Nearly as fresh as you can get

It's been ages since I posted here. I've been busy this summer, though still enjoying my food!

Tonight, I needed to make a quickie dinner. Adam threw some water on for pasta, and I raided the CSA share and our garden. I chopped up:

2 fairytale eggplants (from the garden)
1 onion (from the CSA)
2 cloves of garlic (CSA)
1 tomato (farmer's market)
a bunch of basil and parsley (garden)

and sauteed it in olive oil, salt, and pepper. When the pasta was done, I threw it all together and dinner was done!

I also made some iced tea using loose black tea and mint from the garden, and I made a salad for the side using an itty bitty cabbage, some fennel fronds, a bit of fennel stem, and small yellow tomatoes, all from the CSA. I added salt, pepper & and a commercial dressing (an organic red wine vinaigrette) because I was out of time and we were hungry!

All in all, a nice, quick dinner made almost entirely from fresh & local ingredients! Yay!

What to do with Swiss Chard

If you belong to a vegetable CSA in Northern Virginia, you probably get a lot of swiss chard. I know we do! I am pretty sure we get chard all summer long, in fact.

So what to do with all of that chard? Well, first of all, know how it cooks up: unlike with some other greens, you can eat the stems. They have a similar texture to celery. If you get rainbow chard, you can end up with white, green, red, orange, and yellow stems, which can cook up really beautifully! The leaves are usually green but can be red as well. As with most greens, you can cook them up nicely with garlic & olive oil or butter.

But for something other than a side dish, you can try some Swiss Chard & Chicken Quesadillas for starters.

Or make some Swiss Chard pies! Here's a recipe:

Preheat oven to 350

Make your favorite pie crust. Or look online for a tasty crust and make it. Roll it out to 1/8" and cut into 6" rounds.  Or, go get a refrigerated pie crust (not frozen!) and cut that into smaller rounds. Set these aside.

For the filler, you'll need:
1 bunch swiss chard
1 garlic curl or 2 cloves garlic
some onion or spring onion or scallion tops
3 slices of bacon, cooked & crumbled
about 1T maple syrup
about 1T wine or apple cider vinegar
salt/pepper

Chop everything, keeping the chard stems separate from the leaves. Saute the chard stems, onion (or scallion), and garlic (or curls) in a little olive oil until they start to soften. Add the chard leaves, salt & pepper, and saute until everything is wilted. Remove from heat and add in the bacon, syrup, & vinegar.

Now, take your mini pie rounds. Add some of the mix, fold over, and crimp with a fork. Repeat for the rest of the rounds. If you have any leftover mix, refrigerate it for later use. You can always make more pie crust or use it in another recipe. Pierce tops of the pies to release steam. You may want to do an egg wash on these but it's not strictly necessary. Place on a baking stone or cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Delicious!

If you have leftovers, use them for breakfast! reheat them in a pan in the morning and add some eggs for a tasty omelette. You can use the same mix to go into a quiche or Egg Pie (just remove the squash/onion/garlic curl pesto from that recipe and replace with the mix from this one!)

You can generally use Swiss Chard in any recipe that calls for spinach, just remember that the chard will take a little longer to cook.

Do you have a favorite swiss chard recipe?

Sausage and Peppers Revisited, with Calzone leftovers!

Last summer, I made a delicious meal of Sausage and Peppers from ingredients from our farm share and farmer's market. This year, I did the same, with a few changes, and had left overs, since it was just my kids and me having the food.

I may even call this version better.

For Sausage and Peppers:
1 package of good sweet Italian sausage (we got this from the Pork Guy (Fertile Plains))
2 thin skinned sweet green peppers, sliced thinly
1 bulb of a spring red onion, sliced
1 bulb of a spring garlic (this looks like a garlic with a scallion-like top on it, but when you cut into the head, it has no "skins" separating the cloves), chopped
leaves from 2 stems of fresh oregano
salt/pepper
scant cup of water

Brown sausages on all sides, remove from pan, slice into bite-sized pieces, and return to pan. Add pepper, onions, garlic, salt & pepper (to taste) and oregano, and mix. Add a scant cup of water to the pan and scrape anything there is from the bottom of the pan. Cover tightly with a lid and continue cooking about 10 minutes more. Serve with pasta, or rice, or not :)

We had about half of the dish left over, and I was not sure what to do with it. Then I remembered something from my childhood: Sausage rolls! Of course, I had no idea how to make them. Mine came out more like a calzone but who cares? They were fantastic.

