Knead Nurture Know

Chinese New Year

2012-02-01T08:04:00.000-08:00

To honor Chinese New Year we had a small family celebration. The year of the Water Dragon - they said it will be a good year.

I pulled out a pre-made hot pot seasoning that we bought in Beijing last year. It called for 2 liters of water and the two seasoning packets. I'm not sure what was in them - but it smelled great (probably not very good for us though!)

I mixed up Mongolian Dipping Sauce out of the Joy of Cooking. And a quick sweet and sour sauce for the boys.

We had mushrooms, pea pods, napa cabbage, baby corn, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, green beans, shrimp and finely sliced chicken (I frozen the chicken breasts slightly and ran them through the cutting blade of the food processor.)

We moved the electric wok to the end of the kitchen table and I cooked at the table. The boys thought it was fascinating. Salad Chef (all of 2 years old) ate as things came out of the wok, but Sous Chef waited for his complete bowl of soup to be finished! I cooked the chicken first, fished it out and then cooked the shrimp. Then everyone got to make up their own plate of vegetables to simmer for a few minutes. Lastly we added a packaged of rice noodles for a few minutes to soften.

We all had a great time, and next time I think we'll just follow the recipe for the Mongolian Hot Pot in Joy of Cooking (you can google it - Joy of cooking - Irma von Starkloff Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, Ethan Becker, Maria Guarnaschelli - Google Books ) We'll use our own assortment of vegetables, since the more vegetables we can get into the family the better! I still have two pre-packaged Hot Pot meals from Beijing but I think they are on the spicier side.

Mongolian Dipping Sauce (slightly altered from the original)

Mix together:

1/2 cup rice vinegar
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup fermented black beans
1/4 cup toasted sesame oil
1 tbs minced ginger
1 tbs chili paste
2 cloves minced garlic

Finger Food Friday

2012-01-30T07:19:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago we declared Friday "Finger Food Friday". It was a huge hit with the children.

Empanadas - the Sous Chef and I used our Turnover Set to cut out store bought pie crust and fill it with leftover taco meat. We served it with a dip made of equal parts salsa and Greek yogurt.

Next on the menu was California sushi rolls - sushi rice rolled with carrot, pepper, avocado, cucumber and crab meat (well - the fake stuff).

Then I put out the plate of leftover stuffing. I don't think there were any leftovers but there was good conversation. A chance to share our Bummer and Blessing (what's the worst/best part of your day), what did we learn today, what are we doing this weekend?

The boys have requested Finger Food Friday again.

Random Food Pictures from the Last Two Months

2012-01-23T14:13:00.000-08:00

Family life, holidays, and just living have gotten in the way of blogging. But here are a few things we made over the last few months.


The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen: Healing Chicken Ginger Soup - this has become one of my go to Chicken Soup Recipes - we all love it

Gluten Free Chex Mix with GF pretzels, rice chex, corn chex, crispix, kix and peanuts

This year we made the relish with two little helpers! I just couldn't resist those chubby little fingers. We also got quite a few whole cranberries in our relish this year!
Knead Nurture Know: Nana's Cranberry Relish

This is what happens when you make 3 batches of bread with a 2 year old.

Our bread set to rise for sandwiches, pizza dough and more. Yes we apparently eat a lot of ice cream

Pizza - by the Sous Chef

One BIG Word

2012-01-13T08:59:00.000-08:00

Bloggers all over are posting their lists, their resolutions, their goals; their advice on cleaning, eating healthy… and the list goes on and on.

Ali Edwards has posted a New Year’s post for the last several years encouraging you to choose a word for the year; One Little Word 2012 | Ali Edwards. One Little Word to focus on, to inspire you. Several years ago my word was cultivate; at the time I was cultivating a baby, a garden, a home, and my relationships. That year I really wanted to focus on growth. In the middle of that year my father passed away, and I haven’t chosen a word since.

ELEPHANT

Yup, my word this year is ELEPHANT. A gentle reminder that the insurmountable tasks I have set for myself can only be done one step at a time. My word just might become the family motto (a la New Year’s Family Motto Board for 2012 | Make and Takes)

Goals for the year include:

Organizing - our play room and office and getting on top of a filing system for us that actually works for us
Getting Healthier – I want to develop the habit of exercise, I had it three years ago, and it’s gone now. We are also trying to eat healthier and have discovered a number of food issues that the family has (gluten, yeast, corn, dairy…). I’d love to have a good rotation of meals that we can all eat and enjoy.
Making the family run smoother – routines are key to this and though we have a few routines that work, I’m sure we can improve this. Our eldest thrives on routine and we need to work together to make routines that will work for him.
Pursue hobbies – I want to sew, I want to scrapbook and I want to learn to play guitar.....

There are all those social idioms; seeing pink elephants, a white elephant, elephants never forget, the elephant in the room…. And on it goes. But I’m focusing on eating the elephant. When taken all together our goals seem rather lofty but if we take them one day at a time, I’m sure we can make a dent in that portly pachyderm that weighs between 6 and 8 tons.

So when we are overwhelmed, the walls are closing in, behavior has gone off the charts, or we’re just a little bit behind in our chores, one of us needs to yell “elephant” and remind each other that one step forward is all we need to take.

I need to sit down and flesh out my goals a little more fully, set some mini goals in there with the larger goals, make them managable and realistic.

So we are going to try to eat some elephants one bite at a time.

What Used to Be our Everyday Pancake Mix

2011-12-18T12:50:00.000-08:00

Before I went gluten free I kept our everyday pancake mix at the ready in the pantry. Sometimes (like Sunday night or Mardi Gras) we eat warm, fluffly, white buttermilk pancakes, soft as pillows, light as clouds and drenched in maple syrup. Other times we eat our Everyday Pancake. No, I don’t make them every day, but they contain whole wheat and flax seed. They are a bit denser than your usual pancake and the Salad Chef has been know to just eat them whole like a cookie (yesterday he ate 3 waffles.) I use the mix to make waffles too, in my Belgian waffle maker. One cup of mix is just enough for a weekday breakfast, and the pancakes come together pretty fast. I also have no pictures of these – just use your imagination.

