Bella's new words

Wow... it's been over a month since I posted anything here! It's kind of hard to think of some of the exceptional food we've eaten in the past month while Nick is loudly reading Green Eggs and Ham to Bella, but I'll try.


Bella's saying lots of new words: "squash," "okra," "peach," "peas," "chowchow" (eaten with the peas), "flowers," and "rain" are just a few. We're working on "tomato." Can you tell what we've been eating (and growing)lately? Here are some of the recipes (or links to recipes) that we've especially enjoyed.


Grilled peach and mozzarella salad Sounds strange, but quite yummy. We served this with grilled shrimp skewers and Peppery grilled okra. www.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1806860


www.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1906313


Summer vegetable stacks with gremolata Of course, you could omit the tofu, but you really should try it grilled with gremolata. Yum.
www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/11013?section

Grilled watermelon and prawns Don't let the long ingredient list and multiple steps fool you. We prepared this for my parents and served it with basmati rice-- it was amazingly delicious!


www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/cat-cora/grilled-watermelon-and-prawns-recipe/index.html


Watermelon gazpacho The rest of that watermelon went into watermelon gazpacho. I used my favorite gazpacho recipe, substituting watermelon for cucumber. It was the perfect summer lunch-- even leftover!


Zucchini vichyssoise Summer isn't exactly soup weather, unless it's chilled soup. This soup is equally delicous cold or hot.


www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/zucchini-vichyssoise-recipe/index.html


Spicy catfish with vegetables and basil cream We substituted flounder because that's what we had in the freezer, and it turned out great. www.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=426513


The next day I wrapped the leftover vegetable mixture in phyllo dough to make maque choux turnovers. Place 1 sheet of phyllo on a flat surface (I use a large cutting board or baking sheet). Spray with cooking spray; top with another phyllo sheet. Fold phyllo in half lengthwise. Place 1-2 T. filling at left end. Fold one corner over to meet straight edge. Continue to fold this triangle up and toward opposite end as if folding a flag. Spray folded bundle with cooking spray and bake until golden brown.



In Cat Cora's Cooking from the Hip, there's a recipe for a chicken & peach stir-fry. We used tofu and snow peas, and the peaches were a wonderful addition. In that same cookbook, there's also a great recipe for sweet potato latkes.

Finally, a true Southern supper: purple hull peas, fried okra, and fried green tomatoes. I'd never eaten, much less cooked, fried green tomatoes. I was pretty proud of how they turned out! I poured a tiny bit of buttermilk over the okra before adding seasoned cornmeal (I use Tony Chachere's), to help the cornmeal stick. The Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook recommends simply dredging green tomatoes in seasoned cornmeal before frying, so that's what I did. For an alternate coating, check out Deanna's Southern supper at http://www.deannasgoodeats.blogspot.com/ .


Upcoming post: Eggplant!