What's For Dinner? August Week 1

{Week of July 30 - August 5}

Farm share pick-up from July 26th:

In this week's bag were: 4 ears of sweet corn, 1 bunch of green leaf lettuce, 1 bunch of broccoli, 1 eggplant, 1 HUGE head of red cabbage, 1 green pepper, 1 sweet onion, 1 bag of green beans, 1 bunch of basil, 2 tomatoes, 1 each cucumber, yellow squash and zucchini.

I finally opened a couple packages of edamame this week. I'd been putting them on the back burner because they were already frozen and I had so much fresh stuff to work through, but after three packages were given in our shares, I decided to finally try that Edamame Hummus I'd been wanting to make. I've mentioned this already, but this IS from our CSA farmers. It's just already packaged and frozen for retail sale. (They sell to Meijer stores too.)

I assumed it would just be loose in the bag, but inside were four individual 4 oz packets of edamame in their pods. I loved the packaging (although it is a lot of wasted plastic) and I loved the suggestion of throwing a frozen packet into your lunch and having a thawed snack by lunch time. I'm definitely going to do that! Edamame is a legume (they're soybeans) and an excellent source of protein and iron. Kids love to break open the pods and eat them by hand so this would make a great thing to keep on hand for packing school lunches. Just toss a packet into the lunch bag and your protein is accounted for!

For this recipe, I had to shell two cups of edamame, which was no quick task. (You can buy edamame already shelled in the frozen section of most grocery stores. That's what I bought to make the crostini in this fondue post last fall.) But I, of course, wanted to use the edamame that was provided in our CSA. I think it took me five of the 4 oz packets to equal two cups shelled.

I found Tahini in the specialty foods section (it smells like peanut butter) and I loved the flavor of lemon, garlic and cumin in this dip.

Sorry for the dark picture. I accidentally turned my flash off and didn't realize it. This was my lunch after our busy morning at that meat farm in Defiance. I got the kids down for their naps and then took some free, peaceful minutes to fix myself this yummy lunch... aaaand then prep two more meals.

That night for dinner, we had my favorite Pulled Pork Tacos and Homemade Guacamole.

On Sunday, we went out to Nagoya for my mother in law's birthday dinner.

And on Monday, I already had prepped the Sausage Ratatouille that we were going to have for dinner. This was a perfect recipe for the current harvest and many of the things in our bag: eggplant, zucchini, onion, bell pepper and basil! I've made it before, but now I'm going to remember it as a perfect July/August dish. ;) I shared the recipe with our CSA farmers at the next pick up and they added it to their next newsletter.

And, really, anything looks good in Le Creuset...

I consulted my mother-in-law on what to do with the red cabbage and she shared a recipe for Sweet and Sour Cabbage. My food processor was a great time saver in shredding.

The sweet and sour preparation was pretty good, but I think I prefer cabbage raw. Will thought this tasted like cotton candy. (His words.) Can you tell he was just at the fair a couple weeks ago? He must have changed his mind after a few bites, though, because he didn't finish it.

We also had burgers on the grill this night along with some other raw veggies and some of those plums from Erie Orchard.

Thursday, August 4th was my parents' anniversary and the kids and I went to their house for swimming and dinner with Nana & Papa, the Rethman fam, Taylor, and Grandma & Grandpa Konesky. I brought a veggie pasta dish called Zucchini Provencial from one of the CSA newsletters and my mom made these A.Ma.Zing BBQ pork ribs along with some corn on the cob, cole slaw and garlic bread. Yes, the ribs were huge, but there wasn't nearly as much meat there as may appear. Delicious meal.

Zucchini Provencial. I love the cubed mozzarella in it. Also a great use of summer squash, zucchini and tomatoes. (Recipe below.)

Case brought some yummy brownies with whipped cream and berries on top to cap off our feast. Mom asked Casey to leave a piece behind for her to eat so Casey cut her one and then asked mom, "What do you want me to do with this?" (As in, "where do you want me to put it?") Mom said: "Make it bigger." :) Haha.

Yum!

Zucchini Provencial

1-2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 clove of garlic, minced

1 large tomato, peeled and chopped

several twists of freshly ground black pepper

1/4 tsp oregano leaves, crushed

1 cup cubed mozzarella cheese

1 cup cooked fettuccine noodles

1/8 cup sliced ripe pitted olives (optional - I left them out)

1/4 cup chopped onion

2 zucchini and/or yellow squash, sliced thin

1/2 tsp salt

grated Parmesan cheese

In a large skillet, heat oil until hot, but not smoking. Add onion and garlic and cook stirring for 5 minutes. Add zucchini/squash and tomatoes and cook stirring for 5 minutes until zucchini is crisp and tender. Stir in salt, pepper, oregano, cooked noodles, mozzarella and olives (if desired). Heat, stirring gently, until warmed throughout and mozzarella starts to melt. Serve immediately with grated Parm.