First (annual?) Save Our Schools March coming in July!
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Less may be more
So for this week's delivery,I decided to downgrade from the Jefferson Box to the Cardinal Box. This one has 7-8 types of produce, cheese, and eggs. So no bread and no meat. However, i did add-on one package of Italian Sausage Grillers from Dragonfly farms in Beaverdam, VA.
Last week, I was able to consume nearly everything except the cauliflower and I didn't really eat the radish dip. I still have about half a jar of blueberry jam after eating it for breakfast nearly every day. I think I'll stick with this smaller box and add meat when I want it, since it's $30 cheaper and I ended up throwing away some stuff.
This week my delivery looked like this:
Grilled Sausage and Green Pepper Pasta
Did you know that marinara sauce tastes better when you make it yourself? It's no big deal. So two nights ago, I was in the mood for tomato sauce and I found a can of diced tomatoes, olive oil, Italian seasoning, and (you guessed it!) garlic and red pepper flakes. All I did was empty the can in a sauce pan, heat it with a little water and some olive oil, add some italian seasoning, chopped garlic and pepper flakes. Then, I used my hand mixer to blend it all together and heated until it reduced some of the water... like ten minutes. Presto! If I felt like going to the grocery store I would have also bought a leek and some basil... but I didn't.
After making the sauce I went to my friend Sarah's house who has a sweet gas grill. I grilled up two of the sausages, some of the tomatoes, and a green pepper. I also marinated some squash in Italian salad dressing and grilled those bad boys...but forgot to take a picture of those. I added sliced grilled sausage and grilled green peppers, grilled tomatoes to the sauce. Add pasta. Holy crap, it was so good.
Shout out to the most delicious blackberries I've ever eaten! (shown with cantaloupe)
New favorite breakfast!
Plain Greek yogurt with drizzled honey, cereal, and blackberries.
***stay tuned for pics of my 4th of July salad debuts****
Last week, I was able to consume nearly everything except the cauliflower and I didn't really eat the radish dip. I still have about half a jar of blueberry jam after eating it for breakfast nearly every day. I think I'll stick with this smaller box and add meat when I want it, since it's $30 cheaper and I ended up throwing away some stuff.
This week my delivery looked like this:
I got:
- A cantaloupe! from Sunny Side Farm
- 6 squash from Adlyn farm
- Red White and Blue potatoes from Adlyn
- Grape tomatoes from Sunny Side
- 2 green bell peppers from Sunny Side
- A little jar of honey :) from Bob Stapleton in Hanover
- Blackberries from Snead's Farm
- 3 cucumbers from Deer Run Farm
- Goat cheese from Lover's Retreat
- Free Range Eggs from Edgewood Farm
I tell you, if I ever stop getting this goat cheese, I will cry. It's the most delicious. Ever.
So far, here's what I made:
Grilled Sausage and Green Pepper Pasta
Did you know that marinara sauce tastes better when you make it yourself? It's no big deal. So two nights ago, I was in the mood for tomato sauce and I found a can of diced tomatoes, olive oil, Italian seasoning, and (you guessed it!) garlic and red pepper flakes. All I did was empty the can in a sauce pan, heat it with a little water and some olive oil, add some italian seasoning, chopped garlic and pepper flakes. Then, I used my hand mixer to blend it all together and heated until it reduced some of the water... like ten minutes. Presto! If I felt like going to the grocery store I would have also bought a leek and some basil... but I didn't.
After making the sauce I went to my friend Sarah's house who has a sweet gas grill. I grilled up two of the sausages, some of the tomatoes, and a green pepper. I also marinated some squash in Italian salad dressing and grilled those bad boys...but forgot to take a picture of those. I added sliced grilled sausage and grilled green peppers, grilled tomatoes to the sauce. Add pasta. Holy crap, it was so good.
Shout out to the most delicious blackberries I've ever eaten! (shown with cantaloupe)
Plain Greek yogurt with drizzled honey, cereal, and blackberries.
***stay tuned for pics of my 4th of July salad debuts****
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
I made stuff!
