Operation meatballs

We had our meatball contest today. Dave made his cheesy meatballs with shredded cheese while I made mine juicy lucy style. And I made some cheeseless ones that I could actually eat. Dave was the judge.

The verdict.

Draw.

I guess when you use the same ingredients, no matter how you build it, you get the same net result. Cheesy meatballs.

We had fun with our little contest and plan on tweaking our meatball recipes to make them both even tastier.

And now, for your viewing pleasure. Owen pics!








J.B.

Adventures with food

We got another CSA box this week. This week's box included salad greens, red oakleaf lettuce, asparagus, spinach, green garlic, dill, rhubarb, garlic scapes, strawberries and kohlrabi. Some interesting stuff, huh?

Kohlrabi is certainly something I'd never seen before. Kohlrabi is German for cabbage turnip. Apparently it tastes like broccoli stems. It's used a lot in Indian food. Here's a pic.

Thank goodness for the Internet, so I can figure out what the unfamiliar vegetables are....and so I can find recipes! I've yet to get a vegetable in my CSA that I don't like, so I'm excited to try another new one.

With all the green leafy vegetables we have, I've been trying to figure out new ways to prepare them. I discovered a great way to prepare spinach. A smoothie! Yep, it probably sounds really weird, but you honestly can't taste it.

Spinach Smoothie
Blend:
1 1/2 cups fresh spinach
1 banana
1 apple
1/2 cup canned pineapple
1 cup vanilla yogurt
And some ice cubes

The smoothie is green, but it's delicious. Dave even told me he wanted one of my smoothies today. Dave generally likes the food I make him, but it's not too often that he asks for certain items.

Tonight I made an asparagus casserole. I'm not going to say "hot dish"...sounds too Minnesotan. But the dish was creamy, the asparagus crisp and overall delicious...just like a hot dish should be. Haha. I modified a recipe I found online with what was in my kitchen.

Asparagus Casserole
1 lb fresh asparagus, chopped
6 strips of bacon
2 T butter
1 1/2 cups crushed Ritz crackers
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup (plus 1 can milk)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

In saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Add cream of mushroom soup and water. Stir. Add cheese. Cook until cheese is melted and mixture is smooth, stirring occasionally. Separately cook the bacon and chop into pieces.

In casserole dish, add layer of asparagus, followed by bacon, crackers and soup mix. Repeat layers. Top with crackers. Cook at 350 for 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

J.B.

Veggie fun! CSA week 1

We got our first CSA box of the summer season yesterday. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Basically, we bought a "share" of a farm for the summer and we get a box of their produce every week throughout the summer. The farm is in SE Minnesota, so all the vegetables are grown locally. They also grow their produce organically. It's amazing how yummy such fresh food tastes. Since it's early in the season, we got a lot of different types of lettuce. We also got radishes, cilantro, asparagus and spinach. As more vegetables are ready for harvest throughout the summer, the contents of our box will increase.

I love trying new ways to cook the vegetables and trying new stuff. Yesterday I made radish cilantro salsa. After letting all the ingredients sit overnight, I have to say that it's really good. Except I made it a little spicy. Tonight I made pasta with asparagus sauce. Dave wasn't too happy that I was making him something so out of the norm, but it was pretty good, although a little bland. It definitely doesn't beat asparagus wrapped with bacon and cooked on the grill. We still have more asparagus, so there is time left for some of that deliciousness. We only have a week to eat up all these goodies. We get another box next week!

J.B.

Don't forget to vote on what gender you think Boo is. You can guess here.

What is this thing? Take 2

(source: taste.com.au)

That, my friends, is a celariac. And it was one of the vegetables found in or CSA box this week. It's also known as celery root. Apparently, its flavor is a cross between celery and a parsnip.

Unlike the romanesco broccoli, I have tried celariac once before, but I've yet to make something with it. My sister, Becky, made me celariac and potato soup once and it was so delicious....so I might get that recipe from her or I might try this celeriac apple potato soup recipe. I also got potatoes and onions in my CSA and I still have a few apples from the orchard.

If you know of any good recipes that use celariac, send them my way! Thanks!

Update: I made the celeriac apple potato soup last night and it was awesome! Dave had three big bowls and he gave it 5 out of 5 jalapenos -- and he usually doesn't like soup for dinner.

And now that we've tasted it raw, I'll tell you that celeriac has the flavor of celery, but a consistency close to a carrot. It'd probably be yummy on a vegetable platter with dip.

