Stock Market [Fruit] Crumble

Don’t know about you, but recent events and the accompanying wild swings in the stock market have made me want to create a simple, sure-thing dish to enjoy while I ponder these complicated, uncertain times. Lucky for me, I’ve been receiving loads of fruit in my produce box that are just begging to be baked.

In addition to fresh fruit, the key ingredient to my concoction this week is agave nectar, a natural, low glycemic-index sweetener. So, while the stock market might spike and crash, with agave nectar, your blood sugar levels won’t have to!

Produce Mamma’s Stock Market [Fruit] Crumble

Ingredients:
Lots of peeled and sliced apples, peaches, nectarines, plums or whatever fruit you like (around 10-12 cups)
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup of Agave Nectar (more if you think you’ll need it, less if your fruit is really tender and sweet)
¼ cup lemon juice

2 cups of your favorite granola (here's mine)

Preheat oven to 350°

Combine fruit, agave, lemon juice, and cinnamon and spoon into shallow baking dish or individual ramekins. Bake 45 minutes until fruit is bubbly. Spread granola on top and bake for another 5 minutes.

Feeling bold? Load the crumble on top of a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Feeling a bit more uneasy? Scarf it down cold, straight from the fridge at 2:00 A.M. and follow with a Tylenol P.M.

Times are tough, so spoon it over yogurt and enjoy it for breakfast the next day!

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Going Greenmarket

With Labor Day around the corner, I’ll soon be raiding my closet’s archives to take stock of what can be put to use this Fall and what I’ll need to hit the stores for (and with a little bit of luck and a lot of salad, I’ll spare my wallet and fit into some of my old favorites!)

In addition to being the season for a wardrobe shakeup, we’re also entering the late summer/early Fall peak season for local produce…so, not only will I be making room for sweaters and boots, I’ll also be clearing [kitchen] space for Swiss chard and beets!

I’ve decided that it would be terrific to actually meet the folks that make this bounty happen, so I’ll be heading to the Union Square Greenmarket as often as I can, in addition to receiving my produce box from Urban Organic.
I kicked off the produce bonanza by taking a tour of the Greenmarket—along with other produce and food loving folks— led by the executive chef of Butter Restaurant and Greenmarket-maven, Chef Alex Guarnaschelli (who also prepared a mouth-watering post-tour lunch to showcase many of the Greenmarket's offerings).

Chef Guarnaschelli introduced us to some of her favorite farms and what they are known for, which I'll share with you here, and I’ve created my own set of pointers for your Greenmarket shopping pleasure. Here are the chef’s favorite farms—at least those that we were able to visit on the tour—followed by Produce Mamma’s Top 10 Greenmarket Tips:

Greenmarket Tour Highlights

Paffenroth Gardens (Warwick, NY)
Known for their rich black soil, this is the place to go for a variety of onions and potatoes; farmer Alex Paffenroth also introduced me to Cutting Celery, an herb that looks like parsley, but tastes like celery!

Cherry Lane Farms (Bridgeton, NJ)
Ray and Sue Dare grow wonderful Kirby cucumbers—great for pickling—in addition to heirloom tomatoes, okra, lima beans, fairy tale eggplant, asparagus and more. According to Sue, the best way to prepare asparagus is to soak overnight and roast.

Eckerton Hill Farms (Lenhartsville, PA)
Chef Guarnaschelli isn’t alone in her love for Tim Stark’s various chili peppers (the smaller the spicier, she says), different cucumbers, heirloom tomatoes, and small, candy-like tomatoes. This stand is very popular amongst the city’s top chefs and often sells out early—especially if Tim looks anxious…then you know that he has a really great crop to sell!

Blue Moon Fish (Long Island)
You might not think to buy fish at the Greenmarket, but proteins like fish and shellfish have seasons, too. Fisherman and captain Alex Villani keeps his coolers stocked with local fluke, striped bass, clams, oysters, tuna, and more….all naturally loaded with Omega-3’s. Visit the Blue Moon Fish website for a list of the types of fish sold at the market and when they’re in season.