Whole Wheat and Flax Meal Pancake Mix
   4 2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup flax meal
   ¼ cup sugar
   8 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
Mix in large bowl, store in container (this container will hold a double batch, mixed in another bowl)
Pancakes or Waffles
1 cup mix
2/3 cup to 1 cup milk, soy milk, almond milk or water (soy usually takes up to a cup)
1 beaten egg
2 tbs melted butter or oil
Mix together gently. Cook on greased skillet or in waffle maker. Makes about 4 large waffles or 6 to 8 pancakes
Variations
Add 1 chopped banana and 1 tsp cinnamon and nutmeg to taste
Add ½ cup blueberries, chopped strawberries, blackberries or chocolate chips
Add ½ cup chopped nuts and 1 tsp cinnamon
Dip banana sliced in leftover batter and fry – banana fritters
Add one chopped or grated apple, cinnamon and nutmeg
Top with fruit or PB
Grated carrots (ok – I haven’t tried this one yet!)

Orange Liquor Brownies

2011-12-15T09:18:00.000-08:00

My first year blogging, I posted the recipe for my family's traditional Triple Sec Brownies - but I can't seem to find it in my archives. So here it is again.....

For years my mother has been making Orange Liquor Brownies as part of the Christmas cookies, though most often we refer to them as Triple-Sec Brownies. Naturally when I moved away from home and started doing my own celebrations I brought the recipe along with me. They were a favorite in the house and my Nana loved them. Nana would always ask if my Mom had made the triple-sec brownies but she never quiet got out the 'c' and it often came out as an 'x'. She would throw her hand over her mouth which was usually always gabbing and blush, then she'd exclaim and "oh" and laugh. My Nana had the kind of laugh that was infectious and you couldn't help but laugh with her. Making these every Christmas really reminds me of her.

I made my first batch of brownies for my husband's company pot luck. They are very rich, so you can cut them small and I usually get about 4 dozen brownies from one pan. I cut them into 24 squares and then cut the squares diagonally, my Mom just makes little squares.

It also helps just a little bit if your hand slips and pour in just a smidge more orange liquor than the recipe calls for, just a smidge. Then mix up a "ski bunny" a little triple sec in your hot cocoa when you're waiting for them to bake - but don't forget to take them out of the oven!

Triple-Sec Brownies
Brownie:

· 3/4 cup butter

· 6 oz unsweetened chocolate (6 squares)

· 4 eggs

· 4 tsp. vanilla

· 4 tsp. triple-sec

· 2 cups white sugar

· 1 cup all purpose flour

Frosting:

· 1/2 cup softened butter

· 1/2 tsp vanilla

· 2 cups powdered sugar

· 3 tbs. triple-sec

Glaze:

· 1 oz dark chocolate

· 1 tsp. butter

1. Melt butter and chocolate either in a pan on the stove or in a glass measuring cup in the microwave. Allow to cool. Beat eggs, liquor and vanilla in a mixer until thick. Add sugar and beat until fluffy. Add chocolate and butter to egg mixture and blend well. Spoon in the flour and gently fold flour in. Bake in preheated oven at 350 for 25 to 35 minutes. Cool completely.

2. Make frosting by beating butter until fluffy. Add remaining ingredients and beat until smooth and creamy. Spread on cooled brownies.

3. Make the glaze by melting chocolate and butter and drizzling over the brownies.

4. Refrigerate before cutting. They cut best cool but taste best at room temperature. Refrigerator or freeze to store.

Eating by Pumpkin Light

2011-12-12T07:29:00.000-08:00

It seems to be a post Halloween tradition now, eating dinner the following night at the kitchen table by the light of the pumpkins. I think it stems from not getting pumpkins carved until after Halloween! And here it is just 13 more days till Christmas. The even actually took place on All Saints Day, November 1st. We turned it into a minor celebration of the "saints that have come before." Though All Saints originated to celebrate canonized saint's it now often celebrates all "believers living in this life and the next." We've lost saints in our lives over the last five years with the passing of my grandmother, my father and my husband's grandmother. These people were dear to us and dinner that night, by "pumpkin" light gave us a chance to talk briefly about their lives, their influences on us and their relationships with the boys.

Cat and Moon

Moussaka, untopped, for the freezer

Moussaka, with yogurt and egg topping

Dinner, which was moussaka, straight out of the Joy of Cooking. The only change I made to the recipes was to cut the potatoes and eggplant into bite size pieces. Both boys ate a serving and enjoyed it, without realizing what they were eating! I think the dim lighting helped.

Sous Chef's Pumpkin

Sous Chef's other pumpkin (check out the freckles!)

In the Slow Cooker

2011-11-16T07:30:00.000-08:00

I know I haven't posted in a few weeks. I've taken pictures, but the time between Halloween and Christmas is such a busy time in our house.

I've been busy with those last bits of the garden and our CSA shares. Putting up and Preserving those things that we will eat this winter. I also entered some bread recipes in the local paper's holiday recipe contest and actually won the bread category. And even experimented with a gluten free version of our favorite holiday brownies.

I haven't actually made tomato sauce (except for a brief bit of plain sauce that was canned in August), just frozen quarts and quarts of tomato puree to make one big batch of Greek Flavored Sauce. I was reminded this week how much more we enjoy homemade sauce, even if it's made with store bough canned tomatoes when I bought a jar of spaghetti sauce (a premium brand at that!). We'd rather plain crushed tomatoes with just a little oil and garlic over jarred spaghetti sauce, even the boys. I still have a wash tub of tomatoes from the garden that have been slowly ripening. One more small batch of puree.

I've canned quite a few jalapeno peppers. I made 12 small jars of red and green hot pepper jelly and put up 12 more jars of pickled and candied jalapeno slices. We discovered the jelly makes an excellent addition to the top of a chocolate sundae with dark chocolate syrup!

Bell peppers! Our bell peppers did wonderfully this year, and I've frozen a few batches of roasted bell pepper strips with onions for quick defrosts and additions to our winter meals. A few of the red peppers made their way into jalapeno jelly (with pretty specks of red and green - all ready for Christmas appetizers).There is one more wash tub of those to process too, I think they just might get chopped and frozen like berries.

I'm still using up the last of the goodies from our last CSA box, which came with beautiful apples (gone now) and lots of extra greens. Last night I made a soup with chicken, carrots and the tender innards of bok choy served with rice noodles. I've got Swiss Chard left over in the fridge that I need to blanch and freeze or if I am ambitious I might just make up a huge batch of spanakopita filling and freeze that. The last little bit of the kale is making it's way into the crock pot today with a big pot of white beans and andioulle sausage.

