Fridge Pickles

One of my first baskets a few months ago had pickling cucumbers in it. I was so excited to make pickles. I wasn't prepared for the whole water bath thing yet though, so I decided to make fridge pickles. They are way easier and they last a really long time (in the fridge). I think it has to do with the ph balance or something. My mom used to make a huge thing of pickles every summer. It was delicious. Plus my kid loves pickles. And you could use any veggie, not just cucumbers.

Anyway, i just googled a recipe and found a great one. Can't find it anymore, but it's essentially this recipe in a nutshell

Check out my giveaway for a chance to win some super cool popsicle molds and a cookbook!

Lobster Ravioli and Pesto

So, I'll admit, making pesto with the basil from my Italian Pack, probably isn't the most exciting or unique idea. But I don't really care, cause i could eat pesto by the spoonful, all by it's lonesome. I love pesto. And fresh pesto is really the best. I had been watching "Extra Virgin" on the Cooking Channel, and they made pesto in their mortar and pestle. Now, they had this enormous mortar and pestle that was like 300 years old or something. I just have this little old mortar and pestle. So, I was going to be all fancy pants and make my pesto the old fashioned way. Until about 45 seconds in, when I realized that I didn't have the magic of television to fast forward through the 4 hours it was going to take to make pesto by hand. So, I switched to the food processor (oh, by the way, the reason I was really using the mortar and pestle, was because I was too lazy to wash the food processor which was in the dishwasher, but I did anyway).

In any case, homemade pesto is totally simple. I used two crushed cloves of garlic, lemon juice, salt, pepper Parmesan and instead of pine nuts, I used sunflower seeds. I like sunflower seeds and they are way cheaper than pine nuts. Plus sunflower seeds are way good for you.

The asparagus I roasted with some olive oil and lemon pepper.

Check out my summer giveaway

Baba Ghanoush and Other Adventures in Eggplant

Ok, so eggplant, I like. I've always liked eggplant, but it's one of those veggies that hardly ever bought. Before Bountiful Baskets I really was in a veggie rut. I would buy maybe some lettuce and cucumbers or something to make salad. Broccoli. Uh, oh and maybe some zucchini or squash. Now, I typically get at least one or two curve balls. Not usually something that is so foreign I have no idea what to do with it. But usually something that wasn't on my typical shopping list.

So, last week when I got eggplant, I made eggplant Parmesan. Oh, I actually made too many of the little fried lovelies, because my friend donated hers to me. I froze the extras and figured I could make single serving eggplant Parmesan by just throw them in the toaster oven and warm them up. Actually, I took a couple of the leftover ones and topped a pizza with them. This was based roughly on a chicken parm pizza at a local pizza joint. All of the fried eggplant deliciousness was awesome.

So, this week when I got more eggplant, I wasn't thinking eggplant parmesan. First of all, it's still 137,000 degrees outside, so a heavy cheesy meal was the best sounding thing. Ok, who am I kidding, breaded, fried and cheesy always sounds good. But I did want a change of pace. I've kind of been on a Middle Eastern kick lately. So, I thought I would make Baba Ghanoush.

I was at Target when the inspiration struck me. So, I thought I'd see if they had tahini. I knew I had just seen it somewhere completely random the other day, and thought perhaps it was Target. It totally wasn't. I confused almost every single employee in Target asking for tahini. For those of you who are just as confused, tahini is simply sesame seed paste. It's used in hummus and baba ghanoush. But I texted my mom who assured me that I could make it sans the tahini. And it would cut down on the fat as well.

All I did was cut the eggplant in half lengthwise, brushed with olive oil and baked cut side down for about 40 minutes on 425, till soft. Then, I scooped it into the food processor with two cloves garlic, grated onion, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Now, I was supposed to put olive oil in it too, but I totally forgot. So, I drizzled some on top. Now, since there is essentially just eggplant in this dip, I used that as an excuse to chow down on all of it. And it was delicious.

