You ever hear the saying, “when it rains – it pours”? Well, I’m afraid my whole month has been like that. Whenever I felt like I was starting to get a handle on one thing, the rug would be pulled out from underneath me and whoopsy I’m lying flat on my behind. Maybe it had something to do with the Mercury Retrograde we’ve had recently, I don’t know – but whatever it is has kept me from actually making it to the computer to… well, heck, actually it’s kept me from even getting to the CAMERA, to take pictures, to do posts. Some people have expressed concern, and I can honestly say that a lot of what we’ve been dealing with here at home isn’t really public blog material, but I’m hopeful that we’re on an upswing now, so yeah – hopefully things will be better. Apologies again for being such a lame poster lately.

While I’ve been dealing with all my crappiness, the seasons have been marching on by – it was with great pleasure that I spotted the first fresh fava beans at the Farmers Market recently. Shelling Fava beans can be a little time intensive. First you have to remove them from the big outer pods (I didn’t happen to get a picture of them this time), and then they have a second, inner shell that needs to be removed. As a first pass, I like to sit down with several pounds of pods, a big bowl, and the compost bin, in front of the Tee-Vee, and let my hands do the mindless, repetitive task while enjoying some relax-time with Mr. Man and Miss Thing. Sometimes Miss Thing will even help, if she’s feeling generous. For the second round of shelling though, I usually work in the kitchen. First, I take the shelled beans and blanch them for 1-2 minutes (depending on size and age), then drain them to an ice bath. The thin, inner shell, should pop off fairly easily at that point. A pound of Fava Beans in pod can yield a disappointingly small amount of shelled beans though, so I recommend buying atleast 1-2 more pounds than you think you’ll need. I don’t know about you, but fresh favas NEVER go to waste in our house. lol

I’ve really been enjoying the recent sun and warmer weather where we are. Since I’ve been working harder at becoming an early riser, I’ve been able to make more time to head over to the Farmers Market on the weekends, which has led me to order less from Planet Organics or Farm Fresh To You, and has sent me searching in other directions for purchasing eggs, meat and poultry. Recently I became a member of a Poultry products CSA called Soul Food Farms. They offer various chicken products, fresh eggs, and occasionally a small batch, locally produced olive oil (that I used in this salad!). The only downside is the closest pick up location is about twenty to thirty minutes away from me. Boo. It’s been really rewarding – I find myself kind of constantly poking around, looking for the new and interesting, searching for small farms and producers.

Mr. Man and I also went to a lamb butchering demo for Bay Area Bloggers, hosted by Hank Shaw of Honest Food. I found the whole experience very inspiring, and we will soon be attempting the process ourselves, probably with a pig. Not only did we both learn a lot about butchering, Hank’s home-made artichoke hearts were a revelation, and I made some new friends with other bloggers, including Stephanie of Wasabimon!, Luna Raven of Luna’s Kitchen, Jennifer of Foodbat, Biggie of Lunch in a Box, Heather of Heather in SF, Holly of NorCal Cazadora, and Anne of SF Tao of Pao. I also briefly met Elise Bauer of Simply Recipes, who showed up towards the end of the event. It was amazing to be surrounded by so many talented people that I’ve admired for so long. Hopefully, Hank will do more classes in the future.

As I’ve mentioned recently, I’ve been working on incorporating whole grains in to my diet. Whole grains are a great part of any healthy diet, and we were already using them frequently, but as I’ve been trying to lose weight they became especially important. They can be a really great alternative to starchy sides, and pack a great nutritional punch. For me, I have been trying to make everything I put in my body count – ie, no more empty calories, so I’ve been using alternative grains in place of white rice, white flour or potatoes. So when I saw local Wheat Berries from Massa Organics at a recent trip to the farmers market, of course I had to pick some up. Although they look similar to rice, wheat berries are very different in terms of flavor and texture. They are nuttier, with an even chewier texture than is typical in brown rice, and they tend to be much looser and less starchy, making them perfect for grain based salads or as a last minute addition to a soup. Unlike rice though, you want to cook them in extra liquid, similar to beans – I typically use a 4:1 ratio of Liquid to Wheat Berries, and then drain when at desired level of tenderness.

If you’re lucky enough to find it – some Green Garlic is also a great addition to soups and salads. It’s one of my favorite spring harbingers, sweeter and milder than it’s older bulbous brother, I typically use Green Garlic anywhere and everywhere that I would normally use Green Onions. Every time I’ve gone to the farmers market recently, I’ve picked up a bunch or two – sometimes adding to a saute, but usually just sliced and served raw.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole Wheat Berries
• 4 cups Stock or Water (I used 2 cups chicken stock, 2 cups water)
• 2 cups Blanched and Shelled Fava Beans
• 1 Stalk Green Garlic; bulb and tender greens, sliced thinly
• 1/4 cup Feta Cheese; crumbled
• 2 tbs Fresh Italian Parsley; finely chopped
• 2 tbs Fine Quality Olive Oil (or to taste)
• 4 tbs White Wine Vinegar (or to taste)
• Kosher Salt (to taste)

Method:

• Rinse and pick over Wheat Berries to remove any dirt or debris
• Place in a Heavy pot with a tight fitting lid (recommend: Dutch Oven)
• Add the Stock/Water and a generous pinch or two of Kosher Salt.
• Cover and bring to a boil
• Reduce heat to a simmer, stirring occasionally until tender (appx 45-60 minutes), adding more liquid as neccessary
• Drain and allow to cool to room temperature
• Stir together the drained Wheat Berries with remaining ingredients, adjust Salt, Vinegar and Olive Oil to taste
• Serve at room temperature

Other Fava Bean recipes by Delementals:

• Bacon and Fava Beans
• Fava and Baby Potato Gratin
• Fava Bean Pancetta Salad

Other Green Garlic recipes by Delementals:

• Green Garlic Yukon Gold Potato Salad
• Green Garlic Farro and Collards Salad
• Green Garlic and Spring Onion Soup
• Broccoli and Green Garlic Quiche

When I was growing up, we ate beans occasionally. Mostly from a can, and usually in the form of Soup, Chili or Baked Beans. It wasn’t until recently, however – that I really learned how yummy beans could be. I mean, when I would eat beans in chili, or soup – usually it was the flavor of the seasonings and spices, that carried the dish. Chili powder, tomato sauce, ham, etc… And the beans, ever willing to adapt to different situations, were the quiet partner in the back, soaking up flavors and adding protein. The “wind beneath the wings”, so to speak.

