It's been a while.

Wow. I last published exactly 5 months ago. Happy Groundhog Day.

CSA Weeks 12 and 13 and some recipes

I'm a couple weeks behind now on the lists. While it's useful to keep track of what I've been cooking and I appreciate everyone's recipes and suggestions, I don't think that I'll be posting every week. There's been an excellent selection of potatoes, onions, basil, lettuce, peppers, zucchini, eggplant and new for week 12, WATERMELON! When the selection changes considerably, I'll make a note.

John recently shared his method for roasting tomatoes, which sounds easy and delicious.



Similarly, I made the Roasted Eggplant and Tomato Pasta from Coconut & Lime. So good.

I had been using the purple basil that I picked up in tomato and mozzarella salads. I froze some of it in ice cube trays for later use. Maybe this week, I'll grab some basil for pesto. I haven't made any this year, because last year I grew so much basil that I was tired of it.




Last week, I just cubed the watermelon and enjoyed it for snacks and breakfast. Just yesterday, I came across an appealing recipe for watermelon ice cubes or granita in the print version of Relish Magazine, which is an insert in local newspapers and also available online. Looks worth more browsing.

I'm going to try the cubes, which combine the melon, water, honey, lemon juice, sugar and mint leaves. Water and lemonade are suggested for the ice cubes. I think they would be a great addition to a mojito or a margarita, perhaps.

CSA Week 11

Lack of getting pictures uploaded has delayed posting again. For now here's the list.

1. yellowy-orange heirloom tomatoes
2. HUGE strangely torpedo-shaped red heirloom tomatoes
3. lettuce
4. purple basil - gorgeous, fragrant, and tasty

I've been enjoying great salads!

CSA Week 10, almost Week 11

Oops. I never got around to taking any pictures of the absolutely gorgeous tomatoes from last week, so I never posted.

Before I pick up this week's selection tomorrow, let me recap:

1. roma tomatoes
2. large round tomatoes the size of grapefruits
3. potatoes (The mint and peas potato salad totally did not work out. I needed more potatoes in order to reaffirm my potato cooking abilities.)
4. lettuce

I had been waiting all summer for the tomatoes, so it was pretty exciting!

Mondawmin is the Dopeness

I checked out the new Target at Mondawmin this evening. I'm so glad I don't have to drive out to suburbia anymore for random household goods. I utilized a $5 off $25 purchase coupon and gift card to obtain pest control products (ick), cat food, Bounce dryer sheets, a loaf pan, and a lovely shower curtain liner. Very exciting, I know. Then, I went to Shoppers. My first visit to that location, as well. My only qualm was they were out of peach nectar. I like to mix it with iced tea.

The best part of the trip (besides the mad closeness [Forgive the slang, I saw The Wackness yesterday. Loved it!]) was the soundtrack to the trip's closing credits. As I pushed my cart to my car, there was a drumline practicing nearby. I pushed my groceries in the cart to the car in step to the cadence being played. I am a band nerd for life. I smiled a little to myself. It was a good cadence.

CSA Week 9

I don't really feel like writing at the moment, but for the sake of consistency...

1. thai basil
2. yellow squash
3. zucchini
4. green bell peppers

Obligatory Happy Hour Advert

Q: Where will you be on Friday night?
A: Don't Know.

ACW has proclaimed that there will be a happy hour to commemorate his final month of pointlessly titled blogging. Here are the details:

What: Happy Hour

Where: Don’t Know Tavern

1453 Light Street, Baltimore, MD 21230

When: Friday, August 1st, 6pm to ???

Why: Because ACW is so f$*%in’ awesome and ACW deserves it and you really really want to buy ACW a beer for providing so many pants-wettingly excellent laughs over the years (...or so I've heard.)

Hope to see you there.

CSA Week 8 and Recipe Recap

Sorry, no pictures. I'm slacking, but you know what vegetables look like already, right?

This week's haul:

1. yellow squash*
2. red onions*
3. romaine lettuce
4. more potatoes

(*new to me this week.)

I learned last week that the purple peppers turn bitter (and lose all their color coming out a sickly pale grayish green) when you cook them. They were a bit bitter in the habaneros-substituted-by-mystery-hot-peppers sauce, though the sauce wasn't bad on burritos. I also discovered the long skinny green peppers labeled "hot peppers" were in no way hot. They didn't taste quite like green bell peppers, but they had no hotness, which is fine, just surprising.

I cooked up a bunch of the veggies in the crock-pot and we had them with crumbled turkey Italian sausage over egg noodles. This was pretty good, though there was something about the seasoning that I didn't quite like and the purple pepper was also bitter here. I used this recipe as inspiration.

I didn't make the mint potato salad, yet. I went a more traditional comfort food route with this recipe, of which all tasters approved.

I'm not even sure when I'm going to cook this week. The rest of this week my evening plans include a movie, a meeting, yoga, and happy hour. Maybe I will bring mint potato salad to the happy hour for someone special. :)

Plans for the Purple and Green Veggies

Summer asked of the purple peppers, "what are you going to use them for?"

I really like green, red, orange, or yellow peppers. I'm happy to eat them raw with ranch dip or in a salad. I'm guessing the same holds true for purple.

For some, I might also try this sauce, as I have the hot peppers (mine are not habaneros) to use, too.

Habanero Sauce

1 cup water
1/3 cup of red wine vinegar
1-3 fresh or dried habanero peppers, depending on how hot you like it.
1 large red bell pepper
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon salt

Chop up the bell and habanero peppers, (or grind the habaneros if using dried). Place all of the ingredients in a saucepan, bring to a boil, and then simmer for 8-10 minutes. Finally, puree the mixture in a blender.

I also have the zucchini and onion to use. I did an ingredient search on Allrecipes.com and might go with one of those ideas like the pasta primavera or veggie fajitas.

I think sweet peppers of any color are good sauteed or grilled and added to Mexican dishes or Asian stir fries or you could do peppers and onions with sausage.

As for the potatoes, I might try this potato salad.

POTATO SALAD WITH MINT AND PEAS
2 lb small red potatoes
2 tablespoons white-wine vinegar
1 tablespoon minced shallot
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup thawed frozen or cooked fresh baby peas (5 oz)
1/3 cup chopped or torn fresh mint leaves
Cover potatoes with cold salted water in a 3-quart saucepan, then simmer, covered, until tender, 10 to 15 minutes.

While potatoes are cooking, whisk together vinegar, shallot, salt, and pepper in a large serving bowl.

Drain potatoes and halve or quarter if desired. Add to vinegar mixture while warm and toss to coat. Add oil, peas, and mint and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper and serve warm or at room temperature.

If the results of any of these culinary experiments are memorable, I'll report back.

CSA Week 7

Still Life with Cat, originally uploaded by danilou.

Very exciting week in vegetables. Even Gizmo is intrigued. This week there were new options beyond the chard, lettuce, cabbage, spinach standbys. There were potatoes, hot peppers, purple! bell peppers, yellow squash, patty pan squash, zucchini, and basil. Very colorful.

My picks:

1. hot peppers
2. purple peppers
3. zucchini
4. potatoes