Kira Eats Daily

out of "office"

2010-11-18T08:11:00.000-05:00

Just a heads-up -- no posts until Monday. My grandfather passed away and we'll be traveling half way across the country for the funeral.

On the table tonight: anything/everything in the fridge!
Gotta clear it out before we leave. Added bonus: lots of space for when I start my Thanksgiving prep at the beginning of next week. More on this to come.

On the table last night: take-out from Ruby Tuesday
I am cramming 5 days' worth of stuff into 1.5 days, so cooking dinner just didn't fit last night.

pasta-licious

2010-11-15T18:44:00.000-05:00

On the table tonight: Trip's pasta
I had a rare day here, in which I found myself staring at 5:00 and not knowing what would be on our table tonight. Normally I know by 10am what we'll be eating. But today was a busy busy day with lots of commitments crammed in, and things just got away from me a bit. Just when I thought it might be coming down to ordering take-out, I remembered that I have several bags of "Trip's Pasta Mix" in the freezer. The mix is a combo of eggplant, zucchini, garlic, and fennel bulb, all sauteed until tender to the point of melting. We did lots of this mixture when the veggies were in season, probably 3 months ago. Dinner on the quick -- 15 minutes of thawing the mix and 1 lb of sausage, 10 minutes of frying it all up and making half a box of pasta, and I was set! I wasn't actually planning on doing pasta tonight because I have another pasta meal planned in a few days, but to me an extra meal based around pasta (especially when it also contains lots of veg) is far better than take-out.

On the table yesterday: meatloaf & roasted cauliflower

On the table Saturday: roasted chicken, mashed potatoes/turnips with gravy, salad
First time making gravy this year, got me right in the mood for Thanksgiving!

whoops. mind blank.

2010-11-12T15:45:00.000-05:00

I can't believe I haven't posted all this week... my most sincere apologies!

On the table tonight: frozen pizza (for movie night)

On the table yesterday: leftover chicken (from a few different meals) & spaghetti squash
This was my first time making spaghetti squash; I finally gave in a bought a few after way too many people said I would love it. And, I didn't love it. It was fine, maybe even better than I expected, but I didn't love it. I roasted it with olive oil and S&P, then added parsley, parmesan, oregano, and some more random spices to the "spaghetti".

On the table Wednesday: beef burritos
I love doing taco/burrito meat this way; this morning I tossed a chuck roast into the crock pot with a pint of homemade salsa and let it stew all day. Crock pots are just the best! We ate our burritos with some black bean refried beans, and corn from the freezer.

Daily Dirty Eggs: bacon pieces, onion, bell pepper, corn
I'm getting bored of this egg combo and will definitely be changing it up soon.

a soup & bread kind of day

2010-11-08T18:40:00.001-05:00

On the table tonight: potato corn chowder, garlic bread
Today started out sunny but turned rainy by lunchtime, perfect day to make soup. This soup comes together very quickly, which is great. I only made garlic bread because there was half a baguette left from yesterday.

On the table yesterday: chicken w/ 40 cloves of garlic, steamed cabbage, bread, salad
Trip took a brief escape from his usual roasted chicken routine, with beautiful results! I do have a photo to prove said beauty...

weekend edition

2010-11-06T16:48:00.000-04:00

Only 2 weeks left of our farmers' market! Of course, I'm very lucky to have one that goes this long in this part of the country. But I will definitely miss all the familiar faces and farmers over the winter! Today I had a quick run though the market and got some cauliflower, shallots, lettuce mix, a cheese pumpkin, some cider, and a massive bag of apples (Granny Smith, York, and Gold Rush). I'm told all 3 varieties of apple I got today store very well, so I guess we'll see if that holds true. Next week I want my market focus to be storing up some squashes.

On the table tonight: frozen pizza for the kids & babysitter, OUT for us adults!

On the table last night: simple Friday: pesto pasta, carrots & dip
Fridays are "movie & popcorn night" here, and I like to do something simple (if I'm not ordering out!); pasta fits the bill just fine.

Irish-Stylie

2010-11-04T18:51:00.001-04:00

Mmmm.... I love cooking my breakfast all in one pan, a trick I learned from some Irish friends. Our meat farmer (Steve the meat man, as the kids say) makes some wonderful maple breakfast sausage, and I usually allow us 2 packages per month.

Daily Dirty Eggs: red bell pepper & onion (I scrambled the yolks right after I took this picture)

On the table tonight: herbed lentils & rice, roasted Brussels sprouts w/mushrooms
This meal is probably 50% local, 100% delicious! The lentil/rice dish is lentils, brown rice, white wine, chicken stock, chopped onion, several random herbs, and swiss cheese melted on top. And I am a firm believer in roasting vegetables -- everything gets better if you roast it well! Brussels sprouts get sweet on the inside and crunchy on the outside with not even a hint of bitterness or old-sock smell, and when you then toss them with sauteed garlic mushrooms they become almost transcendent. If you're scoffing right now...... try it. I dare you.

Really..... I dare you

On the table last night: Lemon Chicken, steamed broccoli, pan-fried potatoes
I paired both of these dinners with some NJ Vidal Blanc.

The Trouble with Farms

2010-11-02T16:57:00.000-04:00

Today my trouble with farms: they don't run on schedule! Farming, by nature, answers to weather and season but not the schedule of man. This can be both a blessing and a curse! Today we had our CSA pick-up at Genesis Farm. Pick-up is from 12-9 pm, and I always go right at noon so I can get home for naptime. If I go after school the whole evening is one big rush (school - snack - farm - home - unpack - dinner - bath - bed - yikes), so I try my darndest to not do that. BUT, this morning we had quite a thick frost, which apparently the gardeners hadn't planned on. They couldn't get out to harvest as early as usual, having to wait for the sun to get up high enough to break the frost, and therefore were not ready at noon. I waited (somewhat) patiently until 12:40, trying to focus on the sunshine and the fall colors instead of my own ruined schedule, but then I had to just go for it or risk really messing up my day (and my sanity). We live far enough away from Genesis that going and coming back isn't an option at all! So today I only got about 2/3 of a full pick-up. And the toughest part for me is that there just isn't anything to be done about it! If you want the freshly harvested local food, you have to be willing to deal with situations like this. This was a reality that hit like a boulder to the head when we first started relying on local farms for our food, but it's now become more commonplace for me. I'm not saying it still isn't frustrating sometimes, but at least now I can just grit my teeth, thank God for the sunshine and the lovely vegetables in my basket, and go about my day.

On the table tonight: fritatta, maple sausages, smoothie
Tonight's fritatta is eggs, kale, leeks, and Mexican blend cheese. Smoothie is fresh raspberries, frozen blueberries (from picking in July), coconut milk, and a bit of juice to thin it.

Daily Dirty Eggs: onion, bell pepper, cheddar, chives

On the table yesterday and the day before: Minnestrone soup & garlic bread
calypso beans, pasta, the last yellow squash, canned tomatoes, carrots, herbs, stock

Tricks 'n Treats

2010-10-28T18:24:00.000-04:00

Being that Halloween is only days away (and we've already had our first Halloween party), I've been busy making all sorts of treats around here. But I guess the trick is on me -- Trip has been sick for 3 days and the kids have been not eating their meals well, so I'm the only one eating all the treats! Most of the above cookie plate got eaten during a party, but I brought some home, plus I have 3/4 of a pumpkin spice cake in the fridge. The cookies I can resist if I try, but the cake just calls my name way too often....

On the table tonight: Baked Ziti w/Eggplant, salad
Tonight we wave a fond farewell to eggplants... farewell, good friends! You've fed us well these past few months, and we eagerly await your return next year! But what better way to celebrate the goodness of eggplants than to mix it up with some garlic, onion, ricotta, and pasta, then bake it under a blanket of sauce and mozzarella?

Daily Dirty Eggs: yellow bell pepper, kale, queso blanco

On the table last night, and the night before: potato lamb moussaka
One of the reasons I made this was because I thought it was just the kind of thing Trip would love, then he went ahead and got sick on me (not literally) and didn't eat any of it! That's why we had it again, too many leftovers and too tasty to waste. Bonus -- 100% local! Ground lamb, onion, red and green bell pepper, tomato sauce, potato, egg & milk, spices.

Big Plans for Tomorrow

2010-10-25T13:13:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow I will be stuck at home with no car, which usually makes me tense and anxious, but this time I'm taking the opportunity to feel relaxed at having the whole day to do some catch-up work in the kitchen! First on the list: bake and decorate cookies for our Moms Club Halloween Party. Next, use up the pumpkin puree still in the fridge from last week's pumpkins -- pumpkin snack cake coming up! I also need to do some whole wheat muffins for the actual day of Halloween, so if I can I'll do those too.

I still have a bunch of kale, 2 eggplants, and 2 bell peppers to use, so I might make some sort of dish to freeze and use later. I'm planning for a potato-lamb moussaka dish for dinner too..... but we'll see how the day goes! I thawed the lab several days ago and then had some plans change, so I do have to use it soon.

On the table tonight: World Pasta Day at Buca di Beppo
Free servings of spaghetti w/meatballs for the kids and I! I have SO much food in the house to cook that I really shouldn't be going out to dinner, but the frugal part of me just can't resist free pasta at a restaurant I love!

Daily Dirty Eggs: onion, bell pepper, shredded carrot

Half Baked (pumpkins)

2010-10-21T18:15:00.000-04:00

Baked up half the pumpkins today, still have a few left for now. I baked the 2 we got on our pumpkin patch expedition last week. They yielded enough for tonight's soup, tomorrow's pumpkin cake, and a batch of muffins for our Halloween party (hopefully to be baked soon and frozen).

On the table: pumpkin soup
Baked/scraped out pumpkin, onion, garlic, stock, coconut milk, S&P, and just a touch of curry

A New Element

2010-10-20T09:48:00.001-04:00

I love eggs. I really, really do. When I did a vegan diet for a few months that was actually the hardest thing for me to give up -- eggs! (second was sour cream). I eat eggs for breakfast several days a week, and I like stuff in my eggs. So I always add in some random veg, whatever I've got. It's a great way to get a serving of veggies in right away in the morning and to also use up bits of veg left in the fridge. If only I could get the kids to love stuff in their eggs, I'd really be golden.... One of my kids' "problems" with my veg & egg scrambles is that they look "dirty", not clean and fluffy like the plain scrambled eggs I make them. I liked the term "dirty eggs" the moment my daughter said it. Therefore, the new element here will be: daily dirty eggs. On days when I do dirty eggs for breakfast, I'll post what I'm putting in mine today, hopefully spawning you to make your own eggs dirty! (note: I always include S&P, and 2 eggs whisked with just a little milk, so I'll just post the additions.)

On the table: Colorado Cache pork chops, roasted cauliflower

I don't know why the chops recipe has that name, but it's tasty either way; the chops basically bake w/ apples, raisins, and cider. How much more fall can you get?!? Roasted cauliflower is one of our ultimate favorite dishes, so I was beyond thrilled when Trip brought a ginormous head (of cauliflower, that is) home from the farmers' market last week. Seriously, we easily eat a whole head roasted up, all carmelized and salty, tender on the inside yet crunchy in parts.... wow, my whole mouth just filled with saliva!

