CSA Week #5

Happy first day of Christmas vacation everybody!! Wait, maybe that's me not you. Well, happy first day of Christmas vacation me!! 

School is done until January (not entirely true - still have to finish one term paper) and it sure feels good to be able to get up and have some time for myself. Being in school is great it's just that your time off work is never your own. It belongs to whatever school assignments need to be done. And after four long years of not having much of my own time I'm about ready for a break. Only one more term to go and come the end of April, I'll be graduated. We can make it!

Speaking of things ending, I think we only have one or two more boxes before our CSA takes their  Christmas break until February.

It's this time of year - sans CSA and fresh local market, etc... - that I'm forced to buy my fresh groceries from the supermarket. It's a sad couple months but I guess it'll have to do. This week we pretty much got what I expected - some sort of winter leafy greens, apples, carrots, etc...

But then we also got a beautiful head of green butter lettuce (or a similar variety of such)! Who would have thought that after so much frosty mornings we'd end up with a beautifully fragile head of such amazing greenery? 

It just goes to show, life is like a box of CSA produce.... you never know what you're gonna get.

Our total collection this week was:

• A butt load of beautiful Fall apples (where did the phrase "butt load" ever come from? gross).
• 1 bunch of Carrots.
• A helping of Green Swiss Chard.
• A frighteningly large bulb of kohlrabi.
• Some Mei Qing Choi.
• 2 turnips.
• 1 head of green butter lettuce (or similar variety).
• 1 bunch of cilantro. 

What's ending or changing in your life right now? What's just beginning? Are you pumped for that change or just a little bit sad?

 

SRC Reveal: A Taste of Home Cooking

Holy comfort food batman! It's SRC reveal day today... Wait - you don't know what SRC is? Well...

SRC is the acronym for The Secret Recipe Club! The idea is that you are assigned another participant's blog (it's a secret though - the person doesn't know you have their blog) and you have to create something that they've listed in their recipe index. Not only does this push you to look at blogs and get to "know" someone you might not have before, but it also stretches your cooking creativity. How much fun is that??

This month I was assigned A Taste of Home Cooking. One of the first things I noticed about her blog was how clean it was - I love that. Sometimes we crowd our blogs with too much crap and it becomes an assault on the eyes - so I'd just like to say thank you, A Taste of Home Cooking, for such a visually pleasing blog.

Second thing I noticed was her abundance of Mac & Cheese recipes! As a self-professed mac & cheese addict I can't say enough how difficult it was for me to restrain myself from making one or two or three different versions of her mac and cheese. Have I said mac and cheese enough in this paragraph yet? Not yet? Once more? MAC AND CHEESE! 

She also does these super fun Recipe Swap Roundups - a collection of various recipes that all look just wonderful!

And now onto how I made my decision: Since she's from Pennsylvania - which while number 19th in line with respect to agriculture production in the U.S., it's 1st in mushroom cultivation (thank YOU Wikipedia!), I ultimately decided upon two dishes: Portobello Parmesan & Strawberries and Bananas!

The main dish was comforting, warm, delightful - it actually reminded me a lot of lasagna for some reason. And the dessert was decadent, delicious and a little bit sinful. 

Changes I made: For the pasta (after failing horribly at an attempt to make ravioli by hand with the intention of stuffing everything inside rather than have it on top) I used big shells instead of penne because it's what I had on hand. I also made my own marinara sauce. With respect to the dessert, I actually made crepes as a vehicle for the fruit and topped with whipped cream. Heaven!

Portobello Parmesan Pasta

(printable recipe)

Ingredients:

4 Large (or 8 Small) Portobello Mushrooms, wiped clean & stems discarded.

1 Batch Saucy Tomato Sauce.

1/2 C Mozzarella, grated.

1/2 C Parmesan, grated.

8 Oz Pasta with ridges (holds the sauce better).

Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Splash Balsamic Vinegar.

Kosher Salt & Fresh Cracked Black Pepper.

What to Do:

Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Lightly brush the mushrooms with a little olive oil on both sides and season with salt and pepper.

Place in the skillet and cook for about 3-4 minutes per side.

In a lightly greased baking dish, pour about 1 C of the tomato sauce. Place the mushroom caps bottom up on the sauce. 

Ladle more sauce into each cap. Place shredded mozzarella onto each cap, then top with shredded parmesan cheese.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted, bubbling and browned.

