Thursday, January 27, 2011

Great Greens! Greenling Local Box 1/27/11

Here are the contents of my Greenling box for 1/17/11 & my intended meal plan!

Mustard Greens
Broccoli – Texas Daily Harvest
Red Leaf Lettuce
A big ole bag of Arugula
Red Kale
Napa Cabbage
White Mushrooms – Acadian
3 Yellow Onions – Naegelin
A Grapefruit
3 Tangerines

so yeah, i'm scared of the mustard greens - just cos they are totally new an alien - but i found two possible recipes, just haven't decided yet.
The first one also happened to be one of the ones suggested by Greenling in the sheet that came with the box!
Balsamic-Glazed Chickpeas & Mustard Greens  - FatFree Vegan Kitchen is becoming one of my fave recipe sites! I love how she just invents such creative & nutritious yummy recipe.
But i'm also tempted by the ease of this Mustard Greens, Mushroom & Yellow Pepper recipe - it would use the box's mushrooms & i have a yellow bell pepper in the fridge. 
My main problem with side dishes like this though is that i don't usually have any main course planned, i'm kind of a one pot dish girl at this stage

It's still cold outside & i'm into soups & bread so I'm gonna make Rustic Red Kale & White Bean Soup

I also want to make vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup frm this months Veg News Magazine but don't be surprised i just end up stir frying it with something else!

I feel like cooking the arugula even tho normally i would use it raw in a salad, and i like to do at least one pasta recip a week in the hopes that the kids might like it, so i'm going to attempt Pistachio Arugula Pesto w/Penne & Sauteed Broccolini - it's a little fancy!

The Napa Cabbage! - so many options, i'm tempted to try some kind of wrap or roll, spring rolls.
Or a good old Stir Fry - Stir Fried Napa Cabbage - looks easy peasy

I'm going to use the Grapefruit for breakfast in Rip's Big Bowl my current obsession breakast!

ok see you next post, post cooking!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Cooking up a storm - Greenling Box #2

Here's my kitcheny delights from the Greenling Local Box of 1/13/11

I did juice the beets & apples but i did also make the Orange Glazed Beets Recipe from Vegan with a Vengance using the Tangerines instead of oranges. It was ok, i think i'm more of a fan of roasted beets in salads and juiced beets though. I also sauted the beet greens, with some garlic & olive oil, yum.

The best most amazing thing i made this week was the Roasted Cauliflower Soup with cashew cream - it's from this months VegNews magazine. The picture just doesn't show it's yumminess. It was insane.

I was proud of my bok choy, like i said before i would love to be the kind of cook that can whip stuff up sometimes without a recipe - so i was at the store and picturing the box and suddenly i craved a portabello and imagined it with the bok choy. So i sauteed the mushroom & bok choy with garlic & braggs, added a splash of Ume plum vinegar (my very fave addition) and it was way tasty.


I used the Russian Red Kale in that Pasta w/Sausage with Kale recipe, i used Tofurky italian sausage sliced  up, and whole wheat pasta. it was good in a very simple way. without a real sauce it was plain but tasty and made better with a dash of Ume and red pepper flakes. The kids added parmesan and avoided tofurky sausage pieces. Sigh...


I was so smitten with the two tiny butternut squashes i didn't want to cut them, i wish i had taken a pic. Also by the way, even tiny, with my new knives, it was still a drag to cut and peel them. Such a deterrant for a lazy cook like me, but they are so darn good. I roasted them and made Lemony Quinoa w/Butternut Squash from the Fat Free Vegan website. Foolproof deliciousness. No picture sorry!

I was excited about the daikon but kept finding recipes that grated it, i didn't want to do that (remember lazy), but i did want to try it raw, so i found this Daikon & Apple Salad recipe which was a fun way to use up the last apple. I can't find the link, but it was thinly sliced daikon, onion & apple tossed with lime juice. very fresh and light, i ate it with the quinoa


There was still some left so i made the braised daikon from The Kind Diet - it may look like a brown banana but i assure you it was really amazing, i think this will be a staple, easy, healthy & yum


The lettuce & avocado were used in many a delish salad.

My goal with the next box is to try and make more things the kids might like, maybe have them cook one thing with me.












Friday, January 14, 2011

Greenling Local Box #2 1/13/11

Wow - so this box was so full and lush and green, so amazing and beautiful. I should have photographed it before unloading. but you can see it on the greenling FACEBOOK PAGE - so exciting.

Here is the list:

Red Leaf Lettuce
Avocados - 2
Cauliflower
Bok Choy
Red Russian Kale - this looks very different from regular kale, more thin and smaller jaggedy leaves
Apples - 4
Tangerines - 3
Red Beets
Daikon Radish - so excited for this
Butternut Squash - two of the cutest tiny butternuts ever!

Right off the bat, I know the red leaf lettuce will be used up happily in salads, and i bet at lease some of the avocado will make it's way into mine. Both kids are into salads lately (stop the presses) so this will really go to great use.

