#12 Fried Egg Atop Roasted Vegetable Medley of Zucchini, Carrot, and Golden Beat

INGREDIENTS

Chopped Zucchini
Peeled and Chopped Carrot
Peeled and Chopped Golden Beat
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper
Eggs

Preheat oven to 425.  Toss veggies in olive oil, salt and pepper.  Roast in glass baking dish for 20 to 30 minutes until desired doneness.  Prepare eggs in a skillet over medium high heat.  Serve eggs over roasted veggies.

#11 - Thai Basil Chicken with Shallots & Green Peppers

INGREDIENTS

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1/2 Tsp Red Chili Flakes (or to taste)
4 cloves minced garlic
2 large shallots finely diced
Kale Stems chopped (leaves separated and saved for another use)10 oz chicken breast tenders finely chopped
1 Green Bell Pepper chopped
1 1/2 Tablespoon fish sauce
1/2 Teaspoon Soy Sauce
Dash of White Pepper
1 Bunch of Thai Basil


Heat oil along in a skillet or wok.  Add garlic and chili flakes and saute 30 to 60 seconds until oil is fragrant.  Add Shallots and Kale Stems.  Saute a until carmelized.  Add chicken and bell pepper.  Meanwhile whisk together the fish sauce, soy sauce, and white pepper in a small bowl.  When the chicken is browned and cooked through add to the pan and stir to incorporate.  Add the basil and stir until wilted.  Remove from heat.  Serve over Rice.

Outdoor Time

#10 Turkey Burgers with Shredded Zucchini & Carrot served with Golden Beat Chips

Here's my inspiration for cooking, to help this girl go up strong and healthy.  I'm glad I have started food blogging again.  It's helpful to see that I am actually making progress with my goal.  I can't believe we're already on #10! I don't have time to post every day, and some days I don't remember to capture a picture.  But we're still cooking.  Today, you get to see what my food would look like if it were prepared and photographed professionally.  This is not what it looks like when I prepare it.  But you can bet it tastes as good as these look.

Turkey Burgers with Shredded Zucchini & Carrot

has been a rotating recipe in our household for years.  I think it was originally introduced to us by Camille V.  (Thank you!)  It's easy to make, healthy, and a totally subversive way to get your kids to eat some veggies without knowing it.  Caitlyn loves these patties.

Baked Golden Beat Chips were as delicious as they sound and all mine.  Don and Carrot do not do beats.  So easy to make.  I used the mandolin blade on my Cuisinart to slice them extra thin.  Tossed them in some good quality olive oil from Drizzle and sea salt and baked them in the oven.  With the amount of root veggies rotating through our household, I don't see another reason to ever by another bag of commercially prepared potato chips ever again.

#9 BBQ Baked Beans and Collard Greens served with Zucchini and Sundried Tomatoe Quesadillas

I will admit that Collard Greens are not my favorite greens.  But they are packed with nutrients and they have their rotation in our delivery basket so I was on the hunt to find recipes that would make them interesting to use them up.  I found this recipe for BBQ Baked Beans & Sausage on the Eating Well website.  It did not disappoint.  True Caitlyn ate around the green parts, but if she's eating beans and chicken sausage at least, I'm not going to complain.  Here she is giving her seal of approval.  This is at the start of the meal before she was covered from head to toe in BBQ Sauce.

The quesadillas were as easy as they look.  We just sauteed some zucchini and sundried tomatoes in a little bit of oil from the sundried tomatoe jar with salt and pepper to taste.  Layered on two tortillas with some shredded mozzarella and sprinkled with feta cheese was very enjoyable.  I could only eat half and really enjoyed the leftovers for lunch.

#7 & 8 Greek AM & PM

One of the things we're trying to do is repurpose leftovers so we don't get tired of them.  We bought some Burgandy Marinated Lamb Tips which we love.  They're not cheap but they're delicious.  One package is about $15.  However, I've learned that it's a lot more food then you think.  So this time I divided the package in half and immediately put half in the freezer for future use.  We cooked them up on the grill along with a host of Greek Themed Toppings/Fillings including spinach, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, kalamata olives, and cherry tomatoes.  We used half of the ingredients for breakfast on a Greek inspired Omelette and the other half for dinner in a burrito.  We could just as easily have served something similar on pizza dough, salad mix, pita pockets, burgers, roasted potatoes.... you name it.  Looking forward to more experiments with this cooking method.  Caitlyn enjoyed both meals and apparently has quite the fondness for kalamata olives.

#6 Spinach Salad with Chicken, Bacon, Gorgonzola and Green Grapes

INGREDIENTS:

Baby Spinach
Shredded Rotisserie Chicken
Crumbled Cooked Bacon
Gorgonzola Crumbles
Halved Green Grapes
Balsamic Vinaigrett

I learned during this meal that Don likes to eat salads but hates making them.

#5 - Bacon Chicken Gorgonzola Sandwiches with Balsamic Marinated Tomatoes

Sandwich Ingredients

Chopped or Shredded Rotisserie Chicken
Cooked Crumbled Bacon
Crumbled Gorgonzola Cheese
Cherry or Grape Tomatoes, Halved and marinated in a splash of Balsamic Vinegar
Dijon Mustard
Sandwich Buns (I like Trader Joes Hamburger Buns)

YUM!

