CSA Pick-Up #2

By ellen on June 20, 2010

My CSA just started 2 weeks ago. If you aren’t familiar with CSAs, they are basically subscriptions to a farm share. CSA stands for community supported agriculture. To buy into a farm’s CSA, you are essentially making an investment into their crops… your yield is whatever they harvest. (To find a CSA near you, click here).

The season at our farm began on June 10. Each Thursday until the end of the season (usually November-ish), I’ll head over to the pick-up point and get what’s fresh this week.

Garlic scapes, spinach, lettuce, arugula, snap peas, beets, turnips, and rainbow chard.

The great thing and the most challenging thing about a CSA is figuring out what to do with SO MANY VEGGIES. I found that last season (my first) was a lot of trial and error. It was tough to eat through everything before it began to spoil.

I typically rinse and chop greens as soon as I get them. I put them in a baggie or container with a paper towel in it to absorb excess moisture. As for the other veggies, I’ll try to cook them up and fridge/freeze them so that I can easily eat them later.

This week, I made pesto with the garlic scapes.

Love those crazy looking scapes.

Add chopped scapes (I used 7 of them), handful of pine nuts, grated cheese (like parmesan), and olive oil to a blender or food processor.

Garlic-licious.

I also attempted to make a raw beet salad. I say attempted because it turned out to be my first Vita-Mix fail. As much as I love the Vita, she was too strong to simply pulse and chop my beets. They were pulverized in seconds. SO I decided to make beet juice with some carrot juice in the fridge and ginger.

After straining it multiple times, it was, well, beet-y. You know that earthiness that beets have? Well, yes, it was beet juice. Refreshing for sure.

The rest of the stuff we either ate in salads (turnips, most of the greens) or sauteed (chard). It’s not all gone yet, but we should get through all of it well before Thursday’s pick-up. I really can’t wait until the summer produce (squash, zucchini, peppers, etc).

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In other news:

  • My morning workouts have been GREAT (and consistent). I’ll be adding early morning swims to the mix next week as M and I train for our August sprint-tri in August. (I’ll post the schedule… eventually)
  • Are you running in the NYC Marathon this year? I am. Training to commence shortly…
  • I’m doing my first Blueprint Cleanse starting tomorrow. I’ll give a full recap.

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Food Guilt

By ellen on November 4, 2009

I’m not talking about that feeling you get after eating too much dessert when you’re out…

I try to be a sensible cook and consumer. I belong to a CSA which gives me fresh, local, seasonal produce that goes right from the farm to my kitchen table. I try to supplement that with whole grains and other produce from the Farmer’s Market… or organic from the supermarket when I’m in a pinch. I went veg for the month of October… now I’m eating only conscious meat (that can be traced to an actual farm and farmer). That said, I’m not perfect.

There are plenty of times when I veer from my master plan – often more than I’d care to admit. I know why I feel this impending sense of guilt sometimes… I really want my values to align. At least, I think so.

I’ve read some related books recently… Michael Pollan‘s Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food. I’m currently reading through Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and have a few other related books coming up on the horizon. The other day I read this article in the New Yorker. Today, Jonathan Safran Foer was even on Ellen! Watch the video here on Huffington Post. It’s pretty easy to see why a preoccupation with conscious consumption can be… well, completely consuming.

Whether you’re omni/veggie/vegan, what are your beliefs about food? Is it a meal to you, or is it more?

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We Got the Beet

By ellen on October 29, 2009

Just Beet It? The possibilities are endless, haha. Prior to joining the CSA, I had never eaten beets. Not even a little taste. To be honest, I wasn’t even that interested in trying them. The husbo had eaten them before and was convinced he hated them. Enter CSA.

This is one of the main reasons I love the CSA. Not only do I get fresh local produce each week and enjoy a direct connection to the farmer who grows it, I am forced to get creative with the sometimes massive loads of veggies I get – can you say kale pie? Anyhow, I had one unfortunate experiment making beet chips a few weeks ago, but undeterred I vowed I’d give them another chance.

A blog I love, Cheap Healthy Good, had a recipe posted for “Beets and Greens Curry with Chickpeas.” I figured it was worth a shot: it couldn’t be worse than my beet chips gone wrong.

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All my little beets are washed and chopped.

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In the pan with the kale on top.

I made a few substitutions and omissions – not by careful calculation, mind you, only because my kitchen was poorly stocked. Kale went in for the beet greens, most of my herbs and spices were dried, and no chilies.

