Sunday, June 12, 2011

What to do with a head of cabbage...

This week's farm share box included a head of cabbage.  Having never prepared cabbage I was excited to try something new.  With half of it I made two recipes from AllRecipes.com:

Winter Lentil Vegetable Soup
Apple Cole Slaw

Both were really good.  I made the soup in the crock pot.  Just threw it all in and cooked on low for about 8 hours.  Here it is before cooking... I forgot to take an after picture.


The Apple Cole Slaw was a hit with all of us and Baden even had seconds.  This would be fun to bring to a summer barbeque.  It looks pretty and tastes great.

I still have half left so plan to make Five Spice Pork Tenderloin with Cabbage from my new favorite cookbook, Time for Dinner.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Salsa Chicken and Black Bean Soup

I've been wanted to make this recipe from the A Year of Slow Cooking blog for a while now.  I finally got around to it today.  It was really good and really easy.  I soaked the beans overnight and used frozen chicken breast tenderloins, then cooked it on low for about 7 hours.  When I got from work I took the chicken out and cut it into smaller pieces, put some of it back in and used an immersion blender to thicken it up a bit.  The beans still needed about an hour but the chicken was done so I left the rest of the chicken out and added it back in later.

Baden reluctantly tried it but ended up eating all of his.  Paige commented that the sour cream was sour. Hmm.. I remember having the same discussion with my sister when we were little.  "Heather, it's not really sour, it's just CALLED sour cream."  She didn't buy it either.

I'll make this soup again!

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Swiss Chard Lasagna

I've been eyeing Time for Dinner for close to a year now... I finally broke down and bought it.  My first recipe was a huge success.  Baden had THIRDS.

We found this little guy on our organic swiss chard.  After two days in the fridge I wasn't sure he was alive but Paige gently removed him and put him outside.  He moved!


Paige was excited to help assemble the layers of our lasagna...


Just out of the oven...


Our plates (before)



and after!



I can't share the recipe here due to copyright laws but I can invite you to dinner... just let me know when you're coming!  Bring wine.

Friday, June 3, 2011

Kale Chips

Another reason I love Baden's new school - organic fruits and vegetables from Dragon Organics!  We picked up our first order today.  How convenient, pick up your veggies while you're picking up your kid.

Our haul this week: lettuce, carrots, strawberries, kale, swiss chard, beets, broccoli and oranges.


I was so excited that as soon as we got home I searched for kale recipes.  Immediately I came up with several for kale chips.  I had to try it right away.


It looks like salad... but it is baked kale chips. I'm glad I took a picture because we devoured them.  

I will make this again (probably this weekend).  Next time I'll be more adventurous and try some other seasonings but this time I just used olive oil and Maldon sea salt.

Here's what I did:  Wash and dry kale.  Coat with olive oil and salt.  Bake in 350 degree oven for 15 minutes in a single layer.  I turned them at about 10 minutes.

(Almost) Guilt-free chips - I'm sold!