onyxpud

Week 6 June 25th
Originally uploaded by skatyb

I’m a bit late on posting last week’s produce box. Finally, cherries are in season! I was beginning to despair. My mother would always say “I know Katy’s birthday is coming when the cherries are in season”. This year they really seemed to be pushing it!

Also in the box was mixed greens, beets, lettuce, zucchini, swiss chard, kale, oregano, garlic scapes, and potatoes. This is the first week that I’ve frozen a good chunk of the box. I chopped up the swiss chard, kale, beet greens, and some spinach from a previous week. I blanched them for 2 min, plunged them in ice water to stop them from cooking, then drained them. I then divided them into 10oz portions and put them in the freezer.

My friend Elise has a great spinach “souffle” recipe that I love. I made it a week ago with collard greens, kale, and beet greens and it turned out just as good. So I’m hoping that come winter my 10oz containers will work just as well.

Go to Doughnut Plant. Why? From the Boston Globe (via slashfood):

At the counter of his Grand Street shop, Doughnut Plant, owner Mark Isreal stocks metal racks with a Willy Wonkaesque assortment of gourmet treats. There are yeast doughnuts, cake doughnuts, jelly doughnuts, square doughnuts, churros, cinnamon buns, and sticky buns. Isreal glazes and fills chocolate doughnuts with fancy French Valrhona chocolate; he makes a mashed banana cream-filled peanut butter glazed round in honor of Elvis Presley’s favorite snack; fills square jelly doughnuts on all four sides; offers a blue-and-white pin-striped Yankees doughnut during baseball season, and manages to commemorate every holiday or important New York event with a specialty.

I mentioned in my Week 3 Produce Box post that I was going to roast a chicken. Well, I bought a ridiculously expensive 2lb organic free range spring chicken - something I’ve never done before. I roasted it with potatoes, onions, carrots. Between the skin and meat I spread a mixture of fresh basil, oregano, parsley, garlic, salt and pepper. Slathered it in butter. Nothing in preparations was particularly special really.The whole time I fumed that with as much as that bird cost, it better be the best damned chicken I’ve ever had.

Well, it is so good, I’m not sure I’ll go back to regular chicken. Each time I eat I moan in pleasure. I’ve been eating it only a little at a time to make it last. It is so tender and juicy I want to cry. So the next time you are shopping for a chicken, think about getting an organic, free range bird. Pricey, but worth it.

Week 5 June 18th
Originally uploaded by skatyb

This weeks box has snow peas, beets, mixed greens, garlic scapes, mint, collard greens, swiss chard, gigantic spring onions, lettuce, and potatoes (not pictured).

Wow swiss chard is beautiful! Almost too pretty to eat. It is the red stemmed veggie on the right. This bundle also has some yellow stems. I want to take a picture of it all on its own.

I’m starting to slack off a bit and have lots of veggies left over from last week. So I’m planning on spending this weekend doing a bunch of cooking!

This is my new car - a VW Rabbit in United Grey.

strawberry tart
Originally uploaded by skatyb

I finally got around to making the strawberry banana tart I had planned for a couple weekends ago. The recipe is actually for two 4″ tarts, but I only have a big tart pan so the result looks like a big fruit pizza.

This is a great summer recipe because it is very light and not too rich. Strawberries are in season in the mid-Atlantic right now, so they are unbelievably sweet and flavorful. Off season you’d probably want to macerate them in sugar with a little balsamic vinegar to bring out the sweetness and flavor.

Week 4 June 11th
Originally uploaded by skatyb

This weeks box has two more pints of strawberries, more snow peas, more oregano, more spring onions, kale, spinach and collard greens.

I’m going to make strawberry ice cream to bring into work tomorrow for birthday cake day, and and oregano pesto. I also got a great new cookbook called Kitchen Seasons, and there are a couple recipes in there where i can use up the snow peas, spring onions, and spinach. Still working out a plan for the kale and collard greens though.

Accuweather.com has a Frizz Index.

Damn this is going to be hard. I’ve convinced her on the Abortion issues (thank god). Right now I’m just trying to get her to stop attacking Obama. I told her that I’m not expecting her to outwardly support him at this point. I get that emotions are running high. I’m just asking that she not sabotage him. I’m trying to persuade her that if she continues to make a case AGAINST him, she’s defacto supporting McCain. I even said I’d buy her a McCain bumper sticker if that’s what she wants. She’s NEVER going to vote for McCain, but right now she’s too wound up about Obama to not attack him.

Tonight’s criticism: “Obama and Farrakhan are best buds. He donated $20,000 to Farrakhan” (my note: not sure this is the exact amount she mentioned - to much bad greek wine and margaritas tonight to remember)

HELP!!! I can’t find any mention online about any donation at all. Unfortunately that fact is not going to persuade her. If anyone can find anything that will counter the “Obama hearts Farrakhan” perspective please comment here.

BTW…she completely distrusts blogs. Old school media sources will best persuade her…

Week 3 June4th

Originally uploaded by skatyb

Week 3 of the produce box. A bit less stuff than the previous two weeks, but that is ok cause i’m still trying to work through last weeks box! Tonight I made a salad for book club using all the lettuce and strawberries…very yummy. I’m going to roast a chicken this weekend and use the potatoes, spring onions, oregano for that. That just leaves radishes & strawberries from last week, and the snow peas from this week.