It's Veggie Day! It's Veggie Day!

When I got home from picking up our share, it was dinner time, and I couldn't find the camera. So the veggies got tucked away in the fridge without a photo session.

In our wonderful share this week we received:


green and yellow zucchini (I love the two-tone look!)
broccoli (Susannah was loving on the broccoli as I was picking up the rest of my share- it's her favourite!)
green onions
garlic
red head lettuce
bag of "oriental mix" (mixed greens for salad or saute)
beets
cherry tomatoes (I love these! they are so cute and pretty, they look like jewels, or marbles)
2 (small) yellow watermelons

These watermelons really are amazing, and I think they just keep getting sweeter! I know our 2nd one seemed sweeter than the first. While we were at the farm, Kylah cut up a melon that had split, and it was just as good as the others we've had. Susannah enjoyed several slices, as did I (and everyone else who was picking up their veggies at the time). Kylah commented that the melons are so good they're exploding with flavour and goodness! I think that is true of all the produce we receive from the farm!

I am not sure what all I'll come up with for meals this week. Tonight we had Black Bean and Pumpkin Chili which was very tasty. It didn't have many of our CSA veggies in it (just onion and garlic), but the black beans were from a previous CSA we were part of. The only changes I made to the recipe were I omitted the peppers, and added a bit of chipotle powder, and a bit of honey (I always do when I'm cooking with tomatoes- it takes some of the acidity away). I suppose I also used dried beans (not canned) but I soaked and cooked them before adding, so they were in pretty much the same state. It cooked up real nice in the crockpot, and was ready when we arrived home from our farm adventure. We had it with bread and garlic butter (made with fresh CSA garlic!) and it was a wonderful, hearty meal.

Another project of mine today was a "thank you" gift for our sitter. I used the chocolate zucchini loaf recipe, except made cupcakes out of it. I also made them just plain chocolate, rather than adding other flavourings (mostly cuz I didn't have any on hand!) They turned out very nicely- one recipe makes 12 cupcakes.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

One thing I particularly enjoy when cooking is to take an "old standby" meal, and veggie-fy it. Tonight, we had spaghetti and meatballs, but not just regular old pasta and meat.

delicious leftovers for lunch another day

I make up turkey meatballs and freeze them (cooked), so that they are available when we need a quick meal. We use whole grain pastas, and store-bought sauce (gasp!) so it really is a fast meal to throw together. Tonight I added a bunch of rainbow chard to the pasta water just before the pasta was cooked. Then I added "Florentine Spinach and Cheese" pasta sauce (although any kind would do), and some fresh garlic. I also made roasted baby eggplants.

For the eggplant, I started off with this recipe, but only did the roasting part. We just scraped them out of their shells (with a grapefruit spoon) and ate them with our pasta. Because I did not really follow the recipe, below is what I did.

Roasted Baby Eggplants

Cut in half, brush with garlic olive oil (a clove of garlic crushed into maybe 1-2T of oil). Bake at 375*F for 15min. Remove from oven, brush with garlic olive oil again, and return to oven. Broil for 3-4 minutes, or until they "look done". They should puff in the middle, and start to get caramelized areas. Sprinkle with salt, and serve. They were delicious- so creamy and smooth. 

Next time, I will salt them earlier, I think, but otherwise they were wonderful.

I greatly enjoyed this meal, and am very excited that I have leftovers for two more lunches.

Zucchini Fries

With all the zucchini we've been getting from our CSA share, we've had to get creative to keep from getting tired of it. I was just thinking today that zucchini is one of my favourite veggies, perhaps because it is SO versatile! It's great roasted, in a stir-fry, grilled on the BBQ, in a pasta sauce, made into fritters, in an omelet, and even baked in muffins and desserts. And I've heard it's good stuffed, but haven't tried that yet.

Tonight for dinner we tried zucchini fries, and they are a new favourite! The coating was perfectly crispy, while the insides were deliciously juicy. And I made some garlic mayo to go with them, which was the perfect creamy accompaniment.

