Pork and Shrimp Dumplings with Bok Choy and Noodles

My children are getting older. That is a "Well, duh, Melani" comment if there ever was one, but sometimes, these observations are more evident than others.

Take this meal for instance. For a change, cooking supper was made infinitely easier because of my daughter's help. Going on 6, M is becoming quite a commis (don't be impressed, I had to wikipedia it to find the right word). We have found some recipes that she can almost make by herself now that she can read recipes. For this meal, I did the chopping and M did the mixing and shaping of the dumplings.

Making dumplings are perfect for little hands that want to help in the kitchen. Being the non-artistic, non-perfectionist that I am, I wasn't concerned what the dumplings looked like. This could have to do with the fact that the recipe I was using had no instructions on how to shape dumplings except: "seal and shape." Hmm. Thus, I basically went for sealed.

We loved this meal. M particularly loved it because she had such an integral part of making the meal. The recipe makes twice as many dumplings as we used. I froze the leftovers dumplings and will pull them out next time I have some bok choy that I need to use. Easy dinner.

While making dumplings may seem daunting and time consuming, on a whole this recipe wasn't terribly difficult to make or that time consuming. I am sure it helped considerably that I had M doing all the dirty work. :)

Pork and Shrimp Dumplings with Bok Choy and Noodles

adapted from Cindy Lee Roberts on Food52

1 lb ground pork

1/2 lb shrimp, peeled and chopped

1/4 c spring onions or scallions, chopped

1/2 inch piece of ginger, finely grated

3/4 t salt

1/4 t pepper

1 t sesame oil

1 t Mirin or white cooking wine

1 packet dumpling or wonton wrappers (you'll need 50)

8 oz somen, soba, or udon noodles

a bunch (approx 8 oz) of bok choy, sliced into 1" ribbons and roughly chopped

Sauce

1 1/2 T fish sauce (Nuac Mam or something similar)

1 T soy sauce

2 t white vinegar

1 t chili garlic paste (optional)

1/2 t sesame oil

1/3 c spring onion or scallions, finely chopped

1/3 c cilantro, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

Mix together the pork, shrimp, spring onions, ginger, salt, pepper, sesame oil, and wine in a medium bowl. Place about 1 T of the mixture into the bottom half of a dumpling or wonton wrapper. Using your index finger, make a border of water around the filling. Fold the top half over and seal (the water is necessary for the dumpling to seal shut).

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. The following will depend on what kind of noodles you use. If you use a fast cooking, thin noodle like somen or rice threads (vermicelli), add the dumplings to the boil water first and add the noodles when there are two or three minutes left. If you are using a slower cooking, thicker noodle, like udon, add the noodles first, cook for a couple of minutes, and then add the dumplings. The dumplings need around 8 minutes in the boiling water to cook through. The easiest way to test to see if the dumplings are finished is to just break one open.

Meanwhile, mix all the sauce ingredients together and set aside.

Add the bok choy to the noodles and the dumplings and cook a minute or so more, or until the bok choy has wilted. Drain the noodles, et al. Pour the sauce over top and gently combine, being careful not to break the noodles. Garnish with a little cilantro and serve. (If you left out the chili garlic sauce because of children's sensitive tastes, you can put a little bit on top of each serving, as desired).

Awesome Homemade Ramen

The bok choy has been collecting in my refrigerator. Despite having lots of bok choy recipes, I have felt at loss lately about what to do with it. I am all out of beef (what a bummer!! Come on steer--fatten up already!), and was needing a break from stir-fry. I haven't been terribly into bok choy salad this year, but am finally starting to get a hankering for it. I needed a new bok choy and I needed it fast!

Then, a couple of weeks ago, I saw a recipe on thekitchn.com for an easy bok choy/poached egg noodles soup. I stored the info somewhere in my brain where it didn't get lost (for a change) and remembered it last night when I was contemplating serving my kids hotdogs and white rice for supper (which I must confess, I did. They also ate lots of peas). My husband obviously wasn't home for supper. I couldn't bring myself to eat hotdogs and white rice. Although the kids thought it was fabulous for a change, I wasn't impressed. Then, I remembered this recipe.

