Sunday Brunch

What to do with fresh eggs and raisin pecan bread? Dad's French toast recipe with a twist! Sunday morning's brunch hit the spot. The bread was delicious on its own--but we made a simple batter with 3 eggs, a tsp of vanilla, and a tbls of milk. We dusted it with powdered sugar, poured on some syrup (we're aware of the sugar redundancy, but c'mon--have you ever tried this? amazing!), and chowed down. A side of fresh cantaloupe rounded out the meal. Not a bad start to the day. Fin even got to enjoy it--we had a little bit of egg leftover, so I scrambled it for h...

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Can't Beet This

One dinner last week: roasted beets and garlic with goat cheese; boiled red potatoes; fresh head lettuce salad. The beets were underdone--I should've cooked them quite a while longer. But we scarfed it down just in time--friends had a wonderful dairy-free chocolate cake waiti...

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Horse Feed: morning inspiration

This kind of thing is good for the soul. These bright orange carrots looked almost unnatural--but thanks to knowing exactly which local farm they were uprooted from, I know they're as natural as they come. Seeing this before you start your day is inspiring. It gave me a burgeoning desire to move out to the country, and in my early-morning daydream, I uprooted carrots before the sun came up and plucked apples out of trees as the rooster began to crow. So these guys went into the juicer for our breakfast; I'm saving the shreds for a carrot-apple cake, hoping I can change Ryan's mind about vegetables...

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"I just couldn't get over the fact that I was microwaving two-day-old eggs."

Monday night was casserole night at our house. We had two large squash to use: one a butternut, and one a long skinny variety. On my walk home from the bus, I stopped in at the grocery and picked up some cheese and an onion, paid for them, and stuffed them into my lunchbox. I may have looked a fool, but lemme tell ya--I saved a trip up the road to the store, didn't I? Some slicing and dicing later, I stared down at this: Not bad. I baked just the veggies in 2 tablespoons of melted butter for half an hour (it needed more time--I'd say give it 45 minutes) and then poured in a mixture of 3/4 cup...

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ohmigosh...it's RISING!

I think this is the best kitchen surprise I have ever had: a loaf of bread, made by me, that actually came out looking, feeling, and tasting like bread. Using the no-knead bread in a hurry recipe, I managed to create a crackly loaf, as promised! Our friend Brittany was there to witness this momentous occasion, and her response to her first bite was perfect. "OH MY GOD! And I'm not saying that because you're my friend!" One bite and she was won over. And so was I. And so was Ryan. It was like a bright light from heaven had shone down on my little Dutch oven and graced it with a serendipitous outcome....

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Container Gardening

Yet another goal of ours on the road to sustainability is to have a successful container garden. We had a big weekend in the "garden." Ryan has been working on a drip irrigation system (aka plastic water bottle with a hole in the bottom), and it's working great. The tomato plant was purchased about a week ago, and it has already tripled in size. We are also trying to grow tomatoes and jalapenos upside-down. We know the tomato plant will work; the jalapeno plant is a bit of an experiment. The herbs are doing well; right now we're growing basil, rosemary, oregano, and mint. I am going to plant cilantro...

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Blueberries

Just gorgeous East Texas blueberries, compliments of Friday's Greenling box.Update: These blueberries found a final resting place in some yummy, crepe-like pancakes on Sunday morning. Ryan's 4-year-old niece helped me make them. Her culinary skills are amazing!...

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I'm gonna go ahead and call it Not Gumbo. Or Ungumbo.

There wasn't much creativity flowing on Friday night. I knew whatever we had for dinner had to be fresh, fast, and from the pantry. What I knew I had to use up was the okra, some tomatoes ("safe" because they're grown locally), the leeks, and some purple scallops. So I chopped up those veggies, tossed them in some olive oil and tabasco sauce, and sauteed them tender on the stove. Meanwhile, the rice was a cookin'. Ryan and I weren't quite sure what to call the dish. "What is this that we're having?" "Well, I'm gonna go ahead and call it Not Gumbo." "How about Ungumbo?" Worked for me. We deemed...

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Meals 5, 6, 7 and then some!

I have been remiss, my dear readers, in updating. A weekend out of town really throws me a curveball. Last week, to finish up shipment 1 of the Greenling box, I roasted the remaining veggies with some tomatoes and jalapenos from a colleague. Tasty!The next day (last Friday), we got our second Greenling box. In it...2 heads of lettuce (yum)beetscarrotsokrababy squashleeksred potatoescherry tomatoes (not affected by any sort of salmonella!)local cheesesweet cornflat-leaf parsley It felt like more food than the previous week's box, even though we didn't get our foccaccia or cookies. Oh well!That...

