New booty!

Welcome to the new arrivals!!! I realize I may sound a titch crazy making it sound like I'm bringing home a baby for the first time...however, it is really exciting....and bonus, I get to cook and eat this bundle of joy!!!

Feast your eyes on that!!!

Again, the content list that I received with the box was 100% accurate.  The produce looked great, minus one smooshy onion in the 2 lb bag.  I was pleasantly surprised...other than the potatoes and bananas, the remainder of the content was different from the previous box.  Pears were a repeat, but these were bosc, a different variety.

This week's feature was beets! I love the satisfying earthiness of a beet, and was excited to see it was the feature. The recipes included this week were: dilled beet and potato soup and roasted garlic and beet salad. I think I'll give the soup a go!

Although it's only post-arrival day 2... I had to share my dinner with you! It was PERFECT! (and once I reveal last night's atrocity...you will be relieved for me).

Thank you to Dara, a fellow dietoodie (foodie-dietitan..this word is too funny not to use)...who went to work in a brilliant way when I told her I was interested in making barley risotto (my new dish/ ingredient for the week!) along with something from the new box...This is what she found:
 http://www.lcbo.com/lcbo-ear/RecipeController?language=EN&recipeType=1&action=recipe&recipeID=3960

She will be proud, as I followed the recipe to the letter :)

Barley risotto recipe ingredients

On the stove top...

Proscuitto wrapped chicken breasts

Beet and Barley Risotto

Simple side salad: Leaf lettuce with a creamy balsamic dressing

This whole meal was de-flippin'-licious....

The recipe for the risotto can be found at the link I posted - I strayed from the recipe only very slighty...the risotto needed about 50 minutes of cooking time rather than the 40, and I used my own leftover thanksgiving frozen turkey stock. Oh, and a shout-out to the beets, which were a local GFB product.

I can't express how much I enjoyed this, but I'll try!...it was rich and starchy (a fave combo of mine), and the barley gave it such a wonderful chewy texture that isn't quite as pronouced with a rice-based risotto. And the color...photos don't lie...that colour is accurate, this dish was simply stunning. The flavours were so well balanced...sweet earthy beets, tang and acidity from the wine and last-minute addition of lemon juice (brillian), and a salty feta accent...I'm salivating again despite my extremely overfilled tummy! I can't wait to make another barley risotto!

The Proscuitto wrapped chicken breasts were simply - chicken breasts...wrapped...in proscuitto. Baked at 400F for 20 mins...I drizzled a little EVOO over the chicken when they were wrapped too. The chicken was salty, moist, and satisfying...mmmm, protein wrapped in protein...

The salad, if you can even call it that, was just perfect green leaf lettuce, topped with an on-the-fly creamy balsamic dressing.

• 1 Tbsp mayo - the full-fat real mccoy...half fat is o.k. too. Don't you dare go fat-free on me.
• 1 Tbsp canola oil
• 2-3 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1-2 tsp white sugar
• dash of S, and a couple grinds of fresh P.

shake 'er up in a container or whisk it...be gentle on your salad, don't drown it, especially if you've got perfect lettuce... you want to taste it!

I really do appreciate a good food day!

but...they can't all be great!
I feel it's important to be honest..i'm not a pro-chef, and I don't have an ego...so I will share my failures too!

I will give you a quick run down of the disaster of a meal that went straight to the garbage last night...fresh sole fillets, seasoned with salt and pepper, and pan fried in a touch of butter...sounds simple and yummy eh? DEEsgusting...I swear those fillets were previously frozen...the texture was mushy after a quick pan fry, I couldn't even lift them out of the pan with a spatula without them falling apart. That, and they tasted like water..yuck! unfortunately, as much as I hate waste, these were truly inedible...and they went to the big green bin in the sky (slash the little one under my sink).

The side: The morning of (to be efficient) I shredded a beautiful pile of potatoes (leftover from last GFB), combined them with an egg and seasoning in a bowl, and left them in the fridge for the day, with dreams of baked potato fritters (aka latkes)...when I arrived home to make them, the potatoes on the top-most layer had oxidized quite a bit (they were brown!), but I thought, no matter, it shouldn't change the taste...well, they were AWFUL! I'm not sure if it was leaving them in the fridge for the day, or using the older potatoes, but they were thoroughly unappetizing and just, gross...tossed them too.

I slammed around the kitchen for a while after this disaster...and settled on egg nog for dinner...it was late, I was tired, and definitely ornary...in hindsight, I should've added rum.

Needless to say, there are no photos of last night's meal...deal with it.

Happy Eating All!!!!