Co-op vs. the farmers' market

Moving to a new city meant giving up my co-op in Virginia. I did some searching for CSAs here, but it was too late in the season to start one. I decided to make the best use of the farmers' market instead.

While the market is significantly smaller than the one I went to in Virginia, there's still everything I want and enough variety. I usually make it about every other week. I go in with a certain amount of cash to spend, and my goal is to spend all of it and get several small portions of things. It's amazing what all I can get for $8 to $10. And while I have less stuff going bad, I also finish stuff before I get tired of it.

In a lot of ways this is more practical and cost-efficient than the co-op. The downside is that I know what I like and tend to gravitate to the same things every week. The co-op forced me to try new things, and I often had an abundance of something so I ended up using it several different ways.

This week I created a rule for myself that I had to get one new thing every time I went to the market. I decided on spaghetti squash on Saturday.

I had heard about spaghetti squash before, and I'm sure plenty of people had told me about it, but I had never tried it. Last fall I kept expecting it to show up in my share, but it never did. I was so enamored with the other winter squashes I had never tried before that I didn't think I was missing anything.

I decided to go ahead and cook the squash on Saturday since I was at home and had some time. I quickly realized I had been missing out on something wonderful. All I did was cook it in the oven for an hour or so and then pull the strands out and heat them with butter on the stove. It was great just like that, but my mind started to churn with possibilities that I'll be experimenting with this week.

And I think spaghetti squash will be on my always get list at the market. What else have I missed that I should try next? I'm considering being brave and trying eggplant.

It's different

You may have noticed that I haven't been posting a lot about the co-op since the season started. This time last year almost all of my posts were about my pick-ups and all the cooking I was doing. But this year is different.

Part of it is the newness has worn off, and I feel like I don't have time to cook or blog. But it's also that my shares have also been different this year, and it caught me off guard. I've still enjoyed my shares, but I was expecting a repeat of last year and that's not really what I've been getting.

But I got my box on Wednesday, and I remembered the excitement I had last year. I remembered that summer is when it gets really good. I'm enjoying the best cherries I've ever had, I made stuffed squash for dinner Thursday night, and I've got a pound of fresh green beans sitting in my refrigerator. I haven't gotten to the peaches yet, but they look perfect. I even tried something new when I put kohlrabi on my salad.

There have been weeks when I wished we were getting as much asparagus as last year and that it was always Bibb lettuce, not romaine or field lettuce, in my share. But the surprise element is part of the challenge, and it means I'm trying new things. I ate mushrooms and even liked roasted beets, though my beets ended up in chocolate cupcakes. I'm finding new recipes and also savoring things cooked simply.

I thought since I made all these changes with my eating habits last year, I would get to stay in my comfort zone this time. Not the case, and even though I don't like change, it's good for me to get out of my comfort zone sometimes.

Recipes to come...

Finally, a post

I know it has been a while since I've posted. There's been some life stuff going that I can't write about, and it's consuming my thoughts, so I've struggled to blog about anything else. But I'll try to catch you up on some other things.

It's summer. The students are gone, and I've pulled out my skirts and dresses. It also means flip flop season. Basically you'll see me in one of three pairs this summer:

I spent Memorial Day weekend in Tennessee. I spent a lot of quality time with this baby girl, wearing a dress from her aunt:

She is quite a fish in the pool and also looks very cute in her swimsuit.

I also got to show off my hometown to two of my friends from Virginia. Of course, I hardly took any pictures, but here's one of us checking out the view at the hang gliding launch, no we did not hang glide.

I've managed to stack three short work weeks together, four days last week, three days this week and next week. But I'm reminded that the last day before vacation and the first day back are pretty rough.

In co-op news, I just got beets. Last year, I decided I didn't like them, but I'm still looking for another way to eat them. Suggestions? I am going to try the leaves this time. I also got tomatoes and zucchini this time, and I am excited about that.

It's almost time!

In just over a week, I get to pick up my first share of the season from my co-op. I can't wait!


