Watermelon Inundation

Gah! SO much watermelon! No more room in the fridge, so it was time to break out the blender:

Bit of sugar and lime juice added. Briefly considered adding some alcohol; intrigued by how watermelon juice might taste with chocolate vodka...but I haven't gone there yet. Then I found some popsicle molds sitting on top of our fridge.

I'd made an entire blenderful of juice, (and not all of it went into the popsicles), but still have a chunk of raw watermelon left. Is "watermelon inundation" a valid excuse to stay home from work? 'Cause otherwise I don't think there's any way I can finish this all.

Stuffed peppers; ricotta crostini with cherry tomatoes

Hurricane Irene's arrivng tonight, and so far the power's on so we don't have to subsist on PB&J.

Tonight's dinner was kind of experimental; mostly inspired by having to use up various things: some Italian bread, ricotta, celery...and I needed to figure out what the heck to do with all these green peppers.

I've never made stuffed peppers before, and can't remember the last time I ate (if ever) the more standard ground-beef-rice-tomato-sauce stuffed peppers. But I created my own filling...

Sauteed onion, celery, garlic and the green pepper tops. Seasoned with smoked paprika & cayenne. Cooked some Trader Joe's harvest grain blend in chicken broth and mixed that in. Added some ricotta and feta. Stuffed the peppers--decided not to parboil them, as I didn't want them to get mushy. Put a little water in the baking dish instead. Baked for about 40 minutes at 375, then topped with parmesan and browned under the broiler:

 

They were good, though I still would have preferred red peppers...and I kind of felt like they needed some gooey cheese or a sauce. But, not bad.

Then I made these crostini: mixed ricotta with some chopped basil, spread that on some toasted Italian bread, and topped with broiled cherry tomatoes.

rob stocked up on chocolate ice cream, but I'm thinking I need to start tackling cantaloupe for dessert!

BLT Salad

rob had the foresight to buy bacon yesterday. Thus: BLT salad!

I like cooking my bacon in the oven - easy, less messy. Plus, the drippings in the pan can be used for homemade croutons!

Quartered cherry tomatoes, sliced green onions, and the dressing is mayo + cider vinegar + salt & pepper.

Also tossed in a little feta cheese. Yum.

Week 12: More 'Maters 'n Melons!

 

This week we got cherry tomatoes, some looong green onions, basil, red leaf lettuce, white onions, green peppers...and good lord, another watermelon and cantaloupe! We haven't gotten through all of last week's watermelon yet. It was delicious, but I discovered I'm one of those people that gets slight digestive issues eating a lot of watermelon after a full meal...so I've gotta be careful of when I eat it, I guess.

I also kinda wish we got sweet red or other color peppers instead of green ones all the time, but...I shan't complain too much.

For rob's Thursday night casserole, I picked out a scalloped potato recipe so we could use up the rest of the potatoes and peppers from last week (I'd been hoping to make some stuffed baby peppers, but that never happened). rob was worried that the finished casserole looked strange, but I assured him that scalloped potato things aren't usually pretty. It's cheesy potatoes, so you really can't go wrong with that:

Hurricane Irene's on the way, and I'm hoping (among other things) it doesn't hit the farm too badly. They're located up near the PA border a little east of here, but they're not close to the water. At least if our power goes out, we've got some fresh veggies to eat and don't have to live on peanut butter sandwiches!

Baked 3-Cheese Pasta with Tomatoes

The last big red tomato went into this:

Sauteed onion & garlic, added chopped tomato, and mixed in about a cup of ricotta along with some of the pasta water. Tossed in pasta, the rest of the fresh mozzarella, some parmesan, and a bit of the basil oil. Sprinkled more parmesan on top, baked for about 20 minutes, broiled to brown the top, then topped with more basil oil.

I didn't think I made much of the basil oil...it all fit in a custard cup...but I guess a little goes a long way! Still about half of it left. I suppose I could probably freeze it; freezing pesto worked.

