CSA sign-up time

It's Feb. 1. While I'm still clinging to my new year's resolutions, I did finally cross off an item on my to-do---renew my community supported agriculture (CSA).

I first used CSA when I moved to DC (about a year and a half ago). Since I wasn't commuting anymore (with extra time on my hands) and knew virtually no one in the area, I decided cooking would be my hobby.





If you're new to CSA, you can find a local share on LocalHarvest.org. I use Norman's Farm, which features fruits and veggies from multiple farms. For an average of $14 a week, I get more than enough of my fruit/vegetable food group. I do have to supplement it with eggs, dairy, and meats from the regular supermarket. Although the season can start out slow with limited choices, it definitely pays for itself throughout the year. The only downside is that I have to drive to the pick-up site. If you are sans car and prefer delivery, you can also try HarvestDelivered.com, which I've also considered. It's a little bit more expensive since you are also paying for the delivery fees.


The best part of taking part in CSA is that it forces me to eat the good stuff more and explore new recipes for veggies I've never heard of before, like this:

It's called a turban squash. I had no idea how to carve it or cook it so it was a fall decoration last year.

More strangely beautiful vegetables to come in May!

Currently reading: Good Housekeeping Budget Dinners

I'm currently reading Good Housekeeping Budget Dinners: Quick and Easy Everyday Recipes (thanks to a friend's Christmas present). The book has eight core strategies to eating on a budget:

1. Cook it slow and easy.
   I love my slow cooker and can't say enough about it. A slow cooker can cost as little as $30 and basically turns cheap cuts of meat into magic.
   
2. One dish, many meals.
   Think a roasted chicken turned into chicken mac and cheese or chicken pot pie for the following dinner.
   

Brunch for two

I'm finally getting my act together and sharing some of my favorite cheap meals (and misadventures in cooking) on this blog. Way back when, I had my friend over for Sunday brunch and I made a leek, potato, and feta tart. I'm not a vegetarian, but I like to try and stay vegetarian at least until dinner time. There's no good (or noble) reason except that meat is expensive so I save it for dinner.

This tart is super easy to make, pretty flavorful, and a good make-ahead meal; all you have to do is pre-make it earlier in the morning or night before and pop it in the oven when your guest arrives.

Leek, Potato, Feta Tart
[based on Real Simple recipe]
Ingredients:

• olive oil
• 2 leeks (white and light green parts cut into quarters)
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta
• 1 red bliss potato (thinly sliced)
• 2 or 3 artichoke hearts (jarred)
  
• 1 store-bought 9-inch pie crust (not store brand; normally I'm all for generic but for about 50cents more, the pie crust will keep together)

How to cut leeks: Get rid of the dark green parts (even though it's pretty, it's no good). The best part is the white and light green parts. Cut into half moons and throw them in running water. Because there's so many layers, dirt gets stuck between. Let them sit in water for a while to get the grime out, and repeat the wash.
Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Meal planners

Half the battle of home cooking, I'm convinced, is food shopping.

To ease this part of the process, I wanted to share the Real Simple Weekly Grocery List. I just started using this simple one-page shopping list. This tool breaks it down by day and by grocery aisle (dried foods, poultry, etc.) to make your supermarket trip a little smoother (and faster). The other great thing is by having a full list before your shopping trip, you can take a look at your meals for the week and make sure you are fully "utilizing your resources," for instance, selecting recipes to use a full block of cheese before it goes bad by the end of the week.

I also read about another group meal planner called MealTrain.com, which allows users to coordinate dinner ideas and delivery times. I haven't used it yet, but it sounds like a great idea for potlucks, when friends have babies, or on a more depressing note, extended illness or for Shiva. The free online software is compatible with Facebook and e-mail invites so that viewers can manage and view one group calendar with the ability to comment.

These things combine my love of food and planning.

Guacamole to (almost) die for

Everyone has a different version of guacamole, it seems. Lime vs. lemon? Crushed garlic vs. spice? Then there's the question of salt---kosher, table, or sea salt?

It doesn't really matter (although my Texan Mexican friend would disagree) how you change up the recipe since avocado is the magic fruit that can do no harm. I have my own recipe that changes depending what I have in the fridge and cabinet at the time.

