If I Can Do It, So Can You

All winter, going to the grocery store was an exercise in frustration.  I get so used to cooking with fresh herbs, I want them to cook with over the winter, too, but the prices are exorbitant.  Plus, the packages contain more than I need at the time, so I wind up tossing some in the trash when it goes bad.  Ugh!

On top of this, I'm the biggest brown thumb on the planet.  Seriously, I try every year.  I try hard.  But my little 35 square foot garden usually yields about 3 carrots, 2 tomatoes and a handful of jalepeños in a year.  Yes, I'm that bad.

But herbs are different.  Maybe they're more foolproof than veggies.  In any case, about this time I plant a bunch in pots, and I don't have to buy any for months.  One plant, that will yield all season long, costs about the same as 1 or 2 small packages at the grocery store.

Come fall, we'll talk about how to preserve herbs over the winter.

One more note.  Have you tried Trickling Springs's ice cream?  Waaaay good.  Their Strawberry is about the best I've ever had -- and when it comes to ice cream, I'm really addicted.  The seasonal flavor right now is Lemon Chiffon, and it's pretty darned incredible too.  Hurry up and get some, before I eat it all!

The Superbowl Is a Cooking Holiday

I've read somewhere that the typical American consumes more calories on Superbowl Sunday than on Thanksgiving Day.  Seeing what's typically on the table at game time, I believe it.  While, in my book, Game Day has to involve wings and such, there can also be some veggie-based components present.  So if we have some wings, and then some veggies... it all balances out in the end, right?

Don't let your game day spread look like this!

I'll just let myself believe that.

Valerie does a pretty great job every year in putting together a box that supports game day snacks.  I'm positive this year won't be an exception.  In all the years in which I've been a crop share member, there has always been at least an avocado or two in the box.  So, let's talk about guac.  This is the easiest of the game day items.

Photo via Pioneer Woman

According to Wikipedia (which is never wrong, right?), guacamole had its beginning with the Aztecs.  Modern day guac in its most basic form is just mashed avocado with sea salt and lime juice.  Variations on the theme can also include diced tomato, minced onion, minced garlic or garlic powder, cayenne, chili peppers of some sort (Jalapeño, Serrano, or Habañero most typically), or finely chopped cilantro.  Pick the items of your choice, but remember that the avocado is the item to feature.  Other accouterments are just to accent, so don't overdo it.

Photo via Cristina Ferrare

Save one of the avocado pits, and include it with your guac in a sealed bowl until you're ready to serve it.  The pit will significantly slow the avocado from browning.

You can also have some more creative variations, too.  Try adding a bit of tequila, grilled corn, or some tart pomegranate or green apple to cut the creaminess of the avocado.  Everything is better with bacon, right?  Here is another idea that straddles the line between salsa verde and guacamole, but is utterly amazing.

Photo via Food & Wine

Hey, This Isn't Parsley!

Yes, it kind of looks a little like parsley, but it's a very different flavor.  There have been plenty of times when I've been in a hurry and grabbed the wrong one.  And, I'll admit, planting them next to each other in the garden last year wasn't the brightest thing I've ever done.

Most of us know cilantro is chopped up and put in guacamole, but it plays a role in a much broader swath of world cuisine than most people realize.  Cilantro, also called coriander (yes, they're the same) is native from Southeast Asia all the way across Eurasia to Southern Europe and North Africa.  And from Southern Europe, such as Spain, cilantro migrated across the Atlantic to Latin America.  In addition to using the leaves, the seeds are toasted and ground to use as a spice.  That's what you likely have in your spice rack.

Photo via Food & Wine

So, basically follow the Equator from the Pacific coast of Asia west around the whole world and you'll find cilantro in the local cuisine.  For example:

• Bánh Xèo, Vietnamese crèpes stuffed with shrimp.  This is street food, which is always a great window into local food.
• Lots of Thai dishes, like this shrimp in coconut milk.
• Chicken Tikka Masala, while invented in the UK by an Indian restaurant, is attributed as Indian cuisine.
• Biryani is a rice dish that's more natively Indian.
• Persian dishes, like rice and yogurt.  Making a crusty layer of rice on the bottom of the dish and inverting it on top is the coolest thing I've discovered about Persian food.  It takes practice but it's fantastic.
• Ethiopian stews.  This lentil stew is one of my favorite dishes of all.
• Lots of different Moroccan tagines.  Like this one, this one, or this one.
• Spanish tapas, like these olives.
• Ropa vieja, rundown, and other Caribbean dishes.
• Various tacos, queso fundido, huevos rancheros, soups and lots of other Mexican dishes.
• Ceviche from Peru, and empanadas from everywhere across South America and southern Central America.
• And, of course, guacamole.  Try it with bacon, you'll be glad you did.

