Adventures in Sunday Cooking

Sunday March 21st

The Martinsville race was on TV and Dan invited his brother and the fam over to watch. Any excuse to get together right? Plus I've gotten into a great habit of cooking up a storm on Sundays and its always great to have people you love there to share it.

I started with the Applesauce. Basic but delicious and I know Kris loves it. And yes, while it is more of a dessert, even Dan likes it.

The skins and cores become compost to fertilize our land

{whenever we get around to needing that}

and then into the crockpot. 4 hours later and mmmmmmm applesauce. I use this recipe, though I usually add more apples and more cinnamon but not much more of anything else on the ingredients list. comes out perfect every time.

and my favorite oatmeal.

i make this nearly every week. its great for breakfast at work- simply add some milk and heat in the microwave. it gives you that divine homecooked hearty feeling that lasts for hours.

my newest territory is ice cream making.

i got a steal of a deal at Marshalls on a stainless steel Cuisinart puppy that i couldn't resist... and while I'm trying to eat healthy as much as i can, we all have our weaknesses right? and if i'm going to eat junk food, I'd at least like to know what's in it and what's not:

so what's in this ice cream?

organic milk

organic cream

organic sugar

vanilla

no preservatives or additives or coloring of any kind. now there's a treat i can feel good about!

so what's the verdict?

um yeah. safe to say this little guy LOVED it.

in fact, i looked over shortly after this to find Willy tipping the bowl up to drink the rest of what had melted. he didn't want to miss a drop! it was a hit!

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And on Wednesday of that week- 3/24/10- Kris and I picked up our first farm share delivery of the season. Last year I purchased a Spring, Summer and Fall Share and chickened out for the winter, but now that I'm picking up weekly again I remember what a wonderful part of my life this is.

What's better -- this year Krissy and Matt are joining me! Kris has been doing more of her own reading and watching on the subject of food purity (and mostly the lack thereof) and is now fully into the organic cult-- and I am so happy to have her on my team!

She told me last week that as much as I'd been trying to tell her this stuff, it just finally clicked with her and she's really excited about the idea of having the opportunity to give her kids organic/hormone free food right from the beginning of their lives! It is pretty cool if you think about it. Krissy is also a fantastic cook and I hope that together we can find some new recipes and creative uses for the bounty we'll pick up each week. The first week we received: Baby Bok Choi, Red Kale, Baby Spinach, Salad Mix, Romaine Lettuce Grapefruit, Apples Barley Flour Bunched Beets, Sweet Potatoes, Red Potato, Carrots Summer Squash, Zucchini Squash

MMMMMmmmmmmmm!

Looking forward to many more recipes and good times with family ahead this season!

Beef Stew

Yes, I'm still a vegetarian... but I made this recipe for Dan on Monday

Beef Stew

The Ingredients
--2lbs beef stew meat
--1/2 onion
--handful of baby tomatoes
--celery--carrots
--green beans
--mushrooms
--2 cans beef broth
--1/4 cup red wine
--1 t kosher salt
--1/2 t black pepper
--1 t seasoning blend (whatever you have on hand for bbqing, stir-frying, etc.)
--1 t worcestershire sauce
--1/2 cup flour

The Directions

--wash and chop all of your vegetables.
--plop them into the crockpot.
--put the flour in a bowl, and toss your meat in it to fully coat.
--put the meat into the crock (throw away the rest of the flour. don't add it in.)
--add dry seasoning and worcestershire sauce.
--pour in the wine and beef broth.
--cover and cook on low for 8-12 hours. (took about 8 1/2)

If you would like to prepare everything the night before--go for it---but don't add the liquid until you plug it in.

Dan really enjoyed this. Thought it needed a little salt but preferred to add it when eating, and said not to add it to the ingredients up front. It was not very thick, more like a soup, but when I suggested I'd add more flour next time, he said he'd prefer it this consistency. So it was a hit. Another super easy meal!!

