As we were getting ready for our trip south from Monterey, we met some wonderful folks one night who very generously donated to our provisions a bunch of vegetables from their home garden. There was cantaloupe, cabbage, chard (or some kind of greens), zucchini (the largest I've ever seen), garlic, apples, cucumbers, and tomatoes. Gaining this kind of produce the day before we planned to depart made our provisioning trip so much lighter!

They apologetically said in parting, those tomatoes are going to turn soon... maybe make some salsa.

So I did!

Fresh Salsa

• 6 tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 1 jalapeno, seeded and diced
• 2 padron peppers, seeded and diced
• 1/2 red onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 bunch cilantro, chopped
• 1 tblsp olive oil
• juice of 2 limes
• dash of chili seasoning*
• salt and pepper

Easiest directions ever.. throw it all in a bowl and season to taste.

I'm sure it was the home grown tomato goodness but this tasted so fresh and good. We didn't think we'd be able to eat it all, but well we did.

Chili Seasoning* - One of my pre-mixed seasonings

• Chili powder (3)
• Cumin (1)
• Cayenne pepper (a couple dashes)

Hungry for something dessert like that didn't come from a package of cookies, I looked at our provisions and thought hmmm...

Banana Quesadilla

• tortilla
• peanut butter
• banana
• brown sugar
• Cinnamon Sugar*

Spread peanut butter on a tortilla. Layer with cut up banana, sprinkle brown sugar and the cinnamon sugar mix.

Heat in the pan like a quesadilla, folding it in half, till browned, warmed through, and sugar starts to melt.

Serve warm. 1 quesadilla served both of us a tasty dessert.

Cinnamon Sugar* - also a mix I have in the spice rack

• Cinnamon (3)
• Granulated Sugar (2)
• Nutmeg (1/2)

I love beets, I'm sure it's from my Eastern European heritage, but I love beets! This recipe was shared with me by a good friend from one of our book clubs turned supper club dinners. Thanks Dre!

We picked up the beets and the other produce in this recipe at the Santa Cruz farmers' market. This is a delayed entry, I made this soon after we arrived in Monterey. If you can't find golden beets you can use the red or purple ones, but it will turn your pasta pink! It still tastes delicious. This is a great, easy recipe and something a little different to do with the pasta on the boat.

Golden Beets with Pasta recipe modified from Epicurious

• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 large shallot (original recipe uses onion)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 bunch 2-inch-diameter golden beets with fresh healthy greens; beets peeled, diced into large bite size pieces, greens cut into 1-inch-wide strips (unfortunately by the time I got around to cooking the beets for this recipe, the greens were not so healthy - in their place I added some summer squash)
• 6-8 ounces farfalle (bow-tie pasta) or in our case whatever pasta is in the jar... a ziti mix this time
• 1/4 cup grated Asiago cheese plus additional for serving (original recipe uses parmesan), plus shavings for garnish

Toast the pine nuts over medium heat in the skillet. Set aside.

Cook the beets in the pressure cooker. Cover them with water, lock the lid and heat until 15psi.
Once up to pressure, 4 minutes cooking time and then let the pressure naturally release. Remove the beets from the water and set aside. Use the beet water to boil your pasta (I had to add just a bit more water).

While the beets and pasta are cooking, Sauté the shallots, garlic, and squash in olive oil. If the greens had still been healthy you could sauté them with this mix as well.

When straining the pasta leave some liquid in the pot, add the sauté mix, and stir in the pasta and cheese.

Sprinkle the pine nuts over the individual serving bowls with a few shavings of cheese for garnish.

Pepper, red pepper flakes and the parmesan pesto sprinkle (noted in a previous entry) were served on the side for added flavorings to the dish.

Dave requested cornbread. What to pair with it? Since we needed to eat up the leftover chicken tenders from the night before I thought why not spice those up and make some cole slaw.

Skillet Corn Bread recipe adapted from atomvoyages

• 1/2 cup flour, self rising
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 1 tblsp dried eggs
• 3 tblsp dried milk
• 2 tblsp brown sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 3 tblsp melted butter

Mix all the dry ingredients. Add the water and melted butter to form a thick batter. I melt the butter in the same pan I cook the bread. Pour batter into hot pan, forming a thick pancake. Cook over medium heat, flipping often to prevent burning. I make two "cakes" with this recipe (1 for me, 1 for Dave). Serve warm, with butter.

Crazy Love Slaw

• 3 tblsp Ranch dip (Hidden Valley's to go packs are great for storing on the boat)
• 1-2 tsp pepper relish juice
• 1/2 tsp Mustard

Mix the above ingredients together in a bowl to taste. We bought the pepper relish at the San Fran ferry building farmers' market from Happy Quail Farms. The liquid from the pickled peppers added a nice sweet-sour for the slaw. I put just a dime size squirt of mustard.

Toss in the following chopped veggies (or whatever you have).

• Green Cabbage
• Carrot
• Baby Red Onion
• Padron peppers

I reheated the chicken before cooking the corn bread with a tiny amount of olive oil and a couple dashes of my chili seasoning*.

Perfect served outside with a setting sun.

Chili Seasoning*

• Chili powder (3)
• Cumin (1)
• Cayenne pepper (a couple dashes)

We timed our visit to Santa Cruz last week just right for a return visit to the Wednesday downtown farmers' market.

It was great to load up on fresh veggies for what we thought at the time was going to be our longest voyage south, direct to Avila.

I saw the San Marzano tomatoes at one of the stands and just couldn't resist tasting them fresh and a dinner idea was formed.

While in town we picked up some chicken tenders at the local supermarket.

San Marzano Tomato Sauce with Chicken Tenders

• 1 pound Chicken Tenders
• Montreal Steak Seasoning
• San Marzano tomatoes, 8 peeled and diced
• Summer squash (1 green and 1 yellow), diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 Onion, diced
• Olive oil
• 2-4 tsp Italian Spice Mix*
• Salt
• Pepper

I pounded the tenders flat with Dave's mug. Seasoned them with olive oil and Montreal steak seasoning and pan fried them till cooked through. Set aside.

Everything else went into the frying pan and was cooked until the sauce took form, pressing and smashing the tomatoes as they cooked down.

I keep a few packs of salt squared away in a zip lock. These were definitely needed for the tomatoes.

This sauce turned out fantastic. It had been a long time since we had sauce that didn't come from a can or jar. Once the sauce was seasoned to taste and simmered for a few minutes, I threw half the cooked chicken in. Served over pasta with a few shavings of asiago. Paired with a fresh Italian baguette and another terrific farmers' market salad.

The other half of the chicken I saved for the next evening's meal.

*Italian Spice Mix

• 2 Basil
• 2 Oregano
• 1 Rosemary
• 1 Thyme
• 1/4 Sage
• 1/4 Marjoram
• 1/2 Coriander