Week 16 & 17: A Cooking Marathon

I am pooped!!  This past weekend was my first weekend at home in 6 weeks! Ridiculous.  It was so nice to be here though.  I got to do things that I wanted to do...but it ended up being a lot.  On top of it being the most gorgeous fall weekend ever!  75 degrees, bright sun, not a cloud in the sky and beautiful trees.  I am glad I got to take advantage of it.  I finished off my weekend with a marathon.  No, not a running marathon.  I can't run...at all.  I had myself a little cooking marathon.  My fridge has been overflowing with vegetables and I decided I needed to attack it.  Aggressively.  I made 3 soups, chimicurri, applesauce and egg rolls.  Sad thing is even after cooking for 7 hours straight, my fridge is still packed full!  UGH!  I may need to give some stuff away.  We will have to see.  This week I am going to set up my entry a little differently.  Instead of listing each item and what I made, I am going to list the meals and recipes and talk about what I used since I have pictures of everything.

Egg Scrambler

Nothing better than an easy scrambler on a Saturday morning.  For this one, I started with a little melted butter and quickly sauteed some cherry tomatoes.  I added chopped chives with the eggs and milk.  At the end, I finished if off with cheddar cheese.  Paired with toast with raspberry jam, it made the perfect breakfast!

Scrambler with chives and cherry tomatoes

Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

I really needed a recipe that used up a lot of cherry tomatoes.  I know I could just freeze them or cook them down into a sauce but I wanted to feature them.  Luckily, I ran into a Caprese Salad recipe with a twist on Pintrest!  Basically, you toss cherry tomatoes in olive oil and herbs.  The recipe called for coriander, which I don't really like so I used thyme.  Once coated, you have to spread them on a baking sheet with the cut side up, then roast in a 225 degree oven for several hours.  They came out delicious!  Sweet little morsels.  I roasted 1 lb of tomatoes and was able to eat all of them in one sitting!  I will definitely do this again if I run into an overload of tomatoes.

http://eatrepeat.blogspot.com/2011/07/slow-roasted-tomato-caprese-salad.html

Coating the tomatoes in olive oil

Roasted morsels! -- with some roasted garlic

Cheese Tortellini with Cherry Tomatoes and Pesto

Even after roasting 1 lb of tomatoes, I still had a lot left.  This time I just threw together an easy pasta dish.  I roasted the tomatoes for a little bit to get the juices hot and tossed them with cheese tortellini, fresh mozzarella, basil pesto, and Parmesan.  Simple, fast and tasty.  I had the basil pesto in my freezer from last summer.  It was surprisingly still good.  I just needed to add a little olive oil to it to add some moisture.  I was disappointed I never got around to making more pesto this year.  I was holding out to make some with my own basil but my plants were a little finicky this year.  I will still post the recipe I usually use.  It is fairly typical.

http://www.marthastewart.com/314321/basic-basil-pesto

Cheese Tortellini with Cherry Tomatoes and Pesto

Deconstructed Fajitas

I knew I needed to eat a lot of bell peppers this week and the best meal for that is fajitas, of course!  But I wanted to be more creative.  I also wanted the meal to be based more around the vegetables and less around the tortillas and other toppings.  I basically got everything together that I usually put on fajitas and then ate it with tortilla triangles.  It was good, but I think next time I will go back to the normal way.  Why mess with a good thing?

Deconstructed Fajitas

Roasted Bell Pepper Bisque with Romano Cheese

Guess what takes more bell peppers than fajitas?  SOUP!  I didn't even think about making this until my friend suggested it yesterday.  Of course this was supposed to me only red peppers but I used red, yellow and green.  I decided to use this specific recipe from Epicurious because it had Romano cheese in it -- which makes anything delicious!  The recipe does call for shrimp which I think would be good but is not necessary.  I am really excited to eat this in the upcoming weeks and months.  For now it is sitting in my freezer.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Roasted-Red-Bell-Pepper-Bisque-with-Shrimp-and-Romano-Cheese-103119

Final product!  Creamy, cheesy, slightly spicy bell pepper bisque

Garlic Fried Rice

I have never made fried rice before.  And after making it this week, I'm not sure why.  So easy and nummy.  A nice variation to my typical stir fries.  This recipe also used up so much of the items in my fridge!  The only thing I had to buy was ginger.  Carrots, cabbage, garlic, onions and I added red bell pepper.  For the brown rice, I used frozen rice from Trader Joe's.  May sound strange but it is very good and super quick.  3 min in the microwave.  I do recommend having soy sauce with this.  It definitely adds a little salt and umami that is missing right out of the pan.

http://pinchofyum.com/skinny-garlicfried-rice



Frying it up!

