CSA Week 15: Eggplant Stacks Part Deux (Paleo)

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farmer
Do you know the farmers that make your Italian Sausage?

I do. They do a great job and everything is grassfed/pastured and local. Check ’em out! http://sevensons.net/

Week 15 bounty:

  • 1 eggplant
  • 1 bunch chard
  • 4 onions
  • 6 tomatoes
  • bag of green beans
  • 2 bell peppers
  • bunch of basil

Eggplant Stacks:

I followed the same recipe as I did for the previous eggplant stacks but instead of using cheese, I used an Italian Sausage log that I cut into rounds and browned in a cast iron skillet before stacking. They fit perfect on top of the eggplant rounds and I was able to use some of my own tomato sauce this go round because of all the tomatoes I’ve been getting lately! I also left out the crumble topping out of laziness, and it worked great!

CSA Week 14: Tomato Sauce for the Freezer

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tomato sauce

CSA Week 14 Bounty:

  • Tomatoes (about 3 lb)
  • 4 Sweet peppers
  • 3 Hot peppers
  • 1 Melon
  • bag o’ green beans
  • Swiss chard
  • 1 bunch Scallions
  • 1 bunch Kale

It’s time to start cooking tomatoes into sauce that I can just pour into a dish later in the year. I don’t like tomatoes straight up, so making sauce and freezing it is a perfect way to use them. Then I don’t have to worry about chemicals and preservatives in cans.

Tomato Sauce:

  • 1/2 cup EVOO
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1 stalk celery, chopped
  • 1 carrot, chopped
  • 1 hot pepper (optional)
  • salt and pepper
  • 4 lbs tomatoes, peeled
  • 8 basil leaves
  • 2 bay leaves

In a dutch oven, heat oil to medium high heat. Add onion and garlic and sauté for about 2 minutes. Add celery, carrot, and hot pepper with salt and pepper. Saute for about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, basil, bay leaves and simmer covered on low for about an hour until thick. Remove bay leaves and taste. If it tastes too acidic, add a tbsp of butter until it cuts it. Pulse with a hand blender. Let it cool and freeze! It should give you about 6 cups of sauce.

CSA Week 13: Eggplant Stacks

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eggplant

CSA Week 13 Bounty:

  • 6 tomatoes
  • bag of potatoes
  • 3 bell peppers
  • 2 eggplants
  • 1 head of bok choy
  • bag of green beans
  • bag of salad mix

I am trying to eat more veggie dishes because I am about to start a nutrition program with another vegetarian. It’s much easier to coach someone when you get what their meals look like. Since most of her pastas she is used to will be out the window, I have to come up with tasty alternatives! Luckily, she will eat some animal products, like cheese. So, eggplant stacks it is!

Eggplant Stacks

  • 2 eggplant
  • 1 lb mozzarella
  • 1 jar tomato sauce
  • basil
  • almond flour
  • salt and pepper
  • butter

Preheat oven to 450F. Cut eggplant into discs and spread on greased baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook for 20 minutes. Get them out and turn the oven down to 350F. Place some sauce in the bottom of a baking dish and arrange some of the eggplant discs over the sauce. Put some sauce on top of the eggplant and sprinkle some basil. Place a disc of mozzarella over each eggplant disc and continue layering. Once you have eggplant back on top (3 eggplant discs) then sprinkle with topping of (almond flour with cold butter and salt in the food processor until it looks like bread crumbs). Bake for 17 minutes and broil on low for 3 minutes until the crumble topping browns slightly.

I’ve Officially Done It! Crispy Chicken Livers Are AMAZING!

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chicken livrers

everydaymaven

I am not going to try and take credit for this. I have been trying to like liver for a while now and OMG has it been disgusting! Until now! I am so excited! Pastured liver is one of the most nutritious foods you can eat, and if you can make it into something you actually enjoy and not just choke down, that’s a huge feat!

I skimmed over her exact recipe but I’m sure I didn’t follow it to the letter. I just don’t cook like that. So, I used bacon grease as my frying oil. Bacon makes everything better FYI. Then I used tapioca flour instead of almond flour with a generous heap of paprika, salt, oregano and black pepper. Fried ’em up. Salted right out of the pan as well. They were like insanely flavorful chicken nuggets! Make sure to cut them into bite size pieces though because the thicker they are, the more you may be able to tell it’s not muscle meat. Thank me later. ;)

CSA Week 8: Smashed Potatoes. Mmmmm

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potatoes1

CSA Week 8 Bounty:

  • 3 beets
  • bag of green beans
  • 1 bunch of kale
  • 2 heads garlic
  • 1 bag of red potatoes
  • 1 bunch of scallions
  • 1 cucumber

I am a huge fan of mashed potatoes. Maybe because of the copious amounts of butter I mashed them with?! However, when I saw the big bag of red potatoes this past week, I thought “You know what? I saw this one idea on the Food Network…Smashed Potatoes…and now I have to try it.” After the fact, I am still partial to mashed potatoes, but these are a nice change of pace for sure!

