Garden Fresh Salmon

Right before going in the oven!

Salmon is, by far, one of my and Jon's favorite meats to eat. It's tender and flaky and delicious... and high in Omega-3's! It's a treat when we can get it on sale since we always buy wild-caught Alaskan salmon and never farm-raised. This recipe was perfect for us last night since we are all about using our fresh garden ingredients, not to mention it's SUPER easy! I won't prolong this intro much farther so that we can just get down to business discussing the recipe. ;-)

GARDEN FRESH SALMON
(makes 2 or 3 servings)

INGREDIENTS:

1 Large Salmon Filet (If frozen, be sure to thaw in the fridge a day prior)
1 Tsp Garlic (Minced)
5 Large Cherry Tomatoes--or 10 Small (Sliced)
1/4 Small Red Onion (Sliced Thin)
A Few Springs Fresh Oregano (you can use a few pinches of dried oregano if need be!)
2 TBSP Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Served up with pan-seared asparagus and jasmine rice!

Preheat oven to 400°. Grease a 9X13 casserole dish with 1 TBSP of the olive oil. Lay the salmon down in the dish, skin side down. Top the salmon with the minced garlic and use a spoon to spread it over top. Then place the onions and tomatoes across the salmon and garnish with fresh oregano. Drizzle the remaining olive oil across the top and sprinkle with salt and pepper to your liking.

Place in lower rack of oven and cook uncovered for about 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes before serving. Serve with rice and your favorite veggie and enjoy!

--Kayla

Blueberry Banana Bread

I tried out this recipe on a whim one day and it's quickly become one of my favorite sweet breads to make. The thing I love most about baking bread is the opportunity afterward to share it. There is something about bread that just seems to bring people together. It has such a uniting quality. I think that's why restaurants typically serve bread right before a meal out. It's like an opportunity to break the ice, to start a conversation, to have an experience with someone else that is the same. Whenever I make bread, I'm reminded that Jesus is the bread of life. He came to unite us while Satan aims to divide us. Jesus shares the bread of his life so that we may partake in a similar experience with him in the Kingdom of Heaven. I want so desperately to choose the bread of life.

 So, whenever I make bread, I try to share it. I try to connect with other people in hopes that maybe my gift of bread will help break down barriers and that we can share in the joy of life together.

"Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread." 
--1 Corinthians 10:17

BLUEBERRY BANANA BREAD 

Blueberry Banana Bread, fresh out of the oven!

(makes one loaf)

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 Cups Flour
1 Cup Sugar
1 1/2 Tsp Baking Powder
1/4 Tsp Salt
1/4 Tsp Cinnamon
1/4 Tsp Nutmeg
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
3 TBSP Coconut Oil
1 Large Egg
2 Large Ripe Bananas (Mashed)
1 Cup Blueberries
1 TBSP Raw Sugar

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 9x5 loaf pan.

In a small mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside. In a separate mixing bowl, combine the coconut oil, sugar, 1 egg, vanilla extract, and mashed bananas. Once the ingredients are combined smoothly, slowly add in the flour mixture just a little bit at a time and stirring as you go. Using a hand mixer, combine until smooth. Then, fold in the blueberries with a large spoon or spatula. Add the batter into your greased loaf pan, shake until it spreads evenly across the bottom of the pan, and then sprinkle the remaining raw sugar onto the top of the loaf. Bake for 60 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Then remove from the loaf pan and allow to cool on a cooling rack for 5 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

--Kayla

Kayla's Country Quiche

Being married now and having our own house and family to be responsible for is a lot of work. I hate a messy house and I especially hate a messy kitchen. Last night, dinner time came around and I didn't really feel like cooking. I didn't want all the mess that came with it or to put in the effort of making something. I was still in the mood for something delicious, so I looked in the fridge for anything I didn't have to thaw. We basically had eggs and that's it. If you know me, you know that I'm really not all about breakfast food, but I do love me some quiche. The best part about quiche is that it's EASY, so I whipped up something yummy pretty quick! This recipe for quiche is rustic and savory and the best part is that the crust is made IN the pie pan, so no need to waste more mixing bowls (score!). I also got to use fresh tomato, zucchini, and cilantro from my garden, so that was a bonus! Jon was raving about it the whole time he ate saying, "It's one of those things that once you have a bite in your mouth, you can't wait for the next one!" :-)

Thought you guys might like the recipe, so here it is!

KAYLA'S COUNTRY QUICHE

INGREDIENTS

So pretty and colorful!

Pie Crust:

1 1/2 Cup Flour
1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil
2 Tsp Sugar
1 Tsp Salt
2 TBSP Milk

Filling:

5 Eggs
1 TBSP Milk
1/4 Cup Red Onion (chopped)
1/4 Cup Tomato (chopped)
1/2 Small Zucchini (thinly sliced or spiral sliced)

Don't you want a slice? ;-)

A Few Pinches of Cilantro
1 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Pepper
1/2 Block Cracker Barrel Aged Reserve Cheddar ( Shredded--You can swap it for another kind of cheddar, but I promise this stuff is worth it)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat Oven to 400°. In a 9" pie pan, add the flour, sugar, and salt. Stir to combine. Then add in the vegetable oil and milk. Stir to combine. This should create a lumpy dough. Using your hands, fold the dough over a few times and create a small mound in the center of the pan. Then, press the dough with the palm of your hand to spread it out over the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Use your fingers to press the edges of the dough onto the sides of the pan. It should be fairly thin and even across the bottom and sides of the pie dish. Using a fork, poke a few holes around the sides of the crust and on the bottom. Place the crust in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes or until lightly browned (remove and let cool for about 5 minutes). Leave the oven on at 400°.

