teacher by day - chef by night
St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner so I have a delicious green soup for you today! This is a nice basic Cream of Broccoli Soup – it has all the flavors you would want and gets its thickness from potatoes that are cooked …
We had an issue with hot peppers this year, and by “issue” I mean Rich grew habaneros & I evacuated the house while making hot sauce, burned my skin a few times, and also was overwhelmed with the amount of spice and had no idea what to …
Just the other day I was wishing that I had some Tomatillos because I was craving a green salsa! That day just happened to be a Friday and I was getting ready to go over to our CSA. Lo & Behold we got a pound of tomatillos in our pick-up that day. I let out a little cheer and got to researching some recipes so I could make the most of my salsa without screwing it up! This is a mixture of dozens of websites worth of research on Tomatillo Salsa, including Jersey Girl & Tyler Florence.
Now, you may be asking yourself, “Self – what is a tomatillo”. I’m here to help! Tomatillos are a fruit (related to tomatoes) which grows in a paper-like husk that must be removed (and the fruit washed to remove the film from the husk) before using. They are most often picked and used green (although the husk often has a yellowish-brown color to it and like tomatoes, there are many different varieties with different colored fruits). When used fresh they have a slight lemony/acidic flavor to them so roasting them brings out the flavors and softens the skins, but also breaks them down (making them more soupy – not a problem for a salsa). Growing up working at Quiet Valley, we grew these things – but called them “Ground Cherries”. I do not remember what we used them for but I just recently found out they were the same thing! 
That was your lesson for the day, hope that you feel more educated & learned something new for the day (can we tell its back to school time & I will be once again just a “teacher by day” and only a “chef by night”).
This is awesome on chips, used to kick up your quesadilla, on top of grilled meats, eaten with a spoon, mixed into something to spice it up – just enjoy (we enjoyed it as an appetizer before my dad’s birthday dinner & cake celebration).
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Pre heat oven to 400 On a baking tray, roast tomatillos, onion, garlic and jalapenos for 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer the roasted vegetables and any juices on the bottom of the tray to a food processor. Add the cumin, salt, cilantro, and lime juice and pulse mixture until well combined but still chunky.
One year ago: Grilled Fresh Veggie Panini 
Oh yeah & have you checked out my ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY post from earlier his week about an AWESOME Chocolate Ice Cream Layer Cake I made to celebrate Dad’s Birthday and my Blog-iversary??
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And I leave you with this… What fruit/vegetable/etc have you seen at the market and have had no idea what to do with. (AND – did you buy it and experiment or just keep walking?)
Who needs to plant your own garden when you have good neighbors! I know that this time of year many people feel they are over-run with Zucchini – if you find yourself in this situation, then I am sure you are already being a good …
We keep on getting stuff called amaranth from our co-op. It is not a bad thing (actually pretty good) and it actually tastes a lot like spinach (with a slightly more bitter & fuzzy-ness to them) The major problem is that we are getting tired …
After getting a bag of Snap Peas a few weeks ago from our CSA I was wondering what to do with them, since I did not thinkI liked Snap (or Snow) Peas. The most interesting thing happened as I started to clean and work with the peas though… I started to taste them and realized that these things are awesome!!
Even though I found out that I liked the flavor of them raw, I already had my heart set of making Whitney’s version of Pickled Snap Peas. I always seem to have my heart set on pickles, so I knew I would not be disappointed! (The rest of the peas which escaped pickling, made their way into my Sesame Snow Peas with Asian Crab Cakes)
I tasted these a day later and they were good enough to eat, but resisted temptation and let them sit another week or so and they were worth the wait! These are nice and crunchy still with all the taste you would expect from something pickled. So get your harvest of peas (or go ahead and make this with the green beans that are currently in abundance) and make up a jar of these to enjoy in a few days – YUM!
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Pickled Sugar Snap Peas
Adapted from The Joy of Pickling via Epicurious
1 1/4 cups white distilled vinegar
1 1/4 cups cold water
1 tablespoon kosher or pickling salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 pound sugar snap peas, stems trimmed and strings removed
4 garlic cloves, sliced
at least 3 -4 dashes dried red pepper flakes
In a nonreactive saucepan, heat the vinegar with the salt and sugar until they are dissolved. Remove from the heat, and add the cold water. (This gives you a leg up on getting the liquid to cooling the liquid.)
When the vinegar mixture is cool, pack the sugar snaps, garlic and chile peppers or flakes into a 1-quart jar or bowl, and pour the brine over it. Cover with a non-reactive cap, or, er, plastic wrap.
The original recipe suggests you store the jar in the refrigerator for two weeks before eating the pickled peas, but good luck with that. They’re quite delicious and already lightly pickled by 24 hours later.
And I leave you with a Question… What is YOUR favorite pickled food (and do you have an easy recipe on how to make it)!?