Tout Fini!

Whoopsie! I've taken an unplanned hiatus :) Summer is just nuts... throw 5 weddings including my own in to the mix, and it has become near impossible to cook wholesome food AND blog about it on a regular basis.  However, I'm not giving up entirely! I love posting, and I will do my best to post whenever possible.  I've cancelled my service with Green Earth Organics, and I have looked in to my 6th and final option... Plan B Organics.  It turns out, I'm done my produce box experiment sooner that I expected! After further research, I have discovered that Plan B isn't really a good 'trial' option.

Plan B is a Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) system.  This means local households purchase subscription "shares" of the year's harvest from a local organic farm. CSA "shareholders" pay for their produce at the beginning of the growing season, providing the necessary start-up capital for farmers to purchase seeds, supplies and soil amendments, eliminating their reliance on expensive bank loans and helping to pay for the real cost of food.  When the harvest comes in, shareholders reap the benifits of their buy-in, by receiving weekly produce delivery.  Plan B sources the best certified organic produce from 12 farms in Southern Ontario for your shares each week for the 18 week harvest season.

I have heard of this concept before, but until now didn't really understand the details.  How amazing! Not only is everything organic, EVERYTHING is local! Going with this option would really have us eating seasonally. The one big difference is there is a much bigger focus on vegetables.  Since our prime growing season for fruit is rather short, there would only be fruit included when seasonally available.

As with other produce delivery services, there are share options (copied from the website):

Half Share 2010 ($22.50)

A half share is a weekly box, supplied all season, with 9-12 items of locally grown, certified organic vegetables, salad greens, and herbs. We recommend this size for a household with 2 adults. Some local fruit will be included when available.

Regular Share 2010 ($30.00)

A Regular Summer Share is a weekly box containing 11-14 items of locally grown, certified organic vegetables, salad greens, and herbs. This size is for a household with 2 adults and children. Some local fruit will be included in the share when available.

Full Share 2010 ($40.00)

A full share is a weekly box containing 14-18 items of local, locally grown, certified organic vegetables, salad greens, and herbs. We recommend this size for a household with 4 adults. Some local fruit will be included when available.

I think this is a lovely concept, but it does require quite a commitment.  I would be curious to know how many shareholders these types of CSA programs draw. I navigated through the Plan B website a little further and also found they participate in a number of farmers' markets throughout the season as well.

side note - check out my article on farmers' markets I recently wrote as part of the Ontario Home Economics Association quarterly newsletter, I've posted it in a separate post.

I will have to do a review of my many posts and write a summary of my overall experience.  I will rank each of the services I used based on a few criteria, and come up with an overall 'winner', so stay tuned - I'm not done yet!

For now, I'll update you on a few of the things Rory and I have been eating!

 Miso Lemon Glazed Trout, Sauteed New Potatoes, and Green Salad with Radishes and Lemon Vinaigrette 

The lettuce, radishes and potatoes were all GEO.  Here is the trout recipe (I subbed lemon for lime 'cause it's all I had).  The potatoes were steamed for about 8-10 minutes and then sauteed in a little butter and seasoned with salt and pepper.  The lemon vinaigrette was fresh lemon juice, EVOO, a touch of dijon mustard, and s&p.  I've made this trout recipe and have blogged about it before, deelish!

Veggie Greek Pita Pizzas

Rory put these together, onions, mushrooms, green pepper (all Ontario) on whole wheat greek pitas with lactose free partly skimmed mozerella. 400F for 12-15 minutes.  Easy, healthy, quick midday dinner!

Grilled Korean BBQ Pork Tenderloin, Ginger Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Carrots, Sauteed Kale

Yum Yum Yum!!! The pork was SO simple, a nice little Ontario pork tenderloin marinated for a couple of hours in PC Korean BBQ marinade, and grilled to perfection.

The kale (Ontario), was chopped, washed and steamed with the water that clung to it's leaves for 3-4 minutes and sauteed with EVOO and seasoned with s&p.  Kale tastes a little like broccoli and a little like cabbage, it's sweet and a touch bitter.  I LOVE it, I think it's secured its place as my favourite leafy green!

