Week Seven

As we're getting into summer it's nice to see more veggies, as my husband and I are about charded-out.  I don't think it would be so bad if it wasn't so hot and we had lettuce to mix into salads with the chard.  Hopefully it will start to cool off a bit soon so we have a chance at a late lettuce crop.  One good thing is that any hot peppers we get will be spicier because of the hot and dry weather.  I can't wait for the onions to really start to get big, I'd like to try them in my french onion soup...  recipe to be posted in the next week or so, whenever I get the chance. 

I also remembered that sage is really good added in to Alton Brown's Sawmill Gravy for Biscuits and Gravy.  I'm in the mood for that, maybe we will have that sometime this week- last week's sage is still going strong and I need to do something with it.  The 1 lb sausage tubes don't generate enough leftover grease for the recipe, I just use butter or if I have it, some leftover bacon grease.  I usually end up adding more milk since it thickens up fast.  The recipe also works nicely with ground beef, Scott's dad told me that the biscuit gravy reminded him of how he would have a similar gravy but with hamburger as he was growing up.  I just had to try making it the next time they were over at our house, and it makes a great dinner over biscuits or dinner rolls.  I admit, I cheat- I use the biscuit-in-a-can.  I made Alton's biscuits once, and while the ones from the 1st cutting were superior to the canned ones, the later cuttings were a bit tougher.  I decided that for now, it wasn't worth the extra time and effort to make the biscuits myself.


In the box this week:
Sorrel: 3.4 oz $3.40
Basil: 1.8 oz: $1.80
Swiss Chard: 13.3 oz $4.35
Bigger bunching onions: 11.6 oz $2.00
Zuchini: 2 big and 2 small 2.7lbs total.  $2.00 (at one farm stand large ones are $1 each, smaller are 90 cents/lb)
Small garlic bulb: 1 ea $0.30
Beans: 9.9 oz $0.84 ($1.35/lb non-organic at farm stand)
Total estimated value: $14.69


One thing I like to do with zuchini is to make up a stir-fry for lunch, usually with onion and bell pepper. A while back I got addicted to Benihana's (a chain Hibachi restaurant) ginger dipping sauce, and I had googled up copycat recipes. 

Ginger dipping sauce:
1/2 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup vinegar (rice wine or apple cider vinegar works best)
 2.5 oz onion
4 oz fresh carrot, cut into pieces
1 oz fresh ginger root (start with slightly less, I love lots of ginger in mine)
2 oz lemon juice

Toss everything in a blender and let it have at.  A 1/3 cup serving is 38 calories.

This week's newsletter recipe:

Carmelized Onion Dip
1 cup onion
1 Tablespoon sour cream
1 Tablespoon Mayo
1 Tablespoon cream cheese
dash of worcestershire
butter or oil to sautee onions

Directions:
Brown onion in oil for about 2 minutes.  When onions are cool mix in with the rest of the ingredients.  Refrigerate overnight.