Quickies: i.e., Post and Meals

Monday night we had the panini with dill potato salad, just as planned. Last night (Tuesday, just in case you lost track) I had a banana and two rice cakes with SunButter (a great peanut butter alternative for those who have family members with peanut allergies, as I do). Then, I promptly fell asleep.

Dill Potato Salad
Serves 6

5 potatoes
1/2 white onion
1 carrot
Kosher salt (to taste)
Freshly ground pepper (to taste)
1/4 cup dill (not tightly packed)
Splash Of white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon course grain dijon mustard
1/4 cup low-fat mayonnaise

Directions
1. Peel and cube potatoes, dice onion, mince dill and grate carrots.
2. Cook potatoes until soft, drain and cool.
3. Combine all ingredients and mix.

NOTE: Clearly I haven't been posting nutritional information. Perhaps one day when I have a bit more time. And after typing up this recipe, I realized that those slackers at Hellmann's still have not answered my follow-up question regarding their reduced fat/low fat mayo.

Menu a la Week: 7/26/08 -7/31/08

Here's the menu for the week. There's a few blanks to be filled in, but I'll do that by Monday. There's also no "real" dinner for tonight. We had take-out (Wendy's) because we were busy with chores and I was rushing to get a jewelry project done too. I hope to post the dill potato salad recipe by tomorrow (hint, hint "Bob").

While working on the jewelry project in my basement, I was listening to NPR (WNYC). I heard a story on Marketplace Money about a California family that has suddenly found itself in dire straits (house foreclosing, no income, savings gone, going to the food pantry). The husband and wife were both in the real estate lending industry when the market there went south. What struck me as odd is that making soups and freezing leftovers were such a new way of cooking for the wife (her mom is instructing her on how to cook frugally). I guess, for me, I've always frozen some things, perhaps not as compulsively as now, and soups and stews just seem like a good idea for winter cooking (not just for when you're poor). She also mentioned canned vegetables. Honestly, I'm not a fan of most canned veg, but tomatoes and beans (kidney, etc.) and sometimes even corn often hold up pretty well. I guess I see it as sad that exercising commonsense is seen as something to only do when you've fallen on hard times; otherwise, when money's flush, waste away!

Menu 7/26/08 - 7/31/08
Saturday July 26, 2008
Grilled chicken and dill potato salad and salad with Caesar dressing

Sunday July 27, 2008
Wendy's :-)

Monday July 28, 2008
Chicken panini and potato salad

Tuesday July 29, 2008
Meatloaf and Bob's summer squash

Wednesday July 30, 2008
Cole slaw and hot dogs

Thursday July 31, 2008
Beets and ?

Weekend Update

Dinner on Friday? Pizza. I had a few slices saved up (yes, in the freezer). Generally, we order a whole pie, eat two slices each and wrap up the remaining half in foil (each of the four slices individually) and then bag it and freeze it for later. We used the rest of the red leaf head and cut up some of the onions included in this week's share. I dressed the salad with the Caesar dressing I'd made earlier in the week.

On Saturday: more chicken emerged from the freezer (yes, there was that much in there!). Since I defrosted enough for two meals, the rest will be used on Monday. Bob made a dill potato salad with carrots (he didn't use the recipe I linked to). Because the lettuce we got from the CSA this week was rotted, we bought a head of red leaf at a farmer's market type store along with some carrots and fruits (blackberries and peaches). Along with the potato salads and chicken we had a garden salad and used up the remaining Caesar dressing.

I hate to say it, but a dozen or so peaches, a 1/2 pint of blackberries, a nice head of redleaf and a very large bunch of locally grown carrots was less than $10. Our CSA share for 22 weeks works out to more than $20 per week. Again, we're seriously evaluating the whole CSA to see if it's worth it in all respects (financially and gastronomically).

Speaking of the CSA share and if it's worth it or not. For this week's menu, there's not a lot to incorporate from our vegetable share. I will be using that cabbage (and our new carrots) for slaw. That leaves three beets, some Swiss chard, and you guessed it: squash. I'll post the menu separately.

My friend C from KCMO (wow, all these people with secret identities!), has promised to supply me with an absolutely delicious salad recipe that will forever change my views on kale. Apparently, the first few bites are unimpressive but by the fifth bite, the salad takes on magical qualities and you're hooked forever. I can't wait to get the recipe and try it. There's got to be some kale in my future.

