Make some summer days lazy with this Chicken and Sweet Potato Stew

Lazy summer days? Well, any more, they’re hardly lazy. Summer has its own hectic pace, with so much to do within so little time. After all, July 4th is already passed. Time marches on toward Labor Day and back to school.

But a recipe such as this one, furnished by the Chickasaw Nation Nutrition Services, is just the simplest, so go ahead and be lazy! Throw all ingredients into a slow cooker. The chicken doesn’t even have to be browned beforehand. Open a package of chicken breasts, cut them into chunks, toss in some peeled sweet potatoes and a few other items. Three hours later, dinner’s ready. The chicken, sweet potatoes, and mushrooms make a dandy combination. A few blogs ago I mentioned that I had served Black Bean and Corn Salad alongside this recipe and promised to feature it later. With so many peach dishes to write about in recent days, I almost forgot, but here is it—truly the makings of an easy, healthy dinner to remember.

Chicken and Sweet Potato Stew

4 chicken breasts, cut into chunks (approximately 1 pound)

2 pounds sweet potatoes, cut into chunks

1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced

1/2 cup chopped onion

4 garlic cloves minced

1 cup white cooking wine

1/2 teaspoon rosemary, dried

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 1/2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

Place the chicken, sweet potatoes, mushrooms, onion, garlic, white wine, rosemary, pepper, and vinegar in a 6-quart slow cooker. Stir to combine. Put the lid on and cook on high for 3 hours or until potatoes are tender and chicken is cooked through. Makes 7 1-cup servings.

Pears in a pear tree (minus the partridge) stir up into a memorable breakfast muffin

I’m just not believin’ these delicious pears are really ours—well, not exactly ours, but God’s. He loans us our garden to tend and cultivate. But we sure are having a good time tending and cultivating. And to look at our pear tree, only in its second season, and see all those gorgeous pears dangling from its limbs as though they were Christmas ornaments—well, it just takes my breath away.

I’ve got just the recipe in which to use them, too—Pear Pecan Muffins, clipped from a 2002 Taste of Home magazine that featured every kind of muffin under the sun. Any time I have some pears on hand, I whip these up. The pear chunks merged with our homegrown pecans stir into what becomes a marvelous breakfast treat—terrific with a glass of cold milk or a steaming cup of coffee or tea.

When you first mix up the batter, you may wonder why it doesn’t seem more moist. The batter doesn’t pour into the greased muffin cups. You kinda have to massage it in, just as you might spoon cookie dough onto a cookie sheet and sorta shape it as you go. What happens is that as the muffins bake, the juice from the pears oozes into the batter. This actually produces a very moist muffin. If it’s somewhat on the crumbly side, don’t despair. The muffin itself is like an all-over streusel topping that has baked around the pears.

I used this as a Saturday morning treat to jumpstart a busy weekend with kinfolk visiting. I wanted to share with them some of our backyard garden’s finest.

Pear Pecan Muffins

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar (or sugar substitute)

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt (or salt substitute)

2 eggs (or 1/2 cup egg substitute)

1 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 cups chopped peeled ripe pears (about 6 medium)

1 cup chopped pecans

In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. In another bowl combine the eggs, oil, and vanilla; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in the pears and pecans. Fill muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick emerges clean. Cool for 5 minutes before you remove muffins from pans to wire racks. Makes about 2 dozen.

Green Tomatoes (this time in a burger) just keep happy-ing up our lives

Green tomatoes are wriggling their way into just about everything on our dinner table this summer. After Southern Living in a back issue featured inventive ways to use this delicacy, then in its most recent edition it slipped in another green-tomato recipe: Green Tomato Feta Burgers. As I’ve already blogged, I love nothing better than a hamburger and always seek ways to put a new twist on them. This did it!

The magazine first featured a recipe for Best Turkey Burgers, which forms the basis for the other burger dress-ups that follow. The basic burger involves ground turkey, salt or salt substitute, lemon zest, mayo, and fresh parsley.

Then, for the reset of the story, SL recommended adding a container of feta cheese, red onion, and minced oregano. Burger patties shaped from this mixture then go on the grill. A word of warning that because these are turkey burgers, their ability to stay constituted into a pattie and not crumble is compromised a little, so better use a greased piece of aluminum foil or a grilling pan to help hold them together.

