A Food Adventure

For a while now, I have been interested in taking advantage of all of the wonderful, delicious, locally grown produce that is available to us living here in East TN.  There are several local farms that over a crop share for a fee where you are guaranteed fresh, organic fruits and vegetables available for pick up every week.  Jonathan and I did some talking and a bit of research and decided that we would give it a try.  Doing the math, it broke down to a reasonable amount of money each week and guaranteed us fresh, seasonal food that was also organic. 

Our first harvest from the CSA (crop share) that we joined arrived last Thursday.  We decided to take on this endeavor with some friends of ours, the Slagers, so we are actually sharing a large "box" each week.  Mia Slager and I take the time to divide the spoils each week and also share ideas on how to cook and prepare each thing.  It's only been a bit over a week, but we are already loving it. 

Look at all of the stuff we got last week at our first pick-up:

Isn't this a ton of food!?  Now, keep in mind that this is the entire large share that Mia and I split.  But even after we split it, we had tons of fresh produce.  This first week included fresh strawberries, two heads of cauliflower, two heads of broccoli, radishes, garlic, leafy green lettuce, romaine lettuce, and Swiss chard.

Things I learned from my first week:  When Mia brought the food over, we washed everything quickly and divided up the food.  I found out through the course of the week that some of the lettuce did not get washed well enough.  So, last night after we got our second week's worth of food, I washed everything very closely.  I took every piece of fresh lettuce and washed it well, removing all dirt.  This will hopefully diminish our loss of food and will keep any little creatures from living and eating off of our veggies before we consume them.  (I did find a little caterpillar that had fattened up on my broccoli last week).

 Cauliflower:  When it came to cooking the cauliflower, I followed a recipe that my mother-in-law suggested.  It's so simple.  Basically, you cut the stalks of the cauliflower a bit shorter than usual.  You want mostly the tops off.  I tossed it in a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper and roasted it on a lined baking sheet at 350 until the cauliflower was pretty brown.  It wasn't just tender, it was browned.  The flowerettes crisped up and actually seemed to take on an entirely new flavor as they carmelized in the olive oil.  Delicious!  Our kids tried it because Jonathan and I were raving about how delicious it was.

 These berries were so ripe and so sweet that they made the strawberries I typically by at the grocery seem terrible.  I must confess that only I enjoyed these berries.  The kids were sleeping over at the grandparents' house, and I couldn't stop eating them.  They were gone before I went to bed that first night!

 These were the largest radishes I have ever seen!

This is how I wash and dry the lettuce before storing them in the fridge.  This way I hope to get the longest life out of them!  I wrap the lettuces in paper towel to absorb any excess water after washing them and store them in Ziploc bags.  It seemed to work pretty well this first week.

As far as other things I did with the produce, we made taco salads on Memorial Day with the lettuce and I gave my radishes to my in-laws.  I am not a fan!  I still have the Swiss chard which I am going to sautee this weekend to have it wilt with some olive oil in a skillet. 

I do want to show you a picture of the produce I received yesterday for our second week.

This is a picture off of my phone, so the quality isn't that great.  This is just my portion, but as you can see, it's a ton of food.  We received a huge head of cabbage (which I cut in half for Mia and I), another huge head of romaine lettuce, a head of red bibb lettuce (I think), fresh spinach, strawberries, and some squash and garlic.  I hope to make some yummy stuff this week including some chicken lettuce wraps!  Also, I may experiment with making a green smoothie with my fresh spinach, but if not, I'll just wilt it as a side-dish for dinner one night this week.

I am loving this food challenge!  I really love to cook and having access to these wonderful foods is not only beneficial to our health, but it is pushing me to cook more and to cook healthfully.  Our kids are open to trying new things more than they ever have before.  I hope that this experience continues to benefit us and broadens our horizons a bit!  So far, it is really fun and really tasty!

I will do my best to document some of our food and how things are going with the CSA.  I won't even try to plan for a weekly post because--as we all know--I won't be able to keep up with that.  We have lots of busy weeks ahead, so I will try my hardest!  Do any of you participate? If so, I'd love to follow along on your journey and find out what you are doing with your food.  I love new recipes!

Strawberry-Banana Smoothie

My kids LOVE smoothies!  Actually, Liam thinks any cup with a straw is the coolest thing ever, but since we get to drink smoothies with a straw and they taste so darn yummy, he's extra happy about that.  Here is my go-to "recipe" for smoothies.  I use quotation marks because it is hard for me to measure exactly how much of everything I use, but you can get the gist of it and make it yourself!  It'll taste great, believe me.

Strawberry-Banana Smoothie

Ingredients:
1/2-1 banana, ripened
3-5 strawberries, depending on the size and how much you would like
orange juice
ice, 4-5 cubes

In a blender, combine ice cubes, banana, strawberries and about 1/2 cup of orange juice.  Blend until smooth. 

Tip: I like to make sure my ice cubes are closest to the blade, that way they get chopped up really well.  Also, I often throw in whatever fruit I have lying around: blackberries, blueberries, peaches, etc.  It's a great way to get fruit into their system!