Deliveries and Disasters

Tuesday night, along with some grilled chicken that I had socked away in the freezer, we had our first bites of Swiss chard. "Bob" made it using the crystallized ginger recipe and it was very tasty. Unfortunately, the crystallized ginger and lemon flavors were so pronounced, I still have no idea what Swiss chard really tastes like. Good thing that some more chard was included in today's shipment from the CSA.

Which brings me to today's topic. "Bob" was not happy at all with our CSA today. The share included: a bunch of moldy-topped onions, a blackened garlic bulb, a rotting head of lettuce, a decent head of savoy cabbage, a wilty bunch of basil, three rather small red beets, one very small flat squash, and a single average-size summer squash. The only good thing about this week's share was that it was delivered to our doorstep. "Bob" is reconsidering his desire to sign up again for next year. I guess we'll just have to see how the whole year goes before we make a firm decision. But this locavore eating has it's ups and downs.

"Bob" has some theories regarding our sad looking shares: we're either getting the worst of the batch because the farmer is selling better produce at farmer's markets (while our food is already paid for no matter what it looks like) OR we're getting the leftovers from farmer's markets. Either option is not all that appealing.

Of course, Bob is not alone in his conspiracy theory. Another disgruntled CSA-er (and friend of mine) has decided to blog about her CSA frustrations. For more laughs than you thought possible from the very, very serious topic of saving the planet through eating locally and organically, you MUST visit Complaining Jane's new I Hate My CSA blog (as with "Bob" her real identity will remain a closely held secret).

Last night I had dinner with some friends and "Bob" had the Italian turkey sausage dinner (made with chicken sausage) with pasta. When I got home, we had no electricity thanks to a large storm in our area. For a few hours I worried that all my frozen soups, meats, pesto, pot pies, and bread crumbs were going to suffer a horrible meltdown. No worries. Power was restored at about 2:30 a.m. and everything was still intact this morning (I didn't dare open the freezer last night; I didn't want to let any cold air escape).

I had a huge lunch of mussels and popcorn shrimp and fried calamari, so there's no dinner planned. The rest of this week's menu will have to be made tomorrow. I have off tomorrow so I still plan on making a dill potato salad and maybe even some cole slaw with that new cabbage head.

Please Know Your Peas

All this week I'm thinking we have sugar snap peas awaiting in the fridge. Nope. They were regular English peas. That's okay, "Bob" prefers the regular peas.

Tonight, he made peas and carrots (even yummier than the ones he made the last time), while I made grilled chicken caesar salad with the red leaf lettuce and some chicken we had in the freezer. The basic recipe is here. (I must confess that I used romano cheese instead of parmesean. Still good).

Peas and Carrots
Serves 2

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped (medium)
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1.5 carrots sliced
1/2 pound English pea pods (yields 1/3 cup shelled peas)
1/4 cup water
Kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper

Directions
1. Saute garlic and onions in butter and olive oil over medium-high heat.
2. Add carrots and cook for 8 to 10 minutes.
3. Add peas and a 1/4 cup of water and cook for 3 to 5 minutes. Carrots should be firm but not squishy.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Almost forgot to mention: we made another composter yesterday. The other can can do its work uninterrupted now.

Poultry Sausage and a Long-Awaited Recipe

Last night we didn't have the scheduled sugar snap peas with ginger. Instead, we finished up the potato and squash torte. Though delicious, I will definitely cook the torte longer and lower at first and then jack up the heat at the end when the aluminum foil comes off. I still have that extra one in the freezer to test this out.

Tonight we had the Italian Turkey Sausage Dinner, except for a "few minor" changes: we used chicken sausage instead of turkey sausage, we also omitted the peppers, and "Bob" also deglazed the pan with white wine, whole tomatoes (from a can) instead of crushed, and Romano cheese instead of Parmesean. Along with the smashed potatoes, we also served a red-leaf lettuce salad with mustard vinaigrette, and the remainder of the broccoli and cauliflower with lemon-dill-butter sauce.

Okay, it's taken awhile but here's Bob's summer squash recipe that was served July 16.

