Sep 19, 2010

Real Food Kitchen - Week in Review

With pictures from my phone, here's is the week in review from my kitchen...with a bit of commentary.

First, I lacto-fermented peppers from the farmers market and my flower-bed garden.  In this quart jar, I've included banana peppers, jalapenos, green bell peppers, garlic and a bit of radish (that I had left over from making Lisa's kimchi.)  These banana peppers are delish, and they don't contain the artificial dyes that you'll find in the grocery store banana peppers.  In the absence of nitrate laden pepperoni, these are wonderful on pizza.  Just add them after baking the pizza to preserve the beneficial bacteria that keeps you healthy.

Next I roasted about 30 acorn squash that I bought in bulk from Kellogg Valley Farm.  One of my friends said, "I hope Baby likes squash."  Um, I didn't even consider that she would turn her nose.

Cut them in half, scoop out seeds, lay in a half inch of water in a cookie sheet and bake at 400* till you can easily poke with a fork.  Below you'll also see a spaghetti squash.

Below: Mt. Squash, 8 inches high.  I pureed it all for baby food and added a bit of chicken stock.  For adults and kids alike roasted acorn squash is an excellent side dish.
Did you know spaghetti squash looks like... spaghetti?!!  Try it!  We ate this squash with marinara with eggs poached on top.
Also from the farmers market, I bought 2.5 lbs of eggplant to roast for baba ghanoush.
Some people remove the purple peel before roasting but I like the texture and extra vitamins and minerals.  Below you'll see the eggplant roasted with onions and garlic.  Like YaYa's does for their appetizer, I added a bit of yogurt to my baba ghanoush.

Did you know the River Market has several Asian growers?  If you haven't been there in a while, you should try some thing new, like bok choy.
I bought it for stir fry.  Lisa says she likes to eat the stalks with peanut butter and it isn't stringy like celery.



 You don't have to have a wok to do stir fry.  It can be made in a large skillet or stock pot.  I like making stir fry because it comes together quickly, once the veggies are chopped.  I try to chop in small intervals during the day when things aren't crazy.  Reality or not, I feel crazy at dinner time.

When the coconut oil was hot (med-high heat), I added butternut squash that had been peeled, seeded and cubed.
Once the squash was beginning to caramelize, I added red, green, and jalapeno peppers, shredded carrot,  minced garlic and ginger, and green onions.  Basically I cleaned out my fridge.
Then I added the bok choy.
Lastly, I added chicken that I'd made and frozen weeks ago.  To make it a bit saucy, in a small bowl I mixed together 3T soy sauce, 2 T GMO-free corn starch, and 2T sherry.  When that was combined I added about 1/2 cup chicken broth and poured it into the wok.
It would have been wonderful over rice but I didn't think of it till it was too late.  Oh wait, I remember: cleaning out the fridge I found some.  We each had about 1/2 cup rice.

Last but not least was this kid-friendly snack - banana boats!

Those are post-it note and toothpick sails.

-Julie

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