Thursday, January 31, 2013
Back Bacon, Chinese Cabbage, and Potato (Eggless) Brunch Skillets (Quick Take)
I love weekend breakfasts, especially weekends that don't involve sled hockey or wheelchair basketball tournaments. That's not to say that I don't like eating breakfast away from home at the tournaments, don't get me wrong, but I do enjoy my spouse and I waking up before the kids, walking the dog, and then fixing a big breakfast for the whole family. I love it when that breakfast comes together quickly!
Here's one breakfast that happened not to contain any eggs. I saw Back Bacon marked down, decided to try it (why not?) and looked around to see what else I could pair with it. I have Chinese cabbage from the farm share, and I know my family likes that sautéed for dinner, why not try it for breakfast?
But there needs to be more to round out the meal. Conveniently, I've also got new potatoes from the farm share, and I know my family likes to eat fried potatoes. Throw all this together, jumping from skillet to skillet, and we've got ourselves a hearty winter breakfast. Plenty of good food to fuel us up for a day in the cold!
If you were serving more folks, eggs would be a lovely addition to this spread. But if you're serving folks with egg allergies, consider this combination. It satisfies the appetite of egg eaters and non-egg eaters alike.
Monday, January 28, 2013
Acorn Squash, Beet, and Sweet Potato Chili: One Beginning, Two Endings (Bean-Free Chili for Vegans or with Beef for Carnivores)
Could be vegan chili on the left, chili for carnivores on the right. |
You see, it all started when I had a bite of my spouse's chili at Tom+Chee in Newport, KY. It was smooth, meaty, and topped with a bit of blue cheese. Yum! I love that restaurant.
I like my Green Tomato Garlic Chili, and I like all the chunky and bean-y chili I have had. In fact, I don't think I've met a chili I didn't like. But I wanted to try my hand at making a smooth, meaty chili.
No chunks (the kids tolerate smooth better than chunky anyway) and no beans (thanks to New Year's day and a vat of Ham and Bean soup I'd had beans 8 out of 9 days of 2013 and frankly I needed a break). What does that leave? The Strategic Winter Squash Reserve, of course.
I started by roasting a small 1 pound acorn squash and a small sweet potato. I was making a small batch, because after the giant vat of soup I really didn't want gallons of chili leftovers. Then I set those aside and browned a pound of ground beef in my 3 quart saucepan. I knew I wanted a smooth chili, but I didn't want to attack my beef with the immersion blender, so at this point I drained and set the beef aside.
If I were cooking for vegans as well as carnivores, I would wash the saucepan at this point.
I was just cooking for the family, so I added onions and some of my freezer stash carrots/celery/parsley to the pan (using the remnants of grease instead of oil) and sautéed. I was thinking about how, when making Indian food, you sauté the spices until they are fragrant before adding the simmering liquids, so I decided to add the spices next. Annemarie of RealFoodRealDeals made a squash chili and her recipe appeared in my inbox just as I was debating for which spices to use, so I went with her spicing suggestions. I remembered my cousin Cindy (the cousin Cindy I've friended on FB but never met) telling me she adds beets to her tomato sauce so when I was grabbing a pack of slow-roasted tomatoes from the freezer I picked up a bag of shredded beets, too. I tossed those in to simmer with the veggies, then I added some stock. If I were cooking for vegans, I'd use vegetable stock or Penzey's vegetable soup base. I used chicken stock instead, added a bay leaf, and it simmered away happily for an hour. Since (did I mention) I wanted a smooth chili, I removed the bay leaf, grabbed my immersion blender and smoothed it all up.
Then I tasted the chili. Dang, it's pretty good right now!
If you are serving vegans, move some of the chili to a slow cooker or saucepan over low heat to simmer quietly until serving time. Because it was just us, I added back in most of the beef and simmered the whole lot on low another hour. Then another hour because my spouse worked late.
The result was a smooth, thick, tomato-ey meaty chili.
