CSA Week Two

Week Two of our share from Roots and Shoots, and it includes:

Spring Onions
Lettuce
Kale
Cucumber
Hakurei Turnip
Napa Cabbage
Spicy Mustard Greens
Peas
Zucchini

The peas, some zucchini and turnip immediately went into my lunch box with some hummus. Yummy!

Lettuce and spicy Mustard greens were used throughout the week for salads in his lunch. He's been on a big salad with lunch thing lately and my little flower pot garden has not been able to keep up with him.

Kale, two ways

Week one of our CSA included some purple kale, a vegetable I've actually never used before.

Of course I made chips from them. Kale Chips are probably one of the most popular seasonal recipes around, so it seemed a good place to start.

I didn't take any pictures of those chips, however, as they were mostly overdone (and frankly, they aren't very photogenic.) The recipe I followed said 20-25 minutes in the oven, but after 15 minutes, I felt they were very overdone. If I were to make them again, I'd check them after 10 minutes.

Since I only used half the kale for the chips, I had some left over to use with another meal.

How about on pizza?

After a chop, I gave these a quick saute with some butter and garlic scapes, just enough to soften everything together. A little dough, given a quick prebake on the BBQ, tomato sauce, sausage crumbles, roasted red and yellow peppers, kale and cheese, then back onto the bbq for a few minutes.

This is what my kids though of kale.

Which was actually fine by me - I scooped up this kale and added it to my pizza.

What to do if no one likes radishes

Well we suspected, but have confirmed, that no one in my house likes radishes. My dad loves them, so if I get some in my share before we go visit him, I will bring them to him to enjoy.

In the meantime, I tried cooking them. I had heard that roasted radishes were a completely different taste from raw, which are too strong and peppery for all of us. For this batch, I quartered my radishes, and threw them into some foil with a bit of butter, some pieces of spring onions and a few garlic scapes, added in some salt and pepper, and let them slow roast on the bbq.

Not bad. Soft, much, much, much mellower than a raw radish in terms of bite and pepper. Still not our favorite vegetable, but if I cook them, then we stand a chance of eating the radishes we get in our CSA.

CSA Week One

So we joined a CSA this year (Community Supported Agriculture, for those who don't know).

Big investment, yes, in both money and time (picking up each week then trying to figure out what to make with what we received,) but something we needed to try at least once. If it ends up being worthwhile for us, in both money and time, we will do it again.

And if nothing else, we've made the commitment this year that we are eating local and organic produce, as well as supporting a small, local farm.

For our first time doing a CSA, I chose Roots and Shoots Farm in Manotick. I had purchased from them at the Ottawa Farmer's Market the year before, their share price was comparable to everyone else around here, and they were reasonably nearby.

As part of our CSA, we were invited out for a tour and pot luck dinner at the farm itself, a few weeks before the CSA would be up and running. I didn't take huge amounts of pictures, but did grab a few.

Part of the tour involved showing us the greenhouse and all the various fields, letting us know what is in each field and its approximate growing season. Since a share is for 16 weeks, it is nice to know that when the greens are done, we still have veggies coming.

So here is our share for week one:

Two heads of Lettuce (one red leaf, one green) - these were HUGE!
Small bunch of radishes
Garlic Scapes
Hakurei Turnips (a salad turnip you can eat raw that I took an instant liking to)
Spicy mustard and Kale stirfry mix
Head of Bok Choy
Red Russian Kale
Spring Onions
a bunch of basil

Pretty good.

Now in the first week, we barely managed to go through the lettuce. And that's with my hubby eating a big salad with his lunch each day. I managed to do something with everything else, and took pictures of some of it to post about later.

I hope to take pictures of each of our 16 weeks, with the exception of the week we are away and gifting our share to a friend for that week.

Menu Plan Monday: May 22

Happy 2-4 Weekend fellow Canucks! What a lovely weekend it is turning out to be, despite the constant threat of thunderstorms and rain showers.

