tomatillos

Boxing Day, October 14

planorcanLeave a comment

Dear John,

The fridge was not empty.

Then we picked >$50 worth of apples at the orchard this weekend.

And then today I went to the garden, picked up the CSA, and got our community produce box.

I have passed on some of the bounty to friends. I am asking other friends what they can use. I am pickling peppers and cucumbers to make space. We will consider the freezer our friend and wish we had a larger one.

CSA Box

  • Asian Pears
  • Golden Delicious Apples
  • Pink Lady Apples
  • Poblano Peppers
  • Purple Broccoli
  • Purple Gold Potatoes
  • Red Butterhead Lettuce
  • White Cauliflower

Community Produce

  • Pears
  • Lemons
  • Beets
  • Seven! Pounds! of! Celery!
  • Eggplant
  • Corn

Things in the fridge

  • Pears
  • Asian pears
  • Apples
  • Oranges
  • Kiwiberries
  • Cauliflower
  • Zucchini
  • Heirloom tomato, red tomato
  • Cucumber
  • Peppers: Banana, Habanada
  • Fennel
  • Greens: Lettuce
  • Onions
  • Beets
  • Sweet potatoes
  • Sunchokes

Picked at the Garden

  • Collards
  • A snackful of cherry tomatoes
  • The last of the tomatillos
  • Assorted non-spicy peppers
  • Pile of green cherry tomatoes from the compost pile
  • More bunches of Dahlias

Open Preserves

  • Fridge still organized!
  • Fridge still not inventoried!
  • Fig jam
  • Preserved eggplant
  • Pickled banana peppers
  • Pickled fennel
  • Pickled peach
  • Curdito
  • Fermenting green cherry tomatoes

Pantry Beans

  • Yellow Split Pea
  • Split Red Lentil
  • Black Caviar Lentil
  • Garbanzo Bean
  • Buckeye Bean
  • Good Mother Stallard
  • Pinto Bean
  • Christmas Lima
  • California Corona
  • Royal Corona
  • And maybe one more on the shelf?

Cook. A lot. Not sure in what time.

  • I bought cauliflower this weekend to make that dip. We have a bit of it left and we’re getting more and I’m so excited to make the cauliflower steaks.
  • I still want to make focaccia, and you’ll be in the office more this week. Hoping for some potatoes. But if not, I’ll make it with zucchini and tomatoes.
  • Fennel apple casserole
  • Oooh. Looking for an online version of that recipe, I found an apple orchard recipe blog.
  • Dinner tonight is stuffed acorn squash. Stuffed with apple filling? Apple cheese filling? We don’t have cottage cheese though. Apple rice filling and putting cottage cheese on the shopping list so we’re ready the next time we get a squash.
  • Poblano peppers make me think roasted or stuffed. Rice and bean filling? Enchilada sauce? Maybe filled with a zucchini-bean-mixture? We should make more salsa verde with the tomatillos. Note! These should freeze decently well.
  • What about the broccoli? Roasted? Maybe with chickpeas?
  • Let the green tomatoes ripen or turn into chutney?

Love,

Sarah

Boxing Day, August 1

planorcanLeave a comment

Dear John,

It’s counterintuitive that after having all the guests over the past week we have more lingering produce than usual. But between buying extra veggies for lunch nibbles and pre-preparing dinners, there wasn’t as much focus on using up the CSA and garden food. Some chard stems and green tomatoes made a chutney that was offered on the potato bar. Cooked chard leaves were offered with the pasta sauce. Tomatillos were chopped with lime juice and a pepper to top tacos. That was about it for three days?

Now I’m having the post-visit energy collapse. It feels entirely possible that we’ll order takeout an extra day this week. Possibly pull out a freezer meal without freezing a new one. All to say, watch out. Next week may get to overwhelming amounts of produce needing to be used if we’re not intentional.

