Vegetables: Cucumber, green onion, tomato, broccoli, kale, cauliflower
We ate the blackberries immediately and are gradually eating the nectarines, plums, bananas and mangoes. My sous chef cut up the Crenshaw into bite size pieces. What is a Crenshaw you ask? Well when a mommy honeydew and a daddy cantaloupe love each other very very much, they produce a Crenshaw. Seriously, if you close your eyes you aren't quite sure what you are eating. It is DELICIOUS!
My almost-college daughter said she likes cutting up vegetables so we think maybe she will be a sous chef someday. She has problems with baking and cooking sometimes so a sous chef would be a great job for her to have. So, sous chef then cut up the broccoli (which we used in Broccoli Beef for Sunday dinner) and cauliflower for easy snacking. I cut up the green onion and put it in a Ziploc bag in the fridge and used some in the Orange Chicken for Sunday dinner.
Oh, and while prepping all the food yesterday I made Kale Chips. Found the recipe here: Kale Chips
So we had Broccoli Beef & Orange Chicken with rice and the leftover Crenshaw fruit cut up. It was a most delicious dinner and with the help of my 16-year-old son, who loves to help me cook and the help of my neighbor that had vegetable oil for me to borrow (sometimes my prepared pantry is missing an item) we ate in mighty fine style.
As we were prepping the food yesterday, my girl said that since starting the bountiful baskets we eat healthier than we did before. She said she loves having the fresh food on hand. I agree. See if your neighborhood has a Bountiful Basket co-op!
Posts
Bountiful Baskets is such a great organization. It's fun when you get something you've never used before. Like fennel. What the heck do you do with fennel?
ReplyDeleteI used fennel for the BEST dish yesterday!
ReplyDeletePotatoes Au Gratin with Fennel and Bacon
Servings: 8
1 pound sliced bacon
5 tablespoons butter
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 1/2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
salt and ground black pepper to taste
1 pinch ground nutmeg
2 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
2 pounds potatoes, thinly sliced
1 large fennel bulb, trimmed and diced
2 tablespoon dried basil
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Fry bacon in a large skillet until browned. Drain on paper towels. Chop or crumble, and set aside.
2. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour until smooth and starting to bubble. Gradually whisk in milk while stirring constantly so that no lumps form. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened, about 5 minutes. Season with white pepper, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Remove from the heat and stir in the cheese until smooth, adding a handful at a time. Set aside.
3. Use 1/3 of the potatoes to make a layer in the bottom of a greased 9x13 inch baking dish. Top with 1/3 of the fennel, 1/3 of the bacon and 1/3 of the basil. Pour about 1/3 of the cheese sauce over everything. Repeat layers two more times or until you run out of room. Cover the dish with a lid or aluminum foil.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 1 1/2 hours. Remove the cover during the last 30 minutes to allow the top to brown if desired.