A few of the things I'm looking forward to:

• Bibb lettuce, with the exception of a salad bar at a place downtown, I've avoided salads because I'm just disappointed with the lettuce. And I think I caught myself drooling when this picture came in my email today:

• Asparagus, I've tried buying some at the store but it is not nearly as good as what I get from the co-op.

• Zucchini, I am dreaming of sauteed zucchini and squash with some pasta.
• Spinach, I regret wasting my spinach at the beginning of the season last year, but now I know the best way to eat it is sauteed in butter and garlic.

There are plenty more things, but those are the things I expect to see in my shares soon. Aside from the actual food, I'll be glad to have some motivation for cooking again and maybe even some inspiration for the blog. 

Now here's the list of stuff I won't miss.

• Deciding what I'm going to eat
• Wandering the grocery store aimlessly
• Paying too much for strawberries and other produce that isn't that great
• Eating casseroles for a week straight
• Resorting to cereal or oatmeal for dinner

In other random news, the caretaker for my house/apartment has planted a garden in my backyard, as in spinach, broccoli, lettuce, etc. So I'm wondering if there will be an extra bounty for me to enjoy. 

It's a random compilation of stuff today.

I had a wonderful weekend visiting this baby girl:

And yes, her bib says "My aunt is hot and single." These are the two pictures I have of the whole weekend, I was too busy having aunt-time. I just loved getting her all to myself. I have a feeling I'm going to wear out that road from here to there, all 350-plus miles of it. She's changed so much in two months, and it is so fun to see her smile. She also showed off and rolled over for me.

I also forgot how great being away for the weekend is. When I'm in my house, I look around and see all that needs to get done. But at my sister's I was able to read a book without feeling guilty and watch TV without multi-tasking. It was very relaxing. I also didn't feel as behind as I thought I would when I got home. But I am very glad it is a short week of work.

I've already complained about this on Facebook, but the tease of spring might have been too much for me. Over the weekend, the temps were in the 70s, and farther south at my sister's, everyone had skipped straight to summer, i.e. bikinis and short shorts. But I walked to work during a snow shower on Tuesday. I think if I hadn't been tempted by the warm weather, I could have survived another few weeks of cold, dreary weather, but now I've tasted spring and that's all I want.

I made chicken salad in my food processor last night. I don't know why this has never occurred to me before. Usually I don't even chop the chicken, I just mix chunks with mayonnaise and celery by hand, and it suffices, but it's not my favorite chicken salad. But in the food processor it actually combines and is more restaurant-style. This is one sign I've been trying harder with food during the off-season. I also have a lot of chicken in my freezer I need to use. I made this roasted chicken for my sister and brother-in-law over the weekend, and I still have two chickens in the freezer plus some already cooked chicken.

On that note, it's time to sign up for the co-op again. There's no question that I'll be doing it again, but I'm thinking of dropping the chicken. Last year I thought I would want the meat, but it turns out that the produce was enough, hence the two chickens in my freezer. Anyway, I am now in countdown mode to the first pick-up.

That's all I've got!

Back to reality

Last week was a harsh reality. Some combination of going back to work after several days off and not having the co-op left me starving and crabby by Friday. Dinner was pretty much a failure every night, and even the cereal lover in me was tired of that fall back option.

But here was the issue: I went to the grocery store when I got back in town but was disappointed by the produce and came out with little more than the basics. I realized I hadn't grabbed more than an onion or other random ingredient from the produce section in months. So actually trying to shop in the produce section was a let down after months of bi-weekly co-op pick-ups.

But I knew I needed to spend some time cooking to improve my mood. So I went to a small local grocery store that has really good produce that isn't that expensive. Of course, I had decided I wanted to make broccoli cheese soup and ended up back in the Kroger produce section for broccoli, but it's good to know I have some alternatives until my co-op starts again.

And cooking put me in a much better mood. I made soup, tried a new pizza crust and tomato sauce and made some blueberry muffins. I also put some of my Christmas presents to use. I now know the only way to make soup is with an immersion blender, and I'm not sure how I did it before without one.

