So I realize it's been a long time and that I keep making promises that I will write more and I never do. I think the CSA has been wonderful, amazing quality vegetables and getting to try ones that I have never even heard of. It is also VERY overwhelming when you are a single gal working full time. I have had a lot of waste lately and it's frustrating. I work Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday every week, second shift and it's starting to get to me. So, I am going to summarize some of the things that I have made over the past 3 weeks.

Corn, Soy Chorizo, and Sweet Potato Chowder

Roasted 6 ears of corn in the oven, browned the soy chorizo, added diced celery, onion, garlic and carrots. Put in a crock pot with enough vegetable broth to cover and turn on high. Once all the veggies are cooked, use an immersion blender to puree soup. Serve with a dollop of soy sour cream and lots of black pepper.

Bow Tie Pasta with Soy Chorizo, Artichokes, Sun Dried Tomatoes in a Cream Sauce

Cook pasta according to box. Drain and reserve a cup or so of pasta water. Brown chorizo and add about 1 C. plain soy creamer, 3 T. vegan cream cheese, 1 jar of marinated artichoke hearts and 3/4 C. sun dried tomatoes. Toss with pasta and add enough pasta water to make the sauce a little thinner. Season well with salt and pepper.


The Magical Loaf Studio

This is an amazing website. My loaf was delicious and I served it with vegan gravy and roasted red potatoes. Directions copied and pasted from the Magical Loaf Studio.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup walnuts
2 TB olive oil
One onion, diced
One large garlic clove, minced
One large carrot, peeled and grated
2 cups mashed firm tofu
1 cup uncooked quick oatmeal or oat bran
1/4 to 1/2 cup vegetable broth, as needed
1/2 cup cooked oatmeal
1/4 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. dried sage
1 tsp. dried basil
1/4 tsp. dried rosemary
2 TB nutritional yeast flakes
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 tsp. salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350º. Spray a loaf pan or 8x8 square baking pan with nonstick spray and set aside (an 8x8 pan makes a crisper loaf).

Grind the walnuts into a coarse meal using a food processor or spice/coffee grinder. Place in a large mixing bowl and set aside.

Sauté any vegetables you've chosen in the olive oil until soft. Add to the large mixing bowl along with all the remaining ingredients. Mix and mash together well, adding only as much liquid as needed to create a soft, moist loaf that holds together and is not runny (you may not need to add any liquid if the grains and protein are very moist). Add more binder/carbohydrate as needed if the loaf seems too wet.

Press mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until cooked through.

Let the loaf cool in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes, then turn out onto a plate or platter and slice. Serve with potatoes, vegetables, and vegetarian gravy, if desired.

Cold leftover slices of make a great sandwich filling.

Roasted Red Potatoes

Chop potatoes in to small pieces, they will cook while the loaf cooks and don't need high heat. Coat with olive oil, salt, pepper and rosemary. Cook for 30-35 minutes.

Vegetarian Gravy

The gravy was amazing! Such a great compliment to the rest of the meal!

I probably won't be blogging weekly anymore, but I would still like to put up some recipies when I am feeling inspired. Fall is here and it's soup season!

Week 12, meal 1

What does one do with kale? I thought about putting it in a vase with water and keeping it on the table. I thought about giving it away. Then i looked up some info about it and decided to make this soup, partly two receipes combined, partly my own creation.

Sweet Potato, Corn and Kale Soup

3 L good quality vegetable stock (I used better than bullion)
1/2 C. corn starch
1/3 C. water
1 C. chopped of each tomato, carrot, celery,leek, sweet potato (I used 2 C sweet potato and ommitted celery since I have a friend who HATES celery HI Stephanie!)
1/2 lb kale, chopped
2 cloves garlic
6 ears of corn
1 can canellini beans
3 bay leaves
1 t. dried thyme

Take every vegetable but the kale and bring to a boil with the stock. Reduce heat to a high simmer. Add bay leaves abd thyme. Cook for about 40 minutes or until the vegetables are almost tender enough to eat. Whish together corn starch and water and then slowly whisk into the soup. Add the kale and cook until the kale only has a slight bite to it. This is also when I added the tomatoes since I forgot about them in usual fashion until it was nearly time to serve. This is also when you would add the drained and rinsed beans. Season to taste with salt and pepper. While the flavors meld, you have enough time to make some delicious grilled slices of ciabata bread! Heat up a grill pan and drizzle a little olive oil on the bread. Place bread oil side down and grill until it browns and you have some good color. Flip over, toast for a minute. Rub a clove of garlic on olive oil side and lightly salt. So perfect with the soup!

This actually makes a TON of soup, enough for 10 people. I froze all my leftovers since Stephanie and I were the only ones eating it but I'm thinking I might pull it out at my next dinner party, soups only taste better the more time the ingedients have together. Highly reccomend trying this soup!