Labels:
acorn squash,
beets,
carrot,
celery,
CSA Recipes,
Dayton,
fall,
freezer cooking,
herbs,
Ohio Food Blog,
onion,
sweet potatoes,
tomatoes,
winter
Friday, January 25, 2013
Broccoli Rabe (or Any Leftover Cooked Mild Greens) with Ricotta and Sausage Pizza (Pizza Night!)
You ever make food that has similar components as another dish, but tastes completely different and you like them both equally well? It's funny how that works out. Kinda like kids--the same set of parental genetic material can result in totally different shapes/sizes/personalities/attitudes/cleanliness styles (pardon me, I have 2 kids in the throes of puberty--and braces--and it totally colors my view on children at the moment).
When I made this pizza, I had enough broccoli rabe and mushroom mixture left over that I wanted to try a little something different with it. I also had some Italian sausage leftover from this dish, and I figured the strong flavors could use a mild sauce with a non-competition clause. I have not yet tried Annemarie at Real Food. Real Deals homemade ricotta recipe, but I picked up 2 gallons of milk for a song today so I have plans. I also snagged some recently marked down fresh mozzarella. My family is loving fresh mozzarella on pizza these days, so I'm happy to indulge them. Especially since everything else on this crust is a leftover! Perhaps I should name this the Transmogrified Leftover Pizza?
When I made this pizza, I had enough broccoli rabe and mushroom mixture left over that I wanted to try a little something different with it. I also had some Italian sausage leftover from this dish, and I figured the strong flavors could use a mild sauce with a non-competition clause. I have not yet tried Annemarie at Real Food. Real Deals homemade ricotta recipe, but I picked up 2 gallons of milk for a song today so I have plans. I also snagged some recently marked down fresh mozzarella. My family is loving fresh mozzarella on pizza these days, so I'm happy to indulge them. Especially since everything else on this crust is a leftover! Perhaps I should name this the Transmogrified Leftover Pizza?
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Spinach Sausage Alfredo Tortellini (Quick Take)
As much as I love fresh spinach in an apple spinach green smoothie, there are times when I need to share the spinach goodness with the rest of my family. They think I'm weird for loving green smoothies.
This was a quick way to incorporate a bag of fresh spinach from the farm share into a hearty, filling meal on a busy night.
This was a quick way to incorporate a bag of fresh spinach from the farm share into a hearty, filling meal on a busy night.
Labels:
community supported agriculture,
CSA,
CSA Recipes,
Dayton,
fall,
mushrooms,
Ohio Food Blog,
quick take,
spinach,
winter
Monday, January 21, 2013
Chocolate Cherry Cider Muffins (Monday Muffins)
I mentioned in my very first muffin post that I love to make muffins and my kids love to eat muffins. I make a lot of muffins out of the ingredients that I have in my kitchen, especially from my CSA farm share. Since I've been so eager to share other recipes, however, I've got quite a backlog of muffin recipes to share.
So to work on this mass of muffin-ness, I'm starting an occasional (read, not weekly like Friday Night Pizza Night) series of Monday Muffin recipes. I've got sweet muffin recipes, savory muffin recipes, and strange but good muffin recipes (Beet and Horseradish, anyone?). I can pretty well say that they will involve less sugar and fat, and more whole grains than your standard bakery muffins. And they will taste terrific.
Let's get started with a tasty winter treat!
These muffins sound like they are decadent, but really they're not that out there. They are a morph of my Apple Cider Oatmeal Forgot-the-Sugar Muffins, so they can't be too unhealthy for ya, but with the chocolate and cherry additions they are a step above.
Note: I let the cherry-cider-oat mixture hang out on my counter for about 4 hours until the cherries were pretty hydrated and the oats were fully . . . soaked. I recommend at least 1 hour and up to overnight. These muffins are easy to throw together and forget about for a while, perfect for any busy time.
Labels:
apples,
community supported agriculture,
CSA,
CSA Recipes,
Dayton,
fall,
muffins,
Ohio Food Blog,
winter
Friday, January 18, 2013
Rolling in the Pizza: Basic Farm Fresh Feasts-a-boli (Pizza Night!)
