Posts from the ‘Food’ category

CSA Week 1: eatin’ green!

I eat omnivore, but in the last several years I eat less meat and meat has become more of a side dish with vegetables and legumes getting top billing … with a few exceptions like CHEESEBURGERS!

I have been looking forward to the local growing season as fresh from the ground vegetables are the absolute best. I eased into things with two Farmer’s Markets before my CSA started.

So, all went very well with Week 1 CSA box.

The arugula looked like it needed to be used quick-like so after a salad on Day 1, I processed the remainder into a pesto which I froze for later use.

A scramble of spinach and some leftover taco mix made for a nice nest for a poached egg!

There were several green smoothies using the kale and/or spinach with lemon and frozen berries and kefir.

Bok Choy.

I roasted Bok Choy (and radish!) several times, dressed with a lemon-Dijon-tahini dressing from Dishing Up the Dirt and then chopped all, combined with some chopped spinach and had a gorgeous and delicious warm salad.

That little cast iron dish went in the oven during preheat. Add the Bok Choy and radish with a drizzle of olive oil to the hot pan and then into the hot oven for a quick char.

Then chop and add to chopped spinach…

… some sliced apple and a bit of shredded chicken made for a great supper!

This morning as pickup for week 2 loomed … I made a spinach/kale/ham/cheese hand pie for breakfast.

A wee bit of kale and 2 radish made it into Mel’s Italian Pasta Salad for lunch.

Early this evening I picked up my week 2 box:

https://instagram.com/p/BUat28nlTSs/

Beef AND LAMB – it’s what’s for dinner!

A combination of beef and lamb makes for easy and delicious meatballs with just a few simple additions.

The basic recipe:

1 package lamb
1 package ground beef
1.5 T lemon pepper (T = tablespoon)
1.5 T Italian seasoning
1/2 cup finely diced onion (about 1/2 of a medium onion: yellow, white or sweet onion)
1/3 cup breadcrumbs (you can also use cracker crumbs)
1 egg

Mix all together. Refrigerate for an hour if possible but no problem to cook immediately.
Form meatballs golf ball sized.

To cook, you can bake them on a sheet pan, or “fry” them in a fry pan and then cook in gravy or tomato sauce.

For baking: 425 oven for 15-20 minutes to internal temperature of 160 or until they are NOT pink inside.

Below are the step by step instructions:

The meat.

The rest of the ingredients.

Mix the meats, spices, onion, breadcrumbs and egg.

Your hands are the best tool for this!

Roll mixture into golf ball sized meatballs.

See recipe above for different cooking options.

I baked at 425 for 18 minutes. Internal temperature was 178 and…

If you don’t have a meat thermometer, cut one open. It should look done with no pink inside.

Serving options:

You can make a gravy from the drippings and serve over rice or noodles.

OR

Add the meatballs to tomato sauce and serve over spaghetti or any pasta OR in a roll for a meatball sandwich.

OR

Split them and serve on small rolls – Sliders!

***For my friends from the Bigfork Community who tried these and picked up a recipe and maybe have a question or comment, your first comment goes to moderation. Once I’ve “approved” it, additional comments will appear immediately on this or other articles. This is to help prevent spam comments.

Sun, snow, banana bread and asiago rolls

It doesn’t look sunny, but it was early. It was clearly going to become sunny and it was warm AND it was my first morning coffee on the front porch.

The next morning we woke to a dusting of snow. I juiced the last of this year’s Meyer Lemons, fed my sourdough starter and enjoyed a snow squally morning.

I’m not sure the chairs enjoyed the snow…

… and the morning coffee routine was much cooler!

The remainder of the week went back and forth between sun and snow … sometimes multiple times during the day!

Today, Sunday, we woke to snow and it has snowed, rained, snowed and now is doing a bit of a wintry mix as I write.

A fragrant brown butter cardamom banana bread (baked as mini-loaves) from Andrea Bemis’ blog: Dishing up the dirt warmed up the morning. (The three loaves with the dried cherries on top have some crystallized ginger bits as a trial addition. Ok but did not add enough to use them again. The recipe as written is wonderful.)