I made kebabs from the bell pepper, mushrooms from the basket, along with cubed chicken. I simply brushed with olive oil and topped with curry, cayenne salt and pepper, then grilled till the chicken was done. And pita. Gotta have some warm, fluffy pita.


Don't forget to check out my giveaway

Summery Giveaway!

Ok, it's time for my giveaway.

I love, love, love these Tovolo popsicle molds. We get so much fruit in our baskets, a lot of times it's hard for me to get through it all. Popsicles are a great way to use some of that fruit and get your kids eating some extra fruit (maybe some yogurt too).

So, here's my giveaway.

One set of Tovolo ice cream popsicle molds



and this Delicious book by Krystina Castella.




The rules are simple. For each thing you do, you get 1 point.

Follow my blog and comment about it, get one point.
"Like" my facebook page and comment about it, get one point.
Follow me on twitter and comment about it, get one point.
Promote me on your blog and comment about it, get one point.
Promote me on your facebook page and comment about it get one point.
Vote for us on "picket fence blogs" and comment about it, get one point.

The contest will run from Monday, August 8th thru August 31st at midnight.

Pizza Stuffed Squash

I got three enormous squashes this week and they seemed to be begging to be stuffed. I wanted something a little different and I came across a recipe that called for pepperoni. I thought that was brilliant, but these seemed a little large to have pepperoni be the star player. But, it had me thinking pizza. So, I picked up some Italian turkey sausage at the store. I used the whole package, but I probably didn't need to, because I ended up with too much stuffing. However, the mixture would be great served over pasta or rice as well. It was a hit with the family and it was low carb-ish and had a variety of colors, flavors and veggies. I almost snuck some spinach in there, but forgot.

1 package Italian sausage (I used turkey)
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 onion, diced
i can diced black olives
1 jar pizza sauce
several handfuls of mozzerella
parmesan, if you so desire

Decase (is that a word?) the sausage, and crumble it in the pan and let brown, with some olive oil. Then add the pepper and onion and cooked until softened. Then add pizza sauce and olives and let it warm to a simmer. Meanwhile, slice the squash lengthwise and scrap out the insides. Then spoon warm mixture into the squash, top with cheese and cook on a baking pan till tender, about 20 minutes at 350.

If you want it extra cheesy, you can add cheese to the mixture before stuffing the squash. I simply added it to the top.

Between the sauce and the sausage, there were plenty of seasonings, so I added no salt to it.

Hey, don't forget to add me to your facebook, I'll be doing a giveaway before the end of the month.

Chicken Lettuce Wraps with Spicy Peanut Sauce

I made a menu for this week, which included lettuce wraps. I was a little tired of using my romaine for salads only. And it's hot hot. So lettuce wraps sounded great. I was going to use ground meat of some sort. But, I went to the store and forgot all about the meat until I was at the car. How I forgot meat, is beyond me, because I even brought a list. In any case, I wasn't about to leave my food in the car and go back for meat, because, as mentioned in a previous post, it's roughly 137,000 degrees in the great state of Texas these days. So, I decided to use chicken instead. I simply used one zuchinni, diced. Plus one package of chicken breast tenders, also diced. For the sauce, I used:

2 tablespoons spicy peanut butter

if you don't have spicy peanut butter (you really should) you could use regular peanut butter and add some ceyenne or hot sauce. Or if you don't like spicy, just use regular peanut butter.

about 2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons sugar
ginger, grated, till I got bored (2 teaspoons)
1 clove garlic
rice wine vinegar
a bit of water if it's too thick.

I added some corn starch and I don't think it's needed, because the peanut butter seems to thicken it. Also, it wasn't very salty, so if you like salt, add more soy sauce and less water.

After the chicken was cooked, with the zuchinni, I tossed it together with the sauce and let it cook for a moment.

I also used some basmati rice in them, but for a low glycemic meal, leave the rice and sugar out. And if you really like peanuts, throw some in there for crunch.

Don't forget to like my facebook page, I'll be doing my giveaway soon.

Ice Cream Pops

Check these out. I love these.

