Popcorn on the Cob

Did you know that popcorn actually came from cob? It's probably one of the many foods you don't often think about how it's made, but you just know it's delicious and a great snack. Popcorn on the cob is just dried corn on the cob! Pretty simple, right?

To make popcorn on the cob, just place a cob in a paper bag (to prevent the kernels from exploding all around the microwave!), and pop it in the microwave for approximately 2 minutes. Let it cool, and then enjoy!

This popcorn was not as fluffy as the store-bought variety, and it kind of reminded me of corn cereals. Not all of the corn popped off the cob, and it was a little hard to pick off the popped kernels from the cob when it was done. Two cobs yielded probably about half as much as one normal sized bag of popcorn - but that's probably a real serving size. It would have been great with a little bit of butter and salt, but I couldn't stop eating it long enough to melt some butter. I was hungry!

This has definitely been one of the more unique finds at the farmer's market. When I signed up for the CSA, I was expecting to bring home some new and different produce, but I never thought there would be popcorn available! It was a really nice surprise. I wonder what will be at the stall tomorrow!

Roasted Broccoli

Another simple recipe - roasted broccoli! In my mind, broccoli is not a vegetable that is typically roasted. It's steamed, placed on a baked potato, and topped with melty cheese. Or it's steamed and then topped with butter and some salt and pepper. However, roasted broccoli is delicious and so so easy to make!

As with all roasted vegetables - preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat broccoli with olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic. Roast for 20-30 minutes until the broccoli begins to brown. That's it! A quick, easy, and delicious way to eat your veggies :)

CSA Week #17

It's hard to believe there are only 2 months left of the CSA - we're closer to the end of the CSA than we are to the beginning. Time has flown by pretty quickly, but every week there are always some surprises at the farmer's market. Here's what was picked up this week:

Popcorn on the cob! Butternut squash! Beets! Kale! Looks like it will be a yummy week!

Simple Pasta Sauce

It doesn't get much simpler than this when it comes to making pasta sauce! You probably even have all of these ingredients sitting in your kitchen at this very moment - although, if it's my kitchen there are rarely any tomatoes present. This pasta sauce was simple and fresh tasting - a perfect end of summer meal.

Simple Pasta Sauce

Ingredients:

• 6 small tomatoes, diced
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced.
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper, to taste
• dash of oregano
• 1/2 box of pasta (I used fettuccine)

Directions:

1. Prepare pasta as directed on box. In a medium pan, heat 1 Tbl of olive oil over low-medium heat. When hot, sauté onion and garlic until soft, 3-5 minutes.

2. Add diced tomatoes and seasonings, cooking until tomatoes begin to break down and the juices are released, approximately 7-10 minutes. 

3. Serve over pasta - enjoy!

Flying Purple Potato Eater

Purple potatoes! From the outside, they don't look like anything special or that different...but on the inside, they are purple! These ones were actually a bit more pinkish than a true purple, almost too beautiful to eat. This is one of those times I wish I had a mandolin...what could be better that PURPLE potato chips? Since there is no mandolin in my apartment, these potatoes just had to be made into roasted rosemary and parmesan potatoes. If anyone out there in blog land wants a recipe, just contact me, and I will happily send it along. These potatoes tasted just like...potatoes! There wasn't any noticeable difference in these colorful potatoes vs. the yellow/gold variety. We served them alongside baked chicken, and it definitely did brighten up the plate! It was a nice visual change. And here's what they looked like after they were in the oven:

still purple!

Sidenote: I've been feeling a bit under the weather these past few days - thanks to my lovely sinuses that enjoy giving me pain every once in a while. Sinus infections are not fun :( Anyway, because I'm just trying to rest up, I now have the perfect opportunity to catch up on the blog! So be prepared for a few new posts coming down the line the next few days.

CSA Week #16

Fall is definitely right around the corner. It was obvious by the huge variety of winter squashes that were available this week! However, summer still refuses to leave - it's been close to 80 degrees here these past few days! Here's what came from this week's farmer's market:

Spaghetti squash, yellow watermelon, broccoli, and sweet potatoes! We made the spaghetti squash last night for dinner...but forgot to take a picture. Oops! It seems like it will be a regular at the market for the next few weeks, so there will be other photo ops in the future.

Best Thing SHE Ever Made

The view from the side

A few weeks ago, my husband and I were watching TV and we flipped to "The Best Thing I Ever Made" on Food Network. The episode's theme was Family Dinners, so everything the chefs made were big dishes that can be served family style and are pretty comforting to eat. One of the chefs, Marcela Valladolid, host of "Mexican Made Easy", featured her Corn and Poblano Lasagna. It sounded sooooo delicious and relatively simple! Instead of a traditional Italian lasagna, hers is stuffed with poblano chiles and zucchini, and the sauce is a blended corn/cream mixture (which I probably could have eaten on its own as a soup). After we saw this episode, we couldn't stop talking about how much we wanted to make and eat this meal. As fate would have it, what did I find at the farmer's market that week?? POBLANO CHILES! We were destined to make this meal, and it was oh so yummy! The recipe calls for Oaxaca cheese, but she said you can substitute mozzarella, which is all we could find in our local grocery store.

And the view from the top - look at that melty cheese!

