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My Favorite Asian Noodle Sauces

Lately, our CSA has been chock full of greens. And our crisper is full of carrots that we haven't used up fast enough, and they keep coming each week (no complaints here)! So we've started making Asian noodle dishes. It was inspired by one of my new favorites, Dragon Noodles. Then I found several other dishes, and now we have a wide variety of sauces, and we've gotten into a rhythm. Each recipe can be boiled down to this method:

1. Pick a noodle (soba, ramen, lo mein, udon, regular long pastas)

2. Pick a protein (optional, we usually do eggs or chickpeas)

3. Pick some veggies (we generally stick with carrots and greens, but I can see this changing as our CSA changes)

4. Pick a sauce (see below)

The rest is straight forward: Boil the noodles, saute your veggies and protein, combine and add sauce. When have started cooking our eggs separately from the veggies to get the right texture and consistency, but that is not necessary if you're less picky, or want them to evenly coat the veggies. I recommend sauteing the veggies before tossing in the eggs if you go for the all-at-once option.

Here is our growing list of favorite sauces. I plan to edit this post when I find more sauces to add to this list, I want to keep them all in one place.

Dragon Sauce from Budget Bytes:

1/2 Tbsp brown sugar

1 Tbsp soy sauce

1 Tbsp sriracha

Terriyaki Sauce from Budget Bytes:

¼ cup soy sauce

2 Tbsp rice vinegar

1 Tbsp brown sugar

¼ tsp toasted sesame oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 inches fresh ginger, grated

pinch red pepper flakes (optional)

1 Tbsp cornstarch

2 Tbsp water

Asian Oil & Vinegar from the Kitchn:

1 tablespoon sesame oil

11/2 tablespoons rice vinegar

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon hot sauce (optional)

General Tso (cook separately and add to cooked protein) from Black Peppercorn:

¼ cup light soy sauce

¼ cup rice vinegar

1 tbsp rice wine

½ cup sugar

1½ tbsp sriracha sauce (more if you like it extra spicy)

½ cup water

1½ tbsp corn starch

Asian Curry (cook separately) from PPK:

2 teaspoons fresh minced ginger

3 cloves garlic, minced

Big pinch red pepper flakes

2 cups vegetable broth mixed with 2 teaspoons cornstarch

2 teaspoons curry powder (see note)

1 Tablespoon soy sauce

1/2 cup light coconut milk

Happy noodling!

xoxo

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Third CSA delivery arrived last night!

Last night, I finished up our second acorn squash in a recipe for Broccoli Stuffed Acorn Squash. It was so delicious that I gobbled it up before I remembered to snap a photo. Oh well, you can see lovely photos at the link.

Three nights ago I finally made my mashed potatoes and served them with Chickpea Piccata and spinach (the musclun mix had already wilted by then) and remembered why I love this meal so much. It's probably one of the most delicious recipes in our repertoire. Oh, and we subbed the shallots for red onions because that's what we had on hand (and we don't particularly care for shallots).

Confession: I still haven't dealt with the radishes. I know, I know, I made a HUGE deal about the potato salad and then failed to make it.

Honestly, I was excited about the recipe because it didn't call for mayo, but for yogurt instead. However, our CSA has made me less interested in making trips to my usual grocery stores and instead I just walk a block away to the nearest place when I'm low on things (typically just grains and dairy items). And I am not a fan of their greek yogurt selection, which I prefer over non-greek yogurt because it has more protein and I don't eat red meat or poultry (not much fish or seafood lately either, but for no reason in particular). Perhaps I'll convince Shane to pick some up from Trader Joe's on his way home from work today.

Over the weekend, we took an overnight trip to Wisconsin and I left the radishes in my produce bowl on the counter (with my bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, and potatoes) thinking that they should be stored like the potatoes. But apparently I didn't read close enough to the storage tips on this page (or I just conveniently forgot?) and they need to be stored in the fridge, which made more sense when I thought of them more like carrots than potatoes.

