Scenes from My Kitchen

This is a view from the share two weeks ago. The extra basket was completely overflowing, so I helped myself to an assload of purple beans. Carrots and M&Ms aren't the only rainbow veggies anymore:

This was also is the basket two weeks ago. You know how pugs are so freaking ugly that they're actually super cute? I feel the same way about this tomato--or maybe I just feel bad for it. As if its looks weren't rugged enough, it was the size of a softball on steroids--a total fat girl:

This was roasted carrots, beans and onion with bratwurst, leftover sucker sauce and rice:

$5 gas station pizza with heirloom tomatoes and some good ol' full fat ranch:

This was last week's share--thanks to the overflow basket, it was the week of the onion:

Basil, sage, cilantro, dill and parsley from the pick-your-own section. This probably would have cost $45 at Hannaford:

Pasta with caramelized onion and pesto:

And herbed salad--mescalin greens, tomatoes, green onion, dill, parsley, cilantro, basil, and a whole lotta love:

I'm so fancy I can hardly stand it:

And tonight we had grilled chicken and veggies:

Whew!

Dinner in a Pinch

You've all heard moms go on and on and on about how busy and exhausted they are, right? I can't honestly say that I'm not over scheduled or ridiculously tired, I'm just good old fashioned lazy.

That's why James ate this for dinner on Saturday:

Right. That's an unpeeled cucumber, some cheese, and a tomato with the stem still firmly in place. Not only is this meal nutritious, it also builds character.

For lunch on Sunday, James at a tomato:

Yeah, just a tomato.

And then there's Maggie. She likes her food cooked, so she got a hot dog roll:

Just holler if you want the recipes.

(...there's another new post down below.)

Sucker Sauce

I call this creation Sucker Sauce, as is "Ha, ha! Do you have any idea how many vegetables you just ate? Sucker."

First you chop up a huge CSA yellow squash, a few CSA onions, and an obnoxiously huge eggplant from your mom's garden. You combine it with a jar of store bought pasta sauce, and simmer the mixture over medium-low heat until the vegetables are soft.

Like this:

Then, you take your immersion blender and mix it all together until the added vegetables are virtually indistinguishable.

See? You can't even tell they're there:

Jared and James ate it right up, even though they both say they'd rather eat boogers than eggplant.

Even Maggie liked it, and she's most definitely the pickiest eater in our house:

Now go trick your kids. It's more fun than date night.

Week 10

Week 10's haul was probably the biggest one yet. I used my mad photography skills to take three regular pictures of the vegetables, put them together, and make one giant picture. See?

I know. My photographic talent knows no bounds. Here's the stuff from a less mutated angle:

The final count looks something like this:

2 bunches of green onions

2 bags of carrots

1 bag of tomatoes (regular and cherry sized)

3 green peppers

2 heads of broccoli

2 purple cabbage

6 yellow squash

2 zucchini

6 cucumbers

1 light green squash

2 giant white onions

2 purple onions

2 normal sized white onions

2 bags of lettuce

Lots of good stuff has been coming out of my kitchen this week. I know I've already told you about roasted carrots twice, but they really are that good:

This batch was drizzled with olive oil, tossed with dill, onion, and garlic, and baked at 450 degrees for 45ish minutes. Better than potato chips you guys--I mean that.

This pasta was a total hit:

I made a simple tomato sauce (chopped tomatoes, olive oil, salt and pepper), sauteed in some green onion and yellow squash and hoo boy we had ourselves a meal!

Last night I made black bean burritos (black beans, corn, onion, green onion, yellow squash, garlic, cumin, and chilli powder all cooked up and mushed together), with a side of cole slaw (purple cabbage, carrots, green peppers, onions, garlic, green onions, and a bottle of cole slaw dressing from the store).

Jared tried it:

Jared like it:

He prefers to communicate through dance.

Onions of Massive Proportions

I picked up our share from Long Meadow Farm this afternoon, and let me just say that I was completely blown away the unbelievably massive onions. When I brought them home, Jared had the exact same reaction. Actually, he was so impressed with the onions, that he wanted to catch 'em on film.

I think this picture gives a good reference point for the size of these suckers:

I mean really, aren't they enormous?

And perky?

Kale. Again.

(Just so you know, the header sizing issue is about to drive me crazy. But, anyway....)

This one's for all you kale lovers/haters out there.