Southwest Stuffed Peppers

I actually whipped up these stuffed peppers last week as my even lighter and more veggie-tacular version of the Cream Cheese Chicken Enchilada Stuffed Peppers, but failed miserably at actually getting this to the blog.  But we got onions and there's onions in this recipe, so hey it's still relevant!  Especially as we head into summer with all the squash and corn, this will be a great way to use it all up.

Southwest Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients:
2 tsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, sliced
5 green peppers, 1 sliced, 4 hollowed and lids removed to prepare for stuffing
2 cups corn (or 1 can)
1 yellow squash or zucchini, sliced (if you have a zoodler or a julienne peeler, use that!)
1 1/2 Tbsp cumin
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 chicken breast, cooked and shredded (great for leftover chicken or rotisserie chicken)
1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
8 Tbsp salsa (be fancy and make your own Homemade Salsa)
1 Tbsp lime juice
1/2 cup, plus extra, shredded cheese of your choice (we use Daiya cheddar for dairy-free)
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
Salt & pepper, to taste
Hot sauce, to taste -- optional


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

You'll want to prep all of your veggies first, that way this recipe goes at light-speed.  It makes a TON of filling, so you can easily freeze any extra that won't fit in your peppers and use later for enchilada stuffing or bring it up to a boil with some stock and diced canned tomatoes for a filling soup.

Prep them veggies!

In a large skillet, and I mean large, heat olive oil over medium high heat.  Add in garlic and saute for about 1 minute or until fragrant.  Add in onion and pepper and saute for about 3 minutes.  Add corn, yellow squash and cumin and saute for an additional 3 minutes.  Next, pour in beans, shredded chicken, broth, salsa and lime juice.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until no liquid remains.

Stir in cheese, cilantro, and any hot sauce if you'd like a kick.  Then season with salt & pepper, to taste.  Remove from heat.

Take your 4 hollow peppers and stuff each with generous portions of the filling and top each with a sprinkle of cheese.  Place upright into a baking dish and bake at 350 for about 20-30 minutes, until skin on peppers starts to shrivel at top and look wrinkly and the cheese on top is nice & bubbly.

Spice Roasted Eggplant

Two Christmases ago one of my dearest friends gifted me a cookbook called Simply In Season because she knew I had just joined a CSA and thought this cookbook based around seasonal produce would come in handy.  I'm embarrassed to say that this week was the first time I dove into the recipes.  That tends to be my relationship with cookbooks, I hoard them, if they have pictures I will drool over them, but once they get on my shelf, I always seem to forget to flip through them rather than sit and ponder what I should make.  Now with Pinterest, my cookbooks have really been feeling neglected.  But thanks to my personal social media fast for Lent, I've been left without my easy compilation of recipes, which meant my cookbooks finally made it back off the shelf, and Simply In Season was the first one I went to.

I was originally on a hunt for something different to do with asparagus, because I wanted to break out of my usual tried and true ways (in pasta, grilled, roasted, sauteed, in risotto, or as "fries").  And I did find a recipe for "sugared" asparagus that I'll be trying out in the next few nights.  But what really caught my eye was this recipe for Spice Roasted Eggplant from a woman in Senegal.  So tonight I baked up some za'atar crusted chicken and paired it with this delicious eggplant recipe.  The original only called for a pinch of cinnamon, but I'm a sucker for cinnamon so I increased it to a whole 1/8 tsp and I thought it was a lovely sweet balance to the heavy spice of the cumin.  For those of you who are cilantro-phobes, you could easily substitute parsley, basil or especially Thai basil.  And if  you have a grill, this would be delicious as grilled eggplant!  The charmoula-like sauce would make a great marinade for fish or chicken or poured over some skirt steak, much like a chimichurri sauce.  So this is definitely one recipe that can take you in multiple directions, especially as the weather continues to warm up!

Spice Roasted Eggplant

Ingredients:

1 large eggplant, sliced into 1/4" thick rounds

1 bundle cilantro, chopped (or use another herb like parsley or basil)

1/4 cup olive oil

2 Tbsp lemon juice

2 tsp cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1/8 tsp cinnamon

Preheat your broiler on high heat and set top rack in the middle of oven.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, cilantro and spices until well combined.  Then with a pastry brush, brush the marinade onto both sides of the eggplant rounds and arrange onto a lightly oiled baking sheet.

About to get a suntan!

Broil eggplant on middle rack for about 10 minutes total, flipping about mid-way through.  You want to get both sides nice and golden and slightly crisp the skin, so keep and eye to make sure nothing is burning.

Would also be great to turn into a stacked salad with some fresh tomato slices, goat cheese and a few sprinkles of coarse-ground salt and a drizzle of olive oil!

