Cooking Adventures and CSA: Week 3

I'm really horrible at keeping up with this blog!!  But, I've been busy cooking away, so I guess that can be my excuse.  So let's rewind....

L and I spent last weekend down at my parent's house for the annual Dogwood Festival.  It was a lot of fun!  L enjoyed watching the fire trucks, police cars, motorcycles, and bands.  Afterwards, we had a feast back at my parents house and fortunately, I didn't have to cook.  I did manage to make these little gems though...

They are Strawberry Rice Krispie Cupcakes and I went as far as to make homemade strawberry marshmallows since I could not find one single bag of the Kraft ones at the store.  They were a big hit and the flavor was great.  I upped the amount of marshmallow the recipe called for, because the first time I made them, they were rocks by the next day. 

So we got home Sunday from our weekend away and Tuesday it was time to pick up our next box of goodies from the orchard...

This week, we had asparagus, hull peas, romaine lettuce, homegrown strawberries, kohlrabi, and dill.  So...here's what I made (I haven't used the peas or kohlrabi yet...more to come on those, hopefully!):

Asparagus- again, just steamed it, put some garlic salt on it, and used a little spray butter.  Can't go wrong!

Romaine lettuce- there was a TON of this.  We made Chicken Caesar Wraps and a huge salad for a dinner with friends.  And...I still have some left.

Strawberries- these were delicious, so G suggested I make a Strawberry Bundt Cake.  I'm glad I did.  Here's what it looked like before the glaze...

And here it is once it's glazed and ready to be eaten...

Heavenly!

Dill- Since G does not like dill and only eats Ranch salad dressing, I took the opportunity to make a Fresh Dill Salad Dressing for myself and our dinner guests.  Sometimes dill is a little overpowering, but, I found this to be the perfect blend.  And SOOOO fresh. 

So I keep mentioning our dinner with friends, and I made my new, go-to, favorite recipe....Chicken Pesto Stuffed Shells.  I can't get enough of these!

Or this...

Hope everyone has a happy and safe Memorial Day weekend!!!

CSA- Week 2

Sorry for the late post...it's been a hectic week.  Before I tell you about the fabulous box of veggies I picked up this week, I wanted to tell you about the changes I made to my anticipated "menu" from last week.

First, the strawberries.  Instead of enjoying them as they were, G thought it would be fun for me to whip up a Strawberry Pie.  Since I had a pre-made crust in my pantry, I said "why not?".  Glad I went with that because it was totally delish!!!  And relatively healthy :-)  Note- I said "relatively".

And, second, the bok choy.  Yeah, this was pretty much a disaster and G had flashbacks to when we were in Disney at the Hollywood Studios at the 50's Prime Time Cafe and he thought it would be "neat" to order the collard greens.  If we get them again, I'll probably try to just throw them into an Asian inspired salad.

Everything else was fabulous though, especially the asparagus.  YUM!  OK...onto Week 2.  This week we only got veggies, which was a little disappointing as I looooove me some fresh fruit.  And so does L.  We received Kale, Sugar Peas, Spinach, Asparagus, Bibb Lettuce, and Mint.  So...here's what I did...

Kale- I found a recipe on my favorite site OAMM for a Potato Kale Soup.  Since G and I have a strong fondness for any kind of Potato Soup (especially Houlihan's...mmm!!!) we figured we'd give this a try.  It did not let us down.  I left out the hot mustard powder (since that ranks up with the collard greens in G's book of foods on the naughty list), but, it still tasted great.  The Kale didn't have much flavor, but, it was nice to know we had a punch of "health" in our soup.  Cheese would have been awesome in this soup too.  Maybe next time.  The recipe yielded 4 meals, so we ate two and froze two.

Sugar Peas- These were great and so fresh.  I steamed them and then we ate them with spray butter and garlic salt.

Spinach- So I attempted to make an Argentinian Flank Steak (from the Williams Sonoma Cookbook).  Basically, you take a flank steak and butterfly it.  Then you layer it with a tomato/garlic paste, prosciutto, spinach, carrots, onions, Parmesan Romano cheese, and bread crumbs.  Then you roll it up and bake it.  The baking part was where I went wrong and should have timed it better.  The inside was OK to eat but the outside somewhat resembled sneaker leather.  I'd definitely try it again and this time pay more attention!

