Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard 8/2/12

I seems so good to be able to actually participate in Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard with produce used from the garden.  Thursday night I had a friend visiting from Canada who is accustom to dining in the many fine restaurants in Montreal so really had to put my chef's hat on and kick it into gear.

We started off dinner with a caprese salad make with fresh tomatoes and basil from the garden.

Twice baked potatoes were on the menu and included fresh chive from the garden.

The entree was a grilled London Broil of course not from the garden but from a great buy I got on a whole top round which weighed 30 pounds.  The cost per pound after trimming and cutting was $3.70 a pound which around here is a darn good price.  In the waste was 3 pounds of suet for my birds this winter which I didn't include in the actual usable poundage and final cost per pound.  There was bordelais sauce also to go with the meat that had onion and thyme from the garden.

Dinner was rounded out with a creme brulee.  Total cost for the dinner was about $12 excluding the wine.  The best part is there were enough leftovers for a repeat dinner for DB and me so it actually was a meal for 4.

With another meal this week had a fresh green pepper.

Chicken with broccoli stir fry was also on the menu this week.  This included carrots, broccoli, green pepper, onions and celery from the garden.

Broccoli including the stalk which I use in place of water chestnuts

Onions, carrots, green pepper and celery cut and ready to stirfry.

Served over rice.

Of course you can't waste the celery leaves.  They were dried for later use.

Another night we had caprese salad and open face broiled cheese with fresh tomatoes and onions.

Also was able to get boneless chicken breast on sale this week.  They will be packaged into meal size portions but don't know the cost per meal until I get them packaged but should be around $2 for the protein for a dinner for 2.

Last night we had beef burgundy made with onions and thyme from the garden over noodles.  Cost for 2 was around $4 and there is more than enough left for me for a dinner one night when DB isn't home or froze for a TV dinner for him some night when I am not here to eat.

All in all it was a good week for eating from the garden and also getting on track with my personal goal of eating nutritiously and on budget.

Bordelaise Sauce
2T butter
1 small onion chopped
2 cloves of garlic chopped
2-3 slices of carrot
3 tsp fresh thyme
1 sprig of parsley
6 pepper corns
2 whole cloves
1 bay leaf
4 T flour
1 quart of fresh beef stock reduced to 2 cups
2/3 C of burgundy wine

Saute first 9 ingredients until tender.  Sprinkle flour into vegetables and stir to combined.  Cook the flour for about 2 minutes, stir in beef stock and simmer for 10 minutes.  Strain and discard vegetables and herb, add wine and salt and pepper to taste.  Return to heat and simmer another 5 minutes.

I have also made this for pork substituting pork stock.

Don't forget to visit our host,The Gardener of Eden, and see what other are cooking from their gardens, putting up for winter and maybe share a favorite recipe.