Wk 12 Selection

Oh my goodness, this is going to be a fun package!  Unbeknownst to me, they have theme weeks every once in a while and this week it's pizza!  Actually, the funny part of this was that I was thinking it would be fun to get pizza from the CSA, but thought it would be too difficult because of the pizza crust.  Well, Trevor answered my thoughts and then some!  Here's what we are expecting:

Winter CSA Wk 12 Selection- 2 frozen pizza dough balls, one seasoned and one whole wheat
- 4 oz fresh mozzarella cheese
- 1 lb assorted ground sausages (mild Italian, hot Italian, chorizo, and non-flavored)
- 1 bag mixed organic greens
- 4 oz hot and sweet chevre
- 1 lb bag heirloom corn chips
- 1 lb assorted salsas
- 1 head organic bibb lettuce
- Pork rib selection –  Country Ribs*, some spare ribs and baby-back ribs

Now, I don't know if I am going to end up with the Country Ribs as the note says most of them are that style, but since Country Ribs are actually just shoulder cut into rib-like pieces, I am really hoping he will have some spare ribs or baby-back ribs left to chose from.  I actually have the pork shoulder roast I got a couple packages ago thawing in my refrigerator right now and I have had 2 others this winter and for me, that's a lot of pork shoulder!  But it's all good.  I look forward to tasting all the different sauces and sausages that we are getting this week.  Should be a fun package to play with!

 

I have to again apologize because I am not keeping up with my posts here. But I do have a couple things I would like to share with you:

Balsamic Beef Short Ribs (slow-cooked)

• 3 lbs beef short ribs, country style*
• 3 lg carrots, peeled and cut into 2" pieces*
• 4 red potatoes, washed and quartered
• 4 med turnips, peeled and quartered*
• 3 stalks celery, washed and cut into 2" pieces
• 1/2 C balsamic vinegar
• 1 C water
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp dry mustard
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• 1/2 tsp cloves
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
•  

Place vegetables in bottom of slow cooker; place ribs over vegetables. In a small bowl, combine vinegar, water, garlic and spices. Pour over vegetables and ribs. Cover and cook on LOW for 8-10 hours.

 

 

 

From this recipe, I made egg rolls (on a kind of as needed basis):

 

Beef Short Rib Egg Rolls

• From above recipe, 1 beef rib, 2 piece carrots, 2 pieces turnips, 2 pieces celery and 1 piece potato* 
• 3 egg roll wrappers
• 1 C light oil (I used light olive oil)

Dice rib, carrots, turnips, celery and potato and mix together. On each egg roll wrapper, place 1/3 of mix. Fold one corner of wrapper over filling, fold in sides then roll and seal. Heat oil in medium skillet until hot. Add egg rolls and cook until browned on all sides.

 

  

And now that I have played with the eggroll wrappers again, I remember how easy they are to use, so I will probably use them more and more. Stay tuned!

 

 

 

*CSA package ingredients

 

 

March 18: Pick-up Day

As you can see, I have posted my picture after shaving.  I love the fact that my hair is now non-nonsense!  Leaves more time for other things.  I am excited to pick up today's package.  I have so many ideas for using our goods this week.  I am a bit leary on the pork chops because I have never cooked pork chops before.  If anyone has a great idea for them I would love to hear it!

March 17: Happy St. Patrick's Day - Breakfast

Last night, I threw together an asparagus/mushroom strata.  It is in the oven as I type.  I couldn't find a recipe that was exactly what I wanted, so here is what I came up with:

Asparagus Baby Bella Strata
Makes 4 servings

• 2 Thomas' Whole Grain Light English Muffins, split
• 1 lb asparagus, woody ends removed and cut into 1 inch pieces
• 5 baby bella mushrooms, sliced thin
• 4 eggs*
• 1 cup skim milk
• 2 cups evaporated skim milk
• 1 tsp ground mustard, dry
• salt & pepper to taste

Spray an 8"X8"X2" pan with cooking spray. Split English muffins and place in bottom of baking pan.  Sprinkle with asparagus and baby bellas.  In a small bowl, mix eggs, milk, evaporated milk, mustard, salt and pepper until well blended.  Pour over English muffins.  Sprinkle with cheese.  Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning, preheat oven to 350F.  Uncover and bake strata for 45-50 minutes until knife inserted into center comes out clean.  Allow to sit for 5 minutes to finish cooking before serving.  Makes 4 servings.