You knew sooner or later I'd roll the pizza over, right?
I realize that there are endless variations on how to top a pizza, and I've barely scratched the surface of crust variations, but my spouse wanted a Nic-o-boli from Nicola Pizza in Rehoboth, Delaware for his birthday.
And we now live in Ohio.
And yes, I could order a frozen partially baked dozen shipped if I had to, but heck, I make pizza every week, so I should try this, right?
I did.
Then I tried a few other variations on the theme for good measure. But those pizzas will be up later--for now, it's time to walk you through a basic rolled-over pizza, Farm Fresh Feasts style. You gotta crawl before you can walk, right? God bless physical therapists! They taught my son to walk--right after his baby sister was born. Oy! Bad timing!
I consulted the awesome The Best Pizza is Made at Home by Donna Rathnell German for specifics on baking time/temperature, and tried to recall the flavors of the basic Nic-o-boli.
I realize that there are endless variations on how to top a pizza, and I've barely scratched the surface of crust variations, but my spouse wanted a Nic-o-boli from Nicola Pizza in Rehoboth, Delaware for his birthday.
And we now live in Ohio.
And yes, I could order a frozen partially baked dozen shipped if I had to, but heck, I make pizza every week, so I should try this, right?
I did.
Then I tried a few other variations on the theme for good measure. But those pizzas will be up later--for now, it's time to walk you through a basic rolled-over pizza, Farm Fresh Feasts style. You gotta crawl before you can walk, right? God bless physical therapists! They taught my son to walk--right after his baby sister was born. Oy! Bad timing!
I consulted the awesome The Best Pizza is Made at Home by Donna Rathnell German for specifics on baking time/temperature, and tried to recall the flavors of the basic Nic-o-boli.
Labels:
community supported agriculture,
CSA,
CSA Recipes,
Dayton,
fall,
Ohio Food Blog,
pizza night,
spring,
winter
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Quadruple Roasted Vegetable Mock Florentine Mock Lasagna
I've been tweaking the blog a bit. If you look over that way ----> you'll see a clickable Recipe Index. Thanks to Jacqueline of Tinned Tomatoes for the code to make that work. Moving the recipe index off the top bar gave me room for some essays (recipe-free ramblings, really) I wrote way back in the fall :) when I started this blog in case you just feel like reading a bit.
Let me know (comments or on my FB page) what you think! On to the food.
This, probably more than anything else, illustrates how I feed my family from our CSA farm share all year 'round.
This dish contains 4 roasted veggies: garlic, roasted after I harvested it and frozen in early summer, eggplant and bell peppers, marinated in a vinaigrette and roasted and frozen when I was overwhelmed with veggies in late summer, and sweet potato, roasted for another use and left over in the fridge.
The mock florentine refers to the liberal use of Swiss chard in lieu of spinach. I used a bunch of fresh chard (stems in the sauce, leaves with the noodles) in addition to incorporating leftover Creamed Swiss Chard. (If you're keeping track, the Leftover Score is now at 2).
The mock lasagna refers to the fact that, although I have a well-stocked pantry, I didn't have any lasagna noodles. Yes, I could go out and buy some, I'd rather use up what I already got.
Hence the crazy convoluted name.
I walked in the door after an afternoon wheelchair basketball exhibition game with the idea that I wanted "something good" for dinner but having no clue what that would be. Seventy-five minutes later I was putting this dish in the oven. It's not a 'quick take', but to go from cluelessly scratching my head in the middle of the kitchen to completed, ready-to-bake Quadruple Roasted Mock Palooza impresses me. Then again, I'm easily impressed.
Having the roasted veggies and the prepared pesto put up, and a freezer full of potential pizza toppings, means that making this truly does illustrate my goal of feeding my family from our farm share--all year long.
Let me know (comments or on my FB page) what you think! On to the food.
This, probably more than anything else, illustrates how I feed my family from our CSA farm share all year 'round.
This dish contains 4 roasted veggies: garlic, roasted after I harvested it and frozen in early summer, eggplant and bell peppers, marinated in a vinaigrette and roasted and frozen when I was overwhelmed with veggies in late summer, and sweet potato, roasted for another use and left over in the fridge.
