Chicken and Sun-Dried Tomato Orzo

Another delicious recipe Oscar made for the family was Chicken with Sundried Tomato Orzo. Yes we eat A LOT of chicken in this house! My favorite part of this recipe was the marjoram fresh from my garden.

Ingredients:
8 ounces orzo, preferably whole-wheat
1 cup water
1/2 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes, (not oil-packed), divided
1 plum tomato, diced
1 clove garlic, peeled
3 teaspoons chopped fresh marjoram, divided
1 tablespoon red-wine vinegar (we substituted balsamic vinegar because it was all we had)
2 teaspoons plus 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, divided
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed (1-1 1/4 pounds)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 9-ounce package frozen artichoke hearts, thawed (we used Trader Joe's canned hearts)
1/2 cup finely shredded Romano cheese, divided

Directions:
1.Cook orzo in a large saucepan of boiling water until just tender, 8 to 10 minutes or according to package directions. Drain and rinse.

2.Meanwhile, place 1 cup water, 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, plum tomato, garlic, 2 teaspoons marjoram, vinegar and 2 teaspoons oil in a blender. Blend until just a few chunks remain.

3.Season chicken with salt and pepper on both sides. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook, adjusting the heat as necessary to prevent burning, until golden outside and no longer pink in the middle, 3 to 5 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate; tent with foil to keep warm.

4.Pour the tomato sauce into the pan and bring to a boil. Measure out 1/2 cup sauce to a small bowl. Add the remaining 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes to the pan along with the orzo, artichoke hearts and 6 tablespoons cheese. Cook, stirring, until heated through, 1 to 2 minutes. Divide among 4 plates.

5.Slice the chicken. Top each portion of pasta with sliced chicken, 2 tablespoons of the reserved tomato sauce and a sprinkling of the remaining cheese and marjoram.

I'm still trying to convince Oscar to be the family cook!

Pesto Pasta with Peas

I'm sure I've mentioned before that I enjoy Gweneth Paltrow's newsletter, Goop. Although I try to steer clear of celebrity news and gossip, her newsletter is more mom focused. In fact, I think she really does a great job of highlighting topics that most moms I know find interesting.

I have tried a few recipes and this simple pesto pasta with peas seems to be a hit in our house. Though Ozzie and I both leave too many peas on our plates after eating all the pasta. I've told you we both hate our vegetables- like mother like son!

The best part about cooking this in the summer is it only requires boiling the pasta so your house doesn't get hot from the oven on a hot summer evening. Also, I love the taste of fresh basil from my garden. It's so rewarding to use your own herbs and vegetables in your dishes.

Pesto Pasta with Peas from Goop
3 tablespoons pine nuts
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1 cup fresh basil leaves
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup finely grated parmesan
coarse salt
freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup cooked peas (frozen ones are more than okay)
3 cups cooked brown rice pasta or whole wheat pasta

Pulse the pine nuts in a blender or food processor until minced. Add the garlic, basil and olive oil and pulse until the mixture is nicely pureed. Remove to a bowl and stir in the parmesan cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix as much of the pesto as you like with the peas and pasta.

Enjoy!

From The Garden

We managed to plant our second annual summer vegetable garden last weekend. We were a little late thanks to ongoing colds and Ozzie's surgery but I've already complained about that and will spare you a second pity party. Ozzie recovered perfectly and is a happy, better breathing little boy and that is all that matters.

This year I decided to do things a little different. In the ground I've planted three types of tomatoes (heirloom, cherry and stupice), romaine and green leaf lettuce, spinach and onions. In containers I have lemon verbena and mint that came back from last year (as a novice gardener I'm a little more happy about that than I should be) as well as marjoram, oregano, basil, rosemary, cilantro and flat leaf parsley. Also I am going to try strawberries for the first time this year and am pretty much in love with my apple green strawberry pot.

After our summer crop is harvested I am going to try squash and zucchini for this first time. Admittedly I am also a little more excited about the zucchini that one should be. Who would have thought gardening can be this much fun?

I am most excited to share this summer adventure with Ozzie. Hopefully helping Mommy plant and care for the garden will help to get him to actually eat a vegetable!

Speaking of my little gardener, here he is dumping my flat leaf parsley in the middle of the lawn.

My itty bitty spinach. Will she make it through all this Seattle rain?

Lemon Verbena Mint Tea

Oscar and I spent the weekend raking leaves and preparing my vegetable garden for the winter. I had not been back to the garden for a few weeks since I was avoiding my prep duties errr, I mean since I thought all the plants were dead. So you can imagine my surprise to find my lemon verbena and mint plants still alive! It must have been those unusually warm days in the beginning of October.

