Turnip up! local box January 26th

Somehow the whole time i've been getting the local box i've managed to not ever get Turnips! Either they have been in the box the week i don't get the box, or sometimes items are listed as "this or this", like this week on the list of local box contents it says "golden globe turnip" or "black radish" - depends on what comes in on the day of your delivery i guess.  So yay, a new thing to try that i've never made!

Here's the list

Mustard Greens
Avocados
Broccoli
Collard Greens
Green Onion Bunch
Oranges
Grapefruit
Dill Bunch
Golden Globe Turnip
Sweet Potato

Mustard Greens - i don't love them to pieces so will rely on good old Nice Ass Greens recipe again as this makes anything taste good.

Avocados - i always have these around for salads, spread on toast and today i actually put half of one in a smoothie. There was a recipe in the box for baked sweet potato with Avocado Dill Topping that sounds good and easy and i can use veganaise or vegan sour cream in place of regular.

Broccoli - well the kids love it just plaine steamed but i found a recipe in Appetite for Reduction for Orange Scented Broccoli wich would use the oranges too! yeah.

Collard Greens - there's a recipe in Appetite for Reduction i've always wanted to try - Ye'abesha Gomen (Stewed & Sauteed Collards) - it cooks the greens for a long time which is not usual in vegan cooking but the combo of ginger & garlic, onion & red pepper flakes sound so tasty

Green onion - salads, tofu scrambles ect..

Oranges - maybe in the aforementioned broccoli,
Grapefruit - i already ate one for breakfast, it was so good!

Dill - as well as that avocado dill topping i found a Creamy Dill Sauce in the Skinny Bitch Ultimate Every Day Cookbook. I am determined to use this cookbook this week as i never have! i'm a cookbook hoarder.

sooo - From the Skinny Bitch cookbook i found Seitan Sweet Potato & Onion Hash that looks amazing AND Black Bean & Yam Tacos that i have to make, will use an avocado with those too

Turnips - i had kind of a hard time finding a turnip recipe that appealed to me but LOOK! This one has a sweet potato in it AND Dill - Score! Mashed Sweet Potatoes & Turnips

Stay tuned

Bliss in a box - the results

So this week my goal was to use the local box contents in recipes all from Blissful Bites cookbook by Christy Morgan. It was a really fun challenge making everything from one cookbook! I had to be creative and sub ingredents as not everything that was in the box was exactly in the book. so here's what i made:

Mustard Greens: I modified the African Collard Stir Fry

Christy gave me permission to publish the recipe! (thank you!)
1/2 Cup Water
2 Cups Sweet Potates cut in matchsticks
Pinch sea salt
1/3 cup Orange Juice (I used Tangerine juice from the box)
1 Tablespoon Peanut Butter
2 Tablespoons Tamari
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 cup carrot matchsticks
2 Tablespoons raisins (optional - i used them, i love raisins in my greens)
1 Bunch Mustard Greens (instead of collards), cut in chiffonade

heat water in skillet. When it boils add sweet potato & sea salt, cover with lid, & simmer for 3 to 5 minutes. Meanwhile whisk together juice, peanut butter, tamari & curry. Add carrots, raisins & greens with the sauce and mix in the skillet. simmer for 3 to 5 minutes until veggie are tender, not mushy.

Love the peanut butter, curry combo in the sauce with this!

Oh and i also made her  Southwest Tofu Scramble which used mushrooms from the box -i ate them with the stir fry (above)

Mizuna & Komatsuna - I subbed for arugula in her Arugula-edamame salad with orange-sesame vinaigrette
I also used a tangerine instead of orange in the vinaigrette and used tangerine segments in the salad instead of canned mandarin oranges

this salad was so good i ate it for lunch and for dinner in the same day and then it was all gone.

Cabbage - Not-your-average cabbage slaw
interesting twist with walnuts & cranberries and a delish dresssing

Mint - Goddess Mint Dressing
this was my fave thing i made i think! Tahini based made it so rich & the suprising mint made it refreshing, here it is on one of my mega salads using the Green Leaf Lettuce from the box

Butternut Squash - Macro "mac & cheeze"
wow - quinoa pasta for more protien and gluten free, and butternut sqash blended up with nootch and other stuff to make the "cheeze" sauce. My son gobbled it up and i didn't tell him it was butternut squash till after!

