Week Three: Taco Salad

This week's CSA pick-up is pretty basic.  There is nothing out of the ordinary, so I am sure my fellow Fresh Forker's have had no problems figuring out what to do with their haul.  I took a couple days off from cooking (I'm not ashamed to say dinner Friday night was a hotdog at the Tribe game!), but now I am ready to get back to it. 

The theme of this week's contents is "Taco Salad," and this is what I received:
-2 lbs grassfed ground beef
-1 qt. strawberries
-1 head leaf lettuce
-1 bunch green onions
-1 bag heirloom corn chips
-1 bunch of cilantro
-2 zucchini
-1 bunch field grown spinach
-1.5 lbs slicing tomatoes
-1/2 gallon 2% milk
-2 lb roll of butter
-1 bunch of radishes
-3/4 lb assorted braising greens

I can't remember the last time I ate a taco salad, and I have a bag of ripe avocados begging to turn into guacamole, so it looks like that's our dinner tonight.  I'm not quite sure what I plan to do with the other pound of ground beef, but a couple of family favorites I would suggest to you are Red Flannel Hash and Couscous Casserole.  A simple BLAT (bacon, lettuce, avocado, tomato) sandwich with the slicing tomatoes and leaf lettuce may creep into the rotation this week as well.

Last Thursday I spent some time working on recipes and developed a spelt berry salad with chicken and apricots.  I can't say the recipe couldn't use a little tweaking, but my husband loved it and insisted I share the recipe.  This recipe is extremely flexible and easy!  Try barley, quinoa, or wheat berries in place of the spelt, and peaches or plums in place of the apricots.  I used lime juice for the dressing, but lemon would work just as well if that's what you have on hand.  You could subsitute spinach for the arugula, but we think arugula's peppery bite is really what makes the salad.  Leftovers made an excellent lunch the next day.

Spelt Berry Salad with Chicken & Apricots (serves 4)

1 cup uncooked spelt berries
2 cups shredded cooked chicken breast
1 lb fresh apricots, pitted and sliced
4 oz arugula
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon salt
pepper

Bring 2 cups water to a boil and add spelt berries.  Cover and cook until tender, about one hour.  Drain excess liquid if needed.  Whisk together lime juice, olive oil, honey, salt and pepper to make a dressing.  Combine spelt berries, chicken, and apricots in a large bowl and toss with the dressing.  Just before serving, add arugula and toss.  Can be served warm, room temperature, or cold. 

I am also working on a dairy-free strawberry muffin recipe that isn't quite ready.  Initial results are good, but I definitely need to play with it a little more before sharing.  Since Steven already put a good dent in the CSA strawberries, I'll have to stop by the farmer's market to pick up another quart or two.

As a side note, my kitchen is getting a make-over later this week!  New countertops are being installed Friday, and my husband plans to rip the old ones out himself before then, so it should make for an interesting few days of meals.  I'll be praying for some good grillin' weather, and just maybe I'll bust out the smoker as well.  Pin It

Week Two: Chorizo!!!!!

It's as though this week's CSA delivery was designed specifically for me.  In addition to some of my favorite foods, I also received some items I have never used but am excited to try. I haven't decided how I will use all of items yet, but here are some ideas to get you started.

What I received:
-1 lb Berkshire chorizo sausage
-2 lbs spelt berries
-1 lb fresh whole wheat linguini
-1 bunch garlic scapes
-2 heads leaf lettuce
-1 quart Honeyoye strawberries
-2 lbs hoop house tomatoes
-1 dz eggs
-2 bunches field spinach
-1 bunch of green onions
-1 lb chicken bratwurst
-2 large zucchini

I love, love, love chorizo.  In fact, it is almost considered a staple in my house.  This spicy fresh Mexican sausage adds wonderful flavor to a number of dishes, and a little can go a long way.  On tonight's menu: Zucchini Mushroom Tacos with Chorizo, from Rick Bayless' Mexican Everyday.  It only calls for 4 oz of chorizo, leaving me just enough left over to make what is arguably my family's favorite meal,  Mexican beans with Chorizo and Greens (from the same cookbook) later this week.  Can you tell we're fans of Mexican food? If your not a fan of Mexican, try using the chorizo in place of italian sausage on top of a homemade pizza, layered into a lasagna, or added to a chili or stew.  I could go on and on with ideas.  Did I mention I love chorizo?

We eat a lot of spinach in this house, but this spinach is different than the spinach you buy at the grocery store.  It is a braising type spinach, so I am going to try cooking it in a style similar to collard greens and serve it as a side to the chicken bratwurst.  I am also going to try making a tomato "relish" as a topping for the brats.