If you have one, go to Trader Joe's and get a pizza crust dough. It's in the refrigerated section near the cheese, and it costs .99. If you don't have a TJ's you'll have to make your own, or find another brand, but I have not had any as good as the TJ's ones. Also pick up a jar of TJ's marinara sauce (if you don't have any at home) and a bag of shredded mozzerella cheese (we used the lower fat version)

Let the dough sit at room temperature for 20 minutes. Break into 2 pieces and work each piece into a round. Place rounds on a pizza stone. working on a 1/2 round, layer sauce, sausage and peppers, more sauce, and cheese. Fold over and crimp the edge, and pierce with a knife or fork to make vents. Bake at 400 for about 20 minutes.

My son had no idea that this was essentially the same dish that we had for dinner last night so YAY for hiding the leftovers!

CSA Week 1!! YAY!!!!

Today I picked up our farm share for the first time this summer. We are sharing our farm share with a friend this year, so we only get to pick it up 8 times--every other week. That said, the farm stand should be open soon, and we can supplement from that. It is possible that there will be Autumn shares available, and if there are, we will participate as long as we have the cash to do so.

SO! Today's farm share:

Swiss Chard

lettuce

itty bitty Beets w/ greens

kohlrabi

garlic curls

mint

dill

eggs

Tonight, I had planned to make a freezer meal, but it wasn't defrosted enough when I got home, so I made a stir fry of spring onions (from the farmer's market), garlic curls, kohlrabi, swiss chard, and tofu. I seasoned it with soy sauce, a little rice vinegar, a splash of apple juice, and some garam masala. Don't ask why, I just did, and it tasted great! We made some brown rice on the side, and it was a very delicious, summery, first CSA-meal of the season.

Swiss Chard and Chicken Quesadillas

Last week our CSA newsletter came with a recipe for Chard Quesadillas. I made them this weekend and Omnomnom. We thought that if we added chicken it might be very good too.

So I did. And Double Omnomnom mostly because they have a different texture with the chicken. So here's your recipe. I prepped 8, cooked one to share with my kiddo, and froze the rest.

Swiss Chard and Chicken Quesadillas

1 lb bag of shredded mexican cheese

8 large flour tortillas

2 chicken breasts

sazon goya and adobo or whatever you like to season your chicken breasts

1 large bunch of chard

salsa

Chop up chard into small pieces, stems and leaves together. Place in a microwave safe bowl with a lid (or a plate for a lid) and cook for 4 minutes. You shouldn't need to add water if you have washed the chard--whatever water sticks to the leaves is enough to steam it.

Cook chicken breasts, seasoned however you like. I used 1 packet of sazon goya and a sprinkle of adobo. You can cook them however you like to--I used my Pampered Chef covered baker and cooked them from frozen in the microwave in 10 minutes, but if you don't have one, you can boil, broil, pan fry or whatever it takes to get it cooked and seasoned. Then chop the chicken really well.

If you are going to freeze these, prep 8 pieces of aluminum foil large enough to hold an open tortilla. Build your quesadillas by layering ingredients on one side of the tortilla (so you can fold it over). Layer Cheese, Chard, Chicken, Salsa, and more Cheese. Fold over.

If you are freezing them, fold over the foil and wrap it up. If not, spray a pan with cooking spray, place quesadilla on the pan, and spray the top. Bake at 300 degrees for 10 minutes on the first side and another 5 on the other side.

If you are cooking from frozen, spray both sides of the quesadilla with cooking spray and bake at 300 degrees for 15 minutes on the first side and 10 minutes on the second side. (potentially will come back to fix this after baking one from frozen, but quesadillas from Dinner Zen cooked well this way).

This was a HUGE hit with my toddler. I haven't seen him devour anything so quickly in a long time.

CSA Next to Last Week, With Raspberries!

Today's pickup was beautiful and bountiful as usual!

Raspberries!

Spaghetti Squash

Swiss Chard

Corn

Tomatoes

Radishes

Chinese Long Beans

Pole Beans

Parsley

Eggs

Surprisingly, there were no potatoes as we have had in the last several weeks! That's OK though--I have plenty PLENTY of potatoes still. Our newsletter came with a recipe for swiss chard quesadillas, and actually it sounds not just pretty good, but potentially freezable as well. We had some pretty tasty chicken quesadillas from Dinner Zen, and they froze beautifully and reheated great. So I'm thinking of doing maybe a swiss chard, corn, and chicken quesadilla and making it more of a dinner than a snack. I'll post if they come out yummy.