Great dinner!  Skinny Garlic Stir Fry

Egg Rolls

I was getting VERY adventurous this week.  I would never consider making egg rolls.  It just sounds like a lot of work.  Sauteing, rolling and frying.  But they were a lot easier than I expected.  Still a little time consuming compared to just popping one out of your freezer but I am sure these will be delicious.  I ended up frying them and putting them in the freezer in hope that I will be able to warm them up in the toaster oven like the ones I buy at the store.  The recipe says to freeze them before frying but I didn't want to have to heat up oil every time I wanted one.  Also, the recipe calls for ground pork which I couldn't find at my grocery store, which I found odd since they have sorts of nasty offal. So I had to improvise with ground chicken.  Also, this recipe makes A TON of small rolls.  Instead, I made only a few large rolls.  I was so pleased with how nicely the rolls fried up.  I haven't tasted one yet but each of the elements were good so I am cross my fingers that the final product comes together.

http://steamykitchen.com/13029-my-mothers-famous-chinese-egg-rolls-2.html

Prepping the cabbage and carrots

Making the rolls

Frying up the rolls

Guacamole

I love love LOVE guacamole.  Seriously one of my favorite things ever.  I try to make it whenever avocados are $1 or less.  And this time, not only were avocados cheap but I also had tomatoes, garlic and cilantro sitting in my fridge.  I have come to the point that I don't measure anything so each batch comes out a little different.

GUACAMOLE

2 avocados

Juice of 1/2 a lime

Salt, to taste

1 clove garlic, diced

1/4 cup red onion, diced

1 tomatoes, cored, seeded and diced

1 small jalapeno, diced

2 Tbsp cilantro, chopped

Mash avocados with lime juice and salt.  Stir in remaining ingredients.  Garnish with cilantro leaves.

Nummy guacamole

Chimichurri

SO much cilantro.  The only thing I could find that would use up a large amount is to add to the chimichurri I already have in the freezer.  I love the fresh and tangy sauce on steaks, shrimp and pork.  Now I just need to buy some meat!

http://eclecticrecipes.com/cilantro-chimichurri



Getting everything into the food processor

Chimichurri!

Week 17:

I am putting this picture in the middle of the post because the remaining recipes used more of the vegetables from this week's box instead of last week's.  This week is really going to be a challenge.  Things I have never had before like fava beans and turnip greens along with things I don't really enjoy like fennel.  We will see how this goes.

Fava Beans, Beets, Leek, Spinach, Turnip Greens, Carrots, Fennel, Peppers and a Jalapeno.

Week 17

Carrot Ginger Soup

Oh, what to do when you get 2 lbs of carrots?  Make carrot soup!  Again, I didn't even think of this until I talked to my friend.  She had great suggestions this week with soups!  Maybe someday when I have kids I would be thrilled with 2 lbs of carrots.  Every kids loves them and you can make baby food.  But for me, it was a little daunting by myself.  If B was around, they would have easily been devoured in a matter of hours but I just can't do it.  I only eat a couple at a time so this soup was perfect.  Very easy besides having to peel around 30 smallish carrots.  I definitely learned a technique by the end.  I will admit, when I tried the soup before I put it in the freezer I was a little uncertain.  It tasted a little too much like baby food for me so I added a little bit more ground ginger and some curry powder.  I may add more curry powder when I serve as well.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/all-american-festivals/ginger-carrot-soup-recipe/index.html

Carrot Ginger Soup

Potato Leek Soup

Whenever I see a leek, all I can think about it Potato Leek Soup.  And even better, I had potatoes lying around from the CSA a couple weeks ago.  The recipe I used starts with bacon.  And as we all know, bacon makes everything better.  I also liked this recipe because I didn't need to peel the potatoes.  When pureed, it made it a little more rustic.  The final product was good but I do think it is missing a little something. I think when we have it, I will serve it with a little cheddar cheese and bacon or many some sour cream. 

