One neighborly project of the Neighbors Project is the Food and Liquors project, which is based in Chicago and is working to encourage neighborhood bodegas to sell more fresh produce and neighbors to shop there more. As a fundraiser, the organization put together the Bodega Party in a Box kit, which includes, among other nifty treats, a cookbook with recipes from food bloggers around the country.

As I mentioned, I’ve got friends in high places at the Neighbors Project. Hence, I’m a “food blogger from around the country” now. And, if it weren’t exciting enough to be published in this great looking 44-page book, I’m also in Conde Nast Traveler online.

Check out the Neighbors Project and order your Bodega Party in a Box now!

And… as seen in Conde Nast Traveler online:

Banana Bread Pudding
by Jessica Arnold of 3DayWeekend
Clinton Hill, Brooklyn

In order to make this banana bread pudding, you’ll first need to bake banana bread. You’ll only need one loaf for the bread pudding, but it’s nice to have another loaf. If you’re anything like us, you’ll find a way to enjoy the remaining loaf (like hot out of the oven, with some butter).

Serves 8 to 10
Drink with coffee or tea

Ingredients:
2 loaves banana bread
Custard
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups whole milk
5 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Garnish: 1 banana (optional)
Bourbon Sauce (optional, recipe below):
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 tablespoons bourbon, or more to taste

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, beat eggs.
3. Cut banana bread into one-inch cubes (it’s okay if it crumbles).
4. Add milk, cream, sugar and vanilla.
5. Add bread cubes and allow them to soak for half an hour, gently pressing the cubes into the custard occasionally.
6. Pour mixture into a baking pan or casserole dish.
7. Optional: Slice a banana into coins, and layer coins on the top of the bread pudding. If garnishing with bananas, bake the bread pudding covered with a sheet of tin foil until the final ten minutes.
8. Bake until set and golden on top, about 45 to 50 minutes.

Bourbon Sauce Directions:
1. Melt butter in small sauce pan.
2. Whisk together sugar and egg and add to sauce pan.
3. Whisk constantly over low heat until thickened (about 10 minutes).
4. Allow to cool and add bourbon.

Serve Banana Bread Pudding warm with sauce drizzled on top

But, in the meantime, I will report on a fantastic salad I made for lunch today.

I’ve been slightly obsessed with cabbage lately. We’ve been getting loads of farm fresh cabbage at my great new CSA. And a couple weeks ago, Tara Parker-Pope’s health and wellness blog on the New York Times, Well, featured a list of 11 super healthy foods that we should all eat and often aren’t. Cabbage was #2 on the list, along with 10 other foods I love to eat.

With one of my green cabbage heads, I made this great recipe from 101cookbooks, substituting Kirby cukes and avocados for the tomatoes. This got me thinking about the millions of varities of coleslaw one could invent. Here’s what I came up with today:

Half a head of red cabbage,sliced into very thin ribbons

A large handful of cherry tomatoes, halved

2-3 peaches, cut into thin slices or chunks

1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped

1 cup raw almonds

Balsamic and olive oil vinaigrette (I used some dijon mustard as well)

Combine ingredients in a large salad bowl, drizzle with vinaigrette, toss, eat.Yum.

He’s a good cook (secret ingredient = butter), but his specialty is breakfast. He’s not use to preparing a full meal, but he threw himself into the challenge in earnest. He shopped, prepped and cooked the whole thing on his own. I had the sense he was staving off a stress meltdown, mostly because of timing and the crunch of getting things all out together. But, it came out great and was a lovely birthday treat.

The menu:

Fresh foccacia (from the farmer’s market)

Fennel, beet and orange salad with olives

Winter vegetable soup

Sautéed spinach and mushrooms

Dessert: My favorite yogurt

Well done Karl.

The smoothies this week have been so good that we’ve actually managed to make the same smoothie four days in a row (very rare in our smoothie making experience since we usually run low on at least one ingredient after the first day). The amounts below are estimates since we just eyeball everything or throw in the amounts that happen to be on hand.

Add to blender:

• 1/4 cantelope, cut in chunks
• 1 peach, sliced
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt (preferably homemade)
• Scoop of mango sorbet (or other complimentary fruit, preferably homemade)
• 1/4 cup Ceres Medley of Fruits juice (natural guava, pineapple, papaya, etc.)

Makes enough for 2 pint sized glasses.

Here’s another yummy mix for late season peaches when the bounty of apples start to appear at the farmer’s market:

• 1-2 peaches
• 1 large honey crisp apple
• 1 heaping cup of plain yogurt (preferably homemade)
• 1/3 cup apricot juice
• honey to taste

Enjoy!

Quinoa-Stuffed Peppers

• 6 medium bell peppers (red, yellow, green or a mix)
• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cups water
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup pine nuts (or chopped cashews)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 small zucchini, chopped
• 1 carrot, julienned
• 1 bunch of greens (sliced spinach leaves, chard, or broccoli rabe)
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 4 ounces cheese (feta or parmesan)

1. Preheat oven 425° and bring a large pot of water to a boil.

2. Cut the tops off the bell peppers to create an opening large enough to remove seeds. (Optional: Cut an additional half inch or so off the top; chop these pieces and set aside.)

