This was our last week of the CSA – I’m sad that it is over, but at the same time it’s nice to have a break from the constant rush to cook and eat all that produce before it goes bad each week. I’m glad we did it this way for our first time, it really pushed me out of my cooking comfort zone and forced me to use ingredients that I wouldn’t normally buy. I’m really grateful for the learning experience, but next year I think we will do a half-share.

In the share:
Green beans
Kale
Onions
Bell peppers
Tomatoes
Eggplant
Corn
Jalapenos
Apples
Peaches (more…)

These posts are a little behind schedule – the CSA finished a couple of weeks ago, but I have been bad about posting. Sorry about that!

In the crate:
Eggplant
Bell peppers
Red onions
Kale
Potatoes
Jalapenos
Tomatoes
Cucumber
Apples
Peaches
Pears
Plums (more…)

We recently had a beer and sake tasting party – where everyone brought their favorite to be sampled. I thought that beer cheese soup would be the perfect food to go with the beer.

I started by melting butter in my soup pot (yeah, this is not a healthy soup).

Next I added diced onion, celery, and carrot.

I wanted the soup to be smooth – with no chunks of vegetables. So after the vegetables were soft, I pureed them with a stick blender.

Next I added flour to make a roux, and cooked the rawness out.

Then I added the stock, beer, half and half, salt, dry mustard, and Worcestershire.

Finally, I added the cheese – a combo of cheddar and swiss.

The result was a smooth, decadent soup with a bit of a tang.

Beer Cheese Soup
adapted from Food Network
Serves 8-10

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 chopped medium sized yellow onion
3/4 cup chopped carrot
3/4 cup chopped celery
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups chicken broth
1 (12-ounce) beer of choice (I used Sam Adams)
7 oz extra-sharp Cheddar, shredded
7 oz processed Swiss cheese, shredded
2 cups half-and-half
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Melt butter in a stockpot over medium heat. Add chopped onion, carrot, and celery. Saute until softened. Puree with a stick blender.

Add flour. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring often.

Add chicken broth and beer. Heat until it comes to a boil. Add half-and-half, salt, dry mustard, and Worcestershire sauce.

Slowly add cheese while stirring until just boiling and smooth. Reduce heat to low and cook until soup has thickened.

Oops! I forgot to take a picture of the crate this week, so I took some pictures of individual produce.

Red and yellow onions.

Peaches and tomatoes (some of the tomatoes were already rotten and I had to throw them out).

Corn.

Bell peppers (I had already sliced them up for a party snack).

Eggplant – the small ones were from the week before, the large one was from this week.

Apples and nectarines.

Pears. (more…)

In the crate this week:

Corn
Bell Peppers
Tomatoes – large and small
Onions – red and white
Eggplant
Peaches
Apples
Pears
Plums (more…)

I still have beets in the fridge from back when they were coming all the time in the CSA. I really needed to use them quickly and I decided to make a risotto because it is one of Jasper’s favorite dishes. The first time he ever had risotto was the first time I ever made it. It was in the early part of our relationship, when we were living on opposite coasts. I came out to visit him in his little apartment in Ballston, and I wanted to make a nice dinner for him. He couldn’t get enough of that lemon risotto. Ever since then, he has ordered risotto constantly at restaurants, and black truffle risotto has replaced my lemon version as the favorite. It had been awhile since I had made risotto at home, so I decided it was time to treat him.

The first step is to roast the beets – it develops a deeper, richer flavor than boiling.

Cut the beets into matchsticks and saute with an onion in butter and olive oil.

Add some garlic, then add the rice and stir constantly for a minute to coat the grains in oil. (more…)

I literally dreamed about making this right after we got back from Vegas. I woke up and decided I had better make it for dinner since my subconscious was telling me to.

Simple. Easy. Tasty.

Cook some cheese tortellini according to the package. Toss with a combination of pesto and a little cream and Parmesan or prepared Alfredo sauce.

Bake some breaded chicken. This brand is seriously the best chicken ever (I use it in our favorite weeknight dinner all the time, available at Whole Foods). Cut into strips.

The pasta is creamy and rich with a freshness from the pesto, and the chicken is juicy on the inside, crispy on the outside – perfect. All you need is a salad and voila – a 30 minute dinner.

It’s a short post this week, because we got the crate a day before we left for Las Vegas for a week (oh yes, there will be posts about that). So I only had one day to make, eat, and store what I could. That is also the reason that we will skip from week 11 to week 13 – I had a friend take our share while we were out of town.

In the crate this week:
Watermelon
Korean Melons
Peaches
Plums
Large and small tomatoes
Corn
Green Beans
Bell Peppers (more…)