Meanwhile, only one week to go! I'm so sad. I was sorely tempted to add the fall share (they had some openings at the East Farm, which is where I go), but I think that instead we will just go to the farm stand and farmer's market for our fall veggies. It's supposed to be very leafy and rooty again, so it will nice to see what they have at the stands. If we like it, then next year we'll add the fall share when we do our initial share purchase. Meanwhile, one more week to go! Hooray!

Adventures with Chinese Long Beans

They're purple!

No really, Chinese Long Beans are purple! This made me all kinds of happy. But what to do with them? Well, some internet searching and conversing with Smita (who is now my go-to woman for all spice-related questions) led me to doing an experiment last night. And the experiment was universally accepted, even by the toddler. Simplicity was the word of the day, and we had Side Dish Win!

Simple but Savory Chinese Long Beans

1 bunch Chinese Long beans, cut into 1 inch pieces

1 small onion, sliced thinly

1 clove garlic, coarsely chopped

large pinch of salt

Penzey's Singapore Seasoning

1/4 c water

1 T olive oil

In a pan that comes with a lid, heat the olive oil. Add the long beans and onions. Saute for about 4 minutes and add the garlic and a pinch of salt, and then season liberally with the singapore seasoning. Continue sauteing another 5 minutes. Add water and quickly add the lid to the pan, then turn heat down to low. This will steam the beans so that they are done all the way through. Allow to steam for about 10 minutes.

From my internet research, I've learned that Chinese Long Beans are in the same family as green beans, only they are purple, longer, and much more fibrous, which is why they have to steam after they are sauteed. We served this next to one of our gifted freezer meals of chicken and broccoli in a casserole, so it served to bring a little extra spice, kick, and interest to the plates. My toddler ate only this and left the chicken and broccoli on his plate. Next year I will not be so hesitant to make these! It seems we have found some more beans that my husband is not allergic to! (anything in the green bean family is fine for him, and these as well as pole beans are fine! Yay!)

Fresh Corn & Tomato Soup, Now With a Kick!

I have been making Fresh Corn and Tomato Soup for YEARS. I mean, so many years that the recipe is actually on my old web site here. But I rarely look at the recipe anymore, and I've found that it has evolved significantly and can use a revisiting.

Yesterday morning I was at the Reston Farmer's Market and talking to The Jam Lady from Crackpot Gourmet. She has recently added a bunch of spice mixes to her inventory, so she is now the Jam and Spice Lady. Anyway, we were talking about cooking and what's in season, and I lamented that there is NO cilantro anywhere this year, because the weather is so hot and muggy that it's all wilting. I was specifically sad because this is one of the few weeks when there are tomatoes and corn and cilantro (usually) and they are all peaking at the same time and therefore make the BEST fresh corn and tomato soup EVER! 

Anyway, she agreed. And then she pointed out that she had a spice mix that used a lot of cilantro--her cilantro jalapeno salsa verde. We gave it a taste and decided that it would be the perfect replacement, to both give the soup a cilantro glow but also to give it a bit of a kick!

So here it is. The revised revised and revised again version of Fresh Corn & Tomato Soup, originally from Laurel's Kitchen but now a new and kicky thing! Of course, if you want to make this, try making your own spice mix with cilantro, jalapenos, lime juice, some garlic, salt, sugar, and oil to hold it all together. Or just do the original version, and chop cilantro to mix in at the very end!

Fresh Corn & Tomato Soup, Now with a Kick!

1 onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
3 cloves garlic, pressed
2 T Smart Balance
5 ears of corn
5-7 mixed heirloom tomatoes (think 6 medium and go from there)
1 box of vegetable broth
1/2 - 1 t salt

Cilantro-Jalapeno Salsa Verde (for mixing in at the end)

Saute onion, celery, and garlic in Smart Balance until tender. Strip the corn from the cobs, and chop tomatoes coarsely. Add corn, tomatoes, broth, and salt to the sauteed vegetables, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook covered for 1/2 hour. 

Ladle into bowls and top with a dollop of the salsa to be stirred in. Or, stir in cilantro leaves, and it's ready to serve.