But beans can be more than the nearly-silent and supportive partner – and if you try out these heirloom beans from Rancho Gordo, I’m sure you’ll agree. I was first turned on to Ranch Gordo by this post about heirloom beans on the Kitchn. I told myself I’d make it a point to go out and get some as soon as possible. And I was floored by what I found. Unlike the background singers of my youth, opened from a can and added to other dishes – these beans are so delicious you won’t want to add anything to them, because they shine so brilliantly on their own. And it’s beyond simple to make – I don’t know if I’ll ever want to buy canned beans again. If you have a lazy Saturday afternoon hanging around the house and relaxing, you can have these beans for dinner.

Of course, like any dried bean – it does tend to work better if you soak the beans overnight. However, if you’re like me and you sometimes forget, just soak them for a couple of hours in the morning before cooking, and you should get most of the benefit. The picture above is the Rio Zape beans from Rancho Gordo after soaking and draining, but before cooking. They’ve plumped up a lot, and have this unique striping/swirling pattern that give them a distinctive look. After cooking, the color pattern becomes more subtle, but it’s more than made up for in flavor. I’ve never had anything quite like them, although the closest bean to the Rio Zape would probably be the pinto bean – so  in a pinch you can substitute pintos, but you’ll really be missing out, because these are much better than the pintos I’ve had in the past.

Okay, so I know I’m starting to sound like a star struck fan-girl, but you really do have to go out and give these beans a try. Or, if not these beans, then give making other beans from scratch – because the recipe I’m going to provide is pretty much the same for nearly any variety. I love to make up a batch of beans about once a week, stick them in the fridge, and use them for quick meals during the week. It does take a little bit of a time commitment in terms of someone actually being home, but they are really low on the work & complexity scale. Put in a pot, cover with liquid, simmer until done. It’s literally that simple. You can putter around in the garage, mow the lawn, watch a video, knit a sweater, or whatever else you would normally do during an afternoon at home – just popping in to the kitchen every so often to give the pot a swirl with a spoon and add water if neccessary. Then, when your significant other says “What’s for dinner?” You can dust a little flour on your nose, give them an aggrieved look, and tell them you’ve been laboring for hours making from-scratch beans just for them. Let the kudos come rolling in.

These beans would be suitable in any application where you might normally use Pintos – Chili, Soup, Refried Beans, etc… Although so far, my favorite way by far has been lightly dressed with a little bit of Feta Cheese, a drizzle of some fine quality olive oil, a sprinkle of Kosher Salt, and a thick slab of Mr. Man’s homemade French Bread. We had that for dinner the other night, with a side of sauteed mushrooms and kale from our recent FFTY box, and it was just a perfect and easy weeknight meal.

It was definitely a nice change of pace from our being-lazy-dinners we’ve had so many of lately. LOL – it feels good to be getting back in to the swing of things. We finally beat the video game we’d gotten sucked in to, and now I’m determined to try and get back in the kitchen (and on the website). I have a few things that I’m working on, and eventually I want to post about them, but for now I don’t want to jinx it by talking about it just yet.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb dried Rio Zape Beans (or other Pinto-Style bean)
• 1 quart Stock (I used Scrap Stock, but you can use whatever – even water, since the beans will create their own pot liquor, too)
• 1 sprig of Rosemary
• 1 Sprig of Thyme
• Water
• Kosher Salt
• Feta
• Fine Quality Olive Oil
• Crusty Bread

Method:

• Rinse and pick over beans, discard any debris
• If possible, soak beans overnight (or atleast for a couple of hours)
• Drain and rinse beans until water runs clear
• Pour the beans in to a heavy pot with a tight fitting lid
• Add the stock, rosemary, thyme and enough water to cover the beans by atleast an inch
• Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to a simmer
• Simmer, stirring every once in a while until beans begin to soften – (add more water if neccessary to keep an inch of liquid over the beans)
• Add a couple generous pinches of kosher salt and continue cooking until tender
• Cooking time will vary depending on type/age of bean and desired level of tenderness – cook to taste
• Before Serving, fish out the stems of the rosemary and thyme and discard
• Serving Suggestion: Sprinkle with crumbled feta cheese, drizzle with olive oil, and give it a light sprinkle of kosher salt (if desired) – and use the cooking liquid to dip your bread in!

Update – Used leftover beans to make refried beans – and they were the most awesomest refried beans I’ve ever ever had. Ever.

You’d think with all this vacation time, I’d have more time to blog than during ‘normal’ times – but unfortunately, that just hasn’t been’t the case. It’s been a super busy few weeks, and I just can’t even begin to wrap my head around the idea that we’re one day away from the 25th of December, a week from the end of the year! Fortunately, I’m hopeful that things will slow down here soon and I’ll be able to spend a little more time in the kitchen. I mean, although I’ve been cooking – I haven’t really had time to do an awful lot of playing around. There’s been more ‘okay, I know this works’ and a lot less ‘hmmmm… let’s try something new!’ Some of that might be due to the fact that I’m just not as inspired by winter leafy greens as I am by summer veggies and fruits, but that just means I’m going to have to work harder!

One upside to the busyness though, is that I’ve really been getting to spend more time with my friends and family. My sisters, particularly – and others too. It’s made realize how much they mean to me, and I’ve been trying to make it a point to spend more of that ‘we’ll get around to it’ time actually, you know… getting around to it. Sadly, I get the feeling that I’m going to have to do some bridge building again with some of my San Francisco friends. My last attempt to set up plans when going in to the city was a phenomenal bust. :-/ My tendency to be a homebody is directly in opposition with being a good friend… lol So I’m trying to be better.

