Hi everyone, Jess here. Hope you all had a wonderful week! The week flew by here, and most of the cooking was done on the fly in between other adventures. We just got back from a quick day and a half jaunt to Vermont, which was beautiful! We found some of the prettiest foliage on the trek down Rt. 119 just over the border when heading back into Massachusetts. We love exploring the states, but there’s no place like home!
Doesn’t this display of veggies sum up autumn? I love how the veggies this time of year lend themselves to a slightly longer shelf life, allowing you to hunker down a little more easily food-wise. The fall flavors remind me of a comfy warm blanket.
- Brussels Sprouts
- Sautéed and tossed with Buttercup Marsala cream and served with preserved cranberries over pasta (aka creative use of leftovers for lunch)
- Onions
- Slivered and sautéed with fajitas
- Chicken Stock
- Some stored in the onion bin
- Butternut Squash
- 1 pureed
- the rest stored for the week
- Baking Potatoes
- Mashed (baked is better for these, but my son was craving mashed)
- Some stored
- Banana Peppers
- Sweet and not-so-sweet pickled peppers (had a batch ready to pick at the Community Garden as well, so made a double batch)
- Bell Peppers
- Sautéed with fajitas
- String Beans
- Steamed with butter (try roasting them, too!)
- Lettuce
- Salads, fajitas, Waldorf Chicken lettuce wraps
- Kale
- McIntosh Apples
- Lettuce
- With Fajitas, used to wrap Waldorf Chicken Salad
- Eggs
- Scrambled
- In Pumpkin Pie
- In Kale Brownies
All veggie scraps composted unless otherwise noted.
We picked a chicken from the farm stand on Monday. Farmer Jamie is working with Farmer Ryan from Lilac Hedge Farm, who takes great pride in the ethics of the animals he is raising. Also pictured are some quick mashed potatoes (made with baking potatoes and thickened up with cream, as my son was really craving mashed potatoes) and some string beans (several of you have reported roasting your fall beans with great success, thanks for sharing!)
Overnight, I simmered some stock from the chicken carcass, and measured this into one cup and four cup portions before tossing it in the freezer. This will be great for using over the winter months in soups and simmers. The remaining chicken meat went into a Waldorf Chicken salad (not pictured) and my son enjoyed some as-is on Brussels sprouts day.
When in a time crunch, I’ll just roast the squashes and pumpkins whole before peeling and de-seeding. If you catch them at the right time during cooking, you can peel the skin off almost in a sheet, and de-seed with ease. More on these later…
I used some of the Chicken Pot Pie leftovers with last season’s cranberries. Chicken pot pie with some of the leftovers, and last season’s cranberries. Because yesterday’s gravy went, I puréed a little buttercup squash into the stock to make the pie gravy. I almost got caught given the yellow color of the gravy, but my pot pie lovers couldn’t resist!
This was a random but tasty lunch option- sautéed Brussels sprouts with Marsala cream (the last from that broken bottle of Marsala I needed to use up). The cream sauce was mixed with puréed buttercup squash previously roasted with browned butter and sage. Cranberries added just because, tossed with leftover pasta, but would have been awesome with squash noodles too.
Fajita Friday! Bell peppers (pickling the bananas), onions and boneless chuck. My go-to seasoning ratio is 1 part cumin to 3 parts chili powder, then whatever else I decide to throw in. The lettuce and my last fresh tomato went onto the table for toppings.
Recent desserts included Pumpkin Pie (with my sugar pumpkin) and (accidentally over cooked but still delicious) Kale Brownies.
I was reading in the ‘Dell Declaration that the celery is coming soon! Remember to head on over to the Veggiescope Veggie-pedia to learn more about options on how to use these yummy seasonal veggies!