Egg Pie

Not really a quiche, not really a frittata, this Egg Pie is something in between. Again, a CSA/Market recipe. 

The general consensus was OMGWTFOmnomnom. In those words exactly :)

Vegetable Egg Pie

1 summer squash (zucchini-like)

1 small onion

6 or so fingerling potatoes (I used the largest fingerlings I had)

4 eggs

splash of milk

handful of shredded parmasean cheese

2 T garlic curl pesto

Some Jane's Krazy Mixed-Up Salt 

As usual, you can replace the garlic curls with your seasoning paste/spice mix of choice. Also, Krazy Salt can be replaced with your favorite seasoned salt, of course.

Slice potatoes length-wise into very thin slices--about 4-6 per potato. Microwave on high for about 3 minutes. 

While they are microwaving and cooling, slice zucchini and onion into very thin slices and saute in cooking spray. 

Mix eggs, milk, garlic curl pesto, cheese, and Krazy Salt in a bowl and whisk well. 

Line a 9" (or whatever you have) greased (with cooking spray) pie plate with the potatoes, covering the bottom and coming up the sides as much as you can. Add the sauteed vegetables and spread evenly over the potatoes. Pour egg mixture over all and pat down any cheese that tries to stick up.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 1/2 hour or until the top begins to brown and the egg is completely set.

Slice and eat. Serves about 3 people (increase number of eggs and cooking time to feed more!)

CSA Week I lost Track! But OMG TOMATOES!

We have been Tomatoed! Here was our haul this week. There was so much food!

A BAG of mixed heirloom tomatoes

a BOX of Italian tomatoes

1 bunch of rainbow swiss chard

3 onions

1 quart of blackberries

2 small eggplants

4 small summer squash (green)

2 long cucumbers

1/2 dozen eggs

1 big bunch of some kind of very lemony smelling herb (they say this is thai basil but I think it is more like Thai Lemon Basil).

4 ears of corn

1 bag of pole beans 

1 bunch of parsley

I have no idea what to do with pole beans.

But it looks like this is the week to make Tomato and Corn Soup. It generally calls for cilantro, but no one locally has any because apparently it is too hot to grow right now. Very sad as I like to get as many of my ingredients locally as possible. I might just make it with parsley instead. I learned my lesson about making it with basil last year--it tasted more like pasta sauce than soup! 

Speaking of sauce, I might just have to make some pasta sauce, too. Because I really have no idea what to do with all of these tomatoes. We still have 5 left over from last week! I also think we will have to make the swiss chard pies again, because they have been a hit all around. They reheat out of the freezer really well, and 2 pies seem to make a good lunch (I might just make them bigger this time and then one pie will make a lunch!)

So, any suggestions for what to do with pole beans? And any good recipes that use Thai Lemon Basil?

Good Friends Who Cook for You

My friend Melanie came over this week to watch my son while I was doing lab tests, and she not only watched the kiddo but cooked dinner for us too! She knew we had our farm share, and she asked what we had in the house, then brought over some stuff to supplement what we had. 

Now I might be biased from all of the hospital food, but what she made was quite likely the best thing I've eaten in ages. :-D

She posted her recipe here http://community.livejournal.com/everydaycooking/75121.html

I'm copying it here though, so I never lose the recipe! Here is her post, and I do hope some of you get to make this considering it *is* zucchini season! She used pork and lamb because it was on sale, and now I don't think I could eat it any other way. Though I could certainly try :) She also lists her alterations that she made for us based on our farm share. Make sure to add the bell pepper because it made it Extra Yummy. 

Pop's Zucchini Goulash (Crock pot...or not)
Since we're getting into that season when everyone foolish enough to plant zucchini now has it growing out their ears, I thought i'd post the recipe for tonight's supper. This is one of those "throw whatever you have in the pot" that I remember from my grandfather (the one my new son Robbie is named for). I think his had a bit less meat and a bit more tomato--and he always made it in a big electric frying pan rather than the crock pot, so do what you like-- it is very forgiving.

Ingredients:
2 lbs ground meat (beef, turkey, pork, lamb, or a mix)
1 large can of peeled tomatoes (cut them in half) - don't drain!
1 large can chopped tomatoes
"a whole lot" of zucchini, sliced to about 1/4 to 1/2 inch (I used 4 6 inchers and one 10 inch)
1 medium/large onion, chopped
1 TB chopped garlic
1 TB dried oregano
1 TB dried basil
1 TB paprika
salt & pepper to taste

Procedure:
Sautee the onion and ground meat. Drain and add to the crock pot. Add all remaining ingredients and cook on low 6-8 hours. If you don't want to use the crock, keep everything in one large pot and simmer until the zucchini is tender. Serve as is, or over rice or pasta.

