Food goodness

Alissa's going to have even more of these than peppers, and I'm obsessed with vine-ripe, farmer's market tomatoes. Here are some recipes. from foodtv.com: Provencal Stuffed Tomatoes (Recipe courtesy Maria Sinskey) 8 (1 by 1-inch) bread cubes 8 medium-small ripe red or yellow tomatoes 1/2 cup grated Parmesan (about 2 ounces) 1/2 cup pitted, sliced kalamata or nicoise olives 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more as needed 2 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley leaves 2 tablespoons julienned fresh basil leaves 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano leaves 1 large garlic clove, minced Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Arrange the bread cubes on a baking sheet and lightly toast in the oven, about 10 minutes. Let cool. Increase the oven to 400 degrees F. Remove the cores from the top of the tomatoes and cut the top off the tomato 1/4 of the way down. Reserve the tops. Slice enough of the bottom off each tomato, so it stands up, but don...

these are from epicurious.com BLACK BEAN, GREEN PEPPER, AND RED ONION DIP 1 1/2 cups dried black beans, picked over and rinsed 2 quarts plus 1/4 cup water 1 large green bell pepper, chopped fine, reserving about 1 teaspoon for garnish 1 small red onion, chopped fine, reserving about 1 teaspoon for garnish 3 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin, or to taste 2 tablespoons cider vinegar, or to taste tortilla chips as an accompaniment cherry peppers for garnish if desired In a large saucepan let the beans soak in cold water to cover for 1 hour, drain them, and in the pan combine them with 2 quarts of the water. Bring the water to a boil and cook the beans at a slow boil for 1 hour, or until they are tender. While the beans are cooking, in a large heavy skillet cook the bell pepper and the onion in the oil over moderate heat, stirring, until the vegetables are softened. Drain the beans, reserving 1/2 cup of them, add the remaining beans to the bell pepper mixture with the...

adapted from a recipe courtesy of Cathy Lowe (also found on foodtv.com) Haven't tried this, but I hear Alissa will have a wealth of green peppers in a bit. 4 red, green or yellow bell peppers, tops sliced off and chopped up 2 cups leftover rice or couscous 1 cup leftover chopped turkey (cooked ground turkey would probably work) 1 teaspoon dried basil 1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley 1/2 cup chicken stock 2 scallions, chopped Slice off tops of bell peppers, remove seeds and discard. Chop up the bell pepper tops and place into a large bowl. Add rice or couscous, chopped meat, dried basil, parsley, chopped pepper tops, chicken stock and scallions. Toss to combine and season with salt and pepper. Stuff each pepper with filling and place in a square baking dish. Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes or until tender

Recipe courtesy Rachael Ray (from foodtv.com) 2 green bell peppers, seeded and cut into 1 1/2-inch dice 3 vine-ripe tomatoes, seeded and diced 1 small onion, chopped 1 large clove garlic, finely chopped 1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves, coarsely chopped 1/2 lemon, juiced (1 tablespoon) 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil Coarse salt and black pepper 1 teaspoon ground cumin, 1/2 a palm full Combine peppers, tomatoes, onions, garlic, parsley in a bowl with your fingertips. Squeeze the juice of the lemon with the lemon half sitting upright. This will help prevent the seeds from falling into the bowl. The lemon juice will spill down over the sides of the lemon and the seeds will remain with the fruit. Squeeze the juice evenly over the salad. If the lemon is under-ripe, microwave it for 10 seconds before you cut into it. Next, sprinkle a tablespoon of vinegar over the salad -- just eyeball it. Drizzle the extra-virgin olive oil over the salad, add the salt, pe...

I haven't tried this yet, but it looks yummy. Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 17 minutes Yield: 4 servings 2 beefsteak tomatoes Salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 cup whole milk ricotta cheese 1 large lemon, zested, about 2 tablespoons 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves 3/4 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped 2 cloves garlic, chopped 2 scallions, finely chopped 1/3 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano 1 egg yolk Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling Preheat oven 450 degrees F. For the baked stuffed tomatoes you need to make 4 tomato cups out of your 2 tomatoes. To do so, cut a very thin slice off both ends of each of the 2 tomatoes, this is to create 4 flat bottoms. Then cut each tomato in half across its circumference. You should have 4 cup shapes, using the thinly sliced side as the bottom of the cups. To create a cavity, use a melon ball scoop to remove the seeds and pulp from the wide, fleshy side of each tomato cup. You don't have to be too fussy about this. You are just tryi...