Daily dirty eggs: corn, yellow bell pepper, colby jack cheese

not enough meals in the day

2010-10-18T19:37:00.000-04:00

I am caught in the seasonal in-between: I love jumping into fall foods like they're a big pile of leaves, but I don't want to completely let go of summer's foods yet, knowing it will be almost a full year until I can eat them again. Thus, my fridge and freezer are chock full of things, and there are not enough meals in the day to use up everything I want to. There's a butternut squash beckoning and a peck of apples on the floor, but there's also 3 last eggplant and a few bell peppers that must be eaten imminently before they turn bitter. Most of the meals on my weekly list are baked, but yesterday we decided to take advantage of a 70 degree October day and grill again.

On the table yesterday: grilled chicken, crazy rice, broccoli (the last broccoli from our garden!)

On the table tonight: stuffed peppers, green salad
Last night's crazy rice was a new recipe my husband tried, and turns out we weren't super crazy about it and it yielded a lot of leftover. So tonight that went into filling for stuffed peppers, along with some pork sausage and parmesan.

On the table from sometime last week: harvest quinoa skillet

This is an original of mine, made for the first time last week, and it came out awesome! I didn't blog about it then simply because I was too lazy to download the picture from my camera. The quinoa portion was just red quinoa tossed with some sage-infused olive oil and a little feta cheese. For the chicken portion, I sauteed onion and garlic, the added leftover chopped chicken, raisins, crushed almonds, and a LOT of fresh herbs: parsley, sage, rosemary (no thyme, Simon & Garfunkel). I served it alongside the quinoa -- instant success. It felt nice and fall-like, but still light and very healthy, plus it used up my leftover roasted chicken, half a bulb of garlic, and handfuls of odd herbs left in the drawer.

on the table

2010-10-16T22:49:00.000-04:00

tonight: date night, Mexican food!

last night: homemade mac & cheese, frozen peas
This is my version of fast food :) I had to work last night (very rare for me to work anytime other than a weekend day, so this is not part of my routine) and wanted to throw something together for Trip and the kids that would seem fun to them. Mission accomplished.

Simplest of the Simple Soups

2010-10-13T18:13:00.000-04:00

On the table tonight: potato-leek soup & green salad

Potato-leek soup is one of the very simplest soups, and one I happen to love. It has very few essential ingredients (and if you can't figure out what they are, then maybe this won't be so simple for you). It also cooks up quite quickly and is very cleansing to the body. Leeks have all sorts of wonderful properties...

A Visit to the Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-12T15:56:00.000-04:00

Yesterday the kids and I went to the pumpkin patch and brought home an overflowing wagonful of goodies! Amongst the spoils: 1 large carving pumpkins, 2 small pumpkins to paint on, 1 cheese pumpkin and 1 cinderella pumpkin for eating, 6 gourds, 1 peck of Jonathan apples for baking, the last bag of their honeycrisp apples, and a half gallon of cider. Whew!

I was initially planning to just bake up the 2 eating pumpkins today and freeze the purees, but turns out freezer is pretty full (our meat guy had whole chickens buy 1 get 1 free last week, and I MAY have gone overboard). So the 2 pumpkins are enjoying a vacation as decorative pumpkins before they turn into sustenance.

On the table today: leftovers
The fridge and freezers and both full to moderately overflowing.

On the table yesterday: stir-fry & brown rice
This used up tons of veggies from last Tuesday's Genesis pick-up: 1 bunch carrots, 2 heads bok choy, 1 onion, and a bunch of brocolli florets from our own garden. I sauteed up all this goodness in some coconut oil and Bragg's Liquid Aminos and served with brown rice.

Sunday Dinner

2010-10-10T21:15:00.001-04:00

Food is one of the many ways we can give rhythm to our lives. Our meals are sometimes random and sometimes merely a reflection of what's necessary in the given moment, but sometime they can be a framework, a touchstone, a reminder in and of our daily flow. As I may have mentioned before, Trip likes to cook whole chickens. Today is Sunday; Trip is in charge of dinner on Sundays. Trip likes to cook chickens, therefore, on Sundays we usually eat chicken.

I like the notion of Sunday Dinners. I like the goal of starting the new week with a family gathering that contains at least one constantly familiar aspect: here, a roasted chicken. This occurrence is not something I thought out and planned. I did not say, "hmm... I want to have Sunday Dinners as a family, and I think the best meal for this is to have a roasted chicken every week. So be it." It merely sprung up as a product of our family rhythm, which makes it even more meaningful to me. I do plenty of planning to make our food meaningful on so many levels, but sometimes it's best to sit back and see what develops on its own.

On the table tonight: roasted chicken, beets w/mustard horseradish sauce, roasted cauliflower, the last of the cheddar-basil scones

Leftover apple pie bars for dessert!

briefs

2010-10-09T20:29:00.001-04:00

On the table yesterday -- chickpea curry w/brown rice
A lovely little slow cooker meal for a busy Friday... but not as ground-breaking as usual because somehow the cilantro that WAS is the fridge disappeared. And I was planning on making pineapple lassi to go with but didn't because of time constraints. Anyway, throw the following in the crock pot for this meal: 1.5 c chopped onion sauteed until soft along with 2 tsp minced garlic, 3 cans chickpeas (rinsed and drained), 2 cans diced tomatoes (undrained), 1 can coconut milk, 1 tsp salt, 1 tbsp curry powder. Cook on low for 8 hours, serve with rice and cilantro (if you can find it in your fridge!)

On the table Thursday -- tilapia w/ chard & tomatoes, green beans, leftover cheddar basil scones

On the table tonight -- out to dinner!

Just an (Italian) Dairy Girl at Heart

2010-10-06T21:22:00.000-04:00

I traveled for a long weekend with just my 3 year old son recently, leaving my 5 year old and husband to fend for themselves. I got home the day before yesterday, and I am tired! While traveling I stayed up late and got up early; I spent much mental energy trying to stay present and truly enjoy those I was visiting with and hardly ever see. And now that I'm back there's way too much to catch up on (my husband is a good good man, but not so much on top of the housework). What do we turn to when we're tired and forever running just behind the curve? Comfort foods!

My comfort foods say a lot about my heritage. First, in the distant past: Italy. I am 1/4 Italian, and one of the first things I turn to for edible comfort is pasta. Second, in the more recent past: Wisconsin (read: cheese!). I grew up in the heartland, dairy country, and seldom meet a cheese I don't like. Cheese almost always makes me feel better, especially considering that I'm returning from a trip to the midwest. So... the 2 meals I've made since I've been home reflect me being tired and having little patience for tons of cooking, and wanting that good ol' comfort foods euphoria (which lasts exactly 59 minutes, until I think about the high fat and low nutritional content of what I've eaten. Then I realize that by being critical of my comfort foods, I've negated the comfort they provided, making them a complete waste. It's a vicious cycle.)

On the table yesterday: spaghetti with meat sauce, Italian salad
For the pasta sauce I just cooked up some loose pork sausage and added half a jar of our canned sauce, then let it simmer together while the pasta cooked. Plain white spaghetti, but at least the sauce had some added protein. I don't really remember what greens were in the salad; we got a variety at CSA pick-up yesterday and I just threw some in the bowl and added my vinaigrette to toss. Using the first jar of canned sauce always makes me panic a little, "no, it can't be late enough in the year to break into the canned goods already! What if we don't have enough sauce to last? I should have canned more.... I should ration it more carefully!" etc.... yes, I am a crazy person.

On the table today: fritatta and cheddar-basil scones
This meal had some good veggie content, but also some good cheese content, which, when combined with eggs and cream, probably just negates the nutritional value of the leeks, chard, and zucchini that were melded into the lovely fritatta. But it melted in my mouth!

on the table

2010-10-04T19:25:00.000-04:00

(note: I've been out of town for 5 days, hence no posts)

On the table tonight: quick beef barley stew
Trip whipped this one out, and it tasted great on a chilly, rainy, east coast fall day, especially after spending the majority of my waking hours traveling. Beef stew meat, beer, canned tomatoes (un-drained), garlic, carrots, barley, and various herbs.

Apple Butter

2010-09-28T22:53:00.000-04:00

As promised, I have moved on to apple-product canning. This year I plan to do only a little applesauce, but more apple butter than last year. First batch yesterday; done! There's a great bonus to canning applesauce or butter -- it makes your house smell like HEAVEN! Canning tomato sauce makes the house smell like the kitchen of a pizza joint, which just makes me feel grungy. But the apple butter smell just makes me sigh with contentment. Making it is easy; I basically throw peeled/sliced apples with some honey and a bunch of spices into the slow cooker and cook it down all day long (thus the wonderful smell). I'll post the recipe tomorrow, because right now it's far way in the kitchen and I'm too lazy to go get it....

A Wee Bit o' Basil

2010-09-27T20:28:00.000-04:00

I know what you're thinking -- "what is that monstrous bush on your island?" Basil. Yessiree, this year I did not have basil plants, I had basil bushes. They started as nice little plants and somehow morphed into bushes. Now that I'm wrapping up the garden for the year and trying to get it cleaned up and ready to winter, it's time to do a final reaping of the basil (this is only 1 of my 3 plants). For months already I've been making pesto by the blenderful and freezing it in ice cube trays, and now it's time to step it up into pesto hyper-drive.

On the table tonight (no surprise here):

pasta w/ pesto & green salad (mixed green lettuce, mustard greens, and a bit of spicy arugula). I added my pesto recipe to the RECIPES page, so check it out, and let me know if you give it a try!

On the table Sunday:
grilled chicken, green beans, pan-fried potatoes

Sundays Trip is in charge of dinner, and this week he really pulled off a lovely feast.

Beef -- it's what's for dinner

2010-09-25T20:40:00.001-04:00

sorry for my negligence here... the last few days have been busy!

On the table today: T-bone steak, green beans
I got 2 really nice steaks from our meat guy a few weeks ago so the hubby and I could enjoy some steaks on the grill before grilling season is over (we don't grill in winter much). Steak is something I rarely order st a restaurant anymore, because I feel like we can make it just as good at home due to the high quality of meat we get. And even when I splurge on buying the fancy cuts, it's a fraction of the total price of restaurant steak (same goes for the wine!).

On the table yesterday: frozen pizza
Yup, you heard me! Friday night was movie & popcorn night w/ the kids, and we needed a simple dinner that we could eat in the living room!

On the table Thursday: Thai-style steak salad
Beef twice in 3 days... maybe the first few days of fall have affected my unconscious and made me want red meat! This salad was made from mixed greens, bean sprouts, shredded carrots, Thai chili pepper, glass noodles, and cilantro, topped with broiled flank steak slices that had been rubbed with cilantro and soy sauce, and the dressing was our homemade peanut sauce thinned with a little sesame oil & coconut milk.

fall fridge cleaning

2010-09-22T23:30:00.000-04:00

Most of my meal planning this week was based not only on the obvious seasonal goodness, but also on clearing out bits and pieces of stuff that's been lurking in the fridge. Yesterday's ratatouille did a nice job on eggplant, bell pepper, and zucchinis about to go bad, and today's meal took care of some nearly-sour ricotta, half a bunch of black kale, half a jar of sauce that didn't fit in the last batch we canned, and the rest of Sunday's chicken.

