Category Archives: Food & Wine

Oops! I forgot to write about this week’s farm share until just now. This week we got: 2 green peppers, 3 zucchini, 1 squash, 1 head of garlic, 1 sweet onion, 1 lb. green beans, 2 Italian eggplant, 1 Japanese eggplant, 1 bunch beets, 1 head of cabbage, 1 bunch scallions, 2 heads of lettuce.

I skipped out on the pick-your-own flowers & herbs this week because it was pouring rain when I went to pick everything up and not worth getting soaking wet. I’ve been enjoying incorporating everything into oure meals. The beet cake is a huge hit, and I will be using the bunch of beets in this picture to make another cake for a potluck dinner at the farm Saturday. I could make something that incorporates more of the veggies we have, but… I don’t know. I think beet cake is a bit unusual and hopefully no one else will bring it! Last night I made a delicious Indian dinner:

Months ago my friend Kathy pointed me to this eggplant bharta recipe that she enjoys and I was excited to try it. I also made Dara’s recipe for Tandoori Tofu. Both were big hits. I especially loved (and I mean loved) the bharta. I have three more eggplants in the fridge (though one is of the Japanese variety and I’m not sure if that would work) — you can bet I’m making another batch of this. Lots of heat and delicious flavor. We had it with a bit of plain yogurt to cool it a little — what a wonderful combination. The tofu was also well-received. Jake gave it a one-thumb-up-one-thumb-down rating. I think he didn’t like the texture of the tofu. I think that I’d enjoy it more with chicken (or a mix of chicken and tofu), too. But the flavor was amazing and I think the marinade would be delicious as a dip, too. I’m going to play around with that one a bit.

I also made some pickled green beans and carrots yesterday. I’ll give them a try later today, but they’ll need at least another day or two for the flavors to develop. So it has been a busy week in my kitchen, and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it!

The farm shares are just getting better and better as the weeks go on! Now that the leafy spring are making way for summer veggies, I am really, really enjoying it. This week’s haul included:

2 heads of lettuce
1 bunch of Swiss Chard
1 bunch of carrots
1 bunch of scallions
1 summer squash
1 zucchini
1 kohlrabi
3 garlic scapes
1 bunch of cilantro
5 (I think) sprigs of basil
9 stems of flowers

There was also pick-your-own peas again, but it was raining and I knew this would keep us sufficiently veggied up until next week, so I passed on that. I still haven’t made the “kohl” slaw (last night was hectic after getting home from the farm), so I’ll be making that tonight. Tomorrow for lunch I’m going to make Swiss chard with chickpeas and tomatoes, getting my inspiration from this recipe. I might make some fresh rosemary bread to go with it. We’re changing our menu plan slightly and going out for 50-cent boneless wings tomorrow night, so I wanted to have a veggie-heavy lunch to balance it out. Otherwise, the veggies are pretty basic and will either be eaten raw in salads or roasted. I might make a little scape-basil pesto for something different. Some of the cilantro will go into the pico de gallo I’m making later today. And since I roasted a chicken this morning, maybe I’ll make chicken tortilla soup and use some cilantro for that. When I roasted the chicken today, I put it atop several garlic scapes that were getting a little old. Hopefully the bird picked up a little of their flavor. It sure smells delicious, at least!

Tuesdays seem to come so fast! Yesterday’s might be the prettiest share yet, though. We brought home two heads of lettuce, three turnips, two heads of broccoli, six stems of basil, five garlic scapes, a bunch of scallions, one zucchini, one kohlrabi, pick-your-own peas, and a flower bouquet. I didn’t take any bok choi or Chinese cabbage. No sense in it if it’s not going to get eaten. We also bought a dozen organic eggs because they were so yummy last week.

Obviously, this is a super-easy share to use up. I’m going to actually make zucchini muffins (inspired by Dara) today with the zucchini from this week and last’s week’s share. I’m not feeling so much like fish tonight, so I am thinking of making a veggie-ranch pizza for dinner with the broccoli. We’ll see. Lettuce for salads, turnips for salads, scallions and basil for everything!!! I’ll make slaw with the kohlrabi. My parents will get to enjoy a good bit of this as I’m bringing some up to them this weekend: lettuce, peas, broccoli, and maybe some scapes. Good eats!

OK, here we go! It’s Monday, and I’m trying to get back on track with life. Last week was like a mini vacation after selling the store. Lots of fun and relaxing and eating out, but obviously that doesn’t last forever. It’s been challenging participating in MPM because we pick up our farm share on Tuesdays, and I never quite know what I’m going to get. I try to guess by reading the farm interns’ blogs, but I’m not always right 😉 I’ve given up on the weird greens and instead offered them to the outdoor critters. I’m sure they will enjoy them. There’s no point in forcing myself to eat something I hate. We always get way more lettuce than we can handle, so I’d rather focus on eating salads full of veggies I enjoy, you know? At any rate, this is what we will tentatively be eating.

Breakfasts:

Cereal & milk, yogurt and granola, waffles & sausage, or eggs & Canadian bacon

Lunches:

Big salads, tuna “wraps” using lettuce, leftovers

Dinners:

Mo: Chicken picatta, pasta salad with olives and red onions, steamed broccoli (from CSA)
Tu: Spaghetti & meatballs, tossed salad (greens from CSA)
We: Baked stuffed sole, sauteed zucchini, peas, and squash (from CSA)
Th: Dinner salads or something equally light. We’re celebrating Jake’s last day of school at the Pizza Hut lunch buffet (gift card from credit card points!), so we probably won’t be too hungry
Fr: Dinner at The Federal with Mike & Kathy (can’t wait for this!!!)
Sa: ??? Either eating out or at my parents’
Su: Hamburgers, slaw (possibly getting kohlrabi in tomorrow’s share, we’ll see), baked beans

If nothing else, it’s a guideline, right? For more menu plan ideas, visit Organizing Junkie.