Week 4: Picture!

This week we got zucchini, yellow squash, MORE garlic scapes, fresh garlic (it's in a bulb but you have to keep it in the fridge since its not cured), spinach, cilantro and beets. It's a pretty good box and I am sad to give it up. But I am excited to see what someone else does with it all.

I made it to Boston safely and on time! Now to eat some fresh seafood.

Week 3: The Challenge

As I said in my last post, this week's box was going to be a challenge.  I am not very good at leafy greens.  Don't get me wrong, I love salads.  But any sort of green that you are supposed to cook down is hard for me.  For some reason, I just don't get the point of them.  I see them on a menu and think "I could get that, or a REAL side." Maybe its because I didn't grow up with them.  Maybe its because I am not from the South.  But I have to admit, many weeks these items ended up in my trash when preparing for the next box to arrive.  This week, they did not.  I ate them!  Every last leaf!  And I will have to admit, they really weren't too bad.  I think you just need the right recipe and the right meal to put them with. 

Let's start with the easy stuff...

Zucchini:

We actually ended up eating these right away when I got home with the CSA last week.  We still had the one from the week before left over so we decided to eat them both up.  This time I cut them into coins and put them on skewers over the grill.  Again, very good this way.  I also sprinkled a little parma on top with salt and pepper.  The last couple weeks of zucchini have been coming from the "high tunnel."  Basically more like a green house instead of the fields.  According to last week's letter from the farmer, it sounds like we will start getting ones from the field this week.  I am assuming this means we will start getting zucchini in abundance like last year.  Once that happens, I will have to stop eating it on the grill and start getting creative!

Baby Turnips:

So, I am boring... I used the same recipe as last week.  They are just so damn good that way! If we get them again though, I promise I will try a new recipe.   Or maybe with a least 1/2 of them.

http://www.sassyradish.com/2008/06/braised-baby-turnips/

Now on to the adventurous stuff...

Swiss Chard:

Last year when we got chard, I tried sauteeing it in bacon and bacon fat.  How couldn't that be delicious?  Right?  Well... not so much.  I think I either used too much bacon or the bacon I had was way to fatty because it was like eating limp wet wads of fat.  I think I ended up throwing it away.  After that disaster, I was a little scared to try to sautee in fat again but most recipes call for it.  I found this great easy recipe on Epicurious.  You sautee onion and garlic with olive oil and butter.  Once carmelized you add the chard and cover.  I took the suggestion of some of the reviewers and add goat cheese on top since I had some in the fridge.  This was actully quite good.  Granted, the flavors in it I like best were the carmelized onions and the cheese but still.  The chard countered it well.  I would definitely consider making this again.  And, do I dare say, seek out chard to make again!

http://m.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Sauteed-Swiss-Chard-with-Onions-240560



Here is my meal one night.  Sauteed Swiss Chard, Fried Eggs (because I kept reading about them in the while searching for chard recipes), toast and baby turnips.  I actually ended up being too full and eating the turnips the next day.

Fennel:

Fennel is a weird one for me.  I just don't know how to use it.  I like the black liquoice taste, but don't love it.  After seaching for a while I noticed a lot of recipes pair it back to Italian Sauasage; which makes sense since there are usually fennel seed in sausage.  I landed on a baked rigatoni recipe with sausage and other vegetables.  First, I have to tell you about the sausage.  Since we are going away this weekend, I am trying not to go to the grocery store so I had to get the sausage at Target while I was running errands.  I ended up picking up some of their Archer Farm's Chicken Italian Sausage.  I am usually all about the full fat, all pork sausages but when I saw how much less fat and calories these had I was convinced I had to try them.  Well, I give them a big two thumbs up!  They were very tasty!  I will say the only downside is they don't have a casing so you don't get that good color on the outside but still.  I will definitely buy again.  Anyway, on a tangent.  So this recipe is actually a great way to use up (or hide) vegetables in a dish.  Basically, you just sautee up some veggies with the sausage.  In this case onion, red pepper, garlic, basil and fennel.  Then you add a jar of spaghetti sauce.  Put in a baking dish with some cooked rigatoni and cheese on top and bake for 30 minutes.  This was quite good but like I said before, I felt like I was more hiding vegetables than featuring them.  But, that can be good at times.  Because I added so much to it, it stretched the sauce for way more servings.  I end up filling up on the vegetables instead of the sausage and pasta.  This recipe though didn't really change my opinon on fennel.  You couldn't really taste it.  It was just there.  I will probbably use a version of the recipe again in the future...just to use up some odds and ends.



