Colcannan Veggie-Style

I had this beautiful cabbage from my CSA basket - so I decided to try something where I could use up most of it at once...sometimes, things like cabbage tend to get pushed to the back of my fridge since they aren't every day staples. Whenever I find something old and no longer usable, I always feel bad - I think I should have thought of something before I let that go to waste.

I found this recipe in an old Whole Foods "magazine". Why I was saving that issue, I have noooo idea, but it was full of cabbage recipes, which worked out good for me!! I adapted it slightly to fit what I had in my cupboard, but otherwise, it's true to form.

I used tempeh here - - it's a soy bean product (read: vegetarian substitute for meat). It used to only be sold in health food stores and Whole Foods, but now I can buy it at my local Ralphs grocery store if I need to.

Colcannan Veggie-Style
1/2 head of cabbage, thinly sliced

1/2 onion, diced
1 package tempeh, cubed
1/2 cup of veggie broth
2 large baking potatoes, scrubbed (but not peeled or diced)

Prick potatoes with a fork a couple of times, put in a glass baking dish, cover with a wet paper towel and add a little bit of water in the dish. Microwave on baked potato setting or for 7 - 10 minutes until a fork goes all the way through with little or no resistance.

Meanwhile, saute tempeh cubes in canola oil until browned on both sides; add in onion, let cook (stirring occasionally) until translucent, about 5 - 7 minutes, add in veggie broth, bring to a simmer and let cook for another 5 - 7 minutes, until liquid is mostly evaporated. Add in sliced cabbage and stir to combine pan ingredients and wilt cabbage.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Spoon on top of split and baked potatoes.

Serves 3 - 4

You could add a cheesy-type sauce on top to make the whole thing more creamy. You can see how nice it looks when you DO add the sauce. However, THIS particular sauce did not come out good (boo-hoo), so I won't give you the recipe or tell you where I got it. But, I will say, add your own sauce to up the flavor of this dish.

This also makes nice, easy leftovers. If you add some fruit, you have a complete meal!

Have you ever used tempeh?
What do you make with it?


I'm linking up at these awesome parties!
More later!!

A Week of Menus

I spent yesterday in Dana Point at my aunt's sister's house. Turns out that the beach down south has the PERFECT climate for growing veggies - - nearly her whole backyard is covered with zucchini and other squash plants, beets, tomatoes, peas, strawberries, lettuce, and and even an avocado tree!!

I didn't take any squash because we got so many in our CSA basket. BUT, needless to say, we are once again flush with large beets ready for some magic!!! Mr. No-No is excited about that - - hahahaha! j/k - I told him that we would be having boiled beet sandwiches (as if I would really make that!!), but he just groaned and walked away....

Monday
Italian Ragout with Salad and Garlic Toasts

Tuesday
Broiled Tofu Steaks; Microwave Beets; Israeli Couscous

Wednesday

White Beans with Sauteed Squash and Buttered Carrots; Brown Rice

Thursday
Taco Thursday / Left Over Bonanza

Friday

Dinner out

Saturday

Dinner at my parents'

Sunday

Pasta Sunday

Notes:

1. The italian ragout is basically veggies (I usually make this when I have extra squash, but you could throw in mushrooms or peas, too) sauteed with diced onions and a little bit of garlic until soft, then I add in some diced tomatoes (usually 3 - 4 or 1 can drained), some broth to cover it by about 1/2" or so, a 1/2 tsp or so of dried basil and oregano, let that simmer for about 20 minutes, then add in a can of garbanzo beans and either some fresh spinach or arugula (usually 1 cup per person) and let that cook until everything is hot and the greens have wilted down - about 10 more minutes. Today, I have a lot of kale so I will be using those as my greens and, because they are so tough, I will add them in with the diced tomatoes.

2. Broiled Tofu steaks are so fast and easy - - I originally read how to do this in Veganomicon, but have since learned how to just eyeball it and add what it looks like it needs when I think it needs it! Basically, I just slice the tofu to 1/2" slabs (approximately), lay them in a cast iron pan coated with a light spray of olive oil and then add in the marinade: about 2 T. of Braggs liquid aminos (or you could use low-sodium soy sauce), 2 T of water, the juice of 1/2 of a lemon, and one minced clove of garlic. I broil (adding more of the mix as needed, I usually have to make more during the cooking). I broil the whole thing for about 30 - 45 minutes (depending on how much time I have). It's delicious, good, and the family eats it up. :)

3. Taco Thursday this week is only because I am craving mexican food!!! We are having tacos made out of whatever veggies I have on hand!!