Slow-Cooker White Bean Soup with Andouille and Collards | Real Simple Recipes

Our CSA also blessed us with a few bags of cilantro. Some made it into guacamole for taco night and the rest was made into chimichuri and is in the freezer. All the basil was pulled out of the garden too - in anticipation of the first frost.I froze the basil after I processed it into a paste with garlic and olive oil. A few ice cubes of frozen basil added to soups or stirred into macaroni and cheese will make us think of summer again. Actually the anticipation of the first frost has me pulling out all the tomatoes, peppers and eggplants from the garden as well.

Once all of those things are said and done it leaves me with a handful of potatoes and some eggplant. A little bit of arugula and lettuce for salads (that are still crisp and tasty a few weeks out!) As well as some dried basil that was tucked lovingly in that last CSA box too.

The garden still has nice fresh herbs with parsley, oregano, chives, thyme, lemon grass and rosemary still going strong. A nice strong stand of Swiss Chard is still in the garden too. And I bought some garlic to plant for next year's harvest.

So kitchen chores, preservation and garden chores are still running the day! I'll be thankful for all these goodies when winter really hits.

Happy Halloween ( a day late)

2011-11-01T08:40:00.000-07:00

Ding Dong - Trick -or- Treat. Our family dressed up for Halloween (a tradition since way before Sous Chef and Salad Chef made their appearances.) Sous Chef decided that we should dress up at the Cat in the Hat , The Fish in the Dish, and Thing One and Thing Two! Both boys said Thank Yous to the kind souls who answered the door and graced them with candy, but Trick-or-Tread was a bit harder for both of them to get out. Sous Chef is a little bit shy but after about 6 houses Salad Chef just put his hand out and said "tweet". Who needs tricks when people willingly hand you candy?

Hungarian goulash - I never use a recipe anymore. My junior year abroad was in Hungary and I did learn to cook a few traditional Hungarian dishes; goulash, paprikash, galuska and palacsinta (a thin pancake often served with chestnut cream and chocolate sauce and then flambeed at the table.) I've made goulash enough times in my life that I barely use a recipe anymore. This time I put it in the crock-pot, served it over smashed potatoes that were steamed in the microwave (scrubbed, cooked in the microwave and smashed up - nothing added), steamed green beans and a little Greek yogurt. We ended up eating after trick-or-treating on the front stoop to hand out candy to the straggling few in the neighborhood. Both the boys enjoyed it and my husband was happy to take leftovers for lunch today. My intention was to use the leftover goulash and stir in a jar of rinsed sauerkraut to turn it into Szeged style goulash, but there wasn't enough left for dinner for all of us. So moussaka tonight (another adventure!)

Hungarian Goulash (as of 10/31/11)
1 2lb beef roast, cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes
olive oil
2 onions, chopped
3 tbs Hungarian paprika (sweet)
1 quart of beef stock
salt and pepper to taste
4 tbs tapioca starch

Begin by browning the beef cubes in a large frying pan in a little bit of olive oil over medium high heat. When the cubes are browned (I did this in four batches) put them into your crock-pot.

Add a little bit more oil (just enough to slick the bottom of the pan and saute the onions. When the onions are nice and soft and a little bit brown add the paprika and stir for a few minutes. Put it in your crock-pot.

Add a little bit of the stock to the frying pan and scrape up any bits stuck to the bottom. Add all but 1/3 cup of the stock to the crock pot and cook on high for 4 hours, or low for 7 or so hours.

About an hour before serving mix the tapioca starch into the reserved stock and add it to the crock pot, stirring well. Sometimes when this was served at a restaurant it was a thick stew with added potatoes.

CSA box #22

2011-10-20T07:33:00.000-07:00

Amidst all our crazyiness yesterday of a new teacher, errands and chruch choir I collected our CSA box #22. Just two more boxes left. Teh abundance of the fall season is here, though it looks like we could get a frost this weekend. I will need to go out this afternoon and harvest what I can, bring in the basil and freeze it, pull ripe tomatoes and some large green ones in and harvest peppers.

Here is what was in our basket this week, and maybe how I plan to use it:

Beets	Grated into a salad
Bok Choy	Wilted bok choy with sesame dressing
Cilantro	Guacamole, and whatever is left will get turned into chimichuri and frozen
Cucumbers	Eaten raw by the boys
Green Beans	Steamed for dinner
Green peppers	Chopped up and used in recipes (including guacamole)
Jalapenos	Jelly
Kale	Rubbed Kale Salad (Massaged Kale Salad Recipe : Aarti Sequeira : Food Network)
Large cherry tomatoes	Chopped up and used in recipes (including guacamole)
One lonely artichoke	My lunch
Pea Pods	Eaten raw by the boys
Radicchio	Combined with the kale and Swiss chard for a bistro salad
Red and yellow potatoes	Roasted alongside dinner
Swiss Chard	Bistro Salad
Turnips	Thrown in with the roasted potatoes

Marking Time

2011-10-19T07:26:00.000-07:00

Sometimes family life takes over and I totally and completely present. Sometimes seasonal allergies get the best of me and the few moments of free time end up curled up on the couch napping. These past few weeks have been a bit of both. It's autumn and this time of year is always crazy for our family, trips and school and autumn harvest all seem to guide the days that I struggle through with itchy watery eyes, constant sneezing and a nose that just never stops. The weather had definitely turned colder, and I need to get out there in the garden and see what is ready to be picked or needs to be brought in.
I started a batch of watermelon pickles and they ended up bringing for a week and a half! Out to the compost they go! Maybe I'll be better about getting the basil in and the rest of the tomatoes just might be enough for a batch of sauce.

Tomato Sauce

2011-10-06T06:57:00.000-07:00

Sometimes Mom just gets busy; helping with homework, folding laundry, reading stories, and wiping noses. Or sometimes she gets wrapped up in a book and forgets about getting up and taking pictures. Thank goodness for her crockpot or she might forget to cook dinner some days! The other day the Sous Chef asked for spaghetti and meatballs (but not the yucky kind!) He's been working on some Cub Scout achievements and showing a great interest in menu planning (or maybe he just wants what he wants!) That morning in a brief moment of having it together I started some sauce in my crock-pot. It's a wonderful way to get all day flavor - let it simmer all day in the crock-pot. I started with 5 or 6 chopped up cloves of garlic in some oil and I let it heat until I could smell it when I was upstairs. The I remembered I'd started sauce. I added two large cans of plain tomato sauce (no salt), about a cup of red wine and two large handfuls of Italian seasoning. I stirred it and put the lid on, set it to low and let it cook most of the day. Two hours before dinner i added 1 lb of cooked crumbled beef. That got served over Trader Joe's Brown Rice Penne Pasta.

