Before I Begin: A Few Quirks of My Menu Planning

Here are the factors that shape my menus:

1. I have a small child. On the one hand, I work to broaden her palate; on the other hand, I try to have at least something in the meal that I know or suspect she will definitely eat!
2. My husband is lactose intolerant. These days, I'm either choosing dairy-free recipes or experimenting with dairy substitutes.
3. I try to cook seasonally when possible. This means my recipes tend to have ingredients that are all naturally available at the same time of year (though I do cheat shamelessly in service of quirk #1).
4. We are a meat-light household. I'd go vegetarian, but honestly, no one in my household can do without bacon. Still, my husband and I seem to prefer our meat servings at about half the size of those of most people we know. We eat at least one meatless meal a week, and I tend to do a lot of soups and stews to stretch the meat out - partly for savings, partly for the environment.
   
5. I am a solar oven hobbyist. Thus, I use a lot of crockpot recipes, and occasionally adapt an existing recipe to the solar oven.
6. I participate in a CSA. Every week in the spring, summer, and fall, I am smacked upside the head with a new box of farm-fresh vegetables. In CSA season, my menu planning is driven almost entirely by what's in the box, in good part because we've already paid for it!

That should about cover it.

CSA Weeks 2 & 3: Rhubarb Pork Chops and Stuffed Butternut Squash

In week 2 of our CSA, we got:

• scallions
• radishes
• rhubarb
• head of lettuce
• mint (we gave this to our share partners for their mohitos)
• collard greens
• spinach

In light of our Memorial Day travel plans, I kept this week's menu fairly simple:

• Wednesday: Stuffed butternut squash, cooked in the solar oven (recipe to follow), with leftover green beans
• Thursday: Leftover coconut curried tofu with rice
• Friday: Leftover butternut squash, with green salad
• Saturday: [travel]
• Sunday: [travel]
• Monday: Catfish parmesan with sweet potato and spinach risotto
• Tuesday: Ditto

Because we'll be traveling this coming weekend and next week as well, I asked our share partners to take our whole box on Wednesday. Now we only have to concentrate on using vegetables from the previous box. Here's this week's abbreviated menu plan:

• Wednesday: Rhubarb and pork chop casserole and citrus collards with raisins
• Thursday: Ditto
• Friday: [date night]
• Saturday-Thursday: [travel]

Last week's stuffed butternut squash was a smashing success, from the adults' point of view, anyway - J turned up her nose at it, which was a mystery, since she normally loves couscous! I adapted it from a recipe in the Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker cookbook. I had about 1 cup of stuffing left over, which I froze; it will work its way into something else eventually. (I also omitted the cup of water in the pan - Wednesday was such a sunny day that my solar oven was at 350 degrees, so I figured (correctly) that the squash would cook quickly and remain moist even without the water.) I'll make this one again!

Butternut Squash Stuffed With Couscous, Apples, Raisins, and Pinenuts

1/4 c raisins
1 to 2 T margarine
1 sm onion or 1/2 lg onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 apple, peeled and cut into smallish dice
1/3 c pinenuts
1/4 t ground cinnamon
1/4 t ground allspice
2 c leftover couscous
salt and pepper to taste
1 butternut squash (or other winter squash), halved and seeded
1 c hot water

1. Put the raisins in water to cover; set them aside to plump.

2. Melt the margarine in a small frying pan. Add the onion and garlic, and saute a minute or two. Drain the raisins, reserving the water. Add the raisins and apple, and saute another minute or two; apple should still be firm. Add the cinnamon, allspice, and pinenuts, and saute another minute or two; pinenuts should be plumped and golden, but not browned or burned.

3. In a mixing bowl, fluff the couscous with a fork. Add the frying pan mixture (if desired, take a little of the raisin water and use it to "deglaze" the frying pan; add flavored water to mixing bowl as well). Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste and toss everything together.

4. If your squash is lopsided, cut a sliver from the bottom so it will sit flat. Place the squash halves, cut side up, in a slow cooker (or in the solar oven pan). Pack the stuffing into the squash halves. Carefully pur the hot water into the cooker (or pan) without disturbing the squash. Cover cooker (or cover pan and place in preheated solar oven) and cook on Low (or as the sun permits) until the squash is tender, about 6 hours (or less, if your solar oven temperature exceeds 200 degrees). Serve hot.

CSA Week 1: A Vegetarian Week

Last week was the first week of the Sandy Spring CSA! In our boxes, we got:

• asparagus
• rhubarb
• salad mix
• a head of lettuce
• spring onions
• baby spinach
• regular spinach
• radishes
• mint

The CSA pickup is now on Wednesdays, so my menu planning now starts midweek, rather than on a Monday the way it did last year. It's a little odd, but we'll adjust.

In trying to shave a little off our grocery bill this week, I made it an all-vegetarian week.

• Wednesday - shell pasta and spaghetti sauce and green beans

I needed a quick dinner, and this let me use up the green beans, which were the last of the farmer's market veggies (had to clear the decks for CSA veggies!)

• Thursday - Indonesian squash and spinach soup (Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant) with a dollup of sushi rice, plus some (vegan) sour cream

I had butternut squash cubes left over from an earlier dish. I halved the recipe, and saved 1/2 c of coconut milk for the curried tofu on Sunday.

