Pinot & Pineapple

As I told you last Wednesday, the tomatoes we received were on their last leg and had to be used ASAP.  So, that night, after work, I went to the market and got 1 pound each of ground beef and ground pork, 1 can each of black beans and kidney beans and a bottle of vegetable juice and set about making a big pot of chili.  For this dish, I used all the tomatoes, the tomatillos, the bell peppers and the onions.  The chili was fantastic and there was left overs for Thursday night’s dinner too.

So that only left me the patty pan squash, beets and mixed baby greens to work with.  The patty pans were sliced and added to a stir-fried chicken teriyaki dish on Friday night.  The beets were roasted and used in a salad with the mixed baby greens, pecorino romano and balsamic vinaigrette.  See the photos below…

Be sure to stop by tomorrow to see what we receive!

Well folks, we are at the half way mark for our farm shares. The time is really flying by and I am having a lot of fun working with the awesome variety of vegetables that we receive each week. If you are not yet a member of a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), I encourage you to do so. My Links page has several links that can help you find CSA’s in your area.

Today, we received red beets, bell peppers, tomatoes, tomatillos, mixed baby greens, onions and patty pan squash. The tomatoes are a source of concern for me as they are a bit soft already which puts pressure on me to use them quickly. Like tonight. Or now. I may have to stop by the market and get some ground beef and beans and make some chili. This dish will also help me use the bell peppers, onions and tomatillos. Actually, I could even put the patty pan squash in the chili. Wow, that doesn’t leave me much vegetables to work with for the rest of the week…

Here are the photos. We bought a new digital SLR camera last weekend and these are the first photos we’ve shot with it. We (and by “we”, I mean my husband) are still learning how to use the camera with all of its settings and lenses and whatnot. Can you see a difference between today’s pics and the pics from previous weeks? Personally, I see the difference in the bottom photo in that the patty pans are nice and clear and you can even see the wrinkles in the skin of the tomato to the right of the patty pans.

Good Morning, Dear Reader. I had a great time “playing” with my food this week. Luckily, my mother never taught me not to play with my food… what fun I would miss out on!

The photo below is an awesome salad I made with the 2 larger cucumbers (seeded), grape tomatoes, parsley, the light yellow-green cubanelle pepper and feta cheese. I am still thinking (and salivating) about this salad.

The 2 smaller cucumbers were simply cut into sticks and packed in my lunch. The red and green peppers were used in pasta sauce. The 4 red tomatoes were seeded then quickly sauteed with the spinach and garnished with garlic chips (totally delicious!). The Swiss chard and eggplants became a yummy vegetarian dinner for me last night; the chard was sauteed with onions and garlic and the eggplant was sliced, marinated then pan-fried.

All of this reminiscing is making me hungry!

Check back tomorrow to see what we receive…

Good Morning All! I am really excited today as we received a very colorful box of vegetables this morning… a bunch of spinach (I love spinach!), a bunch of yellow and white Swiss chard, a few sprigs of Italian parsley, 4 cucumbers, 4 red tomatoes, a bag of grape tomatoes, 3 cubanelle peppers (1 red, 1 green and 1yellow) and 2 eggplants. Remember: Colorful = Nutritious

I was so excited about the grape tomatoes that I immediately washed some and packed them in my lunch along with the smallest cucumber. I can’t wait!

Here are some photos:

For some reason, I was much more efficient in getting our vegetables eaten this week. Usually, I am frantically trying to find new and exciting ways to use the vegetables and I just barely manage to get it done in time for this post. One trick I’ve learned is to cook the vegetables at night and bring them with me to work to eat for lunch. That way, it takes the pressure off trying to get them all eaten just in our dinners…

I used the 2 green bell peppers and the 2 yellow tomatoes to make chicken fajitas. I’m not sure that tomatoes are traditionally used in fajitas, but the touch of yellow added a really nice color contrast to the dish. The light yellow-green bell pepper, 2 red tomatoes and tomatillos were used to make pork stew Saturday night. I’ve wanted to make this recipe for a while now so I’m glad the tomatillos came and gave me a chance to make it; it was really tasty! Last night I made a saute of chicken sausage with onions and the purple bell pepper. The mixed baby greens and red beets were paired with goat cheese for a really lovely salad. The squash was stir-fried with garlic while the eggplant was sauteed with onions; both were happily packed in my lunch bag throughout the week. The radishes are currently fermenting to become radish kimchi using a recipe that I found on one of my favorite food blogs, Coconut & Lime, and should be ready Wednesday night. Here is a photo of my kimchi:

That’s all folks, for now. Check back tomorrow to see what we find…

Firstly, please accept my apologies for posting so late.  I like to post by 11:00AM but I was very busy with work today and then once I got home, my blog server/host was down.  Ugh.

Onto more pleasant thoughts…

Today, we received a really beautiful variety of vegetables: 4 bell peppers (2 green, 1 purple and 1light yellow-green); 4 tomatoes (2 yellow, 2 red); 5 tomatillos; 1 bag of mixed baby greens; 4 purple/white eggplants; 1 bunch of red beets; 1 bunch of red radishes; 3 summer squash (2 green, 1 yellow).

