Wayward Seed CSA 8/26/10

This was another great week. In my single fruit and vegetable share, I got:

3 ears of corn
Bunch of onions
Bunch of sweet potatoes
Bunch of white carrots
Half a gorgeous-looking watermelon
Several apples
Bag of plums
Bag of peaches

I need to get cooking and eating!

Corn Sauté

The corn from Wayward Seed has been truly awesome. SO good. I made a corn sauté from this month's Bon Appetit with some of it, and it turned out great. D really loved it, so I've been making it a lot. One great thing is that it's really versatile - you can basically put any herbs in it that you want. Last time I didn't feel like traipsing out to the garden in the dark, so I used mostly dried, and it still turned out great.

Summer Corn Sauté with Tons of Herbs

I cut down on the butter, added some powdered cumin and omitted the tarragon. I used dried dill instead of fresh.

YUM!

Wayward Seed CSA 8/19/10

This week, for my one person fruit and vegetable share, I got:
-several (4?) ears of corn
-a huge zucchini that I'm told is awesome
-several heirloom tomatoes
-a bunch of carrots
-a big bag of peaches
-a big bag of plums

They also gave me an extra smaller bag of peaches because they said they thought the veggie share was light this week.

Donnie's 2 person vegetable shares was the day before, and he also got bell peppers and a cantaloupe.

I did finally cut up and eat last week's cantaloupe and it was so good! I'm even sadder I let the others go to waste. Oh well. I'll make sure it doesn't happen again!

Wayward Seed CSA 8/12/10

My one-person fruit and vegetable share included:

4 ears of corn
2 heirloom tomatoes
a big cantaloupe
a bunch of white carrots
a bag of peaches
a box of blackberries

I also know that yesterday's 2-person share included more corn, zucchini and squash, and adorable tiny eggplants.

Cooked fruit!

Anyone who's ever eaten a lot with me knows I am not a fan of cooked fruit. It's not so much the fruit, it's the warm mushiness with all of those sweet spices that I don't like. But last weekend, we had some people over for dinner, so I decided to make a cooked fruit dessert because it sounded easy. And lo and behold, I LIKED it! Granted, I barely put any gross spices in it and I let my piece cool down, but still.

Peach and Blackberry Crisp

I didn't make a whole recipe. I used about 6 small peaches (which I think was still under 1.5 lbs!) and about half a pint of blackberries (so maybe a scant cup?). I couldn't find nutmeg so I used my "apple pie spice mix" which has cinnamon, nutmeg, and other spices. And I left out the nuts. Other than used bottled lemon juice instead of fresh squeezed, I followed the rest of the directions. Super easy and actually quite delicious. The fruit stayed fairly firm (which I preferred) and the flavors were so good. I baked it in a glass pan that was maybe 11x7 and I think we only had one small corner of it left, with 4 of us eating. Yum!

Wayward Seed CSA 8/5/10

Another great one!

My one-person share had:
-a big bag of peaches
-a container of blackberries
-3 ears of corn (last week's were SO good!!!)
-several onions
-a squash/zucchini
-a bag of cherry tomatoes

Wayward Seed CSA 7/29/10

It's a good one this week!

a bunch of beets
4 ears of corn (much bigger than last week)
a small onion
a shallot
2 good-sized zucchini/squashes
a big bag of peaches
a big bag of small golden plums (delish!!)

Green Goddess Dressing

I saw this recipe in Bon Appetit last year on my way to California. We just so happened to go to Chez Panisse while we were there, and a salad with Green Goddess dressing was on the menu, which I ordered and loved. But it wasn't until recently that I finally revisited this recipe and made it.

This past week's Supper Club theme was "summer herb garden," and D and I were assigned salad. He suggested Green Goddess and I recalled this recipe, so we ran with it. He wanted to call it "Greek Goddess," as we added oregano and also added feta to the salad.

We used a peeler to create long strips of zucchini and summer squash, to which we added halved grape tomatoes and feta cheese chunks. And then this delicious dressing.

