Tomato-Goat Cheese Tart

I made this over the 4th of July, and loved the simplicity of it.  This super delicious, cheesy tart comes together quickly, takes advantage of the lovely summer tomatoes, and looks impressive enough for company.  As the saying goes, it’s easy as pie.  I think this would also work well as a galette…which might make it perfect for making at the beach, where pie pans are not always available, but the most delicious farm-stand tomatoes are.  Plain goat cheese gets some extra flavor from rosemary and lemon zest.  You want to be careful to squeeze out the seeds/juice from the tomatoes before layering them on the pie.  Too much liquid and the pie will be soggy.

Tomato-Goat Cheese Tart

Serves 8

Adapted from The Endless Meal

• 1 pie crust (I like Pillsbury)
• 4-5 large tomatoes, cut off the top and squeeze out liquid then slice
• 1 cup goat cheese
• 2 tsp dried rosemary (or twice as much fresh, chopped)
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 lemon, zested

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line 9″ pie dish with pie crust and pierce the bottom with a fork.  Set aside.

In a bowl, beat together goat cheese, rosemary, salt and lemon zest.  Layer goat cheese mixture into the bottom of the prepared pie.

Cut the tops of the tomatoes off and carefully squeeze the juice/seeds out.  Slice tomatoes.  Layer tomatoes on top of the goat cheese layer, until pie is filled.  Sprinkle with a little kosher salt.

Bake for 40-45 minutes, until crust is golden and tomatoes are soft.  Remove from oven and let stand for at least 30 minutes before serving (I couldn’t wait that long, so my slices kind of fell apart, but they still tasted delicious!).

Blackberry Goat Cheese Salad

After a lovely holiday weekend celebrating and hanging out with family, I’m ready for some lighter food.  It was delicious weekend, but I totally stuffed myself.  If you too are coming off a celebratory weekend, let me suggest this Blackberry Goat Cheese Salad.  This hardly qualifies as a recipe, but it’s a super delicious combination and perfect for the summer when blackberries are reaching their peak perfection.  Don’t have blackberries?  This would be equally awesome with strawberries or blueberries or peaches!  It’s definitely the perfect end to a perfect weekend with family.

Blackberry Goat Cheese Salad

• spinach
• cabbage
• cucumbers
• red bell pepper
• carrots
• blackberries
• goat cheese

Combine ingredients in a large bowl, serve with favorite balsamic vinaigrette (like the one below).

 

Balsamic Vinaigrette

Makes about 1 1/2 cups

Adapted from Happy Foody

• 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 6 Tbsp balsamic vinegar  (white balsamic also works)
• 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 Tbsp blue agave (or maple syrup or honey)
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 3 cloves garlic, grated
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 1 Tbsp dried oregano

Combine all the ingredients in a blender or magic bullet and mix until combined.

Fried Egg Sandwich

So, real life is keeping me from spending much time on menu planning, grocery shopping and cooking, so today you get a real life recipe.  This is what I’ve been eating this week.  It’s one of those super easy dishes that you come up with when you’re staring at your fridge trying to figure out what you can throw together in about 10 minutes.  For me, this usually involves eggs.  I prefer to eat eggs for lunch or dinner, since even scrambling eggs feels like too much work in the morning and I usually prefer something sweet early in the day.  And the best eggs involve a runny yolk!  Yum!  However, if you’re not into that kind of deliciousness, just give the eggs a little longer in the skillet to your desired done-ness.  Also, I simply can’t have eggs without dill, it’s a wonderful combination.

I also use the word sandwich here loosely…open-faced sandwiches are best in my mind, so if I’m eating at home, it’s going to be an open-faced sandwich, the proportions are just better when you can pile on the toppings without weighing it down with too much bread per bite.

