Uncategorized – Page 2 – Varying Veggies

Southwestern Dinner Bar

Busy nights are common and ideals often fall victim to these nights. This is where having a plan, or even better, a routine makes a world of difference. One of our “go to” menus is a Southwestern theme. Think of your favorite burrito place, just at home. It’s really not that complicated and many times you can have it ready in less time (and definitely less money) than it takes to go out and pick it up. Just put out these ingredients:

rice (this is the most work, i.e. time consuming, but easy and can be made ahead)

beans (pinto, black, or both)

salsa

quacamole

lettuce

corn

tortillas (corn and/or wheat)

Now everyone can create a custom meal. I usually do a burrito bowl or salad. One of the kids makes a burrito every time – and requests future ingredients (love it!). Tacos are an option as well as tostadas. Burritos are great if you need to eat on the go and as leftovers for upcoming lunches. Keeping it quick and easy helps the evening flow, keeps the budget low, and leads to better health.

Week 6 Box

week6box_sm

This week’s veggies:

Head Lettuce x 2 (one red, one green)
Peas, either Snap or Snow
Zucchini and Summer Squash
Cilantro
Golden Beets (super sweet and more mild)
Radicchio x 2
Carrots
Kale
Cucumber

So here’s my game plan:

Wash and prep lettuces for salad.
Cut up carrots, zucchini, summer squash, and cucumbers so that they are ready for salads, stir fry, sautéed veggies to use for other meals throughout the week. Anything unused will be either frozen or dehydrated for future use.
Cut the radicchio into wedges and grill for dinner tonight. Yummy!
Shred extra zucchini for muffins and quick bread. Shredded zucchini can be frozen in one cup measurements (snack size ziplocks are great for this) for baking through the upcoming winter.
Cut up and roast beets for either veggie burgers or salads.

Things have been busy on the homefront lately, so I haven’t posted as much as I had planned. The next few weeks are slower, so it’s time for catching up – on housework, work work, and blogging. Will post more pics tonight on fb.

Week 4 Box

Where do the summer weeks go?! It’s very challenging to maintain a routine when life is not routine. The kids are out of school and every day’s schedule is different. I love it though. It’s a time to relax and/or do things we don’t have time to do during the school year.

I was able to dedicate this morning to processing the contents of this week’s farm box. Despite a hail storm a week ago and a massive amount of rain this past Saturday (we got 2 inches at home), the contents of the farm box are still coming in strong. There are so many great vegetables this week:

Scallions
Sugar Snap (edible pod) Peas
Lettuce Head
Hakurai (sweet salad) Turnips
Collard Greens (similar to kale)
Zucchini
Arugula
Radishes

Beets

Cilantro

I started with one of my favorite things to have available for our household – a salad bar! I tore up the head lettuces (keeps the edges from browning) and used a salad spinner to wash and dry them. I store the lettuce in a Rubbermaid container. I then sliced the radishes, turnips, scallions, and 2 zucchini and stored them in separate containers. I keep all of these on their own shelf in the fridge. At meal times, all I have to do is put the containers on the counter along with bottles of salad dressing or infused vinegars and we have a salad bar. Everyone can make their own custom salad and there’s something for everyone, even those picky eaters.

Next I made a batch of Grains and Greens using the collards, arugula, and a bag of greens leftover from last week. I’ll post a more detailed recipe later, but basically I cook a bag of Ancient Grains from Trader Joe’s along with some sliced carrots and any greens that I have on hand. I use a slightly adapted version of Happy Herbivore’s Cheater Pad Thai sauce on the grains and greens. I now have 3-4 lunches prepared for the rest of the week. I love having lunches pre-prepared – it saves so much time and stress in the morning when helping to get family members out the door.

Finally I roasted the beets and used a couple to make veggie burgers for dinner tonight. It’s the first time we’ve used this recipe and we absolutely loved it. We’ve already started thinking of all the ways we can adapt it to other beans and vegetables. We wish we had some great Kaiser buns for these tonight, but we had to go with what we had on hand and I’ve been keeping commercial veggie burgers and buns in the freezer for the kids. With the success of this new recipe, hopefully we can move away from the commercial burgers and stock some homemade ones.

I’m looking forward to snacking on the peas and using the cilantro in our Southwestern Quinoa salad (to be posted soon).

More soon…

Kathy