Steak and Ratatouille

Last night, I made steak and ratatouille for dinner, because I had eggplant.

The steak was done under the broiler, with the rack set at the top setting.  For 1/2" thick steaks, I broiled 3.5 minutes on the first side, and 2.5 minutes on the second side.  Lawry's low sodium garlic salt and pepper were my only seasonings.  The boys loved it.

For my ratatouille recipe, I refer you to my previous post here:
https://moderndayozzieandharriet.blogspot.com/2019/04/ratatouille.html
I quartered grape tomatoes, used vegetable stock, and it was delicious.

Happy Thanksgiving week, everyone!

Blueberry Salad

Look at that: I was able to do something with blueberries other than eat them all as soon as they entered the house.  I really do love blueberries, so this was a real act of restraint.

We had a light dinner one night, and this seemed like the perfect side.  Of course, the boys picked off their blueberries and ate them before dinner, then complained about the blandness of the salad.  Sorry guys, sucks to be you.

BLUEBERRY SALAD

Mixed baby greens or spring mix
blueberries
slivered almonds
Vinaigrette dressing

Divide the greens among bowls; sprinkle generously with almonds and blueberries, and serve the dressing on the side.  No mystery in salads.  Sorry.

But it was beautiful!  So I get a point for that, right?

Happy Thursday!

Pasta with Kale

I'm not a huge fan of kale.  I find the taste a little bitter, and the edges a little sharp.  Nevertheless, I get kale periodically in my Misfits Markets boxes, and want to make the best of it.  What to do?  Well, how about adding it to a pasta side?  After all, sneaking more veggies into our food is never a bad thing.

PASTA WITH KALE & TOMATOES

1 pound rotini (or your favorite shape)
1 bunch kale
1/2 box grape tomatoes
1 clove garlic
olive oil
salt & pepper

Cook the rotini according to the box directions; pour into a strainer and cover to keep it warm (really! use the pot lid!).  Return the pot to the stove.

Heat 1 to 2 tablespoons, as needed, in the pasta pot.  Mince up the garlic, and saute it in the olive oil over medium-low heat until soft.  Cut the stems out of the kale, then coarsely chop the leaves.  Cut the tomatoes in halves or quarters, depending upon their size.  Add to the olive oil, turn the heat up slightly, and cook until the kale begins to wilt and the tomatoes soften a bit.  Add salt and pepper to taste, then return the pasta to the pot, stirring to combine, and adding more olive oil if necessary to make sure everything is coated.  Leave it on the heat for a minute to be sure everything's heated through, then serve.

My boy loved this.  Patrick announced that he likes kale better than spinach; Ryan announced that Patrick's a little nuts.  In other words, a normal dinner here in our little corner of the world.

Happy Weekending, everyone!

PS: My sewing blog is live, in case you're interested: Marjie Ann Sews!

Roasted Radishes

This recipe, or at least the origins of it, comes to me courtesy of my oldest daughter.

A while back, I had a large bunch of radishes in my produce box, and, let's be honest, you can only eat so many radishes in your salad.  She mentioned to me that she roasts them, and I decided to give it a try!

ROASTED RADISHES

1 bunch of radishes, washed well
2 cloves garlic
6 scallions
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil to coat

Wash the radishes, remove the tops and cut them in half.  Mince the garlic, and chop the scallions.  Put all 3 in a bowl, add a little salt and pepper, then enough olive oil to coat them.  Stir together thoroughly, then turn onto a greased baking tray and spread in a single layer.  Bake at 350F for 20 minutes or so, until the radishes are tender.

The peppery flavor of the radishes greatly mellows with roasting.  This made a great side dish with steak, because it had enough flavor to stand out.  And I believe I added the radish greens to soup in lieu of spinach, which was another win!  Sadly, no pictures; I so often forget to take them nowadays.

I'm going to try to remember to write more often.  In order to (maybe) make it easier to decide what to do, I've started a sewing blog: Marjie Ann Sews!  So, food, family and pups here, sewing and such things there.  Maybe I'll be more organized and less indecisive that way.

Edited to add: Sewing blog is live; here is the link: Marjie Ann Sews!

Happy Thursday, everyone!

Veggies!

I've been lazy.  Actually, stuck for inspiration.  Plus, I flew to Knoxville to visit my daughter for 5 days.  That was nice.  We went to a place called AR Workshops and did some woodcrafting.

I know they're franchised, and I think there are outlets in a lot of states, if that's something that floats your boat.  It's a fun afternoon activity with family or friends.

