Think Fast Meal: Chilaquiles

Warning

This is not a meal for your weekly meal plan. This is one of those throw-together kinds of meals. You know, the one when you wake up famished and the only thing in your fridge are leftovers from taco night. Or when you’ve spent the entire day playing outside and you have no idea what to make for dinner. Chilaquiles was created as a way to use up leftover stale tortillas and is typically eaten for breakfast or brunch. This is one of those meals that surprises you in its simplicity—and in its deliciousness—and is a fantastic way to use some of those tomatoes you canned last summer.

Ingredients

• That bag of tortilla chip crumbs cluttering your counter

• The handful of rotisserie chicken you don’t know what to do with (or black beans, or leftover taco meat, or roasted veggies. seriously, whatever is staring at you from the refrigerator shelves)

• 1 jar of tomatoes with chiles that you canned in the summer (or enchilada sauce, or taco sauce, or even salsa will do)

• 1/2 cup of water (or 1/2 cup broth)

• 1 spoonful of better than bouillon (leave out if using broth)

• Whatever fresh ingredients you have in your fridge to use as toppings

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350°.

2. Heat a cast-iron skillet on your stove. I used an 8-incher for 2 people. If you’re feeding more than 2, you’ll want a bigger skillet, and you’ll want to double the ingredients.

3. Pour tomatoes, water, and bouillon into your hot skillet. Bring it to a boil and let simmer for 3-5 minutes to thicken up

4. Put tortilla crumbs into the skillet and stir slightly to mix. You want most of your chips a little on the soggy side. I know it sounds gross, but trust me. The flavor is astounding in the end.

5. Throw your leftovers on top. Sprinkle some shredded cheese on it if you’d like.

6. Put it in the oven and let it bake for 15-20 minutes, or until everything is warm and your cheese is melted.

7. Take it out of the oven, divide onto plates, and let people dig in. I like to put shredded cabbage, radishes, cilantro on top if I have them in the fridge. If I don’t, then I just eat it as is.

Note

If you want an extra boost of protein, top it with a fried egg. I’m lazy about breakfast so I eat it sans egg, but my husband isn’t lazy, so he goes the extra mile. The egg does make for a very pretty picture.

Summer Week Eight

It’s 8:00pm on Saturday night. I spent most of my morning roasting tomatoes and making a list of meals I want to cook this week. We have more produce than we can eat this week, and I have so many things I want to put in my freezer for winter, and I just need a few more hours every day this week. I cleaned it all up and took the family to the pool this afternoon and decided I’d tackle the rest of the food prep later this week.

As I was driving home from the farm yesterday, I listened to this podcast and couldn’t help but think about how summer shows up in the foods that we eat. Here it is August already, and here in New England, it’s the month that we really get a good taste of summer. The tomatoes and peppers are rolling in—and they are just gorgeous. We got four huge heirloom tomatoes this week and I can’t wait to eat them. I turned one into salsa tonight and it was divine.

The best thing about summer produce is you can pretty much just grab anything and eat it raw and call it a meal. You’ll see a good bit of that here this week.

Summer Week 8: What We Brought Home

apples, basil, beets (with beautiful greens), blueberries, cabbage, cherry tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, eggplant, green bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, parsley, pattypan squash, peaches, poblano peppers, red lettuce, tomatoes, zucchini

Meal Ideas for the Week

Breakfasts

My new favorite thing to eat for breakfast is fancy toast. Throw some ricotta cheese in the food processor until it’s smooth. Spread it on toast and add a sliced tomato and some basil. You can add balsamic vinegar if you’d like. Or top your ricotta toast with sliced radishes, or the zucchini butter that you made last week.

I’m also making a lot of these Zucchini Muffins lately. As long as there is zucchini in the house, we might as well bake with it, #amIright? I love muffins for breakfast because they double as a quick snack when my kids have activities later in the day.

Lunches

August is a month when I want to have as many picnics as possible, because I know Winter will be here before we know it. I simply adore Kale Salad for lunch on the hot days of summer. It’s great for picnics because it travels so much better than a lettuce salad. My favorite kale salad is curly kale, cherry tomatoes, boiled eggs, shaved parmesan cheese, and croutons with a champagne vinaigrette. Chop your kale into small pieces and massage it with a little salad dressing before adding your toppings.

Gazpacho is another picnic-friendly lunch and it uses all those veggies in the crisper drawer. Throw some tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper (I use green), and onion in a blender with some olive oil and seasonings and you really can’t go wrong. It’s like a savory smoothie. We like to serve it at room temperature and top it with grilled shrimp.

Dinners

This Stuffed Eggplant Parmesan feels like a lot of work, but it’s much easier than regular Eggplant Parmesan and it’s even more delicious. I’m going to triple this recipe this week to use all those eggplants I brought home last week and stick them in the freezer for the dark days of winter.

