Growing Dinner

Store bought basil with cherry tomatoes, jalapeños, and bell peppers.

We posted a while ago about how we were attempting to grow herbs, tomatoes and peppers on Rich's balcony. Well, we started to fail at gardening. Turns out we were using the wrong kind of soil, which in potted balcony gardening is pretty crucial. We remedied that, buying nice Miracle Grow soil, and repotting.

They were much more red in real life. My cell phone camera sucks.

And BOOM! Growth. Except we gave up on the herbs... maybe in the fall we'll plant winter herbs.

JALAPEÑOS!

The tomato plant has been the most successful with the jalapeño pepper plant not far behind it (poor bell pepper plant had a rough childhood and hasn't flourished quite as well in its new environment). So we decided a harvest was in order!

They were still warm from the afternoon sun.

Over the weekend we made orzo with sun dried tomatoes and garnished the dish with the cherry tomatoes we grew! Hooray! If you have any possibility of growing your own tomatoes I cannot recommend it enough. Home grown tomatoes taste a million times better than any organic tomato you'll find in any grocery store. If you can't grow your own (I live in an apartment and I'm growing some, so really anyone can) try to buy some at a farmer's market. Good tomatoes are so worth it. I swear you can taste the sun.

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Mini Caprese Appetizer and Orzo Salad

Mini caprese salad

This is simple, quick, and elegant enough to show off. And it's pretty healthy!

Caprese Salad Ingredients:

Grape tomatoes

Mozzarella balls

Basil

Toothpicks

Olive Oil

Balsamic Vinegar

Salt and pepper

Seriously, you just skewer a basil leaf in between a mozzarella ball and grape tomato with a toothpick. Arrange them on a plate and sprinkle with salt and pepper and douse in a little bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar (more vinegar than oil, it's more delicious). Finger food!

Orzo Salad Ingredients:

Orzo

Sun dried tomatoes

Black olives

Mushrooms

Bell pepper

Basil

Goat cheese

Olive oil

Lemon juice

Prepare the orzo (boil, drain) chop the veggies and mix everything together! Ridiculously simple. Mix the whole thing with 1/3 cup of olive oil mixed with the juice from half a lemon. You can also add seasons, like salt and pepper, and maybe throw in a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar for a tang. Crumble goat cheese over the mixture and voila! The best thing about this dish is it can be served warm or cold.

Orzo with goat cheese and sun dried tomatoes

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Goat Cheese and Sun Dried Tomato Pizza

I'm pretty sure this was the first thing Rich and I made together, though that was back when we were just friends... we made it recently as a couple and we'll be making it again and again because it's delicious (and my favorite pizza!).

Ingredients:

Pizza dough

Pizza sauce (I omit this like, half the time)

Goat cheese

Sun dried tomatoes

Black olives

Mushrooms

We used herb dough!

Follow the instructions on the dough package for preparation. Let it rise for about 20 minutes on a floury surface and then knead and roll it into the shape you want. If you use a rolling pin flour it so the dough doesn't stick to it. 

Keep the sauce away from the edges so you can eat it.

Make sure your dough is even and reaches the edges of your pan otherwise it will curl away as it bakes, and sauce and cheese can fall into the oven. Spread the dough evenly with the pizza sauce and crumble the goat cheese over it. (You can also put some shredded mozzarella on the goat cheese for extra melty, but it's not necessary.)

Crimini mushrooms

Chop the olives and mushrooms and toss them on the pizza with the sun dried tomatoes. Try not to make the middle of the pizza too heavy or cutting it will be nearly impossible.

Make it colorful :)

Bake at 350 degrees until the cheese is bubbly and the edges of the dough are browned (like 20-25 minutes).

Mmmm toasty!

Well, I started out writing this around 9:30pm, already having decided I would not snack even though snacking is the only thing I've been thinking about, and now I'm full on hungry. Maybe we'll make this again this weekend... 

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