It is summer CSA time again!
This past week I received:
strawberries
head of lettuce
bunch of chard
bunch of kale
bunch of radish
bunch of beets
My parents were visiting when we received the box and my mom was super excited to eat farm fresh veggies so early in the growing season. (They had lettuce growing in the garden in VT, but not much else). I prepared the beets by boiling in water, and sauteed the kale to share at lunch and dinner.
The radish is mostly uneaten. The berries were consumed within 2 days and I am working on the head of lettuce. That leaves the chard. Here's what I did for lunch this week:
Swiss Chard Lasagna: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/swiss-chard-lasagna-recipe.html
I pretty much followed the recipe except I purchased a grated blend of asiago, parmesean, and romano and substituted 1% milk for heavy cream.
The recipe was easy and the lasagna was good. I ate it cold all week and the cheese flavor hid the chard flavor, so I think my husband might even eat it if he gave chard another try.
Friday, June 24, 2016
Saturday, December 5, 2015
Parmesean Broccoli Balls
I have made this recipe three times now and believe it or not I have not recorded the process. This is unfortunate because I am making this recipe now based on my notes from my printed recipe card and the balls aren't turning out how I expected.
Let's start with the bones of the recipe:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/41116/parmesan-broccoli-balls/
This time I used:
1 large head of fresh broccoli
1/2 box of Trader Joes Cornbread Stuffing Mix
3/4 cup grated parmesan/Romano cheese
1 medium onion
5 eggs
3/4 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
I steamed the broccoli florets for 5 minutes in my basket steamer. That was perfect. I sauteed the onion with some butter and onion to brown them a little, which I think works well for this recipe. I melted the butter in a saucepan and then added it to the egg, after which I realized I might have cooked some of the egg, so next time add the butter to the large mix, maybe even after the egg has been stirred in. I mixed everything together and put it in the fridge overnight.
The next day, I made them into 1 inch balls and put 20 of them on a large baking sheet. They went into the oven at 350 degrees for 20minutes. That was pretty perfect for cooking them, but at this point I saw that my balls were falling apart! They also stuck to the pan. To the second half of my ingredients I added 2 more eggs to help with binding and put it back in the fridge for one hour.
I baked the second batch on parchment paper. This was a good idea. I feel that the second batch was a little too wet, so maybe use 6 or 7 eggs for the whole batch?
Let's start with the bones of the recipe:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/41116/parmesan-broccoli-balls/
This time I used:
1 large head of fresh broccoli
1/2 box of Trader Joes Cornbread Stuffing Mix
3/4 cup grated parmesan/Romano cheese
1 medium onion
5 eggs
3/4 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
I steamed the broccoli florets for 5 minutes in my basket steamer. That was perfect. I sauteed the onion with some butter and onion to brown them a little, which I think works well for this recipe. I melted the butter in a saucepan and then added it to the egg, after which I realized I might have cooked some of the egg, so next time add the butter to the large mix, maybe even after the egg has been stirred in. I mixed everything together and put it in the fridge overnight.
The next day, I made them into 1 inch balls and put 20 of them on a large baking sheet. They went into the oven at 350 degrees for 20minutes. That was pretty perfect for cooking them, but at this point I saw that my balls were falling apart! They also stuck to the pan. To the second half of my ingredients I added 2 more eggs to help with binding and put it back in the fridge for one hour.
I baked the second batch on parchment paper. This was a good idea. I feel that the second batch was a little too wet, so maybe use 6 or 7 eggs for the whole batch?
Sunday, November 22, 2015
Thanksgiving bird
Today we celebrated Thanksgiving. My dad and I had to duke it out for which one of us was making the bird. He went to the store with my mom in the morning. Meanwhile, back at the condo I looked at the clock and realized that we had to start getting the bird ready for the oven... so I guess that meant my dad didn't want to make the bird this year.
We started with a fresh young, 15 pound turkey from Wegman's. Not the "Holiday" Turkey which is especially bred to have more white meat. That didn't seem right to me. I am weird and like the dark meat anyway. The night before we took out the bird. We put the neck in a pot of water with peppercorns, cloves, onions, celery, garlic slices (dried), bay leaf and salt. That boiled for 2-3 hours and then I don't know what happened because I went to sleep and my dad finished it off. I think he just put it in a bowl and then the fridge.