When the first of the poblano peppers come home, I immediately plan to make these Poblano Peppers Stuffed with Corn Risotto. I think you could stuff green bell peppers with corn risotto and it would be delicious as well. Instead of using chicken broth, I make corn stock and use it instead.

When you need a fast meal, this Pasta with Baked Cherry Tomato Sauce is a fantastic choice. This is one of those meals that is a real summer treat because the cherry tomatoes are plentiful and as sweet as candy. I’m always amazed what a pound of cherry tomatoes and some bread crumbs will do for a bag of pasta.

This Angel Hair Pasta with Raw Tomato Sauce is my favorite way to use those beautiful big heirloom tomatoes that show up in my farm share. It’s excellent with a side salad and maybe some garlic bread.

I want to be adventurous sometime this week and attempt to make grilled vegetable ravioli. I can’t find a recipe, but I saw some in Costco a few weeks ago and was instantly intrigued. I’m going to try to grill eggplant, zucchini, mushrooms, and cherry tomatoes, chop them really tiny and put them in sheets of homemade beet pasta. Stay tuned - it will either be a huge hit or a total flop.

I made these Halloumi Veggie Kebabs last week with Zucchini, Eggplant, Mushrooms, and Green Pepper and they were incredible. We served them with corn on the cob and grilled flatbread.

Snacks & Treats

This recipe for Jalapeno Poppers is so delicious we made it twice last week. I’m considering freezing a batch or two, but I’m not sure they’ll ever make it to the freezer!

Nothing says summer quite like Peach Ice Cream. I told the girls this recipe always trips me up because there’s sour cream in it, and I don’t like sour cream. I make it every year, and every year I think it will be weird. But when it’s done and you take that first bite, it’s nothing short of sublime.

Preserving Notes: Tomatoes

Next week I’ll share my favorite canning recipes for tomatoes, but it’s late on Saturday night, so this week I’m all about the lazy preserving.

I wrote a poem about my asparagus plant this week if you want something fun to read. I also have several volunteer tomato plants that are doing better than any tomatoes have ever done in my yard. It seems giving up on gardening was the key to my success.

Hope you have a wonderful week my friends!

Summer Week Seven: My Best Day at Springdell

Just four days ago I wrote about how much I miss okra and how impossible it is to find in New England. You can imagine my delight when I walked around the farmstand at yesterday’s pickup and saw a basket of the most beautiful okra I’ve ever seen. With a huge smile on my face, I filled a bag with almost all of it before my children said “But Mama, if you take it all, no one else can try it!” So I took a little more than a pound and a half and. left some in the basket. I’m hoping that one of you took it and made something delicious with it. No okra should ever be left behind.

I had no idea if Farmer Jamie grew it or sourced it from somewhere down south, but I secretly hoped she thought about me when putting it in the stand. After sending her a message yesterday afternoon I learned it was indeed grown at Springdell. Farmer Jamie, if you’re reading this, thank you. I just adore you. And your crew. But you knew that already.

If you see it at the stand, buy a little. Try it out. It is, hands down, my favorite thing about summer. And I really want Farmer Jamie to keep growing it, so let’s increase the demand! My youngest can eat an entire pound of roasted okra in one sitting. Last night we fried it, and had caprese salad over lettuce, hush puppies, and corn on the cob. It was a true taste of summer.

In addition to the okra, we also came home with so many eggplants, most of which came from the swap box. It makes me so sad to see so many people leave their eggplant at the farm. I used to be afraid of eggplant too, but it has become a favorite summer veggie in recent years. My children were ecstatic to see so many eggplants on the counter. I know it can be scary, but I challenge you to be adventurous this week. If you need some inspiration, here is a list of my favorite ways to eat eggplant.

Summer Week 7: What We Brought Home

basil, carrots, cherry tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, eggplant (two varieties), green lettuce, green bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, okra!, peaches, romaine lettuce, squash bombs, sugar plums, tomatoes, yellow squash, zucchini

Meal Ideas for the Week

Breakfasts

Weekend breakfasts are for pancakes. Lately, I’m experimenting with putting all the vegetables in breakfast. We had Zucchini Bread Pancakes for breakfast this morning and felt like we went out for fancy brunch. In our pajamas. The next time we make them, I’ll add some chopped pecans to a little of the batter. These carrot cake pancakes also look delicious and may be on the horizon for later this week, being as I have 4 bunches of carrots hanging out in my fridge.

I got sucked in by this video by Vaughn Vreeland last night and am intrigued by his leftover salad scramble (starting at 5:16 in the video). With lots of lettuce to use, I’m definitely going to try it.

