a couple of meals

Wednesday we had so much cabbage that we had to make thoren for dinner. When you make it with cabbage, unlike the recipe for asparagus or string beans, it comes out a little moist. Mr. P actually handled the cooking. I helped with prep work and made a big salad.

Thursday, we tried a simple broccoli dish we found in the same cookbook -- mostly flavored by toasted cumin seeds and garlic and a little hot stuff. Turned out well. We used both farm brocolli -- more like rabe with big loose clusters -- and commercial brocolli -- more like a velvet carpet -- and served it over the last of last week's brown rice. With a salad, of course.

Yesterday, I had a hankering for fresh rolls, but went a little nuts in the Chinese store's frozen section. So for dinner tonight, we'll have fresh rolls (with pressed tofu, lettuce, cilantro, carrots, cucumbers, and rice noodles); yu-hsiang green beans (soy, vinegar, and sugar sauce) over brown rice; and steamed vegetable buns (store-bought). For dessert, we'll have rice buns with red bean paste and a rice pudding with bean paste, both store-bought, accompanied by watermelon. And yes, we invited a guest to help us. We'll also send her home with a small care package for her ill long-term houseguest.
Update: Wow, that was good. The Yu-hsiang recipe I found was tasty, but not what I was expecting. The food was good, the guest seemed to enjoy herself, or at the very least was her usual gracious self. And a good time (and meal) was had by all.
Tip: We sprinkled a little limoncello on the watermelon -- definitely a repeat.

And tomorrow? Off to a summer porch party with a salad made of all the bits and pieces we haven't eaten yet and a few supplemental bits and pieces I bought at the market yesterday.

By Monday, we may have run out of farm goodies, but perhaps we'll make a simple tomato sauce and serve it over pasta. Or we'll think of something completely different; we'll see.

curry!

My share mate brought me piles of food from the farm today. We had some leftover peas from the farmer's market this weekend, and a small head of cauliflower fresh from today. I made a tasty curry. I started by steaming the cauliflower. Then I fried spices in hot oil until they popped -- cumin, mustard, ajman (thyme seed) -- and threw onions and mushrooms on top to cool things down. To that, I added turmeric and cayenne and paneer (Indian cheese). Toward the end, I stirred in the cauliflower, the peas (uncooked), chopped garlic and ginger, and the cauliflower water. Things simmered a bit and it was ready to serve over rice -- brown rice with a little unsweetened coconut and spelt mixed in.

Tomorrow, we'll try to make a dent in some of the cabbage we got.

night before next farm delivery

We had two main dishes tonight. One was potatoes, carrots, fresh peas, and garlic scapes cooked in butter and olive oil, then tossed with toasted sesame oil. The other was "teen greens," napa cabbage, escarole, and a little broccoli, with a honey-mustard sauce. We served brown rice on the side. For dessert, we had the last of the pound cake, soaked in a little limoncello, strawberries, and lemon sorbetto on top.

And tomorrow, it all begins again with a fresh new assortment of farm veggies.

cool, refreshing salads

Thursday night, we had a salad, which included avocado, brown rice, scallions, carrots, red peppers, cucumber, mozarella cheese, several kinds of greens, and possibly a few other things. After dinner, we headed out to a bar to hear a friend perform. While there, I had dessert -- a pint of Irish stout and an incredibly good cupcake. We'll go back to the venue soon for a full dinner and possibly more music.

Tonight, we picked up some veggie eggrolls at the grocery store. They were pretty good. We also had a salad reminiscent of salade nicoise -- lettuce, napa cabbage, escarole, potatoes, string beans, red pepper, carrot, cuke, scallion, mozarella cheese, and of course tuna. I forgot the capers. I might make a veggie version in a few weeks for a birthday party we're going to, possibly using lentils instead of tuna.

fairly simple

Tonight we had a stir fry of farm cauliflower, farm shelled peas, and farm garlic scapes, all barely cooked, with a little hoisin sauce mixed in. I added some fresh mint at the end and served it over brown rice with some spelt added in. We also had a huge salad -- lettuce, arugula, escarole, napa cabbage, carrots, scallions, red pepper, avocado, and fresh mozzarella.

