Nourish Community: You win some you lose some

My kitchen is full of winners and losers. A couple weeks ago the kids threw up a white flag...even these two little eat-anything munchkins finally (very sweetly I might add) said they just couldn't eat the baked eggplant I served. They played by the rules and tried it first, but I could tell by their faces (and my husband's) that we were having cheerios and buttered tortillas in about 2 minutes.

I am always trying out new recipes and using the family as the guinea pigs. They are a great audience and very kind to the cook! As with all creative outlets..there are winners and losers!

This week many of the CSA items happen to work into many of my "winners" and I'm hoping you'll enjoy them too.

This weeks harvest: from the CSA is baby purple Russian kale, Swiss chard, parsley, butternut squash, pumpkin, mixed greens, apples, tangerine, Meyer lemon,avocado

Confessions:
I'm a a terrible egg cracker - and I crack a lot of eggs, but no matter how often I do it I find myself picking shells out of something a couple times a week.

I often times have to read a recipe repeatedly in order to actually get everything pulled together correctly and even then I'll pick up whole milk instead of whole milk yogurt here and there.

I play and substitute a lot - it's all about using what's on hand.

I made some homemade vegetable stock with the stuff I had laying around...I put into recycled glass jars and filled them to the top like a dummy - they cracked in the freezer and were a big (well intentioned) MESS!

Recent Winners;
Lemony Olive Oil Banana Bread

Although Anthony and the boys think the name is miss-leading and is better than the name sounds...they suggested lemony-tart-sweet banana bread or Mommy's yummy banana bread. Either way Hedi Swanson shares another a great recipe in her blog 101cookbooks.com. this was a big hit and a great Holiday treat! This was HUGE success Very yummy!

Uses: Lemons

Stewed Apples
I served this with Shrimp and Stone Ground Grits. It's really delicious and fun to make with the Butternut Squash. The kids liked it - even my 5 month old niece :)

Uses: Butternut Squash

There was a lot of "juice" leftover from the Hawaiian Style Ribs crock pot recipe (previous blog "Playing in Passion"). I froze it in an egg tray, popped them out and saved them in the freezer in a zip lock. It makes for quick, deep, Asian flavors in some brown rice or as a side sauce or on veggies anytime.

On the Fence
Sweet Persimmons Bread (Previous blog: "Fun with Vegetables")
This was a nice use of the persimmons but very sweet.

Winter Minestrone (Previous Blog: Stuffed Pumpkin)
I used a branch (oops!) of rosemary instead of a small twig so it over powered this soup, but I think if I scale back the rosemary it will be good.

Uses; Swiss Chard