A New Kind of Blackberry Cobbler

A few days ago, I used a recipe from allrecipes.com for Blackberry Cobbler with some of the blackberries in our CSA.  This is a different style of cobbler from any I've ever made before but it is one of the highest rated recipes on the site so I decided to try it out.  I followed some suggestions in the reviews and cut the melted butter (that you leave in the bottom of the pan) in half and made my sugar syrup using 3/4 cup sugar and a cup of water.   I also used an overflowing pint of blackberries, which was more than the 2-cups the recipe called for.  The result was fabulous!  It was a perfect not-to-sweet and not too biscuit-y cobbler (that would be "scone-y" to folks in NZ). Anyway, the cobbler was so delicious that Cayne and I ate 2/3 of it the night I made it. I suppose we may be eating more fruits and veggies but we're not exactly eating more healthily...but at least we're enjoying it!

Refrigerator Dill Pickles

When I saw that we had some bumpy-looking cucumbers in our CSA box last week, I thought they looked like they would make perfect pickles.  Unfortunately, I had no idea how to make pickles and assumed that I would need to know how to can pickles in order to make them.  Well, I decided to see how difficult canning would be, because I knew that neither Cayne nor I are big fans of cucumbers and I didn't want the cute cukes to go to waste.  As I was reading a recipe on how to can pickles and seeing all the supplies I would need (which seemed like overkill, considering I only had 3 cucumbers!) I stumbled across a recipe for "refrigerator pickles".  The recipe I found was for "bread and butter pickles", not my favorite kind -- I like Dill Pickles.  I kept looking and finally found a recipe for refrigerator dill pickles that I knew I could modify to have less sugar and more dill in the pickle shape I wanted.  I wasn't convinced my first attempt at pickles would be good, but 4 days later when I tried my pickles I thought they were excellent...a perfect flavor and very crispy!  In fact, I've already pickled the 3 cucumbers I got yesterday in our CSA.

Refrigerator Dill Pickles 

1.5 cups distilled white vinegar

1 tbsp sugar

4 tsp kosher salt (or any non-iodized salt)

1 tsp whole mustard seeds

1 tsp whole coriander seeds

3/4 tsp dill seeds

2 cups hot water

1 clove crushed garlic

3/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh dill

1 sprig fresh dill

Heat the water in the microwave and add the salt and sugar.  Stir until dissolved.  Add the vinegar, mustard seeds, coriander seeds, dill seeds, garlic, and chopped fresh dill.  Cut the blossom end off the cucumber or both ends, if necessary, to make sure they will fit into your jar/container.  Cut into spears or into discs, whichever you prefer...I cut mine into spears.  Put the cucumbers into an airtight container that is not much bigger than the pickles.  I used a plastic take-out soup container.  Pour the vinegar/dill solution over the pickles, covering them completely.  Add a sprig of fresh dill to the container, cover tightly, and refrigerate.  Wait 2-3 days before eating.  Pickles will last 1 month in the refrigerator   

Dinner Tonight: Mhmm...Not sure what to call this one

Tonight I made a skillet dish/soup using some of the sausage we got in our CSA and some veggies.  I thought the sausage might be like a Mexican chorizo since it was labeled as "Ground Pork Sausage...Hot" but it wasn't anything like Mexican chorizo.  It tasted good though, and I'm glad I tried this dish, considering I'm not a very big fan of sausage and I did not have high hopes for how it would taste while I was cooking it.  Cayne loved it and calls it perfect "man food".  I will admit that the sausage gave a good flavor and the kale was awesome-tasting in this dish.

Ground Sausage and Kale Skillet Dinner
1 lb hot ground pork sausage
2 large baking potatoes, sliced
1 bunch kale, rinsed and chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can chicken stock
2 bay leaves

Brown the sausage in a large skillet (like you would brown ground beef).  Add the onion, potatoes, and garlic and sautee until onions are tender.  I also added a little vegetable oil because there was not much fat in our CSA sausage.  Add the chicken stock, bay leaves, and con of tomatoes.  Once the liquid is hot and bubbly, add the kale (you might have to add in batches, so that it will wilt, making room for more in the pan).  Mix everything together, cover, and let simmer until the potatoes are tender.

Dinner Tonight: Bok Choy and Pork Stir Fry

Cayne, stir frying the veggies

Tonight we used meats and veggies from our 2 CSA farms to make a stir fry.  I prepared all the veggies and the stir fry sauce and Cayne did the cooking.  It tasted so good!  The Peaceful Pastures pork was super flavorful and the fresh veggies were superb, as usual.  Our stir fry included squash, carrots, garlic scapes, spring onions, bok choy, garlic, and some ground ginger.  I made up the stir fry sauce based on a recipe I found online and it was delicious.  It didn't look like the recipe made very much but it was so flavorful that it ended up being the perfect amount.  After cooking the meat and then the veggies, Cayne pushed everything to the side of the wok to heat and thicken the sauce before stirring it all together.  Then we served it over some rice.