Left: all of my veggies cut up and ready tp go into the sautee pan -- Right:  Finished product!  The cheese looks a littke shiny.  I probably should have put it under the broiler.  Also, I used one of my pasta bowls to cook it in because they are oven safe up to 500 degrees!

http://mobile.allrecipes.com/recipe/151061/baked-rigatoni-with-italian-sausage-and-fennel

Kale:

Now this one definitely used to end up in my garbage.  I know there a tons of things you can put it in but I never got around to it.  This time I vowed I would try to use it.  Especially just knowing people would find out if I threw it away because of the blog.  I have been reading a lot about Kale Chips lately so I decided to give it a try.  You make bit size pieces of kale, drizzle or mist with olive oil, dust with seasoned salt and bake for 10 min.  Mine actually only took 7 min.  And they are actually very good!  At first bite, they are just like a really thin, salty potato chip.  I brought them to work today and I found myself reaching over for more every few minutes.  I think its the salty snack thing.  You do have to chew them a little more than a potato chip but they are still good. I did but a little too much salt on them, so be careful.

http://mobile.allrecipes.com/recipe/176957/baked-kale-chips



The chips right when they came out of the oven!

Finished product!



Garlic Scapes: 

Well, I haven't done anything with these yet.  We got so many, I think I will have to make pesto again.  I don't have time to make it before the trip so I will have to hope they keep and make it when I get home.

Grape Leaves:

What the heck am I supposed to make with these!?!?  I looked up some recipes.  I basically only found 2.  One is for some sort of authentic Greek dish where you stuff them with rice.  The second it a appetizer stuffed with cheese.  I am leaning torwads the cheese one right now (which shouldn't surprise anyone that knows me).  To make either though, I think I am going to need people over because we got so many of them!  If anyone has other suggestions, please let me know.

Well, thats it for this week.  Tomorrow I leave for a little vacation in Boston.  We thought it would be a great place to celebrate the 4th!  --And we have never been there.  So, next week I will probably write about all the seafood we ate and Chowder Fest!  My friend will be taking the CSA for us.  I have asked her to keep track of how she uses it so I can still post it.  I will also still take a picture of the food tomorrow since I am picking it up. 

HAPPY 4th of JULY EVERYONE!!  And don't burn anything down with the fireworks!





Week 3: Picture!

Here is this week's box.  Like I said before, a little but of a challenge for me.  Fennel, Kale, Swiss Chard, Baby Turnips, Grape Leaves, Zucchini, and more scapes.  If any one  has any recipe suggestions please let me know.  I think I will need all the help I can get with this one.

Week 2: Renewed Love for Turnips

Another week down... Each week just keeps flying by. Again I was hoping to post sooner than Wednesday night but didn't have much material until tonight. This week was a little boring. I did some repeat recipes from last week and gave a few items away because we were out-of-town this weekend. The highlight of the week though was tonight...baby turnips! The item that opened my eyes to the CSA and made me realize I need to give each and every vegetable a chance. Even if I have tried it before.

Baby Turnips:
The biggest challenge with the turnips was finding the same recipe that I used last year. I remembered it was simple and involved lemon but that was about it. After a lot of googling and putting in random words, I finally found it on a blog. Super simple but absolutely wonderful and so worth the effort. They were just as delicious as I remembered. Somewhat like a little potato but BETTER! Juicier and more delicate. They almost burst in your mouth. I hope I inspire someone to go out this week and try baby turnips. Obviously, there are many ways to eat them, even raw. But I like them braised. Trim off the tops but leave a little stem. This part is edible and delicious because it soaks up the lemon. Put the tunips in a baking dish with olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper and herbs. I used thyme, rosemary and oregano. Cover the dish and put in the oven for 40 min or until soft. I'm drooling just writing this. We are supposed to get more turnips this week and I'm planning on just making this recipe again. It's so good I don't even want to try another.

http://www.sassyradish.com/2008/06/braised-baby-turnips/

Strawberries:
We just ate them raw, but this time I was better at sharing. I brought some of them to Minnesota with me over the weekend when I was visiting my family. They all loved the taste but we realized they were smaller than the Costco blueberries that we're also on the table.

Lettuce:
Basically, I have been trying to eat a salad everyday for lunch. Nothing too inspiring. Just your basic veggies with ranch. Or today I spiced it up by making a taco salad which just means use salsa and sour cream instead of dressing and tortilla chips instead of crutons. I have had 3 salads out of the bag already and probably have about 2 more left. When lettuce starts coming weekly, we have to eat salads all the time.

