Fried Green Tomatoes

Fried Green Tomatoes. Yet another southern delicacy that I've never had the pleasure of enjoying before. A scene of the movie of the same name was even filmed in my home town (not that I've seen the movie either...) The scene had something to do with a fender bender in a grocery store parking lot or something. Anywho.

I got a green tomato in my CSA box the other week and figured I'd try the frying thing. They turned out pretty good - in the future I'd add more spices to the flour mixture and slice the tomatoes thinner.

Here's what I did:

You need three bowls. In one - mix 1/2 cup flour, salt, and peeper. In the second beat one egg. In the third crush half a pack of saltine crackers.

Heat a couple tablespoons each of olive oil and butter in a skillet.

Slice a green tomato.

Dip the tomato in the egg, then flour, then egg, then crackers. Repeat with each slice.

Fry the tomato in the oil/butter mixture until golden brown on each side - about five minutes.

Serve hot!

Gyro Burgers

As you may have noticed, I enjoy frequenting All Recipes to find new things to cook. The other day I stumbled across one of their columns called Single Servings. Basically the columnist picks out a number of recipes from the site, compiles the shopping list,and then gives you prep and cook instructions to give you a number of single-portion meals each month. I haven't actually gone through her entire recommended month of meals yet as I'm finding that I'm surprisingly picky about food. I like variety - but I like MY variety. It's great inspiration nonetheless. I forgot that all recipes lets you change the serving size of recipes (it scales the ingredients for you!) and that you can add the ingredients for any recipe you want to one compiled shopping list.

Anyway. Back to the point of this post. The August column included a recipe for Gyro style burgers that looked delicious - so I thought I'd try it out. Basically you take ground beef and lamb and mix in some spices and then grill the patty like a hamburger. My local grocery store didn't have any lamb and I didn't feel like hunting down specialty butcher so I just used all beef.

I grilled one patty on the George Foreman and froze the other three for a dinner at a later date. I sliced the burger into thin slices and put them inside of a wheat pita pocket. (Not all that impressed with the brand of pita pocket I got - I'll have to try another). I topped it off with some Tzatziki Sauce I had made earlier (using a cucumber from CSA. yay CSA!). If I had lettuce I would've added that - it was really good without it though.

I think the Indian Style Okra I posted about a few weeks ago would've made a great side dish to this. I'll have to try that combo next time. You have the cumin and the coriander in both things - but I think the taste is still different enough that it shares a common thread without being mono-flavor.

My New Favorite Sauce: Cocunut Curry

First of all, I apologize for the lack of posts here. I was doing so well with my regular updates! Then I had to go back to work and suddenly the great domestic question of the evening is no longer "What will I cook for dinner?" but "Which is more important: sleep, food, or lesson plans?"

Tonight "food" was the answer to that question and I cooked up a new dish using a coconut curry sauce I spied in the ethnic food aisle at the grocery store. It was YUM!

Very simple.

Cook about 1 cup of bite-sized chicken pieces in a pan with some olive oil until cooked through. Throw in about 1 cup of vegetables cut into bite sized pieces. (I used what I had on hand from CSA: squash, onions, and green beans). I cooked that for a few minutes. Then I poured in about half the bottle of the sauce and brought the mixture to a boil stirring often. Sprinkled in some cilantro and served. I would've made some white rice to go with it had I any rice -but I didn't - and it was still good. The sauce is a bit on the spicy side - which I love!

The only thing that wasn't great about it was that my green beans were a bit too crunchy. I guess I should have done something to them first. I don't know what I should have done to them as I've always been a "green beans come in cans" girl up to this point. I only know to snap the ends off because I watched Olivia and Esther Walton do it so often growing up. (By the way, I LOVE snapping beans. It is quite fun. Really. You should try it.)

The best part is that It was enough for dinner tonight and leftovers to take for lunch tomorrow. So I won't have to eat cafeteria food for lunch!

Worms: 2; Nicole: 2

I guess I should update you on the corn situation. I did eventually find a nice web page that explained the whole "worm" situation to me. So, I bravely went in to husk (shuck? which is it?) the corn.


Ear One: No worm! Nicole happily peeled away the layers of husk setting them aside in dreams of tamales or corn husk dolls.

Ear Two: Confidently pulling away the husks -- when near the actual corn I see... a worm. A fuzzy green worm munching on MY corn. I was husking over the trashcan so I shake the worm off - do my best to NOT throw away the corn while repeating an "organic is good. organic is good" mantra over and over. Dutifully cut off the portion of the corn the worm had munched on (plus quite a few more rows . . .)

At this point I pushed the other two ears to the side and said I'd deal with them and their inhabitants later. (I also threw the husks into the trash as I couldn't remember which were the worm husks and which weren't - so don't expect a "how to make a corn husk doll" post anytime in the near future.)

I roasted up the corn. Sprinkled some butter and spices and such on it and popped it in the oven wrapped in tin foil. Cooked for about 30 minutes. I don't do well actually eating the corn off the cob - so I just cut the kernels off into a bowl, chopped up a tomato (organic of course), mix, salt, enjoy!


