RECENT POSTS
No doubt a scroll through my previous posts will show plenty of references to Saturday night feast night - it's a tradition Rob and I started over the summer under the inspiration of our bountiful CSA bag. Between travel and colds, we haven't endulged in a while, but we managed to bring feast night back this week with an Italian multi-course meal which, as you'll read, needn't be as time consuming as you might think.
Our antipasto was left over baba ganoush that I made last week (it was good - still looking for a great recipe though. Anyone?) and Goat Lady Dairy's Sandy Creek aged goat cheese. This is one of my favorites of their cheese though a favorite is certainly hard to choose. It's mellow and buttery with a layer of surprisingly tasty grape leaf ash. We ate these on toasted Italian herb bread from Great Harvest.
Our salad course was very simple: baby greens from our CSA bag and a shaving of pecorino romano. I happened to have made some roasted bell pepper dressing for my book club pot luck last Wednesday.
We got by with a little help from our friends on the pasta course: goat cheese and herb ravioli from Giacmo's - Giacomo's is a relatively new discovery for us, after having driven by their newer New Garden location for years. We're totally hooked now. With the ravioli, I made a sort of relish inspired by our CSA bag and Pat's suggested serving:
I sauteed Italian frying peppers from the CSA bag along with a ton of sliced garlic and chopped onion. Then I added chopped sun-dried tomatoes, a little chopped proscuitto and chopped broccoli raab from the CSA bag. Once everything cooked down, it was only about a cup of relish total but the perfect accompaniment to allow the ravioli flavors to shine.
I also used the last of the season's eggplant, also from Pat and Brian, and the last of the marinara from the freezer, to make a tiny little eggplant parmesan casserole - my favorite!
For dessert, we split a piece of cheesecake from Giacamo's - it was a reasonably sized (read: not 5 servings disguised as one) piece but still perfect to split.
Not a lot of cooking for a lot of reward - recipes below!
1 lb red, yellow, and/or orange bell pepper
1/3 cup white wine vinegar
2 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/4 teaspoon Sugar
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1 clove garlic; minced
1/3 cup basil, fresh; finely chopped
Preheat broiler. Cut seeds and stems out of peppers and lay skin-side up on a baking sheet. Broil until skin is browned and bubbling - don't be scared - it'll look a little burned. Toss peppers into a paper bag and fold over several times to seal and let sit for at least 15 minutes. The skins should now peel easily from the peppers.
Combine all ingredients except basil in blender and process until smooth. Stir in basil.
Yield: 1 1/2 c
Contributor: Cooking Light
Preparation Time: 00:30
In the tradition of my mom, who turned me onto eggplant parm and who I still think makes the best ever, I don't really have a recipe for this, though this is the basic idea:
Peel and slice some eggplant - how thick you slice depends on preference - if you like meaty chunks of eggplant, go big; if you want to disguise the eggplant so the kids will eat it, go thin.
Dip the eggplant in some lightly beaten eggs or egg whites then dredge in a mixture of dry breadcrumbs, grated parmesan and any other seasoning you like: maybe garlic powder, oregano or basil.
Spray a baking dish with cooking spray and layer eggplant with your favorite tomato sauce; top with tomato sauce and cheese - most people like mozzarella. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for a while, probably no less than 30 minutes, especially with thick slices of eggplant. Unwrap and bake until the cheese is lightly browned.
Okay, so I haven't been so great about posting recipes every day and this hasn't even been the most representative week because we did some leftover eating and went to a potluck one night, but below you will find the recipes I made this week.
Just as a side note for all of you timid cooks: I almost never cook a recipe exactly the way it says. I often forgot an ingredient, or substitue something else, or have extra veggies in the fridge from our market bag that I sneak in somewhere. Just play around - sometimes it'll be great and every now and then you'll dump it all in the trash and call for a pizza. I bet even Rachael Ray has to call for a pizza now and then...
I was trying to think of a way to use my surplus of veggies when I ran across this. Go light on the ground red pepper if you don't like to cry a little when you eat.
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups chopped onion
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground red pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 1/3 cups water
2 1/3 cups dried lentils
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
3 (14 1/2-ounce) cans fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
(I had parsnips and celery in the fridge so I chopped them up and sauteed them with the onion. You could also throw in some chopped braising greens, kale or collards in the last 10 minutes of cooking for an even healthier meal.)
Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onion; sauté for 3 minutes or until tender. Add the turmeric and the next 6 ingredients (turmeric through garlic); sauté for 1 minute. Add water and next 4 ingredients (water through diced tomatoes); bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 1 hour.
(The following directions are among the last-minute preparations that I always forget to do -- it was perfectly fine without being pureed but if you prefer:) Reserve 2 cups lentil mixture. Place half of remaining mixture in blender; process until smooth. Pour pureed soup into a large bowl. Repeat procedure with other half of remaining mixture. Stir in reserved 2 cups lentil mixture.
Contributor: Cooking Light
Yield: 11 1-cup servings
Southern Cornbread
1 cup flour
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon Salt
2 tablespoon Sugar
1 cup milk, skim
2 tablespoon canola oil
1 egg; lightly beaten (when you beat eggs before adding to other ingredients, it incorporates more fully)
Preheat oven to 425.
Combine dry ingredients. Combine wet ingredients and add to well in dry ingredients, stirring until just moistened.
Pour into 8 inch square dish coated with cooking spray. Bake 20 minutes or until done. Cool 5 minutes in pan on wire rack.
Contributor: Cooking Light
Yield: 9 servings
Preparation Time: 00:30
Rob will tell you that there aren't many recipes I make multiple times but this is one of my fall-back meals - doesn't take terribly long to prepare and we always love it.
Cajun Salmon Cakes with Lemon-Garlic Aioli
2 tablespoon mayonnaise - I like low-fat Miracle Whip - it's all chemicals anyway so might as well get the light version...
2 teaspoon lemon juice
1 clove garlic; minced
3 6-oz cans pink salmon, skinless boneless (I actually use the big can of wild salmon and crush the bones - adds tons of calcium and I never taste it)
1/4 cup green onion, chopped (when I don't have those, I chop onion or shallot or just leave it out)
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoon breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon cajun seasoning blend (you can buy it or make your own blend of cayenne, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano and a little salt)
2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon canola oil
To prepare aioli, combine first three ingredients and set aside.
To prepare cakes, combine salmon through mustard. Form into 8 equal patties and dredge in remaining breadcrumbs.
Heat oil in large skillet and cook patties 3 minuter per side or until lightly browned. Serve with aioli.
Contributor: Cooking Light
Yield: 4 servings
Preparation Time: 00:20
Spicy Sweet Potato Wedges
6 medium sweet potato; about 2 1/4 lb
2 teaspoon Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
Preheat to 500.
Peel potatoes and cut each into fry-sized wedges. Place in a bowl and spray with cooking spray (I use a pump sprayer with my own oil in it). Combine remaining ingredients and toss with potatoes. Arrange on a baking sheet lined with non-stick foil (I thought that stuff was a crock when I first saw it but it's invaluable for these fries).
Bake 7 minutes per side or until tender and beginning to brown.
Contributor: Cooking Light
Yield: 8 servings
Preparation Time: 00:25
This one takes a little longer to make but is totally worth it. To reheat, microwave until hot then toast to crip the crust.
4 cup Butternut squash - about 1 pound; peeled, seeds removed, and coarsely shredded (you need a really great veggie peeler to work with butternut squash - and plenty of elbow greese to cut it in half.)
1/2 cup bulgur; uncooked (I usually find this is the baking aisle as a cereal with soy)
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 cup onion; chopped
3/4 cup feta; crumbled
1/2 cup parmesan cheese; grated
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves; chopped
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
8 sheets of phyllo dough (buy in the freezer section and either thaw in the fridge overnight or let sit on the counter for 2 hours. Keep phyllo covered with a damp cloth as you work - it dries out easily.)
Combine squash, bulgur and salt; cover and chill 30 minutes.
Preheat to 350.
Heat oil in skillet and saute onions 3 minutes. Add onion and feta through pepper to squash.
Place on phyllo sheet in 10-inch pie plate coated with cooking spray (I use a pump sprayer with canola or olive oil) or brush with melted butter. Lightly spray (or brush) and top with another sheet - continue for a total of 4 sheets. Top with squash and 4 more phyllo sheets. Fold in phyllo edges for a rim and spray lightly.
Bake 40 minutes or until golden.
