I know a lot of you were curious about the CSA that Michael and I signed up for so I thought I would share what we got for week #1. Just to fill everyone in - a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) share is when you purchase part of what a farm produces during the spring, summer and fall. Here was our share this week - we got butter lettuce, red leaf lettuce, oregano, arugula, mustard greens, radishes, and bok choy.
I literally just picked it up so I'll have to repost on what we end up doing with it all. I mean what does one do with mustard greens?? And radishes?? Luckily Michael actually likes eating those. Now Bok Choy... that's a vegetable I can work with!
When Michael and I went to Aruba the one thing I ate all the time were these grouper tacos at this little beach bar. Ever since then I've been making them as a quick dinner. It's so simple and yet delicious and healthy. Here is what you need:
1-2 filets of fish - Cod, Tilapia, really anything you want to use
Cajun seasoning
Emeril seasoning
Tortillas
Chopped lettuce
Chopped tomatoes - 1/2 inch pieces
Chopped cucumbers - 1/2 inch pieces
Low fat sour cream
Optional - Mango salsa (I just buy it from local grocery store that makes it fresh)
Season the filets with the cajun seasoning, Emeril season (and whatever you else you want to use). Bake for 15-20 mins depending on the thickness and size of the filets. Wrap tortillas in foil and warm them up in the oven. When everything is cooked assemble filet, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, sour cream and salsa in the tortilla. Super easy and super quick. Great for a weeknight meal!
This recipe is a modification from the Barefoot Contessa's recipe and I cooked it when we visited Heather 2 weeks' ago. I have delayed to post it on line because I was busy and have also forgotten the password and user name which Heather created for me.
This dish calls for:
1 bunch of chopped basil
1 lb of angel hair pasta
3 to 4 gloves of diced garlic
2 lbs of cherry tomato
1/2 bunch of chopped flat leave parsely
1/4 to 1/2 lb of parmaesan cheese (depends on your taste)
Because lately tomato is expensive, so I only put in 1 lb of tomato, instead, I put in 1 lb of asparagus and 1 lb of sliced kobasa sausage as variation.
First cook the pasta as directed. Put oil in a pan and sautee the kobasa sausage slices until they are done. Take the sausages out and set it aside. Heat oil in the pan again and put garlic in. Cook the garlic for a little while, then put cherry tomato in, sprinkle on top with some salt and pepper and let it cook for a couple of minutes until soft. At the same time, put the asparagus onto a cooking dish, drizzle olive oil onto top and sprinkle on it salt and pepper. Put the dish into oven to roast for a few minutes, then take out to cool and slice into 2 inches long pieces. When the tomato look soft, put the angel hair pasta, asparagus slices, kobasa sausage slices, parmaesan cheese, flat leave parsley in and mix well. Turn off the heat and sprinkle basil on top and toss well. Then the dish is done!!!
Since my pictures are in my thumb drive in the office, I have to insert the photos tomorrow.
This recipe is actually Michael's but I convinced him to let me put it on. What I love about this recipe is that it's a pretty healthy version of baked shrimp. Here is the recipe:
20 medium to large size shrimp pealed, butterflied and cleaned
Place the shrimp into a oven proof pan (we use our cast iron pan). Put a little olive on the bottom and place shrimps in the pan. Bake shrimp at 375 until it's pink or almost pink. Take the shrimp out of the oven and put the breadcrumb mixture you made earlier on top of the shrimp. Place back in oven for 5 more mins and add the remaining 1/2 cup of white wine. Mix together and voila! it's done.
We normally serve the shrimp with some rice and a vegetable. Tonight's vegetable is broccoli rabe.
Dan loves the outdoors, and most of all he loves to RELAX. And unfortunately, he doesn't find house chores relaxing. So I decided to treat him to a lovely day outside in nature. We went to Corona Del Mar and we had a fun picnic where we read books and played games and unfortunately I got a sunburn. I made a fantastic Antipasto Salad and a Chicken Caeser sandwich.
