Spicy Chipotle Ketchup

Homemade ketchup made with clean ingredients you can feel good about eating. Last summer I made my own homemade ketchup which turned out so GOOD, I made it again this year... with a twist! I added some chipotle paste to give it some heat, it goes great with turkey burgers or grilled sweet potato fries!

Finally someone came up with a chipotle paste in a tube, perfect since I never use the whole can. The brand is Olo's which I found on Amazon, but of course canned chipotle sauce will work fine here, you'll have to mince the chipotles. 

This is so EASY to make, just put a few ingredients in the sauce pan and let it simmer for 20 minutes. If you are planning on grilling this weekend and you like things a little spicy, give this a try!

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Skinny Basil Pesto

Every summer this time of year the basil plants in my garden are lush and beautiful, full of fragrant leaves I love to pick and add to whatever I'm cooking – a simple garden sauce, an heirloom tomato salad, grilled chicken bruschetta, a lovely summer fish dish, just to name a few dishes. 

Pesto is one of the things I whip up all summer long, but pesto can have a lot of oil and fat when made traditionally which can make a dish heavier than I would want, so to make it skinny I use a bit less oil and leave the pine nuts out and no one ever complains. 

Making pesto at the end of the summer and keeping it in the freezer is also a great way to use up the last of the basil from your garden so that you can enjoy it year round. 

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Easy Garden Tomato Sauce

When grape tomatoes are overflowing in your garden, whip up a quick simple sauce! Grape or cherry tomatoes sauteed with olive oil, garlic and fresh herbs are perfect over pasta, grilled chicken or fish. Take advantage of summer tomatoes now while they are at their peak!

This recipe is from the archives from last summer, I've been making it quite often these past few weeks now that grape tomatoes are at their peak so I decided to bring this recipe forward. Perfect over your favorite pasta shape for meatless Mondays in less than 30 minutes.

Meat lovers can add chicken or shrimp for a spectacular summer pasta dish! And for a spectacular way to prepare fish, try this simple fish dish with summer tomato sauce.

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Homemade Ketchup

Making your own ketchup is so EASY to make at home and making it yourself allows you to control what goes into it.

Ketchup is as American as apple pie, that sweet-sour combination on french fries are irresistible and who doesn't love it on their burgers! But have you ever checked the label of your favorite brand of ketchup? High Fructose Corn Syrup is used to sweeten most brands of ketchup although I did find organic Heinz ketchup in my health food store that does not contain HFCS's, but it was half the size at a higher price.

So I thought it would be fun to try making my own and tested and played around with a few recipes until I found one that I loved with some slight changes using honey as my sweetener and cutting back on the sugar and tested it out on some grilled fries (recipe coming!) and the results were delicious...

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Slow Cooked Apple Butter

Apples are slow cooked with brown sugar and spices for hours, caramelized to make this sweet thick dark apple preserve.

It's late autumn in New York, the air is crisp, the leaves are falling off the trees and apple season is nearing it's end. A great way to preserve those apples for the winter months is to make apple butter. You can jar this to preserve for later use or you can refrigerate to use right away.

Apple butter is great on pancakes, biscuits, oatmeal, as a condiment, with pork, or you can bake with it. I'm looking forward to trying this grilled turkey, brie and apple butter sandwich from Tyler Florence with my leftover Thanksgiving turkey. Doesn't that sound amazing!

What's your favorite way to use apple butter?

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Pumpkin Butter

Pumpkin lovers will love this simple low fat pumpkin butter recipe which is so versatile to use, and deliciously good for you. Your kitchen will be filled with pumpkin spice aromas while making this.

A few ideas that come to mind with what you can do with pumpkin butter; serve it on toast or scones, add it to your latte for a pumpkin latte, make pumpkin oatmeal, pumpkin cheesecake, add it to yogurt with granola for a pumpkin yogurt parfait... have I enticed you yet? I cooked a pumpkin in my crock pot and pureed it in the blender, but canned pumpkin would work just as good. I love using real cinnamon sticks for this, but ground cinnamon would work in place of them.

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Pasta with Bolognese Sauce

Bolognese sauce is a ground beef ragú made with pancetta, onions, carrots, celery, tomatoes, wine, and cream.

Everyone raves about my Bolognese sauce. I never really thought of it as a light dish and I usually make it when I have a large crowd over for dinner.

I decided to tweak my recipe to make this lighter version by using lean chopped beef, reducing the butter and using half and half instead of heavy cream. Results were just as amazing as always and quite frankly, you would never know the difference. The trick to a good Bolognese sauce is the longer it cooks, the better it tastes so this is a perfect Sunday meal. Let this simmer on low at least an hour and a half or up to 3 hours if you have the time.

Serve it over pasta or even spaghetti squash, enjoy!!
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Garlic Scape Basil Pesto

I went to the farmers market in Union Square this morning where I encountered these garlic scapes. Never seeing these before, I was told they are the shoots that grow from the bulb that eventually straighten out and bloom, and they are only available for a short time. Farmers remove these so the garlic bulb can get more energy to grow larger. These have a milder garlic flavor than garlic cloves, similar to a green onion, but with a garlic taste. The vendor at the market told me you can replace garlic in recipes or you can make a pesto which you can use on bread, in risotto, pasta, bruschetta, etc. I will now be purchasing these scapes on a regular basis if I can find them!

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Blueberry Compote

A fruit topping made with fresh blueberries, perfect over ice cream, rice pudding, or mousse, just use your imagination.

This morning I made homemade crepes topped with blueberry compote and it was delicious! I love to make compote with fresh berries like blueberries, blackberries or raspberries to serve over crepes, whole wheat pancakes, waffles, or oatmeal.

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Filetto di Pomodoro

Last night I had the pleasure of having my friend Julia over to show me some of her delicious recipes. Julia is an amazing Italian cook. She can make leather taste good if she had to cook it! Her secret is simple, she cooks with only quality ingredients, like Pecorino Romano, good extra virgin olive oil and fresh herbs are all subtle differences that make food go from good to great. She always has on hand, a can of her own homemade filetto di pomodoro sauce she makes from scratch in the summer when tomatoes are at their peak and jars them to use throughout the year. She said she always has a jar in the fridge to incorporate into her weekly recipes. When not using fresh tomatoes, she uses Tuttoroso imported canned tomatoes. Here is her simple pomodoro sauce recipe from canned tomatoes. Make a large batch so you can keep it on hand for recipes throughout the week.

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