A meal to help pull you up by your bootstraps

It's CSA day today! And those of you who know me, know it is one of my favorite days of the week. I get very excited to see what will be in the box, and to think about what I might make. Today was my last fruit share of the season, and frankly, I'm a bit relieved. In the summer it was great, because my daughter loves fruit, and she is home to help me eat it, but there is just so much. I can't keep up by myself.

To get some idea of how much food I pick up every other Thursday, take a gander...

Isn't it beautiful?

Are you thinking of things you could make?

Well, I just want you to know, on my way to pick up my share from work, and then even after I picked it up today; I was feeling a bit melancholy. For the first time in a long time. Maybe because the sky was the color of deep gray steel. Maybe for other reasons unmentioned. But it doesn't really matter, because when I got home I still had to unload it all. So I just did.

I understand it's insensitive to tell people to just pull themselves up by their bootstraps or just power through things, so I try not to tell that to other people. But for me, if I know the way I'm feeling is temporary, it helps to tell myself that. So I just got to work right away and unpacked everything to take those pictures for you.

And then I decided what to make. Let me spoil the happy ending by telling you it turned out amazing! So I'm actually going to try to remember for you how I made it.

First- the squash. I sliced a half of a delicata squash in half again, and put a half tablespoon of butter or so in each half of the half. Still with me? That was a lot of halves.

Then I lightly salted the squash and microwaved it for 4 minutes to pre-cook it a bit, and added one slice of pre-cooked bacon to each half (I make a pound of bacon at a time in the oven and save it for other meals later). Then I sprinkled the whole deal with Penzey's Chipotole peppper, put a little bit of water in the bottom of a shallow pan and covered it with foil, and put it in the oven to cook until the rest of the meal was done. And poured myself a glass of red wine, using my aerator. Which of course makes my happy!

 

Next, I added a couple tablespoons of olive oil and one sliced onion to a hot cast iron pan on the stovetop and let it sautee for a bit.

To that, I added sliced leafy kale, three chopped pieces of bacon, two large cut-up pieces of leftover pork roast, more chiptole seasoning, a splash of red wine,  some salt, and about a tablespoon of chiptole peppers in adobo cream sauce (which is a Bobby Flay thing you can google, that I make in batches and freeze). Then I cooked it 'till it was heated through, and the kale is wilted. It was not beautiful, but it is tasted amazing- a bit sweet and smoky, with a nice level of heat! It warmed up my whole kitchen, and my insides too!

 

A good meal won't make your life perfect, but it can improve your quality of life. So here's hoping that when you have a melancholy moment that maybe something like making a meal will be just the ticket you needed to power through your day.