On the table: chicken pasta bake
(Bottom layer -- macaroni, kale sauteed w/garlic, homemade ricotta, half jar of pasta sauce; middle layer -- diced cooked chicken and herbs, top layer -- a drizzle of sauce and shredded mozz.)

on the table

2010-09-21T21:06:00.000-04:00

On the table tonight: ratatouille & french bread w/
roasted garlic

Ratatouille is a great September dish -- uses everything that's going out of season (every ingredients in mine tonight came from local gardens). The bread was NOT homemade; I had Trip pick it up on the way home, mostly because of the head of garlic I got at CSA pick-up today and wanted to roast immediately. I've got a bit of a head cold, and garlic is a great home remedy for colds. I sliced the top off the whole head, slopped a bit of olive oil on it, and wrapped it up in a little foil bundle. Then it just sits in the oven for about an hour, until the cloves are a spreadable consistency. So.... hopefully this cold will be gone tomorrow because I ate pretty much the whole head myself, smeared on that baguette! I'll now try not to breathe on anyone for the rest of the night.

on the table -- Sunday

2010-09-20T07:37:00.000-04:00

Grilled whole chicken & grilled pattypan squashes

I do most of the daily cooking, but Trip is in charge of dinner on Sundays when I'm at work until 5:30. We usually end up with a Sunday chicken dinner, because that is his favorite thing to cook: a whole chicken. He typically does an herb rub and either grills it whole, beer-can style, or roasts it in the colder weather. Sunday chicken dinner is also great because then I have some leftover chicken to throw into another dish during the week, or just for salad topper or whatever. He had the bird all cut up before I could grab a picture, but I will next time because his chickens do look just beautiful!

On the table tonight: I am volunteering at an event this evening, so Trip and the kids will eat leftover chicken and a green salad.

First Apple Picking

2010-09-18T14:59:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was our first apple picking venture of the year. Only a small batch -- about 20 lbs of apples in 3 different varieties: ambrosia, jonagold, and red delicious. The ambrosias are for eating, jonagolds for baking, and 4 red delicious are because that's what Anya wanted to pick. I realized I need to start keeping track of which varieties of apples we pick each year/what we make with them/how it turns out. I stood for a good 5 minutes at the farm stand trying to remember from last year..... I can easily remember Granny Smith, honeycrisp, and golden delicious, but when we start getting into varieties like sonata, ambrosia, crispin, macoun, etc. I get confused. So this year I will start an apple-log.

I intended to bring home enough for some baking (pie, crisp, and muffins) and eating, and I'm very glad I wasn't planning on a large batch of applesauce this week; once I got home I remembered that last year I lent my apple peeler/corer/slicer to someone and it got broken, so now I need to pick up a new one. I can deal with peeling and slicing apples for a dessert myself, but processing 50 lbs down into sauce is much simpler with the tool. However, some of the jonagolds we picked might not even fit in the p/c/s because they're so huge -- easily a lb each!

More apple goodness to come... we're only getting started!

beets?

2010-09-16T21:03:00.000-04:00

Do you eat beets?
If so, comment on the following: did you eat them growing up or just as an adult? How do you like them prepared?

Being a firm believer in the power to LEARN to like a food, I have been teaching myself to like beets. They've been one of the few vegetables I just really didn't care for; now I am moving beyond tolerance into enjoyment. Today I made golden beets for the first time, and I find them more palatable than the "beet" colored beets. The flavor is a bit more mild, and they don't stain my cutting board!

On the table:
salmon w/ maple-thyme glaze and dijon sauce
green beans
roasted golden beets
bruschetta

all veg, baby!

2010-09-15T19:49:00.000-04:00

During this cusp-of-fall season, there are so many veggies waning in their bounty that I can hardly even think of meat! It takes all my kitchen energy and ingenuity to just try and use them before they spoil. This is one of the tricky parts of seasonal eating (and if you're eating locally, there's no way to not eat seasonally): trying to use seasonal vegetation to its fullest. This sometimes involves canning or preserving, sometimes involves looking up as many different recipes for eggplant as you can find, and sometimes it's just about stuffing your face with as many tomatoes as possible before they turn mealy and moldy.

There are many weeks when it takes great planning effort on my part to come up with a few meals that are veg based and contain little or no meat; right now I don't even think of using meat, and it's only my husband who gently reminds me that we haven't had any meat in a few days.... I've learned to take it as it comes: in July, August and September I revel in the variety of vegetables available, and in the middle of winter when the root vegetables are practically leaking from my pores, we cut our teeth on meat.

So what are we loving right now? Tomatoes, eggplant, summer squash, basil, green beans, & tender greens are all still present but on their way out. Incoming will be broccoli, kale, and so many cellared roots I don't even want to mention them yet.

On the table: caprese salad (heirloom tomatoes, homemade mozz., garden basil), simple green salad, leek and fennel gratin

I would have made 1 or 2 more veg dishes, but simply ran out of time!

Vegetable to try: fennel bulbs
Fennel is fast becoming a favorite of mine. If you're unfamiliar with it, give it a try!

on the table

2010-09-13T18:52:00.000-04:00

Tonight the kids and I had an afternoon park playdate and had to pack an easy supper: cous cous salad w/ apples, raisins, celery, walnuts, and vinagrette
probably a green salad too, nice and simple for a Monday night
(and later, some of leftover chocolate cake from Asher's birthday w/ red raspberry wine!)

weekend warriors

2010-09-12T21:32:00.000-04:00

We have been busy little bees around here lately, canning tomato loveliness. The way I figure it, we have processed nearly 150 lbs of tomatoes this year! About 2/3 of this was made into sauce, and the remainder is now salsa (we also dried some tomatoes for the first time, and I'm not too sure about them yet. More on this at some point). Last summer was my first foray into large-batch canning, and my main response to my own efforts was, "wow, I wish I could have done more!" That goal has definitely been accomplished. I am recording what we've canned and will (hopefully remember to) record exactly how long it lasts us.

Note on affordability: lovely organic tomatoes don't come cheap. But to make it more affordable, find a farmer you like and propose a deal. Early in tomato season I approached our favorite farmer at the local market and asked if he'd ever be willing to sell me a large quantity of tomatoes for a bargain price (I'm talking upwards of 50 lbs at one crack), and I said I'd be very willing to take his "not-quite-perfect" tomatoes. So, he usually sells tomatoes at $3/lb, which is not a bad price for local organic, but I met him before the market opens on an agreed upon day and got his bruised and split product, the ones he would have trouble selling to "regular" customers, and the price HE suggested was 60 lbs for $20! There are ways to get the food you're not willing to compromise on for prices that won't compromise your budget.

Yesterday was the last batch of tomato-related canning (salsa) and soon it will be time to move on to apple products -- sauce and butter and pies, oh my!

On the table tonight: Big Tomato Sandwich

This recipe from my Local Flavors cookbook is a revelation, and a great way to celebrate summer as it fades into fall. Take a loaf of round, semi-hard bread, cut off the top and rip out the innards. Then stuff it with layers of herb vinagrette, sliced tomato, roasted belle pepper, and mozzarella (homemade!). Then savor every single morsel and be content to fantasize about it until next summer.

on the table -- last Friday

2010-09-12T21:12:00.000-04:00

Grilled Pork Chops ( with dry rub), green beans, salad, Alba Vineyard's Old Mill Red

Our pole beans got a late start thanks in part to a few bothersome bunnies and in part to our inattentiveness during seed buying (someone may have gotten bush beans instead of pole beans, and I didn't notice until they started growing). Anyway, now they are PLENTIFUL, and we're eating beans in one fashion or another every day, at least once.

on the table -- last Wednesday

2010-09-12T21:08:00.000-04:00

Better late than never, folks.... (I've been re-learning how to manipulate info in blogger).

Stuffed peppers: ground pork, rice, parmesan, various spices, and, oh yeah -- bell peppers!

Trip has been asking for weeks when I was going to make this, and the only thing I was waiting for was peppers of uniform size.

On the table: Thursday 9/9: Applebee's
Ouch -- not even a local restaurant!!! But it's Asher's birthday and that's what he choose...

on the table

2010-09-07T21:49:00.000-04:00

Penne with Zucchini and Ricotta: a wonderful recipe from Local Flavors cookbook
tomato salad (just tomaters w/ balsamic vinegar and S&P)

The penne dish included 2 lbs of summer squash, our homemade ricotta, basil and marjoram, garlic, and S&P. This is a really lovely use of squash during its bountiful season. Sidenote: marjoram may just be my new favorite herb to use fresh, a totally different experience than dried!

let me esplain. no time to esplain; let me sum-up....

2010-09-07T21:37:00.000-04:00

We eat locally as much as possible 'round here. We belong to a wonderful CSA, visit the farmers' market weekly, buy all our meat from a local farmer, drink raw milk from a different local farmer, and really KNOW the people who produce our food. That's the essence of eating locally -- knowing who grew your food, where it came from, and what your food ate before you ate it.

Granted, we're not perfect and never would get on a high horse about it; we also occasionally order pizzas for delivery! But it's important to me and has become a priority in how we live and in how I organize our food life. And don't take the word "organize" too lightly here -- it takes much more effort and planning than typical grocery store shopping does. It's a process, and where we are now is a result of several years' journey, and it probably light-years away from where we'll be in the future.

All that is just the basic summary.... much more to come!

Revival!

2010-09-06T22:28:00.000-04:00

Here I am again, back to posting! Anyone still out there? Some of our food patterns/places have changed, and I'll expound more tomorrow, but for now:

On the Table tonight:
chicken fajitas
corn spoon-bread
guacamole

hiatus

2009-12-02T07:03:00.000-05:00

This blog is going on holiday during this holiday season. I might put up an occasional post, but hope to resume with more regularity in the new year.

Eat Well!

On the Table

2009-11-22T21:38:00.000-05:00

Tonight: roasted chicken, baked potatoes, frozen corn

last night: out to dinner!

the night before: chickpea curry
This was a rare meal where almost nothing in it came from the farm (only onion did).

on the table

2009-11-19T06:58:00.000-05:00

tonight: not sure yet...

Last night: cream of butternut squash and apple soup. and garlic bread
This was a new soup recipe that turned out really good! Next time I will probably make it a bit thicker, but the flavor was great. Yesterday I cooked up an immature delicata squash, and immature orange mystery squash, and a beautiful butternut that we had picked up from the farmers market, and mixed them all together. About 2/3 of the total went into the soup, and the rest will probably go into muffins later this morning.

the night before: beef roast with carrots and potatoes, and salad
It was so exciting to get a roast! Usually the meat we get from the farm is never roasts, because it goes farther in smaller cuts. But there has been quite the scandal going on with our last cow's worth of beef, and to help out farmer Matt's mom gifted the farm half of another cow that was raised to Howling Wolf's standards. And whoever butchered that one cut some roasts! It was hard to think of how to cook a roast without using any sort of store-bought soup mix, which is what I have always done in the past. But no more Campbell's cream-of soups for us! I found a recipe for a roast with a spice rub and tried that. The spice rub tasted good, and the vegetables were good, but I overcooked the beef a bit.

the night before (Monday): pesto pasta, garlic bread, and salad
We had a friend over for dinner, and I wanted to make something simple to I could focus most of my energy just spending time with him. Simple pasta fit the bill!

