Curried Apple Chutney

Curried Apple Chutney

If you’re looking for a recipe to have fun with, to play around with, chutneys are the way to go.  They’re incredibly versatile and very forgiving; you really can’t mess them up.  They’re also a great way to use up a variety of fruit and vegetables you may have on hand.  Have an overload of apples you need to use up?  Some peppers that are beginning to wrinkle?  Make this!

Apple Kale Salad with Curry Vinaigrette

Apple Kale Salad with Curry Vinaigrette

Restraint and I are not the closest of friends.  I may have overdone it a bit on Halloween and the day after.  So much candy.  So many drinks.  Such a good time.  And that’s why kale was invented.  It’s our reset button.  Kale is our designated driver, our friend that reminds us to not eat that 10th mini snickers bar.  Kale sets us straight, makes us right.  And this salad does just that in the most delicious way possible!

Candy Corn-Dipped Pretzels

Candy Corn-Dipped Pretzels

This is crazy.  This is bizarre.  This borders on absurd.  Salty.  Sweet.  Crunchy.  Chewy.  Sound good?  Yeah, let’s do this.

Step 1.  Cut a hole in a box…no, wait, I was thinking of something else.  Um, melt some candy corn in the microwave.

Step 2.  Dip pretzels in it.

Vegan Garlic Cream Pasta w/ Roasted Broccoli & Mushrooms

Vegan Garlic Cream Pasta w/ Roasted Broccoli & Mushrooms

Creamy garlic sauce that’s vegan.  Skeptical I was.  No longer I am.  Like Yoda why am I talking?  I think it’s because this is some Jedi-like cooking going on.  It’s all Obi-Wan Kenobi up in here.  I did not think a vegan cream sauce could be this good.  But it is.  It’s magic…or the Force.  I wonder if a light saber would be a useful kitchen tool?  {oh boy, i think halloween is getting to me}

Watermelon Rum Fizz (+ mocktail version)

Watermelon Rum Fizz

Watermelon in October?  Yep!  Watermelon are still popping up at my local farmers markets and last weekend at our CSA farm tour my son found a huge one that we got to take home!  We couldn’t eat all of it in time, so I ended up juicing it.  I got 3 quarts of delicious, sweet pleasingly-pink juice outta the sucker!

CSA Farm tour: Laughing Stalk Farmstead

LSF Farm Tour

Today we’re going to break it down.  We’re going to talk about the heart of this blog, what drives it, what feeds my cooking obsession.  I’ve talked about CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) here and there on this blog, but today we’re digging more in depth and getting to know the farm and folks behind the meat of this veg head!  We’re going to celebrate veggies like it’s nobody’s business!  And then hope it becomes everybody’s business!

Radish Top Pesto

Radish Top Pesto

It’s taken me a little while to do anything with radish tops.  They kinda make me nervous.  I think it’s their prickliness.  But in my past two CSA boxes there have been some beautiful bunches of radishes attached to these soaring magnificent green leaves.  I just couldn’t toss them into the compost bin anymore, I had to figure out something to do with them.  And as one does with many peculiar greens they’re unsure of what do with, I made a pesto.  It turned out delicious!

Salted Caramel Corn & Apple Cookies

Salted Caramel Corn & Apple Cookies

Let’s hop right into it! These cookies are major! They’re the sweet/salty cookie lovechild of apple pie and caramel corn with a bit of caramel apple inspiration! The salted caramel corn gives them a slight crunchy/chewy texture and the cinnamon-laced apples leave the cookies soft and moist. They’re a fun combination of textures with the whimsy and nostalgia of county fairs, the circus and the holidays all wrapped up together!

Arugula Salad with Roasted Delicata Squash & Red Onions

Arugula Salad with Roasted Delicata Squash & Red Onions

My CSA box has done it again.  It’s led me to another veggie crush; this time delicata squash.  Have you tried it?  It’s a smallish cylindrical squash with stipey thin skin and sweet rich flesh.  I think I may even love it more than butternut squash, especially since it’s much easier to work with – you won’t lose a finger trying to cut it up and you can eat the skin (major nutrition!) so no peeling required.  It’s small size and thin skin also means it cooks quicker, high fives all around!

Apricot Brie Arugula Baguette Sandwiches

Apricot Brie Arugula Baguette Sandwiches

Sometimes you just need something quick.  Maybe you’re busy getting chores done around the house.  Maybe you’re running low on energy or culinary get-up-and-go.  Or maybe, the weather outside is so nice and you’re seriously whooping your hubby’s butt at a game of Bags and don’t want to lose your mojo by stopping to make dinner, so you slap together some bread, jam, cheese, and arugula for a super quick and easy baguette sandwich supper.  Yep, that’s the one.