Sunday, May 26, 2013

Thai Chicken and Green Beans with Asian Greens

Let me say first off that young people make me crazy. Taylor always has friends over at the house. Naturally I try to make enough for all, so I started out dinner preparations by making 4 cups of rice in the rice cooker. Before I had finished cooking the Thai chicken, Taylor got picked up by his girlfriend to go to the movies and his two buddies went home. I had four cups of rice....

The other thing I should mention is about the Asian greens. I think they are big pieces of salad fixings that grew too big for salad. Look at these things! But after I wilted them in the wok, they cooked down to just a small bit of greens.Tastey, too!

I used two recipes from SLO Veg tonight: Thai Chicken with Onions and Green Beans, and Stir-fried Asian Greens. I think I modified the Chicken one by adding some diced tomatoes, sort of combining something I had seen in another Thai recipes while I was browsing this morning. It was a pretty simple dish: brown the cubed chicken breast, simmer in the tomatoes, cook the onions and mushrooms, dump that plus some canned green beans in with the chicken and add some coconut milk, lime juice and a dash of soy sauce. It came out more savory and it was pretty darn good. The greens were sauteed in avocado oil and soy sauce and served on the side.

 
Here are the recipes from SLO Veg:

Thai Chicken (Green Beans/Garlic/Onion) 

Servings: 4  Level: Easy  Cook Time: 18 Minutes
Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 
1-inch pieces 
2 teaspoons Thai seasoning 
Olive oil cooking spray 
1 cup yellow onion, diced 
1 teaspoon crushed garlic 
1/2 (8-ounce) package fresh sliced white mushrooms 
1 (16-ounce) package frozen cut green beans, thawed 
(recommended: Birds Eye) 
1/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth chicken stock 
1 (14-ounce) can lite coconut milk 
(recommended: A Taste of Thai) 
1 lemon, zested 
Freshly chopped cilantro leaves, for garnish 
Directions: Season chicken breast pieces with Thai seasoning; set aside. Spray a large nonstick skillet with olive oil cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat. Add seasoned chicken, onion, garlic and mushrooms. Saute until chicken is just cooked, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add the green beans, chicken stock, coconut milk and lemon zest. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until the beans are cooked al dente, about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve hot garnished with cilantro.

*I added a can of diced tomatoes instead of the chicken stock. Also, the mushroom I used was a leftover Portabello from an earlier meal. There were five in the package but Lee just made four. Didn't make sense to me either, but since he cooked that night, I just shut up

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Stir-Fried Asian Greens 

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

1 medium-size bunch (about 13 ounces) tender
  Asian greens, such as bok choi, baby bok choi,
  baby Shanghai choi, choi sum, baby kai lan,
  or water spinach
3 tablespoons peanut oil
4 cloves garlic, peeled, bruised until juicy with
  a flat side of knife, and coarsely chopped into
  3 or 4 chunks
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 to 2 fresh red Holland chiles or other hot 
 fresh red long chiles, such as Fresno or cayenne,
 stemmed and sliced on the diagonal into thin pieces (optional, but the chiles add appealing color and 
 gentle heat; see Cook's Note, below) 
Preparation: 1. Carefully inspect the greens, discarding or trimming off any spoiled stems or leaves. Trim the bottom ends off and discard. Wash the greens in several changes of the coldest possible water; tepid water might cause them to wilt, and you want them to stay as alert and perky as possible before being cooked. (Note: Because bok choi and baby bok choi tend to have pockets full of sand in the nooks where the leaves meet the center stem, be certain to pull the leaves back slightly away from the stem when you're cleaning them. There are few things worse than a mouthful of sand when you want a mouthful of greens.) 2. Cut the cleaned greens into pieces 2-1/2 to 3 inches long. If any of the stems are particularly wide — say, more than 1 inch — or are tough or sinewy-looking, cut them in half lengthwise. If you're using baby bok choi or baby Shanghai choi, you can either leave the heads whole or cut them in half lengthwise — it's up to you. Spin the greens dry in a salad dryer or set them aside to air-dry on a kitchen towel or paper towels; they needn't be bone dry — a little dampness won't matter. 3. In a wok, 12-inch skillet, Dutch oven, or soup pot (any pot large and wide enough to comfortably hold the greens will do), heat the oil over medium-high heat. When it's hot but not smoking — it should appear shimmery — add the garlic, the salt, and, if using, the chiles. Sauté, stirring until the garlic just begins to lose its rawness, about 1 minute. (Try not to let the garlic turn golden or golden brown, which would give this dish an inappropriate roasted taste.) 4. Add the greens. Raise the heat slightly and immediately begin to vigorously stir-fry the greens around the pot. Continue to vigorously stir-fry the greens until they just begin to go limp but the leaves remain a spring-green color and the stems are still crunchy-crisp, 3 to 4 minutes, depending on the type of greens. Taste for salt, adding only a pinch more if necessary (a little salt goes a long way with greens). 5. Transfer the cooked greens to a large serving platter and serve promptly. Be careful not to pile the greens in a small bowl; since the greens will continue to cook for a minute or two after they're removed from the heat, a serving bowl that crowds them may cause them to overcook and become mushy. Cook's Note:Holland chiles (also called Dutch or finger chiles) are the primary hot pepper used in Indonesian cooking. They are ruby red in color and glossy skinned, with narrow, fingerlike bodies that end in sharp points. They're about four inches long (sometimes longer, but rarely shorter) and a half inch in diameter at their thickest point. They have juicy, sweet-tasting flesh and tight, waxy skin that keeps them from spoiling quickly. Holland chiles vary from mildly hot to scorching, but they lose much of their pungency when cooked. They're available year-round in North America, generally imported from the Netherlands. If you can't find them, you may substitute any fresh red chiles such as Fresno, cherry bells, cayennes, Anaheims, huachinangos, jalapeños, or serranos.  
*I didn't have any chili peppers, so I just used some dried red pepper like you put on top of pizza. I also added soy sauce.


