CSA Bounty: When in doubt, add cheese and fry

Whenever I get behind on the CSA vegetables or just am stumped for dinner, this type of vegetable patty always come through in a pinch. Also great for nearly every type of "what do I do with that" vegetable (celeriac and rutabaga make a fabulous potato-pancake style vegetable pancake, for example).

No photo, but you've seen this kind of thing before.

3 ears corn, kernels cut off
1 patty pan squash, grated
jalapeno
onion
cheddar cheese blend
leftover quinoa, cooked
brown rice flour
xanthan gum

Mix vegetables. I squeezed out the squash because it seemed so wet, but I ended up having to add water, so maybe skip that step. Sprinkle about 1/2 tsp xanthan gum and then enough brown rice flour to coat. Mix. Add flour or water until it holds together as a loose batter (mine held together, mostly, when squeezed) and stir in a big handful cheddar. Pan fry hand-formed patties until golden brown.

Serve topped with sour cream and diced tomatoes.

Asian Week

I declared it Asian week in the Starnes kitchen last week.  We stocked up on supplies at H Mart in Wheaton - rice paper, rice noodles, dried mushrooms, sushi rice, seaweed wraps, special sauces.  All good stuff.

This sesame cracker was something new for us.  They don't look like much in the package,

but stick it in the microwave for a minute and -

 POOF!  They puff up into a fluffy, crispy, tasty cracker!

We used them to taste our potsticker sauces.

Now, the potstickers themselves are another story.  A failure for sure.  I thought it was just because I used an odd mishmash of flours (a bit of GF all-purpose, a bit of GF mix from a big company, a big of "high protein" mix), but I think what actually happened was I was thinking Tablespoons instead of teaspoons when I added the xanthan gum. They tasted fine, but were tough and hard to work with.  I think xanthan gum was the culprit.  I'll be trying again, though, probably tomorrow, so there should be an update.  The chicken filling was really good though - chicken ground in the Mini-chopper, garlic, ginger, spicy pepper, a dash of fish sauce.

Other items made this week:

sushi filled with cucumber, avocado, wasabi crab, sriracha crab.

Sushi rice recipe from Alton Brown.  We actually left the rice on the counter overnight (it gets hard if refigerated) for making the same the next night (actually, husband had the rest of the crab, I had veg & chicken, more like a bibimbap).

The next night I made meatball summer rolls.  Sounds weird, but we had a version of this (with pork, I believe) at Vietnam restaurant in Philadelphia.  I took ground chicken and seasoned it the way I did for the potstickers earlier, then cooked it on the grill pan in small patties.  Rolled up with rice vermicelli, basil, cilantro, and pickled radish, carrot and cucumber, it was a great summer meal.

Somewhere in there we also made fish tacos.  Fresh corn tortillas filled with mojo-marinated grilled fish and queso fresco.  Awesome.

And last, but not least, this morning's breakfast: potato and pancetta hash (with onion) and topped with a runny egg.  This used up a package of pancetta ends we picked up at DiBruno Brothers on our trip to Philadelphia.  Probably wouldn't use them again though, they were pretty tough.

Now That is a Lunch

Today, I chopped vegetables for salads so I can quickly pack lunches this week (short work week yay!).

Mixed greens, carrots, radish, cucumber, snow peas with homemade creamy dressing.  I had planned to make a creamy buttermilk dressing, but wouldn't you know, they were out of buttermilk at the store, so I improvised.  Gluten free Kinnickinnick sandwich bread, spicy brown mustard, smoked turkey, swiss cheese, tomato sandwich.  Delish.  Spicy Thai Kettle Chips.  Diet Dr. Pepper-wanna be drink from home soda maker.

Creamy salad dressing:
1 individual container fat free plain yogurt (they only had fat free, which I don't normally buy)
about 1/2 as much low-fat sour cream as yogurt
splash of milk
about 1/2 Tbsp to 1 Tbsp mango balsamic vinegar
about 1/2 Tbsp to 1 Tbsp dijon mustard
about 3/4 cup parlsey
about 1/2 cup dill
(you can tell I'm big on measuring ingredients carefully!)

Blend or process until smooth and creamy.  Salt to taste (and it does need salt, it was bland until I added quite a bit to mine.  It's a lot of dressing, don't hold back!).

Strawberry Jam

On Friday, we headed out to the nearest orchard/farm to pick strawberries.  We came home with one flat of strawberries - 11 pounds worth!  I wanted to try my hand at making jam.  It was an adventure!  But, it turned out pretty well.

