CSA Box #2

Our second CSA box of the season has arrived.  Here's what we got:  baby bok choi, three unripe greenhouse tomatoes, popcorn on the cob x3, spring onions, Russian banana fingerling potatoes, radishes, lettuce, strawberries, asparagus, cilantro, shiitake mushrooms, micro red mustard greens, pickling cucumbers, and baby Japanese turnips.

Here is what I'm going to do with them:

Hakurei Turnips with falafel crumbs and creamy sesame (Vedge, pg. 84) 
This will use up the Japanese turnips.  The greens are nice and lush, so I'm going to do what I did with the radish greens (and extra sorrel and arugula) last week and cut them off, wash them, and throw them in a bag in the freezer to go into green shake.  This turnip recipe involves oven roasting, so I'll do it tomorrow when it's supposed to be in the 60s.  Maybe we can finish off the garlic scape hummus I made a few days ago with this.  They might be good over a bed of some of the lettuce too.  We've got a lot of salad greens to use this week.  Since we have cucumbers and tomatoes and cashew yogurt and chickpeas too, I might just make this whole thing into a weird take on a falafel platter.

[Edited 6/18/2020:  I didn't love this.  I ate it all, including leftovers, but the turnips weren't amazing and the falafel crumble was bitter.  I assume I did something at least a little bit wrong since I think this is a the first Vedge recipe I wouldn't want again.]

Heirloom Tomatoes with Grilled Shiitakes and Green Goddess (Vedge, pg. 36)
I didn't end up making this last week, but we actually have shiitakes from the CSA box this week (I ended up just steaming last week's creminis and eating them plain, which it turns out I like a lot) and a decent amount of basil is ready to be picked for the green goddess dressing.  I'm going grocery shopping tomorrow, so I'll see if I can find any nice heirloom tomatoes since the tomatoes I've got aren't ripe yet.  I can serve it all on a bed of the micro red mustard greens.  I love micro green so much.

[Edited 6/18/2020:  I get why the cookbook said this was a take on BLTs.  I think I cooked the shiitakes a little too hot, but it was still a really great BLT sort of flavor.  I replaced most of the vegan mayo in the green goddess dressing with fresh avocado (I consume way too much Vegannaise), and I didn't oil, salt, or pepper the heirloom tomato, and I stand by both those decisions.  I would definitely make this again.]


Radishes with Nori, Tamari, and Avocado (Vedge, pg. 34) 
Our radishes this week are the round ones I'm used to seeing in salads, not the French breakfast radishes like the recipe calls for or like we got last week, but this recipe was so delicious last week and Vedge doesn't have any "normal radish" recipes, so I'm just going to use them to make this recipe again and hope for the best.  They will have more bite to them than last week's, but hopefully they'll still taste good.  The radish greens, like last week's, will go into the freezer for green shake.  This recipe will also use up some of the spring onions and the last avocado in my fridge.  This involves no cooking, just cutting and mixing and marinating, so I might make this tonight while it's hot out.

[Edited 6/18/2020:  This wasn't as good with normal round radishes as it is with French breakfast radishes, but we still ate them all.  It's just that it's exceptional with the French breakfast radishes and even Simran devoured them.]

Grilled Baby Bok Choi with Tamari and Chinese Mustard Sauce (Vedge, pg. 83)
I want to make this tonight because the bok choi looks perfect and I can grill it on my grill pan.  The only ingredient I don't have is Chinese mustard, so I'm just going to use this recipe to make my own because I do have all the ingredients for that.  Since I'll have the grill pan out anyway, I'll also make this tofu to add protein to the meal.  Considering steaming some brown rice or cooking some buckwheat soba noodles to go with it all.  I feel like soba noodles should be in a some kind of dashi or something though, and that's a lot of stuff to make for one night.

[Edited 6/18/2020:  This was good, though I feel sure I did something wrong because grilling the baby bok choi sufficiently in the white bulby part wilted the leafy part.  It'd make it again, mostly because I don't know what else to do with baby bok choi and I did eat all the leftovers.]

Easy Refrigerator Pickles
To use up the fat little cucumbers.  Rather than buy fresh dill tomorrow, I'm just going to use dried dill and make these today.  I have no idea if this will ruin anything, but it's a chance I'm willing to take. 

[Edited 6/18/2020:  These are great and so easy to make.]

We'll eat the strawberries after lunch and dinner today.  I'm steaming the asparagus to keep chilled in the fridge for snacking.  The fingerling potatoes might again become fingerling potatoes with creamy worcestershire sauce (Vedge, pg. 80), which I've made a few times but never quite perfected.  I like them though.  The various greens will end up in salads or sandwiches.  The popcorn on the cob will be a movie night snack, so Simran is excited for that.  Apparently you just put it in a paper bag and microwave it.

