Week 12, Box 12

I don't know if it's because we are between growing seasons a little bit, but the box has been kinda scarce lately. Maybe I am just spoiled from when I got all of The Rabbi's share while he was on vacation, but still, this week's box was a little depressing. Oh and I'm starting to get overrun by peppers again.

Dinner for One

The Husband works in retail and while I am of course grateful that in this economic climate he has a job, his work schedule often requires me to eat alone. This requires a lot more ingenuity then cooking for two or more because I don't really want to use any produce that might come in handy for future meals, I don't want to dirty too many plates and I don't want to be slaving over a stove just to please little old me. In the bad old days I often fell victim to the over processed, rubbery food that was the low-calorie frozen dinner. However, since we started getting The Box every week The Husband and I have been trying to cut back on on foodstuffs that can't fairly be called "food."  So on the days when he has a late shift, I think back to my years in law school and pull those fast, easy, one person recipes I invented that allowed me to let loose some creativity and still get back to the books in a reasonable amount of time. This week, when I saw the Fava Greens beginning to wilt in their bag, I knew exactly what to do with them.

Feeling Corny

I don't eat a lot of corn. I have what I would call in polite company a "corn intolerance."  This intolerance has led to a lifetime of slowly removing corn products from my diet because I feel better when I refrain from eating them. This is, of course, incredibly difficult because 1) Corn Syrup is in everything and 2) Corn, in its truest and most natural form is G*d Damn delicious. The Husband, is also a big fan of the devilishly tasty kernels. His favorite way to consume this evil overgrown weed is in the form of cornbread. So when two ears of sweet Corn showed up in the box this week, he begged for Cornbread and I willingly complied, even though I knew my consumption of said evil but delicious result would be limited to a single piece, maybe.

Week 11 Box 11

Let it be known that the Rabbi has returned. This of course means that I no longer get the benefit of a full and fruitful box. Ah well, I'm back to my half share and it's probably better for the environment (less veg going to rot) and for this blog (splitting the share with the MIL results in me getting the weird stuff). However, we are coming into the Fall (even though it is still August) which means the "harvest time" is coming. I'm excited for the bounty of new veg that are coming into the season. And this week The Box is starting to reflect it. Here's what we got:

Fried Green Tomatoes!

I couldn't come up with a catchy title for my plans with the Green Tomatoes. It seems so natural, and happened to be the only "Green Tomato" option that arises on The Goggle Machine besides the movie itself (which I've never seen). Needless to say the process for making Fried Green Tomatoes does not change much recipe to recipe. Most use either Panko Bread Crumbs or (more traditionally apparently) cornmeal for the breading of the tomatoes. Some add paprika or cayenne to the breading, some leave them unseasoned, or with a little bit of salt and pepper. Almost all of them suggested buttermilk instead of an egg wash for the binder. Having said all that, what to dip them in varied widely from the simple mix of hot sauce and mayonnaise to the more complex remoulade. Either-way after a little bit of research I soon felt confident enough to start frying sans recipe.

Millions of Peaches, Peaches for Me!

If anything was going to convince me to pick up a blade with a still injured finger it was going to be the pleasant surprise of seven juicy ripe peaches appearing in The Box this week.  I cannot quite impress upon you, dear sweet reader, just how fantastically peachy these peaches were. I probably could have just sat and consumed all 7 one after another until The Husband walked in to find me in a peach-induced stupor with 7 pits lined up in front of me and inevitably covered in peach juice.

It would have made a good blog post for sure when they let me out of the loony bin finally. So for my sanity and the sake of keeping this blog from such an indulgent unnecessary hiatus (not to mention all the incoming boxes from going to waste) I ran the options through my head.

And oh there are options. There are the savory applications, grilled peaches, salsa, salad etc. And then the sweet delights, jam, ice-cream, sorbet, cake, crisp, buckle, pie and....cobbler. Oh yes cobbler, that odd dessert that is neither pie or crisp, nor anything else, but goes hand and hand with the word peaches.

Week 10 Box 10

Many of you have been asking about the status of my finger. Well I'm sorry to say it had to be amputated.... Naw just joshing. It's fine. The Husband and  I went  down the shore as planned which was a lot of fun except for the fact that I had to wear a rubber glove on the beach and couldn't go in the water. Lots of little kids stared trying to figure out what exactly that crazy lady was doing and I am sure lots of parents worried that I had some horrible skin disease. I just tried to relax and keep my hand out of the sun (apparently rubber gloves trap heat).

The Glue they used peeled off a day early and unfortunately the wound hadn't healed all the way. It wasn't gushing or anything just still a little exposed. So of course it has become infected and I'm on antibiotics. Nothing is ever easy, is it? However, I expect to heal acceptably from now on and it cannot come fast enough. I'm sick of the pain every time I forget and hit "l" with the finger while I am typing. Apparently I can compensate on all the other letter but "l" is ingrained as "hit with right ring finger" unless I am paying close attention.

Anyway this week I picked up The Box again. It just happened to coincide nicely with the end of my doctor's appointment.

Here's what we got:

Womp Womp

Because The Husband and I have plans to go down the shore this weekend. I took some time last night to make a little something for the blog. I have been watching a lot of America's Test Kitchen lately and they just made a delicious looking scalloped potato recipe. A perfect use of the potatoes recently blessed to me by The Box. So with the ingredients I needed secured, and The Husband getting home for dinner around 7:30. I was well on my way to turn this:

Into bacon-y, onion-y goodness. Or at least that was the plan.

Week 9 Box 9

We had a very productive weekend. Not only did we bake Zucchini Bread, we cleaned and organized our office which it desperately needed. See, when we moved in we unpacked, but we didn't really think about where things were going. It was kind of a, let's just get everything AWAY so we don't have to look at it any more and we will deal with it later. Now, 1 year later, we've dealt with it, the office feels neater and my life less chaotic. Bonus: organizing the office freed up the giant tea storage box we had been using as a junk drawer and suddenly we could condense the 5 boxes of wedding gifts into one box, getting rid of the clutter! Think of all we could do if we just put in some shelves (hint hint).

In addition to the cleaning, we took apart the old entertainment stand in preparation for a Brand New (also ordered this weekend) Wall Unit. We drove the old broken down Subaru up to the MIL house for final disposal,  opening up the garage for our needs. We watched Identity Thief, drank way too much Port AND, to top all that off spent a wonderful morning with our Friends Amy and  Ben, breaking in their new home. It was busy, busy, busy but HEAVEN. I love when The Husband has weekends off.

In the Chaos The Husband, who does so much so that I don't have to and who loves me and is amazing, brought me home The Box. I was very excited and hopeful after last week's berry surprise. However, there wasn't too much exciting in this week's box.

Let me walk you through it:

Baby It's Cold Outside

 Ok so It's 79 degrees instead of 85 but MAN does that make a difference in my kitchen. Suddenly cooking isn't just something to be done as quickly as possible with as few steps over heat as possible. I can actually breathe, relax, and enjoy it. The added benefit of the decrease in heat is I am no longer shy about turning on my oven, which of course means I'm baking again. It's not quite cold enough to go full-on yeast-based bread factory, like I did in the days after Sandy when we had no power, no heat, and nothing to do but watch bread rise. But it is cold enough  to activate those "go into hibernation" fat cells enough to crave the warm yummy goodness of a bread-y, dough-y dessert.

And so, when the box gave me what had to be the worlds biggest Zucchini, my stomach told me exactly what to do with it...

Zucchini bread. Duh!