Windfall Farms (Montgomery, NY)
Known as being more expensive than others, the produce is worth the extra cost, according to Chef Guarnaschelli. Farmer Morse Pitts offers up delicious orange cherry tomatoes, baby greens, Mexican sour gherkins, squash blossoms, eggs and more.

Mountain Sweet Berry Farms (Roscoe, NY)
In addition to sweet strawberries, farmer Rick Bishop has lettuce so sweet and alive that Chef Guarnachelli can almost hear it crying when she has to tear some of it up for a salad. Rick is also known for basil, fava beans, potatoes, and more.

Berried Treasures (Cooks Falls, NY)
Franca Tantillo’s tristar strawberries are bursting with flavor—she let me know that this is due to their high Brix content (which is the same unit of measurement that winemakers use to check the sweetness of grapes). Franca reminded us that the soil is truly the most important ingredient, and the higher the mineral content in the soil, then the higher the sugar content of the fruit or vegetable. In addition to tristars and nuggets of farming wisdom, Berried Treasures is a great place to pick up golden raspberries, shelling beans, okra, pepper tomatoes (tomatoes that look like small peppers), hissop (Chef Guarnaschelli likes to add it bubbling honey for a delicious syrup that's great in iced tea), and burgundy beans, also known as purple string beans…which couldn't be easier to cook since they turn green when they're ready but do taste and look great sliced up raw on top of a salad.

We weren’t able to visit all of the farm stands, so check out the full Greenmarket farmer list when you can, or just head to the market to find them in person...but read my tips first!

Produce Mamma’s Top 10 Greenmarket Tips

10. Visit the information stand for a map and recipe handouts

9. Take note of nearby restrooms (at the Union Square Greenmarket, head to Borders to the north, or Whole Foods to the south)

8. Since the market is outdoors, it’s smart to dress in layers and bring a hat

7. Get there early…many of the more popular stands can sell out by noon!

6. It’s a cash-only operation, so hit the ATM before you go (be sure to bring along enough cash for a cab ride home, too…since you may not be able to manage the subway or bus with your loot!)

5. Bring your own bags, if you can (I love my Envirosax bags...they're durable, come in attractive prints and roll right up when not in use)

4. Remember to visit the protein stands as they, too, have local seasons

3. Don’t bring a shopping list…but do bring paper and pen to jot down recipe suggestions as you become inspired by what’s available

2. Use your nose; pick up a veggie or fruit and sniff for sweetness

1. Ask questions: Look the person who produced your food in the eye and learn more about their farming practices, not just whether or not they are “organic”—because many can’t say that they officially are. And don’t walk away if they aren’t— it’s a complicated issue, but many of the Greenmarket's farms aren’t able to advertise as being organic even though they practice organic farming.

The Windfall Farms blog has a brief explanation of why this is happening, just look to the right side in the Ethics column.

Anyone want to join me at the Greenmarket next week??

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It Ain't Easy Being Greens

Move over spinach, there’s another group of greens in town. They might not be as popular—at least not within my city limits—but they, too, pack a nutritious Popeye-punch.

This past weekend I whipped up a lunch menu to feature three of my now-favorite leafy greens: collard, kale, and dandelion…oh my! These greens aren’t all too popular here in New York City, perhaps because they don’t seem easy to work with and can be quite hard to find (canvas your neighborhood markets or just get them delivered via Urban Organic, like me!). But with a greater awareness of making every bite count, they are sure to rise to the top of produce shopping lists both downtown and up.

Roasted Kale
Ever a sucker for good pitches, I came across a Roasted Kale recipe by Stephanie Gallagher that promises to be “one of the tastiest kale recipes you’ll ever find” and I was sold. Once coated in extra-virgin olive oil and happy in the oven, the kale shrinks and shrivels and becomes thin and crunchy and totally yummy. Add a little sprinkle of good-quality coarse salt and toss a handful in your mouth like popcorn. It was an unexpected hit as a starter for my greens trifecta lunch—just ask the boys' east coast grandparents and fabulous aunt, who were all a bit surprised that they actually liked it. I'm going to keep this recipe handy for when the twins get older because I could see it being a terrific snack for kids.