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/potato-and-leek-soup-recipe2/index.htm

Taters

Leeks sauteing with bacon and butter

Final product!  Topped off with chives!

So even though I didn't get apples in my CSA, I wanted to leave you with some pictures of my applesauce.  My mom always used to make homemade applesauce in the fall.  It was something that we all looked forward to.  To this day, if I have jarred or store bought applesauce, I always have to throw it in the microwave for a minute to make it warm, just like it is when fresh off the stove.  With my mom's method, you need to own a food mill.  Though it is a very old kitchen tool, it definitely comes in handy at times.  Hope everyone is enjoying fall to its fullest!  For me, it is applesauce, apple pie, apple cider, donut holes, bonfires, football, and crunching through the leaves!

Cooking up the apples.  1 Tbsp of water for every lb of apples

Putting the cooked apples through the food mill

Week 13 & 14: Running Behind

Well, usually my goal is to get through one week's worth of food before the next week comes.  That is not happening...  Being away every weekend isn't helping.  Now B is out of town for the next 2 weeks for work, so I have to battle the veggies on my own.  I know I can do it.  But in the past my posts were a little more focused.  Now with the weeks running together, the blog posts will have to as well. 

I recently started working with a personal trainer, making my weeks even busier.  Hopefully this will help balance out all of the food I need/want to eat.  I absolutely love, love, LOVE working with her, which is amazing because I hate working out.  There are many reasons why I think this is working for me.  She pushes me, I don't need to think about what I should do, and its somewhat social (which is nice after my long drives to/from work).  Anyway, last night after I had to attempt to do push ups (quite a poor attempt, to say the least).  It got me thinking...what is my push up equivalent with cooking.  What is that thing that I struggle with most and maybe just some practice would make it better.  I think I decided it would have to be more with baking than cooking since baking is so much more of a science.  Cooking, though I am sure people would disagree with me, is quite simple if you know flavors that go together.  Dishes like stir fries, homemade pizza, tacos, and pasta can be eaten weekly and taste completely different week-to-week.  Plus, none of them really take any measurements.  But that's a tangent....my push up for cooking is the cheesecake.  I think more than anything, I am scared to make it.  I made one a couple years ago and after all of the hard work, it flipped out of my fridge and on to the floor.  Horrible.  Especially because it was supposed to be the dessert for Thanksgiving at my in-law's house.  Oh well!  I think I need to get over my fear and try again. Just like I need to get over my fear of push ups. What is your dish or baked good that you are scared of?

This week I am going to start with last week's photo of the share since they all run together...

Week 14:

Chard, red potatoes, carrots, cilantro, red peppers, chives, cherry tomatoes and garlic. --overall, pretty normal things to use, so it shouldn't be too hard to get through.



Week 14!

Broccoli, wax beans and bell peppers:
As always when I need to get through some veggies, I made a giant stir fry with a little jasmine rice.  Look at how colorful it is!  The best part is we have 4 different sauces in our fridge so we can switch it up when we want.  I think this week I used a Thai Peanut Sauce and B used a Szechaun.  With the wax beans, I also just ate them raw as a snack.  They were good but not as sweet and flavorful as a green bean. 

Cherry Tomatoes:

I am starting to really back up in cherry tomatoes.  I love them but I am running out of ideas.  I will need to do some research for the upcoming weeks.  But last week I ate my standard lunch of tomatoes with balsamic and fresh mozzarella.  I have also been trying to have salads everyday this week which of course they are included in.   

Carrots:

So easy to use, it is not even worth getting too inventive.  Well not until I get too many of them at least.  First of all, I have to say I love big normal carrots.  As a kid, that is all we ate.  And then the baby carrot came about.  Though convenient and still tasty, a real big carrot will always be superior.  Always crunchy and always sweet.  Besides just eating them raw as a snack, I have been adding them to my salads.

