Kale, Sausage and Potato Soup

Damn I love soup! I got this recipe from the farmer at Farmstand 59 (originally from Sunset magazine). I modified as needed per what I had on hand, and it was fantastic. In fact, still eating it days later.

Farm fresh chicken dinner

There's hope that I am actually hitting my stride in the kitchen! I feel like I have had so many hit or miss dishes. And tried not to get discouraged by it. With this meal, I have to say, EVERYTHING turned out wonderfully!

First thing is that the produce I used I had purchased that day from the local farm stand in our neighborhood. This lettuce was beautiful, fresh, hearty, almost tough because it was so packed with good stuff. Some of the leaves were wine-stained looking. Gorgeous. I tossed in some shallot vinaigrette, goat cheese, and toasted pecans. A recent standby preparation that is just perfect (and easy).

Next, I was inspired by the fresh kale and sage I purchased at the local farm stand. I made farro and kale salad with brined then barbequed chicken breasts, and chermoula sauce on the side. Recipes courtesy of Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks and this great book on grilling and barbecuing.

This was the scene, a nice lazy day of cooking, hanging out, and enjoying the out-of-doors. Looking forward to leftovers tomorrow! And a repeat of this scene.

Kale Pesto

1 bunch Kale              1/4 cup EVOO

2 cloves garlic            2 Tbsp lemon juice

1/2 cup parmesan      salt and pepper

throw all ingredients (except oil) into the food processor, puree, then slowly add oil until incorporated. stir into pasta or whatever. it is surprisingly delicious and fresh-tasting!

Try

I'm going to try something new every time I go to the farmer's market. Last time I hit up three new ones. Persimmon, peashoot, and some kind of kale.

accomplished

Well, I successfully made all but one of the above list. It was many hours of cooking, but kind of nice on a Sunday to start up a pot of beans for example, then have a seat, watch a little football. Get up and turn on the oven, make a marinade, throw veggies into the oven, then watch a little football until the timer goes off, etc. So, hours went by, but I had all elements of dinner ready by the time we were ready to eat. The one dish that didn't photograph too well, but still tasted pretty good was the Pinto Bean/Plantain Stew. I'm not sure I understand how you call this stew, unless I didn't do it right. Regardless, I will throw it over rice throughout the week, and it will be a new spin on my ol' favorite Rice and Beans. Funny, this recipe is from a cookbook called Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. Another dish I made from that cookbook a couple years ago had a really snappy name: Seitanic Red and White Beans Jambalaya. It too had the same mush/mash consistency. Maybe that's what they're going for. Anyway, here are some pics...

Kale and Farro salad with sesame oil

Lemony roasted potatoes

Roasted portobello mushroom over
spicy mustard vinaigrette-dressed greens

Plantain and pinto stew

Big plans

Here are a couple of dishes I plan on making in the next couple of days:
Roasted portobello mushrooms over spicy mustard vinaigrette-dressed greens
Lemony roasted potatoes
Plantain and pinto stew
Marinated lentil salad
Kale and farro salad with toasted coconut and sesame oil
Steel cut Irish oatmeal sweetened with apple juice, topped with walnuts
A cocktail

Wish me luck

Mmmmm, that's good Bass!

I bought a juicer about two weeks ago. And finally carved out some time to glance at the manual, clean some fruits and veggies and give it a spin. WOW- what a magnificent invention! Why did I wait so long?

Juice #1: blueberry, beet, ginger, cara cara orange and tangerine

This one was my favorite (above). The ginger was a really nice touch, giving it a wonderful zing.

Juice #2: Honey Crisp apple, lemon, carrot, tangerine and beet

Pretty good, pretty good. I added lemon because the apples didn't quite give the tartness I was seeking.

Juice #3: Strawberry, beet, carrot, orange, tangerine, lemon, kale, ginger and mint

I pretty much threw in everything I had left. At first very strawberry-y, so I added some mint and more kale (two whole heads). These additions elevated this concoction to the number one slot for my husband. One query though, I'm not sure whether or not to add the stocks of the kale to the juicer or just the leafy parts.

Juice #4: Tangerine, asian pear and ginger

I thought I had made enough juice and was ready for clean-up until I realized I still had a giant bag of tangerines. So why not use them up? Results: surprisingly not as tangerine-y as I had hoped. And having used about 5 inches of ginger, not as ginger-y as I had hoped either. Two things I learned after the fact which might have effected the results: the filter was pretty clogged up with ginger, and the tangerines on their own weren't very juicy and tangerine-y. Now I know for next time.

All in all, a successful maiden voyage in juicing. I didn't even hate cleaning it as much as I thought. Nor the nearby cabinets and my eye glasses from errant spatter. I am ready and armed with knowledge, cash and reusable market bags for this week's farmers market. AND I'll be submitting words like strawberry-y and ginger-y to Merriam-Webster for consideration.