Eggplant and Red Pepper Salad/ Gruber Farm CSA Week 2

Hi friends!

I have a funny story for you. On Sunday when I went to Rosh Hashanah at Sean’s house, I made a funny oopsies. One of the guests and I were discussing our love of local produce and the CSAs we were signed up with. I was telling her how much I loved Gruber Farm and blurted out, “I love picking up my box each week. It’s like Christmas every Tuesday!”

I made a Christmas reference at a Jewish event. Derrrrrrrrrr.

As soon as I said it I thought “REALLY? Of all the cool things to compare something to you chose that? Tonight?” The woman probably thought nothing of it, but I laughed in my head thinking how typical that was for me.

Thank heavens my teddy bear challah came out well or else I would have just had to excuse myself from the festivities. After telling the story to another Jewish friend later, he remarked “You should have said it was like Hanukah every week.” Oh, really? Thanks for the tip.

CSA Week 2:

• cantaloupe
• zucchini
• eggplant
• beets (!!)
• red potatoes
• Muscadine grapes
• green beans
• red pepper
• cucumbers
• onion

That cantaloupe was the largest I’ve ever seen. Annabel, who is also signed up with Gruber Farm, asked me, “Do you have a size DDDDD cantaloupe in yours too?” Yep. I did.

Back to business. Before ultimately deciding on the pumpkin challah for Rosh Hashanah, I borrowed a Jewish cookbook from the library called The Hadassah Everyday Cookbook.

This book has so many recipes I’d love to make that I might actually buy it. I’m not kidding, there are recipes for pumpkin bread, asparagus avocado salad, white bean hummus, muhammara, greens and orzo soup, grated beets with toasted hazelnuts, and more. Get excited for lots of these being featured on the blog. The first recipe I made was…

Eggplant and Red Pepper Salad

Ingredients:

• 2 medium eggplants
• 1/4 cup diced red bell pepper
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1 scallion, sliced
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 2 tbsp. tahini
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Turn stovetop gas burner to high and place eggplants, one at a time, directly over burner grate, turning occasionally with tongs until all sides are charred and eggplant is soft, about 5 minutes per side. Remove to a baking sheet and let cool completely. Drain juices, remove skin, and place eggplant pulp in the bowl of a food processor. *If you do not have a gas burner at home, you can broil the eggplants (turning them just as you would on the flame) until their skin is blistered and the inside is creamy and soft.
2. Pulse eggplant 10-15 times until well chopped but with a few remaining chunks. Add red pepper, garlic, scallion, oil, tahini, lemon juice, cayenne and salt, pulsing to incorporate all ingredients. Transfer to a bowl, cover and refrigerate until serving.

Two things to note: 1. I omitted the olive oil because I thought it was unnecessary. 2. I pulsed mine a bit more and it turned out like a spread. Regardless, it was very tasty and made for a great veggie burger topping. It would also be so good in a pita with veggies, black beans, and feta. Heck, it’d be good with chips too!

What’s your favorite dip or spread? Hummus? Olive tapenade? Roasted red pepper dip? Black bean dip? Baba ghanoush?

Do you find yourself sticking your foot in your mouth like I did? Shoot, sometimes it’s my whole leg.

Chicken, Chicken Everywhere

Yesterday was my third training session. It wasn't as hard as last week but it was definitely another good work out. My abs hate my trainer, but this is probably a good thing. He told me I to add more protein to my diet, such as adding an an egg with my normal breakfast cereal/oats, and eating a half of can of tuna for lunch. That seemed boring to me, so I decided to make chicken salad. In my chicken salad I like fruit , nuts, and honey, but I despise mayonnaise. Then it occurred to me that I had a honey Oikos in my fridge....why not use that in place of mayonnaise? Greek yogurt has a good amount of protein, too!

I mixed together the following:

• 1 can of chicken breast meat
• 1/2 of a Gala apple, chopped into little cubes
• 1/2 cup of grapes, sliced in half
• 1/4 cup of walnut pieces
• 1 container of Honey Oikos greek yogurt
• freshly ground pepper

 

I had it for lunch on Tuesday over a bed of spinach:

I had to go to WF after work, and I was starving. I know that's a dangerous state to be in while grocery shopping, so I grabbed a Luna Bar to inhale while I picked up my stuff. This was a new flavor for me:

It was really tasty and I loved the hint of peppermint. It was as good as a cookie! I went to my training session at 7:30, then ran back to my house to meet my friend Santo. Santo is a fellow Blackberry user who recently ran over his phone with a golf cart. Nice job. I told him that I had an old Curve he could use in the meantime, and he was nice enough to bring me with Chickfila. This was going to be a special dinner, so I made sure I brought out the candle.

He brought my favorite salad, the Chargrilled Chicken & Fruit Salad, a Diet Lemonade (!!!)...and a lovely gift from his brother, Frankie. Frankie sells wine for a living, and thought it would be really nice to sent Santo over with one of his best wines. Really, it's a classy bottle. And pardon me for pronouncing it "Reunite"--Santo immediately corrected me saying, "No, no, Christina. It's ree-u-nee-tay." My bad.

 

This fine $5 Italian wine with an alcohol content of 8% will be saved for a very special occasion.

Oh, Saturday...

I love waking up on Saturdays knowing that I can cook anything I want for breakfast and not feel rushed. Somehow I was feeling tired of oats, so we pulled out waffles. I ended up putting the same toppings on my waffle as I put on my oats -- almond butter, blueberry jelly, bananas, and honey. Ew to the honey though. I realized I don't like honey unless it's mixed into something.


For lunch I met with a girl that I may be living with when my lease is up. She was really nice, and it looks like things will work out. We had lunch at Five Loaves, which is just a few minutes away from where she lives. I failed to take a picture, but I had a tomato tarragon soup with a pesto chicken sandwich. Both were pretty good.

I recently read about almond crusted chicken on Meghann's blog. As much as we are obsessed with almonds, I don't know why I never thought of this genius idea before! Guess I've been too busy dreaming about things I can put in my oat bran...This is so easy to do. You just need three things -- almonds, chicken tenderloins, and an egg white! I threw 1/2 cup of whole almonds into the blender and chopped them up. Then I dipped the tenderloins in the egg white wash, then rolled them in the almond meal. They were so cute! They baked at 350* for about 15 minutes. I turned them once, just in case, but I'm not sure that was necessary. We put them on top of wilted spinach with a raspberry soy glaze.

For the raspberry soy glaze, we pureed fresh raspberries, a bit of whole grain mustard, a bit of soy sauce, then reduced it over high heat until it thickened.


The almond crusted chicken was awesome! It is definitely a new favorite! We're off to meet auntie Kelly & her friend Sarah downtown for drinks...I need wine, stat.