CSA Week 12

This week we got: 8 ears corn, 2 lbs tomatoes, 2 Concho jalapenos, 2 lbs Austrian Crescent potatoes, 2 fresh sweet onions, 1 red onion, 1 head Spanish Roja garlic, 1 bunch Cylindra beets, 1 bunch carrots, 1.5 lb zucchini, 2 patty pan squash, 4 cucumbers, 1 lb green beans, 1 lettuce, 1 bunch flat leaf parsley, 1 bunch basil (I also picked up a couple eggplant)

They said everyone looks forward to the corn, but this is just getting ridiculous!

Here's what we did:

Ratatouille (again, but this time I cubed everything instead of sliced; worked better) with Israeli couscous (PomPom loves this stuff). After we ate our fill, I added some veggie stock and tomato paste, cooked it until everything was completely soft and blended it into a pasta sauce.  Froze that

Black bean, beef, and veggie chile (tomatoes, jalapenos, sweet onions, squash, carrots) with Jalapeno corn bread (used fresh jalapenos and fresh sweet corn in this; it was tasty but didn't hold together)

Roasted green beans with lemon zest and sliced almonds (made this before; brought it to a potluck)

Tomato-beet salad (recipe below) to go with bahn mi that my father in-law brought (yum, thanks!)

Grilled flank steak and corn on the cob and my aunt's potato salad

I've got to use up the bits and pieces to make a salad for lunch tomorrow, which will be perked up by the next box!

I'm grating and freezing carrots (for carrot muffins) and sauteeing cut carrots and freezing for quick side dishes

I'll cut and freeze the corn remaining

I shredded and froze zucchini for zucchini bread and fritters

Tomato-Beet Salad

1 lb scrubbed Cylindra beets

2 lbs tomatoes, preferably heirloom

1/4 cup crumbled feta (used chevre, which I think is probably better than salty feta)

1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped fine

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil (you want to go for the EVOO here; I used less than 1/4 cup, just drizzled to coat)

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400. Seal beets in a foil packet.  Roast on a rimmed baking sheet until tender, about 75 minutes.  Cool completely. Rub beets to remove skins; slice (once again, I cubed for ease of eating rather than slice for presentation). Slice/cube tomatoes (halve cherry tomatoes, if using).  Arrange slices or toss together cubes of tomato with beets.  Top slices or gently toss cubes with feta, parsley, and olive oil; season with salt and pepper.

Aunt Lana's Potato Salad

Potatoes, boiled and cubed

hardboiled eggs, chopped

radishes, chopped fine

celery, chopped fine,

onion, chopped fine

mayonaise (my aunt uses Lite, but I use full fat; you could also try subbing greek yogurt for some of the mayo)

seasoning blend (my aunt uses a seasoning salt, like Lowry's; I used a salt free seasoning blend from Costco and added salt)

lemon pepper

Use quantities to your taste and gently fold all ingredients together.  Chill and serve.

This is the only potato salad I like!

Note: If you've been paying attention, I haven't used ANY of the cucumbers the past few weeks.  Those things taste like poison to me and I can smell them across the room, so I've been giving all the cucumbers to a friend.  :)

CSA Week 11

Last week we got: 8 ears of corn, 2.5 lbs tomatoes, 1 bell pepper, 2 hot jalapenos, 3 anaheim peppers, 2 pounds purple sun potatoes, 2 fresh sweet onions, 1 red onion, 1 head garlic, 2 red & 1 chioggia beets, 1 bunch carrots, 1 lb zucchini, 4 patty pan squash, 2 cucumbers, 2 lb green beans, 1 lettuce, 1 bunch kale, 1 bunch sage, 1 bunch basil

Ummm, looks like I forgot to take a picture...or I don't remember which I device I used!

I feel like I lost a week somewhere, but the CSA week numbers work out.  So, the conclusion I have to draw is that I have lost my mind with all the preserving of food I've been doing just to keep up with all the produce coming into our house.  We've got the CSA, which is already a lot!  But we've got produce from our garden, my dad's garden, and from my sister in-law's orchard.  If I'm not doing one food preservation project every day I'm falling behind!  We've got canned applesauce, pickled beets, and jam.  Dried plums. And frozen everything else (vegetable stock, zucchini bread, carrot cupcakes, green beans).  It's not like I'm not busy normally, so the past few weeks have been exhausting!

Anyway, here's what we did this week:

Turkey burgers (with lettuce and tomato), grilled corn on the cob and sweet onions

BLTs with grilled squash and sweet onions

Meatloaf with garlic mashed potatoes and green salad (lettuce, squash, sweet onion, tomatoes)

Grilled salmon, sweet onions, and squash with kale and sweet corn salad

Shrimp stir fry (squash, sweet onions, beet greens, garlic, threw in celery and ginger, too) with white rice

Beet gnocchi with pecan sage brown butter (recipe below), Caprese salad (tomato, basil, mozarella)

Crookneck squash and sweet corn saute (made this twice and brought it to a couple Labor Day barbeques; it was yummy!)

I made up everything as I went along except the gnocchi and the squash saute, so we're sparse on actual recipes this week.  The beet recipe came from the weekly flyer, so here it is!

