Coming this week: March 31, 2011

by Brie

I just got my email invoice for this week's box. I am very excited by what will be arriving on Thursday and have started to think about what to make. This weeks box has:

• Gala apples
• Blueberries
• Pineapple
• Avocado
• Cauliflower
• Carrots
• Cocktail tomatoes
• Rainbow chard
• Yellow pepper

Any ideas for recipes?What would you make?

Brie loves eating food and is learning to love cooking food. She also blogs about motherhood at Capital Mom and about Ottawa with kids at Kids in the Capital.

Thursday, March 17th box: Meals from around the world

by Brie

I love opening up our box and imagining all of the meals we could make with the produce inside. It's like looking at an empty canvas. The hard part comes when I have to narrow down all the choices.

The bag of beets and crimini mushrooms are going to be part of a Ukrainian meal we are making for a weekend dinner party. I tried making homemade pierogies once before and they turned out great. This time I am going to make them with a potato and mushroom filling. The beets are going to be turned into borscht, with a little help from the big bag of celery from our box.

(I am trying to find new recipe ideas for beets. I thought this beet cake with cream cheese icing looked good. Do you have any yummy beet recipes to share?)

The broccoli and leaf lettuce are going to form the basis of two Thai meals. I am thinking of a broccoli and tofu stirfry served with noodles, although I still haven't decided on a sweet ginger sauce or peanut sauce. I love lettuce wraps because there are so many filling options. I love these soba noodles and vegetable lettuce wraps with hosin and chili sauce and curried chickpeas an quinoa recipes.

Finally, the spinach and basil are going to be used to make an Italian meal. I am still deciding between a spinach-walnut pesto and a warm spinach-basil sauce.

This week's box had bananas, blueberries and navel oranges. All great fruit to be eaten for snacks or as dessert!

This is what's on my menu plan this week. What are you cooking?

Brie loves eating food and is learning to love cooking food. She also blogs about motherhood at Capital Mom and about Ottawa with kids at Kids in the Capital.

Thursday, March 10th: Making muffins and roasting vegetables

by Brie

Our box this week arrived after dinner and the kids had to open it as soon as we dragged it into the house. They they had to sit and eat half the strawberries. I managed to snag one for myself and it was good!




Some anjou pears arrived in the box which means I will be making my favorite spiced anjou pear bread. This bread recipe has been one of my best discoveries and is perfect for taking visiting. It also got me thinking about how I could bake with the grapefruit. Grapefruit muffins anyone? And because we go through muffins like crazy in this house I am also going to turn the big bag of carrots into spiced carrot muffins. I like to make the mini muffins and freeze some to be pulled out when needed for snacks.

There were two greens in the box this week, Swiss chard and spinach. I am going to cook the chard with chick peas and fresh tomatoes and serve it with quinoa but you could also try a chard and goat cheese pizza or spicy Thai vegetable soup. I am going to try making these spinach brownies. The spinach would also be tasty in this curried lentil and spinach soup.

Whenever I see little potatoes in my box I always want to sprinkle them with some sea salt and roast them. Yum. You can't go wrong with roasted potatoes. I have the same urge with yams, but cut as fries. But they would also be great baked and served with cream cheese. The beautiful cauliflower will end up being roasted with sea salt and thrown into my favorite soup recipe. For something different you could try a cauliflower cheese pie or cauliflower curry.

This is what's on my menu plan this week. What are you cooking?

Brie loves eating food and is learning to love cooking food. She also blogs about motherhood at Capital Mom and about Ottawa with kids at Kids in the Capital.

Thursday, March 3rd: What do you do with a rutabaga?

by Brie

I knew as soon as I opened the box this week that I would be turning the butternut squash into my favorite soup. It is so simple and so good.

What I had no idea how to use was the rutabaga. I discovered there are actually a lot of different ways to cook it. Like mashed peppered rutabaga, soup or caramelized with onions. I am intrigued by this rutabaga souffle and plan to make it for Sunday dinner.

Whenever I see an avocado I always want to make guacamole. If I can stop myself from just cutting it up and eating it on its own first. So the avocado, along with cherry tomatoes on the vine and two yellow peppers that will be turned into salsa, will be saved for a Mexican feast. Maybe with a taco salad or black bean, spinach and mushroom burritos.

Spinach and broccoli are very versatile vegetables. Both are great in salads or pies. I want to try something different this week so I am going to make spinach and artichoke dip for a party and lemon broccoli risotto for dinner one night.

The box had some great fruit this week. The strawberries were eaten immediately. And the oranges and bananas will disappear soon too.

This is what's on my menu plan this week. What are you cooking?

