Shannon Phillips

This week in our box we got: a butternut squash (nooooo!), carrots, cilantro, collard greens, lettuce, chard, three leeks, and six kiwis. I also have a cabbage, a big leek, three butternut squashes, and some potatoes left over from last week. I had trouble using everything up last week, partly because the elevator in our apartment is broken, making grocery shopping is a huge pain—wrestling a toddler, a stroller, and a bag of groceries up five flights of stairs is an experience I try to avoid.

Yesterday Robin and I walked to the park, which was nice, and then, when he wanted to stay there forever, I had to haul a kicking and screaming toddler all the way home and up the stairs, which was not nice at all. I’m not doing that again, so today we’re staying in, and Robin gets to play the ClickStart. Naturally, today is the first sunny day in a week. Maybe I’ll break down and try taking him for a shorter walk.

I never got around to making the butternut squash soup last week, meaning that I am now the not-very-proud owner of four squashes, and tonight would probably be an excellent time to make a couple of them into soup. We can have a salad too with the lettuce and carrots. Tomorrow, if the elevator is fixed, I’ll go looking for corned beef to cook with the cabbage and potatoes.

Last time I was at the store I noticed they had some okra—it was from Nicaragua, I think, so not local in the least, but if it’s still there I’ll break down and buy it so that I can cook it with tomatoes and cilantro for a lunch.

Friday we can have that polenta with chard recipe that I love, using a couple of the leeks; Saturday is cook’s night off; and Sunday I’ll plan to make pork chops smothered in collard greens and spicy gravy (I can work in the other leeks here too). And then I’m pretty sure we’ll have enough corned beef left over for Monday and Tuesday.

I’m strangely uninspired by this week’s vegetables, even though we got a bag of the most beautiful little dark-red fingerling potatoes, and I love potatoes. I also love cabbage, but we’ve seen a lot of it lately, so another two heads of cabbage in the box were not greeted with delight. The box also held two more butternut squashes, bringing my total to three since I was already burned out on squash and had one leftover from previous weeks. Three squashes. Bleh.

We also got carrots, collard greens, three leeks, a bag of bok choy (I’m sick of bok choy too!), a bunch of cilantro, and six oranges of astonishing color. (The color is orange, obvs, but it’s a remarkably deep and bright orange that I don’t trust the camera to capture.)

Last night I used half of the carrots and potatoes, and one of the cabbages, in a boiled vegetable dinner tossed with butter, salt, and crispy bacon bits. It was simple and good. Tonight I’m going to use the cilantro and make tacos. Tomorrow I’ll make some more butternut squash soup, with a salad on the side. The bok choy will go into a stir-fry over the weekend, and I might try and see if I can find corned beef at the grocery store to go with the rest of the potatoes, carrots, and cabbage. Then on Monday we’ll have collard greens and baked sweet potatoes. I’ll still have a couple of squashes left over, but that’s okay.

It’s been rain-rain-raining lately (which is all to the good, as we’ve had a three year drought and are facing water rationing this summer). Robin and I stayed inside the last two days and he’s been climbing the walls. Today we’ll suit up in our rain gear and head to the park. I’ll try and get some pictures of him in his cute froggie boots.

This week in our box we got broccoli, cabbage, kale, a bunch of carrots, two leeks, two heads of bok choy, a big butternut squash, five kiwis, and lots of little satsumas: Robin was thrilled with these, as last week’s navel oranges seemed a bit under-ripe, and he didn’t like them. He scarfed down about ten of the satsumas as soon as I took them out of the box, though.

Tonight I want to make caldo verde using the kale and leeks, and tomorrow night we’ll have pork chops along with squash and apple bake.

Saturday I’m playing D&D with friends, so dinner will be leftovers or delivery, but Sunday I’ll make Greek cabbage pie.

I’m planning to use the bok choy sauteed with garlic and stirred into some ramen as a quick-and-easy lunch for Robin and me. I was thinking the broccoli and carrots could go into Sam’s Mr. Bento as a lunch for him, along with some dip and crackers or bread.

So for Monday I’ll be free to make anything I feel like—I’ll try to stop by the fish counter and see what’s fresh. And then Tuesday we’ll eat up any leftovers from the week.