Turkey-vegetable chili

There weren't many One Straw veggies in this - just a green pepper, the remnants of a tomato, and the last of last week's garlic. But I had lots of other stuff I needed to use up.

As best I remember, here's what's in this:

• Onion
• Celery
• Green Pepper
• 2 chopped jalapenos
• Garlic
• 1 lb ground turkey
• Spices: cumin, chili powder, smoked paprika
• some chipotle chilis in adobo
• tomato paste
• 1 can black beans
• 1 can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
• kernels from 2 ears fresh corn
• A bit of lime juice & honey
• Fresh cilantro

I've also put grated zucchini and/or carrot in this...basically, throw in whatever you've got!

And, these used absolutely nothing from the One Straw box...but what the hey.

Chocolate-Cherry Brownies!

I had some fresh cherries that needed using up, and a box of brownie mix. While I would never turn up my nose at made-from-scratch brownies, Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Brownie Mix is so amazing that I feel no need to make from scratch. And it's often on sale for $1.99 at the grocery store!

Some of the cherries I chopped and put in the batter, some I halved and put on top. Pitting, slicing and chopping cherries was rather messy, but...

Sometimes we must suffer.

Caprese omelet, homefries, melon

Few things make me happier than a lazy weekend breakfast.

There was a little of the eggplant caprese salad from last night left over, so I put it in an omelet with an extra drizzle of the basil oil. Made some homefries - just sauteed chopped potatoes until crisp and add whatever spices I'm in the mood for.

Some of that juicy watermelon and cantaloupe...

Add some iced coffee and I'm a happy gal.

Eggplant Caprese Salad

First I made some basil oil. Then I sliced the eggplant and sauteed it in a cast iron skillet. Alternated that with slices of fresh mozzarella and sliced tomato. Seasoned with plenty of salt & pepper and drizzled with the basil oil.

Yum! The eggplant was so good...not bitter at all. And now I've got a bunch of basil oil; have to figure out how to use that!

Week 11: Mmmmmelons!

Week 11 brings us more melons:

I'll be splitting these in half once Sharif & Joanna come to pick up. Even so, not quite sure where they'll fit in the fridge...

And a nice rainbow of veggies:

Basil, small orange peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, green pepper, lettuce & potatoes.

After I took the veggies out of the box, Orion quickly proclaimed it His:

Two quick tomato dishes

That carton of yellow pear tomatoes has been slowly dwindling all week...I think someone's been sneaking them raw...but the remainder became a simple salad:

Just dressed with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt & pepper, and some fresh lemon basil.

This also took about as long to put together as the pasta took to cook:

Quick saute of garlic, shrimp & the chopped red tomato, tossed with linguine and finished with fresh basil and some feta cheese.

Hoping for more tomatoes this week!

Corn-Tomato Chowder with Shrimp; Skillet Cornbread; Cantaloupe Martini

Three delicious wins for dinner.

I love making soup, but I think I've only done it once since the CSA started because...it's hot. But I love corn soups, and the veggies this week were just begging for it. And it's not excruciatingly hot today.

So I made this corn-tomato chowder with shrimp:

First I peeled some shrimp and cut the kernels off the 3 cobs of corn. Then I made a stock by boiling the corncobs and shrimp shells together for about 15 minutes, strained it, and added a bit of salt. I've read about both corncob stock and shrimp stock but never tried them...it was pretty easy, makes use of stuff you'd throw away anyway, and was pretty flavorful.

Next I chopped an onion, a garlic clove (the cloves from the head of garlic we got are enormous!) and the purple bell pepper (which mostly tastes like a green pepper; it's not sweet). I sauteed these in olive oil, then added some chopped potato. Seasoned with salt, pepper, cayenne, and...of course, smoked paprika. Sorry, I know I use that in everything, but it's so tasty! Then covered with the shrimp/corn stock and simmered til the potatoes were tender.

I chopped one of our red tomatoes and some of the yellow pear tomatoes, and threw these in at the last minute along with the corn kernels and some chopped shrimp:

To finish it I added a little half & half, the juice of half a lime, some hot sauce, and some chopped fresh lemon basil from our garden.