Estofado de Pollo: Chicken Stew

If you can somehow keep yourself from just boiling up this week's corn and not just eating piles of corn on the cob, then reserve the kernels from 4 of the ears and get ready to whip up a quick, Mexican style stew, that is perfect served with some tortillas to sop it all up.  You can add another cup or 2 of liquid and a Tbsp of tomato paste if you want to really turn this into a soup style stew, otherwise think of this as more of a pulled pork consistency but with more tomatoes and corn than you can shake a stick at.  I love to lay out some of the tortillas on a platter and spoon the stew over top to serve this family style.  You could even use this as a stuffing for any baked enchiladas or taquitos, or serve it with large leaf lettuce for some healthy lettuce wraps!

Estofado de Pollo: Chicken Stew

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp garlic, minced

3 tomatoes, diced

4 ears corn, cooked and removed from cob

1 chipotle chili in adobo, diced

1 small can salsa verde

2 cups yellow cherry tomatoes, halved

2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved

1 cup reduced sodium chicken stock

2 cups shredded, cooked chicken (great for using up leftover chicken or rotisserie chicken)

1/2 cup shredded cheese of your choice (optional)

Kosher salt & pepper to taste

1 Tbsp cilantro, chopped

1/2 lime

Corn tortillas

In a large stock pot, heat olive oil over medium high heat.  Add in garlic and saute for about 1 minute, until fragrant.  Add in diced tomatoes and corn and stir to blend.  Toss in 1 diced chipotle chili, with about 1 tsp of the adobo sauce, and then your salsa verde and the rest of your tomatoes.  Cook for about 2-3 minutes and then pour in chicken stock.  Bring to a boil and simmer down for about 4-5 minutes.  If you're making this more of a soup type stew, add in 2-3 cups of stock plus 1 Tbsp of tomato paste, and simmer also for 4-5 minutes.

Stir in your shredded chicken, and season with salt & pepper to taste.  You can either stir in any cheese to help thicken the sauce, or use it as a garnish over top.  Garnish top of stew with cilantro and the juice of 1/2 a lime.  Serve with corn tortillas to scoop up the stew.

Vietnamese Beef Salad

There were just a few carrots in the Crop Share this week, and by a few I mean a ton.  And while I thought about a carrot soup, it was too cold and snowy yesterday after all of the beautiful Spring weather, so I had to just delude myself a little longer and make something bright and fresh that made me think of the warmer temps to come.  If you'll remember, a few weeks back when we got cabbage I did my own Vietnamese twist on TaKorean "takos".  So last night I just left out the arepas all together, tweaked a few of the ingredients, and made up some delicious Vietnamese Beef Salads.  If you're looking to make a dent in your carrot supply and ignore the continued snow, these salads are where it's at!

Vietnamese Beef Salad

For the pickled slaw:

1 cup water

½ cup apple cider vinegar

½ cup sugar

½ cabbage, cored & thin sliced

1 cup cilantro, minced

4 carrots, peeled and shredded

For the spicy garlic beef: 

1/2 cup soy sauce (I use Kikkoman's gluten-free soy sauce)

2 Tbsp Sriracha (use only 1 Tbsp for a lower heat version)

3 Tbsp local honey

1 Tbsp garlic, minced

1.5 lbs thin sliced ribeye (if you really want the perfect cut for this or for making bulgogi hit up a local H Mart, it's worth the extra trip -- alas, I did not have the time to make the extra trip)

2 Tbsp sesame oil

1" knob of ginger, minced

Make your slaw a day in advance if possible, if not, just allow yourself at least an hour for the flavors to meld and begin to pickle the veggies.  In a small saucepan, heat the water, vinegar and sugar until the sugar is fully dissolved.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.  Prep your cabbage, cilantro and carrots and then toss into a bowl.  Pour the liquid over and toss to fully combine.  Cover bowl and place in fridge for at least 1 hour up to 24 hrs (the longer it sits the better).

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together your soy sauce, Sriracha, honey and garlic, till fully combined.  Then add in your sliced ribeye and toss to coat.  Cover and place in fridge to marinate for at least 1 hour.

In a large skillet, heat your sesame oil over high heat, but take care to not allow it to burn.  Once you start to see little bubbles in the oil, toss in your minced ginger and cook for no longer than 1 minute.  Pour in your beef, marinade and all, and toss with tongs to cook.  Cook beef on high heat until you can no longer see pink on the meat, and no longer otherwise you're going to have chewy bits of beef.  Remove cooked beef from skillet and set aside on a plate.   Continue to simmer down remaining marinade in the skillet until it's turned into a thicker, sticky sauce.  Remove from heat and add beef and any drippings back to pan, tossing to fully coat the beef.

To assemble, place a mound of the slaw on each plate and top with some beef.  Drizzle any of the pan sauce over top if you'd like and serve.  You can also cook up a cup of rice if you feel like you need a starch with this too.

