Day 8, July 9. Focaccia, Take II: Garlic Scapes!

This went much better the second time around... I think...GARLIC SCAPES!  I'd never heard of these beautiful beings until I received them from Boston Organics.  But all my relatives who saw them since then have remarked "omg, Americans sell them?  It's ___ in Chinese."  I'm still playing around with them to see what else they can do but so far, I'm a fan of these beauties.  If you want a fantastic musing on garlic, check out Jesse's poem: http://rhymes-with-messy.blogspot.com/2011/06/garlic-glorious-garlic.html












So we had breakfast while I waited for the dough to rise.

 Watched a little lady gaga being interviewed by a Chinese woman wearing noodles...

I made a conference call...  Had some lunch...  vegetarian wontons with fresh vegetable soup (broth made with garlic scapes, carrots, carrot leaves, kale stalks)

 And finally it was time to spread the dough, wait for it to rise some more, and bake.

Much better this time!  No burnt tops!  ...but it could've used more salt and olive oil... there goes being healthy...

Day 7, July 8

More lessons learned: You cannot buy a fishburger at McDonald's at 10am...even if you ate breakfast earlier and are ready for lunch at that point.  Further, fishburgers are hard to find, anywhere.

Breakfast:
banana crepes
sausage
toast
milk

Lunch...yes I managed to escape McDonalds fate...

Summer salad:  egg whites, boston lettuce from Boston Organics, tomato, caramelized onions, TJ's basalmic vinaigrette
Mushroom Ravioli: Took the swiss chard from this week's organic box and sauteed it with onions.  Added it to Trader Joe's mushroom ravioli in truffle sauce, alongside half a tomato
Toasted focaccia
Kale egg white drop soup: Made a veggie stock base from carrot tops,  kale stocks, carrots, and onions...  dropped in egg whites

More summer veggies

Started living with my grandmother

Day 1. July 2

Swiss chard with toasted walnuts and sesame oil










Stir fried green beans, Asian style

Baby bok choy / shanghai bok choy / little Chinese cabbage...pick your translation

Veggie sausages

Tomato and egg scramble (traditional Chinese dish--yes, for dinner, not breakfast)



TA-DA!  

Organic box...in summer...

So far, it's been a great food box week!  Now that it's summer, I'm so glad I switched from the $24 small box to the $29 dogma box (locally sourced vegetables)...on the every other week schedule... http://www.bostonorganics.com/fresh/thisweekbox.php

Here's what came:
bok choy
asparagus
mushrooms
lettuce
1 huge delicious tomato
2 onions
collard greens
beets
lettuce

The meals!  The meals!  Some shining moments so far:

Prep items:
1. Bok choy...stems cut off,  blanched the rest... (washed stems were great for veggie stock)
2. Stir fried collard green leaves (stalks great for veggie stock)
3. Roasted asparagus--olive oil, salt, pepper
4. caramelized onions
5. veggie stalk (bok choy stems, collard green stems, asparagus stems, onion skins)
6. steamed rice

The mix and matched results:
1. Snacking beets!!!  I finally conquered my poor track record of roasting beets successfully!  They've always come out too dry, and nothing like what one gets at restaurants.  This time around, I ladeled in two spoonfuls of veggie broth into the foil...it totally did the trick.

2. Roasted asparagus, pan fried walnuts, golden raisins, and shaved parmesan salad.

3. Coriander mushroom curry....  one sauteed onion, several spoonfuls of coriander chutney (from the Indian grocery store), half of above said tomato--chopped, sour cream or plain yogurt, and garam masala

4. Wilted bok choy salad with coriander mushroom curry dressing (above, but chilled)

5. Carrot miso dressing (the ocean waves: Carrot ginger miso dressing).  Unlike previous dressings, I only used a teaspoon or two of olive oil this week...  threw into the food processor a ton of baby carrots...and then used veggie stock as my main liquid... processed with miso paste and sesame oil...  had with lettuce in rice wrappers for summer rolls

6. Carrot miso topping with rice and bok choy

7. Curry with rice

8. Asparagus and peas in mint ricotta custard

9. Roasted asparagus, tomato, mushroom, onion, and mozz scramble

...was reminded by the savory ricotta that I'm overdue for making one of my favorite pasta dishes--Zucchini with ricotta sauce over pasta...inspired by Fratelli la Bufalla http://www.fratellilabufala.eu/ in Miami Beach...the one restaurant where my friend's Italian husband and his family is willing to go for real Naples Style Italian food...  where I was first introduce to the taste of fresh ricotta as it should be...and vowed never to cook with the nonfat stuff again...

...am also wondering how a spring pea soup would taste with mint added in...

Roasted purple finger potatoes with coriander, basil, grapefruit topping

Background: I'm now inspired to try new combinations of flavors after this past weekend's food aventure...  I finally stopped teaching which meant that I could catch up on other work...and experiment with cooking again!  LOVE having (relatively) more time...  I've been looking forward for days to try the teeny purple potatoes that came in my organic box...and tonight was definitely the night.

