Late Summer Happenings and Harvest

Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom Music Center

This Summer has been spectacular.  My husband and I have been busy attending fun events with family and friends such as museums, hikes, bike rides and swimming.  Outdoor concerts, like Ian Anderson performing "Thick as a Brick" and the Cleveland Orchestra performing Beethoven under the stars were particularly memorable.

A new friend asking for love

Within 10 minutes of discovery

Also, we had no choice but to adopt a kitten (about 6 months) who we found sleeping in one of our patio chairs.  We live in a rural area, where we often see feral cats wandering around and scoot away as soon as we go outside.  We just didn't have the heart to shoo a small kitten away who didn't want to leave.  He was too skinny, too hungry and too AFFECTIONATE.  After two flea baths and a clean bill of health from the vet we let him inside.  The poor little guy went straight to a fuzzy folded blanket on the sofa and slept for a full 12 hours.  It was probably his first comfortable, stress free day where he was able to truly relax.  Thankfully, he and our other two cats all get along quite well, and the little guy has NEVER tried to sneak out of an open door.  It's as if he was born to be an inside cat, or is just grateful to be indoors.   It's been two months.  He's almost doubled in size, but is even more gentle and lovable.  We couldn't have asked for a better feline to show up at our front door.

The second morning, not allowed inside yet,  but really selling himself

It's a small wonder that I had time to tend to my small deck garden.  The weather here was a bit funky.  It rained a lot in June and July, dry in August and September, and never got 'warm' enough.  Personally, I can't complain about the temperature, since it afforded me more time outside and cheaper electric bills from less air conditioning. 

This is one of my favorite times of the year.  In simple terms, it's the time when I can make stuff from the stuff I've been growing for a few months.  It's a sense of accomplishment.  I love making favorites like homemade marinara, caprese salad and fresh pico de gallo.

Jalapenos

I also went beyond my comfort zone and made an Asian-inspired dish.  I marinated chicken breasts in sesame oil, garlic, ginger and rice vinegar.  I stir-fried a few fresh peppers, onion, and water chestnuts in garlic and sesame oil, stir-fried the chicken, then tossed with cooked soba noodles, soy sauce and cilantro.  BIG HIT.

Plus, our recent plans for an upcoming vacation in Cozumel has inspired me to finish seasoning my molcajete and make a few other tasty experiments, such as making guacamole the traditional way and a favorite sauce that tastes almost as good as the restaurant where I first tasted it.  Next time ...

Easy Recipe for Bruchetta, Pasta and Pizza.

Years ago, in an old, cozy restaurant in Cleveland's Little Italy my family was served this savory tomato, garlic basil dip with our bread instead of the traditional olive oil and balsamic for dipping.  We've all had this topping baked onto bread but never as a dip with fresh bread.  Since then Mom has perfected her own method that's in high demand at all our family events.

It is ridiculously easy to make and very customizable to your own taste.
Plus, it's vegan and healthy, so it's ideal to take to a potluck for everyone to enjoy.  And, it's so versatile:

A topping or dip for fresh, crusty bread

Toss with pasta and chill, or saute with pasta for a hot or cold dish perfect for Summer dining.

Make traditional bruchetta or pizzas: place bread or English muffins under  a low broiler  or toaster oven for 2 minutes or until desired tostieness, add toppings, broil for another 2-3 minutes .  Or, quick for the kids, toast English muffins in toaster, add topping or toppings, microwave 30 seconds.

Fresh tomatoes would work well, I'm guessing, but we've never had it that way.  It looks like I may have a bumper crop of Romas this year, so I'm going to try making this with fresh and then update this post.


Before you start, Mom wanted to make sure I gave a few tips:

This is flavor-packed with lots of garlic.  If you think it may be too strong to your liking, start out with half the garlic and herbs.  This has to marinate for at least a day, so you can always add more seasoning later, marinate again, then taste.

Re-purposed spaghetti sauce jars work well.  This recipe makes a little under 32 ounces.  Two 16oz jars should do it.


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two 32oz cans of diced or petite diced tomatoes (tomatoes with Italian seasoning work great, but not necessary)

One full head of garlic, cloves peeled

2 cups fresh basil leaves

1/4 to 1/2 bunch parsley

1/2 bunch chives or scallions

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1/2 teaspoon salt

one heaping teaspoon dry oregano (or 1/2 teaspoon of fresh)

1 1/2 cups of olive oil, extra virgin





Strain tomatoes in colander (Mom saves and freezes the tomato juice for future use in soups and sauces - no wonder they taste so good)












Put peeled garlic cloves and herbs in a food processor to chop

Add to tomatoes and add remaining ingredients.  Stir until combined.

Top off jar with extra olive oil.  Let stand at room temperature overnight.  Refridgerate afterwards.
As you may know, olive oil solidifies when chilled.  Be sure to restore it to room temperature before serving.

Mega Fajita Value

Wow! We had some tasty fajitas for an incredible value.

We LOVE Mexican food.  We've loved it before our only trip to Cozumel a few years ago and we now love it even more.  Fortunately we have several excellent Mexican restaurants close by.  One offers a Deluxe Fajita for Two for $18.95, about $20 with tax.

I have never seen a larger fajita skillet.  It was like a large pizza pan.  Fajitas for two?  More like fajitas for six!  Seriously!

Sizziling on top of it was a mountain combination of chicken, chorizo sausage, pork, steak,  and shrimp on the side.  I'm allergic to shellfish.  My husband was fine doing without shrimp, but the server was gracious enough to offer his shrimp to be cooked and served separately.  Also included were the signature onions, peppers and tomatoes. Thankfully, the veggies were done just to our taste - crisp and not too soggy.

It was such a value, we got a total of 13 fajitas within three days.

I already had a package of 10 flour tortillas at home, which cost .99.  I also had some shredded cheese and other items to add to them.  We were able to make EIGHT fajitas at home with the leftovers for dinner last night and lunch today.

I'm quite surprised that we got so much for leftovers.  Yes, it looked big, but we were loading up our tortillas at the restaurant, especially my husband.  I had two, he had three.

He admits that he may have been able to have one or two more fajitas at the restaurant if it wasn't for all the chips and salsa we had, plus the Queso Fundito con Chorizo - melted cheese with spicy sausage, served with soft flour tortillas.  It was so good, it should almost be illegal.

We told our server that this should be called fajitas for six.  He laughed, then told us of one customer who was a big guy, more tall and muscle than fat he says, ate a full order in one sitting, after a full basket of chips.  He then ordered fried ice cream for dessert.  Ohhhhhh my!