At any rate, when I did have a little time last night to try playing around, I decided to take the opportunity to do something with the pumpkin that I’ve had sitting on my counter for the last month or two. I picked it up at the Farmer’s Market a while back, and kept wanting to do something with it, but didn’t really have the space in the fridge to store the leftover bits until yesterday. Yule had come and gone, and we were working through the remainder of the food from that – and it really seemed like a good time for it. It was a good size pumpkin, too – I probably should have weighed it, but I’d guestimate probably about seven pounds or so. I decided to take half of it, and roast it for puree – which, quite frankly is the easy part. The remaining half a pumpkin, I divided in to wedges and then peeled,  cut in to chunks and roasted. Peeling it was a pain, by the way. I highly recommend futzing around with peeling and stuff like that sometime when you don’t have a family waiting for dinner. It took me a lot longer to get it peeled than I had initially estimated, which made dinner take a little longer than I wanted.

The last time I made a Pasta with Roasted Pumpkin – for the Browned Butter and Lentil Pasta I made last month, I used pumpkin that was leftover from roasting the whole pumpkin, which ended up causing the pumpkin to kind of break down and coat the pasta – like a sauce. It was good, but I was hoping for something that held it’s integrity a little better, creating little morsels of squash goodness. I thought that roasting the pumpkin in chunks rather than whole might allow the pieces to hold together better. And it definitely worked out better, although some of the smaller pieces of pumpkin chunks ended up mushing a little bit, the majority of them held their shape a lot better when tossed with the pasta. I didn’t want an entire half a pumpkin in this pasta though – so for the remaining ¼ or so of roasted pumpkin chunks, I spread them out on to a cookie sheet, froze them, and then vacuum sealed them and saved them for next time.

I was originally thinking of using the collards to make another batch of stuffed collard leaves, but it was getting down towards the end of the week, and I still had a lot of veggies from my FFTY box, so I decided to chop them up and throw them in as well. Somehow, despite all the cooking we’ve been doing, I still had most of my box left. The cottage cheese was suppose to simply be used as snacks/breakfast/etc… However, when I received it in my most recent Planet Organics delivery, I found that the expiry date was for the very next day – so I really needed to use it quickly. I contacted Planet Organics, and they gave me a credit without any hassle – which made me happy, even if I wasn’t thrilled about needing to eat a bunch of cottage cheese right away… lol. Not that it was too great a hardship – we all love Cottage Cheese, however I can still only eat so much in one sitting, and mixing it up a little bit is always a good thing. I still have some left (post-expiry!) that I’m thinking of using in another Lasagna, so we’ll see how that goes. The experience has reminded me that I really do need to write up that post I’ve mentioned to Mr. Man a couple of times comparing Spud!/Planet Organics, I’ll try and write that up soon.

I suppose now that I’m starting to stick winter squash in the freezer though, I should consider pulling out some of my squirreled away summer bounty, such as the roasted tomatoes or the summer squash that I prepped a while back. I’m a little bit of a hoarder – even though I know that we live in a state where winters are blessedly short, I feel just a little bit better knowing that I have a few morsels of favorite summer foods tucked away.  Knowing me, I’ll probably end up pulling out the zucchini from the freezer the week before fresh zucchini ends up in my weekly veggie box. Of course, this leaves my freezer in a perpetually over-flowing state. Something of a vicious cycle. (Or maybe thats delicious cycle. lol!)  At any rate – the sooner we get that chest freezer we keep talking about, the happier a camper I shall be. Hope everyone has a Happy Holidays!

Ingredients:

• 1 lb Peeled, seeded Pumpkin Cut in to 1″ chunk
• 1 lb Whole Wheat Spiral Pasta
• 1 bunch Collard Greens; stems removed and chopped in to thin strips
• 1 cup Small Curd Cottage Cheese
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 cloves Garlic; minced
• 1/4 cup Cider Vinegar
• 3 tbs Butter
• 1 Sprig of Thyme, finely minced
• 1 Sprig Savory, finely minced
• 6 (or so) Sage Leaves, finely minced
• Olive Oil
• Kosher Salt

Method:

• Preheat oven to 350°
• Toss Pumpkin chunks with enough olive oil to coat, and sprinkle liberally with Kosher Salt
• Spread in a single layer on a roasting pan and Roast for 30 minutes, or until tender
• In a large pot of Salted Water, cook the pasta to Al Dente, Drain and set aside
• Melt the Butter in the pot
• Add the onions and Saute over medium heat until translucent and fragrant
• Stir in the garlic, thyme, sage, and savory and heat for 30 seconds or so
• Add the Collard Greens and continue to saute until bright green and tender
• Remove from heat
• Return the Pasta to the pot, along with the roasted pumpkin chunks, cottage cheese, and cider vinegar
• Toss to combine
• Kosher Salt to taste

The weather turned cold today – I mean, it had been getting chilly for the last couple of weeks… but today it actually turned cold. I could even see snow off in the distance on Mt. Diablo, and a couple of my sisters reported having snow near their houses or on their way to work… Kinda trippy… I mean, it’s not supposed to snow in California, well – outside of Tahoe it isn’t, anyways – it’s allowed there. That’s far enough away to not be an issue.   You see, I like snow. I like to look at it outside of my window and say “awww… pretty”. But I hate driving in it, walking in it, or touching it in any way.

So enough on the weather – I suppose ya’ll might be wondering why posting has been so light. Well I don’t really have a good excuse for you… during and around thanksgiving, we were busy with that, and I kinda figured there was probably enough people out there blogging all their thanksgiving family recipes, so I decided to focus on just having a nice meal and not stress on getting perfect pictures… then afterwards… well, I guess for the last couple of weeks I just kinda got a little bit lazy and a little bit busy, and we ended up eating out a little more frequently than usual, but hopefully I’m turning the corner and getting back in to the swing of things. I’m starting to work on getting things done around the house – we had the drywall guys out here today, actually – patching up the cracked seams in the rest of the den.