The goal was to put the bird in the oven in time for dinner at 2pm. We took it out of the fridge at 10:15. We removed the plastic piece keeping the legs together. We dried it off. We put butter all over the skin and under the skin. We put salt and pepper on the skin and in the cavity. We put rosemary under the skin and in the cavity. We put a sliced orange and onion in the cavity. Under the bird was celery and onion in the roasting bag with some flour. The bird went in the oven at 11:10am at 350 degrees.And there it sat for 1 hour, 2hour, 3 and one half to reach 160. OMG that took forever. The roasting bag said 2 to 2 and 3/4 hours for a stuffed bird. Maybe the bird was too cold to start? Or the bag instructions were misleading? We finally took it out to rest.
Then we put the squash, rolls, and the vegetables that Eileen and Chris had already roasted in the oven. After about 15minutes I bolused my insulin... which proceeded to leak so I needed a new cannula and I bolused myself again knowing that I was going to eat Thanksgiving anyway and would probably need the extra insulin. Well about 45minutes later we ate and by then my sugar was in the pits, so I wolfed down my meal and didn't really get to enjoy any of it. And then my low sugar caused me to sweat like a marathoner running in 90 degree weather, which was unpleasant. All of the effort put into cooking and entertaining made me tired, so once the guests left I put my head down for a nap. I woke up 3hours later with my sugar in the 300s. Oops and yuck. Hmmph. Not an easy day.
I also want to add here the cranberry recipe that I used. I boiled 1cup orange juice with orange zest (half a large orange) and pumpkin pie spice (about 1 tsp). I added fresh cranberries once boiling and cooked uncovered for another 10minutes until the cranberries were burst. I took it off the heat and stirred in 1/4 cup honey and 1/4 cup agave nectar. Then I cooled it and put it in the fridge. It tasted so good!
We started with a fresh young, 15 pound turkey from Wegman's. Not the "Holiday" Turkey which is especially bred to have more white meat. That didn't seem right to me. I am weird and like the dark meat anyway. The night before we took out the bird. We put the neck in a pot of water with peppercorns, cloves, onions, celery, garlic slices (dried), bay leaf and salt. That boiled for 2-3 hours and then I don't know what happened because I went to sleep and my dad finished it off. I think he just put it in a bowl and then the fridge.
The goal was to put the bird in the oven in time for dinner at 2pm. We took it out of the fridge at 10:15. We removed the plastic piece keeping the legs together. We dried it off. We put butter all over the skin and under the skin. We put salt and pepper on the skin and in the cavity. We put rosemary under the skin and in the cavity. We put a sliced orange and onion in the cavity. Under the bird was celery and onion in the roasting bag with some flour. The bird went in the oven at 11:10am at 350 degrees.And there it sat for 1 hour, 2hour, 3 and one half to reach 160. OMG that took forever. The roasting bag said 2 to 2 and 3/4 hours for a stuffed bird. Maybe the bird was too cold to start? Or the bag instructions were misleading? We finally took it out to rest.
Then we put the squash, rolls, and the vegetables that Eileen and Chris had already roasted in the oven. After about 15minutes I bolused my insulin... which proceeded to leak so I needed a new cannula and I bolused myself again knowing that I was going to eat Thanksgiving anyway and would probably need the extra insulin. Well about 45minutes later we ate and by then my sugar was in the pits, so I wolfed down my meal and didn't really get to enjoy any of it. And then my low sugar caused me to sweat like a marathoner running in 90 degree weather, which was unpleasant. All of the effort put into cooking and entertaining made me tired, so once the guests left I put my head down for a nap. I woke up 3hours later with my sugar in the 300s. Oops and yuck. Hmmph. Not an easy day.
I also want to add here the cranberry recipe that I used. I boiled 1cup orange juice with orange zest (half a large orange) and pumpkin pie spice (about 1 tsp). I added fresh cranberries once boiling and cooked uncovered for another 10minutes until the cranberries were burst. I took it off the heat and stirred in 1/4 cup honey and 1/4 cup agave nectar. Then I cooled it and put it in the fridge. It tasted so good!
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