Here's a quick, simple summer salad for you

Summer season is great, lots of salads and proteins. This salad can easily be changed based on what's in the fridge. Start with some fresh greens, a couple vegetables with crunch, a nut, and a berry. These types of ingredients create a nice balance. The dressing has the same ability too. You need sweet, sour, citrus, oil, fresh herb! Try experimenting with your favorite flavors.

-Chris

Quick, Simple Summer Salad

(Yield 4-6 servings)

Ingredients:

•  Two heads of greens (whatever your favorites are) rinsed, dried, and ripped into mouth-sized pieces
• One orange pepper, julienned
• One yellow pepper, julienned
• One pint of blueberries, rinsed
• 1/2 c. chopped mixed nuts
• 1 c. jicama, peeled and cut into matchsticks

Instructions:

• Layer ingredients on each plate beginning with a bed of greens, then pile on everything else! Finally sprinkle with a pinch of salt.

Citrus Dressing

(Yield about 1 cup)

Ingredients:

• One lemon, zested and juiced
• One lime, zested and juiced
• 1 tbs. apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbs. honey
• Handful fresh basil
• Olive oil (amount to add is known once everything is in the processer)  
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. In a food processer add all ingredients except the oil and salt/pepper. Pulse until combined.
2. Then add the oil to double the quantity in the processer (e.g. if your ingredients measure 1/4c., then add 1/4 c. oil).
3. Process until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
4. This can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Just bring it to room temperature prior to use. 

Cherry Dumplings....Mmmmmm!

I was so excited my Aunt Janet reached out to me last week and stated that she had found Grandma Mikulitsch's Cherry Dumpling Recipe.  Grandma Mikulitsch is my father's Grandmother or my Great Grandma.  Many of the recipes Grandma Meyers made were originated from her Mom and it's exciting to be able to share some of these old recipes.  I'm not sure about you all, but I had never had a Cherry Dumpling and I have to say that they are definitely not one of our Healthy Recipes. They were a lot of fun to make, especially right now with cherries being in season.  Grandma Mikulitsch brought this recipe over from her home-town in Austria and often made this recipe for my Aunt and Father for dinner, that's right not dessert, but they ate these dumplings for dinner!

Friday's at "The Farm" we like to call our test kitchen night.  We had a lot of fun making these dumplings with the entire family!!  Lets us know if you try these out, we did make them for dessert by the way!!  I have a feeling we will be making these again with a little healthy twist!!

Enjoy your Cherry Dumplings,

Becca

Cherry Dumplings

Makes 12-16

Ingredients:

• 3 Cups of Flour
• 1/2 Cup Mashed Potatoes
• 1 Cup of Water, plus extra if needed to make dough
• 48 Bing Cherries - Wash & Pit ahead of time - 3 per dumpling
• 1-2 Sticks of Butter
• 1-2 Cups of Plain Bread Crumbs
• 4 T of Sugar

Instructions:

1. Make dough.  Combine 3 cups of flour, 1/2 cup of mashed potatoes and 1 cups of a water in a bowl.  Mix until thoroughly combined using a mixer with a dough hook or a fork until you have a dough consistency.  Add more water as needed.  Form the dough into a ball.
2. Flour a your work surface, sprinkle more flour on your dough and a rolling pin.  Roll out the dough as big as you can using your floured rolling pin until about 1/2 inch in thickness.  Keep flipping the dough and flouring the surface and rolling pin until its fully rolled out.  
3. Cut dough in squares.  (Big enough to fit 3 cherries)
4. Add 3 cherries to each square, close and seal.   Roll into round balls.
5. Bring large pot of water to a boil.  Add dumplings, keep at a simmer for 10 minutes and then drain.
6. In a large non-stick frying pan, melt 1 or 2 sticks of butter, add in 1 or 2 cups of bread crumbs and approximately 4 tablespoons of sugar.  This is the bread crumb mixture that will coat your dumplings so you can use as much or as little as you would like depending on your taste.
7. Add the Dumplings into the pan, toss and coat with the crumb mixture until lightly browned.
8. Serve warm either plain or topped with vanilla ice cream.  
9. Scrumptious!!!  

Taco Tuesday at "The Farm"

Although we love to have our traditional Mexican inspired dishes on Thursday's, in the summer we love to add in some great Fish Tacos.  I remember a few years ago when Chris told me he was going to make Fish Tacos, lets just say I was not very excited about them.  However, after tasting them, they are now a staple at our house, especially in the summer.  These Fish Tacos, are light, fresh, and bursting with flavor.  Not to mention, we have added a few nice healthy twists to these to keep the calories down.

We hope you enjoy these as much as we do!

