Korean-Style Quick Beef and Veg

So, I promised to get back to blogging recipes. And as much as I love cooking and eating and all things food related, this is ending up being a much more difficult task for me than it has any right to be. So, be gentle on me as I slog through this.

You see, it's been a crazy few years for me. Growing kids with increasingly hectic schedules, family members dealing with life-threatening issues, job changes, and to top it all off, a move. Don't get me wrong, things aren't dire or anything. In fact, they're quite good, knock on wood. But it just makes for the type of situation where here it's coming around to the end of 2017 already and I still haven't sent out last year's Christmas cards with our change of address. THAT kind of crazy.

The other thing that I find complicating is my own sense of perfectionism. I have a difficult time doing things if I don't feel like I can do them the way I think they should be done. I like to show you pictures of all the steps of the recipes I make. I like to have a lighthearted banter in the way I write. I like the food to be easy to make and also delicious. Most of the times, those are not a problem, but right now, the first of those is giving me stress. In the house we moved to, the kitchen is really great, in terms of functionality and usability, and while it needs some renovation, that's probably about 5 years or so down the road at this point. But it's in the center of the house. And while our kitchen has always been the figurative center of our home, it wasn't the literal center before. Which may not seem like it's a big deal, or something that would affect my blogging, but...

...There's no natural light in my kitchen. Which suuuuuuuuuucks for taking pictures. Typical house lighting makes for weird shadows and altered coloring, and I'm not yet really great at photo editing. So I either have to skip all the pictures (Nooooooo! But maybe work with fewer...), take food I want to shoot to other rooms that have natural light (awkward, but yes), deal with shoddy pictures (ugh, hopefully not too often), learn how to preform miracles in photoshop (working on it), get a lightbox or other tools to enable better pictures (on my Christmas list), or just deal with that the pictures kind of are what they are and still forge ahead with the blogging while looking for ways to improve the photographic situation.

So, that's what I'm doing. Like I said, be gentle with me.

And now, back to the food!

Potato Leek Pancakes

Chicago has a great holiday tradition of holding a Chriskindlmarket downtown, and, of course, I go there for the food.  I have to grab my tiny ceramic boot of mulled wine (more for the boot than the wine), the bite-sized nibbles of glazed gingerbread, the aromatic candied nuts, and a plate full of the crispy hot latkes.  My family has learned the routine, minus the wine for the kiddios, and we look forward to heading down and gorging ourselves through the market.

But there are times when you want a good latke and there doesn't happen to be a handy Old World German market around.  Then, you have to take matters into your own hands.
One of the things I love about doing the CSA and my garden is being able to stretch the veggies out into the winter.  I had a bed full of leeks in my garden, and they have kept pretty well in my fridge for months!  And the CSA brought us plenty of potatoes that keep very well in the pantry.  And leeks and potatoes happen to be an awesome combination!

Potato leek soup is pretty much a given, but once in a while, I like to stretch and make some Potato Leek Pancakes.  Same great combo of the oniony flavor of the leeks and the starchy potatoes, but in snackable bites!

Maple Roasted Rutabaga

Rutabagas are one of those vegetables that I never really thought about before we started the CSA.  When we got our first one, I had no idea what to do with it.  I opted to make a soup recipe that I found in a veggie cookbook, and I wasn't impressed.

Then I was told by someone at the farm (he must have seen me wrinkle my nose at being handed another rutabaga) that rutabagas sweeten up when they are roasted.  He suggested a touch of honey with them.  Trying that pretty much kicked off my relationship with rutabagas.  I'm a fan now, for sure.  The dish has changed a bit, honey switched to maple syrup, a touch of seasoning...but it's still really delicious.

Butternut Pear Soup

We've been getting a lot of butternut squash from our CSA lately.  Like one or two a week.  Which is fantastic, don't get me wrong, but I'm not a huge squash fan.  So putting it to good use is a huge task for me.  I'm really trying to think outside the box and find ways to prepare it that make my tastebuds dance with excitement, and this soup is one of those recipes.

CSA Summer Weeks 5 and 6: Bacon, Kale, and Potato Comfort Dinner

Wow, computer issues have plagued me, and between that, the kids going back to school, and me starting a new job, I feel like I've totally neglect the blog for the last couple of weeks.  Yikes.

So, it's time to jump back in, full speed ahead!

I have 2 weeks of CSA shares that I'm back-logged on, but luckily, the recipe I have for you today uses things included in both of them.

