Father Feeds Flock!!!

Our co-op basket had a lot of tomatoes in it, so Dutchie requested that dinner be something made with them.  Tomato soup sounded like a plan, so off to the net I went. I looked at a few recipes and got a basic idea, then I added some of my own ingredients. I took tomatoes, onion, chicken stock, cloves, garlic, basil and s/p. I boiled them all together for about 20 minutes. Then I pulled out my brand new food mill and milled everything together. Made a simple rue and added the sauce back to it slowly to not cause the rue to clump up. I took some artisan bread, cheese and avocado and grilled them up in the trusty cast iron.  The avocado added such a creamy element to  the crispy griddle cheese (as my good buddy J Scott used to call them). A Clausen pickle added to the plate, and by goodness... we have a successfully fed flock!!!

Was having a hard time coming up with something to fix tonight.  We just got  a co-op basket, but nothing was sounding good. I remembered that Kroger had lobsters on sale, so I  thought I'd take a stab at lobster rolls. I bought 3 small lobsters, and took out all the meat I could, trying to keep the pieces as big as possible. I paired this with grilled corn on the cob, that has been described as mexican corn. (mayonnaise, salt/pepper and parmesan cheese) I wrap them in foil and usually all the cheese stays on the foil. I need to remember that and add the cheese at the end. The corn, tomatoes and bib lettuce (I think thats what its called) were all from the co-op.  The tomatoes were extremely good! Mayo, scallions, celery, lime juice and tabasco made up the lobster salad. It was SOOOO hard not to eat all the lobster as I was making it, but  I was able to resist after a few nibbles. We had some hoogie rolls, so I buttered them and heated them for a few seconds ...

I marinated some boneless pork chops with some Caesar dressing and put it in the fridge for a couple of hours. We had a surprise the other day, when a head of cauliflower popped up in the garden. We had been looking at some sad looking leaves, with NO white. Even with the few freezes we had here, the small head was nice and tight. I cut it up and sautéed it with some asparagus. I had some veggies in the fridge, so I threw together a salad. I grilled the chops on the bbq. This was a simple, easy and quick meal, that I got a compliment from the wife.  pork is not her favorite, so I took the compliment to heart. We all ate quite a bit of this, so as the phrase goes... the Flock was fed!

Dutchie and I were discussing meal options and I said, "dr pepper ribs"! and she said  "no, something much more healthy!"  So I mustered all the moxie that I had and said... "yes, dear....something healthy is exactly what I was thinking." Dr pepper ribs will be the next entry (maybe). So a simple rotisserie chicken was the basis for the meal.  We went to Sprouts, and bought some fennel, and a few salad ingredients to add to what I already had. While I was cooking the chicken, I thought that cornbread might go well with this meal. I usually have pre-made mix, but I had nothing of the sort. However, I did have cornmeal.  LIGHTBULB!   There was a recipe on the cornmeal package, so I made homemade cornbread for the FIRST time!!! I was happy, cause I used our new cast iron item and it worked perfectly for 3 servings of cb! On a whim I also bought a bulb of fennel, cause I knew it would taste great  with the chicken.  I was right.  I used my mandol...

I found this recipe in my new Jamie Oliver "Meals in Minutes" book, and it wasn't until well into cooking the meal that I realized that the veggies were boiled, to make the broth, and not stir fried as the title suggests.  Anyway, that fact didn't do much to detract from the flavor of this meal. The reader's digest of the recipe is to boil the greens (bok choy, snap peas and brocollini-they didn't have brocollini so I omitted it), Grill a thick rib eye steak, then while it rests top it with ginger, garlic and cilantro.  Cook some chow mein noodles, fettucini will suffice as used here, in the water you used to cook the greens. Add some chinese 5 spice, garlic and soy to your serving bowls. After the meat has rested, slice it thin and place it on top of the noodles, which are on top  of the greens, which were added to the broth. I omitted some spice from the recipe since I have a 6 year old, but I added  sirachi sauce to mine, and got the perfect amount of spi...

I've been wanting to try some kind of farm co-op and via facebook, I learned of a place called Bountiful Baskets that is a local co-op that you have to go pick up your "baskets" as much as once a week.  They offer conventional baskets as well as add ons like bread, extra veggies or olive oil. This was my first time to try it, and so far, I'm a big fan. Although some of the packaging looks like it came from a supermarket, I like to think that most of it came from "as local as possible".  The price is comparable, or cheaper, than buying the same items at the grocery store.  It adds an element of surprise, cause you don't pick what you want.....they give you what they have.  The theory is that it is seasonal and fresh and will challenge you to come up with good recipes to cook all this great food. You show up to a pick up point near you, and transfer the items from your "basket" to your own container, and take it home.  This particular one is v...