Contributor: Cooking Light
Yield: 8 servings
Last night, some of the crazy women of NAWBO put together what proved to be the world's longest Mary Kay makeover. By 11pm, we had gorgeous new looks and I had promised to start posting what I've eaten for the day, including recipes where applicable, in order to give everyone some ideas on how to shake up their eating habits in a healthful way.
Fridays are always big days for eating out for me, mostly because my husband and I have a big breakfast with my dad every Friday at New York Deli. We think it's the best breakfast spot in town, mostly because of their huge selection of omelets. Today, I had the mushroom swiss made with egg whites and whole wheat toast on the side. (On a recent afternoon visit there with one of the make-over ladies from last night, I had a piece of pecan pie to which our Friday morning waitress, Sandy, quipped that it was going to take a lot of egg whites to balance that one out. It's all about the 80/20 rule!)
I had a lunch date at Panera which is always a good choice because most of their soups are pretty light and filling, especially with a whole grain baguette on the side. Today's soup was my favorite: black bean.
For dinner, I finally whipped out the ole pots and pans for my end-of-week scramble to use up as many of last week's market veggies as possible before getting more. Today's challenge: eggplant, bell peppers and potatoes. I was craving mashed potatoes and made them with garlic, light sour cream (there is a brand at Earth Fare that's light without any weird ingredients - tastes great too!) I stumbled across this recipe on Food Down Under to use everything else.
2 bell peppers
3 medium eggplants, peeled and sliced into 1/2 inch rounds
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced (I always use extra though)
4 ounces feta cheese (you can get light feta at the store or goat feta from Goat Lady Dairy at the market)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (yes, freshly ground does make a difference)
1 teaspoon dry oregano or 1 tablespoon fresh, chopped
1 teaspoon dry basil or 1 tablespoon fresh, chopped
1 slice whole grain bread
Preheat your broiler. Remove the seeds and stems from peppers and place peppers skin side up on a baking sheet. Broil until mostly blackened then seal in a zip-top bag. Set aside for 15 or so minutes.
Reduce the oven to 350.
Meanwhile, coat a skillet with cooking spray (I use oil in a refillable pump bottle) and preheat the pan. Add as many eggplant rounds as possible and cook until golden, about 3 minutes per side. Layer browned sliced in a 9X12 baking dish coated with cooking spray. Repeat with remaining eggplant.
Once all the eggplant is cooked, throw the onion and garlic into the hot pan and saute until lightly browned and smelling great, about a minute. Spread those on top of the eggplant.
By now, your bell peppers should be well steamed and the charred skins should slip right off. You can encourage them with your nail if needs be. Chop and sprinkle on top of onion. Top that with the feta, pepper, oregano and basil. Chop the slice of bread in a food processor or by hand into rough breadcrumbs. Sprinkle on top of the casserole.
Bake for 20 minutes. Enjoy!
Rob took this picture in our backyard, initially thinking it was a hummingbird. We think it might be a shrimp/butterfly/frog hybrid, possibly caused by the radon recently detected in our neighbor's home. Do you know what it really is?
I don't actually want to talk about the CSA bag because most of it has ended up snacking food, like cherry tomatoes and cukes. Basil went into everything I could put basil in; same with the sweet peppers and garlic. We also got slicing tomatoes with which we made:
We also got from the farmers' market Japanese eggplant which we charred on the grill and ate with a little soy sauce, as instructed by the slim Japanese man I often run into at the market but whose name I've never caught. We ate corn on the cob (with our favorite chile lime butter), in corn and crab (from the Shrimp Connection who sells across the street from the Piedmont Triad Farmers Market) pasta and pureed corn in the crust of the above tart.
All in all, it was a week of feasting on local foods - and to top it all off, I lost another half pound this week. Not bad for eating like a queen!
1 1/2 pounds red and yellow tomatoes in 1/4 inch slices
1/2 tablespoon salt, divided
1 cup fresh corn kernels
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons sour cream (I use low-fat Organic Farms - no weird ingredients)
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup chilled butter, cut into small pieces
1 tableshoppn cornmeal
1/2 cup basil, shredded, divided
1/3 cup shredded fontina cheese (we used Goat Lady Dairy Providence instead)
1 tablespoon fresh oregano, chopped
2 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper
Arrange tomato slices in a single layer on several layers of paper towels; sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Let stand 20 minutes; blot dry with paper towels.
Preheat oven to 400°.
