score! bounty! harvest!

I have gone from having NO food in my house, thanks to travel last weekend and a busy work week, to having a bounty in just twenty-four hours!

I started working on remeding the food situation by making a pie Saturday night. (I had a piecrust in the freezer leftover from a previous project.) Oliver wanted to help:

As helpful as he wanted to be, I didn't want cat hair in the piecrust, so I shooed him away. Repeatedly. :)
Completed pie, fresh from the oven:

Blueberry-rhubarb with a streusel topping, all in a half-wholegrain crust.
Served up with a scoop of homemade ice cream:

The pie is DELICIOUS, vegan, but just a little bit soupy. I forgot that frozen fruit often needs a little bit more flour in the mix, and a little bit more time in the oven to thicken up. Alas. It still tastes amazing! Dan's brother was over for a short visit last night, had a piece of pie, and managed to practically lick his plate clean!

I waxed poetic about fruit pies yesterday afternoon. I think pie is just about the best dessert in the world. Why? It's sweet, but also tart, filling, but not heavy, flavorful, but not too rich, homey but not homely, and can be made extra-special just with a scoop of ice cream. Plus, hardly anyone makes pie from scratch any more, so when one does, one looks like a baking rock star!! :)

Anyhow, we continued working on the lack of food situation on Sunday morning, with a trip to the Farmer's Market first thing:

We spent about $55, but did we get a lot of stuff!
Non-local: lemons, limes, portobello mushrooms,
Local and pesticide-free: grape tomatoes, heirloom "Kellogs Breakfast" tomatoes, baby yukon gold potatoes, green onions, shallots, spinach, an orange-flesh watermelon, maple syrup, lemongrass, sweet corn, a cucumber, parsley, dill, mint, and cilantro. Also, local smoked sharp cheddar, that I forgot to add to the first photo:


And then after the farmer's market, I went to the Wedge to fill in the gaps:

BAKERY:
two local mini-baguettes
four local wholegrain rolls
CHEESE:
fresh mozzarella
FROZEN:
organic filo dough
PACKAGED GROCERY:
pitted kalamata olives
organic Yogi ginger tea
organic Yogi kava tea
4-pack Virgil's root beer
can coconut juice with pulp (YUM!)
two cans organic light coconut milk
box 100% whole-wheat crackers
PRODUCE:
half a pound of organic mixed baby greens
sprig local, organic basil
local, organic white button mushroms
REFRIGERATED GROCERY:
20 oz package organic super-firm tofu
package Earth Balance buttery sticks
bottle organic, raw kombucha (a request from Dan . . . I'm a little wary of trying this!)

After all of that shopping, I was HUNGRY!! I sliced up the large Kellog's Breakfast tomato, some fresh mozzarella, and some basil, and topped it all with salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar, and extra-virgin olive oil:

We soaked up the juices with a couple of mini-baguettes. Holy cow, this was the BEST lunch! The tomatoes were so fresh, juicy, and sweet -- Dan actually compared them to canned peaches, but not in a gross way. :)

Later in the afternoon, we went to visit Dan's garden!! Weeeee!!!





Yesterday's complete harvest:

Two purple bell peppers, a smallish eggplant, five hot peppers, half a cereal bowlful of sungold tomatoes, a whole cereal bowlful of currant tomatoes, a dozen romas, thirteen zebras, a big hanfull of basil, and a couple of what we think are shallots. Dan thought they were onions when he planted them, but I really think they are shallots, so the jury is still out!

I set to work with the romas, eggplant, shallots, and some garlic that I already had at home:

The beginnings of roasted tomato sauce, all drizzled with olive oil and ready to go in the oven!
After 40 minutes at 400 degrees Farenheight:

I then added a little more olive oil to a pot, sauteed some capers, chopped olives, 1/2 teaspoon each dried basil, oregano, thyme, and red pepper flakes, a good squirt of tomato paste, and salt and pepper:

After the seasonings were good and happy, I added the tomatoes and other roasted veggies, the liquid in the bottom of the roasting pan, and about a cup of water to the pot. I brought the sauce to a boil, reduced the heat, covered the pan partially, and let it simmer for about an hour and a half. Tomato sauce!


And, dinner last night, largely from the Farmer's Market:

Portobello mushroom sandwiches with smoked cheddar, zebra tomato, lettuce, and vegenaise, with sides of watermelon, sweet corn, and potato salad. I used a new potato salad recipe that I found in a back-issue of Fine Cooking, and I love it! Basic vinegar-based dressing, with parsley, mint, green onions, and a few chopped kalamata olives! Yum.