Red Cabbage, Cranberry and Apple Slaw

 Believe it or not, I am still using vegetables I received from my CSA and my last delivery was in mid-october! For this recipe I used the last red cabbage I had received. I haven't ever found any recipe for cooked red cabbage that my family would enjoy, so I was thrilled when I came across this slaw recipe at, you guessed it, myrecipes.com!

Once again, I didn't follow the recipe exactly, mainly due to the fact that I didn't have the right ingredients! I substituted apple cider vinegar for the  rice vinegar and I substituted red wine vinegar for the white wine vinegar...otherwise I followed the recipe.  I served the pecans on the side for two reasons...first, I knew we would have leftovers and I didn't want the pecans to get mushuy and second, I didn't think everyone would want the pecans...half the family added them, the other half didn't.

This is a winner, I will make it again and again...

If anyone does have a good recipe for cooked red cabbage, let me know, I would love to try it!


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Winter Squash Purée

This recipe was born after having a recipe for Butternut Squash Ravioli fail miserably. The recipe called for making a squash mixture and then filling wonton wrappers like ravioli. It was a complete failure! The wonton wrappers took on a slimy consistency and it just wasn't ravioli in the end. The filling, however, was yummy, so I decided I had to try again.

Purée before adding cheeses and seasonings

Ingredients

1 lb butternut squash or 2 cups cooked squash purée
1/3 cup chopped shallot
1/4-1/2 cup fat free ricotta cheese
1/4 cup grated parmesan
Salt and pepper

It is winter squash season in the CSA box and I have acorn, ambercup, hubbard, carnival and spaghetti squash on hand. I cut the squash, took out the seeds and baked the squash, cut side down, on a cookie sheet until tender, usually 30-40 minutes at 400°F. While it was cooking I sautéed 2 shallots in butter and added 2-3 minced sage leaves. Once the squash was cooked, I puréed all the cooked squash together. I am not a fan of spaghetti squash, so this way I use the squash but I don't have to taste it! I put 2 cups of the  squash mixture in with the shallots and added the ricotta and parmesan cheese. This makes a great side dish for almost anything, tasty and creamy and the shallots and sage do wonders. The remainder of the plain squash purée I froze in 2 cups containers so  we can enjoy this dish all winter long! Once the purée was made and the plain purée was put away I realized I really wanted to make the ravioli. I'll save that for another day...

Ground Cherry Salsa

From Bup's Bistro

In my CSA Box this week, I received ground cherries. Have YOU ever heard of them? I certainly hadn't, so I did some research! These little gems, wrapped in their lantern paper, are related to the tomatillo.  They have the texture of a tomato but are sweeter. I found recipes for ground cherry pies which are similar to other fruit pie recipes.  I wasn't brave enough to make a pie out of something that resembles a tomato, so I kept searching and came across some salsa recipes. None of the recipes were exactly what I was looking for, so I made up my own...


1 c ground cherries, hulled and washed, cut in quarters
1/4 small red onion
1/2 jalepeno pepper
1-11/2 c chopped cucumber
5-6 fresh basil leaves, minced
salt and pepper

The finished product is a sweeter version of traditional salsa, quite tasty! It would be great with fish or chicken, though we just ate it with chips

Sautéed Patty Pan Squash

This is not exactly gourmet or very difficult to figure out, but sometimes you just need someone else to give you some inspiration! This week I received quite a bit of yellow and green patty pan squash and some yellow crookneck squash in my CSA box. I also received some candy apple red onions which are really sweet and tasty.

I sliced the onions and squash and sautéed them in about a tablespoon of olive oil. That's it! I then sprinkled fresh dill and basil over the top and served. While very uncomplicated, this dish is full of flavor and a great side dish to any meal. I  served this as a side to pulled pork sandwiches. I had the pork in the freezer, so this dinner took about 10 minutes to prepare, perfect for a busy summer evening.