A Fusion Twist On Shrimp & Grits: Cilantro Lime Shrimp with Collards over Cheesy Arepas

I'm still musing over what to do for My Crop Share Challenge this week, and since the brussels sprouts did not want to come out into the blizzard, I'm going to have to re-think my two items.  I got A LOT of collards, so I'm thinking those will certainly be 1 of the 2 items and...wait a tick, hold the phone, some stewed collards with apples.  Yes, yes that's what it's going to be.  I've got a ton of Fuji apples and a ton of collards, why not see if they can play nice together!

But, before we get to those, let me show you what was served up for dinner last night.  I'd seen this recipe for Cilantro Lime Shrimp from Never Enough Thyme and figured I'd wait till we got some of the items needed in an upcoming Crop Share.  But there was that beast amount of collards to contend with, so I figured aww heck just make it and toss in a bundle of collards.  Hmm, shrimp and collards, feels very Low Country.  Hmm, shrimp & grits with collards.  Grits are a cornmeal porridge.  So is polenta, but no, doesn't feel right.  Ugali (see recipe at bottom of this page)?  No.  Oooo, cheesy arepas, it's like cheesy grits pancakes!  And thus Low Country met South-of-the-Border in my kitchen and the results were deeeeeee-licious!

Cilantro Lime Shrimp with Collards over Cheesy Arepas

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp butter

1 sweet onion, minced

1 jalapeno, seeded and diced

1 tsp garlic, minced

1 small bundle collard greens, removed from stem and rough chopped

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (omit if jalapeno is enough heat for you, or just do 1/8 tsp)

1/2 tsp oregano

1 tomato, diced

2 limes, zest and juice

1/4 tsp Kosher salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1 lb frozen pre-cooked shrimp, thawed in water and detailed

1/2 cup fresh cilantro,  chopped

For arepas -- see recipe for them in Vietnamese Style Tacos and just add a handful or two of your favorite shredded cheese (for dairy free I used Daiya cheddar shreds)

Make arepas first so they have time to set up and cool a bit while you're whipping up the shrimp portion.

Then in a large skillet, heat oil and butter over medium high heat.  Add in onion, jalapeno and garlic and cook for about 3-4 minutes or until onion is translucent.  Add in collards and cook until wilted.  Season with red pepper flakes and oregano and cook for an additional minute.  Add in tomato, lime zest, lime juice, salt and pepper and cook until tomatoes are nice and soft and soupy.  Toss in thawed shrimp and cook for only a few minutes until they are heated thru and have curled up.  Remove from heat and stir in cilantro.

Place 1 arepa on each plate and top with a scoop or two of the shrimp & veggies.

Guac This Way!

Great news, we're getting domestically grown avocados in this week's Crop Share!!!  AHHHHHHHH!!!!!! That can only mean one thing...GUACAMOLE!  Never has something that looks like rancid baby food ever tasted so very good.  You'll find a ton of recipes out there for guacamole, some of which contain about 15 different ingredients and even hardboiled egg.  Let me stop you right there, right bloody there, egg has no place in guacamole and if you need to add a bevy of seasonings, you are dishonoring the flavor glory of the incredible produce that goes into this dish.  Let the ingredients sing for themselves, as the only help they need is a bit of salt and lime juice to balance things out and bring out the brightness of the flavors.  So what does the guacamole sing when it's done properly?

"So I took a big chance, and gave a second glance, with an avocado that was ready to play.  It wasn't me it was foolin', cos it knew what it was doing, when it told me how to gauc this way!  Gauc this way!  Talk this way!  Gauc this way!  Talk this way!  Just give me chip!"

Yes, that was the guacamole version of Aerosmith's "Walk This Way."  Clearly I can talk the talk, and guac the guac. ;)

Fresh Guacamole

Ingredients:

3 medium avocados, flesh scooped, pitted & mashed
1 lime, juiced
1 tsp Kosher salt
1/2 red onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tomato, seeded and diced
1-2 Tbsp cilantro, minced
1 jalapeno or serrano chile, seeded and diced *optional


Want to know the best way to get the flesh out of an avocado?  Start by taking your knife straight through it as if you're going to cut it in half, and then just turn the avocado so that you're slicing the whole way around.  Twist each half apart and you'll be left with what you see in the photo above.  Then whack your knife into the pit and pull it out.  Next with your knife, slice three rows down and three rows across through the flesh on each half, and then grab the skin and essentially flip the avocado halves inside out.  The chunks you cut should easily come right out, and it'll save a lot of messing scooping.

In a medium bowl, combine your mashed avocado with all of the ingredients and stir to fully blend.  Adjust salt or lime juice, if necessary.  Serve immediately or really allow the flavors of meld and refrigerate for about 1 hour.  Serve it up the classic way with corn tortilla chips, use it as a topping for burgers and sandwiches, or see our favorite Potato Skins recipe and omit the traditional stuffings and throw in some guacamole or use it along with the bacon and cheese, for a fresh take on a game day classic!

