Organics to You March 1, 2010

Today's box from Organics to You contains:

• chard
• bunch of carrots
• green curly kale
• broccoli
• red beets
• 4 Russet potatoes
• parsnips
  
• 2 honey gold grapefruit
• 3 navel oranges
  
• 3 Enterprise apples
• 3 D'anjou pears
• 4 kiwis
  
• a yellow onion
• an avocado
  

From last week the fridge still contains:

• red lettuce
  
• some broccoli
  
• carrots
• 2 yams
• leeks
  
• Russet potatoes
  
• beets
  
• 1 yellow onion
• 1 red onion
• head of garlic
• little bit of celery
  
• 10 apples
• 7 green pears
  
• 2 honey gold grapefruit
  
• 2 blood oranges

The Compost Pail of Shame (what I didn't use and had to compost):

• Spinach
• a few kiwis (oops)
• a tangerine
• some chard
• bok choy (which went off surprisingly quickly)
  

Made a great stir-fry with the chard last week and fried onion tofu from Uwajimaya. On Saturday I made another huge scramble with broccoli, carrots, celery, potatoes and tofu - we fed a houseguest & ourselves Saturday plus had plenty leftover for Sunday breakfast. Sunday night I made the delicious potato, broccoli & fresh herb soup in Veganomicon - a great way to use up broccoli stems! I also made a huge amount of fresh squeezed juice on Saturday which helped us up the citrus we had around. We actually ended up eating out a lot last week, so we had a lot more go into the compost.

Tonight I'm making the ruby beet pockets as well as some broccoli & tofu stir-fry for dinner. There's a great rice casserole with chard in Veganomicon I'm going to try since we have the chard. Wednesday we'll be at Ignite, so eating at the Bagdad. I'm going to try to make some kind of hearty dish easy to take to the Dharma Center on Thursday for our monthly get-together with our practice cohort.

Organics to You February 22, 2010

Today's box from Organics to You contains:

• Rainbow chard
• bunch of carrots
• spinach
• bok choy
• broccoli
• red beets
• Russet potatoes
• 2 grapefruit
• 3 Mineola tangerines
• 3 Enterprise apples
• 3 Fuji apples
• 3 green pears
• yellow onion
• head of garlic
  

From last week the fridge still contains:

• red lettuce
  
• some broccoli
  
• carrots
• 2 yams
• leeks
  
• Russet & red potatoes
  
• spinach
• chard
• beets
  
• 2 yellow onions
• 2 red onions
  
• 2 Enterprise apples
• 4 green pears
  
• 4 honey tangerines
  
• 2 blood oranges

The Compost Pail of Shame (what I didn't use and had to compost):

• A beet that had gone moldy, one arrived kind of soft & I should have used it immediately
  
• green kale
  

Made a great spaghetti sauce with tempeh, canned artichoke hearts and some spinach. Made a chick pea salad that included some celery and slightly caramelized red onions. I also made 5 pints of apple/pear sauce to use up the bulk of that fruit. We bought a good citrus juicer over the weekend, so there may be an uptick of fresh juice!

This week is a hectic, stressful week. Tonight I'm making miso udo stew, which we've both been craving. Might also be some more tostadas and a a few nice salads.

Miso Udon Stew

This is the dish I came up with for our New Year's feast and have made a few times since. With a little advance preparation (having pre-made dashi on hand), this is a very quick to make, hearty meal.

The Stuff

• 1 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 medium shallot, diced fine
  
• 1 carrot, cut on bias in thin slices
  
• 1 medium head of broccoli, stem removed (and saved for later) and cut into small florets
• A few pieces of wakame, snipped into small pieces
• 3 cups vegan dashi
  
• 1 cup water
• 1/3 cup red miso
• 8 oz fresh udon noodles
• 4 oz age tofu, sliced very thinly
  

The Making

In one soup pot bring water to boil and add udon noodles. Simmer udon noodles for time indicated on package. Noodles should still be quite firm. We have often use rice udon, obtained fresh from a SE Asian market, and like them a lot. When noodles are cooked, drain and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process. Drain well and put into bottom of soup bowls.

Saute shallot on medium-high heat in another soup pot with canola oil until softened and slightly browned, about 5 minutes or less. Add in dashi, water, carrots, broccoli florets, and wakame. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until vegetables are just tender, about 8 minutes. Reduce heat to low and add miso. Stir well to incorporate miso fully. Do not boil!

Top noodles with the thinly sliced age. Ladle hot miso broth and veggies over the noodles and tofu. Garnish your favorite type of Furikake, sesame seeds, and shredded shiso leaves, if you like, and serve immediately.

Organics to You February 15, 2010

Today's box from Organics to You contains:

• Huge, gorgeous head of red lettuce
  
• some broccoli
  
• A bunch of carrots
• 2 yams
• 1 leek
• several Russet potatoes
  
• spinach
• chard
• beets
  
• 1 big yellow onion
• 2 small red onions
  
• 2 Enterprise apples
• 4 green pears
  
• 4 honey tangerines
  
• 2 blood oranges
  

From last week the fridge still contains:

• some lettuce
  
• some broccoli stems
  
• spinach
  
• 3 potatoes
• some red beets
  
• piles of apples
• piles of pears
• 3 mandarins
  
• several kiwis
• celery
• 1 1/2 red onions
• 1 yellow onion
  
• green, curly kale

The Compost Pail of Shame (what I didn't use and had to compost):

• A tangerine
• green onions (really starting to think I should just ask that these not be included in our box)
  

Aloo gobi was made last week and between that and some roasted we used all of the cauliflower. A huge pot of split pea soup helped to use up more of the potatoes, celery and the carrots. Going to try to make us up some fresh apple/pear sauce to use up all of those, perhaps tonight. I also think there will be some fresh citrus juice this week. Salads will be in the week's line up. I'm also thinking of pasta with all the spinach.

