Summer Fruits & Veggies

A couple of months ago, I got an email from Harris inquiring as to whether or not I would be interested in a summer fruit and veggies program going on in his office. Basically, every week from May to August, we would be getting one basket of fresh fruits, and one basket of fresh veggies, all from local farms. I enthusiastically said "yes!", and have been waiting for our first baskets ever since.

Luckily, the week of the baskets has arrived! I was so excited that I almost forgot to take a picture, but, luckily for you, I dragged everything back out and displayed it nicely!

This week we received: strawberries, and two varieties of apples (although I couldn't tell you which!), spinach, romaine lettuce, swiss chard, collard greens, beets, bok choy, green (spring?) onions, and flat Italian parsley!

I have already put the strawberries, spinach, and swiss chard to good use in smoothies, and romaine and spinach in a salad. I have never cooked a beet before, so I am not sure what I will do there, but I think I might try adding it to a smoothie - I have heard good things, will report back! I am going to cook down the collards later this week, hopefully, but I did use up the bok choy last night in my yummy spicy Asian noodles! I was already planning to cook that this week, and the bok choy was a nice surprise addition!

I am really excited to see what we continue to get throughout the summer, and excited to try some things I wouldn't normally buy (looking at you, beets!).

From Our Kitchen: Baja Chicken Fajitas

I don't know about you guys, but I love fajitas! Interestingly enough, I hate the onions and green peppers in fajitas, but just the simple act of compiling all my own goodies in a warm tortilla is something this girl loves. Several years ago, when I first ordered fajitas at On the Border, I was amazed at my options in building the perfect fajita. Not only do you get to choose the meat(s) you want on your sizzling pan, but you also get to choose from three different veggie options. I know one is the traditional onions and green peppers (yeck), and one is squash, zucchini, and red pepper (yum), and I don't remember the third. Now, seeing as I looooove squash and zucchini and red pepper (everyone finds this weird since I don't like green peppers, but I firmly stand by my stance that they taste very different), I was sold on this particular combination, and, to this day, OTB is still my favorite place to get fajitas for this very reason. I decided last week that I wanted to take a stab at recreating this dish at home. I didn't follow any recipe, and just kind of winged it, but really, it's pretty basic, yes? I forgot to take a bunch of pics, so you will have to settle for two, but it was really delicious and super easy!

What You'll Need:

• 3 or 4 chicken breasts
• Fajita seasoning packet, or combination of cumin, ground red pepper, chili powder, etc
• Splash or two of lime juice
• 2 - 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 yellow squash
• 2 zucchini
• 1 red bell pepper
• Ground cumin, ground red pepper, and salt, to taste
• tortillas
• toppings: cheese, guacamole, sour cream, salsa, whatever your heart desires!

What You'll Do:

1. Cook your chicken. Now there are obviously several options here: you can cook it in a frying pan on the stove until done, and then add fajita seasoning and water as directed. Or, you can do as I did, and cook it in a crockpot to get some nice shredded chicken (I know, not your typical cooking for fajita chicken, but was really delicious!). If you go the shredded chicken route, spray your crockpot, place chicken breast inside, pour in about 1/4 cup of water or chicken broth, pour seasoning on top and toss to coat. Cook on low for about 4 hours, or high for about 2. Shred with forks when cooked through, and give a couple splashes of lime juice.
2. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan, and add squash, zucchini, and red pepper. Cook down for about 3 or 4 minutes, and then add ground cumin, ground red pepper, and salt, to taste. Continue cooking until veggies are tender, but not mushy!
3. Wrap tortillas in aluminum foil, and warm in the oven for 10 minutes.
4. Top warm tortilla with chicken, veggies, and various toppings of your choice. Enjoy!