I realize it is only Wednesday, but my week is significantly better when I have something for dinner when I get home. It was also good to know that I enjoy cooking for cooking and not just because it's food from the co-op that's going to go bad. Hopefully, I'll get some recipes posted soon.

Challenge complete

Well, it's over. I picked up my last co-op share on Saturday. It was a good last pick-up: Sweet potatoes, lettuce, greens, apples, mushrooms and cider. We also got apple butter, which I've been waiting for since the co-op started, and a special surprise of kettle korn. I also picked up my last chicken, which made four uncooked chickens though I cooked one yesterday.

Back in March, on my very first post, I listed three goals: cook more, eat healthier and get over some of my pickiness about food. I would say I accomplished all of those things and even to a greater extent than I expected. I think I was somehow spared the foods I was most afraid of, i.e. turnips, but the fact I eat asparagus, cooked spinach, squash of all varieties and zucchini is a huge change from April.

While I definitely cooked more over the last eight months, what I found surprising was how much I enjoy cooking. A day in the kitchen is something I look forward to and find relaxing, which had never been the case for me. But I love making things from scratch and trying new recipes. That is not at all what I expected, but I'm hoping that's what keeps me motivated for the next four months.

As far as eating healthier, I definitely got more vegetables in my diet and actually rely on mostly vegetable dishes. And I no longer eat frozen pizza or cereal for dinner every night. But I cook with a lot of butter, and I made a fair amount of sweet things with the stuff I got in my shares. I don't think that was bad, but I'm not going to claim I was the healthiest eater either. I'm not one to focus on calories or fat, but eating healthier is still on my list of goals (along with returning to the gym).

When I started this, I wasn't sure if it was going to be a one-time thing or something I did year after year. I think it only took two pick-ups for me to decide that I would continue to participate. But it is going to feel like a long time until the end of April. I do still have three chickens, some squash and potatoes that will last me for a while longer, but it's going to be hard to go back to the produce section at the store. Maybe continuing to blog will keep me motivated to try new recipes, so I have something to post about.

Anyway, I just felt the need to wrap up the co-op season, the other posts this week will be Christmas related.

Because I'm from the South

And I had green tomatoes, fried green tomatoes were part of my dinner Sunday night.

I'm not sure what else to do with green tomatoes, but this recipe from my co-op is really good (also I made more than two slices):

• 9 1/4-inch-thick slices green tomatoes (about 3 tomatoes)
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 large egg (or 2 medium), beaten to blend
• 1/2 cup olive oil

Sprinkle all green tomato slices with salt and pepper. Place 1/4 cup flour in shallow bowl. Mix remaining 1/4 cup flour with cornmeal in another shallow bowl to blend. Working with 1 green tomato slice at a time, coat with flour, then egg, then flour-cornmeal mixture. 

Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Working in batches, fry green tomatoes until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side. Using slotted spoon, transfer to baking sheet; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Keep warm in oven.

This is the last weekend for a while that I will be in town. I ended up doing more than I intended, but I still found time to cook Sunday afternoon. I have to say that time in the kitchen is one of the highlights of my week. More recipes to come this week from my Sunday cooking.

Zucchini in bread and pie?

Why is it that I used to write headlines for a living but can't come up with decent blog post titles? Oh well, it's recipes today.

After I picked up my share on Saturday, I spent most of the day cooking. This is what my kitchen looked like:

My kitchen is pretty small, so when I ran out of space, I moved to my table in the living room:

I found some great recipes to use with my share this week. The main ingredient is zucchini. I knew I had a couple of recipes I wanted to try using zucchini, so I traded in my rhubarb to get extra zucchini. I ended up with 3.5 pounds of zucchini, so I still have plenty left!
 
Here are the recipes:

Zucchini bread
(This is from my Better Homes and Garden Cookbook. I actually doubled the recipe and froze one loaf, and I’m so glad it, it is really good! Unfortunately, I do not have photographic evidence.)

