What's For Dinner? Week 5

{June 25-July 1}

The theme of our evenings last week seemed to be:

Al Fresco Dining!

We ate outside for dinner every single night. Yay, summer!

Here's a look at our CSA bag from Tuesday, June 21st:

In it, were: 1 bunch each of broccoli, Napa (Chinese) cabbage and lettuce, 1 kohlrabi (this was my "shareholder's choice" at pick up this week - I could pick from 1 zucchini, yellow squash or kohlrabi), baby candy onions and 2 tomatoes.

I've found (per my weekly newsletter suggestions) that the lettuces and cabbages keep very well when stored in a plastic bag in the fridge. I just used plastic grocery store bags and tie the handles closed. The Napa cabbage above was picked up almost two weeks ago and the little bit I have left still looks good. I leave tomatoes out on my counter instead of storing in the fridge. And the bunching onions store nicely when wrapped in paper towels and stored in a plastic bag. Sometimes I store the green onions and/or other veggies like cucumber or zucchini in my Tupperware moisture control container that I posted awhile back.

I ate the kohlrabi just sliced up raw as a side dish. The Napa cabbage will have contributed to two different dishes (one of them done twice) in the past two weeks. Tomatoes went into salad and another frittata. Lettuce got washed for salad. I'm having a hard time going through all the bunching/candy onions they're giving me but I use them a lot for quesadillas, salsa and occasionally in main dishes.

Sunday's supper kind of set the bar for summer time outdoor dining. It wasn't a fancy meal but it was easy, light and fresh. And the weather was so perfect, we couldn't have asked for any better. I just cut up the broccoli from our CSA, zested and juiced some lemon and grated some fresh Parmesan. Then I went inside to put spaghetti in a pot of boiling water and later broccoli into the same water for just a couple minutes after the spaghetti came out. Meanwhile, I pitted a bunch of cherries while the pasta cooked and got a tray together with plates and silverware and drinks.

Sophie came up to check out what I was doing and I gave her half a lemon that I'd already juiced. I suggested she give it a lick...
...hehe. :)
I put the lemon juice, zest and Parmesan into a large shallow bowl along with some chopped basil from the garden. Then I just transferred the hot pasta directly from cooking into the bowl along with a little starchy cooking water and voila! A light, meatless main dish! The kids and I were good with just this. Craig also ate up leftovers from our cookout with friends Saturday night (taco salad) in addition. You hardly need a recipe for this but here's the one I used from one of Giada's cookbooks.

Monday was a little windier but we were all kind of hung up on the perfectness of Sunday that we ate outside again. Craig bought and grilled pre-marinated steaks and we used leftover lemon spaghetti and broccoli as side dishes. Then I just cut up a bunch of extras to create a smorgasbord of sides (as is kind of typical for me): carrot sticks, yellow bell peppers, nectarines and sliced cheese.

Have you seen the new "My Plate" that USDA recently revealed to replace the old food pyramid? I love this new, simplified guideline thanks in part to Michelle Obama's focus on childrens' health and nutrition. The old pyramid was just not user friendly: counting in ounces, confusing for some to read. In counseling, I do NOT get super into rigid portions and counting daily servings. But I do focus a lot on variety and when I'm planning meals at home, I'm always subconsciously "covering my bases" with food groups. It's an easy way to fill in the blanks with side dishes when you don't have something planned. Grain? Check. Fruit and veggie? Check. Dairy? Check. The new My Plate is an easy visual for doing just that and will be a helpful tool with the population of people I counsel. Now granted, this plate doesn't look like a model dinner because the steak takes up half the plate (LOL).But you can also take into account the other meals around it and on this particular day, I'd eaten nearly all vegetables and little protein for lunch. It's not something I dwell on. It's just in the back of my mind with meal planning. The kids plates look a little more My Plate oriented. :)

Tuesday is CSA pick-up day!

Usually I don't actually get around to using some of the more unusual items (i.e. things other than tomato and lettuce) until the following week. But I'll show you a glimpse of the bag's contents now because I did use a couple of items right away this week.