The challenge has been pretty fun so far.
Here are some pictures and (loose) recipes of what I've made!
Teryaki beef lettuce wraps:
Maybe not the most fancy or photogenic dinner, but easy and delicious none the less. This is the dinner I made right after I got my delivery, so I just cooked with whatever I had on hand. Honestly, I find that a bottle of Soy Vay Veri-Veri Teryaki sauce always makes an easy meal and goes a long way. I also love Trader Joe's Soy Yaki.
All I did was:
- Brown some ground beef, drain it and set it aside (add salt and pepper to taste).
- Next, heat about a tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and then add chopped zucchini and mushrooms to the pan. Cook for about 2 minutes and then add some ginger (I just used powdered...like a pinch), red pepper flakes, and splash in some teryaki sauce.
- Stir that around and then throw the beef back in. Heat on medium or so till its hot!
- Then stick some in a lettuce leaf. YUM.
Zucchini Linguine (with chick peas?):
OK, so apparently, this is a recipe that can be found on more than one website. I thought it sounded weird, but then I made a BUNCH of it and I've been happily eating it for days!
All I did was:
- Cook some whole wheat linguine (according to the box). Wanna know something important about cooking pasta? Save some of the starchy water that you drain out of it. For this recipe, if you cook a whole box, save about a half cup of the water. When you're done draining it, stir the water back in (it makes the toppings stick better and also is often used in Italian cooking as an ingredient for the sauce. I read it in a book.)
- Open a can of chick peas and rinse them, set aside.
- Cut three squash or zucchinis into half-moons. Slice up three cloves of garlic. Heat about a tb of olive oil in a pan. Add the zucchs and cook until they're a lil soft. Then add garlic, chickpeas, and sprinkle some red pepper flakes and salt to taste. Cook for an additional minute.
- Add it all together and throw some parmesan cheese on top. YUM.
Green beans and shitake mushrooms:
I am ashamed to say that I had yet to, as an adult, bought fresh green beans and cooked them for dinner. I was pleasantly surprised at how delicious these were- fresh green bean kick all other forms of green beans asses. And these were especially pretty.
All I did was:
- Clean a pound of green beans (cut off the ends), rinse, and blanche. Blanching is when you boil a veggie just to the point of making it not hard, and then quickly transfer it to cold ice water. This way you're not eating it raw, but you're not cooking it to death.
- De-stem some shrooms and then slice 'em up. Also, slice about 1 clove of garlic.
- Heat up a tb of olive oil and throw in the shrooms. After a minute, add a tb of sesame oil, 3 tbs of rice vineger, 3tb of soy sauce, red pepper flakes, and garlic. Add the green beans to the pan and heat through.
- Have you noticed how often I use garlic and red pepper flakes? yeah well..
Some other things I tried were radish dip (radishes blended with cream cheese... meh), and harvard beets. Harvard beets called for cornstarch (which I didn't have) so I simply peeled and boiled the beets and then mixed em up with white vinegar and sugar. Not bad....not great. I think maybe I will use less sugar next time.
Also- the one thing I have decided I will make EVERY time I get a new box of food, is TACOS. This week, they were pretty standard, since I was sent ground beef and lettuce. I plan to be a little more creative with future ingredients. But I will tell you, I hardly ever use store bought taco seasoning and I think my spice mix is delicious (mix cumin, chili powder, salt, cinnamon, pepper, and onion powder) and I use it just like the store bought kind! Way cheaper and more authentic/ delicious-- and much less sodium.
Now I'm hungry!
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
First box of food!
I got the email on Monday that my delivery day would be Wednesday (today) and I have been almost holding my breath all afternoon! So exciting!
Sure enough, when I came home from work today there was a big red box waiting outside of my front door.
Amazing! It's like Christmas. I tore open the box immediately-- here's what I got this week and what farms the food came from:
It's a lot of food. I feel like royalty right now.
So for all of this, I paid $67. I did some research online and found that this is still more than "average grocery prices" but I'm not sure that it isn't much more (of not the same or less?) than prices at Whole Foods or Ellwoods... I might have to do some field work.