I love this recipe. It is so good and so easy! I used dried udon noodles, but you can use prepared udon noodles as well. I also found some chicken stock from an asian/orange-spiced roasted turkey I made after Thanksgiving (ok, way after Thanksgiving, like in January. It was a rough November) and used that. I didn't use much other seasonings, but if I use less flavorful stock next time, I probably will season it. I very gently eased my egg into the soup and it poached perfectly--I was so pleased with myself, my first poached egg. The amounts are kinda loosey goosey because this is one of those recipes that is a base--adapt to your likes. I used about 1 c of bok choy and thought it needed more.

I begrudingly shared a bite with M, after she had filled up on her rice/pea/ketchup concoction she created on her plate. She also enjoyed it. It's funny, I've made a bunch of "fancy" recipes lately, but this simple comfort soup, that reminded me of eating ramen noodles in college, has been my favorite new recipe of the last two weeks. This will serve two ravenous adults as a meal.

Awesome Homemade Ramen
adapted from thekitchn.com

4 -5 c chicken broth
2 whole star anise (opt)
1 stick cinnamon
1/2 pkg dried udon noodles (about 5 oz) or 2 7-oz pkgs pre-cooked udon noodles
1 -2 c bok choy leaves, sliced into ribbons
2 green onions, thinly sliced
soy sauce, to taste
1 t garlic powder (opt)
sesame oil, to taste

Bring the broth to a simmer in a medium sauce pan. Add the star anise and cinnamon, if using, and simmer for 5 - 10 minutes. If using dried udon noodles, add them to the broth and cook until they are pliable (very bendy, but not fully cooked). Crack the eggs into separate measure cups and slip them one at a time into the broth. Cook for two minutes. Add the bok choy and stir very gently so as not to disturb the eggs. Cook for an additional two minutes, until the egg whites are completely set, but the middles are still loose (cook an extra minute if you want your yolk set). Remove from heat and add garlic powder (if using) and green onions. Add soy sauce and sesame oil to taste. Eat immediately.

Japanese Noodles with Bok Choy and Tofu

I love well cooked udon noodles. They make me happy. Since we've had so much meat in our diet lately, I thought it was time to find another protein for a change. M and J were quite excited to have tofu again (which M calls seaweed). Baby I also really liked it.

I didn't have enough bok choy for this: we got only one small head of bok choy in our box this week. To make up for that, I added broccoli. In retrospect, I thought I should have added some thinly matchsticked carrots as well. Like any stir-fry, you can substitute whatever vegetables you have for those you don't. I think next time I may try adding the tofu before the bok choy as well.


Japanese Noodles with Bok Choy and Tofu
adapted from Bon Appetit

1/4 c soy sauce
2 T balsamic vinegar
2 T honey
2 T oriental sesame oil
8 green onions, chopped
2 lg garlic cloves, minced
1 T minced, peeled fresh ginger
2 heads bok choy, bottom third discarded, leaves thickly sliced (or substitute/add broccoli)
12 - 16 oz extra firm tofu, pressed, and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
12 oz udon noodles, freshly cooked

Whisk soy sauce, vinegar, honey, and 1 T sesame oil in a small bowl to blend. Heat remaining 1 T oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions, garlic, and finger and stir 30 seconds. Add bok choy (and other vegetables--if using carrots, add before bok choy) and saute until it begins to wilt, about 2 minutes. Mix in tofu, then noodles and sauce. Stir to coat noodle mixture with sauce. Cook until tofu and noodles are heated through. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Salmon with Bok Choy

the before picture

M hasn't been thrilled with my meals lately. This is due mostly to the fact that she doesn't like leafy greens. I made this meal with her in mind, wanting a meal she would love.

Love she did. I can't go wrong with fish and that girl, even if the fish rests on a nice bed of bok choy. She didn't eat the bok choy, but she sure enjoyed the salmon! Everyone else enjoyed this meal too, Curtis and I liked having the bok choy all to ourselves.

This is an easy weeknight meal, but presents fancy since it is fish sitting on a bed of something. I didn't have hoisin sauce, so I substituted soy sauce. This proportions will serve 4.

