A Girl and Her Fig Tree

That's me! Yes, I have a fig tree in my back yard... yes, figs do grow in baltimore... and yes, figs are real fresh, fruits (not just in fig newtons). The woman who used to live in the house years ago apparently had quite a green thumb (so we hear from other neighbors) and she planted this wonderful fig tree in the back year near the car port that produces more figs than you can imagine.. it's like the community fig tree. Well anyways, before I moved into my house over three years ago, I had never had a fresh fig before and didn't know what I was going to do with a whole tree full of them! But with some experimentation, creativity and determination not to let this precious gift of fig abundance go to waste.. and now after three full seasons of working with them.. I like to think of myself as a fig connoisseur of sorts.  I await their arrival in mid-August with great anticipation every year, and then before I know it, I am out picking bowls and bowls of fresh figs almost every day for a couple weeks and have more figs than even I know what to do with! Any roommates who've ever lived in the house with me (and there have been many wonderful people in and out of this house) can attest to the craziness of fig season when we just have figs everywhere and I'm trying to figure out anyway possible to use them up. Fig jam, fig bread, fig cookies, fig pizza, roasted figs, figs in oatmeal... you name it. I usually start off making big batches of fig jam, experimenting with different flavor combinations for each batch, then jar it up to either give away to friends and family or anyone who will take them, or just to keep in my freezer to use throughout the year in fun and creative ways.

Below are three of my go-to fig recipes. I know fresh figs are sometimes hard to find in stores and can get expensive, but they are usually more easily available this time of year, so if you've never tried fresh figs before, now is the time. And if you have fresh figs or access to a neighbor's fig tree (mine is totally open for picking to any of you in baltimore!) and just need to figure out what the heck to do with them, hopefully these recipes will help! Enjoy!

Lemony Fig Jam
There is no real precision to this recipe, all you really need is fresh figs, a lemon, some honey or brown sugar (or whatever sweetener you prefer) and lemon balm (a wonderfully fragrant herb) if you have it. I also don't even add pectin, so I guess this can't really be considered a jam or jelly, but more of a thickened sauce or fig butter type thing. Whatever you want to call it, it's delicious either way!

Just wash and cut the figs into halves or quarters to fill up a big pot (you can also make smaller batches if you only have a few). Then add the juice and zest of one lemon, and your sweetener of choice, and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally until the figs have cooked down quite a bit and are starting to thicken up. Add some chopped up lemon balm (no worries if you don't have this) and then use an immersion mixer or blender to puree the figs until smooth. If you want to go through the actual jarring process at this point you can, or I usually just let it cool down and put it into jars to be kept in the refrigerator for a week or two, or in the freezer for several months. This tastes awesome just spread over toast or crackers, with some aged cheddar or goat cheese, or you could mix it into your oatmeal, or use like applesauce in your quick breads.

Fig Drop Cookies
As most of you know, I'm not much of a baker due to my lack of precision and patience, but I am a good anti-baker rebel who just likes to throw a bunch of things into bowl, mix it up, bake it, and hope it tastes good. Well that's how this recipe came about and with some tweaking, I must say... these are some pretty darn delicious.. and even pretty healthy... no-fuss cookies. I unfortunately forgot to take more pictures (got too distracted eating the cookies), so this is all I have, but you'll get the gist.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup butter, softened (just use the real deal, preferably organic, butter.. it's only a little bit)

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup fig jam (goes in the actual batter... you can use store bought or make your own, or even substitute applesauce)

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 cup almond meal (if you don't have this, just use all whole wheat flour)

1/4 cup ground flaxseed (gotta get those omega 3s!) 

1/4 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp lemon zest

1 pinch salt

about 1 cup or so of fig jam to drop onto the cookies (you can really use whatever flavor of jam you'd like!)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. In a large bowl, beat together butter, brown sugar, eggs, and jam until creamy

3. Add flour, almond meal, flax, baking soda, baking powder, lemon zest and salt, beating until blended.

4. Use a tablespoon to drop dough onto a greased cookie sheet. 

5. Make an imprint in each cookie either using your thumb or the back of a spoon (may need to grease the spoon so dough won't stick to it) and drop a dollop of jam onto each cookie.

