July Wrap-Up (July 1-17)

Happy Birthday Tom!

Hey all, sorry it's been awhile since I put up a post here (although Tom's been keeping up with it). Its summer, when we all get lazy (and in our case, busy). Plus, Tom hasn't been cooking too much, or that much interesting stuff, its mostly CSA vegetables that run our life during the summer, and this season its no different.

First, I'll highlight my personal contribution to our eating this month. I made a brown-butter vanilla cake with buttercream frosting for Tom's birthday.

Brown-Butter Vanilla Cake

This is a very yummy cake. The butter is browned (like the name implies) so the cake takes on a slight nutty flavor, even though there are no nuts. The cake has 4 sticks of butter in it, and the frosting has 3 sticks of butter, so it's very healthy. I made this cake last year and it was a hit, so I made it again this year. Luckily, we had friends and family to share it with this year, so Tom and I didn't have to eat a whole cake ourselves like we did last year (not that it wasn't enjoyable, but I probably should have taken a cholesterol test before the cake and after, to see how much it clogged my arteries!).

Now on to the healthier stuff that Tom cooked this month:

Beef Heart

In his quest to eat the odd, Tom got a beef heart from the CSA meat vendor. I didn't eat it, so I can't say how it tasted. Tom said it was very lean and not super beefy.

Tom's Beef Heart Salad

I ate a veggie salad while Tom enjoyed the beef heart salad. I never used to be a salad eater, but when you get as many vegetables as we do from the CSA, you learn to like salad.

Fresh Pea, Broccoli, White Carrot and Romine Salad with Zucchini Tzatziki

I made the zucchini tzatziki. Typically its made with cucumbers, but we've been getting a lot of zucchini in the CSA share, so Tom's been trying to come up with creative ways to use it. I also made this with sour cream, since we didn't have any yogurt. But it had dill, like real tzatziki, so I'm still calling it tzatziki! Tom said I did a good job with it too, that it was 'balanced', which is a real compliment coming from him!

This is just another typical dinner Tom makes when he's trying to use up vegetables:

Grilled Romaine Salad w/Cranberry beans/Summer Vegetables and Mustard Vinegrette

(disclaimer: Tom wanted me to point out what a 'mess' this dish was. Plus, we had been eating out a lot, so he wanted to keep it light.)

Its been a really hot summer, and we're already getting corn! Its pretty unbelievable. I think this corn Tom got at the farmer's market, but we're getting it in our CSA share too. The cranberry beans don't look like much when they're cooked, but when they're in the pod, they are white with cranberry colored swirls. They taste like regular beans. 

Cranberry Beans (not my photo)

The last interesting thing Tom made was a gooseberry/blueberry tart.

The gooseberries were a lot of work (or so I heard, I guess you have to pick the stems off them or something) and they were pretty tart. The blueberries helped to balance them out. Tom made his own whipped cream to top the tart. It was very good- sweet and tart, and the crust was crisp, like Tom wanted. After Tom and I successfully rode our bikes all the way around the island of Manhattan and back to Queens (roughly 40 miles) we celebrated with champagne and a piece of this tart!

Last week we were on vacation and ate/drank at many interesting places in the city. I'll be posting about that soon (I promise!).