We were kind of toying with the idea of jumping right in to painting and trim right after the patches had finished setting, but after thinking about it a little more, we decided to wait until after Yule. I’m hosting, and I’m not 100% sure that I can get everything done before then – and although I’m sure everyone would understand, I’m just not keen on the idea of having everyone show up and seeing my desk shoved in to the corner of the living room, furniture covered in sheets, in a corner of the den, etc.. know what I mean? Now I’m going to shoot for starting on the painting and trim on Christmas (shhhh… don’t tell Mr. Man). It’ll be a busy few days, but I think if we push hard, we can get the painting and trim done during that time.

Unfortunately, it looks like doing something about that hideous parquet might have to wait. We were discussing getting the floor done, but it looks like it might be out of the budget right now, unless we were willing to compromise a great deal, which I’m not really. I’m going to get a few more bids, and we’ll see where we end up. (cross your fingers for us!) I’d like to get some sort of eco-friendly carpet in there. We talked about hardwood or something a little longer lived – but to be honest, that room is one of the coldest in the house during the winter, and getting a nice warm carpet in there sounds pretty awesome, although I’m a little worried about it getting stained, since we have the coffee machine in the den/bar area by the fireplace… and my hobby area is (eventually) going to live in the den… Anyways, we have some decisions to make on the flooring still, so it might be best to sit on it for a while.

So back to the lasagna – since the weather has started to go colder, when I have been cooking I’ve been opting for more hearty, comfort food things. We had a lovely soup (similar to the Savoy Cannellini Stew) several days this week, since I ended up making a big batch of beans… lol. I thought I was making 1lb, since that was what I ordered from Planet Organics, but I wasn’t paying attention, and I didn’t weigh it – so I think it was a lot more than a pound, because when all was said and done, I ended up with a HUGE pot of beans. Enough to pull off an entire quart to save for later, and STILL be eating beans for most of the week. (Thats what I get for not paying attention…)

The squash was actually leftover from when I made roasted squash puree for Pie on Thanksgiving – between having the beans already cooked in the fridge, and the squash on hand, it was by far one of the quickest lasagna’s I’ve ever put together, and using Fresh Pasta sheets made it go together even faster, since I didn’t need to pre-boil the sheets. Not that I do normally – if fresh pasta isn’t available, I usually cheat and get the no-boil lasagna noodles… pre-boiling lasagna noodles is just not something I’ve felt is worth the hassle. It was a nice little experiment, too – because honestly, I haven’t really explored the world of lasagna outside of the red sauce world, and I’m thinking that has been an oversight I definitely need to fix, because this lasagna was GOOD. If you don’t happen to have pre-cooked beans and squash on hand, you can substitute canned beans and pumpkin puree, it should work almost as well.

When I first started to make it – Miss Thing came over and asked about what I was making, and I told her Lasagna. At first she was all excited (lasagna is a treat), but then she saw me pulling squash and beans out of the fridge and she got… ah… a little unhappy with me. lol – “Ewwwww! You’re ruining it! Don’t put that in there!” etc… But anyways, long story short – she loved it, and had two helpings (and some leftovers again this afternoon for lunch). So there you go – even squash-haters like this lasagna.

Ingredients:

• 1 qt Roasted and Pureed Butternut Squash (or other type of squash)
• 1 qt Cooked Navy Beans (in liquid)
• 1 lb Lasagna Noodles (Fresh pasta recommended)
• 16 oz Small Curd Cottage Cheese
• 12 oz Manchego Cheese; shredded
• 1 large Onion, diced
• 5 cloves Garlic
• 1 sprig Rosemary;
• 1 large sprig Thyme
• 8 Sage Leaves (or so)
• 2 inch Piece of Fresh Ginger; peeled
• 2 tbs Butter
• 1/4 cup White Wine
• 1/4 cup Cider Vinegar
• 1 tsp Cumin
• 1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
• Kosher Salt

Method:

• Preheat Oven to 350° and butter a 9″x13″ Baking Pan
• De-stem the thyme and rosemary
• Finely mince together the ginger, rosemary, garlic, sage, and thyme
• Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat
• Add the onions, and saute until beginning to turn golden
• Clear a spot in the the center of the pan and add the minced ginger-garlic mixture
• Stir and heat until fragrant (about 30 seconds)
• Clear a spot in the center of the pan again and add about 1/2 the Navy beans
• Smoosh the Navy beans a couple of times with the back of a spoon or a potato masher, then add remaining beans, bean liquid and the squash puree
• Reduce heat to low and stir
• Simmer for 3-5 minutes, then add the Cider Vinegar, White Wine, Cumin, Cayenne Pepper and Kosher Salt (to taste)
• Place a layer of noodles in bottom of pan
• To assemble the lasagna, start with a noodle layer, then a sauce layer, then a cheese layer. Repeat. After the second or third layer (depending on how many layers you are going to have), spread the Cottage Cheese out evenly on top of a layer of noodles, then top with sauce and cheese and atleast one more layer. Cottage cheese layer should be situated as near as possible to the center of the lasagna, and the top should be sauce and shredded cheese
• Bake assembled lasagna in oven for 30-45 minutes, or until cheese is golden and lasagna is heated through

It’s hard to believe that it was only recently that we started having Polenta around Casa la Del, because it’s quickly become one of my favorite dishes to make. It’s such an easy, simple and hearty dish to make. The first time I made it, I just kinda glanced at the ‘basic’ directions on the side of the package and jumped in feet first, and the results surprised me. It was so good. Since then, we’ve had polenta quite a few times, and I’ve been slowly tweaking my way around to find my favorite method of preparation.