Another favorite thing:  We have a Bullet.  It's a miniature blender that makes individual sized drinks, and that is what I typically use when making smoothies.  One Bullet cup is perfect for my two kiddos to share.

Enjoy!

Homemade Slow-Cooker Applesauce

A few weeks back, the family and I went to the Fruit and Berry Patch in Halls, TN.  Every year for the past three years we go and pick pumpkins together as a family.  Since the Fruit and Berry Patch is also an apple orchard, we usually walk away with a peck or bushel of locally grown apples in all sorts of varieties! Talk about delicious.  We have eaten so many apples in the past week, and instead of making an apple pie or my favorite apple crisp, I decided to try my hand at homemade applesauce when I came across a recipe on Eat At Home.

This turned out so yummy and delicious, and my house smelled wonderful and very fall-ish all day long!

Homemade Slow-Cooker Applesauce

Ingredients:
10-15 small apples (or about one bag)
juice of 1 lemon (I didn't have this on hand, so I did without)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 tablespoons of brown sugar
1/3 cup of apple juice

Directions:
Peel, core, and slice apples.  Put apples, along with all other ingredients, in slow cooker.  Toss gently to coat apples.  Cook on low for 4-6 hours.  About half-way through, take a whisk or potato masher and stir apples to break them up.

Suggestions:  I thought that the 1 teaspoon of cinnamon was perhaps too much for my taste.  Next time I make this, I will use less cinnamon....maybe 1/2 teaspoon.  A little goes a LONG way, but my kids still really enjoyed it. 

Also, it was a great "dessert" after dinner served warm....just like hot, baked apples!  Maybe some ice cream would be a nice little addition.

Pear Crisp

Did your mouth just start watering? Mine did!

This recipe is soooooo yummy.

Picture it: Hot, gooey pears covered in sugar and cinnamon bliss. Cold, velvety vanilla ice cream, beginning to melt as it comes into contact with the hot deliciousness that is pear crisp. Ummmm. Do yourself a favor and make this!

Pear Crisp

Filling:
4 to 5 large pears
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

Topping:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup pecans, very finely chopped
1 stick butter(8 tablespoons), melted

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Peel, core, and dice pears. Place into a bowl and stir together with 2/3 cup sugar and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and pecans. Stir together. Drizzle melted butter gradually, stirring with a fork as you go until all combined.
4. Pour pears into a baking dish; top with crumb topping.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
6. Place pan on top rack of oven for an additional 10 minutes, or until topping is golden brown. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

***This recipe can be made the exact same way using apples. Actually, if I have both pears and apples in my fruit bowl, I usually use both! Great!
***I bet you could do this with fresh peaches too! Hmmmm, might have to try that when peaches come in season this summer.

***Okay, if you are still reading you deserve a funny story. I made this dessert this past Friday night when we had some friends over for dinner. I've made this SEVERAL times, so I guess I was getting a bit cocky. At the very end of the cooking time, my crisp was ready except the top wasn't browning as quickly as I wanted it to. Instead of being PATIENT, I went ahead and decided to put the oven on Broil for a few seconds so that my pear crisp would turn nice and golden brown in an instance.

Two minutes later, as I was engrossed in some topic of conversation, this light bulb goes off in my brain that, "Oh yeah, I am about to catch the house on fire!" I ran mid-conversation over to the oven, opened the door, and there stood my pear crisp AFLAME! Yes, in flames.

I quickly shut the door, turned off the oven, and then screamed, "What do I do!?" The men at the table rushed to my aid and took over the fire situation. I was so upset that my dessert was ruined, but being the sweet dinner guest that he was, our friend Jason scraped the charred crisp topping off, insisting it was still delicious and edible. Surprisingly, he was right. Every once in a while we would get a crunchy, charcoal-y bite. But, all in all, it could have been worse!

So, after you do yourself a favor and make this delicious recipe, do yourself ANOTHER favor and don't be impatient as it bakes. Let the crisp do it's thing and don't burn down your house, okay?

This is Casey with your public service announcement for the first week of March.

Fruit Salsa

Now, I'll be honest. This recipe has just about made me famous. Any time I am invited to an event at Jonathan's office, it is just basically underSTOOD that this fruit salsa accompanies me. I don't know why. All of the sweet ladies in the office have the recipe now, so they know how to make it. It's not hard. But, alas, this has become my new identity. Fruit Salsa girl.

Here is a recipe that I am sure you will love! I sort of hate to give it away because it is my go-to recipe for Baby Showers, Wedding Showers, Cookouts....but, MAN! It is SOOOO good and I know you will love it and want to share it with friends and family. This is such a yummy and refreshing appetizer or dessert. So here it goes:

1 carton of fresh strawberries
2 Granny Smith apples
2 kiwi
2 tablespoons of apple jelly
2 tablespoons of brown sugar

Puree cleaned and trimmed strawberries, apples (leave the skin on for the pretty green color), and kiwi in a food processor (or, if you don't have one, chop the fruit into tiny pieces). Combine the fruit and add the jelly and sugar. If time allows, refrigerate the salsa for a while and the consistency will thicken up nicely.