Beet Gnocchi with Pecan Sage Butter

2 lbs medium beets, scrubbed (you actually need less, which I'll mention below, but this is what the recipe calls for)

Oil for brushing the beets (I used grapeseed oil)

kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

1 cup (aka 8 ounce tub) ricotta (I had mascarpone, and subbed it; worked fine)

1 large egg, lightly beaten

pinch of nutmeg, preferably freshly grated (makes a HUGE difference)

3/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiana-Reggiana cheese (3 ounces), plus more for serving

3 cups all purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (I used pecans)

3/4 cup unsalted butter (stick and a half)

16 small sage leaves

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 375. In a 9-inch square baking dish, brush the beets with oil and season with salt and pepper. Add 1/4 cup of water to the baking dish and cover tightly with foil.  Bake the beets for about 1 hour, until tender. Uncover the dish and let the beets cool completely.

Peel the beets and cut them into 1-inch pieces. Transfer the beets to a food processor and puree.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, combine 1 1/2 cups of the beet puree (reserve any remaining puree for another use;  yeah, that's what the recipe said. I had over a cup of puree left and I'm still not sure what to do with it...it seems the recipe author couldn't be bothered to actually get even close to the right amount of beets.  I'd say, you need closer to 1.25 lbs whole beets, but that's a rough estimate) with the ricotta, egg, nutmeg, the 3/4 cup of Parmigiana, 1 tablespoon of salt, and black pepper to taste and mix at low speed until combined.  Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the side of the bowl.  Sprinkle on the 3 cups of flour and mix at low speed until the dough just comes together, about 1 minute.

Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead gently just until smooth but still slightly sticky. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Line a baking sheet with wax paper and generously dust with flour.  Cut the gnocchi dough into 10 pieces and roll each into a 1/2-inch thick rope. Cut the ropes into 1/2 inch pieces and transfer the gnocchi to the prepared baking sheet.

Gnocchi in process.

Lightly oil another baking sheet.  In a large, deep skillet of simmering salted water, cook one-fourth of the gnocchi until they rise to the surface, then simmer for 1 minute longer, or until they are cooked through. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the gnocchi to the oiled baking sheet.  Repeat with the remaining uncooked gnocchi.

In a very large skillet, toast the chopped nuts over moderate heat, tossing, until golden and fragrant, 3-5 minutes.  Transfer to a plate and let cool.

Add the butter to the skillet and cook until golden brown, 2-3 minutes.  Add the sage leaves and cook for 20 seconds, then stir in the lemon juice.  Add the gnocchi and cook for 1 minute, tossing gently.  Season with salt and transfer the gnocchi to plates.  Sprinkle with toasted nuts and serve, passing Parmigiana at the table.

CSA Week 10

In our 10th CSA box we got: 1 tomato, 1 sweet pepper, 3 hot jalepenos, 2 eggplant, 2 lb Keuka Gold potatoes, 2 fresh sweet onions, 1 head Tocliavari garlic, 1 bunch beets, 1 bunch carrots, 2 lb zucchini, 3 patty pan squash, 1 zapalito squash, 3 cucumbers, 1 lb green beans, 1 lettuce, 1 head kale, 1 punch parsley, 1 bunch basil

The boxes keep getting heavier!

Even though we are getting more food in pounds, it's going toward fewer meals as I make more main courses out of the more substantial veggies.  Here's what we did this week:

A huge baked Ratatouille (garlic, parsley, eggplant, patty pan squash, sweet onion, bell pepper, tomatoes).  We ate this for days, and PomPom loved it

Zacchini linguini with garlic and basil. This was SOOO good, I'm posting the recipe below; it was on the flyer

Mashed potato and kale cakes. Frozen for lunches for PomPom

Roasted green beans with lemon zest and sliced almonds (chilled these and brought to a picnic!). No recipe, just how it sounds

Used the lettuce and beet greens with Costco's Chinese Chicken Salad kit.  Comes with two kits, so we'll have this again next week

Zucchini bread sub wholewheat flour and I used a mix of zucchini and zapalito (sliced and frozen for toasting and eating slice by slice!)

Carrot date cupcakes (freezing these)

I'm collecting my beets to make a big batch of fermented beets with ginger.  I'm coming up with more and more ways to preserve the summer bounty for some yummy winter eating

Zucchini Linguine

4 zucchini (about 2 pounds of any summer squash or a mix will work)

4 large cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

sea salt and cracked black pepper to taste

1/4 cup grated pecorino-romano cheese

3 TBSP pine nuts, toasted

2 TBSP oil (I used grapeseed oil)

10 leaves fresh basil, cut into chiffonade

Cut the zucchini into thin slices then stack and slice again into "linguine" (or use a mandolin, or use a spiralizer, which is what I did).

Coat a large pan with oil, on medium heat, saute garlic until fragrant (about  minute).  Add zucchini, salt, and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally until the zucchini renders it's liquid and is tender with a gentle bit (don't overcook or it will fall apart; timing depends on thickness of the squash, so just taste as you cook).

Remove from heat and toss with half the cheese, pine nuts, and basil. Saute for one more minute (cheese will melt).  Plate and top with remaining cheese, pine nuts, and basil.

Great served with grilled chicken sausage!