#4 - Blueberry Bacon Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Weekend Pancake Breakfasts have become a thing in our house hold ever since Don got a new Griddle for Christmas last year.  And this particular variety has become a staple in our house.  First Don fries up and crumbles the bacon bits.  We use Snoqualmie Falls Pancake Mix from Fred Meyers because it is delicious and you only have to add water.  Pour the mix on the griddle and sprinkle quickly with desired fillings.  Caitlyn still just get's blueberries in hers.  Some day she will discover the awesome that is Don's creativity - Blueberry, Bacon, Chocolate Chip Pancakes.

#3 - Braised Cabbage

Don worked a marathon 12 hour day today so the little girl and I got to have an evening by ourselves.  It feels pretty good that I managed to pick her up from daycare, make a home cooked meal, get all the chores done, get her down by myself, and even have quality play time together.  I still remember a time not so long ago when I was terrified for Don to leave the house and have to handle this parenting thing all on my own for a bit.  My how we have progressed.

For dinner tonight, I made delicious braised cabbage served with Apple Chardonney Chicken Sausages from Trader Joes.  I let Caitlyn "stir" the pot while it cooked.  (She really sucks at this by the way but she loved it!)  While we waited for it to braise, we played a bit with the toys.  I showed her an old train set that Grandma and Grandpa Messler brought up with them when they visited in July.  It has a string so that you can drag it along the floor behind you and listen to the wheels click and clack.  Well she thought that was just great!  So we walked around the room with her holding my hand in one and the train string in the other.  The train flopped around behind her like a fish out of water of course.  Then she decided it would be easier to hold the string in one hand and the train in the other rather than dragging it so she carried it around the room walking on her own.  I just love how she has determined that you are supposed to walk around with the train and totally lost the dragging it by the string part.  It was so cute!  

Here is the recipe for the Braised Cabbage.  The beer I used this time was Kilt Lifter Scotch Ale and it really hit the spot.  Talk about comfort food!  Caitlyn even ate some but she had more fun playing with it and smearing it around her high chair than eating it.  She did really love the chicken sausages though.  Guess we'll be stalking up on those.

#2 Grilled Romano Beans

Tonight's tasty side was Romano Beans simply seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper, tossed and grilled in a basket on the gas grill.  I wish these beans were in season longer as they really are tasty.  We served these with Trader Joes Chipotle Barbecue Marinated Chuck steaks which were quite pleasing in and of themselves.  Simple and delicious.  It tasted even better because we ate it outdoors.

#1 - Baked Caramelized Onion & Red Russian Kale Frittata with Repurposed Crispy Potatoes

On the heals of my previous post, here marks my very first meal in progression toward my goal of 100 home cooked meals inspired by my Dandelion Organic CSA Deliveries.  Frittatas are one of my favorite ways to use up veggies and particularly Kale which seems to never be in short supply when you are a CSA recipient.  I suspect you will see a lot of frittata recipes over the coming months.  I also plan to get really good at making different varieties of hash browns too.

I have determined that Red Russian Kale is definitely my most favorite variety of the hearty greens (at least for cooking, maybe not for raw salads.)  It is so flavorful and the stalks in particular have almost a sweet quality to them when sauteed in a little bit of olive oil. Caramelized onion make a great base of flavor also to build on.  I'm particularly proud of using up the leftover crispy red potatoes that Don had grilled with our steaks the other night.  I feel like I should get bonus points for that. The grape tomatoes add a pop of color and texture to round out the dish.  Caitlyn absolutely loves these little tomatoes but they're still a little too tough for her to eat raw so any chance I get to cook them and soften them up is a win in our house.  

Baked Caramelized Onion & Red Russian Kale Frittata with Repurposed Crispy Potatoes

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

1 Yellow or Sweet onion, sliced into rings

1 Bunch Red Russian Kale, stems separated and chopped, leaves separated and chopped

1/2 cup cooked red potatoes, thinly sliced

1/2 cup grape tomatoes, cut in half

8 eggs

2 Tablespoons Whole Milk

1 Teaspoon Bottled Minced Garlic

1/2 Teaspoon Dried Thyme

Salt and Pepper to Taste

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan Cheese Blend

Preheat Oven to 350.

Coat a 8 inch round baking dish with cooking spray. 

Heat 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil over Medium High Heat in a cast iron skillet.

Saute Onion Rings and Kale Stems about 5 minutes until softened.

Add Kale Leaves in batches.  Cooking down until the leaves soften and glisten with moisture but are not soggy.

Pour Kale Mixture into baking dish.  Arrange potatoes and tomatoes over kale mixture.

In a separate bowl whisk together eggs, milk, garlic, thyme, salt & pepper.  Pour over Kale Mixture.  Top with cheese.

Bake in the oven for 25 to 35 minutes, until eggs have set.

Look at me. I'm setting a goal!

The Goal

Prepare delicious, healthy, nutritionally dense meals for my family and have fun doing it.

The Plan

1.  Review published list of upcoming CSA delivery.
2.  Do a google search of recipes for each item focusing on google images for inspiration.
3.  Create a meal plan for the coming week.
4.  Prepare grocery list.
5.  Go grocery shopping.
6.  Do not show the list to Don.  Each night will be a surprise.
7.  Prepare and photograph meal.
8.  Eat Dinner as a family.
9.  Post blog about our meal.

Evaluation

Indications of success include using up all food in organic deliveries before they go bad.

Reward

I will treat myself to a new piece of quality cookware for every 100 blog posts of homemade meals.