VEGGIE CHRISTMAS (WEEK 3)

Our CSA box this week was exciting, because we got…. STRAWBERRIES! This is always exciting. It’s a small package, but I was able to add strawberries to my morning oatmeal for 3 breakfasts in a row. Organic strawberries are amazing. Dark red and juicy, not orangey and tart like some that you might find at the regular grocery store.

We also received:
Spinach
Salad mix
Garlic leek
Mizuna
Bok choy
Radish

I’m not as smart as you may think. I had to go to Black River Organic Farm’s website to find out what the Mizuna was. And I didn’t realize the garlic leek was a garlic leek. I just thought it was your standard leek.

So I bet you’re all wondering what on earth you’re going to do with the mizuna. Or what the heck it even is. Well, according to Wikipedia, it is a Japanese green with a slightly peppery flavor, similar to but less so than arugula. On the Wikipedia page there was a beautiful picture of a mizuma and daikon salad. This got me thinking: I know that daikon is a radish, and I was wondering what I would do with my radishes this week.

See below for my weekly menu and click on the links to view the recipes. Keep in mind I’m going to a couple of barbecues this weekend, so I won’t need to make dinner every night. I still have lettuce salads most days for lunch and add whatever’s on hand. They have “healthy” snacks for us at work, so I usually add some cheese and almonds. Or apples and craisins.

Wednesday: We didn’t go to dollar taco night this week, because we had so much filling leftover from the stuffed zucchini from last week. (Since I added ground beef to it, it made a lot.) We used it to make soft tacos. I made my own salsa again, but left out the onion and added tiny pieces of chopped up leeks. Making your own salsa tastes so much better than the jarred kind! I’m a fan.

Thursday: Still had leftover filling from the stuffed zukes and leftover sauce from the lettuce wraps on Monday, so we had spaghetti with the filling and the sauce over it. It was actually delicious. A little Asian, a little spicy, and very tasty.

Friday: Perfect Grilled Chicken with grilled leeks and grilled potatoes.
Saturday: No cooking today, wahoo!
Sunday: Roasted chicken, Spring salad with mizuna, radish and roasted peppers.
Monday: Bok choy gratin, leftover spring salad if there is any
Tuesday: Sausage, spinach, potato and sweet potato hash

So my farmer's market shopping list looks like this:
lots of peppers (ended up not finding them...not in season. I'll have to buy at the grocery store)
goat cheese
sweet potatoes
ask about local chicken/beef (pretty good deals for local meat. On the list for next week's farmer's market!)

And I have to be honest, I got most of these recipes online. I wasn't feeling very creative this week. In my research, I came across this amazing website that seems like it's going to offer a lot of good ideas for future CSA box recipes, too. Score!

FRESH ORGANIC DELICIOUSNESS (Week 3)

Recipes from our CSA Box

Perfect Grilled Chicken
There's really not much to this. To grill a perfect chicken breast, the trick is to cut it in half. Just chop it down the middle so you have 2 chunks of breast. It cooks the chicken more evenly and quickly so that the edges don't dry out. You can marinate the chicken first--that always helps. I usually buy my chicken fresh, then freeze it in the marinade. As it thaws out, it soaks up the marinade so it's really juicy once cooked. It cooks on a hot grill for about 4 minutes per side.

Grilled Leeks

I got this idea from this website. It was amazing. I just cut in half lengthwise, chopped off the tops and discarded them, brushed with olive oil, sea salt and freshly ground pepper, and grilled the leeks for about 5 minutes. Then I chopped them up and added them to the roasted potatoes. This will definitely be my go to recipe for leeks!

Perfect Grilled Chicken, Grilled Leeks, and Grilled Potatoes

Spring Salad with Mizuna, Radish, and Roasted Peppers

This recipe is adapted from this recipe from an amazing blog I stumbled across. On the blog, the recipe is for a fall salad. But I'm making it a spring salad. Why not?

Ingredients (serves 2 ~ 4)


* 1 bag of mizuna
* 1 bunch radishes, sliced
* 4~5 roasted peppers, thinly sliced **See below for roasting instructions
* goat cheese
* Balsamic vinegar and olive oil

Preparation

Tear mizuna into 2 inch sizes and put a bed of it on a large plate. You can also cut it but when you tear greens you create more fragmented area that soak up the flavor of dressing or sauce. Sprinkle the sliced radishes on the middle of the bed of mizuna. Top with roasted peppers, and crumbled goat cheese and drizzle balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

HOW TO ROAST PEPPERS

You can cut peppers in half and remove seeds or roast them whole. I usually roast them whole. Preheat broiler on high and cook peppers facedown on a baking sheet 15~20 minutes. I just set my kitchen timer to check them every 5 minutes. If cooking them whole, I rotate them periodically. When the skin is evenly blackened, remove from oven and put into a ziplock bag. Close the bag and it will steam inside. Supposedly this helps the skin come off. When they are cool enough to handle, peel off the skin. Cut the flesh away from the inner seeds, and use as you wish.

