Veggie Tart

As you can imagine, it is squash season.  This week we got both pattypan squash and zuccini.  I have been in the mood for a savory pie, so I took a look around on the internet.  I ran across a recipe that sounded yummy, here's how I adapted it for my share:

Garden Vegetable Tart
Adapted from http://www.fitwoman.com/expert-advice/recipes/garden-vegetable-mozzarella-tart

• 1 ½ cups sliced zucchini*
• 1 ½ cups sliced and quartered pattypan squash*
• ½ cup sliced sweet onion*
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 ready-to-bake pie crust
• 2 tsp dried basil
• 8 ounces (2 cups) shredded mozzarella cheese
• 4 ounces (1 cup) shredded Swiss cheese
• 3 eggs, beaten*
• Salt
• Pepper

Heat oven to 400 degrees. In a large Ziploc bag, toss vegetables with the oil and vinegar; spread vegetables on a cookie sheet and bake 20 minutes. Remove from oven.

Heat oven to 350° F. Unroll pie crust dough into a 9-inch glass pie plate. Press crust gently against the sides and bottom. Fold excess crust under and press firmly with a fork or flute the edge. Spread 1 cup mozzarella cheese and 1/2 cup Swiss on the bottom of the crust and layer cooked vegetables on top of the cheese. Sprinkle on basil, salt and pepper to taste. Pour beaten eggs evenly over the vegetables and top with the remaining cheese. Bake for 35 minutes. Let stand about 5 minutes before serving. Makes 6-8 servings.

*CSA ingredients

Pork Shoulder

One of the best parts of these CSA packages are the meats we receive.  However, I have a small freezer, so I do have to be fairly consistant about making the larger pieces.  This weekend, it is a pork shoulder roast.  I have gotten 3 of these this winter and it's kind of funny because I buy shoulder roasts once every couple years normally.  The first, I slow roasted in the oven.  The second, I cooked in my crockpot.  Today, I braised my pork roast, and it turned out beautiful!  Since we had gotten a very nice brussels sprouts relish a couple weeks ago and I had just gotten some swiss cheese and turkey breast, I decided to make a variation on a Cuban sandwich for lunch.  It was so good, I cut a few slices to make sandwiches for tomorrow.  The rest, I pulled and put in a homemade BBQ sauce.  Here are the recipes:

Braised Pork Shoulder

• 1 5-lb pork shoulder roast*
• sea salt and pepper, to taste
• cayenne pepper
• 5-6 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 jalapeno pepper, diced
• 1 med red onion, thinly sliced
• water

Rince roast and dry with paper towels.  Season with sea salt, pepper and cayenne.  Place in a large Dutch oven.  Add thyme, jalapeno and onion slices.  Fill the Dutch oven halfway with water.  Bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover and simmer for 3-4 hours or until thermometer inserted into the center reads 160-180F.  Remove roast to plate; cover and allow roast to sit at room tempurature for 10 minutes.  Drain onions and peppers and place in a large bowl.  For Cuban sandwiches, slice a few thin slices.  For pulled pork sandwiches, pull meat, removing fat, and mix with your favorite BBQ sauce.


Betsy's Cuban Sandwich

• 1 thin slice pork roast* (see above)
• 2 thin slices roasted turkey breast
• 2 thin slices Swiss cheese*
• 1 tsp brown mustard
• 2 tsp Ann's Raspberry Farm Brussels Sprout Relish*
• bagel thin

Split bagel thin and spread one side with brown mustard.  Spread the other side with relish.  Layer pork roast, turkey breast and Swiss.  Close sandwich and either heat for 40 seconds in microwave on HIGH or grill.  Serve with chips or fruit (this is served with Heirloom Corn Chips*).

Sorghum Honey BBQ Sauce

Note: I was distressed to find out that I had not published this recipe when I made it for the last pork roast, nor did I save it.  This is what I remember from making the sauce.

• 3 C ketchup
• 1 C sorghum*
• 1/2 C cider vinegar
• 1/2 C honey*
• 1/4 tsp dried thyme (I would use fresh the next time I make this)

Place all ingredients in small saucepan.  Heat until boiling; reduce heat and simmer 1 minute.  Adjust flavors as needed (I did add a bit more honey because this seemed a bit tart).  For 2/3 of a 5lb pork roast, use about 2 cups of sauce.  Pull the pork, removing the fat, and then mix with BBQ sauce.  Serve on a roll or bagel thin.

