Finally Cooking!

So I've actually used some of my farm box goodies!  So far we've used all the tomatoes (salad, BLTs, and tomato sandwiches), the turnips (glazed), the zucchini, scapes, and squash (grilled), and the bell pepper. 

Grilled (on the grill pan)

 

Glazed turnips



Ready for BLTs



Picture I almost forgot to take of the grilled garlic scapes





So how would I review what I've made so far?  The grilled zucchini and squash were yummy, as usual.  The garlic scapes I just grilled with olive oil. However, I think I need to try grilling them longer or blanching then grilling.  I have 1/2 of them left, so I might try grilling the rest or using them in pesto.  The tomatoes were good, but being early summer tomatoes, they were not great.  Still, they were leaps and bounds above grocery store ones, though there's still room for improvement. I'm not complaining about the need to eat more tomato sandwiches and BLTs this summer.  A day later, my house still smells like bacon. 

The biggest fail was the turnips. YUCK!  GAG!  I used a recipe that came with the box of veggies, and I really don't think it was the recipe's fault.   I just really haven't had turnips before (that I can recall), and I will be totally happy if I live the rest of my life without eating another.  Three bites and I was content to say "not my thing."  Brian agreed after one bite.  They ended up in the trash.

Of the stuff we've made so far, Lillian only had the squash.  She liked it for many bites, but then once she started chunking it on the floor, we declared her dinner done.

Box #1

My first box pickup didn't go as planned. I was told the wrong pickup day.  When I didn't pick it up, they called, saying I could get it the next day but the lettuce would be bad, etc.  I was out playing Bunco and Brian was watching Lil, so we couldn't get it that night.  Anyways, my fantastic husband worked it all out and I was able to get a fresh box the next morning.

Here are the contents:

So far I haven't been very creative at all.   We used the bell pepper and a tomato on a salad Thursday night. Brian was out of town all day Saturday and is coming back on Sunday before dinner.  Sunday and Monday will prove more exciting, I promise!

Cocktail Hour!

Grab a cup of milk, soda, tea, coffee, wine, beer, a G & T. Pick your poison and get comfy. This is going to be a long one. I feel like I need to lay out where I’m coming from so what’s to come will make sense. I promise my future posts won’t be as wordy. Here we go!


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Who I (we) are:  Sarah (32) stay-at-home wife and mom.  Likes lots of stuff, and loves black pepper and   sweet tea (but not in combination.  At least I don't think so).  Does not like mushrooms, mango, coffee, wine, or liver.  Brian (31) software engineer/professional nerd.  Brian likes most foods including sweet tea (I converted him!), but does not like mushrooms, olives, pickles, black pepper (which is an issue), coffee, wine (especially red) or most citrus dishes.  Lillian (almost 15 months) super sweet little girl and the light of my life. Lillian has yet to meet a food she doesn’t like. She’s allergic to kiwis.

How I learned to cook/prepare food: As a cook, I don’t have too much breadth or depth, but I’ve picked up techniques along the way and have my favorite recipes. I’ve learned from my Mom, kiddie cooking class through the local rec center as a kid, Girl Scouts, Food Network (Sandwich King is sexy), cookbooks, cooking magazines (a little mainstream, but I eagerly await my Food Network magazine each month), trial-and-error/guess-and-check, my job at Entrée Vous, and Lori Keiper (I worked with her at EV and she is a great cook).

What I cook: I am not a foodie or gourmet cook. I’m lazy. Sloppy Joes made w/Manwich Bold and some fruit salad is OK. I’m even guilty of having tater tots instead of fruit. I like salads but often negate their overall nutritional value by adding stuff like blue cheese dressing and croutons. That said, Brian does cook a mean grilled pork tenderloin, we love grilled fish tacos, roasted veggies, and the usual favorites of tacos, spaghetti, assorted casseroles, breakfast food, etc. I have a great granola recipe, and putting that on some Greek yogurt is a super yummy breakfast or snack.

My kitchen equipment: I have a flat top stove, but would love a gas one. I like to grill outside, but since our neighbors are ghetto and their yards/decks don’t look very good, it’s more stressful to cook outside and see that mess than to just use my handy dandy grill pan. Also, there are less mosquitoes. I have a few fun gadgets and the basic skillets, pots, pans, knives. I’m open to getting some new things throughout the summer if I need ‘em. That includes new neighbors. Or a new house away from our current neighbors (we actually are actively house-hunting).