We also went to the zoo.  In honor of the fact that students were filtering back for the start of school, I wore the university's colors.  I'm not actually that big a fan of orange, myself.

I stopped my veggie shipments for 2 weeks while I was gone, so this morning was my first one after my return!

There's a fair amount of fruits in here, plus 5 beets with the greens still attached.  Presumably, you can used beet greens like spinach and all of those other greens.  I guess time will tell.

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Spaghetti Squash: It's What's for Lunch

Last weekend, I went to visit my friend GMarie at her Carriage Corner B&B.  It's always a nice getaway.  When I left, she gifted me with 2 spaghetti squash which her husband had grown.  Of course, I roasted one after quartering it, coating the cut edges with olive oil, and sprinkling it with garlic salt.  When it was finished, I shredded it, mixed it with diced tomatoes and freshly shredded parmesan, and we had it with steak.  Talk about a great side!

So, since there was some left over, I carefully saved it for my lunch.  I reheated it in the microwave for 2 minutes, then chopped up a small (maybe 2 ounce) piece of steak, and stirred it into the spaghetti squash.  What a lunch! (And my pretty, last-one-in-the-store bowl makes it all the better!)

Thatcher was jealous, so I gave him about a tablespoon of my squash.  Can't spoil the little guy, after all (ha.....)!

Happy Thursday, everyone!

Produce Box, Week 8

My box arrived about 15 minutes in front of torrential downpours, and, as usual, was great fun to open!

This week they included butternut squash, eggplant, summer squash, baby greens, English cucumbers, Bok Choy, onions, broccoli, redskin potatoes, apples, mangoes and blueberries!  Looks like a fun salad is on the menu for tonight, and I guarantee blueberries will be involved.  (I also laughed at the fact that one onion was huge, and the others were tiny.)

Happy Wednesday, everyone; we're past the halfway mark in the work week!

More Food With Veggies

Well, there is a lot of veggie inclusion going around in my little corner of the world.  Today I bring you 2 dishes, neither of which was all that spectacular on its own, but which were actually excellent.

TOMATO ZUCCHINI MIXUP

1/4 box grape tomatoes, sliced in half
2 zucchini, sliced
olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
salt and pepper

Slice the zucchini into thin, bite sized slices.  Cut the grape tomatoes in half.  Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan or small skillet, then add the garlic and cook until softened.  Stir in the tomatoes and zucchini slices, then cook, stirring occasionally, until they are fork tender (or as soft as you'd like them).  Add salt to taste, and plenty of pepper.  Even Thatcher approves of this.  OK, he's a dog, and as such, he approves of just about any food you'll share with him.  Still....

RICE MEDLEY

1 Cup rice
2 cups water
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp butter
1 onion, diced
1 large carrot, shredded
1 zucchini, sliced
1 summer squash, sliced
1 bunch red or green kale

Put the rice, water and salt in a pan and cook in the usual way.
When the rice is about half done, melt the butter in a saucepan and cook the onion for a minute or 2, until softened (this gets rid of any harsh flavor the onion might add to the other veggies), add the zucchini, summer squash and carrot, and cook for about 5 minutes.  Add the kale, and cook until wilted.   Remove from the heat, and stir into the rice as it's almost finished cooking.

Clearly, I served this with roasted beets and steak, although I can't say I have a clear memory of that.

This is a good way to add veggies to an otherwise boring starch.  Don't get me wrong, I like boring; that's how I've always operated.  But some folks (like my sons) don't.

Happy Monday, everyone!

Roasted Fennel Bulbs

This one was rather interesting.  I've never actually seen a real live fennel before one came in my produce box, and was somewhat at a loss as to how to use it.  (Truthfully, I didn't know what it was; I took a picture, sent it to my daughters, and asked if anyone could identify it.)  Enter the great and powerful G-- search engine.  This was a suggestion, adapted to my own idiosyncrasies, of course, and we rather enjoyed it.

ROASTED FENNEL BULBS

Fennel Bulbs
vegetable oil
parmesan
garlic salt
fresh ground black pepper

Cut off the fennel fronds and set them aside.  They can be used for garnish or added to other recipes (or so I'm told).  Slice the fennel bulb about 1/4" thick, side to side.  Lightly brush both sides of the bulb with vegetable oil.  Mix together the parmesan, garlic salt (I use Lowry's low sodium), and pepper.  Sprinkle on one side of the slice, lay it down on a greased baking sheet, then sprinkle the mix on top.  Repeat for all of your slices.  Roast at 350F to 400F (wherever you have your oven set) for 10 to 15 minutes, until the tops are browned.  Chop some of the feathery little fronds and sprinkle on top of the roasted bulbs, just for the sake of pretty.