And all that was left was a bit of sauce in the Sous Chef's bowl. He sure could have used a big slab of garlic bread to mop that up!

I also completely forgot to take a picture of the pumpkin chili, or the coconut chicken soup, or the black beans that I steamed. The pumpkin chili was a basic turkey chili recipe - cooked onions, green and red pepper, tomatoes, chili powder and you stirred in a can of pumpkin. It turned the chili a bit orange, made it very thick and was pronounced - OK. It wasn't my best pot of chili but it with the addition of black beans it was filling and full of fiber! The recipe also had the benefit of using up a bunch of peppers. I've cut up the week's peppers and put them in the refrigerator for using in scrambled eggs and other dishes.

Tonight's menu - chicken tacos with guacamole, fiesta corn (more use for those peppers) and maybe some rice.

Happy Eating - and maybe I'll remember to take pictures!

Comfort Food

2011-10-04T07:49:00.000-07:00

The weather is turning colder, the fall flowers are blooming and I'm craving comfort foods. Warm, slow cooked, lots of flavor and maybe a little spice thrown in. My seasonal allergies have manifested themselves in itchy watery eyes, uncontrollable sneezing, and throbbing sinuses (and now settled into a chest cold.) I agreed to take dinner over to a friend house the other day, so I simply made two of everything. Roasted chicken and vegetables, honey sweetened challah bread and apple crisp. The car smelled amazing on the 9 minute trip over there.

Chicken, stuffed with rosemary and lemon, rubbed with herb Provence and baked on top of carrots, celery, potato and onion.

The chicken all roasted up

Roasted vegetables: hopefully providing enough variety that everyone can find something they like.

Apple crisp; cut up apples topped with sugar, cinnamon, oats and butter.

Lake Food

2011-10-03T06:45:00.000-07:00

Once a year or so we head up north to northern Indiana and the lakes area. We visit with family, play in the water and enjoy unscheduled time. Or course eating usually brings great groups of people together.

A big pile of fried fish - both boys loved it. It's something my husband grew up on when he went to the lake for the summer.

Tom's Donuts has been around for years, right on the corner, and right near a dock where kids will pull up their boats and amble out across the street. It's always popular in the mornings and we always stop at least once. Donuts once a year.

Bowties and Tiger Tails

We walk across the street to the bridge and eat the first donut of the year. This year we were joined by a flock of hungry ducks.

Week 19 and Kitchen Chronicles

2011-09-30T10:52:00.000-07:00

Our Week 19 Vegetables came and I was so excited to find a healthy bag full of garlic cloves and a few little artichokes.
Here is what I intend to do with them:

Mixed salad greens and mustard greens - dress with a nice vinaigrette, walnuts and apples
Carrots - soup
immature black beans - steamed and served as a snack, like edamame
Acorn squash - stuff them with apples and nuts and roasted onions
Bell peppers - roasted with onions and used in tacos
Cucumbers - the boys just eat these for snack
Eggplant - the Japanese eggplant have been cut up and roasted to use for marinated eggplant. I'm thinking of using the globe eggplant as a base for pizza crust
jalapenos - tacos and hot pepper jelly, maybe I can stuff a few with cheese and wrap them in bacon
garlic - I honestly use garlic in everything
three little baby artichokes - I was so excited to see there - I'm going to steam them and serve them with garlic olive oil for dipping

CSA box # 16

2011-09-22T13:16:00.000-07:00

Our CSA season will be coming to a close soon. This week's box brings something I've never eaten before, fresh dates. It also brings something I've eaten but will be new for the kids; concord grapes. I gave Sous Chef one last night and he was initially pleasantly surprise at the sweetness, but there is that dry bite just after. He was also appalled at the seeds!

I got to the box late last night and haven't even completely unpacked it - so far I haven't found the beans - but I'll keep digging. I don't have plans yet but I will most likely roast a bunch of eggplant for the freezer (from our garden and still the fridge) and probalby flaovir it with fresh herbs and galric and olive oil. We can pull it out of the freezer to throw on GF pasta or on pizza. I also have quite a harvest of peppers working. I've made one batch of candied jalapenos. We'll test them this weekend and decide if the jalapenos should go into a candied or hot pepper jelly. I have lots of hot little Thai peppers too. And plenty of bell peppers that I think will get chopped up and roasted with some onions.
I'm completely using the idea from One Month of Make-Ahead Meals - Every Day with Rachael Ray. There are 5 big batch recipes that are frozen into small portions and then used in different combinations in 20 different recipes. At a quick glance many of them would be things that the family would eat, they would still need to be supplemented with more vegetables though. A few tweaks here or there to cut back on dairy or substituting gluten free products and brown rice for the white. The five building blocks are roasted vegetables, rice pilaf, roasted shredded chicken, roasted shredded pork and tomato sauce. Now most of those are building blocks to great meals anyway. I usually keep tomato sauce and shredded chicken in the freezer anyway. I'll let you know how it goes when I start trying some. The roasted vegetables are peppers and onions and roasted winter squash. All three of these things are plentiful in my refrigerator right now. I've also put up some tomato sauce through the summer.

Swiss Chard

2011-09-21T11:38:00.000-07:00

We recieved two large bunches of Swiss Chard stems last week in our CSA box. So I made this....

Kalyn's Kitchen: Baked Swiss Chard Stems Recipe with Olive Oil and Parmesan

It was just a tad bit dry, but both my husband and I enjoyed it. The boys took their "thank you bite" and that was all.

In the Crock Pot - Black Beans

2011-09-20T08:35:00.000-07:00

Tonight's dinner is another crock-pot meal. Tuesday night is our eat early night when the family comes together to scarf something down and go to our evening activities. It should always be our crock-pot night. A hearty soup or stew or beans that can be served with simple sides. Something that doesn't take scurrying around in the last minutes getting it to the table while balancing homework. I'm going with an old stand-bye this week. Crock Pot Black Beans (I've made them before). This time around I was able to use both carrots and peppers from our CSA. I did not have any garlic cloves, so I added garlic and ginger paste - we'll just see how it all comes out!