6. Bake for about 10-12 minutes or until the edges start becoming brown. ENJOY!

THE ULTIMATE FIG PIZZA

Hands down the most mouth-watering, irresistible, sensational pizza you will ever have in your life! Seriously, this is the real deal. I know you wouldn't usually think about putting figs on pizza, but the sweetness of the figs and the saltiness of prosciutto and the creamy, tanginess of the goat cheese all just go together so unbelievably well. This is a must, must, must-try pizza. And if you don't have the figs to make it yourself, if you ever go to a pizza place that offer a fig pizza of any kind, you gotta at least try it once! 

1. I just used a pizza dough that I bought from Iggie's, a fantastic pizza place in Baltimore (most pizza restaurants let you buy plain dough), but you can either make your own or used store bought dough. Just roll the dough out onto a cookie sheet or pizza pan and bake in the oven for a few minutes at about 400 degrees for extra crispy crust. 

2. Take out the dough and spread a thin layer of fig jam on the pizza (no tomato sauce on this pizza.. all figs baby!)

3. Top with sliced fresh figs, crumbled goat cheese, prosciutto (thinly sliced, cured ham) and freshly chopped rosemary. 

4. Bake until bubbly and crispy. Et voila! This is a real crowd-pleaser and conversation starter.. good way to impress your date or group of friends. Gotta try it! 

Favorite Summer Salads

Can you believe it's already August?? Where has the summer gone?! Last time I wrote a blog post was on Memorial Day at the end of May, then I started my dietetic internship in June, and next thing I know it's August 6 and summer is almost coming to an end. How did I let this happen?? This dietetic internship has pretty much taken over my life, and it will most likely continue to consume me until the end of January when it's finally over; BUT I can't go all summer without posting some of my favorite summer salad recipes. Even though I've been busy, I still have managed to find time to cook up some fun dishes with inspiration from the farmers' market, which is just out of this world at this time of the year. Corn, tomatoes, peppers, watermelon, cucumbers... you name it- it's there. These two dishes I've shared below are made up of the best combinations of summer vegetables and flavors.. I can't make it through summer without making both of these!! I promise you will enjoy them!

RAW CORN AND BLACK BEAN SALAD
I have to give my new roommate, Mia, props for helping me out big time with this one. Her and I are masterminds in the kitchen and we just work so well together to come up with the craziest, most delicious dishes ever. And this one sure didn't disappoint. We just sat out on our back porch one cool summer night, drinking some Boordy wine and chopping up veggies to throw into the mixing bowl et voila! You can choose to cook the corn (steam, boil, grill) if you want, or just skip that step entirely and just throw it in raw!

INGREDIENTS:
(For one large bowl's worth)
3-4 ears of corn,
1 can of black beans, drained and washed
1-2 green peppers, chopped
Few tablespoons of scallions, chopped fine
1 small onion (red or white), chopped
Few handful of cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
LOTS of fresh squeezed lime juice
~2 tablespoons extra virigin olive oil
Few tablespoons of chopped cilantro
Few dashes of cumin
Salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:
1. Carefully shave the corn off of the stalk with a serrated knife and place into a large bowl.
2. Add in the chopped peppers, scallions, onions and have fun getting messy mixing it with your hands!

3. Add in the tomatoes, olive oil, cilantro, cumin and salt/pepper, and squeeze in lots of fresh lime juice. Adjust seasonings as necessary and ENJOY!

PANZANELLA (Italian Bread Salad)

I first saw a few of the food network stars (Giada, Tyler Florence, Rachel Ray..  pretty much all of them) make this salad on TV a few years back, and so I had to try it at home. And let me tell you - I've been hooked ever since. I know that having huge chunks of bread in a salad that doesn't even have lettuce in it is kind of a strange concept in the US, but apparently this is an Italian classic, and I think the Italians got it right on this one.  The flavors and colors of this salad are the epitome of summer to me and I'm pretty sure I could eat this dish every day for the rest of my life and be a happy camper. What's great about this salad, as with the corn salad above, you can't go wrong with the proportions of ingredients and you can throw in whatever summer veggies you've got. That's the way I like to cook! Seriously- you gotta try it!

INGREDIENTS:
(for a large bowl's worth)

1/2-1 loaf of day old bread (any kind will do.. a GREAT way to use old bread!)

3 large tomatoes (any color.. I have gorgeous yellow ones in this picture)

2 large peppers (again.. any color. The more colors the better!)

1/2 red onion

2 cucumbers

LOTS of basil

1/2 cup feta cheese

2 tblsp extra virgin olive oil

3 tblsp red wine vinegar

Salt/pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1. First make the croutons, starting by preheating the oven to 350 degrees. Cut up the loaf of bread into chunks (I like having big chunks, but any size is fine) and spread onto a baking pan. Lightly toss with olive oil, salt/pepper and bake for about 20min or until golden brown and crispy. 