CSA Week 9

In our ninth CSA box we got: 1 head cabbage, 1 small head broccoli, 1 tomato, 1 green bell pepper, 2 conchos jalapeños, 1 small eggplant, 2 lb Red Norland potatoes, 2 fresh sweet onions, 1 bunch carrots, 2 lb zucchini, 3 patty pan squash, 1 zapalito squash, 2 cucumbers, 1.5 lb green beans, 2 heads green leaf lettuce, 1 bunch chard, 1 head garlic, 1 bunch curly parsley, 1 bunch basil

Isn't that a gorgeous spread?

Here's the plan:

Italian Pasta Salad (2 cups cooked macaroni, 3/4 cup chopped salami, 1/2 cup shredded Italian cheese like mozzarella, asiago, or blend, small head of broccoli chopped, 1 carrot chopped, learned handful of grape tomatoes quartered, 1/4-1/2 cup mayo, 1 Tbsp parsley chopped, to taste: garlic powder, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper

Fried rice: 2 cups long grain rice, like Jasmine, cooked, 2 cups cooked and cubed Andouille sausage, 5 eggs, 2 carrots chopped, 1 bell pepper chopped, 1 sweet onion chopped , 3 cloves garlic minced, 1 jalapeño moved, 1 zapalito squash chopped, 3 scallions chopped, 1/2 bunch cilantro chopped, season liberally worth soy sauce, sesame oil, and Chile sauce (e.g. sriracha)

Garlic-parsley mashed potatoes, Parmesan-basil roasted green beans, baby back ribs

Chinese chicken salad with shredded chicken breast, shredded cabbage, scallions, pepitas, almonds, cilantro, jalapeño.  Similar to this, but doctored.  Poach the chicken in water seasoned with parsley, a few smashed garlic cloves, and salt

Pasta with chard, garlic, chevre; crab caught by Jeremy in the Puget Sound; grilled patty pan squash; side salad of lettuce, tomato, sweet onion, carrot

Zukanoush! I don't see the point of the chunks of zucchini on top, and I'll incorporate the eggplant in there too

Drowning in Lettuce!

If you've participated in a CSA, you have almost definitely cursed the volume of lettuce that you get through the season. It's great at the beginning, because you're not getting a whole bunch of anything else, and after winter you're delighted by the delicate greens. Anything green, really. As the season wears on and you continually receive a couple heads of lettuce every week, you have probably despaired. Even the most dedicated can't eat that much salad and stay interested. Especially after the rate and volume of other produce ramps up in your box.  Not to worry, I've got some solutions for you! 

Early in the season we had two HUGE heads of lettuce every week.  I thought that would peter out, but we're still getting weekly lettuce into August.

We already posted about Petits Pois a la Francaise, a delicate dish of cooked lettuce and shelled peas.

Try lettuces blended into healthy green smoothies, wilted into fried rice and udon soup, or as a condiment: 

Pickled, as in Shalotta, or

blended, as in Aji Sauce

1/4 head of lettuce, torn into pieces (iceberg is fine, romaine is better) 

3 jalapeno chiles, seeds and veins removed (leave some seeds if you like spice) 

1/4 cup mayonaise 

5 green onions 

1/2 bunch of cilantro leaves (try to avoid the stems) 

1/4 cup roasted, shelled pumpkin seeds (aka pepitas)

juice of one lime

1 tsp salt 

1 tsp black pepper 

1 tsp garlic powder (I sustituted with about 6-8 cloves of garlic- yea a lot) 

Whiz up everything until smooth, in a food processor. Put on everything. 

Use as wraps in place of tortillas for a healthy, gluten free lunch or for amazing roasted pork a la Momofuku's bo ssam.

Sturdier lettuce, like romaine, can even be grilled! Drizzle with your favorite high-heat oil (we use grapeseed oil) and toss on the grill with the rest of your meal and dress with Caesar dressing for quite a fancy side Caesar salad.

Think outside of the CSA box and tell me your creative lettuce recipes!

CSA Week 8

We're two weeks late on this one, but hopefully you'll forgive us. Two weeks ago I was busy making a sales goal (not something I thought I'd ever say, but something I'll share about soon!), then we went to the lake, then drove to the Washington State Peninsula for a week long visit! 

In our eighth CSA box we got: 1.5 lb Carola potatoes, 2 "red of Tropea" onions, 2 sweet onions, 1 bunch carrots, 3 beets, 1.5 lb zucchini, 3 patty pan squash, 2 zapalito squash, 1 cucumber, 1/2 lb green beans, 1 red leaf lettuce, 1 butter lettuce, 1 bunch kale, 1 head garlic, 1 bunch thyme, 1 bunch basil (also picked up some peaches, blueberries, and huckleberries, and have some beets, green onions, and peas from my dad's garden). 