The mock florentine refers to the liberal use of Swiss chard in lieu of spinach. I used a bunch of fresh chard (stems in the sauce, leaves with the noodles) in addition to incorporating leftover Creamed Swiss Chard. (If you're keeping track, the Leftover Score is now at 2).
The mock lasagna refers to the fact that, although I have a well-stocked pantry, I didn't have any lasagna noodles. Yes, I could go out and buy some, I'd rather use up what I already got.
Hence the crazy convoluted name.
I walked in the door after an afternoon wheelchair basketball exhibition game with the idea that I wanted "something good" for dinner but having no clue what that would be. Seventy-five minutes later I was putting this dish in the oven. It's not a 'quick take', but to go from cluelessly scratching my head in the middle of the kitchen to completed, ready-to-bake Quadruple Roasted Mock Palooza impresses me. Then again, I'm easily impressed.
Having the roasted veggies and the prepared pesto put up, and a freezer full of potential pizza toppings, means that making this truly does illustrate my goal of feeding my family from our farm share--all year long.
Monday, January 14, 2013
Creamed Swiss Chard with Back Bacon--A Lovely Leftover to Have
I will not tell you how, because he was our first, we were unbuckling the giant rear-facing carseat and lugging that giant monstrosity into the fancy steak place. (No, not the kind that snaps into/out from a base with a handle so that you can sling the sleeping baby, still buckled, over your arm like a basket. The other kind of rear-facing car seat that can eventually be turned around and used as a front-facing car seat. We were dumb. First kid.) Let's just say that I felt exceedingly out of my element. And the food was delicious and the company was convivial.
I had creamed spinach as my side because, even though I was ravenous all the time, I couldn't see paying that much money for a baked potato. Baked potatoes I can do at home. But creamed spinach . . . that was something I hadn't made before. I always like to order things I don't try at home.
I love creamed spinach. My mom used to make a cheater version with a box of frozen spinach and a can of cream of mushroom soup that was da bomb. If creamed spinach could be da bomb to a kid. Well, the taste memory of it is da bomb to me--it wasn't too rich like most creamed spinach I eat these days.
It surprises me that, as much as I grow Swiss chard and get Swiss chard from my farm share, therefore I've got piles of Swiss chard waiting to be used at any given time, I never thought about making creamed Swiss chard.
But for some reason--um, I'm blogging about how I feed the family from the farm share, that's the reason ;) --I decided to try my hand at creamed Swiss chard. I got inspired by this recipe but veered off course a tiny bit to use what I had on hand. As usual.
The recipe is pretty easy to make-I worked it so that I cooked everything in one saucepan, which kept the dishes down. We ate it alongside a flank steak and rice because I remembered that fancy steak dinner. We don't normally eat steak. The interesting thing to me was what I did with the leftovers. I'll blog about that in another post, but let me just say 'mock lasagna' and leave it at that. Well, I'll tease you at the end.
Friday, January 11, 2013
Kohlrabi Greens, Manchego, Potato and Bacon Pizza with Red Onion and Rosemary (Pizza Night!)
Today's pizza happened because I baked bacon. It's my favorite meat, and I tend to not to cook it often because I cannot help myself around it. Know your triggers.
I always bake bacon--it works best for me. If I cook it in the skillet, I have too much spatter to clean up. But baking my bacon means I can easily freeze the cooked strips, drain the baking pan into my Bacon Grease Storage Device, and be on my way to making delicious pork-flavored goodness. Or something like that.
It wasn't enough for me to use two vegetables from the farm share (roasted garlic and new potatoes) like I'd planned for this pizza. When I saw the pretty greens on this week's kohlrabi (I knew I needed the kohlrabi themselves for sushi) I figured they'd add a nice pop of color to the pizza. I didn't figure on the unintended Kale Chip Side Effect. After I sliced this pizza, I couldn't help but grab the little tufts of greens that were stuck to the slicer--they tasted just like kale chips! My daughter did not complain about the relative dearth of green on her slices, so I think it worked out well for both of us.