J.B.

What is this thing?

In our last CSA box, we found this....

(Source: Wikipeia)

Our first question: What is this thing?

We had no idea what it was. It kinda looked like a cauliflower. It kinda looked like broccoli.

My second question: If I have no idea what it is, how do we cook it?

My first task on Mission Identify the Vegetable was to look up the newsletter from the CSA. Thankfully, the newsletter identified the vegetable for us. It's called romanesco broccoli. But it's sometimes called Roman caulifower or broccoflower or coral broccoli. It's a form of cauliflower.

But the mission wasn't quite accomplished. I still had to figure out how I was going to cook this new-to-us vegetable.

So I thought about it a little bit....thought about how I like to eat cauliflower and broccoli. And what do both of those veggies taste good in?? Stir-fry. So I chopped up the romanesco broccoli along with some other veggies and I made chicken stir-fry for dinner. It was delicious.

You're probably wondering what does it taste like?

Only Dave and I know and we'll never tell!

Just kidding! When it was raw, I thought it tasted a lot like broccoli. But when it was cooked, I thought it tasted more like a cauliflower.

If you ever come across the vegetable at the grocery store or a farmers' market, I recommend that you try it.

J.B.

Adventures in food!

This winter (and next spring), my mom and I decided to buy a CSA share from Featherstone Farm. CSA stands for community supported agriculture. Basically, we bought a share in a farm and every couple of weeks we get to pick up a box with all the food that's been harvested on the farm.

There are a couple of great benefits to buying a CSA share. The vegetables are grown organically, so it isn't grown with pesticides or other chemicals. The vegetables are fresher and therefore have more nutrients than what you buy in the grocery store (veggies start losing their nutrients after they've been harvested). CSAs support the local economy. CSAs are also more sustainable -- the growing practices are more environmentally-friendly and because the food travels less distance (takes less energy) to get to my table. I feel good eating my CSA food, because I know it's healthier for me, healthier for the environment, encourages us to try new foods and it tastes great.

One of the fun parts of having the CSA is the variety of food -- trying new foods and finding new recipes. Our first CSA box had broccoli, potatoes, carrots, parsnips, turnips, red onion, parsley, mustard greens, spinach, leeks and squash. Actually, in this box, the only thing I'd never tried was the mustard greens and turnips, but it's still a greater variety of food that I'd buy in the grocery store. Featherstone Farm actually has some recipes you can find in their newsletter online, but it's also fun to find your own. This weekend I made Turnip and Leek soup and Yankee Pot Roast. For the Yankee Pot Roast, I substituted squash for the rutabaga. Who knew squash was good in a pot roast? It was! Both recipes were yummy -- Dave can attest, but these fresh foods have more flavor than what you buy in the grocery store.

I'm looking forward to our next round of food from Featherstone Farm -- arriving this Friday!

J.B.

New Recipe, Week 5

This last week, I only made one new recipe. Cabbage Roll Casserole.

A friend at work was talking about making cabbage rolls. That's something my Grandma makes, but I haven't had in years. So I thought I'd try making them. But when I was searching for a recipe, I came across this casserole recipe, which sounded so much easier. Being lazy, I opted for the easy recipe.

And it tasted just like cabbage rolls. The leftovers were even better that the original night.

As far as the recipe goes, I followed some of the other users comments. I added some spices like paprika and garlic. I also just cooked it all in a pot in the stove, since that was faster.

I forgot to ask Dave how many jalapenos he gives this....so I'll have to update this later.

I gave it 3 jalapenos.

Here's the links for my weekly new recipe post: New recipe, week 4 New recipe, week 3, New recipe, week 2, New recipe, week 1

I can cross this to-do in my 101 in 1,001 list now!!!! I've made at least one new recipe every week for the last month. woo woo.

New Recipe, Week 4

This week I made a couple of new recipes. Good ones!!! I'm almost done with the challenge of making at least one new recipe every week for a month from my 101 in 1,001 list.

Sunday night, I used a recipe that I got at a wedding shower. At one of my showers, each guest gave me a favorite recipe and this is the first time I tried any of them!!! This one turned out good, so I might have to try the others. Since I can't link to the recipe card, here it is for you (my source is my former next-door neighbor Sheila). I modified it some, so here's my version.

Chicken Wings Pacifica.
2 lbs chicken wings
1 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp dry mustard
1 cup water

1. Combine all the ingredients (except the chicken) in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook until butter melts and sugar dissolves.
2. Put chicken into a crockpot. Pour sauce mixture over the chicken.
3. Cook on low for 4 hours, or until chicken is thoroughly cooked.