The most intriguing item in this week's delivery is the garlic scapes.  According to the Fresh Fork newsletter, a garlic scape can be used much like garlic or onion.  It also suggests grilling them, which is what I am leaning towards trying this week, maybe with a flank steak and roasted potatoes.  Spelt berries are another unfamiliar food to me, but I am guessing it is similar to other whole grains such as barley, farro, or wheat berries.  I am going to work on a recipe for some sort of spelt berry salad with chicken and apricots and will share the results. 

Ohhhh, and the strawberries (which look beautiful) are tonight's dessert, drizzled with a balsamic syrup.  To make a balsamic reduction, simply bring a cup of balsamic vinegar to boil in a small saucepan and reduce it until it is thick and coats a spoon.  Depending on the quality of your vinegar, you may want to add a bit of sugar to it first.  Serve the strawberries and syrup on vanilla ice cream to make it even better.  YUM.




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Week 3 Meal Plan; What to do with Beet Greens

As promised, here is my meal plan for the week:

Thursday - Chicken, Spinach & Artichoke Calzones (Recipe to come!)
Friday - Pizza & Salad
Saturday - Grilled Pork Chops & Veggie Skewers
Sunday - Summer Pea, Watermelon & Spelt Berry Salad (Cooking Light)
Monday - Skillet Baked Eggs with Spinach, Yogurt & Chili Oil; Toast (Bon Appetit)
Tuesday - Summer Rolls (Williams-Sonoma); Stir-Fried Snow Peas & Bok Choy
Wednesday - Leftovers

Beet Greens.  These seem to be an anomaly to most people.  Sure, we can figure out what to do with the actual beet, but what about the leafy green tops?  Simply, you can treat them just as you do any other green.  To me, they look a bit like swiss chard, and they have an earthy taste similar to kale.  I plan to add mine to the spinach when I make skillet baked eggs on Monday.  Last summer I created a beet relish using the roots and greens that could be served as a side or as a topping on hamburgers.  I also searched and found the below recipes you might want to try:

Pasta with Beet Greens, Blue Cheese, & Hazelnuts (Martha Stewart)
Beet Green Chopped Salad (Sprouted Kitchen) - This looks GORGEOUS!
Sauteed Beet Greens with Garlic & Olive Oil (NY Times)

I made the beet cookies from Weelicious yesterday afternoon and the kids are gobbling them up!  Not too sweet with a texture similar to shortbread.  I prefer mine a little crisp, so I cook them a bit longer. Tip: to grate my beets I put them through the shredding attachment on my food processor, then change to the regular blade and pulse a few times.  Takes just a minute and saves my hands from looking like I just murdered someone. I think the color of these cookies is just amazing!

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Week 5: Bag Contents & Meal Plan; Oatmeal Yogurt Pancake Recipe

Happy Independence Day!  We at the Alten household enjoyed a scorching hot & humid cookout with close friends in our backyard (occasionally sneaking inside for the nice, cool air conditioning). Normally we would pick up our CSA delivery on Wednesday at American Greetings, but due to the holiday, I'll be heading to the Westlake pick up later this afternoon.  Here is what I'm expecting to receive:

Small bag contents:
-1 whole chicken or pork roast (I'm planning on grabbing the pork)
-1 bunch beets
-2 bulb onions
-1 bunch carrots or 1 head kohlrabi (hoping for carrots)
-2 lbs tomatoes
-1 baby bok choy
-2 lbs peaches

Large bag additions:
-1 bunch spinach
-1 lb garlic scape and black pepper linguine
-2 lbs apricots
-2 ct cucumbers
-2 ct zucchini

In addition to the tomatoes from Fresh Fork, my husband brought a bunch home from work last week.  Despite making an enormous batch of Gazpacho for lunches this week, I still have quite a few left.  If I can't get through them all this weekend, I'll likely turn them into sauce or salsa and can them for the winter months.

My meal plan for the week:
Thursday - 4th of July leftovers
Friday - Zucchini & Tomato Deep Dish Pizza (My Kitchen Addiction)
Saturday - Garlic Scape Linguine; Tomato & Mozzarella Salad; Grilled Apricots (Proud Italian Cook)
Sunday - Shredded Pork Sliders; Sweet & Spicy Cukes (Our Best Bites); Baked Beet Chips
Monday - Spinach & Quinoa Casserole (Eat, Live, Run); Baked Parmesan Tomatoes (Eating Well)
Tuesday - Fried Rice w/bok choy, carrots, and leftover pork

Other recipes you may like:
Creamy Lemon Pasta with Chicken, Asparagus, and Spinach (Gimme Some Oven)
Zucchini & Feta Quiche with Brown Rice Crust (Closet Cooking)
Flatbread Pizza with Chicken & Peaches (Simply Reem)
Spelt Berry Salad with Chicken & Apricots

If you have yogurt left from last week's pick up, you may want to try this recipe for Oatmeal Yogurt Pancakes that I created over the weekend.  I ate them with a drizzle of the strawberry balsamic sauce & maple syrup. Add blueberries or another fruit to the batter if you like.  In the fall I think these would taste fabulous served with homemade applesauce or smeared with apple butter.

