If I had my little way, I'd eat peaches everyday

The variety of fresh fruit in our CSA food box is limited. Obviously, because it's a *local* food box, and there's only so much that is grown indoors.  We get a handful of fresh apples or pears every so often.

The Culinarium (from whom we receive our local food goodies) will occasionally give us frozen fruit, which is great. Especially when we get peaches. Peaches freeze so well. They keep their shape, colour, and flavour beautifully.

But what else can you bake besides peach cobbler? Or crisp?

Ina's newest cookbook How Easy Is That? has a recipe for Fresh Peach Cake.  In the margin, there's a little note that frozen peaches work just as well (just thaw the fruit before using.)






It's a delicious coffee cake with layers of peaches and a cinnamon-sugary top. I didn't quite have enough peaches, so I might half the recipe next time and opt for far too many peaches. Or make sure to have at least a pound of frozen peaches.

I did find that it took far too long for the centre to bake. Next time I might try separating into two smaller baking dishes. Maybe two small loaf pans. But maybe you prefer a very crusty edge? Just keep baking until a toothpick (or a raw spaghetti noodle in my case) comes out clean when inserted into the very centre.

The cake was delicious. Although the edges were crispy, it was still moist. A perfect not-so-sweet dessert (perfect for the Chinese pallet) that works for breakfast, too.

I might actually look into freezing some peaches this summer so I can have enough frozen peaches to get me through next winter!

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Barley Refrigerator Salad

I haven't been sharing too much about our CSA food box this year. Mostly because it's same ol', same ol'.

Sometimes it's the exact same thing that we still have from last year... Like our pearl barley. I made one recipe last year when we first received a bag of pearl barley as our pantry item. It was a not-so-great barley risotto. I'm not sure why anyone would mess with a classic, delicious risotto made with arborio rice (like my usual tomato and thyme risotto) so I decided not to write a post about the barley risotto. Didn't want to give anyone any ideas. Maybe I should dig up the pictures and write a post to file under "yucky".

Another recipe I had been meaning to try was this Ontario Winter Barley Salad. But I kept putting it off because I never had the right ingredients.

When that second bag of pearl barley came in our food box, I decided right-ingredients or not, I need to get cracking on eating some barley! Time to pull out that recipe and do some substitutions.

Instead of butternut squash, I used beets. Actually just one beet. Because it was HUGE. Instead of green beans, I used shelled edamame; the spinach was replaced with young baby kale. I added a tomato that needed to be eaten.


Basically, I added whatever I had in the refrigerator. Hence, Barley Refrigerator Salad.

Here is the "recipe" that ensued from this week's refrigerator ingredients:

Barley Refrigerator Salad from March 13, 2011

1 cup pearl barley
1 giant beet (about the size of a softball; for those that don't play softball, it was the size of a large florida orange)
1 cup frozen corn
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 yellow bell pepper, diced
handful of young baby kale
1 super ripe tomato (that my housemate left behind before leaving for Korea for March break), diced
1/2 cup frozen edamame, steamed/microwaved and shelled
1 large shallot, finely diced

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste (about 1/4 tsp each)

The original recipe instructs to boil the barley in vegetable stock and then eventually drain: what a waste. So I just boiled the barley in salted water along with the beet (which I scrubbed and cut in half).  When the barley was about done (about 30 mins of boiling, you can test by taking a nibble) I added the frozen corn to blanch it, about 1 minute. Drain everything. If the beet is fork tender before everything else is ready, then you can remove it from the pot beforehand.

While the beets, barley, and corn are cooling, whisk together the apple cider vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, dijon mustard, and salt and pepper to form a vinaigrette.

Peel and dice the beet when it's cool enough to handle. Put the beets in a large bowl and pour half of the vinaigrette over top. Beets always taste better when you season them while warm, especially if there's a tangy vinaigrette involved.

I usually need a little more time to finish dicing my veggies or to add another refrigerator ingredient. Getting those beets dressed means you can now take all the time in the world.

When ready, mix all the rest of the salad ingredients with the beets, adding as much vinaigrette as you like.

Enjoy!!!

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Restaurant Beets

Dustin and I finally celebrated our 3rd year anniversary! Better late than never!

I can't believe it was over 3 years ago that I got to wear a pretty dress and walk around in crunchy autumn leaves. That was a nice day. A really nice day.