Knowing neither would last 5 more minutes now that the weather has truly changed to the drizzly Seattle weather we all know and love, I trimmed all the plants down and ran back inside to look up some lemon verbena and mint recipes faster than you can say avoidance! Of course I told Oscar that Ozzie was due for his afternoon nap and high tailed it outta there.

To my delight the first recipe that appeared was this lemon verbena mint tea from Simply Recipes. Perfect for the cold weather right now. I will try it the first chance I get.

Lemon Verbena Mint Tea

Ingredients
1/2 cup of fresh mint leaves (not the stems, they're bitter), rinsed, lightly packed (about 20 leaves)
1/2 cup of fresh lemon verbena leaves, rinsed, lightly packed (about 10-15 leaves)
2 cups of water

Method
Bring a pot of fresh water almost, but not quite to a boil. Put the mint and verbena leaves in a teapot. Pour the hot water over the leaves. Let sit for 3-5 minutes. Strain into tea cups.

Makes 2 cups.

I am thinking of drying the rest of the lemon verbena for bath salts. If anyone has a great recipe for that, please pass it my way.

*photo courtesy Simply Recipes

From the Garden

Tonight's dinner was from my garden and I couldn't be happier about it!

Yesterday Oscar and I harvested more tomatoes from the garden. I can't believe how many tomatoes are ripening. Below is just half of what we harvested. I gave half to my Mom who came over to help me with Ozzie today since I am still recovering from surgery.




I decided to make my first homemade spaghetti sauce from the tomatoes. Since turkey spaghetti is a family staple, I always have the ingredients available and I don't have to be on my feet for a long time to make it.


First I pureed the tomatoes and some fresh basil. Sadly the basil was not from my garden. I tried to grow basil twice this summer and both times our friendly neighborhood rabbit ate it all before I could harvest it.





Next I sauteed thinly sliced onions and garlic in olive oil and browned ground turkey. When the turkey was cooked, I added the pureed tomatoes and basil, fresh oregano {also from my garden}, olives, artichoke hearts, sea salt and pepper. I let my sauce simmer for about 30 minutes on low heat. While waiting for my sauce to thicken, I cooked the whole wheat rotini. I topped each helping with freshly shaved Parmesan cheese.


We had a fresh from the garden, healthy and delicious meal; all while I'm still recovering from surgery {patting myself on the back}!






Homemade spaghetti sauce doesn't have the same bright red color as the canned stuff but it tasted delicious even without red dye #5.

From the Garden

We harvested our first tomatoes from the garden today! I was pretty excited and anxious to try them since tomatoes were one of the main reasons behind starting my vegetable garden. As I've mentioned before I was inspired by Animal Vegetable Miracle to grow my own herbs and vegetables this summer.

In her book, Barbara Kingsolver goes on and on about the taste of fresh from the garden tomatoes compared to super market tomatoes. She spent so much time talking about it I was convinced I had to grow my own to just to taste what she was talking about.

The consensus is she's right! Fresh from the garden tomatoes are very juicy and sweet. I sliced them up thin added a little sea salt and had myself a great afternoon snack. Ozzie didn't particularly love the tomatoes but he's 1, it'll probably take him a few more tries.

The tomatoes were on the small side, I'm thinking the recent heat wave in Seattle ripened some of them a little early. My parents came over for a visit so I sent them home with some lettuce, parsley and tomatoes as well. My lettuce and parsley are growing like crazy and I try to send anyone who visits home with some.

So far this summer we have harvested all of the spinach, cilantro and snap peas. We're still happily eating the lettuce, parsley, oregano, mint, lemon verbena and we are still waiting for the onions, leeks, sweet peppers, jalapenos, celery, artichokes and the rest of the tomatoes.

If you knew me at all, you'd be as surprised as I am that I'm growing vegetables let alone eating them since one of the two times I was grounded in my youth was because I didn't eat my broccoli. Growing up I hated veggies, what kid didn't? As an adult I don't crave vegetables per say but I know I need them. Plus now that Ozzie is eating table food I have to set a good example. Luckily all of the veggies I've harvested this summer have been yummy {patting myself on the back} so I haven't really had to choke any of it down for Ozzie's sake.

Below is a picture of today's harvest. I can not wait for more tomatoes to ripen. I am going to attempt homemade tomato sauce and freeze it for the winter. Yum!