Today’s Box

  • Donut Peaches
  • Nectarines
  • Centercut Squash
  • Green Beans
  • Green Bell Peppers
  • Mixed Heirloom Tomatoes
  • Sweet Onions
  • Cinnamon Basil

Things in the fridge

  • Plums
  • Watermelon
  • Sweet corn
  • Banana peppers
  • Celery
  • Cucumber and lemon cucumber
  • Red Spring Onions
  • Fennel bulb
  • Greens: Cabbage
  • Turnips?
  • Red Potatoes
  • Green plums
  • Green tomatoes (starting to pink)

In the Garden

  • The first cucumber!
  • Early peppers. Think Cochiti but maybe Fish.
  • A couple tomatillos
  • More tomatoes. Both ours and from the neighbors.
  • A few ground cherries
  • Rainbow chard (but gave half to the neighbors)
  • All the Genovese basil
  • Flowering dill if inspired
  • Rosemary
  • Oregano
  • Calendula and cosmos and gomphrena if we want another bouquet
  • Communal blackberries and figs

Open Preserves

  • Preserved eggplant
  • Lacto-fermented blueberry jalapeno hot sauce
  • Pickled kale stems
  • Pickled fennel stems
  • Radish kimchi
  • Green tomato chutney
  • Tomatillo salsa
  • Cran-kin kraut
  • Cranapple chutney
  • Watermelon rind dill pickles
  • Probably still more uninventoried

Garden glimpse

Sad news this week. Our basil looks not great. I’m not sure if the browning is due to stress from heat and lack of hydration or a fungus.

I fear the fungus.

One plant was totally dead. I pulled it and another two that were browning. One last batch of pesto for us. And not planting basil in the same section next year out of an abundance of caution.

Team Empty The Fridge

  • Chop tomatillos + tomatos + pepper + salt + lime for the tacos that were dinner.
  • The potato green bean pesto salad
  • Cinnamon basil and lime cookies.
  • Need to pickle the banana peppers. (Just as we finished off last year’s batch.)
  • These bell peppers look good for making stuffed bell peppers. I’ve had this tab open for long enough that I forgot it existed. Calls for lamb, so we might not go that direction though!
  • I want panzanella and the spot that I picked up lunch from today didn’t have any. So expect to make that one of these days while you’re at the office.
  • I want pizza. Can we pizza? It’s hot, but not as hot as it’s been. (These are the weeks I miss apartment complexes gas grills.) Squash and red sauce and cheese and garlic. Corn and tomatoes and pesto and feta.

Love,

Sarah

Boxing Day, August 23

planorcanLeave a comment
More peaches! More melons! More kale!

Hey John,

Low-fat diet continues. I’ve been microwaving popcorn without oil (and learning, ah, that’s what diet popcorn tastes like), roasting chickpeas with abandon (and spicing them with abandon too), baking tofu (because we realized the store brand wasn’t gluten free, so it’s on me to eat), and eating no-fat yogurt (like I’m a smiling lady in an advertisement). We haven’t ended up back at the doctor this week, which I’m counting as a win. Even though there were a couple of times when maybe we should’ve gone? Managing new health conditions is a challenge!

Today’s Box

  • Little Sweetie Cantaloupe
  • Yellow Peaches
  • Watermelon
  • Green Kale
  • Ping Tung Long Eggplant
  • Red Tomatoes
  • Spaghetti Squash

Things I think are in the fridge

  • Fennel fronds
  • Canary Melon
  • Peach
  • Nectarines (farmers market)
  • Blackberries (farmers market)
  • Roma tomatoes
  • Tomatillos
  • Cranberries
  • Edamame
  • Yummy peppers
  • Celery
  • Sweet corn
  • Centercut squash
  • Greens: Kale
  • New Potatoes
  • Jerusalem Artichokes

Coming in from the Garden

  • Basil
  • Kale
  • Tomatillos
  • Roma tomatoes
  • Occasional ground cherries
  • More peppers?
  • Dahlias and marigolds
  • Papalo when we want it
  • Rosemary

Open Preserves

  • Preserved eggplant
  • Lacto-fermented green cherry tomatoes
  • Lacto-fermented blueberry jalapeno hot sauce
  • Pickled banana peppers with oregano, basil, and black pepper
  • Pickled fennel stems with orange
  • Spicy pickled fennel stems
  • Radish kimchi
  • Green tomato chutney
  • Applesauce
  • Probably still more uninventoried