Salmon with Bok Choy
adapted from Bon Appetit

2 heads bok choy (or however much you have), well rinsed and separated
1 lb of salmon, cut into 4 pieces
2 T fresh orange juice
1 green onion, thinly sliced (optional)
1 T hoisin sauce (or 2 t soy sauce)
1 t fresh ginger, peeled and minced
1/2 t finely grated orange peel
1/4 c fresh cilantro leaves

Form a bed of bok choy in the center of 4 12-inch pieces of foil. Top bok choy with fish. Mix orange juice, green onion, hoisin, ginger, and orange peel in a small bowl. Spoon mixture over fish, dividing equally. Sprinkle with salt. Top with cilantro. Fold up foil sides and pinch tightly to seal above fish and at both ends of the packets, enclosing contents completely. Place packets on baking sheet and bake in a preheated 425 oven for 12 - 14 minutes, or until fish is just opaque in the center. Serve with rice.

the not as great, after picture

Mizutaki

My grandparents lived in Japan for a year (or two?) working in a school there. One of the things we gained from that experience was the festive dish of Skiyaki. I found this recipe a year ago. It is similar to skiyaki in that it is a communal meal--a hot pot in the center of the table to cook the food in. However, the cooking sauce is water and seaweed based instead of soy sauce based which reduces the salt considerably! I also like how this recipe uses more ingredients that may be found in Japanese cuisine instead of our very, very Americanized version.

All the work of this meal takes place in cutting the food for eating and making the dipping sauce. When it's time to eat, new ingredients as the old ingredients get eaten right out of the pot! It's a fun, festive, healthy meal. This time of the year, a lot of the ingredients can be found at the farmer's market. We used our leftover vegetables the next evening (mushrooms and leeks) on top of a pizza. We sat the kids at the end of the table, farthest away from the hot pot to prevent them from burning themselves. They both loved it. M especially liked the shrimp.

Mizutaki
Dipping Sauce
1/2 c fresh lime juice
2/3 c tamari soy sauce
1 T sake (or mirin)
1/2 c daikon, finely grated
2 t ginger root, peeled and finely grated
1/2 c chopped scallions

Liquid for hot pot
3 c water
8 -inch piece of dried konbu

Ingredients for cooking in hot pot
2 medium bok choy, cuting 2 inch pieces
4 bunches scallions, cut into 2-inch pieces
3 leeks, well rinsed, tender white parts cut into rings 1/4" wide
1 pound mushrooms, sliced
1/2 pound spinach, washed and stemmed (we omitted and just used more bok choy)
1 cake tofu, pressed and cut into 1/2" cubes (I may or may not use next time....)
1 pound scallops
1/2 pound shrimp, shelled and deveined

4 - 6 servings of cooked rice

Slice and prepare vegetables, putting each a separate bowl. Prepare tofu and seafood, putting each in separate bowl. Refrigerate until everything is ready to cook.

For the dipping sauce, combine the lime juice, soy sauce, and sake in a saucepan and heat on low heat. In each of four individual bowls (or however many people that are eating--this will comfortably feed 4 - 6 adults), put 1 T grated daikon, 1/4 t of grated ginger root, and 1 T chopped scallions. To each bowl add 3 T of soy sauce mixture. Some extra dipping suace and garnishes will be left to freshen each bowl during the meal.

In a large shallow pan on a hot plate (or I've found a large electric skillet works great!) in the center of the table, heat the water and konbu until it begins to boil. Let it boil slowly for 2 minutes. Remove the konbu. During the meal, heat more water in the microwave to boiling and add to the skillet as needed. (The electric skillet should be set to around 250 degrees).

Once everyone is seated, beging cooking, adding the scallops and shrimp first, then the leeks and tofu, then the bok choy and mushrooms, then the scallions, and finally, just when everything is ready to eat, add the spinach.

To eat, remove desired ingredients from hot pot, dip into dipping sauce and put on top of rice (in a small bowl for each guest). Keep adding and removing ingredients as long as everyone is still hungry.

Salmon Bulgogi with Vegetables

We liked this pretty well. M loved the fish and I thought the vegetables and glaze/sauce was pretty yummy. Curtis liked it as well. J had to be coerced to eat (he would rather just drink milk for supper), but he did eat rice with the glaze and fish once he realized he was not going to be allowed to drink milk for supper. I found this recipe on Epicurious and pretty much followed the recipe with the exception of omitting the chili-garlic sauce (avoiding spicy so M would eat it).