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Wine cooler, almond & cheese, etc

Perfect early afternoon snack: wine cooler with lemon and peach slices, paired with cheese, crackers, almonds and dried cranberries.

Friday, May 24, 2013

Creamy garlic pasta with squash casserole

Oh my gosh! I have to say that was the best dinner!

I had a variety of squash from my SLO Veg box: zucchini, yellow and Lebanese squash. I had just the recipe in mind from one I had found on Pinterest. It was super simple, consisting of chopped onions, slices of squash and tomato, olive oil, seasonings and Parmesan cheese. I was able to assemble it in a matter of minutes and then pop it into the oven to roast while I prepared the pasta. The best part about this recipe is that it looks fancy, but it is so easy!

I also found a pasta recipe on Pinterest that looked pretty good. Garlic, olive oil and butter were the starters. Then you add just three cups of chicken stock and bring it to a boil. Pasta goes in and you cook it for the designated time according to package instructions. When most of the water is absorbed, a cup of parmesan cheese is added and stirred until melted in. Then you take it off the heat, add some cream and fresh parsley, season with salt and pepper, and dinner is ready.

Just a little trivia on this photo. I forgot to take a picture of my plate and gobbled my food all down. So Taylor graciously dished up his plate and arranged it just so I could take a nice picture. Thank you T!

Recipes:
Parmesan Vegetable Spiral: a bed of onions is topped by a medley of veggies (tomatoes, squash & zucchini) then drizzled w EVOO, sprinkled with salt, pepper, Thyme, and Parmesan cheese and roasted to perfection.

Here is the link for the pasta recipe:
http://thecheesepusher.tumblr.com/post/2719857351/creamy-garlic-pasta

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Fruits and...KOHLRABI?

Just brought my box inside and opened it up. Its like a present every week full of cheer! New things to try this week, like Kohlrabi...a definate first. Who else has had kohlrabi? How did you prepare it?
I am also excited to try the smoked albacore! Sounds like a lazy Friday night munchable. The cherries are sweet and just ripe enough to nibble on. Making pasta tonight, I guess it will be acompanied by a squash casserole...I have three different squashes to include!

*************

Fruit, Vegetable, Herb, and Juice List for 05/20/2013 - 05/24/2013

THIS WEEK'S TOTE INCLUDES:

"Brook's" Sweet Red Cherries -first harvest, Sweet "Oro Blanco" Grapefruit, Apricots, Zutano or Bacon Avocado's, Lebanese and Yellow Squash Blend, Butter Leaf Lettuce -first harvest, Tender Carrots -first harvest, Cauliflower, "Organic" Purple/Green Kohlrabi, New Specialty Item ~ Asian Greens Blend (Mizuna/Mibuna/Komatsuna/Vivid Choy and 4 types of Mustard Greens) Great for Stir-Fry/ Sautéed /Salads / Sushi / Soups, and Bloom Microgreens Pea Shoots  

