Beet Salad

Beets....love them or hate them! It seems like everyone has strong feelings about beets. I guess it's just a vegetable without much middle ground.

We love them at our house. My daughter started her love with beets when she was little and tried to eat so many to see if she could turn her tinkle pink! Although she is long past the princess and pink stage, her love of beets has remained. We were all happy to see that beets arrived in the CSA box this week.

The favorite way to eat beets at our house is to grill them; however, that wasn't possible this week so I baked them in aluminum foil with a small amount of olive oil and salt and pepper. I had some greens in the fridge, so we had a salad with the beets and feta cheese. A drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar completed this very simple but very delicious meal.

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.

Beef Shoulder Medallions

Medallions in Marinade

Medallions after grilling

Grilled Steak...what's the secret? Well, I decided to write a post about this meal because it was a new cut of meat for me and it was really inexpensive!

Every couple of months Sendik's, my local upscale grocery store, has a meat and seafood sale. During the last sale I came across a package of "beef shoulder medallions", priced at $3.49 a pound...for $10 I would get enough red meat for at least two good sized meals for my family.  The question was, what are they and what can I do with them? A butcher was restocking nearby so I decided to ask him the best approach.  He very politely explained that I would have to marinate the meat for a very long time.  I think he really wanted to say "you will need to marinate the he(ck) out of the them", but he restrained himself.  I asked the follow up question, "so marinate them similarly to flank steak?" His response was, "yes, or longer".

I usually prepare flank steak in a fajita marinade, so I decided to stick with my usual.  I like penzey's fajita spices.  I mix 2 T spice with 2 T water and then add 1/4 cup vegetable oil(recipe is on the back of the jar).  I marinated the medallions for 8 hours and then grilled them.

The finished product was a tasty, tender steak, very similar to flank steak.  There were "veins" of gristle in some of the steaks, but they were small and easy to remove. I served the steak with fresh green and yellow beans and baby red potatoes from my CSA.  A simple, inexpensive, summer supper.

Welcome Karen

Yea, my blogging partner has posted! Please welcome my friend and fellow swim mom to Fresh Family Food. Karen and I do bounce ideas off of each other and I am so thrilled that she decided to join me in this blogging adventure. Karen introduced me to Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day and filled me in on the cost savings of buying flour and yeast from the warehouse club.

While the fall will bring some changes to the swim schedule (my daughter moves to the high school group and Karen's will remain in the middle school group) I'm sure Karen and I will still swap ideas...perhaps more often on the blog than in the stands!

About me.

You can learn a lot about a person/family with the question, "What's for dinner at your house tonight?" It's one of my favorite questions as the mother of a swimmer waiting for practice to end. I love the question because I can get some good recipes or good ideas, and I do find out a bit about the person. Some of us are planners and know what our meals are for the week (well, most weeks anyway), some people have no idea what they'll be eating after practice, and others are stopping somewhere to grab a dinner. Oh...and I often ask the question because it's evening and I'm getting hungry and just want to talk about food.

I love to eat...that's why I work out and why I plan meals ahead of time. I try to plan about 4-5 meals every week. The other meals we eat leftovers or I create something with freezer ingredients and pantry staples, or we may decide to eat out. For our small family of three (and a traveling husband, so often for only 2) that seems to work for us. I have tried planning more meals each week but that hasn't worked for our family.

Elizabeth and I met at swim practice and soon started exchanging recipe ideas. Sometimes I get in a cooking rut or have a problem thinking up weekly plans. It's inspiring to hear what others are having...especially because she likes quick, healthy, and inexpensive ideas as well! She asked me to provide some blog posts...and I'm excited about sharing recipe ideas, so let's see some comments and ideas from others. I'm always looking for more recipes.

A CSA box provides us with fresh ingredients every other week during the growing season. We split the share with another family of three and alternate the weeks. We've done this for a number of years and it works well. Initially we tried splitting the items in each box but have found that created too much work. For example, the cabbage had to be cut..sometimes there is one tomato, and it's just as easy to parboil and freeze two turnips as it is to do that with one.

During the growing season meals are planned after receiving the box on Thursday. However, during the school year the meals are planned around my work schedule and when I can get to the store.

I try to plan my meals so the ingredient usage is maximized. For example, this week I'm using cilantro in an Asian inspired dish as well as in tacos. It's not so much of an issue when I can pluck it from the planter in my yard...but when I purchase it I hate to see part of that big bunch of an herb go to waste! Planning ahead gives us a variety of meals...chicken, fish, meatless. And....it minimizes trips to the grocery store!

Our family recently joined a warehouse store. It took me awhile to jump on this bandwagon thinking that a family of three didn't need to have huge stockpiles of ingredients; however, now that we have been part of this for over a year (yep, just renewed), I am finding that there are items I do like to purchase in bulk. I make the artisan bread (see Elizabeth's post) and purchase the flour and yeast in bulk. The yogurt for smoothies is great to get in large containers. And the fruit....I love the large containers of berries.

So, I have the recipes and meals ideas...now I just have to remember to take some food pictures before posting.....

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.

Rice and Beans - stocking the freezer

It is a rainy day here, so I will be cleaning, shopping and cooking. In one of my recent posts, Santa Fe Rice and Beans, I mentioned that I make rice in large batches and freeze it and I make my own beans.

The idea of freezing cooked rice came from my sister-in-law. She informed me that any kind of rice freezes well!  If you like sticky rice, prepare it and freeze it and it will be sticky when you thaw it. If you prefer fluffy rice, the same holds true. I was raised eating long grain rice, Uncle Ben's to be precise.  My mother would cook it for 10-15 minutes, rinse it under cold water and then place it in a double boiler to "steam"  the rice.  This method produces light, non-starchy rice that isn't a bit mushy.  In today's world of the microwave, I find I can produce the same rice by cooking 10-15 minutes and rinsing but then placing in the microwave on 50% power for 5-10 minutes to steam out the excess moisture. When using whole grain rice, the length of cooking is 20-30 minutes, depending on the rice.

I make and freeze rice in 2-3 cup packages.  This seems to be the right amount for most recipes.  Sometimes I make 100% whole grain or brown rice, other times I make 50% white, 50% brown.  When I make a batch of rice for the freezer, I cook, drain and rinse the rice before I freeze it.  I complete the "steaming" when I take the rice out of the freezer, if it still too wet. Sometimes the steaming isn't necessary, especially if using in a casserole or salad.

Now for beans.  I usually cook my own pinto and black beans.  While many of you probably think this isn't worth the time, since it doesn't save a lot of money, I find the beans more flavorful than their canned counterpart. I do keep canned beans on hand, but I do try to have beans in my freezer.

I rinse and soak my beans overnight.  I drain the beans and then cook them for about an hour, until they are tender.  When they are finished cooking, I stir in 2-3 tablespoons of white vinegar.  To be honest, I don't remember where I learned to do this, but it helps to create a mild brine for the beans to live in in the freezer.  I freeze the beans in 2 cup portions, the same amount as a 16 ounce can. Money wise, I probably get an extra can of beans for the price(the equivalent of 4 cans for the price of 3).