Sunday Shots & Crockpots

I've been trying to take photos every day.

A new challenge for 2009.

An attempt to improve my photography skills and to hopefully use my point & shoot camera which I rarely use (instead favoring my Canon)


So for all of you blog followers out there, here's another link for you:

http://www.shuttercal.com/calendar/lazyfroggirl/

It's a calendar style format. If you click on each date you'll see the photo uploaded for that day. Just one picture a day (if others come out nice, I'll likely post here).



Sunday we got more snow. A lot more snow. The sticky kind that make the woods around our house look even more enchanting. Here are some of my favorite shots:

Of course besides trudging around in the snow, Sunday morning meant cleaning and doing laundry. Simple stuff, yet seeing all the whites piled up on the top of the hamper just called to me. I grabbed the camera to snap a few shots. I love these two. Can't say exactly why. Something about the colors and the textures (the towels and the hamper)... the every day things (the washer and the toilet, the doorframe)... just looking at it from a different angle perhaps {its not often I sit on the closet floor}

And Sunday was the day I did something I've been saying I was going to do for a long time- use my crockpot!! What a great first experience. I made three things (between 2 crockpots-- Joey left his at our house the last time he visited. thanks Joey)

The first was Jambalaya! Seemed like the perfect football afternoon kind of food. And look how pretty these ingredients are!!

Recipe

[care of this wonderful lady]

The Ingredients:

5 fully cooked sausages (I used some spicy ones)

2 cups chicken broth

1/2 cup white wine

1 cup raw brown rice (thought it wouldn't be enough but it was)

1 can (and juice) Itallian stewed tomatoes

1/2 can drained and rinsed black beans

1/2 chopped onion

1/2 head chopped garlic (thought I had some in house but didn't)

3 chopped celery spears

1 green pepper & 1 red pepper (I added 2 small hot peppers too)

1 cup frozen white corn kernals

2 cups cooked frozen shrimp

The Directions

pour the broth, wine and the uncooked brown rice into the bottom of your stoneware

stir the rice in the liquid

cover with chopped vegetables, frozen corn and garlic

put in the black beans

add sausage

I promise it's enough liquid

cook on low for 8-10 hours, high for 6. (i cooked it on high)

an hour before eating, stir in frozen shrimp and turn to high

I also made Roasted Vegetables

Ingredients

-veggies of your choice

--olive oil
--kosher salt
--pepper

Directions
wash and trim veggies
put into the crockpot still moist
drizzle olive oil over the top (1T? 2T? I didn't measure)
healthy pinch of salt and pepper
toss with hands to coat vegetables evenly with oil and spices

cover and cook on low for 4 hours, high for 2-3

stir every hour or so and check vegetable tenderness

super easy and they came out so tasty (i know you love that word mom)

veggies i chose: sweet potatoes, carrots, acorn squash, eggplant and zucchini

p.s. tip for acorn squash which is the toughest vegetable to cut through- but soo yummy once you actually cook it {also got this from the crockpot lady}

microwave the acorn squash for a few minutes before trying to cut it

it works fabulously

and you can eat the skin

i like it. dan doesn't. but its easier to cut off after its cooked.

third and final crockpot recipe for sunday

Creamy Crockpot Risotto

The Ingredients

1 1/4 cup uncooked Arborio rice

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup white wine

3 3/4 cups chicken or vegetable broth

5 cloves chopped garlic (again, none on hand but usually do add- might add some finely chopped onions next time too)

1 t kosher salt

1/4 t black pepper

2/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese (to add at the very end)

The Directions

toss the uncooked Arborio rice with the olive oil in your crockpot stoneware

add the seasonings and garlic

pour in the broth and white wine

stir to mix flavors

cover and cook on high for 2 hours, or until the rice is tender

stir in the shredded cheese and leave uncovered for about 15 minutes

to let a bit of the moisture escape

All three were big hits! And it was so nice not to have to actively cook while we had company!