Breeze Hill Farm

Not much going on here at the farm, just the same old busy! I have a wonderful (or at least I think it's wonderful, my own creation) recipe to share with evryone. It's easy, not too terribly time consuming, you can fix it and walk away dish. It uses many of the fresh herbs that are coming in right now, local grass fed ground beef, and as you will discover as I add more recipes, it's Italian.

Rigatoni A La Marchetti

1    Pound of Grass Fed Ground Beef

1    Medium Onion, course diced

1    Medium Green Pepper, course diced

4    Cloves Garlic, crushed (you can add more garlic or even garlic powder)

2    Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2    Cups Tomatoes, skinned and diced

1    Large Can or Jar of Premade Spaghetti Sauce

2    Cups Water

2    Handfulls of fine chopped fresh flat leaf Parsley (this equals about a half a cup or better)

4    Tablespoons fine chopped Oregano

4    Tablespoons fine chopped Basil

1    Tablespoon fresh Thyme

1/2  Teaspoon ground Cloves

1    Teaspoon Beef Boulion

1    Tablespoon Worchestershire Sauce

1    Pound Box of Rigatoni

Salt & Pepper to taste

In an extra large skillet, add olive oil, onions, green pepper, garlic and ground beef. Saute until beef is cooked through and other ingredients are soft. Add everything else on the list except the Rigatoni. Bring to a slow boil. Add the Rigatoni, reduce heat to Low and let simmer (15 to 25 minutes) until the Rigatoni is done to your liking. Top with Parmesean cheese and fresh chopped parsley. **if the sauce is too watery, you can add small amounts of cornstarch until it thickens**

By the way, if you happen to be like me and don't really care for breakfast foods...this is awesome cold in the morning, just like cold pizza! I hope some of you will try this.

I am so glad that so many people read my "ranting" blog post. I hope that the person it was mostly written for got a look at it too. Simetime's a girl just has to get it off her chest. Think I'm just tired of everyday being a full moon day!

On a much lighter note, last night, while trying to figure out what to do with a bunch of swiss chard I picked up at the Farmer's Market Saturday, I came up with a wonderful recipe and thought I'd share it with you all.

Sauteed Swiss Chard

1/2 lb. Fresh Swiss Chard

1 Medium Onion, course chopped

4 Garlic Cloves, sliced very thin

2 TBL Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1/2 tsp. salt

Dash of Sea Salt

Fresh Ground Pepper to Taste

A Very Light, High Quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil - a finishing oil

In a large skillet, sautee the onion and garlic until tender. Remove from burner to stop cooking. At the same time blanch the chard, for 10 minutes, in enough water to cover and add the 1/2 tsp. of salt. Drain off water immediately. Add the chard to the onions and garlic and heat covered until it steams. Add salt and pepper. To serve, place on a plate and drizzle with the high quality extra virgin olive oil.

I served it with fresh grilled Snapper. It was wonderful!

Hopefully, you all will try this and love it as much as we did. By the way, I had the left overs this morning. It made a perfect breakfast.