Also, if you’re not up for roasting kale, visit my Brunch 101 entry and try out the Kale Pesto that can be used as a base for my kale pesto dip!

Dandelion Greens and Strawberry Salad
What the heck are dandelion greens anyway? You’re not the only one to wonder! My husband, Steve, was frightened by the spear-like green and swore that he wouldn’t eat them, no matter how nutrient-packed. In the end, he really loved the salad that I made with dandelion and strawberries, but that wasn’t the original recipe plan.

The original dandelion greens salad recipe that I tried turned out to be a disappointment in the flavor department; it was too bitter, as dandelions can sometimes be. I put the salad aside to think about what I could do to save it, and suddenly it dawned on me: the salad needed a bit of sweetness…and I had received a basket of strawberries in my organic produce box!!

For curiosity sake, I did a quick search online to see if dandelion and strawberries were a tried and true flavor combination and it turns out that they are. So, here’s a recipe using the original dandelion greens salad as a base, along with the strawberries and some salty feta cheese from the second recipe. The strawberries and feta made for a dramatic dish makeover and really saved the day...er, dish.

Dandelion and Strawberry Salad
1 large bunch dandelion greens, washed and ends trimmed off
3 green onions, chopped
3 teaspoons fresh dill or 2 teaspoons dried (I used my grandmother’s homemade dried dill)
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
1 small basket strawberries, sliced (approximately 1/2 pound)
Crumbled feta cheese—as much as you see fit
Freshly ground pepper to taste

Toss all ingredients together in a large bowl.

Collard Greens with Brown Rice
Here’s a tip on making sure that you “eat yer greens”: mix them in with something else! I decided to cook my collard greens with brown rice—in the same pot—using a collards and rice recipe that I made extra special by using the Brown Rice Medley from Trader Joe’s instead of regular long-grain rice. The TJ's mix has long-grain brown rice, black barley, and daikon radish seeds that add flavor and give the dish some added color, too (the radish seeds don't show up well in the photo, but they're little red pearls in person). I served my collards and rice with jumbo shrimp (also from Trader Joe’s) that I sautéed in a LITTLE butter with garlic and white wine, and parsley for some coordinating green.

So, what do you think? Are you going to give these leafy guys a shot? It might not be easy being greens, but they sure can taste good!

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Let Them Eat Squash

It’s always satisfying for a home cook to have their creations greeted by a chorus of “mmmm”, but what happens when diners wear the meal all over their faces, too? This might seem déclassé to many, but it’s a sure sign of approval from my 8-month old twins! Moans and mess aside, my little guys are my absolute favorite people to feed and I had a lot of fun making them zucchini and yellow squash for the first time.

Why zuchinni and squash, you ask? Well, I had plenty in my weekly produce box and figured that it would be a nice gesture to make something nutritious for my boys, given that I'm Produce Mamma and all. I was also pretty wiped out from the weekend before (see Brunch 101) and wanted a vacation from the cutting board. As it turns out, making baby food can be a Zen experience—I was almost in a meditative state as I cut, steamed and pureed. Either that or I really need to get out more!

I was especially excited to use my new baby food storage containers: Baby Cubes. I love them because they’re made out of non-toxic plastic and can be used to freeze individual portions. If you don’t have a baby and could care less about baby food, just make a mental note of these cool things and get them the next time you need a baby gift.

And remember to tell those new moms to leave the zuchinni and yellow squash skins ON. That's where the nutrients are!

