BLT Pasta Salad

There are many versions of this recipe, but this one was pretty good. This one didn't include any mayo, but was mainly dressed with bacon/bacon grease...anything with bacon is fine with me!  Its definitely a nice break from the traditional pasta salad.

BLT Pasta Salad

Cilantro Lime Rice

The share has started up again (about 2 months ago!) but I have been lazy and not been posting any new recipes.  I actually have a ton to share in due time. Some recipes are shared-based and others are just from late winter/early spring when we weren't getting the share.

We are doing really well in our 3rd year.  We use everything most weeks and throw out very little to nothing.  Planning meals helps a lot.  I look at what we get from our share, and then what we have in our house already before adding something to the grocery list.

Here is the recipe for a version of Chipotle's Cilantro-Lime rice.  Yummy!  I  and may add more cilantro next time because I love cilantro!

What's for dinner? Stromboli and Eye Round Roast!

Yesterday we made stomboli for dinner. We like a recipe from Emeril Lagasse.  It's a nice general recipe, but we sometimes change up what we put in the stromboli.  Yesterday we made it with ground italian sausage (we like Gianelli), margarita pepperoni (our favorite), sauteed onions (from the share), garlic and peppers, mozzarella cheese, italian seasoning, salt and pepper!  Yum!  We also added pizza sauce this time. Other times we have just used olive oil.  Both are good!  Serve with a SALAD and you've got dinner!

Emeril's Stomboli

Tonight we're having an eye round roast (my favorite beef roast) cooked in the CROCK POT!  I use McCormick Meat Marinade packet (just follow the directions) and let it cook all day on low. You will probably have to add water during the cooking at some point.  If you are leaving all day for work, add a cup of water to the bottom of the crockpot when you put it in so the juices are always in there.  When it is done, it will be tender and you should be able to pull it apart with a fork.  This is my grandma's recipe, but she always cooked it stovetop.  I've never had success on the stove, but it's always so good in the crock pot!  We're also having potatoes with garlic parsley butter and a salad of course!

Salads!

We love our salads.  Even when its not "greens season" we can't stay away.  I feel so good when I eat salad :)  And I feel like it goes with everything.  Growing up salad was an after thought or a first course to a meal at a restaurant.  But in our house its often one of the sides on your plate.  Logan even likes salad now!  And its almost never iceberg like I always thought of salad.  So you can expect salad at our house!

Here are three salads in their own right that we've made lately for dinner:

Buffalo Chicken Salad- Pretty much how it sounds.  Salad greens and veggies of your choice (we like romaine, onion, tomato and celery), cooked and chopped grilled or breaded chicken, hot sauce, blue cheese dressing and add some croutons and cheddar cheese if you would like!

Classic Wedge Salad- I didn't say we never used iceberg!  Cut your head of iceberg in wedges (usually 4 wedges).  Add some onion and tomatoes, blue cheese dressing and BACON to each wedge you are serving.  Yum!  Add a side of soup (or a crusty roll if you are into bread)!

Layered Taco Salad-  Start with some tortilla chips on each plate (not the healthiest option, but omit the chips if you want).  Add your lettuce, tomato, onion and seasoned ground beef on top.  Add some cheese if you like and any other toppings/dressings (catalina dressing, salsa, sour cream, guacamole, taco sauce, jalapenos...).

Enjoy!

Crash Hot Potatoes

We still have some potatoes left from our last share pick up in February (and a few onions).  It's getting to the point where we desperately need new potato ideas.  I love them, but roasting gets old. We've had roasted potatoes with herbs, baked potatoes, potatoes with parsley butter, mashed potatoes and cheesy hashbrown casserole.  Then, I found this hot potato recipe from The Pioneer Woman.  They were definitely a tasty way to mix it up and do something different! Enjoy!

Crash Hot Potatoes

End of Winter Share: Pickup 10 & 11

The final winter share pickup was last week.  It's kinda sad. But that means that we can look forward to spring!  After we finish the remaining root vegetables, we will clear out our freezers of things I've made with the share veggies: pesto, soups, frozen herbs, zucchini and tomatoes, parsley butter etc.  Spring will bring fresh greens and more creativity!

This year I wanted to document our share, so I could remember what we picked up and when it was available. It really helped me keep up with all the veggies-especially the green!  Love those greens (they are growing on me!).  I'll save you and myself the details next year.  I'll just be updating with new recipes from now on.  I would definitely recommend our CSA to anyone. There is definitely a learning curve, but its worth it in the long run.  We think at least!

So here is what we picked up the last two distributions:

Pickup 10 (24 pounds)
carrots
apples
potatoes
yellow onions
1 small red cabbage

Pickup 11 (24 pounds)
carrots
apples
potatoes
onions
1 large green cabbage

We'll have a greens share in late March/early April, and then we'll start the summer share in early June!  So pretty much April and May we're on our own!

Easy Taco Salad

Not the healthiest, but tasty!

Easy Taco Salad

Hash Brown Casserole

I love this hash brown casserole recipe. It's one of those recipes everyone loves.

Paula Deen's Creamy Hash Brown Casserole

Roasted Veggies

What do we do with all those squash and potatoes?  We roast a lot.  Squash is easy.  We cut them in half, scoop out the seeds, put a small pat of butter and a spoonful of brown sugar in each half, and roast them for about 30 minutes at 425.

Potatoes are easy too.  We scrub them, cut them up, toss them in olive oil, spread them on a baking sheet and sprinkle with a fresh herb, garlic, salt and pepper.  Sometimes we will throw in some radish as well. Bake at 425 until tender/crispy, for about 45 minutes.  I use whatever herb I have frozen from the summer share:  thyme, sage, rosemary... Very tasty.

But now we are experimenting with other other potato recipes/ideas since we've ate enough roasted potatoes...

Roast Chicken

Really, really Good. And very easy.  I'm in love with cooking whole chickens now.

Pioneer Woman's Roast Chicken

Creamy Mashed Potatoes

So, in my opinion making mashed potatoes is an art.  I can never get them to be the right consistency.  Making mashed potatoes is like making gravy.  Gravy is an art too.  My grandma is good at both.  I always try to watch her and she has told me over and over. But there is no recipe, so can never do it.  I think I made homemade gravy that was good once.  Anyway, gravy is for another post.  This is about mashed potatoes.

For Thanksgiving, I decided to try this Creamy Mashed Potato recipe from The Pioneer Woman.  Its a make ahead and reheat in the oven recipe, perfect for Thanksgiving.  Anyway, it was good.  And a hit....

Creamy Mashed Potatoes

Garlic Carrots

This was a good cooked carrot recipe.  There are a lot of sweet carrots recipes out there.  I liked this one because the garlic and herbs complimented the carrots already sweet nature.

Garlic Carrots

Pickup 8 & 9

We are well into winter share!  Greens have been gone for a while.  However, we do get cabbages occasionally. We're now picking up storage crops.  Here is a general idea of how much we've picked up the past two pickups (24 lbs each week):

Pickup 8:
sweet Dumpling Squash
confection Squash
assorted potatoes
yellow onions
apples
carrots

Pickup 9:

1 large green cabbage
assorted potatoes
carrots
yellow onions
apples
sweet dumpling squash
2 small celeriac root
1 pound popcorn kernals

I haven't added any new recipes lately.  But we have been mostly roasting the potatoes with some herbs and baking squash with some brown sugar and butter.  I sauteed carrots one day with garlic (aka garlic carrots) which was pretty good.