Corn Omelet

Week 13, Wednesday

When I eat out for breakfast, I like getting omelets. My favorite omelet ever was the omelet of the day at Foster's Market in Durham, NC a couple years back. It had lots of good veggies and cheese, but it also had roasted corn in it, which I'd never seen in an omelet before. I wanted to put corn in my dinner omelet. I also added mushrooms, because we just got fresh ones that day from Fair Shares.

I shucked one of the corn cobs and cut it in half. I just ran a paring knife down each side to remove the kernals. That went easier than I thought. I sauteed the corn and mushrooms in butter together, putting the mushrooms in first.



I added some raw tomatoes into the egg mixture just before I cooked it. Roy helped me by grating some of the Methuselah cheese we got last week. I added that into the omelet after it set. I'm amazed to say, I'm getting behind in cheese too.

There was way too much corn, and both omelets fell apart as I tried to flip them over. It still tasted good, but doesn't look great. The baguette slice and butter from Fair Shares were both awesome.

Week Thirteen Share

Week 13

I finally got some corn this week!



We did a couple special orders this week. I don't eat pork, and we are so behind in our eggs. I traded Hinkebein Hills Pork Bratwurst and Pilgrims' Acres Eggs back for butter, cantaloupe, and another red onion.

Ozark Forest Fresh Mushrooms
Lee Farm Cucumbers
Lee Farm Green or Gold Zucchini
Eilerman Bros. Eggplant
Marble Creek Tomato
Kopmann Sweet Corn
Sunny Ridge Farm Blackberries
Ozark Mountain Orchard Blueberries
Heartland Legacy
Companion Baguette
Cantaloupe – special order
Butter – special order
Red onion – special order

Roy says the blueberries and blackberries this week are among the best he's ever eaten.

That tall stem seen in the picture up above is garlic. Here's Roy with a closeup of it.

Roasted Beets

Week Twelve, Monday

I'm going to skip days where I didn't cook much or didn't cook anything interesting.

As I said before, I had never cooked or eaten beets before. I was determined not to just let them sit there and go to waste. Earlier in the week, I looked up recipes in allrecipes.com for beets. Beets and cabbage only turned up recipes for borscht, which I did not want to try. I still had some fennel sitting in the fridge from a couple weeks back. I looked if there was a recipe for beets and fennel. Remarkably, there was and it didn't look too difficult.

The recipe called for honey Dijon salad dressing in the sauce, but since I had honey from Fair Shares, Dijon mustard from a previous recipe, and whatever other ingredients, I whisked those together myself rather than buying a separate salad dressing. I did have to buy apple cider vinegar.

I was careful with the beets. I wore plastic gloves so they wouldn't stain my hand, used a plastic cutting board. I peeled two of the beets and cut them up, along with the fennel and apple.

I was scared to eat it, but Roy tried it first and liked it. I think he liked it better than I did. Roy even liked the sauce on it, even though he normally hates mustard. The honey helped balance the flavor out. The apples cooked quicker than the veggies, and practically became apple sauce by the end. They soaked up the juice and color from the beets.



I wanted to serve this with something cooked simply, without a lot of competing flavors. I marinated chicken breasts in balsamic vinegar, olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper, and then I grilled them on my grill pan.

Cabbage

Week 12, Friday

I have to admit, I've never cooked with cabbage before. We got it from Fair Shares before, in Week 10. I was home for a week in between two out-of-state vacations, and I just never got to it. I don't like wasting food, and I wanted to do something with the new one we got for week 12. For one thing, the new cabbage head was smaller, so it seemed easier to work with.

I bought a cole slaw dressing at the market. I cut up the cabbage, last remaining carrots (from Week 9, they held up well), and half an apple. It turned out well. We had it with hamburgers. I have to admit again, we didn't use all of it this night, and I never went back to use it for the next week or so. There's too many other things to make. We tossed it down the sink. I hope to plan better in the future.

Here are the vegetables and fruit before adding in the sauce. I had some trouble chopping the cabbage thin enough at first, but I curled it up (a chiffonade cut) and that made it more sturdy. It looked like a cole slaw ingredient after that.


After adding the dressing.


With the burger and potatoes. I used pesto with the burger instead of ketchup.

