Posts tagged ‘vegetables’
I Dream of a Garden
Gardens. Do you have one? I dream of one. Almost every year since moving to Phoenix I’ve tried to grow something. It should go without saying that the poor plants need to be watered but I get busy and forget. So last year I had raised beds put in with a drip system. But now I’ve gotten so busy that I haven’t planted anything or even finished filling them up with soil yet! Someone recently came over and asked if those were where I buried the bodies. Now there’s a good idea – but I’m only kidding!
I remember always having a garden growing up. We lived in Los Angles and we had what I remember to be a huge garden! Dad planted every fruit tree you could think of – lemons, orange, grapefruit. Mom planted zucchini and yellow squash. Lots of tomatoes and merigolds and zinnias. I remember you had to walk up a couple steps to get up to the garden. I remember other gardens from other houses as well but that is the one I remember the most.
My grandma had a small garden when I was growing up too. She grew lots of things but I remember the lemon cucumbers! She would come out to pick things and bring a knife with her so she could cut up pieces for us, yes without washing them! The horror! Since she didn’t use chemicals it was probably all good but if not it could explain a few things…
So I will be working building a garden for the fall. Sadly there are too many things going on between now and the fall. I would love to know if you have a garden or at least grow herbs.
These pictures were taken from a recent trip to New York and the Union Square Greenmarket. Tell me what you grow at your house, I really want to know!
Heather
Not a Boring Salad Phoenix/Scottsdale Food Photographer & Food Stylist
If you are like me you eat a lot of salads. I love salads but admittedly they can get boring really quick. Here is a great way to use local and in season food to add some excitement to your salads. 
The excitement in this salad comes from the dressing which can be used so many ways. I’ve used it to marinate the vegetables on top of the beet greens for one.
Vegetable Medley with Citrus Dressing
1 Fennel Blub – sliced very thin
3 medium size watermelon radishes – sliced very thin
For dressing:
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup blood orange juice
1/4 cup Meyer Lemon Juice
4 Tablespoons Meyer Lemon peel
4 Tablespoons Blood Orange peel
1 cup vegetable oil
Before juicing the Blood Orange and Meyer Lemon remove the rind using a microplane zester. Juice both the Blood Orange and Meyer Lemon. In a small bowl combine both the fresh juices, the citrus peel and vinegar. Slowly start whisking in the vegetable oil. Chill for at least 3 hours before using as a dressed salad. Shake well before serving.
For the vegetable medley salad:
Combine the Watermelon Radishes and the Fennel in a bowl and 1/2 cup of the above dressing. I marinated this over night but several hours should be plenty of time.
Before serving it over fresh greens or the beet greens shown in the picture I remove from the liquid and toss the greens in whatever is left and then there isn’t too much dressing on my salad. Arrange the marinated vegetables to the top of the greens and then crumble a little fresh goat cheese over the top and serve.
I would love to hear if you are using any local and season food in your cooking right now. Would also love to hear if you use this recipe for more then a dressing. Leave a comment here or connect with me on Facebook.
Heather
Available at JAM Phoenix/Scottsdale Food Photographer & Food Stylist
Did you know I’ve been selling some of my food prints at JAM, a local shop in Old Town Scottsdale? If you did I’ve added a few more recently and here is a sneak peek into what has been added recently.
All of the food was purchased at the local farmers market. If you aren’t visiting your local farmers market see what you’re missing!
JAM sells some of the best of the best for this Valley! Go check out the shop. I would love to know if you’ve visited JAM. You can connect with me by leaving a comment here or on my Facebook page.
Heather
Local Food Businesses – Phoenix Food Photographer & Food Stylist
I have recently found some great local food businesses that I wanted to share with you. First business is not really a single business but the Old Town Farmers Market.
Everything above was purchased at the Old Town Farmers Market. There are so many wonderful local food businesses to find there. Every time I’m there I find something new.
I’m so sorry but other then I’ve found them at Old Town Farmers Market and that the Sweet Pea greens and the company’s name is Pure Life Greens, I don’t have any other information. I could not find a website for them. They have other greens too. If anyone has more information please let me know.
Oh my goodness! This bread is amazing – I shared, really I did! This and many other traditional bread is from Breadsmith. This is cranberry blueberry bread. I have a recipe coming up using this bread – stay tuned. All of these and many other wonderful local food businesses are at Old Town Farmers Market in Scottsdale.
Do you go to any local farmers markets in the Phoenix/Scottsdale Arizona area or even in your area? I would love to hear from you about what businesses are a must stop. Comment here or connect with me on Facebook.
Heather
What’s Not to Like About Beets? Phoenix/Scottsdale Food Photographer & Stylist
I like beets. I think I even love them. You can almost eat every single bit of it. Really, greens and everything. I’m not a nutritionist so for more wonderful information about this wonder food look here. So here are some of the things you can make with beets.
These are beets have been roasting in the oven and now they taste like candy. Yes, candy! For Roasted Beets and Root Vegetables:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
3 golden beets
3 purple/red beets
1 parsnip (optional but really these are root vegetable too and very tasty too!)
2 turnips (optional but also tasty)
All of the above need to have the skin removed and cut into small dice.
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 teaspoon Sea Salt
Toss all together coating the diced vegetables with the olive oil and salt. Put in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Half way through stir them. I did this twice and the first time it was about 15 minutes and 2nd time was closer to 20 minutes. This also depends on your oven. When you really start smelling them start taking a look at them.
These can be served hot or warm or even cold. To serve cold I sectioned a blood orange and then added the juice. So good!
The white looking carrot is a parsnip and the purple and white vegetables are turnips. Now you should have the very colorful greens left and they are very tasty too! So for the greens they make wonderful salads. You can mix with other salad greens or they can be a salad all on their own.
For Sauteed Beet Greens:
Chop the greens into bite sized pieces, like you would for a salad. On this I just used the ends with a few of the greens. You can use all the greens for this but I wanted to use them for something else.
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
3 cups of beet greens
2 Lemon wedges
Heat the oil in a saute pan and add beet greens. You don’t want these to be soggy so really not longer then 10 minutes, just about the time the start to wilt a little. After they are cook serve warm with the lemon wedges squeezed over the top. I used Meyer Lemons and 1 Blood Orange because they aren’t always in season and they are wonderful, but any lemon will be great squeezed over the top of these greens.
So that’s all I have for you today. I would love to hear if you try these are tried anything else with beets and beet greens.
Heather
