Friday, January 25, 2013

Local Box 1/24/13 - Vegan Greenling meal plan

Look how beautiful this box is!




I get so excited everytime i open a new box, I ooh and ahh as i take out each thing, my kids think i'm nuts getting so celebratory over a bunch of veggies. Its just so exciting looking at it all, anticipating the goodness to come, it's really like a surprise present every time. Thanks Greenling!

Ok, here we go:

Dill
Swiss Chard
Broccoli
Collards
Gai Choy Cabbage
Turnips
Tangerines
Lemons
Cilantro plant

I'm going to use cookbooks for all but one recipe this week - you could say i'm a cookbook hoarder, i cold never cook everything from all of them in my lifetime i think. I should stop, but i can't. I love them. Maybe i will take a picture of them all one day if i'm not too embarassed. So sorry if you can't look them up online - you should expand your cookbook collections. It's fun

when i get Dill I think of dips and sauces - or i guess potato salad. Ok, now i'm torn. I think I will make Roasted Red Pepper Sauce from Forks over Knives cookbook, by Del Sroufe (one of my new ones I got in Marshall at the New Year New You fest) - it only takes 2 Tablespoons of Dill. I may serve it over brown rice or pasta. or the Broccoli!
Speaking of Broccoli - my kids just like it steamed so i tend to just do that.

I also found in my old faithful Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romery (a vegan cookbook essential) a sauce called Dill-Tahini Sauce.  I feel myself going towards a sauce phase, i signed up for a sauce cooking class at Natural Epicurian, and I want to explore more ways to make basic foods have extra oomph through sacues - if i don't make this one, then i will use the Dill in potato salad of some sort, now that the weather is postively spring like

I also found a Lemon Tahini sauce in Crazy Sexy Kitchen by Kris Carr - that goes with Bok Choy, I could use it with Chard or Collards or as a dip.

Another book i picked up in Marshall was Unprocessed by Chef AJ - she focuses on oil free and whole foods cooking, as did most of the chefs at that event. In that book i found Miso Collards with a Kick. We shall see how oil free goes down - i am interested and may try and do a whole box Oil Free. The "kick" in this recipe is a jalapeno

The one non cookbook recipe i want to make is Mushroom Chard and Caramelized Onion Tacos - also happen to be oil free, they are part of the Whole Foods Health Starts Here program - check out their  14 Day Blast Off to health

Gai Choy Cabbage - I already used it! It was very leafy and most of the recipes that came up were sauteed, but I was planning a black bean soup for dinner last night and wanted a cold crispy salad to go with. I found Cabbage Hemp Salad in Crazy Sexy Kitchen, it called for regular green and purple cabbage mix but i just decided to sub the Gai Choy even though it looks different. It was so good, it used hemp or flax oil (i had flax) and an avocado all massaged into the cabbage! Oh and this also used Cilantro.


Turnips - really hardly any of my cookbooks have turnip recipes - but in Veganomicon again i found Rutabaga Puree tht you can sub with Turnip - and suggests it pairs well with Tamarind Lentils

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Just Beet It

I wonder how many people have used that exact pun for a food blog post title....i may have even, i'm just too lazy to look thru them all...it just can't be helped.

But it seemed appropriate to give beets the title as one can make two different dishes from them, the actual beet bulb and the greens - I love that.

So without furthur ado, may i introduce, sauteed beet greens, just a bit of olive oil, garlic, beet greens, a tablespoon of Nutritional Yeast and a splash of white balsamic vinegar



So, last weekend, i did an amazing thing. I road tripped by myself to Marshall, in East Texas to attend the New Year New You Health Fest, a plant based eating conference held yearly there in an area of the country known as the "stroke belt".  I got to see some of my idols, Dr T Colin Campbell and Dr Michael Gregor, as well as acquire a slew of new idols, Julieanna Haver, Chef AJ, and Lindsay Nixon who wrote The Happy Herbivore cookbook series, and a few more... check the website to see all the amazing speakers

It's part of the Get Healthy Marshall initiative, started by the mayor and his wife, truly amazing. I learned so much, got re-inspired to eat and prepare whole foods, and I made a new friend in Elana, who i roomed with. A fun and inspirational girl who made us Banana/Almond milk ice cream IN OUR ROOM and cooked an entire vegan, oil free meal in the microwave for her and her triner and guys she drove with - brown rice, spinach, sweet potato, black beans. I learned a ton from her too!


