This last round gave us an over abundance of cabbage - 2 heads plus 2 bok choy! I've been enjoying the cabbage but this is a bit much!
Arugula
Kale
Lettuce
Green Onions
2 Leeks
Broccoli - 2 heads
2 Bok Choy
5 Carrots
2 heads of Cabbage
2 Green Bell Peppers
1 package Grape Tomatoes
Crimini Mushrooms
Shitake Mushrooms
9 Potatoes
3 large Beets
We started out making a green salad to take to a potluck. I used the lettuce, 1 bell pepper, and most of the tomatoes for that. About half was eaten at the potluck and we ate the other half with tuna on top.
We ate the kale steamed with several other meals.
I made Brothy Chinese Noodles with the bok choy and used a head of cabbage instead of the noodles. That actually worked quite well and the soup didn't have the thick texture that the broth took on last time. I'm not sure if that was because we didn't have starch from the noodles or because I thinned out the homemade broth a little more than last time.
Next I made Wild Mushroom Risotto which used up all the mushrooms. We ate it with Roasted Chicken. They went well together. We didn't like it quite as the other risotto we usually make, but it was still good. It had an earthier flavor. I would make it again if we get a lot of mushrooms another time.
I used the broccoli and arugula to make a Quiche. This recipe was better tasting than the other one I tried. I did use too much broccoli though. I tried to cram both heads into this quiche, even though the recipe only called for one. They are not joking! It tasted fine but had more broccoli than egg in it, I think! The directions are also not well written, they seems to skip some steps or have them out of order. I missed sautéing the onion with the arugula and had to add it raw at the last minute. It still tasted fine, but I think I'll write out my own version for next time!
Last night I used this Mashed Parsnips and Potatoes Recipe but used a turnip instead of the parsnips. I didn't actually weigh any of the items I just used the 4 potatoes and 1 turnip left over from the previous box. I was worried they would start to go bad. The leeks we had were fairly large, so I only used one of them. This turned out great, we both enjoyed it more than the time we made it with parsnips. The turnip has a milder flavor.
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Cabbage
We mostly stuck with the meal plans from the last post, though there were a few changes. I think last time I forgot to mention that I was going to steam the broccoli to go with several of the meals. We did that once, but the second half went bad before we could get to it. The avocados also went bad before we were able to use them. So a few casualties, but overall we have been able to use almost everything from the box. I did freeze some of the cilantro and both the green bell peppers because I was afraid we wouldn't use them quickly enough. I'm glad I did!
Updates on the meals:
I did make the Kale Salad but instead of massaging the leaves, I lightly steamed them. Then I discovered the dressing recipe didn't have measurements for all the ingredients. I ended up with about 3 oz of lemon juice from the lemons so I added an equal amount of olive oil. It did specify a TB of shallot and sugar and I used a pinch of salt and pepper and sliced the rest of the shallot to put on the salad. I just guessed at how many almonds were needed and probably ended up using about half a cup. That was way too many!
The sauce for the Cilantro Chicken was tasty but was essentially cilantro pesto. We didn't really like the boneless skinless thighs, they had a weird rubbery texture. It's probably because we've grown so used to eating whole chickens that are minimally processed. The dish tasted fine if you could get past the texture. We had a lot of leftovers and ate it for two meals, but I was not looking forward to finishing it off.
I came up with the idea of grinding up the Cilantro Chicken to make some kind of lettuce wrap. We had left over cabbage (but no lettuce) so I found a recipe for Asian-Style Cabbage Rolls. This worked really well! It tasted great and grinding it up solved the texture problem. The cilantro pesto and sweet chili sauce that was already on the chicken blended well with the rest of the flavors. I think I steamed the cabbage leaves for too long though, they ended up pretty water logged. Instead of rolling the filling up in the leaves to make wraps, we just piled the filling on the leaves on plates and had the leftover rice on the side.
I did attempt to make the Crunchy Bok Choy Slaw but discovered that I didn't really have enough Bok Choy for the recipe. I cut the dressing in half and accidentally chopped up the bok choy too much, so we ended up with a soggy mess. It did taste good so I will have to try this one again when I have more bok choy.
We made coleslaw with the head of cabbage to go with this fantastic Pulled Pork recipe. We'll definitely make pulled pork again! Finally we used most of the rest of the items in Slow Cooker Beef Stew. We ended up with only 4 small potatoes and 1 turnip left over (I figured out that what I thought were rutabagas were actually turnips.)