3. When water boils, submerge bell peppers and simmer for about 5 minutes. Drain in a large colander and set aside.

4. Prepare quinoa and 2 cups of water in a separate saucepan.

5. In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; sautee for 5 minutes. Add chopped bell pepper (otpional) and sautee for another 5 minutes. Add pine nuts and cumin and sautee for another minute, then add zucchini, carrots, spinach, oregano, and salt. Sautee for 3 minutes, then add cooked quinoa and half the cheese until mixture is heated through.

6. Place cooked bell peppers in a rectangular baking dish coated with cooking spray or lined with parchment paper. Fill each pepper with quinoa mixture. Top with remaining cheese. Replace the top of the bell peppers and bake upright for 20 minutes.

Serves 6

My version consisted of 1 1/4 cups 1% milk, 1 1/4 cups half and half, and a vanilla bean (no vanilla extract). I also tossed in freshly sliced peaches from the farmer’s market during the ice cream maker’s last five minutes of churn.

Cornstarch Ice Cream
By MARK BITTMAN
Published: August 1, 2007

Time: 20 minutes, plus chilling

• 2 1/2 cups light cream, half-and-half or milk (whole or skim), or a combination
• 1/2 cup sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1 vanilla bean or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch

1. Put 2 cups cream, half-and-half or milk, the sugar and salt in a saucepan over medium-low heat. If using a vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise and scrape seeds into liquid, then add pod. Cook until mixture begins to steam.

2. In a bowl, blend cornstarch and remaining cream, half-and-half or milk; there should be no lumps. Remove bean pod from pot and discard. Add cornstarch mixture to pot. Cook, stirring, until it starts to thicken and barely reaches a boil, about 5 minutes. Immediately reduce heat to very low and stir for 5 minutes or so until thick. Stir in vanilla extract, if using.

3. If mixture has lumps, strain it into a bowl. Chill until cool, a couple of hours (you can skip this step if you have a machine with a built-in freezer). When cool or if there are no lumps, pour into an ice cream machine and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Yield: 1 generous pint.

I was wrangled into joining the “core group” of my CSA (this is not, clearly, the exciting part). Anyway, at the meeting last week, we had to go around and introduce ourselves by saying our names and a recent recipe we’ve made using our CSA vegetables (I did a good job of keeping my inner cynic in check, not mentioning the difficulty of using two rinky radishes for an actual recipe). The woman after me told us her name and said she had made a fantastic recipe for red curry pak choi that she found in the newsletter a few weeks ago and that it was terrific.

That was MY recipe! I actually squealed and fluttered my hands some. Which meant I quickly went from feeling very cool to feeling very dorky. But, still, I had my moment of glory.

Regardless, I biked back to the farmer’s market and nearly swooned with all the bright, cheerful fruit and veggies that greeted me. Among my treasures, I lugged home two pounds of plums, some nectarines, cherries, and a few big zucchini. And although it was 1000 degrees on Saturday, I cranked up the oven and whipped up a bunch of treats to deliver to the parties I had that evening (and some to keep for our own as well). The rustic plum tart, the plum/nectarine/cherry tart, and zucchini bread were wonderful The crust making was a bit nerve-wracking, because I was worried the butter would get too warm. But I think it all came out in the end.

In between the baking, I re-potted my herb box with some new herbs, sewed a birthday gift for Andrew, and cleaned the house. I don’t think I sat down once all day. Good thing I worked so hard on Saturday though, because the late night out had my sleeping off much of Sunday.

Rustic Plum Tart

I started with a recipe from the Moosewood Restaurant New Classics, which I made less sweet and more spicy. I made the crust using this recipe from Martha. The filling is just about a pound and a half of red and yellow plums, 1/2 cup sugar, 3 Tablespoons corn starch, some fresh nutmeg and Chinese 5 spice to taste. Baked on 350 for 35 minutes.
Zucchini Bread
I used this recipe from 101 cookbooks. I made it before without the poppy seeds, ginger or lemon zest and it was so good it was gone in a flash.This time I followed the recipe, but for the crystallized ginger. My recommendation? Lose the lemon zest and follow everything else.

Red Curry Tofu

• 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
• 1/4 cup water
• 4 tablespoons dark soy sauce
• 1-2 tablespoons Thai red curry sauce
• Garlic scapes, sliced into thin, two inch strips
• Sesame oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons fresh grated ginger
• 1 package firm tofu, cut into cubes
• Coarsely chopped pak choi (or bok choi) leaves and about 1/3rd of stems
• Cilantro, salt, pepper to taste and crushed raw peanuts (optional) garnish

Whisk together the coconut milk, water, and soy sauce in a bowl and let stand

In a large skillet, saute the garlic scapes in sesame oil until they begin to soften

Add garlic and ginger and cook for 1 minute

Add tofu, pak choi, and coconut milk mixture, reduce heat to medium, cover and let cook for 5-7 minutes stirring occasionally until the greens begin to wilt and the tofu is cooked

Remove cover and allow to simmer a few more minutes until the sauce
begins to thicken.

Serve on its own or with rice or rice noodles

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