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!