Another one about food.



Expect food posts more often, folks. I am on a mission to make sure we use all of the contents of our veggies each week and sharing recipes with you is part of the fun for me.

I picked up our veggies today and got a sweet little suprise. Pretty bright red strawberries! I smell a berry crisp in our future... Again I searched epicurious for recipes and got an assortment of yummy ideas.

This weeks box includes Salad Mix, Strawberries, Rosemary, Chard, Snow Peas, Leeks and, Arugula. I'll be making Mixed Berry Crisp (with fresh and frozen berries), Seared Rainbow Chard with Leeks, Rosemary Shortbread, and Arugula Salad this week. All these recipes can be found on the epicurious website (I'm too lazy to hyperlink all of them). If you all have any suggestions for recipes I must try using any of these ingredients toss 'em my way!


By the way, last weeks recipes were amazing. I wasn't sure that the Spring Vegetable Soup would be flavorful enough, but it was perfect. The Collard Green Olive Pesto is also going to become a family favorite. It was good spread on cibatta, too.

I'm off to make Martha's Marble cake for Handmade Parade and mow the lawns!

Buh-Bye Red Meat

A few months ago we signed up for a CSA and have been enjoying weekly vegetable and bread deliveries ever since. We have tried lots of new veggies, or at least veggies we don't normally buy, like beets (which I like roasted with olive oil salt and pepper) leeks, and this weeks fava beans. We have made a commitment to healthy eating and though I proposed going vegetarian all the way (pretty much everything I cook is sans meat anyway) Aaron balked at the idea of no more chicken ever again. At the end of the day red meat got the voted off the island and chicken and fish get to stay. We rarely eat red meat to begin with, so this isn't really the sacrifice it might seem.

I love going through my recipe collection and planning our meals. I have big plans for the veggie box this week. Fava Bean and Spring Vegetable Soup, Collard Green Olive Pesto, Beets and Carmelized Onion with Feta are just a few of the recipes slated for this week.

The other night I made vegetable lasagna, adapted from my favorite Everyday Food lasagna recipe. It was probably the best lasagna I have made yet and was made using whatever veggies I had on hand. I am not one to follow recipes exactly (or directions, or patterns...) but this one I followed pretty well. I just added chopped up broccoli and some extra garlic cloves to my marinara sauce and used low fat or part skim cheeses.

It must have been pretty good because we had it for dinner Monday night and Aaron took the leftovers for lunch both yesterday and today.

PS see my fun new range?? I love it! SO easy to clean!!

Simon, you're an ass, I DO NOT look like a monkey!

Said a disgruntled American Idol cast-off. True, the guy didn't look like a monkey so much. More like Gollum from LOTR. We thought that guy's retort was particularly hilarious. Obviously we watch AI, but only until the LA episodes start. We lose interest when the train wrecks of the early auditions end. Talented folks are not nearly as entertaining and those who can't sing. I know. I should have more originality than to watch that crap. But I don't. Let me know when there is a support group for fans of bad reality tv. I might go.

On my way home yesterday I spotted a Hancock Fabrics store I haven't been to yet and stopped in. I was lucky to have come on their dollar days, so I managed to pick up two back issues of Cutting Edge magazine and some fab xmas fabric for cheap. The mags were a dollar each and the fabric 1/2 off. Coupled with ME's Home Companion, and I have quite the inspirational day ahead of me, no?

Everyone but me is sick over here, so I may take advantage of the general mellowness and get some crafting done. There are Valentines dying to be made over here! Plus, this week has been heavy on the cooking, but not so much on the crafting. Gotta change that! My pics are bad this morning, but isn't that fabric great? I'm going to make holiday pillows for next year with it.

Speaking of cooking, I promised a soup recipe today didn't I? Well, the sausage leek soup was great and super easy to make. Of course, soup is always easy to make, but you know what I mean. I even made croutons to go with it. This is definitely not a low fat recipe. Next time I might drain off more fat and add white beans. Either way it was good.

Sausage Leek Soup with Salt and Pepper Croutons

4 links of Mild or Hot Italian sausage, sliced

1 large leek, sliced

3 cloves minced garlic

2 14 oz cans of chicken broth

4 cups hot water

salt and pepper to taste

Place soup pan over medium heat and cook sausage until browned. Remove from pan and pat off excess fat (there will be plenty unless you get lean sausage) and set aside. Cook leeks and garlic in sausage fat until tender and then add sausage back to the pan. Add 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper and cover. Let cook about 15 minutes on med-low heat. Add water and broth and bring to a boil. Add more salt and pepper to taste. Simmer on med-low another 30 minutes to an hour.

Salt and Pepper Croutons

Whole Wheat bread cut into 1 inch cubes

olive oil

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place bread in a single layer on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and toss to coat. Shake salt and pepper over them. Bake for 5 minutes, stir the croutons then bake for 5 more minutes.

It was super easy and really good!

It was dark out, so the lighting is bad, it looked much better in person!