Low fat ideas to eat the veggies

  • Fruit salad with honey yogurt dressing (~1 generous tablespoon of honey for each half cup of fat free yogurt)
  • Rice-stuffed tomatoes (reducing oil in the cooking)! Is it risotto in another form? Yes. But I NEED other forms of my rice porridge right now. Do you know how much congee I ate last week?
  • Kale from the CSA, huh. Hahahahaha. So much kale this season! How about the braised beans and greens Dad made. Or maybe go the pasta route.
  • I expect we’ll keep making tacos with roasted veggies or scrambled eggs. There’s brown rice in the fridge. Beans already cooked. Let’s roast the tomatillos to make some salsa and the meal will be ready for quick prep whenever we need it.
  • I don’t especially want to try spaghetti squash with kale and beans and marinara and no cheese. It should keep for a couple of months. Let’s see when the surgery is scheduled and maybe save until then.
  • I love eggplant! With oil.
    *cue the sad trombones*
    I may decide to roast the eggplant and mix with yogurt and spices. Or may say this is perfect time to make more preserved eggplant from Six Seasons to ration throughout the rest of the year.
  • A final note, not for using up produce: Last week, my loaf from the Neighborhood Bread Lady’s monthly subscription was an apricot sourdough with fennel and coriander and maybe some other spices. When my friend picked up our loaf, NBL said to “think of it like a cheeseboard.” It was amazing. I have found a recipe for apricot fennel bread that I may need to make. Even though it won’t be sourdough and I’ll use dried apricots instead of fresh.

Love you,

Sarah

Boxing Day, August 2

planorcanLeave a comment
Golden reds and oranges and yellows in the peaches and tomatoes

Hi John,

Saturday we walked to the garden, a feat unto itself. We pulled up some weeds and nibbled on berries from the common area. And we harvested. Edamame! Kale! Tomatillos! Roma tomatoes! And, some beautiful beefsteak tomatoes. That night, I snuck into the kitchen and cut the tomato into thick slices. Sprinkled with salt. Set on plate with knife and fork in hand. One of the moments of sheer, summer perfection.

Today’s box makes it clear that we are IN tomato season. And honestly, a few more meals like that Saturday night snack sounds just right.

Actually in Today’s Box

  • Yellow Peaches
  • Red Seedless Watermelon
  • Bicolor Sweet Corn
  • Malabar Spinach
  • Mixed Cherry Tomatoes
  • Mixed Heirloom Tomatoes

Things I think are in the fridge

  • Blueberries (farmer’s market)
  • Peaches
  • Fennel
  • Cucumber (farmer’s market)
  • Cranberries
  • Lemon squash
  • Green peppers
  • Celery
  • Greens: Savoy Cabbage, Kale
  • Green Daikon radish
  • Sweet potato
  • Jerusalem Artichokes

Coming in from the Garden

  • Edamame
  • Basil
  • Kale
  • Tomatillos
  • Aunt Ruby’s German Green (Beefsteak) tomatoes
  • Roma tomatoes
  • Occasional ground cherries
  • Shishito peppers
  • Jimmy Nardello pepper
  • Dahlias and marigolds
  • Papalo when we want it
  • Rosemary

Open Preserves

  • Preserved eggplant
  • Lacto-fermented green cherry tomatoes
  • Lacto-fermented blueberry jalapeno hot sauce
  • Pickled banana peppers with oregano, basil, and black pepper
  • Pickled fennel stems with orange
  • Spicy pickled fennel stems
  • Radish kimchi
  • Green tomato chutney
  • Applesauce
  • Probably still more uninventoried

Snacks for now and meals to share

  • Lacto-ferment the green cherry tomatoes that we rescued from a pruned stem (no need to have them ripen on the counter forever and ever)
  • Blueberry-peach pie!
  • The corn, basil, blueberry salad from Half-Baked Harvest
  • Israeli-Spiced Tomatoes and chickpeas from Six Seasons
  • Cucumbers and papalo from Six Seasons
  • BLTs. Grilled Cheese with tomato slices.
  • More of the rosemary-spiced nuts
  • Watermelon-basil agua fresca
  • A meal of appetizers/sides. Edamame. Blister the shishito peppers. Maybe this tomato salad (note the ginger substitution). Or maybe the tomatoes and eggs. Side of rice.

Love,

Sarah

Boxing Day, September 30

planorcanLeave a comment
I wasn’t expecting garlic and picked some at the store before I got the CSA. On the one hand, whups. On the other hard, it’s not like we won’t use garlic.