Tovolo Ice-Cream Pop Molds, Set of 4


I them ordered off of amazon a few weeks ago. I already had a couple other sets of the same brand. But I saw these and thought they were adorable and fun. I used my strawberries to make "strawberry ice cream." Which, is essentially strawberries and yogurt. Typically, I would have used vanilla yogurt, but all I had was plain. So, I added some sugar to the strawberries and let them sit for a while and blended them with the yogurt. Aside from the added sugar, I think this is a totally healthy afternoon snack. Especially when it's 137,000 degrees outside, like it's been lately.

I will be doing a giveaway soon, so don't forget to "like" my facebook page, so you can stay updated.

Rice with Mushrooms

My mom used to make this recipe all the time. It's so simply, yet so delicious. I used my mushrooms from last weeks basket to make it. I used brown rice, because that's all I had. But white rice is honestly better. But, as I was making it, I was thinking it would be amazing with wild rice.

I used half a container of mushrooms, because that's what I had. But you could certainly use the whole container. I would have if I had a whole container left.

First slice the mushrooms, then brown them with some olive oil. Then, add one diced onion and some salt to taste. And black pepper. Lots of black pepper. Then take rice, already prepared (like 3 cups) and mix it all together in the pan till warm. Then eat it. I served mine with rosemary chicken and some carrots.

Did you know that portabella mushrooms have more potassium than a banana?

Oh, I'm going to do a giveaway soon, so be sure to follow my facebook page so you'll be informed.

Picka-chee Patties

I was at work this morning, before I realized that I hadn't taken any meat out of the freezer to defrost. I do technically have a roast in the fridge, but tonight was not a roast kind of night. With Tweety Bird having volleyball practice, that gives me about 40 minutes from starting the meal, to when we have to leave. So, I figured I could pull something out of the pantry for dinner.

I remembered I still had some spinach in the fridge, from my basket. Now, my daughter will eat all kinds of veggies. She will eat brussel sprouts without a second thought. Asparagus, no problem. But her least favorite veggie, by far, is spinach. She hates it. So, I have two choices when feeding spinach. I can either just tell her to deal with it and eat it. Or I can do my best to transform it to something a little more pleasing to her palette.

So, I decided to make garbanzo bean patties. Or chickpeas. Or pickachees, as my daughter refers to them. I threw the garbanzo beans and spinach into the food processor. I used the smaller food processor, so I had to do it in batches. I have to say, next time I may add an egg or something else to hold it together. And possibly grind the garbanzo beans finer. But everyone liked them a lot. I served theirs on grilled bread and ate mine by itself. We ate these as the main course (because I totally forgot about that whole roasted broccoli thing I had planned), but these would go great as a side dish to chicken or lamb as well.

Recipe:

1 can rinsed and drained garbanzo beans
1 and a half cups chopped spinach
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup crumbled feta
some chopped parsley
1-2 TBLS olive oil
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp ceyenne (or more or less)
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients (except feta) in food processor until blended. Fold feta into mixture. Form into patties and grill until cooked.

Like I said, maybe adding an egg to the mix would help.

Fajita Tacos

I was craving avocados tonight. And beef. Maybe I need iron. I don't know. At work when I was deciding what to eat I was thinking taco salad. It's great because I can make a giant taco salad for myself and it was easily transformed to regular old tacos for those in the family that weren't terribly interested in having a salad for dinner. Which is all of us. But then I figured if I made fajitas, I was still getting the benefits of some extra veggies in there. Plus if I made enough there were be leftovers for lunch tom morrow. I can just throw the fajita mix on a salad and I'm good to go.

From my basket I used mushroom, onions and tomatoes.

First I sliced one onion, one green pepper and about 6 mushrooms and threw them in a hot skillet with a tad bit of oil and let them brown. Then I removed them from the pan and cranked up the heat so I could brown the meat and get it all carmely. I mixed it all together and topped with diced avocado, tomatoes and cheese.

I was thinking it was kind of like a fajita/Philly cheese steak/taco. It was pretty awesome though.