Other notes:
*Last week I finally tried roasting kale leaves into "chips", which I had been wanting to try for awhile. Came out nice! Definitely tasty, and easy to munch on before dinner. The kids weren't quite sure about it, but I think if I make it a few more times they'll be scarfing them down. I seasoned the kale with olive oil and Old Bay.

*Next week our local farmers market is having a special Thanksgiving-week market, so I'm definitely going to try and stop over and score some more squash and maybe some brussels sprouts!

*I ordered our local, hormone-free, free-ranging turkey from a natural food store, same as last year, only a smaller bird since it's just us for Thanksgiving. I was tempted to still get a huge one because we do so love turkey leftovers!

on the table

2009-11-12T18:14:00.001-05:00

Tonight: pasta with meat sauce, nothing fancy (although it IS farfalle, and it WILL be accompanied by red wine)
homemade sauce mixed with ground pork
plain ol' Thursday night dinner

on the table

2009-11-11T20:24:00.000-05:00

Tonight: carrot soup, and kale chips
Trip was not filled up enough by the soup, so he also had a chicken sandwich with leftover bread/chicken. This carrot soup is one of my all-time favorite soups; the recipe came from my Holistic Moms cookbook. It's quick, creamy, and I always have all the ingredients in the house. The kale chips are something I've been wanting to try for awhile... and I liked them! Not very filling for the tummy, but a good way to get a whole bunch of kale eaten.

This dinner wasn't planned until about 4:00 pm today, which is very rare for me. I was supposed to be visiting a friend in Boston this week, so at the farm last Friday I didn't take nearly as much food as I normally do. So today's meal, and whatever I make for the next 2 days, will be a little more off the cuff than is typical.

on the table

2009-11-10T07:29:00.000-05:00

tonight: black bean chili
(it may be 7 am, but I do know this is what I'm making tonight!)

Yesterday: fritatta, our dear standby, made with eggs, asiago cheese, mixed color chard, onion, and S&P. Smoothie was part of the meal too -- blueberries, pineapple, papaya, and coconut milk.

Sunday: steaks! and salad and homemade bread
We finally got beef back at the farm, and it was great to eat those tender T-bones for dinner! Marinated in red wine and Bragg's liquid aminos, and then just broiled.

On the Table

2009-11-04T14:14:00.000-05:00

Tonight: meatloaf (pork/beef mixed, plus assorted condiments), mashed purple potatoes, roasted brussels sprouts!

last night: lentil soup and garlic toasts
A nice simple, hearty, peasant soup: homemade stock (Trip has been making kick-ass stock lately!), lentils, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, S&P. 100% farm except for the lentils. With the abundance of meat at the farm lately, we've been eating a LOT of meat... now I'm back to being deliberate about planning at least one meal a week that is just beans and veg.

Monday night: Vietnamese pork meatballs, fried rice, carrots w/ginger and honey
Mmmmm.... this was a feast indeed! Non-local foods: soy sauce/fish sauce/cilantro in meatballs, rice, and gingerroot.

Kira Eats Weekly?

2009-11-01T20:38:00.000-05:00

Perhaps I should change the title of this blog to better reflect its accuracy in reporting!

On the table tonight: a second homemade lasagne, bread, and salad

last night: Halloween party, much gorging of junk food

night before: baked chicken (baked in sauce of Dijon mustard, garlic, lime zest/juice, S&P), pan-fried potatoes, salad, and black raspberry pie & ice cream for dessert

Happiest recent food news: hoops over the greens rows at the farm! We're still enjoying fresh salad greens right along with 3 varieties of kale, 2 kinds of bok choy, bright lights chard, mizuna, spinach, and various other mixed mustard greens. With the new hoops up, we should have greens through much of the winter!!!

Friday was an excellent food pick up: ground beef, ground pork, steaks, stew meat, milk for drinking, milk for cheese-making, white potatoes, purple potatoes, carrots, garlic, mixed salad greens, mizuna, kale, brocolli, purple bok choy, salad spinach, perpetual spinach, and onion. Then Saturday morning we hit the last farmers market of the year and scored a large basket of squash for $10 total, less than $1 per squash!

There's a fresh mixed-squash pie in the oven to celebrate the bounty...

on the table

2009-10-24T20:11:00.000-04:00

Tonight: super-star lasagne
Homemade pasta, homemade sauce, pork sausage, swiss chard, spinach, ricotta, and mozzarella. Mmm mmm good! All 4 of us gobbled it up, and it was so hearty that one piece was very satisfying.

last night: simple vegetable soup, salad w/vinegrette, homemade bread
The soup was homemade chicken stock, carrots, potatoes, cabbage, celery, and onion. Salad was picked-that-day greens with my "family recipe" dressing.

the night before that: fritatta (eggs, asiago, chard, and zucchini) and pan-fried potatoes

On the Table

2009-10-20T08:03:00.000-04:00

On the table tonight: orange-soy braised ribs, potatoes (probably mashed), and carrots w/ginger and honey (all farm food except for the orange juice and soy sauce for the ribs, and the ginger root for the carrots). Maybe an applesauce cake for dessert, depending on how the day goes.

Last night's dinner: stuffed peppers (all farm food except for the white rice)
Turns out Trip really likes this dish, and the kids loved the stuffing, not the peppers.

Sunday dinner: coq au vin (the abbreviated version, made by Trip), colcannon, fresh bread, salad (the bread is the only thing here that wasn't 100% locally farmed, but at least it was homemade!)

Saturday dinner: I was away at a conference, but Trip had a friend over and they made fresh pasta for ravioli! I had the pleasure of eating the leftovers for lunch yesterday, and it was GOOD! Ravioli stuffed with delicate squash, topped with some herbs and a simple beurre blanc.

Friday's dinner: peanut noodles w/cabbage
I needed to use up the cabbage before getting more at farm pick-up! There's been lots of very lovely cabbage, but as I'm not quite to the point of making 2-3 soups a week, I'm trying to be more inventive in how I use it. Luckily we love cabbage almost any which-way, but if we eat it every day there's trouble. This was a nice new dish though, simple and quick.

recently

2009-10-13T19:00:00.000-04:00

on the table tonight: pasta w/multicolored pesto and garlic-sauteed tomatoes

yesterday's dinner: eggplant curry, roasted cauliflower, garlic naan
In the last week of the year's eggplant harvest, I remembered a recipe I wish I had remembered weeks ago. This curry dish is lovely and comes together with almost no effort. Eggplant, bell pepper, onion, garlic, tomato... and with brown basmati rice and naan it's divine! (I didn't make the naan; it's Trader Joes. TJ's has the best store-bought naan ever, and for only $1.50 a package). The roasted cauliflower really topped off this meal. Cauliflower is a veggie we all LOVE but have been missing since we joined Howling Wolf. Last weekend we went by the local farmers' market in search of a butternut squash and found some of the biggest heads of cauliflower I've ever seen. (I'm not just being fantastical with this post; the naan is the best EVER and the cauliflower was the biggest EVER.)

So after last night's culinary feast, tonight's dinner is a bit simpler, but just as delicious.

Sunday's dinner: roasted chicken, roasted brussels sprouts, baked potatoes

Saturday's dinner: soup -- it started out as minestrone but morphed into an anything-we've-got-around soup with veg, beans, barley, and homemade stock, topped with grated romano. Not bad, but I would've preferred it a bit less busy. Things like this often happen when Trip and I cook "together."

today I'm kitchen-lazy

2009-10-08T17:34:00.000-04:00

on the table tonight: leftovers
There is plenty in the fridge to eat, and I spent ALL DAY yesterday in the kitchen and used up my quotient of motivation for this week.

Yesterday's dinner: baked chicken, carrots with ginger and honey, and apple pie w/ice cream for dessert

In addition to the simple dinner for ourselves, I made a dinner for a Moms Club member and did various apple-processing tasks. My day went something like this:
9:00 am -- fire up the peeler/corer/slicer and do appx. 30 lbs of apples, with help from 2 year old boy
9:45 am -- fill stock pot for applesauce, fill crock pot for apple butter, get cooking
10:00 -- thaw chicken for us and pork chops for Angie's family
10:05 -- find recipes for pork chops and my grandma's apple pie
10:30 -- run to grocery store for 3 items
11:30 -- make kids lunch, mix 2 batches double-crust pie dough in food processor while they're eating
noon -- heat oven and bake a loaf of bread (from the large-batch dough already in the fridge)
1:00 -- roll out pie crusts, cut more apples, assemble pies
1:30 -- bread out of oven, 2 apple pies in oven
1:45 -- put canning jars in dishwasher to sterilize, clean up kitchen
2:45 -- brown pork chops, assemble dish
3:00 -- pies out of oven, pork chop dish in oven
3:30 -- decide applesauce/apple butter is done, run butter through the food processor
3:45 -- cut carrots for our family and Angie's family, cook
4:30 -- get kids up from nap, out the door to deliver dinner to Angie: pork chops w/apples and raisins, carrots w/ginger and honey, fresh bread, apple pie. Put our chicken in oven as we leave.
5:00 -- get home, finish cooking our carrots, start water heating in canner
5:30 -- chicken out of oven, kids eat dinner, fill 5 quarts of applesauce and 5 pints of apple butter, start 7 jars processing in water bath
6:00 -- feverishly eat chicken standing at kitchen counter, waiting for first batch to finish
6:15 -- take out first batch, start processing last few jars of apple goodness
7:00 -- all jars done and cooling, put kids to bed
8:30 -- eat pie

food, food, food

2009-10-06T18:24:00.000-04:00

yesterday's dinner: fritatta w/ spinach, zucchini, and asiago, and apple slices w/ peanut butter

on the table tonight: stuffed peppers
I've never made these before, because they're honestly never been very appealing. This year there are next to no red bell peppers from the farm, but the past few weeks the green peppers have been overflowing from the baskets. I'm not fond of green peppers; the only other way we've been eating them is in either gumbo or fajitas (top anything with salsa and sour cream and it becomes palatable!). My dad suggested stuffed peppers, so we're giving it a try. They're in the oven as we "speak", so I'll let you know how they come out. I stuffed 5 large peppers with ground pork, rice, grated romano cheese, and assorted spices. I left out tomato sauce, which I know to be a common ingredient, because I think it's that thrown into the mix that has always made me more queasy than hungry.