Alterations:
Because I was fortunate enough to have access to a friend's coop farm share, I made some changes: I substituted two large chopped garlic curls for the garlic, I subbed three fresh tomatoes for one of the cans, I used about half a leftover bell pepper, and the basil was fresh--yum!

CSA Week 3, plus some more CSA & Farm Recipes

Our share this week is lovely!

1 bag of basil

1 head of lettuce

1 napa cabbage

1 regular cabbage

2 zucchini (one big, one little)

more garlic curls

1 bunch of swiss chard

1/2 dozen eggs

So as it turns out, according to the newsletter, all this rain is playing havoc on the farms around here. Stuff that's already growing seems to be doing well, but stuff that is waiting in the greenhouses can't be planted. It's really sad.  But as it is, at least we know that we'll be getting more lettuce, greens, and garlic products for a while!

I'm glad we have basil this week. I want to get some tomatoes at the market (there is  place that has good hydroponic ones) so that we can have a fabulous salad of tomatoes, onions, and basil. YUM.

Meanwhile, we had some veggies from the previous 2 weeks to use! Since I am actually on bedrest now, I am not so much cooking as directing. Tonight, my awesome husband was going to make hamburgers and mashed potatoes. He suggested using garlic curls and onion tops in the potatoes, and I suggested adding kale, since we had it. Kale is one of those greens that just keeps growing and growing, and if you have a CSA share around here, you are sure to get a lot of it, so it's good to have some recipes! So here is my recipe for Mashed Potatoes with Greens

Mashed Potatoes with Greens

5 medium potatoes, cut up with skins on

1 bunch of kale, stripped of the hard stems and torn into smallish pieces

3-4 garlic curls, chopped

4 onion or scallion tops, chopped

2 T smart balance

1/4-1/3 cup milk

salt & pepper to taste

Boil potatoes, and at the same time steam the kale with garlic curls and onion tops. When the potatoes are done, remove everything from heat. Chop the kale mixture and mash the potatoes. Add the kale mix to the potatoes, add smart balance and milk (start with less and add more if needed), salt and pepper. Continue mashing until milk is mixed in well, and serve.

We made it without salt because my husband is all about salt but I am on bedrest with high blood pressure. I did end up adding a tiny bit of salt to mine, but it was very little. It was yummy.

For one final recipe, I leave you with the idea that I have to drink a LOT of water these days. Well, water can be boring. But I had some leftover mint from the cold cucumber soup, and so I decided to make Sekanjabin syrup. This is an old old old middle eastern recipe. You make the syrup and it stores for ages, not that it will last that long. Slightly diluted, it makes a fantastic salad dressing. Extra diluted, it makes water taste much more refreshing and  minty! Here's the recipe:

Sekanjabin

2 cups sugar

1 and 1/4 cup water

1/2 cup wine vinegar

handful of fresh mint

Bring sugar and water to a boil. When it comes to a boil, add vinegar and reduce heat. Simmer for 1/2 hour. Make sure you are simmering and not boiling or you will get sekanjabin candy! Add mint and cool. Remove mint and transfer to a container to store. It will store well unrefrigerated, but I like to keep mine cold. For a drink, use one part syrup to 10 parts water. 

Enjoy!

Time for: Cold Cucumber Soup!

This is definitively a Farmer's Market recipe!! Just about everything in the recipe was gotten from our CSA share or our local farmer's market! When Dill arrived in our share this week, this is what I thought of.

I have made this recipe before, but I changed it around this time, both to use more local ingredients and because my knowledge has changed somewhat since I first made the recipe. The original is here on my old web site. It is good but came out thin. Since then I have learned about greek style yogurt. The new version is below.

