Fab Food

Today I want to share some really fabulous, easy food I've thrown together recently based upon my home-delivered organics, other plant foods and whatever I happened to be craving. These were quick, so no recipes -- I'll just try to explain what you see. Here, I sauteed organic sliced tomatoes and giant spring onions which almost looked like baby leeks in olive oil, then added chunks of organic straightneck squash and kale, and stirred in a can of chick peas and cooked brown and wild rice and quinoa. I seasoned all with a splash of tamari, a few shakes of turmeric and a tiny pinch of sea salt.

This dish sounds like more trouble than it actually was. In an effort to teach my adult child in college that late night fast food needn't be a gas station burrito, I have found some great healthier convenience foods in the freezer section for him. One of these is cooked rice and grain blends -- 4 minutes in the microwave. I know the microwave is not as healthy as steaming in a pan, but a microwave is what he will choose to use, so I pragmatically choose my battles. I bought some easy frozen cooked grains for myself too. I'm happy to do it the longer/more macrobiotically sound way, but I didn't this time.

Not being a big fan of sweets, I wasn't thrilled when organic sweet potatoes made up the lionshare of my organic boxful each time. I thought I had opted out of this selection, but it turns out there are so many different breeds of sweet potato that don't even sound sweet, so I got some help tweaking my list to my liking. Now that I'll be weeding out the sweets from my crisper, I think I could eat one of these every day. I topped this baked tuber with a lazy version of my creamed kale -- this time I didn't bother with the miso. I just mushed up the beans a little bit, added some water and lots of nutritional yeast. The sweet in this potato was almost eclipsed by the flavorful, savory greens and beans, and served only to round out the flavors. This is now my favorite way to eat a sweet potato!

Finally, you have absolutely seen this sandwich before, but here it is again in all its glory -- the kale sandwich, this time with a nice handful of organic alfalfa sprouts. Toasted Eziekiel bread a generous spread of hummus on each side, and you can see the rest. What could be more simple? What could be more delicious? I have since opted out of the organic sprouts for future deliveries as well, since I do grow my own sprouts!!

There -- for all those who say it's too expensive/difficult to eat healthfully: nonsense! Lighten up and dig in!

More Organics

My next box of local, organic veggies arrived yesterday. It feels like Christmas on delivery day. I have set the frequency at biweekly and have changed to the "tiny" box size for fear of wasting the gorgeous goodies. The "tiny" size is actually in the same box, with presumably fewer items inside. It's still a lot. After two giant beets (which I ate all by myself) and two big green bell peppers (still in the crisper two weeks later) I marked those off the list of future deliveries, and now I wish I'd marked off the sweet potatoes too. There is still a large bowl of smashed sweet potatoes in the fridge from the last shipment, and nobody is really going for them, least of all me. I'm not a huge fan of sweets. The mashed sweet potatoes are alright -- no added sugar, just "butter" salt and pepper, and a little unsweetened almond milk -- I'm just not craving them the way I do those Mediterranean beans. Here in the new shipment there are three more, albeit of two different varieties. I will need to more closely edit that list. The only other disappointment is a package of organic sprouts, since I grow my own in a hemp bag thus:

What I'd really like more of in these shipments is kale and other greens, and citrus. Last shipment's grapefruits and oranges were resplendent. They were the best I've ever tasted! You may be wondering about citrus fruit and tomatoes being organic and local. Being in Georgia, parts of Florida and South Carolina are considered "local" to us. I think the radius is 350 miles or so. I've no complaints about the quality of this produce. But I do have my favorites.

Here's a salad that was a vehicle for the last orange from the former shipment:

Atop organic lettuces, I placed chunks and juice of the orange, along with some delicious citrus-marinated mixed olives from a beautiful crock I received from my friend, Joan, for Christmas. Besides the citrus-oil and the juice from the orange, I only seasoned the salad with a tiny pinch of salt and a grind of pepper. This was a luscious, satisfying lunch.

Now -- off to make another batch of those amazing Mediterranean beans -- this time with organic limas instead of speckled. I probably need to use those green bell peppers too. Maybe stuffed? I'll keep you posted.

Inspired by Organics!

Have you heard of Groupon? I've been enjoying unbelievable bargains these last few months including yoga, hyperbaric oxygen therapy and now local organic farm delivery through Groupon. The deals are really a "foot-in-the-door" way to introduce products and services to those who'd ordinarily not indulge, in hopes the new customers will become regulars.

I got a large box full of organic goodies delivered to my door for $19.95 instead of $35.00. The large box is actually called "small" and "tiny" is also an option for the future, so I guess that's what I will do from now on. Receiving "mystery" veggies (whatever's seasonal and plentiful) is fun, but does require more planning than my lazy brand of veganism usually affords. I pulled out the cookbooks.  This luscious salad utilized a couple of beets, arugula, romaine and an orange from my local/organic box. I started with Sheryl Crow's recipe from her If It Makes You Healthy cookbook. Besides the aforementioned organic gems, it also contains sauteed shallots and candied almonds. Sheryl's recipe calls for raw purple onion instead, but I had no purple onion, and I prefer sauteed, so I did it my way. Also, ditto on the pecans she used. I veganized the candying process, scratching the egg white, and just using oil, sugar, cinnamon and chipotle pepper powder instead. The dressing couldn't have been simpler: orange juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. I also squeezed a lemon over all of it because, well, I love lemon on everything. This salad was amazing.

Stay tuned for more of my organic experiments.