While the crust is baking, scramble the eggs in a small mixing bowl. Add in the milk, veggies, cilantro,, salt and pepper, and half of the shredded cheese. Stir to combine. Sprinkle the other half of the shredded cheese onto the bottom of the freshly baked crust. Then, use a ladle to pour the egg mixture over top (this helps to give you more control over the evenness of the ingredients). Place the full pie dish onto a baking sheet and loosely cover it with tin foil. Bake in oven on a center rack for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, lower heat of the oven to 375° and uncover. Bake for another 25-30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for about 5-10 minutes.

Enjoy!

--Kayla

The Most Amazing Summer Squash Casserole

As you all well know, the garden has kept us busy trying to find recipes that help us use up the crazy amount of veggies we are producing. This particular recipe is one of our absolute FAVORITES. It's so easy and simple and it tastes amazing, so I won't make this post any longer before giving you the recipe. ;-)

Fresh out of the oven!

SUMMER SQUASH CASSEROLE

INGREDIENTS:

1 Medium Zucchini (cubed)

1 Medium Yellow Summer Squash (cubed)

1 Half of a Medium Sized Eggplant (cubed)

Summer Squash Casserole

1 Small Container of Mushrooms
1 Half of a Large Onion (chopped)

3 TBSP Olive Oil

1 Container Cream of Mushroom Soup
2/3 Cup of Sour Cream
2 Cups Cheddar Cheese
1 TSP Salt and Pepper
1 1/2 Sleeves of Buttery Townhouse Crackers
2 TBSP Butter (melted)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350°. In a large skillet, heat 1 tbsp olive oil on medium heat. Add in mushrooms and onion. When tender, transfer to a large bowl. Then, heat 2 tbsp olive oil on medium-high heat and add in zucchini, squash, and eggplant. When tender, transfer to the bowl of mushrooms and onions.

Add in the cream of mushroom soup, the sour cream, the cheese, and salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Pour the ingredients into a greased 9X13 casserole dish. Then, put the crackers into a large ziplock bag and crush them using your hands or you can use a cup to roll over them. Then add in the melted butter and zip the bag back up. Use your hands to combine the crackers and butter. Using a measuring cup, sprinkle the cracker mixture over the casserole until evenly covered.

Place the casserole into the oven on a center rack and cook for 25-30 minutes or until bubbly. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes. 

Enjoy!

--Kayla

Adventures in Eating

How our garden looked at the beginning of the season

Jon and I created our first garden this year. At the moment, it's pretty wild and out of control. Being away for several weekends for weddings and other various events has made for a pretty chaotic scene in our backyard. The zucchini plants are enormous and the tomato plants have basically taken over everything and are spilling out the tops of our raised beds... Despite the craziness, having a garden is something Jon and I both love. However, if you have ever had a zucchini plant (or a tomato plant), you know what I mean when I say that those things grow like weeds. Moral of the story is that we have a ton of zucchini... and that means we get creative when trying to use it.

Last night I decided to make something different and new for dinner with our abundance of zucchini. I recently ordered a vegetable noodle-maker (basically you just attach a hearty vegetable to it, spin it, and it makes noodles--crazy! You should get one.), so I decided to spin some of our zucchini into noodles for pasta. I looked around in our cabinets (which are pretty barren) and found that we had some organic sun-dried tomatoes, so I decided to try my hand at making a sauce out of them with some of our fresh herbs from our window garden... 

Let's just say it was super freakin' delicious and I'm passing on the recipe to you so you can find out for yourself!


ZUCCHINI PASTA W/ CHICKEN & HOMEMADE SUN-DRIED TOMATO BASIL SAUCE
(Recipe makes 2 servings)

INGREDIENTS:

Zucchini Pasta w/ Sun-dried Tomato Basil Sauce

Pasta:
-1 large zucchini

Sauce:
-1 jar of sun-dried tomatoes
-1 1/2 cups milk (or almond milk if you are going dairy free)
-Few pinches of fresh basil, oregano, and thyme
-1 tablespoon fresh garlic
-1 tsp salt
-1 tsp pepper
-1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Chicken:
-1 tbsp olive oil
-5 chicken tenderloins
-Dash of salt and pepper
-Few pinches of flour

DIRECTIONS:
Place the zucchini in a Tri-Blade Turning Vegetable Slicer (using as directed for noodles) and spin until you get to the end of the zucchini. Place the "noodles" into a small pot and set aside (or freeze them to use for later!). 

Cut the 5 chicken tenderloins into cubes and place them into a small bowl. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and flour and stir until lightly coated. Set aside. 

In a food processor, combine the sun-dried tomatoes, milk, garlic, and fresh herbs and pulse until well blended. Transfer to a sauce pan and heat on medium-high heat for about 10 minutes. Add in salt, pepper and cayenne, making sure to stir frequently or the oil from the tomatoes will start to separate. 

While the sauce is cooking, heat up a frying pan with some olive oil on medium heat. When the pan is hot, add in the chicken. Cook the chicken until it has just turned white and add it to the sauce (doing it this way prevents the chicken from drying out and keeps it tender). 

Take your pot of zucchini noodles and heat them up on medium heat for about 5 minutes (you just want them to be warm). 

When your zucchini is done, transfer to a bowl and top with sauce! Garnish with fresh basil and thyme and voila! Easy meal that is super tasty! 

--Kayla