Week 12

I know that I've eaten, and I've eaten well over the last 10 or so days, but recalling what I had is proving to be quite difficult. I know that there was a huge pasta salad that I ate for 3 days and there was some corn on the cob. There were many tomatoes sliced with salt and pepper, tomato and vegan mayonaise sandwhiches. Nothing complicated or fancy to stand out, just simple food enjoyed at home. There was a recreation of my cherry tomato pasta sauce, this time with the welcome addition of some sun dried tomatoes I bought in a massive jar. So, instead of trying to test my already crap memory, I will say I did good, wasted little and enjoyed myself. Now on to week 12.

1 bunch radishes
6 ears of corn
1 bunch kale
1 eggplant
1 zuchini
basil
2 plum tomatoes
4 (5?) slicing tomatoes
huge bag of green beans
1 cubanelle pepper
1 green pepper
1 pint cherry tomatoes

I'm sure that I will edit this later with more additions to the list as well as to correct a riety of spelling mistakes that my phone doesn't care enough to pick up. I'll also be writing soon about my first adventure in canning! It's going to be happening soon, I really want to make tomato sauce and learn how to preserve beans and corn. I have the equipment ($40 from Tags in Porter Square!), I'm waiting for 2 things. One is a book telling me what the heck to do and the second it time .

Week Eleven

I did fantastic keeping up with my veggies this week! I even froze some yellow beans that I blanched first, something that I will enjoy once this nice weather has passed. Making the ratatouille was an excellent way to use up a lot of veggies and it came out so good! I washed and separated the greens from the vegetables, making it last longer and making it easier to use since I can just grab it from the refrigerator and go. I wish I had been doing this from the beginning! As usual, my share contents from week eleven follows.


6 ears of corn
1 eggplant
1 bunch of radishes
1 bunch of beets
1 bag of yellow beans
5 slicing tomatoes
3 plum tomatoes
1 pint of cherry tomatoes
1 zucchini
1 green pepper
1 cubanelle pepper

Week 10, Meal 3

Ratatouille. Something that for awhile I had no idea how to make. The name of a kids movie. Also, the delicious dinner I just made.

Ratatouille

1 eggplant, peeled and cut in to thick slices
1 zucchini, sliced lengthwise
1 2 small fresh onions or 1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium to large green pepper chopped to bite size pieces
2 cloves of garlic
5 tomatoes, peeled and de-seeded, chopped up
3 T. tomato paste
1 small can of whole tomatoes
1 large handful fresh basil, chopped
Salt & Pepper
1 T. nutritional yeast
1-2 t. dried thyme

Start by brushing your eggplant with olive oil and grilling it on both sides. Do the same for the zucchini. Next, saute the onions and garlic. Once softened, add the green peppers. Cut the eggplant and zucchini in to bite size pieces and add it to the pot along with the fresh and canned tomatoes, nutritional yeast, thyme and tomato paste. Season well. Cover and simmer on low heat for 10 minutes. Your vegetables should be mostly cooked from the grilling it. Add the basil and serve! I enjoyed that all the food was fresh (save the canned tomatoes and paste) and that all the veggies still had a little bit of bite. I served it with bread to mop up all the delicious sauce.

I had looked for a recipe and instead decided to do what I usually do and make one up. I also learned how to peel tomatoes and found it surprisingly easy. I boiled water and salted it. I prepped my tomatoes by cutting out the stem and slicing and X on the other side. I placed them in to the water for 20 seconds and then in to ice water for 1 minute. After that, the skins should easily come off and you can take the seeds out by squeezing the tomatoes.

Week 10, meal 2

A cold, rainy day was all the excuse I needed to take the chili that I made out of the freezer and heat it up. It was looking a little sad so the first addition was a can of diced tomatoes. Next came sauteed green and red peppers along with some soy meat crumbles. It was served alongside homemade biscuits with vegan butter and sliced avocado, tomatoes, and soy sour cream. Came out even better than the first time!

Week 10, meal 1

When I woke up last Friday morning, I decided that I needed to make myself some treats to take to work. First, I used some lettuce and tomato in a sandwich with Nayonaise and "Turkey" slices. Then, while I ate breakfast I tried to think what I could do with all of my cherry tomatoes. What I made was east and delicious!

Pasta with a Quick Cherry Tomato Sauce

8-10 cherry tomatoes sliced in half
1 large (or 2 small) cloves of garlic, finely minced
1 tiny onion, finely minced (a 1/4 or a regular onion would suffice)
Handful of fresh basil, torn
Olive oil
Salt & Pepper
Nutritional yeast
2 servings of pasta, cooked

Saute the onions and garlic in some olive oil till the onions are translucent. Add in the cherry tomatoes and cook until they are very soft and will easily pop if you push on them with a spoon. Season with salt and pepper, add a couple tablespoons of nutritional yeast and add a little more olive oil. Throw in pasta and basil. Toss and serve.

This came out so good! It was nice to eat a cooked tomato since I have been snacking on so many raw ones.