Game on and gauc on!

Vietnamese Style Tacos

So when we were going back and forth to Union Market during Christmas tree season, I had to watch in envious pain as everyone, including my own husband, devoured these incredible looking "takos" from TaKorean.  They have found a way to marry traditional Korean flavors and ingredients with one of our favorite Latin comfort and convenience foods...the taco.  But alas, just like most Korean BBQ, none of the offerings at TaKorean are gluten-free thanks to gluten's ability to hide itself in just about every blessed brown marinade.  Curse you gluten!!!  I love tacos and I worship Korean, Vietnamese and Thai cuisine, even if most of I can no longer have.  So after a few odd days of binge watching Korean TV (it should be noted, I don't speak a lick of Korean), I vowed to stop drooling and pouting, because I was going to do some research, follow my culinary gut, and head to the store to procure what I would need for some back to back weeknight delights.  I'm gearing up to make homemade Korean bulgogi with kimchi tonight, but last night, oh last night, I grabbed the cabbage and some of the leftover carrots from the share two weeks ago and set out to create a fusion style taco with all the bright Vietnamese flavors I've been craving (come back to me bahn mi!).  I'd made arepas for the first time earlier in the week, so the Mister begged to have those as the base rather than just a corn tortilla, so these are more open face tacos, or something.  I'm not quite sure what to truly call them other than utterly delicious!  Let's just say I had some again for breakfast this morning!

Vietnamese Style Tacos

For the pickled slaw:

1 cup water

½ cup apple cider vinegar

½ cup sugar

½ cabbage, cored & thin sliced

½ cup cilantro, minced

3 carrots, peeled and shredded

Kosher salt

For the spicy chili beef: 

½ cup sweet chili sauce (I use a brand called Mae Ploy, and can find it at the Giant in Kingstowne)

¼ cup wheat free soy sauce

1 Tbsp Sriracha

1 tsp garlic, minced

1.5 lbs thin sliced ribeye (if you really want the perfect cut for this or for making bulgogi hit up a local H Mart, it's worth the extra trip -- alas, I did not have the time to make the extra trip)

2 Tbsp sesame oil

For the arepas (or if you prefer, just use corn tortillas):

2 cups white corn masa (can be found in the Hispanic food section of most grocery stores)

1 tsp kosher salt

3 cups warm water

Butter for frying (I use Earth Balance margarine for dairy free, but beware it's melting point and it's burning point are much lower than regular butter)

Make your slaw a day in advance if possible, if not, just allow yourself at least 30 minutes to an hour for the flavors to meld and begin to pickle the veggies.  In a small saucepan, heat the water, vinegar and sugar until the sugar is fully dissolved.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.  Prep your cabbage, cilantro and carrots and then toss into a bowl.  Pour the liquid over, and sprinkle with a pinch of two of Kosher salt and toss to fully combine.  Cover bowl and place in fridge for at least 30 minutes up to 24 hrs (the longer it sits the better).

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together your sweet chili sauce, soy sauce, Sriracha and garlic, till fully combined.  Then add in your sliced ribeye and toss to coat.  Set aside and allow to marinate while you prep the arepas.

Next, prep your dough for the arepas.  If you're not familiar with these, they are fried white corn cakes, so think of a crispy, savory pancake.  In a bowl stir together your masa, salt and warm water until there are no more masa lumps.  Allow to rest for 5 minutes.  Melt a tablespoon or two of butter in a skillet over medium high heat.  Take a handfull of arepa dough and pat it out into palm sized rounds about 1/4 inch thick and place into sizzling butter.  Brown each side for about 4 minutes until both sides are golden, then transfer to a separate place to cool.  Once you're about half way through the dough, time things so that you can begin to cook up your beef while a batch of arepas cook.  Then do the fun juggling act of tending to both!

In a large skillet, heat your sesame oil over high heat, but take care to not allow it to burn.  Once you start to see little bubbles in the oil, that means it's ready so pour in your beef, marinade and all, and toss with tongs to cook.  Cook beef on high heat until you can no longer see pink on the meat, and no longer otherwise you're going to have chewy bits of beef.  Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Finish cooking up all your arepas and then begin the assembly process.  For each serving, place 1 arepa on a plate and top with beef. Use a spoon to drizzle some of the pan sauce over the beef and arepa for extra favor.  Then top the beef with a generous dollop of the slaw, and if you're a heat freak like me, grab that bottle of Sriracha and drizzle some extra over top the slaw.  Devour immediately!