Thanks to everyone for commenting about the rutabagas - - seems like a lot of people were in the same boat as me - - never having eaten or seen a rutabaga!!

We at maple glazed rutabagas

Buttered rutabagas

and Rutabaga soup (which looked A LOT like potato leek soup!
Please click on the link to go back to the post with the recipe.)

I was surprised at the number of people who HAD eaten rutabagas before! Ro, Efar, and Kristina all have different ways of eating and incorporating rutabagas into their menus - check out their ideas here.

Since I was out picking vegetables, and having so much fun yesterday:

Do you grow veggies (or fruit) at your house? What do you grow?

I am fortunate to have my mom and my aunt's sister's gardens for me to pillage - or just browse through! I don't have a space for growing veggies - - every time I do, it seems like the bugs or the birds get to enjoy them before I ever do.

I have linked up this week's menu here:
Making Monday Marvelous
Market Yourself Monday
Mouthwatering Monday
This Week's Cravings
Make a Food - E - Friend Monday
Tasty Tuesday Parties
Thursday Recipe Hop Parties

Happy Eating!!

More later! :)

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What's For Dinner This Week - A Week of Vegan Menus

I was stumped this week when I opened up my CSA basket - there was this large, big, something in my basket. I thought that it was turnips. I haven't eaten turnips but I have heard of them, so I started to do some "research" to see what exactly I could make with turnips (the only idea that I had was to mash them up). And that's when I discovered that I had been over-run by rutabagas!! They weren't turnips at all! I actually don't think that I had ever seen - or eaten - a rutabaga before now (well, actually, I still haven't!), but this week's menu will be FULL of rutabagas cooked different ways. So, I guess we will see how we like them best!!!

Picture from http://stephencooks.com

I was reading that a lot of people eat rutabagas boiled and mashed, but I may only be resorting to that method if I still have some left over at the end of the week. I also read that you can julienne and use them in salads (hmmm!). I will definitely be trying that.

With rutabagas on my mind and filling my crisper drawer, here's what I came up with for the week:

Monday
White Beans (with diced garlic and dried sage)
Sauteed Swiss Chard
Buttered Rutabagas
Quinoa

Tuesday
Basic Rutabaga Soup
Salad

Wednesday
Tostadas
Brown Rice
Mexican Salad

Thursday
Leftovers
Maple Glazed Rutabagas

Friday
Garden Burgers
Carrot Raisin and Pineapple Slaw

Notes:

1. I am making the Quinoa and Brown Rice for this week today (since it takes a little longer to cook, especially the brown rice, it will be helpful to make a lot now and have it ready on those nights that we are eating it). Bonus: both the quinoa and brown rice can be put in a bowl with milk and heated up to eat just like oatmeal - fast, different, and EASY.
2. Since I am cooking, I will also be making the soup tonight for Tuesday. When we get home Tuesday night, I can throw together a salad and have dinner on the table in about 15 minutes.
3. The maple glazed rutabagas look like they come together fast, but *just in case*, I will be making them the night before.
4. The carrot raisin and pineapple salad is something that I don't have a recipe for - I use a mandolin to julienne the carrots and then thrown in a handful or two of raisins and some diced or cubed (canned) pineapple - sometimes, I add a little vegan mayo, but sometimes, it's just good as is.

Have you ever eaten rutabagas?

How do you cook them?
What's the strangest-looking veggie you have ever eaten?

Thanks for all the comments on my last post about menus! I asked what you would / could do with left-over romaine lettuce and I got LOTS of good ideas!!

 In case you need some ideas check out these comments:

Coupon Chick stopped by to say that she would make romaine wraps!! (I never even thought of that, but it would be perfect!! My little one would love a new "take" on tacos.)

Clairity from Hip2BMom and Pinching Abe from Making Ends Meet said that given the recent weather, they would definitely be making salads.

