I love late August because there is an abundance of fresh garden produce available. Vegetable and dip platters make a great snack for any occasion. Vegetables are so colorful that they make any platter look outstanding plus raw vegetables are healthy food.

I like to use a variety of vegetables, colors, shapes, and textures on a veggie platter, making it pleasing to both the eye and the palette. Like these colorful dragon tongue beans, for example. These beans are actually best eaten raw because, if cooked, they lose their color.

I like the crunchiness of raw cauliflower which now comes in a variety of colors – purple, green, or this bright orange.

Make sure a variety of veggies are included so there is something for everyone’s taste.

I love the many varieties and colors of cherry tomatoes available including these pear-shaped and tiger-striped ones.

It’s easy, I know, and sometimes tempting to buy bottled dip from the supermarket but the downside is those dips/dressings may contain ingredients that aren’t necessarily so healthy. That’s why I like to make my own dip.

The dip recipe I am sharing today actually does double duty in a couple of ways. First, it contains fresh veggies so, not only do the vegetables get dipped into it but the dip itself also has radishes, onion, green pepper, and cucumber as ingredients in it. Second, this dip may also be used as a salad dressing on your favorite green salad. The dip doesn’t contain any unusual or hard-to-find ingredients.

This is an easy dip to make. Other than mincing up the veggies, it’s simply a matter of mixing all the ingredients together in one bowl. It’s best if it chills for at least a couple of hours before serving which also makes it convenient as it can be prepared and refrigerated earlier in the day. The veggies can also be prepared earlier in the day as well which makes it one less thing to do before a gathering.

Summer Garden Vegetable Dip

Ingredients:

1 cup sour cream
½ cup mayonnaise
1 tbsp sugar
½ tsp fine sea salt
Fresh ground pepper, to taste
Dash of garlic powder, to taste
3 tbsp finely chopped radishes
¼ cup finely chopped green pepper
¼ cup finely chopped red onion
¼ cup finely chopped English cucumber, unpeeled

Method:

Assemble ingredients.

In medium-sized bowl, combine sour cream and mayonnaise. Add sugar, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Stir well.

Add the finely chopped (minced) vegetables and stir to blend well.

Cover and refrigerate for at least two hours prior to serving.

Serve with your favourite selection of garden vegetables.

Note: This may also be used as a dressing for tossed salads. This recipe is easily halved or doubled according to need.

Yield: Apx. 2 cups

Because there is sour cream and mayonnaise in this dip, it needs to be kept cold. I use a container that has a cavity for ice and then the dip container itself sits on top of the ice to keep it cool.

As soon as I spotted these napkins, I knew they would be appropriate for one of my vegetable and dip trays.

Summer Garden Vegetable Dip

Serve this flavorful dip with your favorite assortment of colorful vegetables

Course Appetizer

Keyword vegetable dip

My Island Bistro Kitchen My Island Bistro Kitchen

Ingredients

1 cup sour cream
½ cup mayonnaise
1 tbsp sugar
½ tsp fine sea salt
Fresh ground pepper, to taste
Dash of garlic powder, to taste
3 tbsp finely chopped radishes
¼ cup finely chopped green pepper
¼ cup finely chopped red onion
¼ cup finely chopped English cucumber, unpeeled

Instructions

In medium-sized bowl, combine sour cream and mayonnaise. Add sugar, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Stir well.
Add the finely chopped vegetables and stir to blend well.
Cover and refrigerate for at least two hours prior to serving.
Serve with your favourite selection of garden vegetables.

Recipe Notes

Yield: Apx. 2 cups

Note: This may also be used as a dressing for tossed salads.

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General, Recipes, Sauces and Salsas

Basil Pesto

August 21, 2014 Barbara99

Fresh basil is plentiful in many gardens and at farmers’ markets right now. It’s a good time to make a batch or two of basil pesto.

Basil pesto is so versatile. It can be used on pizzas, in pasta dishes, mixed with mayo for a sandwich spread, in soups, salads, in wraps, spread with butter over corn on the cob, as an ingredient in steamed mussels, and the list goes on. As any creative cook will attest, basil pesto is a good staple to have on hand.

If you have an abundance of basil growing in your herb garden, or otherwise at your disposal, making pesto is a quick, easy, simple way to process it for a multitude of uses. It takes very few ingredients but, fair warning, one key ingredient is very expensive – pine nuts. However, the recipe doesn’t take many, thankfully. I bought 1/4 cup to use in my recipe and it came to $2.65. Walnuts can be substituted for pine nuts.

One of the easiest ways to store pesto is to freeze it in ice cube trays.

Simply place a large piece of plastic wrap over the ice cube slots and fill each with the pesto. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for several hours. Remove from freezer and lift the plastic wrap with the frozen pesto cubes from the tray. Peel off the frozen pesto cubes and store them in a sealed container or plastic bag in the freezer. These are very handy because they can easily be popped into soup or quickly thawed for spreading on your favorite sandwich or wrap or used in any other dish in which you would normally use basil pesto. If you need more than a tablespoon or two of pesto at a time then, of course, you will want to freeze the pesto in larger containers.

Basil Pesto

Ingredients:

2 cups gently packed fresh basil leaves (washed and dried)
¼ cup pine nuts
2 cloves garlic
½ cup olive oil
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Kosher salt, to taste
Fresh ground pepper, to taste

Method:

Assemble ingredients.