Bob's Summer Squash

Serves 4

2 lbs squash, sliced
1 red bell pepper, seeds removed, sliced
2 Italian tomaotes, skinned and chopped
1/2 yellow onion, peeled and sliced
1 clove of garlic, chopped
Extra virgin olive oil
Freshly grated parmesean cheese
Basil, chopped fresh
Salt and pepper

Directions
1. Put onion, garlic, squash, and bell pepper into a large saucepan with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Cook on high heat for several minutes to slightly soften the vegetables (do NOT overcook).
2. Once vegetables have softened, add tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes.
3. Add fresh basil.
4. Remove from heat, add the cheese, and cover the pan for 2 minutes to melt the cheese.
5. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Menu a la Week: 7/19/08 - 7/24/08

Yeah, yeah, I was supposed to have this ready on the new, menu-posting night, Thursday. But, it looks like I'm still on the old schedule. Just like vegetables, you can't force some things (namely me) to be ready before their time.

I'm looking up recipes for Swiss chard, and I've discovered something. Way too many vegetable recipes either call for sauteeing in olive oil and adding crushed red pepper flakes OR roasting/blanching/baking/sautee-ing and topping with parmesean cheese. Not that I have anything against cheese, but finding (or creating) truly novel and delicious recipes for veggies is quite a task. That's why, this week, some of our favorite new recipes will be featured again. Nothing like the tried and true.

This week we'll try and use up some of the chicken we've stowed in the freezer (either grilled or roasted) as well as that can of tomatoes we opened up for the summer squash and red pepper recipe from last week. For lunch today we'll have the broccoli and cauliflower. Lunch tomorrow will have to be the squash torte (not that there's anything wrong with that). We also have to use up the rest of the potatoes (they're making eyes at me) and all that beautiful dill from the CSA (it was an amazingly beautiful bunch). Perhaps a small dill potato salad is in order!

Menu 7/19/08 - 7/24/08
Saturday July 19, 2008
Sugar snap peas with ginger and previously grilled chicken

Sunday July 20, 2008
Italian turkey sausage dinner with pasta or potatoes and a red-leaf lettuce salad with broccoli and yellow squash

Monday July 21, 2008
Swiss chard, either with tomatoes or candied ginger (thanks Mariquita Farm) and chicken

Tuesday July 22, 2008
Chicken panini and dill potato salad

Wednesday July 23, 2008
Italian turkey sausage dinner and pasta with salad

Thursday July 24, 2008
Bob's summer squash recipe (or some other squash recipe) and whatever's left over from the week

CSA: It's Okay

Yesterday "Bob" picked up the vegetables from the CSA and also cleaned out the crisper drawers. It's freed up a lot of space in our refrigerator. It'll be interesting to see if the cripser actually does what it's supposed to do.

For this week we have: 1 bunch broccoli, 1 bunch red-leaf lettuce, 1 bunch dill, 1 bunch chard, 1 bunch white turnips, 1 yellow squash, 1 green squash, 2 yellow onions, 1 bag sugar snap peas.

Bob also discovered that the palaak paneer is now officially saag. Those weren't spinach leaves I used, it was a bunch of chard. It just goes to show: one green leaf with a red stem doesn't look much different from another.

"Bob" and I evaluated our CSA experience so far and the consensus is this: It has more pluses than minuses. Joining a CSA has certainly forced us to eat a lot more vegetables. We've also experienced new foods. We eat at home everynight, and we probably shop at the supermarket a lot less. And we were also compelled to set up a composter. So far, we'll likely join the CSA again next year. We were considering just going to a farmers market, but good habits can take a long time to take root. We don't want to fall back on bad habits next year. Two years of eating local and in season might just be enough to make eating more vegetables in greater variety a permanent habit.

CSA Delivery

For lunch I had the squash torte. It held up well in the microwave. It makes for a good, quick lunch.

For dinner, we had broccoli and cauliflower with lemon-dill butter sauce plus a fairly large salad to use up the leftover sliced squash and the head of Boston/butter lettuce. The lettuce almost didn't make it. I don't think it had even another day in it. Regardless, I made my mustard vinaigrette and used up all the remaining salad fixin's (carrots, celery, cucumber) we had laying around in the fridge.

The broccoli and cauliflower dish was easy to make. Just trim the stems from the broccoli and cauliflower (reserve those for the composter) and then blanch the florets for a few minutes (until just cooked and slightly tender). For the butter sauce follow the recipe below.

Lemon-Dill Butter Sauce
Serves 4 to 6

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon freshly chopped dill
Juice from 1/2 a lemon (or more)
Kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper

Directions
1. In a small bowl melt the butter in a microwave until just melted (it should look a bit thick and creamy).
2. Add the lemon juice, dill, salt, and pepper.
3. Toss over broccoli and cauliflower

Here's the mustard vinaigrette. I think I forgot to add garlic (sometimes I throw it in). I usually go a bit light on the oil as I'd rather it less "fatty."