Tiff from & Baby Blackwell Makes Three loves a good salad, too!

And, Christina from Spilled Milkshake was just honest - she said she didn't have any new ideas for ways to use romaine lettuce!

 

Thanks guys for your input!! :)

 

Have a great week! Happy Eating!

More later! :)

 

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What's for Dinner This Week - A Week of Menus

Judging by the size of the lettuce heads that I have been getting in my CSA shares, lettuce is definitely in season right now! Because of that, we will be having more salads than usual this week - - however, I am planning on mixing it up a little bit one night - I'm going to grill heads of romaine!!

How else can you use lettuce? Besides salads and maybe (maybe!) shakes / smoothies? If you give me some ideas, you can help me use up all this surplus!!! :)

Monday
Pre-made chili over baked sweet potatoes
Make your own salad

Tuesday
Stir-Fried Rice with Tofu and mushrooms
Chinese "chicken" salad

Wednesday
Black Bean Tacos with Brown Rice
Grilled Mexican Style Salad

Thursday
Left overs

Friday
Garden Burgers or Veggie Hot Dogs

And here's my notes:

1. For "baking" sweet potatoes, I generally don't have the time to actually bake them in the oven ahead of time {sigh!}. Generally, I scrub them, microwave them until they are still somewhat firm, and then put them in the toaster oven until the rest of dinner is ready. The extra time in the oven makes them seem like they are truly baked, but shaves off TONS of time. And, the make your own salad is my little treat for my little one - I cut everything up, put it on the cutting board and she gets to decide what goes in her salad (so she "makes her own") - it's the only way I can get her to have a salad with dinner.

2. The chili I make myself, but could easily come from a can (Hormel-brand Vegetarian chili is the best canned chili I have ever used). To make the chili: saute one half of an onion until translucent, five to ten minutes, add in a clove of diced garlic, saute for another 30 seconds. Add in some ground "meat" (I use the Lean Ground brand) and saute for a few more minutes. Add in seasonings (you could use a pre-made seasoning mix, but I just make my own: throw in a bit of everything: oregano, chili powder, salt, pepper, parsley, and a little bit of flour), saute for another minute to get everything incorporated and then add in one can of diced tomatoes and one can of either pinto or chili beans. Stir to mix, cover and let simmer for about 15 minutes.

3. My Chinese "chicken" salad is a Racheal Ray recipe where I just use Boca burger chicken patties instead of meat.

4. My stir fried rice is small diced veggies sauteed for a few minutes, add in some "scrambled" tofu, cook another minute, add in brown rice, a little bit of soy sauce and stir to mix.

5. Mexican style salad just means that I add black beans, corn, tomatoes, and either cilantro or green onions to. :)

6. See my desciption of left overs and what I do with them here.

7. Friday is my "break" and I cook something easy.

8. Saturday we usually go out or are out to eat at someone else's house (not just ANYONE's house...usually my mom's or my aunt's).

9. Sunday we do a pasta dinner.

I plan my meals because it means that I can come home and get dinner on the table in less than 1/2 an hour. It also means that I don't resort to frozen, pre-made, high sodium, packaged dinners or something less than stellar for my family's nutrition.

You have the power to decide (mostly) what your family eats by virtue of being the "chef". What you put on the table is what goes into their mouths. I want my family to have well balanced meals, so that's what I work to put on to our table.

So, seriously, I need help with my lettuce surplus.

Do you have any creative ways to use up lettuce?

Thanks to all the comments from last week.

Annabean is a woman after my own heart - she is also using meal planning as a time saving tool! She says that she is not ordering out as much as a result (yayayayyay!). Leslie from the Mommy Therapy is also eating a lot of veggie meals because she has also joined a CSA! Good for you, Leslie - and good for your family, too!!! I love to get new, unusual stuff in my basket that I can't buy at the grocery store. A CSA is such an awesome opportunity to get new foods in your family's rotation, but it's also a great way to help out the environment and the local economy...but that could be a whole other post!!! Lindy, I hope your enchiladas come out good!!