Place corn, juice, and sour cream in a food processor or blender; process until smooth. Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 1/4 cup cornmeal, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a large bowl; stir with a whisk. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add corn mixture; stir until a soft dough forms. Knead gently 3 or 4 times.
Slightly overlap 2 (16-inch) sheets of plastic wrap on a slightly damp surface. Place dough on plastic wrap; press into a 6-inch circle. Cover with 2 additional (16-inch) sheets of overlapping plastic wrap. Roll dough, still covered, into a 14-inch circle; place on a large baking sheet in freezer 10 minutes or until plastic wrap can be easily removed. Line baking sheet with parchment paper; sprinkle paper with 1 tablespoon cornmeal. Remove 2 sheets of plastic wrap from dough. Place dough, plastic wrap side up, on baking sheet. Remove top sheets of plastic wrap.
Combine 1/4 cup basil, cheese, and oregano. Combine 2 tablespoons flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Arrange cheese mixture on dough, leaving a 1 1/2-inch border. Using a sifter or sieve, sift 1 tablespoon flour mixture over cheese mixture. Arrange half of tomatoes over cheese mixture. Sift remaining flour mixture over tomatoes; top with remaining tomatoes. Fold edges of dough toward center; press to seal (dough will only partially cover tomatoes). Bake at 400° for 35 minutes or until crust is brown; let stand 10 minutes. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup basil and pepper.
6 servings
Contributor: Cooking LightTalking about my weight and weight-loss journey are among my least favorite topics, mostly because of all the emotional baggage that goes along with being a self-perceived chubby kid (in fact, I was very slim after my pre-teen growth spurt did away with the last of my baby fat). I've always loved food (obviously) but due to my belief that I was heavy, I felt ashamed of that love and hid it - until, that is, I decided to become a personal chef. It was such a catharsis to not only admit to my love of food but to embrace it so fully!
You can read about the first 35 pounds of my weight-loss journey on a previous post. Since then, I lost another 3 1/2 pounds, coming within a pound and a half of my goal weight - and then I started putting it back on... and on... I stopped counting Weight Watcher points and gained back half of what I lost. I tried to go back to counting points but would quit in the face of a dinner on the town or other cumbersome count, swearing to start again after the next weigh-in but no... Rob, who lost with me during my original round of Weight Watcher, also gained back as I gained.
A couple of weeks ago, we decided to try a new tact. With the abundance of great food in our CSA bag and my ever-increasing distaste with processed foods, we decided to make a real effort to cut out most things with an ingredient list. We still eat that weird low-fat ice cream most nights and Kashi TLC bars, but gone are the cheetos and Weight Watchers snack cakes and other easy fillers, the kind of stuff we grab instead of fruit because it's just more convenient.
We've added some unlikely suspects too, such as great cheese. Every week at the Farmers' Market, we pick out our goat cheese du week which is often gone by the end of the weekend. Goat cheese is a great compromise because of its naturally lower fat content, but we've also added cow's milk cheeses - the real-deal, full-fat, hunk of cheese kind - no more pre-shredded, preservative-laden "cheeses" in our fridge. I've also been keeping hard-boiled eggs in the fridge which we've been eating sliced on whole wheat English muffins for breakfast - we've been amazed at how long we stay full from that one egg. I've also made egg salad, leaving in only a yolk or two.
I've got to tell you that there hasn't been a moment of deprivation in the last two weeks - while I think I may cook a little more elaborately than the average home cook, our meals have soared into the realm of feasts as we pack as many CSA veggies as possible into each dinner.
This morning, we each weighed ourselves (only once a week, on the same day at the same time every week in true Weight Watchers fashion) and we've both lost significant amounts, averaging about a pound a week - a slow, sustainable loss.
All of this brings to mind the first conversation I had with Charlie Headington, the co-head of Slow Food Piedmont Triad. I asked about Slow Food's idea of healthful eating and he said, "Well, I never really thought about it. I guess I just assumed that if I eat wholesome foods, health would naturally follow."
I'll be curious to see how my once high cholesterol reacts to our new diet, but so far it seems that Charlie was right!
The sauce tomatoes from the previous post were technically included in our CSA bag this week though Pat and Brian let us take the shares of all the people who didn't want sauce tomatoes as well as our own 1 1/2 lb allotment. Also in the CSA bag were:
- 5 or 6 slicing tomatoes. I ate one on a sandwich and the rest layered with basil and garlic (also from the Market - there's a farm that specializes in garlic, some of which are better raw and some better cooked), and drizzled with balsamic vinegar.
