Box #3

It's hot and humid outside.  Yuck.  I just swept up the tiny flowers from the deck that have been hiding out under our table and chairs.  I went the el cheapo route and got a cover from Big Lots because it was cheap.  Turns out it was also shitty and ripped to shreds way too easily.  During a storm yesterday, as the wind was making the cover billow upwards, I watched as a small opening in the cover became a giant gash.  I've ordered a new (good) cover from Amazon and the old cover is in the trash.  So, in the meantime, the furniture is spread out on the deck and drying after the monsoons yesterday evening and in the middle of the night.

After sweeping the deck, refilling the bird feeder (I know ~some~ fine feathered friends are probably pleased with that activity), and picking up flowers and junk from the front bedding, I came inside to enjoy some time before Lil wakes up. Now that I have some ice water by my side, I guess I need to catch up on my blog... "Write on blog" is indeed one of the weekend tasks that is on my calendar, so at least I get to check it off, too!

I picked up box #3 on Wednesday.  There's a picture of the goodies below.  What's new this week?  Cabbage and green beans.

I'm not going to list out everything because nothing's too exotic.  So far we've used a tomato and most of the lettuce in salads for lunch.  For dinner tonight, we're having coleslaw (using the cabbage), BLTs (using the tomatoes), and a watermelon I picked up at Costco.   Below is a pic of the salad.  It had the hydroponic lettuce, tomato, blue cheese crumbles, balsamic vinaigrette, and candied walnuts.  I thought it was yummy.  Brian didn't think the nuts went well in it.  We had the salad with baked potatoes that I cooked most of the way through in the microwave, then coated with oil and kosher salt and baked for a bit in the toaster oven.  I've never done it that way, and they were yummy.

I'm making Japanese chicken and veggies tomorrow night, which will use some of the squash and zucchini.  Later this week I'll make something with the green beans.  For the rest of the cabbage, I'm trying a new recipe for colcannon.  I'm still deciding on which recipe, but since I've never made it before, it will be new.  DAMN.  I just realized I forgot to get butter at the store.  I went and did my main shopping yesterday, and then went again today because the store I went to yesterday didn't have everything I needed.  So I guess I'll be going grocery shopping, again, in the next couple of days.  Oh, well.  Maybe I can get Brian to go for me.  Anyways, the uses for the rest of the veggies is still TBD.  I'll let you know after I know!

Short update

Just to get caught up:  the peppers in the box were used in cheese, bean, and veggie quesadillas and the squash and zucchini were grilled (I have to find another way to cook those).  One cucumber went to making Chicago Dogs (for me).  I still have some cucumbers and the whole jar of pickles left.

Buried Stuff (aka carrots & beets)

On Sunday (I think it was), I made a delicious salad out of leftover veggies and fridge/freezer odds and ends.  It had the rest of the hydroponic lettuce from the box, the rest of the basil and mozzarella from our caprese salads, the last tomato from the box, walnuts, grapes, balsamic, olive oil, and s & p.  YUM!

This weekend I also used the carrots from the box.  They were simply roasted, and about 8 minutes before they were done, I pulled them out of the oven and quickly tossed them with sugar and balsamic. Back in the oven they went to get all delicious.  And that they were!  The recipe had me using a bit over a tsp of sugar, which seemed too much so I didn't use it.  However, I'll probably use that much next time.  In the picture, the lighter carrots are from the box, and the orange ones are from the fridge.  Brian and I can chow down on some roasted veggies, and it's not much harder to make extra.  If we don't eat them at the meal, the will certainly get eaten as leftovers.  I'll be making this recipe again, for sure.

Earlier this week I also used the beets.  And guess what?  Brian actually liked them!  He'll say he doesn't like beets, and he doesn't like pickles.  I think he's maybe only had pickled beets, so those always had to be a major loser for him.  So, I looked for a recipe that went another direction. Funny enough, he also doesn't like Swiss cheese (unless it's in "Mad Garlic Potatoes" aka  potatoes gratin).  But he liked the recipe!  I'm amazed.  It was good, but we had it the day after I made it, so it was a bit dry for our tastes.  We both prefer a bit gooier.  Here's the recipe for Beet and Beet Green Gratin.  After the turnip incident, I learned to only make 1/2 a recipe for something new. I forgot to take a picture of it  before we ate it.  It's very purple, probably because I added extra cheese to the top that melted, and the beet juice got all involved. 

Caprese Salad

My favorite salad is caprese, made with tomatoes, fresh basil, and fresh mozzarella.  The first time I had it was at Emeril's in Orlando.  I know, a bit commercial and trendy.  However, we were stupid enough to not have reservations, but were able to slide onto bar stools and delight in the food anyways.  Yum. 