When I first made Polenta, I was surprised at the liquid to cornmeal ratio – I mean most rices and grains typically stop at a 2:1 … maybe 2.5:1. A ratio of 4:1 seemed awfully high, but having never made it before I just went with it, thinking I could drain it if neccessary. But it ended up working out – in fact the first time I made polenta, I ended up with quite a bit of leftovers, because I made a double batch, thinking it wouldn’t make that much. Although, sometimes I’ll make a double batch on purpose now. It is very handy to have some cooked grains ready to be warmed up in the fridge.

The Delicata Squash had been sitting on my counter for a couple of weeks now. I had picked some up when they first started showing up at the Farmer’s Market, but just hadn’t had an opportunity to use it yet, although I’ve been kicking around some ideas of what to use it in for a while. (Incidentally, a melon baller seemed to make an excellent pulp-scooper.) Anyways, the inspiration for part of this dish came from a post I saw on another site where someone had sliced and roasted the Delicata – they had sprinkled theirs with spices and feta cheese, and it looked lovely. Sadly, I forgot to bookmark them so I don’t have the link handy anymore, but thats somewhere on my agenda to try sometime, too. However, for this dish, I wanted to use up some of the greens that I had in the fridge. In our FFTY box this week, we received sooooo many Greens – Rapini, Kale – and of course Arugula. It’s definitely one of the challenges you face when you eat seasonally. At some point you become inundated with one or another type of fruit or vegetable and you have to get creative. lol

I’ve also found myself in the unfortunate predicament of having more of the types of fruits that we don’t tend to eat as quickly – such as apples and oranges, so I (sadly) decided this week that I would need to switch back to the smaller ‘regular’ box – atleast until I come up with a better method for using them. (or until other fruits come in to season) Fortunately, I’ll be able to supplement with Planet Organics and Spud – both of which are quickly becoming near and dear to my weekly shopping experience. Planet Organics is starting to edge out Spud, I think, but I haven’t made a true decision yet. When I do though, I think I’ll post a blog about it. I think it’d make an interesting post to compare them.

I already had the lentils cooked and waiting in the fridge to be used, which made this dish go together quickly once the Polenta was done. I’ve tried to make it a habit to have atleast two to three (mostly) vegetarian meals a week, and I’ve found that it’s frequently easier to do that if I have cooked beans sitting in the fridge. This week, it was lentils, which you can probably guess – considering I also used them in the Browned Butter and Pumpkin Lentil Pasta dish I made a few days ago. If you don’t have lentils though, you could easily use any other cooked (or canned I suppose) bean instead. Although, I like the lentils here so I recommend that if you have them available that you use them.

Like many other vegetables that I’ve tried since joining a CSA, Winter Squash has truly joined the ranks of my favorite veggies, and Delicata Squash is leading the charge. When we had this for dinner the other night, I only made up one squash, but I know next time I’ll have to make more. I had my timing off a little bit the night I made this, underestimating the time the squash would take to cook. So it was ready well before the polenta. While it sat out on the counter, waiting for everything else to finish cooking, I ended up sneaking a couple of slices to snack on while I was making dinner, and thinking that this would make a lovely snack to have ready to go in the fridge. If that doesn’t convince you though – even Miss Thing owned up and said that the squash “wasn’t that bad”, which considering her long standing and deep rooted hatred for all winter squashes, is very high praise indeed. As for Mr. Man and myself, we both adored this dish. For my part, I was quite frankly stunned at how delicious it turned out. I highly recommend eating it all together, as I’ve shown, because eating them separately just doesn’t provide the same melding of flavors. The tangy vinaigrette perfectly complements the sweetness of the squash, the meaty lentils – I mean, it all just WORKS.  It’s in the top ten meals I’ve made in the last few months. Seriously.

Ingredients:

• 1 Delicata Squash; halved, seeds removed and sliced in to 1/4″ slices
• 1 bunch of Arugula; torn in to bite size pieces
• 4 cups Broth or Stock (I used Scrap Stock)
• 1 cup Coarse Ground Cornmeal
• 1 cup finely shredded Parmesan Cheese
• 1 cup Cooked Du Puy Lentils
• ½ cup Milk
• 3 tbs Good quality Olive Oil
• 1 tbs Champagne Vinegar
• 1 tbs Cooking Olive Oil
• 1 tsp Coarse Ground Mustard (I used Homemade)
• Kosher Salt

Method:

• Preheat oven to 350°
• Toss the squash slices with the cooking olive oil and sprinkle liberally with kosher salt
• Spread in to a single layer on a roasting pan
• Bake for 20 minutes, or until tender and beginning to brown
• While the squash is roasting, cook the polenta
• Bring the broth or stock and a couple pinches of kosher salt to a boil
• Pour the cornmeal in to the broth in a steady stream, whisking constantly
• Reduce heat and simmer, stirring often, until polenta is nearly tender
• Add the milk to the polenta and continue to simmer until polenta is cooked through, and just beginning to set up
• Stir in the Parmesan. Cover and remove from heat until ready to serve
• Whisk together the mustard, vinegar and good quality olive oil, along with a pinch or two of kosher salt (to taste)
• Toss the vinaigrette with the Arugula
• To serve: spread the polenta on the plate, top with arugula – then Lentils and the roasted Delicata Squash slices

So the last twenty-four haven’t been particularly fun – I had a bout of insomnia on Wednesday night, which is always super-fun… and just as I was beginning to recover, I find out that Miss Thing has Miss-placed her phone. Her iPhone. Her iPhone that she’s only had for about six months. Her iPhone that she didn’t tell us was missing until about 11PM. Four hours after the GPS tracking shows that the battery died. Needless to say we’re unhappy with her.

Anyways, as much as I could wax eloquent about how annoyed and frustrated and disappointed and everything else that I am right now – there isn’t much I can really do except wait, check the GPS occasionally and hope that a good samaritan turns it in. Of course, the longer it’s missing, the less likely that becomes. At any rate – a replacement phone will be coming out of Miss Thing’s allowance, should it come to that.

