Healthy Green Bean Fries

The original recipe called for bread crumbs but since I am a low carb type of gal, I created my own bread crumb creation. They were still delicious and I can't wait to make them again and pair with a nice burger and who knows maybe a glass of red?

Ingredients:
3 egg whites
Almonds
Italian Seasoning
Green Beans

Preheat the oven to 425.
Put the almonds in a food processor and crush them up until they are basically crumbs. While crushing add Italians seasoning for extra yumminess. Whisk your egg whites and then add the "bread crumbs" into a medium bowl. Coat the green beans in the bowl, then lay the coated green beans on a foiled baking sheet that has been sprayed with PAM (so beans won't stick to foil). If you have any left over mix in the bowl, evenly drizzle over the beans. Put in the oven for about 12 minutes. Let them cool and then enjoy! 

Update to Radish Salad

Pretty much the same radish salad I made under "Fresh Radish Salad" with a few changes...

Here was the original recipe...


2 giant Japanese red radishes, inch-long julienned
half a medium cucumber, diced
1 hothouse tomato
2 Tbsp red onion, diced
1 tsp green onion, thinly sliced
1 tsp green garlic, thinly sliced
red wine vinegar
extra virgin olive oil
salt & pepper to taste


Combine all vegetables in a bowl, and dress with equal parts red wine vinegar and olive oil.  Sprinkle with salt & pepper to taste.  Serve and enjoy!  Serves 2.

Here are the variations....
1) Instead of the giant Japanese radishes, just use 4 regular red radishes
2) Instead of julienne dice on the radishes, thinly slice them
3) Add about 1/2 tsp fresh dill

Creamy Potato Leek Soup (PLUS)

So, @markphilip tells me this is probably the best soup he has ever eaten in his life.  I can tell you that he doesn't love soup the way I love soup.  So, I deem this a winner.  (He doesn't know what leeks are, but he now loves them!) 

SO, Here we go...  Thanks to Menaka for the extra pressure to post the recipe!  :)  I love you!

Creamy Potato Leek Soup (PLUS)

 3/4 pound bacon, cut into 1" pieces
5 small to medium sized red potatoes, cubed
3 cups chicken broth
2 leeks, cleaned, cut in half and sliced
1 Tbsp minced garlic
2 leaves of Swiss chard
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup buttermilk
Cracked black pepper to taste
Shredded cheddar jack cheese


Start by frying the bacon pieces over a low-medium heat.  You'll want to not rush it, to give you time to chop the other things.  Stir occasionally to keep the bacon cooking evenly.

In the meantime, peel the potatoes and dice them into small cubes.  Put the potatoes into a large pot with the chicken broth.  Cook over medium high heat until it begins to boil.  After it reaches boiling, cover the pot, and reduce the heat to a simmer until the potatoes are soft. 

Keep stirring the bacon, and start cleaning and chopping the leeks.   If you haven't worked with leeks, they are notorious for storing mud between the leaves.  So, first cut back the dark green parts to where they really start to fade to a yellow.  If it's green, it is too tough to eat so cut it off.  When you cut off the extra leaves, cut off the roots on the end, and then make a long cut through the middle to about an inch from the root origin.  Run it under water to really clean out between all the leaves.  Make sure you get all the dirt out in the running water.  Then, slice the leeks in thin slices from one end to the other.

When the bacon is done, set aside about 4-5 tbsp of the bacon grease.  Remove the bacon from the pan, drain the remaining grease from the pan.  Add the leeks and the bacon grease you set aside back to the pan.  Saute over low-medium heat for five minutes.  During that time, chop the two leaves of Swiss chard into one-inch squares.  After five minutes, add the garlic and Swiss chard to the leeks and simmer for another 5 minutes.

When the leeks and Swiss chard are tender, add them to the potatoes and chicken broth.  (I used an immersion blender to blend about half of it into a creamier texture.  I like soups that have both some texture but also creaminess.  The flavor doesn't require it, so you don't have to do it.  If you like it that way, but don't have an immersion blender, put half into a blender and then add it back in when you've blended it.) 

I added the bacon (reserving a few pieces for garnish) and simmered it while I made a salad at this point, but it's pretty much ready to go.  Add the cream, buttermilk, pepper and cheese to taste.  You do not need salt - you will get plenty from the bacon. 

Garnish with bacon and cheese, and serve.

You will love this soup. 

Kale Fail

The events that took place last night were too funny not to post about! Part of the fun with doing a CSA has been learning and attempting to identify new vegetables. And part of the humor and entertainment is when you guess wrong! What I thought was kale turned out to be collards, however this was not realized until post consumption of collards chips. I followed the recipe and was so excited to try what everyone said was just as good as potato chips. I thought there was something wrong with me as I could barely stomach this disgusting, smelly crisps, so I decided to dip them in salsa. This only created an even worse taste and I dumped my chips out. Minutes later, I learned that my "kale" chips were actually collards and basically I just threw lettuce into the oven at an attempt to make chips. Lesson learned: leafy greens are best in salads not in salsa!

Fresh Radish Salad

This is a refreshing vegetable salad that features giant Japanese red radishes, along with a mix of other vegetables you always have on-hand.

2 giant Japanese red radishes, inch-long julienned
half a medium cucumber, diced
1 hothouse tomato
2 Tbsp red onion, diced
1 tsp green onion, thinly sliced
1 tsp green onion, thinly sliced
red wine vinegar
extra virgin olive oil
salt & pepper to taste


Combine all vegetables in a bowl, and dress with equal parts red wine vinegar and olive oil.  Sprinkle with salt & pepper to taste.  Serve and enjoy!  Serves 2.

The Best Savory Scrambled Eggs

OK, so I realize that they are just scrambled eggs...  But, they really are the tastiest Scrambled Eggs I've ever made, and now I've made them twice.  So, I'm twice as sure that you should make them, too!

1 green garlic, clove and leaves chopped finely
1 green onion, stalks chopped finely
1 Tbsp butter
4 farm-fresh eggs
2 Tbsp skim milk
1 hothouse tomato, diced
1/4 c shredded Monterrey Jack cheese

salt & pepper to taste

Saute the garlic and onion in a pan with the butter over medium-low heat for at least 5-10 minutes.  Make sure they are not overcooking and turning brown.  You want to cook them low and slow, so remember that the key to these eggs is patience.  The time gives the aromatics the opportunity to really soak through the eggs.

Crack the eggs into a bowl and combine with the skim milk, whisking until they are fluffy.  Add the milk and egg mixture to the garlic, onion, and butter in the pan.  Reduce the heat to the lowest setting.  Cook for at least ten minutes at the lowest setting. 

At the end of the 10 minutes, mix in the cheese and diced tomato, sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Serve and enjoy.  Serves 2.

The end.  It's that simple.  But, it's so good!!!

Simple Radish Salad

So our first delivery is here! I was so excited with so many fresh vegetables, I didn't even know where to start. I decided to start with radishes because I used to hate them, so I figured if I screwed up my first recipe it should be something I don't like. Well to my surprise, I LOVED it! Here is what I did:

chopped up 2 radishes and half a cucumber into a small bowl
drizzled 1 tablespoon of EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
Sprinkled garlic salt and lemon pepper (you could use any seasoning you like)

The picture doesn't really do it justice, it was amazing.

Tomorrow is delivery day...

Get your cookbooks ready, your dishes clean and ready to go, and your spices stocked.  Tomorrow is delivery day, so we'll soon be cooking up some new delicacies from our Dry Dock Farms CSA ingredients!