My youngest son and I actually had the chance to plant a veggie garden this weekend, including this little container garden on my back deck.

In addition to a tomato plant, I have a square box with 3 different types of lettuce, and a long, shallow box with various herbs. The big head of chives is one of only two things from last years attempt at a garden that survived (the other being oregano, which I've moved away from all the other plants in an attempt to keep it form taking over). The chives actually belong to my little boy, who has been known to stop by the garden while playing in the yard to pick one or two as a little munchie.

We did plant another garden bed, but as most of it involves seeds, it is rather boring to look at, so I didn't take pictures.

Now on to the menu plan for the week!

Sunday: Dinner at in-laws. (As much as I like to cook, it is still really nice when someone else cooks for me.)

Monday: bbq steak with bbq baked potatoes, asparagus and mushrooms.

Tuesday: chicken fajita salad (I'm making this recipe up, but will post about it later.)

Wednesday: I'm at work today, going in early and staying late, so I'm leaving options for the hubby for tonight since it is also a school presentation night.

Thursday: Spaghetti with meat sauce and garlic bread.

Friday: Left over night. I'm doing early in/late out work again today.

That's it for the week. I'm submitting this to Menu Plan Monday.

Mixing up a salad

How much easier can you get with a salad that involves greens, corn, tomatoes and chunks of sausage? Sure, the recipe calls for grilling corn on the cobb, which is not in season yet, but is easily substituted for frozen corn. It also calls for making a dressing, another step I skipped, using bottled dressing instead. Oh, and I didn't slice my cherry tomatoes thin - I used grape tomatoes which were great as is (and made it easier for the kids to pick around so they didn't have to eat a "yucky" tomato.)

If I had actually followed every step of the recipe, this still would have taken very little time to make. It was such a nice change for a salad, a great new way to enjoy sausage, and yet still a good, filling dinner. I will make this again. Maybe with fresh corn, when it becomes available.

(Btw, how are the pictures? These were taken with my cell phone and I'm pretty pleased with how well they turned out.)

Sausage and Corn Salad

from August 2010 Chatelaine Magazine

4 cobs of corn
3 tbsp white-wine vinegar
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/8 tsp salt
3 tbsp olive oil
1/3 cup finely chopped cilantro
4-5 hot italian sausages, about 500g
8 cups mixed salad greens
500 g cherry tomatoes, thinly sliced

Preheat barbecue to medium-high. Peel back corn husks but do not remove from cobs. Peel off and discard silk. Re-cover corn with husks. Soak cobs in water for 5 min.

Meanwhile, stir vinegar with garlic, cayenne and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk in oil. Stir in cilantro.

Oil grill. Barbecue sausages and corn. Turn sausages occasionally until cooked through, 10 to 12 min. Turn corn frequently until tender, at least 8 min. Spray any flare-ups with water if necessary. When cool enough to handle, remove and peel back husk, then, using a knife, shave corn from cob. Thickly slice sausages.

Divide greens, corn, sausage and tomatoes between plates. Drizzle with dressing.

Menu Plan Monday: May 15

After a week of beautiful weather, we are forecasted to get nothing but rain this week. Ugh.

Did someone forget to tell the weather that it's April showers that bring the May flowers? Not May showers drown the May flowers? Normally the May long weekend is the time when I get a bit of a veggie garden in but so far this year I've barely even given it any thought, since it seems likely that anything I plant will immediately be drowned.

Back to the menu plan for the week, however.

Sunday: Grilled veggies and pork tenderloin. This is Friday's grilled veggies, which had to be delayed, and if it pours rain, I will do them in the oven instead.

Monday: Rotisserie (or bbq) chicken, marinated in a raspberry wheat beer, with roasted potatoes and corn.

Tuesday: Take out pizza.

Wednesday: Citrus Soy stir fry, from Rachael Ray's Look and Cook. I'm using pork as the protein and will be replacing the whole wheat spaghetti with rice noodles.

Thursday: Vegetable Chili with tortillas chips but without the sausage (I'd totally forgotten I'd done that!)