This week our box seemed stuffed especially full: we got collard greens, a small head of lettuce, two kinds of kale (dinosaur and purple), broccoli rabe, arugula, two heads of bok choy, two savoy cabbages, a huge butternut squash (In January? Really?), and eleven naval oranges.

I’m planning to tackle the kale first, in bulgur salad with kale, salami, and olives. I’ll use both kinds of kale to make it extra colorful. Tomorrow I have a doctor’s appointment to go to, so I want something quick and easy for dinner: I found a recipe on Cook’s Illustrated for a winter pesto incorporating parsley, arugula, and ricotta cheese, so I think I’ll try that over whole-wheat fusilli.

I have some leftover black-eyed peas, so I think I’ll make another pot of collard greens, bacon, and black-eyed peas on Friday. Maybe more cornbread too.

Saturday is my gaming day, so dinner will probably be leftovers: and then Sunday I’ll roast a chicken, and make a salad from the lettuce and broccoli. Then I can make stock from the bones for hot-and-sour soup with bok choy on Monday.

I’m going to try turning the cabbages into home-made sauerkraut (Alice Waters gives a recipe in the The Art of Simple Food that looks easy enough), and as for the squash, I know it will keep so I’m just going to kick that one down the line for a bit. We’ll eat the fruit straight, as usual, so that leaves only the broccoli rabe for Tuesday. I’m not sure it will keep in the crisper for that long, but assuming it still looks good, I’ll use it in either a frittata or a pasta dish.

This week in our box we got: a bag of walnuts in their shells, two butternut squashes (and just when I’d managed to cook the last one we had knocking around—I steamed it and mashed it up with some ginger last week), three leeks, a bunch of collard greens, a head of lettuce, one purple cabbage, six kiwis, two pounds of satsumas, and a bunch of carrots. I also have a bulb of fennel left over from last week.

The newsletter tucked into the box identifies the carrots particularly as Nantes carrots. I Googled that and learned: “Nantes Carrots are more popular in Europe than in North America. Though the flavour has been praised in North America, they are not grown commercially because they don’t store particularly well. They tend to split or crack when machine-harvested, and don’t survive shipping well.” So now I feel pleased with my unusual variety of carrots from our local farmers.

The newsletter also has this to say about purple cabbage: “During cultivation, purple cabbage changes its color according to the pH of the soil. On acidic soils, the leaves grow more reddish-purple while an alkaline soil will produce a greenish-yellow colored cabbage. This is because of pigment molecules called anthocyanins. On cooking, purple cabbage will normally turn blue. To retain the red/purple color it is necessary to add vinegar or acidic fruit to the pot.” So that’s interesting!

Tonight we’re having spaghetti carbonara with a salad of lettuce, fennel, and carrots. Tomorrow I’ll make black eyed peas with the leeks, collard greens, and some bacon, and probably some cornbread too. We’ll take the leftovers with us on Friday when we leave for Reno to spend the weekend with Nonna and Pappy and the anti-Sara, so that we can have the traditional Southern meal (which is really, according to Wikipedia, the traditional Jewish meal?) for good luck on New Year’s Day. We’ll be back Sunday night, so Monday we’ll have pork chops and sauteed purple cabbage (I’m going to watch closely to see if it turns blue!), and Tuesday butternut squash soup. The fruit as usual will be eaten straight, and as for the walnuts, I guess I’ll just put them into a bowl with a nutcracker and see what happens.

I hope everyone has a fun New Year’s Eve, and I wish you all good luck in the coming year!

Last week in our veggie box, we got—Nanita and Marqueño! Well, they didn’t arrive in the box, but with it. It was wonderful to see them, and as always, Robin luxuriated in their attention. I only wish the weather could have been better for their visit: it’s been rainy and cold. I think it actually got below freezing on a couple of days, which is a big deal for San Francisco. I don’t mind the rain—we’ve had a drought running for years, so the precipitation is really good—but I’ve become a delicate California flower in my ten years here, and I’m no longer equipped for freezing temperatures!

Still, it was a good week: in addition to getting to see my parents, we also had a birthday party for Sam that turned out to be a very nice chance to catch up with friends we haven’t seen in a while. Sam asked for “a pizza party with beer and party hats,” so that’s exactly what he got. I think it amused Sam very much when the waitress asked “who’s the birthday boy?”—obviously expecting it to be one of the three small kids around the table—and Sam got to say “Me!”

