Thursday, October 14, 2010

Today's Organic Goodness

I picked up this week's share this morning and am looking for some recipe ideas! I get an email on Tuesdays from the group listing what's going to be in our share that Thursday, so I usually start thinking ahead of time which items are most perishable so I use those items first, and then I plan our meals around that "most likely to spoil first" order. It doesn't always work, though, because sometimes ... my creativity and enthusiasm for cooking is at a lull and I just can't think of anything to make for dinner. Or I get this idea based on one item in the share, but am missing some other crucial ingredient. For example, this week we got a beautiful bunch of leeks and right away I wanted to make potato leek soup. But I don't have any potatoes! I suppose I could go buy some potatoes, but I kind of don't want to because right now I have SO many other vegetables we need to eat over the next two weeks! Just look at this colorful array of fruits and veggies:

click to enlarge
From top to bottom, left to right:
green cabbage, butter lettuce, mustard greens, leeks
acorn squash, asian eggplant, carrots
cilantro, heirloom tomatoes, golden delicious apples, broccoli
bananas, green peppers, black plums, bartlett pears

Is it terrible to say I'm glad the bunch of mustard greens is really small? Definitely on my list of "un-favorite" vegetables. But I know how good they are for me, so I keep eating them. All the while hiding my shudders from my kids.

Glad we finally got some broccoli. We haven't had broccoli in the share in a long time--maybe since May?--and we love broccoli in our house. We should be getting broccoli in almost every share now through the spring. I seriously wish we got two bunches with every order. Even three wouldn't be too many!

Every time we get leeks--which is only once or twice a year, I always seem to think, "OOo yay! We got Leeks!" thinking they're so gourmet, when in truth they're probably among the humblest of vegetables. I'm looking for a go-to recipe for leeks and I'm wide open for suggestions--even if it is potato leek soup.

I'd also love a recipe suggestion for carrots that calls for A LOT of carrots. I have a backup of carrots in the vegetable bin from the last couple several orders that I really need to use before they turn into a pile of orange goo in the bottom of my fridge. Carrot soup maybe?

Thanks in advance for the recipe suggestions! No pressure.

No, wait! ... YES pressure! I need your recipe ideas!

Five hours until I start dinner prep...

I'm counting on you... ;o)


Even if you don't have a recipe suggestion for leeks or carrots, I want to hear from you.

What's your favorite fall vegetable and how do you like to eat it? 

And don't be a smart ass and say "with my mouth." :P

15 comments:

  1. And don't be a smart ass and say "with my mouth."

    Well, dang.

    I adore potatoes because they make such good comfort food for the cold weather.

    But even healthier, I love broccoli, too. And it took me forever of dousing it with margarine & parmesan cheese {shudder} to get any of my guys to eat it (hubby included). Thankfully, now we can eat it plain steamed or in other ways.

    I also adore pumpkin recipes. Almost anything w/pumpkin. Yum.

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  2. I use leeks when I roast chicken or veggies. Brings a more grown up flavor to my meals.
    Hm, carrots. Carrot cake?
    Love the bounty! Kind of jealous about all those plums. Love me some plums!

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  3. Here in the South we have carrot slaw show up at family gatherings every now and then, maybe try that? Although the above suggested carrot cake or carrot muffins would be way yummier. *g*
    My favorite fall veggie is potatoes. We love them baked, roasted and in stews, and while cooking with them and cutting them up I've been known to eat more than a few pieces raw. *g* My Mom made a baked potato soup that was delicious and I have yet to replicate, darnit!
    I'd be interested in seeing a leek and potato soup myself. *g*

    I hope you enjoy your bounty and I'm sorry, but EWWWWW on the mustard greens. *g*

    Have a good day!

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  4. I am a walking disaster in the kitchen, but I really like Linda's carrot cake idea. For the fruit, I would chop it up and make on-the-go fruit cups. Kids usually eat more fruit when it is already cut for them. How about a broccoli & carrot with ranch dressing appetizer? I don't know about the veggies. That's a lot of lettuce you got there! Have a great dinner!

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  5. Lori:
    We love potatoes, too. Mashed potatoes is a girl thing in our house as it's high on my husband's "yuck" list, so I rarely made them until the last year or two. Now I just make sure there's left over rice or pasta for him when I make mashed potatoes for us.

    I guess we have the broccoli gene here at our house because everyone loves it. Even raw!

    I love pumpkin, too! Sweet OR savory! Mmm!

    Linda:
    Carrot cake came to my mind too... not so Lose It friendly, though. I'll have to try to dig up a light recipe.

