Spring Cleansing - Greenling local box 3/10/11

so i'm on week 2 of the 21 day cleanse from Crazy Sexy Diet - feeling good, happy, energetic and still jonesing for coffee. 
It's convenient that this box is so full of greens!
So here's the list

Tomatoes
Bibb Lettuce
Spring Onions
Green Kale
Strawberries
Navel ORanges
Collards
Bok Choy
Multi Colored Carrots
Mushrooms

On this cleanse i am juicing and making green smoothies daily, so i know it's a bit boring but that's where a lot of the greens are going, kale juice & collard smoothies - delish
Even my 9 year old son likes Green Smoothies!

I've been really into kale & mushrooms lately, sauteing them  - so i think i will try this recipe for Braised Kale, Potato & Mushrooms

I also have a can of lovely chickpeas in the pantry so my do this recipe also or instead  - Roasted Chickpeas over Kale with Ceasar Dressing - roasted chickpeas are deeelish

This Collard & Carrot recipe will be perfect - minus the butter

Bok Choy - again! this time gonna try it raw - in this Bok Choy & Apple Salad

Lettuce in salads!
Oranges...just to eat
Tomatoes in salad and on top of Toast & Hummus, or in baked tofu sandwiches, with the lettuce & onions.

Mushrooms FTW and more...

I think one of the best things i made out of this box was this Creamy Mushroom Fetuccini with the Cremini Mushrooms:

And this divine Pizza that Also had some of the spinach & the leek! I sauted the mushroom & leek before putting it on. easy peasy

Here are two salads, the first one is a basic one where i used the avocado and the carrots, the second is spinach salad with strawberries & avocado!



Look at the purple carrot!



The strawberries were sooooo good.

I used some cilantro to make pico de gallo which i ate with one of the avocados & chips
Our guinea pig Drizzle loves cilantro so much that i keep giving bunches to him :)

Hmmm Sicilian Collards w/pine nuts & raisins from The Kind Diet! I paired it with marinated baked tofu. I think this is one of the best things i've made.

I decided to start a 21 day "adventure" cleanse as layed out in Kris Carr'sCrazy Sexy Diet book, on March 1st. As i'm already vegan i just have to eliminate coffee, sugar & gluten, and eat more raw veg & have green juice daily! So my next meals will be guided by those guidelines!
I still have stuff left to cook so another post will come!

Greenling Local Box 2/24/11 - Vegan Mealplan

I can feel the season changing - Strawberries were in this box! And a Leek, another new veg i have never bought or used

Here's the List:

Strawberries
2 Avocados - thank goodness, been craving them
Spinach
Cilantro - i am guess salsa is in in the cards
Collards
Leek
Crimini Mushrooms
Bok Choy - it's huge
Grapefruits
Multi Colored Carrots - orange & purple

Strawberries will go in breakfast cereal & kid's lunchboxes - I'm sooo excited. I already ate some this morning and they are indeed divine.

Avocados & carrots in a spinach salad - oh and a strawberry or two, spinach strawberry salad is a classic, i think i will make my own balsamic dressing! I also really love avocado spread on toast with a dash of tobasco for a quick lunch or snack.

I really want to try a green smoothie, i have been hearing so much about them so will use some spinach & collards in that...
I think there's enough spinach to make this pasta from the wholefoods The Whole Deal newsletter - Linguini w/Spinach, Artichokes & Red Lentil Sauce - www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/2882
There will be some whole wheat fettuccini left from that recipe exaclty enough to use the Cremini Mushrooms in Creamy Mushroom Fettuccine from the Appetite for Reduction cookbook again!

Bok Choy - Ginger Bok Choy & Soba from Appetite for Reduction - i know it's a lot of pasta this week, but i love it and the kids will often try....plus i have found i'm not in love with just sauteed bok choy so want to experiment around

Grapefruits - just enjoy for breakfast

Oh yeah PIZZA - i have some pizza dough i just bought at wholefoods, ready to make, & some Follow Your Heart vegan mozzerella that needs to be used so will throw a few leaves of spinach, a couple of mushrooms and the leek on there. With only one leek there's not enough for the typcial leek potato soup & i'm determined to shop as little as possible to emebellish the local box. I googled leek pizza and found that people sauted it before putting it on pizza - so Yum

Curry Laksa

My final dish from that last box! Using the beautiful bok choy - this is i think a Malaysian Dish veganized in Appetite for Reduction, pad thai nodles, tofu, bok choy, red bell, coconut milk & red curry broth, lime & cilantro to garnish! I was kind of proud

Appetite for deliciousness...

it has taken me forever to use everything! Seems like this box had a TON - it's a good thing i get them every other week I still have the bok choy left (tho it NEEDS to be used tomorrow) and two portabello caps.

So i did roast the fennel - so easy, i ate it with brown rice, a dash of tamari & ume vinegar - simply delicious.