I did make a few small tweaks. I left out the tarragon completely and added oregano instead. There was more basil than oregano and cilantro though, just because we had more of it. So it was probably more like 3.5 T parsley, 2 T basil, 1 T cilantro, 1 T oregano. And we used red wine vinegar instead of white (because we had it on hand) and I went a little easy on the olive oil. It tasted a little vinegary to me at the end though, so I did put a smidge of extra cream in. And we used anchovy paste instead of anchovies. I think otherwise we followed the recipe exactly.

This dressing could be used for lots of purposes though - on "regular" salad, as a dip, as a sauce for fish, etc. Yum!

Here's a photo of the whole dinner spread, with our salad right in front, looking messy in the bowl because I was lazy. Sorry the picture is rotated!

Wayward Seed CSA 7/22/10

YUM!
-big bag of peaches
-big bag of apricots
-big bag of sour cherries
-bag of chard
-bunch of some fancy orange carrots
-a head of garlic

And I think I'm missing something. I'm so forgetful!

Wayward Seed CSA 7/15/10

This week's produce:
-a bag of peaches!
-a bag of blueberries!
-a bunch of baby leeks
-a small bag of mixed carrots - white (sweeter), orange, and dragon (red and earthy)
-a giant zucchini with a special name
-a giant summer squash with a special name

YUM!

Fusilli Alla Crazy Bastard

D found this recipe and made it last night. VERY good. The only thing we did differently was omit the nuts. It's a great way to use those beet greens!

Fusilli Alla Crazy Bastard

Really delicious. Beet greens, goat cheese, roasted tomatoes, pasta. How can that be bad? :)

Wayward Seed CSA 7/8/10

Before I forget anything, I'm posting! I just got back to my desk (shhhh)and thought I'd post before I forget it all.

For my one-person share, I got:
-a big bag of apricots
-a bag of blueberries
-a garlic!
-a bunch of beets
-a big bag of brite lights chard (it looks amazing)
-a bunch of either baby leeks or onions (I didn't pay enough attention)

YUM!

I also bought some dragon carrots because the one person share didn't get them this week.

Chard and Bacon Pasta

We've been getting a lot of chard in the CSA lately, so I'm always on the lookout for new chard recipes. I tried a new one last night that was easy and delicious.

Bacon and Swiss Chard Pasta

The only change I made was that I didn't have fettucine so I used some whole wheat radiatore and some regular fusilli.

Wayward Seed CSA 7/1/10

Great week! For my single fruit and vegetable share, I got:
-a big bag of white cherries
-a big bag of blueberries
-a big bag of chard
-a bunch of chiogga (sp?) beets, the cool candy cane striped kind!
-a bunch of baby leeks

YUM!

Chard, Chick Peas and misc

While looking for chard recipes, I saw a lot of recipes using chickpeas. So I made a random concoction with them tonight that was actually decently good. Plus I served it with whole wheat Israeli couscous, which might just be my new favorite thing. Yum!

So, here's what I did:
Chopped up half an onion and several garlic cloves
Sauteed them in some olive oil until a bit tender (5ish min)
Then dumped in a can of chickpeas (drained) and sauteed some more
In a few minutes, I threw in some chard stems (first microwaved in water for 1 minute) and some cherry tomatoes.
Then I dumped in the chard leaves (destemmed, a pretty big bunch) and sauteed everything until the leaves were soft.
I salted to taste and served over the whole wheat Israeli couscous and sprinkled a little bit of goat cheese on top. Not too bad!

Wayward Seed CSA 6/24/10

Sorry I've been MIA! I switched CSAs this year, as Wayward Seed has a pickup at the new market right outside my office. So convenient!

Things got off to a bit of a slow start, due to the weather. The first official week was 2 weeks ago. I don't remember everything we got, but I know there were:
-peas
-strawberries
-radishes
-chard
And probably some other stuff that I don't recall. That was 6/10/10.

Then, the next week, the farm was bombarded with rain, and they actually suspended the CSA for the week. I felt horrible for them, but it sounds like they've turned the corner and things are much better now.
So, 6/17/10 was just fruit:
-cherries

This week, we're back on track! It's still not full season yet, but we got:
-chard
-rattail radishes (I think that's what they're called)
-cherries
-black raspberries!

(My berry love is happily being fulfilled!!)