Since we don't have a deep freeze, I didn't want to make freezer jam, because I didn't think jam would hold up well in our fridge-top, frostless freezer (the freeze-thaw cycle that keeps it frost-free isn't good for long term storage) so we had to water-bath can.

I had a pot I thought big enough to use, but I didn't have a rack that would fit in the bottom of it, to keep the jars off the pan while processing.  We ended up using two aluminum foil snakes.  It wasn't perfect, and it was really irritating to deal with (aluminum foil floats!) but it got the job done.  I think if we try to do this again (and I'd like to can more, it was fun!) we'll need to invest in a large canner, with jar rack.

I followed the directions that came with the pectin and it turned out really, really, well!  Oh, and I'm glad I used by big 6qt Le Crueset pot to cook the jam - when that stuff boils, it really expands!

Grand total: 10 1/2 pint jars of jam, two bags of frozen, whole berries (a little more than a gallon, I'd say, two whole sheet pans of berries), one large bowl for topping cake and ice cream, plus one box for eating.  That was a lot of strawberries!

I am ridiculously proud of how well it worked out, though.  This strawberry jam is delicious!  Fresh, fruity, sweet, and so very strawberry-y!

Arepas!

Every once in awhile, we make arepas.  They're so easy and so delicious, plus it's a nice change of pace from tortillas.

I made a small batch this time, so we didn't have leftover arepas, since we were just making arepas to use leftover filling from making tacos earlier in the week.  Follow?

1 1/2 cups, approx. of masa harina (MaSeCa is the brand I can find most easily around here)

about 1 1/2 cups warm water

~1tsp salt

Mix together until it forms a slightly wet, clay-like dough.  Let rest for 5-15 minutes. 

With wet hands, take a golf ball size portion and roll into a smooth ball, then flatten to make a disk about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick.  Cook on medium heat in skillet or griddle for 7-10 minutes per side.  Arepas should cook slowly, browning but not getting too dark (in the picture, the arepa spots are just a smidge too dark).  Bake in 350 oven for 15 minutes.  Arepas should sound hollow when tapped (sometimes mine are hollow but could still bake a few minutes).  Split open halfway with a knife and stuff with filling.  

Tonight we stuffed with a mixture of leftover chicken, mashed avocado, salt, and lime.  Also served with queso fresco, roasted chipotle salsa, sour cream, pickled jalapenos, and chips.

Banana bread, peanut butter cookies, and the end of LOST

Banana bread with chocolate chips based on this recipe from Simply Recipes.
I used two previously frozen bananas, two fresh bananas, and substituted 1/2 cup high protein flour mix, 1 cup all purpose flour mix, and 1/2 Tbsp (1 1/2 tsp.) of xanthan gum for the wheat flour to make it gluten free.  The flour blends I use are from an old issue of Living Without.  I added 1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips as well.

Peanut butter cookies made from 1 cup peanut butter, 1 cup sugar, and 1 egg.

While watching LOST we had Trader Joe's chicken lime burgers with mayo, tomato, red onion.  I had mine on a Gillian's gluten free roll, which was really good.  The Big B picked them up for me at the grocery store!  (I had 1/2 a roll the next day for lunch too, topped with egg salad.)  The bun-burger combo, however, was kinda bland.  It definitely lacked for something zesty.  Like queso (Rotel dip to some of you).  Thankfully, that was our side dish for dinner!

Wraps: Trader Joe's Brown Rice Tortillas

All this week I'v been packing Greek salad wraps for lunch.  (I prefer to pick one thing and pack it all week - makes prep so much faster and there's no extra "What should I pack?" time wasted.)  It's worked pretty well, but I've learned a thing or two about using the Trader Joe's brown rice tortilla wraps to make sandwich wraps.  They are gluten free, of course, and like most bread-like-products that are gluten free they don't fold.  So, even if it's been sitting at room temperature for a few hours, it still needs to be microwaved for 10-15 seconds in order to actually wrap your sandwich without it cracking and making a mess.  There are a couple logistical issues with this.  You have to wrap your sandwich right before you eat it, so the tortilla has to be carried to work flat.  I carried mine in a gallon size zip top bag and slipped it into the outside magazine pocket of my work bag.  The wrap must be warmed, so you have to have a microwave at work.  And of course, you have to have the space to assemble your sandwich.  I do this at my desk since our shared pantry grosses me out.  Who knows what's been on that table!

