Summer is definitely here now. Our CSA pick-up this week was even bigger than it has been with kale, Boston lettuce, zucchini, broccoli, potatoes, spring onions, and bok choy with the summer crops starting to come in next week. Can't wait for those amazing tomatoes and green beans! Has anyone else noticed that green beans in the grocery store are just pathetic lately? They are one of our favorite vegetables, but I rarely buy them anymore because they never look good.
My teen sons have been complaining about too many new recipes and "weird stuff," so I went back to basics this week and made a lot of the simple kinds of meat-based dinners they like. So, we had things like BBQ chicken thighs, mini meat loaves, and grilled teriyaki pork chops. I did throw in a couple of weird things, too!
Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking post last week inspired me! I made the Sausage, White Bean, and Kale recipe she included in last week's post. Serving my kids kale is a risky move, but I used their favorite spicy Andouille sausage (Trader Joe's brand chicken sausage), told them the green stuff was spinach, and made it when my older son's girlfriend was here for dinner. She loves all kinds of foods - including kale! - so I had someone on my side. The dish was delicious and will definitely be added to our regular repertoire. I added some sauteed spring onions to it.
And on Friday, I made Asian Lettuce Cups. I cut the recipe out of a magazine years ago, so I can't link to it, but I modified it anyway, so here is a quick recap:
- Brown ground chicken or turkey, with some minced garlic and fresh ginger.
- Add Asian-style veggies (I used spring onions, finely chopped bok choy, shredded carrot, and shiitake mushrooms) and saute until tender.
- Make sauce with soy sauce, hoisin sauce, rice vinegar, and Sirachi sauce.
- Spoon meat and veggie mixture into clean Boston Bibb lettuce leaves and add sauce.
And best of all this week, our health food store had locally grown, unsprayed black raspberries - fabulous! I made Black Raspberry Shortcake for dessert one night (using this recipe for the shortcake, with white whole wheat flour instead of white flour, and topped with real whipped cream) and cooked the rest of the berries down for waffle topping this morning....mmmm!
Hope you are enjoying your own summer produce this week!
I'm so thrilled that you tried the sausage and kale recipe. It was so easy and tasty. Those Asian lettuce cups sound really good and I have boston lettuce from my CSA. I might add some shrimp.
ReplyDeleteI'm interested in trying all the recipes you shared! It is always difficult to sneak kale in but this looks like an easy way to do it.
ReplyDeleteI tried that sausage and kale recipe last week too, and I thought it was SUPER delicious! A winner of a recipe, and one I'm adding to my rotation, too.
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