Updates on the meals:
I did make the Kale Salad but instead of massaging the leaves, I lightly steamed them. Then I discovered the dressing recipe didn't have measurements for all the ingredients. I ended up with about 3 oz of lemon juice from the lemons so I added an equal amount of olive oil. It did specify a TB of shallot and sugar and I used a pinch of salt and pepper and sliced the rest of the shallot to put on the salad. I just guessed at how many almonds were needed and probably ended up using about half a cup. That was way too many!
The sauce for the Cilantro Chicken was tasty but was essentially cilantro pesto. We didn't really like the boneless skinless thighs, they had a weird rubbery texture. It's probably because we've grown so used to eating whole chickens that are minimally processed. The dish tasted fine if you could get past the texture. We had a lot of leftovers and ate it for two meals, but I was not looking forward to finishing it off.
I came up with the idea of grinding up the Cilantro Chicken to make some kind of lettuce wrap. We had left over cabbage (but no lettuce) so I found a recipe for Asian-Style Cabbage Rolls. This worked really well! It tasted great and grinding it up solved the texture problem. The cilantro pesto and sweet chili sauce that was already on the chicken blended well with the rest of the flavors. I think I steamed the cabbage leaves for too long though, they ended up pretty water logged. Instead of rolling the filling up in the leaves to make wraps, we just piled the filling on the leaves on plates and had the leftover rice on the side.
I did attempt to make the Crunchy Bok Choy Slaw but discovered that I didn't really have enough Bok Choy for the recipe. I cut the dressing in half and accidentally chopped up the bok choy too much, so we ended up with a soggy mess. It did taste good so I will have to try this one again when I have more bok choy.
We made coleslaw with the head of cabbage to go with this fantastic Pulled Pork recipe. We'll definitely make pulled pork again! Finally we used most of the rest of the items in Slow Cooker Beef Stew. We ended up with only 4 small potatoes and 1 turnip left over (I figured out that what I thought were rutabagas were actually turnips.)
Sunday, February 2, 2014
New Veggie-Only Box
I was starting to feel overwhelmed with getting a new produce box each week, so I switched us to a slightly larger box with delivery every two weeks. I also switched from the mixed fruit and veggie box to one with all vegetables. Right now there isn't much fruit in season and we were getting overwhelmed with apples and pears that frankly weren't that great.
Since Rob doesn't like pears I realized the fruit was mostly what made me feel overwhelmed. Every week felt like "Oh no, more pears? We still have all the ones from last week!" Also, I don't feel like I need help buying apples, pears and oranges at the regular grocery store while I do need help buying vegetables. It seemed like it made more sense to stop the fruit delivery for now, at least until it gets closer to summer. We'll probably switch back so we can get all the berries, cherries, peaches, and other great summer fruit that the Northwest has to offer!
In the meantime, here is the delivery we received this week:
Kale - 1 bag of mixed kale pieces (different varieties!)
Mushrooms - 6 oz
Lettuce - 1 head of what looks like green leaf lettuce
Cilantro - 1 bunch
Broccoli - 1 bunch (2 smallish heads bundled together)
Green Bell Peppers - 2
Avocados - 2
Bok Choy - 2 small heads
Leeks - 2 small leeks
Green Onions - 7
Green Cabbage - 1 head
Yellow Onion - 1
Garlic - 1 head
Rutabaga (or Turnips?) - 3
Potatoes - 11 small
Rainbow Carrots - 6 medium sized
These are listed roughly in order of how long I think they'll stay good in the fridge. I always try to use the most delicate items first (like kale and lettuce) and figure the hardier items will last at least two weeks (like the potatoes and carrots). In fact, we still have a few potatoes left from the previous delivery…I'm debating on whether they're still good.
Here's how we are going to use the produce:
Steamed kale with Roasted Chicken
Pasta with Prosciutto and Lettuce - Recipe by Mark Bittman. I substituted frozen asparagus for the frozen peas. Next time I would let the frozen asparagus cook for a few minutes before I add the lettuce to give it some time to thaw. We had it last night and it was fantastic!
Mushroom, Leek, Chicken Sausage and Tortellini Soup - Recipe by Jane Lightle. We made this a few months ago, the last time we got mushrooms in our produce box and I'm looking forward to making it again tonight!
Kale Salad with leftover Roasted Chicken and maybe the potatoes from several weeks ago. This will use up the rest of the kale.