(I didn't actually try wrapping at home and packing the sandwich pre-wrapped, but I'm pretty sure that once refrigerated again, the wrap would be just as dry and crack and fall apart, leaving you with a salad with tortilla pieces mixed in.)

1. Have all sandwich fillings ready to go.  In my case, this was baby greens "herb" mix, chickpeas, feta, olives, red onion, cucumber, and tomato. 
2. Microwave tortilla in bag for 10-15 seconds.  (Yes, micrwaving in a plastic bag is probably going to kill me.  Eventually.)
3. Place on napkin, add filling, roll, then wrap with paper towel to hold it all together and fold paper towel over the bottom to hold filling inside. 
4. Enjoy!

Are you sick of pizza yet?

Pizza, yet again.  And I don't think I've taken pictures of every time we've had pizza!

We've used both the Gluten Free Crusty Boule recipe and the Gluten Free Olive Oil Bread from "Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day."  The Crusty Boule recipe works so much better for us, and has the added bonus that we can make naan from it (so darn good the husband prefers it to his frozen Trader Joe's naan, if you can believe that!) on another night.  But I still plan on trying the olive oil bread again, once I track down corn starch to use in the recipe.

Tomato sauce (one can tomato sauce, one can tomato paste, dried oregano, dried basil, salt), black olives, green olives, onions, mushrooms, and lots and lots of mozzarella.

Eggs Florentine

This recipe was delicious!  We used a Giada recipe for eggs florentine to make a spinach cream sauce.  We served it on toast (GF for me, regular for the husband) with a poached egg, topped with crumbled crispy speck.  So good!  I also discovered that this cram sauce will make a delicious warm spinach and artichoke dip.  Have to remember that for football season!

Sweet Potato Fries: An Experiment Gone Not-Quite-Right

A while back, we decided to make sweet potato fries, based on this recipe from the NYTimes.  The idea is you start the potatoes in cold oil, warm the pan slowly, and cook at lower temperature until done.  No hot oil splattering on your stove and arms, no hot grease smell permeating the whole house.

So, we tried it: and it went well, for the most part.  Here are the sweet potatoes quietly bubbling away in their pan:

The thing is, though, that they don't look as golden brown in the oil as their really are after you remove them.  So, by the time we thought they were done (it took more than an hour) they were actually nearly burnt.  So, for future reference, this method works, but remove a fry or two occasionally to see how well browned they really are.

Scotcharoos

1/2 batch of scotcharoos made with

4 cups Erehwon rice twice
1/2 bag marshamallos
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup butterscotch chips
1/2 cup chocolate chips

And, we've made pizza a few more times recently.  This one was made with the Olive Oil Bread recipe from Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day.  The dough was miserable to work with - extra sticky, tore constantly.  I ended up just pressing it onto a half sheet pan and baking it that way.  Worked just as well, I think.  I wonder if it was because I couldn't find corn starch at the store and used potato starch, which I had on hand, instead?

Tomato sauce, onion, sun dried tomato, dollops of olive spread, chicken, mozzarella, romano.

A Return to Elementary School: Cheesebread Dunkers

Here's one we've been making pretty often lately: eggs poached in tomato sauce.  We usually serve this over tomato sauce, but this time we served it up with cheesebread made with both fresh and block mozzarella.  Delicious.  And the fancy version of the cheesebread dunkers, a favorite elementary school lunch.  (Lo, those many, many years ago - it was a hot dog bun, opened and topped with cheese, served with a side of marinara.)

Veggie Burgers, GF baking

Lots of cooking going on around here, but not so much blogging.  Also, we have been apparently incapable of keeping charged batteries in the camera, so few pictures either.

Tonight: homemade veggie burgers on gluten free rolls with avocado and saffron rouille; oven fries with rouille or spicy dijonaise (spicy brown mustard and mayonnaise); gluten free sweet rolls.

Gluten free rolls
Make 1/2 batch of Gluten Free Boule from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day.  (Or use the recipe as provided by Gluten Free Girl, which is a half batch of the HB recipe, just leave out olives and herbs).  At end of initial two hour rise, break dough in half (set half aside for sweet rolls, below).  Separate remaining dough into 3 pieces, and shape into bun/roll shapes with wet hands.  Set in warm area on parchment paper.  Cover and let rise 30-45 minutes.  Bake at 450 for about 18 minutes (just slide parchment onto pre-heated baking stone), with water pan below for steam.

