Week 41 in Review

The Score
Eaters - 10     Compost - 1     Carry Over - 0

This week was an ambitious week, but it helped that I was able to come home from the farmer's market and throw several ingredients straight into the oven.  The workload of my 'real job' is getting more and more outrageous, leaving not enough time to prepare dinner these days, much less document it.  So, loading activities onto the weekend is becoming a better and better plan.  I really have been enjoying my adventures into the world of canning, though sadly the end products just aren't lasting long enough to fully merit the process.  The learning continues! 

The Best

• We all loved the roasted tomatillo and poblano salsa.  I took 2 lbs. of tomatillos, a handful of bunching onions, three poblanos, and a jalapeno that I had sitting around, and put them under the broiler.  About 5 minutes in, I added 6-7 cloves of garlic, flipped over the peppers, stirred up the onions, then continued to broil another 10 minutes.  When everything was nice and roasted, it went into the blender - juices and all - with about 2 cups of cilantro.  Blended until it was nice and smooth, and done!

In process shot

The finished product

The Good

• A closer runner up this week was the arugula salad with sugar snap peas.   It is one of the best salads that I've ever tasted, between the arugula, peas and sauteed mushrooms; my family almost didn't get any.

• My husband made the black bread, which was a delicious, wintry treat that incorporated some carrots from the box.  It reminded me of the year that I spent in Prague after college.  With that in mind, I tried it with some butter and homemade pickled radishes.  Yum!

• The spinach lasagna was simple and good.  My husband didn't like that it didn't include ricotta and my kids also complained that it wasn't cheesy enough.  But, for a quick evening meal, it did the trick.

• The strawberry tangerine marmalade is a tasty change of pace from the strawberry jam that we've been eating since May.  It's tangy flavor goes great on crepes and waffles.

Week 28 in Review

The Score
Eaters 9.5     Compost - 1     Carry Over - 0.5

This week I found myself straying a bit from the plan, due to changes in plans and changes in ingredients.  Once I had last week's bounty in hand, for example, I felt compelled to make a spaghetti alla checca with the firm, meaty tomatoes that we received.  I also had a small crop of home grown tomatillos that I needed to harvest in order to get the beds ready for a fall planting, so that sent one meal down a slightly different pathway.  The basil lost it's gusto fairly early in the week - which meant no pesto later - and some of the lettuce bit the dust as well.  All said and done, I kept things fairly simple in the kitchen this week, leaving enough time to prep the garden beds and get a good start on my fall garden.  We now have carrots, radishes, broccoli, garlic, shallots, leeks, kale and peas in the ground.  After a short mid-October heat wave, a number of the seeds have already sprouted and it looks like things are on their way!

The Best

• This chopped salad - inspired by Nancy Silverton's recipe from Pizzeria Mozza - was so good, I could eat it every day (if only it didn't require so much chopping).

The Good

• Using our garden tomatillos and garlic from the box, I threw together some chicken enchiladas after making a delicious roasted tomatillo salsa.  It was great warm in the enchiladas, and the leftover cold salsa was great with chips.  Delicious guacamole with the box's amazing avocados made for a wonderful garnish.

 

• I could eat whole wheat pasta alla checca with fresh tomatoes, garlic and basil all the time, if only my family wouldn't mind my constant bad breath.

• Our brunch was cancelled, so we lost our excuse to make watermelon mimosas, but we ate up the tomato basil quiche even though it got all little overcooked around the edges.

• The zucchini fritters were very tasty, though my frying skills still leave a lot to be desired.  The recipe suggested really squeezing all the liquid out of the zucchini, and I don't think that I got enough of the liquid out.  The outsides were nice and crispy, but the insides were a bit too wet and gooey.