Butternut squash chili

Tonight I made butternut squash chili. I got the idea from my sister-in-law, but that was last year and I didn't get a recipe, but I found this one:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Butternut-Squash-and-Turkey-Chili/Detail.aspx?soid=recs_recipe_seed

I cut up a sweet onion, two cloves of garlic and prepared a butternut squash. I only used half of a large squash, the rest is in the fridge.
I started the onion and garlic in oil, then added the squash. When the onion looked translucent, I started to add the tomatoes, beans (rinsed slightly), and green Chiles. I also defrosted some frozen corn in the microwave and added that instead of hominy. Then I added some cumin and chili powder. I simmered everything for 20minutes, but the squash was still a little hard, so turned up the heat for another 5 minutes. The squash was in 1inch chunks, so smaller chunks might have cooked faster.

I added some shredded cheese and sour cream on top. Served with the multigrain bread, since I have a lot leftover. Cornbread would also taste good with this.

Mussels with beer broth

Yesterday we tried making up a recipe for mussels. At least that is how I felt. Bert might have been working from a recipe. We cut up 1/2 a medium onion, 2 cloves of garlic and cooked those in some olive oil. Then we added 12oz Sam Adams Lager and 2 pounds of mussels. We used our Dutch oven for this one.

We purchased the mussels at Wegman's. They sent us home with mussels on ice. Bert washed each one and threw out about 3-4 for broken shells. Two pounds is about right for two entrees. You also want to throw out ones that are already open and won't close if you tap them.

The mussels sat in the beer for just a few minutes it seems like before they popped open. Bert sprinkled in some basil, I think the recipe called for parsley but we didn't have any. We served with Wegman's whole grain baguette. The mussel meat was good. I liked the bread. Tough to cut, but soft in the inside. The beer broth was too sour. Next time I want to try a white wine broth instead.

Butternut squash and kale soup

Have barely cooked all week so I still have a fridge full of food. On Wednesday I took the time to peel and chop a butternut squash. This was a good use of time. I was able to quickly prepare one serving for lunch on Friday and two servings for dinner on Friday by microwaving for 3 minutes then mashing with cinnamon.

The whole reason I prepared the squash was to make soup with the kale.

Butternut squash and kale soup
2 large tomatoes, cut into quarters,
1 leek, sliced in half lengthwise, almost to tip, but keep intact
1/4 onion, cut in half
6 garlic cloves whole,
2 1/2 cups butternut squash, peeled and cut into cubes
3 carrots, peeled and cut into 4-5 pieces
Celery root, peeled and cut into chunks
1 Yukon potato
Olive oil for roasting
6-8 cups chicken stock
3 leaves crinkle kale, cut into small pieces
1 bay leaf
3 sprigs thyme
1 can cannellini beans, rinsed
1 can kidney beans, rinsed

I brushed a jelly roll pan with olive oil, added my vegetables and then add more oil to the vegetables and stirred it around. Maybe a real roasting pan would have been a better choice... easier to stir. Stir a couple times while cooking.

Vegetables roasted at 400degrees for 30minutes, until tender.

I put 5 cups chicken broth in my Dutch oven with the thyme and bay leaf. Brought to a boil.

Picked through the roasted vegetables. Put the onion, garlic without the peel, and tomato into my blender and blended until smooth.

The rest of the vegetables I transferred to the cutting board and sliced into smaller pieces. Maybe I should have roasted them as small pieces, so I didn't have to cut them again while hot. As it was I still had big chunks of vegetables.

I put everything in with the kale and stock, then added the beans. I then added a couple turns of the salt grinders and peppercorn grinder. My stock was low sodium, so not a lot of salt except for what I added.

I simmered this for 15 minutes.

Served hot with crusty French roll. Yum!

Bert liked the soup fine. I thought it was still kind of bland. In my second helping I added some curry powder, and that helped. I like curry flavor. Also need to figure out the right size for the vegetable cut.

Baba Ganouj Take 2

I think I first had Baba Ganouj when I lived in Boston in 2003 and tried Shwarma King. Growing up, I don't think there was anything like Shwarma. I am pretty sure I first had it in a wrap, probably with falafel. The first time I made it myself was for a Grad School International Food Potluck. Yes, the white girl from VT brought Baba ganouj. The recipe I used came from an Eating Well magazine, so I am pretty sure I picked that recipe because I had a free copy of Eating Well lying around and there was the recipe with very few ingredients. Score!

