your choice

vegan cheese sauce:

2 Tbsp earth balance

2 Tbsp all purpose flour

2 cups soy milk (unsweetened is preferable)

2 tsp garlic powder

1 cup nutritional yeast

salt & pepper to taste

1 Tbsp dijon mustard (optional)

We made some epic vegan mac using my famous "cheeze" sauce. Saute the onions and garlic over medium heat in 1 Tbsp. of olive oil until translucent. Add the tomatoes and peppers and continue to cook until the tomatoes begin to break down, about 10 minutes.

For the cheeze sauce, make a rue with the earth balance and flour and allow to cook over medium heat until it no longer smells like flour, and is a nice toasty golden color, about 5 minutes. Whisk in the soy milk and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Allow to boil for 1 minute, (still whisking!) and start to add the nutritional yeast, garlic powder, and finally the mustard. Season with salt and pepper, combine with the veggies and pasta, and wolf down!

vegan lasagna feat. Daiya

Ingredients:
no boil lasagna noodles
4 or 5 decently sized heirloom tomatoes (about 1-1/4 lb total)
3 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp olive oil
4 peppers, small dice
1-1/2 blocks extra firm tofu
juice from 3 lemons
1 bunch chard, leaves roughly torn
1/2 lb Daiya vegan cheese
salt and pepper to taste


We are going to start by a making a super fast sauce. Just add the tomatoes and garlic into your food processor, season with salt and pepper and blend while drizzling olive oil in until the sauce is finely pureed. Add this to a pot and cook on medium heat until the sauce reduces to about half it's volume, about 30 minutes. To make the tofu ricotta, add the tofu, lemon juice and chard leaves to the food processor and blend until smooth, seasoning with salt and pepper. To assemble to lasagna, spoon some sauce on to the bottom of a casserole dish, then add a layer of lasagna noodles, next spoon on some of the ricotta, then more noodles, a layer of peppers & cheese, and so forth until you've used everything up! Bake at 350 degrees, covered with tin foil, for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, removing the foil for the last 15 minutes so that the cheese on top gets nice and melty!*

* I usually find vegan cheeses repulsive. The many different textures and off-putting flavors I have experienced over the years have jaded me, and made me never want to stick anything labeled "vegan cheese" anywhere near my eating hole. But then @vegansaurus couldn't stop raving about Daiya, and we dig them, so I figured I would give it one more go around and hope not to have to hold my nose to get through dinner. To my astonishment, it's good! It melts! Wait- did you hear me? IT MELTS!!! Not the kind of melt that firms back up in 30 seconds after it loses all its moisture and turns into plastic either. It freaking melts for real and stays melted. And it tastes pretty good too! Is it cheese? No. Is it the best vegan cheese I have ever had after eating them for 13 years? DAMN STRAIGHT. So get down to Rainbow, look past the $9.99/lb. because really, it's not that expensive, and if you're vegan, it's well worth it. I want to try the cheddar flavor so I can make grilled cheese!

spicy stir fry and how to make perfect brown rice

Ingredients:
5 peppers, thinly sliced
3 zucchini, thinly sliced
1 patty pan squash, quartered and sliced
1 jalapeno pepper, thinly sliced
1 block super firm tofu, cut into 1" cubes
2 Tbsp. canola oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup sweet chili sauce
2 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup cold water
1 Tbsp. corn starch

Mix the chili sauce, soy sauce, and rice vinegar in a bowl and set it aside. Do the same with the cold water and corn starch. Heat your wok or a large saute' pan on high and add the canola oil. Place your tofu into the wok and cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring, until browned on all sides. Add the peppers and zucchini and cook for an additional 5-6 minutes until cooked through but not mushy, we are looking for some good veggie texture in this dish. Now add in the jalepeno and the sauce mixture and toss for 2-3 minutes until everything is coated and the sauce is piping hot. Re-stir the corn starch and water, and add this into the wok. Keep stirring as the liquid comes back to a boil and starts to thicken. Let the boil roll for about one minute until everything is slathered in a thick delicious sweet and spicy sauce. Now get'cher eat on.

