Cabbage casserole

I had a GIANT head of cabbage in the fridge from two weeks ago, and finally I had an evening to prepare something.  I found a recipe for scalloped cabbage casserole on-line:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/beths-scalloped-cabbage/detail.aspx

I used 1/2 of the GIANT head of cabbage, used breadcrumbs instead of crackers and sprinkled paprika on top for color.  Bert liked it okay. I think it was kind of boring. I think that smaller pieces of cabbage might have worked better than chunks of cabbage. I think I needed to either drain the cabbage more or use more cheese in my roux. The final product was kind of runny. I sprinkled curry on mine which helped a little.

I served this with grilled pork chops.  I think some butternut squash would also taste good with these two items.

Chicken Broccoli Casserole

For this recipe, I took inspiration from a few different recipes on allrecipes.com.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Broccoli-Chicken-Divan/Detail.aspx
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chicken-Divan/Detail.aspx

Bert sauteed about 1 pound of chicken tenders, cubed. I steamed 1 medium head of fresh broccoli (cut into pieces) for about 5minutes or so, but I think the "or so" was a little too long. I layered the broccoli into an 11x7 glass Pyrex. The chicken was seasoned with salt and pepper and layered into the dish. Then I mixed 1 can of cream of broccoli soup with about 1/2 can of fat free milk and some curry. I poured/distributed the soup over the chicken and broccoli. I sprinkled low fat Mexican cheese blend on the top, then some breadcrumbs (plain).  Maybe I should have mixed melted butter with the breadcrumbs to add some color to the dish. I baked in the oven for 30minutes at 350degrees.

I liked the casserole. Bert did not care for it. He thought there was too much broccoli, but he also didn't realize there was curry in it, which was the most prominent flavor, so we are still not really sure what he didn't like about the dish.

We served this with steamed corn the first night and roasted potatoes the second night. If we didn't have either, you could probably add more water to the dish with instant rice to make a complete casserole.

Trying to compost

Today's box:
1 giant head of red leaf lettuce
4 cucumbers
4 ears of corn
1 bunch kale
1 bunch arugula
1 bunch small beets (white beets with red veins)
1 pepper
1 onion
2 tomatoes
1/2 pint blueberries

I also picked up: Cisco's Light Sankaty to try.

My mom also left behind two small cucumbers and a handful of green leaf lettuce... and a jar of her refrigerator pickles. Although, I did say it was okay to leave me the lettuce and pickles. I could tell she didn't want to drag them back home with her... and she had just told me that she made another 4 jars before making the trip down, so I knew she had plenty to spare.

After washing all the lettuce I looked at the remaining stump and realized that it was ridiculous for this to all end up in the landfill in a plastic bag! And I feel it is too much for my garbage disposal to take. Especially since I think that the more I use the disposal the greater the chance I am going to break it and need to hire a plumber to fix it. I finally decided to buy into a composting group:
http://bootstrapcompost.com/
They will pick up a 5gallon compost bucket every two weeks. Three times a year I think they return some compost to you or donate it to Boston school gardens. I opted for donation since I don't have my own garden! Can I write off the compost donation on my taxes??

Well, the bucket might arrive too late for today, but hopefully I'll get one later this week.

I peeled the beets and started those roasting. That is when I realized they were white beets with red veins. So far I had only received traditional dark red/purple beets. I have already pulled them out of the oven and tried a few. So tasty and earthy!

Since the oven was on anyway, I kept working and made my mom's Italian Bake.  Not a drop of Italian blood in us, but this is a good use of my CSA! I had scratched out the recipe on a post-it note like 4 years ago. I must have been on the phone with my mom at the time, because there were limited details. This is what I did this time:

Italian Bake
4 small zukes or eggplant
1/2 onion
16oz tomato sauce
2 cloves garlic
Oregano to taste
Shredded cheese
Bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350. I sauteed the onion and garlic in a little oil, then added the tomato sauce until warm. Added some oregano. I used the mandolin to slice my vegetables to 1/4 inch. I used 1 yellow squash, 1 Zuke, 2 thin long eggplant. I sprinkled a little salt on them.

Next I layered the vegetables, then tomato/onion mix, then cheese, then repeat. Topped with cheese and breadcrumbs and more oregano.  It is baking as I type. I will let you know how it turns out. I wonder if 1) I should put breadcrumbs within the layers 2) it is better to sauté the onion first, or just boil in the sauce?

We will also make the corn tonight and stir fry some chicken.