you say tomato, i say tomato

a good tomato can do a lot for a sandwich.  and, it being summer, it was time to celebrate the great tomatoes we have... and, of course, we had to invite the avocado to the celebration.  chopsticks chimes in, "you can have your blt, i want my tomato and avocado sandwich."


and, what chopsticks says....


the menu (22july10):

• tomato & avocado sandwiches (yellow & heirloom tomatoes, avocado & mayonnaise)

week 14: a new week... thankfully...

just wasn't the best of weeks last week.   there certainly weren't any culinary masterpieces created.  we did, however, use the majority of the box last week (tomato here, sweet potato fry there).  


this week, there's a renewed energy in the house as we attempt to use  (and blog) our produce.  this week, we went with box "c" (seems to be our favorite so far).  

clockwise from top left: striped/korean melons, sprite melon, cherry tomatoes, assorted tomatoes, carolina crisp peanut bar, peaches, personal watermelon, butternut squash, red potatoes

week 13: taters and maters

i was excited to see sweet potatoes in a box this week and that led us to choose box "c" ("for adventurous cooks").  and, yes, there were a lot of taters and maters when the box arrived.

clockwise from top left: personal watermelon, spaghetti squash, pickled squash, blueberries, cucumbers, tomatoes, sweet potatoes

a rat, a dog and a fish...

ratatouille.  


chopsticks looks up, "we've already seen that movie."  


ojp stops, "a friend for me, dad?!" 


no, not the movie.  and, no, ojp, we're not getting a rat for a friend.  i am going to play with the concept of ratatouille, however.   plus, chopsticks is craving fish.   let the experiment begin.


the menu (08july10):

• paprika dusted fish (pan sauted)
• ratatouille croquette
• avocado puree
• siracha oil drizzle
• potato chips (sliced red potatoes, home fried)

the croquette didn't stay together as well as i had hoped (add an egg next time, spoon), but the taste was spot on.  

chopsticks the baker vs. spoon

this isn't really a fair fight here.  chopsticks is, hands down, the baker in the house.  


meanwhile, we have a wealth of blueberries waiting to be used. chopsticks is going for the blueberry pie.  i'm attempting an olive oil cake with blueberries (ojp stops, "dad, you're going to cook with me?!"  no, ojp... olive oil, not olive) with a blueberry topping.

 chopsticks' blueberry pie

 olive oil cake with blueberry topping

the winner, in a close decision..... chopsticks.  i want to think i put up a fair fight on this one, but have to hand it to chopsticks, she can definitely bake.  

week 12: mmmmm... po-ta-toes....

we're obsessed.  the mention of potatoes in the box pretty much assured that what box we were choosing.  labeled as containing "cucumbers and a canary melon" we chose box "c" this week.


we were also slightly intrigued by the canary melon.  we'll be sure to follow up on that one this week.

clockwise from top left: personal watermelon, cucumbers, canary melon, squash, corn, tomatoes, blueberries, green and red bell pepper, potatoes

(and, yes, a bit behind this week.  we'll do our best to catch up :) )

week 11 comes to a close

somewhere along the way, i blinked, finding myself celebrating the 4th of july and realizing we were half-way through the year.  another blink and i find myself on another wednesday in anticipation of our weekly box (week 12), realizing we fell just short of the "use it all up and let us know what you did with it" challenge that was ahead of us last week.  


the "still to be used" culprits:

• blueberries - which i have a plan for, just didn't get the chance to make it yet
• few ears of corn - which will most definitely be used
• eggplant - ah, thinking you were a sprite melon completely threw me off this week

maybe if i blink again the blueberries will turn into a delicious pie.

fourth of july = grilling

to start out, i made sure we had enough propane to make it through the cooking process. needed to learn something from last week's wonderful mis-adventures.


the menu (04july10):

• turkey burgers
• grilled potato wedges
• grilled corn with ancho chili butter
• bruschetta topped with  tomato and basil (and, yes, the bruschetta was grilled... had to keep the theme going)

bruschetta topped with tomato and basil

so full... must take ojp for walk in an attempt to recover...  "walk dad?! did you say walk?!! ok, ok, i'm ready!"