• Friday - [date night]
• Saturday - asparagus, carrot, and egg maki, plus green salad topped with asparagus, egg, and strawberry slices

This used up the leftover sushi rice from Thursday, as well as 3 old nori wrappers that had been hanging out for far too long. Everything was a big hit with J!

• Sunday - coconut curried shrimp with radish wedges, over white rice

I had no shrimp, so I used tofu, which I marinated for a half hour in 2 T olive oil, 3 T lime juice, 1 t curry powder, and 1 t soy sauce while I prepared the other ingredients. I didn't have quite enough radishes, so I sliced up a carrot, and threw in the last of the steamed asparagus from the sushi. It was tasty, but very lime-heavy; next time I'll add another flavor to the sauce - maybe fish sauce, or peanut butter, or mandarin oranges, any of which would fit the Thai-style curry. On the positive side, J ate the tofu and every radish piece we could give her - hooray for adding another vegetable to that slim repertoire of hers!

• Monday - [preschool potluck]

I did make a greens quiche to take to our friends P and V, who just had their baby girl - that used up the scallions and the rest of the spinach quite neatly.

• Tuesday - curry-spiced lentils and spinach topped with chopped tomato and mint and (vegan) sour cream, served over half a baked potato, with green salad

This is a crockpot recipe that I cooked in the solar oven, on Monday actually. I added in 2 oz. chopped fresh spinach at the end, rather than 10 oz. frozen spinach at the beginning, so it was a good deal less spinach-y than was probably intended. The tomato and especially the fresh mint changed the dish from ho-hum to extraordinary!

So, after working furiously to clear the decks for the next load of veggies (especially since we're travelling this weekend and next weekend), I have a little lettuce and salad greens left, and all the rhubarb, which hopefully will keep a little while. Whew!

Cossack Pie

Here's the Cossack Pie recipe from the Moosewood Cookbook, one of my favorites - and it freezes well!

1 unbaked 9" pie crust
1 T butter
1/2 lb fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 1/2 cup chopped onions
1 1/2 cup shredded green cabbage
1 medium stalk thinly-sliced broccoli
1 cup thinly sliced carrot
2 finely chopped scallions
1 t salt
3 T butter
2 T flour
1 t ground caraway seed
1/2 t basil
2 t dill weed
1/2 c pot, farmers, or cottage cheese
2 eggs
lots of black pepper
3 medium garlic cloves, minced


In melted butter, saute onion, caraway seed, and salt over medium heat until onions brown, 10 minutes.

In butter, saute all the vegetables (except the scallions) and the dill until just tender, 8 minutes. Add black pepper and garlic, cook a few minutes more. Remove from heat and toss vegetables with flour.

Beat the eggs and cheese together. Add scallions, mix. Add mixture to sauteed vegetables. Mix well. Spread into crust. Dust with paprika.

Bake 40 minutes, or until set, at 350 degrees.

Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Sweet Potato Pie

In honor of Thanksgiving, here's my favorite sweet potato pie recipe, adapted from this one at Allrecipes. I actually prefer it to pumpkin pie!


Sweet Potato Pie

Ingredients:

1 1-lb sweet potato (or a 1-lb portion of a larger sweet potato)
1/2 c butter, softened
1/2 c white sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c evaporated milk (or regular milk if you don't have evaporated)
2 eggs
1/4 t ground cloves
1/4 t ground ginger
1/2 t ground nutmeg
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1 t vanilla extract
2 T lemon juice
1 - 2 T flour
1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust


If using a whole sweet potato, pierce it several times with a fork and microwave 5-8 minutes until soft, turning over halfway through cooking time. Peel and mash. If using a portion of a larger potato, peel and cube the potato in 1/2 inch cubes, then steam a few minutes until soft. Mash with a potato masher.

To mashed potato, add butter, then mix well with mixer. Stir in sugar, milk, eggs, spices, vanilla, and lemon juice. Beat on medium speed until smooth. Add 1 T flour, then beat again; if mixture looks too liquidy, repeat with another 1 T flour. Pour filling into an unbaked pie crust.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 55 to 60 minutes, or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Pie will puff up like a souffle, and then sink down as it cools.

Recipe Smorgasborg

Here are my favorite recipes from this week's recipe search, involving cabbage, cauliflower, turnips, and radishes. I'll expand on it a little later if I can.

Hearty country soup
Spicy ginger cauliflower cabbage and potatoes
Tofu, cauliflower, cabbage, and onion stir fry with coconut peanut sauce
An assortment of broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower recipes
Sweet and sour cauliflower and cabbage salad
Cauliflower and potato curry (crockpot recipe)
Cool and crunchy radish and spring turnip salad
Radish cabbage coleslaw
Pan-Fried Fish and Tomatoes With Cabbage Radish Slaw

For now, gotta take my little one to Sunday Dinner!

Tasty Root Vegetable Soup

Hooray - the three CSA parsnips from the other week, and the half a CSA rutabega I had left over from a while back, have made it into hearty rutabaga, carrot, parsnip, and sausage soup! I first made this tasty soup for a dinner guest last year, and we all enjoyed it a lot. Sometimes root soups will have a very strong taste, but somehow this soup was just flavorful and good.

The herbs that I've moved indoors for the winter have officially started pulling their weight: I use fresh thyme in the recipe instead of dried. Fresh herbs can really make such a difference.