The lasagna was really easy and delicious and it will definitely be made again, but this post also comes with a cautionary tale:

Be careful when you slice spicy peppers! Only recently have I started to experiment with peppers, and so I never really knew much about peppers or their oils. A few weeks ago, we made jalapeño poppers, and later that night, I felt as though I had burnt my finger. I just assumed that I accidentally hit the side of the oven or pan while I was taking out the peppers, and although it really hurt, I just brushed it off as nothing. Doesn't every good cook burn themselves once in a while in the kitchen? A few hours after we had finished the lasagna, my hands were in excruciating pain - tingling and burning. At first I thought I might be dying; I had never felt this type of pain before in my life! I quickly typed in my symptoms into Google and I found out that, no, I was not dying, but my hands were burning from the capsaicin in the peppers. A quick search for remedies led me to pour rubbing alcohol over my hands and then coat with a thick lotion. Although the pain didn't go away completely, it was lessened enough so that I could fall asleep. Lesson learned. Next time - GLOVES!

CSA Week #15

This week is all about deceptive produce - these 4 items all look like your standard fruits and veggies. Nothing too wild about watermelon, zucchini, tomatoes, or potatoes, right?

While the tomatoes and zucchini are nothing out of the ordinary, take a closer look at the watermelon and potatoes.

That is a YELLOW watermelon! Have you ever had or seen one of those before? It tastes a bit milder than your everyday red variety, but it also is a tiny bit sweeter, kind of like honey. After eating it for a few days, I think I might like it even more than red watermelon! It definitely tastes more like a dessert and it is just so juicy and delicious. Yum :)

As for the potatoes - just take my word that they are purple! When I finally make something with them, you can see for yourself their purple hue.

Two Years Down...Two Hundred To Go!

A few weeks ago, my husband and I celebrated our two-year wedding anniversary! It's hard to believe how quickly two years has flown by. On our actual anniversary, we celebrated by having crab cakes, baked scallops, and sautéed green beans. Remember those gigantic green beans from a few weeks ago? Yup, we ate those! For dessert, we shared a slice of Banana Cream Pie from Dangerously Delicious Pies (side note: I am working on replicating their Baltimore Bomb Pie - which actually is the bomb! Stay tuned for a post!)

The following weekend, we took a brief trip to Philadelphia, where we celebrated our anniversary by dining at Morimoto - the Iron Chef's restaurant. We went all out and did the omakase menu, which is an eight-course tasting menu of all of the most popular and more unique items. Some of our favorites included the tuna carpaccio, the lobster, and the waygu beef. With the exception of the lobster, everything we ate was either raw or rare. This was a really delicious way to celebrate our marriage - we left feeling full but not bursting at the seams.

Dessert at Morimoto

We also did touristy things, including the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, eating cheesesteaks, and climbing up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Liberty Bell

The coolest thing we saw was the Magic Gardens, an outdoor sculpture/mosaic garden that was started in 1994. Isaiah Zagar, a local artist, transformed his side yard (and the surrounding buildings) into a labyrinth with every inch covered in eclectic murals made of tile, mirror, glass bottles, and other trash. It was really impressive to see, and it's hard to imagine how long it took him to make such an amazing and unique outdoor art installation. 

Overall, we had a great time in Philadelphia! We did a lot of walking and a lot of eating. Most importantly, we celebrated our love - and that's the best way to celebrate an anniversary.

Summer Veggie Tart

Considering fall is about to start, it only seemed appropriate to finally post this summer veggie tart...that was made almost a MONTH ago. Have I mentioned that I've been busy this summer? Anyway, this tart was made with 100% vegetables from the CSA - remember those six ears of corn? Well, I didn't eat them. Instead, I froze the kernels and then defrosted them so that they could be a part of this delicious meal. The tart was based on Smitten Kitchen's Burst Tomato Galette with Corn and Zucchini. I used frozen pastry crust, as a shortcut, since it takes a while to make fresh dough. While Deb @ Smitten Kitchen molded the dough into a circle, pleated the edges, and overlapped the filling, I just left the dough in a rectangle and folded up the corners to make a crust. I don't think my changes made much of a difference (although, fresh dough is always better than frozen), but it was just a bit easier and faster this way. I can't seem to remember if this was served with a salad, but if it wasn't it should be in the future! This was a healthy, quick, and easy dinner - it was light yet filling. Perfect for a summer evening.

Zucchini Pizza

Remember a couple of weeks ago there were zucchini in the CSA? Way back when, during Week 11? Things have been really busy, so this post is a bit overdue. Zucchini pizza was a quick and easy way to use up the rest of the zucchini. Just preheat the oven to 350 degrees, slice the zucchini in thin rounds, bake for 15 minutes. Top with sauce and cheese and bake until cheese is melty and gooey. Yum!

Sour what?

This post is dedicated to my dad, a real New Yorker. He grew up in the Bronx and Queens, always yells at me to wawk the dawg, drinks his cawfee in the morning (well, not so much anymore), and most importantly, he eats his hot dogs with mustard and sauerkraut. If you aren't from the New York area, you probably think sauerkraut is stinky and gross. But it really is delicious, not only on hot dogs, but also on Reubens! When I picked up a head of cabbage from the CSA a few weeks ago, I knew I couldn't make more stuffed cabbage (no room in the freezer) and I'm not a huge fan of cole slaw (sorry, Mom!)...so I decided to ferment it...and make sauerkraut!

Believe it or not, this is probably the simplest recipe that ever existed. There are only 2 ingredients. Yes, you read that correctly...TWO INGREDIENTS: cabbage and salt. There are other variations, such as Bavarian sauerkraut which includes juniper berries, but this recipe is just for your basic sauerkraut. And it turned out great! Here's a link to the recipe I used: Homemade Sauerkraut. Since I did not have any cheese cloth, I just used coffee filters (as you can see in the above picture), and it seemed to work just fine.

So far, we've only eaten it with hot dogs, but I plan on making some Reubens with it, as well as making homemade pierogies.

CSA Week #14

14 weeks! More than halfway done, which is kind of crazy! Here's what was ripe for the picking this week:

Rainbow chard (that chard pasta is one of our faves!!), watermelon, red onions, and poblano chiles.