The one bright spot in yesterday evening, was this lovely pasta we enjoyed for dinner. I’ve been kicking around a lot of ideas in my head for different winter squash recipes – and in particular, the flavors of sage, browned butter and pumpkin had been coming up frequently as something I really wanted to do. Unfortunately, something or other was always coming up and I kept putting it off. Well last night, I had cleared out everything else that was queued up ahead of it, and was finally able to put my ideas in motion.

I had leftover roasted pumpkin already prepared from when I made the Ginger Pumpkin White Chocolate Blondies, and the lentils I made up as a background process earlier in the day, which made this dish simply fly together in about a half an hour. Although Miss Thing made her usual ‘winter squash blech’ face, she did eventually own up and say that it was pretty good, and Mr. Man enjoyed it as well. As for me, well – perhaps it was the anticipation… the week or so of kicking the idea around and planning for it, because I thought it was durn near one of my favorite pasta dishes evar. It was supah yum.

If you don’t have pumpkin – I’m sure you can use any other winter squash you like – butternut, acorn, delicata, etc… with equally yummy results. Because I was using pre-cooked pumpkin, I was slightly at the mercy of it’s texture – next time I would probably peel the pumpkin and roast it in chunks in the hopes of retaining some structure. When I tossed the pumpkin I had in with everything else, it kind of broke down and coated the pasta, almost like a sauce – which was good, but not quite what I had originally intended. In any case, I’m sure it would be good either way – although it might require further testing… in fact, I believe I have some butternut on my counter from my most recent FFTY box… I wouldn’t want to appear as if I’m not being thorough… Do you think Miss Thing will revolt if I make winter squash two nights in a row?

Ingredients:

• 1 lb of Whole Wheat Pasta
• 1 qt Roasted Pumpkin; cut in to Chunks
• 1 and 1/2 cups Cooked Du Puy Lentils
• 1 stick of Butter
• 1/2 cup Feta Cheese; crumbled
• 1 large Shallot; minced
• 1 small onion; diced
• 4 cloves garlic; minced
• 1 tbs peeled, finely minced ginger
• 2 tbs Finely minced Sage
• 1/4 cup Cider Vinegar
• Kosher Salt to taste

Method:

• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil
• Add the pasta and cook until Al Dente
• Drain the pasta and set aside
• Return the pot to the stove over medium heat
• Add the butter and cook, stirring occasionally, until butter turns golden brown in color and begins to smell nutty
• Add the onions and shallots and saute until onions are cooked through
• Stir in the ginger and garlic and cook for about 30 seconds.
• Remove from heat, and stir in the pasta, pumpkin, lentils, feta, sage and the Cider Vinegar
• Add Kosher Salt to taste

We’ve been keeping things pretty low key the last few days, just kind of taking a breather, it hasn’t been terribly easy, what with dentist visits and the like. But you know, we’re hanging in there. We had more down time this week than we’ve had in a while, though – it was nice to relax a little bit.

However, I’ve been giving a great deal of thought to what our next project will be – and I’m leaning towards painting the den. Mr. Man and I have agreed on a lovely shade of BRIGHT PURPLE that we’re both thinking will be perfect. I get a little grin every time I think about it. BRIGHT PURPLE. It’s always in All-caps, too. BRIGHT PURPLE. Like I look at the test swatch we painted on the wall and I think “BRIGHT PURPLE”. Purple’s always been a favorite color – and since the Den is the room we spend the majority of our ‘working’ time in, we wanted it to be a fun, funky energetic color. So BRIGHT PURPLE. Did I mention it was BRIGHT PURPLE? lol

Anyways, other than finally having life settle back in to a semi-normal routine, we’ve also been working through the backlog of veggies that my Mother’s visit created – there’s been a lot of hodge-podge, throw everything in the pot meals… this soup being one of the many. Thankfully, I think we’re all caught up, so to speak, except for some Pumpkins and delicata squash, which I have some plans for later – but I’m not in any hurry for right yet. I’ve also been looking at some different services around the area for Local/Sustainable Food sources, since sadly – my local grocery stores are well, just lacking in local meat. I had a coupon for Planet Organics, so I tried them first – but a friend of mine uses Spud! and was raving about it, so I decided to give them a try as well.

I haven’t actually received my first delivery from Spud! yet, but I don’t really have any doubts that the delivery will be fine. My first delivery with Planet Organics was fine – and the plan is to use one or the other of these services every other week to save me trips out for simple staples such as Milk and Eggs and the occasional bits of meat. Unfortunately – neither service will really make trips to the grocery store completely unnecessary. They both have a distinctly lackluster showing of beans, flours, and other dry staples. It’s kind of hard to make a choice right now actually. They both have minimum orders – Spud! is a little bit higher, but they’re within spitting distance of each other so that isn’t a big consideration. Planet Organics has a better selection of artisan cheeses, and they actually have milk in Gallon-form (we drink entirely too much milk to buy by the half gallon). Unfortunately, they have a subscriber-method, where you have to either order a minimum amount or they ship you veggies. Spud! is more flexible on ordering – you can place an order as often as you like, although you do get discounts for recurring orders, and while they don’t carry all the cuts of meat I like, they (so far) seem to offer better prices on what they do carry. I’ll probably end up using both services for a little while and see what happens.

Slightly related, I went ahead and ordered our Thanksgiving Turkey from Spud!, and Mr. Man and I have hammered out some ideas for dinner. I tried to get him to be more creative – but he wanted the usual staples… Stuffing, ‘taters, turkey, bread rolls, etc… One of these days I’ll get him to be creative with me. I mean – I know, Thanksgiving is about … uhm… giving thanks? But it’s also about FOOD! And what better excuse do you need to get creative with it? A holiday about food! <sigh> Maybe next year he’ll let me play more.