Asparagus- steamed and sprinkled with Parmesan.  A crowd-pleasing, easy side dish

Bibb Lettuce- my parents had the joys of eating this (along with some spinach- shhh!  don't tell my dad!) in a salad I made for them Wednesday night.  The lettuce was so fresh.  Nothing fancy about the salad.  Throw in your favorite veggies, topped with your favorite dressing, and away you go.

Mint- I wasn't sure what I was going to do with this.  My original thought was Mojitos but I don't like the overpowering flavor of mint.  G suggested Mint Tea.  Excellent idea and I think I drank an entire pitcher.  Doesn't it look so refreshing??  If I get more mint (or I should say when I buy more mint) I'm going to try and make a Mint Sun Tea.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!  L and I are looking forward to the Dogwood Parade and festivities tomorrow.

CSA- Week 1

Yesterday, I picked up the first of 26 boxes of fruit and veggies G, L, and I will be enjoying this Spring, Summer, and Fall.  We signed up for a CSA program at Strites Orchard.  What is Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), you may be asking yourself?  This program has become a popular way to buy fresh, local, seasonal fruits and veggies from local farmers- because, let's face it....our farmers are being pushed to the side with the convenience of supermarkets, big boxes, and wholesale clubs.  One of the nice things about Strites Orchard, is that they also offer 10% off the entire market to their CSA members (in case your weekly box of fruits and veggies is not enough). 

I was ASTONISHED at how much we got in our single share box yesterday.  Check it out:

We received 4 bunches of scallions, that were the biggest scallions I have ever seen....I had to curl the one bunch to fit in my veggie drawer.  The head of lettuce is ginormous, and takes up half of my veggie drawer.  The asparagus and strawberries were a more reasonable size and the baggie of herbs consists of parsley, chives, and tarragon.  The other veggie is bok choy, which I had to do a little research on how to use it.  My fruits were temporarily displaced as this guy takes up my entire other drawer in the fridge.

So...how do I plan on using all this??
Strawberries- no brainer...great healthy snack for L and I.  G may, or may not, get to sample these since he's working all week :-)

Asparagus- Since the weather looks nice, I may grill this up or saute it with some Parmesan cheese

Herb Blend and Scallions- I'm going to saute these with some shrimp.  I also have some leftover pasta salad in the fridge that the scallions will be a wonderful addition to.

Lettuce- Can we say Chicken Caesar Salad?!?!  Yep, that's dinner tonight!

Bok Choy- still going back and forth with this, but, I think I'm going to stir fry it with garlic and ginger and combine with the shrimp.

Excited for some good, healthy eats this week.  Can't wait to see what we get next week. 

Mini Cuisine- April/May

First, I am really bad at this whole blog thing since it's been a week and a half since my last post.  Maybe I'll get better.  Maybe not.  Anyways.  Instead of just posting random pictures of food on my Facebook page, I thought it might be a nice change of pace to also post where I found the recipes in case you want to make any of these things for you little one(s)....or yourself, because let's face it, they look pretty adult friendly to me!

Breakfasts:

Cake Batter Pancakes- I have been making and freezing pancakes and waffles for a while now, and these were a nice spin on your everyday breakfast treat.  Sprinkles make everything better!!

Light Southwest Breakfast Pizza- I love the fact that this is a healthier alternative to breakfast and many of the food groups are represented.  I also love that my little man loves a little spice in the morning!

Bacon and Egg Uncrustables- no photo yet because I haven't technically made these.  I'm waiting for my Sandwich Sealer to arrive from the kind folks at Amazon.  But I'm sure these will be a hit!


Lunches and Dinners:

Sausage Stuffed Loaf- the name was a little iffy to me at first, but, this turned out like a yummy, delicious stromboli.  I used turkey sausage instead of regular sausage and could not, for the life of me, find frozed bread dough, so I improvised with Pillsbury Italian Loaf bread.  I also failed to take a photo of this one and many others (seriously, it was such a long two weeks of cooking that by the end, I just didn't think of it!)