For the perfect brown rice:
I remembered reading this in a Cooks Illustrated sometime ago (spring '08) and wanted to find it and give it a whirl. We do love our rice cooker dearly, but to be honest, sometimes the brown rice doesn't come out so well (mushy), and heck, its usually a big pain to clean up. We thought we would try something new and it worked, to perfection, with an easy clean up. It may be safe to say that this is the best brown rice I have ever had.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups brown rice (we used short grain)
2 1/3 cups of water
1 Tbsp. Olive oil
1/3 tsp. salt

Put your oven rack in the middle of your oven and preheat it to 375 degrees. Put the brown rice in an 8"x8" Pyrex baking dish. Bring the water and oil to a boil (covered) on the stove. This part is important so you don't lose too much water due to evaporation: as soon as it reaches a boil, stir in the salt and pour over the rice. Cover with foil and place into the oven for one hour. Remove the baking dish and fluff rice with a fork. Recover and allow to sit for 5 minutes. Uncover and allow 5 more minutes to sit before serving.

Best. Brown. Rice. Evar. Sorry Mr. Rice Cooker, this is how we will be making brown rice forever, you only get to cook the white stuff.

mini quiches

I was going to make myself a whole tray of mushroom & onion mini quiches because I'm a glutton like that. But we had still had some peppers in the fridge, so I figured I'd be nice and make some quiches that Kenny would like as well. Last time we made quiche was awesome, but this time I wanted to make the dough from scratch and use our muffin tin to make these cutesy little mini quiches. They make great hors d'oeuvres and the possibilities for the filling are endless!

Ingredients:
Crust:
2 cups all purpose flour
8 Tbsp cold butter, sliced into small pieces
3-5 Tbsp water
1 tsp salt

Add the flour, salt and butter to a food processor and pulse for a minute. Transfer to a large bowl and add 3 Tbsp water and begin to knead the dough and form into a ball. If the dough is not sticking enough, add more water one Tbsp at a time until it becomes easier. Form into a ball then put in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 425 degrees. When your dough is set up, flour a cutting board and rolling pin, and roll out the dough. Use a cookie cutter or a glass to cut circles in the dough. Press a dough circle into each well of a 12 well non-stick muffin tin, pushing the dough down to conform to the tin. Use a fork to poke holes in each mini crust.

We are going to blind bake the crusts so that they hold their shape. Rip off some squares of tin foil and press a piece into each muffin well then fill with dry rice or beans which will act as weights. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes at 425. Remove the tin foil and weights and return to the oven for another 10 minutes at 350. The crust should be dry and cooked through.

Mushroom filling:
1 Tbsp olive oil
4 oz white button mushrooms, quartered
1/2 onion, diced
pinches of oregano thyme, salt & pepper

Pepper filling:
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 gypsy peppers, small matchstick slice
1/2 onion, diced
pinches of red pepper flakes, salt & pepper

You can take care of this while you are waiting for your dough to set up & blind bake. Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium high heat and simply cook the ingredients together until just before the onions start to caramelize. Remember they will cook again in the quiche, so don't over do it at this point. Set aside in two separate bowls.

Quiche filling:
2 cups heavy cream
4 eggs
1 cup parmesan cheese
salt & pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Whisk the eggs in a large bowl then, add the remaining ingredients and whisk until uniformly combined. Separate into equal portions using a measuring cup and add the mushroom filling to one portion and the pepper filling to the other. Pour the mushroom and quiche filling mixture into the first 6 mini pie crusts. Pour the pepper and quiche filling mixture in to the last 6 crusts. Bake for 40 minutes, turning the tin around halfway through if your oven doesn't bake evenly. At the end of 40 minutes, the mini quiches should be puffed up and beautifully golden on top. Allow to cool 10 minutes before removing the mini quiches from the muffin tin. Use a small spoon to run along the edge and pop them out.

roasted red pepper, tomato and chard soup

Ingredients:
1.5 lbs heirloom tomatoes (or other ripe tomatoes), roughly chopped and seeded (or 2 28 oz cans of canned tomatoes, drained)
3 roasted red peppers, seeded and roughly chopped
1/2 bunch chard, thick stems discarded and cut in a chiffonade
4 cups vegetable stock
1 onion, 1/2" dice
3 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1 sprig rosemary
4 sprigs thyme
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp double concentrate tomato paste
salt & pepper of course!