Tonight we had dinner at Cowbell, a super cute restaurant in the Parkdale area that celebrates local farmers. When I found out that our absolute favourite Toronto restaurant (Superior) closed a few months ago, I began a hunt for a new favourite.

Cowbell focuses on naturally raised, organic meat and produce sourced by local farmers. The menu changes daily so I just had to cross my fingers that duck was on the menu -- which it was!!! Excellent. What should I order as my appetizer?

That was easy.

Ever since we signed up for our next CSA box with Culinarium I've been working on a new game plan for our beets. We received plenty of beets in our food boxes last year, and we knew that this year would be no different. Although I found some recipes (like pickled beets) that I admittedly enjoyed, I still did not have a proper appreciation for beets.

I decided that the problem was psychological. I didn't have any amazing beet experiences to reminisce on. I did not have delicious beet salads to dream about when I smelled the beet aroma as they were cooking. I did not strive towards that je-ne-sais-quoi that I loved in a particular beet dish that I was served.

And so: Operation Restaurant Beets began. Two weeks ago, I tried a delicious beet root salad at O&B Canteen (a new Oliver & Bonacini restaurant in the Toronto Entertainment District.)

image from oliverbonacini.com

With my new quest, it was easy for me to decide what to eat at Cowbell (ah yes. remember? I went on a HUGE tangent to talk about beets? now I'm back to talking about what I ordered at Cowbell... I do that sometimes.)

On the menu was a roasted beet and fennel salad that was equally divine. It was a mixture of pickled beets and raw golden beets that was lightly dressed and served with a thin layer of roasted fennel. It was fabulous. I didn't even remember to take my camera out, embarrass Dustin, and take a gorgeous picture for this blog -- sorry. The lighting was so romantic, my poor little camera wouldn't have done it justice anyway.

I think I can safely say that I love beets! I'm 2 for 2 when ordering beets at a restaurant. It's only a matter of time before I can perfect my own recipes to taste just as good. I just need to keep ordering the beets!

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Beets that will pickle your fancy

With our CSA boxes coming to an end, there is a light at the end of the "beet tunnel".

I made more of the delicious beet soup, and with the remaining beets I decided to try pickling them.

From Food

I used Alton's recipe as a starting point, made some minor changes (when do I ever have all the right ingredients?) and waited a patient 2 weeks before trying them. Verdict? Not bad! Not bad at all! There's still a mild beet taste accompanied with a lovely sweet and tangy pickle.

Here is Alton's full recipe for pickled beets. To roast the beets, I just scrubbed the beets and doused them in olive oil before roasting for about 35 minutes. The actual pickling liquid called for:

* 1 large red onion, frenched
* 1 cup tarragon wine vinegar
* 1 1/2 teaspoons Kosher salt
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 1 cup water

I replaced the red onion with a regular onion, and the tarragon wine vinegar with mostly white vinegar and a big splash of red wine vinegar. I also didn't read the recipe correctly (go figure) and dumped the onions into the pot of boiling pickling liquid. I fished them out with chopsticks. I think I made them better ;)

From Food

When the roasted beets are slightly cooled, remove the skin and slice. If the beet is really big, cut it in half before slicing. Fill your jars with alternating layers of beets and onions. When full, pour in the hot pickling liquid. Tightly lid the jars and wait 3 to 7 days before eating. When eating picked beets, do not wear white, especially if you like to eat the beets straight from the jar with your fingers. Enjoy!

From Food

Tomorrow is our very last CSA box. So sad. Just as I mastered some beet recipes. We did not sign up for the summer because we're vacationing (yay!) and also hopefully growing our very own local organic food! Double Yay! Stay tuned for an update on our greenhouse veggies.

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Pretty in Pink

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As mentioned in my last beet post, I've found a way to cook beets that is truly delicious.

My Polish friend, Magda, loves beets. How could someone love a vegetable that I'm so "iffy" about? I must know the secret. "Vinegar," she says. She goes off listing beet dish after beet dish that she loves, all with a common thread: "... with some balsamic vinegar" "... with a little red wine vinegar," ".. pour a little bit of pickle juice in it; not the dill pickle kind, the salt brine kind..." A little tart to compliment the beet. Genius.

She raved about a soup that her dad makes. I told her about my attempt at a beet soup that did not turn out so well. I eventually got to taste some of the soup and I could not believe how incredibly different it tasted! Delicious! I just had to replicate it. "My dad doesn't really use a recipe..." she admitted. Why was I not surprised?

