Cooley Family Farm

This was bit of an experiment based on other quick recipes that I like. I was in a hurry to get dinner for the kids so I didn’t want to spend a lot of time. Kevin had recently brought in some of the thin spears of broccoli that he had picked, not the full heads. This worked out great! And everyone love it.

Step 1
Wash and rinse the broccoli (no need to remove the small leaves). If you can, use the small spears.

Step 2
Add some coconut oil to a skillet on medium heat. Once the oil has melted add the broccoli and put a lid on the skillet.

Step 3
After about 5 minutes or so open the pan and stir the broccoli so it doesn’t get burned on one side.

Step 4
Continue to cook and stir as needed until the broccoli is tender. Add some course salt, fresh ground pepper and serve.

We found this to be very addicting. For the small batch that I made here it took about 15 minutes or so from start to finish. You can use this as a stand alone side dish or add it to pasta or fettuccine.

Enjoy!
Tracy

This is super fast and easy. Start a pot of water boiling. While you are waiting for the water to boil just wash your peas and pull the strands off. When the water comes to a full boil put the peas in. This only takes about 1 or 2 minutes. You will see the peas turn a very pretty bright green. Put the peas in a strainer and rinse with COLD water. This stops them from further cooking and preserves the pretty color. The picture below is a batch of sugar snap peas right after they have been rinsed and before I put any dressing on them.

I like them best just like this. And if you are in a hurry you can stop here and serve them. The dressing is pretty quick to make as well, so if you want to add some extra flavors you can drizzle the dressing on.

Ginger Dressing

1 T. olive oil
1 1/2 t. rice vinegar
1/2 t. ginger
1/4 t. pepper

Blend the ingredients well and drizzle over the peas. It doesn’t take much, just a little bit to add some extra flavor to the peas.

Enjoy!
Tracy

I posted this recipe last year, but wanted to post it again so it’s at the top of the list while green garlic is in season!

The green garlic is milder than dried garlic. If you love garlic you will love this recipe. We made some whole wheat pasta and tossed it with a little butter and added the pesto. It was great. The pesto also tasted wonderful on the veggies. I was out of french bread but I have a feeling it would make fantastic garlic bread as well.

I made a full batch of the pesto which yielded about 1 1/2 cups. A little can go a long way so next time I plan to cut the recipe in half. What I’m posting below is the full recipe, so be sure you want a lot of pesto if you make it as is.

5-6 shoots of green garlic, trimmed of tough dark green parts and cut into 2 inch pieces
2 oz. Parmesan Cheese, cut into small cubes
3/4 t. coarse salt
1/2 t. pepper
1/2 C. extra-virgin olive oil

Put everything except olive oil into a food processor or blender. Process until it is fairly smooth. You may need to stop and scrape the sides a couple of times.

Next pour in the olive oil until you get everything is pretty smooth. If needed scrape sides again during this process.

You can be flexible with the ingredients too. I used about 1/2 Grana Padano and 1/2 Parmesan for the cheese. I also was about out of olive oil so I ended up using 1/4 cup olive oil and 1/4 cup plain sesame oil (not toasted). It was still great and no one knew I altered it. Also… it is very common to use pine nuts when making pesto. I prefer mine without but you could put some pine nuts in as well.

Best of all this is simple to make and you can be creative when spicing up a meal.

Tracy

I am, by the way, addicted to reading food blogs. I read a food blog about a spinach and apple pizza and decided that for this meal I would use pears instead of apples.

The original recipe I found called for fresh spinach, however, I prefer to saute’ my spinach in a skillet with a little water until it’s soft. You can also thaw out some frozen spinach, chop it up and use it. So if you have extra spinach this time of year, just blanch it and freeze it so you can make this pizza in the winter, you will love it!!

Pizza Crust (adapted from allrecipes.com)

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

I toss everything in the bread machine and put it on the dough cycle which in my bread machine takes 1 1/2 hours.

When I take it out of the bread machine I roll the dough out into 2 pizzas. Don’t make them perfect. They look so much prettier and authentic if they are odd shaped. I poke holes in the rolled out dough with a fork.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

I bake mine on parchment paper on a baking stone or air bake sheet for about 10 minutes without toppings. After I have added all of my toppings I bake pizza until the cheese and crust are golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes.

The Sauce (adapted from Foy Update)
1 pint frozen tomato sauce (about 2 cups)
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon basil
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon pepper

The frozen tomato sauce is how I preserved our summer bounty. The sauce can also be made from whole frozen tomatoes. I just toss everything in a sauce pan and simmer it down until the desired consistency.

Pizza
1 cup Spinach fresh (or saute’d or frozen spinach that has been thawed and all excess moisture squeezed out)
1 pear (peeled and sliced thin)
mozarella
goat cheese
provolone
parmesan
ramano

After the pizza dough has been pre-cooked for about 10 minutes (this is optional depending your your preference for how the crust is cooked) I put the sauce on. Don’t put it on too thick. Then I added just a thin sprinkling of mozzarella cheese. Next I spread the spinach (remember to make sure you have squeezed out as much moisture as you can and chop it up) out on the pizza. Added little globs of goat cheese and thin layers of the other cheeses.

Bake the pizza for about 15 – 20 more minutes.

Yummy!!

Hope you enjoy it!
-Tracy