Andrea’s book, also ‘Dishing up the Dirt’ has become a favorite. I’m not a cookbook buyer usually, but the photos and the memoir aspect enticed me to buy this one. I have no regrets. It is a beautiful book with wonderful recipes and I liked it so much that I bought the Kindle version as well so I always have the recipes with me to refer to.

Almost two weeks ago, I saw Mel’s Kitchen Cafe recipe for asiago bubble bread . Mel’s recipe is based on her own french bread roll recipe . I’ve made those rolls and they are very good, but I looked at the King Arthur flour recipe that Mel said inspired her adaptation and decided to make the King Arthur version adapted to use my wild yeast (sourdough) starter and some discard starter.

It worked very well!

Both the rolls and the buns are soft with asiago cheese in them and a crunchy asiago herb top.

Auggie says: “More sun, less snow, please!”

Love Day

Although, we don’t need a holiday to celebrate love in this house, in can be fun if we celebrate outside the gooey sentimentality…

But, this year, we will stick with at least gooey in the form of a raspberry-chocolate-brioche pastry!

As a magician reveals his tricks … 2 layers of brioche dough rolled flat with chocolate chips and raspberry cream in the middle.

Sweet, gooey and good. Maybe it will keep me sweet all day ???

Auggie says: “Doubtful”.

Happy Valentines Day – may your day and every day be filled with love and joy.

Dog biscuits, Ciabatta and a movie

Not “dinner and a movie” :)

Even though the sun was shining, it was cold and snowy and we had bouts of freezing fog. I dislike going out and about when the roads are difficult and typically keep the pantry, frig, freezer and supply closet extra full so that I am not required to go out if conditions are bad.

But this week my inventory control failed me and a very full work schedule and “OH NO!” … the dog biscuit situation was dire!

These biscuits take me about 10 minutes to get in the oven … far less time than a round trip to the grocery. And Bear loves them!

On to Ciabatta.

Ciabatta is Italian for slipper and the bread is called Ciabatta because of its shape – kind of flat and square-ish. It has a reputation for being difficult because the dough is extra moist and cannot be kneaded by hand or easily shaped. It has more moisture than the “no knead”, high moisture artisanal doughs. Most recipes call for mixing with a stand mixer. I don’t have a stand mixer. The short story is that I adapted a sourdough recipe with a bit of mixing with my hand mixer and then used the long rise, stretch and fold method that I use for sourdough.

That is the dough before “shaping” … a blob. But folding it with a bench knife let me know that it was full of good gas for an airy bread.

Cutting and folding for rolls…

Success! As you can see, the “shapes” are not consistent. The extra large roll I “shaped” in a mini loaf pan to bake as a test. The others I folded and cut with a baker’s bench knife. They still spread haphazardly before springing up in the oven.

When I lifted the rolls off the baking stone, I was amazed at how light they were. And that is just right. Ciabatta should have a crispy crust and a very light and airy crumb.

Fresh off my success with Ciabatta, I received an email from the company that makes the movie software I purchased last week. The email noted the release of a movie app for iPhone and Android Phone. I got the app and played a bit…

***This has music. I think it is a bit loud so you might want to turn down your volume before you start the play.

So. Much. Fun.

Our Thanksgiving Day

I don’t know why Auggie is giving me the evil eye. He had a beautiful sun spot and the doors open to a beautiful day: 45F with sun and blue skies. I had the windows open while cooking. It didn’t feel as holiday-like as it does when it is cold-cloudy-snowy, but no complaints from us!

Cranberry Chutney was first on the agenda – yes 6:45 a.m. in the dark of the morning … so it had time to meld all the flavors.

I made a new recipe: leek bread pudding, in place of dressing. I used my own sourdough for the bread – this turned out to be my favorite side dish.

The bird!!!

A full plate: turkey and mashed potatoes with gravy, cranberry chutney, green beans in mushroom gravy with a bread crumb/onion/parmesan top crust, steamed carrots and the leek bread pudding.

A few spoons of pumpkin spice ice cream rounded out the meal.

Bear and Auggie had some turkey with just a wee-little bit of gravy.

I believe we were all very thankful for the gorgeous day, the delicious food and a relaxing day together.

I was very thankful to get this last load of dishes done – I think that was about the 8th sinkful of the day.

Our Thanksgiving Day.