This pizza uses Manchego cheese, a sheep's milk cheese from the (Man of La) Mancha region of Spain. I got mine at Costco. Why? The French Green Lentil Effect. I'm all about the Effects today. I was looking for gruyere, but found Manchego instead. Rachael Ray mentions Manchego now and again, so I should buy it, right? Apparently she thinks Manchego cheese plays nicely with potatoes. And now I do, too! I have a lot of Manchego now, shredded and stashed in my freezer for future use.
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Mindless Sweet Potato Hash (introducing the Strategic Winter Squash Reserve)
It's been several weeks since my last CSA delivery. The spinach has been eaten mostly in pizzas, the cabbage went into breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, and the carrots and celery jumped into both hummus and soup (not at the same time, they divided into teams and the cool kids went to the hummus and the rest went for the soup). The eggs are so long gone that I've had to buy eggs several times!
However, I still have some unprocessed CSA produce to cook with. On CSA days, once I get home from pick up, I perform "vegetable triage". What vegetables are most perishable? They go in the fridge, right in front, so I can cook with them first. What else is perishable? In the crisper for a few days. Something that I know I won't cook in the next week (like the week I got turnips with greens, kale, mustard greens, and cabbage? We eat greens, but come on!) gets put up in the freezer for later cooking. [I chopped the turnip greens, the kale, and the mustard greens together, then blanched them, spun them dry, and packed them into quart size freezer bags.] That leaves the longer-storing produce.
All Fall, unless I was roasting it for this or that, I have been piling up the pumpkins, balancing the butternuts, stacking the sweet potatoes, and arranging the acorns in the Strategic Winter Squash Reserve. It's in a cold corner of my breakfast nook (55 degrees Fahrenheit on a sunny January afternoon!) and though it's chilly to sit here and write about it, it's a pretty good spot for semi-long term storage. Cool, definitely yes. Dark, not so much, but there's no sunbeams slanting in either.
Once I've used all the more perishable produce from my farm share, I turn to the Strategic Winter Squash Reserve for inspiration. Another source of inspiration is from the leftovers I am blessed with. During the holidays we had a nice time with the relatives, and I came home with leftover pork steak. This is a new cut of meat to me, and since we rarely eat a steak, quite a treat to have some leftover delicious cooked pork steak. I literally lay awake planning a pizza using the pork (stay tuned!) but I had a lot to work with, so I decided to try my hand at making hash.
I consulted my Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook for advice, and loosely adapted their Corned Beef Hash to what you see here. The best part was when I read the oven baking directions. How simple is that? A bit of cooking on the stove, then chuck the whole mess in the oven (ok, BHG said to transfer to a casserole, but I skipped that bit by starting with an oven safe cast iron skillet).
This tasted great, used up both leftover cooked meat as well as some items from the Strategic Winter Squash Reserve, and was mindless to make. If you've got leftovers (of the meat or winter squash variety) consider this dish.
Do you perform vegetable triage?
Do you like getting leftovers from relatives?
However, I still have some unprocessed CSA produce to cook with. On CSA days, once I get home from pick up, I perform "vegetable triage". What vegetables are most perishable? They go in the fridge, right in front, so I can cook with them first. What else is perishable? In the crisper for a few days. Something that I know I won't cook in the next week (like the week I got turnips with greens, kale, mustard greens, and cabbage? We eat greens, but come on!) gets put up in the freezer for later cooking. [I chopped the turnip greens, the kale, and the mustard greens together, then blanched them, spun them dry, and packed them into quart size freezer bags.] That leaves the longer-storing produce.
Ready to go in the oven! |
All Fall, unless I was roasting it for this or that, I have been piling up the pumpkins, balancing the butternuts, stacking the sweet potatoes, and arranging the acorns in the Strategic Winter Squash Reserve. It's in a cold corner of my breakfast nook (55 degrees Fahrenheit on a sunny January afternoon!) and though it's chilly to sit here and write about it, it's a pretty good spot for semi-long term storage. Cool, definitely yes. Dark, not so much, but there's no sunbeams slanting in either.