Why am I doing this? 1) We need to eat more fresh foods and expand our recipe/technique/ingredient repertoire. 2) I really hate throwing away food, so I am *going* to find a way to use everything in my box. It will force me to be creative. 3) I like the idea of supporting local farmers. I chose this particular share because it was recommended to me, and I also know one of the participating famers. He did some great work at the High Point Museum when I worked there, often donating his skills and time teaching Colonial dancing, or working on or demonstrating the loom. It’s good to help him and his family’s farm.

So there you have it. Take or leave it.  However, I hope you choose to ~take~ some new ideas and maybe ~leave~ some of your own!  If you're getting a farm box this summer, I'd love to post how you used your items!  Just drop me an email or a Facebook message and I'll try to post it.  Cheers!

What's coming up?

I am not a foodie, nor do I really want to be one. There. I said it.  I think it's more important to chase down the baby who just cruised through the cat escape hatch on the baby gate.  In other words, I have more pressing concerns than threading kabobs onto rosemary skewers (nothing wrong with that, but it's just not me right now).  However, this summer I’m jumping into cooking a little differently. Well, maybe not all the time, but sometimes. I usually cook normal “American” food, often not being the best choice health wise. I’ve decided to do something to help with this challenge; I took the plunge and joined a CSA cooperative (Triad Farm to Table).

My goal for this blog is to show how I, a normal American non-foodie cook, incorporates a grab bag/box of fresh and local fruits and vegetables into my usual cooking. I’ll experiment with new recipes and maybe cooking techniques along the way. Don’t expect anything fancy, but I hope to learn a thing or two and pass it along to you. Bon appétit! Wait, nose too high in the air. ~Ringing the dinner bell.~ No, a little too low brow. How about “Dinner’s almost ready! Start heading to the table, y'all!” Yes. Perfect. I’ll see you there!





I'm Back!

I can’t believe it’s been more than three years since I posted!  I think Facebook took over the “let the world know what I’m doing” segment of my life.  So why did I decide to restart my blog now?  It can’t be because nothing’s happened in the last three years (one job ended, I went on a cruise, I got pregnant, I went on another cruise, I quit my job, I had a baby, we went to Disney World, Holly (one of our cats) died, and now I have a 14.5 month old).  Maybe I’m just a glutton for punishment and want to add another project to my to-do list!  Luckily, the next couple of months will be following a theme:  FOOD!  Stay tuned for details.

Fish Recipe

Brian and I had a really good dinner tonight. I liked that I could make the cooking/drizzling sauce the night before. When I came home from work, I just had to top the fish and toss it in the oven. Noodles cooked quickly on the stovetop and green bean steamed in the microwave. YUM!

There are no exact measurements. Just put in more of the stuff you love and less of the stuff you just like.

Soy sauce
Brown sugar
Honey
Ketchup
Orange marmalade
Fresh ginger (I used my microplane and put in a LOT. The dish ended up being very spicy.)
Fresh garlic
Red pepper flakes
Sesame oil
Newsman's Own Asian Sesame dressing (This lightens up the sauce while adding to the quantity without too much trouble.)

I used tilapia but I'd think most any fish would work. Spray non-stick spray on a baking dish. Add the fish and drizzle with a generous quantity of sauce. Bake at 350. The tilapia was thin and took about 15 minutes. I served it with green beans with almonds and a super-cheap favorite- ramen noodles! The extra sauce was warmed in the microwave and drizzled over everything at the table. I wish I had taken a picture. It was pretty, easy, and very good. That all adds up to dinner success!

The Eve of the Inauguration

Here we stand as a country on the eve of the Presidential inauguration. The President won't be an older white man as we have had for centuries. It will be a young, energetic, optimistic African-American that few people knew about just 2 years ago. When I first heard that he was running for the Democratic nomination, I barely gave it a second thought. I thought the United States would not be able to get over the color of his skin long enough to actually listen to him.

Over time, I began learning more about him. He started to impress me more and more every time I read or heard what he had to say. It was quickly clear he was a great speaker, and also a great thinker. No, I do not agree with everything he says and does. But thinking that I could possibly agree with someone 100% would be naive. I appreciated his understanding and recognition of the younger Americans. He pulled in people who had never been interested in politics before. I voted for the first time, thinking here is someone who could be truly great for this country not only in what he says and does, but what he represents.