Box #? - I lost count

2011-09-16T12:56:00.000-07:00

Summer is turning into fall and days are shorter (or are they just more jam packed?) Schedules are filling up, homework gets done and somehow most nights we eat dinner. My camera battery has been dead for a week and I've yet to get it together with the charger!
We are still enjoying our vegetables though. Last night we had a very simple roasted butternut with roasted onions that cooked while the chicken cooked in the oven. We've eaten a few yummy Asian vegetables including mung bean sprouts in egg foo young. Our CSA sent edamame pods last week and I boiled them and served them with salt. And when we came home from Indiana we had 36 ears of corn in the trunk. They are gone now, the last ones devoured with a little Thai Chile Salt (more later.)
I've bookmarked recipes to try and ones we've tried lately:

Quinoa Mushroom Pilaf - I think I have all the ingredients in the pantry for this one. I have CSA mushrooms and peppers and green onions!
Spunky Coconut's Chicken Meatball Recipe | Elana's Pantry - though I thought this one was pretty good, all the boys gave it a thumbs down. I'll have to just adjust for family tastes.
Candied Jalapenos (Cowboy Candy) | Foodie With Family - this one has all the ingredients sitting on the counter - have to get it done tonight!
Slow-Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala - I doubled this recipe and put a bunch in the freezer. The boys loved it. Though I left out the jalapeno as our garam masala is hot
Cheesy Okra Fritters - it still tastes like okra, just cloaked in cheese. But all three boys liked them and voted to eat it again. I subbed in GF flour. The only downside was that the house smelled like fried food for a day. But my cast iron skillet again has a nice season on it and I can cook eggs without them sticking!
Kalyn's Kitchen: Baked Swiss Chard Stems Recipe with Olive Oil and Parmesan - those Swiss Chard stems are destined for this dish
Chinese Scallion Pancakes | Diet, Dessert and Dogs - I still have some oriental chives I thought I'd try in this dish. Maybe a date night dish - the back porch is cooling off and a perfect place for nibbles and drinks.
Jalapeno Jelly - my recipe, but I have plenty of jalapenos to use up for this
Marinated Eggplant - from a few weeks ago. I think I might just make a huge batch and freeze some for stirring into our new favorite pasta (Trader Joe's Rice Pasta) or topping on pizzas
Candied Watermelon Rind Pickles - old family recipe, I 've already made 5 jars, but we have one more nice fat organic watermelon to use up!

Now - I think that is enough to chew on for a little while.

Our vegetables this week (we subbed cucumbers for the okra) and they added some Swiss Chard stems too!

Family Time, Cake Week, Gratitude and Peppers

2011-09-01T08:04:00.000-07:00

We are slowly coming out of our family time with lots of love and gratitude for one more whirl around the sun (or rather three more trips.) We have collectively celebrated 47 years on this earth and I am grateful for each one of mine and the amazing joy that the other years have brought me as mother to Salad and Sous.

     We had wonderful celebration meals; chicken pot pie, cake, grilled flat iron steak with potatoes salad and pepper packages and cake, hamburgers and coleslaw and more cake. Cakes were made with love for each celebrant. With their input and tastes. The strawberry cake didn't quite live up to Sous' imagination (he preferred the boxed cake) but we all enjoyed it. A flourless chocolate mousse cake with a pound of butter and a pound of chocolate was rich and sweet and yet another reflection of my mother's love for me. A monkey cake for our monkey was sweet and mischievous and impish, just like him. Pounds of sugar, butter and love were in those cakes.
     In the last week and a half we've received our CSA box twice, full to the brim with summers bounties, we've picked and cooked tomato puree (to be turned into FAMILY SECRET TOMATO SAUCE when the spirit moves me!)
     My mother and I have cooked together, done dishes together, read to the children, played and spent time together. It was restorative and exhausting all in one. We've had family meals, dined out on the town, eaten take out, explored some more of Land Between the Lakes and taken cupcakes to school.
    Now we aproach fall, and there is one more wonderful family weekend to enjoy, Labor Day and warm weather and playtime.

The peppers are coming in full force right now. We have a lovely assortment of sweet peppers in our garden: pale green, sunburst yellow, little red cherry peppers, and bright orange. Together with a sweet onion, and some oregano, salt, pepper, olive oil and a touch of balsamic vinegar and wrapped up in a double layer of foil they made a great accompaniment to grilled flat iron steak. I have no after pictures. I just soaked in the love of my family as we celebrated my birthday.

Cake Week 2011

2011-09-01T07:46:00.000-07:00

HAPPY 7TH BIRTHDAY SOUS CHEF

homemade strawberry cake, with strawberry icing and strawberry sauce

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY

chocolate mousse cake

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY SALAD CHEF

yellow cake with vanilla and chocolate butter cream frosting

Herb Garden

2011-08-22T18:32:00.000-07:00

A bouquet of herbs, just for you.

Purple Basil

Green Basil

Sage

Mint

Oregano

Mint

Back in July, just as summer turned ridiculously hot Grandma came to visit. Which meant that my husband and I were able to work on a project together, and get it done in one weekend, instead of three months! Grandma played, read to, fed and put the Sous Chef and Salad Chef down for a nap. We replaced my bourbon barrels which were falling down and rotting with raised beds made out of salvaged plastic efface board. One day we hope to expand the deck to an entertaining mecca with three levels of seating, a place large enough for our outdoor table and maybe even a wood fired pizza oven (OK - that's my pipe dream.), maybe a nice little outdoor fireplace. And around the amazing deck will be my herb garden and perennial flowers and cute little tasteful sculptures that are conversation starters. Until then, we have sturdy and rot resistant raised beds.....

Lemon grass, peppermint, rosemary and tarragon

parsley, oregano, chives, thyme and sage

purple basil, green basil and three small rhubarb plants

orange mint, apple mint, pineapple mint and spearmint

CAKE WEEK

2011-08-21T18:38:00.000-07:00

CAKE WEEK begins this week - three birthdays in a matter of 5 days, or if we want to include THE GODMOTHER, four birthdays in 7 days. This is last year's leftovers - I wonder what this week will bring........

In the Garden

2011-08-21T08:12:00.000-07:00

I took these pictures on Friday. After a pretty bad thunder/lightning/wind/hail/rain storm last night I'm a bit afraid to go out there and see for myself what the garden looks like.

and out of the garden!

Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries

2011-08-19T10:06:00.000-07:00

Right now is just a bowl of cherries; cherry tomatoes. Two sweet 100 and two juliets plants have been yielding almost 3 quarts every picking.We've been eating them out of hand and leaving the romas and larger tomatoes either for sauce, or the occasional side dish of sliced tomatoes.

The Salad Chef enjoys the little sweet ones right off the plant, but is not so fond of them once they are washed and on his plate. This morning while he and I went out to the garden to assess and pick tomatoes he came up to me with a big smile on his face, and curiously plump chipmunk cheeks. A quick poke to his cheeks revealed two tomatoes stuffed in each dimpled sweet little cheek.