- Antipasto Salad -
1 Pound Fusili Cubed Asiago (about 1/2 - 1 cup) Cubed Provolone (about 1/2 - 1 cup) Cubed Salami (about 3 oz, although I put more) Diced Hot House Cucumber Sliced Smoked Turkey (about 3 oz)
*These are all interchangeable with any ingredient you want and you can use as much or as less as you want, I used more because I really wanted to stretch out this pasta salad for Dans lunches.
- Basil Vinagrette -
1 Bunch Fresh Basil, Stemmed and leaves chopped (2 cups) 1/4 cup Red Wine Vinegar 1 clove Garlic 1 teaspoon Dijon Mustard 1/2 teaspoon Salt 1/2 teaspoon Fresh Ground Pepper 1/3 cup Olive Oil
Cook the Fusili, once it cools add all the ingredients in a bowl and add the vinaigrette on top, mix well and enjoy!
- Ceaser Chicken Sandwiches -
2 split (1 whole) Chicken Breast bone in skin on Good Olive Oil Kosher Salt Freshly Ground Black Pepper 4 oz thinly sliced Pancetta 1 large Garlic Clove, chopped 2 Tbs chopped fresh Flat Leaf Parsley 1 1.2 tsp Anchovy Paste 1 tsp Dijon Mustard 1/2 Tbs freshly squeezed Lemon Juice 1/2 cup good Mayonnaise 1 Large Ciabatta Bread 2 oz Baby Arugula, washed and spun dry 12 sun dried tomatoes, in oil 2-3 oz Parmesan, shaved
Preheat the oven to 350degrees F Rub chicken breast with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast skin side up for 35 to 40 minutes. Cool, discard skin and bones, slice thickly and set aside.
Place pancetta on another sheet pan in single layer, roast 10-15 minutes until crisp. Set aside to drain on paper towels.
Caesar Dressing - Place garlic and parsley in food processor until minced. Add anchovy paste, mustard, lemon juice, mayonnaise and process again to make smooth dressing. (Can be made ahead along with all other components of the sandwich, except I would buy the bread the day of serving)
Slice Ciabatta in half horizontally and separate the top from bottom, toast the bread cut side up for about 5-7 minutes in the oven.
Spread the cut sides of each piece with the Caesar dressing. Place half the arugula on the bottom piece of bread, then layer in order: sun dried tomatoes (or regular tomatoes), shaved Parmesan, crispy Pancetta, and sliced chicken. Finish with another layer of arugula. Place top slice of bread on and then cut sandwich into desired lengths. Serve at room temperature. Enjoy!
Our friend Danielle came by with her doggie, Turbo too! They said that it was the BEST Pasta Salad they ever had and they LOVED the sandwich too. I actually think it was the best pasta salad I ever had too! Happy Cooking!
Michael and I have been trying to eat healthier for the past month (ever since Aruba and those evil PinaColadas.) So this past weekend we made Escarole and White Bean Soup - although it's not very soupy but there is some broth to it. It's a very simple dish but its filling, has lots of veggies and you won't end up feeling like you can't move after you eat it. Here is the recipe….
1 head of escarole 1 pack of spicy Italian sausage (you can opt to get the sweet one too if you don't like spicy) 1 medium onion diced 3-4 cloves of garlic minced 1 can of white beans (discard water in can) Olive oil One can of chicken broth
Wash head of escarole very very thoroughly. Like spinach, escarole can have a lot of dirt at its base. Chop the cleaned escarole to 3 inch pieces. (Basically rip the leaf into 3 parts)
Season with salt and pepper, add additional hot pepper flakes if you like, and serve. You can serve the dish over pasta or just eat it plain with some crusty bread to soak up the broth.
Note: We also had it the next day but the dish didn't have enough escarole. We added a bunch of broccoli rabe to the left over dish which also worked beautifully.
Every morning around 7:30 to 7:40 I get up, walk sleepily into the kitchen, and fix Dan breakfast and pack his lunch for the day.Sometimes, well let’s face it, a lot of the times I am too tired to get up, but when I hear him clamoring for a bowl of cereal, a pang of guilt strikes me.And then when he doesn’t take lunch to work and has to go out and get food, another pang of guilt hits me.