The result was a burger to end all burgers, warm and even a little crusty from the grill. And where do the green tomatoes, straight from my garden’s tomato rows, fit in? They’re toppings along with a thinly sliced cucumber (I used an avocado instead) and a shake of red pepper flakes.

As the magazine touts, this recipe takes this backyard basic to new heights. Even the crumbly parts that didn’t make the core pattie were wonders to behold.

Green Tomato-Feta Burger

2 pounds lean ground turkey

1 teaspoon salt (or salt substitute)

1 teaspoon lemon zest

1/2 cup lite mayonnaise

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1 (4-ounce) container crumbled feta cheese

1 tablespoon finely minced red onion

1 teaspoon minced oregano

Preheat grill to 350 to 400 degrees (medium-high) heat. Combine ingredients gently. Shape mixture into 6 (5-inch) patties. Grill, covered with grill lid, 6 to 7 minutes on each side or until a meat thermometer inserted into thickest portion registers 170 degrees. Top each burger with sliced green tomatoes, lettuce, thinly sliced cucumber or avocado, a pinch of dried crushed red pepper, and a fresh dill sprig.

Asian Salmon Burgers—a healthy twist to the burger "gotta-have"s

I’ve already established that I’m a nut-case for burgers. I acquired this tendency honestly. Practically until her dying day at 93 my mother had to have her cheeseburgers. If she knew I were heading out for an errand, she’d ask whether I’d be near a Burger Street or Braum’s so I could bring her back a juicy meat patty stuffed between two buns (always with onions). “And don’t hold the onions,” she’d instruct as I was about to walk out the door.

Burgers, however, get a bum rap these days. Greasy, juicy ground beef isn’t seen as the healthiest option. Fortunately other ways exist to help scratch the burger itch.

I loved this recipe for Asian Salmon Burgers that I found in Prevention magazine’s June issue.

Skinless salmon fillet along with bread crumbs, green onions, and several other ingredients are processed in a food processor until the mixture is coarsely chopped. Grilling in a large nonstick frying pan (coated with cooking spray) for about 10 minutes, 5 on each side, is a better alternative to using a countertop grill because it keeps the meat mixture from falling apart. A tip that appears in Prevention recommends holding off flipping a burger until it’s thoroughly ready; flipping too soon is what causes a burger to crumble.

We just loved these very different, healthy burgers with an Asian twist.

Asian Salmon Burgers

1 pound skinless salmon fillet, cut into chunks

1/4 cup fresh whole wheat bread crumbs

1 large egg white

2 large cloves garlic, chopped

2 teaspoons reduced-sodium soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon dark sesame oil

2 green onions, chopped

4 tablespoons pickled ginger

2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds

1/4 cup baby spinach

4 whole-wheat buns, toasted

Put salmon, bread crumbs, egg, garlic, soy sauce, oil, green onions, and 2 tablespoons of the ginger in food processor. Pulse until coarsely chopped. Form into 4 equal patties. Sprinkle tops with sesame seeds. Heat large nonstick frying pan coated with cooking spray over medium heat. Put patties sesame-seed-side down in pan. Cook 5 minutes. Flip and cook until done, 5 minutes longer. Serve burgers on buns and top with spinach and remaining 2 tablespoons pickled ginger. Makes 4 servings.

Thick, rich homemade tomato juice a fitting use for tomatoes by the bucketloads

Doesn’t the photo at left look like something you want to stand up and salute? No, this Tomato Mary wasn’t a part of our recent Fourth celebration, but it was made in anticipation of another great event—the planned arrival this afternoon of Hubby’s sister, Mary, and her husband, Richard. They’re traveling on motorbikes and riding from Oklahoma down to the Dallas area to see us. We’re rejoicing at that (and praying for their safety).

Tomato Mary is a recipe that hails from my cookbook, Way Back in the Country Garden. Seems as though it would be the perfect pick-me-up to serve these loved ones after their arduous trip. Because we’re absolutely COVERED UP in tomatoes from our garden, I was thrilled that I can use up a passel of tomatoes at one time (Tomato Mary calls for 10).