The usual ingredients consists of:

• 3 or 4 avocados
• 1 chopped grape tomato
• 1/4 cup minced onion (you can use onion spice as a substitute)
• lots of garlic salt and table salt (you can also use salt and garlic spices as a substitute for garlic salt)

The most important thing to know is how to safely extract the avocado pit. Eugene Robinson, columnist for the Washington Post, wrote about his staph infection from what his doctors joked was "deadly guacamole." In truth, Robinson simply cut his hand trying to remove the pit when he made guac one day. I've done the same thing before that resulted in a deep cut in the palm of my hand, but I luckily never ended up the hospital for my guac.

Here's a trick I learned from Alton Brown of Good Eats, quite possibly one of my favorite shows ever: Keep your knife steady and rotate the avocado so that the knife drags along the y axis. Cover your hand with a kitchen towel or oven mitt to hold the avocado, like a catcher's mitt. Then, take the base of the knife and chuck at the pit. Wiggle out the pit, leaving your hand pain free.

Scoop out the green stuff. Mix the ingredients; don't mash. Add salts to taste.

Then enjoy your blood-free guac!

Food-Deficit-Phobia

Sometimes, I get overzealous. This is an actual e-mail exchange between my friend, Elise, and myself about her visit this coming Sunday for brunch:

Me: I'm thinking for the menu:


• biscotti
-leek and artichoke tarts

• pear/feta/walnut salad
-sausage frittata
• mini peach pies

• maybe bruchetta or sauteed veggies (I got a lot of tomatoes from the farm this 
week)

• of course, there will be coffee/tea


Friend: How many people are coming? I thought it was just us. If it is just us there is no need to knock yourself out with all that cooking. I assure you one item or two would be more than enough!

Me: Yes, there will be, in fact, only two people at the table. I’m convinced I suffer from fooddeficitphobia, the fear that there won’t be enough food, a generic disorder that I inherited from my parents.

Fooddeficitphobia isn’t real, but here are some real food phobias:

• Acerophobia- Fear of sourness
• Alektorophobia- Fear of chicken
• Alliumphobia- Fear of garlic
• Bacillophobia- Fear of microbes
• Bacteriophobia- Fear of bacteria
• Botanophobia- Fear of plants
• Carnophobia- Fear of meat
• Cibophobia- Fear of food
• Consecotaleophobia- Fear of chopsticks
• Coprastasophobia- Fear of constipation
• Defecaloesiphobia- Fear of painful bowels movements
• Deipnophobia- Fear of dining or dinner conversations
• Dipsophobia- Fear of drinking
• Emetophoia- Fear of vomiting
• Frigophobia- Fear of cold things
• Geumophobia- Fear of taste
• Hematophobia- Fear of blood
• Hydrophobia- Fear of water
• Hygrophobia- Fear of liquids
• Ichthyophobia- Fear of fish
• Iophobia- Fear of poison
• Lachanophobia- Fear of vegetables
• Mageirocophobia- Fear of cooking
• Methyphobia- Fear of alcohol
• Mycophobia- Fear of mushrooms
• Necrophobia- Fear of dead things
• Obesophobia- Fear of gaining weight
• Oenophobia- Fear of wine
• Olfactophobia- Fear of smells
• Ornithophobia- Fear of birds
• Ostraconophobia- Fear of shellfish
• Osmophobia- Fear of odors
• Phagophobia- Fear of swallowing
• Pnigophobia- Fear of choking
• Rhypophobia- Fear of defecation
• Sitophobia- Fear of eating
• Teniophobia- Fear of tapeworms
• Thermophobia- Fear of hot things
• Toxophobia- Fear of being accidently poisoned
• Urophobia- Fear of urine or urinating
• Verminophobia- Fear of germs
• Xanthophobia- Fear of the color yellow
• Xerophobia- Fear of dryness

[via HubPages]

I’m pretty sure Kevin has consecotaleophobia (fear of chopsticks), ichthyophobia (fear of fish), lachanophobia (fear of vegetables) and mycophobia (fear of mushrooms).

Which food phobias do you have?


Tip: You should also read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time if you are interested in xanthophobia.