CSA (our) week 3: July 30th, 2009

1. Lettuce: Boston, Green – 1 head
2. Radishes: French Breakfast – 1 bunch
3. Savory, Summer: 1 bunch
4. Fennel: 1 bunch
5. Beans: Romano 1 lb
6. Zucchini : 1 lb

This was definitely not the most productive week for our CSA share.

Lettuce: Basically unused.

Radishes: with these I made Radish chips which would have been good over a salad if I didn't eat the whole bowl as a "snack".

To make radish chips:

Slice the radishes about 1/4 inch thick. Toss with a mixture of olive oil, kosher salt and black pepper (or whatever dry spices you like) then bake them until they begin to brown.

That poor fennel was really a disaster. I attempted to roast it but it turned out rubbery and gross. I think I'll stick with Fennell salad next time. The beets, however, were very nice.

The dish I prepared with the zucchini is pretty basic:

1 Zucchini chopped, 1 Yellow Squash chopped, 2 Tomatoes diced, Garlic, 1 tbsp Olive Oil, Basil & Summer Savory or any other fresh herbs that you like in a tomato sauce.

Finely chop or press your garlic and add to heated olive oil
Before the garlic browns add your squash and zucchini and allow them to cook on one side
Flip the zucchini and squash and add tomatoes, basil, salt and pepper to taste
Cook until tomatoes have reduced into a chunky sauce
Serve over pasta

This leaves the summer savory and Romano beans, with recipes to follow.

Thoughts on Food and Eating

For as long as I can remember I have had a confusing relationship with food. In my innocence food was my pat on the back, my comfort, my escape, and my greatest enjoyment. Later it became my obsession, my nemisis and my control. Yeah, it felt as crazy as it sounds.
Sometime around my 8th year I became an eating zombie. I devoured whole bags of Sour Cream and Onion chips (or BBQ, Cool Ranch, Nacho Cheese, etc.) in a single sitting. At every dinner I ate until I thought I might throw up, and sometimes did. And if I did...I ate some more. You get the picture. I used food like people use crack (sugar high) or heroin (what my sister likes to call an eat-a-coma). My experience is unfortunately not uncommon in the United States, and increasingly the world. As children are burdened with more anxiety and a weaker social network to help them cope, along with a natural inclination to choose processed foods, it seems that childhood obesity could one day become something that is considered normal; or at least a natural part of growing up.
Not long after my graduation from high school I began to channel my anxiety through food in a different way, by obsessively counting calories, limiting the types of food I was willing to eat and exercise. A typical lunch went from a turkey sandwich with 1/2 lb of meat and cheese slopped with mayo to a grapefruit. I stopped eating meat. Gradually, I stopped eating on a daily basis. I developed what has become a more commonly recognized, and accepted, eating disorder. But a person can only lead a productive life with those habits for so long and above all else I hold productivity in importance. I needed to make peace with food and with my body and I needed help to get there.
It was not until my early 20's that I actually learned to enjoy food and its nutrients collectively. Thanks to a nutritionist, for the first time in my life, I learned what feeling an appropriate level of full felt like (3-4 on a 0-5 scale).Working on my side was the fact that I had grown up exposed to a variety of healthy foods, fresh fruits and vegetables. Of course, I had also grown up with a love of Entenmann's cakes, French fries and chicken nuggets but I was one step up on anyone who had no desire to eat fresh foods at all. Also, it is astounding how the mind works when it comes to food and fairly easy to recondition yourself to desire whole foods, as your body is already craving the nutrients found in them. Still, I was a diet food junkie and calorie counter until relatively recently. I also continued to exclude meat from my diet (although I eventually added fish) for reasons I will discuss in another entry.
I have now entered into a new phase in my eating life, following the most basic and time tested diet I know of, eating locally and seasonally. There are a number of exceptions to this, which I hope to begin making myself or buying locally(cheese, yogurt, tomato sauce, salsa, pasta, bread, ice cream and beans if I can find them local or grow them on my own.) I am really enjoying the challenge, using vegetables I wouldn't generally buy in the store and learning new recipes for them. Above all else I appreciate the realization that food can be both sustaining and comforting. I can both eat to live AND live to eat and, indeed, have my cake and eat it too.

A Sunday Indulgence

I love cheese. I could do without milk all together but never without cheese. I respect cheese. This is a food to be eaten with care, savoring each texture and flavor. The sweetness of goat cheese, the nuttiness of brie, the sharp creaminess of parmesan, the earthiness of a blue cheese etc...I am not a cheese snob. I rarely spend the extra money on a gourmet cheese but I'm also not in the habit of buying Kraft. In the near future I hope to be writing about my experiences making my own cheeses.