Here's a photo of my cast of characters (I decided to blend zuchinni with carrots and potato):

I left the skins on the potatoes and zuchinni but did peel the carrots (another pot had the yellow squash):
Once the veggies steamed for a long while and were really soft, I pureed in my Cuisinart and loaded into the Baby Cubes (zuchinni carrot puree shown):

The boys loved it and I was even able to get a few combinations out of it – the zuchinni carrot combo, the yellow squash alone, the zucchini combo mixed with the yellow squash, and the yellow squash mixed with fresh avocado (found that suggestion in the Avocado section of a very a cool and informative baby food resource, Wholesome Baby Food.com!)

The boys definitely liked the squash and I’ve been feeding it to them all week. Here’s a quick clip of one of the little monkeys enjoying his dinner. Mmmmm!!!!

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Brunch 101

Even though my kitchen is cluttered with bottles and nipples, it’s a place that inspires me. The stove might not always be on, like it is in my mom’s kitchen, but it does allow me to flex my culinary creativity when I decide to make the time to do so—just as I did in my very first kitchen, and I’m not referring to the one that I grew up in. My first kitchen was the one in my dorm suite during my sophomore year of college.

It was a slightly dingy kitchen with a window that faced the building’s air shaft, and even though it was used by five other girls, it was cleaned on a very irregular basis. It was mostly home to boxes of cereal and other ready-to-eat items, but I did enjoy using it to create my own comfort food, which was often overcooked as I would get lost in my studies and forget about whatever I had put in the oven.

One night I neglected an orzo pasta dish that was cooking in chicken broth for so long that the pasta completely absorbed the liquid. I couldn’t waste it, so I stirred in a little grated parmesan and tried to pass it off as a labor-intensive risotto. I don’t recall who I served it to, but it could very well have been my dear friend, Krissy, with whom I had a standing weekly dinner date; sometimes we'd cook for one another but mostly we'd get out to try and review every restaurant near campus.

I’m pleased to report that I still enjoy breaking bread with Krissy and no longer ignore my stove. I recently had K and her lovely husband, John, over for brunch. It was the whole nine yards—a beverage, appetizer, entrée, two side dishes, and a dessert—thanks to my husband, Steve, who was able to keep the boys entertained so that I could pull it together!

John is a produce-hound (he hails from my hometown, San Francisco, and often longs for the west coast produce of his youth) and Krissy is carrying their first child, due in October, so my menu had to pack a healthy produce punch.

I’m pretty sure that they enjoyed brunch as they both had seconds. Here’s what I served and how I did it:

Orange Mint Water
Every hot summer brunch needs a cool refreshing beverage, and I’m on a real kick with infused waters. This time I went with an orange-mint combo: just add thin slices of oranges and several mint leaves to a pitcher of water and let it sit in the fridge for a few hours. John started coughing on a pepper flake from one of the side dishes while I was trying to take photos of my water pitcher, so I graciously gave up the pursuit of the perfect shot to help save him and serve him a glass (okay, I confess: he did have to ask in between hacks, sorry again, John!)

Kale Pesto Dip
I’m a huge fan of pesto—there are so many different kids (basil, spinach, and now kale!) and I love that it can be used as an ingredient with many different applications. There’s plenty more to do with it than your standard pasta toss: use it as a sandwich spread , thin it out with oil and use it as a salad dressing, or stir it into yogurt or sour cream and serve it as a dip alongside carrots and multi-grain chips like I did! Using kale in pesto is highly nutritious and delicious but does take one extra step since kale is tough: it needs to be steamed first. I used an easy Kale Pesto recipe and then mixed it with a 6 oz container of nonfat Greek yogurt and a few tablespoons of nonfat sour cream.