Asian Basket

I was really happy with the Asian Pack we got this weekend. It had bok choy, which everyone likes. And napa cabbage. Although, that's not a totally foreign veggie to us, I don't know that I've ever bought it. Usually, I just get regular cabbage to throw in stir fries. So I chopped up all the bok choy and all the cabbage. I was hoping to have enough leftovers for lunch for hubby and myself. That was a lot of veggies. I had to cook it in batches. Luckily, just as I thought, it cooked down pretty well. I kind of steam, stir fried it. Added some ginger paste, garlic, green onions and jalapenoes. Oh and the snow peas too. Served it with some grilled chicken and miso soup. Tweety bird loves miso soup.

I tossed the veggies with a tiny bit of Soy Vey.

Soy Vay Veri Veri Teriyaki Marinade, 21-Ounce Bottles (Pack of 6)

Figs

This weeks basket was pretty darn good. I ordered the Asian Pack, which included napa cabbage, bok choy, green onions, snow peas, garlic, ginger and basil. That was just the Asian Pack, not the regeular basket. The regualr basket had, among other things, a box of figs. I had gone fig shopping a few months ago, because I came across a recipe for fig, procioutto and gorgonzola pizza, topped with arugla. When I went fig shopping, I came up empty handed. Even the fru fru place around here, Market Street didn't have them. Well, maybe they were out of season, I'm not really sure. So, I was really excited to find not one, but two packs of figs in my basket. My friend gave me a pack from her basket. Not sure if it was a birthday present, or that she just doesn't like figs.

So, even though I wasn't really in the cooking mood last night, we've been eating out too much lately and I knew I had to cook. I grilled the pizza, which is how we usually make pizza. I think that's where I went wrong. When we grill the pizza, I don't think it gets very much induction (is that the word I'm thinking of?). The toppings don't get as hot. It's usually fine for pepperoni or something, but I think these ingredients really needed a chance to marry. And they didn't. They hardly got cooked. Which is fine, everything could have been eaten raw. I could see how it could work, but I don't think it was a keeper. The arugula was a nice touch, because everything else would have tasted pretty heavy if it wasn't for the peppery arugula.

So, anyway, I just ate the rest of the figs. Because come to find out, the rest of the household isn't too big on figs.

Happy Birthday to Me

My basket pick up this week happened to fall right smack dab on top of my birthday. I really didn't mind that much, except as previously discussed I'm not terribly partial to mornings. And my pick up is at 7:15. Well, my dear sweet husband offered to make the pick up for me. Which was awesome. I sort of got to sleep in. Not nearly as much as I would have liked, but enough anyway.

Now, not only did he pick up my basket (well, it's technically ours), he also made me breakfast. Well, I made the bacon with plans to make everyone breakfast, and he finished it off by creating a delicious BLT.

Kinda looks like a face that's going to eat me!

The BLT was fantasic, as it's pretty much my favorite sandwiches (okay just one of them). What would have maade it better would have been if it was served on some toasty sourdough. But alas, all we had in the house was this uber healthy bread. Which I like. But it's not sourdough.

Meringue Fail

So, last week, when we had a basket overflowing with mangoes, I thought the idea of mango meringue sounded spectacular. So, Tweety Bird and I started making this delicious concoction, only to find that first of all it had a lot of steps. And we started way to late in the day. First you have to put the pie crust into the pan. Well, first most of the recipes actually called for you to make the crust. But I wasn't about to do that. I wanted to create a homemade masterpiece. But I didn't really want to create pie dough. Then you freeze the pie dough. Then you cook the pie dough. Then you make the custard. Then it has to cool then set in the fridge. Then you can actually make the meringue portion. I didn't get to the meringue portion though, because the custard never set. It remained a soupy mess until a few days later I tossed it. But since I had the equivilant of 14 mangoes, frozen in ice cube trays, I thought I would give it a shot. Not the most patriotic of desserts, but I was determined. So, I tried again today. And I actually remembered the all important step of making sure that after I put the dough in the pan, to top it with aluminum foil and covered with dried beans. I didn't do this last time and the pie bubbled up in the middle. So, this time I was off to a good start. And I made the custard and put twice the amount of cornstarch that it called for. Then I poured it in the pie and hoped for the best.