Me and my new friend/roomie Elana

Elana & Chad Byers (her trainer) with the microwave hotel meal
The End Result - so good! see what you can do? never be hungry
the Banana Ice Cream, soooo delectable, frozen bananas  & Almond milk


Anyway, one great speaker i watched do a cooking demo was Kathryn Lorusso, also a breast cancer survivor and all round cool chick (check out her website VegOutCatering) - she made Orange Beet Salad over Greens in a pressure cooker, so I reproduced it at home sans pressure cooker. I roasted the beets, then made the dressing separately. OJ, cider vinegar, agave, dijon.  Very very tasty.


I used Grapefuit in a Citrus Kale Salad from Coleen Patrick-Goudreau's Color Me Vegan recipe - I added avocado to it to massage into the kale leaves, but this was a big success at a little party i brought it to


Here is the Pasta with Mizuno and Asparagus  (and Parsley)from Wild about Greens cookbook - I loved it to pieces. Added a splash of Balsamic Vinegar and it was perfect.


I used the Radishes in a couple of salads - one in this very amazing kale salad that I made for the road - admitedly it's not driving food, I had to sit in a parking lot to enjoy it, while listening to music and admiring east texas views


another in this little cutie also using the Red Leaf Lettuce from the box



I still have the Sunchokes! Will make them this weekend

I really am inspired after attending the New Year New You Health Fest, and also as I have been listening to hours and hours of Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's Food for Thought Podcast. I cannot wait for the next box which i spied from the Greenling newsletter will have Collards and Chard.

happy eating!

Friday, January 11, 2013

Local Box 1/10/13 - vegan greenling meal plan

So sad to have missed writing a post last week! I got side lined by the dreaded sickness.  That combined with a 4 day trip to the west texas desert meant zero cooking.

Before I left, I did manage to make that Broccoli with cashews and garlic sauce, and it was freaking delicious.  So much so that I ate the entire recipe Broccoli and Cashew recipe

I did eat avocado and some collards in my smoothie, and the cucumber and mixed greens in a salad. I figured the turnips, cabbage and collards would be ok when I got back. Then the days long fever came so that was that.  Sad.  Drizzle the guinea pig was happy though

Sooooo, on to a fresh new box!

Flat leaf parsley
Mizuna
Bok Choy
Sweet Green Peppers
2 cute little red leaf lettuces
Easter egg radish
Sunchokes
Grapefruit
Beets

I already used the Bok Choy in this very tasty and very healing Greens And Garlic soup from my idol Colleen Patrick-Goudreau . It's in her book the Vegan Table but you can also so it in this video.

Garlic and Greens soup

Was perfect for my final step to 100% and I gave some to my still sick next door neighbor.  I hope it helps



I also cut up one of the green peppers along with some carrots and broccoli I had to have some handy snacks at the ready. They really are sweet!

Mizuna and Parsley are going to go in another recipe from Wild about Greens by Nava Atlas - Pasta with Asparagus, Arugula (Mizuna sub) & Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Red leaf lettuce and radishes = salads

Sunchokes - I will roast them again, that was too good

Beets - so so so many options, sometimes i add them to a vitamix smoothie, grated in a salad is amazing. The greens are good too. I have some recipes for juices with the beets and their greens and ginger which sounds good in this time of sickness everywhere.
The greens can go in Lentil Soup with Greens & Tiny Pasta from Wild About Greens
Basic roasted beets and carrots are always wonderful to have around - i guess we shall see!

Ok - have a great week!