Zucchini-Potato Pancakes

It is mid July and I am getting zucchini every week from my CSA.  As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I have one child who really dislikes this vegetable, so it has to be well disguised for her to eat it.  She doesn't mind knowing it is in the dish, she just can't be able to taste it.

While searching for yet another zucchini recipe, I came across Potato-Zucchini Skillet Pancakes with Cherry Tomato Salad on Myrecipes.com. I had some baby red potatoes from last week's CSA box so I had planned on using those, but this week we got yukon gold potatoes in the CSA box!  So tonight, I made the pancakes using onions, potatoes and zucchini fresh from Farmer Steve's garden.

This recipe is quick to throw together if you have a food processor...simply insert the shredding blade and shred the potato, zucchini and onion together.  I didn't bother peeling the potatoes, and the recipe calls for matzo meal, which I don't stock in my pantry, so I used Italian breadcrumbs.  I also thought the seasoning seemed a bit bland, so I chopped up 2 large basil leaves and 2 sage leaves(also from my CSA box) and added those.  Rather than add all the fat and calories from the oil, I sprayed a non-stick skillet with cooking spray which worked great to brown the pancakes...I did cook the pancakes a bit longer since the skillet was fairly dry, I wanted to be sure all the egg got cooked as well as the vegetables.

My husband is out of town, so he didn't get to taste these, but the kids and I thought they were a great, light summer meal. The only change I would make it to add more salt and pepper...like a lot of potato dishes, this one needs salt  I skipped the tomato relish and served a tomato-avocado salad with vinaigrette on the side.

4th of July Fare

4th of July in our family means hamburgers, bratwursts and lots of salads laden with mayo. This year I decided to offer one salad that could be classified as healthy! My Recipes.com has a great recipe for Chicken Orzo Salad with Goat Cheese which I have made frequently.  We prefer using feta cheese instead of goat cheese and I usually replace the arugula with either spinach or mixed greens, but the recipe is great. I recently started experimenting with Quinoa.  For those who haven't heard of this great grain, it can be used in salad recipes that call for a small grain such as orzo or rice.  The benefit of Quinoa is that it has a slightly nutty flavor and it is protein rich. To prepare the quinoa you cook it in a two parts water to one part grain ratio similarly to rice and then fluff with a fork, it couldn't be easier.  For the holiday, I replaced the orzo with the quinoa and I omitted the chicken...it was a hit!

Greens, Greens, Greens!

It is that time of the summer when the early crops in the midwest consist of mainly greens! I received a large quantity of greens in my weekly CSA box including lettuce, arugula, waido(a variety of Mizuna), Chard, Bok Choy and Curly Kale. We have made a few salads with the lettuce, arugula and some of the waido, but last night it was time to saute up the remaining greens. My family doesn’t mind their greens, they just complain that they can be bitter, so I try to add other veggies and flavors to my sauté pan to offset the bitterness. So, here was my creation for the evening.

Ingredients

Olive Oil
1/2 head Bok Choy
1/2 head Waido
4 large leaves Swiss Chard
6-8 leaves Curly Kale
6-8 Green Onions
4-5 Crimini Mushrooms
2 Garlic Cloves
1 T Malt Vinegar
2 t real maple syrup

I started by trimming the bok choy, waido and chard leaves from the stems.  I then chopped the stems along with some green onions. I removed the stems from the curly Kale as well, but these were too tough for the pan, so I discarded them. I then tore the greens into smaller, bite-sized pieces.

I  sautéed the stems and green onions in about 1 T olive oil.  After about 5 minutes I added the sliced mushrooms and cooked an additional 3-4 minutes.  Then I added the minced garlic and cooked 1 minute. I added the greens and continued to stir until they were wilted.

The final touch was to whisk together the vinegar and maple syrup and drizzle it over the greens and serve.  This dressing came from a recipe I found on The Bitten Word Blog. They published a recipe for Quick Sautéed Collard Ribbons from Fine Cooking(June/July2010) which includes this dressing.

The dish turned out great, with very little bitterness. Adding onions and mushrooms provided texture and the dressing at the end mellowed the greens.


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