In an effort not to get off topic later in this post, I am going to start, well- off topic. I have read on some message boards that people really like to save their veggie scraps (stems of greens/beets, broccoli, pepper ends, etc.) for later use in making stocks. Please don't torture yourself or your loved ones by doing such a silly thing. These can be used in so many other ways; broccoli stems can be peeled and shredded in slaws, pepper ends can merely be trimmed and used in the recipe you are making or a later one, and stems of greens while good in longer cooked dishes, can and should just be composted if you aren't going to use them. Putting these things into stocks, especially cruciferous veggies and green trimmings, will only do one thing- make your stock bitter. Not to mention the discoloration that would make it less appetizing. (If you really like bitter, dark stock then please, by all means, go ahead and continue.) Traditional vegetable stock has been made the same way for ages, and I am sure that many before us had ventured to add some extras into it, only to return to the simplicity that is as the French would say the "mirepoix". Two parts of one of the members of the Allium family (onions, leeks, etc.), one part carrot, and one part celery. It just makes perfect stock, and I would like to think that if it isn't broken, we shouldn't try to fix it. In this case, the case of taste, it's good to let history and past mistakes tell us what to do.

On to the soup!

In a large soup pot over medium heat, saute the onions until translucent, about 6-7 minutes. Add the garlic and tomato paste and continue to cook an additional 3 minutes. Toss in the tomatoes, red peppers, and herbs (Whoa Kenny! Toss them in whole, and don't remove the tomato skin? Totes, we want to make this soup fast, so we will strain it all out later.) and cook, stirring until the tomatoes soften, about 12-14 minutes. Add the stock, pop on a lid, and go read a book for 15 minutes. When the soup starts to boil, adjust the heat to low and allow to simmer, covered for an additional 20 minutes.

Now it's time to get down to business. Remove the sprigs of herbs and use your immersion blender to blend the soup until all the chunks are removed. You will notice that it's a little thick, and if you are really hungry, or like the soup just like that- go ahead and skip this next step. Turn off the heat and using a fine mesh strainer or a chinois (I hate those things, sorry, one tried to kill me once) strain the soup into another bowl, using a spoon to help you along. Compost the leftover chunky bits that are clouding your strainer and continue until all the soup has been strained. Place the soup back into the pot, and return the heat to low. The soup will still be pretty hot, so getting it back to a simmer won't take to long. When it reaches a simmer, add the chard and cook for 3-4 minutes, until the chard is just cooked through, but still has a little bite to it. Spoon into a big bowl, grab some bread, get in your Slanket, and turn on the tube; it's time to get comfy and relax.

pasta bake with fire roasted vegetables

Ingredients:
1 lb whole wheat pasta shells
1 pint fire roasted cherry tomatoes (see below)
2 cups remaining zucchini, onion, bell pepper and garlic mix from yesterday (see below)
1 cup grated parmesean
2 cups Italian shredded cheese blend


I am not really a fan of raw tomatoes. Every chance I get I will cook them just so I don't have to even think about making anything that contains an uncooked tomato. One of my favorite ways is to fire or oven roast them with olive oil and balsamic. Its a great topping for salads, pastas, chicken or fish. So yesterday while we were grilling I took a pint of cherry tomatoes from the box and put them in a foil pouch with 1 Tbsp olive oil, 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar, and some salt and pepper. After we had finished our grilling and were eating, I popped them on to the hot side of the grill and cooked them covered for 15 minutes (The same can be accomplished in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes, but although while really delicious, they will lack the smokey flavor- which you might not want anyway, your choice.).