So anyways, in the whole working through the veggie backlog, I discovered that I had a bunch of potatoes and broccoli – some mushrooms that had seen better days, and a couple of leeks. If that’s not the perfect beginning to a creamy, hearty fall comfort-food soup, I’m not sure what is. When I was poking around on teh ‘nets, I came across this recipe for a Roasted Potato soup, and it was the inspiration for the preparation of this soup. I loved the idea of roasting the potatoes before making them in to a soup. I didn’t follow their recipe, aside from the roasting, although I’m sure it’s good. I also didn’t peel the potatoes. You can, if you want. I mean – I don’t think it will hurt anything. I usually don’t bother with peeling things like potatoes, carrots, apples, etc… unless it’s exceptionally important to the flavor and/or texture. So, YMMV.

This is a big recipe – I had a lot of veggies I wanted to use up, and Mr. Man and Miss Thing love when there’s something easy they can warm up for a quick & hot lunch, so that wasn’t really a problem for us – but I’m sure it would be fine to halve if you don’t want to make quite so much. I used what I had on hand – but this is one of those recipes that you can easily customize. No Yogurt? Use Sour Cream. No Broccoli? How about Spinach? etc.. I had kind of planned on topping it with a little crumbled bacon – but you know, I completely spaced about it, and no one noticed it was missing. We did top it with a little shredded cheddar, though – and that was a nice addition.

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs Russet Potatoes; scrubbed and cut in to 1/4″ slices
• 2 lbs Broccoli; cut in to chunks and blanched
• 3 leeks; whites only – cut in the thin slices
• 12 oz Mushrooms (I used Crimini); sliced
• 2 quarts Broth
• 2 cups Plain Yogurt
• 1 cup Buttermilk
• 6 Garlic Cloves; diced
• 2 tbs + 1 tsp Olive Oil
• Shredded Cheddar Cheese (optional)
• Kosher Salt

Method:

• Preheat Oven to 400°
• Toss the potato slices, leeks and garlic with the two tablespoons of olive oil and sprinkle liberally with kosher salt, stirring to coat
• Spread the potato mixture evenly in to the bottom of a roasting pan
• Roast for 45-60 minutes (or until tender), stirring occasionally
• In a small skillet, saute the sliced mushrooms with the remaining teaspoon of olive oil. Set aside.
• Place half the roasted potatoes in to a large stock pot. Set the remaining half aside.
• Add the blanched broccoli and the broth
• Using an immersion blender, (or working in batches in a regular blender), puree the broccoli-potato mixture until smooth
• Gently heat over low and stir in the yogurt and buttermilk until smooth
• Add the reserved potatoes and the sauteed mushroom
• Stir in Kosher Salt to taste
• To serve, top with Shredded Cheddar Cheese (optional)

Things are starting to look like they might be settling down a smidgen, finally. My mother has come and gone, Miss Thing’s sport will  be coming to an end soon, and we have just been trying to take it easy the last few days. For more information about what’s been going on and what we’ve been doing, check out the post here. We have one more big thing to do next weekend, and then I’m hopeful that things will be more relaxed around here.  But I did have enough time today to sit down and work on this Ratatouille post I’d been sitting on for a few days. Yay!

During all the busy-ness, I received a bunch of eggplant in my FFTY box. I had kind of thought I would make Ratatouille for my mother while she was visiting, unfortunately – I didn’t have a chance to make it before she had to leave. But I did make it a day or so later, and Mr. Man, Miss Thing, and I enjoyed it immensely. I had actually never had Ratatouille until just recently, when I started getting eggplant from FFTY. Like many other veggies that FFTY has gotten me to try, I had just never really had a lot of eggplant before. But I can say that without a doubt, it will be making rounds on my table from now on.

The making of Ratatouille coincided with Mr. Man taking up an interest in bread baking – and I can’t say they’re completely unrelated because, dude – his fresh bread and my Ratatouille is like a match made in heaven. It’s a warm, hearty tummy-filled-to-bursting adventure in happiness. The only sad part of this tale is that, like so many other things in life – tomato season has pretty much ended for this year. The first time I made Ratatouille, I started out with the recipe on Simply Recipes found here. I don’t make it exactly the same, (I always gotta put my own spin on it, donchyaknow) but I really liked the method of preparation she offered. This recipe is almost no fail. Any combination of tomatoes, summer squash and eggplant is bound to work out in to something tasty. I’ve given the measurements of what I used – but feel free to experiment.

Ingredients:

• 2 Globe Eggplants; cut in to 1-2″ chunks
• 3 Japanese Eggplant; cut in to 1-2″ chunks
• 1 lb Sweet Peppers; cut in to 1″ chunks
• 1 lb Yellow Summer Squash; cut in to 1″ chunks
• 3 lbs Tomatoes; cut in to 1″ chunks
• 1 large onion; diced
• 5 cloves garlic; minced
• 1 quart Broth; chicken or veggie
• Olive Oil
• Kosher Salt

Method:

• Toss the Eggplant chunks liberally with Kosher Salt and place in a sieve. Set aside for 30-60 minutes. (I do this step first, then chop and assemble remaining ingredients)
• Preheat Oven to 350°
• Rinse the eggplant and drain.
• In a large, heavy, oven safe pot with a tight fitting lid (recommend: Cast Iron Dutch Oven) heat a little olive oil over medium heat
• Brown the eggplant in batches, adding more olive oil as neccessary.
• Once all the eggplant has been browned, repeat for the Summer Squash – browning in small batches, adding more olive oil as neccessary
• Set aside the squash and eggplant
• Saute the onions until translucent in whatever olive oil happens to be in the pot still (or add a little bit of oil if neccessary)
• Scooch the onions to the side to make space and add the peppers. Saute the peppers until tender.
• Stir in the garlic and return the eggplant and squash to the pot. Add the broth, and a couple of liberal pinches of kosher salt.
• Cover and place in the oven.
• Bake for 1 hour.
• Remove from oven and stir in tomatoes
• Gently heat until tomatoes are warmed through
• Transfer the Ratatouille to a sieve that has been placed over a bowl and drain, reserving juices
• Return the juices to the pot and heat over medium heat
• Simmer until reduced by half – adding any juices that have continued to drain off the veggies
• When all the juices have all been reduced, return the veggies to the pan, stirring to combine.
• Add Kosher Salt to taste

