Vegetarian Salad with Roasted Zucchini and Portobello Mushrooms

For dinner I was thinking about one of my favorite veggie sandwiches from Whole Foods. It is served with cooled roasted portobello mushrooms and generous portions of roasted zucchini sliced right down the middle.

I also got a recipe from Liberty Heights Fresh that I wanted to try. The only addition I made was adding some lemon juice to freshen it up and add a bit of acidity.

Creamy herb dressing

1/2 cup Italian parsley, chopped
2 tbsp. chopped fresh dill
1 scallion
1/2 cup sour cream (or crème fraiche)
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 garlic clove
1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

*I added lemon juice as well

1. Put parsley, dill, scallion, and garlic in food processor and chop until fine. Add crème fraiche, yogurt, olive oil and salt and pepper and process to combine.

*This dressing can be made a few hours before serving and can keep for about a week.

I cut the zucchini length-wise in about 4 slices each and roasted the portobellos whole as well as some red onion slices in white truffle infused olive oil (thanks Matt!), a sprinkling salt and pepper in a 400 degree oven until soft throughout (be careful to not make it too soft!).

I let the veggies cool a bit and then cut to the sizes I wanted. While they were cooling I cut thin slices of fennel bulb and tossed with dressing and baby romaine. Finally I added the veggies and crumbled some local Beehive Cheese Company Emigrant cheese (what they call a thankful mistake) a hybrid of parmigian and cheddar which produced a sweet, tangy, fruity, and creamy delight. I would have to agree it was a thankful mistake! One of my favorites from Beehive Cheese Compay to date.

I didn't serve it with any bread which I normally would, because I made punitions for dessert. Recipe and pics might be included in an upcoming post.

Enjoy!

Halibut with Golden Turnips and Sweet-and-Sour Cucumber Salad

I've never had Golden Turnips before. They were interesting, tasted kind of like an earthy potato with sweetness and bitterness all mixed in. I thought they were quite enjoyable. The recipe was slightly adapted from the Liberty Heights Fresh Recipe. The only thing I changed was dicing up the turnips (for a quicker boil time and presentation) and omitting the mint. I just don't like mint in my food much unless it is dessert or a drink. If you don't have parsley substitute carrot-tops from last weeks delivery. You probably won't be able to taste the difference at all.

Also in an effort to use up some more of the fresh dill I made Sweet-and-Sour Cucumbers With Fresh Dill from Epicurious.com. I have a thing for freshly quick pickled things lately (just ask my family). Luckily Braeden also loves all things pickled.

The Halibut was just rubbed with Gray Sea Salt with Herbs de Provence and popped into the toaster over. Yes you heard me right, the toaster oven. Now that Corey and Aubrie showed me how to use it I use it for EVERYTHING! Thanks guys, the fan feature is great!! It is also served with a couple of Crumb Brother's Bakery crostinis.

Enjoy!

Nutrious Berry and Carrot-Top Smoothie

I figured since I can get my family to drink the Odwalla "green drink" on the right I could easy get them to drink the one on the left. Recipe is for 1 serving so double or triple for the amount of servings you need.


3/4 cup frozen berries (I used raspberries and blueberries)
6 oz. low-fat vanilla yogurt (I like Dannon Light N' Fit)
1/2 c. orange juice
2 tablespoons instant nonfat dry milk powder
carrot-tops

I put in all the carrot tops from last week's Liberty Height's Fresh delivery. It was a lot. I'm not going to say that you can't taste them, because you can but it tastes fresh a lot like parsley. Apparently there is a lot of controversy I did not know about when eating carrot-tops. I've eaten them before and never had a problem and today I drank a very large quantity so I'll let you know if there are any problems, but I'm not concerned. If you are, don't try this recipe or just omit the healthy part :)

New Mexico Green Chili Enchiladas

Tonight we had some New Mexico comfort food, green chili enchiladas. I was thrilled last week when there was a large container of Arlo's green chili powder from New Mexico in the Liberty Heights Fresh SFF.

I was in the mood for comfort food and had to make something with ingredients on hand as I didn't plan ahead....surprising I know!


I sauteed the Taylor Made Pork, Fresh Ground Pork (this weeks basket), with 1 1/2 Organic Spring Onions (last weeks basket), three cloves of garlic, a heavy amount of Arlo's green chili powder (last weeks basket), salt and pepper. If you don't like it too spicy, don't go too heavy handed on the Arlo's green chili powder. After it cooked down I added a bag of frozen corn and canned pinto beans (gasp!), and half a can of Hatch's Enchilada Sauce. I thought it was green until after I opened it (which I would have preferred, but just went with it since it was now open :)

I cooked up some tortillas, and then filled with the stuffing and some cheese (whatever you have on hand) then rolled them into a glass 9x13 pan, with a little enchilada sauce spread on the bottom to prevent as much sticking. Top with cheese (if you have any left which I didn't) and pop in the oven until bubbly and hot. I topped with Organic Cilantro (this weeks basket) and served with Organic Valencia Oranges (this weeks basket). I love serving pork with oranges, it's the perfect combination The rest of the filling will make a reincarnation later this week as part of a taco salad. Enjoy!

Liberty Heights Fresh

For dinner I picked up a nice piece of Salmon and a couple of small sweet potatoes from Whole Foods to go with the ingredients we already had in our Liberty Heights Fresh SFF basket.

For the Salmon, I just chopped up some fresh Organic Dill (included in basket) and rubbed it directly onto the Salmon along with some Gray Sea Salt with Herbs de Provence. I then topped with thin slices of Organic Meyer Lemon (included in last weeks basket). The lemons kept the Salmon nice and moist. To finish I broiled it in the oven.




I then tossed some Organic Fennel (last weeks basket) chopped, olive oil, salt and pepper on a sheet pan with the Organic White Cauliflower (this weeks basket). I then roasted it in the oven turning every 5 minutes or so.


A quick, easy, and healthy dinner. The boys even liked it!

Liberty Heights Fresh

This weeks SFF delivery from Liberty Heights Fresh was amazing! You can read about their program here if you are interested.

I have so many ideas about what I am going to make with the bounty. I have to say we have been trying so many new vegetables and local products than ever before. Last night I made lamb curry with the meat selection last week and added some delicious mushrooms (Thanks Rob the mushroom man) that I picked up at Tony Caputo's Saturday morning local vendor fair. Check out this weeks goods.

While waiting for dinner to cook we snacked on THE BEST citrus ever. I think I'm in love and they are as delicious as they are cute. Organic Pixie Mandarins, Powey, CA.

Tuesday's Truths

So I am going to steal this idea from my sister. I always look forward to her Tuesday's Truth blog posts.

The truth is...I'm angry about a lot of things.
The truth is...I never saw myself parenting a child older than 5 or myself being older than 30
The truth is...I often feel overwhelmed
The truth is...I'm going to be very busy with doctor and dentist appointments the next two weeks
The truth is...Tuesday is my favorite day of the week
The truth is...I think about taking a mental health day at least twice a week (maybe I am mental)
The truth is...I could eat Pretzel Time every day
The truth is...I think I would love to be a truck driver, then I could listen to more audiobooks