Thank You seems insufficient

It’s no secret that Nora Ephron is one of my heroes.  The world is diminished without her.

CSA – Week 5

Guess what happens when you go on vacation?

Yep.  You miss your veggies and you have no exciting photos to blog.  I donated my box to my neighbor and she spent a happy evening blanching the harvest for freezer storage.

I did find this link though.  And it looks like I may have enough squash and zucchini to try every dang one of these recipes before the summer is over. 

Be aware that one of these recipes is for zucchini cupcakes.  You heard me.  Cupcakes!

CSA – Week 4

This week we got peaches!!!

I made this peach cobbler and dropped half of it into the hot oven when the buttery casserole dish literally jumped out of my hands.  It smelled great though.  Next week, I will try again.
Note:  I pretty much only use Paula Deen’s dessert recipes.  They have never failed me and they all start with one stick of butter.  It just works, people.

We also received carrots, red cabbage, green beans, onions, strawberries and…
zucchini and squash.
Let me just say that I am sick of zucchini and squash already.  Here’s the recipe I am planning to try though.  Don’t worry, it’s not a Pinterest recipe so your chance of success is good.

The cheese this week is a marinated goat cheese.  It looks like two discs of awesome floating in a jar of buttery, herbed oil. 

We did get around to trying the spreadable goat cheese.  The serving suggestion was to eat it drizzled with honey.

Oh. Dear. God.

This stuff is gonna be served at heaven’s cafeteria.  Yowza!!!

CSA WARNING

Oh merciful savior…

DO NOT try the strawberry recipe from the last post.

Never in the history of recipes has anything turned out so badly.  Oh good grief…

I admit that I am not the greatest cook but the recipe was pretty simple and I’m not sure how this could be my fault.  The texture (once I scraped them off the pan) was about what I thought they should be but the flavor was almost indescribable.  It was like Satan had declared war on my taste buds.  Sour, bitter and just horrible.  The worst part is that during the three hours they were in the oven, the house smelled like a strawberry fairyland.  How could something smell so good and taste so bad?

At this point I have to assume that no recipes on Pinterest are any good.  I am at a 0% success rate with recipes that have people gushing praise all over the Internet.  I’m no master chef but I can’t possibly be such a bad cook that I am screwing up every “The World’s Best fill in the blank” recipe.

CSA – Week Three

This week’s harvest included cucumbers, carrots, zucchini. squash, red cabbage and kale.
Here’s my recipe for the cucumbers:
Peel.  Slice.  Dip in Ranch dressing.
Stop making life so hard people.
Now, can we talk about squash for a minute?  It must seriously be the easiest vegetable to grow in Tennessee.  I am convinced our state will survive any sort of worldwide annihilation just because, no matter what happens, we will have squash.  My stepdaughter once worked at a fast food place.  While working the drive-thru one day, a man drove up without ordering, she opened the window and he handed her a bag of squash and drove off.  The squash will save us folks.  Don’t forget it.

We also scored our first green beans of the season.  Try this recipe and tell me if it’s good.
Roasted Green Beans
Wash and drain beans and let them dry well.  Trim off both ends of your beans.
Place beans in a large bowl and drizzle good extra virgin olive oil over the beans.  Sprinkle a small amount of paprika, coriander and cumin over the beans and toss with your hands until beans are coated with seasonings.  Lay beans out in a single layer on half sheet pan (with rim).
Roast beans at 500 F. about 15 minutes, stirring beans around three times while roasting.
After 15 minutes, remove from the oven and season with salt and fresh ground pepper.

 Dip/Dressing to accompany beans (make ahead of time)
– 1 Cup of Greek yogurt
– 2 T. Parsley or Cilantro (your preference)
Now add your choice or both to taste:  chopped chives and/or minced red onion.  Add ¾ cups diced cucumber.
Refrigerate for a couple hours before serving so yogurt can absorb the flavors.

Strawberries are still our only fruit.  Not complaining.  Just ready for some variety.  This is the strawberry recipe I want to try…if the kids stop eating them as fast as they can shove them in their greedy little mouths.
Here it is:  Halve the strawberries, place them on a cookie sheet, bake in a 210 degree oven for 3 hours.  The recipe is getting rave reviews online.  But I haven’t tried it yet so don’t blame me if you end up with a pan full of strawberry bleck.
The cheese this week was a log rolled in some kind of herbs.  It looks friggin delicious but I still haven’t got around to eating it.  Come by the house and I will give you a bite…or seven.