I finally braved up enough to face the remaining two ears the next day. The first one had the evidence of the worm (munched ends) but the last one was worm free. So, half and half. I feel as though I've accomplished some brave step in organic food! ;-)

Organic Corn

At the moment there are four ears of fresh organic corn sitting on my counter. I must admit I'm a bit leery of touching them. Why? Because in the CSA newsletter this week was this small note: "Typically I have the workers cut the worm out of the corn, but we're so busy this week we probably won't get to it. No worries though. All organic corn has a worm at the end because we don't use pesticides." She even included a nice little graphic of two smiley face heads hugging. Right. I feel so much better now.


There's a worm in my corn? Where is it? Do I husk it first and then chop off the end? Which end? Do I need to do it NOW or wait until I'm ready to eat the corn and just little corn worm enjoy himself until then? Am I even going to want to eat the corn after I see the squiggly thing at the end? So many questions! And, google is not giving me satisfactory answers - so I come to you dear blog readers in search of answers to these troubling matters.

At this point I'm thinking I prefer pesticides where corn is concerned.

First eggplant, now okra

Another vegetable which I previously dismissed has been reclaimed! I've grown up in the south generally despising "southern vegetables" - okra being at the top of my list.

I had a bag in my CSA box a couple weeks ago though and knew I needed to do something with them. I found a lovely recipe for Indian-style okra on All Recipes and thought I would try that.

SO. GOOD.

You just melt butter in a skillet. Chop on onion and saute it until tender. Slice the okra and throw it into the mix. Sprinkle on cumin, coriander, ginger, salt, and pepper. Cook that for a few minutes - stirring often. Serve and enjoy!

I was quite sad when okra did not appear in my CSA box the next week.

You can find the full recipe with actual measurements and specific times here: Indian Style Okra

I take back everything bad I thought about eggplant

So I was not very fond of eggplant. It looked funny. Felt funny. Smelled funny. Was a disappointing shade of dirty white that turned brown and old-looking fast once peeled. It doesn't really have a redeeming quality in and of itself.

However, I am getting two to three eggplants per week and I need to do something with them! So I went in search of some recipes. I stumbled across one on www.allrecipes.com with the rather presumptuous name of Eggplant Croquettes. I just called them "Eggplant Patties" in my head as I was making them as I did not think eggplant deserved such a dignified name.

I followed the recipe with the exception of adding cumin and baking the patties rather than frying them. (10 minutes on each side at 350 F)


oh. my. goodness.


Croquettes they are! These things are delicious! I was lazy and did not take pictures (thinking it wouldn't be anything to write home on the blog about anyway) but they are amazing! Go! Try them! If you're local I'll give you an eggplant!


As this is the single domestic - I did not cook up the whole batch but froze a few of them to enjoy at a later date.

I think I found a new favorite meal.

Ratatouille

I went looking for what to make with my eggplants from my CSA box and found a recipe for Ratatouille. Despite the fact that the movie of the same name rather creeped me out with the whole rats in the kitchen thing, I thought I would try out the recipe.

It's a VERY easy recipe. You just chop up the veggies and throw them all together. I did have to add some tobasco at the end because it wasn't spicy enough for me - so I think next time I'll throw in some peppers to the veggie mix.

I cooked up some plain white ricce to serve alongside of the dish and it was quite yummy!

Here's my new thing - recipe cards with all the info! Enjoy! Is it readable? I may have to try a different way of uploading the image. Let me know!

New Potatoes

I learned something new the other day via my CSA newsletter. Potatoes can wilt! I got a bag full each of fingerling potatoes and red potatoes - and the newsletter said these were "new potatoes" - or young ones. They were more tender and their skin was thinner than the ones you usually buy in the store. Those in stores usually stay in the ground longer for their skins to thicken up to make shipping safer for them. However, when the potato is just coming to me from the farm down the road - it doesn't need a thick skin. Anyway. The newsletter informed me that these potatoes can wilt and should be kept in the fridge.

(Here is where I take a side note to give a shout out to Tupperware's Fridge Smart series (pictured). They are great storage things for fruits and veggies (and potatoes!). I put all of my produce in them now and they stay fresh for weeks. Amazing. Really!)

I used some of the potatoes to try a recipe from my America's Test Kitchen book and they turned out wonderfully as always.

The recipe is pretty simple:

Preheat oven to 400

Wash potatoes, cut into bite-size wedges

Toss potato wedges in olive oil, salt, and pepper

Put potatoes on a rimmed cookie sheet with one of the cut sides down. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake 20 minutes.

Remove foil. Bake 15 minutes

Turn potatoes to the other cut side. Sprinkle with oregano Bake 8 more minutes

Remove from pan and toss with 1/2 cup feta cheese, minced garlic clove, salt, 1 tsp lemon juice, and some olives. Yum!

Green and not so leafy

I feel quite proud that I can now open a box of miscellaneous leafy green things and confidently identify the leaves within. Kale! Arugula! Mizuno! Chard! However, after weeks and weeks of mostly leaves - I was quite excited this week to feel the weight of my CSA box and know that there were other vegetables inside.

I had potatoes, squash, zucchini, onions, cabbage, and lettuce.