What I'm Going to Make from the First CSA Box of the Season

The first CSA box came from Nichols Farm today and it contained:  asparagus, strawberries, tomatoes, green garlic, garlic scapes, spring onions, cremini mushrooms, French radishes, arugula, sorrel, gold potatoes, pea shoot micro greens, and cucumbers.  Some of these vegetables are new to me, so I'm figuring out how to prepare them.

One of the best things I've ever eaten was a butter lettuce and seven herb salad with champagne vinaigrette at Aquaknox in Las Vegas.  I don't have butter lettuce at the moment, but I do have a bunch of odd herbs and greens, so I'm going to try making a salad of this nature for dinner tonight while everything is fresh.  It will include some of the sorrel, micro greens, and arugula, along with some chives, basil, and cilantro.  I'll try throwing a small amount of the greens from the radishes in there too since they look fairly young and soft and the internet says you can eat them in salads.  If they aren't great in the salad or seem too tough, I will combine them with the rest of the arugula and cook them like ravioli with arugula minus the cheese and ravioli (i.e., lightly wilt them in a shallot vinaigrette).  It's a nice green side dish Sameer and I can eat by the plateful.
 

For the asparagus, of which there is about twice what I'd normally buy from the store, I will just steam it all and make lemon-caper mayo for dipping.  Sim eats it steamed and plain.  This should be easy to use up over the course of a few days.

I'd never heard of garlic scapes before, but based on what I've read, I'm going to try making a garlic scape hummus.  I'm using the recipe for warm ramp hummus from the Vedge cookbook because the whole cookbook is vegan and reliably good, and it sounds like garlic scapes should have a flavor profile that will work nicely in place of the ramps.  Also it's a dip, so if something seems off, I can add things and fix it as I go.

There is a recipe for French breakfast radishes with nori, tamari, and avocado in Vedge that I've been wanting to try for awhile, so I'm going to make that as part of dinner tomorrow.  This will also use up some of the spring onion greens from the CSA box. 

Sameer says he wants to make some kind of potato au gratin from the potatoes.  I'll leave that to him.  The Vedge cookbook also has a recipe for pierogies I'd like to try.

As for the tomatoes (there are quite a few in the box) and the mushrooms, they aren't precisely what the recipe calls for, but I'd like to try a recipe from Vedge called heirloom tomatoes with grilled shiitakes and green goddess.  My tomatoes aren't heirloom and my mushrooms aren't shiitake, but I think it will still taste good.  If I get closer approximations of the recipe ingredients later in the summer, I'll try again.

Green garlic is new to me, so I'm just going to use it in place of mature garlic in recipes and see how it tastes.  I tend to like anything with a green, herby, or garlicky flavor.

I don't know what I'm going to do with the cucumbers as they are massive.  I can make them into some kind of salad though, or just eat them plain.  Simran will want to put slices of them on her eyes and have a "spa day" though that won't use much.  We could also make sandwiches of potato, tomato, cucumber, and coriander chutney like Sameer and I used to do.  If I can't finish off the tomatoes, I'll just dice them up and throw them in the freezer to make into soups or sauces later.  Most of the Indian dishes I like involve cooking tomatoes into a sauce.

I'm also considering making some kind of savory crepes and filling them with whatever spring vegetables I have left (especially asparagus, greens, and mushrooms) and a vegan sour cream-based dressing with fresh chives in it.  I made a recipe of this nature before that I found somewhere, but it was summertime vegetables and had ricotta cheese.

We're eating the strawberries plain.  We've already eaten half of them.

Flatbread Pizzas from leftover naan

Simran and I made personal flatbread pizzas from last night's leftover naan.  They turned out well.  Sim said it tasted almost like normal pizza but slightly Indian because it was naan.  I was proud of the naan because I've gotten it down to 25% white flour (50% whole wheat, 25% spelt) as of yesterday.  Sameer and Sim couldn't tell the difference from the half whole wheat / half white version I made last time.

For Sim's pizza, she just put pizza sauce, mozzarella, black olives, and veggie pepperoni on hers and we put it in the toaster oven until melty (350 degrees for 4 minutes).