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a sauce pan, heat the tomatoes, and veggie mixture over medium heat. Once it is hot, about 9-10 minutes, stir in the parmesan. Cook the pasta according to package directions, but take it out about 1 minute before its supposed to be al dente, cause this is still going to cook in the oven for a few minutes. Combine the pasta and tomato/veggie goodness in a baking dish and top with shredded cheese. Since both the pasta and the veggies are warm, we can bake this uncovered for a short amount of time. Place it on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 13-15 minutes, until the cheese gets melty and starts to turn golden brown. Now hold everyone back from digging in before you serve, because that dish is gonna be hot. This was an awesome fast and easy meal that gave us some tasty lunches in the days to follow. Not too bad what a little planning ahead can do eh?

stuffed tomatoes

Ingredients:
4 large ROUND heirloom tomatoes
1 large red bell pepper, 1/4" dice
1 large zucchini, 1/4" dice
1/2 white onion, 1/4" dice
3 Tbsp parsley, roughly torn or chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup Italian cheese blend
3/4 cup breadcrumbs
1 Tbsp fresh Italian herbs (or 1.5 tsp dried)

This dinner is a multi-tasker. You will end up with way more stuffing than you need, but fear not (and look above) because it works into a second equally awesome recipe.

Chop all your veggies first. That way while you cook them, you can be hollowing out the tomatoes. If you are getting heirlooms, make sure to use the roundest ones you have. The weird, bulbous tomatoes are a pain to stuff. Not using heirlooms? Well the odds are that years of cross breading and hybridization have yielded you a nice, round tomato. Congrats. (It just won't taste quite as good.)

The way I clean them is simple. Cut off the top down past where the vine attaches, and squeeze all the tomato goo into the compost. Run your knife around the outer meat, cutting all the ribs, but being careful not to poke through the bottom. Next just grab a spoon, retrace the same cut you just did, only putting some pressure on the bottom rib of the tomato, and POW!, it should pop right out.

Heat a large skillet to medium and add your oil. Toss in the onions and allow to sweat until translucent, about 6-7 minutes. Add the garlic and peppers and continue to cook until the peppers are softened, another 6-7 minutes. Now throw in your herbs, the zucchini, and some salt and pepper. Let this cook for a good 9-10 minutes until the zucchini is cooked through. Transfer 2 cups of this mixture to a small bowl with a slotted spoon, pressing as much liquid as you can back into the skillet. (We don't want soggy tomatoes, now do we?) Add the breadcrumbs and parsley to the mixture in the bowl, stir, taste and adjust the salt and pepper. Your tomatoes should be completely hollowed out, with no seeds, liquid, or ribs inside. Stuff the mixture into the tomatoes, and top them with cheese. You can wrap them together if you like, or like we did in little individual foil pouches (if you are going to do them in the oven you could just just a sprayed Pyrex dish) making sure to spray the foil with cooking spray before inserting the goods. Just don't cover the tops, we aren't looking to lose any cheese here.

Place them on the cold side of the grill and pop the cover on, cook for 20-25 minutes until the cheese is melted, and the stuffing is piping hot. Proceed to shove in face.

panzanella

Using tomatoes with varying degrees of ripeness will not only add color to your panzanella, but also a lovely contrast in textures. Ripe red tomatoes will release their juices and help moisten the dish, while green tomatoes offer a delightful crisp bite similar to that of an apple.


Ingredients:
1 loaf day old bread, cut into bite sized cubes (We used Semifreddi's country levain)
4 heirloom tomatoes, sliced into wedges
1 clove garlic, minced
5 sweet peppers, julienned
1 pint fresh mozzarella bocconcini
2-3 Tbs olive oil
salt & pepper

Once you have everything prepped, toss it all in a large bowl, drizzle with olive oil and season generously with salt & pepper. Refrigerate for one hour before serving so that all the flavors meld together. Got some basil, red onion or cucumber laying around? They'd all make great additions!

ratatouille

Not only do we constantly have food on the brain, we also love to watch any and all TV shows about food, including The Next Food Network Star. The winner this year, Melissa D'Arabian, made ratatouille for her last elimination challenge and mentioned a helpful mnemonic device she uses to ensure all the vegetables are cooked perfectly: EZPOT. That stands for eggplant, zucchini, peppers, onions and tomatoes- the order in which you need to add each ingredient into the pot. Well it just so happened that inside the box this week were all the ingredients you need to make ratatouille! Uh, assuming you still have some onions left over from last week that is.