    I'm looking forward to the plums, too!

    Brandy:
    A carrot slaw with mayonnaise and raisins? I don't think that would go over big with the rest of the family. But since I have a cabbage, maybe a slaw with that and carrots! *light bulb*

    Raw potato? ^_^
    I have no problem coming up with ways to cook potatoes. I do love them. But I think if the leeks keep until next week, I'll be buying some potatoes to accompany them.

    I think I'm cooking the mustard greens tonight. Get it over with, you know? : /

    firepages:
    That's a great idea for a fall fruit salad! When the girls were little I used to make one with apples, pears and raisins when it was my turn to host play group. I think I'll make that for them and see if they remember it.

    I love raw veggies and dip! I could probably eat all that broccoli with ranch dressing by myself! LOL!


    Thanks for the tips!! : )

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  6. Soup! A nice hearty soup with all kinds of delicious veggies....

    The cabbage looks beautiful. My Mama has this thing she does where she makes an envelope of the cabbage leaf with rice and ground meat inside and then steams/bakes them... delicious. Like a hot pocket but with cabbage, rice and meat :)

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  7. Just wanted to clarify that I? detest the carrots with raisins thing. But it was all I could think of besides carrot cake for carrots. Oh, and steam them maybe? They're good steamed with a bit of orange juice. *g*

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  8. Mariana:
    Soup is a great idea--and I love homemade soup, too! Maybe I'll make a minestrone or lentil soup over the weekend.

    Stuffed cabbage leaves sounds delicious. Does your Mama serve it with a tomato sauce or plain?

    Brandy:
    Yeah, not big on the carrot slaw with raisins. Would much rather have carrot cake! :D

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  9. I ended up using the broccoli tonight to make this really delicious and very easy dish that I've been making out of a 1996 issue of CookingLight magazine. That is not a typo... I have been making this dish a couple times a year for over a decade!

    Beef and Broccoli with Oyster Sauce.

    If you don't ever cook with oyster sauce, it is worth buying a bottle to have on hand just for this recipe. Oyster sauce keeps a long time in your fridge, too. Maybe 6 months or more.

    Now we have no more broccoli .... :(

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  10. Lovely vegs! I bet they would be delicious too. :) No recipes to share - I'm not good at cooking at all. :( I agree with you about the oyster sauce - it's an essential in most Asian/Chinese homes. Just a dash in a stir-fry, for example, enhances the taste a great deal.

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  11. Plain... I wasn't sure if it was the traditional stuffed cabbage, which explains the lengthy paragraph ;) I'm not too hip on American foods (besides fast food). Although not sure if stuffed cabbage is American?

    Anywho, soups are the way to go, especially with this weather.

    And ditto to Brandy... raisins is foods... not my fave.

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  12. WOW Christine! This looks sooooo delicious! I look foward to hearing what you came up with. All the colors are so beautiful!! I feel inspired now to do the same!!!

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  13. Jace...
    You're right. A little bit of oyster sauce goes a long way to enhancing asian dishes. I also use it in pancit, a Filipino noodle dish. Yum. ^_^

    Mariana...
    I don't think stuffed cabbage is a traditional American food. It's more eastern European, I think. From Poland, maybe? But who cares! It's so darn good! LOL!

    I actually like raisins in foods... just not in that carrot slaw Brandy was referring to. My family is divided down the middle on the raisin thing. Some eat them, some pick 'em out.

    doodlegirl...
    Thanks! So far I haven't done much with these veggies aside from the broccoli. We've been eating the bananas, tomatoes and apples, though. And tonight we're getting Thai take out, so I guess I'll get going with the menu planning for Monday... oops.

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  14. I know I'm late, but...I adore potato & leek soup. I've been (no yelling :) buying it and having it ever weekend with capeseed bread. Hmmmm!

    And, although it's not something I would eat, what about carrot and corriander soup? Am sure I've seen that around.

    Acutally, I'm the worst person to ask for recipes as I don't experiment!

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  15. I adore potato leek soup, too, but hardly ever have it. I had to stop in the store for milk this weekend and bought a bag of potatoes just for the leeks. ; )

    I had to google cape seed bread--I've never heard of it before. Basically a whole wheat bread with lots of different kinds of seeds, right? It looks delicious.

    Carrot and corriander soup sounds great! That's what I was thinking, too... Or carrot ginger soup. How hard could it be, right? Cook the carrots in water until soft, add seasonings, puree, and voila! Right?

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