I know that some veggies can perk up by taking a cold water bath, so I put all five (yes, I made a big deal about the radishes and only ended up with five) into cold water for a bit. It didn't have the same perking up effect I had hoped for, but four of them seemed a little happier so I put them in the fridge. One poor guy just didn't have a chance.

Tomorrow, I plan to make a chili with our third squash using this Pumpkin Chili recipe and converting it to a crock pot recipe. We're just going to toss in veggies on hand: kale, onions, bell peppers and turnips also scheduled to arrive tonight. Thank goodness for this recipe too, because just like the radishes I wouldn't have a clue how to use them! Maybe the radishes should get tossed in too, just to deal with them once and for all.

Last night's delivery also included bok choi, which I'm VERY excited about. We've purchased it a couple times in the past, but neither recipe we used sticks out to me anymore, so I think I'll be in search of new ones. I'll let you know how that goes. Oh, and I'll try to be more mindful about snapping a photo before I devour!

xoxo - Natalie

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What's next?

Don't mind me, I'm just thinking out loud here. Tons of recipe ideas are swirling around in my brain, and I just know that if I don't write them out, they'll be gone forever.

My CSA sends out a newsletter before delivery, and this week I found out that they planned to include radishes. RADISHES?! What does one DO with a radish?! I usually just see them on serving trays next to a bowl of dip or hummus. That does sound good, actually, it's a nice crunchy snack. But I'm not satisfied. I want to COOK the radishes.

So while I brainstormed for my incoming radishes, I also thought about how to finish up some veggies from my first delivery.

I've been sneaking in mesclun mix into anything I can: scrambled eggs, stuffed squash, and probably a chickpea dish I've been dreaming about (see #2 below). Here's a surprise fact, I'm not much for mesclun mix, adding small amounts into dishes has been the best way to use it up. That, and doused in salad dressing!

There are leftover tomatoes, and that's never a problem. As I chopped them up for dinner on Tuesday, I realized that tomatoes are one of my favorite foods. Fun self-discovery fact. If nothing else, it's always a good day to make salsa :)

We still have lots of potatoes, but that's not a problem either. Here are my recipe thoughts on those:

Potato + kale soup (last night's dinner, with various substitutions including the sausage, obviously)

Chickpea piccata

Mashed taters (I've had two VERY delicious, and buttery, house-made potatoes at a farewell party and a birthday party in the last week. M.U.S.T. R.E.C.R.E.A.T.E!!! *said in zombie-like voice*)

I also came across this LOVELY dish, and I just can't contain my excitement. I really feel like I just found gold or something, I can't even put into words how I feel about this roasted radish and potato salad recipe (never underestimate my love for potato salad!)

Which seamlessly brings our conversation back to radishes. A friend suggested butter poaching them, which intrigues me. When I get further instructions, I'll be sure to share. In the meantime, here is some inspiration from my favorite food blogs:

Steamed and topped with butter, salt, and pepper

Pickles!!!

A call for radish recipes (see comments for ideas)

Tangentially related to the CSA, Shane made a lovely (and spicy, yum!) pasta sauce with kale on Monday night. Because we're awesome, we plan to mix things up by finishing it off with some rice and cannellini beans (which won the high protein fight vs Great Northern, butter beans, and navy beans - named for the military branch, not the color).

xoxo - Natalie

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Recipe Meld: Acorn Squash

Last time, I mentioned theKitchn's spicy acorn squash recipe, and yesterday while checking out an article about autumn casseroles, I saw a link on the side of the page for stuffed squash.

It sparked an idea: Spicy Stuffed Acorn Squash!