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes - I've just been snacking on these. I grew cherry tomatoes this year but they ended up flavorless. These are perfectly juicy and sweet.
- 1 bag of basil - in addition to eating basil with my sliced tomatoes, I threw basil into every recipe I made that I thought could handle it including a Thai summer squash stew.
- 1 bunch carrots - half of these went into the tomato paste and the other half I served as a side for sandwiches
- 1 lb zephyr squash (it looks like yellow squash only half is green) - these also went into the Thai summer squash stew
- 1 lb cucumber - snacking mostly
We also got a tub of Goat Lady Dairy Three Heat chevre which includes a blend of jalapenos, Texas Pete and, my favorite kind of heat, horseradish. We ate some of this on pita, and some in an omelet and most of the remaining in pita pockets with sautéed mushroom, onion, Gimmie Lean soy sausage and peach salsa. Tonight I'm finally going to cook the eggplant we also got, using Rob's favorite recipe which is a cheese lasagna but I use grilled slices of eggplant instead of noodles (see recipe below).
My sister got this recipe from our step-grandmother and would serve it to dates - I sent it to Cooking Light magazine and they turned it from something you wouldn't want to eat once a year into a regular menu item.
1 large eggplant, 1/4 inch lengthwise slices
1 1/3 cup cottage cheese
3/4 cup cream cheese; softened
2/3 cup ricotta cheese, part skim
1/4 cup parmesan cheese; grated
2 tablespoon chives; minced
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 egg whites
1 egg
4 clove garlic; minced
26 oz tomato basil pasta sauce; divided
1/4 cup mozzarella cheese; shredded
Preheat to 350.
Heat skillet or grill coated with cooking spray (I use a refillable pump of canola oil). Cook eggplant until softened, about 5 minutes per side. Set aside.
Combine cottage, ricotta and cream cheese until well blended. Stir in parmesan through garlic.
Spread 1/2c pasta sauce in the bottom of a 9 X 13 baking dish coated with cooking spray. Top with eggplant slices to cover. Layer 1/2 cheese mixture and 1/3
remaining pasta sauce. Repeat layers, ending with eggplant. Top with remaining pasta sauce.
Bake 20 minutes. Sprinkle with mozzarella and bake 20 more minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
Yield: 8 sevings
Preparation Time: 1:00
Last Saturday, Pat and Brian Bush (the farmers we have our CSA with) offered up as many sauce tomatoes as Rob and I could hold which ended up being about 8 pounds. I was going to make my favorite spicy marinara but the idea of buying tomato paste to add to an otherwise all-local/organic sauce just seemed somehow wrong. So at 11:30 this morning, I started with the 8 pounds of tomatoes, two bell peppers, two onions, two carrots and four cloves of garlic and now I have five half-cup jars of tomato paste with the most wonderful, crisp flavor.
This is my third consecutive canning experience where I didn't set my stove on fire (first two canning attempts included fire but also a couple of lovely jellies) - I'm starting to think I might be on to something. As a little treat for myself, I picked up Mes Confitures, The Jams and Jellies of Christine Ferber. Yellow Peach Jam with Lavender Honey is a strong contender for my first try out of her book. Oddly, her processing instructions are minimal - in fact, the only direction she gives is to turn the jars upside down after filling and allow to cool. Out of curiosity, I tried it with a jar of hot, fresh cucumber relish last week and sure enough the jar sealed, but I don't know enough about canning to know if it sealed in a way that prevents bacterial growth. For the time being, I'll stick with my water bath canner.
I'd love to hear your canning tips and recipes! Post them as comments or email me at HeyYou@SarahBethJones.com.
Meanwhile, from Canning & Preserving for Dummies:
Tomato Paste
8 pounds tomatoes, stems and cores removed (don't worry about the skin or seeds)
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
2 small onions, peeled and chopped
2 carrots, chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled
Puree all ingredients in small batches in a food processor. Pour puree into a mesh strainer laid over a large pot, pressing to remove the liquid. Discard remaining pulp. (I didn't see much carrot juice so added a spoonful of pulp to the pot.) Bring the mixture to a gentle boil, allowing to boil uncovered for 4 to 5 hours, until the liquid is visibly thickened and reduced to a fourth or fifth its original volume, stirring occassionally.