Weight Watchers PointsPlus Value: 7

March is birthday month in our lab with four March birthdays.  Yesterday, the guys brought a cassata cake in to celebrate the first birthday.  This morning, I am making gluten-free egg-free blackberry muffins to celebrate the next as there are some serious allergies in our lab.  I developed this recipe to deal with all the varied allergies.

Gluten-Free, Egg-Free Blackberry Corn Muffins
Makes 12 servings

1/4 C melted butter*
3/4 C GF flour blend
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 C cornmeal*
1/2 C + 1 Tbsp sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 C milk
1/2 C yogurt
1/4 C canola oil
3/4 C fresh blackberries

In a large bowl, combine gf flour, baking powder, cornmeal, sugar and salt.  In a small bowl, melt butter; add milk, yogurt and oil and mix well.  Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix until well blended.  Split blackberries between lined muffin wells.  Then split batter as well.  Bake 15-18 minutes or until muffins are lightly browned.

Weight Watchers PointsPlus Value:  5

Note: these muffins could be made further allergen free by using soy based products in place of the dairy.

*CSA ingredients

March 16: This week's CSA

Chicken!!!!  Yay!  We are getting a chicken again.  Don't get me wrong, all the meats we have gotten so far have been fantastic, but I was lamenting the other day that it would be nice to get a chicken or a beef roast or such.  My lament was answered.  I am also very excited about yogurt this week.  According to Trevor, this is fresh yogurt containing only one ingredient: cultured milk and it's as fresh as you could possibly get: from udder to pastuerizer, no holding tank.  I can't wait to give it a try!

Winter CSA Wk 11 Selection
-   One pasture raised whole chicken, 4-4.5 lbs
-   1 lb ground breakfast sausage (sage seasoning)
-   2 boneless pork chops (1.5 to 2 lbs)
-   1 lb Spelt Maple Crunch
-   2 lbs organic white spelt flour
-   1 quart farmstead cow yogurt
-   1 quarter peck Red Delicious apples
-   ½ lb organic leaf lettuce
-   ½ lb mixed organic greens
-   1 bunch red mustard greens
-   1 dozen eggs

I am going to go throw together a strata before I head to bed since I am getting more eggs.  I still haven't used up all of the eggs I got last time.  I happen to have asparagus and baby bellas in my crisper and they would make a great strata with the seedy bread that I also need to use up!  Once I figure it out and get it baked, I will post the recipe here.

BTW, tomorrow is St. Patrick's day, which also means St. Baldrick's Day.  At 3pm tomorrow many of us from the 6th floor at Wolstein Research will be shaving our heads in solidarity with kids with cancer.  The event has raised more than $164,000 already.  There is still time to donate, if you should be so inclined.  I will be updating my profile picture here tomorrow with my newly bald head to honor the kids.  If you do wish to donate, click this link: http://www.stbaldricks.org/participants/mypage/participantid/423510, click on the "Make a Donation" button and follow the directions.  I will thank you and so will the kids!  Lets keep working to find cures for childhood cancers!

March 15: A little quinoa dessert

I have another half gallon of apple cider left over from the last CSA package that I was having trouble using up.  I was also looking for a light fun dessert.  When I was searching the web for a quick light dessert, I ran across a recipe for quinoa pudding on Allrecipes.com.  I adapted the recipe for my rice cooker:

Quinoa Rice Pudding
Adapted from Allrecipes.com

• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cups water
• 2 cups apple cider*
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Place all ingredients into bowl of rice cooker.  Choose sprouted rice (or white rice) setting and press Cook.

