Stuffed Peppers - What's for Dinner

It was Garth's turn to make dinner last night and Garth surprised me with mostly vegetarian stuffed peppers. Garth is a meat and potatoes guy and I was thrilled that he was trying something a little different. He did add a little sausage from Milky Way Farm, but other than that it was all veggies, a little cheese, pine nuts, the dried tomatoes I made this weekend, mushrooms and quinoa.

To make these, saute whatever veggies you are using. In our case it was a lot of zucchini, some tomatoes and all of the above. You could add spinach or kale, carrots, broccoli... whatever is in the fridge. Cook the quinoa, add veggies, stuff into peppers and bake for about 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

You can always substitute the pepper for a zucchini too. It's that time of year when I have more zucchini than I know what to do with.

Kale Chips - That's Right!

A What Chip? That's right you read it correctly, a kale chip. And they are pretty tasty and amazingly similar to a potato chip. A friend of mine sent me a link to a recipe for cheesy kale chips, which I have of course lost, so I googled Kale Chips and low and behold several recipes popped up. We get lots of greens in our CSA share and while we love greens in general, sometimes I run out of ideas of what to else I can do with kale. I'm always looking for healthy snacks too, so this is perfect. Here's what to do:

• One bunch of kale
• Couple tablespoons olive oil
• Salt 
• Pepper
• A little minced garlic if you feel like it

1. Wash and tear kale into small pieces
2. Drizzle olive oil on leaves, massage oil thoroughly through leaves
3. Sprinkle salt, pepper and minced garlic over oiled leaves
4. Put on cookie sheet put in oven at 300 degrees for about 30 minutes

The edges on some of the kale chips will turn brown, but it doesn't effect taste.

Try them out!

The Station Taproom - Downingtown PA

Garth and I went to the Station Taproom in Dowingtown last Friday. We were delightfully surprised. Located directly across from the Downingtown train station, if I didn't know it was there I would have missed it. But  now that I do, we will be back. The Station Taproom is a casual pub with great craft beers and even better food. Check out my short review on google and go see for yourself. Kids are welcome and you can eat well for a very reasonable price.

Refreshing Dinner Salad for Hot Summer Days

July is always hot in Chester Springs, PA, but we don't usually cross the 100 degree mark. We are this week and even though I have my air conditioning on, no one in my family wants to eat a heavy meal. We have been having salads galore. I made the following couscous salad for the couple of parties we have been too over the 4th of July weekend. It's easy quick and so far everyone has loved it.

Cranberry Ginger Couscous Salad

1 cup whole wheat couscous
2 cups water
1/2 cup orange juice
1/3 cup tamari
1/4 cup oil ( I used peanut, but olive or sesame would work too)
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon minced ginger
1/4 slivered almonds
1/4 dried cranberries
1/3 cup carrots, julienne
1/2 sweet onion diced (vidalia)
3 tablespoons thinly sliced scallion

1. Boil water, add couscous, remove from heat let stand 5-10 minutes
2. Remove couscous from pan, fluff with a fork (gently) and chill for about 1 hour
3. Prep onion, ginger, scallions and carrots. 
4. Mix orange juice, oil, tamari, rice vinegar and ginger. Whisk until well blended and a bit frothy
5. Remove chilled couscous
6. Add almonds through onion
7. add half of the orange juice vinaigrette, stir. Add more vinaigrette as needed
8. Let sit for about 30 minutes for flavors to meld and then EAT!

As always feel free to substitute more, less or other veggies.