While that bakes, bring a medium-sized pot of salted water to a rolling boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until el dente - approx. 7 to 9 minutes. Drain well. 

Pour pasta onto a big serving platter, top with sauce and mushrooms, & serve.

Eat.

(but save room for dessert.....)....

Strawberries & Bananas (via Crepes!)

(printable recipe)

Ingredients:

2 Free-Range Organic Local Eggs.

3/4 C Milk.

3/4 C White All-Purpose Flour.

1/8 C Melted Unsalted Butter.

1/4 C Sugar.

Handful of Fresh Strawberries, rinsed, dried, tops removed, & sliced.

2 Small to Medium Bananas, peeled & sliced. 

1/3 C Nutella, room temperature.

1 Batch Whipped Cream (optional).

What to Do:

First, make your crepes. 

In a medium sized bowl, whisk the eggs. Add he milk, flour, butter, and sugar and mix well until light & airy.

Pre-heat a medium sized non-stick pan over medium heat. Once hot, lightly coat pan with cooking spray if necessary and ladle in about half a cup of the mixture. Gently swirl pan so the batter quickly coats the bottom of the pan and becomes very thin. The thinner the better! Cook about 1 to 2 mintues or until lightly browned on the under side. Flip and continue cooking until other side browns lightly - maybe another minute tops. Remove from the heat and set aside. Repeat until out of batter - this should result in about 4 to 5 crepes.

Once the crepes are made spread a decent helping of Nutella over one half of each crepe. Lay some strawberries inside, fold over to cover, and then fold the semi-circle you've created in half again, making a little triangle. Top with sliced bananas, an extra strawberry if you like and some whipped cream if using.

Eat!

If you wanna see one of my recipes featured @ JB Cuisine, click here!

Film Friday: Dumpster Divers (via Portlandia)

Good morning lovelies!

I'm gonna make this short and sweet - I may have definitely had a little too much wine last night while John and I were out for dinner and all I wanna do is go lay on the couch and watch last night's episode of The Big Bang Theory.

This week's Film Friday is brought to you by Portlandia, a clever show that pokes fun at life in Portland, Oregon. It's kind. of. awesome. And by kind of, what I really mean is it's really fucking funny. This clip features the two main characters through the antics of what I think is actually a very interesting way of engaging with our food system: dumpster diving.

I've always wanted to try dumpster diving - or urban scavenging, if you will. The amount of legitimate and perfectly healthy food that gets thrown away every day by chain grocery stores is both astounding and repulsive - just because most of the items don't look like cookie-cutter replicas of everything else on the shelf. It's insane! In light of this, I believe dumpster diving can be a possible alternative for those who don't agree with the wasteful practices and expensive products of the corporate food system. But for now, how about a laugh?

Balsamicy Winter Braising Greens with Raisins & Almonds

So I'm in the process of planning my annual Christmas Party Potluck. It's a great time. Essentially friends come over with food and wine in hand and we shove things (preferably afore mentioned food and wine) in our faces for hours until nothing else fits. As my brother said last year after we decorated it looked like Christmas threw up all over my house. That will be no different. We are, however, gonna do something a little different this year.

...last year. well into the night. obviously.

Yes, we'll still have the food and wine - obviously. And Christmas will still have puked up everywhere. But we're also gonna throw in a little gifting. I'm not big on the consumptive and consumerist nature of Christmas but I thought the following might be exciting to do as well as add a little mood to the evenings festivities...

I'm not sure what the game is called but essentially everyone brings a wrapped gift valued at approximately 20 dollars, we sit around the tree, and all the gifts go underneath said tree. A person selects a gift, doesn't unwrap it, and we go around allowing the next person in line to either steal someone else's gift or choose a new one from the pile. Everyone gets 3 chances to steal and then we all open! There's a name for it but every version I've heard has been called something that's a little extremely racist. So we'll just call it Greedy Santa. Fun, right??

Also: what should I cook??? I feel like as the host I should maybe do a couple things. Definitely gonna have a little Christmas baking going on (cookies, fudge, etc...), but what else? What food should I make? Suggestions??

I didn't have this issue the other day. I knew exactly what to do with my Winter greens. And by exactly what to do, what I actually mean is I just threw things together as they popped into my head and it turned out gorgeous. I often find Winter greens to be too bitter for me but the acidic sweetness of the balsamic really helped to balance that out. This was something in which I helped myself to a second helping... and then a third. And then finished off the next day for lunch. I love me some balsamicy Winter braising greens!