With the first of the tomatoes coming in, this feels like the perfect week to indulge in BLTs. For breakfast. Or lunch. Or dinner. If you don’t have any bread, just chop it up and put it on a bed of greens. Talk about a breakfast of champions!

Lunches

When fresh produce hits, I trade lunch sandwiches for galettes. They are easy to make at the beginning of the week, then store in your fridge for lunch. This Zucchini and Ricotta Galette and this Burst Tomato Galette with Corn & Zucchini are two that I will definitely put on the menu this week. Sometimes I make them for dinner, serve them with a side salad, and eat the leftovers for lunch the next day. Although some galettes freeze well, I haven’t had luck freezing these - I think because of the water content in the vegetables. It makes them an extra delicious summer treat.

Tomatoes, cucumber and basil scream for a twist on Caprese’ Salad (see picture below). I slice cucumbers super thin, use cherry tomatoes, and small balls of mozzarella. I like to serve it over a bed of greens, because there’s no shortage of lettuce these days. This recipe is a good base - I use cucumbers instead of avocado because it’s local and delicious.

The weather looks beautiful this week (finally!) so I’m hoping for a picnic or two. This Grilled Zucchini with White Beans is an excellent addition to your summer picnic. She recommends you eat it warm or at room temp, but I’m here to tell you it’s just as delicious cold.

Corn and black bean salad is another terrific picnic meal. I use a recipe from my Rancho Gordo cookbook, but this one looks like it’s worth trying.

Dinners

Doesn’t that plate look like the perfect taste of summer? I suggest it for lunch up above, but last night we paired it with a bed of lettuce, fried okra, and corn on the cob for a delightfully easy and delicious dinner.

I’m always so excited for the first of the season’s cherry tomatoes because it means I can make this Fried Rice with Zucchini & Tomatoes. It’s not every day that I can get my kids to eat zucchini, but they devour this.

We got some beautiful Porterhouse steaks in our last meat share, so I’m going to make this Zucchini Rice Gratin to go alongside them one day this week. I’ll make some corn on the cob, slice a tomato and sprinkle some basil on top and it will be a perfect summer meal.

This Eggplant & Zucchini Parmesan is, hands down, my favorite meal to stash in the freezer. It takes a lot of time and is a lot of work, so I typically make a few at once, but it is simply amazing.

A good hamburger fresh off the grill is one of my favorite things about summer. I am so excited about Romaine Lettuce this week. For a fun twist on lettuce, cut your head of romaine in half, rinse it really well, drizzle it with olive oil and lemon juice, sprinkle some salt, and put it on the grill. Grilled lettuce might sound weird, but romaine is hearty and stands up well to the heat. It’s delightful on its own, or you can put it on top of your burger with some caramelized onions. Pour a glass of wine, take your plate to your patio and pretend you’re eating at the best burger joint in town.

Green bell peppers are not a favorite in our house, so I’m always looking for a way to sneak them in to recipes. Red Beans & Rice is one of our favorite meals and is a great way to use up a pepper. Leftovers also work beautifully for breakfast or lunch. For you vegans, here’s a great vegan version. Peppers are also super easy to freeze - no blanching required - so I’ll often chop them up and freeze them to use in winter soups and stews.

And I have to put in one more plug for eggplant this week. Those long skinny Italian Eggplants are so great to slice, roast and put on pizza or in a calzone. You can even roast and freeze them for winter pizza nights.

Snacks & Treats

I linked to this Smoky Eggplant Dip last week, but I neglected to tell you that you can prepare the eggplant by charring and baking it, scrape it from it’s skin, then freeze it. In March, when you have no idea what to eat, you’ll be able to dig it out from your freezer and have an instant party.

We’re having dinner at a friend’s house tomorrow night and I’m tasked with bringing dessert. I searched for a dessert that would use cabbage (there are three heads staring me in my fridge), but I was unsuccessful. I figured no one really wants to eat cabbage for dessert anyway, so I’m going to make a Peach & Blueberry Galette instead.

Preserving Notes

Don’t forget to freeze some corn! Corn is my favorite thing to pull out of the freezer in the dark winter months. Shuck it, blanch it on the cob for 3 minutes, put in an ice bath for 3 minutes, then cut the kernals off the cob. Save the cobs for broth later, and measure your corn into freezer baggies. Your winter self will thank you.

Cherry tomatoes come in faster than you can eat them, especially if you - like me - have several volunteer plants popping up in your yard. These slow-roasted tomatoes are my favorite trick. I end up with jars of them in the freezer every year, and they are a wonderful addition to just about anything. I love pairing them with Zucchini Butter on toast or in a crepe.

The choices for amazing food are endless this time of year. I’d love to hear what you’re making this week!