Freezing Frenzy

So, I am now working two jobs, editor by day and English instructor by night.

Which leaves few evenings home to cook. And I hate buying lunch, though I love going out to eat.

Anyway, I bravely ordered myself a CSA box from the South Central Farmers' Cooperative.

Which contained:

That would be: 4 zucchini, 2 yellow squash, some kind of round summer squash, a pint of cherry tomatoes, 3 other tomatoes, 4 green peppers, a million chili peppers (note: the yellow ones are hot as hell), 2 cucumbers, 1 bunch Tuscan kale, 1 bunch regular kale, Chinese long beans, 1 bunch basil, 1 bunch cilantro, a passel of okra, a watermelon. For $20. I know. Amazing.


Anyway, I picked this box up on Saturday. And on Sunday, for lunch, we had a salad with the cherry tomatoes and the cucumbers, and some spinach we already had.

And then I made:
Self's Vegetable Lasagna, sort of. I couldn't find whole wheat lasagna noodles so I used whole wheat orecchiette and made a casserole. It was delicious, and I used one of each squash, as well as two peppers and some basil. Bill, a squash hater, loved it. And I packed up the remainder into four for-a-later-date portions, two for the freezer, two for the fridge.
     And then, for lunches/freezing, 101 Cookbook's Buttermilk Summer Squash Soup. I unloaded one more of each squash, as well as a chili pepper. I ended up with seven servings (4 of which I froze, 3 in the fridge for lunch this week), one of which I ate today (delicious!), alongside another spinach/tomato/cucumber salad.
     And then, I made a loaf of zucchini bread. And that was the end of the squash. And thanks to Bill's hearty appetite, the bread has barely survived the first twenty-four hours.  
    And then tonight, I made a stirfry with a pork chop, some long beans, two green peppers, a chili pepper, cilantro, and some other stuff I already had (broccoli, carrots, garlic, ginger). One leftover serving, in the fridge for lunch tomorrow.
     And then! I made this Spicy Kale and Chickpea Stew from Gourmet. One serving in the fridge, five in the freezer (I halved it). Used up both kinds of kale and the remaining green peppers. And of course, I added a chili pepper.

That leaves me with some more cucumber, a million chili peppers (which I figure I'll be throwing into everything from here to eternity, including perhaps the freezer), a watermelon (which I'll cut up for my lunches this week), some cilantro and basil (I'm thinking a pesto, or maybe an herbaceous hummus), and some long beans I'll be eating later in the week. And OK, I unloaded the okra at work, because I'm afraid of its slime.

I have 11 meals in the freezer, and enough in the fridge to get Bill and I through the week! If everything coming out of the freezer tastes as good as it did when it went in, I'll be a happy, happy girl.

Produce galore!

Eek. I went on an insane produce-buying spree on Tuesday at the farmers market and Wednesday at Sprouts, neglecting to recall that I have multiple social events over meal-times over the next few days.

I have:
Roma tomatoes
Grape tomatoes
Radishes
Cilantro
Arugula
4 ears of corn
Many, many bing cherries
2 avocadoes
FIVE mother-effing green peppers. What oh what was I thinking?
1 yellow pepper
A bazillion cucumbers
Green beans
Onions
2 white peaches
Apples
Bananas
Two zucchini
Some chilis
Half a bag of baby carrots
Tangelos
Lemons
Limes
Green onions

So much bounty!

I have some plans for the eating. But oh, lord, I must be diligent because there is truly nothing I hate more than food waste. I actually can't think of the last time I threw something out because it had gone bad or spoiled, so diligent am I about using stuff up. But this will be a challenge.

So, today I made a salad with cherries, a peach, a lemon, quinoa, and some arugula. Post to come.

Tonight, Bill and I are going to a friend's for Japanese food and I will make a Japanese cucumber salad (with a mixture of Japanese and Persian cucumbers-- incidentally, that's a baby blend I haven't seen that I think would be gorgeous).

Tomorrow, I will go to a baby shower where I don't know the host and thus won't bring anything. Also the mama doesn't like cherries (wtf?) and that is the food item I most need to foist off on other people. Because I bought four pounds. Whoops.

I also have plans to make some stuffed green peppers, because I also have some ground turkey (which was not in the recall) to use up. I've never made stuffed peppers and Bill doesn't think he likes them, but with five green peppers, it seems like the best option. That will use some carrot and tomatoes, too.

Some of the corn, tomato, green onions, chili peppers, and cilantro, one avocado, and all of the radishes will be turned into a quinoa salad.

And I will make zucchini bread soon.

That leaves: corn, arugula, green onions, chili peppers, cilantro, green beans, bell peppers, onions, and cherries that need to be assembled into meals. The remaining fruit I can snack on, and same goes for the remaining tomatoes. Suggestions?

Boring Orzo Salad

Well, Bill liked it. And I didn't hate it.