Balsamicy Winter Braising Greens with Raisins and Almonds

(printable recipe)

Ingredients:

Large Bunch of Winter Greens (i.e kale, chard, rapini, etc...), washed, dried & prepared (i.e. if leafy greens cut into 1" strips or if using kale, stems removed).

1/2 Large Sweet Onion, diced.

2 Cloves Garlic, finely chopped.

1/3 C Toasted Almonds, roughly chopped.

1/4 C Raisins (whichever variety you prefer).

1 Batch Balsamic Reduction.

Juice from half a lemon.

1/2 C Chicken or Veggie Stock.

1 Tbsp Butter, unsalted.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Kosher Salt & Fresh Cracked Black Pepper.

What to Do:

In a large stock pot warm a couple glugs of olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and stir well. Allow to soften for about 3 minutes and then add the garlic. Stir again and let cook for about a minute.

Toss in the greens, raisins, and stock, cover pot, and allow to steam for about 5 - 7 minutes, quickly stirring once or twice.

After veggies are cooked down but still hold a little integrity, remove the lid and allow for any excess moisture to cook away.

Add the butter and lemon juice. Remove from the heat. Toss in the almonds, and salt & pepper to taste. Stir well. Scoop into a serving dish and drizzle with a couple Tbsp of the balsamic reduction.

Eat.

Okay seriously: Suggestions for what to cook/bring to the Christmas potluck??

This post is linked up to The Gallery of Favorites., and The Hearth & Soul Bloghop via 21st Century Housewife, and This Chick Cooks

In a Pickle? Then Pickle!

Good morning my little sugar muffins!

When I started this blog, I found myself drawn to pretty much any blog that updated relatively frequently. It was compulsive. If someone was putting something out there, I wanted to read it! Especially if it was about food. As the blog has (and I've) developed, changed, and grown I've become more selective in my blog following. It's true - I still waste productively spend waaaay too much time glancing into other people's kitchens and experiences when I should be reading papers for school or working out to this...

...But I really feel that the blogs I'm reading these days are so worth the effort and love that the publishers put into them and I spend reading them. Especially the ones that are a joy to read as well as advocate for some sort of food justice whether that be cooking seasonally, accessing their food locally, raising their own chickens, or living the principals of small scale organics.

Their blogs make my heart sing. And that inspires me.

Feeling inspired by such notions as self-sufficiency, (and the relative ease of making & canning Blueberry Butter) I decided to try my hand at another preserving endeavor - making and canning my own homemade pickled beets!

Side note: I remember being a young little dumpling at my Grandma's house for Thanksgiving or Easter or Christmas and she always had this crystal pickle dish. She'd spoon every kind of pickle I could imagine at that age into each of the divided sections - and I'd always steal the beet pickles before the tray would make it to the table. Turkey. Family. Pickles. There's love in there for sure. 

Back to the present: I had to use up the beets we had left over from our CSA box from a couple weeks ago. But there weren't any plans for beets in the near future. What to do?? Finding myself in a bit of a pickle what else was I to do, but pickle? Plus it reminded me of Grandma - aw, Grandma.

Again, super easy. I only did a couple jars because I wanted to see what they would turn out like. And in the end, holy heaven they were tasty! Perfection, really. I've doubled the recipe here from what I made - this should get you a good 4 to 6 smaller mason jars though it'd be very easy for you to double this, make twice the amount and give them away as Christmas presents... Have I mentioned how much I love Christmas??

P.S. Never mind about the carrots in the pan - I was making lunch at the same time as I was making pickles. I am a master multi-tasker.

Pickled Beets

(printable recipe)

Ingredients:

2 Bunch Beets, any variety, scrubbed & well dried (reserve the tops/greens for later use).
4 Small to Medium Sized Onions, peeled & sliced into rings.
1/2 C Apple Cider Vinegar.
1/2 C Organic Cane Sugar.
1 Cinnamon Stick.
1 Tsp All-Spice.
2 Tbsp Mustard Seed.
Couple Pinches of Whole Cloves.
Kosher Salt & Fresh Cracked Black Pepper.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

What to Do:

Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees F. In a roasting pan, toss in the beets with a couple glugs of olive oil and a bit of salt and pepper. Put a lid on it and roast in the oven anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes, depending on the size and age of your beets. If they're ground fresh, they'll roast real fast but if they're store bought, they'll take a bit more time.

