Having fun with my food processor

The pesto sauce has basil, sage, opinions, goat cheese, walnuts, olive oil, garlic, onions, zest and juice from a lemon.

The linguine has tomatoes, celery, Swiss chard (both leaves and stalks), onions, garlic and a little ricotta.

Making pesto sauce with my new food processor

I have been using my new food processor to make several varieties of pesto sauce. I have used basil, kale, parsley, carrot tops, spinach, arugula, swiss chard and celery leaves for the greens so far.

For the nuts I have tried pumpkin seeds, hazelnuts, walnuts and pine nuts.

For the cheese I've tried parmesan, romano, asiago and most recently a shredded yogurt cheese.

Some recipes call for adding lemon juice and zest of lemon. I do that occasionally.

I also add a 1/2 to full cup of onions, 3 to 6 cloves of garlic depending on your taste for garlic, a couple of fresh sage or mint leaves and a cup of olive oil. You can add more olive oil if you feel the mixture is to dry. You can use between 2 to 4 cups of the greens.

I'm going to use the fresh organic basil I got last night from our CSA box, pine nuts, the juice of one lemon and lemon zest from that lemon. Then I'm going to try something different for the cheese. I'll mix some Parmesan cheese in with some goat cheese. Normally I would use shredded cheese but I haven't seen that in goat cheese, only the crumbles or logs.

I'll use the rainbow swiss chard and celery that I got from the CSA box. I'll add some onions, garlic and tomatoes to the pasta along with some ricotta cheese. I use either goat cheese, ricotta cheese or sour cream to thicken the pasta and sauce.

I used to do this all in my blender but it could only handle pine nuts and only a little of everything at one time.

Below is a picture of the last pasta we made to use up the summer squash. You can pretty much add any veggies and greens that you want to the pasta.

Sweet Potato and Kale Frittata with Goat Cheese

I used my new frittata pan to make this recipe last night.

Sweet Potato and Kale Frittata with Goat Cheese
Ingredients :

1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch pieces (12 oz.)
8 large eggs - but I used 10 ;)
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 small onion diced (1 cup) - I used red onion in a food processor
4 large curly kale leaves, ribs removed, leaves torn into 2 inch pieces
1/2 cup crumbles goat cheese (2 oz.)

1 tbsp olive oil
non-stick spray

Directions :
Preheat Oven to 400 degrees F

Place sweet potato cubes into medium safe bowl, add 1/2 cup water, cover and microwave for 5 minutes or until tender, drain. set aside.

Blend eggs, mustard, vinegar, in a bowl, add salt/pepper if desired. set aside.

Coat large OVEN PROOF skillet with cooking spray and add olive oil in bottom - I only used olive oil in a LARGE Cast Iron pan :) - place on medium high heat on stove.

Add onion and saute 3 minutes or until onion begins to soften.
Add kale and cook 2 minutes or until kale is wilted but still bright green.
Add sweet potato and toss to blend, then arrange vegetables evenly over bottom of the skillet.
Carefully pour eggs into skillet without displacing vegetables.
Cook 3 minutes or until bottom of frittata is set.

Transfer pan to pre-heated oven.
Bake 10 minutes or until frittata is set in center.
Remove from oven. Let stand 1 - 2 minutes.
Add cheese to top.
Cut into wedges & serve.

Found: Vegetarian Times Magazine, November 2012, page 34

 

Our last two CSA boxes

In our CSA box last nigh we have basil, Swiss chard, cabbage, zucchini, cucumbers, carrots, broccoli, lettuce, celery, oranges, grapefruit and strawberry jam.

I plan on using the basil to make a pesto sauce in my food processor. And I plan on using the celery and swiss chard along with some onions, garlic, tomatoes and ricotta cheese for the pasta.

Two weeks before (I forgot to post) we got the red

maui onion posted posted below. And three round

summer squash.

.  

And in this CSA box we had Swiss chard, mustard spinach, romaine lettuce, green beans, summer squash, celery, Maui onion, carrots, cucumbers, oranges, blueberries, tangelos, and grapefruit.