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Fresh Tomato Soup

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Fresh tomato soup is one of our family’s favorite go-to soups.  It’s comfort food for sure, and pairs perfectly with grilled cheese (a staple in our home)!  There are variations galore, but this is a basic, actually-tastes-like-garden-fresh-tomatoes soup.

Fresh Tomtato Soup This is one of our favorites, especially when you need something quick on a busy weeknight.  It only takes about 20 minutes to throw together, and you don’t have to have a lot of special ingredients.  Just a few pantry staples and, of course, some lovely ripe tomatoes!

This is a great recipe to double, or even triple, and freeze some for another night.  If tomatoes aren’t in season and you don’t have any left from your garden, you can easily substitute canned tomatoes (use 28 oz whole peeled or diced tomatoes).

To make the grilled cheese croutons, butter one side each of two pieces of bread.  Place cheese slices between the bread, making sure the buttered sides are facing out.  Cook in a panini press until both sides are golden brown.  Cut into squares and add to soup.

Fresh Tomtato Soup 5*Butter or avocado oil may be substituted for the coconut oil.

Garlic-Basil Butter

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Garlic-Basil Butter 4Flavored butters are a simple way to add a touch of sophistication to your meal, especially this garlic-basil butter.  Impress your guests or add it to a weeknight meal.  It’s fancy enough for company, but easy enough for every day!  It takes only minutes to prepare, but it makes even a simple meal seem a little more fancy with delicious flavor!

If you want to take it up a notch, you can have an assortment of herbed butters by adding our chive butter to your spread.  (Spread.  Ha!  Sadly, that pun was intended.)

We love simple recipes, and this one fits the bill.  Garden-fresh herbs and veggies don’t always need a lot of dressing up.  This butter really lets the flavor of the garlic and basil shine through without overpowering your dish.  Summertime perfection!

Give this garlic-basil butter a try the next time you have fresh herbs, you will not be disappointed in the lovely flavor, and you will love how easy it is to whip up!

Garlic-Basil Butter 1

Butter freezes very well.  Place the butter on a piece of waxed or parchment paper.  Roll it into a cylindrical shape, then twist the ends of the paper to seal.  You can place it in a freezer bag for an extra layer of protection, if desired.  When you need some basil butter, unwrap the log and slice off a disc to use for toast or veggies, or in your recipe.  This is a great option if you are trying to use as much basil as you can at the end of your harvest, and it’s just as easy to make a big batch as it is a single batch.

Enjoy!

How to Freeze Basil Pesto

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tips to freeze pestoPesto is a great way to use up a lot of basil if your garden is bursting at the seams, or if you need to harvest it before a drop in temperature.  The basil pesto recipe we posted last week is a great one to try, especially if you’re looking for a less expensive pesto that still has wonderful flavor (we used pecans instead of pine nuts!).

But what if you make a big batch of pesto and you can’t finish it before it starts to go bad?  Freeze it!  Freezing pesto is simple, but we have a few tips to keep it fresh and green.  Pesto oxidizes (darkens when exposed to air), so keep reading to find out how to keep it looking bright and green!

Start out with clean ice cube trays and a cookie scoop.  My scoop is 1 tablespoon, and since two would have overfilled the tray, I placed one scoop in each pocket.  You will need just a little space at the top, so don’t fill it completely full.
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Once you have all of your pesto scooped into the trays, gently tap them on the counter to remove any air bubbles and to settle the pesto into an even layer.  Lightly drizzle a thin layer of olive oil over the top of each pesto cube.  This will help seal out any air that could turn your pesto brown.  Freeze Pesto 2
When you are finished drizzling the oil, cover the tray with a layer of plastic wrap and press it gently onto the pesto to remove the air.  Once the air has been pressed out, just place it in the freezer!
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I missed a spot on the plastic wrap…it probably pulled when I picked up the tray.  Check yours before you set it in the freezer just to make sure it didn’t shift like mine!  Because of the oil, it retained it’s green color as it froze, but I like to be double sure that my food will be perfect when I want to use it!
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Once your pesto is frozen (I left mine overnight), remove the plastic wrap and run the bottom of the trays under cold water for a second or two to loosen the pesto, if necessary (be careful not to get water on the pesto).
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Label a gallon size freezer bag, being sure to include the size of your pesto cubes.
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Now just remove the cubes from the trays and toss them all in the bag!
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They should be a lovely green color.  Now you are ready to pull out exactly how much you need when you’re ready to eat it!  Garden-fresh flavor any time.  Doesn’t get much better!
freeze pesto 9Be sure to squeeze out as much air as possible before you put your bag of pesto in the freezer, and you’re done!  Easy!