Bok Choy Gratin

Adapted from this recipe on Epicurious.com

Ingredients
· 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons fine dry bread crumbs
· 2 1/2 lb bok choy (not baby), tough stem ends trimmed
· ½ onion, finely chopped
· 1 clove garlic, minced
· 5 tablespoons salted butter
· 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
· 1 1/4 cups 2% milk
· 1/2 teaspoon salt
· 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
· 2 oz cheddar cheese, coarsely grated (1/2 cup)
· 1/2 oz finely grated parmesan (1/4 cup)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 425°F. Lightly butter a 2-quart gratin dish and dust with 2 tablespoons bread crumbs.

Cut bok choy stems and center ribs into 1/2-inch pieces and coarsely chop leaves. Cook stems and ribs in a large pot of boiling salted water until just tender, about 5 minutes, then add leaves and cook 30 seconds. Drain in a colander and rinse under cold water until cool enough to handle. Squeeze out excess water by handfuls.

Cook onion in 1 tablespoon butter in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring, until softened, about 2 minutes. Add garlic and bok choy and cook, stirring, until greens are coated with butter and onion, 1 to 2 minutes. Spread bok choy in baking dish.

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a 2-quart heavy saucepan over moderately low heat, then add flour and cook roux, stirring constantly, 2 minutes. Add milk in a slow stream, whisking constantly, and bring to a boil, whisking. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring, 5 minutes. Add salt, and pepper, then stir in cheddar and 2 tablespoons parmesan and pour evenly over bok choy.

Toss remaining 1/4 cup bread crumbs with remaining 2 tablespoons parmesan in a small bowl and blend in remaining 2 tablespoons butter with your fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle mixture evenly over gratin and bake in upper third of oven until bubbly and golden brown, about 20 minutes.

**I’m going to add some potato to this dish to make it heartier. I’m just going to dice it up and add to the boiling water.

Sausage, Spinach, Potato and Sweet Potato Hash

Finally--a recipe I came up with myself.

Ingredients
Organic chicken and apple sausage from Costco (or you can use any sausage, or even bacon)
Bag/bunch fresh spinach
3 sweet potatoes, diced
2 potatoes, diced
1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced

Preparation
Heat olive oil over medium heat in a heavy pan. Add onions and cook until slightly soft. Meanwhile, microwave sweet and regular potatoes for approximately 6 minutes until softened (or boil and drain). Add to onions in pan, along with garlic. Cook until potatoes are soft, browned, and cooked through. Add sausage and cook until browned (you can cook this separately to make sure all the edges of the sausage are browned. That's how I like my sausage). Add spinach last, and cook until wilted. Enjoy!

FRESH ORGANIC DELICIOUSNESS (week 2)

Recipes made from our CSA Box (Week 2)

Pasta with Arugula and Garlic
Uses arugula from box
This one was simple but delicious. Cook up any type of pasta you would like. In the meantime, heat up some olive oil on medium heat. Add garlic and swirl around for a moment. Add a bag of washed arugula. Cook, tossing, until arugula wilts. When pasta is ready, add arugula and garlic mixture, a swirl of olive oil, and salt and pepper. Simple, peppery, and delicious, with the perfect bite to it.

Stir Fry with Chicken, Bok Choi, and Zucchini
Uses bok choi and zucchini from box

2-3 chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
head of baby bok choi, sliced thinly
1/2 giant zucchini (or 2-3 regular sized zucchini), cut into french-fry sized strips
2-3 cloves garlic
2 TBSP coconut oil
1/4 cup chicken broth, stock, or white wine
Sesame oil
1 tsp finely grated ginger

Heat coconut oil over medium heat. Add garlic, bok choy, chicken, and zucchini. Cook chicken until brown. Add ginger chicken broth and simmer until chicken is cooked through and bok choi and zucchini are soft. Remove from heat, drizzle with sesame oil, and serve over rice.

