CSA Week 8

 Over the weekend I got to meet this little guy:

Our friends Jonathan and Kerry had their baby two weeks ago and he is perfect! So happy and so peaceful.  So cute!

Last week I made one dish that was sooo delicious I had to share it.  It didn't use any of my fresh produce but it was what I was craving.  Have you ever tried the Burrito Bowls at Chipotle?  This was my take on that Burrito Bowl.  You start with:

Burrito Bowls

Ingredients:

1 Can Black Beans

1 Can Diced Tomatoes with Chili

1 Package of Microwaveable Brown Rice

1 Large Onion, diced

2 Tomatoes, Diced

3 Chicken Breasts cut into 1 inch pieces

Chili Powder, Salt, Pepper

1/2 Cup Cheddar Cheese

Handful of Tortilla Chips, crumbled

Instructions:

All you do is this: Microwave the rice, saute onions, black beans and the Ro*tel Crushed Tomatoes together.  Then cut chicken in inch size pieces and brown up with salt, pepper and chili powder.  Cook two ears of corn (in a pinch, I microwave them in the husks using the fresh vegetable setting on my microwave). Then cut the corn off the cob. Then start the layering process.  Put a 1/2 cup of rice in a bowl, followed by the onion, bean, tomato mixture, corn mixture and followed by the chicken.  Crunch up some tortilla chips and some cheddar cheese and mix it together. And dinner is served.

Quick easy and painless. And much fresher than Chipotle! This is so easy, anyone can make this!

Last Wednesday (yes I realize I am a week behind) I got my CSA:

Tomatoes

Onions

Kale

Green Beans

Romaine Lettuce

Peaches

Plums

Cucumber

Zucchini

Corn

Eggplant

Pea Shoots

One of my favorite meals I made this week with my farm fresh produce was a Vegetable Torte.  This recipe was originally inspired by Barefoot Contessa but then I got more inspired by Mark Bittman.  Basically the point of this torte is to roast a bunch of summer vegetables and then layer them together in a cake pan with cheese, salt and pepper, basil and olive oil.

Vegetable Torte
Ingredients:
1large eggplant, cut into 1/4-inch slices
4 medium zucchini or yellow squash, cut into 1/4-inch slices 
1 large onion, red or white, sliced 
2 large tomatoes
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, or more as needed
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2  cut into 1/4-inch slices
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup freshly grated Cheddar Cheese
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

 Instructions:
Heat oven to 400 degrees. You can either grill or roast the veggie, I roasted. {Put a grill pan over medium-high heat, or prepare a grill; the heat should be medium-high, and the rack about 4 inches from flame. Brush eggplant, zucchini lightly with half the oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper;} If roasting, grease 2 baking sheets with oil. Roast or grill vegetables on both sides until soft. Coat bottom and sides of 8-inch springform pan with oil. Layer a third of the eggplant slices into bottom of the pan, then layer in half the zucchini, tomato, garlic and basil, sprinkling each layer with a bit of salt and pepper. Repeat layers until all vegetable are used. Press the top with a spatula or spoon to make the torte as compact as possible. Sprinkle top with cheese and bread crumbs, and drizzle with about 1 tablespoon oil. Bake torte in oven until hot throughout and browned on top, about 30 minutes. Let sit for 5 minutes before removing outer ring of pan, then let cool for another 10 minutes before cutting into wedges.

 This was a beautiful dish, but I'm not going to lie to you.  It completely fell apart when I served it.

With this dish, I made a Cobb Salad using my romaine lettuce, tomatoes, onions and cucumber from my CSA with Grilled Chicken, Avocado, Bacon and Cheddar Cheese bought from my local grocery store.

Last night I took the tart that I had already cooked on Monday and put the layers in a small casserole dish and added more cheese and baked it for 15 minutes until it was hot and the cheese had melted.

Then I took the leftovers from that and made wraps for todays lunch.  Yep, one dish. Three uses. 

And that's enough for one day.  Happy Hump Day!