Warmly,

 Becca

Fish Tacos with Guacamole and Chipotle Cream

(Yield: 4 servings)

Ingredients:

• 1.5 lbs. white fish (cod is a great fish, but you can really use any fish)
• 1 box hard-shell tacos (I use the blue corn, stand and stuff yellow is good too)
• ½ red cabbage shredded
• non-stick spray, either olive oil or canola oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Pre-Heat oven to 400 degree F.
2. Spray a sheet pan with the oil then arrange the fish on the sheet pan.  Fish should not be touching.  Then spray the top of the fish with oil and season with salt and pepper.  Set this aside while you assemble the toppings

Guacamole

Ingredients:

•  3 Avocados
• Juice of 1 lemon and 1 lime
• Half red onion, ¼” dice
• Handful of cilantro
• 2 medium-sized vine ripe tomatoes, ¼” dice
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Split the avocado and remove the pit, score the avocado in a grid pattern, then scoop the pulp into a medium-size bowl. 
2. Add the lemon/lime juice to the bowl and stir.
3. Add the remaining ingredients, then season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Put your fish in now.
5. And follow the instructions for baking the shells on the packaging.

Chipotle Cream

Ingredients:

• 1/4 c. plain greek yogurt
• 1/8 c. almond milk (any milk will do)
• 2 tbs. chipotle sauce (I find this in the Mexican food section)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a small bowl until smooth.  It should be the consistency of heavy cream
2. To plate add the fish first (I take a spatula and break the fish into strips) to the shell, then layer the chipotle crème, guacamole, then shredded cabbage.  

My Favorite Chocolate Zucchini Muffins!!!

I wish I could tell you that I developed this recipe, but this recipe is just perfect the way it is.  I try to find ways to sneak vegetables into my desserts/muffins so they are not empty calories.  These particular muffins are great to make for a kids birthday party at school because they are grain-free, gluten-free and nut-free.    They also taste great for a quick breakfast on-the-go.  You can make-ahead and freeze, pop them in the microwave for about 20 seconds and they taste like you just pulled them out of the oven.  When I make these for breakfast I will cut the chocolate chips in 1/2 or even just eliminate them.  They taste just as good without the chocolate chips, but make it a great treat for a birthday party.  

I sent these into school for Gracie's 8th birthday this past year and all of the kids loved them.  They had no idea what they were eating!!!

Check out the recipe on one of my favorite websites Against All Grain.  Danielle Walker has a host of great allergy friendly recipes on her site.  I've also downloaded her Cookery App and bought her cook-book.  I use them both weekly!!

Enjoy!      - Becca 

What do you do with all of your Squash and Zucchini in the Summer?

We love the summer because we always have a ton of fresh vegetables on hand.  We joined Good Work Farm CSA this summer and their weekly share has been absolutely amazing.  We would like to say that since we live on a FARM we grow this enormous garden, but we've quickly learned that God did not give us the gift of growing vegetables after trying to plant a huge garden that went belly up.  However I'm happy to say we love making all kinds of new things with the abundance of fresh vegetables in the summer.  We had a ton of Zucchini and Summer Squash on hand, so Chris decided to throw together Lasagna, but instead of the noodles we used Zucchini, Squash and Eggplant!!  The end-result was an empty pan and everyone wanting more!

We hope you enjoy this recipe.  This will definitely be added to our staple of favorites.

Warmly,

-Chris & Becca Lynde

Summer Lasagna

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs of De-Cased Chicken Sausage
• 2 Small to Medium Sized Eggplant - Peeled and Sliced into 1/4 inch thick coins
• 2 Medium Sized Zucchini - Sliced into 1/4 inch thick coins
• 2 Medium Sized Yellow Squash - Sliced into 1/4 inch thick coins
• 1 1/2 Jars of Tomato Sauce - Either your favorite Recipe or your Favorite Brand of Sauce
• 1 6oz Bag of Organic Part-Skim Shredded Mozzarella - We used Nature's Promise
• 3/4 cup of Parmesan Cheese 
• Organic Non-Stick Olive Oil Spray
• Salt & Pepper to Taste

Instructions:

Step 1:  Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.  Spray 9 X 11 Glass Pan with Non-Stick Olive Oil Spray.

Step 2:  Add 2lbs of De-Cased Chicken Sausage to an oiled pan.  Season with salt and pepper. Cook on medium until cooked through.  While cooking, make sure you break-up sausage so it resembles ground turkey/beef.  You can also use a ground beef or ground turkey in place of the chicken sausage.

Step 3:  Layer the bottom of the sprayed pan with a variety of the vegetables.  Be sure when you are layering you cover the entire bottom with the vegetables, by overlapping them so you do not see the bottom of the glass pan.

Step 4:  Add a thin layer of sauce to cover the vegetables.  

Step 5:  Add 1/3 of the cooked meat.

Step 6:  Top with 1/4 c Parmesan Cheese and 1/3 c of Mozzarella Cheese.

Repeat Steps 3-6 two more times.

Step 7:  Bake for about 30 minutes or until you see bubbles around the sides of the pan.  Make sure vegetables are tender and cheese is melted through.  Test with a knife to see the tenderness of the vegetables.

Step 8:  Let cool for 10 minutes before cutting and serving.