Sauteed Green Beans

This summer, I’ve gotten quite a few green beans in my CSA boxes. As a kid, I really didn’t like green beans. I’ve learned to like them as an adult, but I still wasn’t sure what to do with so many green beans! I did make the delicious warm green bean salad back in August, but I have also been experimenting with quick and easy ways to make green beans as a side dish. My favorite so far is to sautee them. It’s very simple yet tasty!

Serves: 2 as a side

Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• green beans– however many you expect to eat. About 2 cups is good for 2 people. Snap the ends off and wash them before you begin.
• 1 Tbsp olive oil (I like to use flavor-infused olive oil to add interest. Lemon olive oil is one of my favorites)
• bowl of ice water
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1) Bring a pot of water to a boil. You need enough so that the green beans will be completely submerged. Add a pinch of salt.

2) Add the green beans to the boiling water and boil for about 2 minutes. The green beans will be bright green.

3) Drain and immediately dump the green beans into the bowl of ice water. Let it sit while you heat up a tablespoon of olive oil in a nonstick skillet.

4) When the olive oil is hot, drain the green beans again and dry off as best you can. Put the green beans in the skillet. Stir a bit as you sautee them. You want them hot and a bit crispy. This takes around 5 minutes.

5) Remove from heat and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!

Corn Fritters

This is the last post (for now!) in my Southern-inspired recipe series. The past month or so, I’ve been getting corn EVERY week in my CSA box. I love corn as much as anyone, but I can only eat so much boiled corn on the cob. SO—I’ve been experimenting!! These are corn fritters. Not so healthy perhaps, but interesting and different compared to how we usually eat corn here in the North. Not to mention they are delicious!

adapted from Taste of the Lowcountry

Serves: 6-8 as a side or appetizer

Time: about 30 minutes total

Ingredients:

• 3 ears corn, kernels cut off and cob scraped with the back of a knife to release its juices
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup grits
• 2 Tbsp baking powder
• 2 Tbsp flour
• 2 or 3 green onions, sliced
• canola oil
• salt

Directions:

1. Whisk together the egg and milk. Add grits, baking powder, and flour. Stir and then add corn, juice from the cobs, and green onions. Stir to combine.

2. In a nonstick pan, pour oil just to cover the bottom. Put over medium heat until hot (shimmering, a pinch of flour sizzles when you drop it in). Use a tablespoon to pick up some batter and drop it into the oil. After a few minutes, flip the fritters. You want them to be golden brown on both sides. When they are done, carefully remove them from the pan and let them dry a bit on paper towels. Lightly sprinkle with salt. Enjoy!

Eggplant Pizzas

When I got the eggplant from my CSA recently, I was kind of at a loss about what to do with it. I have the great Eggplant Rollatini recipe, which I love, but I didn’t have the other ingredients I needed and I didn’t have the time or the inclination to get them. With school starting I’ve switched into quick-and-easy mode, at least during the week!! So I did a quick Google search and I came upon the idea of making mini-eggplant pizzas! They are SO quick, easy, and delish!!

Mini Eggplant Pizzas

Time: about 10 minutes prep, 20 minutes cooking

Serves: about 4 appetizer portions, depending on the size of your eggplant

Ingredients:

• 1 medium or small eggplant
• shredded mozzarella cheese (the amount is up to you, but I probably used about 3/4 cup shredded)
• tomato sauce (again, the amount will vary depending on your eggplant. Maybe 1/2-3/4 cup total)
• olive oil spray
• Italian seasoning

Directions:

1. Spray a cookie sheet with olive oil spray. Preheat the oven to 375. I tried a few in my toaster oven and some in my regular oven, and they worked well in both types. Slice your eggplant into rounds. You don’t want them to be TOO thin, because then they will be floppy and impossible to pick up. Just use a knife and slice them about 1/2 inches thick.

2. Place the eggplant slices in one layer on the cookie sheet. Bake the eggplant for about 8-10 minutes, flipping halfway.

3. Take a small spoonful of tomato sauce and spread it on each eggplant round. Sprinkle a little Italian seasoning on each.

4. Sprinkle a little (or a lot!) of shredded mozzarella on each slice.

5. Put the cookie sheet back into the oven and cook for about 6-8 more minutes, until the cheese has melted.

Enjoy!!!

 

CSA Updates

You may or may not know that I’m a teacher by day (and food blogger by night!) So now that we’re back into the school year, I haven’t been able to find time to post. I’m hoping to get back into a routine and make time to write. I’m starting to feel like I’m really getting back into the swing of things at work, which is great. The thing about teaching is every school year it can feel like you’re starting over, which is both a good and a bad thing!

Over the past few weeks I’ve been receiving more great CSA boxes! I haven’t picked mine up yet for this week, but here are pictures from the past couple weeks.

Highlights from two weeks ago:

• I got a watermelon! I cut it up into manageable chunks and gave some away. I still have some in my fridge, and I’m planning to experiment with a watermelon & feta salad soon.
• eggplant: I ended up making eggplant pizzas with this, which were great! If you follow me on Instagram (see the link at the right), you already saw pictures of this. I’m planning to write it up into a blog post soon.
• more green beans, tomatoes, and fruit!

Last week:

Last week’s box was great. As you can see, I got:

• corn (gave some away and made some corn salsa!)
• potatoes
• nectarines (Love them raw!)
• cherry bomb peppers (stuffed these with ricotta and goat cheese, then baked them. Yum)
• cherry tomatoes (made a great pasta dish from Cooking Light)
• 2 random peppers (Hungarian Hot and Anaheim) (froze some for jelly, plus used some in the corn salsa)
• red bell pepper (froze this for jelly or anything else)
• 2 apples
• a red onion (used in the corn salsa)
• 2 heads of broccoli

It’s been fun seeing the new things I’ve been getting as the summer produce ends and fall begins!