Usually I get up and make him a breakfast sandwich with toast, eggs, turkey, cheese and sometimes tomatoes but it’s kind of a pain because it’s early, and I’m sleepy, and then I have to do dishes afterwards.So I thought about making him something where he can heat it up himself and then I thought, aha! Lets put a breakfast sandwich in a casserole!At least if he can microwave his own breakfast I can throw together his lunch in the morning and crawl back to bed!So here we go .. a Breakfast Bake! …
One onion, diced
Sliced Mushrooms (I used one package)
Ground meat (I used turkey to be healthy,
okay okay and I added some Bacon for flavor!)
**You can put in anything you want with your casserole, I already had ground turkey and bacon in my freezer, so it saved me some money (well, not that I didn’t already pay for that meat, but you know what I mean)
Pan fry all of these ingredients together, I suggest doing the Bacon, then add the onion, and then add the ground meat and then the mushrooms.If you find you have excess liquid I would drain it so that the meat mixture isn’t all soggy, but most of the liquid should evaporate by the time you’re done, it just depends on what meat you use.I had some liquid that I had to drain out but I think that’s because I dumped the turkey in at the same time I added the onion, just use your best chefs judgement.
As far as seasoning, I added some Lawrys seasoning to make it tasty and also fennel seed and fennel pollen because I really love sausage and fennel always gives meat that flavor of sausage.
10 Eggs
2 tsp ground mustard
3 cups milk (I used 1.5 cups 2% and then 1.5 cups non fat)
1 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
Chopped Green onion, about 3 stalks, white and green parts
Whisk all these ingredients together
Diced tomatoes (I used about 4 tomatoes)
Day old bread, chopped (luckily for me I had about half a loaf of garlic ciabatta from my fish stew)
Cheese (I used lowfat cheddar and peperjack you can use as much or as little as you want, I did about 2 cups)
Get a 13x9 baking dish, grease it (I used a light spray of Pam), layer half the bread, then half the tomatoes, then half the meat, then half the cheese and repeat.Pour the egg mixture on top.
Throw it in a preheated oven of 325 and bake for 50-55 minutes until cooked through, you'll know when a knife is inserted in the middle and comes out clean.
**I did mine this way and all the green onions ended up on top, so if you want you can take the green onion and layer it after the tomatoes, instead of putting it in the eggs to make sure you get green onion flowing in your dish.You could alternatively used roasted potatoes instead of bread too, I’m sure that would taste good, or a whole wheat bread to be healthier.
While this dish had flavor and tasted good, I found the bread in the dish to be soggy, but you can’t do anything about that except omit it.I also found my tomatoes to be a little bland so next time I will season the tomatoes first before layering it.This dish got the job done and now Dan can heat up his own breakfast while I dream a little longer!
Oh and if anyone is interested … here is what I made for dinner, Balsamic chicken and mushrooms over pasta.
It’s really basic, you take chicken breasts, about 4, season with salt and pepper throw it in a hot pan with olive oil.Takes about 5 minute per side, then take it out of the pan and cover with foil.Turn the heat down in the pan, add some butter, maybe 1-2 tablespoons, and add mushrooms (I used 1 package sliced white mushrooms, 1 package sliced cremini and 1-2 cups of shiitake that a rehydrated and sliced).Once mushrooms cook, add thyme (I used dried because I didn’t have fresh), salt, pepper, chopped shallots (about two) and chopped garlic (one to two cloves).Once that comes together add to the pan, one tablespoon of flour, then add one can of chicken stock, a few turns of the pan of balsamic vinegar and then a turn or two of the pan of cream or anything you have in the fridge to make it creamy (half and half, marscapone etc.) or you can omit cream and thicken with cornstarch slurry but the cream helps tone down the bite of the acidity of the balsamic vinegar.Slice the chicken, throw it back in the pan, toss altogether and serve over rice, orzo or any pasta you want. This dish is easy and quick to make especially when you have chicken breast already in the freezer (we go to costco and buy it in bulk). It tastes really good too!
Poor Dan, this is his lunch for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday! =)
Don't worry I also add carrots, yogurt, and a dessert to his lunch too!
By the way I apologize that the pictures aren't so good on this post, I had to make both these dishes after work and I was too tired to make it all pretty