p.s. happy birthday, owlie

chopsticks gets creative

you can't just open the watermelon and eat it!  well, i guess you could, but chopsticks had way more fun this way.

good thoughts gone bad

our bushel of jalapenos should lend well to some poppers. 

unfortunately, the attempt to enhance things a bit by using a crab mixture fell a bit short of our expectations.  they were just missing something (needed a creaminess that was just missing)... and we'll need to play with this one a bit before posting a recipe.

i think my mouth is still on fire from thinking about these poppers though....

so... we should have paid attention

not a sprite melon this week.  it's actually a white eggplant.  guess the little eggplant like stem at the top should have tipped us off.  and here i was all excited about it being a sprite melon.  

making up for last week... i blame the contest

or maybe i should be thanking the contest as it has forced me to plan out a few things.  and, as i'm home alone tonight (let me tell you the house is ultra quiet without ojp and chopsticks around), i can take some time to think up a few things.


since it's just me, i wanted something a little lighter.  and, well, that eggplant is staring at me.


the menu (01july10):

• egg white frittata with summer vegetables
• roasted red pepper tomato sauce

egg white frittata with roasted red pepper tomato sauce

this was good enough to make another one the next morning for breakfast.

week 11: what chopsticks wants.... and a contest to boot

it was a tough choice on the boxes this week, but chopsticks saw the personal watermelon included in one of the choices this week and suggested we should get that one.  who am i to argue.


so, box "c" this week (labeled as the "hot peppers" box).

clockwise from top left: eggplant (asian variety), white eggplant (edit), corn, blueberries, personal watermelon, cherry tomatoes, jalapenos

this week also came with a challenge:  the third annual (first for us) "what i did with my box this week."   as stated, "with all the veggies and fruit coming hard and fast off the fields, it may be a challenge [to say the least] using up the entire contents of the boxes each week."  premise is to help everyone out by submitting a brief summary of how you used up your whole box this week.  top three will be picked. 

so, we'll see how well we do this week.

a week of misses

let's be honest, i took a few days off and settled into the concept of relaxing.  all the grand intentions of playing mad scientist with the bounty of produce from the last week were replaced with the sound of vuvuzela's and some time in the sun.


our story begins last friday.  the super hot days had sparked a want for spicy food.  sure, we had plenty of peppers to use, but i was thinking chipotle... and peaches (small aside, grilled fruit is definitely high on my list of ways to eat fruit).  


the thought:

• chipotle and peach marinated chicken
• grilled peaches
• grilled corn with ancho chili butter 

started mixing, marinating and ready to grill.  i was so ready to come back to the lightly charred chicken (used some honey and peach preserves in the marinade to balance the spiciness of the chipotle) only to find the gas had gone out on the grill.  so frustrating and had to finish off the chicken and the corn indoors.  the finished results showed promise, but really needed a bit of work before we were comfortable posting the "chopsticks approved" recipes.

failed meal attempt

leaving us still hungry, we chopped up the squash and made some more baked squash fries.

fast forward to sunday.  after a fun visit to the farmer's market the previous morning, it was time to attempt some gazpacho.  had some great looking tomatoes and the jalapenos (2 small ones) and had picked up some herbs, cucumber and other fine fixin's.  chopped, blended and let it sit overnight for lunch.


remind me next time to cut down on the jalapeno... wow.


wait... a success story?!  after having picked up some mahi mahi at the farmers market, we thought:

• mahi mahi tacos, topped with 
• sliced avacado and
• smoky poblano and strawberry salad

surprisingly, something we did actually turned out this week.  too bad we started eating before taking the time to snap a picture for you.... i blame chopsticks.


for desert we sliced open the sprite melon.  having never heard of one, let along having tried one before, both chopsticks and i were rather intrigued by this thing.  turns out, it's pretty darn good.  mild, but perfect for summer.

sprite melon

that wraps up this addition of "a week of misses."  hope to see you next week for a better go of it.