Vegetables in Parchment - Lots of Flavor, No Dirty Dishes

You can mix up the vegetables, herbs and aromatics to match your preferences. Cook time will vary based on that as well. Root vegetables (like carrots, potatoes, etc.) require a longer cook time).

Seasonal Produce Menu Planning (Chard, Brussel Sprouts, Cabbage, Carrots, Potatoes, Leeks, Rutabaga, Oranges, Bay Leaves, Parsley, Baby Bok Choy.)

I love Community Supported Agriculture. I get great organic produce for my family at an affordable price and increases the variety of produce that I eat. This week's box includes: Chard, Brussel Sprouts, Cabbage, Carrots, Potatoes, Leeks, Rutabaga, Oranges, Bay Leaves, Parsley, Baby Bok Choy. Plus, I added 10 pounds of apples for $3.

Here's the menu items I'm planning.

1. Stir-fried Bok Choy & Chard (half of the chard) - I stir fry it with a little bit of ginger, garlic and a dash of soy sauce. It's so yummy (one of the few green things the toddler eats with me).

2. Lemon-marinated brussel sprouts (probably to pair with a roasted chicken which I will roast with herbs, lemon, garlic and bay leaf stuffed inside). This is the biggest question mark for me, but I'm excited to try this recipe. I will be using red onion instead of shallots and will be adding some pancetta. (Here's another brussel sprout recipe that looks good.)

3. Mayo-free slaw. I usually do this with shredded carrots, cabbage and cilantro using lemon juice and vinegar for the dressing. This will be served alongside the popular grilled turkey burgers with mushrooms that are such a hit at our house.


4. Swiss chard frittata - I made this last time we had chard and it was yummy. I referenced this recipe, but did not have any mushrooms, so I made it without and didn't miss them at all.

5. Potato Leek Soup - I've featured my potato leek soup in a past blog. It's really good. I think I'll be adding the rutabaga to it this time.

6. Carrot & Squash Soup - I love trying out different carrot soups. With this one, I'm going to use an acorn squash that I have instead of the summer squash.

7. With the carrots, I also plan on making carrot muffins or bread and carrot-oatmeal cookies. (Recipes will be posted soon).

8. White bean dip with parley and quinoa tabbouleh. (Will serve both with pita bread or pita chips and quinoa burgers, in place of falafel). I love making white bean dip using dried white beans. After simmering them in veggie broth until they are soft, I puree them in the food processor with olive oil and add the herb of choice, in this case the chopped parsley. It's simple, but really yummy. (Here's a good quinoa tabbouleh recipe - given that really good tomatoes can be hard to find this time of year, I might just not include tomatoes or might use sun-dried tomatoes instead.)

9. Finally, with my 10 pounds of apples, I shall try my hand at applesauce, apple butter and different apple baby food items. (Plus, my toddler will eat several of them as well as the oranges, so no menu planning needed for those).

So, as I make different items on the list, I'll post updates on the recipes and how they went, but thought I would share these plans in the spirit of posting ideas for seasonal produce.

Got Turnips? Ethiopian Stew

The Ethiopian Stew smells AMAZING!! I also love the vibrant coloring the spices give it. Oh - and it tastes good. Instead of doing the puree step at the end, you could also simmer off some of the liquid a bit more and then serve it over brown rice.

Here's the original recipe that I adapted.

I did not have leeks, several of the seasonings listed in the berbere mix, soymilk or vegetable stock (which I usually do I have - I make my own using this technique-love it!), so I adjusted accordingly.




My berbere mix included:

3/4 TBS of cinnamon
1 TBS paprika
a few dashes of cayenne
1 heaping TBS of turmeric
3/4 TBS of curry (all I had left)
several dashes of black pepper a few dashes of cumin

I had planned to include rutabaga, but the 3 turnips I chopped looked like enough. So, here's what I did (with ingredients in bold).

Sauteed 1/2 onion (diced) in peanut oil (in a large pot)
Added the berbere mix. I added all of the berbere mix that I made and didn't think it was too much.
Added 3 chopped turnips and 2 diced carrots.
Covered with free range, organic chicken stock. (Probably 4-5 cups)
Added 1 can of garbanzo beans (drained well).
Simmered for about 20 minutes.
Then I took about 1 1/2 cups of the soup out to puree in a blender (I added a little bit of chicken stock to what I was pureeing as the stock and boiled down a lot).
Poured the puree back in with the soup and added 1/3 cup plain yogurt (I used a Greek yogurt. This was my soymilk substitute). (When grabbing the yogurt, I also saw some Trader Joe's Masala Simmering Sauce that had been hiding in the fridge, so I added 1 TBS of that just for kicks).

