Pictures from the Garden

As I was sitting outside the other day I thought about how many times I mention my garden, local eating and my endeavor to be more creative in my blog. So I decided to get our camera and get in the garden and take care of three things at once.  Yes there are weeds in the garden, but who doesn't have them?  I have some plants that aren't doing well for one reason or another, but that's okay too. What I decided to take pictures of is the garden and my some of my patio plants unfiltered.  I hope you enjoy.

As always with love from the Midwest,

Beth

Fresh Foods of July

As I've said time and time again I'm a huge fan of local food.  It is a little easier said than done in Northeast Wisconsin at certain times of year. I also have some foods that I absolutely love that sadly aren't local, but I purchase anyway. One of which is peaches.  I adore a good peach.  Tree Ripe Fruit truck delivers Pearson's farm peaches in June, July and August.  One of my favorite lunches is a salad of peaches, tomatoes either from my garden or the farmers' market, burrata from a local cheese company, basil and balsamic vinegar from a local vinegar shop.

My husband is making a lot of fresh pasta for us these days.  This picture is of local mushrooms, both farmed and forged, fresh herbs, and burrata again is one of my favorite dinners. I served it with a green salad with lettuce from our garden.

Also how can you go wrong with muffins?  The blueberries are from Michigan -we can't grow them here really.  However the strawberry rhubarb muffins are as local as I can get.  I  used 1 cup strawberries and 1 cup rhubarb because I had so much in my garden.

I hope this post inspires you to see what local foods you can use the rest of this July.  Also if you are interested check out this post about a 200 mile eating local challenge for September.

As always with love from the Midwest,

Beth

Cooking on Vacation Part 2

As I shared on my last post we have been traveling and most of June.  Our second vacation was a family reunion, and each family was responsible for a night of dinner.  I decided to take the dinner when I was first coming down to Powers Lake.  Why? Because I could shop at home and do most of the prep work in my kitchen.  Most of my family didn't have that option, but we were lucky and did.  My whole family loves food and wine, but I do have 2 family members with Celiac's disease and several children under the age of 12.  So those were the 2 major things to keep in mind.  I decided on Mexican, because it's flavorful, easy to make gluten free and easy to prep.

The menu included:

Grilled Chicken and Roasted Vegetables.  I briefly marinaded the chicken and veggies in Olive Oil, lime juice, cumin, coriander, Ancho chili powder, and kosher salt.  I used boneless skinless chicken thighs.

Ground Beef Taco filling with gluten free taco seasoning. I made this at home

Spanish Rice.  I made this at the lake house. 

I also brought corn and flour tortillas that people could make tacos if they wanted, avocados and shredded cheese, and tortilla chips

To drink: A red zinfandel

For Dessert:

Lavender Cake and Brownies

For lunch the next day I made one of my son's favorite lunches, nachos in a bowl.  Put the nachos, ground beef and shredded cheese in a bowl and warm it up in the microwave.  It keeps him full for hours, and that's hard for a growing boy.

I also wanted to include some pictures from Powers Lake in Wisconsin.  It was a beautiful week.

As always with love from the Midwest,

Beth 

Cooking on Vacation

It's been a wonderful June of vacations.  I was blessed to be able to spend 10 days in Florida and then another week at small lake in Wisconsin for a family  reunion. Both times I was lucky to have a full kitchen, but not a full pantry.  I thought I'd share some of my tips for cooking on while on vacation.  

1. Keep food local if you can.  If you've read other posts in this blog you already know that I am a big fan of local food.  This doesn't have to mean just veggies or fruits, but seafood, beef, local stores etc. In Florida my husband and son fished everyday for us and were able to keep us supplied in fish and crab.  Below is a huge flounder they caught.

2. Be okay with simple preparations.  Actually it will save you a lot of hassle especially if you don't know the kitchen.  My son loves grouper so I made him a pan-fried grouper sandwich with lettuce, remoulade sauce, lemon on white bread.  

My daughters and I preferred avocado toast with fresh caught and picked crab for lunch.

3. Have 2 or 3 different ways to prepare your food so you can use up the pantry items you bought. My husband and son caught Spanish Mackerel one day so I found this recipe.  It was so popular that I used it for many fish, and I will definitely use it at home.

This is another preparation of baked whole fish with fresh herbs, lemons, butter, salt and pepper and white wine.  Bake in the oven for 10 minutes at 450 degrees.  The fish should easily flake with a fork.

4. Be willing to try something new along with an old stand by or plenty of snacks or dessert and plenty of wine.

5.  Finally if you are asked to cook for a large group on a vacation be prepared as much as possible ahead of time. Things might be frozen or brought in big coolers in your car if you are driving.   Do anything you can at home or buy pre-made; it really is okay.  People will be appreciative of your efforts.

Happy Vacation and Bon Appétit,

and as always with love from the Midwest,

Beth