The stuffed squash recipe is just a basic guideline, so I chose ingredients based on their suggestions, then add the spices from the first recipe. Here's the plan:

Protein: 1/3Cup dried lentils [or tofu, depending on mood] to cook while squash roasts

Veggies: onions, tomatoes, mesclun mix (combined was just over 2Cups raw)

Cooked grains: 1/2Cup cooked whole grain brown rice

Cheese: optional [or whatever is on hand]

Spices: 2tsp curry powder and 1tsp chili powder

Additional: Olive Oil

Instructions: follow the stuffed squash recipe

When it came time to prepare the filling [STEP 4] I started the rice first, then cut the squash in half (not as easy as it sounds!), put it in the oven, and then put the lentils on. I had about 20 minutes at that point to chop all my veggies. Once the lentils were finished (following this guide), I added the spices and greens. I tossed in the tomatoes, just to warm them a bit, and then set it aside in a bowl. The pan was still caked in spices and greens, so I added some olive oil and sauteed my onions to soften them just a bit. As I poured them into the bowl, I was sure to grab as much of the spice as I could on their way out (this is a habit I learned from my mama).

Next time, I would just add a BIT more salt to the stuffing. I used plenty on the squash, and could taste it if I grabbed a large enough bite. But I'm a salt addict, and some bites didn't have enough oomph. I'm sure if we would have added cheese, I wouldn't have missed the salt.

I don't necessarily consider this "my own" recipe, but I am proud of this meld. The spicy squash did sound appetizing, just not quite complete on its own. My combined version definitely satisfied.

xoxo - Natalie

P.S. seasonal veggies paired with seasonal beer is so much awesomes!

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First CSA Delivery!

Well, after a couple years of debating, we finally took the plunge and bought a 12-week CSA share from Tomato Mountain. Our first delivery arrived last night (during a rainstorm!! extra kudos to Sean our delivery driver) and I was so excited to peek inside that I opened it in the elevator.

Oh was I delighted. Inside were three bags of leafy greens: dinosaur kale, lettuce (the Tropicana variety, I believe), and mesclun mix (a mixture of spicy greens). Two more bags were filled with a whole bunch of small red potatoes and some drool-worthy Roma tomatoes. And the box was rounded out with an acorn squash.

I've already decided to eat salads for lunch next week: mesclun mix + chopped lettuce + diced Romas to be complimented with some canned chickpeas, shredded cheese, and one of our many salad dressings varieties already in the fridge.

Kale + potatoes sound delicious in almost any combination: sauteed, mashed, baked, or in a soup!

I am a bit stumped by the acorn squash, which is funny because I was really excited about it! I think part of that came from not really knowing what to do with it, so I knew I was in for a challenge (always a good thing in our kitchen). So I found a few recipes that I'm considering, and a back up plan in case I feel "lazy" (is making up a recipe ever really lazy?)

My first idea is from theKitchn, I found this recipe for one squash two ways, but I am feeling a little partial to the spicy version.

The second idea, a dessert, came from a facebook friend (never underestimate the power of recipe ideas on social media):

Ingredients: acorn squash, butter, brown sugar Preheat oven to 350 (or less)

Cut acorn squash in half and spoon out seeds.  Put some butter + approx. 1 Tbsp of brown sugar into the now seedless halves and place in a baking dish. Bake for about 20-30 min (until tender enough to eat with a spoon, fork, or both).

Enjoy!

Other social media ideas: use the squash in place of meat in a soup/chili, or this recipe in which I could sub bacon with mushroom.

My "lazy" back-up plan would be to roast the squash (there are so many roasting ideas online, just google/pinterest it), and then "stuff" the seedless halves with whatever potato + kale combo I make for an easy peasy acorn squash bowl!

Oh, and I DO NOT plan on simply tossing out the seeds, they will be roasted and eaten as a snack or with a salad. YUM...