In hindsight, I wish I had waited to receive this box so that I could have made a larger bowl of salsa verde.  I always say it’s just as easy to make a large batch as it is to make a small batch.  Oh well, it’s also fun to find new and interesting ways to use the same vegetables.

Here are the photos:

This week has been a whirlwind and I must admit I am a bit behind in using all of my vegetables. I am going to finish them up tonight though. It was a challenge getting all of the vegetables eaten in 6 day’s time this week as I have been super busy with work and I was with clients both Thursday night and Saturday night. Okay, okay, enough with the excuses, let’s see what we did this week…

I did a lot of roasting this week. I know it sounds odd to even think about using the oven much in the middle of August, but honestly it is so much easier to roast something in the oven than to stand at the stove continuously and saute something.

I roasted the extra-large tomatoes and made some delicious roasted tomato soup. This soup, paired with a salad of the baby arugula and one of the Middle Eastern cucumbers, made for a very satisfying lunch. I made pickled beets by first roasting the beets, peeling them, cutting them into wedges then pouring a hot solution of apple cider vinegar and sugar over them. Then I let them sit in the refrigerator for 24 hours before enjoying them. I love making my own pickled beets. They taste great and are free of the high fructose corn syrup you may find in the jarred stuff at the grocery store. I roasted the eggplants and made a small batch of baba ghanouj, a Middle Eastern eggplant dip, that I enjoyed with some pita bread. Speaking of roasting for the sake of making a small batch of something, I roasted the tomatillos and made a small bowl of salsa verde with some cilantro, scallions, lime juice and a serrano chili pepper. We enjoyed this salsa with some tortilla chips while watching the Olympics – Go Team USA!!!

Not every vegetable was roasted this week. The ear of bi-color corn was boiled then happily nibbled by my husband. The squash was sliced then sauteed with some onion and garlic and I am going to enjoy it for my lunch today with the last of the roasted tomato soup. The rest of the cucumbers were sliced thinly then paired with sour cream and dill for a delicious salad. We enjoyed this salad along side some spicy Buffalo wings on Sunday night. Last but not least, the pole beans are going to be cooked for tonight’s dinner.

Phew… that was 9 vegetables in 7 day’s time. Check back tomorrow to see what we receive in our mystery box!

Holy Moly, I can not believe it has already been 8 weeks… the time has really flown by! My husband (the sweetest man in the world) told me last night that he is really impressed with my ability to creatively use all of the vegetables in the short span of 6-7 days. I am equally impressed with my ability to get him to eat these vegetables!

Today’s farm share had some new and exciting additions to our familiar repertoire. As my husband walked in the door with our box, he exclaimed “We’ve got dinosaur-sized vegetables this week!”. I immediately ran to the box to investigate. We received 2 of the largest tomatoes I have ever seen. They must weigh 1 pound each! We also received a large ear of corn (let’s hope it’s edible this time), 2 eggplants, 4 summer squash, 3 tomatillos, a bag of baby arugula, 7 Middle Eastern cucumbers, pole beans and a bunch of red beets.

Here are some photos:

This week, the flavors and aromas coming from my kitchen were all over the map. From the American Deep South to Latin America to India.

The pole beans I received this week were a bit tough so I braised them into submission with tomatoes, onions and garlic.

This dish reminds me of my Great-Grandma Hollingsworth, from Georgia. She knew how much I loved vegetables and she would make a nice, big pot of pole beans for me whenever she could.

I used 8 of the 9 cucumbers to make Agua de Pepino (Cucumber Limeade). This beverage is so incredibly refreshing and I do believe I could become addicted to it! The other cucumber joined the mixed baby greens in a salad.

The eggplants became one of my favorite Indian dishes – Baingan Bharta (eggplant curry). I order this dish every time I go out for Indian food so I decided to make some for myself at home. I just wish I could have made some nan to go with it.

The yellow wax beans were blanched then sauteed and served with roasted chicken and orzo for last night’s dinner. The 2 green bell peppers will be used tonight in a pasta dish. The ear of corn, unfortunately, was not edible. It was not fully mature and half of the kernels had not yet developed. I was so sad to have to throw it out.

I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s delivery. Stay tuned to see what we get!

I am up super early this morning as my husband had an early flight to catch. Therefore, I will not be able to post any photos of this week’s farm share box as my husband (a.k.a. my awesome photographer) has the camera with him.

This week, we received a bag of mixed baby greens (I am going to be so spoiled with all of the salads I’ve been able to enjoy this summer!), 2 green bell peppers, pole beans (these remind me of my Great-Grandma Hollingsworth from Georgia), yellow wax beans, 3 eggplants, 1 4-inch ear of corn (it is SO cute!) and 9 Middle Eastern cucumbers. I can not wait to dig in!

The green bell peppers reminded me of a segment I saw on the Today Show that informed the audience of which fruits and vegetables to choose organically due to their likelihood of carrying pesticide residues. This list consisted of: peaches, sweet bell peppers, apples, celery and strawberries. I looked on the web to see if there is a printable pocket guide that can be taken to the market for easy reference and, of course, there is. Here is a link to Earthbound Farm’s Pocket Guide to Choosing Organically. You’ll notice that this list is more extensive than that of the Today Show. I hope that you will find this guide to be useful and helpful when trying to figure out where your organic dollars will be best spent.