That's it!  Easy peasy (although not necessarily summer friendly).  We had a day where it only got to be 65 and rainy, so this was a good choice for that day.  I'm going to be making it again soon, given that I got more fennel in this week's box.

Happy Weekending, everyone!

Produce Box, Week 7

I've gotten produce boxes for the past 2 weeks, but not photographed them, having not been home for an absurd amount of time. 

Anyway, my latest box, which I think was week 7, arrived Friday.

There was a great, random selection of veggies, and lots of fruit.  Onions seem to be the one thing that always arrive.  Since everyone uses plenty of them, no problem there, right?  Also included: beets, broccoli, summer squash, English cucumbers, celery, garlic scapes,  grape tomatoes, limes, yellow delicious apples, mangoes, white nectarines, and one mysterious but very pretty thing right there in the center: Romanesco Broccoli.  It's formed into a head like cauliflower, but very pointy, almost space-age looking.  I cut the florets off the stem, steamed it (they turned brighter green) and served with butter.  The flavor is a little sharper than regular broccoli, but the design led to a discussion amongst the 10 of us here about fibonacci sequences and designs, and the fact that this is, indeed such a design.  Hmmm.  Conversations around my table can get to be rather wide ranging.

With all of these limes, I need to get looking for something exciting to cook with them.  Maybe as a seasoning for my fish tonight?

Happy Monday, everyone!

Produce Box, Week 4

This week's box is a little bit different.  A lot less fruit, for one.

Also, eggplant!  I see ratatouille in the future, maybe tonight.

The baby redskin potatoes ought to be good.  Of course, plenty of onions.  But they're pretty much a staple, so they always get used.  I also got lettuce with red tips, red kale, scallions, those dandy little cherry tomatoes, broccoli, butternut squash, radishes and pears.

I went to Shannon's house for a day, so we could go to the zoo.  I brought one bunch of radishes with me, because there is no way on earth we will use both bundles.  But the rest is already on the agenda.

And I guess I need to post pictures of some of the things I made with previous boxes.  I'm a little slow here; life is overwhelming some days, when there's so much to do and so little time.

Happy Sunday, everyone; I hope you're enjoying this early summer day.

More Produce

This will get boring.  But it's the only way I'll be able to remember my weekly Misfits Markets box.

Red leaf lettuce and tomatoes for salad, along with nectarines, apples, lemons, grapefruit, zucchini, onions, butternut squash, bok choy and fennel.  I confess, I had to ask one of my daughters what the bok choy and fennel were.

I cut open a grapefruit one morning, and offered the second half to Ryan. He took one bite and rejected it.  Mark tried it and liked it very much; he and I shared the second one this morning.

I also have to say that we were supremely disappointed in the tomatoes.  They were standard hothouse type, relatively flavorless tomatoes, unlike the cherry tomato assortment we got in a previous box.  Still, a nice assortment overall, and Ryan commented that this produce box is a good thing, and I should continue ordering it.

Happy Sunday, everyone!

Root Veggies, But Not Imaginative

So, in the last produce box, I found beets and colorful carrots.  I've never actually cooked beets; the only ones I've ever had were the canned pickled beets.  You know the ones, packed in purple juice, that stain everything on your plate....

So I peeled and chopped 2 beets, lightly coated them with olive oil, and sprinkled with Himalayan pink salt.  Roasted at 350 in my convection oven, stirring once or twice, until they were fork tender (I don't know how long....please don't judge).  They did shrink down; the baking sheet was completely covered when they went in.

They smelled like potatoes as they were roasting, which isn't entirely a surprise, since they're root vegetables.  Beets are a little sweet, so the salt was a nice little contrast.  Ryan and Mark liked them, Patrick fed most of his to Thatcher, and Patrick's girlfriend raved about how wonderful they are.  (To be fair, since the girl eats mostly veggies, and she's very polite, I think she'd rave about them no matter how poorly I did with them.)  She also told me I could "juice" the third beet.  I did a lot of nodding and smiling for that one.