Friday: Fish and Chips, possibly from a local church doing a fish fry, or homemade.

That's it and being submitted to Menu Plan Mondays.

Martha Stewart isn't all bad

I've never been a huge fan of Martha Stewart, and admit, I'm still not. But I recently had her Martha's Everyday Food app for the iphone recommended to me by someone who knows food, so decided to give it a try.

This Beef and Orange Stir-Fry is the first recipe I've tried from it, since we seem to be enjoying having stir-fry for dinner since the weather warmed up, and everyone in this house has been eating a good amount of oranges lately.

Right off the top, there is not enough oranges or sauce. Before I even got this on the table, I added in more orange segments. And still ran out.

Aside from needing more sauce and oranges, however, this was quite good. There was barely enough left for the hubby's lunch the next day, none at all for mine, and was given thumbs up by everyone.

I admit, I've been enjoying the shopping list feature of this app, including how it links back to the recipe you need the item for. As for recipes, I'm still working my way through a few of them and holding out judgement until I've done a really thorough testing, even though I will make this again.

Beef and Orange Stir-Fry

Martha Stewart's Everyday Food

• 3 oranges (I used 1 more and could have easily used 2-3 more)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 1/2 pounds trimmed boneless sirloin or rib eye, cut into 1/2-inch-thick strips
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 to 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 6 scallions, green parts only, cut into 1-inch lengths
• 
  
• Into a small bowl, finely grate zest and squeeze juice from 1 orange. Add garlic and soy sauce.
• With a sharp paring knife, peel remaining 2 oranges. Slice oranges crosswise 1/2 inch thick, then halve slices; push out and discard any seeds. Set aside.
• In a medium bowl, toss meat with cornstarch until coated. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over high heat. Working in batches (adding more oil if needed), brown beef on all sides, 3 to 5 minutes; transfer to a plate.
• Pour juice mixture into skillet, and boil until syrupy, about 1 minute. Return beef to skillet; add orange slices and scallions. Toss until coated and heated through. Serve hot.

Menu Plan Monday: May 8

I am happy to report we had an uneventful week here, with no massive power outages, missing roofs or accidents! We had happy events; a visit by my brother, short, but still nice, and my oldest son placed in the medals in both of his events at a Taekwon-Do tournament on the weekend. All around a good week.

I've no big plans for this week, menu wise, and some "lazy" nights planned. Here goes:

Sunday: It's Mother's Day and I refuse to cook - hubby cooking ham and mashed potatoes.

Monday: Bagels with cream cheese/peanut butter, and fruit (anyone have a good suggestion for a good bagel place in the West end of Ottawa? We love Kettleman's, but only the downtown location.)

Tuesday: Chicken and Cashew Stir Fry with rice (from Rachael Ray's Look and Cook)

Wednesday: I'm off cooking for other people this night, so hubby is in making ham sandwiches with veggies and dip

Thursday: Sausage and Corn Salad

Friday: No plans, seeing what we have left and then maybe having munchies

And that's it for the week, my 'plan', which I am submitting to Menu Plan Mondays.

Menu Plan Monday: April 30

Last week was interesting and had an effect on my menu plan. The first few days went very well, with new recipes that were eaten by everyone (Beef and Orange Stir Fry being the favorite.) A last minute change to our schedule on Wednesday resulted in picking up something quick for dinner on the way home, rather than making what I'd planned.

Then things got really crazy for a bit.

If you live in the Ottawa area, then you know about the massive wind storm that swept through on Thursday, knocking out power for many areas. In our area, we also lost water and ended up with a boil water order for several days, with the city health unit handing out drinking water at the community centre.

While the shingles of my roof were being spread out on our lawn, the trees of our neighbors yard crashed into hydro lines, and another neighbors fence flattened and broke off, we were some of the lucky people. I know of at least one house where the trees went through the roof.

At the time this was happening, I was over at Saunders Farm, cooking a roast beef dinner for 50 people. With no running water and no power. Thank goodness for propane and generators!