Makes 12 (1/2-cup) servings

Weight Watchers PointsPlus Value: 3

*CSA ingredients

March 13: Breakfast

I have gotten so much pork over the last few weeks and needed to find a way to use some ground pork.  In the Taste of Home: New Comfort Food Diet Cookbook, there is recipes for turkey sausage.  I decided that would be a good use for the ground pork:

Fresh Pork Breakfast Sausage

Adapted from Taste of Home: New Comfort Food Diet cookbook

• 1 lb ground pork*
• 1 tsp rubbed sage
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp garlic powder w/ herbs
• 1/8 tsp dried marjoram
• dash allspice
• dash ground corriander
• dash cayenne

Combine all ingredients until well mixed.  Seperate into 8 balls.  Flatten balls and cook in a heated large frypan until no long pink in the center.

I then took a Thomas Hearty Grains Whole Wheat bagel and toasted it.  Fried an egg, cut one of my sausage patties in half horizontally and sliced an ounce of pepper havarti*.  Once I assembled the sandwich, I broiled it until the cheese was melted and bubbly.

*CSA ingredients

An apology!

I have been super-duper remiss in keeping up with this blog and I apologize for that.  I haven't had too much time to do any cooking because of traveling and work.  But today I did do some baking.  So, here you go:

Ginger Cookies
Adapted from Taste of Home: New Comfort Food Diet cookbook

1/2 cup sorgham*
1/4 cup organic sugar
1/4 cup light olive oil
1 egg*
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups whole wheat flour*
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground ginger
3/4 tsp ground cloves
3/4 tsp ground nutmeg

In a large bowl, combine sorgham, sugar, oil, egg and vanilla until well mixed.  In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda and spices.  Add to wet ingredients until well blended. Drop by teaspoonful onto a baking sheet lightly sprayed with cooking spray.  Bake 8-10 minutes at 350F.  Cool on a rack.

Ann Arbor CSAs

I had a friend in Ann Arbor, MI ask for information on CSA programs.  I checked it out and the information is a bit overwhelming!  But if you go to this URL: http://www.ecovian.com/s/ann-arbor-mi/csa-food-delivery, you can see the entire list.  Here are some of the interesting programs available:

1)      Capella Farm (http://capellafarm.com): The program is generally a summer program, but they had an extended season this past year.  They are accepting applications for this summer: 20 week program for $600, half shares are $325.  The half shares pick up every other week instead of every week.

2)      Sunseed Farm (http://www.farmsunseed.com/): This farm has three shares: winter, summer and fall. The shares are prepaid in this program.  The summer share is 16 weeks and costs $560.  The winter and fall shares are the same length and cost.  Applications are now being taken for the summer 2011 share.

3)      Two Creeks Organics (http://www.twocreeksorganics.com/): This program involves the community even more by having Farm Days and festivals.  This one has a full-share and half share programs at $600 and $325, respectively.  The other interesting program at Two Creeks are work shares.  The share will be provided for 8 hours work a month (total 48 hrs for share).  These shares are limited, so call 734-678-1984 to inquire.

4)      Beautiful Earth Family Farm (http://www.beautifulearthfarm.com/): This farm is located in Chelsea, MI.  They offer 20 weekly shares for $500. They actually have pickup locations not only in Ann Arbor, but Chelsea, Detroit and Ypsilanti.

5)      Tantre Farm (http://tantrefarm.com/): This farm provides pickup at the Ann Arbor Farmers’ Market. You may also pick up at the farm.  The 20-week share programs cost $600 for farmers’ market pickup or $575 for farm pickup.

6)      Community Farm of Ann Arbor (http://www.communityfarmofaa.org/): This program has been around since 1988! They shares are $700-1800 and you can get split shares.  This is another farm that holds events and festivals for the participants.