We ended up with more arepas and slaw than beef, so problem solved, they made a delicious meat free pairing sans the beef.  It was my lunch today.  Yes, I've had three meals out of this dish, and I'm debating whether to be a really good wife and let the Mister take leftovers for his lunch on the night shift, or just go for round 4 for my dinner.  I'm not feeling like so good of a wife right now when I know what's hiding in my fridge.  And yes, this reheats superb, just heat an arepa topped with beef for about 30 seconds to a minute and you're set to top with slaw, devour, and repeat!

Cilantro & Pistachio Pesto

I had all sorts of traditional plans for last week's cilantro, including making another round of that Healthy Three Layer Taco Dip for a game night with friends.  Well you know what they say about the best laid plans. But oh happy accident, because, as I was staring aimlessly at the cilantro, it came to me...pesto!  Now, I 've never made a pesto.  I've eaten plenty of it, and my mother-in-law has mastered an amazing traditional pesto with dairy-free parm.  And though I've vowed to make it a thousand times for the Mister, I tend to be pretty darn lazy when it comes to using the kitchen appliances I have that require lots of random parts that will need hand washing.  But perhaps it's the smoothie kick I've been on, because I yanked my Cuisinart from the depths of my pantry and in no time at all I had concocted a Cilantro & Pistachio Pesto, that I promise you, promise, promise, promise, pinky swear promise, will NOT be able to detect that it's cilantro hiding in there! Not a soapy taste to be found anywhere.  So cilantro haters, I've found the solution for you, put it in your food processor or blender and make it pay!!!

Cilantro & Pistachio Pesto

Ingredients:

1 bundle cilantro, washed and ends trimmed
4 cloves garlic
2 tsp lemon zest
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup dry roasted & unsalted, shelled pistachios
1/2 cup olive oil (I'm going to play Barefoot here, use the GOOD olive oil!), plus 1-2 Tbsp more reserved if tossing with pasta
2-3 pinches Kosher salt

Place all ingredients in your food processor or blender and blend  until nice and smooth.  You won't have a completely smooth sauce, but you want all of the big chunks broken up (especially of the garlic) and have everything well-combined.  Scoop out and toss with cooked pasta of your choice, or use as a spread for crostini or some garlic pesto bread.  If tossing with pasta, add another 1-2 Tbsp of olive oil to keep the pasta from sticking and gumming up.

I found the pesto itself was perfect with about 2 pinches of Kosher salt, but once I tossed it with my pasta, it totally disappeared, so you will want to adjust with the salt content after you've tossed the pesto with the pasta and additional olive oil.  Also, I did not use Parmesan of any kind, but you could absolutely include it in the sauce.  To me the pistachios actually impart the same flavor profile as Parm would, so give it a try without and see what you think.  It at least helps to offset the calories from the bevy of olive oil that goes into this dish!

Cilantro or Cilant-NO?

Cilantro and I are tight.  I love that fragrant herb and it loves me back.  But I recognize that for some of you, you might hear that we're getting cilantro this week and your first thought is, "Cilant-NO! That stuff tastes like soap!"  A few years ago, I learned that for some folks, cilantro only reads like soap or cleaning products on their taste buds.  This is not a case of having an unrefined palate (Julia Child herself despised cilantro), it's simply our taste buds being our personal food safety testers to keep us from harm.  Since cilantro contains the same or similar type of aldehydes found in soaps, certain chemicals and even in bugs, some people's taste buds pick up on the flavor and alert, "DANGER!  DANGER!  DO NOT EAT!"  Hence, why it reads like soap or cleaning products to many folks, it's their taste bud's way of stopping them from eating the perceived hazard.

So can those of us who love cilantro boast about having more evolved and intelligent palates?  Probably not, as I can shamefully admit to once eating an entire slice of moldy pizza and then reached for another before I bothered to flip on the light and see that my pizza was growing a sweater.  Like I said, shameful.  But the good news for cilantro-phobes is that some people have found if the herb is crushed or really finely chopped, that by breaking it down, it decreases the soapy flavor and only imparts that wonderfully fragrant note that those of us who love cilantro rave about.

Whether you love it or have always reviled it, we've got two great cilantro containing recipes.  For those of you doubters, in both of these you can just mince the heck out of the cilantro, let it rest for a few minutes and then toss it in.  Think almost a pesto consistency in how finely you mince it.  Click the link to view the first recipe, but the second is provided in this post...

Thai Chicken Quinoa Bowls

If you have an aversion to quinoa, you can easily toss this with white or brown rice, and since it has a Thai flavor profile, you might even try tossing it with rice noodles for a bit of a riff on Pad Thai.  Pass the Sriracha!