To sum it up, I found a great new way to tame the stuff. It's about fifty time easier than blanching, and it doesn't even involve my neighbor's iguana!

Interested??? Well check it out:

My CSA pick-up day is Thursday. A few weeks ago, I left for a ten day vacation on a Friday. Needless to say, I was in a mad rush to do something with the ten thousand vegetables sitting on my kitchen table. I gave a messload to my friend Laura, another messload to my friend Betsy, and I did my best to preserve the rest.

Somewhere along the line, I'd heard that you could freeze kale as is. It wouldn't last as long in the freezer as blanched kale, but you could get a good three or four months out of it. Well, I went for it, and it worked like a charm.

I'm not sure how previously frozen kale would work in a cooked dish, but it was just fine in this morning's smoothie. And by just fine, I mean I couldn't taste it.

Here's what I put in my smoothie this morning:

CSA kale, pick-your-own blueberries and strawberries, half of a frozen banana, some almond milk, and a scoop of chia seeds and cacao nibs:

I wish the cacao nibs were fancy chocolate chips, but they're totally not. They're unprocessed cacao beans and then taste one zillion times worse than baking chocolate. But they're good for your brain? I think? Anti-oxidants? I don't know. But I hope they're good for something--since they taste like ass.

As far as the chia seeds go, well, my raw foodist friend taught me about them. They're super high in omega-3s, they're hydrative, and they're good for your joints--something like that.

The good news is, my green smoothies never look green. They only act like they're green. Even my five-year-old son drinks 'em down without a fight: 

Now go toss your kale in a freezer bag. You'll thank me in the winter.

Indian Food, CSA Style

Can you pronounce the word kohlrabi?

Can you pronounce the word kohlrabi in a super authentic sounding Indian accent? Me neither. But I can use my CSA vegetables to make Indian food. Either way, I'll probably be the hit of the next party I'm not invited to.

I've never made Indian food before, and to be completely honest, I was pretty sure I'd hate everything about it, but I was wrong--which is funny, because generally speaking, my husband's the one who's wrong.

Anyway, I made Vegetable Biryani, and aside from the fact that it was spicy enough to peel the paint off the hood of my car, it was really, really great.

Here's a pic:

And guess what? With a little cheat in the form of a $1.29 spice packet from Kitchens of India, this meal was totally easy to make. And I should note, if I can find the ingredients for vegetable biryani in Maine--where the only Indian person I've ever kind of met is Kelly from The Office--then you can find the stuff in your grocery store, too.

So here's how it went...

I marinated 1 CSA summer squash, 1 CSA white onion, 1 cup of frozen CSA green beans, 2 cloves of sliced CSA garlic, 1 regular potato, some CSA cilantro and and CSA green onion in the Kitchens of India spice packet.

I heated 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat, and added the marinated veggies and 1 cup of water to the pan. I simmered it over low heat for thirty minutes, added .5 cups of chick peas and .5 cups of raw cashews, and turned it back to high heat for five minutes at the end.

Meanwhile, I cooked 1.5 cups of basmati rice in 2.5 cups of water and .5 tsp of salt. When the rice was finished, I added a handful of CSA cilantro.

Like I said before, this meal was super, super spicy. And this is coming from a girl who appreciates spice--at the kitchen table of course. By the end of the meal my nose was running all over the place and I was crying a steady stream of ginormous cow tears. But really, I was happy.

My 10 month old? She was not. Poor thing, I made her eat a green bean. I was like, "If the kids in India can do it, then so can you!!!!" I swear I'll never be an overbearing soccer mom. Really.

If you haven't tried Indian Food CSA style, you should go for it--it's kind of awesome to see your husband cry like a little girl.

Dusty

There's a little bit of construction going on in here today....so pardon my dust.

Back to Reality

In case you didn't catch on, I was away on vacation.

After a steady diet of lunch meat, white bread, and chocolate chips, I'm so so SO ready to pick up my next CSA basket on Thursday--and possibly poop again someday.

Right now, I'm grateful for my freezer and the fifty pounds of blanched kale that will get me through to pick-up day. I also have a couple of eggplant and squash from my mom and dad's garden, some CSA onions in the fridge, and a few heads of CSA garlic--so stay tuned for something fibrous tonight.

This week, I hope Long Meadow Farm grows some peaches, some tomatoes, and some pints on Coffee Heath Bar Crunch Ice Cream.