Tomorrow will be apple day here at the ol' P'burg homestead. Last week we picked 55 lbs of apples, and I only cooked one big batch so far. The plan for tomorrow is to get apple butter going in the crock pot, applesauce going in the big stock pot, and 2 pies going in the oven. If I let the butter and sauce cook down for most of the day, in late afternoon I can do up a load in the canner. It should yield me 2 pints of apple butter and 4-5 jars of applesauce (probably quart jars).

new things

2009-10-02T08:39:00.000-04:00

last night's dinner: dijon-lime baked chicken, ginger-honey carrots, and sauteed patty-pan squash
I actually pulled this chicken recipe from a People magazine. It's a Paula dean recipe, and although I'm not normally a big fan, this was great. I mixed together 3 tbsp dijon mustard, 1 tbsp mayo, 1 tsp minced garlic, juice and zest from 1 lime, and S&P, poured it over a whole chicken (in 8 pieces), and baked.

Wednesday's dinner: meatloaf, mustard beets/carrots, and mashed potatoes
New meatloaf recipe too: beef and pork mixed, and I formed it onto a cookie sheet rather than a loaf pan, ala my Dad. AND the BIG news -- we ate beets! I've never loved beets (to put it lightly), but my dad made them with mustard like he loves, and I added some carrots to soften the beet-blow. We liked them! Hurrah!

more later on recent apple picking...

2009-09-23T09:12:00.000-04:00

Last night's dinner: pork & pineapple meatballs w/brown basmati rice, apple crisp & ice cream for dessert

The meatballs were made with ground pork, egg, bread crumbs, and ground ginger. then they went into the crock pot with a can of pineapple chunks (undrained), 2 green bell peppers and 1 purple bell pepper cut into chunks, 1 onion cut into chunks, and about half a bottle of BBQ sauce. This is best with broccoli added, but we didn't have any. I took the extra time to do brown basmati rice... it smells SO good while it's cooking!

Then for dessert I made apple crisp with some of the apples we picked yesterday. We came home with honeycrisp, jon-golds, and empire, plus a half gallon of cider and a 5 pound jar of honey (finally, found local honey!). Nothing says fall like apple crisp baking in the oven! I didn't make the ice cream, but rather tried out Haagen Daas 5 line, and I love it! Every flavor has only five ingredients: milk, cream, eggs, sugar, and whatever the flavor is (I bought one vanilla bean and one ginger). I know the 5 ingredient theme doesn't exactly make ice cream healthy, but at least it's REAL food. Real ingredients, real food.

Tomorrow I will get on to dealing with the apple bounty now sitting in my kitchen. What to do first... sauce, butter, or pie?

Tonight's dinner: lasagne for the rest
I'm out tonight volunteering at a consignment sale, so last week when we had lasagne I made an extra small one and froze it. So tonight the babysitter just has to pop it in the oven, and Trip and the kids can eat a lovely dinner (as opposed to the pbjs he would have certainly fed them otherwise).

done with tomatoes, time for apple picking

2009-09-22T07:07:00.000-04:00

Saturday's dinner: Mike and Anna were here for the night, so we feasted.
Grilled buccaneer chicken, grilled pattypan squash, and pan-fried potatoes

Sunday's dinner: grilled beer can chicken and baked potatoes

Monday's dinner: quinoa salad with added leftover chicken

Today the kids and I go apple picking for the first time this year. I'm very much looking forward to it. The summer food is ending, and it's time to jump into fall food. My ambitions for late summer canning didn't work out quite like I had hoped, but I see no reason to not renew said ambitions for fall. I mainly plan to can applesauce and apple butter, hopefully enough to last until late spring.

About those other canning ambitions... this year I was really geared up to do some large-scale canning of tomato-based things. We were able to do some, but not a ton, due to the poor tomato crop this year. Across the board, what I keep hearing from local farmers is that "this is just not a year for tomatoes." It was such a disappointment, after having spent so much mental energy planning and projecting to not be able to do it. (I had gleeful visions of our basement shelves stocked with red jars, and never having to buy tomato sauce or salsa.) But such is the way of it when you rely on local foods. If it's not a year for tomatoes, we don't get many tomatoes. Thank goodness we decided to grow grape tomatoes in our garden, or we would have really missed them; we still got to enjoy eating sun-sweet tiny tomatoes right as we picked them, which is a taste everyone who buys grocery store tomatoes during the winter should get familiar with.

While I dive into apple season, I will be sending out prayers for next year's tomatoes, may they be bountiful!

meals

2009-09-18T15:00:00.000-04:00

Tuesday's dinner: linguine with lemon pesto and fresh ricotta, topped with sauteed tomatoes and garlic

Wednesday's dinner: potato corn chowder
Second soup of the year! Homemade stock, bacon, potatoes, corn, milk, onion, S&P
100% farm fresh!

Thursday's dinner: summer vegetable fritatta (chard, beet greens, zucchini, corn, ricotta) and breakfast potatoes
100% farm fresh, 2 days in a row!!

Tonight's dinner: lasagne, everything but the pasta is farm fresh
pork sausage, homemade sauce, eggplant, tomatoes, homemade mozzarella

man, I am behind!

2009-09-14T15:20:00.000-04:00

Friday's dinner: Kira's Italian Special
Similar to something I made a few weeks ago, this concoction has become a favorite. It's a thrown-together combo of eggplant, zucchini, onion, garlic, and tomatoes, tossed with pork sausage and pasta.

Saturday's dinner: roast chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans
100% farm! It felt like fall on Saturday, so we made a hearty warm-me-up kind of meal.

Sunday's dinner: brats and leftover potato salad
It felt like summer again yesterday, so we made a fire-up-the-grill kind of meal.

Tonight's dinner: chipotle pork cheeseburgers and coleslaw
Gotta make these burgers once more while it's warm out (plus, I have avocado and cilantro leftover from the Labor day party).

birthday dinners

2009-09-09T19:44:00.000-04:00

Today is Asher's birthday, therefore he got to pick the dinner: "eat pizza!"
Pizza from the most local pizza place for dinner, juice boxes to drink, frozen raspberry cream pie for dessert.

On Labor Day we had a backyard BBQ for Asher's birthday party, which presented me with the common issue of how to feed a group/throw a party within our current food paradigm. For an occasion like this party I tried to keep the food "local" -- from the farm/from local food sources/made by us -- not only because it's what I believe in, but also because of the pure cost! Most of our food dollars go into farm food now, so even when I throw a bash most of the food still has to come from the farm or I'll go broke. This time we did pretty good:
*chipotle pork cheeseburgers (farm meat, but offending grocery store buns and toppings)
*Applegate Farms hot dogs (got to throw the kids a bone now and then)
*potato salad (everything except the sparingly-used mustard and mayo were wholesome)
*corn & tomato salad (farmers' market organic non-GMO corn, grape tomatoes from our VERY OWN garden, olive oil and white balsamic vinegar, S&P)
*total made-from-scratch chocolate layer cake, topped with mini dump trucks and cookie dirt (ok, nothing about this cake was local, except for the fact that it was made entirely in my own kitchen, from time-honored ingredients like flour, sugar, and eggs, and contained no HFCS or the like)

yesterday's dinner: fajitas
chicken, green and red bell peppers, onions from the farm, grape tomatoes from our garden, homemade salsa, sour cream and tortillas from the store.

2009-09-05T07:25:00.001-04:00

Thursday's dinner: fritatta w/chard, beet greens, onion, and ricotta, and fruit salad

Friday's dinner: chicken salad sandwiches & tomato slices w/oil and balsamic vinegar

tonight's dinner? I don't know and don't have to make it! I'll be working at a festival until late today, so Trip will be on dinner detail.

a few dinners

2009-09-02T07:38:00.000-04:00

Monday's dinner: ratatouille, which didn't turn out that well, not enough flavor. Maybe it needed more tomatoes (but then again, everything needs more tomatoes this year).

Tuesday's dinner: linguine with lemon-basil pesto and tomato salad (a dumbed-down version of last weekend's tomato stacks, we needed to use up the tapenade and dressing leftovers).

tonight's dinner: probably eggplant parmesan
I have about 6 large eggplants still in the fridge, so I should do a good baked dish to use several of them up.

I'll have to check the pantry... if we have tahini maybe I'll make up some baked eggplant dip too...

weekend recap -- kitchen warriors!

2009-08-31T07:42:00.001-04:00

We spent a busy weekend doing food work! Friday was farm pick-up, as usual, and while I was out Friday night Trip did a batch of mozzarella/ricotta. Saturday morning I went over to the Easton farmer's market in search of corn and tomatoes, and LO and BEHOLD, there they were! I found some lovely organic non-GMO corn and bought 24 ears, then found someone selling tomato "seconds" for a ridiculously good deal, so I cleaned them out. I came home with appx 35 lbs of tomatoes! Then we went to work.... food tasks listed in no particular order:
1) make chicken stock (appx 3.5 gallon total yield)
2) husk all 2 dz ears of corn
3) cook corn and cut off cob to freeze
4) make large batch of bruscetta topping
5) blend large batch of pesto and freeze in ice cube trays
6) turn 30 lbs of tomatoes into pasta sauce
7) can sauce
8) make olive tapenade for dinner

Task #6 is, of course, really half a dozen individual steps: blanch tomatoes to loosen skin, cut larger ones into chunks, put all through tomato mill (run through 3 times total), compost skins and seeds, find another pot to use because our stock pot was simmering chicken stock and our other large pot can't hold over 3 gallons, add other stuff to tomato puree to make it saucy, simmer for most of the afternoon.

At 7 pm Sat. evening we were happily listening to the "cluck!" of the lids sealing on our 2 1/2 gallons of homemade canned tomato sauce. For this batch we used the "family recipe" from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. We plan to do another big batch another day with our own recipe, which will be frozen instead of canned.

Saturday's Dinner: tomato stacks

This is a meal we wait for all year long! It's not worth it to make it without perfectly ripe, sun-sweetened tomatoes. This was our first stack with our own cheese, and we savored every bite. Tomato stacks were a stroke of genius from chef Bobby Flay: layers of tomato, fresh, mozz, and olive tapenade, topped with a dijon honey vinegrette and garnished with basil. Bliss.

Sunday's dinner: grilled beer can chicken and corn & tomato salad
Trip grilled 2 whole chickens so we have lots of extra for easy meals this week.

Tonight's dinner? don't know yet...

2009-08-31T07:41:00.000-04:00

last Thursday's dinner: cashew chicken curry with rice

Friday's dinner: leftovers

I haven't quite fallen off the face of the earth...

2009-08-26T15:47:00.001-04:00

last night's dinner: scrambled eggs with chard, onion, tomatoes, and provolone, and toast. Gourmet, I know!

night before last: Kira's pasta surprise
First I sauteed 1 chopped onion and a few chopped cloves of garlic, then I added 2 chopped zucchini and 6 chopped skinny eggplants (yes, 6!) and several good glugs of dry white wine and sauteed with the cover on until the veggies were all tender. Then I added a can of diced tomatoes, some S&P and cooked some of the liquid off. In a separate pan I fried some ground pork with S&P and fennel seeds. I mixed the pork and veg with a pound of penne, some heavily spiced homemade red sauce (just enough, not a ton), and about a cup of fresh grated parmesan romano. YUM! Sidenote: did you know there are pale green eggplants? I didn't until I saw them on the table for pick-up last Friday... they're a lovely color and lovely flavor, almost like white ones!

