Week 7, meal 1

Since I am off these next 2 weeks so my hand can heal, my wonderful roommate Kim (Hi Kim!) has been doing the cooking and baking. First we started off with the St. Patric's Day zucchini muffins and they came out great. I was reading the directions off and forgot to tell Kim 2 ingredients, those being sugar and walnuts. The walnuts got added to the top along with a cinnamon crumb topping but the sugar was forgotten about until I took a bite and noticed that something was missing. Next time we will be making sure that there are more raisins and that all the ingredients get in there before baking! There was also a banana bread made after this which looks amazing but is a gift present so I haven't eaten it yet. Kim made a glaze of walnuts, brown sugar and vegan butter. It made a toffee sort of thing on top. I'll let you know how delicious it is!

Our kitchen was already a disaster from all the baking so we decided to make a big pasta salad for dinner. After cooking a box of tricolor rotini, a light olive oil vinaigrette (from the Newman's own line) was added. Kim chopped up tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers and added to the bowl. I served mine with a sprinkling of vegan cheese and a Tofurkey sausage that I quickly browned in a pan. Kim used cheddar cheese and pepperoni to go with hers. A couple ears of corn and 2 Shirley Temples on the side, 1 with extra cherries and 1 without!

This made a ton, more than enough for 4 people or for 2 very hungry women who like to have leftovers so they don't have to cook everyday. Try the Shirley's, you won't regret it!

Shirley Temple

Grenadine
Ginger ale
Cherries
Ice

Take a tall glass, fill it with ice. Add a generous splash of grenadine and a few cherries and top off with ginger ale. Serve with a straw and feel 5 again!

Week Seven

This weeks haul made me pretty happy! So much new stuff, such an adorable green tote. I'm keeping this short since I'm typing one handed and it's pretty difficult.

2 medium onions
1 green pepper
1 cubanelle pepper
1 green chili
1 bunch of mint
3 ears of corn
2 tomatoes
1 eggplant
1 head of lettuce
1 cucumber
1 small bag of beans
3 tiny eggplants
1 bunch purslane

I'm excited for the eggplant and tomatoes. Hopefully I will gave some help cooking this week because I can't wait to see what I can come up with!

Week 6, meal 2

With the return of cooler weather and the abundance of veggies left in my fridge, I decided to make Everything But the Kitchen Sink Chili. I made an enormous batch so that I would have something to eat after my hand surgery. (Note- Cooking is very difficult with one hand and even more so when the hand that had surgery is your dominant hand!). I had friends over and it was truly a fantastic meal. I make it different every time, but I'll share the one I did on Monday.

Everything But the Kitchen Sink Chili

1 medium onion
1 small can of corn
1/2 cup of chopped peppers
1 large can of both kidney & black beans
1 regular size can of both Cannellini i beans & chickpeas
2 regular size cans of tomatoes. I did one of chopped, 1 whole
1 small can of tomato paste
1 zucchini
1 squash
1 palmful of both Chili powder & nutritional yeast
1/2 t. cumin
1 t. oregano


Vegan cheese, avocado, tomatoes and tortilla chips to serve with the chili.

Start by finely dicing your onion and sauteing it in about 1 T of olive oil. When the onion is fully cooked and translucent, add the squash and zucchini and cook and cook for 5 min. Add the beans, they all should be drained. Add the tomatoes and spices and simmer for 20-30 min, stirring occasionally. Serve over rice or on it's own, adding toppings as desired.

This makes enough for 10 people to have generous portions and it freezes well. Enjoy!

Week 6, meal 1

So I made a delicious meal that I have made before, but for some reason it was much better with my local veggies!

Tofu Sausages with Peppers and Onions

1 medium size onion, chopped in to slices
2 small to medium peppers
1 T. olive oil
1 t. sugar
Oregano
Salt & pepper

Cook the onions on medium heat, stirring frequently. It took me about 30 minutes to make the onions caramelize and then I added the peppers. You should add them sooner because I ended up having to add water so the peppers could soften. It ended up tasting amazing, but next time I would add the peppers MUCH sooner. I then seasoned it and added some dried oregano. I had Tofurkey Sweet Italian with Tomato and Basil sausages and they are amazing! I sliced them in half lengthwise and browned them on both sides. Serve on hot dog buns, rolls or good bread. I also served some corn on the cob on the side and it was nice and sweet. I even had enough for leftovers for work the next day!

Week Six

I am super excited to share with you what I got in my box this week! Not only do the shares come in adorable little lime green boxes, but they included some things that I have been waiting for!

2 fresh onions (they look gorgeous)
1 bunch of basil
1 bunch of mint
1 bunch of turnips
1 bag of green beans
1 cucumber
3 ears of corn
1 bunch rainbow swiss chard
1 head green leaf lettuce
1 green bell pepper
1 cubanelle pepper
1 yellow squash
1 zucchini

It seems like a lot, but it's nice because it's a little of everything and when you are the only one eating everything, that is a very good thing!

I have hand surgery next week, so I am hoping it won't cramp my ability to cook for too long, but I will make do and hopefully have a friend pick up my box next Wednesday. Some ideas I have for the next week are Tofurkey sausages with peppers and onions, a big salad with grilled tofu and lots of veggies and something with mint that hasn't yet been determined. What would you make with this assortment?

Week 5, meal 3

I ended up going to New Hampshire for 3 days and brought most of my leftover veggies with me. My sister and I did another cous cous creation, but this time she suggested shredding up some carrots and it was a great addition. My nephew ended up eating lots of cucumbers so the only things I really had left were green beans and I am hoping that she enjoys them this week.

Week 5, meals 1 & 2

I have been doing much better with my produce this week. I roasted my beets and ate them with vegan butter, salt and pepper and they were delicious. I was thinking about making a veggie chili, but decided that it was a bit too hot out so I used a recipe for Swiss Chard Pie from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen (love that site!) and it was AMAZING. The topping had a definite cheesy flavor due to the nutritional yeast and it got all brown and crisp. I served it with some green beans and almonds. The pie serves 4, but I was very hungry, so I ate 2 slices along with the green beans. I was a little afraid to try this recipe, something about it just freaked me out. After a bite or two, I was convinced that I should have made it ages ago. You should try it!

Week Five

I realized that I have been slacking on the updating and writing down what I'm cooking department. I will try to be better, but to be honest I have just been having an amazing summer. Lots of nights out with friends, dinner and dancing and most recently a bunch of shows. None of these things are conducive to cooking every night, but I am attempting to institute a dinner at my place on Wednesday nights when my refrigerator is at it's fullest and my veggies are at their freshest.

I got some awesome things this week that I am really excited about- carrots, gorgeous red leaf lettuce, green beans...I could go on, but I was happy to leave the stand without a zucchini or squash as I traded them for swiss chard (which is not allowed to go bad, so I need to eat it asap).

1 bag of string beans
1 bunch of carrots
1 bunch of rainbow swiss chard
1 bunch of scallions
1 bunch of radishes
1 head of red leaf lettuce
1 bunch of garlic chives
2 pickling cucumbers

I still had quite a bit left from last week, but it was all in great condition. I separated the greens from my beets and put them in water like flowers (thank you for mentioning that last week Nicole!) and they are still crisp now. I roasted the beets today, peeled and sliced them and am going to eat them tomorrow. I was thinking of sauteing the greens with a little spinach I have left and possibly adding some balsamic vinegar and honey. I can't wait to oven roast the carrots by wrapping them up in tin foil and adding vegan butter, white wine, salt and pepper. I'm also thinking of doing a spicy bean dish with the green beans and a white bean and garlic scape dip sometime this week. I'll let you know what I do with my beets and turnips, I am committed to eating everything this week.

Happy cooking!

Week Four

All this nice weather has been keeping me busy and not in the mood to cook. I have been doing my best, but I still feel overwhelmed. I didn't realize how much I would have to be home and plan to cook all the food that I need to eat. Working second shift isn't helping either. I did manage to make a fantastic meal for my friends, it was based on a repeat of the cous cous dish I made a few weeks ago. I feel like I wasted a lot last week, some peas, and the turnips and chard. I did better this week at storing the food that I couldn't eat and keeping it fresh for the next week. My box had lots of great stuff!

1 head of romaine lettuce (which I forgot and it gave me a chance to catch up on eating the salad I had left over from the last 3 weeks!!)
1 bunch of beets
1 bunch of turnips
1 HUGE zucchini (traded for a bag of peas I didn't need)
2 small zucchini's
1 yellow squash
2 pickling cucumbers
1 bunch garlic scapes
1 huge bunch of scallions

I also had quite a few salads and ended up only eating a couple of turnips so they will be finished next week. I also made a delicious pesto with garlic, basil and walnuts that was a nice change from all the other pesto's I have been eating. Since I am writing this the day I got week 5's pick-up, I will keep this short and look forward to doing much, much better.

Week Three

So I will admit, I have not done my best with my share this week. Part of the problem has been my refrigerator being too cold (?) and wilting my swiss chard and my turnip greens. I still have a ton of stuff left, but I am hopeful that I can use the majority of it on an impromptu dinner party I am having tomorrow night. It has also been 98 degrees and humid, so things like soup, swiss chard pie and even stir-fry are out till it cools off. My haul was a big one this week!

1 bunch of basil
1 head green leaf lettuce
1 bag of snap peas
1 bunch haruki turnips
3 pickling cucumbers
1 salad cucumber
1 yellow squash
1 zucchini
2 bunches of amaranth greens

My first cooking foray was to make zucchini muffins from FatFree Vegan Kitchen blog and they were amazing and healthy. You should give them a try even if you're not vegan!

I have also eaten a lot of salad this week and enjoyed walnuts and cranberries on top of my lovely green leaf lettuce with a balsamic dressing. I will you know how my meal for tomorrow comes out, I am hopeful to use everything I have left up. I am angry at myself for not making better use of this weeks share, I had planned on using it tonight, but tomorrow looks to be cooler. I will say that I ended up throwing out my amaranth because it was so wilted from my fridge, I can't bring myself to get rid of the swiss chard. I will do better next week!