Muffins, Brownies and Pie, Oh My!

Okay, so I have several recipes that we've tried that I need to get caught up on sharing.  I don't remember when I made each, but I suppose that doesn't really matter :)  I'll just go from most to least favorite for this post.
Note: Recipes that don't have links are included in full at the end of this post


First, I will start with a Minced Beef and Onion Pie recipe that my friend, Anne, shared when I asked for recipes involving mushrooms.
I don't do well with most red meat; so I substituted ground turkey.  (I was a vegetarian for a few years; now I might just be a picky meat-eater.)  Either way, the ground turkey worked great and my red meat eating husband loved the dish too.  We ate it with some fresh asparagus, which I am loving now that it is cooked "properly." (Heat olive oil, add a little butter, cook for 10 seconds, enjoy!)  This recipe is definitely a keeper.

Another dish that we enjoyed this past week was one I found on the internet.  We got a lot of leafy greens in the last box of produce and I wanted to make something other than just salads with them.  The answer?  Spinach Brownies.  It is basically a spinach quiche of sorts, but the name caught my attention (and I'm glad it did.)  Based on several comments on the original recipe, I too cut the amount of butter in half and found it to be plenty.  I also added some of our green garlic to it.  While we certainly liked the recipe just like this, I think we will also be able to add other yummy vegetables to it later in the season.


A new vegetable for us last week was bok choy.  C sliced and marinated some tofu in a store-bought stir fry sauce for about 24 hours.  The next evening he added it to the chopped bok choy and some more stir fry sauce.  It was simple, but good.





The last recipe that I will be sharing tonight probably has the potential to be good; it just didn't turn out that way when I made it :)   The Tipi Produce newsletter had a fruit muffin recipe.  They actually had two recipes (an old and a revised one) and when "flipping" between the two, I missed some important information (i.e. use more sugar when the fruit you are using is rhubarb).  Anyway, I tried to salvage them by adding some vanilla frosting we had on hand, but I don't think it was enough.

Minced Beef (or Turkey) and Onion Pie Recipe*  
*Shortcrust pastry recipe is also below.  Both were provided courtesy of Anne.


2Tbsp vegetable oil
500g/1lb2oz ground beef (or turkey)
1 onion, chopped
1Tbsp tomato paste/puree
1 1/2Tbsp flour
75g/2 1/2oz mushrooms, chopped
250ml/9 fl oz beef stock 
dash Worchestershire sauce
400g/14 oz shortcrust pastry (ready made or homemade)

1. Preheat oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6
2. Fry beef and onion in oil (use a very large frying pan)
3. Stir in tomato paste, then flour. 
4. Add chopped mushrooms, beef stock, and Worchestershire sauce. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and leave to simmer for 20 minutes.
5. Roll out bottom pastry crust and line pie plate (I usually bake it blind- empty- for a couple minutes to prevent it from getting soggy).
6. Fill with meat filling
7. Roll out top crust and cover- cut slits in crust and/or decorate with leftover crust bits.
8. Bake for 20-25 minutes


Shortcrust Pasty Recipe* 
*Double crust.  Store bought stuff works too.

2C flour
1/2 tsp salt
2/3C cold butter
7+ Tbsp water

1. Stir together flour and salt
2. Cut in butter until pieces are pea sized
3. Sprinkle over 1Tbsp water at a time and toss with fork. Repeat until dough is sticky enough to form a ball.
4. Refrigerate 30min-1hr
5. Roll out on lightly floured surface
6. Bake as described in pie recipe



Fruit Muffins Recipe*
*All the information below is from the Tipi Produce 5/13/10 Newsletter

Adapted from Deborah Madison’s “Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.” 

Beth’s notes: This is our family’s standard whole-grain muffin recipe, good with most types of fruit that are not too wet.  Use the larger amount of brown sugar if adding rhubarb to the batter.  When using raspberries, we find that you can add up to 2 cups of berries.  Sprinkle with some coarse-grained baker’s sugar to dress up the muffins. 

2 1/2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour 

2 tsp. baking powder 

1 tsp. baking soda 

1/2 tsp. salt 

1/2 to 3/4 cup packed brown sugar 

3/4 cup chopped roasted almonds 

3 handfuls chocolate chips (optional) 

2 eggs, lightly beaten 

1 1/3 cups buttermilk, or yogurt thinned with  

          water to the consistency of buttermilk 

1/3 cup canola oil 

2 tsp. vanilla extract 

1 cup of any of the following fresh or frozen fruits:  raspberries, blackberries, blueberries (tossed with one tablespoon of flour); finely diced rhubarb or apples or pears or cranberries; or pineapple (chopped in small pieces) 

Preheat the oven to 375.  Spray, oil, or butter muffin tins.  Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wets in a second bowl, then combine them with a few swift strokes, then add the fruit.  Using a rubber spatula, stir the batter up from the bottom of the bowl to make sure that there aren’t any pockets of flour or fruit.  Don’t beat the batter and don’t worry about a slightly uneven appearance.   Spoon or scoop the batter into the tins, going nearly to the top for a nicely rounded muffin.  Bake in the upper third of the oven until browned and well risen, about 25 minutes.  Turn out the muffins and serve. 

