Zucchini Goat Cheese Pizza

Ingredients: 
1 batch pizza dough or a store-bought pizza dough that will yield one small (approx. 11 to 12 inches across), thin pizza
1 lemon
4 ounces goat cheese, at room temperature
Few leaves of fresh basil, cut into thin slivers
1/2 medium yellow zucchini, sliced as thinly as you can pull off with a knife or your mandolin (I went for 1/8-inch thick with mine)
1/2 medium green zucchini, sliced as the same as above
Drizzle of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Roll your pizza dough into a thin 12-inch circle and lay it on a tray or stone that has been dusted lightly with cornmeal.

In a small bowl, stir together the goat cheese with the juice of half your lemon. Season it with salt and freshly ground pepper, and spread it over your pizza dough. Scatter fresh basil slivers over the cheese.

Arrange your zucchini coins in concentric circles over the goat cheese spread, overlapping them slightly. You can alternate their colors, if you’re feeling fancy. Squeeze the juice of the second half of your lemon on top of you zucchini, then drizzle with olive oil and finish with more salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 15 minutes (your baking time will vary, so please watch carefully), or until the edges of your pizza are golden brown and the zucchini looks roasted and a little curled up at the edges.

*from SmittenKitchen.com

Blue Cheese and Red Potato Tart

Ingredients:
1 Savory Tart Shell, below, or recipe of your choice, in a 9-inch tart pan and ready to fill
1 pound small red potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1/4-inch slices
1 cup heavy cream
1 large egg yolk
1/4 pound blue cheese, crumbled (about 3/4 cup)
1 tablespoons finely chopped herb or herbs of your choice, such as a mixture of thyme and rosemary
Fine sea salt for sprinkling

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. In a medium saucepan, cover potato slices with water by two inches. Simmer, uncovered, until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain. If the potatoes don’t seem very dry, pat them dry with towels.
Arrange potato slices, overlapping slightly, in concentric circles around the tart pan. Sprinkle blue cheese over potatoes. Whisk cream and egg yolk together and pour into tart shell, then sprinkle tart with herbs of your choice and salt.
Bake tart on a baking sheet until bubbling and golden brown, about 45 to 50 minutes. Cool in pan on rack and serve warm or cold. With a big green salad, for balance.

Savory Tart Shell

Ingredients:

1 1/4 (5 1/2 ounces) cups flour
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons (3 ounces) butter, diced
1 large egg

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch and salt. Cut the butter in with a pastry blender, fork or two knives until it is in very tiny bits. Add one egg and mix with a fork until a dough forms. If this does not happen easily, toss it out onto a counter and knead it together. This dough is rather tough but with a little elbow grease, it does come together nicely.
This dough can also be made a food processor, or in a stand mixer, though I’ve only tried it in a food processor.
On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to a 12-inch circle. Place the dough in a 9-inch pie plate or tart pan and press to remove any air bubbles. Level the edges, and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Proceed with a filling of your choice, no parbaking required.

From: Smitten Kitchen

Baked Brie Bites

Rose and Eric made up this recipe based on our favorite baked brie!

Ingredients

- brie

- Pillsbury pastry sheet

- jam or topping of your choice (we used a fig-walnut jam and cranberries sprinkled with brown sugar)

Directions

- Cut brie into bite sized pieces

- Place brie on a laid out pastry sheet and cut squares of dough around each piece

- Top brie with a 1/4 tsp or less of jam

- fold up and press corners of the pastry sheet squares together to form a little closed pocket

- Place on a sprayed cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes at 375 F.

- Let cool for 10 minutes and enjoy!

Split Pea Soup

Ingredients:

• 4 cups Vegetable Broth
• 3 carrots diced
• 1 cup green split peas
• 2 onions diced
• 1 garlic clove minced
• 1 teaspoon minced rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

In a large saucepan, combine the broth, carrots, peas, onions, minced garlic, rosemary and salt; bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, partially covered, stirring as needed, until the peas have disintegrated, around 1 hour.

Serve with garlic croutons (home made or store bought) and freshly chopped flat leaf parsley.

Orzo Salad with Sun-dried Tomatoes and Feta

I've made this salad frequently because, strangely enough, I have boxes and boxes of orzo in my pantry. One time, I made the mistake of complaining to my mother that I couldn't find orzo at my local grocery store. Ever since then, every care package from home contains at least one box of orzo, even though I told my mom that my grocery store actually carries orzo now. No matter- it is her mission to make sure her daughter is well-prepared in case of an emergency orzo shortage.

I didn't really use a recipe for this Fourth of July salad- every time I make it I add a little more of something I like and a little less of something else. The below is just some rough estimates, so adjust however you'd like!

Ingredients:

1 Box of orzo
1/3 Jar of Sun-dried tomatoes packed in olive oil
Half of a large red onion
1 Clove of garlic
Juice from 1 lemon
Handful of shredded carrots or handful of frozen peas and carrots
At least 1 cup of crumbled feta cheese
Half a bunch of green onions
Salt and pepper


I started out by caramelizing the red onion with chopped garlic, using some of the olive oil from the packed tomatoes. Cook over very low heat, stirring constantly, for about 25 minutes. Meanwhile, cook the orzo according to the directions on the box. Chop the tomatoes into bite sized pieces, and add them, and the onions with garlic to the orzo. Dress with a few more tablespoons of olive oil from the packed tomatoes. Add the peas and carrots and lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste. Once the salad is cool, add the cheese and snip the green onions on top to garnish.

And that's it! I've also made it with roasted vegetables- chopped, roasted asparagus is a great addition, and so are oven-roasted bell peppers. It serves about 6-8 people as a side.

Vegetarian Frittata

Ingredients (serving 6):

• 6-7 medium uncooked red potatoes, skin on, chopped
• Half of 1 large yellow or orange pepper, chopped
• Half of 1 large red pepper, chopped
• 3/4 package Gimme Lean vegetarian sausage, chopped/crumbled
• 12 eggs (I usually do half real eggs and half egg substitute), beaten
• 1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
• Seasonings (salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, whatever your heart desires)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease/PAM a large lasagna-style glass/corningware baking dish.
• Layer potatoes, peppers, and sausage in order, seasoning as desired.
• Pour beaten eggs over the whole dish (should not completely cover everything, but fairly close).
• Bake for 45 minutes or until center appears relatively firm when you jiggle the dish. Sprinkle with cheese and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes or until melted/browned.
• Enjoy!

Variations:

• You can make this with chicken (pre-cooked), real sausage, or tempeh.
• I've also made this in a taller casserole-style dish on the stove top instead of baking--basically cooking until the eggs are firm, then broiling for 10 minutes with the cheese on top.