I have to say I was presently surprised. It was delicious. I officially like beets! Once I got past the hot pink color of the creation, I like the nice, light textures of the beets, chickpeas, and couscous together. I was also surprised at the light, fresh taste of the beets (their electrifying color made me think they’d be heavier for some reason). This recipe made enough for husbo and I to have ample leftovers too which is always nice. I will definitely make this again when I get a load of beets from the CSA.

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Reading, Running, and Vegetables

By ellen on October 8, 2009

Hola, mis amigos! I can’t tell you how happy I am that it’s Thursday (almost Friday)! This was one of those weeks when almost every morning I a little bit contemplated taking a sick day, haha. Now that it’s Thursday, though, I’m pretty glad I didn’t waste one. This week really picked up!

This morning I decided not to make the same overnight pumpkin (steel cut) oats mistake I did last night. Instead, I nuked em this morning, and made the mistake of not putting them in a deep enough bowl. Result? Exploding steel cut oats. Such is life. I wiped it up a bit, then added my pumpkin and soymilk and called it brekkie.

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See all the little oats that tried to jump ship? And that was after I cleaned up a bit!

Work was work. Nothing too terribly excited or awful happened (which is perfectly fine by me). Mid-morning snack was the usual for this week: yogurt, granola, and a pear.

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Lunch was pretty standard too. Just some pb&j and an apple. After the kitchen unpacking and organizing extravaganza I hope to have this weekend, my meals will get a bit more varied and exciting. Not that there’s anything wrong with pb&j – it’s just not the most photogenic :) .

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I stayed after at work for a bit to get organized for tomorrow, and on the way home stopped to get my CSA veggies (favorite part of the week – hands down). On the way, I jumped into a bodega to get a little chemi-cino. Yes, that sugary substance that comes out of a machine labeled “French Vanilla Capuccino.” It’s neither french vanilla nor capuccino. Discuss.

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This week’s CSA bounty included arugula, lettuce mix, eggplant, winter squash, onions, carrots, kale, peppers, turnips, and parsley. I swapped the turnips for more onions. We eat onions like crazy, but aren’t the fondest of turnips. They deserved a home/belly where they’d be appreciated a bit more, haha.

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Right now I’m considering what the dinner options are – lots of lovely veggies, not many kitchen utensils. I’m also getting ready for a quick run before Pilates at 6:30. Shnackin on a mini-Cliff and loads of agua.

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On the agenda for the rest of the night? Pilates, dinner, grading papers, and reading one of my new books!

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A few points of interest:

  1. Vegetarian October has been going swimmingly… almost too easy so far. Will increase the servings of fruits and veggies in my day. I may even try Raw Wednesdays from Choosing Raw.
  2. Post-facial I’m doing well. It’s been a day and those pesky little break-outs are going away and my skin is left smooth and glowy.
  3. I have gotten back on track with my workouts, despite my crazy schedule and will be trying out a few new things to talk about very, very soon!
  4. I just picked up some books I reserved at the library: The Blue Zone, Thrive, and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I’m super-psyched to dive into them. Anyone read them? If so, thoughts?

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Happy almost-Friday! With any luck, I’ll pick up a connection and be back tonight to tell you about Pilates. Otherwise, hasta manana!

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Veggies and Slugs and Green Monsters – Oh My!

By ellen on October 1, 2009

Happy World Vegetarian Day! I must be super-smart, because I didn’t even know that when I decided to begin vegetarian month here! I suppose I’ll have even more wonderful resources through which to gather information about my new vegetarianism.

Oh what a veggie day it’s turning out to be, too. I hit up the CSA for this week’s bounty: swiss chard, mixed salad greens, turnips, leeks, broccoli, potatoes, basil, and… nope, I think that’s it.

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Because of the move, I decided to eat what I could as soon as possible. I came home and tried my first make-shift green monster and drank ALL the swiss chard! I had seen green monsters featured on Oh She Glows, and since I’m trying to improve my outward appearance (namely, skin) by changing what I consume, it was a good fit. (It doesn’t hurt that Angela of Oh She Glows might have the most lovely, glowy skin ever – great advertisement for green monsters to me!). My concoction was just the chard (lots), some vanilla soymilk, and the remainder of a bag of raspberries I found hiding in the back of the freezer. It started off a little pink in the Magic Bullet:

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Determined as I was to drink an actual green beverage, I threw in the rest of the chard. It came out green (ish… okay, maybe brownish-green) but was totally delicious! And it was a total, immediate energy booster. I’m sold. I’m in. Maybe October will also be green monster month also…

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So I told you about the veggies… and green monsters… ah yes! The slug. After I rinsed the swiss chard, I was tearing leaves to toss in the Bullet when I noticed some slime on one of them. I looked a little more closely and noticed the slime was moving. And that it wasn’t just slime, but a teeny little slug with those cute baby slug ears like Shrek, haha. Sadly, the grainy iphone takes crappo pics, but I assure you it was a rather cute slimy surprise.

