on Saturday I was told no suppers at 10 am… then I proceeded to make up suppers anyways because I had all the ingredients bought and had to use them up… at 3:45 pm I see a train of green combines whir past my place and sure enough they are combining… I smile and think “Catherine, you are so smart… you are ready for this”...
then it rains at 6:00 pm… I can handle this a few times but really hoping we start to get some days where their meal actually reaches the field!
if you are ever in a pinch for a salad – I had bought this chickpea/pasta salad from Costco and my family always loves it… I also get some grape tomatoes and cut them up to put in it to make it look and taste a bit more homemade…
I have been getting chickens and beef from a neighbour of ours for years now and my little friend Edie raises the best little chickens… well not so little as this one was 9 lbs… I have been a vegetarian for over two years now, but I still have to have meat for the farmers and my family… so sourcing out fairly treated animals is very important to me and little Edie treats these chickens very well…
this is the part of the meal that I don’t love… well that and the dead chicken… for some reason I hate tortellini pasta… but it is an absolute favourite of my children… I used it for this dish as it holds up well to being in a casserole
now these I do love… mushrooms… nothing better than mushrooms with butter and onions and garlic… mmmmmm…. (mine were very runny so I had to drain these before putting them in the bowl with the rest of the casserole ingredients to mix together)
blanching the broccoli keeps it in good shape for going into a casserole dish… this means you boil it for no longer than 2 minutes and then immediately get it nice and cold again to stop the cooking…
and now… for the ooeeee-goooeeeyyyy sauce I made up… cream cheese goodness
finished product that headed to the freezer… I am pretty sure this will freeze and cook up well but I will let you know if for some reason it doesn’t!!!
tortellini chicken broccoli casserole
Ingredients:
8 oz pkg uncooked pasta (I used tortellini, rotini is also a good choice)
1 lb of broccoli florets (around 2 heads of broccoli), cut into bit size pieces
2 tbsp butter
1 white or yellow onion, thinly sliced
8 oz cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
1 1/2 cup chicken stock
4 oz cream cheese (1/2 a block)
1 tsp dijon mustard
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp freshly-cracked black pepper
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided
2 cups shredded cooked chicken
Directions:
for the chicken, I just cook up a whole chicken and use the leftovers for lunch meat
for the pasta, boil a large pot of water with salt and add the pasta until al dente – do not overcook… strain and place in a large bowl with a bit of olive oil so it doesn’t stick together
for the broccoli, boil for a few minutes and then strain and cool in cold water – you cannot overcook the broccoli
in a saucepan, saute the onion, mushrooms and garlic in the butter (strain this if it is too runny)
add the broccoli and onion mixture to the pasta in the large bowl
in the saucepan, melt butter and add flour and whisk… then add the chicken stock slowly and then the cream cheese, mustard, salt and pepper
add one cup of the grated cheddar cheese to melt and pour over the pasta mixture in the large bowl and add the chicken and mix well
using a spatula, scrape out all the contents of the bowl into a greased 9×13 pan
sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top
bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes
garden zucchinis go well with chocolate – but also with lemons!!!
this is one of my favourite things… mixing together sugar and lemon zest with my fingers… the smell of it is so great and I know the taste will be even better
I’m not exactly sure when we decided that putting zucchini into cakes somehow made the cake healthy… but I have it in my mind that here is a healthy form of a cake… even though I see the amount of sugar, butter and cream cheese going into it…
this makes more than enough icing to cover up the ‘healthy’ cake
I put this iced cake in the fridge overnight and it cut up nicely the next day… and now my freezers are officially full… fingers crossed the combines can be in the fields for a few suppers this week!
lemon zucchini cake with cream cheese icing
Ingredients:
For the Cake:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup sugar
- zest of 2 lemons
- 3/4 cup canola oil
- 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups grated zucchini
For the Icing:
- 8 ounce block cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 4 cups icing sugar
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- pinch of salt
Directions:
- preheat oven to 350 degrees, grease a 9×13 pan
- in a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt
- in a mixing bowl, combine sugar and lemon zest (rub together with you fingers until fragrant)
- add the oil and beat… add one egg at a time and then lemon juice and vanilla
- add the dry ingredients and then the zucchini – do not overmix
- pour into the greased 9×13 pan and bake for 30 minutes or until done
- for the icing, in a stand mixer beat the cream cheese and butter and scrape down
- add the icing sugar and combine
- add the lemon juice, lemon zest and salt
- spread the icing over the cake when it is completely cooled
- I like to put plastic wrap over this cake and put it in the fridge and cut it the next day
i feed a farmer 
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