 

All the recipes were so good and i kept finding more and more i wanted to make as i was pretty much glued to this book for over a week! Also -and observation - i am almost out of Tamari & Maple Syrup after cooking from Blissful Bites! They were both in almost every recipe - i think Tamari was in every one i made! good thing i love it.

Blissful Box 1/12/12

I had dinner AND breakfast last week with Christy Morgan the author of the cookbook Blissful Bites and the writer of one of my fave vegan blogs - http://theblissfulchef.com// - we talked about food alot, of course. And about fun cooking challenges, like veganizing a cookbook, or cooking one recipe from all your cookbooks like she is doing. So i figured in honor of all that i would make everything this week from Blissful Bites! She also said i could reprint one of the recipes here which is very cool of her

Mustard Greens
Komatsuna/Mizuna Bag
Green Leaf Lettuce
Green Cabage
Crimini Mushrooms
Mint Bag
Green Onions
Tangerines
Yellow Onion
Butternut Squash

Mustard Greens i'm going to sub for the Collard Greens in her African Collard Stir Fry - this recipe also uses orages so i will sub the Nectarines here - also it has sweet potatoes and i happen to have one left from the last box - Oh and i may add a few Komatsuna leaves in here for kicks but also will use them in a salad (see below)

Cabbage - it's a huge cabbage so i think i can make two recipes.  I want to use a few leaves and the Mushrooms in Chinese cabbage roll ups, stir fried veggies wrapped up in raw cabbage leaves like a taco.
The rest i want to use in Not-your-average cabbage slaw - i love coleslaw, this has walnuts and cranberries in it. LOVE

Mint - There's a recipe for spring rolls called asian rice paper rolls with almond bliss dipping sauce - i love making spring rolls, the mint will be great in these. The almond bliss dipping sauce is like peanut sauce but better.

Butternut Squash - OMG there is a recipe called macro "mac and cheeze" - that has butternut squash, quinoa pasta shells, tofu, nootch n other stuff and the photos looks amazing so, yeah, i'm making that.

Mizuna & Komatsuna - I'm going to use the Mizuna and some Komatsuna instead of Arugula in Christy's Arugula-Edamame salad with orange Sesame Vinaigrette using of course a tangerine instead of orange. The recipe also calls for mandarin oranges, i could probably use tangerine segments here too

Here's to a Blissful week!

you can find Christy's book on Amazon or check her website link above, and you can follow her on twitter @theblissfulchef

Happy New Year Box

I got this box thursday then promptly went out of town for New Years Eve so this post is a little delayed.
A very green leafy box is the perfect start to a new year where the best intentions of health are always the strongest.  I've been very salad-y lately so this was very welcome, here's the list:

Mustard Greens
Baby Spinach
Kale
Green Leaf Lettuc
Watermelon Radish
Sweet Potato
Grapefruit
Meyer Lemon
Yellow Onion
Butternut Squash

see! The first four items are leafy greens!


Butternut Squash - thie recipe for Lemony Quinoa with Butternut Squash looks so good and i can use the lemons too 

While it's still cold - i want to make more soups so this recipe for Collard Green & White Bean soup looks good and i will just use the Kale instead. That's the joy of greens, they are mostly interchangable!

I think i made this recipe last year - Balsmaic-Glazed Chickpeas & Mustard Greens but it's so easy, and i love an excuse to mix beans with my greens

Watermelon Radish again! I didn't take a picture or post about it but i did make this Sweet Pickled Onion Watermelon Radish Salad for the Christmas meal at my parent's house. It was a huge success with the family so hot dog i'm gonna make it again! I ended up eating a bit of the leftover mixed into my leftover kale salad mmmmm

Sweet Potato - this recipe for Vegan Indian Sweet Potato Kidney Bean dry Curry sounds so good to me right now, plus i can us the spinach in it - but there was a recipe that came with the box for Sweet Potato Oatmeal Breakfast Casserole which sounds divine too....we shall see. I often just end up baking & mashing them anyway

Speaking of Spinach - i got hungry writing this post so just made up a really bizzarre but delicious plate for breakfast - i had some coconut curry tempeh strips that had to be used up, so i sauted half a onion, then added the tempeh, some garam masala, curry powder and a splash of coconut milk, then some chopped up spinach, salt and pepper and red pepper flakes.  Really really tasty!

