CSA - Week Seven

More Tomatoes - they are all canned already. We canned them the same day we got them.

Bell Peppers - will eat raw and maybe use in a pasta dish this week.

Figs - eating raw

Eggplant - looking for something to do with this

Okra

Jalapeno Peppers

Squash

Canned Tomatoes

The canning continues. I am a bit obsessed. I just love seeing the jars in my pantry and knowing they are waiting for me! The husband and I have become a good team and I am enjoying having a new hobby/job for us to do together. Although, as we canned last night, he asked "what, are we 70? Spending our Saturday night canning?" Maybe we should get some other hobbies, huh?

From the following website:

http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/nutrition/dj1097.html

Procedure
Wash tomatoes and dip in boiling water for 30 to 60 seconds or until skins split. Then dip in cold water, slip off skins, and remove cores. Trim off any bruised or discolored portions and quarter. Heat 1/6 of the quarters quickly in a large pot, crushing them with a wooden mallet or spoon as they are added to the pot. This will exude juice. Continue heating the tomatoes, stirring to prevent burning. Once the tomatoes are boiling, gradually add remaining quartered tomatoes, stirring constantly. These remaining tomatoes do not need to be crushed. They will soften with heating and stirring. Continue until all tomatoes are added. Then boil gently 5 minutes. Add citric acid to jars. See instructions under Acidification. Add 1 teaspoon of salt per quart to the jars, if desired. Fill jars immediately with hot tomatoes, leaving a 1/2-inch headspace. Adjust lids and process.

Recommended Processes
(Crushed Tomatoes Without Added Liquid)

1. Boiling Water Bath:
   • Pints, 40 minutes
   • Quarts, 50 minutes

Vegetable Soup

aka use up the farm box produce.

There isn't really a recipe per se - I just chopped and cooked lots of vegetables and simmered for a bit. This soup had the following: onions, green peppers, carrots, garlic, zucchini, potatoes, tomatoes, green beans and parsley. I served it with bread and butter and some fruit.

CSA - week six

Running late on this post....

Lot and lots of tomatoes - we canned about 80%. I used this method (and found citric acid at whole foods, in case you're wondering).

Green Beans

Red Potatoes

Bell Peppers

Figs

Okra

See the little hands grabbing for the green beans? My four year old took a plate of raw green beans and tomatoes up to her room for her afternoon snack. My two year old, well, he doesn't share her love for either of those things.

Bruschetta

I like any combination of tomato and basil.

Ingredients:

1 c chopped tomato

1 clove garlic, chopped

1/3 c basil, chopped

1 Tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

loaf of crusty bread

Directions:

1. Slice bread and toast slightly in warm oven (I like my bread crispy, so it doesn't get too soggy with the tomato topping)

2. Mix tomatoes, garlic, basil, olive oil, salt and pepper.

3. Put tomato mixture on top of toasted bread.

4. 0ptional - broil for a few minutes to warm up spread and bread.

Yes, I CAN

The Husband and I made salsa. I haven't tasted it yet, as I'm enjoying just looking at the 4 cans of summer that we'll have to open later in the year. We followed the Ball Canning Kit instructions and recipe and used CSA tomatoes, green peppers, jalapenos, banana peppers and garlic.

CSA - Week Five

YAY!! The tomatoes are bountiful this week!

Tomatoes - a lot, but I would have loved even more. The Husband and I canned salsa this afternoon - my first experience with home canning. Knowing all about C. bot and all has made me leery of home canning, but I feel pretty safe with high-acid foods.

Bell Peppers - We used the two green ones in the salsa. My 4 year old will eat the red one for breakfast the next few days. The girls loves red bell peppers.

Beets - Will juice it

Squash - Need something to do with the pumpkin like ones. I have a couple from the last couple of weeks still sitting around too. The zucchini will be shredded and eaten raw or baked into muffins. Or both.

Banana Peppers - put into today's salsa

Jalapenos - ditto

Okra - Husband made his special tomato sauce today to take for his lunches this week. He put the okra and a couple of bell peppers from last week into the batch. I won't touch it. Sorry dear.

Cucumber - The 4 year old and I will eat it tomorrow.

Lentil Barley Patties

Started with this recipe and then modified a bit.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 cup dried lentils
• Cooking spray
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1/4 cup grated carrot
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
• 3/4 cup cooked pearl barley
• 1/2 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
• 1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
• 1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
• 2 large egg whites
• 1 large egg
• 3 tablespoons canola oil, divided

Preparation

1. Combine 1 1/2 cups water and lentils in a saucepan; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 25 minutes or until lentils are tender. Drain. Place half of lentils in a large bowl. Place remaining lentils in a food processor; process until smooth. Add processed lentils to whole lentils in bowl.

3. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion and carrot; sauté 6 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Add garlic; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add tomato paste, cumin, oregano, chili powder, and 1/4 teaspoon salt; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add onion mixture to lentils. Add remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, barley, and next 5 ingredients (through egg); stir well. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour or until firm.

4. Divide mixture into 8 portions, shaping each into a 1/2-inch-thick patty. Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 4 patties; cook 3 minutes on each side or until browned. Repeat procedure with remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons oil and 4 patties. Serve with salsa.

Served with CSA produce - steamed corn and roasted green beans and zucchini. I really liked these - especially with the cumin and cilantro. They took a bit of time and the kids didn't like them, so they probably aren't a recipe I'll repeat soon.

Cold Avocado Soup

Tastes a lot like eating pureed guacamole. I loved it!

Ingredients:

1 avocado

1 tomato

handful cilantro

juice of 1/2 to 1 lime (to taste)

salt (to taste)

Directions

Place in blender or food processor and blend.

Eat!

CSA - Week Four

Green Beans - we roasted some Saturday night, along with some zucchini to eat as an appetizer as our Papa Murphey's pizza baked.

Bell Peppers - I've been eating them raw.

Tomatoes - yay!! I've been waiting for these!

Basil - I ate a tomato and basil salad the day we got the produce. Such a taste of summer to me.

Corn - Little A has become a huge corn fan. She eats a couple of cobbs a day.

Cucumber - I'll eat this raw in a day. I've been eating an obscene amount of cucumbers lately. They are just so refreshing!

Banana Peppers

Jalapenos

Zucchini and Patty Pan Squash

Okra - I dislike okra. A lot. But Husband loves it, so he is trying to figure out what to do with it.

Lemon Zucchini Muffins

I loved these, but the kids were just so-so. I thought it was a great change of pace from the cinnamon flavored zucchini muffin

Ingredients

• 1 c all-purpose flour
• 1 c whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 cup coarsely shredded zucchini
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large egg
• Cooking spray

Preparation

Combine the first 6 ingredients in a bowl, and make a well in center of mixture. Combine zucchini, milk, oil, and egg; stir well. Add to flour mixture, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened.

Divide batter evenly among 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes or until golden. Remove from pans immediately, and let cool on a wire rack.

I topped with a glaze made of lemon juice and powdered sugar.

My version of Cheeseburger Macaroni Hamburger Helper

Ingredients

• ~10 oz whole wheat elbow macaroni (I used an 14.5 oz pkg and removed about a third)
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 c chopped onion
• 1 c shredded carrot
• 1/3 c shredded zucchini (still using up CSA produce)
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped (CSA)
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1.5 cup tomato sauce
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese divided

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Cook pasta

3. Saute onion, carrot, bell pepper, zucchini and garlic in olive oil over med-high heat for about 4 minutes. Add ground beef and cook until browned. Add tomato sauce, salt and pepper. Cook for 2 minutes.

4. Add pasta to beef mixture and stir. Pour into a greased casserole dish.

5. Mix milk, nutmeg and flour in a saucepan with a whisk. Cook over med-high heat until thickened, stirring constantly. Add 1 c cheese and stir until smooth.

6. Pour cheese mixture over pasta mixture; stir. Top evenly with remaining 1/2 cup cheese.

7. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Zucchini Patties

Still working our way through the bountiful zucchini from our CSA box. I was looking for a main dish type recipe and found this Paula Deen recipe on food network.com. I modified a bit (didn't have any yellow squash) and made them last night. They are a bit labor intensive, but I really liked the flavor. The kids nibbled on them, but didn't love them. I ate them plain and husband mixed them into his pasta. As you can see from the photos, I served with whole wheat pasta and jarred tomato sauce and Roasted Green Beans.

Ingredients:

4 c shredded zucchini

1 c panko bread crumbs

1 c shredded Parmesan

1/4 c minced onion

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1.5 tsp Italian Seasoning

0.5 tsp salt

0.5 tsp black pepper

1/3 c butter

Directions

1. Shred zucchini and press between paper towels to remove extra water.

2. Combine zucchini through pepper and shape into 2 inch patties, pressing firmly. I also let them sit in the fridge for an hour to help them bind.

3. In a large non-stick skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Cook patties 3-4 minutes on each side, or until lightly browned.

4. I put them on a wire rack to let the butter drip off, as to not let them get too soggy.

CSA - Week Three

Green Beans

Corn

Zucchini

Cucumbers

Banana Peppers

Bell Peppers (5)

Tomatillos

Jalapenos