Recipes

I may have mentioned this before in a previous post, but this time I think it needs a post of its own. Besides I don't have any pictures of things I have been making to put up yet, but my new computer is on it's way. It took me much longer than I thought it would to decide on a computer to buy, hence the delay. So back to recipes. 

Do I use recipes, yes mostly for cakes and other sensitive baked goods or for the first time I am trying a new recipe. The rest of the time I wing it. I am of the school of thought that if you want to learn how to cook, then you just have to do it. If you always follow a recipe you will never make mistakes and then you will never learn. We learn through failure, not through repetition. If I use a recipe on this blog I will cite the source, otherwise I am not using a recipe and just using my intuition and memory. 

It is very useful to learn to cook this way, because making tomato for four can be easily scaled to tomato soup for twelve without much effort. It also allows things to change, grow, and evolve. If I don't have an ingredient on hand I may substitute and find out I like it much better. And to be honest 85% of the time I am following a recipe for the first time I modify it. I can't help it, I have a problem. I like to own my work and that allows me to be a better cook. Try it, you will come to love it. Meanwhile if you do want a recipe from the site I can vaguely type something up that should come close.

CSA week 18

Still no computer, so still no pictures. This week we all got tomatoes, sunshine squash, and garlic. I chose lettuce over arugula as I have leftover arugula still, carrots over beets, potatoes over roasted chiles as I am about to buy a half bushel to freeze, and we ended up with a handful of sweet peppers. We also got peaches and pears in our fruit share. Mmmm.

time to start storing

What I made: Peaches and pears in bellies; lettuce, arugula, and sweet pepper salad; tomato soup with garlic bread; spaghetti with pesto and spaghetti squash from last week; veggie stew with carrots, potatoes, beets and onions; and I am saving the squash for later.

CSA week 17

Okay I can still write what we had in our CSA even though I can't get to the picture. Everyone got beets, spaghetti squash, 1lb of onions, a sweet red pepper, and tomatoes. I chose arugula over lettuce. We also got peaches and apples in our fruit share.

apple season is here

What I made: More peach butter, apples in bellies, FLTs, tomatoes in sandwiches, beet greens in stew, onions for storing, arugula in sandwiches and salads, squash, beets, and sweet pepper for later.

Please excuse the hiatus

So, the other day I realized my computer ate my lovely pictures of canned whole tomatoes, the beginning of tomato jam, the beginning of black bean burgers, and a few more things I had decided to make in a two day time span. See it is September and the cool weather has me jumping into cooking projects like no tomorrow. But then alas disaster, the pictures just weren't there after downloading them. Some of them were, some of them weren't. Sigh, I will manage. 

But wait it's not over yet. Not two days later my hard drive crashes. Now my files are on their way to Alabama to be rescued. My computer is on it's way to the recycle bin, this was my third hard drive. Granted I have had the computer for almost six years, but still it is time. A new computer will be had, but I have to find one that we can afford. So for now we will take a little break. You can look forward to pickles, tomato jam, black bean veggie burgers, and whatever else I cook between now and then. Any suggestions on an awesome laptop are welcome.

CSA week 16

The tomatoes are in full swing and I will be up to my ears in canning soon. I love home canned tomatoes. This week we had some choices. I chose roasted chiles over bell peppers, cherry tomatoes over green beans as I have my beans still from last week. We all got onions, regular tomatoes, arugula, a pound of cukes and/or zucchini, and we got peaches for our fruit share.

oh tomatoes, you make my heart skip a beat

What I made: Cherry tomatoes never made it out of the car, FLTs [facon, arugula, and tomato sandwiches], arugula salad, arugula on various sandwiches and burgers, zucchini muffins, roasted chiles on homemade chili, in eggs, on veggie burgers, basically everywhere. Onions went to general cooking and peaches in bellies and canned for those dark winter days. I also made pickles with the green beans from last week.

Stuffed squash blossoms

I think I have mentioned before that we grow pumpkins and squash just to collect the blossoms. We have had these three times so far this year, plus two batches of squash blossom soup, and I have enough blossoms for another round of either. When you pick your blossoms remove the stamen and sepals right away. The blossoms keep in the fridge for 3-4 days in a paper towel as long as no one throws something else on top of them and makes them all flat (you know who you are). You can gently pry open any that stick a little.

Usually I have done a chile relleno batter with whipped egg whites, but this year I have been experimenting with panko. Now panko burns easily, so we have been using soft cheeses like chevre or cream cheese for the stuffing. If you want to use a melting cheese like monterey you will need to use a folded egg batter since it has to cook longer in order for the cheese to melt and therefore will need to hold up to the heat. Also with a folded egg batter you dredge in flour first then eggs. With a breaded batter that cooks quickly, you dredge in egg first then the flour/bread mix. Either way they are delicious.

all you need is blossoms and cheese

fill with about a TB of regular or fake cream cheese

fold the blossom around the cheese and gently press shut

mix flour, panko, and a dash of salt

assemble your line

first dip in beaten eggs

then roll in flour mix

fry in hot oil (we use peanut), flipping once

drain on paper towels

so yummy!

Summer food really is simply delicious.

CSA week 15

Insert: This post is way late as we went camping this weekend—enjoying life as opposed to staying home and getting stuff done. 

The tomatoes are coming. We have been getting cherry tomatoes, but not the big ones yet. That means I will be canning soon. I try to do 90lbs each season and that lasts us until fresh tomatoes hit the market in July. We finally got some full sized ones in our CSA this week. Also my little extrovert chatted us into two extra melons. We all got edamame, basil, tomatoes, eggplant (japanese or regular), a melon, green beans, and we got more peaches. We really love grilled peaches.

mmm melons!

What I made: Pesto for pasta and open faced tomato sandwiches; summer risotto with carrots, zucchini, and eggplant; steamed edamame;  melons for breakfast; peaches in bellies, on the grill, and peach butter; green beans for later.