Ingredients:
2 Tbsp olive oil
4 sweet peppers, seeded and cut into chunks
1 onion, sliced
5 tomatoes, seeded and cut into chunks
1 eggplant, peeled and cut into chunks
2 summer squash, sliced
3 pattypan squash, cut into chunks
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
salt, pepper & 2 tsp herbs du provence

Follow the EZPOT- or in this case ESPOGT. Doesn't have quite the same ring. Heat the oil in a large pot and add the eggplant. Allow to cook just until it begins to soften, then add the squash. When the squash has softened, throw in the peppers. After the peppers start to soften, next up are the onions and garlic. Finally, add in the tomatoes when the onions are translucent. Season generously with salt, pepper and herbs du provence. Cover the pot and cook over medium heat for one hour. We served with some polenta, to which we added 1/4 lb Montasio cheese.

philly cheesesteaks

A belated happy 4th to everyone! Is it just me or did the Fourth of July kind of come out of nowhere this year? Maybe it's just because we had a long weekend last week, due to Pride & having a friend in town. We spent the 4th hanging out in the Panhandle during the day then went over to Cang's to make some food and watch movies. We couldn't see any fireworks because of the thick blanket of fog and it just kinda of felt like any other Saturday. Luckily for Kenny & I, we are going to see some spectacular fireworks when we go on vacation to Vancouver at the end of the month!


Anyways, we used some red onion & sweet peppers from the CSA to make philly cheesesteaks!


And they were awesome! No real recipe here... Cang & Kara had purchased some filet mignon, we provided the onion & peppers and we made a great jalapeno jack cheese sauce to top them off. Yum!

whole garden pasta salad

My best friend is visiting this weekend, which means lots of dining out! We wanted to make something to use up as many veggies as possible from the CSA so that nothing went bad while we were enjoying our weekend away from the kitchen. So we made a super easy pasta using 6 ingredients from the box!


Ingredients:
1 bunch chard, leaves roughly ripped
3 heads broccoli, florets only
3 peppers, julienned
1 bunch carrots, thinly sliced
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
5 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
10 leaves basil, chiffonade
3 Tbsp olive oil
salt, pepper & balsamic vinegar to taste
1 lb whole wheat fusilli

Get a pot of water boiling and add in the pasta. Add the olive oil to a large pan, and saute the garlic and onions for 2-4 minutes. The order for the veggies goes like this: broccoli & carrots first, until carrots are tender and broccoli is bright green, then add in the chard and peppers and stir until the chard is wilted. The pasta should be done by now, so strain and return to the large pot. Dump in all the veggies, toss and season how you like. Top with basil. Serves 6.

tofu ranchero

Here is a recipe for slow cooker tofu ranchero. If you don't have a slow cooker, check out this recipe for ranchero sauce instead.

Ingredients:
1 block super firm tofu, cubed
3 heirloom tomatoes, roughly chopped
7 sweet peppers, julienned
1 onion, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 jalapeno, julienned
5 patty pan squash, quartered
2 Tbsp 2x concentrate tomato paste
1 Tbsp chili powder
1/2 Tbsp red pepper flakes
1/2 Tbsp salt
2 cups vegetable stock

Prep all the ingredients and toss into the slow cooker pot. Toss with the seasonings then add the vegetable stock and cook on low for 6 hours. Strain with a slotted spoon. Save the liquid to make extra tasty rice and serve with avocado!

tomato and pepper ragu

Ingredients:
3 heirloom tomatoes, seeded and roughly chopped
6 sweet gypsy peppers, seeded and julienned
1 large spring onion, white part only, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, sliced
12 large leaves fresh basil, roughly chopped
2 Tbsp 2x concentrate tomato paste
2 Tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add onions, garlic, and peppers and allow to saute' until the onions are translucent, about 6-8 minutes. Add tomato paste, stir and cook an additional 2 minutes. Toss in the tomatoes and basil, cover and simmer until the tomatoes have broken down and a thick sauce is formed, about 25 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, and serve with pasta, polenta, or crusty bread. Or do what we did below!

We served it over polenta with some grilled organic grass fed and finished skirt steak we picked up from the farmer's market at the Ferry Building on Saturday.

