Adventures in CSA-ing.

Well, after a long long break... it's back to the food blog! I'm sharing a CSA share with a coworker of mine and I think it's the perfect time to get back into sharing my experiences in the kitchen. So... let's get to it!

Today was our first delivery from Hay River Farm. The farm is located in Wisconsin, but is delivering directly to Target HQ. Super exciting. Our first box included rainbow chard, dill, green onions, parsley, carrots, beets, radishes, baby bok choy, arugula, romaine lettuce, and kale. CRAZY! That's a lot of greens!



To get started on the right foot, I decided to make some quiche with the chard. The internet is a mighty tool, and I found a great recipe to serve as a starting place and made my own adjustments. It's in the oven now to take to work tomorrow, so we'll see how it turns out!

Rainbow Chard, Green Onion & Feta Quiche

2 T olive oil
1 c chopped onion (I used the green onion from the box)
1 pre-made pie crust
1 bunch Rainbow chard, stemmed and coarsely chopped
8 large eggs
1/4 c heavy cream, half-and-half, whole milk, yogurt, sour cream…
salt and pepper, to taste
1 c crumbled feta (or other, grated) cheese

1. Preheat oven to 325ºF. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and sauté until softened, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl, leaving some oil in the skillet.

2. In the same skillet, add chard and sauté until wilted and tender, about 5 minutes (or longer) and any liquid has mostly evaporated. Transfer to bowl containing onion. Stir to combine. Let cool.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, cream, salt, and pepper. Add onion/chard mixture and feta and stir to combine. Transfer to prepared baking dish with crust. Bake until set in center, about 45 minutes, or up to 55 minutes. Let sit for about 5 minutes before serving.

Stuffed Peppers & Tomatoes

Until a few years ago, I wouldn't even go near a bell pepper - I think I was always afraid they were spicy.... silly me! Bell peppers are great for snacks, and good on fajitas and other dishes, but I think I like stuffed peppers the best. This is my roommate's recipe, and they always turn out great! The recipe makes enough that you can freeze some of the filling for another day (enough to make at least 4 peppers/tomatoes), which makes for a super quick dinner on a busy night.

Stuffed Peppers (or tomatoes!)
4 to 6 bell peppers (medium to large, use any color you like)
4 large beefsteak tomatoes
1 lb ground beef
2 T. Italian seasoning (oregano, basil, etc.)
3/4 cup white rice or couscous
1 can crushed tomatoes
salt & pepper
shredded parm or mozzarella for the top of each pepper

Preheat oven to 350. Cook the rice according to package directions. Brown the hamburger, drain, and put back in pan. Add in rice, crushed tomatoes, salt & pepper, and Italian seasoning. Stir together. Cut the tops off each of the peppers & tomatoes. Scoop out seeds and ribs. Fill hollowed veggies with meat/rice mixture, top with cheese. Fill deep baking dish (I use a 3 inch deep casserole) 3/4 full with water, place peppers in water (water should be about 3/4 inch below top of peppers). Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until peppers are soft and cheese has melted on top.

The tomatoes take a little less time to cook, and can get by without the water bath, but it makes them nice and soft. If I'm feeling a little fancy, I'll use the fire-roasted canned tomatoes to add a 'rustic' taste.

Time for a spice rack!

I think it might be time for a spice rack... or just time to cook with more spices? We have an awful lot of little canisters!

Beef Stroganoff

This dinner came out of Lund's Buy One Get One sale - all sorts of good things were on sale, including egg noodles, hamburger, all kinds of good stuff. So... stroganoff!

I found this recipe on Simply Recipes.


I like my stroganoff to be very saucy, and as leftovers this one got a little dry. I recommend doubling the amount of sour cream/water - make it a little juicy, and then sop it up with some good crusty bread. Yum!

Pumpkin Soup

I made my first attempt at homemade soup last night, after cleaning out our pumpkins for carving. I figured it would be very 'green' of me to use as much of the pumpkins as possible. So, I made pumpkin seeds and gave the soup a try. To be honest, it wasn't spectacular - but I didn't follow a recipe, I just made something up. It needed a lot of spices to make it taste like anything - so if you feel like giving this one a try, don't be afraid of your spice rack. Oh, and I got to use the magic bullet! That's always a good time.

Pumpkin Soup
Pumpkin leftovers, cut into 1/2 inch chunks
1 pint heavy cream
salt & pepper
spices, to taste (I used nutmeg, paprika, cumin, you name it, I probably threw it in there!)

Put the pumpkin chunks & cream into magic bullet, blend until creamy. Put creamy soup in sauce pan over medium low heat, stirring in spices to taste. Make sure it doesn't burn to the bottom of the pot. Serve with some pumpkin seeds for garnish.

Country Apple Pie - Round 2!

I already posted the recipe for my country apple pie, but I had to post these pictures. I picked up a set of leaf shaped cookie cutters to make my fall pies extra special. Look how cute they turned out!

Champagne Punch

This post is long overdue! We made this punch for my birthday dinner. The dinner itself was quite the fiasco - I forgot to put the chicken I was making on a rimmed pan, so the butter leaked out and burned on the bottom of oven. The burning butter smoked SO MUCH that we actually had to drop to the floor of the apartment, open windows, turn on fans, and eventually LEAVE while the apartment aired out. Not exactly the way I wanted to start out another year, but as they say, shit happens.

On the bright side of things, we made this beautiful, delicious champagne punch. I have said it before, and I'm sure I'll say it again; but THANK YOU Martha Stewart (and your underlings) for finding such delightful recipes. This one is super easy:


1 bottle of champagne
1/3 cup simple syrup
2 peaches, pitted, and cut in wedges
1 pint blueberries
1 pint raspberries

(You could put in any sort of berry you like, but I definitely love the peaches in there - get creative!)

We made double, maybe triple the recipe, and everyone had quite a lot. It was fantastic! Even better, it doubled as our table centerpiece for the evening, as I put it in a very large, tall vase that we usually use for glads.

These pictures are from round 2 of the champagne punch, which Chelsea, Alexis & I just had to make another time - we had leftover simple syrup & peaches (darn!)