Carving roast beef by propane lamp.

Salad, assembled and eaten by candlelight.

We were fortunate that our power was restored late Thursday night, rather than the predicted Friday afternoon, but I still had to throw a few things out of my fridge. The chicken I had defrosted for Wednesday's dinner was quickly bbq'd before it could go bad in the fridge, and enjoyed on sandwiches for lunch Friday.

With all that excitement out of the way, we should be good for an uneventful week, following my menu plan.

Sunday: BBQ chicken Kabobs with corn on the cobb and bruschetta

Monday: Nachos

Tuesday: Spaghetti and meatballs

Wednesday: Sauteed Chicken with mushrooms and green beans, with baked French potatoes (left over from last week)

Thursday: Spinach, mushroom and sausage calzones with salad

Friday: Bacon, eggs, toast and hash browns, by request

That's my plan for the week, which I am sharing at Menu Plan Mondays.

Menu Plan Monday: April 24

This week's menu plan is recipe heavy. It's been awhile since I've done this, and I feel a need.

Each of the recipes that I plan to try are completely new to me, nothing repeated. I'm even trying a new recipe for banana bread, which I just pulled from the oven.

This could be fun or a total disaster. Cross your fingers for the fun part - I really don't want to have to make a second meal every night if things don't go well!

Sunday: Easter dinner with family - my contribution was Cauliflower Cheese from Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food (Called Food Revolution here in Canada), apple crumble and Peep S'mores.

Monday: Sauteed Fish Sticks with Dill Potato Chips from the April/May Clean Eating. (I will be using haddock instead of tilapia because I could not find any tilapia, and will be skipping the mustard slaw and homemade dip that is printed with the recipe.)

Tuesday: Beef and Orange stir fry with rice, from Martha's Everyday Food App.

Wednesday: Sauteed Chicken with mushrooms and green beans (from Martha's App again), and Baked French Potatoes (from Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food.)

Thursday: I'm not home tonight, someone else cooking - grilled cheese with caesar salad.

Friday: Perogies from a local store that hand makes them. Haven't tried this place yet but it got a good recommendation and does take out so we are going to try it.

So that's the plan for the week, which I'm posting on Menu Plan Monday.

Menu Plan Monday: April 17

Last week's menu plan was one of those rare plans where I made everything I said I was going to make, when I said I was going to make it. It doesn't happen very often where nothing changes, I'm not running late or forget to take something out to defrost.

I'll try to do better next week. (Yes, I'm kidding!)

Sunday: Prime rib chili with tortilla chips and fixins (based on Tyler Florence's recipe found on page 60 of Dinner at My Place)

Monday: crispy baked chicken with mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes (I'm trying out a frozen potato product for mashed potatoes, which I will blog about later.)

Tuesday: blueberry cake french toast with bacon (I'm skipping the crumble topping and am not doing the "icing" I initially saw served on this.)

Wednesday: broccoli stuffed chicken breast with noodles and peas

Thursday: Hubby cooking pasta

Friday: Rib eye steak in whiskey cream sauce (from Pioneer Woman, recipe in her cookbook)

And that's the plan for this week, being submitted to Menu Plan Monday.

Fun with cupcakes

Menu Plan Monday: April 10

Last week's plan went pretty well as, well, planned. Except for Thursday, where I had planned to make panini sandwiches and ended up taking my two boys out for a nice dinner instead.

I did end up finding my old coil notebook for my menu plan, and have started to use it again. This notebook dates back to July 2007, and I am always fascinated looking back at what I'd planned for the week and how things were changed from the original plan. Somewhere on my cookbook shelf I have my original menu plan notebook, which took several years to fill up as well.

Either way, here is the plan for the week:

Sunday: Spaghetti and meatballs

Monday: Pork souvlaki with pizza and salad

Tuesday: Taco night (oldest son is taking care of dinner as I'm going to the dentist for some work and don't expect to be up for much after - what a nice boy he's being.)

