Roasted Spring Vegetables

I watched Nigella Lawson make this dish on TV a couple of years ago. It is a fast and easy dinner to assemble that leaves time to put your feet up for a few minutes before serving time. I don't remember the exact ingredients she used, but it is hard to ruin roasted vegetables.

Drizzle some good olive oil on the bottom of a medium roasting pan. Put a mixture of cut up spring vegetables in to fill the pan about half full. Here are some examples:

Small new potatoes
Asparagus spears
Sweet peppers
Mushrooms
Red or white onion, quartered
Garlic cloves
Courgettes (yellow summer squash)
Zucchini

Drizzle top with olive oil and season to taste with salt, pepper and herbs.

Bake at 400F for 40-50 minutes until vegetables are tender.

Nigella added small bocchini balls that were sliced in half near the end of cooking. This addition makes a complete meal. Garnish with sun dried tomatoes.

Strawberry Shortcake

These are our favourite biscuits for strawberry shortcake. I prefer a good biscuit to a sweet sponge cake for the base of this dessert. Actually, this is what I had for dinner tonight. Sweet indulgence! A no-calorie version is below.

Shortcake Biscuits

Mix together:

1 cup white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup sugar or sweetener (optional)
2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

Cut in with a pastry blender or two knives:

1/2 cup butter

Add:
1 cup soured milk or buttermilk

Stir to make a soft dough. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface and knead gently 8-10 times. Roll out to desired thickness-about 1/2- 3/4 inch thick. Cut with a round cookie cutter. If you use a 2" cutter, you will get about 12 biscuits. We used a 4" cutter and got 7 biscuits. (Remember, this was dinner!)

Bake in a preheated oven at 400F for about 15 minutes

When cooled, split biscuits and fill with fresh sliced strawberries and lightly sweetened REAL whipped cream. Place top of biscuit over berries and cream. Add more whipped cream and strawberries.

No calorie version: Go to farm and pick fresh Ontario strawberries. Walk to corner store to buy fresh butter and cream. Beat whipping cream with hand beaters. Make recipe as above.

Seafood with Spaghetti

This is one of our favourite stir fries. We serve it over spaghetti for a fast and easy dinner. Last week, Becka took some of the leftovers and put them on top of a cheese pizza about 10 minutes before it was done baking. It was among the best pizzas I have ever eaten!

1 lb seafood (shrimp, scallops or combination)
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp butter

In a large skillet or wok, stir fry garlic and seafood in oil and butter until done, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and keep warm.

In the same skillet, stir fry in 1 tbsp oil

5 cups thinly sliced vegetables
(We used peppers, mushrooms, carrots last time, but use others as available)
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp minced fresh parsley or 1 tsp dried
1 tbsp minced fresh basil or 1 tsp dried
salt and pepper to taste

Add seafood to vegetable mixture and serve over prepared spaghetti or rice.
Makes 4 generous servings.

Rhubarb Muffins

I made stewed rhubarb, rhubarb coffee cake and rhubarb muffins this morning with the stalks I cut fresh from the garden. The rhubarb muffins have less fat and sugar than the cake and are delicious and moist. This recipe is adapted from the book Muffin Mania by local authors Cathy Prange and Joan Pauli. (This great booklet appears to be out of print)

1-1/4 cups flour (I use half whole wheat flour)
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 c white sugar
1/4 c brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
1/4 c oil
1-1/2 cups diced rhubarb, or other seasonal fruit (peaches are great!)

Mix dry ingredients. Beat egg, adding milk and oil. Pour egg mixture over dry ingredients. Fold in rhubarb. Sprinkle tops with cinnamon sugar. Bake at 375F for 20 minutes Makes 10 muffins as shown in photo.

Stewed Rhubarb and Berries

We still are getting a lot of rhubarb from the garden. I don't freeze it, because I always have found it to be watery when thawed. We ate a lot of rhubarb and strawberries at home and Mom served them with graham flour muffins for dessert. After she cooked the rhubarb and sweetened it, she added a package of frozen strawberries that thawed quickly and cooled the fruit. I have started making my stewed rhubarb in the microwave, with no additional water. If you cook the rhubarb on the stove, coat the chopped stems with the sugar and add only a little water if necessary. Cook on low to medium and watch that the fruit does not scorch.

8 cups washed and chopped rhubarb
Place in a microwave safe dish and cook on high for 10-13 minutes, stirring once or twice.
Sweeten to taste with sugar or sweetener (I used 3/4 cup Splenda)
Add 2 cups, more or less, frozen raspberries (my favourite) or strawberries.

Cornbread

My daughter also wanted this recipe. Mom used to make cornbread when we had fresh maple syrup. There was a certain egg cup that we were allowed to fill with syrup and pour over our square of cornbread for dessert.
(This recipe is also good as a topping for chili. Place the chili in an 11x7 pan and top with cornbread batter. Bake at 350F until done. Serve it with salsa and sour cream.)