Cucumber:

I was hoping to make one last batch of my favorite salad.  I got all of the ingredients out, pulled out the cucumber and realized it was quite small.  Not really worth it.  So, I have been enjoying the it in my lettuce salads instead.  I like cutting it into big chunks so they are easy to pick up with my fork.



Salad for Lunch - Romanie, carrots, cucumber, red pepper, cherry tomatoes and chives



Chives:
I have never seen so many chives...ever.  My grandpa used to have them in his garden.  When I was little I used to eat a bunch of them until my breath would be all oniony and then breathe in people's faces.  I know, I know...I was a great child.  The good thing about chives is they can go in almost anything.  This week I have been adding them to my salads and topping my baked potatoes.  I am hoping they will keep a while in the fridge.  I think this weekend I will add some chives to my scrambled eggs.  Num!

Potatoes:
I was pretty pumped to get potatoes in our share this week.  I don't usually buy potatoes much but I sure do love them.  Also, since they are hearty, they should keep for a very long time.  I used one this week for a simple baked potato. Since I am lazy, I just use the microwave to bake them.  I have a few ideas for upcoming weeks for the potatoes though that may be more exciting like Buca's Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Crispy Smashed Potatoes.  When I make them, I will add the recipes -- something to look forward to.

Swiss Chard:
I decided since we haven't gotten swiss chard in a while, I would go back a few weeks and repeat a recipe.  And once again, it was delicious.  I think the caramelized onion and garlic is what really makes this dish.  Plus topping with salty fresh goat cheese. 

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

My dinner one night this week -- Swiss Chard and Baked Potato

Corn:

We had quite a bit of corn to eat last week.  Luckily some friends invited us over for dinner and that was our contribution.  It was still quite sweet and crunchy.  The down side was they all had some sort of worm in the top.  The farm had warned us about this and said just to cut off the tops which worked out fine.  But I think since we had the corn in our fridge for the week, the worms got pretty big.  Well, the one we actually saw was big.  It was wriggling around on the cutting board.  Ick!  I felt better about the corn once it was cooked in boiling water.  That should kill off any bugs, right?

Beets:

So we meet again, Beets.  I have tried beets at a restaurant recently thinking maybe if they were made by an expert I would love them.  Nope!  Still, I can tolerate them.  Its strange but I think it is more the texture than anything else.  Which is why the grilled beets worked for me again.  They dry out on the grill becoming almost chip-like.  This time I added some gorgonzola cheese with them instead of goat.  Both ways were delicious. 

Red Pepper, Cilantro, Tomato, Jalapeno:

We used all of these items as toppings on one of my favorite dishes my mom makes.  Its called Tijiuana Torte.  Basically it is glorified nachos.  You start with a basis of tortilla chips.  Smother them in a kind of sweet, chili meat sauce. And top it off with all of your favorite nacho/taco toppings.  Salsa, sour cream, cheese, tomatoes, jalapenos, peppers, etc.  It is a great dish to make for company because it makes a ton.  Or you can freeze leftovers.  I think more than anything, it is the perfect dish if you are having people over to watch a football game.  You can make it all ahead of time and then let it cook during the first half.  Everyone gets to customize and it fits right in with all of the other snacks/treats you are having.

TIJUANA TORTE

2 pounds ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped

2 tsp chili powder

2 tsp dried oregano

2 tsp cumin powder

2 tsp salt

2 Tbsp sugar

3 (6-oz) can tomato paste

1 (16-oz) can tomato sauce

4 cups of water

Brown ground beef with onion.  Drain.  Add remaining ingredients.  Simmer for one hour.  Serve over tortilla chips with toppings.

Toppings -- chopped up and ready to go

Final dish before digging in

Kale:

Dreaded kale....what to do with you this week?  Well, since I was going for more of the nutrients and less for the taste, I added the kale to a fruit smoothie one more for breakfast.  This smoothie had greek yogurt, a frozen banana, frozen berries and kale.  It was really quite good and a great way to get some vitamins.



