Thanksgiving!

We have Thanksgiving at our house.  It's my favorite holiday, and I love cooking so I don't mind.   Every year (this is our 4th year) I try to perfect the process.   The first year was horrible.  I came home from work on Wednesday afternoon, my mom came over for a visit (Nick was working the dreaded afternoon shift) and I finally got to work on all the prepping around 8pm.  Needless to say, when Nick got home at 11:30pm, I was still working, and we finished at about 3am! LOL.  Then in a rush to finish the sweet potatoes (I had misread the recipe and it needed more time to cook), we decided to microwave them.  I steam-burned my hand taking them out and sat through my first Thanksgiving dinner without enjoying any of it.  Each year has gotten better, as I've learned to simplify things and relax.  This is what is on my menu this year... Some things are easy, others more complicated...

Stuffed Mushrooms (appetizer)

Turkey with Sage and Lemon Butter Sauce
Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes 
Gravy
Roasted Assorted Squash 
Shoepeg White Corn
Holiday Carrots with Pineapple
Salad
Parmesan Pull-Aparts

And of course pumpkin pie-(secret family recipe!)

I've actually retired two side dishes at least for this year (sweet potatoes and broccoli).  I am trying to make it simple, but still have variety.  I usually try to stick with some family traditions (shoepeg corn, mashed potatoes and gravy for example) and also add something new (this year the carrots, stuffed mushrooms and pull apart bread are new).   Sometimes my changes stick, sometimes they fail miserably.  Last year I introduced turnips to my family...epic fail...they will not be appearing on our table this year as you can tell.  However, last year I also changed the squash from pureed to roasted, and that seemed to go over well. :)

For those of you reading this, what are some of your family Thanksgiving food traditions?  What are you trying new this year?

Review:  I probably won't make the stuffed mushrooms or parmesan pull-aparts again. The holiday carrots weren't bad, just really sweet.  The turkey recipe was okay (I'm not a big fan of Turkey).  BUT the potato recipe was a KEEPER!  Awesome and great for Thanksgiving in the prep department.

Week 3-Double Share!

This week's pickup was a double share because of Thanksgiving next week.  Wow.  I forget how much you get with a double share.  It's overwhelming.  Here is what we picked up:

2 butternut squash
1 leek
2 green cabbages
2 bunches bok choy
1 bunch collard greens

 AND 12 lbs root veggies of your choice...I chose:

2 sweet dumpling squash (we love these!)
1 kabocha squash (a Japanese squash, new to us!)
2 red onions
4 yellow onions
3 pounds carrots
3.5 pounds assorted potatoes (yum!)

The first group of veggies were either featured veggies that you had to take or structured choices-similar to how the summer share is set up.  The second group is typical of the winter share where its a free for all-you pick what you would like.  Later in the winter when the greens are gone or scarce, we usually pick up 24 pounds of root vegetables at a double share pick up :)

Recipes to come...!

Celeriac (and carrot) Soup!

I've made a few different versions of celeriac soup.  And this one is my favorite!  The celeriac and carrot flavors mesh so well together.  Its comfort in a bowl. A really nice fall and winter soup!  At least that's what I think.  My mom says we eat weird things LOL.  Celeriac is a root vegetable, that I never heard of until becoming a shareholder and I had to read up and try a bunch of different recipes.  It taste just like celery, except you have to cook it before eating.  I've realized that I only like it in soup.  I've tried sauteing and roasting, but not my cup of tea.  But it gives a distinct flavor to soups.

The recipe I used is really for 1 person.  So you should probably at least double it.  We liked it so much  that next time I will quadruple the recipe.  Doubling it was one meal for us.  I used just a dash of cream and had to add more broth after pureeing to get to the consistency I was looking to get.  Also I didn't use parsley oil that the recipe calls.

Enjoy!

Celeriac Soup

2nd Winter Share

Like I said before, after being acquainted with the winter share last year, we know what we like or prefer to pick up.  And I usually have an idea at pick up what I'm going to cook for the week.  Last year we just took a little of this, a little of that, so I had no idea how much of everything I had.  This year, we are choosing to get 3 pounds this, 3 pounds of that ect, ect.  This past week we picked up...

2 pounds carrots
2 pounds yellow potatoes
2 pounds red potatoes
1 napa cabbage
1 bunch dino kale
1 bunch bok choy

Carrots are gone, half of the potatoes are gone and the bok choy is gone.  We like roasting the potatoes with some olive oil, garlic and an herb (this is where my frozen herbs come in handy).  We made stir fry with the bok choy (yum!) and used some of the napa cabbage for tacos (couldn't tell that it wasn't lettuce!).  I might make some soups with the rest of the napa cabbage and dino kale!

First Winter Share!

I get excited for the winter share.  Not that I'm that fond of winter, I just like the foods that winter brings and the change in foods (when you eat seasonally).  During the winter share you have more choice in what you bring home.  You get a poundage of root vegetables and greens that they grow in their greenhouse while they are available.  To give you a true picture of the winter share, when we went on Thursday we were able to pick up 6 pounds of root veggies, 3 greens and a featured squash.  But you could also substitute 1 green for 2 pounds of roots and vice versa.  So this is what we picked out:

(10 pounds of root vegetables:)
about 3 pounds carrots
about 3.5 pounds apples
4 yellow onions
3 small celeriac roots

1 bunch red and green swiss chard (I've grown to love this!)

1 sweet dumpling squash

***They had other root veggies that you could choose like black radishes, turnips, red onion, assorted squash and diakon (similar to radish) but we chose what I listed above.  Last year we tried to try everything.  Every variety of squash, every kind of radish and turnip ect.  But this year we know what we like, so were sticking with it!

What will we do with it?  Well the carrots and apples will just be eaten (apples are already gone as I type) and I will make celeriac soup with the celeriac, onion and some carrots.  We've already used the swiss chard to make Creamy Swiss Chard Pasta and we'll probably roast the squash. :)

Week 22-Last Summer Share

Our last summer share looked similar to a winter share pickup.

1 bunch cilantro
1 bunch tat soi
1 pie pumpkin
1 acorn squash
1 leek
3 sweet peppers
2 lbs carrots
2 lbs potatoes

I'm happy to say we have used everything but the clilantro.  I'm planning on making salsa with it.  And unfortunately the pie pumpkin went bad before we could make a pumpkin pie with it.  Otherwise, we're looking good!  I used the tat soi and peppers in salad, roasted the acorn squash the traditional way with some butter and brown sugar (yum!), used the leek and potatoes to make potato leek soup (recipe already posted) and Nick took the carrots to work as always (I sometimes use them in recipes, but usually they are for work).

We're ready for the winter share!

Potato Leek Soup

This is a really good, comfort food/winter soup. The recipe is from the blog Pinch My Salt. I did add some minced garlic and extra chicken broth to create the consistency I wanted, but other than that this recipe is perfect.  I also sometimes vary the ratio of leeks and onions I use, based on what I have on hand (for example, last time I used 3 onions and 1 leek instead of 3 leeks and 1 onion).

Enjoy!

Potato Leek Soup

Creamy Pasta with Leeks, Peas and Parmesan

This is a version of white macaroni and peas.  I found it in Woman's Day magazine.  I actually saw it on the cover standing in line at Wegmans, and thought it looked good.  So I googled it, and decided to try it last year.  I usually make it when we get leeks with the share.  I left out the tarragon since I didn't have any and used bow tie pasta.  Quick and yummy!

]*Leeks needs to be cut and soaked/rinsed in a bowl of water to remove dirt from the inside!!!

Creamy Pasta with Leeks, Peas and Parmesan

Southwestern Spaghetti Squash

This is a pretty good spaghetti squash recipe.  I left out the "stuffing" and "boil with cheese" part and just served in as a side dish.

Southwestern Spaghetti Squash