Loving Tipi After Week 1

We have successfully finished most of our produce from the first week and we have plans for the few items that remain.  It doesn't look like anything will be going to waste, which is definitely a goal we have while we are participating in the CSA (and in general).  We did this by using the ingredients in dishes we already eat and by trying some new recipes.  Thanks to all who have shared ideas so far; here are some more:

We bought a rotisserie chicken the other night, which we used with some of the vegetables for two meals.  The first night, we had a salad with mixed greens, chicken, craisins, almond slices and Asian sesame dressing.  Mandarin oranges would also be a nice touch to this dish.

The next day we used the leftover chicken to make chicken salad sandwiches (olive oil mayo, green garlic, chives, and craisins).  I suppose we could have used lettuce here too, but we opted not too.

On Wednesday, I tried a recipe for "Crispy Asparagus."  I had been looking for several days for a way to make a "dried snack food" out of the asparagus.  This recipe was pretty much the only one I was able to find (it was one of many asparagus recipes on a link that Stef submitted.)  While it worked okay, I don't think that I will be making it again.  The recipe calls for blanching the asparagus in salty water, which I thought made the final product taste too salty.  Ironically, while I was cutting up the asparagus, I found out that I actually like it raw; it reminds me of fresh green beans.  I guess that I have only had it cooked before (and not to my liking).  With that said, we will still be trying some new recipes.  We got a new bundle of asparagus today and I already picked up the ingredients for the "Gruyere/Asparagus Tart" that Stef pointed out.

Today was perhaps my favorite new meal so far.  We had thin spaghetti with "Arugula Pesto" and it was delicious!  I would strongly recommend this recipe.  We were able to use the arugula and green garlic from the box.  The recipe calls for 6 cloves of garlic.  We just cut off a piece about 4 fingers wide from each stalk of green garlic instead and then proceeded as the directions suggested.  That seemed to work well.  Everyone in the family liked it; including J.

Rhubarb Pie

We recently visited my husband's grandparents up north.  I decided to use some of the rhubarb to make a rhubarb pie to share with them.  It went over very well.  Case in point: Grandma, who has Alzheimer's, usually needs help feeding herself.  Well, after she finished her piece she grabbed Grandpa's hand, fork and some of his pie so she could get another bite :)  Here is a link to the recipe if you are interested.  I cheated and used a store bought crust.  A homemade crust and vanilla ice cream would make it even better. 

Grandma used to do a lot of cooking/baking.  I'm curious if she has a good pie recipe hiding somewhere.  Do you have any family pie recipes that have been passed down?

On a side note, before we left for the trip, I used a few of the mushrooms and chives on a frozen pizza.  The frozen pizza was nothing special, but finding out that Jackson really likes mushrooms was :)

It's Here!

J and I picked up our first box of produce today, and I couldn't be happier with it.  The box (which is supposedly small because it is early in the season) has a lot of beautiful veggies for us.  

It contains red and green leaf lettuce, arugula, radishes, button mushrooms, asparagus, rhubarb, chives, and green garlic.  As you can imagine, this box is mostly going to be used for salads, as it was tonight.  As I was preparing the salad, I could not help but be excited about it.  I was washing dirt off the lettuce, not pesticides.  It's a good feeling :-)

Tipi Produce sends out a newsletter with ideas about what to do with each week's produce.  One suggested recipe for this week was homemade chive and green garlic salad dressing.  The recipe was simple (1 tablespoon of chives, 1 teaspoon green garlic, 1/2 cup of lowfat buttermilk, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, 1 tablespoon mayo and salt to taste.)  It was a good start, but I imagine we will be tweaking this recipe as the summer goes on. 

I am hoping to make a rhubarb pie tomorrow and hopefully doing something with the asparagus and mushrooms soon.  I'll eat both, but I'm not normally a huge fan of either.  Any suggestions?

We Joined Tipi Produce!

C has been interested in getting a share of a CSA for awhile, but I have always been a little hesitant because of the financial aspect.  A friend recently mentioned that her family is entering their third year as members of Tipi Produce, out of Evansville, Wisconsin, so I thought it was worth a closer look.  Upon exploring their website, I found out that the rates seem pretty reasonable and that we are even eligible for a $200 rebate from our health insurance company.  This makes the final cost to us about $18 a week for a box of local, organic produce.  This price, combined with our desire to eat healthier food, helped us reach our decision quickly.  We will be picking up our first box tomorrow!!

We will be using future posts on this blog to share what we get from Tipi Produce and what we are doing with it.  We would also like this to be a place for others to share their CSA experiences, recipes and suggestions.  

With that, are you or have you been a member of a CSA?  If so, which one?  What did you like/dislike about it?