Partially cover; reduce heat as the liquid thickens, stirring frequently. Your paste is thick enough when a spoonful stay mounded on the spoon.
While this is cooking, prepare your jars and two-piece caps (click here for the basics on water canning)
Ladle hot puree into prepared jars, leaving a 1/4 inch headspace. Process 30 minutes from the point of boiling.
Before I became an avid Greensboro Farmers' Curb Market devotee, I spent a fair amount of time at the Piedmont Triad Farmer's Market. I liked that they're open everyday and the selection is pretty good. J&S Farm in the back of the enclosed building also sells local, humanely raised meats like ostrich, bison and the turkey we have for Thanksgiving most years (last year the turkeys weren't grown in time and we ended up at the Fresh Market).
I rarely go there anymore for a couple of reasons:
- There’s a fair amount of resale there, as in vendors going to wholesale produce warehouses and buying veggies to sell at a farmers’ market… which strikes me as a little dishonest and just not what I’m looking for. I shop at farmers’ markets because I want to support the local farmers themselves and I want to know that my food was raised on a small farm which has a better chance of using sustainable farming methods than on the agribusiness mono-farming complexes. GFCM doesn’t allow resale except in the winter when there’s not much local to be had.
- The ambiance. The GFCM is crowded and small, I’ll admit. This time of year it’s a real chore to squeeze through the aisles empty-handed, let alone with a week’s worth of produce in tow. (Not that it’s really a problem for me with my faithful man servant to haul my produce stash, a guy I like to call Sweetie.) Despite the crowd, the GFCM is a place to run into friends and get to know other shoppers who are also there every week… as well as the farmers themselves.
I really didn’t start this post to slam the PTFM but to announce their expansion as reported in the News and Record today. Regardless of my shopping preferences, the PTFM has a lot to offer, especially for people breaking into eating locally. And the fact that enough people are getting interested in eating locally to merit an expansion is wonderful!
So go forth and eat locally – spend your food dollars to support our local food economy. It’s the perfect time of year to start!
- 2 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes - not sure how I will use these yet - suggestions?
- 1 bunch Swiss Chard which I used in a pasta recipe I found in the News and Record. It was good but not great.
- 3/4 lb sweet bell peppers which are gorgeous with their mottled skin. I've been throwing those in everything I make
- 1 bunch fennel - We marinated these in a balsamic vinaigrette along with onion, mushrooms and the aforementioned bell pepper and grilled it Saturday night for a feast that also included a tuna steak and some left-over squash casserole
- 1 lb patty pan squash - I found a recipe that cooks zucchini eggplant parmesan style - should work for squash.
- 1 lb cucumbers - these will probably be come a spicy sweet cuke salad to eat with the tomatoes I bought from another farmer at the market - they're still a little mealy but I just can't resist tomatoes...
I also picked my first cherry tomato from our garden yesterday. This has been our first gardening effort beyond a few potted plants and it's gone really well - though to call it an effort is a little misleading. We put up a little fence to discourage the dogs, planted, mulched and have watered occasionally. Between the crazy rains the last few weeks and what is apparently a fertile piece of land, everything has just taken care of itself. The beetles are feasting on the basil but there's so much of it, there's plenty for our dinner and theirs. We have a couple tiny bell peppers and hot peppers and a village's share of Italian parsley. We're thinking of uprooting the dog run (which hasn't been dog-proof in years) and making that a much larger garden spot next year.
Meanwhile, my laissez faire gardening attitude has allowed the weeds to obscure the intentional growth - off to handle those...
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not so much of a great recipe innovator as a good recipe follower, so when I make up something that turns out well (even if it is a Frankenstein’s monster of cobbled together existing recipes) I feel like doing a victory booty shake.
This recipe started as a Cajun Quiche with sausage and hot sauce and that kind of thing. While I do like the Gimmie Lean soy sausage (despite its unnerving gooey-ness), I was looking for a recipe that would use the squash my garden has been popping out like inflammatory statements from Anne Coulter’s face opening as well as some of the bounty from my overflowing CSA bag.
What’s so great about this recipe is that the veggies (and cheese) are completely interchangeable – sauté about 3 cups of any veggie and follow the rest of the recipe as is.
Enjoy!