Cilantro Chicken with white rice - Recipe by Lori Lange. This will use up half the cilantro. I'm probably going to make the marinade and then freeze it for later this week. I'm just concerned the cilantro will go bad before we make this recipe.
I'll probably also freeze the rest of the cilantro using this method: Salsa Hack (Freezing Herbs). I've been wanting to give this a try.
Other recipes we might use:
Crunchy Bok Choy Slaw from the Eating Well website. I'd like to try this but we might also make Brothy Chinese Noodles again (also from Eating Well). Or I may make the noodle dish using the green cabbage.
I want to do something Mexican with the bell peppers, avocados, and cilantro, but we won't have time until next week. I cut the bell peppers into small pieces and froze them last night because I'm getting nervous they will start to go bad. I'm still waiting for the avocados to get ripe.
The last thing we'll probably do is use the potatoes, rutabaga, and carrots in this stew recipe:
Slow Cooker Beef Stew. We've made this before once with turnips and another time with parsnips.
I just need to figure out something to do with the green cabbage. We made cole slaw last time but I'm not sure I want to do that again so soon. The onions, garlic, and carrots go with several of the recipes so we're sure to use those up without much trouble.
Since Rob doesn't like pears I realized the fruit was mostly what made me feel overwhelmed. Every week felt like "Oh no, more pears? We still have all the ones from last week!" Also, I don't feel like I need help buying apples, pears and oranges at the regular grocery store while I do need help buying vegetables. It seemed like it made more sense to stop the fruit delivery for now, at least until it gets closer to summer. We'll probably switch back so we can get all the berries, cherries, peaches, and other great summer fruit that the Northwest has to offer!
In the meantime, here is the delivery we received this week:
Kale - 1 bag of mixed kale pieces (different varieties!)
Mushrooms - 6 oz
Lettuce - 1 head of what looks like green leaf lettuce
Cilantro - 1 bunch
Broccoli - 1 bunch (2 smallish heads bundled together)
Green Bell Peppers - 2
Avocados - 2
Bok Choy - 2 small heads
Leeks - 2 small leeks
Green Onions - 7
Green Cabbage - 1 head
Yellow Onion - 1
Garlic - 1 head
Rutabaga (or Turnips?) - 3
Potatoes - 11 small
Rainbow Carrots - 6 medium sized
These are listed roughly in order of how long I think they'll stay good in the fridge. I always try to use the most delicate items first (like kale and lettuce) and figure the hardier items will last at least two weeks (like the potatoes and carrots). In fact, we still have a few potatoes left from the previous delivery…I'm debating on whether they're still good.
Here's how we are going to use the produce:
Steamed kale with Roasted Chicken
Pasta with Prosciutto and Lettuce - Recipe by Mark Bittman. I substituted frozen asparagus for the frozen peas. Next time I would let the frozen asparagus cook for a few minutes before I add the lettuce to give it some time to thaw. We had it last night and it was fantastic!
Mushroom, Leek, Chicken Sausage and Tortellini Soup - Recipe by Jane Lightle. We made this a few months ago, the last time we got mushrooms in our produce box and I'm looking forward to making it again tonight!
Kale Salad with leftover Roasted Chicken and maybe the potatoes from several weeks ago. This will use up the rest of the kale.
Cilantro Chicken with white rice - Recipe by Lori Lange. This will use up half the cilantro. I'm probably going to make the marinade and then freeze it for later this week. I'm just concerned the cilantro will go bad before we make this recipe.
I'll probably also freeze the rest of the cilantro using this method: Salsa Hack (Freezing Herbs). I've been wanting to give this a try.
Other recipes we might use:
Crunchy Bok Choy Slaw from the Eating Well website. I'd like to try this but we might also make Brothy Chinese Noodles again (also from Eating Well). Or I may make the noodle dish using the green cabbage.
I want to do something Mexican with the bell peppers, avocados, and cilantro, but we won't have time until next week. I cut the bell peppers into small pieces and froze them last night because I'm getting nervous they will start to go bad. I'm still waiting for the avocados to get ripe.
The last thing we'll probably do is use the potatoes, rutabaga, and carrots in this stew recipe:
Slow Cooker Beef Stew. We've made this before once with turnips and another time with parsnips.
I just need to figure out something to do with the green cabbage. We made cole slaw last time but I'm not sure I want to do that again so soon. The onions, garlic, and carrots go with several of the recipes so we're sure to use those up without much trouble.
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