The other thing I was interested in was my colorful carrots.  I scrubbed and peeled them (one of the purple ones was actually orange in the middle; it looked really interesting), put them in a pan with a touch of salt and 1/4 cup of water, cooked off the water at medium heat (maybe 10 minutes), which was the time it took to make them fork tender, then added 1 tablespoon each butter and honey and heated until both were melted and coating the carrots.  They were not too sweet, with marvelous flavor.  Plus, all that color!

So, root veggies.  Pretty basic, but really good.

Happy weekending, everyone!

Produce Box

If I remember to take pictures of my produce box every week, and post it, then I might start remembering to take other pictures, too.

At the very least, it will enable me to review what I've gotten over time, and determine if it's worthwhile for me, that is to say, am I getting produce I like and use?

This week:  More kale, more lettuce, a box of baby spinach, 2 boxes of heirloom cherry tomatoes (they were fantastic!), colorful carrots, 3 beets, more spaghetti squash (Ryan and I are pretty pleased), apples, mangoes, lemons, potatoes, onions.  I'm going to try making soup with the kale and seeing how we like it.

There we are! It only took me 4 days to get to this!  Happy Tuesday, everyone!

About That Kale

I appreciated everyone's suggestions for kale, and especially enjoyed Sue's opinion that she'd feed it to the rabbits and deer.  The only problem with that is that said critters think my yard is a smorgasbord already; I surely don't want to encourage them.

That said, I decided to go a different route and cook it up to go with our fish on Monday.

KALE WITH GARLIC

Kale - whatever you have
2 cloves garlic
1/2 lemon
touch of salt
olive oil

Heat the olive oil in a skillet or large saucepan.  Peel and coarsely chop the garlic (hey - I have the bulbs of fresh garlic; why not use them, despite the fact that the pre-chopped is easier to use?), and saute at medium heat until softened.  Cut the ribs out of the kale, and chop it into 1" to 2" pieces.  Add the kale to the skillet with a touch of salt - whatever amount you like - and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes, until it's bright green and soft.  Squeeze half a lemon over it, or the garlic will be overpowering.

Ryan said it was fine, but not as good as spinach, while Patrick vehemently disagreed and said it was much better than spinach.  Go figure; the man who wouldn't even try spaghetti squash really liked the kale.  The world is a confusing place.

So, having baked the spaghetti squash, steamed the artichokes and sauteed the kale, along with enjoying the requisite salads and really loving the fruit, I'm eagerly awaiting my next "ugly produce" box at the end of the week.  And it might even inspire me to remember to take pictures of food!

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Ratatouille!

Have you ever heard of The Great Courses?  They sell pre-recorded college level courses about a variety of wonderful topics ranging from lifestyle to history, physics and more.  In January, I received a sale catalog from them, and jumped with both feet into buying some of their courses on DVD.  One of them was The Everyday Gourmet: Rediscovering The Lost Art of Cooking.  Eh, why not?  I could use some refreshers.  And it's not like I think I'm a great cook; I've just been able to fake it for the last 40 years or so.

And this course has been terrific.Even when it's something I think I know, I've enjoyed having it presented to me such that I'm certain I've been doing it right for all these decades.

Lesson 3 Was about essential kitchen tools from pots to shears.  And what did we cook in that lesson?  Ratatouille.  I've heard of this for years, never had it, and never thought of making it.  But somehow, after seeing this lesson, I had to make it.  My version is a little different from the classical version, in that I don't eat peppers. And this guy doesn't give actual measurements, because he doesn't know how much you want to cook, so he's my kind of cook.  Here's my version, with my usual slipshod approximate measurements.

RATATOUILLE

Olive Oil (keep the bottle out; you'll need plenty)
1 onion, diced
1 eggplant, diced
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 28 ounce can of whole tomatoes or tomato concasse*
4 cloves garlic
1 green zucchini
2 yellow squash
thyme and/or oregano, to taste
liquid from tomatoes, vegetable or chicken stock
salt
ground black pepper.

Using a large flat bottomed pan, pour olive oil in the bottom and saute the onion over medium heat until soft.  Add the eggplant, and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring often, and adding olive oil to keep the pan from drying out.  The chef instructor says "eggplant is very thirsty, so add more oil for it to absorb."  Add the tomato paste, stir it around and cook until it turns to brick red, then add the tomatoes, quartered.  Turn the heat down a little.  Peel the garlic and crush it with the flat of the knife, then coarsely chop it and add it to the pan.  Add the zucchini and yellow squash (and peppers, if you must, but not in my house, thank you) and herbs (fresh or dried, to taste), and liquid - just enough so the veggies won't stick and burn.  You might need to add more liquid as it cooks.  Simmer about 20 minutes, add salt and pepper to taste.  When the eggplant is very tender, it's ready to serve.  Add more fresh herbs to the top, if you're of a mind to do so, or just serve.  I served it with chicken breast and French bread, and even my veggie-hating Patrick had to admit it was good.  His vegetarian girlfriend raved about it for about 3 days.  And I made it again 2 weeks later, that's how good it was.