Here's what we're did:

Not very summery, but beef stew (ground beef from Wild Aspen Ranch, carrots, red onion, garlic, green beans, thyme), topped with Colcannon (mashed potatoes with cooked greens; we did arugula from our garden). I didn't use a recipe, just made these with my natural talent. No recipes because I don't think I can remember even approximate quantities at this point. ;)

Beet and beet green risotto with horseradish (recipe from the Tolstoy flyer this week; copied below)

Chile-lime summer squash saute (recipe asleep from the flyer; see below), grilled chicken (marinated in lemon juice, honey, garlic, salt and pepper) and sweet onions

Petits pois a la Francais (peas, green onions, and butter lettuce, sauteed), roasted green onions (this was a side dish to grilled steak at the lake)

Zucchini bread (I subbed sprouted whole wheat flour)

Caprese salad (basil, mozzarella, tomatoes, with balsamic vinaigrette)

Planned but did not happen because we went to the lake:

Chicken lettuce wraps with banh mi veg (pickled daikon and carrot) and rice

Udon soup with carrot, wilted lettuce, sauteed sweet onion, and grilled Salmon

Pickled beets, basil-arugula pesto (I've been making and freezing pesto like it's my job; I guess it is), kale chips, veggie stock with all the trimmings and wilted bits

Ended up leaving lettuce and kale or at the lake along with the cucumber for others to use. 

Beet and beet green risotto

1 small onion
1 lb red beets with greens (~3 medium)
4 cups water (I used homemade veggie stock)
1 cup Arborio or long grain rice
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1 Tbsp bottled horseradish

Finely chop onion and trim seems close to tops of beets.  Cut greens into 1/4 inch slices and chop stems. Peel beets and cut into fine dice. In a small saucepan bring water/stock to a simmer and keep at a bare simmer.
In a 3-quart heavy saucepan cook onion in butter over moderate heat until softened. Add beets and stems and cook, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes. Stir in rice and cook, stirring constantly,  1 minute. Stir in 1 cup simmering liquid and cook, stirring constantly and keeping at a strong simmer, until absorbed. Continue cooking at a strong simmer, adding liquid, about 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly and letting each addition absorb before adding next. After 10 minutes, stir in greens and continue cooking and adding liquid in the same manner until rice is tender and creamy-looking but still al dente, about 8 minutes more. (There may be liquid left over.)
Remove pan from heat and stir in Parmesan.
Serve risotto topped with horseradish.

Chile-lime summer squash saute

2 lb summer squash and/or zucchini, cut into matchsticks
1 tsp kosher salt, plus more
1/4 cup toasted pepitas
2 Tbsp vegetable oil (grapeseed, olive, etc)
2 garlic cloves, sliced
1 copied jalapeño
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
freshly ground black pepper

Place squash in a colander in the sink or over a large bowl and toss with 1 teaspoon salt. Let squash stand 10 minutes, then squeeze well to remove as much excess moisture as possible (do not rinse).
Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Add garlic, jalapeño, and red pepper flakes and cool, stirring often, until fragrant, but not browned, about 2 minutes. Add squash and cook, tossing occasionally, until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and fold in pepitas.

CSA Week 7

In our seventh CSA box we got: 1.5 lb Austrian crescent fingerling potatoes, 2 "red of Tropea" onions, 2 fresh sweet onions, 1 bunch carrots, 3 beets, 1 lb zucchini, 1 patty pan squash, 1 zapalito squash, 1 cucumber, 1 green bell pepper, 2 mild jalapenos, 2 lb fava beans, 2 heads green leaf lettuce, 1 bunch chard, 1 bunch Italian parsley, 1 bunch basil

Yay for summer squash!

So much food it makes me tired to think about preparing (so we went out tonight, ha!), but here's the plan:

Fava beans braised with salt pork (recipe called for pancetta, but have salt pork in the freezer, we'll use some parsley here too); lemon-garlic fingerling potato salad

Grilled chicken; grilled sweet onion and bell pepper; quinoa with garlic, red onion, tomato

Borscht (including beet greens; I'm following this recipe but with my friend's edits) and green salad

Steak; grilled summer squash (zucchini, patty pan, zapalito) with parsley; buttered egg noodles with garlic, parsley, and bread crumbs

Chard-basil-garlic pesto (add juice of half a lemon to this recipe; double or triple this and freeze in dinner portions for a taste of summer in the winter!) with zucchini "pasta", peas, sauteed sweet onion, sausage; green salad with carrots and sweet onions  (Note:  I've got a spiralizer and we got another big zucchini free, so we're going to whirl it into noodles!)

Spicy (jalapeno) shrimp and avocado salad on a bed of lettuce

That's six dinners and we went out the first night, so we'll have to be diligent to make this happen! 

We're also having salads for lunch, I'm making veggie stock with all our snippets and wilted bits (it'll go in the borscht), and I'm making rice vinegar pickled carrots, daikon, and jalapeno for banh mi.

CSA Week 6

In our sixth CSA box, we got: 2 lbs new potatoes, 2 "Red of Tropea" onions, 1 fresh sweet onion, 1 bunch carrots, .75 lb zucchini (three small), .75 lb snap peas, 1 lb shelling peas, 2 lb fava beans, 1 head red leaf lettuce, 1 head green leaf lettuce, 1 bunch kale, 1 head garlic, 1 bunch sage, 1 bunch basil

OMG, so much!

This was a weird week.  We had a dear old friend to dinner on Wednesday, the day we picked up the box, then were at my parents' house Thursday and Friday night (with a plan for Saturday night, though we came back early).  I didn't meal plan, needless to say.  To compensate, I created a elaborate meal for our dinner party using as much of our box as possible.  :D

The big meal consisted of the following: 

Lamb and Fava Bean Stew.  I got the butcher at my local grocery with a decent meat department to cut up a leg of lamb into stew meat chunks.  They gave me the weight I wanted without the bone and changed the same price per lb as the whole leg with the bone in; love those guys!  From the box I used both red onions, garlic, and the fava beans.  I also used the homemade veggie stock in this.  We're saving all the discard bits for stock and it's working out very well!  The lamb stew turned out great.  I totally recommend it.