Fried Egg Sandwich

Serves 1

• 2 eggs
• salt, pepper, and dill to taste
• 2 slices bread (I prefer rosemary or olive bread, but whatever floats your boat)
• goat cheese (or favorite cheese)
• handful of spinach or arugula

Crack both eggs into a small non-stick skillet that has been sprayed lightly with cooking spray, and season with salt, pepper and dill.  Cook over medium-high heat for about 1 1/2 minutes, or until the egg has turned white and it starts to bubble.  While it’s cooking, toast your bread.  Once the egg appears cooked, carefully flip the eggs.  If you like a runny yolk, I recommend turning off the heat now and just letting it sit on the hot burner while you prepare the rest of your sandwich.  If you want it done a little more, let it cook for 30-60 seconds and then remove from heat.  When your toast is done, spread your goat cheese over both slices (if you’re using a harder cheese, I’d recommend melting it in the toaster while you’re toasting your bread (assuming you have a toaster oven)).  Pile on some spinach, and then top with the fried eggs.

 

Savory Turkey Stuffed Peppers

Dinner last night was a bit of a cleaning out of the fridge.  We had some veggies that needed to be eaten, some ground turkey that needed to be used or frozen, and a bunch of bell peppers.  Naturally stuffed peppers came to mind.  Figuring out what to stuff in a pepper takes a little creativity.  I knew I wanted a whole grain involved, but I didn’t want to spend a lot of time cooking up barley or something.  I like having something kind of creamy/cheesy in my peppers.  I knew I had the protein covered with the ground turkey.  And I always like to have as many veggies as possible in any meal.  So those were my guidelines.  I did a little bit of recipe searching and found a basic recipe to follow for quantities/timing, and lo and behold, dinner was born.  This turned out really well!  I used goat cheese which melted into creamy decadence.  I used quinoa as the grain which adds a lovely nutty flavor and absorbs the creamy melted cheese and the juice from the tomatoes.  I like to cut the peppers in half before filling them so that your pepper is overflowing with filling, but if you prefer the look of a whole pepper being filled that works too.  All and all this turned out perfectly for a use-what-you’ve-got recipe.

Savory Turkey Stuffed Peppers

Serves 6-8

Adapted from Eat, Live, Run

• 3/4 cup quinoa
• 1 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 stalks celery, finely diced
• 6 oz baby bella mushrooms, sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 lb. ground turkey breast
• 1 Tbsp tomato paste
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 (15oz) can diced tomatoes
• 4 oz goat cheese (I had tomato and herb on hand)
• 6 bell peppers, seeded and cut in half
• 2 Tbsp julienned basil, for garnish (optional)

Preheat oven to 400°F.

In a small sauce pan, toast your quinoa over medium-high heat until it starts to pop and smells fragrant, stirring occasionally.  Add water and salt.  Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to simmer for about 10 minutes, or until all the water has been absorbed.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.  Sauté onion, celery and mushrooms until tender.  Add garlic and cook for another minute.  Add turkey, breaking it up with your spatula as it cooks.

Mix in tomato paste and salt.  Stir in tomatoes and goat cheese.  By this time your quinoa should be done, so stir that in as well and remove skillet from heat.  In a nonstick pan, line up your pepper halves, scoop filling into each half.  Cover the pan tightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes.  Remove pan from oven, carefully take off the foil and garnish the peppers with fresh basil.  Serve and enjoy!

 

Kalamata Olive & Sun-Dried Tomato Muffins with a Goat Cheese Center

These muffins were quite tasty.  I’m a big fan of olives, but didn’t find these to have an overwhelming olive taste (so if you don’t like them, don’t be scared; if you do like them, you might add some extra).

Kalamata Olive & Sun-Dried Tomato Muffins with a Goat Cheese Center

Makes 32 muffins:  About 217 calories (7 g protein!)

Adapted from The Best Quick Breads by Beth Hensperger

• 6  3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 6 Tbsp yellow cornmeal
• 2 Tbsp baking powder
• 1  1/2 tsp salt
• 3 cups milk (I used skim)
• 3/4 cup olive oil
• 6 large eggs
• 1 cup pitted black olives, coarsely chopped
• 3/4 cup drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
• 10 ounces plain goat cheese, cut into 32 pieces and rolled into balls

Preheat oven to 375°F.  Grease muffin pans and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt.

In a separate bowl, beat the milk, olive oil, and eggs with a whisk until well mixed.  Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until ingredients are just combined.  Do not overmix!  Gently fold in the olives and tomatoes.

Fill muffin cups halfway, place goat cheese ball in center, then spoon more batter over the top until muffin cups are full.  Bake in the center of the oven for about 15-20 minutes.  A toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean.

Store leftovers in the fridge or freezer.