Jamie’s Recipes

I received sugar snap peas from Brian and Kelly of Black Sheep Farms. They wanted me to develop some recipes using these sweet delicious green peas. These peas are so wonderful raw, I could (and did) pop them in my mouth just like potato chips. When I would open the refrigerator door to find something for dinner or to get a glass of milk for one of my children, I would see those peas sitting so nicely in their bowl, and I would pop them in my mouth –just one or two at a time. After all, I still wanted to use them in a recipe. As a parent you are modeling behavior for your children so I caught my little girls popping entire pea pods into their mouths and enjoying the sweet green crunch. Needless to say this “snacking” dwindled down my supply of peas, after all was said and done I was left with about 20 or so pods.

Mom and Dad sent me home with a few zucchini fresh from the garden the last time I visited. I chopped them up to add to my scrambled eggs, along with some sauteed onions. I thought the sugar snap peas would be a nice addition, and boy was I right. After quickly gobbling up my veggie scrambled eggs, I wished I had more peas so I could enjoy this dish again the next day for breakfast. I love summer time and all the fresh fruits and vegetables we get to enjoy here in the Midwest.

SUGAR SNAP PEA, ZUCCHINI, AND ONION SCRAMBLE
Serves 2
20 or so Sugar snap pea pods, shelled
1 small -medium zucchini, chopped into half moons
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 T Olive Oil
3 eggs, beaten with a splash of water
salt & pepper to taste
cheese, optional

Heat skillet over medium-medium high heat. Add oil, onion, and zucchini. Cook until zucchini and onion soften, about 5 minutes. Stir in peas, cook for 1-2 minutes. Pour egg mixture over the cooked vegetables. Stir to scramble. Cook until eggs are soft. ENJOY!

Broccoli was another ingredient in my box of produce from Black Sheep Farms. My husband loves broccoli. Currently my favorite way to enjoy broccoli is serving it roasted (directions at the bottom of the page). Since it is Father’s Day weekend, I am doing a special recipe for my husband. Broccoli Quiche. I made a ham and broccoli quiche, and a sausage and broccoli quiche. You can use your favorite breakfast meat or leave the meat out entirely. Brunch type foods are my favorite and these quiches are no exception. It is a great way to use ingredients that are in season. The great thing about this recipe is that you can choose the ingredients according to your personal preferences, it is also a great way to use up your leftover meat and veggies. Another great thing is that aside from the pie crust, I could find all the ingredients at my local farmers market. Buy Fresh, Buy Local, and eat a damn good meal!

BROCCOLI BREAKFAST QUICHE
1 pie crust
4 eggs *
1 1/2 c milk
1 tsp onion powder (you could use less)
1 c cheddar cheese
1/2 lb sausage, cooked (or ham, bacon, etc.)
2 c broccoli, steamed (asparagus is good too!)
1 Roma tomato, sliced
salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place pie crust in 9 inch pie tin. Place cooked sausage in bottom of pie crust and top with steamed broccoli. Beat eggs and milk together until thoroughly combined. Add onion powder, salt & pepper and 1/2 c cheese, to egg mixture and stir well.  Pour egg mixture over sausage and broccoli. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 c cheese over the “pie”. Lay tomato slices over everything. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until egg mixture is set. ENJOY!

*I used 3 egg whites and 1 egg –just to lighten it up a bit.

OTHER RECIPES USING BLACK SHEEP FARMS PRODUCE:
Beet Greens and Garlic Scapes with Pasta
Tom Thumb Lettuce Salad with Strawberry Vinaigrette
Baby Bok Choy Pesto

ROASTED BROCCOLI
1 bunch broccoli, chopped
2 T EVOO
salt & pepper
shredded Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Toss broccoli with oil and salt & pepper. Let broccoli cook for 10-15 minutes, turning half way through. ENJOY!

