Summer Delight -- Fresh Corn Polenta with Sautéed Cherry Tomatoes

This recipe just popped in my inbox this week.  What perfect timing!  We got corn, cherry tomatoes and basil in this week's share.  I really enjoyed this meal.  First off, there is not enough polenta in my life.  What a great, easy and versatile dish!  This version is elevated with fresh corn kernels which adds a great texture.  Then, that is all topped off with blistered cherry tomatoes cooked in garlic, red pepper flakes and herbs.  I liked the hint of spice the pepper flakes added.  I will definitely be making this again -- and the leftovers heated up great the next day for lunch!

http://www.tastingtable.com/entry_detail/chefs_recipes/14024/Corn_Polenta_Recipe_With_Cherry_Tomatoes_Peter_Berley.htm

CSA Week 10: Great Start to Peak

Wow! This week's share is perfect! Wonderful variety.  Not too much of one thing.  As I unpacked the bag of goodies, I could easily invision what I could make with all of it.

Basil, cilantro, corn, onion, garlic, squash, cherry tomatoes, slicer tomatoes, peppers and carrots.

For the past couple weeks, I have been pretty boring with my cooking.  Not that I haven't been making delicious things, just nothing new.  Hence my lack of recipe posts.  As I have always said, this blog is for more than anything to help me keep track of recipes I have tried and liked.  So I haven been making Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins, Oatmeal Rasin Zucchini Cookies and, one of my absolute favorites, No Bake Summer Lasagna (which I have pictures of below).  With that being said I did try a new recipe this week which I will post later.  Hope everyone is enjoying the start of tomato season!  I know I sure am. :-)

Tomatoes from my raised bed

No Bake Summer Lasagna -- tastes like summer!!

http://www.marthastewart.com/334102/no-bake-summer-lasagna

CSA Week #9

Beets, corn, dragon tongue beans, cucumbers, kale, basil, zucchini, broccoli, fennel, onion and garlic.

This week's CSA seems a little less overwhelming than past weeks.  It's not less food but it's more variety with less of each item.  I still have a few things leftover from last week that I need to use up, such as 10 cucumbers!  I think I will make some more pickles which turned out awesome!  Crunchy, vinegary and a little zesty from the peppercorns and pepper flakes.  I'm also hoping to do a little baking with the zucchini this weekend and post the recipes.  I'm really looking forward to getting heirloom tomatoes soon so I can make salsa, pasta sauce and soup!  For now, I am snacking on all of the sungolds from my own plant.  I recommend getting out to your farmers markets this weekend.  We are in prime season when everything tastes better fresh from the local soil!

A Peck of Pickles - Refrigerator Pickles

Ok so maybe not a peck but when you get 11 cucumbers in the CSA for one week, it can be a little overwhelming.  Luckily there is a lot of things you can do with cucumbers.  Salads, salsas, infused water or liquor, cold soup, Greek salads and of course, PICKLES.  Every pregnant woman's dream!  I haven't found a recipe that I'm in love with yet so I tried a new one, once again.  I did add peppercorns and red pepper flakes to this recipe because I wanted a little heat.  I haven't tried them yet because it is best if they sit a day or 2 but I will keep everyone updated.

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/dill-pickles

CSA Week #7

Picked up our CSA for week #7!  Lettuce, chard, scallions, dill, dragon tongue beans, summer squash, sugar snap peas, green beans, corn and 11 cucumbers!  I think I'm going to make some refrigerator pickles, cucumber salad and cucumber salsa this weekend along with some corn chowder.  Let the vegetable peak begin!!

Also picked a bunch of tomatoes from our garden today.  Num!

And more Spinach -- Florentine Style Chicken

After having spinach in Indian food, spinach salads, and spinach frittatas we STILL had more spinach to eat.  Again, I wanted a recipe that cooked a mass amount of spinach down so this Chicken Florentine recipe was perfect!  B and I really don't eat much chicken.  I'm not really sure why but this was a nice change of pace for us.  In the recipe, they have you serve the creamy sauce on top of the chicken and the spinach on the bottom.  I just mixed the sauce and spinach together since that was how it would end up being eaten anyway.  Also, to make the creamy sauce just a little better, I melted some Parmesan into it. Because why not!?  I will definitely make this again.  We had a little leftover spinach sauce and I ended up using it to top off some pasta one day for lunch.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/chicken-florentine-style-recipe.html

Chicken Florentine

Versatile Pasta - Pasta with Garlicky Broccoli Rabe

Broccoli rabe is one of those things that I have no clue what to do with.  I have seen it on menus and read about in magazines but it's just something I haven't  bought.  Probably because broccoli is not one of my favorite things. I luckily found this recipe for a very tasty pasta dish.  And it's a great base for any ingredients you have in hand.  Nothing better than some olive oil, garlic and red pepper flakes!  -- I added Italian sausage for a little heartiness.

http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2012/04/pasta-with-garlicky-broccoli-rabe/

Pasta with Garlic, Broccoli Rabe and Italian Sausage