Stir Fry Sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
2.5 tbsp chicken broth
2.5 tbsp white wine
1 tsp sugar
4 tsp corn starch

Thickening up the stir fry sauce

Dinner Tonight: Broccoli Squash and Chicken Casserole

Tonight I decided to use up the broccoli, squash, and carrots from our CSA in a casserole.  I had found a basic recipe to follow online at Food.com but ended up changing it up quite a bit.  It tasted great...being a casserole I think you could put anything you wanted to in it though!

Squash, Broccoli, and Chicken Casserole

1 cubed, cooked chicken breast
1 head of broccoli, cut into florets

2 yellow squash, chopped
3-4 carrots, peeled and chopped
1/2 to 3/4 cup chopped onions (I used spring onions)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 beaten egg
1 3/4 cup extra sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
4 tbsp melted butter
1 can cream of mushroom soup
4 slices swiss cheese
1 1/2 cups breadcrumbs
fresh chives to sprinkle on top
salt and pepper to taste

Mix the melted butter, mayonnaise, egg, cream of mushroom soup, salt, pepper and shredded cheese (it's OK that it's not melted) together in a large bowl.  Add the vegetables and chicken.  Stir to mix.  Pour into a greased casserole dish (2 qt size) and top with the swiss cheese slices and then the bread crumbs (you can also melt some butter and mix with the breadcrumbs before baking for a crisper top).  Bake at 350 degrees until bubbly, about 30 minutes.  Sprinkle fresh chives on top.

BTW -- the Jones Mill Farm
Pain de Champagne tastes awesome!

Dinner Tonight: Curry

Tonight I cooked some Trader Joe's Curry Chicken Tenders (delicious) and Roasted Curry Cauliflower.  I also used up the rest of the Swiss Chard from last week's CSA by cooking it in the same pan as the chicken to give it a little bit of curry flavor as well.  It worked really well to throw it in the pan after the chicken was finished, adding an interesting but subtle flavor.  Everything tasted so good and it was a really simple dinner to make...although to like it, you must like curry!  I'm really enjoying using our CSA veggies when cooking.  I also made some more Strawberry Tea Bread, although I couldn't find hazelnuts at Publix so I ended up using a mixture of leftover hazelnuts and walnuts that I toasted before grinding.  I think it will still make a great dessert!

Roasted Curry Cauliflower

2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp curry (I used Penzey's Sweet Curry)
1 tsp salt
1 head of cauliflower, washed and cut into florets

Mix oil, lemon juice, salt, and curry in a bowl big enough to hold all the cauliflower.  Add the cauliflower and coat the florets with the curry mixture.  Pour cauliflower into a large roasting pan in a single layer.  Bake at 450 degrees for 25-30 minutes, until the cauliflower is tender.

Dinner Tonight: Spring Salad of Arugula with English Peas, Radishes, and Strawberries

Ethan playing with food but not eating it...yet.

I found this recipe while searching for something new to do with our CSA radishes: Spring Salad of Arugula with English Peas, Radishes, and Strawberries | Earthbound Farm Organic | Recipes for Delicious and Healthy Food. It looked delicious and I had almost all the ingredients. I bought a Trader Joe's Champagne Vinagrette the last time I was there so decided to forgo the vejus dressing in favor of using our new dressing and decided that instead of arugula we could use our CSA mizuna, supplementing with some red romaine if necessary. We also had the English peas and strawberries from our CSA.  So, all I really needed was walnut oil, goat cheese, and a baguette.

The salad was delicious!  The goat cheese croutes were absolutely fabulous.  I will have to try these with other dishes.  I think marinating the cheese in the walnut oil gave it a great subtle flavor but a good olive oil would taste almost as good.  The mizuna was good too -- earthy but milder than arugula...I just cut off the ends of the leaves (some of stalks were a little thick) before tossing it in the dressing.  Oh, and Trader Joe's Light Champagne Vinaigrette gets two thumbs up and was the perfect complement to the fruit and veggies in this salad.

Strawberry Tea Bread

Strawberry Tea Bread

This afternoon I made some strawberry tea bread using some of our CSA berries.  This is a recipe I made once a long time ago and loved but then forgot about.  All these spring strawberries reminded me of the yummy-tasting bread so I had to try it again.  I think the ground hazelnuts really give it a great punch, although I'm sure you could also just add hazelnuts to the mix and it would be just as good.  The other great thing about it is that you can bake it in your bread machine, which must use less energy than having your oven turned on for an hour (and I think it keeps the kitchen cooler, too...although maybe a newer over would be just as good at that).

