Tomato and Cucumber Sandwich with Garlic Chive Spread

It's almost summer!!  As far as we're concerned, summer is already here because we're full on into our summer vacation, swimming lessons, and bathing suit tans.  And that means I'm taking cues from the garden.

I didn't actually get my own garden planted this year.  So sad, but it was a busy spring for us.  I do still have strawberries and asparagus from the past few years.  And my horribly neglected herb garden is blessing me with garlic chives, cilantro, and possibly some basil in the near future.  Yay for self-seeding plants!  The chives are actually bulbs so they come up by themselves every year.

Well, I went out to take inventory a few weeks ago, and my garlic chives were going crazy.  I snipped them all down and then had to use them.  At the same time, I happened to have some cucumbers and tomatoes on hand—sandwich time!!

I love mayonnaise with tomatoes.  They just go so well together.  But I try not to eat too much mayonnaise since it has so much fat in it.  Lately I’ve been substituting some of the mayonnaise in my recipes with plain yogurt.

As far as herbs go, I just used garlic chives because that’s what I had in my garden.  You could easily use any herbs you have available to you.  Or add some minced garlic!

Garlic Chive Spread

¼ c. mayonnaise

¼ c. plain yogurt

Fresh herbs, chopped, to taste

Salt and pepper, to taste if desired

Mix all ingredients thoroughly.  Serve as a sandwich spread, salad dressing, or veggie dip.

Garlic Chicken Pizza

This is the pizza I made when I tried my new pizza dough recipe a couple weeks ago.  Let me tell you, the pizza was even more amazing than the crust!!  Let me give you a bit of a caveat though, it's not friendly on the waistline.  Most pizza isn't low calorie, but this kind especially isn't low cal.  It is so yummy, though, and a nice treat every once in a while.  If you like Papa Murphy's Gourmet Garlic Chicken Pizza, this is apparently very similar.

Garlic Chicken Pizza
1 unbaked pizza crust
2/3 cup Ranch dressing (you can get great sales on dressing)
1/2 -1 Tbsp minced fresh garlic
3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan (I used the Kraft powdery Parmesan - worked well and isn't as expensive as the block of Parmesan)
1 chicken breast, cooked and cut into strips
2 Roma tomatoes, diced
1/4 cup green onions, chopped (whites removed)

Preheat oven to 425.

Spread pizza dough on pizza pan or stone.  I don't have a round stone or pan, and I've found pizzas don't always bake well on my rectangular stone, so I made 4 smaller pizzas.  Combine ranch dressing and garlic; spread over crust.  I didn't use all of the sauce I had mixed and I thought it tasted great, but that may be because mine was a different size.

Combine cheeses; sprinkle half of cheese mixture over sauce.  Layer chicken, tomatoes, and green onions; top with remaining cheese.  Bake 12-15 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly and crust is slightly browned.

Money-saving and other tips:

• If you wait for a sale, you can usually find ranch dressing quite cheap.
• Buying blocks of cheddar and mozzarella cheese is usually (but not always) cheaper than buying it shredded.
• Blocks of Parmesan cheese are much more expensive than buying the non-refrigerated grated (almost powdery) kind.  The powdery kind works well in this recipe.
• Look for a good sale (I often get it for $1.85/lb or less) on boneless, skinless chicken breasts and/or use leftover chicken from another meal.
• Preparing the chicken using Sumiko's method will add extra flavor to your pizza.  When cooking the chicken, be careful not to overcook it, otherwise it will get very dry when you bake the pizza.
• It's not tomato season, but if you watch the ads, you may be able to find a good sale on them.  Where I live, I can often get them for 33 cents/lb or less.

Thanks to Tammy for the recipe.  Check out her pizza making tips here.

End of Summer Zucchini and Tomatoes

Autumn starts this week!  I am more excited about the coming of the fall season than I have ever been--pumpkin bread, crisp air, hearty chili, sweaters, crunchy leaves!!  I love it!

But, alas, the coming of fall also means the end of the summer harvest.  I am using up the last of my tomatoes and zucchini and will soon have to resort to buying those red baseballs at the store that they label as tomatoes.  While I am sad that there will be no more garden-fresh veggies for a while, I can say I am ready to be done processing tomatoes.  All that blanching, peeling, cooking, chopping, and pureeing is very taxing, especially when you have four kids vying for your attention.

With all that said, I am now resorting to easy ways to use up the last of the harvest.  And I have to say, this is one of my favorite that I've come up with so far.  The key is to turn the heat off before adding the tomatoes so they don't cook, but just heat.  Mmmm!!  So juicy and fresh!

