Parmesan Potatoes

As I mentioned below, I had an almost overwhelming amount of veggies to use so I was eager to get back and start cooking. I had about 3 weeks worth of potatoes that I needed to cook up, but I wanted to do something quick and easy so I could attend to my other veggies as well. This recipe (like all of mine) is very simple, and required few ingredients.

Ingredients:
Potatoes
Olive Oil
Parmesan Cheese

My massive amount of potatoes:

Preheat Oven to 400
Cut up potatoes and put them in a mixing bowl (in my case, it had to be pretty large). Put a little olive oil and mix up to make sure all the potatoes are oiled up. Place in a baking pan, and then layer on the parmesan (you can never have too much cheese, wine, or money in my opinion). Cook for 35-40 minutes, and enjoy. For those with a sophisticated palate, I highly recommend dipping in ketchup

Zucchini Chips

So after being gone for a week and a half, I have a TON of veggies to use! Zucchini was one of the vegetables I had an abundance of, and I decided to try something new. I love my green bean fries, so I adapted the recipe for zucchini. It was just the right amount of flavor, and very yummy! It pains me to use my farm fresh eggs for just egg whites, so I used milk instead. Here it is:

Ingredients:
1 large zucchini, sliced
1 cup of skim milk
Italian bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350
Dip sliced zucchini in skim milk and then place on greased baking sheet. Arrange chips on sheet and then sprinkle with bread crumbs. Cook for 10 minutes and enjoy!

Hard Boiled Eggs... There is a secret. For real.

When I found out our CSA was going to come with a dozen eggs each week, I first got excited about making hard boiled eggs, but then realized that was going to be a lot of hard boiled eggs...  Abby and I split a share, and even half is a lot of eggs!  We pretty much just take turns on which one of us takes the eggs.  It doesn't help that Mark pretty much only likes eggs scrambled.  But, this week he's travelling.  So, all the good stuff with eggs and mayonnaise is fair game!


I actually did try to make hard boiled eggs with our first eggs.  And, they were fresh and delicious, but I lost half the white to the shell.  That was a serious bummer, because it meant they were not only half wasted, but they also would make the world's ugliest deviled eggs...  And, it's partially about looks, right?


So, I asked a Chef friend for the secret to keeping the white off the shell, and he said it's all about old eggs...  (Thanks, Chuck Friedhoff!) It never occurred to me that my eggs would be too fresh.  So, I've been sitting on these eggs since 4 weeks now.  Don't worry - farm fresh eggs are good 4-5 weeks from their pack date.


Since I aged them and didn't want them to ruin them, I wondered if there was more to it than just boiling...  That's when I found this site.http://bit.ly/9oqSLH  Man, does she love her eggs.  Which pretty much told me all I needed to know - there is more to it.  


In short - cover your eggs in the pot with cold water and a splash of vinegar.  Put them on the stove, over high heat until the water boils.  When the water boils, turn the heat to low for one minute, and then remove them from the heat.  Cover and let sit for at least 12 minutes.  I went 15.  And, they are the most perfect hard boiled eggs I've ever made!  All results not based on me, but thanks to the tips from both contributions!

Creamy Potato Salad with Radish, Dill, and Onion

It's Potato season at the CSA, and I for one couldn't be happier. The Potato is like natures gold to me, I can eat them everyday in every variation. So imagine how excited I was to open the cooler and see these delicious morsels smiling back at me. I knew I had to create something with them right away. Looking at the rest of the ingredients and what I had in my refrigerator, I saw potential, REAL potential. So, let's get cooking!

Ingredients

5-6 Medium Red Potatoes
2 Medium Radishes
1 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard (I like French, not to be confused with French's)
1 Large Green Onion
1 Spring of Fresh Dill
1 Cup Miracle Whip
Pinch of Sugar
Salt
Pepper

Boil potatoes until soft and set aside to cool. Slice Radishes thinly and add to potatoes. In another bowl, mix Miracle Whip, one tablespoon of Dijon, a pinch of sugar and salt and pepper to taste. Chop up entire green onion (including greens) and sprig of dill. Add the dill and onion to the mixture and give it a stir. Once it is nicely blended, pour on top of potato/radish mixture. Mix thoroughly and chill for an hour. (or if you are like me, eat it warm because it's too amazing to wait) 

Enjoy!

Spicy Cuke Salad

In case you were wondering:  still finishing up last week's delivery.  With Abby and Mark both out of town, I am going to have to cook vegetarian to ensure #novegleftbehind happens...   

However, Mark and I fell in love with the cucumber this spring in Costa Rica.  At our hotel (really reasonably priced if you are considering going), they would keep filling your glass with cucumber-infused ice water while you lounged at the pool.  It was heaven... 

Anyway, we got a green cucumber and a white cucumber, so I started remembering that trip.  And, that made me want to combine the refreshing cucumber with something spicy and Latin-American-ish...

