bavila

CSA=Community Sponsored Agriculture program. Kinda like a coop. I buy shares in advance and get what I get. Which has been all good except for one week when the drought was still pounding us. Here is the link for the radish and peas recipe. I know. It sounds like there's a lot going on, but it's really a great pairing of flavors. And as for throwing things together like soups and omelets, I've been throwing lots of veggies (especially greens) into sauces or making up my own pestos. And pizza, of course. All ways to slip vegetables past the highly tuned radar of children. Oh, and fajitas/tacos/burritos.

Woo hoo! Chicken fried steak! I once had a craving for it here in the Free State, soon after we'd moved here, and called up the local Double T diner (a small chain owned by a Greek family and partners): "Do you serve chicken fried steak?" "You mean fried chicken?" "Never mind. Thanks." Where exactly in Texas will we be following you? We always like to have ideas for spots in Dallas when we visit hubby's family there. Edited to add: oops! San Antonio. I can read, really.

I too hate wasting. Lately my challenge has been how best to use up the fabulous produce in my CSA box, some of which I've never cooked (like beets ). Last night's dinner fit the category: a salad of black lentils, feta, tomatoes (from the CSA yay!), and chives on red leaf lettuce from the CSA. That was more of a I-don't-have-any-meat-defrosted dinner. Tonight will be albacore and something. Probably roasted beets and braised beet greens. Also on hand this week from the CSA are some sugar snap peas, green beans, radish, baby carrots, baby bok choy, chard. And there's probably something else I've forgotten. Any brilliant ideas? We've been doing lots of stir frys, and omelets or quiche are good for greens. Oh, and from the farmers' market: broccolini, romaine lettuce. The radish and snap peas will likely be sauteed together and seasoned with dill. My new favorite.

AMEN to that too! Nice veggie plate. Mmmm... lima beans.

Damn straight! Thank you!

Mmmmm.... soft shell crab poboys.

That's a cool food trivia question, too. Florida has zillions of styles of license plates and one of the less fancy ones has an orange on it. ← Crabs on special Chesapeake Bay Trust Maryland tags.

Barefoot Contessa always seems to be doing picnics, regardless of the season. Recently I watched a show when Ina and Michael sat bundled on the boardwalk with a thermos of French onion soup. Maybe checkout some of her cookbooks for some ideas. You could really do just about anything that can be room temp or chilled. I keep thiking lobster rolls, but maybe you want to go with something fancier?

We had a great lunch, and everyone left happy and full. The tenderloin was fantastic. I cooked it at 350, and at 45 minutes, it was at 140, got up to 145 while resting. Maybe next time I'll check it at 35 minutes. I wasn't fast enough to get a good pick of everything before we dug in. Here's what was left after we all served ourselves: I did roast the asparagus, and it was great. I like it grilled too Trishiad, but no grill pan, and not worth messing with the charcoal grill just for that. The potatoes were tasty but falling apart. The cake rocked, of course. It should have been baked in 2 10" pans, but I only had 8.5" pans. It was SOOOOO rich! And well received. Ooof. I think I'm done eating for the weekend. At least until a riverfront cookout on Monday! Thanks for everyone's suggestions!

It's now noon, and I'm back from the picnic. Hubby's on his way back from commissioning, which is still going on, they're about 80% thru the 980 or so names. He's stopping by the liquor store champagne. Now for iced tea and fresh lemonade for our guests who will definitely be hot after sitting outdoors for hours. I'm going to hold off a few more minutes on getting the tenderloin and potatoes into the oven as the guest of honor will likely be the last to arrive and that's still at least an hour off. As for steaming or roasting the asparagus, I'll see how my oven time goes. I may be able to roast them while the beef rests. We'll see.

Blue Angels fly over as I finish the cake. Now into the fridge... ...and off to the picnic. Had to fortify myself for the preschoolers with a snack of cake trimmings, extra frosting, and filling. YUMMY!!! Oh, and I did fix the holes in the frosting visible in the picture.

I am such a procrastinator. And sometimes a flake. I forgot that we had a party to attend last night for Chika and some of his friends. So all of my big plans for prepping almost everything in advance washed away. The party was at a swim club on the Bay. You can see why USMA (as in Army) cadets call the Naval Academy the country club. While this shot is not on Academy grounds, the view is basically the same. BBQ provided by a local caterer. We left the party around 8. Hubby got the kids to bed, and I prepped the tenderloin, baked the cake, and made an orange flavored syrup for it. That and a load of laundry with the new tablecloth and napkins (from Marshall's per ludja's reccomendation) kept me up til 11:30. Here's the stuffing for the beef: sauteed baby bella, oyster, and shiitake mushrooms, blue cheese, parsley. Going to bed with this done. Up at 5:40 with the baby. Chika slept over and escaped my attempts to foist breakfast on him. I did get him to drink a glass of milk. (It always astounds me how little he eats. He's like 6'6" and a varsity basketball player, and he doesn't really eat anymore than we do. Think that means we should eat less?) He was off by 6:30. After a cup of coffee and everyone fed and dressed, I was back to my prep work. It's 9:00 now, and I'm taking this sanity break to log on. So far I've prepped my potatoes, made a salad for my daughter's school picnic (which we'll be attending 10:30-as late as I can reasonably stay before having to dash back to get lunch finalized). I've also sliced a quart of local strawberries (not as sweet as I'd hoped!) and got the cream cheese and butter softening for the buttercream frosting. Hubby ironed the tablecloth and napkins for me and made a final grocery run as I hadn't bought enough cream cheese. I've had the kitchen window open, and I can hear the secret service helicopters flying over, preparing for the VP's arrival. Oh, think the baby's up from his nap...