I made another batch of Baba Ganouj Tuesday night. I used eggplant that had been in my fridge for two days, much fresher than the batch I made the other day. This time I cut the eggplant in half, massaged the skin with Olive oil and put it cut side down on a baking sheet. I baked at 350 for 30minutes, cooled it on the counter then scooped out the filling. I ended up eating the skin, it was really tasty!

In the last 15minutes of cooking I tossed a few garlic pieces on the tray to bake. I used one of these in my dip.

I blended 1 tablespoon of Tahini with 1 TBS of lemon juice and 1 clove of the garlic with the eggplant with my hand mixer. Oh boy it was good. Nice a creamy and smooth. Good blend of flavors and not too much garlic this time!

This is tasting really good as a dressing for my tabouleh over romaine lettuce and stuffed in Joseph's low carb pita. I stretched it for lunch all week.

Baba Ganouj or is it Ganoush?

For Baba Ganouj I used
Two small eggplants from last week
1 tablespoon Tahini paste
2 tablespoon lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided

I peeled the eggplant, cut into 1inch pieces, salted, then tossed in olive oil. I put this in the oven for 30minutes. Tried to toss them once while cooking (that was after 25minutes, would aim for 15minutes next time). I took them out and let them cool.

I put the eggplant into my hand mixer container. Then added the paste, lemon juice, garlic and Olive oil (1-2 tablespoons). Used my new found hand mixer to make it nice and smooth. I think there was too much garlic, but too late to take it out this time.

For lunch, I also made Tabouleh. I used a box of Near East Tabouleh mix. It was ready to expire! Probably would taste better using fresh ingredients. I mixed in one of my tomatoes, some olive oil and lemon juice. I think this will taste good with the eggplant spread on a pita with some romaine lettuce. I hope it does because this is my lunch plan for the week!

Ratatouille

I made ratatouille tonight so I can bring my lunch to work this week. I did have to stop by the store to pick up a summer squash, since I realized just today that I didn't actually get one in my box this week! And so ends the summer squash season. The farms might have some for the Farmer's market, but maybe not enough to put in the CSA boxes. Even the grocery store was almost out of zucchini. There was one left.  I didn't take it, but the summer squash looked okay, so I took one of those.

I used
1 large onion
Some garlic cloves
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
The thin eggplant
The summer squash
3 small tomatoes
Salt
Oregano
Basil

I used some suggestions from this recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ratatouille-recipe0.html

I started with the onion and garlic, cooked that a little, then added the eggplant, cooked that a little, then added the rest except tomato and cooked that a little. Then I added the tomatoes, salt, oregano, and basil and covered. It simmered for probably 40minutes. I pulled out an eggplant piece and it was really good! Now it is cooling and then I'll eat it the rest of the week.
I am going to try it with lentils tomorrow, and maybe again for dinner with an egg. I also have crusty French rolls that will taste good with it.

This is before I cooked it down.

Besides the chopping, which I am getting better at, this was fairly quick and easy. Emeril's recipe only cooked it for 5 extra minutes instead of 40minutes, so I could probably save some time there.

I used some of the juice from the ratatouille to flavor my water for the lentils. Should be good!

A new dish

Last night I made Summer Tian, recipe here:
https://stillmansfarm.wordpress.com/

This took a little longer to make than I anticipated, probably because I didn't really pay attention to the baking time until I put it in the oven. Oops!
I started making the dish around 6pm and we ate around 7:30pm, a little later than I like.

I sliced the onion and garlic, Bert sauteed it. I then sliced 1 summer squash, 1 skinny eggplant, 2 baby red potatoes, 1 large tomato. It was too much. I had squash and eggplant leftover.  I salted the eggplant a little before adding it to the dish.

I baked it for 30minutes, then added the cheese and baked for another 15minutes. The potatoes were still a little hard, so maybe needs 35-40minutes before adding the cheese. The cheese was crispy after 15minutes. While the cheese baked I made tilapia, fresh, from Trader Joes. Used my grill pan to cook the fish. The fish had a little heat and was pretty tasty.

Overall the tian was okay. An acceptable way to eat eggplant.