We marinated the skirt steak for 36 hours in:
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tsp dried Italian seasoning
1 pinch of garlic granules
2 hefty pinches of salt
1 pinch of pepper

Then grilled it on a hot grill for 5 minutes on each side for a nice medium steak. Sliced on the bias it was tender, had a great crust, and was packed with flavor!

pizza from scratch

This is our first time making pizza from scratch at home. Well, I guess I should say, it's almost totally from scratch- maybe next time we will try making the mozzarella too!

Pizza Dough:
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, plus extra for table
3/4 cup 110-115 degree water, think hot tub
3/4 Tbsp. olive oil, plus more for bowl
1 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast
pinch of salt
pinch of sugar

Makes 1 12-14" pizza crust:

In a small bowl, combine the active dry yeast with warm water, olive oil, salt, and sugar. Stir and allow to sit for 5 minutes so the yeast can reanimate and get excited. Add wet ingredients to food processor first, followed by the flour, and give it a little stir to incorporate so you don't set off a flour bomb in the kitchen. Pulse all ingredients in a food processor until a solid dough ball forms (depending on your flour, humidity, or other factors you may need to add a little more flour to the food processor. Just make sure to add only a little at a time). Remove ball from your food processor and knead on a floured surface by hand for about 5 minutes, folding in half, squishing the dough, then turn 90 degrees and do the same. Then put about 1 1/2 tsp. of olive oil in a large bowl, roll the dough ball around to coat. Cover the bowl with a warm wet kitchen towel and let it sit on the kitchen counter to rise for one hour. The dough will rise to about twice its size. Wrap tightly and store for at least 24 hours. Dough will be fine in the fridge for up to 3 days. This recipe is easily doubled, tripled, quadrupled, or more. It is great to make in large batches, and the remaining dough can be separated into pizza sized balls and frozen in freezer bags for up to 2 month, just make sure the ball is coated with oil before placing into the bag.

Pizza Sauce:
Ingredients:
4 heirloom tomatoes, seeds removed and roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 spring onion, diced
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp sugar
salt, pepper and Italian seasoning to taste

Add the olive oil to a non-stick pot over high heat. Add in the onion and garlic and allow to simmer for just a minute or two, then add in the tomatoes. Season and bring to a boil. Allow to boil for about 20 minutes, until the sauce reduces to about 1/3 of its volume, stirring occasionally so that it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot. Turn the heat down and re-check your seasoning. You may run this through a blender for super smooth sauce or for a more rustic vibe, leave it chunky. We left it chunky- why dirty more dishes?


Toppings:
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
3 sweet gypsy peppers, thinly sliced

Preheat your oven to 500 degrees. Put your pizza stone or baking sheet on the bottom rack. Get your dough out of the fridge and let it warm up a bit before you start stretching. When you are ready to assemble the pizza, add the sauce, cheese and toppings, then quickly center the pizza on your stone or baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes, checking on it after 7.

stuffed peppers

These are from the same BBQ as the pie above. My friend and coworker Eli, who just joined FFTY, looked at me and said "Peppers! What am I going to do with all those freaking peppers?!". So this one is for him!

Ingredients:
6 medium to large sweet gypsy peppers, tops cut off, ribs and seed removed
1 cup long grain white rice
3 chipotle peppers in sauce, finely chopped
1/2 package soy veggie taco meat
3 carrots, 1/4" dice
1 small onion, 1/4" dice
1 Tbsp canola oil
cooking spray
salt and pepper, to taste

Cook rice in a rice cooker with 2 cups of water. (Don't have a rice cooker? Use and extra 1/2 cup of water in a covered pot on medium low heat. Better yet, use left over rice from last nights Chinese take out!) In a large saute pan over medium heat, sweat onions and carrots for 5 to 7 minutes in canola oil, until onions are translucent. Add rice, soy taco meat, and chipotles and cook for an additional 8-10 minutes until flavors are incorporated. Season with salt and pepper. Stuff peppers and place on aluminum foil that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Season the outside of the peppers with salt and pepper and wrap them tightly in the foil, making a little pouch. Place on a hot grill and cook for 8 minutes on each side, flipping once. If you do not have a grill, or don't want to go outside, bake them in a 350 degree oven for 15-18 minutes. This recipe leaves a good deal of left over filling to make burritos or tacos another day. Or if you have more peppers- stuff them all!