Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Orange Pie

We have lemon pie, apple pie, key lime pie, pear pie, fig pie, banana cream, and on and on. However, let's not neglect the orange.

If your oranges are sweet enough, you don't need sugar in this pie. Yep, that's right, no sugar. Just pure deliciousness.

However, if you are a sweet tooth hound, or your oranges aren't oozing with sweetness you can add 1/4 cup - 1/2 cup of sugar.

This is what you are going to need:
2 oranges
1 stick butter, melted.
6 eggs
1 pie crust

Here is what you do:
zest your oranges, peel them, and take out the seeds and as much pith as your motivation allows.
Cut up the oranges and put them in the blender with your zest, eggs, and butter. (if you are using sugar, add it in too).

Blend until smooth.

Poor into an unbaked pie shell and bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

Divine when warm. Delicious when room temp, and totally ok to eat for breakfast.

Enjoy!!

Cheers and Happy Eats!
Lucinda

Monday, October 17, 2011

The People I Feed.


Want a laugh, need a chuckle? Read this email, it's why I love my customers. They crack me up!!! I got this email response after I told her that I was sold out of Dragon Fruit and talking about the Bald Guy Brew Coffee Company.

"Boo hoo. HISSSSssss...(sniff)

Boo ...hoo...(sniff)... HISSSsss

That is the sound of my dragon's tears as they drip into her fiery breath. Whatever will she eat this week, after being denied the fruit that is her namesake?

Hahahahaha. Oh boy how I crack myself up!

Seriously, though, Lucinda, no worries about me missing the dragonfruit boat. I was just jumping --if a little too slowly--at the opportunity to scratch another beauty off my exotic foods bucket list.

As for the Bald Guy, I checked out his website and watched the video about the coffee bike program in Rwanda and I am a big fan now, too. Sleeping with a bald guy for the majority of my life has worked out pretty great, so I figured I'd try some java roasted by one. :o) If I may make a suggestion for a future coffee selection, he describes his Bolivian as "liquid Nutella". Ooooh yeaaaahhh.

It is probably weird to have strong feelings for cabbage, but I think the one in last weeks box might have been the tastiest I have ever eaten. And that was before knowing it's sweet story, too.

Off in search of alternate dragon kibble...Heather"


Key West Burgers

This recipe was sent to me by Kimberly Ascroft. It looks delicious, so I had to share!!!!!!

Here it is:

Key West Burgers with Green Goddess Spread: serves 4
1 lb ground beef
1/4 C fresh chopped cilantro
3 T key lime juice
salt and pepper to taste

Mix ingredients together, divide into 4 patties, and grill or use cooktop. Place on hamburger bun and garnish with lettuce and Green Goddess Spread.

Green Goddess Spread:
8oz softened cream cheese
8 oz sour cream
1/4 C fresh chopped scallions

Blend ingredients together, cover and chill for 30 minutes (flavors have time to blend together better), spread on hamburger bun


Friday, October 14, 2011

The Life and Times of a Cabbage Box.

This cabbage box is waxed, as most produce boxes are, because the wax makes the box waterproof which helps maintain the quality of the product inside in case it "sweats."

This box came to me from an Amish family in Wisconsin, filled with lovely organic cabbage.

I sent the cabbage out to my customers.

Now, I have a bunch of empty cabbage boxes, as well as other empty waxed produce boxes. What shall I do with them? Well, I could recycle them and I will, just not in the way you think.

They will go to Pamela over at House of Joe in West Melbourne (which by the way is one of the most fabulous bakers I know).

She will fill them, as well as hundreds of other boxes, with supplies collected from her friends and church family. Then they will get loaded on a container and sent to third world countries.

In the slums of third world countries and even in the homeless communities of America, shelter is built with anything they can find. Often times, cardboard boxes.

Since these boxes are waterproof, they will be a higher quality building material.

So, once the supplies are unloaded out of them, they will be distributed as building material.

And I bet you thought that cabbage was only good for slaw. :-)

Cheers and Happy Cabbage Eats!
Lucinda

Monday, October 10, 2011

Get on the Happy Train. :-)

Eleanor Roosevelt said: "Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness that you are able to give."

True story, my friends.

Happiness is a disease worth catching and I am one of those lucky people that are surrounded with others that have it. I love it when they spit in my general direction. :-)

When it comes to customers, my are, bar none, some of the most wonderful people a person could ask to work with. They are great. They send me funny emails and sweet letters. They leave notes for my driver and make sure to tell me when my employees do great things. They share with me their struggles and disdain/love for certain foods. Although I haven't personally met hardly any of them, I feel connected to them because of our interactions via email/ phone/ or even just by what they put on their "never sends" list. On the other side, my employees get all kinds of giddy when our customers do something sweet for them, or leave donations for the Daily Bread. When my friends, a few of which work for me, get together we sit around and chat about the great/ funny/ sweet things most customers do. I, personally, smile a lot over this. I feel pretty lucky.

With that said. October is a rather sad month for me. To get through it, I generally try to put as much fuel in the happy train of others as I can. Hoping that by doing so, I won't even have the time to wallow in my own drama or sadness. This year.... I brought my foodie family in on the fun. (The letter I put in their boxes is listed below). One thing, I didn't expect was the heartfelt, tear jerking emails they sent me personally. I am going to put up another post with a few emails I got. Just so you can see how great people really are. It just so happened that I got those emails right when I needed them. I am so blessed. So very very blessed and the happy train has lots of coal in the fire now.

Dear Fresh Box Foodie:

October is a special month for me.

This Friday will mark 15 years to the day that my father took his own life, leaving my mother with 6 children to feed and a farm she couldn’t pay for. That was a very sad time for my family, and happiness was hard to come by.

I don’t know a lot about depression, but what I do know is that for those that are depressed, happiness is not an emotion that frequents them.

I can’t bring my father back or erase the sadness that surrounded that time of my life, but what I can do is to try to share and show and spread as much happiness as possible. So, I thought I would bring y’all in on the fun. Spread some happiness with me, as so many of you already do, week after week with your sweet notes, emails, generosity with the Daily Bread, and your patronage

With that said, in the month of October I will be putting things in your boxes to help with the cause.

When my gran was in the hospital battling breast cancer she always loved it when my grandfather would bring her mail. She loved the cards and letters. She also loves to sends cards, and as someone that gets them frequently from her, I can tell you that they make my day!!!

So in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month and my gran (her being a survivor and all), this week I have put postcards in your boxes. Send them to someone. Send them to your children, or your parents, or your gran, or your friends, or write your significant other a note and put it on the refrigerator.

Sunshine and Happiness,

Lucinda

(A very extra special thank you to Suzanne Clements and Beth Ann Hall for taking the pictures on these lovely little cards).