For dessert, we continued nibbling on the pound cake, strawberries, and blueberries, with lemon sorbetto and amaretto on top.

Such good tastes, so fresh tasting!

behind and more farm goodies!

I've fallen a little behind in documenting our dinners.

Last Wednesday, I had a meeting after work and Mr. P took it upon himself to make a light dinner. He made a huge salad which included some whole wheat pita that he tore up and cooked with herbs in a dry pan, a little like Middle Eastern dishes we've enjoyed.

Last weekend was the first farmer's market of the season in our town. We can actually walk to it, which we did, hoping that a coffee vendor would be there. Not yet. But we did buy shelled peas and yellow beets from a nearby organic farm.

Sunday night, we used the very last of last week's farm goodies and made an over-the-top delicious salad, including the tail-end of last week's rice and cooked beets, which were sweet, almost candy-like. I cooked up the last of our mizaluna (sp?), a spikey green, with our peas, some olive oil, and butter, then added fresh mint at the last minute. Totally delicious.

Yesterday -- incoming! We now have fresh peas from the farm we belong to, cauliflower, escarole, arugula, lettuce, strawberries, a beet, teen greens, garlic scapes, parsley, cilantro, and more.

Last night, we had dinner guests, including one young child. The mom reassured me her daughter is an omnivore, but I was skeptical. Our younger guest is so enerringly polite that I felt it important to tell her that she didn't have to eat everything if she didn't want to. I was shocked and pleased that she cleared several platefuls of food.

At the grocery store, I had bought some produce that isn't in season (or doesn't grow around here) -- mushrooms, cucumber, scallions (which we got for a few weeks at the farm and will see again), a whole wheat pizza crust, and some things for dessert.

For dinner, we had pizza with tomato sauce (Muir Glen, of course), mushrooms tossed in olive oil, and cheese. We had a salad with lettuce, arugula, cooked beets, cuke, scallions, cheese. And for dessert, we had pound cake with mangoes, blueberries, and fresh-picked strawberries, and lemon sorbetto on top. Dinner was very satisfying and tasty without leaving us feeling stuffed. Both our guests seemed happy, which made me happy -- I'm not at all used to cooking for kids. Fortunately, this one's palate is much more adjusted to adult tastes than kid tastes.

dinner guest!

Yesterday was pickup day at the farm. It was too wet to pick strawberries, so I'll go back later in the week for those. We got a lot of great looking greens and lettuce and a big beautiful cabbage that I split with my share mate.

I was inspired to make cabbage thoren -- that curry coconut dish from Kerala that we frequently make -- with mushrooms added in. I prepped everything and Mr. P did the cooking. It came out beautifully, a little spicy, a little moist, and the cabbage was fresh and zingy. We served it over brown rice which I cooked with a little rye.

On the side, we had a salad with two kinds of fresh lettuce, arugula, red pepper, cuke, carrot, and blue cheese.

And then our friend brought bags of groceries and made us dessert -- layers of ladyfingers with fresh cut mangoes, blueberries, plums, strawberries, vanilla ice cream, and whipped cream on top. We gilded the lily just a bit with a splash of limoncello. Oh my. That whole dessert almost made the dinner's glory instantly fade. It was a great dessert.

We sat at the table for nearly two hours. Very good food, great conversation.

Our friend left us with about six ripe mangoes (darn!) and a box of strawberries (darn!) and some ice cream (double darn!). We'll be eating lots of fruit for a while. Yum.

from mediocre to pretty darned good

On Wednesday, I was starting to burn out. I had piles of greens. I made something that was ok, but probably not a repeat (or if repeated, it would need a variation on the theme). It involved split yellow peas, greens, and sundried tomatoes with New Mexican chili powder, served over rice. It was fine, not spectacular. I think I overcooked it, though not so much that anything lost its color.