Lettuce Wraps
Uses lettuce, radishes, and radish greens
This is adapted from this recipe, based on PF Chang's Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients
3 tablespoons oil
2 chicken breasts
1 bunch radishes with tops
3 TBSP chopped onions
1 tsp minced garlic
several large lettuce leaves

Special Sauce
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar (I don't have this, so will use apple cider vinegar)
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon hot mustard (I don't have this, so will use wasabi or horseradish mustard)
2 teaspoons water
1-2 teaspoon garlic and red chile paste (I don't have this, so will use some chili sauce)

Stir Fry Sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon rice wine vinegar (apple cider vinegar)

Directions
Make the special sauce by dissolving the sugar in water in a small bowl. Add soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ketchup, lemon juice and sesame oil. Mix well and refrigerate this sauce until you're ready to serve. Combine the hot water with the hot mustard and set this aside as well. Eventually add your desired measurement of mustard and garlic chili sauce to the special sauce mixture to pour over the wraps. Bring oil to high heat in a wok or large frying pan. Saute chicken breasts for 4 to 5 minutes per side or done. Remove chicken from the pan and cool. Keep oil in the pan, keep hot. As chicken cools mince radishes to about the size of small peas. Prepare the stir fry sauce by mixing the soy sauce, brown sugar, and rice vinegar together in a small bowl. When chicken is cool, mince it to the same size as the radishes. With the pan still on high heat, add another Tbsp of vegetable oil. Add chicken, garlic, onions, radishes and radish greens to the pan. Add the stir fry sauce to the pan and saute the mixture for a couple minutes then serve it in the lettuce"cups". Top with"Special Sauce".

Stuffed Zucchini
Uses zucchini and spinach from box

1/2 giant zucchini
1/2 onion
1-2 cloves garlic
approximately 3 cups fresh spinach
1/3 cup bread crumbs
1/3 cup shredded cheese. (I will be using cheddar, but you could use just about anything: parmesan, goat cheese, etc).
olive oil
balsamic vinegar

Take a giant zucchini and cut it in half. Take one half, and halve it lengthwise so you have 2 zucchini "boats". Drizzle cut side with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Either grill face down for about 5 minutes or broil face up for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and scoop out the center. Cut that up into small dices.

Heat olive oil in frying pan over medium heat. Add chopped onion, garlic, zucchini pieces, and spinach. Cook until veggies are soft*. Add bread crumbs and combine well. Spoon mixture back into zucchini boats, top with cheese, and put under broiler until cheese is melted and brown.

*I will probably add ground beef to the onion and garlic mixture and cook that through, then add the zucchini and spinach.

Stuffed Zucchini

Caesar Vinaigrette
from Food To Live By, the Earthbound Farm Organic Cookbook
1 clove garlic, minced
1 TBSP mustard (recipe calls for dijon but I use grainy deli mustard)
1 tsp anchovy paste (I never have this, so I use asian fish sauce)
1/4 tsp worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp tabasco sauce
3 TBSP lemon (the juice of one lemon)

Whisk these ingredients together. Then add, in a slow, steady stream, while briskly whisking, 1/2 cup olive oil. Continue to wisk until dressing thickens slightly.

Honey Vinaigrette* I have always eyeballed this one, so you can definitely fudge it.

Mix together equal parts honey, apple cider vinegar, and canola oil. Whisk or shake in a salad dressing shaker. Add a dash of salt to taste. You can also use olive oil for a stronger tasting dressing.

Easy Roasted Chicken Recipe

Stretch one roasted chicken into 3 different meals!

I realize it helps to see a picture of the recipe. I'm new to this whole blogging thing, and forgot to pull out my camera. So here. This is all I've got:

Ingredients

• Roasting Chicken
• Olive Oil
• Basil
• Oregano
• Salt
• Pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit. Remove innards and wash chicken. Pat dry with paper towels. Rub a few tablespoons of olive oil (I don't measure) all over chicken, inside and out. Rub in some salt, pepper, basil, and oregano (I didn't measure this either, but if you're a stickler, use 1/2 tsp to 1 tsp of each). Roast, breast side up, in oven for one and a half hours or so, until a thermometer inserted into the thick part of the breast reads 180. (I roasted it for 2 hours since I also was roasting an acorn squash with it).

I use Rachel Ray's Bubble & Brown Dish as my roasting pan. I love this thing! Functional yet super cute and stylish.

You can eat some chicken tonight and use the leftovers for Chicken Noodle Soup and Chicken Nachos.