Happy eating!
More later  :)

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Mediterranean Dinner

Finally got my first really GOOD nights sleep all this week - - it was the first night Miss M wasn't in bed with us! sheesh! No one kicking me in the back, no one trying to roll over on to me, no one sharing my pillow in the middle of the night. Finally - aaaahhhhh!
Made a great dinner last night - - chickpea salad (from the wholefoods.com website - just tomatoes, olives, garbanzos, sliced yellow squash with vinaigrette over the whole thing, add pepper and toss - I made the beans in my pressure cooker the night before - delicious!), whole wheat couscous, and "honey" (read: agave syrup) glazed carrots with steamed sweet potatoes. Yum! It was fast and easy, and we had enough food that SN had seconds and Miss M and I both have the rest of the left overs in our lunches. I was impressed with myself, I must say - - that's the way I USED to cook! It's so much easier to make lunches when everything is right there in front of me, ready to go. Hopefully, I can remember how much easier it is even when I'm tired!! Hahahaa!
Still looking for something to make for dinner tonight - - I have zucchini and yellow squash from my CSA basket - - so that will be somewhere in there.
We also got black berries (yum!) in our basket this week and radishes (!) - I am going to have to find a good way to use all those up. Slicing one up and putting it into salad every day or night means I end up with a lot that go into the trash because I just don't go through them fast enough!

Glazed Carrots
1 bunch of carrots
1 T Earth Balance
1/2 - 3/4 T agave syrup
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
parsley
salt and pepper

Steam carrots until soft - - I used whole, young carrots so it took about 10 minutes. Drain water. Using the same pot, over medium heat, add in Earth Balance, agave syrup, and vinegar, swirl to mix. Add in steamed carrots and, as much as possible, cover the carrots with the "sauce". Continue to cook for approximately 5 minutes, letting the carrots soak up the sauce. Sprinkle parsley over the top (I used dried for this, so I added it a minute or two after putting in the carrots), add some salt and pepper.

More later!
:)

Beautiful Lunch Time Salad

Alright - I don't generally snap pics of my food here....I think this is the first time ever! But, this salad was sooo beautiful, I just couldn't resist - salad greens and radishes from my CSA basket, persimmons from the farmers market, raw walnuts, and clover sprouts with a mustard seed vinagarette (from the book Ani's Raw Food Kitchen). Wonderful and delicious!!! And at my desk at work!! It was a lunch-time treat!

I just got this book (Ani's) and it is great!! I also made the Pizza Cheeze tonight to put on a pizza for dinner and it was so good! Everything that I have made out of her book has been delicious (which I find to be a rare thing, indeed). She also has tons of info on the raw food life - not something I have completely commited to, but have a recent interest in exploring.... As a side note, this cheeze came out better than the other recipes that I have found to use on pizza - it was creamy, garlicky, and well seasoned without being heavy or salty!! MMMMM.....

I don't know if I am allowed to reprint the recipe here - so, let's just say macadamia nuts (from my CSA), garlic, basil, lemon juice, and...that's the idea....wonderful. I think I could also pass it off in lasagna!!! yum-yum!

More later!

:)

T-day and Shopping, Shopping, Shopping

WOW! Thanksgiving weekend is now coming to a close... Miss M is finally asleep (late, late nap), but she is down and I have a minute here to myself.....aaahhhhh! Our Thanksgiving day was busy, but fun - - I, of course, tried some new recipes: thanksgiving tart (recipe from vegweb?), spiced acorn squash, green beans, mashed sweet potatoes, and a vegan pumpkin/pecan pie (recipe from wholefoods.com). Everything came out sooo good. YEA!!! I didn't cook my pie the day before, so it wasn't QUITE cold enough, but it was dessert and it was still good.
Miss M had a good day, too. She hung out with my mom and dad all day and loved it...they never stop playing with her....hehehehehe. And, obviously, she really LOVES mashed sweet potatoes... hahahha. We didn't know. I don't usually cook them that way - guess I should do that more often.
Friday, I decided to just shop - on the internet ONLY - but, then found out the laptop that I wanted to buy could only be bought in the store! grrrr! So we mosied on over there and even though they had sold out of the laptops, I was able to get one (they had done some thing where you got in line, got a "certificate" for your computer and then came back and picked it up later and I guess that some people got certificates, but then never came back....they said they had a few computers and were holding them but the time had lapsed and they were giving them away to any one who asked or something like that). Anyways - I got a new laptop. It is soooo nice. I didn't think that I would enjoy using it so much, but I really do. And that's where I am now :) It's cool, it's an HP with a 17.3" screen and a webcam buit in (which is one of the big reasons that we bought it since are separate webcam on the desktop doesn't seem to work all the time anymore). And then we went over to Costco - holy flat screen TVs - seemed like everyone we saw had a flat screen. We just walked around and looked at stuff, mostly. We were just there to do regular shopping, not to pick up anything special.
Our CSA basket was full of leeks and lettuce again this past week - so I am making my famous leek and potato soup with salads on the side for dinner tonight. MMMMMM. Only thing is we end with leftovers when I make it and, I do believe, we are pretty left over-ed out. I don't think I will really have to cook at all for the rest of this week after this soups done. Hahahhaa. <- We will have to see how that goes over, I guess.
But, more later!
:)