Susannah enjoying her zucchini fries

I used panko breadcrumbs, which I think helped to make them even crispier. I also went very easy on the red pepper flakes, as Susannah and I don't like a lot of heat. Next time, I would add some garlic powder to the breadcrumb mixture, and maybe a little more oregano. Or something. They seemed like they could use a little more flavour, although with the mayo it wasn't noticeable.

all that was left when I remembered to take a picture

I meant to take a picture of them, but we inhaled the first tray, and the second tray disappeared almost as fast. Susannah absolutely loved them- I think she ate at least 10 "fries" which is almost one (small) zucchini's worth! It was hard to know which she loved more though, the fries or the garlic mayo.

playing around

Suggested with the zucchini fries recipe is a roasted garlic aioli, and while I do love garlic, I'm not crazy about it roasted. Plus, I did not have time to roast a head of garlic today. But I did want a dipping sauce for the fries (who doesn't!) so I threw together the easiest dip ever. Garlic mayo. Not that it really needs a recipe, but I know there are some people out there (my mom) who prefer to use a recipe for everything. And I mean everything.

Garlic Mayo
1c mayo
4 cloves garlic 

a sprinkle of pepper 

Press garlic through garlic press. Mix with mayo. Sprinkle with pepper and mix again. Serve.

Egg Bake

Almost every Saturday (or holiday) morning, my husband makes us "special breakfast". In his house growing up, dad was the breakfast chef, and he is happy to carry on that tradition. And Susannah and I are happy to eat it! Often this consists of buttermilk pancakes (Susannah's favourite), omelets, eggs and bacon, waffles, or french toast. Occasionally it is egg bake. I am sure there is some fancy name for a dish like this, but we just know it as egg bake. It's not an "everyday" type of breakfast... but it's a very delicious, all-in-one treat.

Today our egg bake included green onions, red onions, garlic, fresh herbs from our garden (basil, oregano, thyme, parsley), cherry tomatoes, and of course, eggs and cheese!

Here's as much "recipe" as I can pull together...
Choose a baking dish. Sprinkle some grated cheese in the bottom (to loosely cover it). Today we used cheddar and jalapeno havarti. Dice up several slices of bread into cubes (generally speaking half to one slice per person, depending on type of bread), and spread over cheese. Beat together eggs (about 2 per person) and a bit of cream (or milk, but cream makes it fluffy!), then add in your veggies, salt and pepper, herbs and spices. Pour the egg mixture over top of the bread. It should almost cover the bread. If it doesn't, combine more eggs and cream, and add! We sliced the cherry tomatoes and laid them on top of the egg, but you could mix them in just as easily. Then sprinkle with more grated cheese. 

ready to go in the oven

Bake at 350*F until it looks done! It really depends on the size of the dish, but usually 30-60 minutes does it. It will puff up and the egg will look set and golden brown around the edges.

golden brown and puffy- ready to eat

Alternatively, you can make this in individual ramekins and serve in individual portions. This is especially nice for guests!

delicious!

We ate half of this dish for breakfast today, and have leftovers for tomorrow. This used 4 slices of whole wheat bread, and a dozen eggs (although the original plan was 8 eggs!) We used half a red onion, two green onions, several cloves of garlic, and about 10 cherry tomatoes. Also, a handful of herbs... maybe 2-3T when chopped up.

Grape Pie

Last week I made grape jam with Coronation grapes (seedless blue grapes) but had more cooked squished grapes than I needed. I remembered a recipe I'd seen in my "Mennonite Community Cookbook" for Grape Pie. It always intrigued me, but I'd never tried making it. The grapes I had left over were almost exactly what I needed for the pie recipe- it's like it was meant to be! The recipe is designed for grapes with seeds, but since I had seedless grapes I used them instead.

in the oven

Grape Pie

3.5c blue grapes (Concord, etc.)

1c sugar

4T flour

1.5T butter, melted

1T lemon juice

pastry for covered 9" pie, or 9" pie shell plus crumb topping

Wash, drain, and stem grapes. Remove skins and simmer pulp for 5 minutes. While hot, press pulp through seive to remove seeds. Combine strained pulp with skins.

OR

use 2.5c cooked seedless grape mash leftover from making jam!

Combine flour and sugar, and add to grapes. Blend in lemon juice and melted butter. Pour into pie shell. Cover with top crust OR crumb topping (see below).

Bake at 425*F for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350*F for 30-40 minutes.

Crumb Topping

3/4c flour

1/2c sugar

1/3c melted butter

Rub flour, sugar, and butter together to form crumbs, and sprinkle on top of pie.

finished product

So, how did it taste? It was excellent. I wasn't sure how the filling would turn out, but it came out smooth and sticky- solid enough that it didn't run all over the place, but definitely not firm. Pretty much exactly how you want a filling to be. The grapey flavour was not as strong as I expected, but it was still delicious. The crumb topping reminded me of a fruit crisp- yum! Definitely a recipe I will make again.

mmm... pie.