thoughtful consumption

Here’s a picture of the bruschetta.

At first, I wasn’t thrilled at the idea of herbed goat cheese. I like goat cheese in lots of different ways, and I thought the herbs made it less versatile. However, after tasting it, it was easy to see the uses. It comes in a pretty circle that could be used for entertaining with crostini on the side. Or you could make bruschetta.

I always thought bruschetta came from some Italian for “brushing” with olive oil. Nope. Bruschetta comes from an Italian verb that means to roast over coals. So official bruschetta requires grilling. I don’t grill mine, so I guess  I have to start calling it something else. Maybe fettunta, like this Tuscan recipe.

In this one you toast the bread first and then top it. Next time, I’m toasting the bread, topping it, and then broiling it enough for the cheese to melt. Can’t wait!

Bruschetta – I mean, fettunta –  for three used up the goat cheese, basil, and all the little Roma tomatoes. Here’s the plan for the rest.

Frozen blueberries

I froze the blueberries to use later or just to eat as a frozen treat. Blueberries are much harder to deal with than blackberries and strawberries. They roll around everywhere!

More salads

We’ll definitely eat more arugula salads. I’m looking forward to having arugula with sliced, chilled, roasted beets. I think the sweetness in the beets will go well with the arugula. Radishes, carrots, and cherry tomatoes will play a part, too.

Cabbage

I’ll cook some of this cabbage to serve with sausage and roasted potatoes. A northern European meal will be a nice contrast to the Italian and East Asian meals that have been our main themes of late. Wish I had some savory left!

The rest of the cabbage will make up next week’s fried rice. I’m teaching again, and fried rice is the best for reheated lunches.  Other candidates for inclusion in this week’s fried rice are chard, radishes, and onion. We’ve got plenty of eggs so I’ll use extra eggs and keep this rice vegetarian.

Pecans

I just ordered this nutcracker. It’s not as cool and rustic as the one in this week’s CSA newsletter, but it looks like it will be good for the quantity I’ve got backed up right now. I’d like to make candied pecans this week. I can use the extra egg yolks in fried rice.

Leftovers

Tomorrow we’re having a beef stir fry I made up yesterday using lots of leftover veggies: cabbage, chard, squash, radish, and onion.

I hope to serve it over the Carolina Gold Rice cooked the way suggested here.

We still have some green beans left from last week. I’ll serve some of them this weekend with spaghetti and cook the rest Southern-style for Chris.

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I’m feeling pretty good about our use of the produce this past couple of weeks. Our crisper should be empty by the time our next box arrives.

I’ve recently been bad about not prepping ahead of time. It’s not been a problem because I’ve had the hour or more to spend in the kitchen. But, boy, it takes a long time to get even the simplest meal on the table when you start from the very beginning with “Hmmm… wonder what’s in the box.”