The carrots (about 5 smallish) and sweet potatoes (2 medium) were both GEO.  I chopped them into 1" rounds/pieces and steamed them along with 1 tbsp of roughly chopped ginger until soft.  Once soft, I whipped 'em up with my immersion blender, a little skim milk and non-hydrogenated margarine until smooth. Add s&p to taste.  The slightly spicy ginger flavour goes so well with these two veg, and complemented the asian flavoured pork perfectly.

Below is a nice little close-up of the perfectly grilled pork.  GO RORY! So tender and juicy and packed with flavour.

Tomato Arugula Mussels with Crusty Multigrain Baguette

I've already given my mussel secrets away in a previous post.  Mussel are just too easy! Rory followed my instructions perfectly for this batch, and they were ready when I came home starving from volleyball one night.  What a man!

Simply sautee a clove or two of garlic in some EVOO until soft.  Add a can of chopped tomatoes (we use PC no-salt-added).  Bring to a simmer.  Add the washed and de-bearded mussels, cover and simmer for 2-3 minutes.  Turn off heat, add a few handfuls of arugula or spinach, recover and let sit for 2 minutes until wilted.  Toss and eat with lots of crusty multigrain bread for sopping up the flavourful broth! 

Simple Trout, Beans n' Rice (Yellow beans that is!)

I don't have much to say about this meal, except that Rory was once again, the chef! Perfectly baked trout (400F 10 mins, seasoned with s&p and a touch of EVOO), steamed Ontario yellow beans (sweet and perfect), and basmati rice.  Simple and wonderfully satisfying.  

White Trash Bash! 

Your eyes are NOT fooling you! This meal took place at my house!!! The occasion was a bachelorette party for my BFF Rhian...with a white trash theme (food included!)

Chips, ritz crackers and cheeze whiz, tang and vodka punch (in that beautiful serving vessel I picked up at Value Village for the occasion), meatballs, pigs in a blanket, and for dessert - twinkies, hohos, and rice crispie squares.  It was a definitely a heartburn inducing good time!

I had to post this....while there is a veggie tray (i couldn't bear turning people away without something nutritious), most of the guests couldn't quite believe their vegetable-blogging friend could host such a party! 

Wow, this post was kind of all over the place! I did do it in stages :)  Up next a summary of my whole produce box experience! and then what?!?! 

Happy Eating!!!

Farmers' Markets

sizzlin' grillin' and saladz

It. is. so. hot. UGH!

Don't get me wrong, I love me some summer.  But the humidity is killing me, I feel like an old lady out there!

What better way to act out my inner old lady than to make... potato salad! and other various items :)  But first...

This week I received my final delivery from Green Earth Organics.  Bananas, ON spinach, ON zucchini, ON leaf lettuce, ON yellow potatoes, 2 ruby red grapefruit (um, hello.... it's raspberry season!), ON red radishes (for the 2nd time - I'm radished out), ON green onions (wilted), QC Hot house tomato (delicious...best tomato I've had all year!), ON bunched carrots (for the 2nd time - still haven't touch the first batch), and 3 spartan apples (delivering apples in July is a sin).  Pretty boring eh?

On the plus side, the newsletter I received with my box this week had details about a new delivery option - a '100 km Harvest Bin'! Neato mosquito!  The bin will be 100% local all year round.  Good luck in the winter! Summer is a great time to start though, and they maintain that while winter may include less variety, customers will receive an abundance of in-season fruit when it does become available.

On to some food!  There have been sammers and salads galore on regular rotation recently.  I can't bring myself to hear the clicking of my gas stove lighting on a 30+ degree day, air conditioning or not!

Here are a couple of no recipe salads that were big hits at a party over the weekend.