Since I was used to being in this predicament (my mother only keeps recipes for baking) I was confident that I'd get along just fine. Just taste your food every so often and adjust for flavour.

I started with a recipe from Lucy Waverman's book "A Year in Lucy's Kitchen" and went from there. The biggest difference is that I did not puree the soup. This soup was essentially a beet broth, full of flavour and colour. If you feel bad about tossing the strained beets, you can use them in a salad, or as garnish. Beets still win the "prettiest vegetable" award.

From Food

1 1/2 lb beets (I used any and every colour)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup sliced onions
6 cups chicken stock
2 tbsp white vinegar
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
salt and freshly ground pepper

Wash and peel the beets; slice as thin as possible.

Add olive oil to a large pot and heat to medium high; add onions and lightly brown, about 5 minutes. Add sliced beets and chicken stock. Bring to at boil over high heat; reduce and let simmer 20 minutes or longer, until vegetables are tender. Add both vinegars. Salt and pepper to taste. Add more vinegar if desired.

Set a colander over a large bowl; pour soup into colander, straining all beets and onions. Serve warm.

From Food

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The not-Russian, Russian Salad

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As I'm cheering on team Canada while they pummel the Russians in the men's hockey quarter finals, I find it fitting to introduce you to one of my favourite potato salads: Ruska Salata.

Ruska Salata means "Russian Salad" in Serbian. "Come again?" Yes. It's not actually Russian. It's Serbian. Sort of like how French fries aren't French, and Pâté Chinois isn't Chinese.

I've seen a few variations of Ruska Salata, but the version I was introduced to involves potatoes (finely diced), carrots (finely diced), dill pickles (finely diced), and smoked ham (finely diced), all married generously with mayonnaise. I've seen recipes with peas or even eggs.

Here's your opportunity to improve your dicing skills. I still can't get the dices as small as they should be, but mine are about the size of Monopoly houses -- not the hotels: that would be far too large.

For the ham, I usually use deli meat: a nice black forest ham that I cut into mini squares. This time, I used roasted chicken breast because that's what we had in the fridge.

The potatoes and carrots came from the CSA box. One of my favourite things about the CSA box is the rustic, non-uniform shapes and sizes of the fruits and vegetables. We've gotten apples the size of our face, pears the size of a golf ball, and short, fat carrots that resemble the ammo in Super Mario 2 -- anything to make me smile as I dice and dice and dice away...

From Food

From Food

You can vary the amount of mayonnaise you use. I think it's a personal preference; I battle between my love of mayonnaise and my desire for a supermodel body. This week was a light-on-the-mayo version. We still think it's absolutely delicious!

Ruska Salata (the supermodel version)

2 large potatoes
3 medium carrots (or 2 Mario-2 sized carrots)
3/4 cup finely diced pickles
1/2 cup diced deli-sliced ham or chicken breast
1/2 cup mayonnaise

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Peel and finely dice the potatoes and carrots. When the water comes to a boil, generously salt and add the finely diced vegetables. Boil until vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Drain in a colander and let cool slightly. Add pickles, deli-meat, and mayonnaise and mix until mayonnaise is well distributed. Add mayonnaise as desired. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

We love this salad. So much that I didn't remember to take a picture of the final product until there was barely a serving remaining. You might say I was "Russian" so much that I forgot to take a picture!

From Food

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The beets have me beat

From Food

I've been sucked into the world of the Olympics. I have suddenly developed an interest in all sports on ice, snow, and little bumps called "moguls."

As such, my posts have fallen behind.

I finally decided to try a new beet recipe (we're talking several weeks ago now.) I had already tried making a beet salad; I moved to a pureed beet soup; neither were satisfying to the palette (well, *my* palette.) My friend Jenn suggested a beet cake. Why not? Carrot cake sure is delicious!

I decided to try and increase the chances of success with a recipe that included a cream cheese icing. Things that I learned while making this recipe:

1. Grating beets by hand is ridiculous. Use a food processor, but take pictures with the hand grater because it's prettier.
2. Don't leave any important mail on the countertop. The beets will fall on it. Your mail will turn pink.
3. Grated beets look like worms.
4. The cake will first look magenta -- it then bakes to an auburn.
5. Beet cake smells like horse feed (thanks, Susan.)
6. Beet cake tastes better with cream cheese icing.
7. This recipe does not make me love beets.