Veggie Burgers
based on the "Ultimate Veggie Burger" recipe from 101 Cookbooks)

2 containers "crunchy sprouts" (garbanzo, red lentil, cowpeas, and something else)
1/2 cup cooked brown rice
1 carrot
small onion
3-4 mushrooms
3 eggs
chives
dried dill
salt & pepper

steam sprouts 10-20 minutes.  drain and cool.
cook brown rice

Pulse sprouts in food processor (in batches in the mini processor in our case) until it is a chunky paste (ours wasn't very paste-y, it seemed pretty dry).  Pulse brown rice a few times the same way.  Saute 1 carrot, 3/4 small onion (only because that's what I had in the fridge leftover), and 3-4 mushrooms all cut to small dice in a little olive oil.  Add to bean/rice mixture.  Add 1/2 box of chives, cut small, and small bit of dill (1tsp dry?).  Mix all together with 3 beaten eggs.  Salt & pepper.

Mix was very wet, but will cook together pretty well.  Saute in frying pan 5-8 minutes on each side until golden brown and cooked through.

Rouille: From the New York Times

Sweet Rolls:

In a sauce pan, melt 3 Tbsp butter, 1/4 cup maple syrup, and 3/4 cup brown sugar.  Boil hard for one minute, then pour mixture into bottom of 8x8" pan and sprinkle with about 3/4 cup pecans.

Take the other half recipe of the gluten free boule and, after the initial 2 hour rise, roll it out between two sheets of parchment until it is quite thin and approximately 15" x 12".  Brush with melted butter (about 3Tbsp) and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar (I used pumpkin pie spice because that was all I had).  Carefully roll dough into a log and slice with a serrated knife into 12 slices.  Place on top of sugar mixture in pan.  Let rise, covered, in warm area for 45minutes - an hour.  Bake in 450degree oven with water pan below for 15 minutes.  Allow to cool for a few minutes, then turn the pan out onto a sheet of aluminum foil.

Best Gluten Free Naan Ever.

From Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day
http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/?p=1440

Simply amazing.  Delicious.  The husband even ate this naan over his frozen Trader Joe's naan.  And at end of dinner he said "Put a star by that recipe."

Rolling out the dough:

Melt butter in pan and place dough:

Cover:

Fresh, soft gluten free naan:

Empanadas

Empanadas with black beans, onions, queso fresco.

And a special edition - peanut butter and jelly empanadas!!

Baked:

Fried:

And filled with peanut butter and jelly (fried):

And the weekend turns round to a new week...

Hey! I did have a picture of that mac n cheese:

Friday: asparagus risotto

1 large shallot, diced.  Sauteed in about 1tbsp each olive oil and butter, plus 1/2 cups arborio rice, slowly cooked with 3 cups vegetable stock and 3 cups water.  A little mascarpone stirred in at the end, some frozen asparagus, and romano cheese.

Saturday: polenta lasagna

A little tomato sauce in the bottom, a layer of polenta slices (cut from tube of polenta), sauteed cremini mushrooms and onions, cannellini beans, mozzarella, polenta, tomato sauce, mozzarella.  Bake at 375 until bubbly and brown.

Sunday: family dinner with good friends.  Take-out Indian.  Much saltier than our neighborhood place, wow, were we both feeling it the next day.

Monday: risotto cakes, stuffed with mozzarella (flat arancini).

Phew!  Lots of good eating going on and no vegetarian-for-Lent deprivation!

Whew....

Where did that week go?

And not a single picture this week - we scarfed all our food down too quickly to mess with photography!

Sunday: empanadas
-We made empanadas stuffed with various combinations of black beans, queso fresco, onions, and red bell pepper.  We fried most of them and baked a few.  While the baked ones were fine (and would be improved by brushing them with oil next time) the fried ones?  Wow.  That was a dangerous little discovery.  So, so good, and pretty easy.  Probably not a weeknight meal, but still, so good.

Monday: mac n cheese
-made from this recipe, using 1/2 mozzarella and 1/2 havarti with dill cheeses, gluten free flour and corn macaroni.

Tuesday: black bean tacos using leftover black beans and corn tortillas made from the last of the empanada dough.

Wednesday: celeriac and potato rosti
-coarsely grate one large potato and one medium celeriac.  mix with enough flour and egg until you think you can press it together to make a patty.  mix in chopped celery and press the whole deal into the pan.  cook over medium to medium high for 5-8 minutes, flip, repeat.  We made two rosti and put the first one in the toaster over at 350 while the second one cooked, and we both enjoyed the baked rosti more than the griddle-only one.  Serve with a mix of plain yogurt, sour cream, and dill.