On Thursday, it seemed like time for something completely different. We had a side salad and a weird, made-up quiche created out of materials-at-hand. For the crust, I made breadcrumbs in the food processor, then added walnuts and whole wheat flour, some olive oil, a tiny amount of butter, and some water. Too much water! So after pressing the mess into a pie pan, I cooked it at very low temps while the oven was warming up.

I sauteed onions, scallions (this week, the scallions were a couple of feet long, funny things, but tasty), and the remainder of the cookable greens -- spinach and mixed baby greens. Once cooked, I put them in a collander and pressed some of the juice out. Then, I added them to a mix of eggs, nonfat cream cheese, shredded cheddar, and nonfat yogurt.

I was pretty sure the whole thing would be an inedible gooey mess. But it turns out that the crust remade itself into the best-ever breadcrumby, tasty, crunchy, toasty container. And the filling was creamy and tasty. Yum. I might even try that one again.

We had a side salad, mostly because we had a surfeit of lettuce last week and more is coming this week, I'm sure.

Last night, we got a whole grain pizza crust to which we added sauteed onions, scallions, and walnuts, topped with blue cheese. Very simple, and quite delicious. At the store, we got some supplementary veggies and had a full-fledged salad -- lettuce, mozarella, red pepper, cucumber, mushrooms.

Tonight, we'll have an easy dinner of more salad, leftover quiche, and grocery broccoli, which I think will clean us out of farm veggies and make room for tomorrow's next farm pickup. Phew.

greens and ravioli

We had serving three (of four) of the Costco spinach and cheese ravioli. For a topping, I sauteed onions, then added the last bit of broccoli from last week and chopped greens (chard, spinach, and a "young greens" mix). I also threw in some soaked sundried tomatoes and a little Bragg's and apple cider vinegar. We topped the dish with pine nuts.

On the side, we had a salad -- fresh lettuce, scallion, radish, turnip, and a few of the aforementioned greens minus the chard, plus tomatoes and mozarella cheese (homemade in someone else's home), and toasted walnuts. For dressing lately, I just throw on some organic olive oil and balsamic vinegar; I'm feeling too lazy even to go to the pantry for bottled dressing.

For dessert, we ate fresh-picked strawberries -- I picked four quarts yesterday (which I split with my share mate), so we have a few nights of strawberries to go through. And now I'm inspired to make strawberry jam before it's too late, which means in the next week or two. Yum!

lunch and breakfast!

A friend came over for lunch yesterday. I made a very nice salad -- farm lettuce, arugula, spinach, radish, scallion to which I added tiny tomatoes, capers, toasted walnuts, and blue cheese. We had brie on the side. I made iced tea (a mix of pomegranate and mint teas) and had some tiny cookies and fresh organic strawberries on hand for dessert.

My friend brought bagels (which seemed like good transport mechanisms for the brie) and fresh fruit. So I sliced her fruit and the strawberries and we had a nice fruit salad.

This morning, our overnight guests and we had more fruit salad, brie, bagels, yogurt, maple syrup, and healthy muffins, along with oj and coffee.

ooh la la

Tonight's dinner: A curry. I started by soaking the very gritty fresh spinach we have from the farm -- put it in a bowl of water in small batches, let it sit, then moved the clean spinach to a collander. Then I destemmed the leaves and chopped them and eventually steamed them for just a few minutes, until they were relaxed, but not collapsed.

I also chopped and steamed potatoes and farm turnips. And then I made a "tarka" -- spice seeds cooked on high heat until popping nicely and threw chopped onions on top at the last minute. The onions turned beautifully yellow and cooked for a bit. I threw in some leftover chickpeas and a little water, then after a while, the potatoes and turnips. When everything was nice and hot, I added the spinach, cooked for a bit, added some (more) cayenne and chopped ginger and garlic, cooked a little more, and we had dinner -- curry over brown rice. Nice and spicy!

Four meals later, we're nearly at the end of this week's farm bounty. However, there's enough for a nice salad on Saturday afternoon for my mid-day guest, which will at least contain scallion, radish, lettuce, arugula, spinach (the last bit) -- all from the farm -- and perhaps some toasted nuts and maybe a few other goodies. I was thinking also of a small cheese plate with good bread and fruit and possibly cookies for dessert.