Note that I use Persian Cucumbers. This is because I can get them. If you can't find any, use kirby or any small cucumber with small seeds. I also used garlic curls (also known as scapes), because they are milder than garlic. But if you can't find any, 2 garlic cloves will work just as well)

Cold Cucumber Soup
3 cups Greek Style Yogurt (I get mine at Trader Joe's)
2 cups milk (I use 2%)
4 Persian Cucumbers
2 garlic curls, chopped very finely
2 T finely chopped fresh dill
1T finely chopped fresh mint
2T fresh lemon juice
1/2t salt
fresh ground pepper to taste

Leave the skins on the cucumbers. Finely grate two of the cucumbers, and finely slice the other two (cut the ones you are slicing lengthwise first and then finely slice them. If you are using Persian or kirby cucumbers there is no need to remove the seeds. If you are using a larger cucumber, peel and seed them first)

Whisk the milk into the yogurt until well blended. Add in the cucumbers, garlic curls, dill, mint, lemon, salt, and pepper. Stir well. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and serve ice cold.

Eating Beets!

Short entry today. I had quite a long day and was supposed to show houses tonight, which would have left the husband and the boy eating fish sticks.

Instead, I made the fish sticks for all of us :)

Let's face it, I may have a toddler who will eat nearly everything, but it's not nice to challenge his taste buds every night. Sometimes, you just want fish sticks!

That said, when we have something as unhealthy as fish sticks, I like to have something really healthful on the side! Since our CSA Share contained sweet little beets, I decided to make my favorite beet dish ever!

Beets With Beet Greens

Buy beets that are small and still have their greens. Cut off the greens and stems and soak in water to remove the dirt. Meanwhile, spray a baking pan with cooking spray and add the beets, skins still on. Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour, turning 1/2 way.

While the beets are cooking, swish around the greens and drain, then repeat to remove any extra dirt. During the last 10 minutes of cooking your beets, steam the greens.

Remove beets from the oven and run under cold water. You should be able to peel them quite easily--the skins just slip right off. Slice beets and add them to the steamed greens. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. YUM!

The kiddo doesn't eat greens at this point in his toddlerhood, but he ate the beets and exclaimed, "I LOVE BEETS!!" He probably ate more beets than fish sticks, which is really just amazing.

So enjoy beets while they are in season! And don't forget to eat the greens!

Making Collards Taste Great! Plus, a link

A friend of mine linked to this article about making your brown-bag lunches more appealing. Great ideas. 

Last night, we were supposed to go to a baseball game in DC. But we found out that traffic would be appalling in the aftermath of the shootings downtown, plus we assumed that the Metro would be awful due to people avoiding the traffic, and it was also supposed to rain. So we stayed home. 

Unfortunately, this meant that I did not have anything ready to cook for dinner, as most frozen meals need at least some thaw time before you can eat them. I quickly rummaged through what I had and found that the Firecracker Chicken Quesadillas could be cooked from frozen, so score! I also decided that it might be a nice chance to make up some collards since we got a bunch from our CSA.

Two Quesadillas, as expected, fed the three of us quite well, especially with the greens on the side. And everyone loved them. There was just nothing bad about them at all--a clear winner yet again from Dinner Zen.

As for the greens, my friend Liz had given me a recipe that I love. Actually, I completely left out the vinegar and they were still awesome, though I do recall them being better according to the original recipe. This does contain bacon, though you can replace with veggie bacon if you want, or turkey bacon, or, I suppose, Bacon Salt. 

1 bunch of collard greens, stripped of their hard stems, washed, and chopped coarsely

4 slices of cooked bacon

1 medium onion (I actually used spring onions with their tops because I had them)

1 T wine vinegar (red or white or raspberry or whatever you have)

2 T maple syrup

Spray bottom of a fairly large pot with cooking spray, and cook onions on medium until they are soft. Add greens and about 1/2 to 1 cup of water, and bacon. Cover tightly and cook on medium for about 1/2 hour.  Taste greens to make sure they are soft enough, if not continue cooking for another 10 minutes. Remove from pot, draining any remaining water. Stir in vinegar and maple syrup and serve.

The thing about collards is that they really need a long time to cook in order to taste really yummy. But you can slightly undercook them (as we have done here) and add some yum to them by adding in the syrup and vinegar. I think that, with the bacon and the vinegar and sugar mixed in, you get a really cool blend of different tastes that hit all of your taste buds. The greens are a bit bitter, plus you get sweet, sour, and salty too. They were a big hit. My son didn't eat them, but hey, they are new to him so we'll give him a few more tries. 

Oh and we're down to a quart and a half of strawberries. I forsee the 1/2 quart disappearing by the time we go to sleep tonight, and I double forsee a strawberry smoothie in my future.