Mustard Vinaigrette

2 tablespoons dijon mustard
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
4 tablespoons (or more) extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper

Directions
1. Add mustard, vinegar, and olive oil to a jar with tight-fitting lid. Shake vigorously until thorough mixed.
2. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Squash Nosh

For lunch today, "Bob" and I both had the summer squash leftovers from last night with brown rice. It was really, really good ... really. "Bob" made it perfectly, the red pepper strips were still crisp and the squash was tender, but not mushy. Just perfect.

Speaking of no-squish squash, I just finished preparing the herbed summer squash and potato torte. It's in the oven as I write.

....and now it's done. It's good. I could've baked it longer to brown it more, but the small slice I had was good. Next time I'll use less squash since I sliced up too much. The food processor was a smart move for slicing the potatoes and the squash. I left the potatoes au naturel (I didn't bother to peel them).

Vegetarian Dinner

This is what happens when you join a CSA and you get inundated with veggies: You suddenly become a vegetarian. Tonight for dinner was palaak paneer and a summer squash recipe. I must say, we were pleasantly surprised by the squash. "Bob" adapted the recipe and it turned out great. We finally used up the red pepper that was looking rather sad in the crisper (I moved it there four days ago as a last ditch effort to prolong its usability). We also used some canned tomatoes (peeled Italian) instead of fresh, and substituted the cheese they recommended with the Parmesean we had on hand. The results were outstanding. I didn't expect to like squash this much. Luckily I enjoyed it so much since I'm having it for lunch tomorrow.

We also had the palaak paneer with brown rice (to avoid "Bob's" disappointment as discussed here). It was good but not as good as that first batch. I might be because I used baby spinach the first time around. This bunch tasted more strongly of spinach and was less sweet. It was still good, but it wasn't great.

Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!

Last night we had Wendy's burgers and fries and soda. It was one of those Mondays.

Tonight I came home late, so instead of making the spinach with red onion, I made palaak paneer again. The spinach didn't look like it'd last another day. The vegetables that I'd set on the first shelf of the fridge all seemed to take a turn for the worse. Bob had to eat through most of the radishes because they were going soft and I noticed that we really have to get through the yellow squash tomorrow, or else. I'm not sure if they're suffering because the area on that top shelf is too open or if it's becase they were too close to a bowl full of apples (perhaps they emit some kind of vapor, like bananas do).

I packed up the palaak paneer and set it aside for dinner tomorrow night. We may have to make the summer squash recipe and serve that tomorrow as well. Plus, I hope to have time to make the squash and potato torte tomorrow (there should be enough for 2 of them). We may even have to freeze both tortes and save them for some future dinner. We'll see.

We Go Together Like Peas and Carrots

This evening, we shelled the English peas together and "Bob" made the herbed peas and carrots. We also finished up the rest of the romaine head (it was getting quite droopy) and had some turkey meatloaf (delicious as always).

The recipe (from Chow.com) for the peas and carrots was good. Next time we'll add ginger as "Bob" suggested. The recipe (we halved the amounts that it called for) made enough for four servings, so we'll have some for lunch tomorrow along with the kohlrabi slaw.

The spinach is looking like it won't last much longer, so that'll have to be made tomorrow. Despite all the produce we started with, we're staring to make a dent in a lot of it (giving my mom a head of romaine and 2 green squash didn't hurt).

We're going to have to start a new composter. The materials in the one we made a few weeks ago appear to be decomposing, but we'll never have any compost if we continue to add new waste. Speaking of waste, we're doing very well with our garbage output. We're down to less than a bag per week. Most of what we use can be recycled or composted. We'll have to start paying attention to the types of plastic containers we buy though. I want to make sure that we only purchase the most recyclable types.

Menu a la Week 7/12/08 - 7/17/08

In an effort to get through the CSA vegetables faster—since the amount we're receiving is, errr, growing—I've decided to create the week's menu on Thursday night so that we begin to use the "new" vegetables as soon as possible (Friday). Consequently, this week's menu (waaaayyy below) ends on Thursday. Next week's menu will begin on Friday. The sooner we start cooking the new vegetables, the less the chance there is that they'll wilt and/or rot.

