Homemade Fig Jam

There’s something magical about fruit trees. In our experience, which admittedly is very little, they don’t require much work and reap many benefits. Our fig tree produced a great harvest, more than either of us expected between early August and mid-October. In case you missed our other recipes, we had a lot of fun creating Chicken and Fig Tagine, Cider-Braised Boneless Short Ribs with Figs, Arugula and Fresh Fig Salad, and Fig Coconut Yogurt.

Today, even though we’re away on vacation, we bring you another fig recipe: homemade fig jam. It is great on rice crackers; you might also enjoy it with a soft cheese like brie (if you can tolerate high-quality dairy) or Kite Hill almond-based Cream Cheese Style Spread. Brent’s mom used it with almond butter on sprouted bread (a new twist on PB&J!) and plans to use it instead of store-bought fruit spread in her Linzer cookies for Christmas. Whether you have your own fig tree or find them at the store, we hope you’ll enjoy making and eating this fig jam or any of our other fig recipes. Let us know what you decide to do—we would love to hear from you!

Deli-Style Cucumber Salad

On more than one occasion, I’ve walked past the deli counter green with envy over the variety and quality of the salad offerings. There’s something magical about the thin slices of cucumber, the finely shredded vegetables, and the perfectly-positioned garnishes.

This particular cucumber salad came to be after seeing a deli-style cucumber salad for sale at Costco. It was a great idea, but had about as much sugar as a candy bar and preservatives. This has neither of those downsides, and has a crunch, spice, and flavor that is a winner. We know you’ll enjoy this salad.

Arugula and Fresh Fig Salad

Did you know that figs are a flower, not a fruit? It’s actually the “infructescence” or “false-fruit” in which the flower and seeds are born. Fruit or not, I think figs are delicious! If you pick them a little green, they are plump, firm and almost savory or tart. Pick them once they’ve ripened to a deep purple, they are soft, luscious and incredibly sweet.

This salad plays the sweetness of the figs against the peppery arugula and subtly sharp red onion. The walnuts add a nice earthy flavor and crunch. The creamy, slightly cream-cheesy dressing rounds out the whole thing. I hope you love it as much as I do!

Spicy Baba Ghanouj (Spicy Eggplant Dip)

As you may have noticed from our posts on social media, we bought a house in December and that house came with wonderful things growing in gardens all around the yard. In addition, quite a few of our neighbors have plots at a local community garden. A couple of weeks ago, our neighbors harvested more tomatoes, jalapeños, eggplants, and other vegetables from their plot and they kindly shared their bounty with us. I cannot explain to you how delicious the tomatoes were! That said, this recipe is all about the eggplant and jalapeño.

As soon as we saw the eggplant, we knew we wanted to make something special with it. Brent loves the heat that jalapeños add to any dish, so of course we had to incorporate them. We hope you enjoy this twist on the traditional eggplant dip, Baba Ghanouj, as much as we did!

Roasted Mustard Brussels Sprouts

Roasted vegetables are some of my favorite side dishes, especially at wood-grilled restaurants where the vegetables are both roasted and smoky. It’s no secret on this blog that we are crazy about Brussels Sprouts. While they’re great on their own, a slow roast with seasoning is a treat.

These Roasted Mustard Brussels Sprouts are great on their own sprinkled with sea salt, or paired with the protein of your choice. We think you’ll love this recipe and hope you’ll add it to your meal plan this week.