Oh one more thing:  I wanted to show you the beautiful head of butterleaf lettuce I received in my CSA package.  I just wish it would stay looking like that.  I am going to try to talk my husband into using it tonight in place of rolls for the pulled pork.  We can have baguette for starch on the side.

Here is one of the lettuce rolls before rolling.  They were so good!!!!!  The bread is what's left of a baguette I purchased earlier in the week from Murray Hill Market.



*CSA package ingredients

SuperBowl Sunday

Ok, so lets start with the morning.  I started cooking as soon as I got up because I knew it would take all day to cook the soup.  But I was hungry, so here's what I had for breakfast:

Spinach Feta Kielbasa Scrambled Eggs

Makes 1 serving

• 1 lg egg*
• 2 egg whites*
• 2 oz kielbasa, sliced and quartered*
• 1/2 cup baby spinach
• 1/4 cup feta, crumbled*
• garlic powder (to taste)

In a small saucepan, add kielbasa and spinach.  Cook until spinach begins to wilt.  In the meantime, beat egg and egg whites in small bowl with garlic powder.  Pour over spinach, sprinkle with feta cheese and cook, stirring, until eggs are just barely wet.

*CSA items

Weight Watchers PointsPlus Value: 10pts

Now,  for dinner/SuperBowl, I made queso dip (Velveeta and Rotel) and the following soup.  I will admit I am a sucker for the cabbage soup at Big Boy.  So, taking a cue from Lindsay Allen, I attempted to recreate it.  I have to admit, it turned out pretty darn good.  I did add to it by adding kielbasa, which changes the flavor a bit, but it turned out quite good.

Cabbage Soup

Makes 8 servings

• 5 cups cabbage, coarsely chopped*
• 1 med onion, diced
• 1 med green pepper, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 8 oz kielbasa, sliced and quartered*
• 1 (28-oz) can whole tomatoes, hand crushed
• 2 cups low-sodium tomato juice
• 1 1/2 cups fat-free chicken broth
• 1/2 stick butter*

In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat.  Add onions and saute about 1 minute.  Add green peppers and garlic and continue sauteeing until onions just become transleuscent.  All all ingredients to crockpot, cover and cook on HIGH for 4-5 hours, or until cabbage is cooked.  Makes about 8 1-cup servings.

Weight Watchers PointsPlus Value (per 1 cup serving): 5 points

Beginning of cooking

Finished

It's always nice to have time to cook for the week.  Just wish I could actually be watching the game. Time to find a good movie to put on!

Making vinaigrette

So, I now have baby spinach and mixed greens in my refrigerator.  I don't normally have a lot of such things so I never buy salad dressings or vinaigrettes.  So, my goal today was to figure out how to make my own vinaigrette.  I looked at various recipes and finally decided to try for a honey mustard balsamic vinaigrette. 

Honey Mustard Balsamic Vinaigrette

• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 3/4 cup basil infused oil
• 4 Tbsp brown mustard
• 3 Tbsp honey
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 clove garlic, minced

Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl.  Store in the refrigerator. 

I have never had some of these greens before as salad greens (beet greens, etc) and I liked the peppery flavor.  I am also thinking the vinaigrette will be very good on my favorite spinach salad (avocado and grapefruit).  It's a nice change from store-bought dressings. 

I have started planning recipes for the rest of the package.  Since I have cabbage and kielbasa, I will be making a Cabbage Kielbasa Stew in the crockpot tomorrow.  I am also trying to come up with snack ideas for the game tomorrow, although currently, I haven't figured out how I am going to get to watch the game.  Unfortunately, I do not pick up FOX with my antennae.  Hopefully I can find a way to watch streaming online.

Lunches

So, one of my failings to myself is that I am terrible about feeding myself.  I don't take the time to make things for lunch.  If I don't like what they are serving at the coffee cart, I sometimes will just eat soup or something.  I know that is not good and that is the reason that I cannot seem to lose weight and keep it off.  So, I have to admit I was proud of myself this morning.  Last night when I went to the grocery store, I bought flatbreads.  I admit, I had no intention of using them for sandwiches.  Here's what I did:

Flatbread Pizza

Makes 1 serving

• Whole wheat flat bread
• Italian Meatballs in Tomato Basil Sauce (http://csafoodie.blogspot.com/2011/01/csa-meatballs.html)
• Baby Spinach
• Feta Cheese, crumbled
• Italian Blend Cheese

Preheat oven to 375F.  Place a sheet of aluminum foil on the center rack.  On a flat bread, spread 2 Tbsp sauce.  Cut 2 meatballs into thin slices and arrange on flat bread.  Cover with baby spinach.  Sprinkle with 1/4 cup feta cheese and top with 1/4 cup Italian cheese.  Place pizza directly onto foil sheet.  Bake for 15 minutes or until cheese is browned and bubbly.  Remove from oven and allow to sit for 5 minutes before cutting.