Next to BLTs and tomato sandwiches, the salad is my favorite way to use tomatoes in the summer.  I used the lettuce and tomatoes from the farm box, and cheese and basil from Whole Paycheck (Foods).  I usually don't use lettuce, but I had it in the box and it seemed like a good use.  We topped our salads with balsamic and olive oil, and I also added salt and pepper to mine.  Lil enjoyed her mozzarella. Our plan was to have this for dinner, but we might be doing something else tonight so we went ahead and had it for lunch.

Also, I guess it's normally served with the ingredients sliced and layered.  When you're shoveling food into your mouth and making sure a baby has food on her tray, speed is the order of the day, so I chopped everything as I made the salad so we didn't have to cut it as we ate it at the table. Less refined, but so is little Hoover (AKA Lillian) inhaling everything within sight.

Naked

Dressed

Box #2

With no drama at all, not even a cranky baby (Lil was enjoying the ride in her new carseat), I successfully retrieved farm box #2!  It contains: bunch of carrots, bunch of beets, tomatoes, peppers (bell & other), lettuce, a zucchini, squash, cucumbers, and a jar of pickles.  The pickles are "salt & pepper," so they will not fly at all with Brian, who hates pickles and pepper.  I'm sure there's some witty rhyme there, but I can't think of one right now.  Maybe Brian can come up with a Haiku.  He's weird like that sometimes.    Anyways. I'm excited about the box.  Stay tuned for updates!

Ending Box #1

I pick up my second farm box tonight, assuming there isn't any confusion over when I'm supposed to get it, where I'm supposed to get it, or my name.  Sadly, I still have some things left from the last box.  I have some onions and the rutabagas (I'm scared to use them after the turnip debacle). 

Let's catch up to what I've used from the box since the last post.  As you may recall, there were some garlic scapes unused.  Those went into pesto which I've made but have not eaten. It's in the freezer, just lying in wait for some leftover pasta.  I'm sure it will be fantastic.  I used the random peppers from the box in a salad, which wasn't too exciting.  It was rather green, even though it had lettuce, cucumbers, and three types of peppers.  There were some token carrots and onions in there, too.  I have no idea what kind of peppers they were, or if they were sweet or hot.  When I told Brian my plan to just cut them one at a time and taste it before adding to the salad, he offered to get the camera in case it was hot.  Alas, they were all slightly hotter than bell peppers, but only a wimp would ever think they were "hot."

Stay tuned for pics from tonight's box! 

Lettuce Wraps

On Tuesday of this week, we had lettuce wraps (the lettuce was from the box).  Yum.  On Monday, I made a marinade of soy sauce, minced garlic, ginger, brown sugar, Sriracha (a new condiment for me), and a few red pepper flakes.  I added pieces of very small diced chicken and let marinate about an hour.  I quickly cooked the chicken.  For the veggies, I used finely diced cabbage (bok choy would be good, but I just used generic cabbage) and shredded carrots.  I quickly cooked the veggies separate from the chicken.  Both the veggies and chicken were stashed in the fridge for Tuesday.  On Tuesday, I made a slurry of water, soy sauce, and cornstarch to make the chicken and veggies mixture stick together better.  After cooking the slurry briefly, I added the main stuff until it was all warmed through.  Some cooked rice noodles and fresh green onions were supposed to add nice textures.  I forgot to put the onions on the table so they didn't get used.

I also made a dipping sauce with peanut butter, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, and a splash of water. 

Results:  Yummy, but worked better as a salad.  The lettuce was just too delicate to hold all the filling.  It worked better to just cut it all up and mix together as a salad.  This method also worked well for the leftovers.  I added peanuts, and also the green onions, when I had the leftovers. Both will be added the first go around next time.

Lettuce washed and ready to go

Ready to roll, dip, and eat

Bonus notes of the day:
I've found that if we want to eat real food, I really need to plan well.  Part of that is having more time intensive/last-minute intensive meals on the weekends when Brian can be on baby duty.  The other part of that is being able to prep things ahead of time.  On Monday, when Brian was off work, I prepped for Tuesday.  Tuesday night I made the marinade and sauce for fish tacos tomorrow.  So on Wednesday I just had to add the fish to the marinade and grill, make the rice, and cut up the cabbage.  Not too complicated or time intensive.
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Still to use from this box of goodies: 1/2 of the garlic scapes, peppers, onions, rutabagas.  I better hurry up because I get another box this Wednesday!