What to Do With All That Rhubarb

It seems like lots of people have rhubarb growing wildly in their yards or are getting it from farmer's markets or CSA boxes. We got some rhubarb with our box. Neither Nate nor I have ever cooked with rhubarb, and I don't remember the last time I hate it (although I do remember not liking it ... but I was probably in grade school!).

Since it came in our box, we knew we had to try it. Nate found a recipe via some phone app for pork chops called Sauteed Pork Chops with Sherry-Berry Pan Gravy and Rhubarb Chutney. Here's the recipe.

I can't really comment on how it was to make and all that--Nate made it all while I was at a meeting, along with some fresh green beans. But it turned out really well and everything was tasty. The rhubarb chutney had a nice flavor and wasn't too bitter but not too sweet with the preserves. The leftovers heated up nicely, too.

Eggs, Cheese and Veggies, Oh My!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we got our first CSA box last Friday. With it, came great veggies like arugula, asparagus, parsley and green garlic. We decided to use those four things for a frittata.

I kind of combined/used two Betty Crocker recipes to come up with ours. It turned out well--didn't take long and the eggs set nicely. The only thing is that it lacked a bit of flavor. I probably should have added more salt and pepper while it was cooking, if nothing else. Some garlic would have been good, too. I ended up adding some Sriracha sauce to my leftover piece.

Here's what we did:

Asparagus and Gruyere Frittata

3/4 pound asparagus, cut in 1-inch pieces

1/2 cup arugula, sliced thin

3 stalks of green garlic, sliced thin (kind of like scallions)

6 eggs

1/4 cup milk

dash of pepper

1/4 teas. salt

about a 1/4 cup shredded Gruyere cheese

some parsley to sprinkle on top

In a 10-inch skillet, saute asparagus in a bit of butter for about 7 minutes (until crisp tender). Add arugula and green garlic, continue to saute until arugula wilts.

In a box, beat eggs, milk and seasoning. Pour mixture over veggies. Cook over medium heat, 6 to 8 minutes, stirring gently until eggs are almost set. Reduce heat to low. Top with cheese. Cover and cook about 3 minutes or until cheese is melted and eggs are completely set.

We served the frittata with a salad and some seasoned roasted potatoes. It would have been good with crusty Italian or French bread instead of potatoes, too.

Beer, Beer and More Beer

As many of you know, Nate, my wonderful husband, has been brewing his own beer since December, when I gave him a home-brew kit for his birthday.

Since then, he's been making lots of beer (I believe he's on his 6th batch) and learning a lot about home brewing and beer, in general. With that, comes going to more events and getting more involved.

On Saturday, we ventured to Racine with my parents to go to Hop-a-Tui, a fantastic beer tasting event with all Wisconsin craft brewers. We tasted lots of beer from about 10 different brewers, including from Ale Asylum, Stonefly Brewery, Vintage, O'So, Potosi and Tyranena.

In addition to the beer tasting from those vendors, each person was supposed to bring a couple bottles of home brew or micro brew beers. So from 9-11 p.m., one of the guys in charge busted out these bottles and we got to taste whatever we want.

A bunch of people got to try Nate's beers--including those he made from scratch--his Smoking Loon, a creamy, smoky beer, and Port No. 9, a bourbon barrel porter. Everyone responded really positively to them, and he was happy with that.

The event also included a band, complete with three accordion players, free brats, tasty beef sticks and sandwiches, like Italian beef and pulled pork. It was a really fun event, and we can't wait to go back next year.

Then today, we went to the American Home brewers Association's (AHA) rally at Lakefront Brewery. We became AHA members there, and with that, we got a Lakefront tour, two free pint glasses with two free beers, and--what Nate was most excited about and, frankly, me too--almost six gallons of Riverwest Stein wort. With the wort, all Nate has to do is add yeast and let the beer ferment. Then we have about 60 bottles of Riverwest Stein. Woo hoo!

Our Riverwest Stein strapped into the backseat (sorry for the turned picture--I don't have the energy to figure out how to flip it. :))

All of this beer stuff and the events has been a lot of fun. We can't wait to do more!

First CSA Box

This year, Nate and I decided to go in on a community-supported agriculture (CSA) share with a co-worker and his family. The deal is, we pay an up-front cost (or, in payments, as we elected to do) for a summer's and early fall's worth of fresh, organic produce from a Wisconsin farm--our farm is Tipi Produce in Evansville. Each week, the farm delivers boxes of CSA produce to whatever pick-up site you choose. Ours is Outpost in Tosa, which is really nice because it's close and we shop there regularly, anyway.

We got our first box last Friday and it runs through early fall. We can even elect to get a winter share. It's becoming more and more important to us to eat organic, local produce that supports local farmers. This is an easy and even economical way of doing that.

In our first box, we got: asparagus, arugula, green garlic, rhubarb, radishes, parsley, green lettuce and potatoes. I think it will be fun, each week, to figure out meals based on the produce. Tonight, we're making a frittata with the arugula, asparagus and green garlic, and having a salad and some potatoes on the side.

Stay tuned for more about our CSA food!

Cumin Chicken and Tomatillo Sauce

I had never cooked with tomatillos before, and this recipe piqued my interest--including the accompanying chipotle rice. Here is the recipe we used: Grilled Cumin Chicken with Fresh Tomatillo Sauce. The recipe for the Chipotle Rice is below the chicken recipe.

Everything came together really well. We ended up cooking the chicken on the stove since it was a cool, rainy day. Other than that, we followed the recipe as it was stated. I thought the tomatillos smelled pretty bad before we started cooking with them. But after they boiled with the chicken broth and we blended everything, they no longer smelled.

The sauce was amazing--I'd make it again just to have with chips.

Oh yeah--and we had everything with steamed broccoli and leftover creamy garlic sauce from the Mother's Day grilled pizza. It was delicious on the broccoli!

Trader Joe's Pasta

This isn't much of a blog post, but I just wanted to share how tasty--and easy--these Trader Joe's heat-and-eat pasta meals are. As I think I've mentioned before, we make monthly or bi-monthly trips to Trader Joe's and usually end up stocking up on frozen meals like this.

This pasta dish is tasty and takes only minutes to make. You heat a skillet, drop in a few tablespoons of water and dump in the pasta. Cook for about 5-7 minutes. Pair with a side salad and/or garlic bread, and you're done!

Mother's Day Meal

For Mother's Day, we had my mom, dad and grandma over for dinner. We decided to make one of our favorites: grilled pizza.

But first we had a delicious Caprese salad with fresh mozzarella, basil leaves and tomatoes, all drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

For the pizza, we made two kinds. The first had BBQ sauce spread over the dough, then cooked chicken with spices and a bit of sauce, sauteed red onion, chopped cilantro and shredded sharp cheddar.

The other had a creamy garlic sauce, sauteed yellow and green peppers, mushrooms, artichokes and a bit of Parmesan cheese.

With the pizza, we toasted some roasted garlic bread we got at Outpost.

For dessert, I cheated a bit, and bought--rather than baked--an angel food cake with strawberries and organic vanilla ice cream. Angel food cake is one of my favorites!

Everyone really seemed to like everything. We were pretty pleased!