June Veggie Stir-Fry

Materials
• Half a bag of sugar snap peas, de-stringed
• The white & light green parts of 6 green onions, cut into 1 inch chunks
• 5 small radishes, trimmed & quartered
• 1/2 carton of sliced mushrooms
• 1 cup kale
• Olive oil
• Lemon juice
• Vegetable broth
• Garlic
• Spices as desired

Methods
Time to use up more stuff from the CSA! I started out by drizzling olive oil a few times around a large skillet (if you’re into measuring things, maybe 2 or 3 tablespoons? I don’t roll like that, though). I threw in the peas, onions, radishes, and mushrooms and cooked until the onions started to go transparent. Once they changed, I threw in a small spoonful of pre-minced garlic – because I’m lazy – and started squirting in lemon juice from the little squeezy yellow bottle. How much lemon juice? Until it tasted good, that’s how much.

Added the kale then, cooked for another minute or so, and then added about 1/4-1/2 cup of vegetable broth. I added a little ground black pepper, a dash of savory spice, and another small splort of lemon juice, then let it simmer for another 3 or 4 minutes.

This was really good! The lemon zestularity was a nice refreshing flavor on a day that could best be described as “hotter than Satan’s left armpit”. I’m digging the cooked radishes even more than the raw ones, too.

I do still have approximately one metric fuckton of kale left, so if anyone has any new suggestions for what to do with it, I would love to hear them!

Time Needed: **** : A medium amount of dicing, shredding, etc. but not too bad.
Deliciousness: **** : Why have I never put lemon juice on onions before?! Yum.
Serving size: *** : This was only enough for two servings but it would be pretty easy to make it bigger.
Ingredients: **** : Go to the farmer's market and you'll be all set.

The Bottom Line: If I could only find a way to cook vegetables without heating them, this recipe would be ideal.

Tato Pancakes

So I got some scallions from my CSA and I was all "wtf do I do with these?" I pondered this for a time, before thinking, "I've never made potato pancakes before. Is this doable?" (Yes. It is.)

I washed 3 small-to-medium potatoes, then shredded them on the biggest-hole side of my box grater. Then I dried them by squeezing them through a dish-towel over the kitchen sink. Then I changed into a shirt that was not covered in potato juice.

I chopped up 2 of the scallions into super-teensy-tiny pieces, mixed them with the potatoes, and squished it all together with the white of 1 egg, a dash of salt, and a couple good grinds from the pepper mill.

I heated up vegetable oil in a skillet (a couple times around the pan? ish?) and slopped piles of potato-scallion-goo into it. I started with the pan at high heat, but I burned the bottom of my first two attempts kind of badly. Went better with the third one on medium heat. They're pretty lumpy and might only very charitably be called "pancakes" rather than "panblobs", but I ate them anyway. Voila:

To (mis)quote Janis:

"It's summertime, and the cooking is easy."

If you are a teacher, what summer means is that it's damn well time to stop buying freezer meals and pre-made soup and start eating Real Food again. If you are in fact not a teacher, summer means you get to shake your head and cluck disapprovingly at us weaklings who crapped out on nutrition in favor of effort- (and, largely, flavor-) free cuisine.

Now, it IS summer, and I'm coming off of a long stretch of being a lazy bum, so I decided to start easy. And what could be easier than a sandwich? (Answer: cereal. But I made a sandwich anyway.)

The summer sandwich du jour is pretty straightforward.
1. Bread.
2. Layer of small, thin-sliced radishes.
3. Layer of cheese.
4. Fresh-cut chives.
5. Bread again.

I'd put a picture, but it was really good and I ate it all before I thought about it. =/ Also, the only thing I'd change is using a less crumbly cheese (I made it with Port de Salue) - my sandwich kept trying to disintegrate while I ate it. Also, probably more chives. I like chives.