best.pizza.ever?

I really think that EVERY time I make a pizza. The recipe for crust I have is SO easy, doesn't require yeast and makes two portions so I can't help but make it once a week. It's a great way to throw on random ingredients.

We're getting onions and garlic at the farmer's market now, which I'm loving. In our CSA basket this week we got sunflowers (which are on the dining room table and are SO pretty - wish the ones I planted would have worked out!), patty pan squash, purple bunch onions, sungold cherry tomatoes, green and red summer crisp lettuce and zucchini.

Mark's out of town so I'm motivated to eat in as much as possible. Last week half of my lettuce went bad and I am always disappointed to see something go into the compost pile when it could have been food. Hopefully, that won't happen this week!!

Tonight I roasted beets, zucchini and carrots on the grill for 30 minutes, wrapped in foil, tossed in olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano, parsley, sage and thyme. I had that along with the best pizza ever (this week): italian, goat, parmesan cheeses, yellow onion, purple bunch onions, garlic and sungold cherry tomatoes.

NO YEAST PIZZA DOUGH (from the cookbook "Vegetarian Times"):
2-1/2 cups of flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoons salt

Mix together in a bowl.

4 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces

Mix the butter in (with the fingers is best) and press into the dry ingredients until it crumbles.

1 cup milk

Mix the milk slowly into the other ingredients. Sprinkle corn meal (I find this works best) or flour onto a flat surface and divide the dough into two sections. Roll the dough pretty thin and top with desired ingredients.

On the grill, cook over medium-high heat for 5-8 minutes until the bottom is browned.

fresh food. frozen food.

A few months ago, "Eating Well" magazine (one of my favorite reads, along with "Vegetarian Times" - an amazing gift from my sister), featured how to freeze a lot of fresh produce to be used in the winter. The chart features about 10-15 foods and has the recommended blanching time before freezing, along with the dethawing time when you are ready to eat them. I cut it out and put it on the fridge in anticipation of the (hopeful) overflow from our garden and CSA produce.

I'm trying to get started now with freezing a bit at a time so in the winter, if I want to grill some asparagus, I'll have some handy in the freezer. I'm taking small portions of what I have now and saving it for later.

This morning I made an asparagus and wild rice frittata, sort of a hodge podge of a few recipes I had. I took the rest of the asparagus and with my new $3.99 Ziploc vacuum freezing pump (that I was way too giddy about for some reason and couldn't stop vacuum suctioning air out of an empty bag for last night) and froze the rest. When I took the trash out this morning, I noticed that I now had 7 more red tomatoes...on just four of the five plants. I forgot to check the other one. I gave two away to my neighbor, kept two for a pasta sauce I want to make this week and froze the remaining three.

I know it's just two small bags of food but envisioning the freezer drawers slowly filling with fresh food is making me happy. I'm also going to make a turnip/carrot soup and vegan vegetable soup this week and freeze them as well. Here's to a happy, frozen food winter...

csa basket - week 6.

I can't believe this is our 6th week of receiving fresh food from Beaverdam Creek Farms. Truly amazing...even more so considering it's not even technically summer yet, although the heat makes it feel like August.

I just realized that we paid $450 to receive a basket of fresh produce for 20 weeks. It's crazy to think that anyone WOULDN'T do this! Our family is great and we are so happy with the food we are getting. They are still selling prorated shares so it's not too late to get in on some fresh food for 3-1/2 months as a pro-rated rate. And if you can't make it to Franklin every week, WE can and you can pick it up at our house. Please, please, please think about it. Even if you have a garden yourself, I personally find it to be an awesome way to support local farms and keep them in business (although, it boggles my mind on how you make money selling a 1/2 share for $450 for 20 weeks of food!! CRAZY). Anyway, I'm stepping off my soapbox but we NEED to keep local farmers in business and CSAs are a great - and tasty - way to do it. (Plus, most produce can be frozen and/or canned and you can eat the food later this winter when everything is gray and sad...okay, I'm really stepping down now)

I want to remember what I'm getting every week in my basket so I can plan even better next year and will start posting pictures of the basket before it gets unloaded into the fridge.

Today we received...
- turnips
- cilantro
- galisse lettuce
- cabbage
- broccoli
- zucchini
- rainbow swiss chard
...enough to fill our bottom crisper drawer every week

We also managed to snap some yukon gold and truffle ravioli, angel hair pasta, blackberries, red potatoes and shallots at the farmer's market. I'm going to work on the aformentioned asparagus/wild rice quiche today along with freezing some produce. I'm also thinking about making a blackberry/cherry cobbler this weekend but that will probably come later as I want to purchase a cherry pitter first.

Along with mowing the lawn, cleaning the house, gardening and some work to do with my main job, this weekend seems almost over already!

asparagus bread pudding.

Our friend's gave us some GORGEOUS asparagus from their garden - huge stalks, some red, some green. I want to start on my asparagus plant next year and even then I know I won't get good produce like that for at least three years. It was nice to have someone supplement in the meantime. Plus, the asparagus season is so short, it was nice to get some while we can. They gave me another bag and I plan on using half and freezing half. Hopefully I'll have a freezer full of summer treats when it's cold and dreary outside. I'll post later how my first freezing (sans the pesto earlier in the month) goes.

I got the bread pudding idea from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (I know, shock...probably the biggest shock of all is that I'm still not done with the - especially for those who know that I read (probably too) fast. I hope to finish today but I've been taking my time and trying to soak it all in, although it will probably join my shelves as a yearly read. It's also making me want to read The Poisonwood Bible again...but I digress)

It was AWESOME! In her book, she puts morels in it but as I'm trying to get 90% of my produce at the farmer's market, mushrooms were not a delicacy I had at hand. I left them out and it was still delicious. We ate it that night with a fresh salad and the next few mornings as breakfast - so, so good. I'll probably make something simliar with the asparagus I have now...perhaps a wild rice/asparagus quiche. Yum.

Digressing again...here's the recipe:

3 cups milk
1 cup chopped spring onions with green shoots
Add onions to milk in saucepan and bring to a boil; remove from heat and set aside to steep.

1 loaf stale or toasted multigrain bread (I used an oatmeal molasses bread we buy from a lady at the farmer's market), broken into crouton-sized pieces
Pour milk over crumbs and allow bread to soak

1 pound asparagus
Chop into 1/2-inch pieces and simmer in boiling water until bright green.

2 tablespoons butter
1 pound morels (or other wild mushrooms)
Salt and pepper to taste
Melt butter in skillet, cook mushrooms until tender, add salt and pepper, and set aside

4 eggs
1/2 cup chopped parsley
3 tablespoons oregano
3 cups grated Swiss cheese
Break eggs and beat until smooth, add herbs and plenty of salt and pepper, add bread crumbs with remaining milk, asparagus, mushrooms with their juices, and 2/3 of the cheese. Mix thoroughly and pour into a greased 8 by 12-inch baking dish; sprinkle remaining cheese on top and bake at 350 for 45 minutes (until puffy and golden)