A vacation far, far away.

Hey friends! 

Family Dinner is getting a face lift from our wonderfully talented, hilarious friend Amanda-who is also a Family Dinner subscriber. She's been noodling around on a few ideas and will be settling in on a new logo in the coming weeks. It feels somehow fitting that our logo should be a giant cleaver. Stay tuned!

Its how damn cold out?
We know that the bitter weather has us all feeling down and seriously considering changing zip codes to something slightly less arctic. We're all dreaming of places where the words "Bomb Cyclone" don't exist and digging your Honda Fit out of a polar ice cap for two hours seems like a distant nightmare. But here we are.

Food to the rescue. With this week's share we went back to our friends at Mi Tierra Tortillas begging them for their delicious, organic taco shells that would transport us to a warm and distant land. At least for the duration of dinner.

In our house, everything can become a taco. Or go into a pizza, frittata or fried rice. We are all for culinary traditions and preciousness- but when it comes to those Four Food Groups- anything goes. We will have you off to a wonderful start with the tortillas, Beef from Tad at Featherbrook farm and cheese from Luke.  What ever you add from the fridge of pantry that tickles your fancy and allows you to think you're somewhere toastier for a few hours- is your call to make.

We only wish we could have brought you drinks with little umbrellas in 'em for the sake of authenticity.

WHAT'S IN THE BAG?

HALF SHARE

Protein - Ground Beef from Feather Brook Farms; Queso Fresco from Brookford Farm
Fruits and Veggies - Sweet Potatoes, Carrots, Onions, Kale Crowns from Brookford Farm
Grains - Organic Corn Tortillas from Mi Tierra 
Special Treat - Chocolate Bars from Taza Chocolate in Somerville

Pescatarian - Cusk From Red's Best. This was their suggestion for us this week. The season for cusk is short and the fish is sweet and mild- ready to stand in for any white fish recipe you want to try. They also were very generous with the cutting of the fillets. You can use half and freeze the other or just nom it all in one sitting.

 

WHOLE SHARE

Protein and Dairy - Ground Beef and Eggs  Feather Brook Farms; Queso Fresco from Brookford Farm; Cusk Filet from Red's Best ( a mild, sweet fish with a flavor not unlike Cod) 
Fruits and Veggies - Sweet Potatoes, Carrots, Onions, Kale Crowns, Parsnips and Butternut Squash from Brookford Farm
Grain - Organic Corn Tortillas from Mi Tierra  (they also freeze really well!)
Special Treats - Chocolate Bars from Taza Chocolate in Somerville

Pescatarian- Cusk Filet -a mild, sweet fish with a flavor not unlike Cod) and Tuna Fillet from Red's Best. This tuna is very high grade and will do well with a Medium Rare sear.

 

RECIPES

Beef Tacos: Pure simple beefiness.

Fish Tacos: We have shared this before but we couldn't resist including again. They're not fussy and super tasty.

Sweet Potato Soup: This recipe calls for a sweet touch with apples and honey. We skipped both and added some garlic and cayenne powder for some kick.  You could also go with a curry and ginger twist. That recipe from Health.com assures us that there's not need to "worry about saturated fat or cholesterol with this creamy soup" but we can't hear them over the sounds of us adding more butter and heavy cream to the mix.

Sweet Potato Pizza Crust:  Lots of folks are trying to avoid carbs after the holidays. Us too! (with the exception of bread, cookies, bagels, pizza, cheese fries and Cape Cod BBQ Potato Chips- those are still legit.) Erin's Mom shared this idea for a gluten-free sweet potato pizza crust that is just crazy enough to actually work.

Lunch for the Week Skillet: Again, not fussy but will make for a rewarding week full of lunches.

TIPS AND TRICKS 

Keeping it Sharp.

When we first buy our knives they are razor sharp and meal prep seems like a breeze. (A sort of exhilarating " I could lose a Digit at any time here!" Breeze-  but you get it. The chopping is simple.)

Over time, with use, washing and storage they get dull. The dulling process is accelerated if you ever put your good knives in the dishwasher. Which you should 100% never, ever, ever do.    

Resharpening them is simple, quick and will return you to the early joys of meal prep. 

A few suggestions:

Do it your damn self: This tool is cheap, storable and always available. It takes under a minute to sharpen each knife to its original glory.

Knife Sharpening and Cheese on a Stick: Lots of Whole Foods will have Knife Sharpening events. Check out your Local WF and get your tools up to snuff while you wander the aisle gorging on free samples of Gruyere. 

Go See Patti: Its likely that if you show up at WF that Patti will be the one doing the Sharpening. She is the owner of On the Edge Knife Sharpening and she does events around the city. Gotta love me some Woman Owned Businesses.