THIS WEEK'S RECIPES (http://www.sloveg.com/recipes.cfm):

Ricotta and Cherry Focaccia Pizza; Peaches and Balsamic Cherries; Balsamic Grilled Vegetables; Grilled Vegetable Salad; Butter Leaf Salad and Gorgonzola and Pear Dressing; Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting; Glazed Carrots; Cheesy Baked Penne with Cauliflower and Creme' Fraiche; Kohlrabi and Mache Salad; Sautéed Kale with Kohlrabi; Wilted Asian Greens; Stir-Fried Asian Greens; Soy Roasted Salmon with Asian Greens 

THIS WEEK'S LOCAL FARMERS:

Bautista Farms, Bell Farms, Bloom Microgreens, Cal Poly Organic Farms, Canyon Ranch Farms, Martinon Farms, Pepper Creek Family Farms, The Fruit Factory  

THIS WEEK'S SLO FRESH CATCH:

Monday - Tuesday Fresh Fish: Pacific Grenedier. Wednesday - Thursday Fish: "Canned" Smoked Albacore. 

http://www.sloveg.com/eathealthy.cfm

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Broccoli Corn Chowder

My only memory this morning after getting off of my night shift was crawling into a cold bed and having my husband nudge me to have me try some concoction he'd made in the blender.
"What's it missing?" He asked. Really? Expects me to think at this hour of the day? I force my brain to work and I came up with "Bananas!"
That was it. He went back down stairs and spuns some more with the blender.  Then he brought me a nice sweet smoothie. I love you honey, really...I think. Goodnight.

*********

We're getting close to delivery day and I still have lots of vegetables to use up, even some leftover vegetables. Last night I fixed glaze turnips and carrots for the boys and there was some left over. I also have leftover corn on the cob that I need to cook. So what's the answer? Broccoli Corn Chowder with leftover carrots and turnips.
Using leftovers really simplified it because all I really had to do was fry some bacon and put that aside on a  paper towel-lined platter. Then I sauteed some diced onion and garlic in the bacon grease and stirred in a little flour to make a roux. Instead of chicken broth, I added about three cups of water and sprinkled in some chicken broth bouillon powder.
As soon as the broth heated up, I put in the broccoli stems, then a few minutes later added the broccoli florets. When the broccoli with tender I simply dumped in the turnip-carrot-corn mixture and added about a cup of milk ( I happened to use almond milk this time). I serve myself a bowl of soup for lunch with the bacon sprinkled on top. The remainder of the soup went into the fridge for the boys to reheat tonight for their dinner, and I went back to bed for a few hours.

Green Smoothie

I have been searching for protein powder and found some in the bulk bins at New Frontiers foods. I wanted whey protein or , what was this? Hemp protein powder! That might work good with my spinach smoothies.
In comparing proteins the whey to powder had 25 grams of protein vs 15 grams protein powder. But the hemp protein is full of omega 3's, which is good for our blood system. So what the heck I'm going to try it out.
I made a smoothie this afternoon using the bananas, peanut butter, peach yogurt, coconut milk,  spinach leaves, peaches, and a one ounce scoop of hemp protein powder.
It came out green, slightly sweet, and delicious!

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Cornmeal crusted Fish and Beet Gratin

