Bountiful Cooking

I have been a regular at the weekly Bountiful Baskets co-op for about a month. It has been a terrific experience and given me ways to create in the kitchen that I never could have expected.

Cheesy brocco-flower rice casserole served warm and gooey was sooo good.

Fresh fruit smoothies full of melon and papaya are just the ticket on hot sticky summer days.

Knowing that I have another bounty landing in my kitchen tomorrow, I took the opportunity to cook up what was left of last weeks load. The results have been delicious.

Linda Bonham from Juniper Well Ranch gave me a great recipe for Spaghetti Squash that tastes, believe or not, just like real spaghetti!

Carrot and fresh pear quick bread is cooling as I type this. Filled with crunchy toasted pumpkin seeds and slivered almonds, mmmmm…

Last night I finished up a bunch of onions and jalapenos by turning out at least 40 green chili chicken cheese empanadas.

Earlier this week I had enough oranges to feed my son’s entire preschool class picnic and still have a half-doz or so green apples to do something with.

Getting my 5-a-day has never tasted so good.

Tags: bountiful baskets, cooking, food, fresh, pear, quickbread

Bountiful Baskets

Cooking with produce in season is one of my very favorite things to do. Last year I read, French Women Don’t Get Fat (great book), and found this to be a big part of the lifestyle. It seems obvious enough…When you start with the freshest, best tasting ingredients it is hard to make something that tastes bad.

Watching the Barefoot Contessa, I learned that it takes 2 years for her to write a cookbook. The first year is spent developing and testing recipies with ingredients that are at their peak of perfection. The following year is spent re-creating the recipies, photographing the dishes and publishing the book.

My dear Heather had turned me on to Bountiful Baskets a local produce co-op. This will be the first time I have tried such a venture and am really excited to see what comes of it. For $15 dollars you get a HUGE basket of in season fruits and vegis. I added a case of blackberries for $12 that Heather and I will split and freeze.

Tags: baskets, co-op, cooking, food, fresh, fruit, produce, vegetables