Here's the result.

I have to say, this picture is totally misleading. The pie still never set. It was like mango soup. i served it with spoons. I should have served it in a bowl. My wonderful family all said it tasted great. I think it tasted like mango soup. And I'm sticking to lemon meringue from now on. I've made those before and they didn't turn out like soup.

4th of July

Saturday's basket was less than spectacular. I got a head of iceberg lettuce (yawn), broccoli (meh) and...a bunch of fruit. Mainly plums. I was less than excited. I actually had to go to the store and buy veggies this week. But, nevertheless, it's our nations birthday and I decided to make something delicious. While hubby made a beer can chicken with the snazzy gadget I got him for Christmas, I made a quinoa salad. I tossed with kalamata olives, grilled grape tomatoes (from last weeks basket) and feta. I tossed the tomatoes with some olive oil before I put them on the grill and I thought I was going to cause a house fire. So, when they started exploding, I removed them from the grill. I tossed a little olive oil and salt into the mix as well.

On a side note, I think it's important to remember that it may in fact be too hot to grill if a. the grill temp is almost hot enough before you add coals. And b. when the grilling tools are too hot to touch simply from sitting in the sun.

Happy 4th!

Momma Told Me: Tasty Tuesday- Nature'z Candyz Giveaway and Review...

Oooooh Check out this giveaway. I can't wait to try these. I bet Tweety Bird would like these.


Momma Told Me: Tasty Tuesday- Nature'z Candyz Giveaway and Review...

Ramen Noodles

One of Tweety Bird's favorite foods is stir fried noodles. I like it cause I can chop up just about any veggie and throw it in there. Maybe not the best choice for volleyball nights, since time is pretty tight. But it's still healthy and not terribly time consuming. I used half a head of cabbage from my basket, and two carrots, half an onion and stir fried that all up, along with some frozen veggies too. I love frozen stir fry veggies, they are great in a pinch. I chopped up some chicken too and threw everything together with some Ginger People Ginger Sesame Sauce ( 12x12.7 OZ)'> I got on clearance at Market Street.

Almost everything we've eaten this week has come from my Bountiful Basket.

Shrimp Stuffed Chile Relleno

For dinner last night I made the most awesome dinner I've pretty much ever made. With my basket last week, one of the extras I got was a Mexican Basket. It had tomatillos, garlic, shallots, limes (I have so many limes) cilantro, jalapenos.....And probably some other stuff too. It was so awesome. I think it was seven bucks. So, I knew Sunday would be Mexican food night. I pretty much used the whole basket. Tweety Bird helped with squeeze some limes.

Which I added to about 8 small tomatillos, one diced jalapeno, two cloves garlic, a dash of cayenne and salt. I tossed it all in a food processor till it was all...chopped. Then I put that in a pot with some chicken stock. I love these little Pacific Natural Foods Organic Free Range Chicken Broth, 8-Ounce Pouches (Pack of 24) they are perfect because so much of the time I don't want the whole box. I only need maybe a quarter of a cup. Then, inevitably it gets stuck in the back of the fridge, and I hate to waste. So, these are awesomely perfect.

In fact, I used maybe half of this for the sauce then maybe half of it for the Chile relleno filling. I grilled some shrimp, diced some shallots...well, I'm pretty sure they were shallots and garlic and cooked them down with the stock.

I was aiming for these mind bogglingly delicious Chile Rellenoes served by Chuy's. I don't even care what's in them. I love chilies in any way shape or form. However, when the form becomes stuffed and fried, it's exponentially delicious. So I made a batter of corn starch, flour, baking powder and salt and dipped and fried them. After my husband and I charred the peppers. They were kinda small, and I made too much filling, so I had to make some taquitos, or rolled tacos as well.

