Posts tagged cooking
b.anne
so this is columbus
Justin and I made an Italian Mushroom and Green Bean Pappardelle Soup with Gremolata to celebrate the new Cuisinart food processor we received for Christmas. Our cooking has been entirely revolutionized. With the amount of vegetables we eat, I was learn that our food processor can slice in addition to the chopping business. The recipe we used to make this soup can be found here: http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/11828 and it would be vegan, easier, and cheaper to not add the mascarpone. (Although I was happy to have leftover mascarpone, which served as an excuse to make some delicious Italian white mac and cheese the following weekend).
Pizza Night
Last night, we made two delicious homemade pizzas. Justin put together the crust (we usually use this recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/quick-and-easy-pizza-crust/detail.aspx, but use half all-purpose and half whole wheat flour).
On the first pizza we used arugula pesto as the sauce, then added goat cheese, red onion, beets, spinach, and mozzarella.
On the second pizza we spread ricotta and cream cheese on the bottom, then added broccoli, walnuts, red onion, roasted garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, mozzarella and feta.
J’s favorite was the beet and mine was the broccoli.
CSA Day
We are leaving for 10 days in Costa Rica on Sunday, so we tried to use up as many veggies as we could/make things that are freezable, including:
Arugula/Basil Pesto with Parmesan, Walnuts, Lemon Juice and Crushed Red Pepper
Black Bean Stuffed Green Peppers with Squash, Tomatoes, Cheddar, Corn and Cabbage
Halushki & Pierogi (which we will eat until we leave)
Ciabatta bread pizza with:
Roasted red and golden beets, arugula, goat cheese, shallots and thyme - very good.
Tortilla Pizza - Homemade beat greens/basil/walnut pesto with artichokes, goat cheese, tomato and mozz. All fresh veggies from the CSA.
I have been dreaming about this dessert since our CSA delivery of fresh blackberries last week. Grilled peaches with coriander, ginger, cardamom (wait, we don’t have that), and cinnamon topped with vanilla ice cream and said blackberries. Things I would change: the skin of the peach does not grill so well. Also, I would soak the blackberries in a little bit of sugar with lime to make them sweeter. All in all, a great first effort at fruit-grilling.
Tonight, I made some of the best quesadillas of my entire culinary life. The picture doesn’t really show you what’s inside, so let me tell you. First, I put a wheat tortilla in a hot pan sprayed with cooking oil. Then, I spread it with:
- vegetarian refried beans mixed with lime juice, cumin, CSA oregano and a bit of veg oil. On top of this, I sprinkled cheddar cheese.
- Next came a layer of CSA garlic sauteed in olive oil with salt, then half a chopped carrot from the Green Grocer and a bunch of swiss chard, also in this week’s CSA delivery.
We topped it with sour cream, green onions and Herdez salsa. Oh. My. Gosh. Delicious. J also made some cornbread muffin’s on the side out of one of those organic mixes. I had a great dessert planned, but we were too full to eat it! Probably for the best since we need to slim down before our trip to Costa Rica next month.
Terravita Farms
I just want to take a moment while I’m updating to plug the farm we joined. Joining a CSA (community sponsored agriculture) is one of the best and easiest ways to contribute to your local economy and support local farmers. It’s also a great way to try new vegetables and, odds are, enjoy tasty/healthy/chemical-free produce all summer long! There are SO many different farms to choose from here in our great state and the midwest in general. You just have to be flexible enough to plan your meals around what’s in season. And let’s be honest, we all know eating what’s in season reduces energy consumption and provides us with better produce. Who wants a mealy orange tomato, anyway? Our CSA is great because the pickup is every Wednesday after work in Schiller Park in German Village. Our farmers are so helpful and thoughtful with what they bring and even update a blog with recipes using whatever veggies they drop off that week. I would definitely recommend joining a CSA to any of my friends and would love to answer anybody’s questions… anybody who knows me or reads this blog knows that I could talk about veggies and cooking all day!
A sidenote on the cost - our CSA runs for at least 20 weeks. The farm started a little late, so we started getting our veggies a little late too - joining the farm even via share means that you experience what the farm experiences. However, our farm is great and extending the season since we started late. And although the cost is an up front lump sum, we averaged it out and calculated that we’re spending $13/week for produce for the two of us. I eat a lot of veggies, so that is a steal. Produce has included: tons of varietal lettuce and greens, escarole, spinach, beets, swiss chard, tons of herbs, amaranth (similar to spinach), kohlrabi (similar in taste to a turnip), pole beans, zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant, garlic, garlic scapes and probably some other things I am forgetting. We have pretty much just had to buy our non-produce groceries and I have tried out tons of new recipes. Yum!
Cheddar. Beet. Risotto. This was one of the most delicious and best-looking dishes we’ve made all summer. We got some really great beets from the CSA and this recipe used both the beets and the greens, which I really liked. Apparently, the greens are basically the same plant as swiss chard… so eat ‘em up! They’re good for you! We just used a hodge podge of cheddar we had hanging around in the fridge, but I think this dish would be even better with a carefully selected, tangy and hard white cheddar. You can find the recipe here: http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/beet-and-cheddar-risotto. It was apparently inspired by a six-year old! Totally makes sense.
Stuffed zucc’s with cheese, onions, garlic, spinach and sauce. Also, our cherry tomatoes are growing pretty fast.