From Food

From Food

From Food

It looks like the beets have me beat. But as I mentioned before, my posts are very behind (although I am now an expert judge in moguls: keep those knees together!) I have recently discovered my first use of beets that I can safely say is delicious... stay tuned...

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Say you love crepes!

Ricky Bobby prefers to call them "really thin pancakes" but I think crepes are so much better than a spongy pancake.

From Food

Our CSA boxes have been plentiful in the world of flour. First, Red Fife flour which I used to make Red Fife Blueberry Banana muffins. Then I received some Spelt Flour, which is still standing proud in my pantry. Today, I picked up some Rye Flour. Time to learn how to bake bread! Rye not?

In the meantime, I need to keep replacing regular recipes with some of this fancy flour.

This past Saturday, I woke up at 8am. Definitely not because I wanted to. I just can't seem to sleep in on Saturday mornings, especially when I want to make crepes.

I used Alton Brown's recipe for crepes, replaced half the flour with Red Fife whole wheat Flour and then decided it was far too runny and added more all-purpose flour. In the end, I think I did 3/4 cup AP flour, and 1/2 cup Red Fife flour.

From Food

The great thing about crepes is that you can cook them, cool them, stack them, store them in the fridge and then warm them up in the microwave when the rest of the house is awake 2 hours later.

Add some fresh fruit (I used bananas, mangoes, kiwis, blackberries, strawberries, and blueberries), plain yogurt, real maple syrup, and homemade granola: YUM-O!

From Food

My homemade granola was adapted from the Joy of Baking recipe. I nixed the nuts, cut the cinnamon in half, split the mixture into two pans in the oven, made sure to take it out after 15 mins (not 30) and right after it comes out of the oven, I drizzed some organic honey on top and gave it a last mix so it kinda stuck together. Perfect crunchy topping for the crepes!

From Food

From Food

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Check out my muffin tops!

From Food

Chinese people have a philosophy about food and healing: if your liver is weak, eat liver; if you have heart problems, eat heart; if your pancreas is subpar, munch on pancreas.

As my love-handles grow, and my consumption of muffin tops increase, I can't help but wonder how much truth there is to the (ridiculous) Chinese philosophy.

Several CSA food boxes ago, our pantry item was Red Fife Flour. I'm not a bread maker -- not unless I use my parents' bread maker. So the flour just sat in our pantry until this past weekend when I decided to use it in my usual banana bread recipe.

From Food

My go-to recipe for banana bread is actually a low-fat banana cake recipe from the Eat, Shrink, and be Merry ladies, Janet and Greta. The recipe works great for substitutions: change the cake to muffins, swap out the chocolate chips for coarse chocolate powder, add oatmeal for a heartier muffin... Everything works. And substituting half of the white flour with the red fife flour worked like a charm.

I've read, watched, or heard somewhere that whenever you want to swap out white flour for whole wheat you should only swap out half of it. Sounds like something Alton would have taught me (likely whilst dressed as a wheat germ.) I decided that since the Red Fife flour was a whole grain flour, I should do the half-swap.

I also got some amazing frozen blueberries in a CSA box not too long ago: a perfect addition to the modified, modified, banana bread. How many cups of blueberries did I add? LOTS. The frozen blueberries kept the dough deliciously moist.

My concoction became Red Fife Banana and Blueberry Muffins!

Here is the original recipe. I used 1 cup white flour and 1 cup Red Fife flour. I got rid of the chocolate chips, and added at least a cup and a half of blueberries. Fill muffin tins almost all the way with the dough: they won't rise that much. Bake for 30 mins or until golden on top and a spaghetti or toothpick or skewer comes out clean (make sure you check the ones in the middle of the pan.) Enjoy!

From Food

From Food

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Boy, am I ever beet.

From Food

December came and went and I only blogged 3 times! So terrible, but as Scarlett said "...tomorrow is another day" and things can only get better.

I've wanted to post about beets for a while now. We've gotten them twice so far in our CSA box and we are expecting more this week.

My first attempt at cooking beets was in a steak salad. I can't even remember which recipe I used, or if I even used a recipe. Yes, it was that unmemorable. I decided to boil the beets rather than bake them; I seared up a steak like I usually would, and then I made a delicious garlicky dressing.