Sesame Beef Stir-Fry (again)

I got a late start on supper tonight due to a little accident (no big deal, no stitches for anyone required), but this supper lent itself better to be started late than others. The beef just got to marinate longer. Again, we loved this meal. This time around M ate a couple of servings as well. For the recipe, click here. Something I did slightly different this time was that I added the bok choy stems with the bell peppers and the leaves at the very end (as the recipe suggests). You can't go wrong with this meal.

Scallion Crepes with Bok Choy, Braised Root Vegetables, and Hazelnut Crisps

Tonight's meal was out of one of my library books---Local Flavors by Deborah Madison. Of the three things I made, the scallion crepes were by far the most work--the other two were simple (the hazelnut crisps are not pictured).

A little overview about how I jigsawed prep for this meal together. The hazelnut crisps (cookies) need to chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour, so I mixed those up first. Then I prepared the crepe batter and let it sit for awhile. As the crepe batter sat, I got the braised root vegetables started. While they cooked (they have a 15 minute cook time at one point), I cooked the crepes and the crepe filling. Yep. My kitchen was crazy busy. It was a disaster area when I finished, but it mostly fell together. I think if you make a single recipe (I doubled the recipe because we were having friends over), the timing would be just right. Also, if you son decided to nap when he should instead of 4:15, supper also probably would be ready on time. Since I have 3 recipes, I will write them out in more typical recipe form (and let me know if you would prefer that in the future or if the narrative is preferable) to make things a little clearer. At the end, as usual, I will include reflections on the meal.

Hazelnut Crisps
1 c hazelnuts
1 T sugar
1/2 c unsalted butter
1/2 c brown sugar, packed
1/2 t salt
1 t vanilla
1 egg yolk
1 1/4 c flour

Toast the hazelnuts: in a preheated 350 oven, roast the hazelnuts on a cookie sheet for 10 minutes. Remove them from the oven and put them in the center of a clean dishtowel. Wrap up in the dish towel and roll them around to help loosen skins. Remove as many skins as possible, but if you don't get them all, that's ok. Grind the hazelnuts in a food processor with 1 T sugar until fine, but leave a few chunks scattered throughout. In a mixer, cream the butter, brown sugar, and salt until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and beat. Stir in the hazelnuts and flour. Roughly shape the dough into a log and wrap in wax paper. Run the dough through your fingers to lengthen and create a log about 1 1/2" in diameter. Refrigerate for at least an hour. Cut the log into 1/4 - 1/3 inch thick slices and place on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 350 until lightly browned on top (about 15 minutes). For something that reminds you of a nutella cookie, melt some chocolate chips in the microwave and partially dip the cookies in the chocolate.

Scallion Crepes
3 large eggs
1 T sesame oil
1 T canola oil
1 c water
3/4 c milk
1/2 t salt
1 c flour
1 bunch scallions, sliced very thin on the diagonal
14 c toasted sesame seeds

Filling
6 (or more) baby bok choy leaves, cut lengthwise into quarters
1 c snow peas, slivered diagonally
sea salt
canola oil

Combine eggs, sesame oil, vegetable oil, water, milk and salt in a blender of food processor on high speed. Add the flour and blend again for 10 seconds, scrape down sides and blend again briefly. Pour into a bowl and set aside to rest. Heat a 9-inch nonstick pan (about 7 1/2 inches at the base. Size does matter. If you use a smaller or larger pan, use less or more batter for each crepe) with vegetable oil. When the pan is the hot, add 1/3 c batter and swirl around the pan. Scatter some scallions and sesame seeds over top and cook until golden on the bottom, about one minute. Loosen the crepe, flip it over and cook the other side until it's dry, then slide onto a plate. Repeat process until all batter is used, stacking them on top of each other. Wrap the crepes in foil and keep warm in a preheated 250 oven until the vegetables are ready. For the vegetables, bring a wide nonstick skillet of water to a simmer. Add the salt and the bok choy. Simmer for 2 minutes, and then drain. Return the skillet to the stove and heat to high. Add the canola oil and then the bok choy and snow peas. Stir-fry until crisp-tender and bright green. Season with salt. To serve, roll up some vegetables in a crepe. Add a little soy sauce if desired.