Basil Pesto

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If you still have tons of basil in your garden and can’t stand to see it go to waste at the end of the season, basil pesto is the perfect solution!  You can make it exactly how you like it for MUCH less than you will pay at the grocery store.  It’s delicious in all sorts of recipes…and you can even freeze it (stay tuned for simple instructions)!  There are so many reasons to make pesto, so don’t let that beautiful basil go to waste!

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Pesto is very versatile…you can make it a strong flavor or make it more mild (which is especially helpful if you’re cooking for kids – or anyone else – who doesn’t like strong flavors!), and you can even add in other greens and different kinds of nuts.  This recipe changes up traditional pesto just a little bit, but it still has a wonderful, rich flavor that will make you happy you made a big batch!  You can always make a smaller batch, but if you have a lot of basil from your garden, this recipe is perfect for using it up!

Enjoy your pesto tossed with pasta, on baked potatoes or spread on bread!  And stay tuned for some upcoming recipes that use this delicious pesto!

Pine nuts are traditionally used in pesto, and walnuts are often used as a substitution.  We used pecans in our recipe and loved the results!

For a stronger flavor, add in one additional cup of basil leaves and omit the spinach.

Chive Butter

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Chive Butter 8If you are ready to take your meal to the next level, try adding fresh Chive Butter to your dishes!  Delicious on hot rolls, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, steamed or roasted veggies, and steaks.

Garden-fresh chives are an easy way to make your meal taste more gourmet with almost no effort!  Plus, chive butter can be made ahead of time, saving you the headache of one more thing to do during dinner prep crunch time.  Since I’m always looking for recipes to make my life easier, this one is now at the top of my list!

Chives are not only a great way to add flavor to your meal, they are said to be good for the circulatory system.  They are rich in vitamins A & C, calcium, iron, and contain trace amounts of sulfur.  Plus, they’re beautiful when they bloom…and chives are a perennial plant!  I love that I don’t even have to do anything and they keep coming back every year.  Win!

Chives

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Spinach Salad with Marinated Tomato & Basil

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Tomatoes in a salad are nothing new.  More like an old standby, really.  But if you are new to marinating tomatoes before you add them to your salad, this recipe just might knock your socks off!

Spinach SaladPerhaps unless you’re shopping at a farmer’s market, homegrown garden-fresh tomatoes really have no equal.  Even a good, expensive tomato from the grocery store can never compare in flavor and texture to a vine-ripened, juicy tomato from the garden.  John Denver even sang about homegrown tomatoes!  If you’ve never heard the song, give it a listen.  It’s cute…and true.  Winter without homegrown tomatoes is most definitely a “culinary bummer!”

The balsamic dressing for this salad is simple and goes together quickly, but it adds a wonderful dimension to the tomatoes.  With just a few simple ingredients, your side salad will become the highlight of your meal!

Spinach Salad 2Give this simple salad a try and you might just start marinating all your tomatoes!