I'm open to other recipes too, we have 11 more weeks of produce to plan :) Share 'em if you have 'em.

xoxo - Natalie

P.S. when I absolutely need a recipe, I always forget how many favorite food blogs I have. I rounded up a bunch more acorn squash recipes with delicious photos to boot:

Acorn Squash Quesadillas + Tomatillo Salsa via Smitten Kitchen

Acorn Squash with Chili-Lime Vinaigrette via Smitten Kitchen

Roasted Acorn Squash + Gorgonzola Pizza via Smitten Kitchen

Spiced Wild Rice Stuffed Acorn Squash via Edible Perspective

Broccoli Stuffed Acorn Squash via Edible Perspective

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Another Brewery Tour Roundup, Destination: STL

This month, I will be heading to a conference in St. Louis, MO, and embarking on my first megabus journey! I'm rather excited because Shane and I managed to snag the $1 rates there AND back. This means that we have a little extra dough in our pockets explore the sights of St. Louis by public transit. I'm a little disappointed to learn that their day passes are only valid for one specific date, rather than a 24-hour period, but I think it will still be worth the fare.

In the spirit of public transportation, I included the approximate time it would take from the Union Station MetroLink stop (which is also near Amtrak's Gateway Station, and the location of the megabus stop) according to Google Maps. I suggest double checking your route before checking out any of these locations, just in case the service times are different during your travel dates and times.

Tours accessible by public transportation:

Budweiser (20 minutes from Union Station by bus) offers three options: the complementary tour for all ages (which we know all about!!!), the beer school ($10 21+ only), or beer master tour (21+ $25, ages 13-20 $10)

Schlafly (about 35 minutes from Union Station by train or bus) offers FREE tours Friday - Sunday, and includes tasting! They also have a Tap Room (15 minute walk, or 5 minutes by bus, from from Union Station).

Square One Brewery and Distillery (20 minutes from Union Station by bus or foot) offers "Beer and Spirit School" on the first Saturday of the month (call for reservations). They also have happy hour specials M-F, and food specials on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Perennial Artisan Ales (40+ minutes from Union Station by bus) offers free tours on Saturdays at 2pm as well as Beer Release Thursdays at 6pm in their taproom, including free samples! Their taproom has a small menu of food, beer (tap and bottle), spirits, and wines; something for everyone! 

Kirkwood Station Brewing (formerly Highlands Brewing Co) is NOT easily accessible by public transit, you'll spend well over an hour on a train and a bus, and possibly a long walk (depending on the bus you take). They suggest asking your server about tours, so perhaps they're very casual. I suggest checking out the drink specials, I think the all-day happy hour on Sundays would be worth the adventure.

No tours, worth mentioning:

Morgan Street Brewery/Restaurant (10 minutes from Union Station by train) has some A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. specials, inlcuding $2 pitchers after 10pm on Thursday. I really wish the conference didn't begin at 8am Friday morning, or I would indulge. for. sure. You can ask for a "brewski" and they'll bring you a sample of 5 current beers for $5.

4Hands Brewing (5 minute bus ride from Union Station + 10 minute walk) has a tasting room with a limited food menu. Perhpaps I didn't look hard enough, but I didn't find beer prices or tour info.

Urban Chestnut Brewing Co. (15 minutes from Union Station by bus) has daily hours in their old 1920s garage with a limited food menu, and the first sample is on them!

6 Row Brewing Co (about 20 minutes from Union Station by train/bus) is a craft brewery and tasting pub with a seemingly drool-worthy menu and some great specials Monday through Saturday. Closed on Sundays.

Ferguson Brewing Co restaurant and bar (about 50 minutes from Union Station by train and bus) is not far from the STL airport. Check out the food and beer menu, and sign up for their e-club to receive $5 off your order!

The Civil Life Brewing Co. (30-45 minutes from Union Station by bus) seems rather mysterious. I gather that they have beer, and they have food. There are limited hours, but I'm not quite sure what happens then. Eating and drinking, I suppose? They specify, "CASH ONLY. NO PHONE NUMBER." The website is witty and and worth checking out, especially their directions by boat, plane, and (for those traveling from light-years away) by space ship!