You can’t beat the ease of this thing. First you core and dice the tomatoes and dump them into a large kettle. Then add the leaves from a couple of celery stalks (not the celery itself; just the leaves), onion slices, a bay leaf, vinegar, sugar, and salt. This simmers on the stove for 30 minutes. After it cools, pour the tomato mixture into a blender container. Pulse until the ingredients are pureed and the liquid thickens.

You’ll be staggered at the rich, thick juice—far more flavorful than anything canned you can purchase. This vibrant, nonalcoholic drink can be seasoned with a squeeze of lemon and a squirt of hot pepper sauce.

Tomato Mary

10 tomatoes, diced

1/4 cup vinegar

1 teaspoon sugar (or sugar substitute)

1 teaspoon salt (or salt substitute)

1 bay leaf

2 shoots celery leaves

2 slices sweet onion

Bring all ingredients to a boil. Then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Allow mixture to cool. Pour into blender container; pulse for as long as necessary to make a puree of the vegetables. Seal in sterilized pint jars or refrigerate as long as 5 days. Serve in a tall glass; garnish with a celery stick or sprig of herbs.

This summery, fresh Pico de Gallo perks up just about anything

While I’m on the subject of tuna (i.e. yesterday’s blog and the great Tuna Grape Salad), let me tell you about another goodie—a Pico de Gallo that recently we used to dress up tuna steaks.

The recipe for this relish arrived with our Kroger grocery circular—surely one of the best recipe sources I’ve found. All the ingredients were from the garden. The only things I didn’t simply walk out my back door and pluck were the cilantro and cucumber; these were from the store right at this time. We had no cukes sprout up this year, unfortunately.

But tomatoes we have by the bucketloads; I was thrilled to see that this called for 6 to 8 of them. This is our first year to have our own red onions; as a result we’ve been using red onions in everything. Last night Hubby asked, “Before now, did we really use red onions this much?” Not really, because we didn’t have them nearby. Now they’re only a few steps away.

So we combined them with the tomatoes, green bell pepper, cucumber, cilantro, jalapenos, cilantro, and lime juice and topped our steaming tuna with the mixture, but oh how the sky is the limit with the ways this relish can be used! I can imagine this topping chicken, steaks, or eggs or served with tortilla or bagel chips.

All my fresh tomatoes just sing in this vibrant dish that features all that’s good about summer.

Pico de Gallo

6-8 large tomatoes, cored and chopped

1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped

1 large red onion, chopped

1 large cucumber, seeded and chopped

2-3 jalapeno chilies, seeded and finely chopped

1 bunch fresh cilantro, finely chopped

1/4 to 1/2 cup lime juice

salt (or salt substitute) to taste

In a bowl combine the tomatoes, bell pepper, onion, cucumber, jalapeno chilies, cilantro, and lime juice. Season with salt or salt substitute. If desired add additional lime juice and jalapeno. Makes 24 servings. Refrigerate any leftovers.

Retiring the ho-hum tuna sandwich spread in favor of this lively dish

Its title was Tuna Grape Salad, but in our book, it just as easily could be Tuna GREAT Salad. Just so many ways exist to dress up the base element of a tuna sandwich, but this is one of the best combos I’ve tried.

Tuna, red grapes, onion, green onion, celery, chopped almonds, and curry for seasoning set this mixture apart as a spread on a sandwich or an elegant salad on a buffet table. In fact, to style this accompanying photo, I poured the salad into the one of the fanciest serving dishes I own. It looked right at home in the hobnail glass. Hard to find a salad that’s just as comfortable between two slices of bread as it is ready to serve to an uptown ladies’ lunch.

To think that when I was growing up, I disdained tuna sandwiches and rolled my eyes whenever my mom put them on the table. For shame!

My undying thanks to “Celebrating a Healthy Harvest” cookbook for suggesting this dish under its “grape” category.

Tuna Grape Salad

2 (4-ounce) cans chunk light tuna, drained

2 cups red grapes, halved

1/4 cup plain nonfat yogurt

1/4 cup lite mayonnaise

2 teaspoon yellow curry powder

2 tablespoons green onions, sliced

1/4 cup chopped almonds

2 tablespoons onion, minced

1 cup celery, diced

Mix all ingredients. Serve on bread or with crackers or chips.