Roasted Tomato and Eggplant Soup

This summer I had more eggplant than I knew what to do with. Usually I made baba ghanouj or I roasted the eggplant and froze it for later. One morning I stumbled across a roasted tomato and eggplant soup that sounded absolutely amazing – I had to try it. While it was a little more work than I usually like to put into things (yes, I’m a lazy cook), it was absolutely worth it. I modified the recipe a bit to finish it off in the crock pot, as an lazy cook would do :). I was living in Madison at the time, so unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the final product before leaving for school. I’m sure I’ll be making it again, so I will update the post with more pictures.

Roasted Tomato and Eggplant Soup
adapted from Martha Stewart

Ingredients

• About a dozen plum tomatoes, cored and halved
• 1 large onion, diced
• 10 garlic cloves
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large eggplant, halved
• 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 large bunch of basil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425F.
2. Line 1 rimmed baking sheet with foil. Spray the foil-lined pan and 1 unlined pain with cooking spray. Place the eggplant on the lined pan, face down. Poke holes in the top with a sharp knife. Place the tomatoes, onions, oil, and garlic on the unlined pan
   (in the picture you can see I put the basil, but it came close to burning, so I wouldn’t do that again)
3. Roast both pans for 45 minutes, mixing every 15 minutes to prevent burning.
4. If possible, peel the tomatoes (as I mentioned above, I’m a lazy cook, so I wasn’t too picky about this). Pour tomatoes into a food processor and blend well. Pour into a 4 or 6 qt crock pot.
5. Remove the skins from the eggplant and pour into the food processor. Puree and thin with some water.
6. Add to the crock pot and combine well. Add the chickpeas and basil to the crockpot. Cook on low for 4-6 hours.

 

CSA Week # 18

This is it – the last CSA box of the year. Where did the past 18 weeks ago? This CSA has been a great experience. It had it’s ups and downs along the way (delicious food but not enough time to prep it all), and living away from home for over half of it didn’t make it any easier. We tried some new foods and I cooked more than ever in the last 4 months. I hope you enjoyed seeing our weekly share and were inspired to try some new recipes. If you too have more veggies than you know what to do with, here’s an AWESOME website on how to “preserve the harvest”

Here’s what is in the box this week:

• Brussel Sprouts
  • Roast in the oven with a little olive oil and salt at 350F x 30 minutes, stirring every 10-15 minutes
• Bell Peppers
  • Satuee with carrots, green beans, and onion
• Beets
  • Peel and slice. Roast in the oven with a little olive oil and salt at 350F x 30 minutes, stirring every 10-15 minutes
• Cabbage
  • Kraut? I stil haven’t started last week’s yet, so if there isn’t too much I may just do the 2 heads to make a large batch of kraut
• Carrots
  • Satuee with peppers, green beans, and onion
• Cilantro
  • Dry for later or use with green salsa (see below)
• Green Beans
  • Sautee with peppers, carrots, and onion
• Honeysuckle Apples
• Hot peppers (various)
  • Roast and preserve in oil in the refrigerator
• Kakai Pumpkin
• Kale
  • Kale chips (1/2 the bunch and you can use cooking spray instead of avocado oil in the recipe)
  • Chop the other half and add to the soup
• Leeks
  • Crockpot soup with kale and potatoes
• Lettuce
  • Chop and eat as salads
• Parsley
  • Hang to dry
• Popcorn
  • Finish drying and then pop in the air popper or on the stove with  a little oil
• Potatoes (various)
  • Crockpot soup with leeks and kale
• Tomatoes
  • homemade tomato sauce
• Tomatillos
  • green salsa

 

Slow Cooker Beef and Cabbage

 

The kitchen counter doesn’t look much different this morning than it did 4 days ago when we picked up the CSA box. My days have been so long that I haven’t had a chance to look at the produce, let alone do something about it. I have been leaving the house at 4:50am and getting home at 8pm – just enough time to shower, do some reading for the morning, and go to bed. They feed us at the hospital, so I haven’t been very motivated to cook this week either. But today will be different; this morning I have house chores, food prep, cooking, freezing, and canning to do. I thought the weekends were for rest and relaxation…

Anyway, here is a recipe I made a few weeks ago. The weather has turned and it is now crock pot season. As I’ve mentioned before, we bought 1/2 a grass-fed cow from a local farm last winter, so we have a lot of beef to eat. We’ve made a surprisingly huge dent in the stored and the basement just has 1 milk crate full of meat left. Thank goodness, because we just purchased another 1/2 (but this time we will share it with a few other people).

Crock pot beef is a simple meal to throw together in the morning before work. You can really add any vegetables to the mix; This recipe has cabbage, onions, green peppers, and carrots. I plan to use some of the frozen vegetables from our CSA when I make this again during the fall/winter.

Slow Cooker Beef Roast

Ingredients

• cooking spray
• 3-4 pound beef roast
• 1/2 cup Balsamic vinegar
• Black pepper
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 large green peppers, diced
• 1 pound carrots, chopped
• 1/2 head of cabbage, shredded
• Water

Directions

1. Spray a 6qt crock pot with cooking spray.
2. Place roast in crock pot. Pour vinegar over the top. Season with pepper. Cover with vegetables. I like to put the cabbage in last.
3. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours. Check after 6 hours – if there is no liquid, add water. There should be plenty of liquid from the vegetables cooking down.

 

 

CSA Week #17

This week is another crazy week which in turn means a short post. I started OB/GYN up in Green Bay and it is full steam ahead. Tomorrow I am in Labor and Delivery, so I should be delivering my first babies in the next 24 hours 🙂

This week’s box was HUGE! Here is what is in the box and what I plan to do with it all:

• Acorn Squash – save for later
• Butternut Squash – save for later
• Beets (w/ tops) – not sure yet
• Bell Peppers – sautee with onions
• Cabbage (green OR purple) – my first attempt at kraut!
• Carrots – cut off tops, wash, and eat as a snack with hummus
• Green and Yellow Beans – sautee in garlic and eat with steak and potatoes
• Honey – save for later
• Hot peppers (various) – roast and store in oil in the refrigerator with other hot peppers
• Honeycrisp Apples – eat 🙂
• Leeks – I plan to make sausage and leek soup this weekend
• Onions – sautee with bell peppers
• Pumpkins – carve this weekend!
• Radish- “Watermelon” and  “Black Spanish” – not sure yet
• Tomatillos – not sure yet
• Tomatoes – roast with garlic at 425F x 25 minutes (stir intermittently) and serve over pasta

UPDATE 10/5/13 –  I ended up roasting the radishes in the oven with olive oil and salt for 40 minutes. They turned out great.  Jason said they remind him of potatoes, so they would be a good option for people who are trying to cut back on carbs.  I also ended up making a leek and sausage soup with peppers. I added a few too many hot peppers, so I’ll need to come up with a remedy for that.