Smoothie experiment

What better way to get your fruits and veggies than to drink them?  And not in some sugary, syrup filled juice either!  Tonight I experimented with our fridge and made a smoothie that had 3 full servings of fruits/vegetables in it.

Strawberry-Kale Smoothie
- Handful of kale (from our CSA)
- 8-9 strawberries (from our CSA)
- 6 frozen blueberries (I randomly had on hand)
- 1/4 cup greek yogurt
- 1/4 cup POM juice
- 4-5 ice cubes
- 1 banana, slightly soft

1. Blend it all up in a blender
2. DRINK!
3. Feel a little bit better about yourself.

Cool- Rabi

I have found a new favorite vegetable!!  Kohlrabi!  I had heard of it but never actually eaten one and probably could not have picked it out of a vegetable lineup.  It is a perfect replacement for potatoes!  Has the same texture as a potato and has a slight cabbage taste to it.

Kohlrabi and Ham Gratin
- 1 kohlrabi bulb, thinly sliced
- 1 piece ham steak
- 1/2 - 3/4 cup half n half
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup panko bread crumb
- salt and pepper

Sorry, forgot to take a picture of all of the ingredients!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Using a knife, cut away the outer, tough layer of the kohlrabi.  Thinly slice it like you would potatoes in a gratin.  Put into a small casserole dish.  Cube ham and add with kohlrabi.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Pour half n half over until everything is just about covered, and combine all ingredients.  Top with Parmesan cheese and bread crumbs.  Bake it for about 50 minutes.  I added a little bit of cheddar cheese the last 10 minutes.  I know this isn't the healthiest meal, but hey its all about moderation, and at least I cut back on the carbs from potatoes, right??  :)

By the way, this was reallllllly good.  Tom asked me to make it again soon!

Say Cheese!

Today's stars: KALE and RADISHES!  I rarely have seen radishes in many place other than veggie trays and salad.  It's a food I typically wouldn't buy, but since it was in our CSA I had to put on my thinking cap!  As far as kale, that never comes in small batches, so I did a few different things with the kale.

I made a Goat Cheese Spread with Kale and Radishes.  I got the inspiration from Pinterest, but I knew radishes and kale would go together well with their bitter and peppery flavors mixed with the tang of the goat cheese.  And, who doesn't love goat cheese!?!?

Goat Cheese Spread with Kale and Radishes
- 12 oz. Goat Cheese (1 small log and 1 big log)
- 3 tbsp. mayonnaise
- 3 tbsp. dijon mustard
- 1 tsp. garlic salt
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 4-5 small radishes, finely sliced
- 1/2 bunch of kale, thinly sliced

Chop the kale and radishes and add to a medium bowl.  Add the goat cheese, mayo, mustard, garlic salt, and garlic.  Mix it all together and form a ball. (I used my hands, it was the easiest).  Serve right away or wrap in press n seal and put in the fridge.  Serve with your choice of bread or cracker.  I used a baguette and those delicious gluten free crackers that you find in the deli at the grocery store.  I took this to our friend, Adam and Dabney's daughter, Shiley's baptism today.  It was a hot one!  I did get quite a few compliments on the spread, which is always good!!  Have a great Sunday night all....try to relax before the week gets here!

Shiley had a great time, but man it was hot!!

Oh, P.S.  I also made kale chips with some of the leftover kale.  I love easy, salty snacks, so this is perfect!

Kale Chips
- kale (as much or as little as you want), torn into bite sized pieces
- 1-2 tbsp olive oil
- salt, to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Put kale on a foil-lined baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil and mix with salt.  Bake for 10-15 minutes or until kale starts to get crispy an slightly brown, but not burnt.  Enjoy!  Easy, right?

Chimmy Chimmy Yah!

Tonight's star from this week's basket, GREEN ONIONS.  I was shocked at the amount of green onions that we got this week!  4 giant bulb's worth.  What the heck am I going to do with all of these??  Well, I had gotten a skirt steak to grill this weekend with asparagus.  You always hear about skirt steak and chimichurri, so why not make the chimichurri with the green onions??

Typically, a chimuchurri is usually made with parsley as the star ingredient.  I wasn't sure how parsley and green onion would compete with each other, so I used spinach instead of parsley.  (Plus, I already had the spinach on hand, so even better!) 

Grilled Skirt Steak with Green Onion Chimichurri Sauce:
- 1-1/2 pound (or there-abouts) skirt steak
- 1 bulb of green onions (5-6) - use less if you want a less onion-y flavor, this is fairly strong
- 1-1/2 cups of fresh spinach
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- salt, for seasoning
- cayenne pepper, for seasoning, to your taste

Roughly chop the onions and spinach and put into a blender or food processor.  Add salt, red wine vinegar, and cayenne pepper.  Pulse ingredients as you stream in the olive oil until desired consistency.  Pour all bout about 1/2 cup over your skirt steak and marinate anywhere from 30 min- a few hours.  Reserve the extra half cup for dipping, if you'd like.  I bet this would be good as a warm potato salad dressing, too! 