Oatmeal Yogurt Pancakes (serves 4)

-1 1/3 cup rolled oats
-1 1/4 cup white whole wheat flour*
-1/4 cup unpacked brown sugar
-1 teaspoon baking powder
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-2 cups plain yogurt, preferably a farmstead yogurt (do not use Greek)
-2 large eggs
-1 tablespoon canola oil
-butter, oil, or cooking spray for the pan

Whisk together oats, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.  In another bowl, whisk yogurt with eggs and oil until combined.  Add yogurt mixture to the oat mixture and stir until well blended. 

Heat griddle or large skillet over medium-high.  Add your butter or oil, or spray with cooking spray.  In batches, using a 1/4 cup measure, drop batter onto skillet (batter will be thick and you may need to help it spread).  When pancakes start to bubble on top and edges start to brown (3-5 minutes), gently flip over and cook for 2-3 more minutes, or until cooked through and golden. Serve with butter and syrup as desired.

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Week Two, Part Three: Breakfast for Dinner!

I have a love-hate relationship with sweet potatoes.  I love that they are full of vitamins.  I love the way they look on a plate.  I love that my kids love them.  I want to love the taste of them, but for most of my life I have hated them.  I think that's because until the past couple of years my only experience with sweet potatoes has been the sickly sweet, marshmallow topped disgustingness that people serve at Thanksgiving.  I never got it, and I still don't get it.  Then, last summer, while visiting family and friends in the Columbus area, I ate at a wonderful restaurant called the Northstar Cafe.  My sandwich came with sweet potato fries, which, being the sweet potato hater that I am, I assumed I would just hand them off to my son.  Since I believe you should always try something before deciding you don't like it, I ate one of the crispy, salty thin cut fries before scraping them onto my son's plate.  Suddenly, I had a newfound respect for the sweet potato.  I realized it wasn't neccessarily the sweet potato I didn't like, it was the preparation.  I now look for more savory ways to cook sweet potatoes, and I recently began trying out recipes for sweet potato hash.  Last night's was a winner, perfectly spicy and crispy on the bottom with the rest of my chorizo sausage and a perfectly cooked egg on top.  This meal can serve as breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner (or linner or lupper, if you like). I of course failed to write down the recipe, but I am sure memory will serve well enough that you could replicate it pretty easily. 

Sweet Potato Hash (serves 4)

8 oz Fresh Chorizo Sausage
1 medium red onion, diced small
2 cloves garlic
2-3 sweet potatoes, diced small (2-3 cups yield, depending on the size of your potatoes)
smoked paprika
salt & pepper
4 eggs

Heat a large skillet over medium heat.  Remove chorizo from casings and brown in skillet, stirring to break up clumps.  Add onion and garlic, sautee until translucent.  Add sweet potato and cook, stirring occasionally, until almost tender.  Increase heat to medium-high.  Add about 1 teaspoon paprika and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Continue cooking for 2-3 minutes, or until potatoes start to brown.  Taste for seasonings and add more paprika, salt or pepper as you deem necessary.  Make 4 spaces in the sweet potato mixture and crack one egg into each space.  Sprinkle eggs with paprika. Cook 2-3 minutes, then put the cover on the skillet and cook until whites are just set but the yolks are still runny.  Serve with your favorite hot sauce. 

As I mentioned in my last post, I have been waiting for fresh shell peas to use with the fresh whole wheat linguine I received last Friday.  I  also have a number of recipes that call for fresh peas or pea shoots that I want to try and I was sure I would get one or both in one of the early CSA packages.  Yesterday I took my boys strawberry picking at Fitch's (Well, I picked, one ate, and the other slept.  Picking strawberries with a 20 lb child strapped to you is no small feat.) and was hoping the shell peas would be ready.  Alas, they informed me that due to the heavy rains, everything is running a few weeks behind and I should check back on the 20th.  Boo. Determined, I searched the stores and found fresh, already shelled English peas at Trader Joe's.  Spring linguine with Basil is an easy, yet delicious vegetarian meal my family loves.  You could substitute frozen peas, but I think fresh makes all the difference and they are only available here for a short time. I served it with sliced tomatoes and a glass of sauvignon blanc.

Rumor has it I am receiving strawberries again in Friday's CSA pick-up, plus I have the three quarts I picked yesterday, so I tomorrow I will be making strawberry muffins or scones in addition to a spelt berry salad. I have almost made it through the week and haven't let anything go to waste.  Bonus that all recipes have been a success!

I should also mention that when I spoke to my mom this morning and mentioned I made sweet potato hash last night, the first words out of her mouth were, "You didn't update your blog!"  Geez, Mom, I'll try to do better. Pin It