For tomato concassee:

Cut out the stem.  Cut a cross in the skin at the opposite end.  Drop them into a pan of boiling water.  The skin will start to peel away pretty quickly - in 15 to 30 seconds in my experience.  Take them out, drop them into ice water so they cool, and peel away the skin.  Then cut them in half and squeeze out the seeds.  Save the water to add to the ratatouille.  I did this the first time, then just used canned tomatoes the second time.  It was easier, and didn't taste any different.  Just sayin'.

And, for the record, in addition to learning to cook, I'm also going to learn to draw, play the piano, speak French, take pictures, paint, improve my vocabulary, and brush up on some history.  Oh, and math.  Don't hold your breath waiting; I'm not that ambitious.  But it's nice to know all these options are there when I need to keep busy.

Happy weekending, everyone!

Roasted Roots and Delicata Squash

Last night, to Patrick's horror, I cooked the blue potatoes.  Oh, they're purple, not blue, and I think that might have made it worse.  To his credit, he did try them, and upon discovering that they taste just like "normal" potatoes, he ate them.  Didn't even share any with his dog.

Roasted Roots: Chop up potatoes, carrots, onion, garlic and (if you have it, which I didn't) celery.  Spread out in a pan, salt lightly, add some vegetable oil and toss well, then respread them out and roast with you meat at whatever temperature you're using for an hour or so.

Delicata squash: As Gemma commented, it was wonderful!  Cut in half lengthwise, remove the seeds, brush the top with butter and add a couple of small pats to the center, salt very lightly, and roast until fork tender.  It cooks faster than acorn or butternut squash (likely because the side walls are thinner), it's softer and less stringy, and it's absolutely delicious.

Of course, Patrick didn't even try it, while Ryan and I both greatly enjoyed it. "Mom, it's squash and you know I don't do that kind of thing."  At least that's much more polite than he was as a kid.

Happy Thursday, everyone!

Marinated Artichoke Hearts

This is an easy side for a summer meal.  My dearly beloved loves artichokes no matter how prepared, so the other night I decided to surprise him with something he hadn't had in a while.

MARINATED ARTICHOKE HEARTS

Canned Artichoke Hearts

Marinade:

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp water
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp onion powder
2/3 cup vegetable oil

Drain the artichoke hearts, rinse in cold water, quarter and put in a bowl.  Pour the vinegar and water into a cruet or jar, add the garlic powder, onion powder and Italian seasoning (note: you can use your own blend of seasonings, but I buy mine from Spice Barn, and it's good).  Shake together to blend, then add the oil and shake well.  Pour some over the artichokes and refrigerate for at least an hour.  Stir before serving.

The marinade also makes a great salad dressing.  Note that there's no salt in it, and yet my dearly beloved salt fiend really liked this.  Canned artichokes do have some salt in them, but I'm not about to steam, peel and chop artichokes so I can make these from scratch.  That defeats the point of "fast and easy", don't you think?

Green Beans Provencal

Jeff bought me this cookbook for my birthday last year. He's a great son, isn't he? This is another cookbook with a lot of verbiage and not as many recipes as one might think, but it's pretty.

Anyway, in searching for a new way to cook boring old veggies, I stumbled upon this recipe. It was easy, and gave a while lot more flavor to green beans.

GREEN BEANS PROVENCAL

1 pound whole green beans
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup boiling water
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped parsley leaves
2 tbsp butter

Add the salt to boiling water, add the green beans, and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, until tender-crisp. Pour into a colander to drain and cover with the pot lid to retain the heat. In the same pan, heat the olive oil, then add the garlic and cook for a minute. Add the parsley and cook until it wilts. Return the beans to the pan, stir to coat and heat through. Turn off the heat, add the butter and cover the pan for a minute, until the butter melts. Stir again and serve.

And since I have no pictures of this side dish, you can instead see what my refrigerators look like the day after I get a medium sized food delivery. Of course, there's a separate, small refrigerator which holds 8 gallons of milk, and two freezers for meats and frozen veggies.
I just thought you might like a glance at some of the lunacy which is my life.