Last night D and I sauteed the chard with some garlic and olive oil (including the stems, which he pre-blanched), and then did the radishes with some onions and olive oil. Delish!! We also had grilled fingerling potatoes and deeeeelicious grilled Copper River salmon. Yum!

Mazah

I just got food from the new(ish) Mediterranean place in Grandview, Mazah. It was quite good, I give it a thumbs up. I got a chicken kebab sandwich, which was delicious. I frequently get this sandwich at other places, and I think this was my favorite thus far in Columbus. The chicken was so good. Perfectly cooked, moist, and fresh. There was a delicious garlicky sauce that I loved, and only wished there was more of it. (It seemed to be mostly on the top.) I got mine with everything on it - lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pickles, and all the sauces.

I also got baba ganoush, which I didn't love. I think it was too olivey for this olive-hating girl. I'm also not sure I actually like baba ganoush. :) So you should definitely try it if you're a liker. I was just trying to branch away from the hummus I always get.

The one thing that was a little odd is that the takeout menu says that you can get large or small versions of the dips, so I got a small. Well, there was a hand-printed little sign that take-out dips are available by the pound. I didn't realize this meant that I would get a small container filled up and charged by the pound, so it was more (expensive and quantity) than I expected. And they charge you for the pita too, either 50 cents a piece or $2 a bag. I got a whole bag for reasons I can't explain, so I'll freeze it and save it for next time.

Anyway, definite thumbs up. They have sit down too. No alcohol.

Chicken and White Bean Soup

I saw this recipe in an old Bon Appetit magazine, and it sounded great and easy. It's fairly similar to another soup I like to make from Cooking Light, involving Great Northern Beans and turkey sausage.

So, tonight I made this recipe for Chicken and White Bean Soup and it was quite good. I didn't make it exactly as written, mostly because I'm lazy and cheap. I skipped the herbed oil part entirely and instead put some Italian spice blend (from the Giant Eagle with the grinder on top) into the soup as it cooked. I also used up all my onions the other day, so instead I chopped up a few garlic cloves and 1 1/2 large shallots. I used tomato paste (not sure if that's the same as puree or not) and I also never use as much oil as the recipes call for. I also skipped the parsley and bay leaf, as my spice cabinet has not been restocked since my move yet. I used two goods-sized chicken breasts (halves) which were over a pound.

Anyway, I highly recommend this. It had a lot more flavor than I was expecting and is very easy to adjust to your own personal taste. It was very filling and I just ate it with a piece of whole wheat sourdough toast.

That was my new recipe for the week! :)

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

So, it's not really a recipe, per se, but I finally made roasted brussels sprouts. I've made lots of sauteed brussels sprouts, and I love them, but I've been wanting to roast them and finally did. All I did was take a package of sprouts, cut off the bottoms and peel off the outer leaves, and cut them in half. I tossed them in some olive oil, salt and pepper. I cut up one half of a shallot and threw it in there too. I threw all of it onto a foil-lined cookie sheet and roasted it at about 400 for maybe 15 minutes. (I didn't really keep track of how long, sorry.) YUM!!! I ate all of it in less than 24 hours. While sauteeing them in butter with bacon is delicious, this is easier and healthier. I say 2 thumbs up!

I'm baaaack

So, it's been quite a while. I'm sure no one is even reading this blog anymore, but that's ok! Mr. T and I just broke up and I moved into a new apartment in Grandview, so my adventures in cooking and eating are either about to get a lot more exciting or a lot more boring. :)

In an attempt to stick to the latter, I'm going to pledge to try one (or more!) new recipe every week, and blog about it here. I probably won't get to this week's until the weekend, but that's ok.

I also joined a different CSA this year. I liked Sippel a lot last year, but I just thought it would be fun to try a different one. Plus, Wayward Seed is most likely going to have a pickup location at my place of employment. Pretty hard to beat that! So look for CSA updates starting in May (I think).

My new yard does have some gardening space, so I'll be planting some no-yet-determined goodies and will keep you updated on that as well. Definitely some herbs and tomatoes, not sure what else. I don't know yet how much sun it gets, so that will affect my choices. I did buy some little starting pots so I can even do some from seed! (um, good luck with that!)

So, exciting things on tap for this year! Hopefully we'll have some good eating ahead!