Dear John,

It’s been a busy week of writing for both of us as we usher papers out the door. Reading an evergrowing stack in the search for the right citation. Banging angrily on keyboards. Sighing heavily. Sending off to colleagues when the words are as good as they’re going to get that day. Fitzing with formatting like a student trying to match a teachers’ page requirements. Neither of us are getting graded, but the spirit remains more or less the same.

My paper’s back to the editor’s inbox. You’re about to begin the process for publishing yours. Weekend’s coming early today, and I am so ready.

In This Week’s Box

  • Gala Apples
  • Kiwiberries
  • Carnival Squash
  • French Breakfast Radishes
  • Frisee
  • Green Mustard
  • Mixed Yummy Peppers
  • Rainbow Chard
  • Yukon Gold Potatoes
  • White Garlic

Garden Potential

  • Starfish pepper
  • Paprika
  • Jalapenos
  • Lombok peppers if we want them
  • Few tomatillos, hopefully
  • Volunbeans
  • Maybe a tomato?
  • Dahlias

Still in the Fridge

  • Apples: Honeycrisp
  • Greens: Arugula
  • Herbs: Cilantro, Fennel tops,
  • Peppers: Yummy, Habanada, Paprika, Red Jalapenos
  • Squash: Delicata, Red Kabocha, Butternut
  • Sweet onions
  • Fingerling Potatoes
  • Celery
  • Sunchokes

Open Preserves

  • Preserved eggplant
  • Pickled cucumber skins
  • Lacto-fermented & Lacto-fermenting green cherry tomatoes
  • Lacto-fermented blueberry jalapeno hot sauce
  • Pickled red onion
  • Pickled banana peppers with oregano, basil, and black pepper
  • Plain pickled banana peppers
  • Radish kimchi
  • Sunchoke relish
  • Green tomato chutney
  • Peach jam
  • Apple butter
  • Apple sauce
  • Quince jelly
  • Strawberry freezer jam from your mom
  • Veggie stock
  • Probably still more uninventoried

Comfort Food for Mindful Meals

  • The writing took up all the time, which meant I never made the mole verde squash last week. Hopefully tonight!
  • So many greens this week! Mustard greens make me hope for palak paneer or saag feta or chana saag. Frisee for salads, with radish to emphasize the kick.
  • We’ll see how the weather plays. But it may be time to start soup season. Squash Apple Ginger soup from Simply in Season, perhaps?
  • Chard garlic spaghetti from Six Seasons until we choose something else to do with it.

And a few more plans

  • I think I want to try drying paprika and grinding it to a powder. Fingers crossed!
  • Let’s roast the jalapenos and combine with the habanadas for a brine mash ferment. It’ll be another experiment.

~s

Boxing Day, September 23

planorcanLeave a comment
Welcome to fall. The watermelon have disappeared and the squash have arrived.

So John,

On Monday evening, I told a friend there was a 30% chance we’d end up buying a house by the end of the year. After a tour on Tuesday, I had our odds up to 50%–pretty likely actually. At least until we talked to our agent again today and decided not to write up an offer after all. Even in this market, 18% annual interest is a lot. Especially when it was just bought two years ago.

I’m thankful for working with an expert who tells us not to buy a place that’s overpriced. Or another place that will be awful to try to sell. Or that has more deferred maintenance than the price suggests.

I’m thankful that we have the flexibility to stay. Even if I never expected the housing search to take a year. Or if it did it was because we were losing bids. Not that we weren’t putting in offers. Nevermind winning bids and then failing inspections.

For now, I’m putting our chances of 2021 homebuying at 29%. The listings posted today weren’t inspiring. That’s okay. We’ll keep looking.