Today, I took care of all the basil I had culled from the pot. I cut some on Thursday because the potted basil was getting a bit tall and bushy and I don't want the plant to turn "woody." I also had some leaves preserved in Kosher salt in the freezer from a couple of weeks ago (I discussed the source of my inspiration, Kalyn's Kitchen, in an earlier post here, but I also found a more comprehensive basil preservation discussion at http://www.apinchof.com/preservebasil1106.htm).

The total amount was perfect for my usual pesto recipe. I didn't have to add any salt because of the salt-preserved basil (let that be a lesson to you: Don't use this method for preserving basil unless you need the basil in a recipe that also calls for salt).

Basil Pesto
Serves 8+

1 1/2 cups of packed basil
1/4 cup grated Parmesean cheese
3 cloves of finely chopped garlic
1/4 to 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions
1. In a food processor, process basil and garlic until coarsely pureed.
2. Add grated Parmesean cheese and puree further.
3. Add olive oil to top of food processor (if it has a hole in the top) so that it streams into the bowl. Process so that it becomes a thick mixture.
4. Process in salt and pepper to taste.
5. Use on pasta or freeze.

I used these directions to freeze it in an ice cube tray for future use. Important tip learned: After filling the cubes with pesto, cover the ice cube tray with plastic wrap (pressing down on the tops of the pesto-filled cubes) so that no oxidation occurs (preserving the green color of the basil). After they froze for about 5 hours, I popped them out of the tray (actually, "Bob" did), wrapped them in plastic wrap, then put them all in a large freezer bag.

After making the pesto, I made the kohlrabi slaw, using the recipe for Kohlrabi with Apple Salad and Creamy Mustard Dressing. We had the "slaw" for lunch and it was light and delicious, although the 1/2 cup of heavy cream makes me wish I had used plain yogurt or some other low-fat alternative. I thought there weren't many recipes for kohlrabi, but after I committed to the slaw recipe, I found this page on Chow.com.

For dinner, aside from 2 bottles of wine, we had grilled chicken and sugar snap peas (from last week's CSA delivery).

Sugar Snap Peas with Ginger
Serves 4

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 shallots, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon finely chopped peeled fresh ginger
1 garlic clove, minced
3/4 lb sugar snap peas, cleaned and "stings" removed
1/2 cup water
Soy sauce
Freshly ground black pepper

Instructions
1. Heat oil in a large pan over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking
2. Saute shallots, ginger, and garlic for 1 minute.
3. Add peas and stir for about 2 minutes.
4. Add water and simmer, stirring occasionally for about 2 minutes. The peas will still be crisp.
5. Season with soy sauce and pepper.

Menu 7/12/08 - 7/17/08
Saturday July 12, 2008
Grilled chicken, sugar snap peas with ginger, and kale with cannelloni bean leftovers

Sunday July 13, 2008
Turkey meatloaf (?), herbed peas and carrots, and salad with radishes

Monday July 14, 2008
Summer squash and grilled chicken

Tuesday July 15, 2008
Squash and potato torte and spinach with red onions

Wednesday July 16, 2008
Grilled chicken, broccoli and cauliflower with lemon dill herb butter sauce, and salad and radishes

Thursday July 17, 2008
Squash and potato torte and salad with radishes

Leftovers and a CSA Bumper Crop

Tuesday night I had a business dinner, so "Bob" had the stir-fried beef leftovers. Last night we used a CSA recipe to eat the rest of what we thought was kale or something related to kale. The original recipe called for escarole. I think any leafy green that you usually don't like to eat would be a great substitute.

Kale with Cannelloni Beans
Serves 4

1 tablespoon olive oil
3 garlic scapes, or 1 garlic clove, minced
1 head of kale, stems removed and leaves torn into pieces
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 15-ounce can cannelloni beans, rinsed and drained
Dash of red pepper flakes
1/3 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup grated Romano cheese

Directions
1. Heat oil over medium heat in medium frying pan. Add garlic scapes, stir to coat, then cook for 1 minute, stirring occasionally until they just begin to brown.
2. Add kale and salt, cook and stir continuously until dark green and wilted (approximately 2 minutes).
3. Add cannelloni beans, broth, and red pepper flakes. Cook down until the liquid is almost completely evaporated.
4. Serve and sprinkle with freshly grated Romano cheese.