Before this delivery I thought I might be getting a lot of food I don't know how to cook, but I can already see some meals (although they'll be pretty basic): hamburgers on the grill with lettuce (or make lettuce wraps?), green beans stir fried with mushrooms, roasted beets (should I try to pickle some beets!?), coleslaw, cauliflower gratin, and then the regular bread and cheese and eggs and stuff. I already made myself a plate:
The bread is awesome- there's rye seed maybe in it? and the cheese has yummy herbs all over it. OK, my ONE disappointment with this box? I had heard they would send me a recipe or two, but I didn't get any :o( oh well- did I mention the blueberry jam?! yum.
The next step is to use this website I found: Eat Real Good where you can plug in all the ingredients you get and they come up with meal plans for you. They suggest I make beef and cabbage casserole, zucchini linguine, pork chops with apples and green beans....and some other stuff that sounds...meh. I think tonight I will make Asian hamburger lettuce wraps...except I don't feel like going to buy onions so I'm just gonna season with the teryaki sauce and spices I have here...and mix in some mushrooms and zucchini. yum!
Sure enough, when I came home from work today there was a big red box waiting outside of my front door.
Amazing! It's like Christmas. I tore open the box immediately-- here's what I got this week and what farms the food came from:
- Green beans ( a LOT of green beans) from Deer Run Farm in Hanover, VA
- Zephyr squash and zucchini (about 5) from Adlyn Farm in Louisa, VA
- Cabbage (I can't get the Cabbage Patch song outta my head) from Deer Run
- Cauliflower from Mole Hill Gardens in Dayton, VA
- Bibb lettuce (g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s) from Mole Hill
- Raspberries from Snead's farm in Fredericksburg, VA
- Mushrooms (oyster? shitake? I need to look this up... but they look delicious) from Sunny Side Farm in Cumberland, VA
- Beets from Adlyn
- Radishes from Holly Hill Farm in Waterview, VA
- Goat Cheese (!!!) from Lover's Retreat in Saluda, VA
- Free range eggs (1 doz) from Edgewood Farms in Dayton, VA
- Whole wheat loaf of bread from The Flour Garden in Richmond, VA
- Ground Beef (2 lbs) from Sunnyvale
- and a little jar of blueberry jam!
It's a lot of food. I feel like royalty right now.
So for all of this, I paid $67. I did some research online and found that this is still more than "average grocery prices" but I'm not sure that it isn't much more (of not the same or less?) than prices at Whole Foods or Ellwoods... I might have to do some field work.
Before this delivery I thought I might be getting a lot of food I don't know how to cook, but I can already see some meals (although they'll be pretty basic): hamburgers on the grill with lettuce (or make lettuce wraps?), green beans stir fried with mushrooms, roasted beets (should I try to pickle some beets!?), coleslaw, cauliflower gratin, and then the regular bread and cheese and eggs and stuff. I already made myself a plate:
The bread is awesome- there's rye seed maybe in it? and the cheese has yummy herbs all over it. OK, my ONE disappointment with this box? I had heard they would send me a recipe or two, but I didn't get any :o( oh well- did I mention the blueberry jam?! yum.
The next step is to use this website I found: Eat Real Good where you can plug in all the ingredients you get and they come up with meal plans for you. They suggest I make beef and cabbage casserole, zucchini linguine, pork chops with apples and green beans....and some other stuff that sounds...meh. I think tonight I will make Asian hamburger lettuce wraps...except I don't feel like going to buy onions so I'm just gonna season with the teryaki sauce and spices I have here...and mix in some mushrooms and zucchini. yum!
Monday, June 13, 2011
and.......Go!
So, to begin, I did not mean for the blog address to sound (in any way) like the recently popular book and movie: Eat Pray Love. However, I realized after I saved it that it might sound similar. What I wanted to do was find a really short and simple way of describing my idea... which is not easy to summarize as a blog address...