Method:
Materials:
tiny purple skinned potatoes that came in my organic box!
olive oil
garlic
sea salt
freshly ground pepper
red pepper flakes
coriander chutney
fresh basil (from the basil plant in my organic box!)

Procedure:
Preheat oven to 400 F

Cut potatoes in half and lay it in a 13x9 pyrex.
Sprinkle with olive oil, sea salt, red pepper flakes, and freshly ground black pepper.
Put unpeeled garlic cloves in pyrex.
Bake until potatoes are roasted.
In mini food processor, blend olive oil, coriander chutney, sea salt.
When roasted potatoes are done, lightly smash with fork or potato masher.
Drizzle coriander sauce over potatoes.
Sprinkle with grapefruit juice and fresh basil.
Return to oven for five minutes.
Combine.

Results:
Super ridiculously yummy!

Discussion:
Results are likely to be replicated with success.  Future studies may wish to try blending grapefruit juice w/ the coriander chutney sauce instead

Banana chocolate ganache woopie pies

Background: I hate bananas.  And yet, I never put them on my "no" list for my organic veggie box, as I think the potassium will be good for me...  I end up procrastinating on eating them, have overripe bananas, and stick them in the freezer.  Yes, it's true.  Bananas freeze well.  My roommate dropped the bag of frozen bananas I had accumulating in the freezer and I decided it was a sign to try a new banana dessert.  Having recently succumbed to the holiday cookies edition of the Martha Stewart magazine, I decided it was a great time to try the recipe for banana whoopie pies.  I didn't have cream cheese on hand, so I figured that caramel and chocolate filling would be just as good.  But then, I ran out of butter as well so I had to simply use chocolate ganache (I know, I know...it's a hard life).  I forgot the butter in the first batch and ended up with very low-fat banana cookies--not as good as the full butter cake-ish pie version but if there were not the comparison point, I dare say they were mighty good for a relatively healthy snack...  but then I went to make the real version.. and oh my my my, are they delicious!

Methods:
Banana chocolate ganache woopie pies

-c/o Martha's with slight modifications (a.k.a. I don't own a pastry bag and only have 2 mixing bowls...and I used chocolate filling in lieu of cream cheese)

2 c flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/2 c mashed banana
1/2 c sour cream
1/2 c unsalted softened butter
1/2 c sugar
1/2c brown sugar
1 large egg
1t vanilla extract

Oven: 350
Ziplock bag:
2 cups flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt

Mixing bowl A:
1/2 c banana
1/2 c sour cream

Mixing bowl B:
1. Mix until fluffy:
1 stick butter
1/2 c mashed banana
1/2 c sour cream
2. Add egg and vanilla
3. Mix in half of banana mixture
4. Mix in half of flour mixture
5. Mix in half of banana mixture
6. Mix in half of flour mixture

Put contents in ziploc bag
Cut hole in corner
pipette out 1 1/4 in rounds
Bake 12 minutes at 350
Let cool
Fill with chocolate ganache (1 c heavy cream, 1/3 bag of Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate chips)

Results: LOVEEEEEEEEEEEEE THEM!!!!!!!!!  Ready to make these all the time!!!

I was feeling uninspired last night when I received my biweekly case of produce... I mean, yes, it's cheap to make soup but how many times a month can one have kale and white bean together? 

This week's list: green bell peppers, broccoli, carrots, butter lettuce, onions, pea shouts, squash, kale, apples, bananas, oranges, plums...  But just in time, these recently came up!




First, check out the NY Times Vegetarian Thanksgiving Pictures
 http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/11/08/health/20101108_thanksgiving.html


Second, check out the following: http://fiveandspice.wordpress.com/2010/10/21/cheesy-winter-squash-muffins/

Sunday afternoon food prep

Sunday afternoon food prep

Objective: create segments of meals that let me eat a variety of foods this week with minimal prep time and will help me fight the temptation to buy something on the way home.  Living in walking distance to Trader Joe's is getting dangerous.

I'm at the tail end of the produce box.  The roasted tomatoes went into sandwiches, pasta, and catalan tomato bread (see Europe pics), curried brown basmati rice, black beans and brown rice.  Plums went into drinks and snack...  Roasted cauliflower was devoured as part of salad and part tapas.  Kale went into the hash, rice, and scrambled eggs.  Potatoes went into mashed, hash, and fries (with fresh cheese).  Beets were roasted and eaten with salad and reduced basalmic one night...and Trader Joe's spicy peanut dressing on another.  Lettuce...obvi...

After ten hours of peeling, cutting, and dissecting 

I procrastinated on handling the acorn squash because I have yet to find an efficient way to peel and cut it...or deal with innards... But now that I'm out of the easy veggies, I decided to stop procrastinating.  Plus, I love squash...  just not preparing it.

This week's mix and match set:

1. Grilled pears on the George Forman: Good for salad (almost tastes like jicama).  Good for paninis.  Good as a healthy snack.  I'm sure they'd taste better with butter and sugar but I'm trying to save my sugary intake for ice cream and cake...still have leftover molten cakes in the freezer!

