Cupcakes are fabulous

Cupcakes are festive, cute, and the perfect amount of cake. And they just dissappear. LoPo and I made over 70 cupcakes last weekend for a joint birthday celebration Sparky and I had on Saturday.

I have to admit that there was nothing even close to organic, local, or healthy about this adventure (we used boxed cake mix and store-bought frosting), but everyone loved them and they were so pretty I had to share. Happy Birthday, Sparky!

Tomatoes (yes, again)

I know, I know...you're probably tired of hearing about our garden tomatoes. But they're not gonna last too much longer, so here's another post on the tomato theme.

We finally got to the theater to see Julie and Julia. It's a movie all about food, blogging and Julia Child, so it's right up my alley. There were many gorgeous dishes in the movie, but there was one that I was still thinking about after leaving the theater. It was a simple bruschetta that the character Julie made but made with - you guessed it - fresh garden tomatoes and a little butter. I tossed together fresh chopped tomatoes, garden basil, a little garlic, olive oil and salt and pepper and loaded it onto thick slices of french bread that had been toasted in pan with a little melted butter. I think this is my new favorite tomato preparation. Seriously, I could eat this every day.

Cherry Tomatoes Galore!

Normally I eat all of the cherry tomatoes in our garden before they have a chance to be brought inside. This year, however, we have so many I am being forced to get creative. The odd thing is, this year, all our cherry tomatoes are an orange variety. MO insisted he bought 5 different kinds of plants, but apparently they are all the same sweet orange variety. There is one that is different - a juliet tomato plant - but that one is orange, too!

So, here are some of the ways I've used our abundance of orange cherry tomatoes:
- cherry tomato, green bean, and potato salad with basil vinaigrette (from Annie Sommerville's Fields of Greens cookbook)
- chunky cherry tomato salsa with garden green onions and cilantro
- simple cucumber and cherry tomato salad with dill and red wine vinegar
- quick cherry tomato sauce

This last one deserves a special mention because it was so delicious and beautiful. MO was the original creator of this one, but I've made it again since. It's great on pasta with some fresh Parmesan cheese and basil, or on pizza like we made:.Quick Cherry Tomato Sauce
for pizza, pasta, or whatever!

1-2 tsp. olive oil
2 pints cherry tomatoes (it's fine to leave them whole)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup water
S&P to taste
fresh herbs (basil, parsley, oregano)

Heat oil in pan, then add cherry tomatoes and garlic. Add water and bring to a simmer. Simmer over low-medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes or until tomatoes are soft and broken up. Add S&P and fresh chopped herbs and remove from heat.

Catching Up and Apple Pie

Ok, so I have a little catching up to do. Or a lot of catching up to do. So, here goes...

My last post was about apples and although the yummy Gravenstein apples are long gone now, I do have to catch you up on the piece de resistance of Apple Week: Apple Pie. I used the recipe from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook (my go-to for tried and true baking recipes).

The verdict: This pie took a very long time to make from making and chilling the dough to baking it. The crust could've been a little more golden brown on the bottom and I prefer my apples a little firmer, but all in all this pie was delicious and we happily shared it with the Cousin Crew at a lovely dinner (thanks, Cousin S for the delicious dinner! Maybe if we're lucky, she'll share her recipe for delicious Curried Egg Salad...

An Apple Recipe a Day...

This past weekend, MO and I checked out the Gravenstein Apple Fair in Sebastopol. It is my kind of festival - old farmers showing off their tractors meet church ladies selling apple pies meet young hippie homesteaders talking about growing organic veggies. It's actually a really well-done event with music, craft vendors, exhibits, chef demos, and of course lots of apples!

The Gravenstein apple apparently grows in only 3 places in the world and the little town of Sebastopol in Sonoma County is one of them. Gravensteins have a really nice sweet tart flavor, but don't keep well so you can't find them in many commercial markets. We couldn't leave the Fair without buying some apples - in fact we bought 8 pounds - so I'll be experimenting with some different ways to use them this week.

I wanted to use some of the apples in a non-dessert dish (don't worry - there will defninitely be a apple pie sometime this week) and I've made a cabbage and apple saute before, so here's what I made tonight. It is a beautiful simple dish (although it cooks for a long time) that would be great with any kind of meat or sausage I am sure. I served it with a German specialty I've been wanting to try my hand at for a long time: Spätzle. (I'll give you the play-by-play on that adventure another time!)

Braised Red Cabbage with Onions and Gravenstein Apples

1 Tbs. olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 medium to large onion, chopped
1 medium head red cabbage, chopped into 1 to 1 1/2 inch pieces
3 Gravenstein apples, peeled, cored, and chopped into small pieces (any tart apple would work fine)
2 tsp salt
2 bay leaves
dash each of ground cloves, ginger
3 Tbs. apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup apple cider, apple juice or red wine

Heat oil in a large pot or saucepan. Saute garlic and onion until soft. Add reamining ingredients, stir and simmer over low-medium heat, covered, for at least 30 minutes and up to 1 hour. The longer you let it cook, the softer and tastier it will be.

Is there anything better than a homegrown tomato?

The beautiful juicy yellow tomato in the photo was lovingly grown in our garden by MO. The cool-looking heirloom was from the farmers market. The one from the farmers market was very pretty (detail in photo below) , but I have to admit ours was much tastier! I made this gorgeous salad last night by simply layering tomato slices with a little bit of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, fresh garden basil and s&p. Scrumptious!

Garden Eggplant

Last night I harvested our first-ever garden eggplant! I wasn't sure what to do with it, so I threw together a summery pasta sauce. I like saucy pasta dishes and this is a thick, chunky delicious sauce that is simple to make, full of healthy vegetables, and would be great on any kind of pasta.
Spicy Summer Pasta Sauce
Enough for a very saucy 1 lb. of pasta.

1 Tbs. olive oil
1 medium eggplant
1 bell pepper
1 medium onion
1 small zucchini or summer squash
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small can stewed tomatoes or tomato sauce
1/4 cup water
splash (or glug) red wine
dried red pepper flakes (to taste)
1/4 cup chopped herbs (I used Italian parsley and basil from the garden)
s&p to taste
parmesan cheese

Chop vegetables into small chunks (whatever size you prefer).
Heat oil in large saucepan and add eggplant. Saute and stir eggplant over medium-high heat until browned and soft. Add pepper, onion, zucchini and garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes more.
Add tomatoes/sauce, water, wine and red pepper flakes and simmer for 5-10 minutes.
When ready to serve, season with s&p and stir in herbs.
Toss sauce with pasta and parmesan cheese and serve.