Final Fall CSA Box

The final CSA box arrived yesterday.  It contained:  several sweet potatoes, a large butternut squash, three turnips, some really nice looking lettuce (red leaf? it's part red, part green), one bulb of fennel, a bag of carrots, popping corn on the cob, sunchokes, green kale, and a bag of apples.

The apples will probably become applesauce, like so many of the bags of apples that came before them, since we can eat it for dessert or use it in baking.  I peeled and diced the turnips and put them in the freezer until the next time I make pot pie or a vegetable soup they can hide in (e.g., sambar).  The butternut squash will be roasted and pureed with the trio of tiny butternut squash I already had and all their seeds roasted.  The puree can either be an easy vegetable side dish or used in soup or other cooking.  I will bake and whip the sweet potatoes as an easy vegetable side.  I'll wash the kale and put it in the freezer for use in breakfast smoothies.

My meal goal for the next two weeks (minus Christmas) is to use up things in the fridge and freezer.  I normally make this my goal from Thanksgiving till Christmas, but the produce boxes took precedence this year and added a lot of extra incoming food and a lot of extra cooking.  Here is what I plan to make:

 

Tuscan White Bean Soup with Roasted Fennel (The How Not to Diet Cookbook, pg. 32 -- please note this is different from The How Not to Die Cookbook) and Roasted Sunchokes with Smoked Paprika Aioli (Vedge, pg. 50) and Roasted Butternut Squash Puree

Making this today because I have things to use up before they wilt and I hate cooking on Saturdays.  This is also going to be a LOT of cooking and I prefer to do that while Sim is busy with school classes.

Red Chile Cheese Enchilada and Fresh Guacamole

Saturday night dinner because I hate cooking on Saturdays and I can mostly make this in advance.  Also it'll use up some of the corn tortillas in the fridge and I have tons of ripe avocados for the guacamole, which I'm willing to make on a Saturday because I'm going to eat SO MUCH of it.  We can also eat some of the fresh lettuce with enchiladas.

Black Bean Burgers and Japanese Sweet Potato Fries

We have still more burgers in the freezer and I didn't get a chance to make the fries last time.

Whole Roasted Carrots with Black Lentils and Green Harissa (Vedge,  pg. 146)

Because I have pretty much everything I need to make this already on hand and it would use up a bag of carrots from the farm box while they are still fresh and sweet.  Haven't made this recipe before, so it's going to be labor intensive.

Lentil Haggis with Neeps and Tatties (Vedge, pg. 156)

Because it would use up the bag of fingerling potatoes AND the turnips from the farm.  I need half a cup of beer though and a fresh container of vegan sour cream.  Another new-to-me recipe.  I don't know what most of the words in the recipe name mean.  This meal might not end up happening anytime soon.

 

Creole Red Beans & Rice

Because I've got a green bell pepper in my fridge to use up and it's a fairly easy, healthy meal.  I'll probably end up making this on a night I meant to make one of the new Vedge recipes and didn't bother.

Homemade Pizza

Maybe for New Years Eve dinner because Simran loves it and I have one more pizza dough ready to go in the freezer.  I need more mozzarella first.

Vegan Garlicky Korean Mac and Cheese

I don't know when I will make this and I'm not sure anyone else in the house would like it, but it sounds delicious.  Since I have broccoli in the freezer, I wouldn't even need fresh produce so it could be an it's-almost-grocery-day meal (a thing that did not exist for me before the pandemic, when I went grocery shopping whenever I needed an ingredient, but it's a thing now).

[I was right about the Korean mac and cheese.  It was delicious and Sim thought it was too spicy.  It's not very spicy, but she is a child.  This is a nice comfort food for me, even with the inclusion of broccoli.]

Christmas Dinner

Idli-Sambar

Because it uses things up.