Red Chard and Cremini Mushroom Reduced-Fat Crustless Quiche
I went free-style on this one, consulting an online recipe for Chard Quiche and my recently rediscovered hard-cover book, The Joy of Cooking. Pages 140-141 in my version of the book (copyright 1997) has details on the ins and outs of crustless quiche and reduced-fat quiche techniques. I married the three recipes, added the mushrooms myself, and came up with this:

1 bunch red chard
2 scallions
8 ounce basket of Cremini mushrooms (you can certainly use white button mushrooms instead, the Cremini’s just have more flavor)
Enough garlic to suit your fancy
1 ¼ cups milk (Yes, I bought and used whole milk!)
¼ cup light cream
6 egg whites
1 whole egg
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
Pinch of freshly grated or ground nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Butter a 10-inch glass pie pan and set aside.
Wash and dry the chard and rip the leafy parts away from the thick center stalks. Pile the leaves together and cut them into smaller, approximately 1-inch wide square pieces or just tear them up with your hands. Wash and slice the mushrooms and scallions. Chop up a garlic clove or two.
Add a little olive oil to large, heated sauté pan. Throw in the garlic and the scallions and stir those around a bit. Add the chard and mushroom mixture and sauté until the chard wilts down (about 10 minutes or so, if I remember correctly.)

While the chard is wilting, combine the remaining ingredients—milk, light cream, egg whites, egg, parmesan cheese, spices— in a large mixing bowl.
Once the veggie mixture is ready and has cooled off a bit, slowly stir it in to the mixing bowl. Pour the contents of the mixing bowl into a 9-inch pie dish and bake for about 45 to 55 minutes, or until set in the center. I put the broiler on for the last 10 minutes to brown the top.

Corn Tomato and Basil Salad
I did a search for corn salads and found this Ina Garten Corn Salad recipe to use a starting point. I added grape tomatoes that I halved, drizzled with olive oil and roasted in the toaster oven until the tops looked a little shriveled. I also used rice vinegar instead of cider vinegar.

Roasted Yellow Squash and Potatoes
Follow the zucchini frizzle recipe from my Sweet Teeth post from earlier this month, but use thinly sliced yellow squash and Yukon Gold potatoes instead.

Peach and Nectarine Tapioca Pudding
I had too many peaches and nectarines to use up so I diced them for use in a refreshing dairy-free tapioca pudding that I decided to make when I came across the tapioca section in The Joy of Cooking (this tapioca recipe is on page 1022). Even though the recipe calls quick-cooking tapioca, I used all natural small pearl tapioca and followed the instructions on the bag to soak the pearls in water for 30 minutes first.

I ended up soaking about ½ cup tapioca in a little over 1 cup of water and just eyeballed the amount of soaked tapioca that made it into the saucepan. If you do use quick-cooking tapioca, the recipe calls for ¼ cup. The recipe is supposed to yield 4-6 servings, but I ended up increasing the ingredients to 1 ½ times the original measurements to be sure that we had enough (this recipe was a math lesson, to boot.) Here’s the section of the recipe from The Joy of Cooking that I did follow, prior to any quantity adjustments:

Bring to a simmer in a large saucepan:
1 ½ cups water
½ cup sugar
One 3-inch cinnamon stick (optional)

Drop in diced fruit. Simmer until tender, about 2 to 5 minutes. Stir in the tapioca pearls and simmer until the pearls are translucent and the mixture has thickened, about 5 minutes. Let cool and pour into bowls—I used ramekins that were actually a wedding gift from Krissy along with a fun kitchen blow torch!—and refrigerate until cold.

It was a sweet way to end a summer brunch, along with a beautiful peach tart that K & J brought over from the fabulous Silver Moon Bakery on the upper west side. Hopefully we didn’t scare them off with all of our baby paraphernalia that is now scattered throughout the apartment and they’ll come back again soon! I did remind them to be sure to schedule a brunch date with us for when K's due date can’t come soon enough (since I have special powers to induce labor, which you can read about in my June 29 post titled Change of Plans and Good News.)

This Week’s Produce Roll Call (over 65% of which was used in my brunch!): romaine lettuce, carrots, Yukon gold potatoes, local kale, local yellow squash, tomatoes, corn, cantaloupe, red chard, Valencia oranges, nectarines, packham pears, plums, peaches, and bananas.