Healthier Three Layer Taco Dip

Layer 1:

8 oz Neufchatel 1/3 less fat cream cheese (I use Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese for dairy-free)*

8 oz reduced fat sour cream (I use Tofutti Sour Supreme for dairy-free)*

1 package low-sodium taco seasoning**

1 tsp chipotle pepper (or less to control the heat)**

Beat all ingredients together until well-blended and creamy.  Spread in the bottom or a deep dish or pie plate.  Refrigerate for at least one hour to allow this layer to set up and firm up.

*When using the reduced fat cream cheese and sour cream, beware of the increased water content.  So drain any excess liquid off of the sour cream before using, and then make sure your subsequent layers are well-drained before adding them.

**Since determining the gluten-safe properties of most taco seasonings, I just created my own.  This is a great way to save on sodium, because even the low-sodium seasonings are still too high for my taste.  Alas, I made mine recently at about 2 am and thus didn't measure, but I did a blend of garlic powder, paprika, ground black pepper, chipotle pepper, and a dash of salt.  So add a few dashes and season till you get the taste you want.  You definitely want the smoky heat of the chipotle in this layer, so to keep from going overboard on the heat you can up the smoke factor with more paprika.

Layer 2:

1 head of romaine lettuce, chopped fine and patted dry with a paper towel

Evenly spread over cream cheese mixture.

Layer 3:

4 tomatoes, seeded and diced

1/2 chopped sweet onion

1 chopped and seeded jalapeno pepper

3 Tbsp minced, fresh cilantro

Juice of 1 lime or lemon

Mix all ingredients together in a separate bowl and then, using a slotted spoon to allow for drainage of excess liquid, evenly spread over top of romaine.  You'll likely have left over pico de gallo, so save to use as a plain salsa or for topping homemade tacos, grilled fish or chicken.

All Jalapeno Business!

We're turning up the heat this week with lots of local jalapenos!  Don't fear the heat, as there are plenty of easy ways to prepare them that will mask the burn and highlight their lovely smoky flavor.  But be warned, you will want to wear kitchen gloves or put some baggies on your hands when seeding and chopping the jalapenos, because not only will you undoubtedly rub your eyes sometime later that day and then rue the jalapeno's existence, but you will also find that your fingertips themselves will burn.  Leave feeling the burn to the gym, not the kitchen!

So here's two great recipes for this week's bounty of jalapenos.  First up, the best ever layered taco dip I've had in my life, courtesy of my good friend Alicia.  There was a memorable New Years Eve when we co-hosted a party in which this taco dip was made, along with enough food to feed about 30 people.  There were 5 of us at this party.  We have a slight problem with going over board.  But you will want to make a ton of this layered taco dip and then go hide yourself in a closet with a bag of chips.  Just the spiced cream cheese base of this is to die for!  

Then the next recipe comes from everyone's favorite down-home gal, The Pioneer Woman.  She once made these killer BBQ Jalapeno Poppers, and while you can certainly go the BBQ route (how amazing would they be with some of that Almost Heaven Apple Butter BBQ we have in store?!?), Miss Valerie in our office LOVES to replace the BBQ in this recipe with peach jam.  Say what?!  Sweet with heat, sign us up!  We pretty much have peach jam coming out our ears in the store, including a new Sunshine Peach Jam.  But ooo, how deliciously exotic would it be with some Mango Jam or some of the Mango Mango Preserves?  Go ahead, get a little crazy this week!

Miss Alicia's Taco Dip

Layer 1:

8 oz cream cheese

8 oz sour cream

1 package low-sodium taco seasoning

1 tsp chipotle pepper (or less to control the heat)

Beat all ingredients together until well-blended and creamy.  Spread in the bottom or a deep dish or pie plate.

Layer 2:

1/2 head of iceburg lettuce, chopped fine

Evenly spread over cream cheese mixture.

Layer 3:

Grated cheddar cheese to taste

Evenly sprinkled over lettuce.

Layer 4:

3 tomatoes, seeded and diced

1/2 chopped sweet onion

1 chopped and seeded jalapeno pepper

3 Tbsp minced, fresh cilantro

1 tsp lime juice

Mix all ingredients together in a separate bowl and then evenly spread over top of cheese.  You'll likely have left over pico de gallo, so save to use as a plain salsa or for topping homemade tacos, grilled fish or chicken.

Pioneer Woman's BBQ Jalapeno Poppers

Click through to view this recipe at Good Morning America...

Feeling Loupy!

'Tis the season for melon, and by far my favorite has to be cantaloupe.  So Tasting Table had to have had received some Crop Share vibes about the cantaloupe in this week's boxes, because they've posted not one but TWO amazing, and creative cantaloupe recipes this week.  Normally I can't get past just slicing it up and devouring it, but I think I might just have to exercise some self control and try my hand at these two.  Especially the popsicles with coconut milk and almond milk substituted in for a refreshing dairy-free alternative!  So follow the links below to view the recipes on Tasting Table and get louped!