CSA Food Budgeting, plus Beets!!

Not Money Budgeting, really, but budgeting the actual food that we receive from our CSA is proving to be a challenge. This week, I must get better at incorporating the fresh veggies into our weekly eating routine. Even with the freezer meals, we can be more easily eating fresh vegetables on the side, rather than the frozen ones that came with the meals. As of yesterday we had a lot of left over veggies from last week still sitting in the fridge. 

Last night, in an effort to blow through a lot of vegetables, I made a HUGE salad of 1/2 a head of small cabbage, all of our remaining mixed greens, the remaining onion tops, and some (non-CSA) carrots and celery. I served it with goat cheese and lemon-tahini dressing from the farmer's market, and altogether, it was a side dish to pasta shells with meatballs (from the freezer from last time I made meatballs)

Well, the kiddo didn't want the salad, and mostly ate meatballs and pasta. Truthfully, the salad was so good that we basically said, "OK! No problem kid!" and ate all of the salad without him. Oh by the way, the child seems to have moved from "will eat only carbs if they are on the plate" to "will eat meat first and carbs after if there is room." I suppose that a toddler appetite really is different from week to week. 

My friend Kristen, who picks up a smaller share from our CSA on Tuesdays, says that we have beets this week! I love beets! I know that beets are somehow some kind of childhood trauma food for some people, but I'm so excited about the beets. I make this awesome side dish of beets with beet greens--it uses the whole vegetable in one dish and everyone loves it! Very messy to make of course, but worth it for the awesome mix of flavors. You just roast the beets and then dice them when they are done, and steam the leaves and chop them up, then put them in a bowl together with some salt & pepper. So you get the sweet from the beets, bitter from the greens, and salty from the salt, and have a perfect mix of flavors all in one dish. Yum! I can't wait!

It looks like we'll be getting garlic curls again--I really need to get out to the store and get some other ingredients for Garlic Pesto. Kristen made hers with walnuts (we are going to use almonds) and she said it was strong but delicious. She also froze a lot of pesto in ice cube trays for later. Great idea, and I will probably do the same.

More CSA Meals

So the mystery herb was definitely oregano! Tonight we had a fantastic dinner of sausage and peppers.

Now, I made it differently than usual because I had so many fresh ingredients. Here's the recipe I used tonight:

4 sweet Italian sausages (from the farm market)

The head of the giant spring onion from the CSA, sliced

1 green pepper, sliced

1 garlic curl, chopped

large pinch of salt 

some freshly ground pepper

leaves from 2 stems of fresh oregano (from our CSA--yay!)

scant cup of water

Brown sausages on all sides, remove from pan, slice into bite-sized pieces, and return to pan.  Add pepper, onions, garlic curls, salt, pepper, and oregano and mix. Add slightly less than 1 cup of water to the pan and scrape anything from the bottom of the pan. Cover tightly with a lid and continue cooking about 10 minutes.  Serve over pasta.

We also had salad, since we have a lot of lettuce. We used romaine lettuce, mixed greens, a carrot, a couple of stalks of celery, and lemon tahini dressing that we bought at the farm market last week. 

We still have a lot of lettuce. I'm not entirely sure what we are going to do with all this lettuce, but I'm going to make a genuine effort!  My friend is also sending me a recipe for the escarole, which should be excellent. The Potomac Vegetable Farms web site has a recipe for garlic curl pesto, so I think I might make some of that, too. 

I am fairly certain I am going to make some lasagna or something similarly Italian-ish :) Maybe a veggie lasagna. 

CSA Meals!!

Since I was excited but not mentally prepared for the amount of food that showed up in my home yesterday, dinner was stir fry. Let's face it, large number of veggies + no ideas = stir fry.

So, our stir fry:

One head of Mei Qing Choi, chopped coarsely

2 spring onions (from the farm market last week), chopped

1 garlic curl, chopped

2 small chicken breasts, marinated for 1/2 hour in harissa (from the farm market) and soy sauce

Stir fry in olive oil. Serve.

We wrapped the kiddo's into an egg roll, and everyone else just ate it plain with no starch or anything, and it was great!

I need to look up some recipes for escarole and kale, but we should be eating very well this week. Also, with three heads of lettuce, I think we will be eating salad. A lot of it.

The unidentified herb was identified by my husband as oregano. Since we have that and basil, I forsee something Italian, too!

Any ideas?