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Yes, the little blob in the middle is in fact a slug.

Back to the packing. Dreaming of organizing the new kitchen…

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Veggie Tales

By ellen on September 10, 2009

Hooray for CSA Thursday!

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This week’s fresh, local veggie haul included: lemon basil (I’m not sure how they do this… it’s basil – smells SUPER lemony), oodles of kale, purple peppers, lettuce, onions, string beans, and…

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six ears of corn.

I had been lamenting the fact that since I’m in moving limbo and half-way living in boxes, my fruit/veggie intake has greatly decreased. Likewise, my dependence on yummy organic frozen products (thank you Amy and Kashi) has tripled. Tonight, however, I turned a corner.

Kale became kale chips. I tore the stems off and ripped the leaves into bite-sized pieces by hand and tossed them in a bowl with sea salt, fresh pepper, olive oil, and red wine vinegar. Once they were all coated, I spread them evenly over a cookie sheet. I baked them at 350 until they were crispy (close to thirty minutes).

Kale chips pre-oven:

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Kale chips, crisp-ified:

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Kale chips are certainly crunchy with a nice bit of saltiness too. I’d have to say, though, that they are an acquired taste (one that I haven’t completely acquired yet). It may seem abundantly obvious, but it came as a bit of a disappointment to me that they had that bitter kale-y aftertaste. Yeah, I know. Of course they tasted like kale. Still, surprising.

Next up, I trimmed and steamed the string beans. A year or so ago I bought this steamer for like $20 on Amazon. I have to be pretty picky about bringing appliances in because my tiny, tiny kitchen because space and outlets are very limited. This baby has been well worth it though. It particularly worth it’s weight in steamed goodness when it comes to steaming rice and fish. It’s super easy clean up too. Anyhow, steamed beans. I tossed them in, set the timer, and in 15 minutes they were bright green perfection.

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Finally, I made a potato-hash type thing. I chopped up the purple peppers… for those wondering (as I was), they taste just like green peppers. In fact, when you cut them, the inside looks like a green pepper:

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The potatoes and peppers sauteed in olive oil, garlic, and onions for a few minutes then I put the pan in the oven for about 20 minutes for everything to brown up nicely. The potato has and green beans will be in our lunches tomorrow.

I worked up a bit of an appetite, and ate all the lettuce with some red wine vinaigrette, and another Amy’s black bean burrito. I should note that since I’m living like this:

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I clearly have no microwave at home. So when I say that I’m having a delicious burrito (which normally takes 2-3 minutes to nuke), I have to wrap it in foil and put it in the toaster oven for an hour. AN HOUR!

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It’s worth it though. Here’s the burrito and salad (husbo worked late again so I had solo singleton din-din).

I have now run out of steam (and time), and will hold off a few things for the weekend. I’ll be making more corn/onion salad as it is both easy and super delishy, and I’ll be making a new lemon pepper pesto. Yum, can’t wait to see how that comes out.

Happy (almost) weekend!

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CSA Pick-Up and Menu Planning

By ellen on September 4, 2009

Yesterday was the weekly CSA veggie pick-up. This week’s bounty included:

  • Lettuce
  • Swiss chard
  • 2 squash (I’m not sure what kind yet – I’ll post pics soon)
  • Potatoes
  • Onions
  • Celery
  • Basil

Today I ate all the lettuce for lunch in a salad. I made a vinaigrette of red wine vinegar, olive oil, dijon mustard, and garlic – yum. I threw some parmesan cheese on top and had a Dr. Praeger California veggie burger with it.

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It was delicious. I have found that the lettuce tends to wilt very very quickly so I try to eat all of it as soon as possible. For the rest of the items, I sauteed the chard in onions, garlic, and olive oil so I’ll have a veggie side dish ready for the week – I have a feeling that this first week of school is going to be very busy. I’ll use all the basil for pesto and have a few pasta meals this week. I’ve cleaned and cut the celery and bagged for lunch snacks. Not sure about the potatoes yet, but they’re easy and versatile. I’m looking forward to figure out the squash. I think I’ll do that on Sunday or so… I’ll let you know what I come up with!

Check out some of these articles that may be of interest…

Enjoy the holiday weekend!

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Thirsty Thursday

By ellen on September 3, 2009

In the college days, thirsty Thursday was an all-day happy hour booze fest. These days… this is more of a thirsty Thursday.