Scapes:
Well, again I struggled with eating the scapes. I brought some to MN and made the same dip as last week for my family. I really like how the dip has a spiciness to it but it's all from the garlic. I also used the scapes as a pizza topping. It was good but not my favorite. I think I need to cut the pieces smaller next time.  Finally, today I took two scapes and diced them as small as I could and mixed them with some mayo for a spread. I used the spread on a BLT. It was actually quite good. Even with all of this, I am still not through this week's batch and we are getting more tomorrow. I may need to make pesto and just add to my supply in the freezer.

Beets:
I'm going to have to write about these next week. I gave some of them away to my best friend who absolutely loves beets. The few I have left I am planning on roasting. I had no idea how long they took until I started looking up recipes. 1-2 hours!! Well, I am hoping to cook them up tomorrow. I really hope I like them more this time.

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/roasted_beets_with_balsamic_glaze/

Zucchini:
Actually, I haven't eaten this yet. I am sure it will get roasted, pan fried, grilled or steamed tomorrow.

Since, I am late in this post again, I know what we are getting this week! Swiss chard (which is a tough one for me), fennel, more garlic scapes, grape leaves, kale (another tough one), turnips!, and zucchini. -- this is going to be a challenging week for me.  I will post a picture of it tomorrow.

I will leave you with one last image. Over the weekend, my mom and I attempted to make my grandmother's doughnuts. They were wonderful! Light, fluffy with a finger-lickin glaze. And basically the opposite of the CSA.

Oops....

I must apologize for all the incorrect words in my Week 1 post.  I was writing it on my phone at midnight and didn't realize how much auto-correcting it did.  I went back and corrected.  I don't think I will writing full entries on my phone again...

Week 2: Picture!

Here is a picture of this week's food!  A little smaller than last week but should be delicious.

Week 1: Wrangling Cilantro

One week down! And I am starting to get the swing of things again. Amazingly, all that we have from last week's box is 1/2 a head of Napa lettuce, which I am hoping will keep for a little bit. The recipe planning came a little slow at first but I have to give myself a break. I am a little rusty. I was also hoping to write this post last night or even Monday but I must admit, I was sidetracked by Tamara getting engaged on Real Housewives of OC. Can you believe she will be on to her 3rd husband!? Anyway, on to the important stuff! Below is how we enjoyed each and every morsel from our CSA...

Radishes:
-Our first night with the CSA we made Mahi-Mahi tacos. We did the fish on the grill which came out wonderfully. The radishes made a perfect crunchy topping; and very authentic.
-Raw radishes is one of those foods I want to love but I wasn't quite there until this week. I love how crunchy they are but the spicy bite was something I needed to get used to. I have read in a couple magazines that the best way to eat them is dipped in butter and sprinkled with salt, so I decided I finally needed to try them this way. AMAZING! Of course, anything is better with butter but there was something about this. It really brought out the spiciness. I highly recommend trying them this way if you haven't.

Napa Lettuce:
- At first I really didn't know what I was going to do with this but then I remembered it was another authentic taco topping! Basically getting this and the radishes is what inspired the fish tacos. I like it better than lettuce because it is crisper and adds refreshing element.
- After looking into napa cabbage more on google, I realized I eat it all the time in Asian food. One person described it as the big white squares in stir fry that you think are onion but then just taste like crispness. Perfect in a stir fry I made for myself last night. I end up making a lot of stir fries right before the new box comes. It's a great way to use up the odds and ends. A lot of the time I just used bottled sauces but this week I used one of my favorite concoctions-- Orange marmalade, soy sauce, grated ginger and red pepper flakes. Num! Perfect with shrimp.

Zucchini:
- Ate it the way Bryan and I like it best...grilled! Just threw it on there and had it as a side.

New Potatoes:
- Another easy one to eat up. We wrapped the potatoes in foil with olive oil, salt, pepper and rosemary. Then we just threw the packet on the grill.

Kohlrabi:
For the kohlrabi, I decided to make a slaw with green apple. I really like this recipe but it is definitely best if eaten the first day. I also discovered I can only eat slaw 3 days in a row and then I get sick of it. I need to pawn it off on some friends.







Slaw Recipe is from Epicurious -- follow the link below.  Notice our little house guest on Saturday in the picture...Bill!

www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Kohlrabi-and-Apple-Salad-with-Creamy-Mustard-Dressing-10693


Garlic Scapes:
- I struggle with scapes. I like them but you can't really just eat them raw. Everyone online says to make a pesto but I still have some left from last year in the freezer. Well luckily I stumbled across this great dip! I made it last Sunday and brought it to my brother's. I will have to say, the garlic taste is a little abrasive. I love garlic so I was fine with it but I could see others not liking it.