Summer in a bowl!

Now that I have an iron skillet, it was time to give "real cornbread" a try. I used this recipe for "double-corn cornbread," which I think is from America's Test Kitchen. I used frozen corn kernals as the 3 fresh ears we got were small and didn't yield much. I don't think it makes much difference in this as they're pureed. I also used a small container of Greek yogurt instead of the sour cream. Not sure if that affected things, but I found I had to add a fair amount of milk to get the batter pourable. Thought about adding some chopped jalapeno, but...didn't feel like chopping a jalapeno. Turned out pretty well though:

I know the recipe's probably not *real southern* cornbread (I think the sugar and sour cream/yogurt are frowned upon by purists)...but whatev', I'm from upstate NY!

Finally, I decided to get fancy with the cantaloupe. I'm not a huge cantaloupe eater so I decided to puree it and make a cantaloupe martini! Cubed cantaloupe went in a blender with the juice of half a lime, a bit of sugar and some water. Strained that, and then mixed most of the juice with some vodka & ice in a cocktail strainer. Voila!

rob proclaimed it to be pretty strong, which means...I had to drink almost 3 of these. My life is hard.

Week 10: Summer goodness; polenta-roasted veggie casserole

This week bring lots of pretty summer veggies:

Corn, a giant head of garlic, bell peppers, large juicy tomatoes, pattypan squash, yellow pear tomatoes, and cantaloupe. There was also a small head of green cabbage and some lettuce, but I gave those to Sharif and Joanna. I'm cabbaged out...and we haven't used the lettuce from last week.

Love these tomatoes! 

 

 

Thursday also means rob casserole. I'd made extra polenta last night and put it in an 8 x 8 square pan, and had picked out a recipe for polenta & roasted vegetable casserole...so he'd just have to do the vegetable part.

Well, I didn't specify he could just leave the polenta in the pan...and in the interest of following the recipe, he spread it out in a 9 x 13 pan. And found out that cold polenta really doesn't spread. 

 

 

But it still came out fine! I'm so used to not following recipes that I didn't think about that...

The veggies are a mix of squashes with onions, mushrooms and whole garlic cloves (which I question the recipe author on)...roasted in the oven and then baked on top of the polenta with parmesan cheese.

Spicy Shrimp & Swiss Chard with Cheddar Polenta

A riff on shrimp & grits:

The chard stems & leaves were sauteed briefly in olive oil with garlic. Added a little honey and lemon juice. Maybe should have added a little more of those, as the chard was kind of bitter. But the cheesy polenta balanced it pretty well. Shrimp were just coated with a cajun-y spice mixture and quickly sauteed.

Sauteed Cabbage

Let's see...there was another batch of the shaved squash salad (say that 5 times fast), and the rest of the tomatoes went raw into some linguine with garlic, olive oil & basil. That got thrown together and eaten too fast to document.

And then...there's the cabbage. Oh, cabbage, what do I do with you? I'm not really a cabbage person. I could see putting it into hearty dishes like minestrone or stew, but it's the dog days of summer! And I wasn't up for more slaw adventures.

Amy had been encouraging us to help eat the mass quantities of potato salad she made...a non-mayo concoction with kielbasa and eggs. Sounded vaguely Germanic, so I thought I could just do a simple sauteed cabbage thing to go with that:

Onions & garlic in butter & olive oil, then the cabbage, a little bit of dill, steam/saute for a few minutes, and a splash of cider vinegar.

Not particularly exciting, but comfort food-ish.

Summer Squash Salad

Mom suggested this recipe...and you should listen to your mother!

I used one large-ish yellow squash and fresh lemon basil instead of oregano. Light, lemony, delicious...I ate the whole dang bowl myself!

BLAT!

A ripe, juicy heirloom tomato just calls out to be included in a BLAT. Y'know, a BLT with Avocado!