Week 5 brought tomatoes, more ground cherries, potatoes, garlic, hot and sweet peppers, spinach, a leek, and kale.

CSA: Summer Week 4 and Ground Cherry Crumble

Week 4 of our bi-weekly CSA share brought a huge bounty, and included some pleasant surprises.  

Beets, carrots, tomatoes, thyme, pattypan, onions, zucchini, potatoes, and summer squash, and u-pick options of both green beans and cherry tomatoes...which also included ground cherries!  Seeing as how we have cherry tomatoes out the wazoo in our home garden, we just went full out on the ground cherries.  I had to stop my middle kiddo from snacking her way through the bush as we picked, because she loves these little suckers so much.

We'll get back to those ground cherries soon, I promise.

CSA - Summer Week 3 and Summer Veg Empanadas with Kohrabi, Kale, and Summer Squash

Week 3 of the summer CSA was a huge haul:

Kohlrabi, cucumbers, zucchini, summer squash, potatoes, onions, lettuce, basil, and kale.  Leaning towards the green side this week, but I had some immediate thoughts as to what would be made in the kitchen.

Asian Inspired Lemon Cucumber and Tomato Salad

The lemon cucumbers is my garden are going absolutely bonkers this year, and I'm hearing from fellow lem-cuke lovers that they are finding the same thing.  Personally, I could eat these babies raw all day long, but it seemed like people were looking for something more to do with them.  And so, I give to you, this Asian Inspired Lemon Cucumber and Tomato Salad!

CSA Share - Summer Week 1 and Asian Pesto

It's finally summer season for our CSA!  Unlike spring and fall, where we get shares every week, we opt to go every other week through the summer.  With my own garden going so well, and my addiction to farmers' markets, it seems to be the right choice for us.  Although the way my kids are eating and growing lately, next year may be the year we go to weekly summer pick-ups.  So this is our first week of summer shares, but it's the farm's second summer share...for the sake of my sanity, I'm just going to number them on my own.  So, share number one:

We've got romaine lettuce, snap peas, bok choy, zucchini, summer squash, komatsuna, green onions, garlic scapes, and Tokyo Bekana, which is totally new to me!  It's an Asian green, that tastes very similar to cauliflower to me.

CSA Share - Spring Week 4 and Carrot Top Arugula Pesto

It's the last week of our spring CSA, and while endings make me a little sad, it also makes me excited to think about the upcoming main season share we have to look forward to!  Plus, this is one of my favorite hauls yet:

Spinach, carrots, beets, arugula (double, because the hubs traded our lettuce for more!), snap peas, and garlic scapes!

CSA Share - Spring Week 3 and Unlimited Potential Spinach

In this week's CSA, we're starting to see a bit more color!  Along with a ton of green, that is.  And I was so excited for the new veggies!

We got massive bags of both spinach and lettuce, radishes, bok choy, beets, and sugar snap peas.

CSA Share - Spring Week 2 and Bok Choy Salad

Week two of our spring CSA, and things are looking pretty green around here! 

See what I mean?  This week's share brought us potted thyme (We could have chosen oregano, but I got that last week, so I decided to switch it up!), bunches of bok choy, spinach, pea shoots, beet greens, Harukei turnips, and another ginormous bag of lettuce.

Soup or Salad? Why Not Both?

If you read my CSA post for this week, you know that I said I had a TON of lettuce in our share.  I may have been exaggerating.  It was not an actual ton of lettuce.  That would have been crazy.  But it was a huge amount of lettuce.  Just over a pound of lettuce leaves.  Which may not sound like a lot, but after serving salad to my family of 5 twice and still having more than half the bag left, I realized that a pound is quite a bit of lettuce.

So, what to do with an excess of lettuce?  It doesn't keep forever, and it doesn't freeze well.  But, surprisingly, it does make a delicious soup.

CSA Share - Spring Week 1 and Quick Stir Fry

I can't properly put into words how excited I get when it's time for our CSA to start again.  We're lucky to be able to get CSA shares from spring until fall, but there's still a long 5 months that we go without it.  Well, not exactly without it, because I have a lot in my freezer to stretch it out.

But by the time spring comes around, resources are running low, and my family is usually pretty desperate for vegetables that taste like true vegetables.  This week was the first week of our spring CSA with Green Earth Institute, and after the long, cold winter we had, I couldn't have been more ready for it!