Young Root Vegetable Braise
1 bunch scallions (or 4 slender leeks), sliced
2 full grown carrots (or 6 small young ones), julieneed
12 little turnips (if larger, peel), halved (and quartered if larger)
1 bunch radishes, halved (and quartered if larger)
sea salt
2 T unsalted butter
2 T finely chopped parsley
1 T fresh lemon juice

Bring 6 c of water to boil with 1 1/2 t salt. Blanch the carrots, turnips, and radishes for 7 minutes, then scoop out and set aside, saving the cooking water Melt 1 T butter in a saute pan. Add the scallions (or leeks) and cook over medium heat for about 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Add 1/2 c of the vegetable cooking water, the blanched vegetables, half of the herbs, and 1/2 t salt. Simmer until the vegetables are fully tender, 10 - 15 minutes,a dding water in 1/3 c increments to prevent sticking. There should be a little sauce. Add the remaining butter and lemon juice. Raise the heat and swirl the pan back and forth until the butter has melted into the juice. Remove from the heat and add the rest of the herbs. Serve.

Reflections
This meal was very tasty! I have learned from the crepe master (Curtis) that I make the crepes too thick. His were much thinner, but he said the batter was perfect. I need to take lessons from him (he's made just a few crepes in his life---it's one of his hidden talents). Next time I will double or triple the amount of veggies or else make different fillings to go in the crepes--we ran out of filling before we ran out of crepes. The root vegetables were incredible. I now know what I am going to do with all the radishes and occasional turnips we've been getting in our box. In a couple of months when we are also getting carrots and leeks, this meal will be even more locally made than it was tonight. The cookies were great as well, especially dipped in chocolate. M and J liked the crepes (I left the scallions and sesame seeds out for them). M ate the greens, J did not. Neither ate the root vegetables, but we didn't really push it much because we had company (who incidently brought mashed potatoes so M was more than happy to eat those). The crepes were the only time consuming portion, but I think if I plan better next time, it won't feel quite as hectic and stressful.

In the CSA box today

The farm got their first freeze on Saturday so that means the end is near for eggplant and bell peppers. Yippee!!!

In the box:
Tatsoi (laying down in picture)
Bok Choy (standing up in picture)
Kale
Butterhead Lettuce
Radishes
Butternut squash
Small bag of hot peppers
3 bell peppers
1 eggplant
1 dozen eggs (gotta start baking--I'm up to 25 again. That's ok. I plan on using at least 8 eggs tomorrow!)

Egg Foo Yung Omelet

It took me forever to decide on supper tonight. I am not kidding, but it took about 2 hours of scavenging through cookbooks and recipes online before I finally found something that both looked good and I had the ingredients for (thankfully J took a long nap and M was entertaining herself as I sent myself on my almost wild goose chase). I ended up finding egg foo yung omelets.

I still had some bok choy left from last week which amazingly had not gone bad. It was a little wilted, but since I was cooking it I wasn't too worried about it (and I am ignoring the fact that lots of its valuable nutrients had left too). The omelet was pretty easy. I thinly sliced about 1/2 c onion, 1 small bell pepper (I used an orange one--the color and sweetness was nice), and a small head of bok choy (about 1 - 1 1/2 c worth). From the bok choy I used both the stems and the leaves. I heated some olive oil in a black skillet (about 8 -10 inches or so, it actually matters in this recipe), and cooked the veggies for 7 minutes with the cover on, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables were tender. While the vegetables cooked, I whisked together 5 eggs, 1 T soy sauce, 1 T water and 1 t ginger. I also combined 1 T cornstarch in 1 c of water and the added 1 T soy sauce and few drops of sesame oil to that. The cornstarch/water/soy sauce mixture I transferred to small pan on the stove and attempted to thicken it (my cornstarch thickening skills leave a lot to be desired) by bringing it to a boil and then simmering until it was clear and thickened. (I ran out of patience before that happened so our sauce was rather runny, but still good!). I poured the eggs over the tender vegetables, covered and slightly reduced heat and let the eggs cook, about 5 - 10 minutes. To serve, I removed the eggs from the skillet and topped with the soy sauce mixture.

Curtis and I really enjoyed it. J liked it pretty well too. M has been unusually picky about food lately so we were not surprised that she didn't eat any of it. I also served leftover poultry pasta primavera with the meal. I discovered that the soy sauce on top of that is also very tasty!

