Wednesday
Sep122012
The Internet Made My Dinner
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Six months ago, we were full of hope as we opened packets of seeds from Cubits and planted them in trays. We watched as they grew from sprouts to seedlings to plants. We tried to be patient as the little green tomatoes appeared, grew, and eventually (oh so slowly) started to ripen. Our patience finally paid off and for the past month or so, we've been harvesting and eating the fruits of our labour.
We planted fourteen different varieties of tomatoes and have also purchased some from our friend and local organic micro farmer at Jardins Kowalik Gardens. This picture that I took a few days ago shows some of the varieties that we collected from our garden and his farm.
Today on the way home from work I picked up some chicken. I wasn't sure what I was going to make with it, but thought maybe I'd make some potatoes and a salad. Then, as I was checking twitter, an update popped up for Simple Bites new post. It was a recipe for Skillet Chicken and Zucchini Parmesan. In addition to the tomatoes, I also had some zucchini and had some cheese (although not the parmesan and mozzarella the recipe called for, so I adapted), so I decided to give it a try.
Instead of using Aimee's tomato sauce recipe, I roasted several varieties of tomatoes in the oven with garlic (also from my garden), onion, olive oil and salt and pepper. When they were done roasting, I pureed them to make them into a sauce.
I then followed the recipe, cooking the chicken in the sauce while I sipped some wine on the deck, then adding the zucchini and cheese, and finally finishing it off under the broiler to brown the cheese a bit.
I also made some rice and then served it to my family for dinner.
Thank you to Laura at Cubits and Aimee at Simple Bites for bringing me this wonderful dinner. This delicious meal came together through friendships that I've made online, just as the back to school snack I shared last year did.
The Internet truly can do anything. If it can feed my family, I hope that it can come together to feed some children who are much more in need of a good meal than my privileged children are.
Has the Internet helped you to feed your family?
We planted fourteen different varieties of tomatoes and have also purchased some from our friend and local organic micro farmer at Jardins Kowalik Gardens. This picture that I took a few days ago shows some of the varieties that we collected from our garden and his farm.
Today on the way home from work I picked up some chicken. I wasn't sure what I was going to make with it, but thought maybe I'd make some potatoes and a salad. Then, as I was checking twitter, an update popped up for Simple Bites new post. It was a recipe for Skillet Chicken and Zucchini Parmesan. In addition to the tomatoes, I also had some zucchini and had some cheese (although not the parmesan and mozzarella the recipe called for, so I adapted), so I decided to give it a try.
Instead of using Aimee's tomato sauce recipe, I roasted several varieties of tomatoes in the oven with garlic (also from my garden), onion, olive oil and salt and pepper. When they were done roasting, I pureed them to make them into a sauce.
I then followed the recipe, cooking the chicken in the sauce while I sipped some wine on the deck, then adding the zucchini and cheese, and finally finishing it off under the broiler to brown the cheese a bit.
I also made some rice and then served it to my family for dinner.
Thank you to Laura at Cubits and Aimee at Simple Bites for bringing me this wonderful dinner. This delicious meal came together through friendships that I've made online, just as the back to school snack I shared last year did.
The Internet truly can do anything. If it can feed my family, I hope that it can come together to feed some children who are much more in need of a good meal than my privileged children are.
Has the Internet helped you to feed your family?
Reader Comments (12)
That looks so delicious! Is garlic hard to grow in your garden? I've never heard of anyone around me doing that, but (I think) I probably have a similar climate to you, possible a bit warmer here, so if you can do it, maybe I can too! I'd love to try that next year!!
And I'm stuck on the photo with the glass of wine looking over the lake. Do you live year round on a cottage country lake? Say it isn't so. Or at least, let me congratulate you - that'd be fab!
Yes! I just made zucchini 'linguini' tonight because I saw it on Pinterest or Facebook recently. :)
Garlic is REALLY easy, but you have to do it in the fall. You plant the bulbs and then just wait. You can harvest the scapes in early summer and the garlic itself in late summer.
Yes, we do. It is amazing, except for the sucky rural Internet access.
Love it! :)
Looks delicious! and that view really is to die for. I also love Laura's seeds. My 2.5 year old son eats handfuls of the arugula straight out of the garden.
And in the winter I make sprouts in the kitchen from a seed company out of Saskatchewan who I also found on the internet!
1. I love that you live on a lake. Never knew that.
2. Wine for the cook. Always. We agree on that!
3. Those. Tomatoes. So lovely. Will look into Cubits for sure.
4. Thanks for the shout-out! Dinner looks rustic and delicious.
That looks amazing! We are harvesting our garden bounty as well - zucchinis, cukes and beans were awesome and now the peppers and tomatoes are going gangbusters. I'll be canning, but don't want to do it until all the tomatoes are done, so I prep and freeze them as they come out of the garden and will sauce them later in the fall.
And your view? Lucky girl.
Hubby and I were just contemplating what to do with all of the tomatoes from the garden ... we definitely don't want them to go to waste! This recipes looks so YUM! I, too, didn't know that I could grow garlic easily. Happy to know that! :)
Did you leave all the skins on the roasted tomatoes? Hoping to use up mine as well, but I've found when I leave skins on (and then puree them), I still have crunchy bits of skin left over that aren't too appetizing. Maybe roasting them helps this!
Looks very yummy! I always wondered if I could grow garlic in my garden!