Raw Cilantro Soup and more galore

I'm having a lot of fun with this box!

Yes, i made Cilantro Soup. Yes it was raw! I went to a raw food making class at Beet's Cafe on saturday and Cilantro Soup was a bonus recipe in our packet, all i could think about was that gorgeous bunch at home in the fridge. Whenever i get cilantro i never use it all before it goes bad so this was perfect.  Made in the Vita Mix with zuchhini, bell pepper, spices, avocado & all the cilantro - very very good!

I had a party on saturday where we were supposed to bring a dish so i made Tofu Dill Dip  - just tofu, garlic, lemon juice, vinegar and dill and maybe a couple more things, just google it, there are a ton of variations.  People at the party were eating it! I wonder if they knew it was tofu.

Sweet Potato Fries with TWO kinds of HP - original & fuity.  Baked in the oven and served with a veggie burger patty

The Komatsuna i did make in the Nice Ass Greens style - i really can't get enough of this recipe. Tasted amazing, it did have a distinct taste that i liked, different that other greens.

Butternut Squash - creamy butternut squash rissotto in the slow cooker - from The Vegan Slow Cooker by Kathy Hester

Italian Peppers - i did use them in a salad, but also whiped up this plate of goodness, sauteed with onion, a portobello mushroom & Field Roast vegan Italian sausage.  This would be good in a rustic tomato sauce too.

I still haven't use that amazing looking watermelon radish, i think i'm going to save it for christmas day lunch at my parents, it's color is so stunning it will be a joy at the table. Will take pics n stuff

Local Box Dec 16th - a new green!

This lovely box contained 2 herbs - Cilantro and Dill and they were so pretty that i put them in a glass with water and decorated my table for dinner!

here are the contents:

Italian Green Peppers - these look like long chillies
Bunch of Scallions
Komatsuna - the new green!
Fresh Dill
Tomatoes
Oranges
Watermelon Radish - this is a huge white with a tinge of pink bulb with beautiful green leaves
Bunch of Cilantro
Butternut Squash
Sweet Potatoes

First of all that interesting Komatsuna - it looks like collards kind of. Sometimes called Japanese Mustard Greens, they are a good source of calcium! I thnk i'm going to just cook it like the kale from last time - in Nice Ass Greens - from the Sunny Days in Texas zine that i mentioned a couple of posts ago! seeing as the recipe actually says "1 bunch of unknown greens"  hahahah

Scallions will go in salads
Italian peppers, probably raw in salads and sauteed maybe with some tofurky sausage - yeah that sounds really good
Tomatoes - salads and sanwiches, i'm sort of craving a fakin bacon BLT
Sweet Potatoes - i kind of have a hankerin' for fries so i may chop them in strips and toss in oil & paprika and bake them in to fries. healthy. I like to dip them in bbq sauce or HP - a british tangy steak sauce i sometimes find in stores
Butternut Squash - will make Creamy Butternut Squash Rissotto in the slow cooker from the vegan slow cooker cookbook i have
Dill - in this Tofu Dill Dip
Cilantro - The box came with a recipe for Cilantro Pesto which looks good, i can just omit the parmesan. My son LOVES cilantro - we will have crispy tacos this week for dinner and use some of it on them
Watermelon Radish - well i was just going to slice it and use it in salads then i stumbled on this recipe for Sweet Pickled onion & Watermelon Radish Salad - that uses oranges! So can use those too. They look amazing.

Fall fruit butter

The Fall Harvest Fruit butter from The Vegan Slow Cooker by Kathy Hester cookbook is sooo good - and it made the house smell amazing as it cooked all day yesterday - used the Apples, Pears & Butternut Squash in this one.
Here is a picture of it all chopped up and ready to cook:

And here is it spread on a waffle for breakfast! if i was really clever i would buy cute jars and this would be my christmas gifts...but i'm not

Here is the pasta dish i made, just sauteed some crimini mushrooms i had, with the Onion, Spinach & Tomatoes, added some canellini beans for protein, this was really really really good.

I made a salad dressing using the orages  - Orange-Sesame Vinaigrette from Appetite for Reduction by Isa Chandra Moskowitz  - here is what it looks like - it has sirracha & ginger so has a bite to it

here it is on my salad - that's Fakin' Bacon and other scrumptious goodies, i love a big ole salad