Organics to You February 8, 2010

I've been rather lax the past few weeks, just not as much time. Starting over again this week.

Today's box from Organics to You contains:

• Head of Romaine lettuce
  
• some broccoli
  
• A bunch of carrots
• 2 enormous yellow potatoes
• 1 leek
• celery
• spinach
• 1 red onion
• 1 yellow onion
• cauliflower
  
• 3 Enterprise apples
• 3 Bosc pears
• 3 red pears
  
• 3 Mandarins
  
• 4 kiwis

From last week the fridge still contains:

• some lettuce
  
• some broccoli
  
• 2 carrots
  
• spinach
  
• several potatoes
• some red beets
  
• piles of apples
• 2 Bosc pears
• 3 mandarins
  
• several kiwis
• celery
• green onions
  
• a red onion+
• 2 yellow onions
  
• green, curly kale
• head of cauliflower
  

The Compost Pail of Shame (what I didn't use and had to compost):

• A couple of oranges
• some kale
• some spinach
• probably some other things, but I haven't kept track
  

In the past few weeks Christie has reminded me that fresh, squeezed OJ is a great way to use up an enormous pile of oranges & mandarins - yum! I need to make applesauce, that's the best way to deal with all the apples. I made a huge pot of stew that we actually managed to eat nearly all of! There's been roasted cauliflower and potatoes with tempeh and several gorgeous salads. Stir-fry dishes have been showing up regularly too.

This week I'm thinking aloo gobi and a dal of some sort, perhaps tomorrow night. We have such an enormous pile of potatoes and now 2 heads of cauliflower, plus so many onions, that it will be a great way to use up a bunch. Maybe I'll even surprise my two Indian co-workers with some to take home. I'm going to keep trying to make us salads in the evening to have for lunch the next day -- keeps on top of the lettuce and is a nice way to get some extra veggies eaten. We're planning a picnic on Sunday (in the car if it is pouring or someplace with a shelter, so I might make some potato salad & perhaps a bunch of tofu/broccoli stir-fry. All the mandarins might go into fresh juice for the Valentine's Day mimosas we're planning!

Ruby Treasure Pockets

I've been really curious about bento lunches, I like the way the food is neatly arranged and portioned. I've not gone so far as to invest in bento boxes from Japan or making tiny flowers out of carrots, yet, but I have experimented with a couple of dishes that pack well into small containers for lunch. One of the easiest and tastiest are these little pockets of abura-age filled with rice and roasted beets. The beets turn the rice a gorgeous hue and look like little jewels. Christie supplied the lovely name for this dish.

The Stuff

• 2 large pieces of abura-age (check out an Asian, preferably Japanese market for these, we get them at Uwajimaya)
• 1 medium, red beet, peeled & diced into 1/2" cubes
• 2 cups of cooked, short-grain brown rice
• 1/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar ("sushi" vinegar)
• 1/2 T canola oil
• salt/pepper
• Furikake (to garnish, optional)

The Making

Pre-heat over to 375. Toss diced beet in canola oil and a little salt & pepper. Roast diced beet in oven until tender.

Add rice to a bowl and drizzle vinegar over. Stir vigorously, tossing the rice well in the vinegar and set aside to let rice absorb it. Once all the vinegar has been absorbed, add in the roasted beets and toss together to mix well. Rice will begin to take on a rich, red hue.

Slice the pieces of abura-age in half and carefully open up. Stuff rice, vinegar & beet mixture carefully, but firmly into the abura-age pouches. Sprinkle tops with your favorite furikake mix if desired.

Either serve immediately or pack into your bento lunch! The abura-age pouches make for a very neat way to enjoy the rice & beets. These even pack well for a hand-held snack while hiking!


The ruby beet pockets are at the top of this picture of a great, stir-fry medley we had a few weeks ago featuring broccoli/tofu/leek, the rest of the roasted beets not used for the rice pockets, and garlic/green beans.

Chipotle 'Yummay' Sauce...

So everybody luvs teh Yumm(TM) sauce from Cafe Yumm down in Eugene. Unfortunately, it's pretty damn espensive, and as much as I believe in supporting local good companies, I support my "make yummy stuff myself and save teh dough" movement more. I was making a chipotle aioli, tweaked it by accident (added "too much" lemon juice) and suddenly went "Hey, this is Yumm Sauce(TM)!!"

• ½ cup Vegenaise 
• ¼ cup lemon juice
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 tsp yellow mustard powder or 2 tsp yellow salad mustard
  
• 1 tsp Smoky Chipotle Tabasco 
• ½ tsp Smoky Chipotle chili powder 
• 1 tsp smoked paprika 
• 1-2 tsp garlic powder 
• 2-3 tbsp nutritional yeast

Whisk together. Enjoy!