This week we’re continuing our social streak, hosting a Solstice party on Sunday. My good friend Matt, who’s gluten-intolerant, will be coming, so I’m trying to keep the majority of the menu wheat-free. It’s actually pretty easy given that any holiday feast centers around roasted beast and mashed potatoes. I’m thinking of getting fancy and having caviar with gluten-free blinis as an appetizer: there’s a local shop that offers “Sustainable California Caviar,” which I’ve had before and really enjoyed. Obviously it’s a big indulgence, but it’s been a couple of years since I last bought any caviar, so I think I can talk myself into it. For dessert I’ll make chocolate pots de creme, which are gluten-free without any tweaking.

Oh my god, speaking of holiday desserts, I also really need to get my fruitcakes started. Frankly I should have made them up right after Thanksgiving: the flavors get better the longer they sit.

I sort of feel like we ought to have a green vegetable on the table, but nothing in the box leaps out as good holiday feast fare: we got kale, leeks, broccoli, baby bok choy, lettuce, two cabbages, seven oranges, and six kiwis. I could make a salad, but I don’t think the lettuce will be at its best by Sunday. We also have a butternut squash still hanging around.

I think I’d better make the salad tonight. It’ll use up the carrots, and we have some leftover leek-and-broccoli rabe frittata that we can have with it. Tomorrow I’ll try out a new recipe for spaghetti with broccoli, garlic, and anchovies. Friday we’ll have kale, leek, and potato soup: Saturday I’m not cooking, so I hope we have leftovers. Sunday’s the big party, and I’m pretty sure we’ll be eating the leftovers for the rest of the week. I’ll just hope that Robin and I can eat the bok choy and the cabbages somewhere along the way—they’re the sort of thing that make a quick and easy lunch. The fruit, I’m not worried about!

This week’s meal plan may be nothing more than wishful thinking, because I’m still dealing with first-trimester fatigue and a touchy stomach, so there are nights when cooking seems absolutely impossible. Nevertheless I am going to draw up a varied and healthful dinner plan, in full knowledge that we may end up ordering pizza instead, and/or just tossing whatever’s in the crisper into a pot along with two packages of instant ramen.

Our box this week was stuffed groaning full, heavy as bricks: we got broccoli rabe, kale, napa cabbage, lettuce, fennel, three leeks, six bulbs of garlic, five meyer lemons, six persimmons, six kiwis, and sixteen little satsuma oranges, which taste like heaven. And all this after I had started to suspect that our box had been stolen again, and went to the store for a chicken and some green beans. Plus we still have a butternut squash sitting around.

So, tonight we’re having roast chicken and boiled green beans for dinner (this much will actually happen, I’m pretty sure), and then tomorrow, if things go well, I’ll make butternut squash soup and a salad: I have a sweet-sour celery seed dressing recipe that I think would go well on a salad with sauteed fennel and mandarin orange pieces.

Friday, in my idealized fantasy world, we’ll have Indian-spiced lentils with kale over brown rice; Saturday, pasta with broccoli rabe; Sunday, teriyaki pork and stir-fried cabbage with a lemon cheesecake for desert. Monday I’ll sketch in a delivery night, and Tuesday, leftovers.

Well, it’s a nice plan, anyway.

I finally got around to making pumpkin puree from the pumpkins we got in our box a few weeks ago. I made two batches of pumpkin muffins and froze the rest of the puree.

The recipe for the muffins is one I clipped from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch probably around ten years ago. You preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In one bowl beat together 6 tablespoons melted butter, two eggs, two tablespoons molasses, 1 1/4 cups pumpkin puree, and 1/2 cup orange juice. In a separate bowl, combine 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves, and 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon. Stir the liquid into the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Fold in 1/2 cup walnut pieces and 1/2 cup dried cranberries. Spoon into a greased muffin tin and bake for 30 minutes.

This week veggies included spinach, collard greens, red leaf lettuce, a fennel bulb and fronds, a bunch of leeks, a bag of bok choy, a butternut squash, five satsuma mandarin oranges, four persimmons, and five pink lady apples. Tonight we’re working on leftovers from last week’s cabbage and white bean stew, but tomorrow I’ll do pork chops alongside creamed spinach with leeks. Saturday, we’ll have a green salad with sauteed fennel and grilled steak tips, and then Sunday black-eyed peas with bacon and collard greens, and apple-persimmon pie for dessert. Monday, butternut squash and sage risotto; Tuesday, leftovers. Robin and I will have the bok choy at some point for lunch.