I started out on my day off to prep some vegies and use them up. I am definately falling behind in my cooking for some reason. Life just got too busy, I guess. 
But anyway, Taylor had some friends over and I decided it was a good nite to eat our fish that I had to toss into the freezer last week. So out came two pounds of fresh Grenedier fish. I found a recipe I liked from Emeril and went to work. It was cornmeal-breaded fried fish...can't go wrong there. Lee made the tartar sauce, of course! I boiled those two artichokes from last week's SLO Veg box and quartered them so there would be enough for all. I also had some frozen corn on the cob that I decided to cook because I needed to free up room in my tiny freezer. But the piece-de-resistance had to be the Beet Green Gratin from Alton Brown. I think its the only way to go with beet greens!
So the prep kind of went like this: trimmed and washed beet greens. Trimmed stems off artichokes. Started a pot of water boiling for the artichokes and put them in. Looked at the clock and said, okay, 45 minutes for the 'chokes, now to get the gratin going. I sauteed some mushrooms, onion and garlic, then put the beet greens in to wilt. Meanwhile, I mixed up the ricotta cheese with the egg yolks and parmesan cheese. Then I mixed that in with the wilted beet green mixture and put it all in a large baking dish. (Later I thought I should have used a smaller dish and made it thicker...oh well, live and learn!). Crushed Rtiz crackers went on top and it went into a 375 degree oven for 30 minutes. 
Then I prepared the cornmeal mixture for coating the fish. It took cornmeal, coconut flour, paprika, cumin, cayenne, granulated garlic and onion, salt and pepper. I was following an Emeril Lagasse recipe, but I can't find the link now. I don't know how much spice I used exactly, I just shook some out. Used about 1 teaspoon of paprika to 2 cups flours, and a lot less cayenne than that, about 1/4 tsp.  I soaked the fish in milk for about 5 minutes, then started breading it. I had two pounds of fish, and I had about 1 cup of flour left over at the end. Note to self: use less flour next time. A little goes a long way. At that point I enlisted Lee's help to fry it in melted butter.
I checked on the artichokes after a bit and they seemed done. Lee was just about finished frying fish, so I took the artichokes out of the water and put the corn into the same pot. I figured we would either hate it or love it, and you know what? The corn was great!
When all the fish was done, Lee and I fixed our plates and I called the boys in. Not getting a response, I opened the bedroom door a crack to show them the food, which they grabbed at. I pulled it back and quickly shut the door. Not a second later, three bodies came barreling out looking for food. 
"It's fix your own plate tonight, boys!" I sat down.

Here I am smearing a bit of fish in the tartar sauce. I also have a dab of mayonnaise on my plate for the artichoke. A hunk of whole wheat sourdough bread provides a "scoop". The fish is in the center with the beet gratin about 11 oclock.
***************

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/beet-green-gratin-recipe/index.html

ALTON BROWN'S BEET GREEN GRATIN
 
Ingredients

1 tablespoon butter
12 ounces sliced mushrooms
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound beet greens, cleaned and picked
Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper
4 egg yolks, beaten
1 cups ricotta
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup crumbled crackers (recommended: Ritz crackers)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the mushrooms and garlic and sweat. Add the beet greens and mix well. Remove pan from heat. Season with salt and pepper.

In a separate bowl, combine the egg yolks, ricotta, Parmesan cheese, and salt. Combine everything and put into a lightly oiled 9 by 11-inch baking dish. Top with the crumbled crackers and bake for 30 minutes covered. Uncover and bake for an additional 15 minutes.

Monday, May 20, 2013

Meatless Monday Nite Dinner

 Yessirree, that beautiful disc of awesomeness is a Portabella mushroom broiled and topped with spaghetti sauce, ricotta/parmesan cheese and parsley. The beautiful lettuce salad came from SLO Veg and was fresh, crisp and delicious. We topped the salad with shredded carrots and fresh spouts from the Box, and some slice almonds and homemade Ranch dressing. The best part about this dinner? Lee cooked while I napped before my nightshift. 

**********************



Ingredients

  • 4 large portobello mushroom caps
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, divided
  • 1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
  • 1 cup finely chopped fresh spinach
  • 1/2 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese, divided
  • 2 tablespoons finely chopped kalamata olives
  • 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
  • 3/4 cup prepared marinara sauce

Preparation

  1. Preheat oven to 450°F. Coat a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray.
  2. Place mushroom caps, gill-side up, on the prepared pan. Sprinkle with salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Roast until tender, 20 to 25 minutes.
  3. Meanwhile, mash ricotta, spinach, 1/4 cup Parmesan, olives, Italian seasoning and the remaining 1/8 teaspoon pepper in a medium bowl. Place marinara sauce in a small bowl, cover and microwave on High until hot, 30 seconds to 1 1/2 minutes.
  4. When the mushrooms are tender, carefully pour out any liquid accumulated in the caps. Return the caps to the pan gill-side up. Spread 1 tablespoon marinara into each cap; cover the remaining sauce to keep warm. Mound a generous 1/3 cup ricotta filling into each cap and sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan. Bake until hot, about 10 minutes. Serve with the remaining marinara sauce.
 

