Chicken salad wraps and sweet potato - I don't know what made me think of this, but I'm so glad I did. I guess I was feeling sandwich-y without the desire for bread. Does that make any sense? I started out with some chicken (not local), chopped a boiled egg (local), added some chopped green onion (local - back porch), added some chopped mustard green stems (local but I'd better explain this - what do you do with the stems from your greens? These tasted a lot like celery to me, and even better, they were local. So that's why they're in there)... Anyway, there's also a little canola mayonnaise to hold it all together. Then I spooned the chicken salad into the largest of the mustard green leaves and rolled them up like burritos. Voila! A side of sweet potato, stir-fried in some olive oil with just a pinch of salt made the perfect accompaniment. This has definitely made it to the favorites list. Mmmmm!
Tomatoes and rice - You've seen this one before (well, kinda). I have been simmering some of my local rice with the stewed tomatoes I canned over the summer. But that's not what this is. A friend of mine, who visited the Austin Farmers Market over the weekend, came home with tomatoes just for me (it's been months since I've seen a REAL tomato and I'm still drooling over this dish). With the tomatoes, she also brought tomatillos. I'd never had them before, but they are very popular here in Texas, so what the heck. Let's give them a shot, huh? I dumped 1/2 cup of brown and wild rice into a saucepan, added the leftover stock from steaming green beans on Sunday (instead of water), chopped three tomatoes (skins included), two of the tomatillos, the better part of a yellow onion, lots of fresh basil from the back porch, more of those chopped mustard green stalks, some salt, and a nice drizzle of olive oil (other than the salt and olive oil, this is all local). I allowed it to simmer, stirring it occasionally, for about 75 minutes and talk about mouthwatering! This is one meal I ate very slowly, savoring every bite. And even better, the meal just kept on giving. For the rest of the day, every time I'd walk back into the house I could smell it. Yummy!
Vegetable soup - In an effort to try to whittle down the volume of veggies in the refrigerator and clear out the older veggies to make way for fresh veggies on Saturday, I made another half pot of soup. I started out with 2 chopped onions, the rest of the tomatillos (about 5 of them cut in half), diced mustard green stalks, and the two smaller italian squash that our neighbors shared with us (not that the 2 smaller squash were anything to laugh at - they're still huge). Everything (all veggies are local so far) went into the pot with some olive oil, salt, pepper, 2 jars of my homemade canned pasta sauce, and enough water to cover. It simmered on the stove for about 1-1/2 hours until the flavors had blended nicely. Then I filled each of my jars (mostly old peanut butter and mayo jars) and allowed it to cool. I can eat these as they are, as soup, or pour one in a pot with some local rice and make a nice vegetable rice dish. Mmm. Either way sounds good to me!
Zucchini ribbons with pasta sauce - Last, but certainly not least, with those 2 small zucchini in the fridge for almost 2 weeks, it was time to turn those into lunch while they were still fresh. I used a vegetable peeler to make nice long ribbons and tossed them into the frying pan with some tomatillos, onion, mustard green stalks, and a little olive oil. Once all the veggies had softened, I poured a jar of my homemade canned pasta sauce over top and heated it through. Looks good, no? And all ingredients, except for the olive oil are local!
Drooling yet? The best part of all this is that 1) everything was super easy to make and 2) it didn't really take any planning, I just used what was in the fridge. And trust me on this, if I can do it (lazy culinary bum that I am), anyone can do it! Happy (and mindful) eating!
6 comments:
Amazing spread you got there. I think you may be more addicted to veggies than I am...I call it my healthy addiction. This week I've had many steamed veggies, sandwiches (on homemade bread machine bread), fruit and oatmeal, mainly...not as fancy as your creativity. I received a bread machine Saturday (I guess that being married for eighteen years as of OCT 25th--bread machine anniversary gift, has its perks)and I have used the thing a lot since. I made cherry almond (with a cream cheese filling)coffee cake and a loaf of honey wheat on Sunday, wheat pizza crust for a hamburger, green pepper, onion, black olive, tomato and cheddar pizza, plus another loaf of honey wheat on Monday. On Tuesday, I made huge cinnamon rolls with raisins and pecans and a loaf of buttermilk wheat bread(I love buttermilk wheat bread). I took a couple of pictures on my cell phone, I'll show you when I see you if I think about it...just the coffeecake and the pizza, but I have pics of my flowers too, they are so pretty. Bread machine bread isn't beautiful, but it is very functional and tasty...esp for working girls like me. The cheese is coming Friday. The apples won't come till next week at the soonest...I think I am looking forward to the citrus next month more than the apples, but alas, the apples are in season, so I will enjoy them while they are here. I estimate that the window of opportunity on these apples will be from next week through about January since that is when I ordered them last year(right before they ran out).
Anyway, I think you are up to speed for the week, see ya Friday.
You call yourself a lazy culinary bum, but I'd happily come nosh on any of these meals (except the chicken of course). Especially your soup or the Italian squash ribbons with home canned sauce. Sounds like a feast for a Queen to me!
MMmmm.. I'm mainly just a loiter-er on this blog rather than a poster, but that chicken salad wrap with sweet potatoes.... well, I'll be trying that for sure!
ttammylynn - Mmmm. That pizza sounds really good as does the rest of what you described. I'll be the family loved your cinnamon rolls! Where you find the time I don't know :)
jennifer - I've already used the soup to make a rice dish (basically dump a jar of soup, 1/2 again the jar with water, and 1/2 c. rice). It's so tasty and the house filled again with the scent of fresh soup. Yum!
seraphim - loitering is great, but I'm glad you commented! It gives me a chance to connect with other bloggers and their blogs (btw - I love your header. I'm a big Hobbit/LOTR fan). The wraps and sweet potato meal was fabulous. I had it twice last week. In fact, I think I'll have more of those sweet potatoes tonight for dinner. Hope you enjoy it too!
Tonight I made kolaches. I had to modify recipes and make stuff up to get what I wanted. I used a yeast roll recipe, formed football shape balls for the final rise and then filled some with organic apple chicken sausage and cheddar cheese(sort of pig in blanket style), the others, I combined soft cream cheese, crushed pineapple and brown sugar and made a boat with a spoon for the filling. I baked them all and all was good. Now I'm just making stuff up like you do, Heather, lol.
The only thing I managed to get out of the house was two cinnamon rolls- for my sis and her fiance...Wednesday morning. Now she wants to bake Christmas for our family--I think it is a great idea, much better than shopping.
ttammylynn - ooh! You ARE getting creative! That's awesome (sounds yummy too)! Sounds like your sis is ahead of the game on holiday planning. I prefer the idea of food instead of gifts as well. I'd give up the trinkets for a homemade meal any day! Maybe you can all go in together for different dishes and forgo the presents - exchanging recipes, of course (isn't that the best part!)
Post a Comment