Even though we eat them sliced in half and tossed with little tiny mozzarella pearls and fresh basil tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper, or like popcorn as a snack, or tossed on a salad we still have a bit more than we can eat. I do share them with my friendly neighbors, and if you come to visit you are likely to leave with a pint or two of cherry tomatoes.

roasted cherry tomatoes and chicken with balsamic vinegar and fresh oregano

Chicken and balsamic tomatoes is a family favorite. Though the other day when I went to make this I still have two quarts of cherry tomatoes extra. I roasted them in a shallow pan drizzled with a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar. These roasted tomatoes cooked down to about 2 cups, they are in the freezer for use some other time.

oven roasted cherry tomatoes with balsamic vinegar

Ever since I saw the recipe for Indian Spiced Ketchup Chutney, I had to try it. I ended up improvising, and though it wasn't exactly authentic, as I substituted ground spices for the whole (it's what I had in the pantry) and dried garlic and ginger for the fresh (again, there were none in the refrigerator), it was still delicious served over our mini (and bun-less) hamburgers.

Ketchup Chutney simmering on the stove

As I used fresh and halved cherry tomatoes, and dinner needed to get on the table quickly, my chutney didn't get quite as thick - but it was still a recipe that should be repeated. I will remember next time to start it in a large shallow pan, more surface area to allow the sauce to thicken. I had one mishap - a crazy homework/play date adventure and I ended up scorching the bottom of the chutney and switching pans half way through. I can see a few large batches of this chutney put in the freezer for later.

finished Ketchup Chutney

I am also greatly intrigued by the Tomato Jam Recipes and Tomato Jelly Preserves Recipe posted by White on Rice Couple. Besides enjoying their recipes and stunning photography. I might just have to try the Sweet and Spicy and Tomato and Thyme jams and see how they turn out.

A Bowl of Cherries

But for now;

Life is just a bowl of cherries
So live and laugh, aha!
Laugh and love
Live and laugh,
Laugh and love,
Live and laugh at it all!

CSA Box #13

2011-08-18T19:17:00.000-07:00

Cabbage - the Sous Chef and I want to make up some egg roll filling
Yellow Peppers - chopped in salad
Jalapeno Peppers - haven't decided yet, they are a bit too small for poppers
Celery - snacked upon, ants on a log, salads
Eggplant (I got extras!) - lots of marinara to freeze, a stir fry
Red Lettuce - green salads again
Cilantro - chiminchuri
Yellow Squash (2) - steamed as a side
Zucchini (1) - steamed as a side
Walnuts (not pictured) - they have to be cracked first - but them on salads
Sprouts - on wraps, with tomato, lettuce and bacon!

Chimichuri Sauce (from August 9th, 2007)
1/2 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 cup olive oil

4 cloves garlic

large bunch of cilantro

1 medium onion

hot red pepper flakes - to taste

salt - to taste

Blend it all up in the food processor. Mine turned out thinner than a pesto. Let rest for a few hours before using as a condiment or marinade for grilled meats. I also freeze it in ice cube trays for winter use.

Squash Casserole and Southern Tangents

2011-08-16T10:34:00.000-07:00

The finished dish: all happy in the pan together!

Down south, way down in Alabama I was introduced to the Meat and Three, well I guess maybe my introduction came while living in Raleigh, NC, but I became well acquainted with the Meat and Three while visiting my then fiance while he worked in Birmingham. He was just out of school and I was a grad student on a stipend; a meat and three was an affordable meal out and at the time we were enamored with it. A Meat and Three is one meat and three 'vegetable' sides. It's the Blue Plate Special. The list of vegetable sides often goes like this:

green beans (cooked beyond recognition)
collard greens
sweet corn (swimming in butter)
macaroni and cheese (umm - yup it's a vegetable)
squash casserole (squash and cheese, or rather cheese and squash)
potatoes (fried, mashed with gravy, fried with extra butter)
pinto beans
fried okra
sweet potato casserole
fried apples

No, a Meet and Three is not the healthiest option, but often "tastes like more". For those un-initiated, please, don't even begin to think that any of the "vegetable" options would begin to be vegetarian. A little bacon, or just a little bacon fat, a smoked ham hock. You will often find a bit of cured pork product in your vegetables. I grew up a Yankee, but I've learned to love a few Southern things; really good pork BBQ, fried green tomatoes, and squash casserole. I've lived in North Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee over the last 16 years, we've made our home here and are raising our boys here. Even is the 2nd grader comes home insisting that his teacher's name is "Heel", when is is really "Hill". We teach them to say "yes, Mam" and "no, Mam"

Now this post is really about my take on squash casserole and not how I foray into Southern Cooking. But the grand dame of it all is really Paula Deen . The sous chef and I could spend days watching her. He knows her penchant for butter and loves to listen too her talk. She's be my go to source for anything southern, besides a few born and/or raised in the south friends I have (whom may or may not be the only readers of this blog!)

And speaking of Paula Deen; I saw these the other day in the store and can't decide which one I need. And yes, I really do need an apron for every day of the week, I wear one most of the day anymore. I think I've even worn one out to the bus stop!

Life is Better with BUTTER

This Mama COOKS!

Wait, what was I talking about again? Oh yeah - squash casserole. I tasty side dish of mushy yellow squash, sour cream, cheese and graced with crushed butter crackers and more butter? I'm not exactly sure if the current take here is a healthier Mac n Cheese (with vegetables) or Squash Casserole with pasta shells. What ever to call it - my boys ate it. But in the end, it's too heavy on the dairy to remain a staple on our table (tell that to the three pans in the freezer!) The Sous Chef was into his second serving, of course picking the zucchini out along the way when he asked what the squishy pasta was. When I told him it was yellow squash, he didn't eat anymore!

I made a big batch and froze some, so please don't think you need to make this much, unless of course you are freezing for later. I've also left out the crushed cracker and butter topping, cutting a few calories, and for us removing the gluten.

Squash and Mac and Cheese
1 large Vidalia Onion, diced

6 to 8 lbs summer squash, diced (any combination of zucchini or yellow squash - really it can be approximate, how ever much and whatever you have)

1 tbs oil

2 boxes of pasta shells, cooked to the just barely done stage, or slightly underdone (16 oz total) Quinoa Pasta

1 1/2 cups of Greek Yogurt (plain!)