My mom recommends serving with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese –I haven’t tried it this way yet, but I am sure it is delicious. The broccoli picks up a delicious nutty flavor when roasted. I am addicted to roasting almost all my veggies.

On Monday I picked up a box of produce from Black Sheep Farms. My summer “job” is to turn their tasty produce into a tasty dinner. It has been fun to look at food from a different angle; I want to provide recipes that will use the food in a way you may not have thought about before.  This week my focus will be on how to use: baby chioggia beets (with greens intact), sugar snap peas, broccoli, Thai basil, garlic scapes, and mulberries. The baby chiogga beets and greens, Thai basil, and garlic scapes are all new to me so I have my work cut out this week.

I wanted to use more than one of the ingredients together in a recipe. That way when you pick up your CSA box or you find them laying together at your favorite farmers market booth, you could use them up on a single recipe. My first recipe for the week I decided to use the baby chioggia beet greens and the garlic scapes together.

Baby chioggia beets are an Italian heirloom variety of beet. When sliced you can see the beautiful alternating red and white rings, because of this chioggia beets are also known as Candy Stripe beet or Bull’s Eye beet. When storing the beets I read it is best to separate the greens from the beet –the greens will draw out moisture causing the beet to shrivel. Cut the green off about 1-2 inches above the beet. You will want to use the greens up right away, as they won’t keep as long as the beets.

Garlic scape is a relativity new vegetable/herb to me. The first time I heard about it was last year when my friend Jessie put garlic scapes on her pizza. Garlic scapes are the stem and flower part of the garlic. When the scape is removed the garlic bulb can focus the energy on growing and maturing a bigger bulb.

The scape reminds me of a curly green onion that is solid like asaparagus. These are delicious! I wish you could find garlic scapes all year round.

When I hear the words “greens” and “garlic” the first thing that I think of is pesto. It is a terrible obsession of mine. I LOVE pesto. I made pesto with the last supply of produce from Black Sheep Farms, so I really didn’t want to toss the beet greens and garlic scapes into the food processor for another pesto recipe. Instead I decided to do a deconstructed pesto –all the elements of pesto but the ingredients remain separate and intact. Is that cheating?

The deconstructed pesto received three out of four stars from our family. My husband thought it tasted a little fishy –I think that was because I was out of olive oil and used canola oil instead. My little girls (ages 3 and 20 months) really like the dish, so that makes it an automatic winner for me. I served this pasta with my Parmesan chicken bites, I think that sauteed sea scallops would go wonderfully with it as well –that is if meat is your thing.

BEET GREENS & GARLIC SCAPE DECONSTRUCTED PESTO
2 c beet greens, chopped into 2 inch pieces
3 or 4 garlic scapes, chopped
1 T EVOO
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 c chopped toasted walnuts
your favorite pasta (I used angel hair)
1-15 oz can diced tomatoes (once tomatoes are in season I would use chopped Romas)
Parmesan cheese, shredded

Cook pasta according to package directions. Heat skillet over medium low heat.

Add oil, greens, garlic scapes, salt & pepper. Stir everything around. Cover for 3-5 minutes until everything is wilted. Add in chopped walnuts. Drain pasta. Toss tomatoes and greens with the pasta. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese when ready to serve. ENJOY!

Other Recipes using Black Sheep Farms produce:
Tom Thumb lettuce salad with Strawberry Vinaigrette
Two recipes with Baby Bok Choy

Last week we ventured out to the farmers market where we received some tasty produce from Black Sheep Farms. We came home with a sack filled with baby bok choy, heirloom radishes, and Tom Thumb lettuce. I made a warm spring salad with grilled baby bok choy and radishes using a recipe I found at Burp! Where Food Happens, and the remaining baby bok choy I turned into a quick baby bok choy pesto.

