August

It's almost the end of summer. I have been pretty successful in using up all my Fresh Fork CSA product each week. It's all so very beautiful and neatly packaged - a shame to lose any of it. Most of the meat I have froze because I'm focusing on using the produce up. Last week I ordered a crate of peaches and froze bags for cobbler.

My current "to do" list:
Cleaning & moving fish tank and boys' room around
Pick raspberries (season just started) and make jam
Attempt stuffed cabbage rolls
Work on Labor Day Vacation plans - only weeks away!

Roast beefs

Last weekend I ate lots of chocolate chip cookie bars and chocolate cupcakes to celebrate my mom's birthday. Instead of regular cookies I made the bars in a jelly roll pan out of pure laziness (it was much faster and still delicious). The cupcakes didn't turn out like I had hoped. I overfilled them and it looked like they had wings coming off each side. The recipe came from Desserts from the Loveless Cafe cookbook and filled with cheesecake! When I go visit Erin in Nashville next May, I am going to have a hard time choosing my dessert(s).

My turn to host The Plum Tarts is March 24th. I made a trial run of boeuf a la mode. It took 2 days and we devoured it in like 15min. Soaked up the marinade/gravy with stale-ish bread. The carrots were outstanding but I want something different for the girls. Working on another beef dish this weekend - maybe something ridiculous with bones sticking out.

Auto Show

We went to the Auto Show last Tuesday. Just for something to do. It's much more fun when you are there looking to buy. My heart still belongs to VW. Before we picked the boys up we stopped at Wexler's for dinner. Haven't been there in ages and sometimes almost forget it's open again.

Feel like we have been eating too much rice under things the past few weeks. Anyways, this week's new recipes are...
Santa fe Chicken - if you made cilantro lime rice this could be a Chipotle-ish dinner
Turkey Zucchini burgers - tasted like veggie burgers, not sure how they would hold up on the grill
Stuffed Pepper Soup - I was starving at work today and slopped this up and felt nice and full. Comfort food!

New recipe week

Last week I kept telling everyone it was my week of new recipes. These are the attempts...

Spicey Honey-Brushed Chicken Thighs - First time I cooked anything under the broiler. It was easy! These would be also easy to grill and a great alternative to wings.

Senegalese Peanut Stew with Spinach and Sweet Potatoes - blah

Shrimp Creole - Our Fat Tuesday dinner was spicy and good over a little rice. No leftovers.

Pumpkin Spice Syrup - this was a mess. I had trouble straining it through the cheesecloth (maybe impatience?) and ended up with about an inch in the bottom of a canning jar. Next time I'll try using the cinnamon sticks and might forget the straining all together. Most of the other recipes I looked at didn't suggest straining. Determined to figure this out. Should be easy!

My turn to cook dinner for my Supper Club is exactly 1 month away. Need to plan menu a.s.a.p and have a practice run at it. All I know is that BEEF will be the main course.

Szechuan Green Beans with Pork

The boys and I went to the market yesterday - it's been way too long since our last visit. I dragged them, about 20lbs of meat and their pizza bagels back to the car. Ian will be sad, but I didn't purchase any red meat. Mostly chicken - sausages, thighs and the dreaded boneless, skinless breasts - and 1 pound of ground pork for the recipe below. I also got a few spices and bags of legumes. Putting the spices away I realized my white pepper is from 2009. I try to write the purchase dates on the containers. Does pepper go bad? Obviously need to dust and restock the spice cabinet soon.

Yesterday I made Szechuan Green Beans with Pork for lunch. I am starting to take note of the authenticity of the serving sizes stated in recipes. I followed the recipe exactly and it was correct. Four 1 cup servings. I liked the dish for lunch but don't think I would double it. Not sure how it would freeze and I figure we would get sick of it before going through 8 servings. I froze the other 1/2 lb of ground pork and plan on making it again.

cooking up the CSA share

We joined a CSA this year - bags of fresh vegetables, that are grown literally one mile down the road, have made my family very happy. Most of the time I simply roast, steam or saute them. Some days I break out a small kitchen appliance and put William up on a chair next to the counter to "help" me.  Exciting things happen in the pink kitchen - basil houses are constructed, my keyboard gets covered in a spray of flour (the space bar will never be same) and spoons are licked clean. Little Henry periodically squats down and peers into the oven to see what's going on in there and later screams at me because he can't reach the goodies on the cooling racks.

Chimichurri
I probably made about 6 batches of this. Ate it with pork chops, gifted and froze.

Ina's Pesto
Simply Recipes Pesto
I lost count of how many batches of pesto were made. Really need to try them side by side to compare.  Note to self - buy half as much cheese as you think you need or read the recipe before you go shopping. Ate with pasta, used in the Pasta, Pesto and Peas salad, gifted and froze.

Simply Recipes Basic Tomato Sauce - very sweet, double recipe next time
Ruhlman's Tomato Sauce - I liked the ease of this but not the seeds

Carrot, Zucchini, Squash Ribbons
I grated everything instead of making the ribbons - it's a quick side.

Pasta, pesto and peas
Made it on Labor Day, great pasta salad for a large group

Smitten Kitchen's Zucchini Bread 
Just plain, straight, delicious bread!
Simply Recipes Zucchini Muffins
I liked this recipe because it used melted butter.
Zucchini Carrot Bread
Great because it used a lot of veggies
Sweet Potato and Zucchini Bread
I subbed carrots but want to try it with the sweet potatoes

baba ghanoush.
Ok, but i don't really like eggplant to begin with

Labor Day 2011

We got back from vacation, WFR started pre-school and the fall semester started. Busy week!