Pub results in my "Brewery Tour" yelp search:

The Scottish Arms Restaurant

Bridge Tap House and Wine Bar

Dressel's Public House

The Bevo Mill

I'm already set on visiting Shalfly, that's a non-negotiable for me. If the trip was longer, I would probably make a point to get to Ferguson with a $5 e-club coupon, but it could be difficult to squeeze in. Next time we visit St. Louis, I hope we're here on the first Saturday and participate in the Beer and Spirit school at Square One. Which place would you like to visit vicariously through me?!

-Natalie

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I've been known to hoard glass jars and containers of all kinds. Including these wonderful maple syrup bottles, to etch obvious words onto, of course. So now, we probably have at least 5 of these hanging out in a closet or cupboard. This would make sense if we planned to tap a maple tree in the spring, but that's not happening. So I decided that I need to find a use for these things before Shane decides to secretly recycle them all when I'm not looking. The answer? Simple syrups and/or sour mixes!

Simple syrup is such a, well, simple recipe: sugar dissolved in water at a 1:1 ratio. You could probably use other sweeteners, but I have no idea what ratio to suggest. And then, for sour mix, simply mix the syrup with a citrus juice (lemon, lime, both, etc) at a 1:2 ratio! If you need hard numbers, here's a basic recipe:

1 C Water

1 C Sugar

2 C Lime Juice

2 C Lemon Juice

Step 1: Dissolve sugar in water on the stove top for about 5-10 minutes. Stir as often as possible to avoid burning sugar on the bottom of the pan.

Step 2: You now have simple syrup! Stop here if that was your goal. Refrigerate and keep for use in coffee, tea, mixed drinks etc. If you want the whole deal, move on to the next step.

Step 3. Let the simple syrup cool down for a bit (maybe 20 minutes or so, it's really up to you) and combine it with your citrus juices.

Step 4. You now have sour mix! Store in the fridge for a couple weeks, or use right away to entertain your friends (recommended!)

I discovered last night that theses bottles don't quite hold 1.5 cups. It's more like 1 cup. So in my first mix, I used 1/4 C sugar, 1/4 C water, and I planned to pour in 1 C of lemon/lime juice blend. But I could only fit 2/3 C of the juice.

I felt rather perplexed (but keep in mind that I have about 5 of these floating around our apartment) so I just grabbed another and cut my sugar and water amounts in half (2 Tbsp of each) and then poured in the remaining last 1/3 C of the juices. It was perfect for two drinks (whiskey sours, if you were wondering). And now I have a full bottle waiting to be enjoyed later this evening!

Natalie

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(psst, it's a slide show ^ and I'm only telling you because I didn't realize this at first)

Sweet Potato Fries + Breakfasty Sandwiches = verrrrrrry tasty dinner. This meal was actually inspired by two restaurants and my favorite food blog.

Restaurant 1: Chicago Bagel Authority. I absolutely LOVE their Sam's Sunrise bagel, and I always ask to add avocado. I don't think it would be the same without it.

Restaurant 2: Cafe Epi. I bought their Avocado Sandwich on my very last work trip almost a year ago. The sandwich left a BIG impression on me. It was basically unforgettable. I mean, with a description like, "Avocado, spinach & cream cheese spread served on toasted baguette," how could you go wrong?!

Favorite Food Blog: {never} homemaker. Ashley's baked sweet potato fries both hit the spot, and perfectly rounded out our breakfast-for-dinner.

I merged the ideas behind both sandwiches by toasting 100% Whole Grain bread (instead of bagels/baguettes), I mashed and avocado and spread it on one side of each sandwich, Shane fried 4 eggs in the cast iron and divide them between the sandwiches (2 eggs each), I layered each sandwich with spinach, and topped it off with some store brand Neufchâtel cheese.

We followed the recipe for the sweet potato fries, and when we flipped them at the 10 minute mark, I also sprinkled them with my sea salt and garlic mix from World Market.

Oh, and because it was snowy outside and we just wanted to be cozy, we opened up a bottle of White Oak Vineyards wine we'd been saving for something special (it was a Christmas gift from Oma. She gave us two bottles of the Bernese Red, which we've dubbed "doggy wine" because the wine makers named it after their dog. We are so weird)! I really just love that we made breakfast-for-dinner on a snowy day a special occasion.