Hashbrowns made with the potatoes, sweet onion, and sage.  This was okay.  I tried to broil it to make the multi-dish meal easier on me, but I should have fried them.  Just so you know, the key to crispy hashbrowns is to shred, then rinse the starch away, just like you rinse rice before cooking it.  Then drain and throw it in a salad spinner to get it as dry as possible.

Garden salad using red leaf lettuce, sweet onion, carrot, and snap peas from the box and arugula (from our garden!) and tomato.

I dressed the salad with this avocado dressing, to which I added a bunch of basil from the box.  This dressing is good, but THICK, so be careful not to over-dress the salad.  Soooo easy to do.

We ended up taking the most of the remaining produce to my parents house, eating some and leaving the rest there.  In trade we brought home a ton of freshly shelled peas from their garden traded peas in shell for shelled peas, haha), a couple of HUGE daikon radish, and a bunch of garlic scapes.  Tried roasting the scapes, but they were pretty tough, so I think they are past their delicate prime.  I'll probably cut them way down to get rid of the tough stalks and make more pesto out of them and what's left of the basil.

Tonight we had brown butter pan-fried hake, fried sage leaves, and herbed rice and wild rice (with a bit of shredded carrots mixed in) with those roasted scapes.  Let me tell you the hake and sage more than made up for the scape failure (the failed scape?).  It turned out to be brown butter because I put the butter in the pan to melt then forgot about it.  Haha.  Luckily I caught it before it burned.  Anyway, fried the hake in the butter and it tasted like LOBSTER.  Except more tender and juicy.  It tasted like lobster WISHES it tasted.  It was so good!

Doesn't look like lobster, but sure tastes like it.

Tomorrow we're having chicken burgers (purchased from Costco, quite good!) on Dave's Killer Bread buns.  I'm thinking I'll make a lemon-sage aioli, and top it with more arugula from our garden.  Carrots from the box and peas from dad's garden.

What did you eat this week?

CSA Week 5

In our fifth CSA box, we got: 2 lbs new potatoes, 1 bunch carrots, 1 bunch beets, 1.5 lbs snap peas, 1 lb shelling peas, 1 lb fava beans (I picked up an extra lb, seen in picture, because I love favas), .25 lb snow peas, 1 butter lettuce, 1 head green leaf lettuce, bit of beet thinnings (called beetniks by Tolstoy), 1 bunch garlic scapes, 1 bunch chard, 1 head garlic, 1 bunch Italian parsley 

The haul just keeps getting bigger!

Last week I didn't meal plan beyond the a few notes and it was a mistake. So, here's my plan for this week:

Tortilla Española (using half the potatoes, and some of the parsley); a salad of butter lettuce, beetniks, shelling peas, radish sprouts.

Grilled teriyaki salmon; marinated snow peas, baby zucchini, scapes, bean sprouts, green onions.

Beef bulgogi (we'll see if I cheat and pick up some pre-marinated, or go fully homemade); sauteed snap peas; steamed rice.

Nigella's "Back from The Bar Snack." I make this for a meal, not a snack. It's super yummy!

Fava bean, mushroom, and scape Farrotto (risotto with farro, using garlic and parsley, maybe homemade veggie stock, otherwise chicken stock); sauteed chard and beet greens with garlic.

I'll be saving all the pods and other veggie trimmings this week to make stock. Hopefully I'll have my act together and have the stock ready for the farrotto.

Chocolate-beet cake!

If you want to try out some of these recipes, check out the links above!

Updated to add: maybe don't try that Esquire recipe for Tortilla Española; it's not as good as I've had before.  Still looking for a good recipe, I guess.  Have one to share?

Homemade, traditional, whole (etc) foods

So far most of my posts have been about food.  This will probably be a theme because (a) I love food, (b) I love cooking, and now most importantly (c) I want my adorable daughter and beloved family to grow on nourishing and delicious foods.  They deserve it!  That is why we joined a CSA this year.  That is why we started a garden this year.  And that is why, even with all that, we're still going to enjoy veggies from my dad's garden, too!  I'm staying home to raise my daughter the best I can, and that means I get to sneak in some homemade foods and beverages that I might not have time for if I were working.

I'm not very good at getting pictures for the blog, but I'm trying to fix that!

I've done a few things to help me make sure I'm keeping up on providing the kind of food I want for my family on a regular basis.  

This may sound silly, but joining a Facebook group of other people committed to giving their families whole, Real Food, has been very important.  Everyone is such an inspiration and a great resource of information for when I try out something new (homemade bean sprouts!).

I have committed to making all the sliced bread my family eats.  It's 100% whole wheat and pretty good, especially toasted with butter and honey!  I still buy burger buns, but maybe I'll conquer that someday.

