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Veggies, Friends, and Pizza

June 6, 2012 3 Comments

About two months ago, I started to look up options for CSA’s in my area.  I’ve wanted to join a CSA for a while, but my life the past few years hasn’t been conducive to a weekly fruit/veggie delivery.  This was the year and when I found Great Country Farms in Bluemont, Virginia, I knew I had found a winner.  There were three options for pick-up/delivery.  One, you could go to the farm and pick up your share yourself…this wasn’t for me.  Two, you could pick up your share from specific drop off points in the area…again, not for me.  Three, you could have it delivered to your door…which was perfect.  It was the most expensive option, but the most convenient for me.  I signed up and then anxiously awaited June 5th for my first delivery.

Getting home last night and seeing the package in front of my door was like waking up on Christmas morning!  I was so excited to see what I received!  My half-share had a big bag of kale, some radishes, squash, spring onions, sweet cherries, a basil plant, a garlic scape, and a bag of unidentified greens.  I’ve never been so excited to clean veggies in my life!

I took the cherries to work today and munched on them all day long.  I will be eating them tomorrow too…so good!  Cherries are for sure my favorite fruit right now.  I wasn’t sure what to do with the rest, but luckily the farm emailed us about this shipment and they provided a recipe.  It looked simple, used three of the items in my share, and sounded delicious.  I was game.  I invited my friend Sarah over and set out to make some Greens Pizza!

This pizza was delicious!  I took the garlic scape and sautéed it in some olive oil.  To that, I added kale and salt.  Once the kale was softened, I added fresh basil and sun-dried tomatoes.  I spread the kale mixture over a thin crust Boboli shell and topped it all with some shredded mozzarella cheese.  Baked it until the cheese was golden and melted and delicious.  This was a winner of a recipe and I will definitely utilize the farm’s recipes in the future!

Overall, I am super happy with my CSA membership so far!  I know it has only been a week, but I’m excited to see what the rest of the summer brings…I know it will be tasty!

 

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Recipe: Sweet Potato Tater Tot Casserole

February 28, 2012 6 Comments

The first time I tried tater tot casserole was when I lived in Okinawa, Japan.  A friend introduced me to this simple, simple meal that combined things I enjoyed in one dish.  The original recipe involves ground beef, onion, cream of mushroom soup, and tater tots.  That is it.  Over the years, I have continued to tweak this recipe.  Changing this and that, adding this and that…you get the idea.

While I feel silly saying this is my recipe, since there are a bazillion other tater tot casserole recipes on the internet already, I like to think this is mine.  The key to this recipe is to smother it in ketchup before you eat it.  I equate tater tot casserole with comfort food and adding these changes makes me think that it is a bit healthier for me (if you just ignore the condensed soup…).  I hope you enjoy!

Sweet Potato Tater Tot Casserole

By:  Sarah Armstrong

Serves about 6

1 lb extra lean ground turkey

1/2 c chopped onion

1 16 oz bag frozen mixed veggies (corn, carrots, peas, green beans, and lima beans)

1 can Cream of Mushroom soup

1 c shredded cheddar

1 20 oz bag sweet potato puffs

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Brown the turkey on the stove.  Salt and pepper the turkey as desired.  When the turkey is almost done cooking, add the onion and cook until softened.  Once the turkey is done cooking, mix with the frozen veggies, soup, and cheddar cheese.  Put the turkey mixture into a baking dish and cover the top with a single layer of sweet potato puffs.

Bake for 30 minutes or until the sweet potato puffs are crispy.  Serve with ketchup (if you’re smart).

Enjoy!

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Who needs cookbooks anymore?

August 10, 2011 5 Comments

Cheesy!

With the exception of a few in my collection, my cookbooks don’t get enough use.  They have a nice bookshelf in my kitchen.  They look great.  They are ridiculously heavy to move (side story…I packed all my cookbooks in one box on this last move…I know, I know…the box was so heavy that everyone who got near it started to call it the evil box…it was the last to get anywhere!). 

I find that when I am looking for something to make, I generally always find recipes on blogs or online.  I like to hear a “testimonial” that the recipe has good results.  I turn to my cookbooks for the tried and true recipes, but for the most part, I don’t even think of them as a resource.  Isn’t that sad?

Gooey!

This post is just another example of me using a blog to find a recipe.  I’ve had this recipe bookmarked for a while, but what pushed me over the edge to finally make it was the huge zucchini I bought at the farmer’s market on Saturday.  I knew I needed to finally make this recipe and once I picked up a few extra things, it was on!

I used a pre-made pizza dough (because I’m lazy and afraid of yeast).  This recipe is basically a seasoned ricotta cheese base, covered in shredded zucchini and mozzarella, and topped with some red pepper flakes.  Could that get any easier?  I ate three pieces and then froze the rest.  Hopefully they are still good when I eat them sometime down the line.  This was a great summery recipe that is an excellent use of zucchini.  And when there are veggies on your pizza, it is a health food!

Do you use cookbooks a lot still or do you turn to the internet?

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What’s in a label?