Natalie

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Burrito Salad: YUMSPIRATION!

This was my Sunday, post-nap lunch-for-one. I usually feel really groggy after a nap, so I don't like to eat anything too heavy or carby. We already had burrito fixins in the fridge (spiced [whole grain] brown rice and our favorite black beans from past posts), but I wasn't feeling a tortilla. So I just tossed my favorite burrito ingredients (including shredded cheese, greek yogurt, and spicy red salsa) over a tasty bed of spinach.

[nedevour]

ABQ Breweries (and a Nearby Distillery)

I predict a trip to Albequerque in your future, and to prepare for any moments of down time, I've compiled a list of breweries for you! I will warn you, I felt like I went back in time about 15 years when I checked out most of these websites. A few were just too much for me, you can find them at the bottom. At the very least, all seem promising, especially if your goal is to indulge in local beer.

Oh, and here's a map if you're in need of convenient locations.

Marble Brewery tours happen on the first Friday of each month at 5:30 pm at the downtown pub, not sure if they charge for these. They have three locations, a pub and two taprooms. The limited menu is provided by the chef at Chama River Brewing, and they have a page just for the frequent food trucks!

Tractor Brewing Co makes me want to visit just because of the humor (can we giggle for a moment about the web address?) And they provide tour information on the main page (slide 3)! A great sign they already know me well. Tours are Monday – Thursday from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm, no information about admission fees.

Turtle Mountain Brewing Co lured me in with their menu page. Just take a look, do I need to say more? Actually, yes, I do need to say more. The bottom of their menu features their "Hoppy" Hour specials, and if you go here, Shane and I need you to order the Truchas pizza, upgraded to the cracked pepper dough (to make it healthier). I order those exact toppings at my favorite pizza place, I had no idea it was a "thing."

Broken Bottle Brewery would be a good place to check on on a Tuesday night when they offer $3 pints from open to close! It seems like they have a Monday-Thursday happy hour from 4-6, also featuring $3 pints. They have open mic nights on Wednesdays and occasional live music.

Bosque Brewing Co captured my attention because they are mindful about offering vegetarian food to accompany their vegetarian beers, how thoughtful!

Bad Ass Brewing doesn't have much to say, except that they have HUGE SUB SANDWICHES and to check out their facebook page for events and beer release info. I went to their website to look for that sort of thing, but I guess it could be worse (see painfully uninformative websites below)

Chama River Brewing Co looks like it could be a fancy place. They have a full menu and several of their own beers on tap. Or check out their tap room which appears to serve the same beers, but no food (they do allow deliveries from nearby restaurants!)

Don Quixote Distillery and Winery came VERY close to being bumped to the next list, but they're the only distillery I found, and they provide information about their tasting rooms, which are in Santa Fe and Los Alamos (so probably not an option unless you have a LOT of time to kill). They laughably boast a third location: their e-store.

And for a bit of humor, here are a few other places with websites too painful to summarize anything useful:

Nexus Brewery why it's painful: their calendar of events still includes NFL Sunday Ticket and Wings... I'm not a sports gal and I know that after the Superbowl, the NFL is over until the fall. They DO have $3 pints all day on Mondays and Tuesdays, which ALMOST saved them, but just didn't numb enough of the pain.

La Cumbre Brewing Co why it's painful: the header is so big the navigation menu is at the bottom of my screen, a page about the brewery features a single photo without text, and I couldn't find hours... maybe they're on the contact us page, but that's not the most obvious for prospective customers.

Sandia Chile Grill why it's painful: perhaps it's my internet, but the photos loaded painfully slow. Also, hover over some of the links and notice the default title from whichever web design program was used to build the site. Do they brew their own beer? I couldn't even figure that out. Oh, and their website looks just like Bosque Brewing...