This bag (picked up on the 28th) was wonderful! Collard greens (totally new to me!), a beautiful head of green leaf lettuce, more "baby candy onions", 2 tomatoes, a bunch of broccoli, a zucchini and edamame. (The edamame IS their's. It had just already been processed [frozen and packaged] like they would in a store. Fine by me since we have so many fresh things to use this week!) Oh, and one other item that I'd forgotten to take out of the bag when I snapped the above picture: snap peas!

Upon pick-up, Diane was passing out little cups of Green Smoothie for shareholders to try as we got our bags. I'm always open to trying new things and it was delicious! The recipe was included in this week's newsletter and I had to stop at the store for just a couple things anyway so I picked up what I needed to duplicate this for the kids and I for dinner that night. The "green" part of the smoothie was two collard green leaves, but the flavor you actually tasted was banana, apple, mango and a little bit of orange juice. I know mangoes (or bananas) are not local but I'm not to the point of rigid to eliminate all foods that will never be local to northwest Ohio, i.e. mango, banana, avocado, citrus fruits. Those I still buy and just try to look (often unsuccessfully) for something grown in the U.S. At least citrus is easy for that.

My kids will try anything I serve them in an open cup with a straw. They're already used to avocado smoothies being green so this was not "weird" at all.

Green Smoothie

5 (1") chunks of frozen banana

1/2 of an unpeeled apple

1 mango

1/4 cup orange juice

1/4 cup water

greens (spinach, kale, collards, swiss chard) - Diane said she used 2 leaves

-Blend all ingredients together except for greens. Add greens last and blend everything until smooth.

Craig was playing basketball on Tuesday at the time that the kids and I ate dinner but he asked if we could have hotdogs/sausages this night. He gets these jalapeno cheddar sausages for himself from Anderson's but the kids just get their natural casing dogs. And guess what! Neither child ate them. They'd had them before so it wasn't like these were different. (We've been grilling a lot this summer.) They just weren't interested this night. Huh. So fruit, vegetable, a few pretzels and smoothie was their dinner this night.

Wednesday was just hot. Not probably the best day to make lasagna for dinner, but it sounded good and I'd promised my brothers that that's what we were having when I invited them over to join us for dinner. Aunt Jane's recipe that I shared awhile back:

Make-your-own-salad using some of our CSA lettuce and tomato and a homemade mustard dill vinegarette. Not pictured: we also had Weelicious Garlic Bread on the side (my fave).

I added this last minute appetizer after reading the CSA newsletter on Tuesday and getting snap peas in our bag.

Snap Pea & Tomato Skewers

cheese tortellini

snap peas
grape tomato (or cut up tomato chunks)

toothpicks

mustard-dill vinegarette

-You need enough of each ingredient to put one of each food on the number of toothpicks you want to make. I made 15. Bring large pot of water to boil. Season with salt and add snap peas for 3 minutes. Remove, rinse with cold water and let cool. Cook tortellini according to package directions. Drain, rinse, let cool. Thread each skewer with one snap pea, one tortellini and one tomato. Place in a shallow dish and pour vinegarette over skewers, turning to coat. Cover and chill for 4 hours. Transfer to a serving platter.

Mustard-Dill Vinegarette

1/2 cup white wine vinegar

2 tbsp dill

3 tbsp mustard

3 minced garlic cloves

2 tsp sugar

1 1/4 cups olive oil

-Whisk first 5 ingredients together. Slowly add oil while whisking. Salt and pepper to taste.

My brother Zach said during dinner "I love coming to your house because I always try something new." (In reference to the skewers.) :)

After dinner, all the boys played Craig's invention of Bocce Golf. (Like bocce ball with the target ball that you start with, but chipping golf balls to get close to it instead of tossing those heavy things.) Craig thought this was his original idea but a friend of his told him they've played that way before too. Haha ;)

On Thursday evening, the kids and I went to my parents house to go swimming and my mom and I pulled together a really yummy meal to eat afterward. Like, amazing GOOD.

She brought out sides of tossed salad, corn on the cob, rice, watermelon and this marinated green bean and tomato salad.

She also made our favorite Peanutty Pork Kabobs with green pepper, peanut butter, soy sauce and red pepper flake to put on the grill. I've posted this recipe before because it's one of my extended family favorites. The kids aren't crazy about it's spiciness.