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My morning post-workout beverages. This morning I got up and started the day with a slice of Ezekiel toast, a shmear of natural pb, half a banana, and some cinnamon.

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The workout this morning was a sweat-fest. I did Shred 1 w/ Jillian (my bff), and then a 30 min run – with hill repeats. I can’t believe I did hill repeats without being chased by a pack of wolves. I felt great afterwards, though. Now I’m back for the beverages above.

I have a great day on the agenda. I’ll head over to school for about an hour or so, and do the things that I did not do yesterday. Hopefully I’ll also clear up the issue that caused me some stress. Remarkably I feel very calm about it now; I’m not worried at all – a little perspective is key, I suppose. Then, I’m going to go to Bikram yoga for a little more sweat-action. I’ll have a little downtime in the afternoon before I head up to pick up this week’s CSA veggies. Afterwards, I’m heading back to the boat basin for dinner and drinks. Woohoo! Bring it on, Thursday!

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Lunchtime and King Corn

By ellen on August 28, 2009

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Here’s this week’s CSA veggies. I knew that the prep work would take a while, so I had a banana to hold me over before I got started.

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After my little ‘naner snack, I took on the corn. The corn is the biggest job – you have to peel, then cut all the kernels off. It kinda takes a while. I do have a trick for de-kernel-ing the cob: in a large mixing bowl, stand a cereal bowl upside-down inside to use as a stand. As the kernels fall off, they fall into the bowl. Check it out:

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So cool, right? I wish I could take credit for such simple brilliance, but I’m pretty sure I saw someone on a cooking show do this at some point.

Anyhow, with all this corn taken care of, I reserved one cup of the kernels for the black bean enchilada bake, and made corn salad with the rest. For the corn salad, I finely chop a small onion, and toss it with the corn, a splash of red wine vinegar and some salt and pepper. Today I chopped up some fresh basil and threw that in too because I had some on hand. It’s simple, fresh, and really delicious. Some pics:

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Whew! After all that corn work, I had quite a spread for lunch: black bean soup, a green pepper, some of the corn salad, and a few baked tortilla chips with some leftover monterey jack cheese from the enchilada bake.

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I’m going to relax a bit, then figure out when/what workout I’m going to fit in today, then get back to the cooking and baking extravaganza!

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Menu Planning Morning

By ellen on August 28, 2009

Thursday evening is my CSA pick-up time. I usually come home, prep all the veggies and plan out some meals for the next week. Last night I had a dinner obligation so I couldn’t do the normal routine. So, this morning, I planned out some meals over breakfast.

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Perusing How to Cook Everything Vegetarian for ideas over breakfast:

  • Berry smoothie: frozen berries, vanilla soymilk, splash of pomegranate juice
  • Mug of mint green tea and a glass of water
  • Handful of almonds (not pictured). I eat a scant handful… about 12 almonds

This week’s CSA bounty included:

  • 6 ears of corn
  • bowl full of carrots
  • small head of broccoli
  • 2 purple peppers
  • bunch of basil
  • kale
  • head of lettuce

Since today’s a rainy day, I’m going to stay in and cook/bake a bunch of meals for the upcoming week so I can fridge/freeze them. Meal-planning is a really great thing: it saves money, time, and can often ensure you are eating more healthy, complete meals. Once I’ve chosen a few meals, I start a grocery list. I check the cabinets to see what I already have and create a list of only the things I need. Then, I create a chart for the next week and, taking serving sizes into account, space them out over the week. Once that’s done, I’ll “fill-in-the-blanks.” I cook and menu plan for my husband and I. Since we have different tastes and nutritional needs, I generally plan separate breakfasts/lunches/snacks for us.

This is what my process may look like…

Here are the items I picked for the next week (note: since my CSA pick-up is on Thursday, I plan my weeks from Thursday to Thursday).

  • Black Beans and Corn, enchilada style (How to Cook Everything Vegetarian)
  • Cabbage and Carrot Slaw, Mexican-style (How to Cook Everything Vegetarian)
  • Pesto
  • Olive Oil Granola (New York Times)
  • Aloo Palak (Vegetarian Times)

Here’s my map of the week. I’ll plug in our meals, taking into account our social schedule. For example, we’ll be at my parents’ house on Saturday and Sunday, so I don’t need to include any Saturday meals or breakfast on Sunday.

Menu Map

Next, I go back and fill in all the blanks. This is where I’ll include any fruits/veggies, snacks that I’ll pick up, yogurt, etc… As I add them to my chart, I’ll add them to my grocery list. Here’s the finished map:

Menu Map Complete

So I’m off with my grocery list, and I’ll post on al of the recipes later today. Happy Friday!

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