For me one of the highlights of the Obama/Biden campaign was the rally I attended in Greensboro on September 27, 2008. I work every Saturday. For a reason I cannot recall at this time, I had that Saturday off. On Wednesday of that week I found out they were coming and my husband and I decided to go. We were in downtown Greensboro with a crowd some sources estimated at 20,000. It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. People were happy, talking to strangers. Black, white, Hispanic. Old, young. Dressed up and dressed down. It seems that the entire city had converged on Elm Street on that cloudy, rainy Saturday morning. They all had one thing in common: the wish for change in America.

Downtown Greensboro waiting in line at the rally. The line was at least 10 blocks long.

During the Civil Rights Movement, the first sit-ins happened in Greensboro. As I was standing at the rally, waiting for the speakers to begin, I thought about those tumultuous times in the 1960s. Literally just blocks away from where I was standing and where Barack Obama would be speaking, four African American students sat at a lunch counter and wanted to be served a meal. Now, here was an African American with a true chance at being the leader of the United States of America. Amazing. In just 40 some years our country went from the sit-ins and Civil Rights violence to an African American as President.

The rally. This is before I got my new camera so the picture isn't the best, sorry. If you look between the flag in the middle of the picture and towards the top, and the very bright light on the right, you can kinda see the stage. At the tip of the flag and to the right is Biden, and Obama is sitting just to the right of him in the picture and is wearing a white shirt. There were SO many people there that not everyone made it through security. Those who didn't, including us, had to stand a good distance away. But we were still there and could hear things. The only way to really see was stand on tip toes. Many pictures were taken by the audience by just holding the camera in the air, taking a picture, and looking at it.

During the rally I also watched the snipers on the rooftops surrounding the area. I realized the true danger Obama was in doing what he thought was right. (If you have not read his letter to his daughters, please read it now.) He was running as President for the country, as well as his family. His family is amazing, and he knows it! I think they bring him back to reality and keep his senses in check. Michelle is certainly his rock. I read today that she hadn't decided what to wear to the inauguration; she said she had just move 3 times and had a 7 and 10 year old! That's a lady who knows her priorities.

I live in NC but was on vacation in CA visiting my Mom from October 30-November 5. On Election Day we were communing not with politics but with Mickey Mouse, Pluto, and Mr. Incredible at Disneyland. It was strange how little politics there were at the parks (aside from my Mom's Obama button I got for her at the Greensboro rally) but how you knew many people were thinking about the election. As we waited for the shuttle bus, Mom began looking at the results on her iPhone. After dinner we hopped in the car and began heading towards Mom's house. Somewhere around Los Angeles on I-5, I realized that McCain had given his concession speech and Obama was to be the 44th President. As we turned into her neighborhood, we saw someone on the corner with a poster-board sign reading "Obama Won!!!." Mom whooped and hollered and honked her horn. Obama was walking on stage as we got home and flipped on the TV. For some reason, I was freezing and shaking. I really think I was going into shock. We watched Obama make another one of his speeches, a speech that will probably be studied for years to come, and celebrated. The next day I connected at O'hare on my flight home. There was a feeling of celebration and energy. I overheard a person saying "Yes we can! Yes we DID!"

As a young person I see how my future will be shaped by policies and changes that will occur during the time Obama is in office and I have hope these changes will be positive. He has been able to bring together many people in this country, and that in itself is a task few have really been able to accomplish. That in itself is a huge demonstration of his ability as an organizer and energizer.

It is very likely I will have my first child during this administration. She will not know first hand the America my grandparents knew, my parents knew, or I knew. I hope the next four years heals many of the wounds in America and that she will know love, acceptance, and understand that in this country, anyone can do anything. I hope she will learn about how things used to be, segregation, discrimination, and hate based on race by visiting museums and reading books, not walking down the street or reading the current events section of the newspaper. These may very will be impossible dreams; I cannot truly see a world free of violence and hate. But I do know that without hope and dreams, we would not be where we stand today.

Obama has his work cut out for him. The economy is in turmoil. Violence is raging in different areas of the World. There are thousands of servicemen and women in constant danger. They need to be brought home to be with their families.

Obama knows the tasks at hand and will get them done with humility, grace, intelligence, and compassion. He will be a leader who will be remembered not just for who he is, but what incredible things he does, and how he changes America forever. One step down, millions to go...