Serve with cinnamon-raisin bagel or pita chips. Or,if you're interested, you can make homemade cinnamon-sugar tortilla chips. (A messy, but yummy, project!)

This recipe is doubled very easily and keeps great in the refrigerator for a few days. It is so refreshing! Also, feel free to substitute or add other fruits to the concoction. My friend Amy couldn't use the kiwi because her niece is deathly allergic, so she substituted pineapple and said it was delicious. I think I might add that to mine next time I make it.

I hope you and yours enjoy. Let me know if you come up with any killer fruit combinations.

Banana Nut Bliss

Every now and then, say every other month or so, I get the hankering for some banana nut bread. Baking makes me feel so Martha Stewart. So Betty Crocker. So domestic. I do it so rarely, and I truly don't do it very well at all. However, for whatever reason, banana nut bread calls my name occasionally, and I just HAVE to make some. My most recent hankering came upon me this afternoon. Maybe it is the hormones, maybe it's the lack of sleep lately. But, I'm pretty sure it was the stack of brown bananas on my fruit platter that just screamed BAKE ME!

A few hours later and my house smells like freshly baked goodness. I even broke out of my shell a little bit and made banana nut muffins instead of the typical banana nut bread. Can't wait till breakfast! Anyway, I thought I would post the recipe I use in case any of you out there love banana nut bread like I do. The best part about this recipe is that when this craving occurs so randomly, I almost always have all of the ingredients in my pantry/refrigerator.

Banana Nut Bread

1 stick of butter, at room temperature
1 cup of sugar
2 eggs
3-4 bananas, preferably ripe
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda (sifted in flour)
1 cup nuts (optional) (I use chopped pecans)
1 cup raisins (optional)
1/2 Tablespoon vanilla

Directions:
Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs, one at a time. Then add the bananas, sifted flour and baking soda; mix well. Add nuts, raisins, and vanilla. Pour into a greased loaf pan (or greased/lined muffin pans) and bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

***For the muffins, I took them out after 30 minutes. I usually bake the loaf for 40-50 minutes, or until the middle is done. Also, I ended up with approximately 20 muffins with just one batch. I know this recipe can be easily doubled to make multiple loaves or to freeze some.

Individual Raspberry Cobblers

Oh, dear. These are incredible.



I saw this recipe on The Pioneer Woman Cooks a few months back. I knew they looked heavenly, so I printed out the recipe. I can't justify baking something like this for no reason. But, I finally had an occasion to bake these delicious little desserts! They are amazing and you MUST MUST MUST try them!

Individual Raspberry Cobblers
Makes 24 cobblers

Ingredients:
2 cups self-rising flour (must use self-rising)
2 cups sugar
2 cups milk
2 sticks butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups fresh raspberries
Extra sugar for sprinkling

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine flour with sugar, then whisk in milk. Whisk in melted butter and vanilla. Pour 1/4 cup batter into greased muffin tins. Sprinkle a few raspberries on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until golden brown and crisp around the edges. Invert onto a cooling rack and serve warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

***This full recipe makes 24 cobblers, but as you can see, it is easy to half or double this recipe if you need to.
***I sprayed my muffin tins with Pam, then lightly floured the bottoms. She mentioned in her blogpost about these cobblers that they tend to stick. I had trouble getting my first batch out of the muffins tins, so I used a knife to loosen the edges. Some fell apart, but most of them stayed intact. I recommend letting them set for about 5 minutes to cool a bit before inerting them.
***These were so delicious and so easy. I bet they would be equally as yummy if you were to use blueberries, blackberries, or strawberries.

Fresh Apple Pound Cake

My in-laws dropped of a brown grocery bag full of fresh apples from an apple orchard they visited last week. I have tons of apples so I was busy looking for some yummy apple recipes when I found this one on Tasty Kitchen. You know how I love The Pioneer Woman. Well, this is her new website where viewers can submit and find recipes. It's awesome!

This is called Fresh Apple Pound Cake. It's really yummy. Not very appley (is that a word). Not too coconutty. (Definitely not a word). Just really nice and light flavor. I really liked it!

FRESH APPLE POUND CAKE

Ingredients:
* 1 1/2 cups Vegetable Oil
* 2 cups Sugar
* 4 whole Eggs
* 3 cups Flour
* 1 teaspoon Salt
* 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
* 1 teaspoon Vanilla
* 1 cup Chopped Pecans
* 1 cup Coconut
* 3 cups Chopped Apples

Preparation Instructions

Mix the oil, sugar and eggs well. Add flour, salt, baking soda and vanilla. Mix until smooth and blended completely. Fold in pecans, coconut and apples.

Pour into a greased and floured tube pan. Bake for 1 hour at 275 F. Increase oven temperate to 300 F and bake for another ½ hour.

***I don't know if it's my oven or my bundt pan or what, but I ended cooking mine at 300 for an additional hour, not just thirty minutes. My recommendation is to check the cake with a knife and back until knife comes out clean.