As you could imagine, you could use so many different toppings: artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, etc.  It makes a nice lunch option when served with fruit and/or salad.

Kapusta soup

The nice thing about marrying someone from a different background is the opportunity to learn how to cook their favorite foods.  My husband's family is Ukrainian, so I have been having quite an adventure learning to cook pyrohy (pierogies), holubtsi (stuffed cabbage) and kapusta soup (saurkraut soup).  We received a medium head of green cabbage in the CSA package this week.  I also had some onions remaining from the last package and a jar of saurkraut, so it is the perfect opportunity to make kapusta soup the way John's grandma used to do it.

Kapusta Soup

Makes 24 1-cup servings

4 medium onions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup butter, divided
1 medium head green cabbage, coarsley chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 32-oz jar saurkraut
64 oz fat free chicken broth
1 cup dry yellow split peas

In a large Dutch oven, melt 1/4 cup butter.  Add sliced onions and garlic and cook until onions are softened and transleucent.  Add chopped cabbage and continue cooking until cabbage is bright green.  Add saurkraut and 32 oz chicken broth.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 1 1/2 hours until cabbage is cooked.

In the meantime, bring other 32 oz chicken broth to boil in a medium saucepan.  Add peas and boil at a medium boil for 1 1/2 hours or until peas are cooked.  Add cooked peas and 4 cups water to cabbage mixture and stir well.

Weight Watchers PointsPlus: 2 per 1-cup serving.

This is my second time making this soup and this time it turned out really good.  I am taking a bunch to my husband this weekend, but I will have plenty to enjoy all week as well.  Can't wait!

I also finally thawed the breakfast sausages I got with my second package.  They have a nice flavor.  I will be enjoying those with my breakfasts this week as well.

Saturday soup

Tonight I HAD to use my tomatoes today before they started going bad.  And I had a baguette that had gone stale that needed to be used, so I looked for a recipe for Italian Bread Soup.  Here is the recipe I decided to try:

Tomato Basil Bread Soup

http://www.cookingnook.com/tomato-basil-soup-recipe.html

Ingredients:

• 5 - 1/2" slices Italian bread (ideally stale), crusts removed
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 pounds ripe plum tomatoes,* peeled, seeded and juice reserved or 1 - 35 ounce can Italian plum tomatoes, diced and seeded, juices reserved
• 4 cups chicken stock
• salt and black pepper
• 10 fresh basil leaves
• extra virgin olive oil for drizzling

Preheat the oven to 375°F (only if you are using fresher bread). If the bread is stale, just set it aside. If it is fresh, arrange the bread slices on a baking sheet and toast until they are light golden brown. Watch carefully so they don't burn. Remove and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook until it is golden, about 6 minutes.

Add the tomatoes and their juices to the pot. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Add the toasted bread and stock and return to a boil. Season lightly with salt and pepper and adjust the level of heat to a simmer.

Cook, uncovered for about 40 minutes. After 30 minutes add the basil leaves. Whisk occasionally to break up the pieces of bread. Adjust the seasoning if needed.

Serve with extra virgin olive oil drizzled over.

Makes 8 servings

I can tell you a couple things:  It has been a long time since I have taken the time to actually peel tomatoes, but it is such an easy thing to do and only takes about a minute once the water is boiling!  Definitely worth taking the time.  The baguette we used was sourdough and boy, did the soup smell good when it was cooking!  Definitely use fresh basil if you can.  It just adds another aroma layer that smells so good!  Oh yeah, and I added an ounce of mozzarella as well, for added protein.

Tomorrow we are going to roast the chicken and make brined fingerling potatoes. That will use up most of what I have left.  I haven't even opened the gouda yet and I have a couple slices of bacon left, as well as about 2 cups cauliflower.  Hmmm....need to figure out what to do with all of that.  Next package delivery is this week (Tuesday or Wednesday).  We haven't gotten the list of what's in it yet, but I am excited to see what's next!!!! 

I also can't wait to see my good friend Melissa Tippens and her kids, Henry and Teri for lunch tomorrow.  I do miss them so much!