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Big [Produce] Mamma

This past week brought more than a delivery of organic produce: we had a very special visit from my mom, Shlomit, aka Big Produce Mamma of the West Coast (but let's go with BPM for short). Not only did BPM dish out delicious home-cooked meals, she served up fresh advice to members of our household and even a few lucky neighbors:

The cashier at the health food store was instructed to drop everything and soak his sport-injured hand in Epsom salt while BPM helped a nearby customer understand the difference between oatmeal and oat bran (oat bran is the outer casing of the oat and is higher in soluble fiber). And at the nail salon, a lady in the next pedicure chair was lectured on the benefits of the green tea used in the salon's foot soak (green tea is full of antioxidants and has anti-inflammatory properties, but the green tea foot soak is probably just for marketing-sake). Thanks to BPM, I’ve been working on correcting my posture and one of my 8-month old sons has been instructed, with my help of course, to maintain a low-glycemic diet.

Unsolicited good advice aside, what was so special about this visit was that I was able to hand my kitchen over and watch BPM go to work. One of the reasons that I started this blog was to learn and share everything cooking and food-related that I avoided when I was younger (since I was convinced that a lifetime of take-out and hard-to-score dinner reservations was my destiny).

Without further ado, here are two of BPM’s recipes that were created in my kitchen and feature a few of my weekly produce delivery items (complete produce roll call at bottom of post). Don't be afraid of the vague measurements –“some” salt, etc.—you just have to taste as you go along.

Big Produce Mamma’s Chicken and Summer Vegetable Stew
(Serves 4-6)

1 medium chicken, skinned and cut into eight pieces (your friendly neighborhood butcher can do the cutting part)
1 medium Vidalia onion, chopped
2 ears of corn, kernels sliced off
1 medium zucchini, cut lengthwise and sliced into 1/4-inch thick pieces
1 tablespoon and possibly more Tomato paste
A little Olive oil

“Some” of the following spices:
Ground cumin
Smoked paprika
Salt

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Rub chicken with some salt and smoked paprika (enough to coat). Put a little olive oil in a large pot over high heat and add chicken and onion; cook until chicken is brown on each side and onions are translucent. Once chicken has browned (usually 8-10 minutes per side), add approximately 1 tablespoon tomato paste with 1 cup boiled water (water needs to have been boiled to melt the paste). Reduce temperature and cook slowly, covered, for about an hour or more. To preserve the vegetables’ nutrients and flavor, add the corn and zucchini towards the end, perhaps for the last fifteen minutes. Add some ground cumin (about ½ teaspoon) and salt, as desired. Serve over brown rice.

Note: Brown rice can be made extra yummy by sautéing chopped onion in the same pot before adding the rice and using a chicken stock instead of water or a mixture of both.
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Big Produce Mamma’s Citrus Spinach
(Serves 2…major spinach shrinkage, folks!)

1 bunch of fresh spinach (about 1 pound)
1 orange, juiced
½ cup Trader Joe’s Golden Berry Blend (dried cherries, cranberries, blueberries and raisins...yum!)—if you don't shop at TJ's, just use raisins or cranberries
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 teaspoon olive oil
Salt

Wash and dry spinach. Add a small amount of water to a large sauté pan on high heat, add spinach and cover until wilted but not too soggy. In a separate pan, add approximately 1 teaspoon of olive oil and 1 tablespoon of butter. Add ½ cup Trader Joe’s Golden Berry Blend and the orange juice to create the sauce. Stir in the spinach and add salt to taste.
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Big Mamma returned to San Francisco a few hours ago and we miss her a lot, especially the boys. She should be back in New York later this summer, so stay tuned for Big Mamma II and—if you’re reading this, mom—my shoulders are back and chin is up, I promise!

Here's this past week’s produce roll call: carrots, zucchini, green chard, green leaf lettuce, Vidalia Onions, corn, Red Potatoes, spinach, peaches, nectarines, Valencia Oranges, bananas, cantaloupe, Black Plums, and Packham Pears.