Tonight we ate leftovers. I rolled the leftovers into a whole wheat wrap to add a few more calories. I also boiled the beets, and used the beet water to make bulgur for lunch tomorrow. I didn't get any greens this week, so I was lazy with packing my lunch. A salad is so easy to bring to work! Without a salad I have to come up with other lunch ideas that don't involve leftovers, because I really don't want to cook every night. It is easier when my lunch can be tossed together in the morning. Tomorrow I'll bring in the beets, bulgur and some cucumber... and call it a salad I guess. The bulgur is 10minute variety from TJ's. Cooks up really easy.

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.

Green Pizza

For lunch I have been eating lettuce with cucumber, lentils, roasted beets, low fat feta cheese and low fat Caesar dressing. It is a very filling and tasty salad, but I still eat a peach and maybe some crackers with it.

Tonight I made the Green Pizza from a previous post. I cut up one small onion and 3 cloves of garlic. I used Swiss Chard. I trimmed the stalks from the leaves and sauteed the stalks with the onion and garlic first. After those were tender, I added the damp leaves and covered. I tossed once. I decided to not use the pie pan this time, too many dishes. I was able to put the pan I used for sauteeing into the oven after spreading pizza sauce and mozzarella cheese on top. While that finished off in the oven I prepared a chicken breast for stir fry.  By the time this was all done it was 7:30p. I probably started around 6:20pm.  Luckily I had a snack of melba toasts and hummus before I started!

I still have so many vegetables left!
1 large zucchini
1 small summer squash
1 large cucumber
1 bag green beans
1 bunch of kale
Enough lettuce and a small cucumber for lunch tomorrow
1/2 bag of beet greens
Leftover roasted beets (maybe 2-3 servings)
Leftover squash from Monday
Leftover pizza from tonight

I think I might try refrigerator pickles with the remaining cucumber. I will probably have to gift the squash and maybe the green beans to Bert's mom before I get a new box on Sunday!

Week #3

I find myself eagerly awaiting 3:30pm on Sunday so we can head over to pick up our goodies and then make a menu for the week!
This week's box:
1 bunch of radishes with greens
1 bunch of arugula
1 head of red leaf lettuce
1 bunch Swiss chard
1 bunch kale
1 bunch beets with greens
2 summer squash
2 zucchini
2 small and 1 large cucumber
1 bag of green beans
1 fennel bulb

Plus we still have one zucchini from last week.

After shopping, I started by prepping the beets. I will eat those on my salad this week. I boiled them since I like them that way better than roasted, plus we were using the oven to make veggie pizza. Recipe here: https://stillmansfarm.wordpress.com/2012/07/04/kale-pizza-and-other-thoughts/

We really liked it. I think next time I would render some bacon or Pancetta first, then cook the onions, garlic and greens. Tonight we ate it with pork with applewood rub. Not a great flavor combination, but at least it wasn't chicken with everyday seasoning! There were no real carbohydrates with this meal. I considered making some pasta crust, but I didn't have any milk to keep the pasta together We were also running out of burners.

I spent the remainder of evening making lentils to add some oomph to my salad and washing the lettuce. I used the beet water to make the lentils. Thought I would save some energy by using water that was already heated.

Mid-week #2

Tonight I prepared the Swiss chard. I pulled it out of the fridge. The leaves were exceptionally soft and wilted. I wasn't sure if I could revive them, or if they were even edible. I had read somewhere that you can freshen your greens by bathing in ice water with some vinegar, so I did that. I chopped some onion and garlic and sauteed with the Swiss Chard stems. I read somewhere that the stems are tougher so need to be cooked longer than the greens. I was working solo with limited space so everything was cooking while I remembered I needed to start the rice and slice the Swiss chard leaves. The onion and stems were starting to burn just as Bert came home and the first thing I said to him was "I need some help here!" I didn't even give him a chance to tell me how hot it was outside. With the spare hand, I was able to slice the chard and put that with the stems. He finished stirring that while I prepared the chicken and turned off the rice before it burned in the pot.  Not easy!

I tasted the chard and it tasted too much like burned garlic. I sprinkled some lemon juice on it to see if that would help.

Bert said the garlic was a bit much, but overall the chard was not bad.
I added some fennel greens to my rice, which didn't really add much flavor, so maybe I should have cooked it with the rice the last few minutes of cooking (if I catch the rice in that time frame).

We finished the chard with better success than last time. Tomorrow the kale or the zucchini!