Sun-Dried Tomato Tortellini Soup and Oven Cheese Fondue

I really only needed to make the soup, but I have so many eggs in my refrigerator...I wanted to get rid of a few. It was a soup type of day, so I decided to just make both. I also made Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cakes (a Paula Deen absolutely terrible for you, based off of processed foods type of recipe. I peeled and cooked my huge butternut squash this afternoon. I just put enough water so that the squash wouldn't stick to the bottom of the pot and simmered it until the squash was very tender. Then I pureed the squash, omitting the juice at the bottom of the pan to achieve the right consistency, until the squash was smooth. I measured out 1 3/4 c which is equal to 1 15-oz can of canned pumpkin. I had enough left over afterwards for about 2 more cans worth. Yippee!!).

The soup was pretty easy to make. I sauteed 1 c chopped onion, 1 carrot sliced 1/4" thick, 2 minced cloves of garlic, and the chopped stems of one small bunch of baby bok choy (about 1/2 c I think...) for about 5 minutes. I added 5 c chicken broth (frozen from a much earlier chicken), 2 c water, 1/2 c chopped sun-dried tomatoes (dry packed--not packed in oil), 1/2 t dried basil, 1/4 t black pepper, and bay leaf and brought the soup to a boil. I simmered until I was about 10 minutes away from being ready to eat (in other words, I simmered it until whenever Curtis got home). At that point, I added approximately 2 c chopped baby bok choy leaves (regular bok choy would work fine, I just had the baby bok choy), and 1 1/2 c fresh cheese tortellini--about one 8 oz package of fresh tortellini. I simmered for 7 minutes (or maybe a little less) until the tortellini was al dente. If you use dried tortellini (found in the pasta aisle), increase the liquid significantly. The cooking time will also increase because it takes longer for dry pasta to absorb liquid (and it will continue to absorb liquid for a day or so).

I definitely recommend using fresh tortellini. It is more expensive, but it is so much better in the soup. I had forgotten how much I love this soup until I had it again tonight. It was a hit with both Curtis and I. J wasn't terribly interested in supper---he ate the oven cheese fondue, but we couldn't convince him to even taste the pasta. Maybe for lunch tomorrow. M's flu was back today and she opted for homemade applesauce for supper (we're following the BRATY diet right now...).

For the oven cheese fondue: Beat 5 eggs (which is why I made this recipe) until they are lemon colored. Add 1 t salt, a dash of pepper, and 2- 3 c grated cheddar cheese and mix well. Add 2 1/2 c hot milk and 1 quart (about 4 slices) cubed bread. Pour into greased 7 x 11" baking pan or a casserole dish. Bake in preheated 325 oven for 30 minutes (for a 7 x 11" pan. A casserole dish will take between 45 - 60 minutes depending on how thick the mixture is). Top with chopped parsley just before serving.

Like I said, J loved this part of the meal. I don't think I cooked it long enough, but Curtis also still liked it ok (he said he would have liked it better if I cooked it longer). I used whole wheat bread instead of the white bread I am used to using and that changed the texture of the bread considerably. I didn't particularly like how this turned out. I don't know if it was the whole wheat bread, the slightly undercooking it, or just not liking it tonight.

Sesame Beef Stir-Fry

I dug into the CSA box this evening for supper. Mmmm....It's been a while since we've had stir-fry so this was especially tasty. For the meat, I used New York Strip steak because I didn't have any flank steak in the freezer. It made very tender meat and thankfully, Curtis didn't complain at all that I used a steak for stir-fry.

To make this recipe, I thinly sliced 1 lb of beef (New York strip steak or flank steak) and marinaded it for an hour in 1 T toasted sesame seeds, 1/4 c soy sauce, 2 T sesame oil, 2 T sugar, 1 minced green onion, and 2 minced cloves garlic. After the beef marinaded for an hour, I began stir-frying the meal. It is easiest to make if everything is chopped before you start cooking. In a large skillet, I heated 1 T sesame oil and then stir-fried 3 minced cloves of garlic for 2 minutes (if you choose to use fresh ginger, also include 1 1/2 T fresh minced ginger at this time). Add the beef and 1 t ginger and stir fry for 4 minutes. Add 4 c of sliced bell pepper strips and stir fry 2 more minutes. Combine 1/4 c water and 2 - 3 T soy sauce. Add to stir fry along with 4 c thinly sliced bok choy (use both stems and leaves). Cook 1 minute or until bok choy wilts. Remove from heat, stir in sesame seeds and serve on rice.