End of Summer Zucchini and Tomatoes
1-2 Tbsp. olive or vegetable oil
1 large zucchini
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
Garlic powder, to taste
about 1/4 c. balsamic vinegar
about 4 large tomatoes

That's a BIG zucchini!

Heat skillet over medium-high heat.  Add oil.  Meanwhile, cut zucchini into bite-sized pieces.

Add to skillet and season to taste with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  Cook, stirring occasionally until zucchini is almost done.

Meanwhile, cut tomatoes into wedges.  A few minutes before zucchini is desired tenderness, add balsamic vinegar and continue to cook until just about done.  Turn off heat and add tomatoes.  Gently toss to heat tomatoes.

Turn gently to keep tomatoes intact.

Tomatoes are heated but not cooked--perfect!

Egg and Tomato Sandwich

A couple weeks ago I had some of Jerry's tomatoes sitting on my counter, waiting to be used.  I was trying to decide what to do with them as I made scrambled eggs for the boys' lunch that day.  Then it clicked--egg and tomato sandwich!

I love eggs sandwiches any time of the day, not just breakfast.  I normally don't put mayonnaise on my sandwiches.  I'd rather spend those calories on chocolate.  But when it comes to egg sandwiches, mayo is a must for me.  And the creaminess really complements the fresh tomato.

I started with my basic scrambled eggs.  On this particular day, I sauteed some diced onions before I poured the eggs in the pan.  I really liked the onion; the boys did not.  It would also be good with some sauteed peppers.

The only way I can think to make this sandwich better is to serve it on a warm croissant.  So yummy!  It would also be great on a toasted English muffin.

Egg and Tomato Sandwich
2 slices whole grain bread or 1 croissant, sliced in half
Mayonnaise
Scrambled eggs
Fresh tomatoes, sliced

Lightly toast bread or warm croissant.  Spread one of both sides with mayonnaise.  Fill with scrambled eggs and tomato slices.

Summer Harvest Pasta (Pasta with Zucchini and Tomatoes)

As I mentioned last week, my neighbor Jerry has been giving me tomatoes from his garden.  He has also been giving me zucchini!  So far I’ve made zucchini bread, zucchini fries, sautéed zucchini with tomatoes and balsamic vinegar, zucchini brownies, and pasta with zucchini and tomatoes and I still have a few more zucchini dishes I want to make.

Today I’d like to share the pasta with you.  The quantities I give for the ingredients are all approximate as I was using mostly fresh produce and didn’t bother weighing or measuring any of it.  But that’s one of the great things about pasta—it’s not an exact science.  And I don’t know how much pasta I added to the sauce.  Because my kids don’t like zucchini, I made a bunch of pasta but only put some of it into the sauce.  While Robbie and I ate fresh harvest pasta, they had noodles with spaghetti sauce from a jar.

A lot of advanced-skilled cooks would probably skin the tomatoes before adding them.  Too much time and effort for this point in my life so the skins stay on.

I would also add more salt and pepper when making this for Robbie and myself, but went more conservative for those who don’t like as much salt and pepper.  Just taste and adjust as necessary.

Summer Harvest Pasta (Pasta with Zucchini and Tomatoes)

About ¾ lb. spaghetti or fettuccine, preferably whole wheat

1-2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 large onion, diced

5 cloves garlic, minced

5-6 medium tomatoes, cut in wedges or 30 oz. canned diced tomatoes

1-2 tsp. salt plus more

½ tsp. pepper plus more

½ tsp. oregano

Small bunch fresh basil leaves, torn or ½ tsp. dried

1 large zucchini, cut into large chunks

Parmesan cheese (optional)

Boil pasta according to package directions.  Meanwhile, heat skillet over medium-high heat; add oil.  When oil is hot, add onion and sauté until translucent.

From this...

...to this!

Add garlic, 1-2 tsp. salt, and ½ tsp. pepper; sauté until fragrant.  Stir in tomatoes, oregano, and basil.

Continue to cook until fresh tomatoes are cooked down and heated through.  Stir in zucchini and continue to cook until desired tenderness.

Add additional salt and pepper as desired.  Stir in hot, drained pasta.

A rogue corkskrew snuck in there!

Serve with Parmesan cheese if desired.