My fresh basil is from Just A Little Farm in Bonshaw, PEI. Farmer Jessica Vos grows her herbs and vegetables naturally with no chemicals.

Fresh Organic Basil from "Just A Little Farm", Bonshaw, PEI — Fresh Organic Basil from “Just A Little Farm”, Bonshaw, PEI

In food processor, mix together the basil leaves, pine nuts, and garlic.

Pulse until mixture is finely chopped into a paste.

With the food processor running, add about ⅓ of the olive oil in a steady, slow stream. Reserve remaining oil for drizzling over finished pesto.

Add the Parmesan cheese and pulse again.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Bottle the pesto and drizzle remaining olive oil over the pesto. Store pesto in refrigerator or freeze.

Bottling the Pesto — Bottling the pesto and adding remainder of olive oil

Yield: Apx. ¾ cup

Here are a couple of my favorite uses of basil pesto.

Corn on the Cob – Slather some butter and basil pesto on hot steamed peaches and cream corn.

We love our PEI mussels! A cube of basil pesto is a quick way to add some extra flavor to the steaming broth for mussels. Added to some onion, garlic, and white wine, the pesto deepens the flavour of the mussels.

PEI mussels steamed in basil pesto with white wine, onion, and garlic

Oh, and don’t forget to dip those tasty little morsels in melted butter!

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General, Muffins and Sweet Breads, Recipes

Quick Cinnamon Rolls Recipe

August 18, 2014 Barbara99

I don’t think I have ever met anyone who did not like cinnamon rolls. Just the scent of them baking in the oven makes the house smell sooooo divine! They also freeze well and they are a staple in my freezer because I can quickly pull one out on weekday mornings and pop it into the lunch bag as a special treat for morning coffee break. A quick re-heat for about 15 seconds in the microwave and these taste like they are fresh from the oven.

The recipe I will share at the end of this post is one I have been making for many years. The rolls end up being a bit different shape because I use muffin tins to bake them. Several years ago, there was a hotel in downtown Charlottetown, PEI, that had a great little restaurant and this was how they shaped their cinnamon rolls. This intrigued me and so I have been making my cinnamon rolls this way ever since first seeing them at this restaurant that, unfortunately, no longer operates.

Cinnamon rolls are really little more than a sweet biscuit dough. They take no uncommon ingredients and are quick to make. There are two tricks I have learned to making cinnamon rolls. The first key is not to over-mix or over-knead the dough as this results in a tough cinnamon roll. The second key is not to over-bake them as they will dry out.

I don’t typically drizzle an icing on my cinnamon rolls but, for those who have an extra special sweet tooth, simply mix up 1/2 cup icing sugar with 1/4 cup milk and drizzle over the cinnamon buns while they are still warm.

Cinnamon rolls are a nice addition to a weekend brunch and so I am sharing some photographs of a recent brunch where I featured cinnamon rolls.

If you are like me, weekday morning breakfasts are generally quick and there is little time for relaxation over the first meal of the day. However, weekend breakfasts or brunches are much more relaxing. In the summer, we like to eat breakfast/brunch out under the front verandah.

So, here was what was on the brunch menu: Fresh-squeezed orange juice, boiled egg, cheese, multi-grain toast with homemade rhubarb marmalade, yogurt, fresh-from-the-oven cinnamon rolls and, of course, a nice pot of tea.

I love these little blue and white egg cups!

As you can see, the color theme for today’s brunch was blue and white.

I like to add a splash of color to the plates. Nothing more than a slice of orange, a piece of parsley from the herb garden and a sweet little viola is needed.

There’s always time for a second cup of tea on weekend mornings so a nice big teapot is a good thing!

And, of course, there are the cinnamon rolls to finish off with that second cup of tea!

It’s hard to stop at just one of these yummy cinnamon rolls!

Curious to see what the cinnamon roll looks like inside?

Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
2 tbsp white sugar
4 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt

½ cup cold butter
1 egg, lightly beaten
½ cup milk

Cinnamon Filling:

⅓ cup butter, softened
½ cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

Method:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 10 muffin cups.

Assemble ingredients.

Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together in large bowl.

Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture is consistency of coarse crumbs.

Whisk the egg and milk together and pour over dry ingredients. Stir with a fork just until the wet ingredients have been incorporated. Do not overmix – ingredients will be further incorporated during the kneading process.

Turn ingredients out on to a floured surface. Knead ten times. Do not over-knead as this will create a tough dough.

Roll out dough into a 9”x12” rectangle.

Spread the dough with the softened butter. Sprinkle the brown sugar over the surface. Evenly sprinkle the cinnamon over the sugar.

Starting at the nearest long edge , roll up the dough evenly into a log shape. Pinch the seam to seal. Using a sharp knife, cut the log into 10 even pieces.

Place each roll in a greased muffin cup.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until buns spring back to a light touch. Do not overbake or the cinnamon rolls will be dry.

Let cool in pans for 5-7 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Yield: Apx. 10-12 cinnamon rolls

(NOTE: I find the cinnamon rolls are a better size if just 10 are cut out of this recipe; however, it is possible to get 12 by cutting each a bit smaller.)