Beef and Nectarine Stir Fry

I got some nectarines in my CSA last week, and wanted to use them in a savory way, rather than in a dessert. This stir fry recipe came from Jaden at Steamy Kitchen; she blogs about a lot of simple Asian recipes. I made a couple modifications: used 3 green onions instead of the red onion, 2 nectarines instead of just one (it didn't seem like enough).

I liked the combination of the sweet/tart nectarines and the beef (and how easy the recipe is). However, Tim and I agreed that we would add some heat to this if we were to make it again. Maybe red pepper flakes in with the beef?

Raspberry Yogurt Popsicles

I went a little crazy at the store with the Greek yogurt, so I had 2 huge full containers to use up. Popsicles sounded appealing in the hot DC weather, so I looked up this recipe for raspberry yogurt popsicles on the other Martha's website...

The instructions are a little wonky, but it's basically mix some plain yogurt with sugar, blend half of it with raspberries, pour it into popsicles molds (or paper cups with popsicle sticks if you don't have molds), alternating the plain yogurt with the raspberry yogurt. The other Martha says to send the raspberries through a sieve to get the seeds out, but I say that's unnecessary.

I liked the creaminess the yogurt gave the popsicles. I bet the recipe would be good with mango (frozen or fresh) or maybe oranges (mandarin?), to make it like a creamsicle.

Breeding like Bunnies

These creepy things are breeding like bunnies... literally.

It must be the thongs.

Raincoat bunny is next.

Apple Rhubarb Crisp

I asked Chuck to throw this crisp together on her day off in order to use the last of this season's rhubarb and 3 or 4 random apples we had floating around in the veggie drawer from CSA shares past.

It stuck to the pan a bit and got a wee bit burnt on the edges despite being taken out 10 minutes early, which confused us a bit at first. Then I glanced at the recipe while writing up this post, and realized that it was supposed to bake at 350 degrees, not 450, which is what Chuck set the oven to... oops!

No harm, though. It tasted great with some whipped cream.

Jennifer provided the artistically placed mint sprig. Tim was worried the mint would leave an unappealing "taint" on his crisp, which made us giggle.

Bring this salad to your next potluck BBQ!!

This salad is ridiculously easy, infinitely interchangeable as far as ingredients, and totally tasty.

The original recipe, a Rachael Ray creation, has black beans, corn, red pepper, and red onion as the base. I've made this countless different ways: subbing scallions for the red onion, yellow peppers for the red peppers, using frozen corn instead of fresh (and vice versa). I am always sure to add some chopped cilantro- it makes a big difference in taste. The other ingredients in the dressing, the lime, cumin, S&P, and the hot sauce, should all be added to your taste.

Today's iteration included (in addition to the black beans) corn sliced off the cob, lightly blanched green beans instead of pepper, halved cherry tomatoes, and scallions (all from the CSA).

Try it... everybody seems to like it.

Chuck: Chieftain of Chicken

Chuck is the chieftain of chicken.*

Her chicken cooking skills are unparalleled. Behold the beautiful grill marks. Marvel at the magnificently juicy insides.

Chuck got this recipe for sauteed chicken breasts (we used thighs) with latin citrus sauce from a "Best of Cooking Light" magazine that Martha suggestively and wistfully stuffed in her stocking one Christmas in the hopes that Chuck would catch the cooking bug. It worked, apparently.

*She is also apparently the chieftain of spelling, as she was the only one in the house that knew how to spell "chieftain."

Stuffed Zucchinni

Kim O'Donnell, formerly of the Washington Post (declining profits in the print media industry have led to lay-offs and buyouts of newspaper employees), started a new blog, "Licking Your Chops," last week.

One of her first posts was a combination of Meatless Mondays (a challenge to reduce your meat intake, for both health and environmental reasons) and Eating Down the Fridge (a challenge involving coming up with creative recipes that use up the crap that's slowly going bad in your fridge/pantry... cough cough MARTHA cough cough...the ultimate "mixed grill").

The result: stuffed zucchini!

This idea is kinda fun and totally malleable, depending on what you have sitting around in your fridge and pantry.

I pretty much followed Kim's recipe, since I had all those ingredients on hand. It was tasty. There was a lot of stuffing left over that didn't quite fit in the little zucchini boats, but I'll take it for lunch tomorrow.