Thursday, July 31, 2014

Venison and Sweet Potato Chili with Assorted Peppers, served with Native American Fry Bread

Chili Day!

I've been playing around with chili recipes for awhile and this one seems to be the family favorite! This week's features the jalapenos and small long peppers from this week's share.

Recipe:

1lb ground venison
1 onion chopped
4 cloves garlic, pressed
One green bell pepper
One red bell pepper
1-2 jalapenos, seeds removed, chopped finely
1-2 yellow banana peppers or other variety seeds removed, chopped finely (I usually just throw in whatever I get in my share)
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 medium sized sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into small peices
1 28oz plus 1 15 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 12 oz can tomato paste
3 cups water
1 cup chopped cashews
3 T chili powder
3T dark unsweetened cocoa powder
2T cumin seeds

Brown meat, onion and garlic in a skillet. Drain fat and add all peppers until slightly cooked.

In a crock pot (this fits a 6.5 quart one nicely)combine meat and vegetable mixture with beans and chickpeas, tomatoes,tomato paste, water, cashews, and spices. Cook on low or simmer for about 6 hours. I serve this with sour creme and Native American fry bread.

Fry Bread:

1 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup milk

Mix ingredients adding more flour if necessary to make a stiff dough. Roll out the dough on a floured board until very thin. Cut into strips 2x3 inches and drop in hot cooking oil. Brown on both sides, serve hot with honey or chili.

Sunday, July 27, 2014

CSA Share Week #8 and Recipes:

What's in This Week's Share?

After a little confusion yesterday due to late deliveries, we picked up our share in the Strip District at Clarion River Organics in the Pittsburgh Public Market.

This week's share includes:

  • Mega Kale: Truly this is MEGA kale. We got a huge bunch of it and I really look forward to all of those wonderful nutrients.
  • Russet Potatoes
  • Jalapeno Peppers and Sweet Wax Peppers
  • Scallions
  • Slicing Tomatoes
  • 1 small kohlrabi
  • Dragon Tongue Beans
We also picked up a small container of squash blossoms from CRO's farm stand in addition!

Recipes

For the use of the mega-kale here's my recipe for Kale Chips.

Kale Chips

1 bunch kale
1 T olive oil
Adobo Seasoning

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Many people complain that they can't get kale chips not to burn, but the key is to cook them for about 15-20 minutes on LOW heat rather than high heat. 

Strip the kale leaves off of the stalks and tear them into bite sized peices. But don't throw the stalks away, you can use them in your juicer!

In a bowl, massage the olive oil into the kale leaves.

Spread the kale on a baking sheet in a single layer. Season lightly and put in the oven. Bake 15-20 minutes, or longer if need be, until the kale is crispy. Keep an eye on these!

Other uses for the kale this week:

I'm going to juice some of it in with my morning smoothie or fruit juice. We just got a new juicer and I'm excited to try out some more juicing.

Then, for dinner one night this week I'm going to use up some of the potatoes and the rest of the kale in the previously posted dairy free Colcannon Soup recipe. 

Strawberry and Jalapeno Detoxifying Juice

2 cups strawberries
One jalapeno
1 apple or peach

Juice all ingredients and mix well. This packs a good kick but its great for those days when you've got bad sinus attack!

Grilled Kohlrabi

1 kohlrabi, thinly sliced 
1 T olive oil
1/2 T chopped fresh dill
pinch coarse sea salt
pepper to taste

Brush kohlrabi with olive oil and sprinkle dill, salt and pepper on top. Grill on medium/low heat about 5 minutes per side max. This has a delicious broccoli like flavor when cooked and its so easy!

Juicer Tomato Soup

A recipe from an online friend:

4-5 tomatoes
2 stalks kale
2-3 scallions
1/2 cucumber
1 cup basil
4 cloves garlic

Juice all ingredients, mix well and heat. Do not boil or you will lose nutrients.

Saturday, July 19, 2014

CSA Share Week #7


I know I haven't posted in awhile, so I'll make up for it this week by trying to share recipes for everything in this week's package.


CSA Share Week #7: Beets not pictured.

In this week's share, the following items were included:

  • Spaghetti Squash
  • Heirloom Tomatoes
  • Cucumber
  • Butterhead Lettuce
  • Yellow Beans
  • Blueberries (CRO's own this year!)
  • Beets (not pictured)
Shaun and I don't care for beets particularly, but we might try grilling them with some orange juice and herbs, as I've heard that's pretty good.

I am going to roast the 2 small squash we got, and maybe make a Morroccan inspired lentil and squash stew with it and use the tomatoes in that as well. I'll probably roast the yellow beans with some olive oil and garlic as a side dish. The cucumber would make a nice refreshing side salad with a vinegar and dill dressing over some fresh lettuce.

Tonight, I am going to make blueberry basil lemonade using the remaining basil from last week's share and the pint of blueberries in with this week's box. Here's a recipe I will probably use as a guide: