Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: black beans, cob, corn, csa, enchiladas, healthy, lunch, salad, vegetarian, veggie
Here’s this week’s CSA veggies. I knew that the prep work would take a while, so I had a banana to hold me over before I got started.
After my little ‘naner snack, I took on the corn. The corn is the biggest job – you have to peel, then cut all the kernels off. It kinda takes a while. I do have a trick for de-kernel-ing the cob: in a large mixing bowl, stand a cereal bowl upside-down inside to use as a stand. As the kernels fall off, they fall into the bowl. Check it out:
So cool, right? I wish I could take credit for such simple brilliance, but I’m pretty sure I saw someone on a cooking show do this at some point.
Anyhow, with all this corn taken care of, I reserved one cup of the kernels for the black bean enchilada bake, and made corn salad with the rest. For the corn salad, I finely chop a small onion, and toss it with the corn, a splash of red wine vinegar and some salt and pepper. Today I chopped up some fresh basil and threw that in too because I had some on hand. It’s simple, fresh, and really delicious. Some pics:
Whew! After all that corn work, I had quite a spread for lunch: black bean soup, a green pepper, some of the corn salad, and a few baked tortilla chips with some leftover monterey jack cheese from the enchilada bake.
I’m going to relax a bit, then figure out when/what workout I’m going to fit in today, then get back to the cooking and baking extravaganza!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Bittman, budget, csa, granola, health, Indian, local produce, meals, menu planning, Mexican, planning, recipes, vegetarian, Vegetarian Times
Thursday evening is my CSA pick-up time. I usually come home, prep all the veggies and plan out some meals for the next week. Last night I had a dinner obligation so I couldn’t do the normal routine. So, this morning, I planned out some meals over breakfast.
Perusing How to Cook Everything Vegetarian for ideas over breakfast:
- Berry smoothie: frozen berries, vanilla soymilk, splash of pomegranate juice
- Mug of mint green tea and a glass of water
- Handful of almonds (not pictured). I eat a scant handful… about 12 almonds
This week’s CSA bounty included:
- 6 ears of corn
- bowl full of carrots
- small head of broccoli
- 2 purple peppers
- bunch of basil
- kale
- head of lettuce
Since today’s a rainy day, I’m going to stay in and cook/bake a bunch of meals for the upcoming week so I can fridge/freeze them. Meal-planning is a really great thing: it saves money, time, and can often ensure you are eating more healthy, complete meals. Once I’ve chosen a few meals, I start a grocery list. I check the cabinets to see what I already have and create a list of only the things I need. Then, I create a chart for the next week and, taking serving sizes into account, space them out over the week. Once that’s done, I’ll “fill-in-the-blanks.” I cook and menu plan for my husband and I. Since we have different tastes and nutritional needs, I generally plan separate breakfasts/lunches/snacks for us.
This is what my process may look like…
Here are the items I picked for the next week (note: since my CSA pick-up is on Thursday, I plan my weeks from Thursday to Thursday).
- Black Beans and Corn, enchilada style (How to Cook Everything Vegetarian)
- Cabbage and Carrot Slaw, Mexican-style (How to Cook Everything Vegetarian)
- Pesto
- Olive Oil Granola (New York Times)
- Aloo Palak (Vegetarian Times)
Here’s my map of the week. I’ll plug in our meals, taking into account our social schedule. For example, we’ll be at my parents’ house on Saturday and Sunday, so I don’t need to include any Saturday meals or breakfast on Sunday.
Next, I go back and fill in all the blanks. This is where I’ll include any fruits/veggies, snacks that I’ll pick up, yogurt, etc… As I add them to my chart, I’ll add them to my grocery list. Here’s the finished map:
So I’m off with my grocery list, and I’ll post on al of the recipes later today. Happy Friday!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: csa, dinner, flatbread, fresh veggies, mark bittman, recipe
After coming home last Thursday with our CSA veggie bounty, I tried to use as much as possible for a truly farm-fresh dinner. We had a fresh salad with some balsamic and olive oil. I also made a ragout with summer squash, zucchini, tomatoes, and chickpeas. Rounding out the meal was a homemade flatbread (from Bittman, natch) and some parmesan cheese.
I used the mandoline to slice up the zucchini and squash and tossed it in a pan that already have some garlic and onion sauteeing in olive oil. The veggies cooked down for a few minutes, then I added tomatoes, salt and pepper. Once everything really looked and smelled delish (maybe five minutes), I turned it down to simmer and added the chickpeas.
But oh, the piece de resistance was the flatbread. And because it was a Bittman it was very very simple.
MMM… I love you, flatbread. Here’s Bittman’s recipe. I used 1/2c whole wheat flour and 1/2c regular ole white flour. Also, my little pan was smaller than the one called for so my flatbread was a little less flat, I suppose. Sooo delicious. Please try it – very soon. I have since done many variations including a cornmeal, sugar, and cinnamon for a sweet bread. YUM.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Cooking Light, csa, cucumbers, desserts, granita, recipe, summer
I got 4 cucumbers from my CSA last week. I wanted to try something new and easy. I was thinking of a cold cucumber soup, but I didn’t have any dairy products – which pretty much all the recipes I found called for. So I looked to Cooking Light and found this interesting recipe for granita (and only 2 ingredients)!
A granita is a frozen dessert. Sort of like a slushie, I guess. While ice cream, and sometimes sorbet, contain dairy, a granita is just ice. The Cooking Light recipe is quite simple. First roughly chop the cucumbers. I had to de-seed mine first (see first picture). Next, toss them in a blender or food processor with a little honey to taste. Finally, pour the mixture into cheesecloth and let sit in a bowl in the fridge overnight. Note: I didn’t have cheesecloth. Instead, I put a silicone steamer insert in a bowl, put a paper towel on top, then poured the cucumber on. You can get pretty creative here.
Anyhow, once that has sat overnight, pour the mixture into a container and toss it in the freezer. You can periodically scrape it with a fork so that it does turn into some sort of ice block.
Well, maybe something went horribly wrong… but I wasn’t getting that summery delish dish I was hoping for. I think since I forgot to scrape the mixture every hour or so, it froze a bit too much for that granita consistency that makes it so good. I think I also would have added more sweetener.
I haven’t given up on trying the granita, though. Any tips?
Filed under: People/Person, Produce | Tags: Bittman, chard, cooking, csa, dough, kale, vegetarian
Yes, kale pie. Sounds strange, I know. I received a massive bunch of kale last week from my CSA. It was more than I knew what to do with. Luckily, Mark Bittman and his “How to Cook Everything Vegetarian” did. Hence, kale pie.
Kale or Chard Pie
adapted from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman
- 2 tbsp butter
- about 8 large kale or chard leaves, sliced
- 1 medium onion (I chopped it finely)
- salt and pepper (I used Celtic sea salt and freshly ground black pepper)
- chopped herbs (I didn’t have any fresh ones on hand so I threw in some Herbs de Provence)
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup sour cream
- 3 tbsp mayonnaise
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/4 c all-purpose flour
Preheat oven to 375. Heat butter in skillet, add onions and kale. Stir until the kale leaves wilt (like cooking spinach). Add salt, pepper, herbs and remove from heat.
In a bowl, combine sour cream, mayo, and eggs. Add flour and baking soda.
In the bottom of a glass baking dish (I think mine may have been 8×8), butter/grease/Pam the inside. Smooth half of the dough mixture across the bottom. Add all of the kale mixture. Top with the remaining dough.
Bake for 45 minutes.
Verdict: The pie was tasty. Definitely something a little different than our usual sauteed kale. It was best served at room temp. My only gripe was that the dough seemed a bit dry or bland. That may have been my own fault. In all, if I am again hit with loads of kale, I may try this again but play around with the dough a bit.
Filed under: Place | Tags: csa, Farmer's Market, lettuce prep, Saturday, shopping
I love my Saturday mornings. I naturally tend to wake up very early, and I love those few hours of productive alone time. One of my favorite Saturday morning activities is walking up to the Farmer’s Market. It’s even more fun now that it’s no longer cold/rainy/snowy/crappy in NYC as it has been off and on for the past 6 months.
Our CSA doesn’t start up for the season for a few more weeks, so I’m still picking out veggies. When I head to the FM I get what looks best. That’s it. As soon as I come home, I rinse, chop, and store the leafy greens. *After rinsing them, I stick them in a large (gallon-sized) bag with 1-2 folded pieces of paper towel. The paper towel will absorb excess moisture and the leaves don’t wilt. Leave the paper towel in until the lettuce is gone. It stays crisp for a week. I also chop up any other veggies… peppers into strips, onions diced, etc. I leave the fruit as is – it tends to get funky if you rinse then store.
Next, I try to get inspiration for some new meals to try with the ingredients. I say “inspiration” not recipes, because I dislike measuring and following recipes to a T. I’ll read through a bunch, then figure something out.
What’s great about the FM is that I know I am eating locally grown food. As far as I’m concerned, the fewer hands/machines my food touches, the better off I am. To find a Farmer’s Market near you, check out Local Harvest.
New York’s Mayor Bloomberg announced some new green initiatives for the city.
I find that living here makes some “green” choices become non-issues. For example, I walk to work. When I’m not walking to work, I’m taking the subway somewhere. We walk to a farmer’s market to buy local food. Our tiny apartment certainly doesn’t suck up much energy (especially since we got rid of our air conditioner last summer). We have some goals, though. We’d like to try some indoor gardening – or even better, find some outdoor space where we could garden. We just joined a CSA to ensure we get fresh local produce. We are also cutting back on paper towels – big time – by using more kitchen towels.
The next Earth Day (2010) marks the 40 year anniversary of the day. Are you making any “green year resolutions” between now and then?