Baked Chicken Fingers- I love the Cake Boss (aka- Buddy Valastro) and I equally love him as the Kitchen Boss.  This recipe came from him.  I like how these are a bit lighter since the base is olive oil vs. egg.  L seemed to really enjoy them too!  To freeze these, after I coated them with breadcrumbs, I "flash froze" (placed on a baking sheet in the freezer for about an hour) and then put them in ziploc bags.

Beef Enchiladas- these might be my favorite thing I made this month.  When I was baking one the other day for L, it smelled so yummy.  The recipe says to place five in a baking dish and freeze that way.  Like the Chicken Fingers above, I flash froze these individually so I could pull one out at a time.  The recipe also said it would make 10...I was able to get 12 out of it, which was great because the pack of tortillas I bought had 12 in there.

Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken- It took everything in me not to devor the pan when it came out of the oven.  The recipe yielded a lot of chicken, so once it was cooled, I evenly distributed it into ziploc bags to create "meals". 

Chicken Bundles- This was an interesting one to make.  Not because it was a difficult recipe by any means, but, because I nearly messed this recipe up not once, but TWICE.  The first time, I realized that I forgot to put Cream of Chicken soup in the recipe, as it was still sitting on the counter.  So..in the trash they went and off to the store I went to get more ingredients.  The second time around, I realized that the recipe did NOT call for Cream of Chicken soup and they were perfect fine the first time.  UGH!  So I remade them at 8pm.  Then I got awake at 3:30am and realized I forgot to put them in the freezer.  So down to the kitchen I went to package them up, only to find one missing.  Yep, somehow G managed to sneak one.  I tried to yell at him at 3:30am but he was sound a sleep.  Lucky!  These are really good and make a good family meal too.

Whole Wheat Pizza Puffs- I am a sucker for anything in mini muffin form.  These are great for a lunch.  I omitted the olives, because, I don't like olives.  I flash froze these once they cooled and threw them into a ziploc bag to freeze.

Chicken Broccoli Rollups- Another hit and so easy to make!  I think dill adds great flavor to anything.

Broccoli Cheddar Biscuit Muffin- A common denominator (remember that from math class) this month was broccoli.  I had a huge box of it in my freezer and wanted to use it up.  Luckily, L seems to like it!

Mini Vegetarian Meatloaves- Anything baked in a muffin tin is brilliant.  I questioned these but L has not, so we're going with them.  And I'll probably have to make them again since I bought too much ground beef substitute (found in the Organic section of Giant).  Next time, I'll also go a little lighter on the ketchup/brown sugar topping.  Even when you freeze them, the topping does not fully freeze and they are a little slimey.  The cube of cheese in the middle is splendid!  Flash freeze, package, and away you go!

Lasagna Cupcakes- Personally, I hate lasagna because I don't like ricotta cheese.  But, these almost made me a believer.  They smell so good!  Wonton wrappers (found in the produce section) take the place of noodles and hold everything together.  I flash froze these too.

Snacks:

Bite Size Apple Pies- One word, YUM!  Apples, cinnamon, sugar, and pie crust make these a delicious snack and the perfect size for little ones.

Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Squares-  All of L's favorite things wrapped up into one yummy treat.  Flash freeze and these are perfect portions for a mid-afternoon snack.


So, now you are probably wondering...where does she find all these great recipes.  Many of them come from my favorite freezer cooking website Once A Month Mom.  Each month, they come up with several "menus" for different taste buds (traditional, diet, gluten/dairy free, whole foods, vegetarian, and baby foods).  The baby food one is where I find the majority of these since they are tailored to little ones.  Some months, the menu is geared towards kids as young as 6 months (unfortunately we are beyond that stage), but, I have found that anything from 12 months up L seems to enjoy.  I have also found a TON of great recipes that I bookmarked on Pinterest.  Feel free to follow me at www.pinterest.com/kohler2009.

All of the above recipes should get us through the end of May, so stay tuned for my next cooking adventure in June.