Breakfast Burritos Revisited

We will occasionally be revisiting some of our previously posted recipes with updates and things we have changed.  Part of the reason for doing this is to introduce some of our newer readers to our earlier posts, but one of the main reasons is to show that recipes don't need to be followed exactly.  At least most of them don't.  With cooking, you can be creative and make adjustments to create new flavor combinations and make old recipes new and exciting again.  I don't have measurements for this "recipe," but I just want to show you how you can easily spice up or alter a recipe.

Back at the beginning of Near to Nothing, I wrote a post about potatoes, which featured a recipe for breakfast burritos.  We got tired of eating these, so we hadn't had them for a long time.  I decided to make them again, but made a few changes to the recipe, using different ingredients I already had on hand.  You can find the original recipe here. 

And now, for the changes I made this time:

• Potatoes: I used garlic powder, salt, and pepper as the recipe calls for, but I also added a little bit of cumin and some chili powder to kick up the flavor a bit.

• Onions and Green Bell Peppers: I sauteed them with some chopped fresh tomatoes, minced garlic, and chopped green chiles.  

• Sausage: I left it out completely.
• Black Beans: I added black beans.

They are just small changes, but can liven up a recipe.  We encourage you to try different things and to even stray away from recipes if you're feeling adventurous!

Basil-Tomato Bites

Here in Northern California, the unusually late winter weather we had in May and June has caused a long delay for our gardens.  Consequently, I now have a few tomatoes that are just starting to turn yellow.  Fortunately, my neighbor Jerry's tomatoes are ahead of mine and he's very generous.  He brought a box of tomatoes over last week and we've certainly been enjoying them.  He brought me another box today!!  Yippee!

So red!!

Tomatoes hold together better if sliced from top to bottom
rather than across.

Unfortunately for my tomatoes, my herb garden was ready for harvest on time.  The cilantro is seeding and the basil is flowering.  Plus, something large is eating the leaves off the basil.  Anyhow, there probably won't be many fresh herbs left before my tomatoes decide to ripen up.  So I took the opportunity to use some of my basil with Jerry's tomatoes.

Mmmmm!!!  Smells so good!

The ingredients and flavors are simple, but the result is amazing!  In fact, the ingredients are so deceivingly simple that, as Robbie watched me make these, he kept asking if I was sure I wasn't supposed to mix in some ground beef or top it with bacon.  Then he ended up really liking them.

These tomato bites can be served fresh or baked.  I like them better fresh; Robbie prefers them baked.  Either way, they are an easy, delicious, healthy dish.  I could very easily be satisfied with a batch of them for lunch.  Baked, they make a great appetizer or side-dish.

If you want a richer, more filling variation, you can put a slice of mozzarella cheese on each one, between the tomato and the basil.  And I'm not talking about the low-moisture mozzarella that you shred for pizza.  I'm talking about real, soft mozzarella cheese.  Mmmm...my mouth is watering just thinking about it!  Unfortunately, it's expensive so I don't buy it.

Basil-Tomato Bites
Tomatoes, sliced
Olive oil
Salt
Garlic powder
Mozzarella cheese, sliced (optional)
Parmesan cheese, grated
Pepper
Fresh basil, chiffonade or torn

If baking, preheat oven to 400.  Line a jelly-roll pan with parchment paper.  Place tomatoes in single layer on paper and drizzle with olive oil.  Sprinkle with salt and garlic powder.

If using, place a slice of mozzarella on each tomato.  Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and pepper.  Top each tomato with a few pieces of basil.

Can be served at this point or baked for 8 to 10 minutes.  Keep an eye on the basil so as not to burn it.  Can serve on crostini.

Unbaked--my favorite!

Corn and Black Bean Salad

On Cinco de Mayo, I decided to make a Mexican feast, so I took to the internet to look for recipes.  I have some Mexican recipes that I like, but I wanted to try something new.  That's when I came across a recipe for a corn and black bean salad.  I served it as a side dish and my 2 1/2-year-old daughter was clever enough to use it as a salsa with chips!  I assume it's pretty tasty with chips, but I just ate it plain.  Also, this recipe (as with most recipes) doesn't require you to follow it to a "T," so get creative and customize it!


Corn and Black Bean Salad
1 1/2 cups black beans
3 cups frozen corn, thawed
6 green onions, chopped
1-2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1 large avocado, diced
3 tomatoes, seeded and chopped (I used Romas, because they were on sale)
3 Tbsp. lime juice
1/2 cup Italian salad dressing
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Combine all ingredients and mix well.  Chill until ready to serve.  Doesn't get easier than that!

Make sure you use a large enough bowl...this one wasn't big enough!

I transferred everything to this bowl, which worked well.