Nutrition Information per Serving
Calories: ; Carbohydrates: ; Protein: ; Fat: ; Cals./g:
*Points:

We had to eat as much of the lettuce that we could tonight—especially since we acquired two new heads from the CSA today (romaine and Boston). We had salad for dinner (humungous radishes came in the CSA delivery) along with cheese and crackers (yes, again), but only because Gail mentioned that combo at work. Now we are behind with the peas: There's a whole bag of sugar snap peas just waiting to be cooked, and we just got a bunch of the English peas today. So peas must be on the menu tomorrow night. No matter what. The squash will just have to wait. Luckily, the kohlrabi looks like it's holding its own in the fridge.

The rest of the CSA delivery included: one small cauliflower head, one broccoli, a bunch of flat-leaf parsley, and four large green squash. There's no more room in the refrigerator.

Cherry Soup and Green Salad

Right on schedule: sour cherry soup (aka meggyleves) and a beautiful green salad made with the CSA red leaf lettuce and some other supermarket vegetables. I also made the raspberry vinaigrette (about 1/3 cup of rasperry vinegar, 2/3 to 3/4 cup of oil, about 3 to 4 tablespoons, or more, of honey, and 1 teaspoon Kosher salt).

Other than that, lots of chocolate was enjoyed today. I can't help myself!

Beef: It's What Was for Dinner

We had the stir-fried beef recipe I found on Cooks.com. The mustard greens, if that's what they were, wilted down to nothing. We opted for chicken stock since we had that on hand and used garlic scapes (keeping them in a brown paper bag in the refrigerator really worked; we only have two left now) instead of garlic. It was a good recipe but not amazing. It could stand a few tweaks. The beef was cooked too long and the flavor was a bit flat, a little too "one note." I think a bit of pepper (perhaps flakes) would probably be a nice addition. A bit more sugar, or even brown sugar, would be worth a try too. I'm sure more mustard greens or something similar is in our future so we'll likely have another shot at this recipe.

Note: We'll be updating throughout the week the nutritional information for the recipes we've posted.

Have a Littledeer with Your Le Creuset

Grrrrr. A few months ago I was thrilled to find that wooden cooking tools from a maker (craftsman, actually) I adore had become readily available in the United States. They didn't offer everything, but a set of five particularly useful items (spreader, tongs, paddle, pot scoop, and serving scoop) was offered for $99.95. Now it looks like Williams-Sonoma is no longer selling any of the Littledeer utensils. I guess W-S would rather sell such useful things as mozzarella slicers, tomato slicers, and mango pitters.

I first discovered Littledeer Mapleware in an art shop (Boutique des métiers d'art du Québec) in Montreal in 2006 during a business trip. The sinuous and smoothly carved maple cooking utensils were too irresistible to pass up.

Exercising a bit of self control, I bought only three of them: a pan paddle, tines, and a sweet scoop. Apparently, wood is a better implement for savoring ice cream because it doesn’t conduct heat. I wouldn’t know. Ice cream never sits on any spoon of mine long enough to test this theory. These tools are a pleasure to use (they come in left-handed or right-handed designs) and my Le Creuset pans are certainly now in safe(r) hands with them. Plus, those tines are especially good for pulling stuck slices out of the toaster without electrocuting yourself.

Visit http://www.littledeer.ca/ to see their full product line. W-S didn't even give the line a fighting chance (I bought my mom a set of five for Mother's Day; just 2 months later and they're gone from the site).

Menu a la Week 7/5/08 - 7/11/08

We've deciphered most of the vegetables we got this week. Some were a little tougher to identify than others, especially, the kohlrabi. I really thought it was a turnip. It's not. It's a member of the cabbage family (just like our friend broccoli). I think we have a bunch of mustard greens too. I have no idea how to cook them, though I did find a ton of recipes for mustard greens with ham hocks. "Bob," regrettably, does not really like ham (specifically, smoked versions). I found just a single recipe for mustard greens with beef; we'll be making it tomorrow.

There will also be lots of salads this week. The two heads of lettuce (red leaf and Forellenschluss romaine) are absolutely gorgeous, and they're humongous. I've never seen lettuce this large at the supermarket.