But, it wasn't awesome. And the ingredients were awesome-- a bunch of veggies (arugula, tomatoes, bell pepper, herbs), straight from the farmers market or my balcony garden, plus baked chicken and goat cheese. It even looked good.

Chicken-Orzo Salad from Cooking Light. I used whole wheat orzo and baked the chicken.

But it was boring. Sigh. As amazing as goat cheese is, I think there's something about combining it with whole wheat pasta that always disappoints. I wish I could articulate exactly what the problem is, but it's just never as good as I want it to be.  Here, the sum of the ingredients were less than its parts.

More summer salads!

So I spent the last week hanging out with my mom while she got her knee replaced, and then started recuperating. As a result, I followed the fried and meat diet, based on what was edible in the hospital cafeteria. Don't worry, I would pick up a few leaves of spinach from their paltry salad bar to accompany my chicken fingers and waffle fries...

Anyway, I am back in LA and while Bill and I did some celebrating this afternoon with some truly delicious all-you-can-eat Brazilian pizza at Bella Vista, well, it's time to get back on the vegetable wagon.

So, this afternoon I hit my local farmers market.

And for dinner, I chopped up some fresh-from-the-farmers veggies. Two of which were "bargains"-- the radishes were thrown in for a quarter on top of a 75 cent bunch of cilantro, and two cucumbers were thrown in for a quarter on top of a whole passel of cucumbers I was buying. Is there a quarter shortage in this country?

Anyway, I made this cucumber, tomato, and radish salad from epicurious. It looked like this.

Salad week shop #1

$27 for all this locally grown, mostly organic bounty. 6 limes, one bunch each of: kale, cilantro, mint, lettuce, radishes. Also, 3 gigantic cucumbers (should I be afraid?), 1 cabbage, 3 lbs of grape tomatoes, 5 avocados, 3 ears of corn, and 2 pretzel rolls (to be consumed at tonight's dinner-- don't worry). I'm a little surprised I somehow ended up buying no fruit, but then, the Sonoma Diet doesn't allow it on Wave One, so maybe that's for the best.

Some links: what's in season

While I'm a regular at my local farmers market, I'm sometimes overwhelmed with doubt about what to buy. I want to buy what will taste the best, what's in season, what the best value is, but I often find myself buying the same easy-to-use staples: tomatoes, onions, lettuce, kale, carrots, herbs. These items are available basically year-round (tomatoes from only a couple hot-house growers in the winter), and while in the summer, I add more berries and stone fruits to my list, I don't vary as much as I probably should.

As I plan to basically subsist on fresh veggies for a week (not so dramatic of an undertaking, I know), I figure I should push myself to try new things, and I should probably let the seasons be my guide.

Granted, summer is the easiest season to be a farmers market devotee. Still, I will try harder. And I will let the following links be my guide.

For all y'all:
Epicurious's peak-season map.

For Los Angelenos:
The LA Times' Market Watch
The LA Weekly's SquidInk Blog's Farmers Market Section
Evan Kleiman (she of the delicious Angeli Caffe and KCRW's Good Food)

The Farmers' Market

So I mentioned in my last post that my youngest brother had visited. He is fresh from his first year of college and is quite passionate about food politics, an interest I share, though I lack his dedication and extremism. I could blame my more moderate views on my advanced age, but the truth is is that I think I am just as concerned about our nation's food supply and eating habits. I am also concerned with my bank account, but I think that's a non-issue if I shop carefully at my local farmers' markets.

One of the reasons I chose the Sonoma Diet is because I felt it aligned well with my food values. I didn't want to follow a plan that encouraged low-calorie frozen "entrees" and margarine use; I didn't want to be told that Diet Coke or Sweet-N-Low are healthy choices. I love that the Sonoma Diet essentially mandates that I consume whole foods, but I think it's about time to take it to the next level.

So, I unveil my new goal: buy as much as I can at my local farmers' markets. It's summer, and I live in Southern California. I should be able to make this work. I can buy a wide array of produce, cheese, eggs, and even seafood (and I think possibly even meat). Especially with the economy the way it is, it seems all the more important to spend your dollars wisely. Shopping at my local farmers' market (where all of the offerings are "California Certified") is, I think, the very definition of wisdom, as the money I spend stays within my community and goes to something I value. And considering I believe that the "big food" industry is literally destroying the earth and killing people, it seems rather insane to spend my limited funds in support of their wholly unsustainable practice. Yes, I did see Food, Inc. last week. What of it?

In conclusion, I will leave you with a picture of my beautiful lunch-- a salad made from farmers' market heirloom cherry tomatoes (in purple, red, and yellow), lollo rosso, and arugula, with Trader Joe's chicken, feta, pine nuts, and cucumber. In the future, I expect that more of my ingredients will come from the farmers' market.