For mine (pictured), I sauteed some mushrooms with olive oil, shallots, roasted garlic (it was already roasted and in the fridge -- I'd just use fresh garlic otherwise), thyme, parsley, and salt and fresh ground pepper.  I added a fistful of arugula and let it wilt a bit in the pan after everything else had cooked.  More arugula would be good.  I added white truffle oil to the mushrooms but didn't think it added much.  I used shiitake and cremini mushrooms because those were the most interesting ones available at grocery store.  More flavorful mushrooms like trumpet mushrooms or pretty much any wild mushrooms would be preferable.  I didn't cook my pizza in the toaster oven, so I warmed the naan by sprinkling it with water and microwaving it for about 20 seconds before putting toppings on it.  The yellow sprinkles on top are nutty parm from The How Not to Die Cookbook.  The light green dip is green goddess dressing from the same cookbook.  Next time I'd use more garlic in the dressing.

I'd like to make Indian flatbread pizzas from naan sometime with a sort of makhani sauce in place of the pizza sauce, chopped green bell pepper and onion, a little Amul cheese (or not, to make it vegan), and some fresh cilantro on top.  I feel like there should be something else on it, but I don't know what. 

Meal Planning

It's going to be a hot week, so I'm planning on meals that don't require me to heat up the oven.  Here is what I'm making:

DIY Flatbread Pizzas
I'm making these today to use up the whole wheat naan I made last night to go with soy curl tikka masala.  I need to write up the mushroom/shallot blend and green goddess dressing I made last time I tried to do this with normal pizza crust (good flavor from the toppings but wrong texture from the crust, I wanted softer, like naan).  This time I want to include baby arugula too, mostly to fill it out and add texture.  This is a vegan no-oven pizza recipe based on my vague but fond memory of one of the dishes I ate at Vicia in St. Louis.  I used rehydrated black trumpet mushrooms and some frozen wild mushrooms the last first time I made the topping (Vicia used trumpet) and the flavor was good but the texture of the dried mushrooms never got fully back to normal, so this time I'll just use whatever the most interesting mushrooms are that I can find fresh.


Summer Rolls

Pasta Salad

Ravioli with Arugula
To use up the last of the cheese ravioli in the fridge.




Veg Beef & Broccoli
I make this whenever with the Gardein beef tips and broccoli in the freezer.

Healthy Carrot Cake - First Attempt

I will completely forget what I did this time around if I don't write this down.  The cake (quick bread) is still cooling, so I don't know how it's turned out yet.  I will add that later, along with changes for second attempt. 

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 tbs ground flaxseed
1/2 cup quick cooking oats (or pulse some old fashioned rolled oats through a food processor a little, which is what I do)
1 cup shredded carrots (about two carrots; I ran mine through my salad shooter)
1 cup Medjool dates, pitted and chopped
1 sparse cup golden raisins
2 canned pineapple rings + about 2 tbs juice (I have a feeling I should've used more juice to brighten the flavor but I was afraid of making the batter too runny)
1 cup walnut pieces, dry toasted in pan
1 cup boiling water
about 1/2 cup date syrup (because that's how much was currently in the fridge)

Directions

1) Boil 1 cup water (I just did this with a glass measuring cup in the microwave) and cover dates and raisins with it.  Let cool a bit.

2) Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  Spray inside of two small loaf pans with Pam.

3) Mix flour, salt, baking soda and powder, spices, flaxseed, and oats together in a large bow.

4) Pour water with dates and raisins into blender, add pineapple with juice, and blend for just a few seconds.  I should still have chunks of fruit in it.

5) Add walnuts, carrots, and wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir to incorporate.

6) Divide batter into loaf pans and bake for 25-30 minutes (I put them in for 25 minutes, at which point a toothpick came out clean but they still looked thin in the middle, so I let them sit in the oven with it off for about five more minutes, at which point I could smell them from outside the oven and they looked more done).  Let cool.

[Edited 5/18/2020: It's good.  It's pretty dense.  Tastes better (and sweeter) the next day.  I sliced it, put it in a sealed container, and stored it in the fridge, and it was better today than yesterday.  The fridge keeps it moist, which helps with the density.  Resembles the buttery, sugary carrot cake cookies I made a couple weeks ago by more than I'd dared to hope.  I wonder how this recipe would turn out if scooped into cookies on a cookie sheet instead of baked in loaf pans.  The only change I would definitely make for next time is changing the spice from 1 tsp cinnamon to 1.5 tsp and omitting the ginger and clove since those made it very closely resemble my pumpkin bread in aroma and flavor, which is fine but I want it to be different.  I'd also add 1 tsp vanilla.  I also wonder what would happen if I incorporated sourdough discard into the recipe.  Would it lighten it up?  It probably wouldn't hurt, but I'm not sure if/how much I would need to add other ingredients to correct the consistency.]