I made this with a fried rice recipe I modified. I got the recipe off of allrecipes.com, but there are a bunch and I didn't save the particular one I used. And it wasn't the best fried rice I ever made, so I don't even want to bother finding the recipe. :)

The chicken, on the other hand, was awesome. Dave gave it 5 jalapenos. I gave it 4.5 jalapenos. The rice: Dave gave it 2 jalapenos (b/c I put peas in it. Minus the peas, he says it was 4). I gave it 3 jalapenos.

Later in the week, I made chicken stroganoff. (I used chicken. The recipe says turkey.) I really liked this recipe. It was a lighter version of beef stroganoff. I loved having the carrots in addition to the mushrooms. My only complaint was that the sauce didn't get very thick. Next time, I'll have to use a little more corn starch.

Dave and I both gave the recipe 4 jalapenos.

To see the other recipes I've been making, please visit these posts: New recipe, week 3, New recipe, week 2, New recipe, week 1

New Recipe, Week 3

This was a busy week for me. Actually only made dinner twice this week. I was rather unmotivated to do any cooking, but managed to make a new recipe one night.

Last Monday, I made Velveeta Broccoli Chicken and Potatoes. I had to make a couple of modifications. First, I had the Southwestern or Mexican Velveeta, not regular in my fridge. It's basically queso dip, but in your standard Velveeta form (a block). Second I used regular potatoes (red ones). They needed to be used and I didn't have hash browns in my freezer. My modifications worked well! I had to modify the cooking instructions too, since fresh potatoes take longer to cook than hash browns. It all turned out well. Imagine a baked potato with cheese sauce, broccoli and chicken chunks. That's basically what this was...with just a little kick from my spiced-up Velveeta. This recipe was easy to make and it was all done in one pan! I like easy clean up!

Dave gave it 4 jalapenos. I gave it 4 jalapenos too.

New recipe, Week 2

This week I made three new recipes. All different. All yummy.

Going back to last Sunday when I made a meal in my crock-pot. Slow Cooker Winter Vegetable Stew. Being able to utilize some vegetables I've never used on my own -- like parsnips and leaks -- made this recipe intriguing to me. Dave and I thought this was a good stew recipe. I thought that it lacked some flavor (next time I'll add minced garlic and paprika), although it tasted better when I brought it for lunch the following day. Since I knew a vegetable stew wouldn't be enough of a meal for my husband, I just bought one of those Lloyd's BBQ pork tubs and heated that in the microwave to have in addition.

Dave rated this 4 jalapenos. I rated it 3.5 jalapenos (see, I don't always rate things higher :))

Wednesday night I made Emeril's Beef and Broccoli. My friend Nicki recommended this one to me. There were some differences with what I made than the recipe -- I substituted 2 Tbsp of rice vinegar and 2 Tbsp of balsamic vinegar for the 4 Tbsp of Chinese black vinegar. I also used regular honey. I also only made "one batch"....meaning used 1/2 the beef and 1/2 the broccoli (but I still used the same amount of sauce). Also just used frozen broccoli, since I had it stocked in my freezer. I like Asian food, so I keep things like rice vinegar and hoison sauce in my cupboard. lol. This was my favorite meal of the week. The sauce was so authentic tasting. It was really fast and easy to make too. Dave said it was the best stir fry I've made.

Dave rated this 4.5 jalapenos. I rated it 5 jalapenos.

Thursday night I found a recipe that allowed me to use the winter vegetables that were still in my fridge after making the stew Sunday night. Oven-roasted Roots. It's similar to a recipe that my sister, Becky, makes, so I hoped it'd be as good. I made it with parsnips, carrots, leeks and potatoes. I served this as a side-dish -- with hamburgers being the main course. Although, I was way more excited about the vegetables (I usually am). I think this time, Dave may have been more excited about the vegetables too. He took all the leftovers with him to have as his lunch. I love the flavor of balsamic vinegar, and it gives the vegetables great flavor. Call us weird, but Dave and I love parsnips now. But I must say, that Becky's oven-roasted root vegetable recipe is better.

Dave rated this 4 jalapenos. I rated it 4 jalapenos.

New Recipe, Week 1

This week I made a lot of new recipes, so I figure it'd be as good as any time to do #34 on my 101 in 1,001 list -- Try 1 new recipe every week for a month. Here's my re-cap from week 1.