Feel free to add a dollop of yogurt or sour cream on top just before you eat.














Special note: DON'T BE AFRAID OF TURNIPS!! I used to be, but got over it and now enjoy all the root vegetables that winter brings.

Soup Week - Soup #1 - Carrot Soup

I've been making a lot of soups lately. It seems appropriate as it's finally starting to feel like Fall here in SoCal. What's interesting about soup is that I always used to think I didn't like soup, until I started making my own soups. I had really only eaten soup out of can, and that I don't like, but I love making my own soups (and eating them!).

My latest new soup was created through a recipe blunder. My first attempt to make a carrot soup (motivated by a farmer selling me a bunch of carrots for basically $1) went awry, but my "fix" resulted in a soup that was rather delectable. I based my attempt on this recipe. It was not the recipe's fault that my soup didn't turn out. The problem came when I decided to add my own choice of spices (mainly because I didn't have on hand the herbs/spices recommended in the recipe). I added cumin, curry powder, thyme and then put in some cayenne pepper (for a little kick, or so I thought). I wasn't really measuring any of these, but was just eyeballing.

Apparently, I used too much cayenne because the soup was so spicy that it was not really edible. But, my "fix" led me to create a smooth carrot soup with a lot of depth of flavor and with protein. I added a white bean puree to it. So, here's how I did it.

Ingredients:

6 carrots (sliced)
Olive oil (or grapeseed or avocado oil), salt, black pepper
Vegetable Stock (probably 6-8 cups between the carrot and white bean puree - I always just eyeball my stock and don't measure)
1/2 white onion (diced)
6 garlic cloves (1/2 for carrot puree and 1/2 for white bean puree)
1 tsp each of cumin, curry powder, thyme
cayenne pepper to taste
1/2 cup dried white beans (or 1/2-1 can of white beans)

1. If you don't use organic carrots, then I recommend peeling them. If you do use organic, then you don't really need to peel them. Slice them into rounds, then toss the carrots with olive oil, salt and black pepper and spread them out on a baking sheet. Add 2-4 cloves of garlic to roast with the carrots as well. Broil for about 15-20 minutes (I stirred them up and turned them about halfway through)

2. Sautee onions in olive oil (I did this in my stock pot, so that I didn't dirty any extra dishes).

3. Add stock (probably 3-6 cups, it will depend on your carrots - you want to make sure you have a nice ratio to puree it) to onions and bring to a boil. Add carrots and garlic from oven and simmer until carrots get soft.

4. Put in food processor (or blender) and puree. Set aside and make white bean puree.

Since I used dried beans, I'll include instructions here for using dried beans, but you can also use canned. (First, you need to soak the white beans in water overnight the night before. Then, I bring the beans to boil in vegetable stock and then simmer for a few hours until they are soft. It usually takes about 3-4 hours with the white beans. I do this in my cast iron dutch oven and think it works really well and that the beans taste much better than canned).

5. Sautee garlic and add white beans with vegetable stock (make sure the white beans are covered with vegetable stock. You want to have enough stock to be able to puree them). Simmer for about 3-5 minutes.

6. Puree white beans, streaming in olive oil as you do (to taste).

7. Mix the two purees together.

This soup really is delicious. I think it could be a good choice for Thanksgiving (you'd probably need to make more. This is really 4 servings, max). It's a nice soup that is not expensive at all to make, but is an enjoyable Fall-inspired dish.

Wish I had pictures as it is a really pretty soup, but the friend I shared the soup with -- well, we enjoyed it so much that I forgot to take a picture.

Oh - I think it would be great to garnish it with diced avocado, caramelized onions or toasted almonds.

Taco soup recipe coming soon!

Roasted Carrot Soup

Another vegetarian gem -- and this one I created purely on my own, no other recipes consulted or adjusted or used as inspiration. Instead, the inspiration was the veggies!

Ingredients

• Carrots, three sliced for roasting
• 1 Potato, cubed
• 2 small turnips, cubed (if you don't have turnips or don't want to use them, you could probably add another potato and an additional carrot or two)
• 2 shallots, diced
  
• Vegetable stock or broth (1/2-1 quart, depending on how thick you want it)
• Cumin
• Olive Oil
• Curry powder
• Salt and pepper

Preparation

1. Slice carrots for roasting - once sliced, place on a cookie sheet and drizzle with olive oil, then sprinkle salt, pepper and cumin (toss to coat evenly)
2. Roast at 450 degrees for about 20 minutes (start checking it at 15)
3. While the carrots are roasting, chop the other ingredients
4. Sautee shallots in olive oil (for about 5 minutes)
5. Add potatoes and turnips and cover with vegetable stock/broth - I only had 1/2 quart of stock, so it ended up being a thick puree, but I found I really liked it that way.
6. Cook until tender (typically about 15)
7. Combine ingredients in a food processor or blender (I use a blender, since I don't have a food processor) and puree. (You may need to stop and stir it around a bit to get everything to puree evenly). I recommend adding a bit more cumin as well as some curry powder during the puree process (I just add a little at a time and taste, instead of measuring).
8. Enjoy!