3/4 cup cornmeal
1-1/4 cups milk

Mix together and allow to stand for 5 minutes

1 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar (or less)
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

Beat with a fork,
1 egg
Stir egg into cornmeal mixture with
1/4 cup oil
Add dry ingredients and stir only until combined.

Place in a prepared 8 inch square pan, or 12 muffin cups. Bake at 375F degrees for 15- 20 minutes until done. The pan may take up to 25 minutes.

Dutch Apple Pie

This Pennsylvania Dutch recipe is very common in our area. This pie is sweeter and richer than the apple pie I usually make with a crumb crust, but is preferred by some people.

Pastry for single crust 9"pie plate
1 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp butter
1/3 cup flour
2/3 cup thick cream, sweet or sour
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt

Peel and quarter enough apples to fill a pie shell (5-7 apples). Make a crumb mixture with the butter, sugar, salt and flour. Sprinkle 1/3 of crumb mixture on the bottom of the pie crust. Arrange quartered apples closely together on pie shell. Put remaining crumbs on top. Put spoonfuls of cream over the crumbs here and there and let the cream run down between the apples. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Bake at 415F for 12 minutes and for 30-40 minutes at 350F.

Fruit Pie

My daughter called last night for this recipe. It is our favourite fruit pie recipe, mainly because the topping is delicious. While the recipe calls for sugar in the filling, I often leave out the sugar except for the topping, especially if the fruit is fresh, sweet and in season.

Peach, Pear, or Apple Crumble Pie

5 large pieces of fruit, peeled and sliced
(Enough fruit to fill prepared pie crust)
1-2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp flour

Peel and slice fruit into a bowl. Sprinkle with lemon juice, sugar and flour. Put in a pastry-lined 9"pie plate.

Topping:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup soft butter
1/2 cup flour
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4-1/2 tsp ginger for pear pie (this is delicious)

Mix with fork until crumbly then sprinkle over fruit. Bake at 415F for 12 minutes and then reduce to 350F until fruit is tender (usually 40-50 minutes more)

Cream of Vegetable Soup

I am still trying to make at least one meal a week with local foods. As I write this on June 3rd, asparagus, fiddleheads, lettuces, spring onions, radishes and rhubarb are the only fresh, local items available. We still have local root crops from last year such as potatoes, carrots and onions.
This meal consisted of cream of vegetable soup, asparagus quiche and rhubarb crisp and a salad.
The quiche recipe is here. I steamed the asparagus spears lightly and placed them in spokes in the pie. The rhubarb recipe is posted here.

Vegetable Soup

2 cups or more of your favourite vegetable
(carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, etc. I used the asparagus ends, carrots and cauliflower)
One onion
one potato, diced or 1/4 cup rice
Garlic clove

Cook the vegetables in 4 cups of broth. Season to taste with herbs.

When the vegetable are soft, puree them with the broth in a blender.
Return mixture to the pot and thin to desired consistency with regular, evaporated or soy milk. Cream will also work well, if you can afford the fat. Adjust seasonings to taste.
Garnish with chopped chives and roasted peppers.

(If you use carrots, onion and rice, the resulting sweet soup is a beautiful colour)

Rhubarb Crisp

This recipe is made in the microwave oven and is quick and easy. You can use apples, peaches or a combination of fruits. I particularly like apples, cranberries and blueberries together. I generally do not add sugar except in the topping. But rhubarb needs some extra sweetener in the first stage.


4-6 cups of prepared fruit
sugar or sweetener to taste
I added 1/2 c Splenda to the rhubarb

Place in a microwave dish and cook on high for 2-3 minutes until the fruit starts to soften.

Topping

Mix 2/3 c oats with
1/2 c brown sugar
2-3 tbsp butter
cinnamon if desired

Sprinkle topping over the fruit and cook uncovered on high for 6-8 minutes, or until fruit is soft.
Serve with cream, ice cream or plain.

Mango Pudding

One of our homes in South Africa was backed by a mango grove. I never liked the fruit, finding it too stringy and "tasting like soap" in my opinion. In the past couple of years, I have come to love the yellow Ataulfo mango with its sweet flavour and smooth texture. They are in season in Mexico now and we are getting decent ones in our Canadian grocery stores. I have tried this recipe with frozen mango and it was awful. It is best to wait for fully ripe, fresh mangoes in season.
This mango pudding is often found at Chinese buffets. The recipe is adapted from the book Heart Smart Chinese Cooking by Stephen Wong.

2 envelopes unflavoured gelatin
3/4 cup sugar or sweetener
1 cup boiling water
3 cups pureed mangoes
1 cup 2% evaporated milk or cream
(I used plain soy milk)
8 ice cubes

Add gelatin and sugar to hot water and stir until well dissolved and smooth.
*In a large bowl, mix mango puree, milk and ice cubes.
Pour in gelatin mixture and stir until ice cubes are melted.
Pour into individual serving dishes or a jelly mold and chill until set.
Garnish with lime or mango slices if desired

6-8 servings

*(I puree the mangos in my VitaMix and add the milk, ice and gelatin mixture, blending together until smooth.)