 
Get your grill (or grill pan) nice and HOT HOT HOT!  Put the steak on the grill in one big piece.  The steak is fairly thin, so it should only take about 5-6 minutes per side for a nice medium-rare temperature.

Let it rest for about 5 minutes, then thinly slice the meat and enjoy!  We served it with grill asparagus and OOPS we were out of potatoes, but luckily had some leftover crock pot potatoes so we just used them :)

This is Tom's, he plated his better than mine :)

Yes, I still have 3 bulbs of green onions left.....Hmmmphhh...I am thinking of a shrimp and green onion fritatta later in the week, maybe throw some in spanikopita for my sister-in-law's dinner party this coming weekend...Stay tuned!!!

I'm Baaaaaack

Hello everyone!  Sorry for my long winter hiatus.  Since I took all winter off, I decided to change the name of the blog from Daly Freschipes to CSA: From the Farm to the Table.  I wanted to focus on what to do with all of the sometimes obscure ingredients we get in the CSA boxes!  That being said, it is week number one at Dilner Farm's CSA and my husband, Tom and I have signed up for the half share again.  It will run through November, so hopefully I can try to post at least once a week!

Let's get to it!  Here is this week's box:

- Kale
- Lettuce
- Green onions (a TON)
- Broccoli
- Strawberries
- Zucchini
- Radishes
- Basil plant (not pictured)

Tonight's star: BROCCOLI

Tonight was leftover night anyway, we had some leftover pork chops and salsa chicken but needed a vegetable so I whipped up some Balsamic Parmesan Broccoli

Balsamic Parmesan Broccoli
- 1 head of broccoli
- 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard (I used a stoneground)
- 3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
- 3 tablespoons olive oil

 

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with foil and mix breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese together with 1/4 cup olive oil (maybe a little less) until it looks kind of like wet sand.  Spread it in an even layer and put it in the oven for 3-5 minutes.  Watch it carefully, I burnt mine the first round!  Remove from the oven and set it aside in a small bowl.

 

 

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the mustard, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil until blended.  Add the broccoli and toss it until evenly coated.  Put the broccoli on the same pan you just used and roast it for 5 minutes (or more, but I like some crunch left to the broccoli).

 

 

After the broccoli cooks, add the breadcrumb mixture back to the broccoli and cook for 2-3 more minutes.  Then, enjoy!!

 

Look for a kale, radish, and goat cheese spread this week, and probably some kale chips!!  I plan on using the lettuce for salads for lunch and the strawberries for snacking.  As for the zucchini....the wheels are still turning on that one...perhaps lasagna?!?!  Stay tuned!

 

 

Cleaning out the pantry...

"Tom, what do you want for dinner tonight?"  -- This is a very common question in our household.  It's funny, I don't usually get much of a response other than, "Whatever you want, babe."  So then I typically forget about it then get home and nothing is thawed.  In those situations, my go-to's are any kind of fish or seafood since they thaw quickly.  I had a few shrimp left over and a box of frozen spinach.  I guess we call this dish, "Shrimp Qunioa"....Any better suggestions are appreciated!

Ingredients
- 1 box frozen spinach, thawed and drained in the microwave
- 10-12 shrimp, thawed and peeled
- 1 cup uncooked quinoa
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1/2 large onion or 1 small onion
- 1 large or 2 small cloves of garlic
- olive oil
- salt and pepper

Bring the chicken broth to a boil and cook the quinoa as directed on the package.  In a separate pan, sautee onion and garlic until soft.  Add shrimp for 3-4 minutes until pink.  Add spinach and heat through.  When the quinoa is finished, add the shrimp and spinach mixture.  Finish with a bit of butter to bring it all together (about 1 tbsp.)  Stir.  Eat.  Yum.

Pesky Turkey Leftovers

Hi all.  It's been a while.  My blogging has slowed down since our CSA box stopped for the winter :(

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!  I know I am turkey'd out!  But, I hate throwing out food...so I had to find some other way to use up the rest of the turkey leftovers.  As a kid...and now..I LOVED tuna noodle casserole.  I did a spin on that for a turkey noodle casserole!

- left over turkey, cubed
- 2 cups uncooked egg noodles
- 1/2 cup frozen green beans
-1/4 cup roasted red peppers, diced
- 1/2 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
- 3/4 cup red pepper alfredo sauce (it's what I had...)
- 1/2 cup shredded cheddar
-1/4 cup milk or half n half
-2 tsp. butter.

Preheat the oven to 400*.  Start a pot of water boiling for the noodles.  In the meantime, dice the red peppers and turkey.  When the water is boiling, drop the noodled and cook according to package directions.  In the last 2-3 minutes add the green beans.  Once the noodles are done, drain them and put back in the pot with the butter, alfredo, milk, red peppers and turkey.  Stir and put into a small baking dish sprayed with cooking spray.  Top with bread crumbs and cheese.  Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes and voila!

 Before going in the oven

 

After

Thats all for now.  Anyone have any suggestions for a star ingredient that they would like me to feature?  I love comments!