Brie loves eating food and is learning to love cooking food. She also blogs about motherhood at Capital Mom and about Ottawa with kids at Kids in the Capital.

Thursday, February 24th box: Staples. And a pineapple.

by Brie

The box this week was pretty exciting. A pineapple! A nice, big, fabulous pineapple. We will probably cut it up and eat it. But if you want you could bake it in one of my favorite desserts, pineapple upside down cake.

The box had some great basics and favorites. Like an avocado, which you could cut up and eat with salt or add to this black bean salad. Carrots would be great in spiced carrot muffins or this carrot pudding.

Warm food is perfect in this cold weather. I'm thinking an onion tart with the bag of yellow onions. Maybe served with roasted potatoes or potato puffs.

Broccoli with cheese sauce is popular in this house. It would also be great in a quiche, a feta and tortilla crust quiche or roasted in the oven. Mushrooms are so versatile, try frying them up or adding them to sauces, but they would also be wonderful in their pierogi recipe. That is how I am going to cook them. 

This is what's on my menu plan this week. What are you cooking?

Brie loves eating food and is learning to love cooking food. She also blogs about motherhood at Capital Mom and about Ottawa with kids at Kids in the Capital.

Thursday, February 17th box: Greens and reds

by Brie

The best part of this week's food box didn't need to be cooked. The big container of fresh organic strawberries were inhaled by my two kids as soon as they woke up. Strawberries make a good breakfast I say!

The other bright red container in this week's box was a pint of grape tomatoes. I like to eat grape tomatoes raw, or sauteed with garlic and basil. They would also be great in a baked tomato sauce or in these cute tomato and mozzarella appetisers.  And tomatoes are also perfect in soup.

There were lots of green vegetables this week. A bunch of snap peas had me thinking about all the fun things I could make, like snap pea and brussel sprout sautee or mushroom, tofu and snap pea stir fry. But what I really want to try is this garlic and snap pea soup. I am also going to be throwing baby bok choi in this garlicky soup (perfect for the flu making its way through our house). You could also try soy glazed baby bok choi or garlic bok choi. Yum.

My first thought when I get spinach in my box is to make a salad, but I am always pleased when I try something different, like this chana masala recipe. Spinach is also great in any kind of pie or casserole. Like this spinach phyllo pizza or eggplant and spinach lasagna.

The hardest vegetable for me is celery. While it can be useful to throw into other dishes, I wasn't sure how to use it as a main ingredient. Now I know. If you are looking for some good celery dishes try pear and celery soup, watermelon and celery salad or spinach and celery salad. I'm going to try making this sweet and sour celery.

We love to eat roasted vegetables and one of my favorites are parsnips. For something a little different I am going to try these parsnip fries. They would also be yummy glazed with honey and roasted with carrots. Parsnips would also be great in parsnip fritters or a parsnip pie.

This is what's on my menu plan this week. What are you cooking?

Brie loves eating food and is learning to love cooking food. She also blogs about motherhood at Capital Mom and about Ottawa with kids at Kids in the Capital.

Thursday, February 10th: soup and other food

by Brie

It is the middle of February and that seems like the perfect time for soup. Lots of soup. When I opened my food box this week all I could see was soup. Beets are perfect for borscht. Cabbage mixed with garlic is a great soup for a cold day. I love the bright green of cream of broccoli soup. Curried carrot soup would go perfect with the lettuce wraps I am going to make with the romaine lettuce in the box. And cream of mushroom soup is one of my favorites. 

(If you are planning a week of soup like I am, try making my favorite homemade whole wheat bread recipe. I have yet to make a bad loaf!) 

For anyone who wants to make some food that doesn't get pureed, how about using the shredded cabbage for some fresh coleslaw, fried cabbage or cabbage noodles (I think I will try the last one and see if I can get my kids to eat it!). The beets would be great roasted with ginger or in a marinated salad. Mushrooms are always good in risotto (this recipe uses a slow cooker), gravy or dressed up in a mushroom tart.

I'll also be making a few non-soup dishes this week. Like our now favorite zucchini phyllo pie (did I mention my four year old ate three servings last time) and my favorite chili recipe with some yams thrown in.

A big bag of beautiful looking apples arrived in our box. The kids have already started eating their way through the apples, but I am tempted to set some aside for an apple pie or apple tart. If you have some time try making a batch of apple butter. We cooked some up in the fall and it was great served on toast, yogurt or pancakes.

This is what's on my menu plan this week. What are you cooking?

Brie loves eating food and is learning to love cooking food. She also blogs about motherhood at Capital Mom and about Ottawa with kids at Kids in the Capital.