Almost all our beverages are homemade.  I make kombucha, almond milk, cold brew [decaf] coffee (we also have a fabulous set up for hot coffee too, upon which Jeremy insisted), and iced chamomile infusion (this is naturally sweet and light and no caffeine so good for PomPom all the time and everyone in the evenings).  My dad makes beer and wine, which we're sometimes privileged to have in our fridge.  Other than that, we're only buying alcohol (yeah, not totally ascetic).  The upshot of making your beverages, which I admit involves a bit of time, but not too much, is that you control the ingredients and their quality. There's no excess sugar, and you can substitute other sweeteners if you want. Hello maple syrup! There's absolutely NO high fructose corn syrup.  No one needs that , HFCS is not your friend. And no shady ingredients like colorings and hydrogenated oils (yeah, those are in store bought beverages all the time!).

Joining the CSA has forced us to integrate more and better quality veggies into our diet.  They just keep coming, so we have to use them!

Meal planning a week at a time not only ensures that we use up the CSA veggies, but also ensures that I'm not  staring into the fridge scratching my head at dinner time, or berating myself for not starting those dry beans yesterday.

We joined a drop for Azure Standard.  It's an online bulk foods company that allows you to get some amazing deals on flours, nuts, seeds, dry fruits, tomato products in GLASS (because cans are lined in BPA, a suspected endochrine disruptor; unless you get Eden Organic, but they don't support the kind of social policies I do within their company, so I'm boycotting them), etc.  You have to check to make sure you're getting a good deal, but what I've found is that if Costco has it, it's cheaper at Costco, otherwise get it from Azure Standard.  

I'm trying to get more fermented foods into our lives.  They are brimming with naturally occurring probiotics and those little bugs keep you healthy!  Kombucha is fermented and that's the only regular so far, but I'm looking forward to making more fermented veggies like sauerkraut, traditional ketchup, and chutneys.  It's mostly condiments, as you can see, so you get a little probiotics in at all your meals. 

I'm sure there are a bunch of other little things that make our whole foods journey possible, but those are the big ones!

CSA Week Four

Last week was the Fourth of July, so I got a little lazy and didn't post; I'm catching up now. In our fourth CSA box, we got: 1 bunch baby carrots, 1 bunch beets (3 last week, 4 this week), 2 pints strawberries (they say this is the last week for these), 1 lb snap peas, 1/4 lb snow peas, 2 head spinach, 2 lettuce, 1 bunch garlic scapes, 1 bunch kale, 1 bunch green onions, 1 bunch dill. Terrible photo, I know; took it with my tablet. Won't make that mistake again. 

Beautiful veggies and fruit!

I didn't meal plan, but made a few notes for a Real Food Facebook group I'm a part of: 

Maybe I saute those baby carrots and toss with some chopped dill (didn't do that). And then maybe make a marinated veg salad with dill and snow peas among other veggies (didn't do this). 

I'll also do garlic scape and spinach pesto pasta salad with snap peas. (I did make this and brought to share at a Fourth of July dinner, and then continued eating all week! We used some pesto on BLTs, and I still have some leftover!)

Homemade Michoacan style carnitas tacos with kale, sweet corn, and green onion slaw. (This was awesome!  I'll definitely post about how to make this recipe that Jeremy perfected.)

Several salads with all the lettuce; probably use up the green onion that way and use the beets in the salad, too; some raw and grated, some roasted, cooked, cubed. (Made a salad of arugula from our garden, roasted beets, chevre; had a few other simple salads, but still have a couple beets and green onions leftover).

We ate those delicious strawberries and snow peas out of hand.

I ended up making those carrots as honey-ginger sauteed carrots, which were delicious.  Had those with some hake grilled and slapped with a little dill at the end (PomPom did not enjoy the dill, she usually loves fish!). Enjoyed the beet and arugula salad with this meal.

Wow, was that a disorganized holiday week.  Can't do that again.  The mixing of tenses in blog posts is kind of distasteful to me (haha), but the quantity of the produce in our box will gradually ramp up and I can't have leftovers from the previous week!

CSA Week Three

In our third CSA box we got: 1 bunch beets, 1 bulb fresh garlic, 4 PINTS STRAWBERRIES, 2 heads of spinach, 1 huge lettuce, 1 bunch of radishes, 1 bunch of chard, 1 Napa cabbage, 1 bunch of green onions, 1 bunch peppermint. I also picked up a coral mushroom, an extra bunch of radishes, and a leg of goat!

We have even more strawberries this week! And, oh man, are these the best strawberries ever! So sweet and tasty. Also, a little known advantage of small berries is that you don't have to cut them up for little toothless (nearly toothless in our case) baby mouths. Score!

Yummy!

Check out this crazy mushroom.

Here's my plan for the week:

Dinners:

Frozen spinach pizza from Trader Joe's (hey, sometimes we need a break and this will be PomPom's first pizza) and salad using lettuce from the box

Penne in mushroom-garlic butter sauce; roasted beet and chevre salad with sunflower seeds and balsamic vinaigrette

Grilled salmon with cabbage-mint slaw

Stir-fried cabbage, chard, beet greens, and radish greens (including green onions, garlic, ginger) with chicken and jasmine rice

Goat "Bourguignone" with roasted radishes (these were SO good last week) and roasted and smashed gold potatoes with wilted green onions and chevre

Breakfast/Snacks:

Spinach and strawberries will go into smoothies, besides eating straight strawberries

Lunch:

Grilled strawberry and chevre sandwich

Drinks:

Mojitos with that mint!