This love in inherited. My mom makes a mean cheddar cheese sauce and she knows it. Always with intent to please our taste buds as well as hers, it was a staple with broccoli, chicken, rice and of course macaroni and cheese (which was also crusted with a bread crumb butter mixture [thank you grandma]) Delicious.

Where my love of Alfredo and peas originated I cannot tell you. As far as I can remember I've never enjoyed Alfredo at any restaurant, out of a can (big surprise) or any of my handful of attempts at making it. Still the idea of this beautiful creamy, tangy, salty sauce with sweet peas was tantalizing. Now I had fresh sweet peas at my fingertips. There is no way I could resist giving it a shot.


1 lb of unshelled peas or 1 cup of frozen peas
2 large cloves of fresh garlic
1/4 cup of unsalted butter
1 cup of heavy cream
1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese

In a medium sized sauce pan, melt the 1/4 cup of butter
crush your garlic right into the melted butter and let it turn a light golden brown (not too crusty).
*** A note about garlic*** If you haven't tried really fresh garlic (I just did recently) It is worth the trip to whatever farm stand or market you have to go to get it. It is unbelievably sweet with no bitterness that grocery store garlic often has. ~ Garlic's #1 Fan
Add the heavy cream and allow to heat. Keep the liquid moving in the pot or it will burn. Once the cream is hot add your grated Parmesan cheese. (Make sure it's a decent quality Parmesan cheese. The kind that's mixed with lot of other cheese friends, not the kind you buy off of a shelf. Also, I have at least 3 times before tried to use Romano cheese and it does not melt)
Keep mixing until the sauce is creamy. Now add your peas. I just cooked the peas right in the sauce you can also defrost your frozen peas the same way.
Keep it moving (this is the only bad part about making cream based sauces)

I served this over whole wheat pasta. I would have liked to serve it over carrots, green and yellow squash shredded and steamed but I didn't have any.

There were no leftovers.

CSA (our) week 2: July 23rd 2009

1. Lettuce: Oak Leaf, Red – 1 head
2. Peas, Sugar Snap – ½ lb
3. Chard, Swiss: Green/White – 1 head
4. Onions, Green – 1 bunch
5. Beans: Green, Romano -1 lb
6. Peas, Shelling – 1 lb

We also went to a local farmers market and purchased:

2 Cucumers
2 Zucchini
2 Bulbs of Garlic
Locally produced honey

Bean Salad

Mixed Bean Salad

This is so simple it's silly to call it a recipe. However, we did have it for dinner one night and this is meant to be a catalog of how our produce was used so I'm including it.

• 1 can garbanzo beans
• 1 can kidney beans
• 1/4 red onion
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• juice from 1/2 lemon
• 2 cloves garlic pressed

Trim the green beans and cut or snap them into a reasonably eatten in one bite kind of size (bite size just sounds too small for this) Boil a pot of water and blanch the green beans.

Mix the balsamic vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic in a bowl large enough to accommodate all of the beans.

Drain and rinse the garbanzo and kidney beans and put them into the bowl. Chop the red onion and put it in the bowl.

Drain the green beans and put them into the bowl while hot. Cover the bowl and shake.

Let this marinate in the refrigerator overnight. We had this with whole wheat pasta for dinner but I also had it over rice for lunch and it was great.

** This is one of my favorite salads. I was so excited to see we were getting green beans again this week. Although I'd like to try new recipes with every ingredient we get, I will definitely be making this again.

The Lonely Zucchini and Others Leftover

This week we received a lone Zucchini with our share. I was somewhat disappointed, as zucchini is a favorite of mine and usually a staple of my summer diet. There is nothing like the flavor of a farm fresh Zucchini. My parents have a good friend/neighbor in upstate NY who sent my mom home with some from her garden. They were the biggest and most delicious Zucchini I have had to date. Our poor lonely zucchini sat in our refrigerator for nearly a week. I found it Thursday morning and cooked it up for breakfast in one of my favorite zucchini dishes:

Zucchini and Eggs

The ratio of eggs to zucchini should be 1 egg:1 small-medium zucchini (the size you'll find in your supermarket), 2 eggs:1 medium-large zucchini

If you happen upon a very large or overgrown zucchini I would suggest saving it for baking.

1 zucchini
1 egg
1/2 medium yellow onion
1 oz cheese (I used a smoked cheddar but mozzarella, Swiss, parmesan, any type will work really)
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

Slice your zucchini into circles approximately 1/4 inch thick. I always keep the skin on.
Position the zucchini slices in the pan so as much of the zucchini is touching the pan as possible. (This can get tricky when you're trying to make larger quantities so I usually do this in batches)
While the first side of the zucchini is browning dice your onion.
Flip your zucchini and add the onion to the pan.
Let sit for a few minutes to brown. Onions should start to become translucent and may brown on the edges.
In a bowl, beat egg(s), cheese and pepper together
Poor the egg mixture over the zucchini and let sit for a minute. When it looks like the eggs have started to firm up mix everything together in the pan and continue to cook until the eggs are finished.

