weekly delivery 01/28

In the box this week:


mixed baby lettuce
1 head broccoli
1 bulb fennel
baby bok choy

1 head of radicchio
three oranges
one onion
pink lady apples
three beets
1 pound of brussel sprouts
1 bunch collard greens

loaded baked poatoes

Tonight we made baked potatoes loaded with bacon, cheese and broccoli! Are you drooling yet?

We made these baked potatoes extra special with a trip to the farmer's market at The Ferry Building on Saturday. There we picked up a triple-cream cheese called Mt. Tam from Cowgirl Creamery and bacon from The Fatted Calf. It's the best bacon in the world!

vegan cream of potato and chard soup

To celebrate the return of the CSA delivery, we made a vegan feast.

Salad:
Lettuce, carrots, apples, Annie's Goddess dressing


Vegan garlic bread:
Ciabatta, smart balance, garlic, olive oil

Soup:
Ingredients:
4 potatoes, cut into 1/2 in cubes (I like skin on, but if you prefer it off- go for it!)
1 bunch golden chard, remove stems and roughly chop
1/2 block super firm tofu, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 Tbsp Earth Balance
1/2 a yellow onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 sprig rosemary
4 cups vegetable broth
4 cups soy milk
1 cup water (maybe a little more)
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
salt and pepper to taste

My mom and grandma always made this simple potato soup while I was growing up. Of course it wasn't vegan, there was butter, milk, hard boiled eggs, and definitely no chard! But it is one of those simple childhood flavors I crave from time to time, and its chilly and raining here in S.F. Plus I thought it would be nice to do an update on a family classic, and give Katie a little taste of what growing up was like for me at the dinner table. So here we go!

Cut your tofu first and place it on an oiled sheet pan in a pre-heated 350 degree oven. Bake for 25 minutes until the sides are really firm. Don't worry, the soup will be almost done by then.

Saute' your onions in your soup pot on medium heat with the Earth Balance until translucent, about 5-7 minutes. Add your garlic, potatoes, rosemary, veggie stock, and enough water to barely cover the potatoes. Put the lid on the pot. When the soup comes to a boil, lower the flame and keep it at a simmer. After about 16-20 minutes total cooking time stick a fork into a piece of potato. If the potato is fork tender- its done! Ok, almost. Now add you chard, soy milk, and nutritional yeast, and stir to incorporate. Bring it back up to a good soup temperature without boiling. By now your tofu should be finished and you can add it right into the pot. Season with salt and pepper, remove the rosemary sprig, and serve!

p.s.: Its even better the next day.

weekly delivery 01/21

HOORAY!!! I can't explain how happy I was when I came home from work and saw our box sitting at our doorstep! Three week without beautiful fresh veggies and fruit is just way too long. And I must say that our box this week was absolutely gorgeous! So many amazing colors, I took like 60 photos!

1 head radicchio
6 potatoes
1 bulb garlic
1 bunch golden chard

1 bunch parsley
1 bunch carrots
2 red onions

1 head broccoli
6 Fuji apples

lots of baby bok choy
3 Comice pears
5 Satsuma oranges

no box! part two

On our second night of boxless-ness, we made a pasta bake. Super easy!

Ingredients:
1 lb pasta
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 a large onion, diced
1 red pepper, sliced
2 zucchini, sliced
1 yellow squash, sliced
2 heads broccoli, chopped into bite sized florets
1 can diced tomatoes
1 package shredded mozzarella cheese

Boil the pasta, but strain it about 1 or 2 minutes earlier than you normally would so that it's not quite al dente yet. Empty the strained pasta into a large casserole dish. Pour on top a can of diced tomatoes and stir it around a bit to incorporate.

You can use the same pot you just cooked the pasta in to par-cook the veggies. Add the olive oil to the pot over medium heat. Add the onion and pepper together, cook about 5 minutes til the oniosn are softened. Dump those on top of your pasta in the casserole dish, then cook the squash, zucchini and broccoli in the pot, stirring frequently just until the zucchini and squash get toasty. Dump that on top of the casserole, cover with cheese and bake in a 350 degree oven for 35 minutes with foil, then 10 minutes without to get some good color and crispiness on the cheese.

vacation photos

Here are some snapshots of food we ate on the east coast:

huevos rancheros, biscuits & gravy and "desayuno" from Honey's in Philadelphia.

cheesesteaks (whiz wit, of course) from Jim's on South Street, Philadelphia.

BBQ chicken with all the fixin's, Delilah's mac & cheese, and a vegan chicken salad pita from Basic 4, Reading Terminal, Philadelphia.

Swallow, a new Philadelphia restaurant who's entire menu is macaroni & cheese!

Katie excited to order an egg & cheese from a roach coach on Market St, Philadelphia.


Vegan buffalo wings & chicken nuggets for starters. Then, "Sole on a Roll," a vegan fillet o'fish, for Katie and vegan chicken parm for Kenny at Red Bamboo, NYC.

While we were in New York, we also checked out Wylie Dufresne's wd-50.

To start, we got some cocktails and paper thin sesame flat bread.

Appetizers: Katie ordered the sweetbreads covered in peanut with beet-pomegranate, pickled sweet potato and mint. Kenny got the parsnip tart with quinoa, hazelnuts and bok choy.

Entree: Katie got the duck breast with worcestershire spaetzle, parsley root and mustard greens. Kenny got waygu skirt steak with long beans, tamarind and peanut butter "pasta."

On the left, the best dessert ever with pear and pistachio. On the right, the very cool underwater themed bathroom.

no box! part one

We got back from vacation on Thursday and were not going to be receiving a new CSA delivery til Wednesday, so that left us with 5 days of meals with no fresh veggies in sight. I was really craving something healthy after our complete lack of vegetables on vacation, so Kenny bought a few veggies to tide us over from a local market.

The first night back Kenny made an awesome slow-cooked chili with beans, Yves Ground, tomatoes and peppers, and topped it off with chunks of toasted day-old Philadelphia soft pretzels.
Ingredients:
1 can garbanzo beans
1 can pinto beans
1 package Yves ground
2 28 oz cans diced tomatoes
2 Tbsp 2x concentrate tomato paste
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 jalapeno pepper, diced
4 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp granulated garlic
2 tsp oregano
salt and pepper to taste

Garnish:
3 squares of a dark chocolate candy bar, grated
shredded cheese

Add all ingredients (except garnish) to slow cooker. Cook on high for 1.5 hours, and on low for 1.5 hours. When the chili is ready, add the grated chocolate and stir to incorporate. Ok. Chocolate? Really Kenny? Yes, really. Adding chocolate to chili is one of my favorite things to do. It give the chili a creamy texture and adds a really great depth of flavor to the whole dish (think mole' sauce). Just try it, even with canned chili, it makes a world of difference.

Garnish bowls of chili with shredded cheese, and if you are lucky enough to have philly soft pretzels (or any soft pretzels- they just make awesome croutons!), these tasty treats:

Soft pretzel croutons:
Soft pretzels- cut into 1 inch chunks
Olive oil
Garlic powder
salt and pepper

Place soft pretzel chunks on a sheet pan. Drizzle with olive oil. Lightly shake garlic, salt, and pepper over the oiled chunks. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30-35 minutes and allow to cool. For use in salads I like to add herbs to these, but for the chili I thought it would be better without them.

We're back!

We just got back from vacation in Philadelphia, New York, and Lancaster. We have a bunch of photos from the amazing meals we ate while being back on the frigid East Coast and we will get those up over the next few days.

In the meantime, we will be doing a special recipe section using only items from our pantry since we missed our box delivery day this week.