Tom Thumb lettuce is a cute little variety of butterhead lettuce. It forms a loose little head. When I got the lettuce home, I trimmed off the roots and spread the leaves out in my kitchen sink filled with cold water. This helped crisp them up and clean off all the dirt. When I was in high school, I worked in the produce department at Hy-Vee, every morning I would take all the leaf lettuces, broccoli, radishes, and green onions off the shelf and give them a good soak in ice cold water to help crisp them up again. These were the days before they had the fancy sprinkler system built into the shelves in the produce section, but I digress. I would recommend waiting to wash and dry your lettuce right before you are going to use it. Once your lettuce is washed, you could always take it for a spin one of those fancy-schmancy salad spinners, or spread the leaves out on a clean kitchen towel to absorb all the water like I did.

Farm fresh lettuce deserves an equally fresh dressing. I paired this cute Tom Thumb lettuce with a fresh strawberry vinaigrette. Tossed on some walnuts and a little feta cheese, and I was in salad heaven.

Thank you to Black Sheep Farms for providing the produce for me to experiment with!

* My kids (ages 3 and 19 months) loved this salad. The next night at dinner Sasha commented that she didn’t see any salad on the table.

STRAWBERRY VINAIGRETTE
1/2 lb fresh Strawberries, hulled
1-1 1/2 T White wine vinegar
1 T sugar (more or less depending on sweetness of the strawberries)

Place hulled strawberries in the freezer for 30 minutes. Place semi-frozen strawberries in food processor, puree until smooth. With food processor on add vinegar and sugar, stir to combine.

TOM THUMB SALAD
this is for one serving
1 head Tom Thumb lettuce
1 T walnuts
1 T feta cheese
2 T Strawberry Vinaigrette

Toss all ingredients together and ENJOY!

It was a beautiful sunshiney day on Saturday. We loaded up the girls and set out to visit the farmers market. We stopped by the booth of Brian and Kelly of Black Sheep Farms, where we received Tom Thumb lettuce, some baby bok choy, and beautiful heirloom radishes. My goal is to turn their produce into wonderful tasting dishes. Does Black Sheep Farms sound familiar? They are a local CSA here in Omaha, you can read my post here.

This weekend I prepared the baby bok choy two different ways –keeping it raw in a pesto, and softening it by grilling it. Which one do you think was successful? I saw the people over at Burp! Where Food Happens tossed baby bok choy and radishes with a little oil, and grilled it for a warm spring salad. They said the baby bok choy “grew suspiciously tender (and fabulously sweet).” I was intrigued and needed to try it immediately. While the baby bok choy was grilling, I also tossed a few of the heirloom radishes on the grill. I’ve never heard of grilled radishes before, in fact I think the only way I have ever eaten radishes is raw –with plenty of salt.

As I pulled my produce off the grill, I was growing more and more excited to try my grilled spring salad. Once inside I splashed a little Balsamic Vinaigrette over the veggies, sat down with my fork and knife in hand ready to enjoy my first grilled salad.

Half of the baby bok choy was used in my grilled salad, the other half I wanted to use in a different way. Stir-frying it was out of the question, only because that seems to be a typical way bok choy is used, I was looking for an “outside of the box” way to use this veggie. As I was cleaning the baby bok choy for the grilled salad a few leaves feel off and I tried them raw. They were very green tasting and not bitter like I was expecting them to be. The first thing I thought was PESTO! If you do not know this already, I love pesto –and actually I have been known to eat basil pesto with a spoon. After a quick survey of my cupboards I noticed I had some cashews, and thought an Italy meets Asia pesto would make a great experiment. A while back I had made a meatloaf with an Asian twist, instead of meatloaf I formed them into burgers to grill and serve with my baby bok choy pesto.

Two different recipes using baby bok choy as the main ingredient. One recipe I loved, and the other one I think I screwed up on. For me the baby bok choy pesto was the WINNER. The grilled spring salad wasn’t a complete failure.