Follow the link for the dip recipe I used.
http://journeyofanitaliancook.blogspot.com/2012/06/garlic-scape-recipes.html

- My favorite way I used the scapes this week was very impromptu. I was reading one of my cookbooks on Sunday and came across a recipe for Blistered Tomatoes and goat cheese on bread. It sounded so delicious I decided to whip it up for dinner one night. You just roasted cherry tomatoes under the broiler with balsamic, oil and thyme. Since I had the scapes hanging around, I decided to throw them on the pan, too. They were awesome! Garlicky but not too strong with caramelized balsamic on the outside. Definitely keeping this quick meal in my repertoire.
- I also threw the last of them into my stir fry. Couldn't really taste then in there though.

Cilantro:
- I started with the obvious...Mexican. Used the cilantro as a topping for the tacos and in guacamole. Always good. But if you remember the bunch on got, these two items didn't even make a dent. I needed to find a recipe that used A LOT of cilantro.

- Chimichurri!! Perfect! It took two cups of chopped cilantro and I had the rest of the ingredients in my fridge. I made a batch and stuck it in the freezer for the next time we have steak or chicken. 

Below is the link to the chimichurri.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/27/lime-marinated-pork-tende_n_1056903.html

- Even after that I still had a ton of cilantro left, so I took the recommendation of our farm and froze the rest. To do so you chop it up and put if in your ice cube tray. Pour water over the herbs and freeze. I am pretty excited for this because I love to make guacamole. Now I won't need to buy a whole bunch just for the little bit I need.

Rhubarb:
-Now this is an example where it is hard to plan your recipes before you see the quantity you get. When I first heard we were getting rhubarb I was hoping to make a crisp or pie but we only got 3 stalks (0.5 lbs). Can't make too much with that little. I toyed around with the idea of buying more but then I found a recipe for a Strawberry Rhubarb Ice Cream Topping. Really loved this. Even converted my husband into liking rhubarb which he has always says he didn't like.

http://www.marthastewart.com/314055/strawberry-rhubarb-sundaes?center=276955&gallery=275393&slide=281031
Follow the link above for the recipe.



Finally, Strawberries:
Ate them, as is, the first day! I sat out on our deck. Let the sunshine hit my face and ate a whole carton of strawberries. My fingers were bright red afterwards. Can't wait to do it again this week!

Well, since I am late with this post, this week's list of food already came out.
Beets, zucchini, scapes, lettuce with spinach, strawberries and, the one item I learned to love dearly last summer, baby turnips!

My mission this week will be to try to like beets. It's another one of those foods I want to love but I'm just not there yet.

I will take a picture tomorrow of this week's box and post it. I also want to leave you with a picture of my tomato plant. In just about 1 month...huge!

And it begins...

YAY!  The first CSA of the year!  So exciting to see all the fresh vegetables.  Smell the fresh herbs. Taste the super ripe strawberries.  All my memories from last year came rushing back to me.  I forgot how thrilling it was each week to get the newsletter that informs you what the farm is packing in your box.  I also forgot how time consuming the whole process can be. 

It all starts with getting a newsletter from the farm which we usually don't get until very late the day before.  If anyone would like to read the weekly newsletters, they are posted on their website.
http://www.ridgelandharvest.com/newsletters/2012-newsletters
The newsletters are always quite interesting since not only do they explain the produce, but they also tell you about how the farm is doing.  Is the recent weather helping or hurting the crops?  What are they planting next? and maybe a preview of next week. Well, once I get the newsletter I start to brainstorm what I want to do with the food.  The only problem is you don't really know how much of each item you will get until you pick it up. (Will I have 1 zucchini or 4 pounds worth?) So, it makes it kind of difficult to really plan it out.  After work, I swing by my pick-up site where I have to unload everything out of a waxed-produce box into my own bag.  Once I get home, I try to wash and trim the items before putting them in the fridge.  Our fridge isn't very big so I need to get rid of anything that we won't really eat. (Like the leaves on radishes and the bad leaves on lettuces).  And now I am at the final stage...trying to figure what the heck I am going to do with all of this food!  I usually try to go through my own recipes, cooking magazines and cookbooks at home but I would say 75% of my recipe choices come from just googling the ingredient and seeing what I find.  I rely heavily on reviews to make sure the recipe isn't a flop.  Each week, I will post what I did with the produce and the recipes I used.

Here is a picture of the food we got this week. 

From left to right, Napa Cabbage, Rhubarb, Garlic Scapes, Strawberries, Kohlrabi, Cilantro (the biggest bunch I have ever seen!), Zucchini, Radishes and Red Potatoes.

This is about the same amount and variety I get every week.  Some things that I eat regularly and some things I would have probably never tried without the CSA.  In late July, we do get more than this when almost all crops are in-season.  Last year the ended up having to give us the same boxes as the Full Share for a couple weeks.