From Food

Sure, it was tasty, but mostly because the steak and the other salad ingredients masked the taste of the beets. I do have to admit that beets are one of the prettier vegetables.

From Food

My second attempt at a beet dish was a roasted root vegetable soup. There were only two red beets, 3 or 4 light coloured beets, two celeriacs, sweet potato, turnip, and multi coloured carrots. It still came out beet red. (I've used that term dozens of times and only now do I realize what vibrant shade of red I was depicting.)

From Food

From Food

From Food

Again: a very pretty tray of roasted vegetables, but this is not a food pageant. I didn't think it was possible, but the soup had too many layers of flavour. The beets, turnips, and celeriac were all too strong. Next time I will just pick one strong flavour (maybe two at the most) and add mild root vegetables. Not exactly yucky, but not the most delicious bowl of soup.

This Thursday comes another chance at beets. I'm beginning to realize that perhaps beets need a recipe. Someone who has spent many a day in the test kitchen finding the perfect recipe. Any suggestions? Because this beets the heck out of me.

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La Vie en Rosé

I used to *love* creamy pasta sauces. Fettuccine Alfredo. Mmmmmm.

And then I became conscious of my "personal spare tire" also referred to as the "muffin top." If only I had blown a tire, and not broken my leg. I would have had a spare.

Lately, at my favourite Italian restaurant: Marcello's, I will compromise and get a rosé sauce. I've never made a rosé sauce at home before, but last week (yes, this post is about last week since I have no new pictures) I whipped up a delicious rosé sauce.

From Food

I don't actually know how the experts make a rosé sauce, but this one turned out pretty tasty and was soooo easy. Too easy... I'm sure I'm doing something wrong. But until I look up a recipe and make it the right way, this is the way I will do it.

Step 1: Get a pot of water boiling. (Whenever making pasta, you should always get a big pot of water boiling first.)

Step 2: Go treat yourself to a beautiful Le Creuset braiser. Okay, that part is optional: but for all those getting married and creating a wedding registry, this is highly recommended. I use it for pasta sauces, stir fries, quick stews, steaks... and I refer to it as the skillet... but I guess the skillet is shallower.

Real Step 2: Mince up garlic and chop up whatever else you want to put in your sauce: mushrooms, zucchini, peppers etc...

Step 3: Olive oil in the shallow pan or whatever you're using to make your sauce. Add everything you chopped. Hold the fresh basil until later if using. Don't forget to season with salt and pepper.

Step 4: Before your garlic burns, add a big scoop of tomato paste (perhaps the organic local one that you got in your biweekly CSA box?) Add chicken or vegetable stock. Adjust either more stock or more paste until you get enough sauce and a nice consistency and nice flavouring.

From Food

Step 5: Your water is probably boiling now. Add (lots of) salt, and your pasta and cook according to package.

Step 6: Add the basil to the sauce. Pour in a small quantity of half and half cream. Or whatever cream you happen to have: light (4%), table (18%), full fat goodness (40%). Add small quantities of cream until you're happy with the creaminess. I think I added 3 tablespoons. I used half and half. Taste and season if required.

Tada! Pour sauce over pasta. Finish with some freshly cracked black pepper and parmigiano reggiano. Yes, I just wrote that with a Giada de Laurentiis accent. Mmmm... "creamy, tangy, the pasta is perfectly al dente..."

From Food

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Quiche Lorraine

Does anyone know someone named Lorraine? I don't. So let's just call it quiche-Kelly.

From Food

Our CSA box came with a dozen fresh, organic chicken eggs. A week after we used them for our quiche-kelly we realized we could have made eggnog. Darn it. Don't tell quiche-kelly, it might hurt her feelings.

I made my usual pie crust from Ina. Look at all those butter bits!

From Food

Then I decided to blind bake it. I just learned that term. I'm not sure why it's called blind baking, but it's just a confusing way of saying to prebake the crust. My friend Jenn asked me if she should prebake her crust. I said no. I had only made quiche once before and I made mini quiches. I did not prebake and they were perfectly crispy. I should have done more research before giving my friend advice. I decided to blind bake this crust. Not sure if it made a difference. I guess I'll have to try again sometime without blind baking. But if I get another dozen eggs in our CSA box, I'm making eggnog. So who knows if I'll ever find out.

Boy that was a ramble. I digress. (Wait, one more thing: did you know that putting the fork holes in the pie crust is called "docking"? Okay. *Now* I digress.)