For more great recipes using tomatoes and basil, check out:

Caprese Appetizers

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These beautiful caprese appetizers are the perfect addition to any meal.  They are light, full of flavor, and fun to make!  You will love them because they are easy and delicious…and when the tomatoes and basil come out of your garden, they’re inexpensive too!  (And who doesn’t love that?!)caprese appetizer 5

One of the very best summer tastes is a garden-fresh homegrown tomato.  And one of my favorite garden-fresh tomatoes is the Sunsugar cherry tomato.  They’re sweet and delicious…and perfect for an appetizer like this!  Especially if your plants are producing more than you can eat and you need more ideas to use them up!  (Because when my sunsugar plant starts producing, I can hardly keep up with it!)

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Stack it with some basil, balsamic, bread & cheese, and you’ve got an appetizer that just might ruin your dinner!

For the most amazingly easy way to slice cherry tomatoes in seconds, see our tutorial!

caprese appetizer 2 This is a fun appetizer to customize any way you want it.  Change up the order of ingredients, or the way you assemble it!  Or even make each of them different.  No matter how you put them together, they taste incredible and you won’t be able to stop at just one!  It’s the perfect combination of flavors…which means you might not save room for dinner.  But when the appetizers are this good, who cares?!

Fat-Free Sweet Potato Fries

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fat-free sweet potato fries 3

If you are looking for a delicious, healthy side dish or snack, fat-free sweet potato fries are a perfect choice!  They are simple to put together, loaded with good nutrition, and they’re always a crowd pleaser!  They’re fantastic with our homemade garlic-cilantro aioli.  We love this simple aioli because it goes together in 30 seconds in your blender!  We love recipes that are quick, simple, healthy and that taste great…and both of these recipes fit the bill!  Give these sweet potatoes a try and let us know what you think!

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*If you don’t mind some oil on your fries, try tossing your uncooked sweet potato wedges with 2-3 tablespoons of avocado oil before seasoning them.

*Root vegetables can take a lot of salt.  Don’t be afraid to give them a good sprinkling.  {Don’t go overboard, but don’t skimp unless that’s how you like them}

*If you’re worried about your sweet potato wedges sticking to your foil, try crinkling the foil before you place it on the baking sheet.  This way the potatoes will be touching less of the foil’s surface, which means you will have less sticking when they come out of the oven.

fat-free sweet potato fries 1

Garlic-Cilantro Aioli

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Aioli.  You’ve heard of it.  Maybe even seen it.  But what in the world is it?  Well, you’ve come to the right place for answers!  Aioli is a garlic-flavored mayonnaise typically served with fish, seafood and vegetables.  It’s a French word with Latin roots:  ai–>garlic (allium) and oli–>oil (oleum).  Garlic Oil.  Yup.  We’re making garlic oil today!  With a little cilantro thrown in for good measure.

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You’ll be so happy you tried today’s recipe.  This aioli is so easy to make…it all goes in the blender, and you’re done in 30 seconds!  There’s nothing I love more than an easy, quick, delicious recipe!

So far we have enjoyed our garlic-cilantro aioli  with Roasted Artichoke, Fat-Free Sweet Potato Fries (we will share that recipe with you next week!) and we even used it as a sandwich spread.  You just can’t go wrong with this aioli!  Comment below and let us know how you like to eat your aioli!

Garlic-Cilantro Aioli 3

Roasted Artichoke

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Roasted ArtichokeIf you want to impress your dinner guests, serve them this fabulous roasted artichoke!  It may take a long time in the oven, but with only a couple of minutes of prep, it can be roasting while you prepare your meal, weed the garden or take a nap!  And the flavor it develops from roasting is well worth the wait.  As you may have noticed by now, roasting is one of our favorite ways to prepare veggies!  If you like it steamed or boiled, try it roasted and you may never go back!  We served this with a delicious garlic-cilantro-lime aioli that was made in the blender in about 30 seconds!  Click here for this yummy recipe, you will love it!

 

To eat your artichoke, pull the leaves off, dip the part of the leaf that was attached to the artichoke in your sauce, put it in your mouth, close your teeth on the leaf, and pull outward.  The soft, delicious part of the leaf will come off the more fibrous, woody part.  Discard the leaf when you have eaten the soft part.  Enjoy!

Roasted artichoke 2

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