And I made Weelicious Chinese Chicken Salad using the Napa cabbage from our CSA in the salad and lettuce from our CSA to make "wraps". Still one of my favorite Weelicious recipes. So, so delicious!

Friday, we ate up leftovers...

In other news: I'm in the mood to buy a new cookbook. I don't know why, really. My co-worker has been passing on new issues of Bon Appetit magazine lately and there is so much available online. Plus, the way I'm recipe hunting this summer is usually catering to some specific ingredient (from a CSA food to a U-Pick food), which is easier done online than in a new cookbook. But, still. I LOVE reading cookbooks. I read them like books and I love seeing beautiful pictures of food and feeling inspired by their content. I'm definitely ordering myself a copy of the Smitten Kitchen cookbook when it comes out next year but I'm not sure I can wait till then. I know the library has cookbooks but I just want to own a new one. Do you have any ideas? I hesitate to buy something I can't browse beforehand because I'm sometimes wooed by beautiful pictures and cover photography when in reality I wouldn't actually make half the things in it. Know what I mean?

I spotted a new cookbook by Gwyneth Paltrow at Meijer the other day and didn't have a chance to look through it, but I've heard she's actually really good. Have you seen it? Do you like it? Any others you recommend? I'm not opposed to a book all about one type of food either. I have a really awesome book that's completely and totally about homemade salad dressings. :) So I'm open...

Hope you're all enjoying summer and the abundant fresh food that comes with it!

Muffin Madness

We've kind of had a muffin theme going on the past couple months. There are currently three varieties in our freezer right now and they're just the right size for breakfast, snack or side dish with meals. Whenever you need one, you can easily pull out a single portion and they thaw very quickly.

Remember the Rhubarb Struesel Muffins (those are still my fave) or the Sweet Potato Muffins from the end of May? Then there were the Strawberry Muffins from just a couple weeks ago. Well, I have a couple more to share with you!

Back in the first week of June, a coworker of mine commented that Kroger had raspberries on sale for $1 per tiny carton. (What are those... 6oz?) Well, since it's summer and we're doing our best to eat local within the appropriate season, I was going to wait till July when raspberries are ready here... but the next morning when I got to work, my coworker had left a carton of raspberries on my desk. How thoughtful! So... what to do with them? Hmm...

Ooh! How about Raspberry-Topped Lemon Muffins from Smitten Kitchen?!

(Can you tell I LOVE her blog?)

I love this first step of mashing grated lemon rind with sugar. Smells ridiculously good and I just want to mix it with water in a pitcher and drink it.

Butter and buttermilk help sweeten the deal...

...to create a perfectly lemon batter.

I used a mini muffin pan 'cause they're just so cute when they're small...

...and topped each dollop of batter with a raspberry before baking.

Voila! Done!

Sweet and delish. Lemon and raspberry are always a great pair.

One more muffin I just made with some overripe bananas:

the Weelicious Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins.

I don't have a bunch of pictures like the lemon ones, but that doesn't mean they didn't taste as good! For some reason, most of the chocolate chips kind of magnetized to the center of the muffin. So when you bit into it, there was like this chocolate surprise in the middle. Yum!

I sent some with Craig and Will to give to grandpa at the nursing home last Sunday.

Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries!

Or, in this case... a bucket. :)

We visited Eshleman Fruit Farm in Clyde, Ohio on Sunday afternoon. They're a little past Fremont (where Polter's is located) going in the same direction down Rt 20 - about 50 minutes from us. Eshleman's have been growing fruit on their family farm since 1977, after Rich Eshleman graduated from Ohio State University (Go Bucks!) with a degree in horticulture. They're mostly widely known for their peaches and apples, but they also grow cherries, plums and apricots totaling over 200 acres of orchards.
I had to do a little bit of reading up on the difference between sweet cherries and tart (or sour) cherries. Prior to this trip, the only cherries I'd ever purchased/eaten were the dark Bing (sweet) cherries from the grocery store (which Craig got me into) and "pie cherries", which are typically the tart variety that often come in a can. Most people will tell you that you can only make cherry pie using tart cherries... but Smitten Kitchen begs to differ. Anyway, sweet cherries ripen a little earlier in the season (in late June) and last into mid-July, while tart cherries begin in early July and seem to have a shorter season.


