Week #7: A few things I made this week

We are starting to get veggies in abundance, which means I need to start making the "big guns."  AKA: Soup!  Seemed a little odd to be making a soup on the hottest day of the year but it will be great to enjoy it when the cooler weather comes.  I will probably only post one more time before we leave for our European Excursion.  At that time the focus of the blog will move away from Wisconsin food and on to Swiss, Italian, Slovakian, Hungarian and Croatian food (and the other things we do while we are there).  While we are away we have friends and family taking the CSA for us.  I won't make them write anything up for the blog but I can't wait to hear what they liked/disliked and what they made.  Everyone has a different idea pop into their head when they see a vegetable.  For me this week, when I saw we had 11 small heads of broccoli the only thing I could think of was Broccoli Cheese soup!

Broccoli Cheese Soup:  Like I said, we use up ALL of our broccoli from the CSA.  May have been more than the recipe called for but I think it worked.  I used my immersion blender to puree some of the soup but still left some healthy chunks.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/broccoli-cheese-soup-recipe.html

Thick and Creamy Broccoli Cheese Soup

Rhubarb Freezer Jam:  I still had quite a bit of rhubarb in the fridge and I wanted to make something that would last a while since we will be gone.  I considered making the sweet bread again and freezing it but I wanted to do something different.  This freezer jam was really easy.  I think the jam will pair wonderfully with a triple cream brie.  Can't wait to try it!

http://foodpreservation.about.com/od/Freezing/r/Easy-Rhubarb-Freezer-Jam-Recipe.htm

Rhubarb Freezer Jam in my newly inherited mason jars

Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins:  We also had a lot of zucchini to get through.  I love these muffins because they are chocked full of them but it doesn't taste like it at all because of the deep chocolate flavor.  They are so chocolaty they taste more like a dessert.  The recipe calls for a small amount of canola oil but I replaced it with apple sauce.  Perfect recipe for that type of thing.

http://www.simplylifeblog.com/2012/07/double-chocolate-zucchini-muffins-from-whats-baking-in-the-barbershop/

Packing 2 muffins for work and using my Valentine's Day wrappers :-)

My first big harvest of cherry tomatoes from my plants!! The Sungolds are so sweet, they are like candy.

Cherry Tomatoes from my garden

Finally, Week #7 CSA: Dragon Tongue beans, basil, napa cabbage, onions, sugar snap peas, broccoli, cucumbers, patty pan squash, fennel, zucchini, cilantro and eggplant (which is hiding).  I have some work to do to get through all of this before we leave!

Week #7 CSA

Lots of great veggies and fruit are now in-season!  Go to your local farmer's market to check it out!  I hear Door County cherries are going to be at our market tomorrow. Num!