Cooking at Home with Judy

Local Farmer's Market

Thrilled that so many of our local growers are willing to grow in greenhouses all winter long so when spring is trying to nudge its way to us we can enjoy the amazing abundance of their labor. What beautiful SWEET red and yellow carrots, a head of delicate red leaf lettuce bigger than my largest mixing bowl, sturdy tall Romaine, FRESH celery with the biggest leaves I've ever seen and I've never before had broccoli FRESH cut from the garden, it was amazing!!!!! 

 

And I nearly jumped for joy when I came across the man who had the Baby White Salad Turnips. Oh my gosh they are so sweet and buttery when sautéed in a tiny dab of butter. And, even better when you sauté them with the FRESH celery, leaves included, with onion for Download NO Potato Soup.pages. Of course it didn't hurt that I had FRESH lemon thyme to add at the last minute. YUMMMY 

 

Also from the bounty came this tip for SWEET carrots. 

 

And then the amazing tip from my friend Pat from Maui on braised FRESH broccoli

 

Should you be interested in Wichita experiencing a year-round indoor Farmer's Market see what other cities are doing. 

 

Wishing you a day full of sunshine, laughter, good eats, good people and good times. 

Spinach Salad Tip

Orange & Spinach Salad

Well sometimes we all get in a hurry and don't look over the ENTIRE recipe before we begin. Sometimes that is a BIG mistake but once in a while we learn something new.

The last of the spinach was starting to wane, I had a hard boil egg and a big mushroom on hand including a nice red onion, plus a fresh orange so I decided to make my Spinach Salad (page 6) from my book Cooking with Judy. 

Well, being in a bite of a hurry (and when am I not?), I was busy chopping the red onion while the Perfect Bacon (12) was cooking away and didn't read though my own directions, which said to deglaze the pan with the orange juice before adding the onions. Well guess what you can cool your bacon grease add the onions and mushrooms let them cook down and then add the orange juice. It just doesn't matter it is still SOOOOOOOOOO Good.

Another good tip -- when I wrote that recipe I always bought fresh baby spinach in a bag. Since then I have occasionally been willing to spend an extra $ for the higher quality product in the clear plastic BOX. Too bad they are no longer recyclable. They are made from recycled plastic but NO longer accepted at the recycling center. They go to the landfill. So SAD!!!!  

Instead of dumping the spinach in a bag I simply pickup a handful of spinach place a folded paper towel in the middle and another on the top of the left over spinach, put the lid back on, give it a shake (to loosen up the leaves, they'll stay fresh longer) and turn it UPSIDE down (to allow better air flow with the spinach resting on the paper towel) to store on the bottom shelf of the fridge. Replace the towels each time you open the box. Keeps fresh so nicely when you do! 

Enjoy and be sure to check our Salad Section for other GREAT spinach salads.

Download Orange & Spinach Salad.pages

 

Pomegranates

May wonders never cease? While preparing a pomegranate the other day I notice I had made a cup or raspberry tea but failed to drink it. There it sat on the counter looking all sad and forgotten. Since I find pomegranates to be a bit tart for my taste buds I choose to drizzle a little honey over the seeds. So why not dump them in the cup of tea. It wasn't hot but at room temp it did dissolve the honey by stirring in the seeds.

YUMMMMMMMMY !!!!! What a delightful treat in the middle of the day, while recovering from a cold. Especially since they were on sale. I was lucky to get a beautiful FRESH pineapple on sale too! And what do we do with the core? See page 31 in Volume 3. 

If you already have a copy of Cooking with Judy you will fine the instructions for cleaning pomegranates on page 45. 

Lots more great recipes and tips in all my books on how to save time and money! Plus they make great gifts for anyone wanting to add more healthy eating choices.