If you want a thicker sauce, increase the water to 1/2 c of cold water and stir in 1 T cornstarch and 3 T soy sauce. Stir into stir-fry and stir constantly until mixture thickens.

Everyone ate this meal. Curtis, J and I loved it. M really liked the meat, but picked out the bok choy and bell peppers.

In the CSA box today

As the rain is here and the weather turns cooler, I think fall may actually come to our area soon. Looking inside our CSA box today was another reminder that 80's and 90's temperatures may soon be gone!

The summer vegetables are waning---less squash and cucumbers and the fall veggies are showing up. The boxes are full again, leafy greens take up lots of space! There are several photos today because some of the produce are not your common everyday school cafeteria lunch variety.

In the box (M helped inventory by counting and sorting):
a dozen eggs (which brings my grand total of eggs in the fridge to 20!!)
a bunch of bok choy (plus a second bunch I got from the trade box--pictured at top)
bunch of basil
bunch of kale (I am guessing between 1/2 lb and a 1 lb)
three kohlrabi (the second picture down)
6 eggplant of various colors, shapes and sizes (third picture down)
a bulb of garlic
6 bell peppers of varied colors
a butternut squash
2 cucumbers (not the best looking)
1 summer squash
hot peppers (left in trade box)
okra (left in trade box)

I am glad I left the menu for today and tomorrow open! Tonight for supper we are having Sesame Beef stir fry using bok choy and bell peppers. Tomorrow night we are going to have a soup/stew using kale. I need to check the recipes to see what other things I need. If I can, I'll include the kohlrabi in the kale recipe.

A brief description of kohlrabi--it's a root vegetable. I have recipes for it using it as substitute of sorts for potatoes in a kohlrabi salad (that highly resembles a potato salad). I also use it chicken pot pie and a main dish with edamame (soy beans). I don't know a lot about it, but have found it tolerable to eat.

A Substitute Dinner

Yesterday's CSA box influenced me to change tonight dinner plans.  I am glad I did.  I did have to make a short stop at the grocery store to accommodate the change of plans (and new batch of Baba Ganoush).  I picked up:  tahini, ramen noodles (yeah, I know processed food), rye flour, lemons and evaporated milk.

Tonight's dinner?  Tomato Quiche and a Bok Choy Salad.  The tomato quiche was a little more time intensive than some meals, but I gave a lot of time to make it so I could deal with whatever kid incidents occurred in the process.

I made my own pie crust for the quiche.  This took a little more time, but pie crusts are one of those things that after you make a few times go quite quickly.  I use a very basic pie crust recipe (for 9" pie pan).  I use 1 c of flour.  I cut 1/3 c butter into small pieces and then use a pastry cutter to mix with the flour (and then my fingers when I get impatient with the pastry cutter).  Once the butter is pea size, I add 2 T of water, a little at a time to the mixture until I can form a ball with my hands.  You can add more water if you need it, but the less water you use, the flakier the pie crust.  I transfered the crust to a 9" pie pan and then baked in a  preheated 375 degree oven for 10 minutes.

The filling was easier.  I spread 2 c of diced tomatoes on the baked pie crust.  I sprinkled 1 T basil on top, plus 1 t salt, a little pepper, and 1/2 t of sugar.  On top of the tomatoes, I spread 1 c of cheese (I used a white and yellow cheddar combo, the recipe called for a Swiss cheese and cheddar mix).  In a separate bowl, I mixed together 1 c evaporated milk, 2 eggs, and 2 T flour.  I poured that on top of the cheese and baked at in a preheated 452 degree oven for 30 minutes (or until the eggs are set).

I made the bok choy salad while the quiche baked.  I diced 2 small heads of bok choy (I don't like using the stems when I make salad, but you can try and see if you like them.  In cooked recipes they are quite good).  I toasted 2 T sesame seeds and 1/2 c slivered almonds in a small pan on the stove (just until they smelled really fragrant).  I mixed the nuts/seeds with a package of ramen (uncooked and broken up).  I put about half of the ramen mixture on the bok choy.  For the dressing, I mixed together 1/4 c extra virgin olive oil, 1 T soy sauce and 2 T lemon juice.  I served the dressing on the side.

Family review of the meal?  Everyone liked the quiche (M wouldn't eat the crust, but she is currently on a "I don't like crusts" kick).  Curtis and I enjoyed the salad (and ate it all up!).