Tonight's dinner: grilled pork chops, steamed green beans, corn and tomato salad

recent dinners in no particular order

2009-08-18T07:55:00.000-04:00

1) grilled pork chops and 7-layer salad
finally all the vegetation in the our favorite salad is garden-fresh!

2) stir-fry (carrots, broccoli, onion, and zucchini topped with peanut sauce and cilantro)

3) pasta with lemon-basil pesto and fresh ricotta, and tomatoes with balsamic vinegar/oil

4) beer can chicken and mixed green/wax beans

5) grilled burgers and plain jane lettuce salad, black and blue berry crisp for dessert

I am on the lookout for local organic tomatoes and local non-GMO corn. Finding non-GMO corn is next to impossible; I think the statistic is upwards of 80% now (80% of all corn grown in the US is GMO). All the rain and lack of heat we've had in NJ is making crops like tomatoes and corn harder to get this year. Our own beloved farmer Matt gave up on his small patch of corn, and while the tomatoes are hanging in there, he doesn't think there will be anything close to a bumper crop. So many farmers I've heard from are saying "this is just not a tomato year." Problem is, I'm all geared up to do some large batch canning of tomatoes, sauce, and salsa (plus freezing things like bruscetta topping). So I'm hunting.

My sister has been visiting us for the past week and today my parents fly in to join us all. Today is also my Dad's birthday, so tonight's birthday dinner feast will be:
* buccaneer chicken (this has been marinating for 2 days now and will get grilled over indirect heat for a few hours and come off absolutely succulent!)
* corn on the cob
* coleslaw
* banana rum cream pie

Ahh... Bliss

2009-08-11T21:05:00.000-04:00

I am in post-dinner bliss!
Tonight's dinner: tilapia sauteed with tomatoes, garlic and white wine, served atop lemon-basil pasta with fresh ricotta.

We ate this meal out on the deck with a nicely chilled Chilean Chardonnay-Sauvignon Blanc blend, and folks, I could have kept eating all night long. Bonus: tonight from start to finish the cooking took 20 minutes (this is not counting the time spent previously to make/freeze the lemon-basil pesto and to make the ricotta). Oh, sweet summer dinner... how I love thee!

Is pesto considered a condiment? If so, it's definitely one of my favorite condiments. I am also craving homemade bruscetta. Next batch of tomatoes will become bruscetta topping, hopefully sprinkled with some purple basil for added color. Wow, I really am obsessed with basil today...

try again

2009-08-05T16:16:00.001-04:00

This is the third time I've tried to publish this post (which is why there's been such a lag). But rest assured, we have been indeed eating since last Thursday.

last Friday's dinner: my annual henna party
For this year's bash I made: chickpea curry, coconut beef satays, basil shrimp skewers, naan, double mango pudding, and sweet Indian dumplings (and mango-tinis and iced passion tea). The big hit was the shrimp. Admittedly not much of this meal was local... farm ingredients include beef, cilantro, and basil.

last Saturday: vineyard employee campout

last Sunday: grilled brats with sauerkraut and green beans
Brats are one of the few processed grocery store food we've been eating consistently. The kids love them and Anya requests this meal at least a few times a week, so we indulge over the summer.

Monday: I don't remember!

Tuesday's dinner: broiled tuna steak and salad with Thai lime dressing

yesterday's dinner: Vietnamese pork meatballs and cold green bean salad with Asian-style dressing.
These meatballs came out awesome! All the main components of this meal were farm fresh; just the condiments were not. The bean salad was a new recipe: now that we're in a season of abundance (especially with certain veggies like beans, cucumbers, and summer squash), I realized I'm going to need to expand my scope of preparations for these over-producers so we don't get sick of them too quickly. So far so good....

tonight's dinner: BLTs, coleslaw, and caprese salad
once again, the only "offending" ingredients are condiments.

I also need to cook the very small chicken that was part of last week's pick-up. It's really too small to roast for a dinner, so it's still sitting in the fridge...

2009-07-30T07:26:00.000-04:00

Tuesday's dinner: simple green salad and veggies with dip
Yes, that's what we actually ate. I was out swimming with the kids and got home just in time to put them to bed, and it was very sticky outside, so we just didn't feel like cooking anything. The dip for veggies was our new favorite recipe: green bean guacamole, from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I'll post it another time.

yesterday's dinner: broccoli cashew stir-fry
This was somewhat of an experiment that came out good. Stir-fry used to be a weekly staple around here, but we haven't been doing it very often at all, mainly because we haven't had much broccoli. To me, stir-fry without broccoli is like pie without ice cream: why bother? And when we've gotten the occasional broccoli we haven't had the correct other veg to make a good dish. But this one had broccoli, wax beans, onion, cashews, and cilantro. I did the veggies in coconut oil and just added some teriyaki for the last few minutes. (If anyone else out there is a coconut fan and has never tried sauteeing veggies in coconut oil, make haste and do it now!) The flavor is so wonderful, and coconut is a wonderful healthy fat. The cashews made a great addition to bump up the protein since I didn't have any meat that would have worked.

Tonight's dinner: jury is still out, but it will likely be fritatta (onion/bacon/chard) and salad, because that's what I should use up before tomorrow.

a new week

2009-07-27T19:20:00.000-04:00

last Friday's dinner: take-out
We sampled from a Mexican place over in Alpha, and it was great! Good, cheap, and they actually deliver to us!

Saturday: I was at work until 11 pm, so I don't know what the rest here ate

yesterday's dinner: zucchini orzo, corn on the cob, green beans, and salad
Trip pulled together this great combo dinner of veggie goodness. Our goal is to have at least 1 or 2 dinners per week that are meat-free, and this was great.

tonight's dinner: grilled pork chops, and leftover orzo and beans from yesterday

dinners

2009-07-23T09:44:00.000-04:00

Last night's dinner: AWESOME!
My dad sent us some seafood from the Fresh Lobster Company as an anniversary gift, and last night I cooked the chunk of salmon. It was one of the best pieces of fish I've ever had! So dinner was: salmon with sour cream-dill sauce served over cucumber "noodles", yellow wax beans, and for dessert peaches and melon in prosecco. The whole meal was entirely summery and entirely satisfying.

We stopped at a local farm stand yesterday to get a melon, and that was also one of the best I've ever had. So good, in fact, that I'm going to stop again today and snatch another! As soon as I picked it up the wonderful melon smell of sugar and sunshine spread, and I knew it would be a fantastic melon. However, now we've eaten almost the whole thing (about 24 hours after I bought it) and we need more!

Tonight's dinner: summer veg fritatta
eggs, sauteed zucchini, swiss chard, onion, corn, and Trip's fresh ricotta
100% farm fresh!

We Made Cheese

2009-07-23T09:41:00.001-04:00

Trip and I made our first batch of mozzarella Tuesday night. I was surprised at how easy it was! (and quick too). Hopefully we'll be able to do this a lot. Trip was even able to get a small-yield batch of ricotta from the whey. Now to await the tomatoes....

2009-07-21T18:09:00.000-04:00

Tonight's dinner: stuffed zucchini
I got a few baseball-bat-sized zucchini from a friend, too large to enjoy an their own but a good size to stuff. I did the stuffing with walla-walla onion, ground pork, the zucchini I scooped out of the shell (chopped up), a can of diced tomatoes, fresh parmesan, and S&P and fennel seeds (to make the ground pork taste more like sausage). I also threw some Pleasoning in for good measure. Hopefully it will come out okay. I'm getting more bold about just trying my own ideas instead of following recipes. I used to be exclusively a recipe kind of girl, but having unusual combinations of ingredients on hand doesn't always coordinate well with recipes. I just stuck the zucchinis in the oven and they sure smell good....

delightfully berry-full

2009-07-20T21:24:00.000-04:00

Today we went berry picking again, and came home with 12 lbs of blueberries. The above picture is of the last berry farm harvest -- black raspberries! I've washed a few large containers of berries and just stashed them away in the fridge for general consumption, and I think the remaining 2 buckets will get canned tomorrow. Blueberries are one of the best berries to pick, and here's why: 1) berries grow at a good height for kids to pick, 2) no thorns on bushes, 3) the berries grow fairly densely, 4) they don't go bad in the fridge for quite awhile, 5) for long-term storage they can be either canned or frozen. So far we've made crisps, pancakes, smoothies, and muffins with the berries we've picked this year, and the goodness can just keep on comin'!

Tonight's dinner: pasta w/pesto, Italian salad with butterhead and radicchio
The first pesto of the year! Yay!!!! The summer's first batch of pesto was comprised primarily of basil I snatched up last night from the employee garden at work. Here's my basic pesto recipe: 2 c basil leaves, 1/4 olive oil, 1 tsp coarse salt, and a heaping spoonful minced garlic, all blended up in the food processor. I'll be making basil weekly until the basil dies out, and once the basil is in full bounty I freeze the pesto in ice cube trays. For most dishes I then add fresh parmesan cheese (like tonight's pasta). If you're a pesto fan but have never made your own, you'll never go back! Homemade pesto is one of the freshest tastes in the world!

no cooking tonight!

2009-07-18T17:06:00.001-04:00

Tonight's dinner: White Orchids Thai cuisine for those of us celebrating an anniversary, frozen pizza for those of us who are children and staying home with a sitter.

As much as I sing the praises of fresh local food, I am never beyond keeping a stash of frozen pizzas in the basement :)

farm day dinner

2009-07-17T15:19:00.000-04:00

Tonight's dinner: leftovers
We're starting to enter the bountiful season, and between all our berry-picking adventures and usual farm pick-ups, the fridge has been pretty full. Now I am a few hours before pick-up, looking into the fridge, wondering where all today's food will go. So instead of cooking tonight, we will have to clear some space. I probably will make a small salad with some fresh greens -- if you've never been able to eat salad greens the day they're harvested, you should make it a priority to do so! The greens taste so nourishing and are utterly fulfilling right after harvest, as if the breath of the soil is still lingering, as if the life is still in them.

Appendix A (aka: Monday's salad)

2009-07-16T14:29:00.001-04:00

Trip keeps prompting me to take photos of our meals, which I am doing fairly often.... what I am not, as of yet, doing often is posting said photos.

Appendix B: tonight's dinner will also include green beans

Yikes

2009-07-16T07:41:00.001-04:00

I guess I've been quite bad at actually posting daily! Roll call for this week:

Monday's dinner: chef salads -- butterhead lettuce topped with leftover chopped chicken, black beans, hard-boiled egg, and avocado (and bottled dressing), and garlic bread. The butterhead lettuce we've gotten the past few weeks is just decadent! (note to self: calling lettuce decadent makes you sound a bit daffy).

Tuesday's dinner: garlic butt chop and green beans for the fam, out to dinner for a work meeting for me!

yesterday's dinner: plain ol' pasta with homemade red sauce, still from the freezer. I cleaned out our chest freezer last week and found some gems hiding at the bottom -- a few more bags of pasta sauce, salsa, and apple butter!