So...what am I going to do with all of this??  Right now I am thinking, some fish tacos on the grill tonight.  They will help use the radishes, napa cabbage and cilantro.  Especially if I make some guacamole.  The strawberries we will just eat raw.  The farm newsletters notified us that this is the only week we will be getting them since the season was so strange.  They didn't have enough time to get big but they are already ripe and very sweet.  For the Kohlrabi, I am thinking of making a coleslaw with green apples that I made last year.  I know a lot of people absolutely love kohlrabi raw.  Just eating it like an apple.  I'm not sure if I'm quite there yet.  I am hoping that I have enough rhubarb to make some sort of crisp.  The garlic scapes are a big ? right now.  Last year I made garlic scape pesto which was delicious, but I still have last years batch in the freezer.  I am thinking about just adding them to a stirfry or putting them on a grill.  Finally, the potatoes and zucchini we will have no problem eating just as a side.  For now we will be able to just eat the zucchini on its own but if its anything like last year we have A LOT more of it in our future when I will need to get a little more creative.

If anyone has recipe suggestions for this weeks veggies, just let me know.  I am open to suggestions!

Time to make my shopping list and get cooking!

New York, New York!

Over the long weekend, my husband and I spent our time roaming the concrete jungle...aka New York City.  I have been there before but not for a very long time.  Though I love Wisconsin and I truly appreciate our farms and rolling hills...there is something magical in NYC.  I just love it there.  Always something interesting going on, always something to do.  I feel like it would be impossible to get bored.  Granted, this all just from visiting.  I am sure if you lived there it would be a whole different story.  Well, I will get on with what people really care about....what I ate! :-)  As I said in my first post, food basically controls my life and this is no different with vacations.  I studied up on all the restaurants we should be eating at.  Asked lots of friends for recommendations and we finally landed on 3 places for dinner;  Remi (a smaller, easy-to-get-to Italian restaurant), Craft (Tom Colicchio's restaurant) and Momofuku Noodle Bar (really good Ramen place owned by David Chang).  All were delicious in their own way.

Remi -- He had Braised Veal Chop with Saffron Risotto and I have Ricotta Raviolioni with a Saffron cream sauce.  Very tasty.  Place was dead when we got there but I think that's because we missed the Broadway crowd. 

This picture is a little dark because I was trying to be discreet... Craft -- He had a Sirloin with bone marrow and I had the Braised Short Ribs..NUM!  SO delicious!  For starters we had oysters, I had a salad and he tried Sweet Breads.  They were definitely interesting but probably not something I would pick again. 

Momofuku -- HUGE bowls of ramen. SO GOOD!!  I can't even explain how tasty this was and just how perfect it was after two nights of eating heavy. 

As you can see, he wanted to drink from the bowl

Ended the trip with good ol' pastrami on rye.  NYC classic!

Of course, since everything needs to revolve around food, I insisted that we go to the NYC Greenmarket.  Basically, their version of the Farmer's Market.  I just love seeing what it is in season in other places and compare prices.  Definitely some things were pricey like strawberries but some things were the same from home.  Very similar produce at home but that might be because it has been so warm in WI this spring. Lots of lettuces, radishes, aged cheese, apples, apple cider, strawberries, and flowers.  For anyone that has been to the Dane County Farmer's Market, be proud --Our farmer's market is far superior to NYC's.  DCFM is about 3 times larger and has a way more eclectic mix of produce.  But this one was still a lot of fun!  

I had to end our trip on something sweet!  After the 3 days were done, I realized we never went to any of the bakeries I hear so much about.  So before we went to the airport I made B go with me to Grand Central Station since I knew that Magnolia Bakery had shop there.  

Decided on Red Velvet with Whipped Vanilla frosting.  I was a little nervous because the only reason I like red velvet is because it usually comes with Cream Cheese Frosting, which is my favorite...

IT WAS AMAZING!!!  Perfect crumb.  Nice light not overly sweet frosting.  I will now have to strive to make my own cupcakes this good. 

Well that's about it for my NYC.  We are going to Boston in about a month so now I need to start planning for that.  If anyone has restaurant or tourist sites recommendations, please let me know.  I don't really have a clue where to start with Boston.  Also, on a high note, my CSA is starting a week early because all the crops are early!! YAY!  So that means next week I will stop rambling about my life and start posting about the real purpose of this blog: My CSA.  And I will leave you with one more picture of my tomato plant.  It was gotten huge.  If you compare this picture to the one from the last post, this is the amount it grew in 1 week!  Can't wait to start getting some tomatoes!