***I definitely recommend trying this recipe. I could eat this for breakfast lunch and dinner and it's so easy to throw together. When I make larger quantities (using more eggs) I will substitute 2 egg whites for 1 whole egg in the recipe.

The others leftover this week were the lettuce which I used throughout the week with my lunch and Snap Peas which we snacked on and I have plans to use in a stir fry next week.

Overall, I would say this first week was a success. The single share seems to be enough to use as main dishes for 5 dinners for John and I and another 5 lunches for me. We are spending the same amount of money that we would have at the grocery store for conventionally grown produce. In return we are getting organic produce with optimal nutritional value because it is in our hands within 24 hours of being picked. Also, I get to support a local farmer in an are where I grew up and have seen farms slowly become housing developments. Maybe most important to me is knowing that my food is safe, where it came from, and who grew it.

Preparing for the Work Week

I try to cook most meals at least a day before. There are a few reasons for this:
1) It takes away that “housewife” feeling. I hate the pressure of having to get dinner on the table while my boyfriend is busy making fantasy trades.
2) It takes the guess work out of timing. It keeps me from eating a meal while I’m preparing the meal. If I cook when I get home from work I’m usually so hungry I’ll eat a portion of the meal while I’m cooking it. No good.
3) It lets me enjoy cooking. That, for me, is half reason for cooking (the other half is nutrition.) If I didn’t like cooking there are plenty of pre-cooked frozen meals out there for me to eat (hey, at least half the country is already sustaining on them.)
In keeping with preparing meals at least a day before, I made these on Saturday Morning:


White Bean Soup with Mustard Greens

2 teaspoons olive oil
2 carrots diced
½ large onion diced
1 celery stalk diced
2 cloves garlic minced
3 sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
2 cans white beans (3-4 cups if you’re using dried beans)
3-4 cups vegetable broth
1 head mustard greens
Kosher salt fresh black pepper
Whole grain brown & long grain rice mix. (any brown rice will do)

Dice your carrots, onion, celery and garlic. (I start heating the oil about half way into this.) Add the diced vegetables to the oil. Add some fresh black pepper. Cook until soft.
Rinse your beans and add them to the softened vegetables. Add the leaves from your sprigs of thyme and the 2 bay leaves. Bring this to a boil and then reduce to medium-low heat and let simmer about 20 minutes-1/2 hour.

About this time I started the rice in a separate pot, cooking it in vegetable stock rather than water.

Take this time to chop your mustard greens. I always chop less then I think I’ll need because it’s easy to add more. Hold the head of greens together and cut 1 inch strips across. If you like smaller pieces, do the same and then cut those strips in half or into three pieces.

Remove the bay leaves from your soup. Taste the broth and add salt and pepper if needed. Add the mustard greens. They shouldn’t take more than 2-3 minutes to wilt.

I served this with the rice on the bottom. The original recipe called for ham as flavoring. Instead, I threw a bit of smoked cheddar over the top.





Pasta with Fava Bean Sauce

Thanks to Silence of the Lambs there's only one thing I can think of when it comes to Fava Beans, and I happen to know all of the fresh livers available to me have been damaged by alcohol consumption ;)

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves minced garlic
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh oregano
1-1/2 cups vegetable stock
1/2 Lemon
1 1/2 lb Fava beans in the pod
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Remove the beans from their shells
Heat a large pot of water and cook the beans until they are tender
Heat oil on medium and add minced garlic
Chop some fresh oregano and add to the pan
Add 1 cup of vegetable stock and the cooked Fava beans
Add salt and pepper to taste

Remove from heat and let cool. The puree the mixture in a food processor or blender. Add remaining stock as needed, until smooth.

Remove mixture from the food processor or blender and back into your original pan to heat before serving. Add the juice of 1/2 lemon.

I served this over whole wheat pasta (the one that resembles egg noodles, my favorite)

***Not bad. High in protein and fiber and low in fat and calories. This sauce was filling and satisfying. A little parmesan cheese over the top would have perfected it.

Balsamic-Marinated Radicchio with Fresh Ricotta

I will preface this by saying, I do not like Radicchio and was not jumping up and down to see it on our list for the week. It is too bitter for my taste. This recipe did a good job of cutting down the bitterness and it would have been even less if I had cooked the radicchio a bit longer.