Tonight's dinner: fritatta with swiss chard and sauteed spring onion, and possibly bacon if I decide to thaw some. I'm kinda rationing the bacon for use in future BLTs once the tomatoes are in.

berry-crisp-goodness

2009-07-12T21:05:00.000-04:00

last night's dinner: beer can chicken (again) and salad w/vinagrette
Beer can chicken turned out even better this time.

tonight's dinner: hamburgers and steamed green beans
The first beans of the season tasted awesome! The kids and I went berry picking again last Friday and came home with 5 lbs each of blueberries and black raspberries! We've been enjoying that summer goodness, and at this very moment I have a berry crisp in the oven. I plan to top it with leftover homemade ice cream. MMM....goodness!

Last Friday's farm pickup was good: swiss chard, spring onions, 2 chickens, 2 lbs ground beef, milk, carrots, green beans, some REALLY beautiful heads of red lettuce and butterhead lettuce, mixed greens, and tons of cilantro. They are growing an abundance of cilantro specifically because I asked for it. So I guess tomorrow I will be chopping and freezing cilantro -- an activity that will, I predict, become common in my kitchen.

I was told our employee garden at work has basil up, but I forgot to go up and get some :(

2009-07-10T15:43:00.000-04:00

last night's dinner: cashew chicken curry with coconut rice (only farm ingredients: chicken and onions)

tonight's dinner: leftovers from last night :)

2009-07-09T08:40:00.000-04:00

yesterday's dinner for us: chipotle pork cheeseburgers
dinner for kids and delivered to family who just had a baby: baked pasta with ricotta, sausage, swiss chard, and tomatoes

dinner the day before yesterday: pizza from our local place
I reinstated our ritual of, once every week or 2, getting take-out for dinner and spending the evening working on a household chore together. The pizza gave us the motivation to clean out our bedroom -- 4 garbage bags full of clothes got donated yesterday!

catch-up

2009-07-06T22:32:00.001-04:00

Sorry it's been so long.... Asher and I were out of town for a few days, then we had guests for a few days.... I just haven't been at the computer much! We've been eatin' GOOD though! I'll try to catch up some more later, but here's a snapshot:

last Friday dinner: chipotle pork cheeseburgers
These were awesome! I am not normally a huge burger buff, but this year I seem to be craving good burgers, and these certainly fit the bill! Th burgers are made with ground pork, chopped chipotle pepper, adobo sauce, S&P, and topped with mayo, avocado, cheese, and cilantro. I think we had tortilla chips with our burgers, but all I remember is the main course.

Trip's 4th of July birthday dinner: beer-can chicken with Memphis rub, salad, and ice cream sandwiches made with homemade ice cream and homemade cc cookies.

Sunday dinner: chicken sandwiches w/ leftover beer-can chicken, and salad

tonight's dinner: pulled pork tacos

so...many...choices

2009-06-26T16:33:00.000-04:00

Today is Friday (read: farm pick-up day). There is still not a full bounty of veggies because of all the rain we've been having, although Matt assures us it's coming. What we DO finally have is meat options -- beef, pork, AND chicken this week! So much of the past year has been 1 or 2 meat options, and it's very freeing to feel like I get to choose which meat to have for dinner. Crazy, huh?

Tonight's dinner: leftover black bean chili with lettuce mix salad

Black Bean Chili

2009-06-25T15:56:00.001-04:00

Tonight's Dinner is one of our favorites:

Black Bean Chili

1 tbsp oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 minced garlic cloves
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp cumin
3 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 c water
1/4 c bottled chipotle sauce (chipotle Tobasco is the best)
2 14 oz cans diced tomatoes, undrained

Heat oil over medium heat. Saute onion and garlic until mixture begins to brown, 5-6 minutes. Add chili powder and cumin, cook for 1 minute stirring constantly. Add all remaining ingredients ans stir to combine. Bring to boil, reduce heat, and simmer for appx 30 minutes or until slightly thick.

We serve it topped with sour cream and with tortilla chips!

ahoy, buccaneers!

2009-06-24T20:32:00.000-04:00

Last night's dinner: very scrumptious grilled bird titled "buccaneer chicken" and spinach salad
Trip started marinating this on Sunday, and we didn't eat it Monday because I went out to dinner with some friends (thus the rest of the family ate egg salad sandwiches for dinner). I don't even know WHAT all went into this, but it sure smelled great grilling, and the taste lived up to the anticipatory olfactory experience! I know the marinade included garlic curls, lime juice, nutmeg, cinnamon, and white wine, but I know there were probably a dozen more ingredients too. Anyway, it was great!

Tonight's dinner: chopped leftover chicken with quinoa-spinach salad with lemon vinaigrette.

This is a great easy quinoa dish to make, especially if you have lots of spinach to use up before your next farm pick-up:
1. wash and chop 6-10 oz fresh spinach and put into a large bowl
2. cook 1-2 c dried quinoa into 2-3 c cooked quinoa (this takes appx 15 minutes)
3. pour hot quinoa onto spinach and let sit 4-5 minutes to wilt spinach
4. while spinach is wilting, whisk together 1/2 c olive oil, 1/4 c lemon juice, a decent splash of white wine vinegar, and salt and pepper.
5. Pour dressing over salad, mix and eat!

Hidden complication to traveling: not only do we have trouble finding good food to eat while away from home, but we also end up in trouble when we're gone over a Friday and miss farm pick-up. Trip went Monday to get whatever was available, so this week we basically got meat, milk, and spinach. Luckily we got more milk than usual, so I was able to make yogurt this morning. If the rain hold off one more day I hope to go berry picking again tomorrow so we have some tasty local fruit to go with our lovely, thick, homemade yogurt. Smoothies and parfaits, here we come!

dinner, signing off for now

2009-06-11T15:19:00.000-04:00

Tonight's dinner: Operation eat-everything-in-the-fridge-before-vacation!
I have the last of the bread dough making itself loaf-like now, and it will be enjoyed with a very large salad. We also have quite a container of strawberries left, so dessert tonight will be strawberries w/cream (and breakfast tomorrow will probably include strawberry smoothies).

Tomorrow we leave for a week of beach vacation, so fear not at the ensuing lack of posts. Comment to me what YOU'RE having for dinner!

just dinner(s)

2009-06-10T15:53:00.001-04:00

last night's dinner: garlic and spinach fritatta, roasted asparagus, maple fennel sausage patties!

This dinner came together beautifully. We do fritatta quite often (which I'm sure you've noticed!), so sometimes I need especially yummy sides to make it appealing. Asparagus and sausage did the trick! The asparagus was from the farm we went berry picking at on Monday. I was amazed they still had a few bunched and thrilled to snap it up. Maple fennel sausage has been a growing favorite of our. To make: combine 1 lb ground pork, a few shakes pepper, a few more shakes salt, 1-2 tbsp fennel seeds, and probably 1/4 c maple syrup. Mix together, then fry in patties over low heat. I'm only guestimating on those proportions, but they should be close enough to warrant a try :)

Tonight's dinner: pork chops and salad: ho-hum

The Return of Pork

2009-06-09T07:39:00.000-04:00

We have meat again at the farm! There were a few weeks there that we went without, and boy, was I hitting a dinnertime wall! When the weather is nice I have been feeling less enthused and creative about dinner; I want something simple that doesn't require half an hour of chopping or standing in front of the stove. I'd rather be watching the kids play, tending the grill with a glass of wine in my hand :)

Last Sunday Trip whipped together a superb dinner, as he says, "mostly made of mistakes" (meaning nothing quite how he planned it). But many kudos to the Sunday chef.
Sunday's dinner: grilled pork chops, quinoa w/spinach and lemon vinagrette, mixed greens and escarole salad, and fresh bread, all enjoyed al fresco with a few glasses of Alba Vineyard Mainsail white.

Monday's dinner: plain ol' pasta, salad, fresh bread for the crew, board meeting for me.

I took the kids strawberry picking yesterday and we came home with quite the bounty! Nothing beats strawberries when they're fresh and seasonal. So for last night I also made a strawberry shortcake dessert. We picked appx. 10 or so quarts of berries yesterday, and I hope we can get back at least once more before the other berry varieties take over. I think we will be berry picking almost once a week this summer, partially because it's just a great summertime activity, but also because I want to have a berry bounty saved in the freezer for winter. We had a Blueberries for Sal moment while picking yesterday -- the kids each had a little tin pail to pick with and I was muttering to them about how they have to pick their own to eat because mother wants to take hers home to store for the winter.... 'Course we'll have to do some more serious picking to have any strawberries left -- the ones we have are already going fast!

Tonight's dinner: I'll get back to you on that

Lookie here: a photo!

2009-06-04T16:14:00.001-04:00

Last night's dinner: garlic pasta (spring garlic, olive oil, oregano, garlic salt, parmesan cheese) and salad.

Check out the lovely colors in the salad! The more colors are present in a salad, the more appealing it becomes to me. "course, all the credit goes to Tara, the farm goddess who gives me the flowers and tells me they're good in salads.... I just follow through! Last night's salad contained chicory greens, escarole, spring turnips, shredded carrots, and purple flowers.

Tonight's dinner: fritatta w/spinach, turnips, and cheese

just dinner

2009-06-02T18:24:00.000-04:00

Tonight's dinner: burritos -- black beans (canned), pork (farm butt chop cooked in salsa), lettuce (farm), salsa (homemade), tortillas, sour cream, and cheese (all grocery store).

Last night's dinner: grilled brats and salad
Most processed meats now make me feel ill, but brats are still in good standing! I'm really still a Wisconsin girl at heart...

multi-dinners

2009-05-29T21:10:00.000-04:00

Wednesday dinner: turkey burgers, veggies w/hummus, mixed greens salad

Thursday dinner: pizza and garlic knots from our "local" pizza place, plus tiramisu for dessert!!!

Friday/today's dinner: grilled pork chops, 7 layer salad

Our 7 layer salad has won the hearts of Trip's parents, so it has made several repeat appearances this week. It's not exactly seasonal at the moment, but since we're buying extra food this week it's still pretty high on the healthy scale. From the bottom up: 1) I head iceberg lettuce chopped, 2) 1 can black beans/kidney beans rinsed and drained, 3) I pkg chopped grape tomatoes, 4) 1 chopped cucumber, 5) 1 shredded carrot, 6) dressing made with 2/3 c each ranch dressing and sour cream, 7) 1/2 c finely shredded cheese.

sorry for the lag!

2009-05-27T15:27:00.000-04:00

My in-laws are here and Trip and his dad are replacing all our windows, so it's been a bit crazy! Here is a short recap of recent meals in reverse chronological order:

Last night: Vietnamese pork soup, chicory greens salad, fresh bread

Monday night: Memorial Day picnic at Susan's house, we brought veggies w/hummus, sangria, and banana rum cream pie (not very healthy but oh so good!)