Smashed Potatoes:

Boil salted water that covers as many red potatoes as you would like prepare. Boil them until they are fork tender. While they are boiling, preheat the oven to 450 degrees and grease a baking sheet. When the potatoes are fork tender, transfer them to the greased baking sheet and take the bottom of a glass and smash them. They will look like a cookie or a thick pancake. Brush them with butter, salt generously, and sprinkle whatever herb you have growing like crazy! Cook for 25 minutes in the oven until the outsides are crispy. Enjoy. ;)

CSA Week 6: Stuffed Squash Blossoms

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SONY DSC
CSA Week 6 Bounty:

  • 3 beets
  • 1 head garlic
  • 1 bunch green onions
  • 1 bunch kale
  • 1 bag salad
  • 1 bag snap peas
  • 1 bag squash blossoms

Stuffed Squash Blossoms

Ingredients:

  • blossoms
  • organic whole milk ricotta cheese
  • diced green onions
  • chopped parsley
  • lemon juice
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 egg, whisked
  • tapioca flour

Directions:

Mix together the ricotta, salt, pepper, lemon juice, parsley and green onions. Stuff your blossoms with the mixture. Dip them in egg and coat them with tapioca flour. Fry in a pan or bake at 350 for 10 minutes!

CSA Week 5: Turnip Latkes

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turnip latke
CSA Week 5 Bounty:

  • 1 bunch beet tops
  • 1 bunch kale
  • 1 bag snap peas
  • 1 bunch new onions
  • 1 bag salad
  • 1 huge turnip

Turnip Latkes

  • Shredded turnip
  • 1 egg
  • paprika
  • salt and pepper
  • Cooking oil

Heat cooking oil of choice in a cast iron skillet. Combine shredded turnips, egg, and spices. Scoop some of the turnip mixture into the hot pan and cook like a pancake! Make sure each side has a nice browned exterior.

CSA Week 4: Olive Branch Olive Oil and Balsamics

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strawberry salad

CSA Week 4 Bounty:

  • 1 bunch chard
  • 1 head bok choy
  • 1 bunch kale
  • 1 bag snap peas
  • 1 bag lettuce

I’m drowning in lettuce here people! I hardly eat salad! So, I’ve been giving a lot away. ;) However, having all this lettuce has forced me to make beautiful salads and experiment with dressings (and I don’t even like condiments). I wanted to say that I have a couple balsamic vinegars from the Olive Branch and if you have never been to one of the stores, get on it! They have tons of flavor infused olive oils and balsamic vinegars. Currently my addiction has been EVOO with the Blackberry Ginger Balsamic. It goes perfectly with greens, strawberries, pecans, and chicken!

I’m getting ready to make my Roasted Almond Olive Oil Ice Cream again too….so good and creamy straight out of the freezer!

CSA Week 3: Mashed Turnips

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CSA Week 3 Bounty:

  • 3 turnips
  • 1 bunch scallions
  • 2 garlic scapes
  • 1 bunch radishes
  • 1 bunch kale
  • 1 bag baby lettuce
  • some snap peas

These are some of the usual stuff that I received last year in my CSA share, so I’ve posted lots of recipes with these veggies, but mashed turnips never get old. I used the garlic scapes to make some pesto. I always sauté kale in bacon fat, and I’ve made roasted radishes on several occasions. Roasting them really changes the flavor, and you should try it.

Back to the turnips. I use them like potatoes! I peel them and chop them into uniform sizes and boil in homemade chicken stock until all the stock is absorbed. (Put in just enough stock to cover the turnips.) Once they are tender and full of stock, I put in enough butter to make them creamy when I mash them. Add salt and pepper. Feel free to mix with other root veggies like parsnips or potatoes!turnips

Pizza…and an Elephant Ear!

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pizza

This week starts my first week of the CSA! I’m so excited to starting picking up produce and figuring out what to do with all the surprises! Anyway, that’s beside the point. I told you guys that I have been trying recipes without success. Leave it to pizza and elephant ear’s to save the day. Once in a while, I wonder what it would be like to have pizza. I never eat pizza because not only is the crust a grain-filled disc, but the topping is dairy. It has literally been years, and I can say that I don’t miss pizza…at all. However, when I was looking at my fresh basil in the garden, I thought I would take my first stab ever at making one without the grains. I got the crust recipe from my friend Carole, so I can’t take credit for coming up with it, but I can take credit for what I decided to do with it! The recipe calls for enough dough to make 2 pizzas. However, when you don’t have kids, what am I going to do with 2 pizzas?! My mind instantly went for an elephant ear. All its made of is dough dusted in cinnamon sugar. Done. Dinner and dessert.

Pizza/ Elephant ear crust base:

  • 2 cups almond flour
  • 1 cup tapioca flour (or arrowroot)
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/2 cup coconut milk (I used homemade coconut milk kefir)
  • Pizza dough addition: 1 tsp oregano
  • Elephant ear additions: butter, cinnamon, coconut sugar, vanilla

Preheat the oven to 425 F.

Whisk the eggs and coconut milk together. Add in the dry ingredients. Separate the dough in 1/2. Add 1 tsp of oregano to 1. Add a tsp vanilla and 1 tsp of cinnamon to the other. Spread each of them into whatever form you like (I used a round pizza stone). Bake for 8 minutes. Take them out of the oven and put sauce and toppings on your pizza and brush your elephant ear with melted butter. Put them back in for another 8 minutes. Take the elephant ear out and brush it with more butter and sprinkle it with coconut sugar and cinnamon to your heart’s desire. Then pull out your pizza after another 5 minutes.

If you just want to make 2 pizzas, use 1 1/2 tsp oregano.
If you just want to make 2 elephant ears, use 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon.

This texture is not light and airy like an elephant ear but that’s what it reminded me of! It tasted like the Pillsbury cinnamon rolls…yes, I ate those back in the day.