Cheese Tortellini Greek (inspired) Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 package of fresh cheese tortellini (I really like the whole wheat herb and cheese variety, but I was making a huge batch, and it's double the price of the Ziggy's brand.).
• 1 pint of grape tomatoes - halved
• 1 green pepper - chopped
• 1/2 red onion, slice very thinly
• 100-150 grams of feta cheese - crumbled
• Optional black olives

Dressing

• 1 part red wine vinegar
• 3 parts EVOO
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• 1 Tbsp-ish of dried herbs (oregano, basil, rosemary, thyme)
• s&p

Directions:

1. Prepare cheese tortellini as directed (in salted water) and and rinse immediately in cold water to stop the cooking process. Set aside until cool.  To stop the noodles from sticking together while cooling, toss them in a few tsp of EVOO
2. Meanwhile chop your veg, whisk your dressing together, and combine with the noodles until coated. Keep a few Tbsp of dressing reserved to toss the noodles in just before serving.  This salad has a tendency to soak up all the dressing as it sits.
3. Eat and enjoy! 

Creamy Feta and Dill Potato and Pea salad

How beautiful is this salad? I used red new potatoes, steamed them whole, cooled them in the fridge over night and then sliced them in half.

I'll try to remember all the details of the salad.  I LOVE dill potato salad so much, but I actually don't have a recipe for it, I wing it every time, and every time, it just works!

Ingredients:

• a bunch of new potatoes, steamed, cooled and sliced in half (however many you want!)
• a cup or so of fresh shelled peas (available now in the produce aisle!) - blanched for a couple of minutes in boiling until bright green. Run them under cold water to stop the cooking process.
• 1/3 cup-ish of chopped FRESH dill
• 1/3 red onion, sliced very finely

Dressing

• 1 part plain yogurt (1/2 cupish)
• 1 part mayo (1/2 cup)
• Juice from 1/2 a lemon
• 50 g(ish) of feta cheese
• 2 tsp dijon mustard
• s&p to taste

Tweak all of the ingredients to your taste.  Sometimes I also add sugar to the dressing, because I just feel it's missing a little somethin'.  This salad was creamy (potatoes and dressing!), and packed with fresh dill flavour. You may see a couple more versions of it posted sometime this summer.

Friday night Port Ribs and Grilled Mixed Veg

Now I would be breaking my secrecy vow if I were to tell you how these ribs were made.  A Rory special.  They were special in two ways.   First, they were perfectly cooked - tender and moist. Second -
they were scorching hot! A raging inferno in our mouths! Rory but together a no-recipe dry rub, and used cayenne pepper as though it were any ordinary spice.  He learned his lesson ;)
The veg were tossed in s&p (and could've used a couple more shakes), balsamic vinegar, and birch syrup (like maple syrup, from a birch tree - a gift from my brother and mary his gf).  We enjoyed our ribs and veg with the tortellini salad (above) and some nice cold Bud Light Limes on a beautiful Friday evening in the backyard. Heavenly.

Spinach and Toasted Almond Pesto Chicken Pasta 

This one was inspired by a beautiful bunch of ON spinach.

Pesto Ingredients:

• 1 bunch spinach 
• 1/3 cup of slivered almonds, toasted in a heavy bottomed frying pan until golden brown (this is a crucial step for flavour! you MUST toast the almonds)
• 2 cloves garlic (1 would've been enough though!)
• EVOO
• s&p (lots of seasoning! I didn't season mine quite enough.

Directions:

1. zip all those ingredients above up in a food processor until you get a pesto like consistency (how's that for detail?!)
2. cook your pasta as directed
3. sautee a couple of chicken breasts, or use rotisserie chicken, or whatever!
4. toss it all together over low heat for a minute or two, sprinkle with parmesan (or in my case, smother with parmesan!)
5. and enjoy!

Fresh, healthy, satisfying! We had this with a simple salad (leaf lettuce, radishes, cumcumber, balsamic vinaigrette).  The pasta would be even better with a sweet component - roasted grape tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers etc. Try it! Better yet, make up your own pesto! It's so simple, and very impressive :)

Happy eating fellow foodies! Will try to post again soon! New delivery service soon...stay tuned!