Monday, July 28, 2014

Chopped Challenge: The Lamb that Almost Was, but Wasn't

This week The Box arrived with a wide variety of familiar goodies and a couple of strange ones. Nothing exactly made me want to jump up and down and cook like a mad woman, but for the most part the ingredients were useful. Here's what I got:

  • Sorrel
  • Orange Sun Gold Cherry Tomatoes
  • Texas Onions
  • Elephant Garlic Rounds (basically one big clove of garlic)
  • Cucumbers
  • Mammoth Basil (Looks like Basil, Smells like Basil, is 2X the size of Basil, I called it Mega Basil)
  • Italian Sweet Basil
  • Elephant Garlic Flowers (big fluffy purple flower thing)
  • Something that looked like a Zucchini and a Eggplant mated
  • And Purslane (because MIL thought it would be funny.....THANKS)
Again, we had some odd ducks, like the Purslane, which is essentially a weed, and sorrel, which is poisonous in large quantities. But nothing screamed "COOK ME" so I was looking forward to what was in the big brown basket sitting on the counter. It could have been anything. And I was hoping to get a nice fat, blood pressure rising challenge. So when I opened it up and looked at the ingredients I was perplexed.

Monday, July 21, 2014

Chopped Challenge: Fit to be stewed

After what felt like one of the longest weeks of my life it was finally Friday. I was looking forward to a weekend of relaxation and nothingness only to find it fully booked. Our only free night was Friday and as such it was The Husband's only opportunity to get in a Chopped Challenge this past week. Fortunately I got home early to find him squirreling the basket ingredients away. Not wanting to waste any of my precious free time I opened up the basket and took a look-see.


Whole Pomegranates, Top Round, Slab Bacon and Baby Bok Choy.

Friday, July 11, 2014

Recipe from the Farm Box: Collard Greens

Some days your best laid plans turn rotten and die. Some weeks are made up of those days. This week The Husband and I got side tracked by jobs and life and Thursday was my first opportunity to actually cook something. The Husband was going to bring me a Chopped Challenge and I was looking forward to it. Unfortunately he ended up having to work late and that left me to my own devises. Without knowing when he was going to be home I wanted to make a meal that could be prepped in advance and come together quickly when he walked in the door.  The collard greens had really struck my cooking soul, but I didn't really want to sit around waiting for them to braise.  Nor did I really have a desire to fight with bacon. So I began my search on the internet for something light, fresh and quick.


Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Week 3 Box 3

The Husband and I went on our annual pilgrimage to Cape Cod this weekend to celebrate the 4th with his side of the family. We drove up Thursday night literally in the first band of rain and wind from Hurricane Arthur. It was terrifying. Everyone around us was driving at 35mph on the highway with their hazards blinking. There weren't even that many people on the road but the wind and the rain was so intense, I spent at least 2 hours of the drive trying to convince The Husband that it was time for us to find a hotel room and hunker down. He remained unconvinced and we made it up there in a respectable 5.5hrs.  An hour better then last year when I drove myself up in basically bumper to bumper traffic. I am starting to think The Cape doesn't want me.

Friday, Hurricane Arthur passed over us in our sleep and we awoke to beautiful weather with temps in the high 70's and low humidity. Are you Jealous?


Needless to say I didn't  cook all weekend. We ate well, we drank well, I made Mojitos with the chocolate mint that came in the box last week and read my way through a really good book (The Son by Philipp Meyer - A fantastic novel about a family throughout the generations in the Texas frontier from 1800 - the present. This book comes with a MAJOR trigger warning and can be descriptively gory, but is worth the read). The vacation was exactly what I needed. We got  back late monday night to  boiling house, put the AC's on and passed out.

On Tuesday The Husband brought me home The Box. And while I was excited for it, I was exhausted and in no mood to cook. The Husband suggested a salad or something simple, but even that seemed like punishment for my tired body. So when my Father showed up with a pizza for him and my grandfather, it felt like being rescued on a white horse of sauce and cheese. Yummy. I went to bed early with a fully tummy, but don't worry I took the time to take a picture of my haul from this week. Here is what we got :
  • Swiss Chard
  • Collard Greens
  • Fava Greens (my favorite!)
  • Cucumber (big fat and happy)
  • Garlic Curls (what the hell am I going to do with all of these?)
  • Green Onions
  • Blue Potatoes (YAY!)
  • Lemon Basil 
It's nice to have some creative products to work with. The Chopped Challenge is being delivered to me on Thursday. Here is hoping it's not too difficult, but knowing The Husband... we shall see.

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Week 2, Box 2 and I Want My Baby Back

This week The Box arrived with little fanfare and stuffed to the brim with mostly salad greens. That's the way it is in the early weeks, you get garlic curls and salad greens. Nothing TOO exciting. I hope things ramp up soon because as much as I love the abundance of green on my plate and in my fridge, it's extremely difficult to keep everything from wilting away before we get the chance to eat it. Let's see what we got this week:
  • Red Lettuce (Went to my grandfather)
  • Escarole (Also went to my grandfather)
  • Turnip Green Thinnings 
  • Looseleaf Chinese Cabbage
  • Tomatoes
  • Garlic Curls
  • Herb of The Week: Basil & Chocolate Mint
The basil and chocolate mint sound interesting. Mojito's anyone?

After putting everything lovingly away I turned my attention to the dreaded basket ingredients which The Husband had the pleasure of bringing home to me. I wondered, briefly, what was in store for me. Bison? Quail eggs? Some unknown spice from the far east ::cue belly dancing music::. After my success last week I felt a little bit more confident, until I opened it up.