August 5, 2011 2 Comments

Gooey, Melty, Cheesy, Yummy

Growing up, for as long as I can remember, I was raised in a “vegetarian” household.  I put vegetarian in quotes because we weren’t true vegetarians.  My dad ate fish.  My mom would make me and my sister chicken and turkey sometimes.  We hardly ever had beef or pork, but we weren’t kept from eating it when we were out if we wanted to.  Our diets were basically what I would call “aquatarian,” and that was okay with me (except for the stir-fry years…sorry mom, that was a rough time for dinner in our house!).  Because of these “vegetarian” tendencies, I don’t have a serious cravings for meat to this day.  You will be hard pressed to find meat in my house (with the exception of a few chicken breasts).  If I feel like meat, I normally eat it when I go to a restaurant.

Every once in a while, I will get an itch that I “should” be a vegetarian.  Or a vegan.  I’ll read something that will convince me that I need to do this…you know, for ethical reasons.  Then I will have an overwhelming urge for a cheeseburger.  Or a huge glass of milk.  And I realize that labeling isn’t for me.  I can’t call myself a vegetarian.  I can’t call myself a vegan.  And I can’t really call myself a true carnivore.  If I needed to put a label on my eating tendencies, I would have to go with “quasi-vegetarian with the occasional burger with bacon.”

I give you all this background to tell you that I tried my hand at vegan macaroni and cheese, a la Peas and Thank You.  I tried out the recipe for Lulu’s Macaroni and Cheese, which you can find on page 183.  I followed the recipe to the letter and made it vegan.  I tried Daiya cheese for the first time.  What I got was a pot full of creamy macaroni and cheese.

I wanted to love this version of macaroni and cheese.  I wanted it to convince me that I could be a vegan.  I could still enjoy my comfort foods without having to eat cheese.  The recipe was quick.  It really didn’t take any longer to make than a box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese would take.  And the fact that I knew everything that I was putting in the recipe was awesome.  After I got my bowl of goodness, I finally took my first bite.  And then my second.  And I realized I would never, ever be a vegan.

Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of vegan recipes that are delicious and I know I will continue to find more and more.  And this recipe had nothing wrong with it.  It was really good.  And if you couldn’t have dairy for some reason, this would be a great substitute.  It was creamier than I had ever expected it to be.  It tasted a bit like macaroni and cheese.  But it will never replace macaroni and cheese for me because I am a “quasi-vegetarian with the occasional burger with bacon” who also loves cheese.  I am really glad that I tried this recipe and it was good (I’m taking the leftovers for lunch today), but for me…I love me some cheese and that isn’t ever going to change.

Do you have a label for yourself?

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Italian Deliciousness

August 3, 2011 Leave a Comment

A meal fit for a queen…or a princess! :)

I love Italian food.  And I can completely admit that I like the Americanized version of Italian food.  I eat the frozen cheese ravioli like they are going out of style.  Penne and spaghetti are my bestest friends.  Basically, my opinion is everything is better covered in tomato sauce.  But can you believe I have never made tomato sauce from scratch?  Nope…I’ve always wanted to, but it is just so easy to grab a jar of sauce and use that.  But now I can’t say I have never made tomato sauce before.  And you know what?  I don’t think I will ever be able to go back to jarred sauce again!

Gnocchi for me, Gnocchi for you!

My Dad came into town on Sunday night for my promotion on Monday.  Since he had driven over four hours to get here, I treated him to a homemade meal.  The main course?  In an effort to continue trying every recipe in Peas and Thank You, I knocked off two with the main course.  The Tofu Ricotta Gnocchi (pages 144-147) was the base and I covered it in Homestyle Spaghetti Sauce (page 142).  I un-veganized it with the sprinkle of parmesan cheese on the top, but in my opinion, it was worth it!

Holy macaroni…err, gnocchi!

The spaghetti sauce was super easy to make.  I added 2 cloves of garlic to the sauce and it was a perfect addition.  You can never have enough garlic in your life.  I loved how simple the recipe was, but loved more the intense flavor in the sauce.  Delicious!  The gnocchi was also relatively simple to make.  I’ve never attempted to make traditional gnocchi, so I can’t compare, but the hardest part of this recipe was the rolling of the dough, and that wasn’t hard.  The food processor does all of the work.  I did roll the gnocchi off a fork to give them those traditional lines.  I don’t own a gnocchi board, so I had to improvise, but it worked really well!

Since only two of us were eating, I ended up freezing half of the recipe.  Looks like I’ll have some gnocchi for dinner later this week.  I was the most impressed by the flavor of the gnocchi.  It tasted JUST LIKE traditional gnocchi!  My dad was impressed as well, but said it would have been better with mushrooms.  My response?  Never going to happen in my house!  (Really not a fan of mushrooms, at all!)

Gotta have some greens!

I finished off the meal with a simple green salad and yet another recipe from Peas and Thank You, the Balsamic Vinaigrette (page 127).  Balsamic is one of my favorites and this dressing was delicious!  I have a feeling this recipe is going to be a repeat offender.

If you are counting, that is 4 recipes complete!

Have you ever made gnocchi before?

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