1 1/2 cups of shredded cheese (Racer's Edge and Sharp Cheddar here)

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan

Split the oil between two very large saute pans over medium to medium high heat. Begin to soften the onion. When the onion is translucent divide the squash into the two pans and cook until it is cooked through and most of the water has been removed. For us the squash still has the slightest bit of firmness to it..
Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl (or 8 quarts stock pot if you don't have a bowl big enough! Divide evenly among 4 8x8 baking dishes, sprayed lightly with olive oil. Bake at 350 for about 1/2 an hour, covered except for the last 15 minutes. Or freeze for use later (add about 15 minute of baking time)

Zucchini and onions being sauteed

sauteing the yellow squash

CSA Box #12

2011-08-12T14:20:00.000-07:00

Sprouts, jalapeno, hot peppers, corn, a bag of poatoes

Eggplant (fat ones and skinny ones), yellow peppers, kobacha squash, yellow squash and zucchini

Marinated Eggplant

2011-08-11T09:48:00.000-07:00

Last week, between the CSA box and our garden, I had a washtub full of eggplant. 2/3 of the eggplant was sliced and used in a recipe from a cookbook a friend gave me last year. I found the recipe posted by someone else online (Frankies Eggplant Marinara ). The eggplant marinara fed us twice - once as a side dish and once combined with Penne pasta (rice pasta from Trader Joe's). Both boys ate it and really enjoyed it. If we have extra eggplant we might actually make up a few pans of this and put it in the freezer.

Once all my components were made the Sous Chef was able to assemble the casserole. I sliced and roasted the eggplant, spraying with olive oil instead of drizzling. We only used 2 cups of grated cheese - and it was plenty cheese-y. I made my own tomato sauce from our tomatoes, but used the recipe for Marinara from Frankie's (using 2+ quarts of tomato sauce, 1/4 cup garlic and 1/2 cup olive oil and time to simmer.)

The second way to use up some of the eggplant came from Michael Chiarello's Pickled Grilled Eggplant. I cut up the rest and filled one of my rimmed cookie sheets with thick rounds of oriental eggplant. When it had come out of the oven I dressed it with olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper, and a touch of vinegar. This has been my go to midnight snack this week! A piece of eggplant atop a little cream cheese on a gluten free cracker. I go to bed every night with garlic breath!

Big Girl

2011-08-08T15:34:00.000-07:00

I'm not even sure what variety she was.

But she weighed over 1 1/2 lbs.

I cut her up for dinner the other night and we weren't able to finish her off.

Sunday's Lunch

2011-08-08T08:35:00.000-07:00

Inspired by the recipe for the Santa Fe Summer Pot with Avocado and Shrimp from The Splendid Table's Newsletter (Newsletters | The Splendid Table with Lynne Rossetto Kasper | American Public Media), though I didn't have all the ingredients (there were no tortilla chips or avocado on hand.) This ended up being a shrimp, cucumber and cherry tomato salad with lime dressing....

Cherry Tomato, Cucumber and Shrimp Salad

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

1 Vidalia onion, chopped finely

1/2 jalapeno, seeded and minced

1/4 tsp each cumin, coriander, and white pepper

about 2 lbs of fresh cherry tomatoes, halved (pretty much all those that I had left in my colander)

1 small cucumber, peeled and diced

1 defrosted package frozen salad shrimp

Combine the lime juice, spices, jalapeno and chopped onion. Set aside
Split the cherry tomatoes in half (see tip) and dice cucumber.
Add shrimp and toss.My husband and I really enjoyed the salad, but I could have added equal amounts of cucumber and tomato.

The Sous Chef does not particularly care for tomatoes. His salad was deconstructed with shrimp and cucumbers in small piles. We loved it, and there was just enough left over for lunch today.

TIP: To easily halve a large quantity of cherry tomatoes take the tops of two Cool Whip containers (or quart yogurt containers.) Fill one top with enough tomatoes to fit snugly, put the other top on upside down. Take a large serrated knife and placing your hand flat on the plastic lid, slice the tomatoes. I saw this done on the Rachael Ray Show several years ago, and I'm still using it to cut up a large amount of cherry tomatoes from the garden for raw tomato pasta sauce or cherry tomato capresa salad.

CSA Box #11

2011-08-07T15:48:00.000-07:00

Our CSA box came while I was making dinner. On the menu - grilled chicken. That is as far as I got! Thankfully my husband came home with one bag of already shucked corn and a small bag of okra. Both got a quick wash, a brush of oil, and a sprinkling of premixed BBQ seasoning. It all got thrown on the grill together - and it was dinner. The little chefs really were not that enthralled with the okra, but it was surprisingly un-slimy and slightly smokey. The oorn was past it's prime, tough, but still corn-y.

We did a double duty. While dinner was grilling we picked in the garden.

Cherry tomatoes from the garden - sweet and juicy. The Sous Chef does not care for them. The Salad Chef eats them like Daddy - warm from the sun are right off the vine.

From our CSA - cabbage to be turned in to slaw. Kobocha Pumpkin - to be turned into a soup.

Summer Squash and Zucchini - I haven't decided yet what to do with these - depends on if we get fresh eggs. I'm sure I'll make a raw squash salad.

Jalapenos, corn and cherry tomatoes

Cucumbers from our garden - those I turned into a small batch of quick refrigerator pickles, cucumber and onion salad, and 8 quarts of chunks are soaking in a brine for pickles.

The eggplant are both from the CSA and our garden. I sliced up 2/3 of it into planks and roasted it in the oven - it is currently baking into an eggplant marina. The other third (the smaller eggplant) I cut into 1/2 in round and roasted at the same time for marinated eggplant.

How does the garden grow?

2011-08-05T13:00:00.000-07:00

Eggplant + Cherry Tomatoes + Sauce from the Freezer + Fresh Basil = Dinner

Quiona Stuffed Tomatoes with Goat Cheese

2011-07-28T14:17:00.000-07:00

I found a recipe for stuffed tomatoes with quinoa at White on Rice Couple - A Food Blog, Photography Blog, Travel and Garden Journal with it's beautiful pictures and lovely recipes. I did not have the silken tofu, but I did have goat cheese, so I made the Baked Stuffed Tomatoes Recipe with Quinoa or Couscous. I've made them twice since then. If you have too many tomatoes, and want something wonderfully filling and healthy this is a great recipe to try out.

admittedly I always have more stuffing then I need, and since this isn't for a dinner party, I tuck it around the tomatoes once I stuff them

tomato shells ready for stuffing

all finished and ready to be devoured

CSA Box #10....

