Garden pictures August 2013 -  Average High  temp right now is 100 so we are limited in what we can grow. We finally pulled the tomatoes and cucumbers over the weekend.  This is what we are left with.

a bunch of pepper

black-eyed peas

butternut squash

Okra

Eggplant

Sweet Pepper

Arugula

Roasted Beet, Arugula and Quinoa Salad

We had a few beets leftovr so I decided to roast them up and toss them with some rd quinoa and some fresh Arugula just picked from the garden.  I sed a red quinoa here.  Yummy.

2 cups cooked quinoa (1 cups of dried quinoa cooked per directions)

4-5 beets peeled cut into 1/2 inch diced pieces

1 bunch arugula chopped rough

2 oz of goat cheese

2-3 scallions chopped

Citrus Vinegarette

Coat the beets with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.Roast the beets for 20 minutes at 375.  Cool

When Quinao is room temperature add the rest of the ingredients and toss.

Citrus Vinegarette

1 tsp grated orange peel

Juice of 1 orange

2 oz Grapefruit or white balsamic vinegar

1/2 tsp of salt

2 oz of good quality olive oil.

Combine all ingredients in a jar, cover with lid and shake.  

Peppers

IT is now August which makes it pepper season.  We have really been enjoying the Shishito Peppers.  We are amazed at the output.  We get 1-2 good sized batches a week.  These are the perfect appetizer.

Grilled Shishitos

Pick the Shishitos -  sprinkle with olive oil and salt.  Grill on a grill pan in a hot grill for about 3-5 minutes until they are just starting to brown.  Eat with a sauce of mayo and Sriracha.

The sweet pepper plant this year is producing more peppers than we know what to do with.  I decided to stuff them to recreate a dish we had in Upstate NY last summer.

NY style grilled and stuffed peppers.

8 oz links of Italian Sausage

4 oz of cream cheese

Brown Sausage  until cooked -  cool slightly

Mix cream cheese and sausage.  Remove tops of peppers and remove membranes and seeds.  Stuff peppers with mixture.  Bale or grill at 375 about 15-20 minutes until peppers are soft and starting to brown.

More Shrubs and Juicing

So we took advantage of some of the summer fruit and mades some more shrubs.  Watermelon, Cucumber and Peach.

We have been making some tasty cocktails with these shrubs.  The strawberry in the center is best just added to sparkling water.

Watermelon, mint and white balsamic

Cucumber, lavender and aged white wine vinegar

Peach, ginger and white balamic

Here is the process:

Slice and cut into small piece 2 cups of leftover fruit (strawberries, peaches, berries, cucumbers, beets, tomatoes... you get the drift whatever you have an abundance of)  add equal amounts of sugars in a ceramic bowl.  Add any aromatics.  Cover and leave on the counter for 1-2 days.  The mixture will become very syrupy.  Then add 1 1/2 to 2 cups of vinegar (any kind except  distilled white viengar -  balsamics, apple cider, red or white wine will all work) .  At this point I usually put the whole bowl in the refrigerator because I have one, but in the old days I would assume they would have kept in in a cool place.  Let it sit for 3-7 days,  strain out the solids and stored in a jar.  Since it is a vinegar you can store in the pantry but I usually keep mine in the refrigerator.

Peach and Bourbon cooler

1 oz of peach shrub

2 oz of bourbon

juice of 1/2 lime

ice

sparkling water

mix first 4 in a shaker pour over ice and top off with sparking water to taste.

The shrub on the left was made from an orange watermelon.  We find this one goes best with vodka.

Watermelon Cooler

1 oz watermelon Shrub

2 oz vodka

1/2 oz St Germaine

juice of 1 lime

sparkling water

mix first 4 in a shaker pour over ice and top off with sparking water to taste.

I finally broke down and bought a juicer this year.  Mostly because of the tremendous amount of carrots, but I have also been juicing my cucumbers.   I like Gin and Tonics with the cucumber juice so I froze it in ice trays and stored the cubes in a ziploc in the freezer,  I can have G&T's with cucumber juice even when I don't have cucumbers to juice.

The Best G and T Ever

1 Oz cucumber juice 

1/2 oz CucumberShrub

2 oz gin

1/2 oz Kings Ginger Liquor

juice of 1 lime
2 drops lavender bitters

tonic water

mix first 6 in a shaker pour over ice and top off with tonic water to taste.