And the busy-ness continues to consume my free time. I know – I know, posts have been skimpy. Although this time I have a good excuse! I swear! Last week, my mom called and told me she was coming to visit. In a week. Needless to say, I can count the number of hours I’ve spent on the computer since I found that out on one hand. We’ve been busy-busy-busy straightening up the house, cleaning, unpacking, painting (part of) the den, and just trying to make things look semi-presentable before she arrives. So – see? It’s not like I’ve been sloughing off… I’ve been doing stuff! Just not cooking. Or posting. Or taking Pictures. Or pretty much anything I really want to do.

We’re moving out of tomato season – which makes me very, very sad. I’ve still been able to acquire a few late season tomatoes at the Farmer’s Market, but they are definitely starting to dwindle. I’m going to try and go and buy a bunch one more time (hopefully) before they are completely gone – but I’m trying to cram as much enjoyment in as I can before they’re gone. I actually made this dish a while back – probably two weeks ago now, but as I’ve mentioned on more than one occasion, the busyness keeps consuming me, so I hadn’t had a chance to post it. Speaking of busyness – I’m afraid this is going to be like, the lightest post evah, because I need to go pick up my mom from the airport here very soon. I promise to do a nice big ol’ post just as soon as I can, with pics of the den and everything … just as soon as things settle down.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb Green Beans; trimmed, cut in to 2″ pieces and blanched
• 1 pint Cherry tomatoes; stemmed and halved (larger ones can be quartered)
• 1 large Shallot; minced
• 3 cloves Garlic; minced
• 4 slices of Thick Cut Bacon; cut in to 1/2″ pieces
• 2 tbs Cider Vinegar (or more to taste)
• Kosher Salt to taste

Method:

• In a large skillet, Brown the bacon until crispy.
• Scoop the bacon pieces out and set aside to drain
• Saute the shallot in bacon grease until translucent
• Add the green beans and garlic and toss to combine
• Cover and reduce heat. Cook until green beans are at desired tenderness
• Remove from heat and stir in Cider Vinegar, Tomatoes and Kosher Salt.
• Let stand for a few minutes to allow the residual heat from the green beans to warm the tomatoes. Serve immediately.

I can’t really believe how busy the last couple of weeks have been – and the next couple aren’t looking much better (again). Vet appointments, doctor appointments, running around, sports stuff, fund raisers, parent nights, yadda yadda yadda. It has just been crazy. I’m so ready for a break it’s not even funny – unfortunately, it’s probably going to be a while. To that end, I think I’m going to suspend (hopefully) temporarily the weekly box updates in favor of concentrating on getting recipes posted and just sprinkle in life stuff amongst the daisies… Which makes me sad, but until things settle down a little bit again, it’s probably for the best.

But as if all that wasn’t enough to keep us frantically running around, things at Mr. Man’s work have busied up – a project he was involved in had the deadline moved up, and it’s thrown a teeny monkey wrench in everyone’s plans, so he’s been super busy and working some long hours… Oh! And the Disqus Comments system that I was using on the website decided to bork – and we had to disable it. So comments should work again … yay. I don’t think I’ll be reenabling Disqus even if we do figure out what is wrong with it though – it wasn’t terribly user friendly. Hopefully we can port over the old comments as we part ways with Disqus. We’re still not sure what we’re going to use to replace Disqus – I’m sure it will be a process as we work on getting the kinks out.

Anyways, although the busy has kept me off the computer and out of Photoshop, I did have a few spare moments to whip up this little salad for dinner the other night – and it gave me the opportunity to use the new Corn Zipper I’d picked up a few weeks back. I’d bought it because, although I’m a ginormous corn on the cob fan – the last few times I’ve served up some corn on the cob, Mr. Man has grabbed a knife and cut the corn off the cob. Which creates a huuuuuuuge mess all over the table. So I picked up this gadget to try out and it actually does a pretty decent job. It still sprays juice a little bit, but the corn kernals don’t go popping off and flying as much – which is definitely an improvement over a knife. (Plus, it has a smiley face – what’s not to love about that?)

Unlike the last time I made a corn salad, this time I happened to have grilled corn – one of the fringe benefits of the Heap-Big grilling session I had Mr. Man do recently (along with grilled beets and carrots that I used here). Although I think if I’d had fresh corn, it would have been equally good in this salad. This recipe kind of fell together when I had received my most recent FFTY box and realized that I still had some green beans left from the previous weeks box… and that a couple of the tomatoes that I’d just received absolutely had to be used that day. I saw the corn in the fridge – and a lightbulb went off in my head, spawning this little love child. Knowing that the remaining days of fresh tomatoes this season are numbered – I’ve been trying to use them fresh, rather than cooking them, so a salad seemed like the perfect plan. This made a fair amount, but I had quite a few veggies to use up. It’s actually hearty enough to be a meal unto itself – and is vegetarian to boot. Although I’ll own up and admit that we served it with a side of steak.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Green Beans, trimmed and snapped in to 2″ lengths
• 2 cups Grilled or Fresh Corn
• 2 cups Chopped Tomatoes
• 4 oz Mozzarella di Bufala (or other fresh mozzarella); cut in to 1/4″ cubes
• 3 cloves Garlic; minced
• 2 tbs Good Quality Olive Oil
• 1 tbs Brown Rice Wine Vinegar
• Kosher Salt

Method:

• Blanch the green beans in well-salted water until tender-crisp (or desired tenderness). Approximately 2-3 minutes depending on preference
• Transfer green beans to an ice bath to stop cooking
• Drain and pat dry
• Stir all ingredients together and add Kosher Salt to taste
• Serve Immediately