Yay Bev!

This week we have 2 reasons to give Miss Beverly a big giant round of applause:
1) (and this is really the way smaller reason) she was kind enough to give us her weekly produce haul from her CSA because she was going to be out of town to kick butt
2) She totally kicked butt at IronMan Canada yesterday. YAY Bev! We are SO SO proud of you for conquering the 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and 26.2 run. You, my dear, ROCK

And just to make us both feel a little better this is how I used your fantastic produce.

Heirloom tomatoes: stuffed with cheese and italian seasoned breadcrumbs (and grilled because we were having a freak power failure- WTF?!)
Romanescu cauliflower: tossed with EVOO S&P and roasted
Leeks: 1 used to make veggie stock, 2 browned in butter and braised with a little veggie stock
Cutting Celery: in the veggie stock
Beets: bottoms Roasted on the grill and tossed with some orange slices from the tree in the yard and a little lemon juice and salt.
Swiss chard: sauteed with some EVOO, garlic and the beet greens

Still to come the beautiful sweet peppers which I think will become fajitas tomorrow. We shall see.

Thanks Bev and congrats- you put in more hours of training than I can possibly imagine and
YOU ARE AN IRON(wo) MAN!!!

Donna's Fab Birthday Potluck

My lovely bud (and my husband's long time- and totally kick ass I might add- running buddy) had a little birthday fiesta recently. It was a bit of a pot luck extravaganza featuring some of Betty's gorgeous signature cupcakes, and small bites galore. I did some savory tarts and since, as we know, I am pastry challenged I used my favorite standby- the pepperidge farm frozen puff pastry. A surprisingly good product and totally easy to work with, even for people like me who can't seem to roll out and construct anything....


In the main part of the image is a tart filled with goat cheese and roasted heirloom cherry tomatoes, garlic, thyme and shallots. In the corner is another tart with caramelized onions, crisped pancetta and creme fraiche.
The directions couldnt be easier. Pre-heat oven to 400. Defrost dough. Roll out a little bit to soften the creases in the dough. Lay the dough in a pan or on cookie sheet. Top with whatever your little heart desires. Fold dough over the edges so the deliciousness doesn't spill out and bake until golden.

Now if only we could have kept Scott from making Salami Chocolate Fondue.... sad but true :)