The result, was so fantastic. The sauce really made it. This picture does not even begin to do it justice. I think it may have been too hot for some people in the house. But eh....what are you gonna do?

Mangoes, Mangoes everywhere

This was a crazy weekend. We had our block party Saturday, so I really didn't have a chance to use any of my basket on Saturday at all. Did eat a lot of delicious food though, including tacos de lengua. Which, in case you weren't aware is Tweety-Bird's favorite thing to eat. Also, in case you weren't aware, tacos de lengua are tongue tacos. Beef tongue tacos. And they are awesome.





Now, this basket was big. Well, I bought two extras as well. Some weeks they offer extras, like large quanities of a specific fruit or vegetable. One week it was pickling cucumbers. I was ever so tempted to buy the crate of cukes. I was going to pickle them all. I'd never pickled or canned anything and the prospect made me a little nervous. Also, I don't own any of those cute little jars that one uses for that. I figured after I bought everything I would be very heavily invested in these pickles. And while my daughter LOVES pickles, I don't think my husband has ever eaten one. So, I didn't buy the pickles, or the blackberries, or the apricots when those came up. But I did pick up 4 kilos of mangoes. First, I had to google and find out how much a kilo was. Sounded like it would be 8 pounds of mangoes, which sounded like an awful lot. But I wasn't going to let the mangoes pass me by like the blackberries. So, as of Saturday, I became the proud owner of 17 very, very ripe mangoes. So, as of Sunday, I decided it was time to become the proud owner of this totally awesome mango slicer. Now, I, much like Alton Brown, am not a huge fan of uni-taskers. But this thing is awesome. It split through the mangoes, and left hardly any waste. I'm quite in love. Especially after spending the whole afternoon (ok, I'm exageratting) pureeing mangoes and putting them in ice cube trays. And attemping a mango meringue pie. Which is still in the process. And it doesn't look good.

Bountiful Baskets

A few months ago, I was introduced to a new way to shop for my fruits and veggies. A close friend of mine showed me the wonders of Bountiful Baskets. She explained that each week on Monday at 12:00pm, you log onto the website and place the order. Then, each Saturday morning at 7:15 you go and pick up your basket. I'm sorry, what? On Saturday? In the morning? I'm not what you would call a morning person. And my daughter is old enough to let me sleep in on Saturday. There isn't much that I find worth waking up for at 6:30 on a Saturday. Possibly catching a flight to Cancun would be on that list. Broccoli and apples....Never thought they would have been on that list. But, I was 99.99% percent sure that waking up bright and early on a Saturday was not going to in fact kill me. I say 99.99% sure, because I've never been up that early on a Saturday to witness whether others were dying from being up too early. I've never read about it on the internet though, and if it isn't on the internet, then it's not real. Right?

So, I placed my order for a basket of lovely fruits and vegetables and headed off bright and oh so early the following Saturday. I was so excited when I got home, I completely forgot that I was exhausted. I ran into the house and immediately started telling my daughter about the amazing haul. I was never so excited with romaine before. Then, I ran and woke my husband up. And began telling him about all the delicious antioxidant rich goodness that I got from a parking lot of an elementary school. Then, I went on facebook and started telling more people.

There was a lot of food. For $15.00 I got broccoli, lettuce, radishes, strawberries, apples, mangoes, pickling cucumbers, carrots and a watermelon. I went to Walmart that afternoon to get some non veggies items and I couldn't help myself. I priced everything that I got in my haul and it would have added up to $33.00. I was sold.

Each week has it's issues. Sometimes I get caught up in life and don't get around to using everything. Or forget that random head of cauliflower that is sitting in the back of the fridge. Or make food that doesn't utilize all the veggies (ok, sometimes I get a little sick of romaine salads). But I see the baskets as an opportunity to save money while feeding my family healthy meals that are based around fruits and veggies. So, in an effort to make sure I use every last onion and and apple and bit of celery in that basket, I've decided to share my journey with you. Each week I will showcase the lovely fruits and vegetables that are bestowed upon me and all the creations I attempt to make with them.

Bon appetit.