Thursday: Indian take-out!  yum.  I was looking forward to this all week!

Mu Shu with Baked Teriyaki Tofu and Rice Paper Wraps

Tonight we made mu shu wraps with teriyaki tofu, based on this recipe: http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/10240

We both really enjoyed them.  I'm not sure I'd do anything different next time.  The recipe says it serves 6.  We finished off the whole pan, but we also had only 2 cups cabbage, and not 6.

I made baked tofu earlier in the day by slicing a block of tofu into squares, pressing it, and then marinating in teriyaki sauce for about 1/2 hour.  I then baked it at 375 for about 45 minutes, turning about every 15 minutes.

1. Rehydrate 1 package shiitake mushrooms.  The package I found was about 4 oz of already-sliced mushroom pieces.

2. Scramble 3 eggs in large pan.  Remove from pan and set aside.

3. Saute mushrooms and garlic in oil.  Add about 2 cups shredded carrots and cabbage (leftover from making coleslaw awhile ago, conveniently).  I added several spoonfuls of the mushroom-rehydrating water to help the cabbage cook.

4. Add teriyaki tofu (about 3/4 a block, baked), cut in matchsticks, and 3 sliced green onions.  Cook until warmed through.  Remove from heat and stir in the eggs.

5.  We served the mu shu with rice paper wraps, rehydrating the wraps as we ate.  No hoisin because I couldn't find any gluten free variety, but I don't really think it needed it.

Veggie Lasagna Florentine

Ingredients:

9 lasagne noodles

-I used 12 Gluten Free Tinkyada lasagne noodles

2 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 8oz can sliced mushrooms

-I used about 4 fresh sliced button mushrooms

2 Tbsp minced garlic

1 zucchini, finely chopped (about 2 cups)

-I used 2 small zucchini

1 28oz can crushed tomatoes

-I used 1-28oz can diced tomatoes, and smashed them in the pan

1-6oz can tomato paste

-I used about 3-4 Tbsp of double-strength tomato paste from a tube I had in the fridge

1 Tbsp dried oregano

pinch brown sugar (optional, I used it this time, but I don't normally)

salt to taste (I also added black pepper and about 1 tsp crushed red pepper)

1-10oz package frozen spinach

1-16oz container ricotta cheese

2 eggs

3Tbsp dried basil, divided (I didn't have any, left this out)

1/4 cup grated parmesan (I used pecorino romano)

1lb shredded mozzarella or mixed cheese

-I used 8-oz shredded mozzarella and 8oz "Italian Blend" with mozzarella, provolone, Parmesan, asiago, fontina, and Romano.

*Saute onion, garlic, mushrooms, zucchini in oil until soft. Stir in tomatoes, tomato paste, oregano, brown sugar, and salt to taste. Reduce hit and let simmer for 15 minutes. Mine took a bit longer to thicken up.

*Microwave spinach until cooked. Cool, squeeze out excess water. Blend spinach, ricotta, eggs, and 2 Tbsp basil.

*In separate bowl, mix together shredded cheeses.

*Cook noodles. For the Tinkyada gluten free noodles I erred on the side of under cooking them, and cooked them about 6-8 minutes instead of the 14-16 the package said. They start falling apart after 10, I can't imagine the mush you end up with after 16 minutes.

*Layer sauce, then noodles, then spinach, shredded cheese. Sauce, noodles, spinach, cheese, etc., ending with shredded cheese.

*Bake for 60 minutes in 350 degree oven. I held it in the fridge for two days before baking.

While layering:

Thursday night: nachos.  Chips, black beans, queso, onions, tomatoes, salsa, sour cream.

Friday night: egg fried rice with onion, carrots, red pepper, bird's eye chilis, mushrooms, garlic, ginger, tamari and sesame oil.  

Seared Scallops with Creamy Risotto

Seared scallops served over creamy risotto made with spinach, mascarpone, and parmesan.

Risotto:

saute some onion and garlic in butter and olive oil until soft. add rice and stir until rice is lightly toasted. add hot chicken stock 1/4 cup at a time, stirring slowly until stock is absorbed before adding more stock. when rice is tender, stir in scoop of mascarpone, a handful or two of fresh baby spinach until wilted, and give a squeeze of lemon at the end.

I don't mind making risotto, even with all the stirring and whatnot, but I can't figure out why it always takes me a lot longer and a lot more stock than most risotto recipes I've seen. This took nearly 7 cups of stock for 1 1/2 cups of rice and nearly an hour.

Husband even called it the best risotto he's ever had.