December Update and 2016 Reboot

So...I kind of stopped documenting my CSA successes. Part of it, the amount of veggies I was enjoying became OVERWHELMING. Now, this doesn't mean that I didn't love the experience. It also does not mean that this was a one year thing for me. I actually do plan to "renew" my CSA membership in the coming year. YAY!

What this does mean is that I need to recommit to planning my meals and making the most of the ingredients I have lying around.

This is where the idea for the 2016 reboot becomes important. Here are the "rules" of my new blogging goals:

• Blog at least two times per week. 
• Blog post number one will happen on (or about) Saturday.
• Blog post number one will contain my meal plan for the week. If it is a CSA week, that will include pictures of what is in my CSA box and what I plan to do with that ingredient. 
• Blog post number one will also schedule my meals for the week - breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Hopefully this will allow me to truly make sure I make use of every ingredient AND also avoid eating out as much as possible. 
• Blog post number two will recap the successes and failures of each given week. I will also include all my pictures AND thoughts on how a given recipe or idea worked out. I will be working on this post on an ongoing basis, so hopefully it will be ready to run Friday/Saturday. 

I have one more CSA box for 2015, so I will give this idea a shot this coming week. I am also going to terse out a meal plan starting tonight. Basically, this way I can start to get into this habit before January one, making this new way of eating THAT MUCH MORE easy to do....Here we go!

Week 12 - Southern Style Crowder Peas

Shelling peas is hard work, yo. Seriously. After what felt like hours, I had a small pile of peas that seemed tiny, compared to all the pea pods I had started out with.

I have never had a "crowder" pea before. These peas, also called field peas, are surprisingly hard and look a lot like black-eyed peas. My favorite part, they come in purple pods. (It is September after all.) I searched online like a crazy person and finally settled on the below recipe for my Mississippi Purple Crowder Peas.

Southern Style Crowder Peas and Rice

Ingredients: 

• 4 Slices of Bacon (I used the fancy, nitrate free Whole Foods bacon...because yeah.)
• 1 Small Onion
• 1 Small Green Pepper
• Bunch of Crowder Peas (I have no idea how many I used - but I know I used the entire portion from the CSA share). 
• 1 Cup Water
• 1 Cup Vegetable Broth
• 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 Pinch of Thyme
• 1 Bay Leaf
• Seasoned Salt to Taste
• 1 Ham Steak

Directions:

1.  Place bacon in a skillet over medium-high heat, and cook until evenly brown. Drain and crumble. Mix onion and green bell pepper into the skillet, and cook until tender. Stir in peas and water. Season with garlic powder, thyme, bay leaf, and seasoned salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, and simmer 30 to 40 minutes, until peas are tender. 
2. Mix ham into the skillet. Adjust seasonings to taste. Continue cooking 5 minutes. Stir in fresh parsley just before serving. 

 I served this over rice and it was smokey and filling. MMMMM.

Week 11 - CSA Delivery

Week Eight - Quesadillas

Week Ten - Melons!!!

I LOVE cantaloupe. I literally squealed when I saw melons on the list for this week. YUM! 

Week Ten - Tomato and Tomatillo Salsa

Tomatillos are so cute!!! They are also super duper easy to
prepare for this salsa.

Add this to the list of things that I have made that seem impressive - homemade roasted tomatillo salsa. I have never used tomatillos before and I have certainly never made my own salsa at home. This is beyond surprising because when I do have salsa on hand, I practically drink the stuff like water. I cannot wait to make this again, and enjoy salsa ALL WEEK!

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

Ingredients:

• 2 or so tomatoes
• 1 onion , quartered
• 8 ounces tomatillos
• 2 cloves garlic , not peeled
• 1 bunch jalapeno or Serrano pepper
• 1 small bunch cilantro , chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 

 Directions:

1. Slice the tomatoes in half crosswise (through their "equator.")
2. Preheat broiler and line a baking sheet with foil. Place onion, tomatillos and tomatoes, cut side up, in single layer on baking sheet and broil for about 5 minutes. Flip onion, tomatillos, and tomatoes and broil 5 minutes longer.
3. Meanwhile, warm a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Place unpeeled cloves of garlic and whole hot pepper(s) in pan and dry roast, flipping over from time to time, until browned in spots, and fragrant, about 10 minutes for the hot pepper, 15 for the garlic. Allow to cool a little. Then remove skin from garlic and stem cap from hot pepper.
4. Scrape onion, tomatoes, tomatillos and any accumulated juices into a blender and add garlic and hot pepper. Pulse until a thick sauce forms. Fold in cilantro, salt and sugar, if sauce is too tart. Feel free to thin sauce with a little water if desired. Can be served warm or room temperature, or cold.

Farmer's Market Fun

Week Ten - CSA Delivery

Week Nine - sautéed green beans and tomatoes

Week Nine - Sautéed Squash and Tomatoes

Week xxxx-potatoes and peas

Week xxxx- Roasted cauliflower and parm

Week Nine - Dill Pickles