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Meal Four: Variations on a theme

Salade Nicoise. I’ve always heard about it, but have never eaten it. Sounded a little strange—potatoes and eggs and tuna and green beans? Huh?Oh, how my eyes were opened last night. After discussing what’s left in our Greenling box for the week, my colleague suggested a composed salad. (She also brought me some gorgeous tomatoes from her garden, which will be oven-roasted tonight with leeks and other surprises.)Here’s what I had to use: a can of farm-raised albacore tuna, a cucumber, green beans, red potatoes, fresh onion, and herbs from my little garden (basil and oregano). After doing some web...

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The baby garden

Apartment living is fine. In my dream world, we'd have our own farm with goats, alpacas, a vineyard, and more. But in the meantime...here are some shots from my quaint little container garden. Here's the lettuce. It's been growing for months from seed...and I'm not too confident that it will ever get any taller. In fact, I know it has long passed its harvest date. Oh well, for now it's still a pretty sight. Next up: oregano, started from seed. I'm so proud of the seedlings!This is my resurrected basil. I have killed this plant probably 50 times, and it has faithfully come back. It's even been...

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Sneak Peak

Thanks to one of my lovely colleagues, I know exactly what to cook with what we have left--both are things I have never made before, and one is a dish I've never even eaten but is very well-known. And tomorrow she said she's bringing me cherry tomatoes from her garden. Here's what we have left. What would you do with it? I'll let you know what happens to ours...Red potatoesGreen beansLeeksLarge onionA mushroomHmmm... and this will turn into two dinners. Can you gues...

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Meal three: Did you cook? Smells like burn.

A little picture book for you: Wednesday's cornbread. The batter prep. Have you noticed that I collect red kitchen stuff yet? Pouring the batter into the hot oil made a very satisfying crackle. Check out the bubbles on the left! Hot out the oven:Seriously, could you have resisted this close-up?And, finally, beans n' cornbread!Last night, Ryan was at his art class so I had some time to do goofy things around the house, like re-season my cast iron skillet. I say re-season because I washed it wrong the very first day I had it--which necessitated a re-seasoning of a pre-seasoned skillet (thanks Martha...

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Meal two: Edible flowers? Really?

One of the surprises in this week's box was a small handful of flowers. I recognized them pretty quickly as squash blossoms, but I didn't realize these were edible. Greenling included a recipe for Squash Blossom Soup, but the recipe called for a half-pound of blossoms. I had only 4 or 5, weighing in at maybe 3 ounces. So, I thought, what would my mom do in this situation? "When in doubt," she told me yesterday, "Google it!" Sage advice, really. A quick Google search later, I found a recipe for a Squash Blossom Frittata. I didn't have everything on the list, but figured I could fudge things a little...

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Meal one: A lesson in pantry items and substitutions

I have a feeling there's going to be a lot of that going on--substituting, that is. Meal one. After some intense deliberation (I'm hoping it gets easier to decide exactly what to cook), I decide to pull the zucchini and the small head of lettuce. On the short-shelf-life list of staples, we have one small red onion left from Ryan's grandmother's garden; some organic strawberries; a bit of Gruyere that needed to be used; a bulb of fresh garlic from my mom's garden. From the pantry, I pull pine nuts, Israeli couscous, and the basics for a very simple strawberry vinaigrette (EVOO, RW vinegar, dollop...

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Introduction: the box of goodies

Here's what came in our first local delivery (local produce and artisan items):1 bottle local honey2 pieces baklava (local pecans)--Ryan ate them both....I have dibs on next week's dessert.2 dolmas8oz chive cream cheese spread 1 loaf challah2 leeks1 pint cherry tomatoes5 squash blossoms1 large cucumber1 medium zucchini1 small head of romaine lettuce2 ears of corn1 large mushroom (portabello, maybe)1 pint baby squash4 red potatoes1 yellow onion1 bulb fresh garlic2 peaches1 bag green beansSounds like a feast, doesn't ...

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Prologue: The Skinny.

My name's Amber. I live with my boyfriend Ryan and our dog Fin in an urban apartment. Ryan and I both grew up on or near a farm, and we didn't know it then, but we ate a pretty sustainable diet. Now, though, being adults in a city, we don't necessarily have the rural luxury of walking down to the garden and harvesting our own food. For many reasons--concerns about climate change, commercial farming, the disappearance of the family farm, and the use of chemicals and pesticides, for instance--Ryan and I are trying something "new," which happens to be something quite old. On Friday, we received our...

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