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Another recipe adapted from the City Gardener’s Cookbook. These quesadillas were great - spicy with good chile/cumin flavor. I ended up serving two for dinner along with a green salad and it was a filling dinner. A nice, light, fruity white wine goes wonderfully with the meal. This filling would also be excellent in tamales.

Ingredients

• 2 cups coarsely chopped kale, make sure it is not in long ribbons else you will pull pieces of kale out of the quesadilla when eating it
• 1/2 cup red onions, cut into 1/4-inch dice
• olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
• 2 fingerhot, serrano or jalapeño peppers, minced
• 7 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 2 Tablespoons cilantro, minced
• 4 flour tortillas
• 1/3 (8 oz) block cheddar cheese

Directions

Steam the kale until tender then set aside.

While kale is steaming heat 1 teaspoon oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add onions and sauté until translucent, 3-5 minutes. Add garlic, peppers, cumin and chili powder and sauté 1 minute more. Add tomatoes and kale and sauté another 3-5 minutes until you can squish the tomatoes easily with the back of a spoon. Put mixture in a bowl, add cilantro and mix.

Assemble the quesadillas. For each quesadilla, cover the lower half of each tortilla with 1/4 of the kale mixture. Lay thin slices of cheese over the kale mixture. Fold in half and set aside on a plate.

Wipe out the skillet and add 2 teaspoons oil. Heat the tortillas one at a time for 2-3 minutes on each side, or until browned. Add more oil, as needed.

Yield: 4 quesadillas

I recently got a new cookbook, The City Gardener’s Cookbook, which focuses on how to use up all your garden produce. I do not have a garden but I love veggies so I figured this book would be good. It is my favorite cookbook of the week! This book has so many yummy and unique vegetable recipes - I cannot wait to try them all. Cheesy Vegetable Casserole, only slightly modified, was my first recipe out of the book. It turned out quite well and is a great way to showcase summer produce. It sounds looks more complicated to make than it really is.. I think the whole thing took me 1.5 hrs which includes the 30 min baking time for the eggplant and the 45 min baking time for the casserole. So mostly, I was just sitting around reading.

Ingredients

• 1 medium eggplant, sliced into 1/2-inch rounds
• 1 medium potato, diced into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 cup dry bread crumbs
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• ground pepper, to taste
• 1 medium zucchini, sliced into 1/4-inch rounds
• 2 large tomatoes, sliced
• 3 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 (8 oz) block cheddar cheese, grated

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place the eggplant slices on a greased baking sheet and bake covered with foil for 30 minutes, or until tender.

Meanwhile, steam to potatoes for 5-7 minutes, or until tender. Remove from heat and let cool. In a small bowl, mix breadcrumbs, basil and oregano. Mix salt and pepper with eggs.

When eggplant is done, remove from oven and turn oven down to 375 degrees.

Oil a 9×13″ pan and dust with 1/4 cup of the bread crumbs. Make two layers of: eggplant, potatoes, zucchini, tomatoes, egg mixture, olive oil, breadcrumbs, cheese.

Bake, covered, at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.

Serves: 8-10 as a side dish; 4-5 as a main dish

My parents have an incredibly prolific lemon tree in their yard. Last year it produced over 500 lemons! They squeeze and freeze the lemon juice in the winter so they have it all year round. Lately, they’ve been making lemonade. It’s great and not too sweet or too tart. Best of all it is easy!

Ingredients

1 cup water
1 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar

Directions

Mix all ingredients in a pitcher and stir until sugar is dissolved. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

I saw the idea for this dish somewhere (no, I can’t remember where)… It caught my eye because we get a lot of summer squash and zucchini around here during summer and I do not particularly like either (except in zucchini bread). It seems a shame to not buy summer squashes since they always look so bright and fresh at the market. When I saw the idea for a squash carpaccio I knew it was something I had to try - if only in an attempt to eat more of the yummy looking squashes at the market. I am happy to report that the thin slices avoided both the mushy texture and “raw” squash taste that I do not like.

Ingredients

• 1 small zucchini
• 1 small summer squash
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1/4 lemon
• freshly ground pepper
• salt
• shaved Parmesan

Directions

Slice the zucchini and summer squash into circles as thinly as possible. Arrange slices overlapping on a small plate. Drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Shave several bits of parmesan over the whole plate. Let marinate for at least 15 minutes before serving.

I always buy barley thinking I’ll use it… then I find it in my pantry several months later just waiting for me. Problem is I don’t like barley in its traditional guise of a starch in soup! So, I end up throwing it out and vowing never to buy barley again. I was thrilled to run into this recipe in Bittman’s “How to Cook Everything Vegetarian” where barley is used in a cold salad. Since I live in sweltering heat for 4+ months of the year I am always looking for new cold salads. And of course I just happened to have some barley in the pantry.

Ingredients

• 1 cup barley
• 2 small kirby cucumbers, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 3 scallions, sliced
• 1 handful grape tomatoes, sliced in half
• 1 cup yogurt
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Place barley in a saucepan and cover with 2″ of water. Bring to a boil and cook for 20 minutes, until tender. Drain and cool on a plate or under cool water.

Combine barley, cucumbers, scallions and tomatoes in a large bowl. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Mix together yogurt, olive oil and lemon juice in a small bowl. Add yogurt mixture to barley mixture and mix thoroughly. Taste and add more salt and/or pepper, as needed.