Category: Healthy

Dill! Biscuits and Vegetable Salad

Published on by meteaandlucy3 Comments

The other day I got a bunch of fresh dill, and I have been making good use of it ever since.  Two of the better things I made were dill buttermilk biscuits and a dill vegetable salad.  Both reminded me that once again summer will come, as will my organic farm share, and I will be able to eat fresh herbs and vegetables all the time.  I can’t wait!

Dill Buttermilk Biscuits:

This recipe makes about 6 biscuits.  It is made in the food processor so it is nice and easy.  It is important that you eat this biscuits right away; that is when they taste by far the best.

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 T. fresh dill (can use more or less depending on taste)

1/4 cup buttermilk (can use sour milk if you don’t have buttermilk)

1 T. sugar

2 t. baking powder

3/4 t. salt

1/2 t. baking soda

1 stick butter, cut into 8 pieces

a little more than 1/2 c. whole milk

Method:

Heat the oven to 450 degrees

Pulse the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a food processor to combine.  Scatter the butter over the dry ingredients. Pulse until it looks like course meal.

Transfer the flour/butter mixture into a bowl.  Pour the milks over it and stir until the dough comes together.  Be careful not to over mix! Pour out the dough and knead for about 30 seconds.

Using a biscuit cutter, or in my case, a low ball bourbon glass, cut circles out of the dough.  It should be about 1 inch thick and 2 and a half inches wide.  Space them out on a cookie sheet and bake for 5 minutes at 450, then reduce the heat to 400 and bake another 12-15 minutes.

Cool slightly on a wire rack.  But do eat while still warm, they are much much better.

We made little sandwiches out of these biscuits.  We put ham, dill mustard, and white cheddar on them.

Vegetable Salad

I have made this salad many times, but I had never made it with dill before (usually I use tarragon or sage).  It is a great salad that you can make with a variety of different vegetables.  This time I used broccoli, cauliflower, and black olives, but other favorites include orange peppers and artichokes.

1/2 head of broccoli

1/2 head of cauliflower

2/3 can of black olives

1/3 cup olive oil

1/2 cup vinegar (I generally use white wine vinegar, but you can use whatever kind you like most, though I would avoid balsamic)

3 T. mustard (for this recipe I used dill mustard)

1 T. sugar

salt and pepper to taste

Steam the vegetables so they are still crisp.  You can use a steamer if you have one.  Since I do not, I put a strainer in a pot of water and steam them that way.  It works pretty well.

I mix all the non-vegetable ingredients together with an immersion blender, a regular blender would work just fine.  Pour it over the steamed vegetables and let marinade for at least three hours in the fridge.

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Turkey Chili

Published on by meteaandlucy1 Comment

I had a few bell peppers I needed to use up, so I decided to make some chili for dinner.  I rarely use a recipe for chili, and some are much better than others.  This one tonight was a win.  I realized that my most common mistake is using too much liquid, so I put in much less than I thought it needed, and it turned out perfect.  Not only is this chili tasty, but it is very healthy.

1 pound ground turkey (I use 93/7 fat content)

1/2 orange bell pepper

1/2 green bell pepper

1/2 red bell pepper

1 large onion

1 large carrot

1 large celery stalk

2 T. olive oil

3 cloves garlic

2 T. chili powder

1 T. cumin

2 t. salt

1 t. black pepper

1 T. white sugar

1-28oz can crushed tomatoes

4 c. vegetable stock

1/2 pound dried black beans soaked and boiled

A few splashes of hot sauce

Cook ground turkey over medium-high heat until done.

Chop peppers, onions, celery, and carrot.

Remove cooked turkey from pan and sauté vegetables in some olive oil.

Once vegetables are tender and a bit brown, add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Add spices to the pan.  Adding the spices to the pan before adding liquid brings out the flavors.  Add the  can of crushed tomatoes and vegetable stock (you could use chicken stock if you would rather).

Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes.  Add the black beans.  Simmer for another 5 minutes.

Serve with sour cream, cheese, and some corn chips.

Variations: Feel free to use ground beef instead of turkey.  To vary the amount of spice, add hot chilis and/or more hot sauce.  I will often use jalapenos, pablanos, and anaheim peppers, but any pepper of your choice is fine.