Ingredients
1 medium green cucumber
1 medium white cucumber (Can't find this?  Just use another green one.  The taste is identical.)
3 small ears of sweet corn
1 medium-to-large tomato, diced
1/4 green bell pepper, diced
1/4 red bell pepper, diced
1/4 orange bell pepper, diced
1/4 yellow bell pepper, diced
1/4 small red onion, sliced
1 tsp minced garlic
3 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp parsley
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
2 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar

Instructions

Bring a small pot of water to a boil on the stove.  Add the corn to the boiling water and boil for 5 minutes. 

Meanwhile, cut your cucumbers in half and scoop out the seeds with a teaspoon.  Chop the remaining cucumber and add to a bowl.

Remove the corn and cut the kernels from the cobs and into the bowl with the cucumber.

Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl and toss with the Red Wine Vinegar.  Chill for at least two hours before serving...  Ideally, it's best when it's had a night to combine and soak into the vegetables.  It's crunch, spicy, and somehow cool and refreshing at the same time...  YUM!  This would be perfect for a barbeque side...

Serves 6

Cabbage Carrot Potato Soup

We DID have a lot of cabbage...  And, I love soup...  So, this was a no-brainer.  And, it's super easy and delicious.

Ingredients
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 of a medium head of cabbage, cut into cubes
4 carrots, peeled and sliced thin
1/4 red bell pepper, diced
1/4 green bell pepper, diced
1/4 yellow bell pepper, diced
1/4 orange bell pepper, diced
1/4 white candy onion, sliced thin
2 large red potatoes, halved and thinly sliced
2 Tbsp minced garlic
6 cups chicken stock
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp fresh chopped sage
1/4 tsp fresh chopped garlic chives
1/4 tsp fresh chopped flat leaf parsley
Salt & Pepper to taste


Instructions
Put a large soup pot on the medium high stove and add the olive oil to heat as it coats the bottom of the pot.


Add the chopped vegetables and sautee them until the potatoes and onions start looking tender and translucent, and the carrots have softened.

Add the chicken stock and remaining seasonings, and allow to simmer together for about 20 minutes.


You can serve this hearty vegetable soup just like it is.  Or you can blend it for a creamier consistency.  I blended it with a handheld immersion blender, and just left a bit of chunkiness.  Serves 6.

I topped it with grated parmesan and croutons made from whole wheat toast.  It was delicious, and it holds for leftovers.  So good for you!  We'll make this one again for sure!

Fresh Taco Topper

Tuesday is Taco Night at the Philip house, and this week was no different.  I know that personal taco taste is subjective, so I'll just tell you how we made them in case you are curious.  We used ground turkey (we're trying to minimize red meat to the occasional steak and burger).  We browned it.  We drained it.  See why this isn't a recipe?  Then, I added sliced red, green, yellow, and orange bell peppers and sliced red onion (probably about a quarter of each of them).  Then, I start throwing things in:  Cumin, Chili Powder, Sciracha, garlic, red pepper flakes, hungarian paprika, etc.  Tacos never taste the same twice at our house...  So, that's pretty much what you do with the meat. 

Mark loves the double-decker...  So, we use both flour and corn tortillas, warmed, and them cemented together with refried beans.  In case you were really curious...

Here's the part I thought you might actually want to know.  We had a lot of cabbage, and we usually top our tacos with tomatoes and lettuce.  But, it seemed like a lot of restaurants do a cabbage topping, so I went for that...  ...and this fresh taco topper was born.

(This is a terrible photo.  I was really hungry at that point.)

Ingredients
1/4 medium sized head of cabbage, sliced thin (around 2 cups or so...)
1 small tomato, diced
1 green onion
1 tsp garlic chives
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp cracked black pepper

Instructions
Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and chill until you are ready to top your tacos.  Serves 6.

The orange and lime juice combination was so refreshing on the spicy tacos...  We went back for seconds. 

Word of warning:  This does not eat like slaw to me.  I saved what was leftover to eat as slaw with lunch the next day.  Not that tasty on it's own - maybe too much acid for my taste. 

Mixed Bean Italian Salad

Last week, our CSA delivery came with a nice little surprise - a variety of beans!  There were green beans, purple podded, and yellow wax beans included.  So, immediately I was thinking of making a bean salad, but I also wanted to add kidney beans because I was thinking the colors would all be beautiful.  (And, kidney beans are a super food...)  I guess I must admit that I have not yet met a bean that I didn't like...  So, if beans aren't really your thing, this may not be for you.  But, if you are a fan of the beans, I loved this simple preparation. 

Ingredients
1/2 pound fresh green beans
1/4 pound purple podded beans (Can't find them? They taste like green beans - just increase the green & wax.)
1/4 pound yellow wax beans
1 15 oz. can of red kidney beans (rinsed and drained)
1/2 cup Italian dressing (Choose your level zestiness like you would on your salad!)
1 Tbsp minced garlic
2 Tbsp  red onion, chopped
1 1/2 tsp parsley (We had fresh flat leaf parsley in the delivery, but you could use flakes.)
1 tsp mixed fresh yellow rosemary and garlic chives (You could just sub italian seasoning, I'm sure...)