2. While the croutons are baking, chop up the tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and onions into roughly the same size chunks as the bread (This is supposed to be a rustic, chunky salad) and toss into a large bowl.

3. Chop up lots of fresh basil and add to bowl, along with feta cheese and salt/pepper. 

4. Once the croutons are done and have cooled slightly, add them to the bowl. Toss into salad and add olive oil and red wine vinegar. The croutons will soak up all the great flavors in this delicious, hearty, healthy, one-bowl meal! ENJOY!

Have a "BERRY" fun Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day! I hope everyone has been enjoying this beautiful, long weekend and kick-off to summer! I know I sure have. I finished up my graduate classes (last classes ever?!?) on the 19th and have had some time off before taking my comprehensive exam this Thursday and then starting my dietetic internship on June 6th. Gosh, it's been so nice to have some real free time this past week to catch up with life! I'm looking forward to a change of pace and getting hands-on experience with my internship, though I can't say that I'm really excited about 40hr work weeks, plus extra assignments, non-stop until January... intense! But the program will be over before I know it and then I can start actually thinking about my wedding, getting a real job, and just starting my new life! Lots of changes, but I always look forward to new challenges and experiences. 


Enough about me.. let's talk food! One great thing about being done with classes is having more time to cook and experiment with new foods. And what better time than right now when the seasons are changing and copious amounts of gorgeous, fresh fruits and vegetables are available at the farmers' markets?! Strawberries, in particular, are booming right now and I couldn't be happier! Not only are strawberries so sweet and succulent (who doesn't LOVE strawberries??), but they are also packed with tons of health-promoting nutrients. Buy them from your local farmers' market while they are still in season to taste the deliciousness of freshly picked, local berries. Yum! Below are two very season-appropriate recipes using strawberries that I think you'll love! 


RED WINE SANGRIA WITH STRAWBERRIES, APPLES, AND ORANGES

What better way to celebrate Memorial Day than to make a fresh batch of sangria to cool you down after a hot day or to wash down all those grill foods? Sangria is one of my favorite drinks, especially during this time of year, and I love how forgiving, flexible and delicious this recipe is. Just use what you have and adjust the tastes to your liking! I personally don't like my sangria too sweet (most recipes call for some kind of fruit juice or sprite), so I just use a splash of triple sec to sweeten it up and add club soda for that extra spritz. You can also make it a few hours ahead of time and keep it chilled to let all the fruit soak into the wine for even more flavor.


Ingredients:
Red or white wine
Few splashes of brandy
Few splashes of triple sec
Club soda to make it spritzy
Chopped fruit: Apples, oranges, and strawberries!


Directions:
1. Mix all ingredients in a large punch bowl or pitcher.
2. Pour over a glass of ice and enjoy! Eating the wine-soaked fruit out of the glass is my favorite part!

STRAWBERRY RHUBARB APPLESAUCE

This is another one of my favorite recipes to make once strawberries and rhubarb hit the farmers' market. The strawberries add great sweetness and flavor to the applesauce, while the rhubarb adds just a bit of tartness.. it's a really yummy combination. Rhubarb is a really fun, unique plant that grows in stalks and almost looks like pink celery. It's traditionally used in pies and other sweet desserts because of it's great tangy and tart flavor.  You just chop it the stalks into thin pieces and add it to the pot.

You can refer to my recipe for plain applesauce here. This one is pretty much the same but with strawberries and rhubarb added. Again, the proportions are totally up to you; you really can't go wrong with making applesauce.. it's all just about how you like it! Just chop up all the ingredients, throw them in a pot with some citrus (lemon or orange juice), cook until soft and mushy, then blend. I like to leave the skins on the apples for extra texture and nutrients, but you can choose to peel the apples beforehand if you'd like. And depending on how chunky you like you applesauce, you can decide how much to blend. Also feel free to experiment with adding spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, etc), different kinds of citrus (lemon, orange, etc), and different kinds of sweetners (agave, honey, maple, etc). The possibilities are endless!

Throw everything in a pot and cook for about 20-30 min stirring every few minutes until it look something like this...

Then use an immersion blender or processor to blend the applesauce to your desired consistency.

Serve warm or refrigerate and serve cold. Great snack by itself or with yogurt. Enjoy!