From the Garden

Yesterday for dinner I made an old staple in our house, turkey spaghetti. We always have frozen ground turkey, whole wheat spaghetti, onions, garlic and pasta sauce. It's my go to dinner when I'm not in the mood to cook and still want to get a decent meal in our tummies.

As I've said before, I started an organic herb and veggie garden this year and we had our first harvest last week of cilantro, parsley, oregano and spinach. So I decided to add some fresh herbs to my spaghetti sauce and made a side of spinach. Turned out pretty darn good if I do say so myself. In fact, I was so pleased with myself I decided to share with a quick post.

Here is my turkey spaghetti {well fusilli} with fresh oregano & parsley.

Ingredients:

Olive oil

1/2 yellow onion- sliced thin

2 garlic cloves- minced

Sliced mushrooms

1 lb. lean ground turkey

Few sprigs of parsley chopped

Few sprigs of oregano chopped

Your favorite jar of tomato sauce

Whole wheat spaghetti, fusilli, penne, angel hair- you pick

Directions:

Saute onion in olive oil about 2 minutes until clear

Add garlic and saute a minute or two longer {careful not to burn garlic}

Add mushrooms and saute until soft

Add ground turkey and cook through

Add tomato sauce and herbs

Simmer about 10 to 15 minutes

Cook pasta as directed

Add drained pasta to sauce

Sprinkle with freshly grated Parmesan cheese if you have it.

Spinach and garlic sauteed in chili pepper olive oil from Oil & Vinegar with toasted pine nuts. I really like toasted pine nuts so I definitely add more than your average cook.

Ingredients:

Chili pepper olive oil

Handful of pine nuts

2 cloves garlic- minced

Spinach

Sea salt

Ground Pepper

Directions:

Saute pine nuts in olive oil

Add garlic saute about 2 minutes longer {careful not to burn nuts or garlic}

Add spinach and saute until soft

Sprinkle with sea salt and fresh pepper

Probably the easiest dinner to cook and I really didn't need to share the recipes but such a good family staple I figure why not?

Also, remember that hydrangea plant my hubby planted for me? Well a few blooms were ready to adorn our kitchen table. The only thing better than veggies from your garden is fresh cut flowers from your garden!

Dinner tasted great and I was so excited to use fresh herbs and vegetables from my own garden. Can't get more local than that!

Home on the Range

This weekend was a "weekend warrior" kind of weekend. Yard work and house work was on the agenda. My dear sweet hubby worked H.A.R.D. on the landscaping in the front yard. Have you ever removed old bushes, mowed the lawn, trimmed the edges, pulled weeds, laid down fabric, planted new flowers and bark all in one day? It's a hard days work! I have a new appreciation for landscapers.

Anyway Oscar did such a great job. I only wish I would have taken before pictures so that you could see the difference. Gone are the ugly bushes of yesterday that hid my cozy front porch and suffocated my pretty Japanese Maple. Now lay my lovely azaleas, hydrangeas and lilacs enticing me for a nice rock in one of our chairs on the front porch.

We are almost done with the yard. We hired a landscaper to fix the debacle that was our backyard. That job required professionals. Of course, we forgot before and after shots for the backyard too.

Last week we planted our organic vegetable and herb garden. All that is left is a few yards of new sod, a little more weeding in the front and viola a whole new yard. There will be a celebration. I am so excited to enjoy our yard this summer!

Here are some pictures of Ozzie helping us pick out plants and flowers a few weekends ago at a local nursery and Home Depot. I'm pretty sure riding the carts was the highlight for him.

Who ever invented the car cart is a genius!

While Oscar worked in the yard, Ozzie and I stayed in and tried a new Rhubarb recipe for our pancakes. My gift to Oscar for his hard work was a yummy pancake breakfast. Pancakes are a favorite around these parts.

This was my first rhubarb recipe ever actually. Every Spring I see it at the market and think what do you do with that? Enter the blogosphere. I ran into rhubarb recipes all over the blogs. This one looks good but cobbler is not really my thing. Although I love me some Smitten Kitchen recipes so I'll probably still try it some day.

I decided to go with this one from Tea & Cookies which is actually a modified version of this one from Dana Treat. I'm really glad I did, it was a perfect pancake topping. The rhubarb was just a little tart so we didn't feel the sugar overload that can happen with blueberry or strawberry pancakes. And boy was this easy! When you are toting a 9 month old around on your hip {he's going through a slight separation anxiety phase} easy recipes are your favorite recipes. I will definitely try this again, I think I read somewhere that it's great over vanilla ice cream too. Yum.

Here's to home improvements and trying new foods!