Country white toast + avocado:

Bacon:

Tomato:

Lettuce (also from One Straw):

And a spicy mayo (smoked paprika + Kick-Ass hot sauce):

Mmmm, BLAT!

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

Still had one large zucchini from last week, so it was time for zucchini bread.

I used Smitten Kitchen's recipe, including dark chocolate chips.

Oh yeah!

Stuffed Baby Squash & Eggplant

One of the reasons I like cooking is because...well, I'm good at it! After a day of things not going right, if I've got a modicum of energy and some ingredients, I can usually whip up something that makes me feel better.

Today was a rare Friday with nothing going on. rob and I were both off of work, with no evening gig. We slept in and the only plans were to go to the grocery store and maybe see a movie. But we each managed a spectacular fail early in the day. Mine had only short-term consequences:

I was rooting around through the shelves while making my grocery list, and picked up a plastic bag full of quinoa. Hadn't touched that for some time, and...as it started to softly cascade all over the floor, I realized there was a hole in the bag. A good 1/3 of the kitchen floor and the cats' water dishes were covered in the world's tiniest grain. Adding to the mix is our ongoing ant problem. They'd reappeared en masse last night but I didn't have the energy to deal with them.

Out came the vacuum sucking up quinoa 'n ants, ants 'n quinoa, for a good long while. I'd discovered they found an open box of cereal, which is where the latest horde was focused...so got rid of that, and eventually got everything fairly clean. Sigh.

rob's fail, unfortunately, was much more costly...though in hindsight, an even better story. A couple weeks ago he'd managed to get his hands on an ancient, dirty tenor banjo that had been sitting around in a barn for a few decades, and today he began the process of taking it apart. He was having trouble separating the skin head from the rim, and as he was struggling with it the banjo managed to slip out of his hands and the headstock whacked his laptop screen. Rendered probably 1/8 of the screen useless. So, rob spent the rest of the afternoon shopping online for a new laptop. His has had a good 3 years, which lessens the blow a wee bit...

...and really, if you're laptop's going to be felled, what better story than it being felled by a 1928 Vega tenor banjo?

But back to the food thing...it was time to set things right with something tasty. In addition to the baby eggplant, I still had a couple of small yellow squash from last week. So I thought I'd stuff 'em.

The stuffing was sort of a dirty rice-esque creation. Browned a link of Italian sausage, then sauteed chopped green pepper, a yellowish/whitish pepper from last week, some of our red onion, and garlic. Seasoned with Cajun seasoning and some smoked paprika. Added in 1 1/2 cups of an obscenely expensive rice mixture I'd bought at Safeway. I was looking for something with wild rice, but everything was Uncle Ben's pre-seasoned except for this jar of $6.99 gourmet rices. Then added 3 cups water and it was done in about 20 minutes.

I hollowed out the squash & eggplant and added the innards to the stuffing mixture. Put the shells on an oiled baking sheet, about 2 TBL of filling in each, and baked at 400 for about 15 minutes. Then topped with feta cheese and browned under the broiler.

A bit of work, but they were yummy. And plenty of the rice mixture to eat later. Too bad the eggplants didn't retain their pretty purple color...they turned brown as soon as they were cut and exposed to heat.

These conquered my earlier food fail though. And now I've got some chocolate-chip zucchini bread in the oven to try and further lessen the blow of rob's laptop destruction...

Week 9: Baby Eggplant!

Week 9's veggies are rather lovely:

Small red onions, ruby chard, yellow squash, green peppers, cabbage, lettuce (not pictured), tomatoes (including some pretty heirloom ones), and...baby eggplant! They're so cute!

I'll have to find something fun to do with these.

I'd picked up everything last night from Sharif & Joanna in a post-gig-exhaustion-haze, then slept hard and needed a good breakfast. This fit the bill:

From the bottom up: toasted asiago cheese bread + smear of cream cheese + bacon + sliced tomato + fresh basil + fried egg.

Still have to use up some zucchini, peppers & squash from last week, as we mostly were eating out. Might be time for some zucchini bread.