I think we're having overnight guests on Saturday, so we'll also need to make a nice breakfast on Sunday, either eggs, or the traditional fruit, granola, yogurt, and maple syrup. There's some whole wheat cinnamon swirl bread in the fridge; that would make a nice accompaniment to either.

the color of the day? green!!

Tonight, we had fresh farm broccoli. As much as I love store broccoli, the stuff from the farm is so much tastier -- a little sweeter, a little less sulphery edge. It was all pretty simple, really. I steamed the broccs, sauteed an onion and little cubes of bread, then tossed the broccoli in to the mix. We served it over brown rice with a sauce of tahini, Bragg's, and fresh lemon juice drizzled on top.

On the side, we had a small salad -- lettuce, spinach, arugula, turnip, scallion, black olives, and blue cheese. I dressed it with a splash of balsamic vinegar and a splash of olive oil.

And then for dessert, we finished off the strawberries I picked yesterday. They are so bursting with flavor; I wanted to finish them before they went bad, which would probably be soon.

Tomorrow? More green -- spinach this time.

night o' greens

Farm pickup today. For dinner, I made a salad out of parts of most of the bounty -- lettuce, arugula, spinach, radish, turnip, cilantro, oregano, beautiful shiny purple scallions. We can opt to get homemade organic mozarella, so I got a piece and chopped some into the salad. I also added capers, toasted almond slices, chopped apple, and chick peas.

I made a funky side dish -- kale tossed in oil and a little vinegar (and salt and chili) and baked until crispy. I liked it; Mr. P did not think it was worth repeating, though he ate it eagerly. I think it looked a little too much like dried seaweed which he's mostly unsure about.

Dessert, in part, consisted of fresh-picked organic strawberries, shiny and lusciously red.

Tomorrow, I'll make something with the two varieties of broccoli we got. And the following night, I'll try to attack the overwhelming amount of spinach we have on hand. A guest is coming for lunch on Saturday, so I'll try to reserve some of the greens for a nice salad for her.

bonus and tonight's plans

A last-minute cancellation of a dinner out left me wondering what to make. Last night, Mr. P stepped into the kitchen and made thoren (cocunut curry) out of non-local asparagus (not yet, but soon), mushrooms, and frozen edamame. There was also half a lemon in the fridge, so he juiced it and used it. This was a particularly good batch, both in taste and texture. The thoren page in the cookbook is getting a great workout and is full of our notes!

Tonight, we're having a fairly simple spaghetti sauce over whole wheat pasta. We have some tomato sauce left over from a project -- maybe the pizza for which I opened a can but used very little -- and some baby bok choy. Perhaps I'll add capers or olives and mushrooms.

Then tomorrow -- incoming! -- the second pickup from the farm. From there, we'll have to just make it up depending on what we get. I'm hoping the strawberries are ready (yum) and I'm sure there will be lots of greens.

greens greens greens

Last night, I steamed kale and baby bok choy, then added to a saute pan already containing onions and tofu and the rest of the arugula. When they were just about done, I added some garlic and ginger and cooked briefly. Then, out of the pan, I tossed in a mix of sesame paste, umeboshi plum paste, and soy sauce and served it all over rice.

And now, all we have left from this week's farm adventure are a couple of tiny turnips, a tiny bunch of baby bok choy, and a few strands of fresh herbs. Maybe we'll cut the turnips up and use them to dip into the leftover hummus?

Next farm date is Tuesday; can't wait to see if the strawberries are ready!

farm dinner #2

We had some hummus and pita that needed to be eaten (chipotle and whole wheat, respectively). For one side dish, I steamed some farm broccoli (looser crown, tastier veggie, more tender stalks than what's in the store) and tossed it with some of our seemingly endless supply of cilantro pesto from last summer. For a second side dish, I made a salad of farm spinach and farm arugula, tossed with apple, toasted almond slivers, blue cheese, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil. Many different tastes, all intriguing. I think the salad was the winner tonight.

saag paneer - another attempt

Today was farm day! Although we had a smallish haul, we still have about four dinners worth, maybe more.