Veggie Pesto Pasta

Week 12, Thursday

I used the pasta primavera recipe again that I tried last week. This time, I added the defrosted pesto sauce and used the angel hair pasta.

I used tomatoes, squash, carrots, and a green pepper. I got all of these vegetables from Fair Shares. Even the pasta and basil (for the pesto) were from Fair Shares.

Week Twelve Share

Week 12


Seven Thunder Bison--ground
Claverach Shoots
Thies Farm Beets
Lee Farm Yellow Squash
Berger Bluff Tropea Long Red Onion
Grass Farm Irish Cobbler Potatoes
Nermina's Sweet Peppers
Lee Farm Cabbage
Ozark Mountain Orchard Blueberries
Ozark Mountain Orchard Peaches
Mangia Angel Hair Pasta
Tomatoes - special order

I'd never cooked or even eaten beets before, so that was going to be interesting. I read that the leaves were edible, but I didn't want to deal with it, and I didn't have space for them. I cut the leaves off and tossed them.

The bison went right into the freezer. I've gone back to cooking a lot of chicken lately, but thankfully, the meats stay good in the freezer until I'm ready for them.

I was glad to get potatoes, pepper, and onion, since I've been buying them at the market throughout the time we've been with Fair Shares.

Isn't this the prettiest onion? It was almost a shame to eat it.

Week Eleven

Week 11

This feels like a missed week with the Fair Shares food. Roy and I went on another trip, away from home for four nights. This time, we left on Wednesday night, which is the day of our Fair Shares pickup.

My neighbor Alicia offered to pick up the food for us. She was curious about the "underground food thing" we do and she works just down the street. We told her she could keep all the produce and just give us the meat and specialty items. No picture for this week, but we did come home to a whole chicken and tortillas in the freezer, eggs in the fridge, and onions and pancake mix sitting on the counter. Thanks Alicia!

This was the share for Week 11:

Pilgrims' Acres Chicken
Ozark Forest Fresh Mushrooms
Lee Farm Cucumbers
Lee Farm Green Zucchini
St. Isisdore Head Lettuce
Nermina's Yellow Onions
Yellow Dog Pimientos de Padron
Eilerman Sweet Corn
Ozark Mountain Orchard Blueberries
River Hills Poultry Alliance Eggs
San Luis Flour Tortillas
Kimker Hills Pancake Mix

I felt bad missing the first corn of the season, but we got some in week 13 anyway. I didn't do much cooking this week between being gone most of the week and recovering from the trip for a few more days after that.

Week Ten Catch-up

Week 10


Biver Farm Basil Bouquet
Lee Farm Gold Zucchini or cukes
Biver Farm Cabbage
Yellow Dog Cherry Tomatoes
Eilerman Raspberries
Mangia Whole Wheat Radiattore
Hilty Honey
Companion Organic WW Chive Ciabattini
Ground lamb

Roy and I did a trade this week. Two of the items in our share were things we didn't want - ground pork and coffee. We got two frozen packages of ground lamb their place.

Raspberries - Roy thought the raspberries were past their peak - not nearly as good as some of the other berries we've gotten recently


Honey


Cherry Tomatoes


I loved having the fresh basil on hand. I even bought pine nuts at the market and made pesto sauce. We used it on bread, with pasta, and as a hamburger topping. I froze some so we'd be able to use it up after our next trip.




This was another success. I used this recipe for pasta primavera that turned out well. I used a bunch of vegetables on hand: cauliflower, cherry tomatoes, squash, carrots, basil and mixed it in with the whole wheat pasta we got that week.



It was even good cold as a side dish the next day. I liked it so much, in fact, that I made it again for Roy's family reunion picnic that weekend. I was able to buy the same pasta at Whole Foods. This is the first time I brought a home-cooked dish to this picnic, usually I get something from the deli at Straub's. I was really happy with it.

Week Nine Catch-up

Week 9

Roy and I went on vacation for most of this week, to Bethel, NY (home of the 1969 Woodstock festival) and Bethlehem, PA (home of a current progressive rock music festival NEARfest). I didn't do much cooking.


