Recipes from My Garden

Thick Crust Beer Bread Vegetarian Pizza
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Sauce:
8 vine-ripened tomatoes
1 medium eggplant
2 zucchini
1 green pepper
6 cloves garlic w/tops
a handful of fresh basil, thyme, oregano
olive oil

Crust:
3 cups self-rising flour
1 12-oz. beer
3 cloves garlic w/tops

In a large saucepan saute the whole garlic cloves and chopped garlic tops. Add the tomatoes, cut into eighths. Boil for 2 hours. Dice the eggplant and green pepper, slice the zucchini, and chop up the herbs. Add to mixture and boil for another hour or until very thick.

During the last hour of the sauce, make the crust. Put flour into a mixing bowl. Mince the garlic and fine chop the tops. Add to flour. Add the beer, after first taking a swig to make sure it is fresh. Mix with a large spoon. Self-rising flour requires no kneading. Put the dough on a pizza pan, oiled or sprinkled with corn meal to prevent sticking. Roll it out with a rolling pin, adding flour to prevent sticking. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Place in oven for 45 minutes. Remove and cover with the sauce, smoothing it out with the bottom of a large spoon. Return to oven and set on broil for 5 to ten minutes, checking frequently. Remove, cool, cut into eighths, and serve. Makes one large pizza.

Everything comes from the garden except for the flour ($.40) and the beer ($.60). Cost: about one dollar for a huge healthy pizza.

Options: sprinkle with cheese, add minced chilies, olives, mushrooms, and/or artichoke hearts to sauce. Add chopped sage or mashed avocado to dough. Punch up the sauce with lemon juice, bay leaves, sage, parsley, cayenne, cinnamon and/or wine.

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Nuked Zukes

Slice zukes into bite-sized pieces and spead one layer deep on a microwave-safe plate. Sprinkle with cheese. Microwave on high for 2-4 minutes.

Vegetable Burritos

2 flour tortillas
three ripe roma tomatoes
one small zucchini
one handful of fresh herbs: parsley, oregano, thyme, sweet basil, purple basil, garlic chives. One small thai dragon chili pepper

Dice up evrything and wrap up in tortillas. Makes a good breakfast..

Fried Green Tomatoes

Green tomatoes, sliced thick
olive oil
skillet
While the traditional Southern method calls for dredging the tomatoes in bacon fat and white flour before frying, I just toss mine right into the hot olive oil. Best with a couple of eggs over easy. Salt, pepper, and paprika to taste.

Vichyssoise (potato-leek soup)

1 Potato
3 Leeks
1 onion
garlic
1 to 2 cups cream
butter

Chop up and cook potato, garlic, onion, and leeks in butter in saucepan. Put cream in blender and add 2/3 cooked vegetables. Blend til smooth. Return to saucepan and heat. Good served hot or chilled.

3-Bean 3-Day Vegetarian Chili

1 bag red kidney beans
1 bag black beans
1 bag lentils
garlic
onion
olive oil
6 tomatoes
crushed red chili peppers
Curry, black pepper, bay leaf

Soak dry beans in water overnight. Drain, rinse and sprout for 2 days. Saute onion and garlic in olive oil. Add sprouted beans and cover with water. Simmer at least 2 hours. Add chopped tomatoes, bay leaf, and more water if necessary. Simmer 2 more hours. Add peppers and other spices. One more hour will do it. I use thai dragon chili peppers fresh from my garden. (Zowie!) Sprouting triples the nutritional value of your food and changes the chemicals in the beans that make you fart.

Cold Avocado Soup

Ripe avocados
squirt lemon juice
garlic
cold water

Liquify avocado pieces in blender with garlic, lemon juice, and water as needed. Suck down immediately or chill in fridge. Options: 1/2 cup chilled cream. Chicken or vegetable stock instead of water. Looks good with a little topping of chopped garlic chives or parsley.

Ratatouille

Eggplant
Zucchini
Tomatoes
Garlic, onion, herbs, olive oil
If cooking this just for myself, I will use a small iron skillet on the stovetop, but if I am cooking for a lot of people (6-12), I put it in lasagne pans in the oven. Start with garlic and onion in olive oil, then toss in the chopped up eggplant, followed by diced tomatoes. While this is cooking, gather and chop up parsley, oregano, thyme, marjoram, basil, more garlic, and slice up the zucchini. Add to mixture and stir. I like to add black pepper and curry. A splash of wine is good, too. Cook eggplant and tomato until pulpy and the zucchini until done but firm. Top with grated parmesan. If showing off, transfer from skillet to lasagne pan, top with cheese, pop in oven for a nice little crust, and garnish with fresh basil, parsley, cherry tomatoes, and squash blossoms. I usually use two or three times as much eggplant as I use zukes, and only as much tomato as necessary to keep it from drying out.

Immedio-Burritio's

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