I learned that I really liked the warm tenderness of the grilled radishes, and hope that you try them that way. The first bite of the grilled baby bok choy was incredibly bitter. The baby bok choy isn’t entirely to blame, I think a lot of the bitterness came from the prepackaged Balsamic Vinaigrette I used. I should have tried the grilled bok choy BEFORE I doused it in the vinaigrette, I would also make my own vinaigrette instead of relying on a premade mixture purchased at Target. Lesson learned. Please don’t let my mistake stop you from trying this salad. Head over to Burp! Where Food Happens to get the recipe and read about how they call this salad “heavenly”.

BABY BOK CHOY PESTO
serve with Asian pork burgers

2 c Baby bok choy, cleaned and chopped
1/2 c raw cashews
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 inch piece of ginger, minced
1/4 c Parmesan cheese, grated
1/3 c Olive Oil
small splash of Toasted Sesame Oil
pinch of salt & pepper

Add all ingredients through Parmesan cheese into blender or food processor. Pulse a few times to chop and combine ingredients. Slowly drizzle in olive oil until everything becomes one. Scrap down sides of container as needed. Add salt & pepper, and small splash of toasted sesame oil (this has a very strong flavor, so only a little is needed) and pulse until combined. Transfer to a serving dish, cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes for the flavors to combine. ENJOY!

ASIAN PORK BURGERS
serves 4
1 lb ground pork
1 8 oz can water chestnuts, minced
6 baby carrots, chopped
1/2 c bread crumbs
1 inch piece fresh ginger, minced
2 T soy sauce
1 egg beaten
small splash of toasted sesame oil

In a large bowl combine all ingredients and mix together, being careful not to over mix (you don’t want your meat to get tough). Form into four patties. Grill over medium-high heat, for about 5 minutes each side. You want an internal temp of 180 degrees. Place on bun and top with Bok Choy Pesto. ENJOY!!

You may be wondering what a CSA is; it stands for community supported agriculture. It is a way for you to develop a relationship with the farmer, the land, and the produce, with the end result being farm fresh fruits and veggies. You make a financial commitment and a small time commitment to the farm, thus becoming a shareholder and benefiting from your labor. In most cases you will receive weekly baskets of produce, some CSAs will have dairy, meat and fresh flowers included in their shares. CSAs are a great option for people who don’t have the time, experience or land to commit to a full-sized garden. Plus it is great for your family because you know exactly where your food is coming from!

Black Sheep Farms is a local CSA here in Omaha. Black Sheep Farms is a chemically-free family farm just outside of Omaha; operated by Brian Smith and his wife Kelly. They grow heirloom vegetables and specialty cut flowers. This year they are running a CSA at their farm. Space is limited to 15 full shares for $500 a piece or a half share for $250, a full-sized share will feed a family of four. The CSA will run from May 20- September 30, that is 20 weeks of fresh produce equal to $25/week for a full share. In addition to the fresh produce offered at that price, you will receive fresh cut flowers, get a Black Sheep Farms T-shirt, and be able to attend two social events held out at the farm –where you can relax on the farm, meet other like-minded folk and (most importantly) enjoy some good food.

Like I said earlier, you will have to make a small time commitment to your CSA, Black Sheep Farms is requiring a 10 hour “family friendly” time commitment for the season. Now I seriously doubt you are going to have to do any backbreaking, grueling, “hard-time” labor out there, but you may have to pick-up a rake. Not a big deal given the fact that you are contributing to the CSA, and the rewarding feeling of connecting to the land, and knowing what is going on your dinner plate.

You will be able to pick up your share at the farm each Wednesday during the season from 10 am- 7 pm. If for some reason you can not pick up your share, you can send some one in your place, or Black Sheep Farms will donate it to Together, Inc. food pantry on your behalf.

Due to high demand Black Sheep Farms will start taking names in March, and fill shares by a lottery system in early April, in the future they will give preference to past participants. May 3rd they will host an orientation meeting for the lucky 15. Head over to Black Sheep Farms, and fill out the form on the right side, declaring your interest.