Roast until just fork tender, remove from heat, and let cool enough to handle. Trim off the ends and peel. Slice into 1/4" rounds and set aside.

As your beets roast, you will need to sterilize your jars, lids and rings in which you want the pickles to go. You can do this in a water bath canner if you have one or if you don't just use a very deep wide stock pot with one of those old fashioned metal steamers laid out in the bottom. This will keep the jars off the bottom of the pot so they don't break. Fill the pot with water and bring to a rolling boil. Using a pair of tongs with rubber bands wrapped around the ends to prevent slippage, carefully place the jars, lids and rings in the water in batches so they fit comfortably with 1 to 2" of water above the jars and sterilize for about 15 minutes. Carefully lift jars out of the water and set aside on a clean, dry surface. Sterilized!

Now, in a large sauce pan mix together the vinegar, sugar, spices, and a couple pinches of salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally to ensure sugar doesn't burn. Reduce heat and simmer for about 3 to 5 minutes.

Add the beets and onions to the mixture. Stir well to combine. Heat through. Remove from heat and discard cinnamon stick.

At this point, carefully remove beets and onions and place in sterilized mason jars, topping with the liquid, and leaving 1/4" head space at the top of the jar.

yes, my pot only has one handle. Maybe it's time for a new one?

Secure rings and lids and bring your water bath back to a rolling boil and then using your tongs, repeat the boiling process as listed above to ensure proper sterilization and seal. Remove from the bath and place on a dry, clean tea towel to cool for at least 24 hours. Enjoy those popping lids - that's a good sign!

24 hours later - check the seals to ensure they've stuck. Refrigerate or place in a cool, dark, dry place to keep until ready to eat.

And then... Eat.

This post is linked up to The Hearth and Soul Blog Hop via 21st Century Housewife, this chick cooks, and love cookery blogs.

Package Pal Reveal Day!

Package pals. Is. Awesome.

Gentri over @ Gentri Lee has been absolutely phenomenal in organizing all of this. In case you aren't in the loop, Package Pals started here. 

Essentially, we contacted Gentri and she paired each of us up with another blogger from somewhere else in the world. We were then responsible for exchanging mailing addresses and sending each other a package of sorts containing things that reflect our lives in our respective locations. How much fun is that? Snail mail isn't just for letters and post-due student loan payment notices you know! 

You know what else is awesome? Amy. Even if she is from Utah - jk Amy! Amy runs the blog Amy is Thinking. Connecting with her over vast distances and getting to know a bit about her and where she's from has been an incredible experience!

I can't even tell you how stoked I was to plan out the box I sent her and how elated I felt when her box arrived for me - I almost popped like a balloon out of excitement! It really was like Christmas only better because I didn't know when to expect it. 

Everything she sent me was just so rad AND she included a list of goodies and assigned each item a number to explain why she sent what she did! Amy is a kind, generous, and very thoughtful woman and I'm proud to have "met" her - don't think our packages are stopping here. I'm already planning her next one ;) For the time being though, here's what she sent me:

incredible "scrapbooked" Halloween banner - people marveled at it! Seriously. This was amazing.

awesome wall stickum - kaitlyn @ isavirtue actually jumped at it!

a book. not my usual read - but am looking forward to this adventure at Christmas break!

WTF is fry sauce?? ;)

Massive bag of salt water taffy - people mowed this stuff at the last dinner party. result: wrappers everywhere.

very cool t-shirt. i'm ordinarily not a "brands" kinda girl - but this rocks. love it.

see? generous! PS. Amy - this stuff tastes like the dentist.

my swag.

If you wanna check out what I sent her, you can click here. And don't forget to go say hi to Gentri! And Amy. You'll be glad you did!

 

What about you? Do you have a pen/package pal? 

Do you still use the postal service? Or is it all "e" cards and mail for you?

Epic Food Fail + Smurshed Potato Things

Holy epic food fail!

Sometimes things just don't go your way! Like the other day when I tried to make a butt load of dishes with the intention of creating an incredible Asian inspired 3 course meal for John and I. Yeeeeeaaahhhhh...

I'm pretty sure I ef'd everything up that I tried to make in one way or another. 

First there were the peanuts. No photo unfortunately - but I toasted em. I toasted em BAD. Can anyone say charcoal? 

Next there was the calamari.....