[Edited 6/4/20: For my second attempt, I altered the spices as noted above, forgot the vanilla again, and had no date syrup so I steeped a sparse cup of golden raisins and a slightly heaping cup of dates in hot water and then continued from there as before.  Good amount of sweetness and consistency.  There might've been more pineapple juice this time; I didn't measure.  It was good though.  Only changes for next time are to remember the vanilla and maybe increase the cinnamon to 2 tsp because it's currently a very mild flavor.  Maybe add the ginger back in too.  I also have pecan pieces again, so I would replace maybe half the walnuts with pecans.]

Meal Planning

I went grocery shopping a few days ago and won't be doing it again this week, so these are not the optimal conditions for meal planning, but whatever.  I need to figure out what I'm making this week.  It's Simran's last week of school, so I think pizza will be part of it.  Here is what I have to work with:  a red cabbage, 6 cups of broth I made a few days ago, plenty of lettuce, a little cashew yogurt (there was only one container at the store), brussel sprouts, and some tiny Yukon Gold potatoes.  Here is what I'm making:

Almost Instant Ramen (from The No Meat Athlete Cookbook)
Sameer is fasting today, so I'm going to make this for Simran and me.  If it's good, it'll be a great healthy recipe for using whatever I have on hand going forward.  It allows me to use some of the frozen shelled edamame and wild mushrooms in my freezer and some of the dried seaweed and soba noodles in my pantry.  These are all things I don't use much but have plenty of on hand from the few recipes I've made that call for them.

Vegan Methi Chik'n Curry and Aloo Matar and Brown Basmati Rice
This will be a good, warm, saucy meal for tomorrow, when the weather is supposed to be rainy and cool.

DIY Sandwiches
I want to make some sandwich bread of some nature so Sim and I can have a sandwich option on Sameer's fast days.

Homemade Pizza and Green Salad
I'm hoping to do this one Friday in honor of Simran's last official day of second grade.  I just don't want to heat the house up this much if it turns out to be hot out that day.




Avocado Grilled Enchiladas with Red Chile Pesto and Homecooked Black Beans
I think I have all the necessary ingredients to make this happen, or at least some makeshift version of it.  Saturday night dinner.


Tortilla Pie
Wednesday's meal because this involves heating up the oven and it's still supposed to be cool.  I'm making this to use up all the salsa in the fridge that Sameer asked me to buy and then said is the only brand he cannot stomach (it's Chi-Chi's restaurant style -- who knew).  I might incorporate some of the components of this tastier but less healthy recipe.  Not the cheese though.  Keeping this one vegan and oil free.



Healthy Carrot Cake  
I want to try making this recipe because carrot cake flavor would go well with the flavor of dates, which makes it more inclined to a no-added-sugar recipe like this one, and I want a new healthy, whole food dessert by next weekend (and it's getting increasingly difficult to have all the ingredients on hand for cherry chocolate chia pudding).  I would add applesauce to this recipe if I had some, in place of the carrot juice.  I do have canned pineapple though, which I've seen other carrot cake recipes call for, so I think I might put a bit of that in there, maybe after putting it through a food processor to break it down a bit.  Instead of chunks of dates, I think I'd like to use homemade date syrup, and whole wheat pastry flour in place of the whole wheat flour, and I will use golden raisins for the raisins.  I plan to throw in some ground flaxseed as emulsifier too.  I would use pecan pieces if I had any more, just because of personal preference, but I do have plenty of raw walnuts, which I will dry toast in a pan before adding them to the batter.  The flavor should be easy to make tasty.  Achieving the right texture is harder.  I think these changes will make it a bit less like a fruitcake in density and more like a quick bread though.

Meal Planning

Sameer has started intermittent fasting again three days per week, so I'm going to be doing real cooking less often, and Simran and I will eat easy dishes or leftovers on Sameer's fast days.  I'm putting in an order for more groceries today.  This is what I can either make from what I have now or from what I'm planning to order:

Almost Instant Ramen

Pinto Beans & Greens Enchiladas

Buddha Bowl

Creole Red Beans & Rice

Vegan Beef & Broccoli

Penne alla Vodka

Tofu Pot Pie

Vegan Shepherd's Pie 

Spaghetti & Meatless Balls

Homemade Pizza

The No Meat Athlete Cookbook (where the first three ecipes came from) has some more basic recipes I could make from things on hand, like pasta and lentil-based dishes.  I plan to try some easy ones of these on the nights Sameer is fasting.  The ramen will use up quite a few random things I have on hand (e.g., soba noodles, seaweed, adzuki beans, vegan kimchi) and the buddha bowl looks like it could be a particularly healthy lunch if it's something I like.