American Grassfed Beef - Ground
Double Star Cauliflower
Claverach Sunflower Shoots
Lee Farm Yellow Squash
Yellow Dog Lettuce
Yellow Dog Fennel
Berger Bluff Carrots
Ozark Mountain Orchard Blueberries
Ropp Green Onion Cheddar
River Hills Poultry Alliance Eggs
San Luis Tortilla Chips
Gringo's Salsa

Cauliflower


Carrots - I didn't get to use these during Week 9, but they kept very well. They're all used up now. I didn't have as much luck with the squash. When I got back from my trip, some of them were still usable, but not all.


Roy has really been enjoying the blueberries. I'm not a berry-fan, so he's had all of them.


This is cheddar cheese with little bits of green onion in it.


I made a cauliflower dish with cheese and breadcrumbs. It didn't turn out all that great. I labeled it crumbly (or crummy) cauliflower.

Week Eight Catch-Up

I haven't updated this blog in a while, but I've still been cooking and taking pictures. Here's what I got from Fair Shares for Week 8 (starting June 9th) and some dishes I cooked that week.


Troutdale Farm Trout
Ozark Forest Fresh Mushrooms
Lee Farm Yellow Squash
Lee Farm Green Zucchini
Lee Farm Leaf Lettuce
Girod or Dry Dock Green Onions
Blue Heron Radishes
DeMange Strawberries
River Hills Poultry Alliance Eggs
Centennial Preserves

Monster-sized mushroom!


I made a side dish by chopping up the squash and zucchini and cooking it in a little butter using this recipe. The secret ingredient is balsamic vinegar. Roy wasn't sure he liked the vinegar the first time we had it.


He had some leftover squash with the trout for lunch, and thought the vinegar worked really well with the fish.


I made oven-fried chicken for the first time, using a Fair Shares egg to bind the coating to the meat. It turned out pretty good.


I made my usual chicken spaghetti here, but I added a side of grilled squash. We've been getting a lot of squash and zukes lately, and it's hard to keep up.


This doesn't look like a very big meal, but it was enough. I sauteed the mushrooms in butter, grilled the asparagus, and roasted the chicken legs.


My favorite meal of the week was one I didn't cook. I'm a Facebook fan of the Pi Pizza restaurant. On the first day they used their new mobile pizza truck, they announced that they'd be giving away free pizza from it. It was in the Central West End, not too far away. I sent Roy out to get some, with the thought that we could maybe get a slice each for an appetizer. He brought home almost a whole pizza, for free. I love Pi.

Quick Leftover Lunch

Week Seven, Sunday

I had a baby shower to go to on Sunday afternoon. Roy and I were going to the Diana Ross concert at the Fox Theater on Sunday night, so we decided to eat dinner out. There wouldn't be time to cook.

I made a quick lunch for myself before going to the shower. I used the leftover egg noodles. (I already cooked them on Friday, but we didn't use them all.) And I topped it with the last bit of spaghetti sauce from a few weeks ago. Nothing fancy, I just microwaved it all for 90 seconds.

Fennel Gratin

Week Seven, Saturday

I got fennel this week, another vegetable that I'd never eaten or cooked. I found a recipe in my Chez Panisse Vegetables cookbook for fennel gratin. It called for leeks, yet another new vegetable. I felt really proud of myself for going to the fresh greens section of the market and picking out the leeks and parsley. I've always bought bagged greens before and avoided this section. But now I recognize quite a few of the vegetables there.

This could have gone bad. I bought the fennel, parsley, chicken stock and heavy cream. But I completely ignored the fact that the recipe called for six fennel bulbs, and I only had one. I wasn't sure that I could just cut all the ingredients in sixths and have everything turn out okay. I found another recipe online that called for potatoes with the fennel, so I kind of combined the recipes.

I sauteed the fennel and leeks in butter. I had no idea what was length-wise and what was cross-wise in the spherical fennel. That's how I was supposed to cut them. Same with the leeks - I could figure out length-wise with the long vegetable, but a picture would have been nice. I added these and the potatoes into a mixing bowl.

The second recipe called for gruyere cheese, which I didn't have. (The original recipe had heavy cream, but no cheese.) I threw in some romano and parmesan cheeses. I added the stock and heavy cream. It seemed like a lot of liquid in the bowl. I put it in the oven and hoped for the best.


