Cooking and CSA
Jul. 27th, 2002 10:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sierciaThis was yet another yummy week on the CSA front. This week we got![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lorac and William. I can't wait for their tomatoes to start coming in - they have over 40 varieties planted! I've already told Carrie that we'll trade my tomatoes for the CSA ones so I can sample the variety (originally, I'd thought I'd let her keep them all, because we'll have so many, but I want to try the different kinds!).
Which reminds me! One of my cucumbers is almost big enough to harvest (about 6 inches long), and one of the tomatoes on my biggest plant is ripening nicely. They should both be ready in a few days. Wiley asked me today if we were going to be allowed to eat "my babies". Well, DUH! Of course we're going to be eating them. Hee. Went out today and bought a tomato cage for the biggest guy out there. The thought of trying to stake him had me stymied. In the 3 minutes I was out there looking at the plants today, I got 3 new mosquito bites, and killed three others before they bit. This is ridiculous, and driving me bonkers. It's not even enough to put on bug stuff, because they bite me through my clothes where there isn't any repellant. I love living near the water, but this is just too much.
Oh, and cooking. As part of the dieting thing, I've been trying to find new recipes - ones that are "healthier", or that can at least spice up the rotation, since the old standby of a trough of spaghetti doesn't cut it anymore. This week, I've had the distinct pleasure of trying two fabulous new recipes. Thanks go tosmurfchick for the recipe for Caldo Verde, which was incredibly delicious and remarkably simple (I used plain white onion because I couldn't find spanish, and I don't think my kale julienne slices were quite small enough, but it was still delicious). And according to Wiley, it reheated very nicely too. Then tonight, I made a recipe my mom sent me - Penne with cheesy eggplant sauce. Saute some eggplant in a little olive oil, throw in some garlic and a can of chopped tomatoes and simmer for a bit. Toss with cooked penne, some goat cheese and chopped fresh basil (If you want the actual full recipe, lemme know). Wow, was it good. The cheese melted and kind of coated the pasta, and the eggplant gave it a nice hearty flavor and texture. 3 cups of this, and I was stuffed. Now I want my eggplant plants to fruit so I can make it with my own eggplant, and my own tomatoes. I've been experimenting a bunch with different marinades and such as well, again in the interest of spicing things up a little. Cook's Illustrated this month had a recipe for Pad Thai that I want to try. Pad Thai is one of those dishes that I always WANT to like, and never quite do when I order it in restaurants. So, I think I'll try making it for myself and see what I think then. They also pointed out a website to order the ingredients for Thai recipes, which is exciting, because I can order things I need to make the recipes in the cookbook I got from my Mom for my birthday. Hee. I wonder how many points fish sauce has. I bet WWOnline doesn't have that in there.
Oh! and I got a new pepper grinder last weekend, and I love it. It grinds as finely as store bought ground, and it grinds FAAAAST. I can definitely see my pepper consumption going through the roof now. And today I bought a Japanese cookbook. Figure I should learn how to make something besides avocado rolls, considering how much I like Japanese food across the board, AND how much of it is good healthy food. I'm looking forward to trying some of the recipes from it.
And now, all this talk of food has made me hungry again. Damn.
- lettuce
- 2 cucumbers
- green pepper
- 2 onions
- beets
- garlic
- fresh basil
- carrots
lorac and William. I can't wait for their tomatoes to start coming in - they have over 40 varieties planted! I've already told Carrie that we'll trade my tomatoes for the CSA ones so I can sample the variety (originally, I'd thought I'd let her keep them all, because we'll have so many, but I want to try the different kinds!).Which reminds me! One of my cucumbers is almost big enough to harvest (about 6 inches long), and one of the tomatoes on my biggest plant is ripening nicely. They should both be ready in a few days. Wiley asked me today if we were going to be allowed to eat "my babies". Well, DUH! Of course we're going to be eating them. Hee. Went out today and bought a tomato cage for the biggest guy out there. The thought of trying to stake him had me stymied. In the 3 minutes I was out there looking at the plants today, I got 3 new mosquito bites, and killed three others before they bit. This is ridiculous, and driving me bonkers. It's not even enough to put on bug stuff, because they bite me through my clothes where there isn't any repellant. I love living near the water, but this is just too much.
Oh, and cooking. As part of the dieting thing, I've been trying to find new recipes - ones that are "healthier", or that can at least spice up the rotation, since the old standby of a trough of spaghetti doesn't cut it anymore. This week, I've had the distinct pleasure of trying two fabulous new recipes. Thanks go to
smurfchick for the recipe for Caldo Verde, which was incredibly delicious and remarkably simple (I used plain white onion because I couldn't find spanish, and I don't think my kale julienne slices were quite small enough, but it was still delicious). And according to Wiley, it reheated very nicely too. Then tonight, I made a recipe my mom sent me - Penne with cheesy eggplant sauce. Saute some eggplant in a little olive oil, throw in some garlic and a can of chopped tomatoes and simmer for a bit. Toss with cooked penne, some goat cheese and chopped fresh basil (If you want the actual full recipe, lemme know). Wow, was it good. The cheese melted and kind of coated the pasta, and the eggplant gave it a nice hearty flavor and texture. 3 cups of this, and I was stuffed. Now I want my eggplant plants to fruit so I can make it with my own eggplant, and my own tomatoes. I've been experimenting a bunch with different marinades and such as well, again in the interest of spicing things up a little. Cook's Illustrated this month had a recipe for Pad Thai that I want to try. Pad Thai is one of those dishes that I always WANT to like, and never quite do when I order it in restaurants. So, I think I'll try making it for myself and see what I think then. They also pointed out a website to order the ingredients for Thai recipes, which is exciting, because I can order things I need to make the recipes in the cookbook I got from my Mom for my birthday. Hee. I wonder how many points fish sauce has. I bet WWOnline doesn't have that in there.Oh! and I got a new pepper grinder last weekend, and I love it. It grinds as finely as store bought ground, and it grinds FAAAAST. I can definitely see my pepper consumption going through the roof now. And today I bought a Japanese cookbook. Figure I should learn how to make something besides avocado rolls, considering how much I like Japanese food across the board, AND how much of it is good healthy food. I'm looking forward to trying some of the recipes from it.
And now, all this talk of food has made me hungry again. Damn.