You can also catch the Black Sheep Farms’ gang at the Village Pointe Farmer’s Market beginning May 2 from 8am-1pm.

Not from the Omaha area, but are still interested in finding a CSA in your neck of the woods? Local Harvest can help you.

Remember BUY FRESH, BUY LOCAL!

1 T EVOO (I used 1/2 T bacon grease and 1/2 T EVOO)
2 T shredded onion
2 cloves minced garlic
1/2-3/4 c dry white wine
1 tsp white wine vinegar
1/2 c chicken stock
1 pint roasted grape tomatoes
1/2 c cream
10-15 basil leaves julienne

Heat a skillet over medium heat. Shred onion with a cheese grater. Add EVOO, onion and garlic to the pan, saute for 1-2 minutes. Do not let garlic get brown, it will have a bitter flavor if it does and you must start over. Add wine and allow to reduce to about half. Stir in chicken stock and vinegar. Simmer 3-5 minutes. Add roasted tomatoes, and stir in cream. Remove from heat, stir in basil leaves.

Toss with fettuccini. Top with crumbled bacon or pancetta and freshly shredded Parmesan cheese.

I picked up a pint of blueberry muffins at the Farmer’s Market last week; last night I turned them into the most delicious blueberry muffins. These are the best blueberry muffins I’ve ever had; and as a bonus they are low in calories! Truly a delicious breakfast (or snack) without the guilt. Each muffin contains 169 calories, so don’t feel bad about reaching for seconds. I found the original recipe on Cooking Light’s website, but due to the availability of ingredients in the pantry I needed to adapt it to fit my needs. Below is my adaptation. ENJOY!

THE BEST BLUEBERRY MUFFINS
Yield: 16 large muffins
Serving size: 1 muffin
160 calories (45 from fat)

1 2/3 c quick-cooking oats
2/3 c whole wheat flour
1/2 c AP flour
3/4 c packed light brown sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 c fat-free sour cream
1/2 c skim milk
1/4 c canola oil
2 tsp lemon juice
2 large eggs
2 c fresh blueberries
2 T granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Place oats in a food processor; pulse until oats resemble coarse meal. Place in a large bowl, add flours and next 5 ingredients (through salt) to oats in bowl; stir well with a whisk. Make a well in center of mixture.

Combine sour cream and skim milk, stir to thin out sour cream. Add oil add eggs; stir well with a whisk. Add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Stir in lemon juice. Gently fold in blueberries until just combined.

Spoon batter into 16 muffin cups coated with cooking spray; sprinkle batter with 2 tablespoons granulated sugar. Bake at 400° for 18-20 minutes or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in center.

Remove from pans immediately. Place on a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

*If using frozen berries, toss with 2 T flour to coat.

I love summer in Iowa because we have Farmer’s Markets that are full of fresh fruit, vegetables, baked goods, local meats and eggs, beautiful flowers and various homemade sewn goods. On Saturday morning I headed with the girls to our Farmer’s Market. Each week there are more and more vegetables and fruits to choose from.  My favorite Farmer’s Market finds are tomatoes and sweet corn.  BLTs and sweet corn were a staple of my childhood meals.

Our dinner was a delicious BLT (I switched the lettuce for some local sprouts), sweet corn, asparagus wrapped in prosciutto, and pesto couscous.This is a perfect summer meal! ENJOY!

BLT
2 slices cooked bacon
lettuce (or sprouts)
2 slices tomato
2 slices crusty French bread

Preheat oven 425 degrees F. Lay slices of bacon on cookie sheet, cook for about 10 minutes. Once done lay on paper towels to absorb grease.

*This is the best way to cook crispy bacon!

ASPARAGUS WRAPPED IN PROSCIUTTO
1 bunch asparagus
5 slices prosciutto

Blanch asparagus. Wrap prosciutto around 6-7 pieces of asparagus. Lightly spray bundles with canola oil. Roast in 425 degree F oven for 5-10 minutes.