Last night Dave and I (yes, we cook together) made Tilapia with Cucumber Salad. This dish was phenomenal! It tasted like something you'd eat on a tropical island vacation, which was quite enjoyable knowing that it was below zero outside. The dressing for the cucumber salad had a sweet and spicy bite thanks to the honey, ginger and rice vinegar. We served the salad on top of the fish (as it was pictured online), and the dressing drizzled down into the fish, complementing it perfectly. On the side, we served couscous to give us a well-balanced meal. And probably the best part was that this meal was super easy to make!

Dave rated this 4.5 jalapenos. I gave it 5 jalapenos.

Last Wednesday I made Sassy Sloppy Joes. Usually I just make Sloppy Joes by adding a can of sloppy joe mix to ground beef, but since I didn't have it in my cupboard I opted for this new recipe. I loved the addition of the chili sauce to give this meal some bite (probably added a little more than was necessary though. :) I didn't have any green pepper, so I just added onion and celery, and it still turned out fine. I consider Sloppy Joes one of those regular ole' home cooked meals, and that's exactly what this recipe was. It wasn't anything necessarily extravagant or special, but it fit the bill just right for a quick and yummy Wednesday night dinner.

Dave rated this 3.5 jalapenos. I gave it 4.

Last Sunday I made Turkey Chili. This chili recipe called for beer. I'd never put beer in my chili and I thought it sounded good, so I gave it a try. Yes, yes, it is good! I didn't have a can of tomato puree, so I just left it out....so my chili was a little runnier and it had a more broth-like consistency. On Sundays, I like to make meals that simmer for a while since I'm usually home most of the day after church. This is a great recipe to add to my Sunday recipe list. And there was plenty of leftovers so we could both bring some to work for lunch (that never happens!)

Dave rated this 3.5 jalapenos. I gave it 4.

Two more recipes that passed the Balow Bunch test

Yes, ok, I admit...Dave and I may not be the best judges for my cooking. We are probably two of the world's least pickiest eaters and like almost everything. But I've been loving my most recent issue of Cooking Light and have tried two more of the recipes from this issue. We enjoyed both of them -- Autumn Apple Cake and Braised Chicken with Mushrooms and Chard. The chicken recipe was surprisingly delicious with a sweet and slightly spicy flavor (I opted for the jalapeno pepper versus the cherry pepper). Apples are used with both recipes, so I've continued to enjoy my bounty from the apple orchard. But unfortunately, I used the last apple last night. Bummer.

Yummy in my tummy

I love Vietnamese food. I LOVE LOVE Vietnamese food.

Why go to a Vietnamese restaurant when you can make it at home with your husband?

Last night we made our own Vietnamese food! Dave and I tried a Vietnamese Carmelized Pork with Coriander Rice recipe from my Cooking Light magazine. It was so good! The pork and rice were amazing. The only thing I'd change next time is substituting broccoli for the spinach. I'm not a huge fan of cooked spinach, although it did taste all right mixed with the pork. The recipe was super fast. We'll definitely be making this one again.

Got the goods?

Tonight I made a really good dinner, so that's what I'm going to blog about. Seafood enchiladas. Yum! I've been craving seafood enchiladas from El Loro, so tonight I decided I'd try to make them for myself. I found a recipe for chicken-sour cream enchiladas and modified it...so that it was made with crab and baby shrimps. Dave gave it 5 jalapenos (which is the highest possible score, meaning we need to make this again and it's awesome.) So the embarrassing part is that the recipe said it served five people...and Dave and I ate it all up in one sitting. I'm just telling myself that the two of us were able to eat it all because I modified the recipe and made it with seafood instead of chicken. ;)

Here's the recipe...in case anyone wants to try it.

The mixture is made up with 1 can crab meat, 1 can of baby shrimp, 1 cup sour cream, 1 cup cheese (I used the shredded Mexican mixture), 1/4 cup salsa, some dashes of dried cilantro and 1 tsp of ground cumin.

Spread it onto flour tortillas and roll them up. Place the tortillas end-down into a baking dish. (I must of over-stuffed them b/c you're supposed to use 10 tortillas and I only used 5.) Then you spread a mixture of sour cream, salsa and cheese on top. Bake it for 30 minutes at 350...and wa-la...you have yourself an awesome dinner!

P.S. Sorry no pictures tonight. I figured no one needs to see photos of Dave and I gorging ourselves with food. Haha.