Tag Archives: food blog

Heirloom & Edamame Salad

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Heirloom Edamame Salad

If you’ve read my previous post, then you know that I just harvested an array of  multicolored Heirloom tomatoes from the garden. All shapes, colors and sizes: Cherokee Purples, Yellow Valencia, Purple Russian and Oxacan Jewels just to name a few. Since these vibrant beauties are ripe and ready to eat, I’ve decided to add them to as many dishes as possible this week.  Therefore, for today’s post I married the Heirlooms with one of my favorite snacks: edamame. Healthy, easy to make and gorgeous to look at, this is the perfect salad to enjoy during the warm days of summer.

Tomatoes

Heirloom Tomato &  Edamame Salad

2 cups edamame, cooked and cooled
Heirloom Tomatoes, chopped (I used 6 small tomatoes)
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 tablespoon olive oil (if you have sesame oil that would be a great substitution)
Green onions, chopped
Sea salt, to taste

Combine all ingredients and serve immediately.

Heirloom Edamame Salad

Enjoy~ Crystal

Heirloom Tomato, Peach & Fresh Mozzarella Crostini

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Tomato Peach Crostinis

Over the weekend I spent some time working in the garden with my pops – weeding, picking oranges, checking sugar levels on the wine grapes and harvesting a large batch of heirloom tomatoes.

Homegrown Heirloom Tomatoes

I absolutely LOVE heirlooms due to their refreshing and sweet flavor and unique colors and shapes.  Now what to do with this batch of colorful beauties? Recently I experience a delicious dish from French Blue in St. Helena, California which inspired tonight’s appetizer. They offer this irresistible house made farmers cheese over grilled bread topped with strawberries and tomatoes. It’s to die for. So, that is the inspiration to this Heirloom, Peach and Fresh Mozzarella crostini. Sweet and savory, this is the perfect summertime appetizer.

Heirloom Tomato, Peach &  Fresh Mozzarella Crostini

3 – 4 small / medium heirloom tomatoes (or 1 large one), sliced
1 large peach, thinly sliced
Fresh mozzarella, sliced
Fresh basil leaves, chiffonade
Balsamic vinegar, for drizzling
Baguette of your choice (I used Casa LaBelle Rustic Baguette)
Olive oil
Salt & Pepper

Heirloom Tomato Crostini

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. Slice baguette into 1/2 inch slices and coat with olive oil. Season lightly with salt & pepper and bake them for about 8 – 10 minutes until golden brown. Remove crostini’s from the oven and layer with a peach slice, tomato and mozzarella. Drizzle balsamic vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

How to Make Tomato Crostini

Ingredients used:

  • Casa LaBelle Bread – Casa LaBelle is a small bakery located in the tiny resort town of Monte Rio in Sonoma County.
  • Peach, Mozzarella and Sweet Basil – Mike’s Truck Garden (one of my favorite local produce stands)
  • Heirloom Tomatoes – homegrown and straight from the garden.

Enjoy! ~Crystal

Pearl Couscous Avocado-Plum Salad

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Plum Avocado SaladA few weekends ago  I picked a large basket of ripe plums from the backyard and OH MY…. they were delicious! In the past, we’ve made plum jam, chilled plum soup, plum butter, etc. but as I was browsing for inspiration on what to do next with the plums I came across a simple and tasty recipe from Valentina’s blog cookingontheweekends.com.  I didn’t have black quinoa or mixed baby greens, as her recipe suggested, so I swapped it for pear couscous and baby spinach instead.

This salad was not only tantalizing to look at, but it was delicious and SO easy to make . The bright acidity in the dressing matched with the sweetness in the plums make this the PERFECT summer treat!

Freshly picked plums and a cup of pear couscous.

Freshly picked plums and a cup of pearl couscous.

Click here for the recipe from Valentina’s blog. Enjoy! ~Crystal