As you can see the CSA box is getting more and more dense.  As the season goes on we'll be eating out of the box breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  As it is, we had three vegetarian dinners in a row this week (Indian from last week's box, spinach pizza and salad, mushroom pasta and salad).  You'll probably notice us go vegetarian more frequently through the summer.  I was vegetarian for a few years, so I'm totally comfortable with it.  PomPom has no preconceived notions, of course.  And Jeremy will eat what's made! Haha.

A Day in the Life

Let me share with you how we're spending our days.  Indulge me please, because we are so lucky to have our lifestyle, so I'll be bragging a little.

Technically I'm a lawyer.  I went to law school (loved it), took the California Bar Exam (hated it), and then never practiced (I guess I'm indifferent) for reasons that are too boring to talk about now.  Anyway, I now have the inordinate good luck to be a stay at home mom.  Not only that, Jeremy works from home! No kidding.  He's got stuff going on of course, but it's almost as if PomPom has both parents at home raising her on the daily.  Lucky girl!

PomPom plays in her first fort!

Things change all the time, but here's what staying home looks like for us:

We get up between 8-9 AM.  Oh yeah, baby.  It used to be more like 7-8 AM, but PomPom has now been night weaned (no longer nurses in the middle of the night), and she started sleeping later!  Totally the opposite of what I expected.  Anyway, night weaning is another post.

PomPom nurses, gets a diaper change, and we dress her.  I say we because she's pretty helpful these days--pushing her arms through and trying to put on her shoes.

We have breakfast.  That means PomPom gets breakfast and I sneak a few bites she doesn't eat.  From my understanding this kind of parent-scavaging is typical.  Never in my life would I have thought I would eat what's leftover from my kid's meal, but there you have it.  I do. PomPom's breakfasts are pretty awesome if I say so myself.  Her favorite thing is buckwheat-banana pancakes (Gwyneth Paltrow's recipe, no less).  We mash the bananas and mix into the batter instead of slices.  Make up a big batch, freeze them flat, then toss in a bag in the freezer.  You can pop them in the toaster and PRESTO, pancakes for breakfast every day!  You'll thank me for this tip.  We also give her some fruit (strawberries and oranges are favorites these days) and try to get her to eat some Greek yogurt.  She loves Greek yogurt, plain and unsweetened, but it's a little tough getting her to eat it right now because she enjoys feeding herself but does not yet use a spoon...so we have to convince her to let us give her the odd spoonful through breakfast.  While PomPom eats, I'm usually in eyesight in the bathroom brushing teeth, washing face, and slapping on a bit of make up.  Jeremy gets up at  8:40 (unless he has something scheduled early), and heads to his office in the basement to start work at 9 AM (lucky guy!).

After breakfast, it really depends on the day.  We might have a playdate, or be meeting up with other mamas and babies for some exercise, or running errands.  Sometimes we stay in the house so I can get some household chores done while PomPom entertains herself.  That self-entertaining thing is not happening so easily right now.  She used to play self-directed for over an hour.  I think she's starting to get to the point where her usual activities are old hat and not stimulating enough.  So, then I end up playing, reading, and dancing to music with PomPom.  If you haven't discovered Caspar Babypants, please give him a listen on Pandora.  Raffi is great and all, but Caspar Babypants is where it's at.  Jeremy is, of course, working during this time, but sometimes we luck out and he comes up for a visit, and sometimes even brings me a steaming cup of awesome (I mean coffee).

About 11 AM PomPom starts to lose her mind.  That means it's time for lunch followed closely by nap.  She might nurse before lunch, sometimes not.  We're getting to a stage where she's decreasing her nursing.  Totally fine by me.  Lunch is usually vegetarian, consisting of beans, veggies, and cheese.  Again, she digs feeding herself and makes a giant mess, but it's cool.  It's all in the name of development, right?

PomPom's critical naptime start is between 12 and 12:30 PM.  She'll usually sleep about two hours, but not if you get her into her crib after 12:30 PM.  Talk to other parents, most will tell you that naptime rules their schedules.  A well-rested baby really makes everything else possible!

I try to get as much as possible done during naptime, but I can't do anything too noisy after she has been sleeping for over an hour or she'll wake up.  There is definitely some strategy going on here.  Today I got some beets roasting (from our CSA box!) to put in a salad at dinner, called Azure Standard (an online bulk natural foods company) about a problem with my order, made lunch for myself and Jeremy, planted some plant starts in the garden, and started some beansprouts.  I meant to fold diapers and do this blog post also, but I got to chat with a dear friend instead.

Today PomPom woke up at 2:15 PM, though it varies.  She nursed a bit, had a snack (graham cracker, orange pieces), and then I tried to make her play by herself while I started some homemade coconut milk.  I made it happen, but PomPom was holding up her arms ("up") and whining the whole time.  I moved into the living room to fold those diapers and she "read" a couple books, but was still whining at me.  We turned on the Caspar Babypants station and danced a bit.  She's finally playing right now, as I blog!  Sometimes after nap we go out and do stuff, just not today.

At about 3:30 PM PomPom starts to get hungry and will snack consistently until dinner, and then eat a full dinner. Maybe I need to just make a fourth meal after nap, but I haven't tried that yet.  We're dealing with snacking now.  We'll see what happens.