I just recently became a member of a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) group called Dominion Harvest. This week or next will be the first week of my first experience with locally grown natural produce, meat, eggs, and cheese - delivered right to my door! The convenience of it is honesty what sealed the deal for me. How can I resist? Then when I realized just HOW much food I should anticipate from my first delivery, I got nervous. This is going to be a challenge. I mean, I know how to cook and have been told that my food is pretty good...but it's just me here. As a single person about to receive a shit-ton of produce, I am going to have to cook my tail off and then learn the best way of preserving the food. Or just invite a bunch of people over and give it away.
I feel like co-ops are truly at the heart of where I think our society/ culture should be heading. I really like the idea of being a part of what you are buying or selling....having more invested. Instead of constantly trying to out-do each other and competing, I feel strongly that we should all be a little more cooperative and add our powers together to work for a common goal. As in: we are all a part of this cluster fuck, why not try to help each other out in order for our OWN lives to improve? Am I right?
I feel this is true for many aspects of our society and I'm sure I will eventually bore the entire internet to death with my philosophies on such things as public education....but I digress. It's just that I think while we can all have vastly different backgrounds and beliefs and what-not, we can find common ground in a few things. Like: we should all have opportunities to eat healthy, safely-grown, digestible, non-toxic food. Right? (Just like we should all have the opportunity to obtain a good, well rounded, education. I mean...right?)
The state of our nation's food industry is not something I claim to know a lot about. I mean, I read Fast Food Nation and watched all those documentaries and that was enough for me. The point is, I would like to share whatever it is I learn through this process of buying-all-farm-raised-food-and-making-it-into -meals-I-can-live-with over the internet. It will be cool it works out and I can somehow also make it more palatable for average working people to feel comfortable cooking actual food. From actual farms.
I mean, if I can survive without chicken McNuggets (yummm) and Lean Cuisines (soooo convenient) then anyone can. I mean anyone. I am not a vegetarian or anything (although I have been in the past) and I don't claim to have any extensive knowledge about nutrition or--anything really. Just gonna try it out. And I'm gonna post it on the internet and see what happens!!!
I just recently became a member of a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) group called Dominion Harvest. This week or next will be the first week of my first experience with locally grown natural produce, meat, eggs, and cheese - delivered right to my door! The convenience of it is honesty what sealed the deal for me. How can I resist? Then when I realized just HOW much food I should anticipate from my first delivery, I got nervous. This is going to be a challenge. I mean, I know how to cook and have been told that my food is pretty good...but it's just me here. As a single person about to receive a shit-ton of produce, I am going to have to cook my tail off and then learn the best way of preserving the food. Or just invite a bunch of people over and give it away.
I feel like co-ops are truly at the heart of where I think our society/ culture should be heading. I really like the idea of being a part of what you are buying or selling....having more invested. Instead of constantly trying to out-do each other and competing, I feel strongly that we should all be a little more cooperative and add our powers together to work for a common goal. As in: we are all a part of this cluster fuck, why not try to help each other out in order for our OWN lives to improve? Am I right?
I feel this is true for many aspects of our society and I'm sure I will eventually bore the entire internet to death with my philosophies on such things as public education....but I digress. It's just that I think while we can all have vastly different backgrounds and beliefs and what-not, we can find common ground in a few things. Like: we should all have opportunities to eat healthy, safely-grown, digestible, non-toxic food. Right? (Just like we should all have the opportunity to obtain a good, well rounded, education. I mean...right?)
The state of our nation's food industry is not something I claim to know a lot about. I mean, I read Fast Food Nation and watched all those documentaries and that was enough for me. The point is, I would like to share whatever it is I learn through this process of buying-all-farm-raised-food-and-making-it-into -meals-I-can-live-with over the internet. It will be cool it works out and I can somehow also make it more palatable for average working people to feel comfortable cooking actual food. From actual farms.
I mean, if I can survive without chicken McNuggets (yummm) and Lean Cuisines (soooo convenient) then anyone can. I mean anyone. I am not a vegetarian or anything (although I have been in the past) and I don't claim to have any extensive knowledge about nutrition or--anything really. Just gonna try it out. And I'm gonna post it on the internet and see what happens!!!
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