2. Brie (<$5)

3. Trader Joe's multigrain loaf

4. Roasted acorn squash, garlic cloves, and onion.

After dressing: olive oil, basalmic, red wine, oregano, brown sugar (LOVE using pyrex, putting on the cover, and shaking it all up to save on minimizing the use of another prep bowl!)

5. Goya white beans (on sale at Stop and Shop)

6. Eggs

7. The rest of the bag of cooked frozen shrimp I splurged on at Trader Joe's

8. Half of a sad basil plant--learned the hard way that the radiator is under the sunny window...  oops!

So far, we've made
1. Grilled panini with brie, grilled pears, and basil...definitely way less pricey than the grilled sandwich that I was tempted by at Panera's.

2. Roasted garlic white bean dip with italian herbs (half of one can of white beans, olive oil, roasted garlic from the roasting batch, sea salt, oregano, basil)



3. Squash and white bean dip (other half of the can of white beans with the roasted onions and squash)
4. Scrambled eggs with shrimp, cheese, and basil

...I still have leftover barbecue shrimp pizza with whole wheat crust (trader joe's!) that's in the freezer... looking forward to other combos... squash risotto?  squash pasta?  squash stuffing?  squash and white bean salad?

Ode to Henrietta's bread pudding

Saturday mornings

Background Saturday mornings are my favorite... there's nothing quite like lying in bed with the sun streaming through the windows, and not feeling rushed to leave the house after having selected "snooze" on my phone ten times. I once thought that having "calypso" sounds in the morning would help wake me up. Instead, I'm fairly certain that I'm now traumatized by the mental images of the Caribbean every morning that signal to me that I'm running late...

The second best part of Saturday mornings is eating breakfast at home. Last weekend, it was the chocolate chip pumpkin pancakes and the kale potato hash with eggs... This morning's adventure: a breakfast edition (a.k.a. no rum) of chocolate bread pudding with caramelized bananas. The idea came to me after having dinner with Rod and Marc. We'd gone to dinner the other night at Henrietta's Table www.henriettastable.com/ after Marc gave a lecture at Harvard on glbt youths in religious schools. As part of their weeknight "yard sale" of picking two items, we'd had dessert: Henrietta's chocolate bread pudding with caramelized bananas. We all know that I've been obsessed with bread pudding for years. I thought it was high time for making a simpler but tasty breakfast edition.

Banana bread pudding with chocolate and cherry sauce


Methods

1. Whisked (soy) milk, one egg, vanilla, cinnamon, and cherry preserves in a large glass bowl
2. Cut up / ripped up chunks of challah and tossed in bowl to coat / soak
3. Melted 1 t of butter in a skillet
4. Poured butter into large bowl of other ingredients
5. Cooked sliced bananas (from the produce box!) over medium heat.


6. Buttered a mini loaf pan
7. Tossed all ingredients in with a few chunks of bittersweet chocolate (from Trader Joe's pound plus bars)
8. Cooked at 350 degrees

Results a happy camper for a smidgeon of the costs!

In love with organic veggies

Background:
I receive a box of organic veggies and fruits from Boston Organics every other Thursday. It's wonderful because
a) I don't have to lug vegetables home from the store by foot
b) It makes me feel as if I'm loved enough to get packages in the mail (hey, so what if I paid for it myself?)
c) It forces me to eat a variety of items...but if I'm going on vacation, or if there's something I truly don't like, I can opt out of the delivery without fretting about finding a replacement
d) I get too stressed out at grocery stores by how much the produce will cost...whereas if I know I'm spending $29 every two weeks on produce, it's far easier to plan the rest of my food budget.

In any case, it's been a fun week of cooking. I tried detouring from my usual Chinese style cauliflower this week, and made roasted Cauliflower instead. It was amazing--I tossed the pieces in a little garam masala, cumin, chili powder, tumeric, and olive oil. I'd do it again in a heartbeat!

The other highlight of this week was kale potato hash. I am in love with brunch foods. My favorite place in Miami (Ice Box Cafe) used to change their menus daily based on what was seasonal. As always, I spend forever choosing between options and am always in fear of ordering the wrong item and spending my mealtime in envy of a friend's meal choice. Ever since on one such occasion, a friend ordered a meal that included kale hash, I've been intending to try it at home as well.

Methods:
Friday night:
Kale
1. Wash kale
2. Dip into salted boiling water until the leaves just turn dark green.
3. Remove from heat. Depending on supply of kale from the produce box, drain and freeze anything not planning to be eaten.

Potatoes
1. Peel potatoes, boil them until fork can go through but not mushy. (I'm lazy and just use the water still left from the kale)
2. Remove and store for the morning... if looking for a midnight snack, turn one of the potatoes into mashed potato... (not that I'd ever make comfort food in the middle of the night)

Saturday morning:
1. Grate potatoes.
2. Mix with kale
3. Pan fry in a skillet that's been coated with olive oil.


Results
It turned out far easier than I expected. I couldn't have been a happier little girl when I had them along with chocolate pumpkin pancakes... (yes the joy of home brunch is that I don't have to choose between the savory and sweet...I can have both!)

Homage to Ice Box