2 cup long-grain brown rice; cooked, cooled
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 egg
1/2 cup cheddar cheese; shredded, divided
1/2 cup onion; chopped
3 clove garlic; minced
1/2 cup mushroom; sliced
1/2 cup red bell peppers; chopped
1 cup yellow squash; sliced
1 tomato; sliced
1/4 cup basil (fresh); chiffonade
2 eggs
4 egg whites
1/4 cup plain yogurt, fat free
1/4 teaspoon Salt
Preheat to 375.
Combine rice through egg, pressing into a 9 - inch pie plate coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle bottom evenly with 1/4 cup cheddar. Bake 5 minutes.
Heat skillet coated with cooking spray. Sauté onion and garlic until fragrant. Add mushrooms, peppers and squash and sauté until tender-crisp.
Arrange sliced tomato in bottom of rice crust; top with basil then sautéed veggies. Whisk together remaining eggs, whites, yogurt and salt and pour over veggies. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup cheddar.
Bake for 30 minutes or until center is set. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.
Contributor: modified from Cooking Light
Yield: 4 servings
Preparation Time: 1:00
I've probably mentioned this before, but this season Rob and I are participating in a CSA (consumer supported agriculture). In January, we paid a lump sum to Handance Farm, Pat and Brian Bush's organic farm in Reidsville which specializes in heritage varieties. In exchange, we get a share of whatever is fresh on their farm for 20 weeks. The monetary costs averages to about $11 a week for produce I would have spent $40 on at the grocery store.
We never know what we're going to get until we're at the Market, picking up the bag - it makes cooking for the week a kind of culinary boot camp: how many ways can I cook kale? How many veggies can I stuff into a quiche? Since I love to cook, this is my idea of a good time.
Also fun are the farm updates the Bush's include on the bag along with the week's contents and the occasional recipe. The updates talk about the work they're doing, how the weather has affected the crops and other details that really connect us to the origins of our food.
I thought it would be fun to periodically keep you updated on what's in this week's market bag and some of the ways I've used the food. This week, we have:
* 2 pounds of Yukon gold potatoes, half of which I made into mashed potatoes last night and served with a barbecue turkey meatloaf, made with onions from the previous week's market bag as well as eggs, bell pepper and garlic from the Farmers' Market.
* 1 bunch baby Swiss chard which I cooked Monday night, wrapping the steamed leaves around slices of tomato and Goat Lady Dairy Jersey Girl Gouda and roasting. (I used a spritz of canola oil instead of the 2 Tb the recipe calls for.) I served this with squash fritters made with yellow squash and thyme from our garden and eggs and garlic from the Market. The recipe was the one Chef Chris McKinley cooked at the Market on June 17th.
* 1 bunch baby carrots - I'm going to roast these tonight with some olive oil and kosher salt along with:
* 1 bunch baby fennel, on which, according to the Bush's note, the bulb is good grilled and the tops are good raw in Greek salad
* 1 bunch beets - I haven't used these yet but based on the success of my pickled beets (I used roasted garlic rice vinegar instead of the illusive tarragon vinegar) from last week , I may pickle these. I also like to roast them to serve on salad.
* surprise - which for us was a small bag of broccoli - I also haven't used that but they may well be used as dippers in my homemade hummus for an afternoon snack.
I used to be a little embarrassed that eating is one of my favorite hobbies but I guess with a blog like Thought for Food, it's kind of pointless to deny. That said, Rob and I went to
While we spent some time in
Dinner the first night was in
Sullivan's
Finally came brunch on Sunday and one last opportunity for a culinary adventure. We decided to take the client’s other suggestion and head to the Isle of Palms to a place called Seabiscuit. Again, we saw most of the island in our hunt for food - even stopping for directions got us most of the way there but still no sign of Seabiscuit. Finally, stomachs grumbling and desperate for coffee, we stop at a brightly painted building with a sign reading Acme Cantina. The menu was sparse but everything on it was appealing - and our waitress was perhaps the kindest person in all of food service (we overheard her convincing a co-worker to take her tip for all the help the co-worker provided at the table). She suggested the shrimp and grits when I couldn't decide between everything on the menu and everything else - she liked them so much, she served them at her wedding. I added a side of biscuits because... well, why not? The spice-rubbed shrimp and slightly cheesy grits were as great as promised and the biscuits were even better. Upon leaving the restaurant for a walk on the beach, we finally discovered Seabiscuit... right next door...