A really great meal

I have to say, I'm really happy with my meal today.

Last night, I made the Salisbury Steak from VeganDad, Whole Wheat pasta with VeganYumYum's Alfred sauce (I added chopped jalapenos to add a kick),
and roasted pattypan squash. It was all based on the squash because I've never really cooked pattypan squash and I got a bunch from the CSA last week and I read that it's best to use them quickly.

It was a very satisfying meal. 2 persimmons for dessert and Gossip Girl and I had, other than the head-splitting headache that I had all day, a perfect Monday night.

So Tuesdays lunch is pretty awesome. I'm pretty content. I just need to finish this squash-tomato gratin thing I made also.

Beginning of a new friendship...

So I found out a CSA has a pick up spot right near my work! When I signed up, I had every intention of doing it every other week...I certainly didn't need that much produce every week...but I found out that 1 lb of fruit or vegetables is definitely not enough of anything!

I gave in.

Every week, (well for the past two weeks) I get in my car and get giddy with excitement as the CSA lady packs my hemp bags with fresh produce.

The frugal in me had me visiting Whole Foods to size up the competition, and it looks like my CSA is compatible in price, and might be even better, since it is fresh from the farm and it donates to School education in nutrition and gardening programs through Growing Great.

The loot has been pretty great so far.

Week 1, I got:

romaine lettuce
1 peach
2 ears of corn
2 nectarines
2 pluots
a cantaloupe (best one ever)
2 avocados
an eggplant
a bunch of beets
tomato
cucumber

and from Week 2, which yellow pluot I am currently munching on is from, I received:

2 yellow pluots (yummy!)
2 heads of broccoli
kale (my favorite!!!)
asparagus
romaine lettuce
2 peaches
2 nectarines
3 plums
a yellow onion
a head of garlic
3 ears of corn
curly parsley

Now there's something to look forward to on Thursdays!

Lentil soup a hit!

I love Susan's blog and when I read her entry on the "Ridiculously Easy Lentil Soup" from Fatfree Vegan, I wanted to try it since it sounded really easy and healthy.

I made it last night (I bought the mirepoix mix from Trader Joe's, which made everything really easy since all I had to chop was the potatoes!) and my bf and I both had 2 bowls of it. It was a success! I think this one's going to be filed under my staple recipes. It was very filling and we had enough for lunch and dinner for the next day.

Thanks Susun!

Lentil soup from Fatfree vegan

2 cups green lentils, rinsed
7 cups water
14 ounces mirepoix blend vegetables
8 ounces Yukon Gold potatoes, cubed
2 servings vegetable bouillon cubes 1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon crushed rosemary
3 bay leaves
4 garlic cloves, chopped

14.5 ounce can crushed tomatoes
salt, to taste
additional seasonings, to taste
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar

I cooked this in a big pot (I don't have a pressure cooker).

Bring first batch of ingredients to a boil, stir well, cover pot, and cook over low heat until lentils are tender, about an hour. (Add additional water if it begins to dry out.) Add tomatoes, pepper, and salt, and taste to check seasonings. If necessary, add more to taste (I added more oregano and garlic). Cook uncovered for at least 15 minutes, adding more water if it seems to thick, and stirring from the bottom often. Stir in vinegar just before serving.

White Peaches

Went to Costco last Thursday and came home with a tray of white peaches. I left them out for a couple days and they reached their ripeness fast! I'm going out of town tomorrow, so I had to figure out a quick game plan on what to do with them. After much research, going through peach muffins recipes, peach crumble, peach crisp...I settled on peach tartlets, after reading the NPR's Kitchen Window article about pluots and apriums. They included a recipe for pluot tartlets. It sounded simple, rustic and delicious! So I adapted the recipe for white peaches:

White Peach Tartlets

Adapted from Patricia Tanumihardja's recipe from NPR


Makes 4 servings

3-4 white peaches (about 3/4 pound), pitted, peeled and cut in 1/4-inch slices (I used 3, my peaches were quite large)

2 tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon allspice

8 ounces frozen puff pastry*, thawed

8 teaspoons jam (I used rose jam)

Whipped cream or vanilla ice cream (optional)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

In a medium bowl, toss the fruit with sugar and allspice.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the puff pastry until 1/8-inch thick and cut out eight 4-inch circles, gathering remnants and re-rolling the pastry if necessary.

Arrange the pastry discs on a lightly greased baking sheet and brush them with 1 teaspoon jam each. Curl the edges in to form a 1/2-inch border and arrange four to five pluot slices in each cup, overlapping them slightly.

Bake the tartlets for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown. Cool on a rack and serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Served with bellinis, how perfect is that!

*Pepperidge farms makes a vegan puff pastry

Kale chips

I LOVE KALE CHIPS!

I think I've gone through bales of this stuff this past couple months. I can eat the whole bunch seriously in one sitting. Now, I did try the fancier techniques (dressing it with vinegar, etc), but I prefer the simple, salt and olive oil only additions.

What I usually do is:

1) Preheat oven to 350 F
2) rinse the kale leaves
3) rip off the leaves from the stem (saving the stem for my “forthcoming try on my own vegetable stock pile in the freezer”)
4) spin dry them
5) pile them on a baking dish (ripping leaves so they are more uniform size)
6) drizzle olive oil
7) sprinkle with salt
8) Massage/toss with hands to evenly coat
9) Bake for 10-15 minutes, turning halfway
10) INDULGE!

I'm happy that I'm at least addicted, okay maybe a little obsessed, with something healthy.

Actually, it's getting so bad that most of my vegetable stock pile in the freezer IS Kale stems!!!

Now for type, I prefer the curly kale. The tuscan kale produces a better crunch, but for flavor, I like the curly kale ( my sister agreed - on another note, I did try to introduce this healthy snack to my family and ended up eating most of it!!!)

If you want to try another recipe, here's a recipe that I've tried and liked.

Oh and btw -my obsession has led me to growing an army of kale plants outside on my balcony...hopefully they'll prosper!

vegan cheesecake

Keebler has these really awesome, ubercute mini graham cracker crusts...and I've been wanting to make Bryanna's Lower Fat S'More Brownies (graham cracker crust, brownie middle, marshmallow topping) but not vegan, because my bf wasn't going to be in town, and making things not vegan can be way simpler!

So I made a large regular version with Keebler's regular size graham cracker crust, with Ghiradelli double chocolate brownie mix in the middle, and Marshmallow fluff on the top (which went to the broiler for a bit of crust on the top) for the party (Pacquiao vs Hatton). Since my housemate wasn't going to the party...i made 2 mini versions with the mini crusts (which left me with the 4 remaining crusts) for us (her to try, me to preview). They were soooooo sweet! Don't get me wrong, it was delicious, but just way to much flava to handle for me other than my own cute little personal brownie s'more pie. (I did not have any at the party)

What to do...well I had half a tub of vegan cream cheese, so cheesecake it was!
I used this recipe and am planning to make a wild blueberry topping (from frozen wild blueberries found at TJ's).

Very excited to try it tonight!