Kale and Berry Smoothie

Week 15! 

Well, I still have some food left over from the previous weeks but not too much.  The shares are getting much smaller as you can see. I now have a TON of cilantro.  That will be the biggest challenge in the next week.  I have avocados all ready to make guacamole but that only takes a little bit of cilantro.  I will probably make and freeze some chimmichuri again.  Other than that, I will need to so some searching.

Cilantro, Cabbage, Kale, Peppers, Cherry Tomatoes, Jalapenos, Garlic, Carrots, and Onions

Week 15 -- Adding on to the stuff I have in the fridge from the last two weeks

Hope every enjoys the chilling Fall weekend!  I think it is time to pick some apples, drink hot apple cider and sit by a fire!

Week 12: Life Gets a Little Crazy

As the daylight grows shorter, my days grow longer. Unlike most people, our personal lives are getting more crazy as we move into Fall instead of slowing down. The good news is our weekends are filled with fun! Weddings, Bachelor(ette) Parties, Badger Games and lots more (like our 1 year anniversary). The bad news is I am exhausted just thinking about it. Along with our weekends, both of our work lives are picking up as well. I'm not quite sure how we will fit it all in but I know it will work out. And of course I will still be working through the CSA each and every week- the blog posts just may be late and a little shorter, depending on the week. Last week was last of our huge shares but we got through it all in just a couple days! I think the biggest help was bringing a lot of the veggies on our friend's boat on Labor Day. Always good to eat something healthy while in a swimsuit---and drinking beer. :-)

Carrots, Cucumber, Bell Pepper and Green Beans:
We cut all of these veggies for the boat and paired with my favorite from-scratch dip. I forgot to take a picture of it all but it was quite beautiful. I introduced a lot of my friends to their first taste of raw green beans. They have all only had then cooked. I love having them raw on a veggie tray. Crunchy, fresh and just something a little different. They are usually the first thing to go.
Below is the recipe to my favorite veggie dip. I love the garlicky flavor and fresh herbs.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Ranch-Dip-with-Vegetables-109001

Bell Peppers:
With the bell peppers that didn't go on the boat with us, we threw them on the grill, whole. They got a great char on the outside and almost steamed themselves in the middle. I think next time they may just need a little oil and some seasoning after they come off the grill and cut.

Corn:
Charred on the grill! We had 14 ears to eat, but we got through them all in two sittings. I think I ate 3 of the 14 but oh well. They were very sweet and fairly small. I look forward to the ears we got this week to see if they are the same.

Summer Squash:
I went boring again. Cut into coins and roasted in the oven. We wanted to cook them on the grill but it was raining. I think it has rained in the evening 5 out of the last 7 days. So strange compared to earlier this summer. Anyway...I think my oven was a little too hot this time because they got a little dried out but they were still a great side for our burgers.

Broccoli:
We actually just ate the broccoli tonight in a stir fry. I will talk more about it in my next post since it had more of this week's food than last week's.

Tomatillos:
Well these were my biggest adventure last week. I have never used a tomatillo before but I love salsa verde. I had no idea that they were sticky under their husks. Very weird. I was do stunned when I cut it open. I assumed it would look like a tomato but it looked nothing like it. Almost more like an eggplant because of the little seeds. I used a very simple recipe for the salsa that called for fresh tomatillos, cilantro, garlic, onion, water and Serrano peppers. It was fantastic. Just throw it all in the blender and you have fresh salsa. The Serranos give it a nice kick but it is still doable for me. This recipe is a must for any fiesta!

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Fresh-Tomatillo-Salsa-239984

Insides of the tomatillos

Finished salsa!

Tomatoes:
As usual, I ate most of the tomatoes sliced up with salt and pepper as a side. So delicious! I did put one tomato on a BLT with avocado. A favorite summer meal!

Raspberries:
Ate them up in minutes!!! Though a lot of them did not travel well so there was red/pink juice everywhere!

Week 13!

More Corn, beets, broccoli, garlic, peppers, kale, yellow beans, kohlrabi, cherry tomatoes and slicers. Should be a good and easy week. I will try to be better at pictures this week. I was slacking!