I got this one out of a Sarah Moulton cookbook, but the book is at home so I can't remember the name right now. 3.5 lb chicken (or close to that) olive oil salt pepper granulated garlic Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Drizzle chicken with olive oil, then rub in. Season with salt, pepper and garlic. Bake in oven for 45 minutes. *Note...I roasted an almost 4.5 pound chicken last night, and just added 15-20 minutes to it and it was fine.* Let stand for 10 minutes before serving. Yum. The skin gets nice and crispy, and the chicken is really tasty. And, it takes no time at all, which means you could make roast chicken after work. ***************************** Also, decided to take Alissa/Gwen's suggestions and I made a yogurt sauce for the berries...vanilla yogurt, vanilla extract, a little brown sugar and a lot of cinnamon. I put it in the bottom of the bowl (or tupperware container) and added sliced strawberries, blueberries and raspberries. Yum. ****************************** I...

Another installment in my obsession with pasta salad, part 87 million... I was watching a cooking show on PBS this weekend -- it turned out to be Everyday Food , which seems to have some connection to M*rtha St*wart, which makes me like it a little less -- that had a bunch of really good-sounding Greek recipes, and one of them was this one. I didn't catch the whole thing and am not exactly sure about amounts of the main ingredients, but I have a feeling you can't go too wrong. The woman making it didn't seem to be measuring much, and she did give the amounts for the dressing. Just guessing, though -- for some reason, the website doesn't have the actual recipe for this one posted. I blame Martha. Cook 1 box (?) orzo. When water is boiling, toss into the same pot a bunch of halved snap peas with the strings removed and 2 small yellow squash, diced into medium pieces. (Not sure how long the water was boiling before the veggies went in, but I think they stay in just long en...

It's also the season for fresh green beans, and I've got a bunch of those in the fridge, too, that I'll cook tomorrow for dinner. How are you cooking your green beans these days? We do it a couple ways in our house: Steam them Stirfry with sesame oil and some soy sauce and chili flakes (but that's too hot for Gaby) Cook in a pot of water with some olive oil and salt until soft Or...Ernie's favorite...cook in a pot of water with some bacon pieces, until soft. Of course, that's the least good for you, but it's the tastiest.

So, I know I'm the only person I know who likes beets, but it's the season for the things and I've been craving them. Tonight I steamed a bunch (just wash, trim the tops and bottoms, cut in half, and put in the steamer), and tomorrow when they're cooled, I'll make a salad: Beets, peeled and sliced thin (the skin will just rub right off after they've been steamed) Drizzle with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and just a little lime or lemon juice (I prefer lime) Salt and pepper to taste Toss to coat I still can't find my salt and pepper shakers, but I do have some in the cabinent, so I'll quit being lazy and start cooking for reals now. Anyone else eat beets? How do you cook them? You can also roast the greens of the beets, they taste a little like kale and are good with white beans, tomatoes and onions, all roasted together. C'mon...someone out there has to like fresh beets...they're good for you...and they turn your fingers pink (and it's natura...

I've got one carton of strawberries and two of blueberries in the fridge right now, and I need to do something with them in the next few days before they go bad (and before I go to the farmer's market). Any suggestions?

Now that our kitchen is half put away, we're cooking again. :) I'll start posting more recipes when I can find cook books and baking dishes and things like that. But, last night, we ate a new kind of fish -- grey sole -- which I baked in the oven with some lemon slices, butter and granulated garlic. Yum. Set the oven to 350 and cook, covered, for about 20-25 minutes. We'll be eating grilled wild salmon later this week. Oh, the wonders of the Whole Foods fish counter. So, let's have it. What have you guys been cooking lately.