Here's the menu so far. Lunch will be late, probably 1:30 or 2. (At least it's only the VP speaking this year.) veggie crudite beef tenderloin stuffed with mushrooms and blue cheese scalloped potatoes steamed asparagus orange cake with buttercream frosting and strawberries fresh squeezed lemonade wine coffee The cake I can make tomorrow except for the fruit topping. Beef I can stuff and marinate tomorrow. Could I prep the potatoes in advance if they are covered by the whipping cream? I decided to skip the pork even though his family is Christian. It just seems a little more likely to inadvertantly offend. I promise to TRY to take pictures, but I am not very good at adding the photography into the multitasking I already do! Now I'm thinking about table linens. Most of my good stuff is wintery. I used to borrow from a neighbor who had awesome vintage stuff handstiched by the Oma from Alabama. But the neighbor just moved . Maybe I can squeeze in a search for some springy linens between now and then.

His parents are from Nigeria. I'd love to do something they'd recognize from home, but am a bit chicken to try it out on such short notice. I also haven't been able to get out of him any ideas for African treats his family likes. Did I mention he's quiet? But I'm open to ideas for Nigerian delicacies!

Nice idea Jason. I also may get the last of the cool season's spinach locally. Beef. Chika would like beef.

Ok. Just posting helped me get some traction. I'm thinking of repeating a menu I used for my book club recently. grilled stuffed pork tenderloin grilled chicken grilled veggies (asparagus, tomatoes, new potatoes) on greens with herb vinaigrette bread and of course, there must be CAKE! Maybe something like this from this month's Bon Appetit.

So. The midshipman we sponsor is graduating/getting commisioned on Friday morning. He just confirmed that he, his parents and one sister will be coming to our house after commissioning for lunch. Help me plan a menu! Chika (our midshipman) is loathe to state any particular desires for food -- just sort of an unassuming guy who doesn't like seafood or coconut. Naval Academy commissioning is a BIG DEAL, replete with a Blue Angels fly over and other military hoo ha. But he and his family are very modest people of modest means, so I don't want to go too over the top. I'd like to do something Marylandish and seasonal, but without seafood I'm not sure where to start. As for produce, we've got some gorgeous asparagus and strawberries right now. Even some decent heirloom tomatoes from local hothouses. Make ahead would be good -- my sous-chef/hubby will be at commisioning and I'm supposed to bring the kids to my daughter's school's picnic in the AM.

At an early September outdoor evening wedding in Connecticut we attended a few years ago, the first course was gazpacho. Main course was a pairing of orange roughy with lamb chops. The food was lovely and forgiving as far as holding temps. And congrats to you and (separately) jsolomon!

There was a little bit of lemon sorrel in yesterday's CSA box. I made a pesto with it plus basil, garlic, pistachios, parmesan, EVOO, salt, pepper. Used it atop some seared then baked halibut. Yum. More leftover. yay!

I've been thinking a lot about this, and I think in addition to the healthy arguments presented here, I'd add this. Just because it's local doesn't mean it's great for the environment. Hey, Californians, remember the Colorado River? Salinated from too much agricultural irrigation? Growing crops like rice, which needs to be flooded continually, in what is essentially the desert, is not what I consider an environmentally sound practice. If I'm wrong, please correct me.

Marlene, if you can add a splash of whipping cream to the smoothie, it really will taste like ice cream! Yum!

Mike--my fave diet drinks are Canada Dry gingerale (especially the cranberry version) and Fresca (now in three flavors!). I've also made some kickin' fresh lemonade with the Splenda for baking (which does have some actual sugar in it). Also, don't you just love new potatoes on the grill? Marlene -- lovely sauce. Must try.

I'm all for the smokin', but is everyone still cigarette-free since the last tag team blog? Marlene - I have grill envy. Our little Weber kettle grill is woefully undersized for my grilling ambitions! May I request lots of fruits and veggies this week? Grilling more of them is one of my summer goals.

I made a spring onion and potato soup tonight based on a Saveur recipe. Used leeks, ramps, yellow onions, and spring onions. Couldn't think of how I'd use the ramp greens so I threw them out. Wish I'd read through this first!

Re: pending 3x your home's purchase price on a kitchen reno -- people get caught up in thinking of their homes as ONLY investments and not the place where they actually LIVE. If you think you'll be there a while and can afford it, I say go for it. Perhaps I'm just rationalizing in advance for myself though whenever my time comes for a reno! Islands: I think they are a trendy thing in general. I could take them or leace them. BUT -- I do like the aspect of having people sit at a bar-type counter while I cook. Our collective kitchen angst makes me wonder what we're all waiting for. I've got the make-doable kitchen with 1970's (now repainted) cabinets and appliances of assorted ages. When hubby and I cooked for my bookclub last weekend, he (known as "the financial nazi" to my friends) said, "We need a new kitchen." Hallelujah!