Strawberry-Hazelnut Tea Bread

1.5 cups strawberries
2/3 cup softened butter
3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs (at room temperature)

1 tbsp milk
1/3 cup ground hazelnuts
1 1/3 cup self rising flour, sifted

1. If using a bread machine, remove the dough hook from the bread machine pan.  Line bottom of loaf pan with baking paper or wax paper (I used aluminum foil).  Spray with baking spray or grease and flour the pan.  
2. Hull and coarsely chop the strawberries.  
3. Cream the sugar and butter together.
4. Add the eggs and milk to the butter/sugar mixture.  
5. Mix the ground hazelnuts with the flour and gently fold it into the wet ingredient mixture.  
6. Gently add the strawberries and fold in.  
7. Spoon into the pan.
8. Put pan in bread machine and use "Bake" setting.  Bake for about 50-55 minutes (I baked for 60 min).  Or, use a 350 degree oven and bake for 60-70 minutes.  Check for doneness by inserting a wooden skewer into loaf -- it should come out mostly clean when the bread is done.  
9. Cool for 2-3 minutes in the pan and then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling. 

This was a great desert for our Broccoli Cheese soup dinner! :)  

Delicious Broccoli Cheese Soup

A couple of days ago I tried making some broccoli cheese soup using the broccoli we got in our weekly CSA share. I was a little apprehensive because I love broccoli soup and the last time I tried making it (a long, long time ago) the recipe I used (in Joy of Cooking) had a step where you are supposed to puree your soup until smooth. Well, no matter how long I tried pureeing in my food processor, my soup turned out grainy and unappetizing. This time, I looked around online for lots of recipes and found some that call for pureeing and some that don't. I decided to make a non-pureeing recipe, where I would just add the broccoli florets at the end.

My favorite-looking recipe called for putting shredded carrots in the soup too and I figured that if I was buying carrots to shred anyway, I might as well shred and steam extra to make baby food with (our pediatrician recommended shredding the carrots before steaming so that they don't need to steam as long). So, I started off with the carrots and while those were steaming I chopped the broccoli and came to a realization: I was going to be wasting a lot of broccoli stalks if I only used the florets and I figured that the stalks would add good flavor to my soup (after all...there are all those broccoli soup recipes that call for pureeing your soup after putting both florets and stalks into the soup). I decided that pureeing not the entire soup but just the vegetables might help to keep the soup smoother while adding great flavor.

So, after steaming and then pureeing Ethan's carrots, I steamed some broccoli stalks and carrots together and then pureed them with a little chicken stock to add to my soup. The end result was delicious! And since it's a mash-up of a bunch of different recipes, I can call it my own, right? Here's my recipe:

Betsey's Broccoli Cheese Soup

2 medium or 3 small bunches of broccoli

2 cups shredded carrots

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 TBSP butter

1/8 tsp nutmeg

3 cups chicken stock

1 can cheese soup

2 cups shredded cheese (I used Mexican blend but think Sharp Cheddar would be better)

1/4 cup milk

1.5 tsp mustard

1.5 tsp Hot (Hungarian) Paprika

1 tsp Mexican Oregano

1 tsp Basil

salt and fresh-ground pepper to taste

1. Chop the very ends off broccoli stalks. Then cut the broccoli florets off and set aside in a medium bowl. Chop the remaining broccoli stalks into small pieces and put into a steamer basket. Add 1 cup of the shredded carrots to the steamer. Stem broccoli and carrots for approx 10 minutes or until very tender.

2. After broccoli and carrots are tender, put both into a food processor with up to 1/2 cup of chicken stock and puree until smooth. Set aside.

3. In a large pot, melt butter and add chopped onion and nutmeg, cook until onions are transparent.

4. Add remaining chicken stock and the can of cheese soup (if you'd rather not use the cheese soup, add extra milk and cheese later). Add the pureed carrots and broccoli. Stir to mix.

5. Add the mustard, hot paprika, oregano, basil, salt, and pepper.

6. Add remaining cup of shredded carrots and broccoli florets. Heat until bubbling and reduce heat.

7. Add the milk and shredded cheese (save some cheese to sprinkle on top of each serving). Heat for 5-10 minutes on medium-low. Add extra salt and pepper to taste.

8. Serve in soup bowls with a side of bread and sprinkle extra cheese on top of the soup.

This soup tastes great the next day after flavors have had an extra chance to mix!