Sunday night: roasted whole chicken, roasted asparagus, mixed greens salad

At the farm we currently have only a single share, and even for that this is a lean time for local NJ food, so in preparation for 10 days of houseguests I visited the Easton farmers' market last Saturday morning to get some meat, eggs, and extra veggies. The asparagus I snatched was probably the last until next year! I also got a London broil, 6 pork chops, and 2 dozen eggs.

just dinner

2009-05-22T15:31:00.000-04:00

Tonight's dinner: baked ziti w/spinach, garlic bread made from homemade bread, and hopefully a salad (if there are enough salad greens at the farm)

I'll be leaving for Howling Wolf as soon as the kids wake up. I wish I wasn't turning on the oven today to do ziti, but it's what I had planned to make. I think after today this dish will go into reserve for rainy days and next winter.

an experiment that came out good

2009-05-21T10:17:00.000-04:00

Last night's dinner: grilled pork steak, roasted parsnips, fresh bread, and burdock

Last night was definitely an experimental dinner: both pork and burdock. I marinated the pork steak in garlic, lime juice and white wine and then just stuck it on the grill and cooked it to medium-well. It wasn't exactly tender, but it wasn't like chewing leather either! I would do it again. And then there's the burdock.... it's not often I get to cook and eat a vegetable I never knew even existed, much less had ever seen in MY kitchen! Knowing that made it kinda fun (how strange is it that my idea of fun is experimenting with a strange veggie?!?). I followed Tara's recommendation: stripped the strings, chopped, blanched, cooled, mixed with olive oil and spices (I used salt and Greek Pleasoning), and served cold. On it's own the burdock didn't taste like much of anything, a bit like cooked celery. Anya ate a few pieces just plain, so you know I'm not lying too much! I think next time I'll mix it into lettuce salads or quinoa or barley salads; it's not all that interesting independently but could add a nice variety to other salad dishes. But all in all I liked it!

Tonight's dinner: out with friends for me, chef salads for the rest (arugula, chicory and mixed spring greens, hard-boiled egg, shaved carrots, sliced radishes, and sliced pork leftover from last night).

Take-out

2009-05-19T18:39:00.000-04:00

Tonight's dinner: turkey burgers from Ruby Tuesday (they have the BEST T-burgers!!!)
We have major chores to do tonight, so take-out is the thing. I have so much more energy for accomplishing things in the evening when I haven't spent the time prepping, cooking, and cleaning up dinner. For anyone who's keeping track, the kids ate hard-boiled eggs, yogurt, and mango for dinner.

anatomy of dinner

2009-05-19T07:18:00.000-04:00

Last night's dinner: stewed vegetable gratin
This dish is a fabulous one, though it lost some of its sparkle because of the changes I had to make. Still decent, just not fabulous. It's basically a mixture of onion, celery, carrots, tomatoes, beans, and greens that you add cheese to and bake under a bread crust. I had to sub young garlic for onion, leave out the celery, sub aetna beans for white beans, and leave off the bread part. I made bread dough yesterday morning and meant to have some bread ready to go with the gratin, but I forgot to time my oven use correctly to allow the baking stone to heat gradually with the oven temp -- last time I didn't time right my stone broke. So, in order to keep my stone safe, we went without bread.

Preparation for yesterday's dinner was basically happening all day long, starting with making the bread dough at 10:00 am. The beans were cooked from dry, so I started them around 1:00 pm. I chopped vegetables at 4:00, assembled everything by 5:00, and the kids ate their dinner at 5:45. Trip and I rounded out the day at 7:30.

Other food tasks I accomplished yesterday: making yogurt.
Hope to do later today: make cheese

It's a green, green, green, green world!

2009-05-16T14:30:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was farm day, and everything on the table was green -- it's amazing! I got a new food (one I've never tried before): burdock. Thank goodness Tara knows every plant known to man (to New Jersey man anyway) and can offer suggestions on what to do with unknown things like burdock... I'll let you know how it works out. Eggs were low this week, which will be hard, and next week there will be no meat.

Last Night's dinner: Mexican junk food (I hosted MNO for the moms club and had a Mexican theme, so I ate a LOT of junk food containing cheese and sour cream and the like.... plus margaritas.... so today I've been eating a lot of cleansing greens to balance it out).

Tonight's dinner: Jayse's birthday BBQ (more junk food -- seriously, thanks God for greens!)

condiments = chemicals

2009-05-14T09:43:00.001-04:00

Last Night's Dinner: meatballs, ciabatta rolls, carrot sticks w/hummus
I made meatballs, which I was really excited about, but they didn't live up to my expectations. Too bad I have no one to blame but myself! I used HW ground pork, eggs, and the usual spices plus some ginger. What did I not use? Breadcrumbs. Strike one against the meatballs -- they didn't hold together very well after baking. Strike two -- they just didn't make me feel good. I used whatever condiments we had to make a BBQ style sauce for them, and though it tasted pretty good in the mouth, it didn't sit so well in the stomach. Both Trip and I just felt sluggish and heavy after eating. Even though I don't use anything with HFCS anymore, I guess slogging whole-food meatballs in a sauce of bottled chemicals ruins them. Bummer.

Tonight's Dinner: bean and roots vegetable soup
Time to use the very last turnip and celeriac of the season!

Tonight's dinner

2009-05-11T21:42:00.000-04:00

Onion/spinach fritatta and roasted asparagus

Yesterday's dinner: my special Mother's Day request of salmon! Trip made me AWESOME crispy skin salmon w/gingery greens, and roasted asparagus

Asparagus has been our treat yesterday and today, along with the fish. And believe me, I have savored every morsel! Neither were local, and both came from the lowly grocery store.... ah well, at least the wine is local!

A Little Lean

2009-05-09T20:16:00.000-04:00

Tonight's dinner: grilled pork chops, carrots w/cumin and honey, salad w/vinagrette
First time grilling this year! Most of tonight's dinner is farm food, the condiments were not (marinade for the chops, honey for the carrots, vinagrette for the salad).

Yesterday's farm pick-up was a little lean, and the rest of this month will probably be similar. This week I took carrots, young garlic (garlic snapes), spinach, 2 dozen eggs, 1.5 gallons milk, one pork steak, a few handfuls of spring greens, and a handful of radishes.
Things available that I did NOT take include beets, parsnips (still have some from before), dry aetna beans (also still have plenty), and chicory.

What all will we eat for dinner this week???

home again, home again

2009-05-08T08:27:00.000-04:00

Ok.... we were gone (again) for a few days, but now we're back (again) to stay (until we leave again).

Last night's dinner: braised pork steak and cleansing spring salad w/homemade vinagrette

I say "pork steak" because I don't really know what to call this cut of meat -- we get these uncured ham steaks that stump me. They're cut into ham steaks but not cured into being actual ham. So they're basically a pork steak. Trouble is, I don't know how to cook them. Yesterday I tried what Matt (our farmer) suggested, which was basically putting them in a large pan with a little water and a lot of garlic and just braising until done (this is the same preparation we often do with our other mysterious cut of pork -- butt chips). I wasn't sure this would turn out very good, but allow me to stand corrected! It was very tender and tasty, although a little plain on flavor. I think next time I'll cook it this same way but find a glaze to add at the end for some extra flavor.

The salad was Tara's "cleansing" mix of spring greens, and it looked so beautiful with her touch of edible flowers!

Tonight's dinner: taco potluck at the farm (as long as the weather holds out). I got off easy this week and am just bringing taco toppers. Easy, yes... local, no...well, except for the salsa. I find it somewhat ironic that a group of us who belong to a local farm will be sharing a dinner today composed largely of non-seasonal foods like corn, tomato and avocado. Are we being hypocritical or just having fun? Do we take our food life too seriously if this bothers me a little bit, or do we not take it seriously enough when we so quickly embrace the temptation of non-seasonal Mexican goodness?

Bread

2009-05-01T07:08:00.000-04:00

Last night's dinner: fritatta, bacon, and fresh bread
Fritatta is so much easier than quiche: no having to make crust, and shorter baking time. However, because it has less liquid it's more dense, and less puffy and pretty. But this one turned out really good -- 6 eggs, 1 onion thinly sliced and almost carmelized, appx. 4 c spinach thrown in to wilt with the last few minutes on onion cooking, salt and pepper, and appx 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar. Just mix it all together and bake in a pie plate until set (30 min?).

Dinner the night before last: chopped salad and fresh bread
Salad -- spinach, hard-boiled egg, avocado, shredded carrots, and bottled goddess dressing.

I've been making fresh bread for a few months now using the basic recipe from the book Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day (actually, I am working from the Mother Earth News article about the book, but same difference). I know it sounds like a scam, but it works out pretty great! I make large batches of a high-moisture dough that stays good in the fridge for 2 weeks. Every time I want to have fresh bread I just cut off a chunk, form it slightly, let it sit for 40 minutes, then bake it. No kneading, no rising, no worries! The only ingredients in the dough are flour, salt, yeast, and water. I highly recommend checking this out if you love the fell of pulling fresh bread from your oven and then ripping into it with dinner.

Travel

2009-04-28T10:27:00.000-04:00

Traveling always presents a bit of a food challenge for us. Our bodies have adjusted to our ways of eating, and we all often end up feeling crappy if we just eat "whatever" when away from home. Eating too much restaurant food especially sets us off... but the wrong kinds of home-cooked food can sometimes be just as bad. But I also struggle between wanting to protect us from food-ills and wanting to be a gracious guest. How much of a picky-food-bitch do I want to be? I don't want to cross the bridge from being a respected healthy eater into the dreaded guest: the one you roll your eyes at when they come to stay because you never know what to serve.

This trip we did pretty good, although my stomach was getting pretty picky by the end of the 5 days we were gone. And it felt GOOD to eat a full days-worth of our own food yesterday.

Yesterday's Dinner: baked ziti (homemade ricotta, homemade pasta sauce, spinach, onion, garlic). I made this dish rather recently and probably wouldn't have made it again so soon, but before we left we had extra milk, so Trip made a batch of ricotta that we weren't sure about the longevity of, but since it turned out to still be good I wanted to use it immediately.

Tonight's dinner: leftovers from last night!

2009-04-22T06:33:00.000-04:00

Last night's dinner: Farm Fritatta -- 100% farm ingredients yay!
eggs, spinach, onion, and homemade ricotta

Today we leave for a long weekend in MN. Later I hope to post about how traveling presents us with somewhat of a food dilemma...

2009-04-20T22:56:00.000-04:00

Tonight's Dinner: crock-pot pork and roots

We get these pieces of un-cured ham steak that stump us a bit... so far this is the best way we've come up with to use them! I cut the meat into chunks and do the same with whatever root veggies I want to use up (today was turnips, patsnips, and carrots), then throw it all into the crock pot with some white wine, honey, salt and pepper. Easy peasy!

2009-04-19T22:15:00.000-04:00

Tonight's dinner: orange-soy braised pork ribs and carrots w/honey

This recipe for country-style pork ribs is just AWESOME, one of my absolute favorites. Trip cooked it today, even better than the past few times I've cooked it. In addition to being an example of culinary excellence at home, this dish is also an example of a food trap we've been careful to avoid -- using farm-fresh meat/veg bounty as the basis of a meal, but then adding too many other costly and unhealthy condiments. This just dilutes the value of the meal (both financial and health value). The ribs recipe isn't SO bad, but it does use fairly high volumes of soy sauce and orange juice, as well as smaller quantities of other things. We love this particular dish enough to happily use the soy and juice a few times per year, but the poor-value-condiment pothole is large, and one must sidestep it carefully.