So, we didn’t end up taking Robin out trick-or-treating: he was having too good a time visiting with his Nonna, Pappy, and anti-Sara. And the doggies. And the trains. He looooved a train video his Pappy had, and now he wants to talk about “choo-choos” all the time. Unfortunately his vocabulary is still highly limited, so the conversation is pretty much restricted to Robin shouting “choo choo!” over and over. He really likes it when you ask him what sound a train makes, because he’s got the answer down pat.

Anyway, we don’t have Halloween pictures, but since we did get him a costume we’ll probably dress him up and snap some shots anyway. Maybe later tonight.

Meanwhile, in our veggie box we got several huge glorious bunches of fresh leafy greens: chard, kale, broccoli rabe, arugula, and a bunch of beets with the greens still attached. We also got cabbage, lettuce, six kiwis, four fuyu persimmons, and five mandarin oranges—Robin will probably gobble these up as soon as he realizes we have them. He’s not as big a fan of kiwis, but I can usually pawn them off on him, since neither Sam nor I like them (too slimy! too many seeds!).

Tonight I’m making the squash soup that I didn’t get around to fixing last week. Tomorrow, we’ll have a salad using the lettuce, the arugula, and the beets (roasted), along with the persimmon-apple pie that I also didn’t make last week. Friday night we can have pasta with broccoli rabe, Italian sausage, and beet greens; Saturday night, I’ll make polenta with chard (one of my favorite recipes). Sunday night we’ll have a Tuscan cabbage and white bean stew, even though every time I make a recipe that describes itself as “Tuscan” I think of this bit from The Onion. Monday night, Indian-spiced lentils with kale over brown rice, and Tuesday, leftovers. And that’s what’s for dinner!

So that housing deal is showing some abortive signs of possibly lurching back from the dead. The seller’s bank wants to work with us to get a 203k mortgage. They’re willing to extend escrow 90 days (it shouldn’t take that long, but with a 90 day extension we wouldn’t have to worry about running out of time like we did on the other deal) and they’ll lower the purchase price to accommodate the cost of repairs. So now we’re waiting to get all that in writing, and then we’ll do some more inspections to make sure that the roof repairs and the fumigation are all that the house needs. I’ll let you know if anything comes of it. The one good thing is that if the repair costs stay under 35K, we could get what’s called a “streamlined” 203k mortgage, which would presumably be much less of a bureaucratic nightmare.

Meanwhile in our veggie box this week we got: lettuce, broccoli, four beets, four leeks, two tomatoes, a bag of little sweet peppers, three persimmons, a pomegranate, a bunch of cilantro, a kabocha squash, and a thing I’d never seen before that turned out to be kohlrabi. Last night for dinner we had a big salad of lettuce, broccoli, tomatoes, peppers, kohlrabi (it tasted exactly like broccoli-flavored jicama), bacon, and hard-boiled eggs, with home-made blue cheese dressing. Robin and I had the leftovers for lunch.

Tonight I’m using the leeks and beets in a buffalo borscht. I’ve gotten on a buffalo kick lately—I tried it in something, I forget what now, and thought it was delicious; plus it’s cheaper than grass-fed beef and has all the same health advantages (high in omega-3s, low in cholesterol and “bad” fats). Although I’m afraid my buffalo borscht might not turn out well since the friendly butcher warned me that buffalo meat is too lean to stand up to extended cooking. Well, we’ll see. If it comes out tough as shoe leather I guess we can just eat around the buffalo parts.

Tomorrow I’m going to try making cilantro pesto, which is again sort of a gamble, although there are plenty of recipes online. If it doesn’t come out well we can pick something up on the road, because tomorrow evening we’re packing up and heading to Carson City to celebrate Nonna’s birthday. Can’t wait to see everyone! It’ll be a short visit—we’re coming back on Sunday. Monday night I’ll finish up the vegetables by making Roasted Kabocha Squash Soup with Pancetta and Sage, and a persimmon-and-apple pie for dessert (I should post that pie recipe, it’s good).

Hopefully I’ll also have some cute Halloween pictures to post later in the week!