Here's what we got: a HUGE bag of lettuce, Harukei turnips, pea shoots, beet greens, potted oregano (we could choose either oregano or thyme, and as much as I love thyme, I already had a bunch of it planted), and a ton of bok choy.

Breadveggies: Gingered Carrot Zucchini Bread

If you've ever planted a zucchini plant, you're probably familiar with how overwhelming they can be once they start producing.  There's even a "Leave a Zucchini on Your Neighbor's Porch" day.  I try to shred and freeze as much as I can to keep up with it, and that means that I have a frozen stash of zucchini on hand for most of the rest of the year until the next garden zucchini-fest comes around.

I'm always on the lookout for ways to use that zucchini, and this Gingered Carrot Zucchini bread recipe is one of my go-to's for several reasons.  One: it is delicious.  Two: it is easy.  Three: the recipe makes 2 loaves at once, so I can either give one away or freeze it for later.  Four: it's a nice way to show kids that vegetables aren't scary.  I mean, this bread has not one, but TWO vegetables in it, and it's fantastic!

Sweet and Spicy: No, Not Just Me, the Pepper Jelly Too!

We get a lot of peppers of all sorts from our vegetable CSA.  Sweet ones, mild ones, hot ones, uber-hot ones...and I'm one of those freaks who loves pepper flavor, but doesn't like crunching straight into a raw pepper.  As far as spice goes, I tend to stay on the mid-to-mild side of things as well.  I don't mind a kick, but I hate things that burn just for the spite of it.  So sometimes, when the CSA is pepper-plentiful, I get in over my head with the hot peppers.

I can grab a serrano or two and whip up some salsa, I might chop a red chili and throw it in some beef broh with onions and noodles for a warming lunch, but when I have handfuls of pepper and an hour or so on my hands, I can whip up a mean bunch of pepper jelly.  You can do it too.

Chop up some sweet peppers, about 3/4 cups chopped.  Throw them right into a one cup measure.  Then chop up some hot peppers and fill the measure to a full cup.  Keep a few seeds in there, if you want more heat.  I usually take most of them out, but I don't stress if a few find their way into the mix.  Feel free to play with the ratio, more or less spice as you like.  This is what works for me.  I had a variety of hot peppers: some Hungarian wax, some chilies, some serranos, and some...I really am not even sure.

Jewels in the Garden - Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

We are coming into major tomato time around these parts.

Last weekend we were away, and when we got back, I found a ton of ripe fruit on my cherry tomato plants.  Thing is, from now for at least a month, I'll probably get this much every other day.

The Best Things You Probably Aren't Eating Yet: Garlic Scapes

Behold the garlic scape.  Small yet mighty, beautiful but with a bite, simple in look but intense in flavor.  Garlic scapes and I were introduced through my CSA the first year we joined it, and I fell in love at first taste.

Spring CSA Week 1

I've had a grin on my face all day.  Because...

Today was the first day of the year for our veggie CSA!

We got a newsletter beforehand telling us what to expect, and since I saw bok choy and harukei turnips on there, I decided to set the rice cooker before we went to pick up, because I could throw together a mean stir-fry with those field-fresh veggies.  After doing that, the kids and I headed to the farm...which happens to be about 5 minutes away, smack dab in the middle of the Chicago suburbs.

Here's what we got:

Frozen Assets

My freezer is legendary.  I've blogged about some of the treasures it contains, but even before this blog existed, that freezer had a following of its' own.  At one point, I was going to make it a Foursquare check-in and call it "Frostco".  My friend requested that I devote a post to my wonderful freezer.  It's out in the garage, a full standing freezer, and it is one of my most appreciated possessions.

I think a lot of people don't really use their freezers to their fullest potential.  I know I used to be scared of freezing stuff, and I thought that things that were frozen didn't taste as good.  Turns out, I was wrong.  You just have to know what you're doing.  My freezer and I don't have a perfect relationship.  Don't get me wrong.  It's horribly unorganized.  Nothing's really boxed, so it has to fit in where it can, and sometimes I end up with a 4-pound frozen chicken hitting me in the head while I'm getting frozen veggies out of the lower drawer.  And don't even get me started on the day last summer when the seal lost it's sealing power and I lost half of what was inside.  It felt like a small part of me died that day.  Maybe I get a little overly emotional about food.  But, for the most part, I love my freezer, and it's become pretty essential to my family's eating.