Creamy Roasted Cantaloupe Pops

Chilled Roasted Cantaloupe Soup with Ginger, Yogurt and Pomegranate Swirl 

Thai Chicken Quinoa Bowls

So the Mister and I are kind of a hot mess of food allergies.  Our home is peanut, cashew, dairy, egg and gluten free.  And while I adore Thai food, it's pretty much the kiss of death for the hubs.  Thus I was pretty darn excited when I stumbled across these Thai Chicken Quinoa Bowls from How Sweet It Is and realized all I needed were a few key tweaks to make it safe for both of us.  Including subbing in almond butter in place of peanut butter -- you'd never know.  While this dish is the perfect vehicle for this week's cilantro, you could just as easy throw in some of the diced, green bell pepper or even blanch some of the broccoli to toss in.  I say the more crunchy veg in these quinoa bowls, the better!

Thai Chicken Quinoa Bowls

Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked quinoa, cooked to package instructions
2 chicken breasts cooked & shredded, or use leftover rotisserie chicken
1/3 cup chopped carrots
1/3 cup chopped green onions
1 1/2 tomatoes, seeded and diced
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Sauce:
4 Tbsp chili garlic sauce
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
2 Tbsp coconut milk
1 Tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp almond butter
1 lime, juiced
1/4 tsp ground ginger

Toss shredded chicken with cooked quinoa.  Add in chopped vegetables and cilantro and stir to mix well.

In a separate bowl, whisk together all sauce ingredients until fully combined and pour over quinoa mixture.  Fold sauce in evenly and taste.  Season with salt & pepper if needed.


Adapted from How Sweet It Is: (http://www.howsweeteats.com/2013/02/thai-chicken-quinoa-bowl/)

Guacamole-Stuffed Poblano Peppers

There are stuffed peppers and then there are STUFFED peppers.  If you're intimidated by the poblano peppers in this week's share, fear not.  While they look sinisterly hot, they are, in fact, quite mild, and when you stuff them with something gooey, creamy and delectable, the peppers provide just the right amount of zip.  We've all seen chile rellenos on menus in just about every Mexican restaurant, and while they are nothing short of yumtacular, they aren't exactly going to make it onto any healthy eats list.  Apparently, "experts" say that things stuffed with cheese and battered in egg are not good for you, despite them also telling me that my bones need calcium and eggs are great sources of protein.  Oh well, I guess we'll all just have to settle for...Guacamole-Stuffed Poblanos!  This recipe from Eating Well calls for using hearts of romaine lettuce, but you can just as easily use your red leaf lettuce in its place.

Guacamole-Stuffed Poblano Peppers

Ingredients:

5 small to medium poblano peppers

2 ripe avocados

1/4 cup fresh cilantro

3 Tbsp finely chopped red onion

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup thinly sliced red leaf lettuce

Click through to read the rest of the recipe on Eating Well...

Mushrooms Sauteed With Sherry Vinegar

If there's one thing I remember from the Summer Olympics in London this past year (aside from that Phillip Phillips song that was used for every USA women's gymnastics intro video) it's this fantabulous mushroom recipe.  Watching the Opening and Closing Ceremonies are a big deal for me and yes, I always cry from world-coming-together happiness.  And big deals equal lots of yummy food.  So I ran across this recipe from Herbivoracious for Mushrooms Sauteed with Sherry Vinegar, and decided they'd make a great appetizer while the Mister and I watched the start of the Games.  In retrospect, I'm not entirely sure many mushrooms even made it out of the pan and onto a plate where my husband could enjoy them, as I seem to remember just eating them over the stove, because they were just that darn good.  So whip these up for a quick and easy appetizer, and be sure to have some crusty bread on hand because you are going to want to sop up all of the remaining sauce.  Oh yes you will!

Mushrooms Sauteed with Sherry Vinegar

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp olive oil, plus more for garnish

4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

1 lb small button or crimini mushrooms

1/2 tsp Kosher salt

3 Tbsp sherry vinegar

1 handful of cilantro leaves (or parsley if you're cilantro phobic)

Click through to read the rest of the recipe...

Homemade Salsa

This week, for crop share you will have everything you need for Superbowl weekend! To start off, how about some chips and homemade salsa? This will only take minutes to make and is a healthy alternative to most store-bought salsas.

Ingredients:

1tomato 

1/2 red, white or sweet onion

1 jalapeño pepper (keep the seeds for extra heat)

Juice of 1 lime

1/2 bunch of cilantro, leaves torn off of stems

1 tsp of your favorite hot sauce

Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions:

Chop the tomato and onion into thick pieces and place into your food processor. Add finely chopped jalapeño. 

Add lime juice, cilantro, hot sauce, salt and pepper. Pulse until you get desired consistency.  

To make into a delicious guacamole, simply add your avocado to the recipe!