Before going to any U-Pick, I like to have in mind at least a few recipes that I want to make with that particular food so I know approximately how much I want to pick. Otherwise, you're just picking aimlessly and wondering what in the world you're going to do with all that fruit. I did find some recipes I would like to try, but I knew we'd also be content with eating them plain. :)

Upon arriving, I was greeted in the "store" by a super friendly girl about my age. She gave me a bucket and directions on how to drive back to the appropriate acreage for cherry picking. So cute how they've made narrow dirt roads amidst their orchards and have named them with homemade signs: "First", "Main", "Third", etc. Don't worry... I stopped my car to take this picture and there were no other cars around. I don't photograph anything while driving - LOL. You could walk (I saw someone on a bike) but it would be a bit of a hike out there.

So you just park right out there in one of the side rows. This was just off of "Third" - haha. :)

And then you pick any row of trees to start within that designated acreage. Unlike strawberry picking, where each u-picker begins near a marked flag and then moves his or her flag down as far as they picked to let someone else know where to begin, this was just basically every man for himself. :) I saw this sign on one row so we walked down a few trees and started there.

Rows of trees.

There are several varieties of sweet cherries. I don't know all the names but there are generally two shades of color. These lighter ones that are about the shade of maraschino cherries...

...and the dark ones that we most often see in the store. Both are very good and I'm not enough of a connoisseur to taste the difference. I think one is supposed to be sweeter.

You can see the trees are fairly short - "dwarf trees" they call them - and heavy bearing. Some cherries were out of my reach but most were within and quite a lot were within the kids' reach too.

Not the best pic of Will - he was about to blink - but this is our tiny Nikon pocket camera, which I almost never use because it takes eons to actually snap the picture. Anyway, see how low the branches are?

Sophie picking.

A blurry pic of Sophie's prize.

Both kids wanted to eat right away but I had to warn them about the pit so they only really got one or two each while we were picking. Too much of a hassle to remove the pit out there.

In the end, we only really picked a little over 4# and I'm wishing we'd picked more. That bucket holds 10# and there is a price break when you pick more than 10#.

When I got back to the store to pay for our cherries I handed the lady my credit card. I'd checked in advance that they accept credit cards and so I didn't bring my check book and I hardly ever carry cash. Well their card machine was down that day and I had no other way to pay for these. (Stupid, stupid me!) The nice girl from earlier asked if I could just come back to pay for them later (she was going to let me leave with them and take my word) but I told her I lived 50 minutes away and it might be a little difficult for me to return in a timely manner. So guess what! She just said "You're okay... I'll cover you." Can you believe that? I told her that was very kind but I couldn't just take them without paying. She insisted that I hadn't picked that much and she didn't mind covering me out of her own pocket. So I asked her to please weigh them and tell me how much I'd owe (it was ~$10) because I was definitely coming back for peaches in August, if not before, and I promised to bring her money back then. Her name was Allison and I am just amazed at how kind and hospitable she was.

So! I will definitely be returning! :) I was planning to anyway, but now I've given my word.

I'm telling you what... there are some really, really beautiful farm lands in Ohio and some of the nicest people on Earth reside on them. I just love driving way out on these country roads, meeting new people and seeing the hard work they put into this livelihood and passion. You really learn to appreciate good food and respect the farmers who grow it.

I mentioned previously that we swung by Polter's again to see if they had some ready-picked strawberries we could buy since we were out. It was only about six minutes away from Eshleman's heading in the direction of home and the GPS took us on a couple of single-lane roads to get there! I pointed that out to Will and he thought it was so funny. :)

Back at home, I pitted some of the cherries for our dinner that night. For some reason, I registered for a cherry/olive pitter for our wedding (from Pampered Chef) and I'm so glad I did. At the time, I'd never really used one before, but I have loved this baby over the last six years for sweet cherries and kalamata olives.

Yum. This was a really great dinner treat!

Looking forward to another visit to Eshleman's later this summer!