Tonight I made a variation on saag paneer -- Indian spinach and cheese. It came out rather nicely, if I do say so myself. I started out by heating and popping spices (black and yellow mustard seeds, cumin seeds, turmeric, and cayenne), then cooling down with onions. I added mushrooms, paneer, and tomato sauce (perhaps too much, but it was fine) -- and let it all cook for a while over low heat. Then I added fresh chopped spinach and covered to cook. When it was nearly done, I added roughly chopped ginger and garlic and some cumin powder (my one cheat). We served the whole thing over rice. The spinach had lots of flavor, as did the rest of the dish. This is a recipe I'll continue to improve on; it's great fun to make and very fun to eat.

slightly odd dinner last night, slightly more normal tonight

In a very sweet gesture, a colleague at work gave me a bunch of fennel. I wasn't sure what to do with it. Advice on the web ranges from eggs to potatoes. Last night, I sauteed onions, mushrooms, and garlic, to which I added steamed broccoli and potatoes. Once the veggies were in a bowl, safely away from heat, I tossed them in a sauce of chopped fennel, half the juce of a lemon, salt, pepper, and half a teaspoon of chipotle chile powder. We served it over brown rice. Not too bad.

On the side, we had our famous Greek salad. And for dessert, we had cherries, which are in the markets right now at great prices (not sure if they're coming north from central or south america or east from washington state), chopped watermelon, and baklava. Mr. P buys the baklava in a large tray a couple of times a year. We split it up, freeze it in small quantities, and then defrost some before dinner every now and then.

A little while ago, I bought one of those whole grain pizza crusts. Tonight, we'll have it topped with tomato (canned organic), tomatoes, garlic, mushrooms, blue cheese, and walnuts. Oh, and Greek salad on the side.

And tomorrow, we start up at the farm. No idea what's coming, probably lots of leafy greens to begin with, and who knows what other surprises we'll get. Two weeks ago, we were weeding spinach and trellising peas. Not sure when we'll see the vegetables of our labors, even.

ravioli round 2 and bachelorette night

A few nights ago, I used up round 2 of 4 of that Costco ravioli that I like so much. I sauteed onions, then added mushrooms and covered. Meanwhile, I made a little sauce out of water, cornstarch, grey poupon mustard, and tarragon. When the mushrooms were cooked and juicy, I folded in the sauce, and everything thickened up nicely. We served ravioli and veggies topped with chopped scallions and Romano cheese.

On the side, we had a salad of cucumber, pepper, tomato, scallions, and herbed feta, with olive oil and cider vinegar dressing.

Definitely something I'd order again.

Last night, I was on my own, as Mr. P worked into the night (he had a mandatory work night). I steamed broccoli and a little potato, which I added into sauteed onions. Then I tossed with feta and a sauce of tahini, soy, and umeboshi plum paste. I ate the whole thing over leftover brown rice. Just right.

cauliflower curry

Last night, after a lovely south Indian brunch earlier in the day, we were still fullish by dinner. So for dinner, we ate blue corn chips and salsa and slices of cheese.

Tonight, though, we'd been out all day walking for hours. I made a cauliflower curry. I started with some Indian spices in hot oil. When it was all nice and fragrant, I added onions and after a while, finely chopped plum tomatoes. I waited until the tomatoes gave up and wilted. Things were kind of moist. I then added cubed steamed potatoes and eventually some steamed cauliflower, organic purple cauliflower to be specific. After introductions had been made, I added frozen peas, ginger, and garlic, and covered, continuing to cook over low heat. We served it over brown rice with some chutneys on the side.

And good news -- today I heard from our CSA farm that pickups start the first Tuesday in June. Hooray! I'm hoping to take off half of every Tuesday in June, which should make the beginning of farm pickups a little more relaxed. We'll see.