Salads were had with the bib lettuce & the micro greens. I also TWICE used the micro greens in place of lettuce in a vegan "smart bacon" BLT - So i called it a BMGT :). Fun.

Divine Sweet Potato Soup w/Coconut Milk & Quinoa - this was extremely delicious, love all the ingredients so much it couldn't help but be amazing. Quinoa and sweet potatos are such power foods. I ate this for three meals!

The rest of the recipes were from the Appetite for Reduction cookbook - Isa Chandra Moskowitz' new low fat vegan cookbook. Timely for me as i'm strill trying to lose some of the post chemo, post surgery recovery pounds. . Isa is my fave cook book writer - all her books rule.

Pineapple Collards - garlic, ginger, pineapple, red pepper flakes, nice & tangy - I'm a collard fan now. I served them with Blackened Broiled Tofu.

Sweet & Salty Maple Baby Carrots - the carrots that came in the box were pretty small so i figured they would work. This recipe was easy, just roasted, and it was good, a nice change.
The carrots RAW however were - i don't think i've ever eaten a more delish raw carrot. I put them in salads a couple o times.

Portabello Pepper Steak Stew - oh my gosh - this recipe is a definite keeper. Hearty & stewey, it has crushed fennel seeds & thyme which give it such a unique and tasty flavor, and the seitan plus portabello packs in protein. My meat eating weight lifting big guy friend ate two huge servings of this & has instructed me to make it again. A lot of chopping tho. 

The picture of the stew does NOT do it justice.

I don't think i made anything my kids liked, except salads. my son ate some of the mushroom stew, my daughter had a bit and didn't make a face. Oh an my son does love the sandwich. I will keep on though...

Vegan Greenling local box 2/10/11

This box has 2 items that i have shied away from cooking forever, fennel & collards! Interesting...

here's the full list:

Bibb Lettuce
Microgreens - cute
Collards
Fennel
Portabella Caps
Grapefruit
Tangerines
a bag of cute short carrots
Sweet Potatoes
Bok Choy

I already used the Grapefruit & Tangerines - my son has been wanting to juice a lot lately and is into citrus, so we made grapefruit tangerine apple juice.
So my copy of the cookbook Appetite for Reduction by Isa Chandra Moskowitz arrived on the same day as the box! It's a sign! I'm going to try to make all this weeks food from that book. I'm excited.  Except for....

The Fennel - i'm just going to roast it simply like this recipe http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/roasted_fennel/

And I have some quinoa i need to use so i'm very tempted by - Sweet Potato Soup w/Quinoa & Coconut Milk - i'm tempted by most sweet potato recipes so this may change!

Onward with my pics from Appetite for Reduction:

Bok Choy - Curry Laksa - this is a big bowl of pad thai noodles & curry & tofu w/vegetables, it sounds amazing. If i feel lazy & quick then i will make the Ginger Bok Choy & Soba.

Collards - Pinapple Collards - sesame oil, garlic, ginger & finely chopped pinaple sounds good

Portabella Caps - Portabella Pepper Steak Stew - i happen to have some seitan in the fridge that i didn't know what to do with so this is it. It's got a few more ingredients than i'm used to but it sounds so good and i should get it in before it's not stew weather

Carrots - Sweet & Salty Maple Baby Carrots - simple and easy roasted in the oven

Soup City

Ya, the cold weather freezy snow day was defiinitely soup motivating!

I made 2 soups out of this last Greenling Local Box:

Rustic Red Kale & White Bean Soup - yum yum yum and my son ate his bowl so fast - amazing - and easy. It also used some of the parsley - Drizzle the guinea pig got some parsley too

Cream of Broccoli Soup from the Jan/Feb Veg News magazine - omg, this soup was incredible. It used ground cashews for the "cream" iness as well as cauliflower.  still dreaming of this soup

I used the Turnip Greens in this Balsamic-Glazed Chickpeas & Turnip Greens recipe. It was tasty but i wasn't in love, the turnip greens tasted a bit bitter, i guess i'm not used to them. I won't write off Turnip Greens but may not buy them in a store. Will try another recipe if they come in the box again. The chickpeas were delish, and i ate it all as leftovers the next day cold and it was a bit better

Used Napa Cabbage in an impromptu made up recipe as tacos, steamed some of the big outside leaves and used them as the tortilla. Filled with sauted mushrooms (from box), orange bell pepper, ground boca crumbles and onion (from box), topped with a bit of fresh napa. Pretty tasty, a bit messy, don't think i got the wrapping right, or the steaming time. but it was fun and yum. My friend liked them too. The picture doesn't really look great but here it is.

Used some mushrooms in green salads with the lettuce, and a bit of arugula AND some chopped cabbage, topped with the leftover chickpeas for a super charged salad.

I juiced the grapefruit with the tangerines, a lemon i had and fresh ginger. Vitamin C!

I still have arugula left, and cabbage. I want to saute the cabbage and hope to use the arugula still in that pasta recipe from the last post, but need to ge the pistachios!