Leeks, leeks, and more leeks (oh! and avacados)

We got our CSA basket / box last night - - clearly leeks, kale and dill are in season. I made my "famous" leek soup last night. I had that one great recipie that SN said was so fabulous...but I don't know where I got it from (maybe from a book from the library? I couldn't find it in any of the books at home). So I improvised - I have been doing that a lot lately, but it came out good. :)

Leek & Potato Soup
I just put four sliced leeks (white parts only) and one sliced brown onion into some olive oil and earth balance and then let it cook covered until it looked pretty steamed (7 or 8 mins) and then I added 1-1/2 cut up potatoes (I saved some potato for breakfast saturday morning - mmm) and about 1-1/2 cups of water, let that go for about 15 minutes. Then I added about 2 cups of plain soy milk, put the lid on and let that go for another 5 minutes or so. I took it off the heat and blended it and then added some salt, pepper, and fresh dill.

...now if I could just find a decent avacado recipe like this - easy to throw together and great to eat! :) SN wasn't too thrilled at my attempt to make avacado soup (as, clearly, avacados are also in season and I am at a loss - I don't know what to do with all of them!). We have had avacado sandwiches, tacos, guacamole, sandwich spread....I'm feeling a little like Forrest Gump...
I am making it a little mission of mine with this CSA not to throw anything away. Nothing... (we will see how that goes). Although, I have now learned how to freeze basil and dill so they can still be used without being "freeze-dried", make leek soup without a recipie, and I can't even tell you how long it's been since we bought a jar of pre-made salsa (since we have had so many tomatoes, it would be a waste to not just make my own!).
More later!
:)

CSA-day

I love Wednesdays! It's the day that I pick up my basket from Morning Song Farm. We joined a CSA about a month ago. It's community supported agriculture and it's a wonderful thing - - all the produce is organic and we get this HUGE basket of food - - generally, it's more than we ever get around to eating. I hate to admit it, but sometimes, only occasionally, I have to throw something away because we have had it so long that it's no longer good. But, we are trying lots of new foods and I am learning to cook new things - some things that I have never even heard of. We have had to look stuff up on the internet more than once trying to figure out what something is and how to make it. We have had this fruit called sapote (?), dandelion greens (which I never would have bought in the store), and passion fruit. Just about everything else that we have gotten has been something that we have seen before. Last week, we got 2 bunches of kale, arugula, cucumbers, avacados, basil, parsley, carrots, radishes, a melon, avacados, and oranges. I do still have to go to the grocery store (or farmer's market) every week for little things - apples, bananas, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, garlic - - whatever "staples" we don't get.

I really look forward to Wednesday nights when we get home and "uncover" all of our new goodies. And I have made it a big deal for Miss M - we pull out everything together and touch it, smell it, and talk about it. Usually SN will make the new fruit "dessert" one night. Very fun.

I have been taking pics of the baskets every week because it's just so cool. This pic is the first basket that we got - get a load of all the tomatoes, red peppers, avacados, and citrus fruit (and all the greens that you can barely see). That first week, we also got about four huge leeks - - so I learned how to make the easiest, fastest, best tasting vegan onion and leek soup ever. SN said that it was the best I have ever made - I don't know if it was because the leeks were organic, because they were so fresh, or because we were just excited about something new....hmmmm...it probably was my supreme cooking skills. Hahaha

More later!

:)