Menu 7/5/08 - 7/11/08
Saturday July 5, 2008
Green salad with homemade vinaigrette

Sunday July 6, 2008
Stir-fried beef with mustard greens

Monday July 7, 2008
Meggyleves soup and salad with dried berries and raspberry vinaigrette

Tuesday July 8, 2008
Grilled chicken and sugar snap peas with ginger and garlic (scapes)

Wednesday July 9, 2008
"Kale" and canelloni beans

Thursday July 10, 2008
Grilled chicken and kohlrabi and apple salad with creamy mustard dressing

Friday July 11, 2008
Herbed summer squash and potato torte with parmesean

Note: Please visit the Restaurant Widow blog (I've also linked to it above). There's a lot of information there about kohlrabi plus an interesting recipe for kohlrabi pickles.

Meggyleves (Hungarian Sour Cherry Soup)

When I was in Budapest for work last year, I was only there for three days. Most of that was spent in the conference hotel, so I didn't have a chance to try Meggyleves, or traditional Hungarian sour cherry soup. I don't know how traditional the recipe I've used is, but it has red wine in it so, who cares? Last night it was warm, so the chilled soup was a treat.

Meggyleves
Serves 6

1.75 - 2 lbs sour cherries (washed and pitted)
1 cup water
1 cup sugar (it could've used a bit more)
2 cinnamon sticks
3 cups red wine (Cabarnet Sauvignon)
1 cup sour cream
1 cup evaporated whole milk (or light cream)

Directions
1. In a large pan, put the pitted cherries, water, sugar, cinnamon sticks, and wine. Bring to a boil then simmer about 30 minutes (or less). It's a good idea to taste for sweetness about 1/2 way through (add sugar if necessary).
2. Gradually stir in the evaporated milk into the sour cream. Then stir this mixture into the soup (which is off the heat source!).
3. Chill and serve.

Nutrition Information per Serving
Calories: ; Carbohydrates: ; Protein: ; Fat: ; Cals./g:
*Points:

Happy 4th of July!

Last night, after the play ("Kicking a Dead Horse" by Sam Shepard) we had to pick up the CSA vegetables. It was midnight by the time we made it home. This week's haul looks pretty good: there's some beans, a lot of different lettuces, turnips (I think) and something that looks an awful lot like kale (oh no, not again!).

A word on the play: it was just "okay. "My first impression was that it was very reminiscent of Beckett's "Happy Days" (which I also saw this year at BAM): the stage, the setting, the limited cast (really just one person; the single "other character" in both plays doesn't talk), the dialogue as monologue, and to some extent the subject matter (looking on the sum of one's life is a theme of both). After reading the Playbill it said that the main actor (Stephen Rea) had worked with Samuel Beckett and Sam Shepard before; the fact that Rea had worked with Beckett is something that impressed Sam Shepard. Despite that history, I find it hard to believe that Shepard wrote the play with Rea in mind. "Bob" and I both think that it could've been a much stronger play with a different lead actor...but there you go. End of theater review.

This morning I got up and started pitting the cherries from Iz's tree. Turns out that a bobby pin does indeed do a good job. After discarding a bunch of decomposing cherries, I wound up with nearly 2 lbs of recipe-ready fruit!

Sandwiches (Fish and Fowl) and Something Altogether Foul

Aside from a bowl of cereal, there's probably nothing easier to make than a sandwich. Tuesday night we made chicken panini (I have the Le Creuset grill pan and the matching panini press) with fontina cheese and dijon mustard on mulitgrain "French" bread (the supermarket didn't have our favorite panella bread from Calandra's in Newark; we'll have to complain to the store manager). I must admit, even with the subpar bread, the panini was awesome.

We used the grilled chicken we'd made days before. That chicken was quite dry (we used the Purdue thin sliced, not the juiciest way to grill), and after a few days in the fridge, it only got drier. But lo' and behold, during the panini cooking process, the chicken was somehow "reconstituted." I'm assuming the moisture from the mustard, cheese, and olive oil, managed to "steam" the chicken as it cooked (over medium-low heat!). Brilliant! We paired this yummy sandwich with "crispy kale." Bad call.

Crispy kale? More like sucky kale (which is why I'm not posting the site or the recipe). I got the recipe from a kid's cooking site, but the only way any sane child would eat kale prepared this way (dry and dehydryated) would be to drown out the flavor with plenty of salt. No matter how super-nutritious kale is, I don't think risking sodium-induced hypertension is the way to encourage kids to eat it.

Last night instead of the sour cherry soup I planned on making (no time to remove all those pits), we had delicious tuna sandwiches prepared by "Bob." Friday I'll make the soup.