 

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Prep Day: Beets, Turnips, Pasta Salad

      I had to wait until I found a day by myself to work on this week's box of vegetables. I have been cooking all week long with the crock pot and hopingfor the best, but I didn't want to mess up the fresh fish, so I actually put it in the freezer for later. Later is tonight! But I have a lot of vegies to process: beets to roast, a pasta salad to make, turnips to do something with?, and lots and lots of fruit. One of our friends even gave us some peaches, so now there is that. When I really got overwhelmed with the strawberries, I just froze some. At least I can make smoothies with them. That reminds me, I need to get back into my smoothie kick. I think I will start today with a yogurt-banana-peanut butter-spinach smoothie. That should get our motors running and send Lee out to work with a protein spike. 
     After he left, I immediately trimmed and washed the beets and put them in a foil packet with olive oil and salt and put them into the oven for an hour. I decided to keep the beet greens this time, so I trimmed off the stalks and gave them a good rinse. I found a recipe for a beet green gratin, but I will need some mushrooms and ricotta cheese from the market. That may be a Monday night dish. I peeled and diced up three carrots and three turnips for a Glazed Turnip and Carrot recipe I want to make tonight. They went into a plastic baggie for now. 
      I am also taking a pasta salad to a birthday dinner on Sunday, so I start a pot of water boiling for the pasta and cut up some beautiful SLO Veg carrots and zucchini to go into it. I had seen a pasta salad recipe called "BLT Pasta Salad" and I had a few pieces of bacon left, so that seemed like a good place to start. I think I will add in spinach instead of lettuce, and use canned stewed tomatoes instead of fresh because I like the juice it creates. So I cook the bacon in the microwave on a paper towel lined plate for 4 minutes and chop up some spinach. The bacon and the spinach go into separate baggies because I will want to mix those in at the last minute, probably after I get to the party.
      I started by refering to this recipe, but since I already had some Ranch dressing mixed up, I used that. 

BLT Pasta Salad
1 box rotini spirals
1 can sliced black olives
3 carrots, peeled and diced
1 zucchini, diced
1/4 c red onions, chopped
1 can stewed Italian tomates
1/2 Ranch dressing
1/4 c extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
1/2 tsp coarse salt
1/2 grated Parmesan cheese
5 strips bacon, crisp
one small bunch fresh spinach or lettuce, sliced into strips

Cook pasta in boiling water until al dente, drain and rinse. Mixed together pasta with Ranch dressing and olive oil. Add in tomatoes, olives, carrots, onion and zucchini. Then mix in seasonings and cheese. Refrigerate one to 12 hours. Just before serving, mix in crumbled bacon and spinach. Add more Ranch dressing if necessary.

*****************


So I roasted my beets for another salad, and I want to try this recipe very soon before my beet greens wilt.

*****************

Another recipe I will try tonight when I fry the fish:  This one is from the SLO Veg recipe file.

Glazed Carrots and Turnips 

Yield: 4-6 Servings  Level:  Easy  Cook Time: 30 Min

Ingredients:
3/4 pound turnips, cut into 1-inch pieces 
3/4 pound carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces 
2 teaspoons unsalted butter 
1/2 teaspoon sugar 
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions: Put the vegetables in a skillet just large enough to hold them in a single layer. Add enough water so that it comes halfway up their sides along with the butter and sugar. Bring to a boil over high heat, then adjust the heat to maintain a simmer. Cover the vegetables with a round of parchment paper just large enough to fit the inside diameter of the pan, or with a lid set ajar. Simmer the vegetables until tender, about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the cover and raise the heat to high. Toss the vegetables frequently in the pan, as the liquid evaporates to a shiny smooth glaze. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.  





 

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Fresh, perfectly ripe fruit

So this is how I'm spending my afternoons now that I'm working on night shift ... Lazing in bed catching up on my Pinterest and munching on fresh SLO Veg fruit! Here are some delicious apricots and strawberries. Life is pretty good.
Dinner is already in the crock pot. I had defrosted some pasta sauce with country-style ribs and added some rigatoni noodles that I had cooked about halfway. Hopefully they won't be mush when the boys get home, because I will have already left for work. They are going to have to get used to a lot of casserole in crock pot dishes.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

When Lee makes lunch....

A guilty Lee in the making our lunch the other day, because I have been cleaning house all morning. I basically pulled out what we had to eat which consisted of some salad greens , tuna fish, and an avocado. We were all out of mayo so I suggested he use Ranch dressing in its place . I think you did a pretty decent job. What do you think?