½ cup balsamic vinegar
3 garlic cloves, pressed
The juice of ½ fresh lemon
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (use the best quality you can afford for this. The taste will be well worth it)
1 head radicchio
basil leaves
½ cup fresh ricotta
Kosher salt fresh black pepper

Cut the radicchio into 2 inch pieces. I had a small head of Radicchio to work with so I cut it vertically down the middle and vertically again on each half. Then I separated the leaves of each piece (leaving them in bunches of 3-4) so that I ended up with between 8-10 pieces total.
Lay the radicchio onto a 4 sided baking sheet and drizzle evenly with olive oil. Broil them in the oven approximately 6 inches from the top.
Keep a good eye on them. When the tips start to brown and the leaves begin to wilt they are done. This takes less than 5 minutes.

You have that 5 minutes, mix together your marinade. In a medium-large bowl (preferably one with a top although one that can be covered with a plate will work too) mix together the balsamic vinegar, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.

Remove radicchio from the oven and add it to the marinade. I only let it sit for 30 minutes and it was just fine. However, as with all marinades, longer can’t hurt and is usually better.

I mix the ricotta together with some fresh pepper and garlic powder. Fresh pressed garlic or lemon zest are great additions too.

To serve: I took 8 pieces of the fresh lettuce we got and laid them on 2 plates (4 on each). I placed 1 basil leaf on each, 1 section of the radicchio on top of that and topped it off with a teaspoon of the ricotta mixture. The flavors work really well if you roll it up in the lettuce and eat it that way. We had 4 medium sized shrimp on the side but it would have been just as satisfying without.

***This recipe gets an A+ for being simple (my #1 requirement for a Friday night dinner) and also for being at least half raw. If you don’t mind the bitterness, you can keep it all raw and not cook radicchio.

CSA (our) week 1: July 17th, 2009

1. Lettuce: Crisp, Green – 1 head
2. Peas, Snow – ½ lb
3. Radicchio, Chiogga – 1 head
4. Greens, Mustard – 1 bunch
5. Beans, Green – 3/4 lb
6. Summer Squash (Costata Romanesco, Zohra, Zucchini) -1
7. Beans, Fava – 1 1/2 lb

Our produce comes from Halseys Green Thumb Organic Farm

Here is a link to the farms website http://www.greenthumborganicfarm.com/CSA.html

Why Thursdays are like Christmas

I learned young that presents are better when they are a surprise. I think this developed sometime around 4th grade when my mom was desperately trying to hold together my belief in Santa Claus. There was only one gift I really wanted that year, a Ouija board. It turned out (according to my mom) that every store was out of them. Lucky for her, I didn’t get out much. What a surprise when I found just what I had been looking for under the Christmas tree that year. My faith was rekindled (at least for one more year). I might add, I felt doubly duped the following year but would still thank my Mother for that one last “Christmas miracle” of sorts. The excitement has stuck with me to this day.

Now I get to experience that same feeling week after week thanks to my local CSA. After years of attempts to “perfect” my diet with various diet products, reduced fat foods, and supplements, I have decided that maybe the healthiest way to live is as naturally as possible. This plus an inspiring trip to see Scott and Amy (who were already part of a CSA in their area) lead me to seek out and join the Huntington CSA (that’s Community Supported Agriculture.) I pick-up our [John and my] produce on Thursday afternoons but, for me, the fun starts first thing Thursday morning. That is when I receive the e-mail telling me what we will be getting that week. Characteristic of my patience, I start checking my e-mail on Tuesday. I look to see what the group received on the same week last year. I mull over what is currently in season. I revert to my 6 year-old self searching for the [toy] pony I know my parents bought me. “Self, have you not learned anything in the past 20 years?”

The list finally arrives and I examine the prospects; Shelling Peas, Lettuce, Swiss Chard, Scallions, Sugar Snap Peas and Green Beans. To make the process a bit more interesting for myself, I have vowed to make every dinner (Monday-Thursday) using one of these as a main ingredient. These meals will also become most of my lunches for the week and part of the weekend. It should be said that dinner is always vegetarian and almost always a one pot meal. At first glance, Swiss Chard and Mustard Greens don’t look like the most exciting possibility for a main course but it can be done (and has been for hundreds of years.)

Now I get to work. Researching recipes for these exciting vegetables (some I’ve never worked with before.) When looking for a good dinner recipe I have certain criteria 1) the vegetable I will be using should be the focus of the dish and enhanced by the ingredients it’s cooked with 2) It should be hearty enough to sustain as a main course. 3) It should sound delicious. What follows will be a description of and recipes for the vegetables we received in last weeks share. I hope to keep this up for the remainder of the season as a catalog for myself and maybe some entertainment for any of you who are interested. I intend to get some pictures this week, as well. If you have any recipes for this weeks vegetables please share!