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Sweet Teeth

Finally! I've been meaning to send this post out since Sunday. I haven’t even had time to change the silly tag line on Facebook where I get to let everyone know how tired I am or what I’ve got in the oven (and it really was a pie, folks!). Not only that, but I’ve lost my potatoes. And I’m not speaking metaphorically – I’m pretty sure that they were put away somewhere in the kitchen, but I have no clue where.

There’s only one explanation for this state of fatigue and confusion: teething.

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Yes, I do have all of my teeth, but my young brood does not. The twins are chewing through their toys and my heart—my normally-well-rested sweetie pies need extra cuddling these days, and at 3:00 AM, no less!

Despite this, I did come up with a few noteworthy treats, all in the side dish and dessert family. Here are the highlights inspired by the most recent produce lot (I’ve listed the complete organic bounty toward the bottom of this post):

Zucchini Frizzles (at least that’s what I call it) – My cousin let me know about this super simple way to prepare zucchini and said she found the original recipe in the New York Times. I couldn’t locate it, but went ahead with it because the whole thing is prepped and ready faster than you can say Rachael Ray. Here it goes: cut zucchini in wheels, arrange on foil-lined tray, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with coarse salt and black pepper. Bake at 350° until brown and a bit bubble on top. I forgot to time it, but it didn’t take long. Also, I was too tired to bend down and open the oven door so I made two batches in my toaster oven instead. They were so delicious that we ate them all before I could grab the camera.

Potato and Spinach Mash/Salad – I’m always inclined to do a quick Google search before consulting the cookbooks these days and I found this spinach and potato salad in someone else’s blog when searching for potato salad recipes (I wanted something Americana for the Fourth...). It seemed easy enough and so I had to try it. Of course, I bought the potatoes since I lost the ones that came in the delivery box (so bizarre!!) My version came out tasty, but it ended up looking more like mashed potatoes with spinach folded in and I used less sour cream (and the reduced fat variety) than the recipe called for. Elizabeth, our nanny, said that it could have used garlic and perhaps she is right. I plan to add a clove or two the next time I make it.

Carrot Cake – My mom read this recipe to me over the phone since I wanted to make the one that I grew up with (she said she found it on the side of a bag of flour a long time ago). I couldn’t find a link to anything similar so I’ll have to list the ingredients: ½ cup brown sugar; ½ cup white sugar; ½ cup canola oil; 2 eggs; ½ tspn salt; 1 tspn cinnamon; 1 cup whole wheat flour; 1 cup grated carrots; 1 tspn baking powder; ¼ cup chopped walnuts; 8 oz crushed pineapple, drained; and ¾ tspn baking soda. Mix dry ingredients and fold in the wet ones. Use an 8x8 or 9x9 pan and bake at 350° for 40 minutes. I also added a little vanilla extract, doubled the recipe, used a 9x13 cake pan and baked it for a little bit longer. I’d imagine that cinnamon would be a good addition to the mix and I’d like to add a little next time around.

Pear and Plum Pie – I used another blogger’s recipe for a nectarine and plum galette – a flat tart – as a basic guideline for this dessert, but took it in another direction by changing the fruit mixture to pears and plums. I also made one galette and one traditional pie with the same fruit mixture (and store-bought pastry dough!). I pushed the pie shell edges down a bit to make it look rustic. The pie was a delicious way to say bon voyage to my in-laws who recently left for Greece to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. I had wanted to make a Greek puff pastry but am slightly intimidated by phyllo dough.

And now for the produce roll call: green leaf lettuce, carrots, red potatoes, spinach, corn, limes, kale, cantaloupe, zucchini, Valencia oranges, peaches, Red Delicious apples, black plums, Packham pears, and bananas.

You’ll be pleased to know that save a few apples and one last banana, it has all been used up and I’m eagerly awaiting this week's delivery. The other bananas? Well, they've been sliced up and frozen for my little teethers...