I do find cooking in the oven less stressful. I do everything and hope it turns out. Cooking on the stovetop, I'm actively tending to the food most of the time. I see things go wrong and I don't know how to correct them.

Surprise! It turned out great. This picture is misleading. There's just a thin layer of food along the bottom, maybe four servings. It was so creamy and cheesy and good, we finished it in one meal. I still don't know what fennel tastes like. It was buried in with all the goodness.


We had burgers with the fennel-potato-leek gratin. I've been eating these a lot lately, with all the ground meat we've been getting. These might have been a little overdone, but they were fine.


I also made salad with this week's lettuce. For breakfast, we had bagels with that lovely "Our Garden" butter.

Another Frustrating Friday Meal

Week Seven, Friday

Even though I'm cooking new stuff every week, I have been falling into a pattern. On Thursdays, I run to the market to pick up any ingredients I need for my new Fair Shares foods. I've been cooking up the vegetables along with chicken, which I'm very comfortable cooking. On Fridays, I've been trying the meat choice, with less success.

How can I screw up ground beef? We got egg noodles from Fair Shares this week. I got ground beef as a special order, in place of the cube steak. I was going to make meatballs. I've made these twice with unusual meats like lamb, and they turned out great.

I don't know what I did differently this time. The meatballs stuck to the frying pan, they started to fall apart, they seemed to take much longer to cook. Eventually, they tasted okay, but not worth the stress.


This is what was left in the frying pan. Roy suggested we scrape it out and add it to the sauce. I'm not a big fan of meat sauce though - I like discrete pieces of meat in my pasta, so we left it there. Roy cleaned out the frying pan, so I wouldn't have to.


I bought some fresh parsley for another recipe, and I used some here too.

Weird Vegetable Night

Week Seven, Thursday

I'd never eaten kohlrabi or bok choy, let alone cooked it. This would be the night. I made roasted chicken legs (with fresh thyme!) to go along with them.

I sauteed the bok choy using these directions. I looked around on the web for a bit, and I'm glad I found something that explained that the white parts were the "stem". This ended up being okay, but not something I'd get on my own. I used about half of it, so we will be eating it again at some point. Maybe I'll try cooking it differently.


I could have done a better job with the kohlrabi. This recipe says to cook it for 15-20 minutes at 425 degrees. Which would be fine, except I was cooking the chicken at 375 degrees. I peeled and cut up the kohlrabi, and put it in for 25 minutes, checking around the 20 minute mark. The kohlrabi is related to the turnip, and I liked those.

Unfortunately, I didn't cook the kohlrabi long enough. It wasn't as tender as I was expecting. What I did love was adding the parmesan cheese and letting it melt over the vegetables. I guess I could have just kept them in longer, but the chicken and bok choy were done, and I didn't want to wait longer.

Mmmm...Butter

Week Seven, Wednesday

I used a combination of foods leftover from last week and a few new ones in this meal.
I made omelets with:
eggs (from last week)
asparagus (new this week)
mushrooms (last week)
cheddar cheese (two weeks ago - finished it up)
fresh thyme (this week)

The salad used last week's greens. I think I finished up the last of the radishes and scallions. I had been using an olive oil and vinegar dressing, but I bought a bottle of Thousand Island dressing at the market this week. It's what I grew up using, except we called it Russian dressing. I wonder if there's something different about them or if it's just a regional difference. (I'm originally from Philly.)

We could hardly discern the mushrooms in the finished omelet. Neither the taste or texture really stood out. The asparagus on the other hand was great. I sauteed both of them in butter before adding them to the egg mixture. I have purchased asparagus before joining Fair Shares, but I'm eating it a lot more often now. It had a great crunch and taste in each bite. The cheese worked well too. Roy grated it while I was getting other things ready.

This is the thyme plant we got this week. I'm sure I'm on my way towards killing it; not very good with plants. I pulled out a sprig, chopped the leaves off, and threw it in my eggs. I've used dry thyme with chicken, but I wanted to try this now. I didn't notice it in the omelet really.


The big surprise was the butter. We had something labeled "Our Garden Butter" in this week's share. Very creamy butter. We both had some toast with the eggs.