• 1.5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1 beaten egg
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup finely shredded, unpeeled zucchini
• 1/4 cup cooking oil
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Grease loaf pan, set aside. In a medium bowl combine the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, baking powder and nutmeg. Make a well in center of flour mixture.

In another medium bowl, combine egg, sugar, zucchini and oil. Add zucchini mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened. Fold in nuts. Spoon batter into prepared pan.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 50 to 55 minutes (mine took a little less).

Zucchini Pie 
(This is courtesy of my co-op’s recipe blog and came highly recommended by a friend. It's also more like quiche than pie, but I'm leaving titled the same way they have it.)

• 4 cups thinly sliced unpeeled zucchini (I cheated and shredded mine with my food processor.)
• 1 cup coarsely chopped onion
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine
• 1/2 cup chopped parsley OR 2 tbsp. parsley flakes
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp. sweet basil leaves
• 1/4 tsp. oregano leaves
• 2 eggs, well-beaten
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 can (8 oz.) quick crescent dinner rolls (I made Pioneer Woman’s Perfect Pie Crust instead.)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In skillet, cook zucchini and onion in butter until tender (10 mins.), stir in parsley and seasonings. In large bowl, blend eggs and cheese. Stir in vegetable mixture.

Separate dinner roll dough into triangles (or make your favorite pie crust recipe). Place in ungreased 11-inch quiche pan, 10-inch pie pan or 12×8 baking dish. Pour mixture in.

Bake at 375 degrees for 18-20 minutes. (I had to cook mine longer.) Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

As if I don’t have enough to eat, I made this pasta dish to use some of my cabbage. This is a very random assortment of ingredients, but I actually liked it. I was skeptical of the bread crumb mixture, but it’s exactly what the dish needs. I can't believe, I am saying this, but I actually liked it cold the next day for lunch just as much or more than for dinner the night before. Note that I decreased the amount of all the ingredients and didn’t measure anything very closely, which I realize is not much help.

Cabbage Tomato Pasta Toss 
(Recipe from AllRecipes)

• 2 medium tomatoes, peeled and diced
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 cup minced fresh parsley
• 8 ounces bow tie pasta, uncooked
• 2 cups shredded cabbage
• 1 1/2 cups soft bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds
• 2 cloves garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup butter

In a bowl, combine the tomatoes, vinegar, basil and parsley; set aside. Cook pasta according to package directions, adding the cabbage during the last 2 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a skillet, saute bread crumbs, almonds and garlic in oil and butter for 6 minutes or until golden brown.

Drain pasta and cabbage; place in a large bowl. Add tomato and crumb mixtures; toss and serve immediately.

I really enjoyed all of these dishes, and I’m still eating them. I also still have asparagus and lots of lettuce to eat, but I did finish off the cherries.

A new challenge

If my Christmas gifts are any indication, I need some help when it comes to cooking. I was given measuring spoons, measuring cups, dish towels and two cookbooks, one of which is entitled “What is a Cook to do?” that provides the very basics. But I don’t take offense to the gifts; my family gave them to me knowing I was about to take on a challenge in the kitchen.

My life has changed quite a bit in the last eight months. I’ve moved to a beautiful part of the country that is just a short drive away from working farms, orchards and wineries. I have one of those normal jobs where I actually come home for dinner. Let’s just say working from 2 p.m. to midnight does not encourage me to cook, but the 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. gig has changed my eating habits. Rather than eating whatever, whenever, I actually eat lunch and find something for dinner when I get home.
 
So with all of this change I have decided to change my habits completely. I have joined a local co-op where I will pick up fresh produce and chicken twice a month starting in April. The produce is based off what is in season at the local farms, and I get what is there. I have three main goals: to cook more, eat healthier and get over some of my pickiness about food. An added bonus is cutting back on trips to the grocery store.
 
Considering my experience (or lack of) in the kitchen, I’ve decided it is worth documenting, if only for the enjoyment of my mom and sisters. So I’m planning to use this blog for that purpose, and you can all laugh with me as I attempt to cook a whole chicken for the first time and maybe learn something because hopefully I will have some successful recipes to share.