Apparently tossing pre-frozen bagged calamari in panko and then letting it sit in the mixture for 20 minutes was a bad idea. All I got was rubbery hard "fish" and a pan full of gooey oil. Note to self: Fresh. Buy fresh!

Third were the wonton dumplings. Now, these actually turned out pretty tasty (stay tuned, coming to a blog near you) but most of the wonton wrappers actually exploded mid boil. WTF?! You'll see what I mean in the near future.

And lastly was the dessert. The preciously beautiful upside down apple cake I was so uber stoked for. Sure it looked nice enough - actually, it looked exactly how I intended it to:

But I was down an egg at baking time. I knew I could substitute both bananas and apple sauce for eggs if necessary. So, naturally you'd think I'd go for the apple sauce since I was indeed making an apple cake. My friend, you'd be wrong. I chose the banana. My logic was that they were going bad and needed to be eaten one way or another. So banana it was. Turns out, if you bake a cake with a banana in it, gonna taste like banana. Banana apple upside down cake was not so good. Well, John ate it. The entire thing. He doesn't even like sweets. But he mowed it. So I guess it's good for some...

The lesson: Bananas = banana flavor... AND, even the most talented and experienced chefs (along with those of us somewhere in the middle), fuck up. A lot. Don't let our pretty, well organized, and every dish "amazing" rants fool you.

One thing that didn't get fucked up? (Totally separate night btw)... Smurshed Potato Things! Actually, these were super easy and super delicious. The key is to use fresh baby potatoes if you can - they have an excellent texture. And season well! A little salt never hurt anyone ;)

Smurshed Potato Things

(printable recipe)

Ingredients:

1 Lb New Baby Potatoes, scrubbed.

1/4 C Fat (duck fat, bacon fat, olive oil, melted butter - your choice. I used duck fat I keep in the fridge).

2-3 Sprigs Fresh Rosemary, finely chopped.

Small Handful Green Onion, chopped.

Kosher Salt & Fresh Cracked Black Pepper.

Sour Cream (optional).

What to Do:

Fill a medium sized sauce pan with cold water. Add the potatoes and a good pinch of salt. Bring to a boil and cook until the potatoes are just fork tender - approximately 10 - 15 minutes. You don't wanna pulverize the little guys - maintain their integrity.

When just fork tender, carefully drain the potatoes, keeping their skin and bodies in tact. 

Now, pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees F.

As that heats, line a baking sheet with tin foil. Dollop a Tbsp of fat at each future location of the potatoes. Now, arrange the potatoes over the fat and using a fork or a masher (or even a glass jar), press down and smursh each one just so the skin breaks. Smursh em!

Drizzle the top of each potato with your chosen fat, along with some salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with rosemary and place in the oven to bake for 20 minutes or until skins crisp up.

Remove from the heat. Using a spatula, carefully lift potatoes off the baking sheet and onto plates. Sprinkle with green onion, and serve with sour cream on the side if using.

Eat.

CSA Week #4

We're getting down to it. The last few days of Fall. Have you swished in the leaves yet?

not these leaves! Meet: Mei Qing Choy.

How do I know we're getting down to it? I was walking home from the restaurant last night after work and there was frost on the ground. Frost! I always imagine that icy blanket pulling itself up over the ground at 4am - not 11:30pm! It must be getting cold!

And how did I realize there was frost on the ground? I stepped on it. And just about cracked my head on someone's recycling box filled with old milk containers and pizza boxes. Who'd a known recycling could be such a dangerous endeavor? Or walking for that matter?

My recommendations: Don't recycle. Just toss all your shit in the trash. And don't walk. Use vehicles whenever possible. Fuel and the environment are infinite anyway...

....Just kidding ;)

So besides recycling and walking, how else can we help the sustainability of the planet? Through CSA's of course! This week was a doozy! Thank YOU Saanich Organics! We cleaned up a bit and got some super fun things - including a teeny tiny pie pumpkin.

I'm thinking maybe something savory though since there's an abundance of sweet pie recipes out there. What do you think?

This week we got:

• A beautiful bag of fresh spicy arugula.
• 1/4 of A Massive Head of Cabbage.
• 1 Bunch of very phallic looking carrots.
• 1 Leek.
• 1 Bunch of Fresh Mint.
• 7 Gorgeous Apples.
• 1 Tiny Pumpkin.
• 1 Mei Qing Choy (ummmm, what?).

 Which Fall veggies inspire you? What are you making this week?

Which of these veggies/fruits would you like to see most in a recipe?