Wednesday: Butter chicken with naan and rice

Thursday: Panini sandwiches (lets try this again!)

Friday: Bbq hamburgers with salad

And that's what I'm posting on Menu Plan Monday.

Thirsty

Canada Dry Gingerale, with lime, also known as "A little nasty."

Menu Plan Monday: April 3

I used to do my menu planning in a coil notebook - two pages usually equaled a month and a notebook would last me quite awhile. I would write the month at the top and the days of the week along the side, both in pen, then use a pencil for the plan. There was enough room in the margin that I could jot down a note of where to find a recipe if I was doing something out of a book. It really worked well for me, for several years.

I stopped doing that when I started blogging my menu plan.

And I've lately discovered I miss it.

But do you think I know where my last menu plan book is? No, I don't. Do you?

Think I will start a new notebook.

But for now, here is a menu plan (which I will put into a notebook as soon as I find one.)

Sunday: Bbq pork chops with mashed potatoes

Monday: Rotisserie roast beef (marinated in garlic and red wine) with potatoes and veggies

Tuesday: Chicken quesadillas with salsa and sour cream

Wednesday: Homemade pasta with sausage meat sauce

Thursday: Left overs or panini sandwiches with fruit

Friday: Out of town, visiting my nephew, so no plans for tonight

And that's the plan for the week. Remember, its written in "pencil."

I'm submitting this to Menu Plan Monday, which I forgot to do last week.

Menu Plan Monday: March 27

The weather is slooooooowly getting nicer. Which means we are getting closer to bbq season, now that I can get at my bbq through all the snow. While my week's entire plan does not involve bbq'ing every day, I did try and schedule a few things in.

Sunday: Homemade make your own pizza

Monday: Fried chicken legs with potato salad and coleslaw

Tuesday: Steak and cheese subs with green salad

Wednesday: Bacon, egg and bagel sandwiches

Thursday: S&S chicken with rice

Friday: Left over night

Saturday: Rotisserie chicken with corn on the cob

There you go, menu plan for the week.

Need sugar?

Try this.

It's a Toblerone-Topped Caramel Cheesecake, recipe from Kraft Canada.

I'd link the recipe, but I can't seem to navigate the Kraft website. It has changed a fair bit since I last browsed it and I'm not impressed. (Can someone please explain to me why you HAVE to have a Facebook account to do anything anymore?)

**Note** I finally found the recipe link on the website, but following it led to an error page, so still no recipe.

Menu Plan Monday: March 21

I know, it's been months since I've posted a menu plan. Actually, it's been months since I've fully written a menu plan.

But since I wrote one this week, I felt I might as well post it.

Sunday: Bbq'd honey lime pork tenderloin with scalloped potatoes

Monday: Homemade fish and chips with coleslaw

Tuesday: Pork citrus soy stir fry (from Rachel Ray's Look and Cook, which I will post if I remember to take pictures of dinner that night.)

Wednesday: Homemade hamburgers with salad and chips

Thursday: Hubby cooking - pennee with tomatoes, garlic and red pepper flakes

Friday: Choice - either homemade fried chicken drumsticks with veggies and dip, or bacon and eggs with homefries and toast. Will depend on how the schedule goes that day

I'm going to go post this on Menu Plan Monday, hosted by Laura of I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Birthday Cake for my "little guy"

Been quite awhile since I've blogged - no particular reason, no enthusiasm or desire to blog.

Still cooking and baking, though, and occasionally remembering to take pictures.

Last month my oldest child turned 12 and requested a 4 tiered cake of any flavor for his birthday. I was disinclined to make 4 tiers for a 12 year old, so he got 4 layers instead, alternating vanilla and chocolate with a white chocolate buttercream. His birthday gift from us had been a fish tank and some fish, so it seemed only appropriate to give him a fish themed cake (when his request for a fondant cake was "surprise me".)

One of my boys only likes to eat the fondant and icing, the other likes to eat the cake, but not the fondant, so between the two of them, they can eat a piece of cake. Fortunately we had family and friends to share this with.