As you can see from my blog, I'm really getting into soups. They are easy and a great way to use a variety of vegetables (I had never used turnips before) and you can get several meals out of one batch or freeze some for later. This makes soups great for a new mom like me.

Coming soon -- my first attempt at making curry/Indian food and a blog about stock - making your own and store bought.

In This Week's Lunchbox: Pasta Salad

Coming soon - Roasted Carrot Soup (it's delicious. I made it this morning for tonight) and maybe another cookie recipe.

Those of you who follow or check in on this new blog frequently will notice that there was no lunchbox posting last week. That's because I didn't get around to making anything, but had a pre-made herb salad mix (with goat cheese, plum tomatoes and slices of salami added in), tuna (just straight out of the pouch with nothing added -- that was a busy day), and a subway veggie sub.

This week, I'm back on track with one of my favorite pasta salads (of course one that doesn't use mayo -- I despise mayo). It may not be that pretty, but it is simple and good.

Ingredients:

• 1 box/package tri-colored rotini pasta
• Carrots, Broccoli and Cauliflower - I used one of those pre-made bags as there was an organic bag of these 3 veggies already chopped and packaged together on sale for $1.50 at my grocery store. (Of course you can always buy them separately and then chop -- if you do so, you need about 1/2 head of broccoli and 1/4 head of cauliflower plus some baby carrots, maybe 1/4 of a small bag or even a bit less)
• Parsley, chopped of course (just enough to add some flavor, but not overpower)
• Olive Oil
• Ranch Dressing Dip Mix (just the mix or Italian Dressing Mix or put together your own Italian Spices/Seasonings together for it)

Preparation:

1. Cook the pasta and immediately after run under cool water

2. Chop vegetables (if needed)

3. Mix together the pasta and vegetables

4. Drizzle with olive oil, parsley and dressing mix of choice -- add the dressing mix in little by little and taste so that it doesn't overpower everything else. Toss together and enjoy.

Yep - it's that simple, but once the pasta salad chills, I always find it to be quite good. Some additions that I suggest from past experience include: tomatoes and mozzarella or parmesan cheese. You could also add basil instead of parsley.

One another note -- the winter vegetable "chorizo" soup I made last week got more and more delicious and I think I ended up having it for dinner 3-4 nights and it was wonderful each time.

Winter Vegetable Soup with "Chorizo"

It's Vegan! Really!! I used Soy Chorizo (from Trader Joe's) and Veggie Stock. For people who eat meat, you could, of course, use pork chorizo or sausage and chicken or beef stock.

Ingredients

• 2 medium-sized carrots, diced
• 1 shallot, diced
• 1 small onion, diced
  
• 1 turnip, cubed/diced
• 1 potato, cubed
• Chorizo or Sausage (soy variety or meat, depending on your preference)
• Approx. 1 quart of vegetable stock or broth (or chicken or beef stock, if you prefer)
• 1 can kidney beans
• Thyme
  
• Salt, pepper
• Olive Oil

Preparation:
1. I chopped all the vegetables first and set them aside and then cooked up the chorizo over medium heat with olive oil in the pan. Then I set the chorizo aside.
2. In the same pan (as the chorizo was cooked), I cooked the turnip, carrots, onion and shallot in olive oil over medium heat for about 5 minutes.
3. Next, put the cooked vegetables in a crock pot with vegetable stock and turn on low.
4. Again in the same pan (you could use different pans, but I have a 3 1/2 month-old and no dishwasher, so I simplify), cover the potatoes in water and bring to a boil. Cook until tender.
5. Once the potatoes are tender drain them and add to the crock pot along with a can of kidney beans.
6. Add chorizo to the crock pot as well.
7. Add thyme, salt and pepper (this is all to taste)
8. Turn crock pot on high (I probably had the pot on high for an hour or so)
9. Switch to low (I did this when I left the house and left on low until I came home at the end of the day, at which point I just switched it to warm).

You don't have to make this in a crock pot. You could cook the soup on the stove for 40 minutes to an hour and be ready to serve it. The crock pot is just so easy that I used it instead. I also added some quinoa to the soup, which I had in the fridge. I think rice would also work well in this soup.

I love coming home to a warm pot of soup at the end of the day, especially when it is cool out. I hope you enjoy it as well!.