I did not follow any recipe. I do that sometimes.

I scrambled up 4 eggs. Added some salt and pepper. Started pouring in heavy cream. Stopped when my love handles jiggled at me. I think I put about half the 250mL carton in. Chopped up some cilantro. (Cilantro?! Why cilantro? That's what came in the CSA box.) Added some thai seasoning since there was cilantro in it. (My premixed Thai seasoning comes from Victorian Epicure.) Then I felt like I could squeeze in another egg, so I added a 5th. And then maybe a dash more cream.

I cooked up some sliced bacon, added some red peppers for colour (since it came in the CSA box) and then sprinkled it in the prebaked pie crust. Sprinkled some grated Toscana cheese (also from the CSA box) and then poured the egg mixture in. Said to myself "darn it. i could have squeezed in another egg. oh well" and then baked it for ... i dunno... 35 mins in a 375 degree oven?

Who needs a recipe? [cue Micheal Smith's cheesy music ".... you can do it, too..."]

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Flight of the Concord (Jam)

I went to pick up our second CSA box today. Not as exciting (no alien shaped things) but still full of delicious local foods. It made me realize how far behind I was in my blogging about the last CSA box. Without further adieu:

From Food

Concord grapes are my least favourite grapes. They are my friend Paula's favourite. That happens a lot. She likes the outside crust of bread, I like the inside. She likes the tips of the asparagus, I like the bottoms. She likes the melty outside icecream of the breyer's container, I like the cold, firm inside. She likes smushy concord grapes, I like grapes that are crunchy and not squidgy in the least.

So it was an absolute relief when Dustin suggested making a jam out of the grapes.

I googled and googled for a recipe, but I kept reading about this ridiculous "jelly cloth" that I needed to use to drain the liquid. I assume it was like a cheese cloth. Which I did not have. And didn't they always tell you that the nutrients were packed in the skin?

So I finally found this recipe from epicurious.com. No jelly cloth. But it calls for a food mill. Which I owned (thanks mom) but after I used it, I decided that it didn't really do anything.

I also didn't really skim the surface. Lazy, I know. But I needed every short cut I could get, because the first step was squishing every single grape between our fingers and separating the grape guts from the skins. Dustin helped. We bonded. And squished.

From Food

Here are my revised instructions:

1. Squish 2lbs of concord grapes with your fingers and separate the skins and the guts. (Yes, only 2lbs. Who has more than 2lbs of grapes?! Okay, if you do, then multiply the recipe.)

2. Food process the skins with 1/2 cup of sugar.

3. Add the guts and the skins to a heavy pot. Add another cup or cup and a half of sugar and the juice of a lemon. Or a half lemon. Or grapefruit. Whatever you have lying around. (I may have added some orange liqueur as well. Ina does in her strawberry jam recipe. I want to be like Ina.)

4. Boil it for a really long time. Maybe an hour? Stir it every so often. When it looks kinda thick, it's done! You can test it by dropping a blob onto a plate, letting it cool and seeing if it's thick enough for your liking.

Although concord grapes (juice, jam, or eau de toilette) always reminds me of church communion, the end product was still delicious. We made two small jars of jam with that basket of grapes. Those grapes were toast! Er, that toast is jammed... It all tastes grape to me!

From Food

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Kale Fan

We will be finishing up our first CSA box tonight with a roasted chicken dinner and roasted local, fresh, baby carrots. No pictures: it's still in the oven. But let's go back to our first meal: kale.

From Food

I've never eaten kale before, and Dustin isn't a big fan of soup (it makes him uncomfortably hot; for the same reason, he doesn't drink tea, coffee, hot chocolate, and does not enjoy seat warmers in the car.) To make Dustin a Kale fan, I knew I had to pull out my trump card: stir fry beef. I regularly buy a large cut of beef and slice it up into small stir fry pieces before freezing one-meal-portions in ziplock bags. Stir fry it with *anything* and Dustin will like it.

The most recent cut of beef happened to be prime rib -- a luxury in our household. Marinated with lots of fresh garlic, soy sauce, lots of black pepper and added to the lightly braised kale and the kale was sure to win Dustin over.

From Food

From Food

Look at the size of that one fresh head of garlic! Since it was the first day of the food box, we also had a whole array of salad foods: Boston lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, and Toscana cheese. Next task: the crazy alien broccoli.

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