2011-07-28T14:11:00.000-07:00

I unpacked the box and put it all away - without even taking a picture. Over the last 6/7 years our CSA has changed and yet still stayed the same. It is the same group of wonderful farmers and uncles and aunties and a new assortment of young energetic farmers. They started a newsletter this year and it has a list of what you are most likely to find in the box. This was this week's list...

and that is what was in the box, with the addition of a few ears of corn....

The menu plan is not much of a plan really, just ideas on how things might be used. School starts up again soon, and my plans will be much more specific, but in the summer I like to go where the vegetables lead me!

corn - corn and black bean salad
tomatoes - we ate a few with our eggs this morning with chilies and onion, the rest will get eaten through the week
squash and zucchini - Baked Zucchini Sticks and Sweet Onion Dip I'm envisioning one night of eating little nibbles on the deck and these look perfect, just have to figure out how to do it gluten free (I have some GF crackers I could use to make crumbs)
eggplant - We are also getting eggplant from our garden right now. We've eaten it sauteed and tossed with pasta and tomatoes. These make great little appetizer conveyors too. If you slice a disk about 1/2 inch thick and either saute it on both sides or bake it in the oven. Eggplant pizzas too layered with pesto, a slice of tomato, and a slice of mozzarella.
basil - pesto
Cucumbers - boats filled with the black bean and corn salsa. Next week we have to make pickles
cabbage - slaw to go with BBQ
perilla leaves - I might make a batch of stuffed perilla leaves (I realize I've never posted a recipe, but a fellow CSA member has), or just use them in our summer rolls.

Too much basil? Make pistou!

2011-07-27T08:57:00.000-07:00

What do I do when I'm faced with too many herbs? If it is basil I make pesto or pistou . Pesto is basil, nuts, Parmesan, garlic and olive oil. Pistou is basil, garlic and olive oil. Pistou is a bit more flexible, freezes well and can be turned into pesto when defrosted (with the addition of Parmesan and nuts.) We are having a love affair with pesto this summer (more about that later!). Before our vacation Salad Chef helped me process about 10 cups of basil into pistou. We froze it into cubes for stirring into soup, sauces or making into pesto when the winter months make us long for fresh things.

Pulse three to four cloves of garlic in the food processor until chopped.

Add basil, loosely packed until full.

Drizzle in olive oil and pulse until a thick paste is made.
Divide into ice cube trays and freeze. When frozen take out and put into labeled zip top bags.

Home From Vacation

2011-07-26T08:50:00.000-07:00

Ahh!!! It was wonderful. Sunshine, cool nights, a few hot nights, poolside, seafood, and family. What more could a girl ask for? (Another week?)

CSA Box # 8

2011-07-26T08:44:00.000-07:00

This box was picked up on July 13th, right before a well deserved relaxing vacation. Arrangements were made for Box #9 to be picked up by a friend. I hope her family enjoyed it. Box #11 comes tomorrow!

Basil - combined with the leftover from the week before with garlic and olive oil and frozen
Watermelon - eaten for dessert that night, the leftovers were put in the freezer - I will defrost, de-seed and make granita
Fennel - cut up and taken on the plane as a snack, tops were going to be processed like the basil, but I ran out of time (there were composted!)
Peppers, squashes and eggplant all went into a quick summer stew with white beans and plenty of that basil and garlic. The leftovers were frozen for later.
Swiss chard, along with a huge harvest of Swiss Chard from our garden was blanched and frozen for later use, I'll use it like frozen spinach in egg dishes, spanikopita, or pizza.
Tomatoes - I intended to put them in the fridge, though it ruins their texture, at least they wouldn't spoil for a week. But I left them on the counter instead! The ripened, and I only lost one due to rotting. I dodged a bullet on that - I could have come home to a counter of rotten tomatoes! The ripe ones were used in dinner last night - a pantry/garden meal.
Cucumbers - they were put in the refrigerator. I only lost one of them to mold. I'm hoping to make pickles, we have some very large cucumbers from our garden to deal with too. A few of them I cut up to take on the plane.

We're home again, and back to our routine, 10 more days until school starts up again! I can't believe that summer is almost over.

Our garden fared well, a kind neighbor enjoyed the tomato harvest, the zucchini died out due to squash bores, the peppers are all bearing fruit, the cucumbers got very big and there were enough eggplant for dinner and a leftover lunch for my husband. We're going to squeeze out as much fun left from our summer vacation as we can.

Crock-pot meal

2011-07-26T08:16:00.000-07:00

Some weeks I'm left with a bit more "leftovers". All the vegetables from our CSA and garden that we haven't eaten, or put up or consumed in some way. When it's tomatoes we can sauce. But occasionally we have lots of squash. That time is quickly coming to a close as our squash and zucchini plants have succumbed to squash bores, yet again. Ratatouille, or some variation, is almost always the answer. It's not a traditional French ratatioulle, and one day I will attempt the recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, on glorious Saturday when I want to be in the kitchen and have time on my hands. But this time, it is time to throw it all in the crock pot!

All the vegetables left over from the previous week's CSA box (and a few squash from our garden) - onions, zucchini, yellow squash and green peppers.

Mixed with one quart of spaghetti sauce from the freezer. Topped with one package Italian sausage.

Buried those sausages.

The finished dish - topped with grated cheese. I took out about 3 cups of the stew for the boys and pureed it with a little bit of cream. Then cut up the cooked sausages for them. They ate that and enjoyed it - didn't complain about eating squash once it was pured.

We ate it with Bob's Red Mill gluten free cornbread. Leftovers for dinner tonight.

Chinese Eggs and Tomatoes

2011-07-13T08:57:00.000-07:00

Tomato abundance is around the corner, I sure hope I didn't jinx it. I have 30 healthy plants out back, and green tomatoes growing. I haven't harvested any, but THE BOX has contained some tomatoes. I need to remind myself that in those winter months, or early spring I can never have enough tomatoes to turn into sauce to enjoy all year long (Tomato, Tomato.... )

To go along with our green beans and eggplant I made Chinese Tomato and Eggs . I've learned that to make really creamy, custardy scrambled eggs you need to cook them low and slow, be patient. So I cooked these eggs on medium low heat while the stir fry worked it's magic in the wok.

I cook the eggs till almost done, they cook a bit more when you remove them from the pan. I started with 8 eggs, and removed the servings for the boys before I stirred them into the warm tomatoes. Definitely a meal we could eat again and again.