I plan to use the cauliflower in a Roasted Cauliflowr Soup with Cashew Cream from the Feb issue of VegNews Magazine. If there is any left over i will make a small batch of the Roasted Balsamic Cauliflower, the recipe came with the box!. Altho - the kids like raw cauliflower, and i do too in salads so there may not be leftover for this.

I JUST bought apples - doh! So i know i'm going to JUICE a few of them, with one of the beets & a tangarine. oh wow, that sounds so mouthwatering.

I've been craving butternut squash! and there are so many delish roasted squash recipes. Soup maybe, or maybe some roasted chunks will be what i use with the quinoa like maybe this one LEMONY QUINOA WITH BUTTERNUT SQUASH

I'm going to try a different way of cooking beets instead of roasting - i found Orange Glazed Beets in Vegan With A Vengeance cookbook, i cando tangerine instead of Orange, why not?

I have some brown rice so i'm going to use the Daikon in a Fried Rice recipe from Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Diet, it has Bok Choy too!!! So will use some of that, yaya.

Speaking of bok choy - part of what i want to learn with cooking, is making food not always from a recipe, i want to get a feel for what would go well together...so for the bok choy i'm going to try something from this cute website and create my own bok choy recipe http://www.vegancoach.com/bok-choy-recipes.html


I randomly bought some tofurky italian sausage yesterday, i had a feeling iwas going to want to cook with it with something from the box, and low and behold i found this yummy looking easy recipe that i can just sub the meat sausage for my delish tofurky - Sausage & Kale with Pasta - it uses Red Russian Kale

Stay tuned for the results!

PS This box also included a groovy gift! Some free reusable Debbie Meyer GREEN BAGS - reusable produce bags. very very cool www.debbiemeyer.com
These are so great because they extend the life of your produce, reduces waste cos you can reuse them! Love!

Monday, January 10, 2011

Sweet Potato Soup - Spicy love

so the final recipe i made frm m y first greenling box was with the last 2 sweet potatoes.
Sweet Potato & Peanut Soup from the February 2011 curren issue of VegNews magazine - it has a chile and some cayenne in it and was really to die for!


I found some amazing sprouted whole wheat sourdough bread at Whole Foods to have with it.

I did sort of attempt to make chimichurri with the last of the parsley, i actually do have a food processor but it's really old, and far back in a cupboard of my itty bitty kitchen, and the lid is broken so that the tab that locks it and threfore allows it to work is off, so I have to jimmy it with a knife, i haven't used it in years cos of this factor. it's a pain.
But i was dying to try this. i really didn't have enough parsley
so what i made was too onion heavy to be chimichurri, nonetheless i did eat it over a big old mushroom like vegan lazy smurf suggested!

New box comes thursday 13th - yippee

I'm thinking i need to expand my grains - so i'm going to buy quinoa today in anticipation of the box, and figure out at least one recipe based on that.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

First box fixins - Greenling

Here's my delights from the Greenling Local Box from week of 12/27

first of all here's a pic of the Soba Noodle Salad i mentioned in the last post, it was so good i made it twice! That used up all the Mizuna & some of the shallots (and yes that is a few pieces of avocado i threw in there last minute, heavenly)



And here is my New Years Day feast of Black Eyed Peas & Greens and veggie chili with Sweet Potato



I opted not to make the Borscht - I don't have a food processor and the matchsticking/chopping involved is too labor intensive for my post surgery upper body strength...

Sooo i used one beet to juice with some apples & carrots i had, and i roasted the rest and made this yummy Beet & Tomato salad using some of the parsley too (loosely based on a recipe from The Kind Diet)




I used cabbage, sweet potato, a few leaves of greens & onion and made Weight Watchers zero point soup, altho i suppose the sweet potato may make it 1 point soup! I didn't take a pic because altho delish, the cabbage turned it all purpley blue. This was easy, just saute onion, garlic, and whatever veg you have,I had carrots, the sweet potato, add veggie broth, and the leafy foods (greens & cabbage) and simmer

Then i DID attempt the recipe that came with the box - Penne with Greens Turkey & Olives
Of course i didn't use turkey, i used a can of cannelini beans instead and i just omitted the cheeses. This used up the rest of the amazing greens and shallots. It was REALLY good, i even shared it with my non vegan next door neighbor and she loved it. The kids however, another story, the anti-olive brigade. hmmmph. they each ate one penne, ONE




I still have parsley, 2 sweet potatoes, an onion & half a cabbage left.
my friend suggested making chimichurri sauace with the parsley so i will!
I'm going to make Spicy Sweet Potato peanut soup - OMG
And i think i'm cabbage stumped. I love coleslaw...but need to make one without carrots because i don't have any, and i don't want to chop.

Seems i may squeeze one more post out of this box

(check out Greenling Facebook to see videos of the boxes every week)