Lunchtime adventures

Having brought all local leftovers to work every day this week gave me some extra time during my lunch hour to wander around.  Here are some things I saw………

Rainy day musics

Love a rainy evening in the middle of the summertime.  Some tunes for your listening pleasure, chill out time…… 

Fajita! Fiesta!

I knew one of the bigger challenges of the ELC would be my love of Mexican food, so when I saw an abundance of peppers at Hollygrove I was immediately excited!  Fajita bowls, hooray!  These were super easy to make, and with the addition on some corn and cherry tomato salsa, I didn’t even miss the onions that were unavailable.

                           for fajita bowl

                     2 large portabellas sliced

      2 bell peppers (its best if they are different colors) sliced

                     1 anaheim or other mild pepper

                         1 1/2 tbsp cooking oil

                               1 tsp salt

                           1 cup cooked rice 

                   3 cloves garlic coarsely chopped            

1. cook mushrooms and 1/2 of the oil plus about 2 tbsp of water in a skillet until softened.  Once mushrooms start to brown around the edges remove from skillet and set aside.  (how well you like the mushrooms done here is up to you, I like to let them cook for 8-10 minutes.)

2. Wipe out pan, add rest of olive oil,peppers, garlic, and salt, cook until all ingredients are softened.  About 5 minutes

3. combine mushrooms, and pepper mixture together in pan and cook for about 5 minutes, until all ingredients are combined.

 

                                               for the salsa

                         1 ear of corn boiled

                     10 cherry tomatoes quartered

                        1 poblano pepper diced

                               1 tsp salt

            combine all ingredients in bowl and mix well.

 

                                To serve

                    layer all ingredients and enjoy!

dreaming of vacation time

Vacation starts in less than 2 weeks and I can barely contain my excitement.  Though I’m going home to Nebraska, not the most exciting place to many, I can not wait for some much needed R&R.  Something about endless fields and big blue skies is so free……… 

       

Easy all local Moussaka

With eggplants being plentiful right now it is the perfect time to add a little Greek flare in to your menu with some Moussaka!  I looked up some recipes and they seemed a bit daunting for a Monday night, then I stumbled across this quick skillet version in an old issue of Eating Well magazine.  When paired with a fresh Greek-esque salad it was a delicious, easy, all local summer meal!

              2 medium size eggplants halved and sliced
                   1 bell pepper coarsely chopped
                       2 cloves garlic minced             
                            1 lb beef
                        1/2 cup feta cheese
                        1/4 cup asiago cheese
                     3/4 cup crushed tomatoes
                          1/2 cup yogurt
                         1/2 onion chopped
                           1/2 tsp salt

1. Cook beef over medium heat in a skillet.  I used grass fed beef from Cleaver and Co. (when using grass fed beef make sure to note it cooks much faster and you should use a lower temperature than you would usually use)  Cook meat until no longer pink then transfer to strainer to drain.  Leave a little bit of the liquid from the meat in the pan to cook vegetables in.
2.  Add onion, garlic, peppers, and eggplant to the pan and cook over medium heat until eggplant is soft.  While the vegetables are cooking crush tomatoes in to a large bowl (see method below). Combine cooked beef, tomatoes, and yogurt in bowl.
3. Once vegetables are soft add beef mixture in to pan, cover and simmer on medium-low for about 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Fold in cheese and remove from heat once melted.


To turn fresh tomatoes in to crushed tomatoes simply run them along a cheese grater in to a bowl.  I find that this gives the tomatoes a better texture than when you process them.

Traditional moussaka calls for mozzarella cheese.  I had asiago and feta on hand so I decided to use that.  It gave the dish a really nice sharpness.  All dairy products used in this recipe are from Ryals dairy http://www.rockingrdairy.com/ Check them out, their products are fantastic!

*To make this a vegetarian version simply replace beef with 3 cups of chopped mushroom and add 4 tbsp oil to step one of cooking and reduce the crushed tomatoes to 1/2 cup.

Tarragon potato salad

I made this potato salad with the produce that I got in the Hollygrove market box this week.  We picked up some fresh boiled crawfish from Rouses market to go along with it.  It made for a great Sunday evening all local dinner. 

         

                            2 potatoes diced

                        1 large bunch green beans

                            1 small cucumber diced

                      1 cup cherry tomatoes halved

                    1 1/2 Tbsp fresh chopped tarragon

                            1 Tbsp vinegar

                         2 Tbsp creole mustard

 

Boil the potatoes and the green beans for about 10 minutes them drain and transfer to a bowl of iced water to stop the cooking. Drain potatoes and beans, combine all ingredients in a large bowl, and mix well.  Refrigerate until cool and enjoy!

Day one

Today was the first day of local eating adventures.  Instead of going out to one of my usual lunch spots I had a beautiful picnic at Jackson Square.  It was so nice and relaxing, just one more perk of eating locally!  For dinner my friends and I took advantage of a free Friday night shrimp boil, delicious!

a delicious local peach for breakfast

 

 

Images from my lunchtime.

 

alligator sausage appetizer.   Free shrimp and Abita strawberry.