Once I've used all the more perishable produce from my farm share, I turn to the Strategic Winter Squash Reserve for inspiration. Another source of inspiration is from the leftovers I am blessed with. During the holidays we had a nice time with the relatives, and I came home with leftover pork steak. This is a new cut of meat to me, and since we rarely eat a steak, quite a treat to have some leftover delicious cooked pork steak. I literally lay awake planning a pizza using the pork (stay tuned!) but I had a lot to work with, so I decided to try my hand at making hash.
I consulted my Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook for advice, and loosely adapted their Corned Beef Hash to what you see here. The best part was when I read the oven baking directions. How simple is that? A bit of cooking on the stove, then chuck the whole mess in the oven (ok, BHG said to transfer to a casserole, but I skipped that bit by starting with an oven safe cast iron skillet).
This tasted great, used up both leftover cooked meat as well as some items from the Strategic Winter Squash Reserve, and was mindless to make. If you've got leftovers (of the meat or winter squash variety) consider this dish.
Do you perform vegetable triage?
Do you like getting leftovers from relatives?
Monday, January 7, 2013
Butternut Squash Waffles
Putting up packages of fruits and vegetables when they are ripe from the farm share means that I can pull them out in the middle of winter and feed my family from the farm share all year 'round.
Like the other morning.
I had buttermilk and was in a waffle mood.
A long time ago, while watching the Food Network, I'd written down Alton Brown's waffle recipe. I love his Wet Team and Dry Team talk. When I got to the "just walk away--walk away" part of the recipe (let the batter rest) I decided to take him literally.
We took the dog for a walk!
Like the other morning.
I had buttermilk and was in a waffle mood.
A long time ago, while watching the Food Network, I'd written down Alton Brown's waffle recipe. I love his Wet Team and Dry Team talk. When I got to the "just walk away--walk away" part of the recipe (let the batter rest) I decided to take him literally.
We took the dog for a walk!
Friday, January 4, 2013
Not-So-Simple Cheese Pizza (Fresh Tomato Pesto Sauce on Spinach Crust) Pizza Night!
"It's very greeeeeeeeeen."
So says my daughter when she spied this pizza coming out of the oven. If the people you feed don't like green in general, try this pizza. It's the first way I got my kids to eat spinach, and remains a tasty option when I get spinach in the farm share. Especially when it's cold and my body craves warm things, not cold green smoothies. Seasonal eating at its best.
This pizza uses the spinach crust from my Deployment Pizza, adds a (put up, from my freezer) fresh tomato pesto from Heather at In Her Chucks, and tops it off with a creamy Philly-Italian shred blend. Tonight's tomato pesto sauce uses red farm share tomatoes, arugula pesto, and cashews. It's delicious--as are all the permutations of fresh tomatoes, green herbs, and salted nuts that I've tried so far. I cannot wait until summer when each week I plan to whip up a new fresh tomato pesto for the pizza. For now, however, I'm delighted I discovered Heather's recipe in time to put up several batches of sauce for pizza.
So says my daughter when she spied this pizza coming out of the oven. If the people you feed don't like green in general, try this pizza. It's the first way I got my kids to eat spinach, and remains a tasty option when I get spinach in the farm share. Especially when it's cold and my body craves warm things, not cold green smoothies. Seasonal eating at its best.
This pizza uses the spinach crust from my Deployment Pizza, adds a (put up, from my freezer) fresh tomato pesto from Heather at In Her Chucks, and tops it off with a creamy Philly-Italian shred blend. Tonight's tomato pesto sauce uses red farm share tomatoes, arugula pesto, and cashews. It's delicious--as are all the permutations of fresh tomatoes, green herbs, and salted nuts that I've tried so far. I cannot wait until summer when each week I plan to whip up a new fresh tomato pesto for the pizza. For now, however, I'm delighted I discovered Heather's recipe in time to put up several batches of sauce for pizza.
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