Instructions
Trim green, purple, and wax beans, and cut or snap into pieces roughly one inch.  Place into a small pot of water (make sure the water covers the beans) and bring to a boil.  Cook until desired tenderness, I like them a little crisp tender, so it took about 7 minutes once they were boiling.

This is where I had a bean buzzkill.  The purple podded beans turn green when they cook.  Boo...  There goes my four color salad...  Oh well.  It's just another reason to not worry about finding the purple podded beans...  :)

Drain the cooked beans and place them in a bowl, add the kidney beans and the remaining ingredients. 

Cover and chill at least one hour - it takes some time for the beans to really soak in the dressing.  It actually gets better as it ages.  Serves approximately 6.

This is meant to be a cold salad, but I took leftovers to work the next day, and absent-mindedly stuck them in the microwave with my pork tenderloin.  They were delicious hot, too...

Enjoy!

Make Turnips Yummy!

So, we've been getting turnips for weeks through our Dry Dock CSA...  And, so far, I've pretty much just put them over salads and slaws and not really paid much attention to them.  Tonight I made them into Mashed Turnips, like you would make mashed potatoes.  And, they were GREAT!  No carbs, and you don't miss the potato at all.  The consistency is great!

Mashed Turnips

Ingredients
8 small-to-medium turnips, peeled and quartered
2 leaves flat leaf Italian parsley, chopped
1 Tbsp skim milk
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tsp minced garlic
salt & pepper to taste

Directions
Boil some water in a medium pot.  Add quartered & peeled turnips to the water and boil for 35-45 minutes.  Remove and drain.  Move the turnips to a blender, and add all other ingredients to the blender.  You can vary the amount of milk, butter, garlic, salt & pepper to fit your tastes.  Blend thoroughly in the blender and put back into the pot.  Turn the heat to medium and stir frequently until the liquid from the turnips reduces to the consistency of mashed potatoes.  YUM!  Serves 2.  No carbs!

(Also no picture.  I'll fix this when I make them again!  That's right - I will make this again!!!!)

Sweet Potato & Green Bean Gratin

This one was a real adventure.  I'll be honest.  If I make this again, I will add A LOT more cheese...  So, think about a creamier cheese variety between the layers or just more of what I did.  But, it was a little boring as it stands... 

And, also, I almost mandolined my fingernail off.  I seriously escaped with just a divot out of the middle, thanks to a timely manicure... 

Just being honest.  They aren't all home runs!

Sweet Potato & Green Bean Gratin

Ingredients
2 Sweet Potato (medium size), peeled and sliced
1/2 candy onion, sliced and carmelized

1/2 lb. green beans, trimmed and snapped
1/4 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 c. grated parmesan
1/2 c buttermilk
2 pieces of bacon, crumbled

 
(Measurements on the cheese and buttermilk are not precise)

Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Grease or spray a baking dish to keep from gratin from sticking.  Layer the ingredients in this order:  sweet potato, green beans, carmelized onions, bacon, shredded cheeses, buttermilk.

When all layers are complete, place in the preheated oven and allow to bake about an hour.  Remove from oven and let cool a few minutes before cutting and eating.  Serves 9. 

Again, I would add more cheese than what you see here.  And, I would probably heavily salt and pepper this on each layer if I made it again.  I think it could really stand up to a stronger, creamy cheese.  The bones are good, but it needs more flavor!!!  If you improve this, please let me know what you did!

Zucchini & Yellow Squash Skillet

We finally got yellow squash in the CSA delivery a few weeks ago.  I love zucchini & yellow squash in the summer, and it's one of the first vegetable side dishes I was able to convince Mark to try...  And, he likes them!  Bonus!  Even though we've established that he likes them, I still like to give vegetables a little extra oomph from time to time.  And, when I give oomph, that means I add bacon and cheese...  This was delicious!

Zucchini & Yellow Squash Skillet (with oomph)

Ingredients
2 slices of bacon , sliced and quartered
1 medium zucchini, sliced and quartered
1 medium yellow squash
1 tsp minced garlic
1/4 red bell pepper, diced to quarter inch
1/4 red onion, diced to quarter inch
1/3 c shredded monterrey jack cheese
salt & pepper to taste

Directions
Place two slices of bacon in a large skillet and pan fry over medium low heat.

As bacon is frying, slice and chop the zucchini, yellow squash, garlic, red pepper and red onion.

When bacon is done, remove from pan.  Pour the majority of the bacon grease out, leaving just enough to coat the pan.  Add the chopped vegetables to the pan.  Cook over medium heat, until the onions and squash become chopped and translucent.  Turn heat to low, and crumble the two slices of bacon into the mixture and sprinkle the top with shredded cheese.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Enjoy!

Serves 4

The bacon grease really adds a nice richness to this side dish.  We ate it alongside some homemade bacon cheeseburgers (so really I made more than the two slices, but you only need two slices for this dish!), and it was a great meal!