Monday, May 13, 2013

Thai green chicken curry

We were heading out of town for the weekend, so I wanted to make something using up my leftover chicken from our Chicken Fajitas the other night, and I wanted to make use of the rest of the broccoli and snap peas. That meant a Thai curry was definately in order. Thai food is spicy and the spices are similar to those used in my fajitas, so I figured the chicken would be just perfect. What would make this Thai-like would be the coconut milk and lime juice. I usually go with the curry paste, but I was all out. However, I have a jar of green curry powder and one of red curry powder for Thai cooking, so that would do for tonight. Next, I wanted ramen noodles, something I buy by the case for the kid and his friends. I had two packages left, so perfect. One was beef, and the other was chili flavored. I opted to cook both packages but just used the chili flavoring in the water. I was draining it off anyway, so I figured it would all work one way or the other.

I put a pot of water on to boil for the noodles and set about gathering some vegies: broccoli, cut into florets; snap peas, ends cut off; leftover sauteed green peppers and onions; and mushrooms, sliced. I put them all into the boiling water for 5 minutes, then lifted them out with a spider strainer. Then I put the noodles in and let them cook for 10 minutes while I made the curry sauce.
To make a good curry sauce, I prefer to start with a tablespoon of curry paste and a teaspoon of oil and simmer that together, then add the thick coconut cream and let it sizzle, then add the rest of the coconut milk. Since I was using powder today, I just poured the entire can of coconut milk into a pan and added a tablespoon of lime juice, 2 tablespoons of fish sauce, a tablespoon of brown sugar, and 1 teaspoon of the green curry powder and let that come to a simmer. Then I added the leftover chicken and vegetables and turned off the heat. Next I drained the noodles and divided them between two pasta bowls. The curry sauce topped the noodles and I garnished it with a sprig of cilantro. 
It was a new meal using leftovers and a few vegies and it really hit the spot!

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Pasta-bilities!

Slow cooked country-style pork ribs with bow tie pasta... Hey, dinner that almost cooks itself!

Earlier in the day I started off by browning the country-style pork ribs in some olive oil and then putting them into a crock pot with a concoction of spaghetti sauce. My sauce consisted of tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, chopped up celery, diced garlic, diced onion, salt and pepper and a good dash of balsamic vinegar. That cooked in the crock pot on low for about 6 hours.

Just after Lee arrived home from work, I cooked the bow tie pasta for about 10 minutes, then I added in some asparagus that was trimmed into 1 inch pieces. I let that boil for another 3 minutes then I drained it all and put the pasta back into the pot . I sauteed some shallots and olive oil and then mixed it with the pasta and asparagus, adding a little more olive oil, some chopped parsley and some Parmesan cheese.

I served the pasta in my pasta bowls with some of the country style pork ribs on the side. I am saving most of the meat-flavored sauce for another spaghetti dinner later on.

New recipes for these seasonal stars

I have got to try the cream cheese french toast with strawberries! Mmmmm! Also the beer battered asparagus and the grilled fennel salad with oranges.

Fruit, Vegetable, Herb, and Juice List for 04/29/2013 - 05/03/2013

THIS WEEK'S TOTE INCLUDES:"Organic" Garbanzo Sprouts, Sugar Snap Peas, Spring Mix, Fennel, Artichokes, Cauliflower, Asparagus, Purple Top Turnips, Sweet "Oro Blanco" Grapefruit, Tangerines, and Vine Ripened Strawberries  

THIS WEEK'S RECIPES (http://www.sloveg.com/recipes.cfm):Sugar Snap Peas Tempura; Sugar Snap Peas with Onion and Bacon; Spring Greens with Smoked Fish and Herb Aoili; Lemony Crab Salad with Baby Greens; Grilled Fennel Salad with Oranges; Celery, Fennel and Apple Salad; Grilled Artichokes with Bacon and Rosemary Dip; Grilled Artichokes with Creamy Champagne Vinaigrette; Cauliflower and Feta Omelet; Roasted Cauliflower with Kalamata Vinaigrette; Beer Battered Asparagus; Chicken with Grapes, Cous Cous, and Roasted Asparagus; Glazed Carrots and Turnips; Creamy Tangerine Dressed Asparagus; Strawberry Cream Cheese French Toast 

THIS WEEK'S LOCAL FARMERS:Bautista Farms, Bell Farms, Cal Poly Organic Farms, Green Family Farms, Martinon Farms, Mt. Olive Farm, The Fruit Factory  THIS WEEK'S SLO FRESH CATCH:Monday Fresh Fish: Black Cod. Tuesday - Friday Fresh Fish: Sand Sole. Recipes: Poached Cod in Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Oven Fried Sand Sole with Caper Mayonnaise. View recipes @ www.slofreshcatch.com .