In This Week’s Box

  • Honeycrisp Apples
  • Kiwiberries
  • Arugula
  • Butternut Squash
  • Cilantro
  • Fennel
  • Mixed Yummy Peppers
  • Purple Fingerling Potatoes
  • Sweet Onions
  • Habanada Peppers

Garden Potential

  • Starfish pepper
  • Paprika
  • Jalapenos
  • Lombok peppers if we want them
  • Few tomatillos
  • Volunbeans (let ’em dry!)
  • Last of the Roma tomatoes?
  • Vorlon tomato
  • Dahlias

Still in the Fridge

  • Cucumber
  • Figs
  • Greens: Butterhead Lettuce
  • Peppers: Banana
  • Squash: Delicata, Red Kabocha, Acorn
  • Sweet Potatoes
  • Fingerling Potatoes
  • Herbs: None
  • Celery
  • Sunchokes

Open Preserves

  • Preserved eggplant
  • Quince jelly
  • Dill pickle
  • Lacto-fermented & Lacto-fermenting green cherry tomatoes
  • Lacto-fermented blueberry jalapeno hot sauce
  • Pickled red onion
  • Radish kimchi
  • Sunchoke relish
  • Quince jelly
  • Kicky cranapple chutney
  • Peach jam
  • Apple butter
  • Quince jelly
  • Veggie stock
  • Probably still more uninventoried

Starting points

  • I’d forgotten the cucumber. We should use the cucumber! It’s the last cucumber from the garden. Classic cucumber, onion, and yogurt side?
  • Squash + cilantro = we can do the mole verde butternut squash. Or acorn squash. Or Kabocha squash…
  • Other cilantro + tomatillos + jalapeno for another green salsa.
  • Apple fennel salad. Because this fennel cannot last as long as the previous one did.
  • I want something light for the lettuce. Tomato and sweet pepper with a sweet vinaigrette.
  • Whereas, I thin the arugula can go loud. Blue cheese and honeycrisp and roasted sweet potato with a balsamic.

~s

Boxing Day, September 2

planorcanLeave a comment
Confession: The cherry tomato box was half-filled from our garden before the CSA’s topped it off.

Dear John,

It’s been another week. Another food pantry distribution date. Another protest to stand in solidarity.

Another game night. Another book club. Another small group meeting.

Another tour. Another storm. Another meal to feed body and nurture soul.

In This Week’s Box

  • Bartlett Pears
  • Red Seedless Watermelon
  • Artisan Mixed Cherry Tomatoes
  • Cubanelle Peppers
  • Green Beans
  • Green Kale
  • Jalapeno Peppers
  • Mixed Sweet Peppers
  • Orange Carrots
  • Yellow Tomatoes

Garden Potential

  • Ground cherry
  • Few tomatillos
  • Volunbeans
  • Cherry tomatoes
  • Roma tomatoes (The Amish paste plant is doing better than the San Marazano)
  • Sad-ish eggplant
  • Jalapenos as we want them
  • Bell pepper
  • A final cucumber (or two?)

Still in the Fridge

  • Blueberries
  • Figs
  • Canary Melon
  • Green Chard
  • Centercut Squash
  • Kohlrabi
  • Herbs: Fennel
  • Onions: white and red
  • Celery
  • Sunchokes
  • Spaghetti squash

Open Preserves

  • Preserved eggplant
  • Dill pickle
  • Lacto-fermenting green cherry tomatoes
  • Pickled red onion
  • Radish kimchi
  • Plenty of others that I just haven’t inventoried

Make something with it all.

  • Red curry with tofu and green beans and cherry tomatoes adapted from Dinner (but online version here)
  • Pickled jalapenos? Just a question of doing it in vinegar or lacto-fermenting them. Maybe some more peperonata with the cubanelles. The batch from last week was delightful on corn mush and on eggs.
  • Carrot greens! Let’s do the carrot top walnut pesto from Scraps, Wilts, and Weeds. (Just because the granita took us forever to use up last time. It was good though.) Carrots themselves are being saved for your birthday cake.
  • Spaghetti with cherry tomatoes for a sauce! Six Seasons has a recipe.
  • Speaking of, do we have enough tomatoes to make a sauce? Do we want to make a sauce? A salsa? (My tomatillo salsa verde last week was too little for the blender, so I’m waiting for more tomatillos than what we have so far.)
  • Gonna roast that eggplant and blend it up. Baba ganoush style? Hard to be too sad with roasted eggplant.
  • Some of the centercut squash from last week got roasted for tacos. Repeat of something like that? Or roast it with zaatar and serve with hummus?
  • Kale starts feeling like we might be heading toward salad possibilities again. Let’s try cooking some of the dried volun-beans to go with it.
  • I picked three figs from the community tree. Pair them with pears for a tart. It’s that or make a fancy looking cheese tray with some of the pickles to round out the meal.

Love,

~Sarah