With the onions I made an onion pie - which I must admit I was not all that excited about but since I had an abundance of onions I figured I should experiment. It turned out fabulously! I think I'll make another one day.

Here's what you need:

Crust:
1/2 tube ritz crackers, crushed
1/2 stick butter, melted

Mix together and press into a 9" pie plate

Saute 1 cup vidalia onions thinly sliced in 2 tbs butter until onions are translucent. Place in pie crust.

Whisk together 1/2 cup heavy cream, 1/4 cup milk, salt, pepper, and 2 eggs. Pour over onions.

Top with 1 cup grated cheddar cheese, sprinkle with paprika.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.




I had some broccolli left over from earlier CSAs - so I decided to make a potato broccoli quiche. This turned out ok. I like things a little more spicy. Since it wasn't all that great I'll skip the recipe. You can find it on www.allrecipes.com if it sounds interesting though.


With the zucchini and squash I made fried patties that were DELICIOUS and very very simple.

I made a batch for each - but I'm sure you could mix them together if you'd like.

For one batch:

Grate one squash or zucchini. Mix in a medium bowl with 1/4 cup flour, 1/4 cup cornmeal, 1 egg, sage, ginger, cloves, basil, cinnamon, salt, and pepper.

Drop batter by spoon fulls into an olive-oil greased skillet and fry until brown and crispy on both sides.

I'm going to be prepared this time!

First of all - a number of you are missing out! You've never had home-made carrot cake? You're missing out! I don't even like store-bought carrot cake because I always remember the yummy icing-less variety my mother made when I was a child.

From the CSA newsletter: What’s in the box this week? English Peas, Arugula, Green Onions, Chard, Kale, Turnips and Lettuces of various varieties.


I have prepared a grocery list (see picture for evidence!) and will actually make new and interesting meals using my very cool veggies this week! I am determined! We'll just call week one a flop as I wasn't prepared - the next 17 weeks will be better! CSA pick-up is literally next door to the grocery store I like - so I have no excuses.


Ok, so, menu plans for the week:

recipes from the CSA newsletter:

"Turnips and Onion Gratin" and "Green Tacos" (I'll post the recipe if they turn out well)


and recipes I found on my own will include: Arugula and Goat Cheese Pizza with pesto sauce, Arugula and goat cheese over penne pasta, Sweet and Savory Kale, Swiss Chard with Garbanzo Beans (note to self: add Garbanzo beans to grocery list.)


That leaves the peas. I'll probably just throw them into the Chard and Beans thing.

So here's hoping to a more successful CSA week #2!

Carrot Cake

About the only notable thing that happened as a result of my first box was a carrot cake. I am just not a southern cook - - I don't know what to do with all those green leafy things! Part of the problem is I am a Crazy Busy Working Woman who does not have a ton of time to go to the store to get the supplementary ingredients for all the yummy sounding recipes. And, I put the greens in the fridge because the box said "refrigerate" - - but then when I took them out they looked funny - so I left them out for a bit - - and they looked even funnier. So. No greens this week. Next week I'm promised more greens - and since the grocery store is right next to the CSA pick-up I'm going to head straight there and get those supplementary ingredients and try to make something other than cake this week.


The carrot cake turned out quite well though. The last time I made carrot cake I was in college and didn't have a grater so my roommate and I cut up the carrots into very small pieces using a knife - it was interesting. My mother took pity on us and bought us a grater after hearing that story. I think with the small size of carrots - I prefer a food processor to grate them - but my grater worked.


I'm looking forward to summer when I'll have some time to really dig into the boxes each week and turn out some new recipes. For now though, nothing too exciting to report.

Week One of the Veggies

I picked up my first CSA box this afternoon. The newsletter tells me that the first couple of weeks are greens-heavy and on the small side. Here's what I got!





Newsletter also tells me that those green things are arugula, swiss chard, kale, and lettuce. Anyone care to identify which is which for me?

I'm planning on trying a few recipes over the next couple of days - - I'll share any good finds with you!

Consumer Supported Agriculture

I am excited that I will have a new blogging topic here soon - and perhaps one that will keep me updating this thing on a fairly regular basis.

I have purchased a half-share in a local farm's Consumer-Supportd-Agriculture (CSA) crop.

Beginning on April 30th I will receive a box full of seasonal veggies and some fruit for the next 18 weeks. So, I'm going to have to get a bit creative to cook up all these veggies. I have about resolved to not buy meat after what I have in my freezer is gone and do my best to do a vegetarian summer. I think it'll be a bit of an adventure to try to cook in a whole new way!

This is an audience partiipation post - - if you have a favorite recipe involving any of the vegetables listed on the right which have a check in the "S" columns - please share!

Likewise - I'll share tasty recipes I discover over this vegetarian summer.





A number of these vegetables I recognize as being "southern" vegetables - - but though I grew up in the south my mother is from Michigan and I'm rather unfamiliar with what one does with such things as collard greens and the like. When they serve collard greens in the school cafeteria they look like a bowl full of lawn mulch collected after a heavy rain. I'm sure there are more appetizing ways of presenting them though that make me actually want to ingest the things.