At 5 PM, [ideally] Jeremy comes up from work and entertains PomPom while I make dinner and we're eating by 6 PM.  Tonight I'm going to a workout at six, so hopefully dinner will come together a little quicker.

Following dinner, it's bath time for PomPom.  She LOVES baths, but recently went through a stage where she was absolutely freaked out by the bath.  It was so strange, but we got her over it by having her shower with me instead.  It totally worked (thanks to our pediatrician, Dr. Thompson, for suggesting this) and now we do either shower, or bath.  Please note, if you want to shower with your baby, there is some finesse required.  A wet and sudsy baby is slippery.  Try not to drop your baby in the shower!

Jeremy is in charge of bath time.  Which goes: wash up, play in the water a bit, dry off and lotion up (if necessary), coat the bottoms of her feet and spine with doTERRA essential oil blends Balance and Serenity to help her calm down and go to sleep (ask me about doTERRA if you're interested in essential oils!), and stuff her in some jammies.  Then it's bedtime!

It's about 7 PM when she's ready to lay down.  I nurse her one last time if she's interested then read her a book.  We close the blinds, turn off the lights (PomPom has been flipping the switch herself for months!), turn on the space heater set to 75 (if necessary), turn on the white noise, and giver her Ducky (a Wubbanub pacifier with a little plush duck attached).  I usually sing her a lullaby unless she's pushing off me to get into her bed.  Tuck her in (she graduated to a blanket at a year), give her back a little rub as she's a tummy sleeper, and head out.  She's sleeping until between 5-6 AM when she needs help going back to sleep (give her Ducky, which is usually on the floor, and lay her down again).  She goes back to sleep and we're ready to start again at 8 or 9 AM the next day!

It goes without saying, I hope, that every family is different and parents do the best they can for their children.  This post is not meant to be a judgment of others' lifestyle, nor is it an invitation for others to judge us.  Thank you.  ;)

CSA Week Two

In our second CSA box we got: 2 heads of spinach, 1 huge lettuce, 1 bunch of radishes, 1 bunch kale, 1 bunch mustard greens, 1 bunch turnips, 1 Napa cabbage, 1 bunch green onions, 1 bunch oregano, 2 pints strawberries. I also picked up garlic scapes, spring onions, and fresh garlic (and Rainier cherries, but forgot to take a picture!).

 In the box

Extras; those curly things are garlic scapes!

Here's my plan for the week:

Chicken burgers (with lettuce from the box); sauteed spinach, mustard, and radish greens; brown butter roasted radishes

Chicken Caesar salad with garlic-oregano dressing

Quinoa pilaf with garlic, cabbage, oregano, grilled chicken; side of sauteed garlic scapes

Fish tacos with Napa cabbage-oregano-green onion slaw

Turnip masala, Indian cabbage with crispy chickpeas and basmati rice

We've been eating those strawberries as snacks and they are SOOO good.  And then we'll have the kale as kale chips with either a lunch or as a snack.

CSA Week One

This isn't a food blog, but you'll probably be reading a lot about food. We like food! Our household is focusing on eating whole and traditional foods and it's definitely a journey. As a step in that journey we joined a a CSA (community supported agriculture) for our summer produce. It means we paid up front to support a farmer's costs and we get a bushel of local, organic produce every week for the whole summer (mid-june through September, possibly into October). It seems like a lot of money at first, but it's a bargain on what you would otherwise spend on organic farmers' market produce through the season anyway. It's cool because you eat whole, healthy foods and you get to try new things and a variety that you might not otherwise pick. Breaking out of routine is fun, and scary, but that's what makes it fun...like a culinary amusement park ride.

I'm a little behind, so the following is our first week of produce from the CSA...from last week.

Here we have: 3 heads of spinach, 1 huge lettuce, 1 bunch rainbow radishes, 1 turnip, 1 bunch rainbow Swiss chard, 1 bunch mustard greens, 1 bok choy, 1 bunch green onions, 1 large bunch tarragon.

Here's how we used it ALL:

Tarragon hake (a white fish similar to halibut), spinach salad with fresh turnip and sunflower seeds

Lamb lettuce wraps with a green onion-ginger relish, shredded carrot, homemade kimchee (my friend Daniella made it for me!), and rice

Honey-tarragon salmon grilled on a cedar plank, a spinach salad with tarragon, radish, and green onions

Grilled chicken, tarragon hasselback potatoes, and sauteed Swiss chard

Stir fried greens (bok choy, mustard, radisn greens) with shrimp and rice. It was supposed to have cashews, but I burnt them! And then we forgot to take a picture.  :)

Let's get to know each other!

Hi! My name is Kathryn (KT) and I'm married to a nice guy named Jeremy (Jezza). We have a sweet daughter [nick]named PomPom. We're starting this blog to share about our life and document all the fun we're having. I'm hoping PomPom will someday read this and roll her eyes, but secretly love it.

Anyway, we're living in Spokane, WA, our hometown (-ish, we both lived in other places through our childhoods at one time or another), after having lived in San Francisco/Bay Area for 10+ years. We moved back after PomPom was born so she could be around all her grandparents. Grandparents are awesome! It has been a big change, and this blog will tell you all about how we're getting along day to day.

Thanks for stopping by!

We look our best blurry.