Whether you visit some or none, I need a food-and-drink-play-by-play of your trip. That's basically the only thing I miss about traveling for work, eating and drinking local stuffs. Enjoy!

-Natalie

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Further Research on Seasonal Eating

When I'm looking for inspiration, I head straight to Pinterest (sorry Google :/), and that's exactly what I did after my last post about seasonal produce. I found a few good resources, and then I started browsing some reliable websites and have a nice list going. Not only did I find WHAT to shop for, I also found recipes for those foods. Here were some of my favorites, starting with the better ones:

Whole Living has an extensive collection of seasonal foods, as well as foods that are good year-round! Each season has a number of slideshows featuring different foods. The only minor drawback is that not ALL of the recipes are veggie friendly. But I handle that in one of three ways: a. find a veggie meat substitute b. leave that ingredient out c. don't make that meal :)

Cooking Light has a similar type of collection of seasonal foods with accompanying recipes.

Real Simple has a list of 12 winter foods and offers limited recipes for each. (I may still have a slight grudge against them for cancelling my subscription when the post office was too incompetent to find my mailbox and sent my magazines back... /rant)

Pop Sugar has a brief winter produce recipe guide.

Mint (yes, the personal finance management website) also has a short list of foods that are in season and friendly on the budget during the winter months.

Bliss Tree has a slide show of winter fruits and veggies, as well as a list of recipes for those foods starting on slide 4

Anytime Health has a winter produce guide that I was generally unimpressed with, but I included it for folks with more adventurous taste-buds than mine :)

I think what I will do is spend some time looking for recipes that I'd be willing to try over these last weeks of winter and incorporate one new dish per shopping trip. I'm not sure where I'll begin, but within the next week I'll let you know the plan!

Although, after seeing your stuffed zucchini, I may start there! Also, I was  skimming too quickly and thought you got the KALE for Christmas. I started thinking, "Guuuuuurl, you best toss that out!"

Tonight, we're celebrating payday by hunting for a craft brew bar in the city, there are plenty of awesome places we haven't checked out yet, so I think we'll choose the place based on the best specials/prices. Would you expect anything different?! I'll drink one for you in honor of your upcoming 5k!!!

-Natalie

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Cleaning out the fridge Pt 2

I'm going out of town next week, so I'm trying to get by eating the things in my fridge and not going shopping. There's also this thing called "being poor" so really cleaning out the fridge recipes happen all the time.

Earlier, I bought some red potatoes, a sweet potato, and some zucchini (technically a calabaza mexicana) to round out the regular potatoes, carrots and celery I had to make roast veggies.

Roast veggies is some serious comfort food. Serious.

Here it is in all its leftover glory. However, do you notice zucchini in there? Nope. I forgot it.

So I had to do something with that zucchini. I decided to try stuffing it. This is just something my tired brain came up with as I was falling asleep, so god knows. There are probably better recipes out there.

Anyway, here we go. I used some kale left over from this recipe, the rest of the sweet potato and some pine nuts (which my mom gave me at Christmas.) 

Not pictured, but also included are some garlic, gorgonzola and some basil from window sill plants (no onions because I ran out.) 

I was a little concerned about how I was to dig out all that zucchini meat (which also went into the "stuffing"), but it turned out to be pretty easy if you made hashtag patterns with a little knife, like so:

Anyway, I sauteed all that in a skillet (ahem, frying pan), and then into the oven it went:

My kitchen is ghetto as fuck. There is a thermometer in there because there is no internal temperature gauge. 350 degrees for about 20-30 minutes (listen: this is the kitchen of imprecision. Plus, you may want your zucchini/calabaza mexicana to be firmer/softer).

Viola! Stuffed zucchini (with basil plants in the background):

The gorgonzola had been stored in the freezer, which gave it a bit of a grainy texture, but overall, the flavors were balanced well, even just half was filling and (although I have no way of backing this up), it seems like it's probably pretty healthy. 

Some other fillings that would be good: wild/brown rice lentils or beans carrots peas marinara sauce broccoli quinoa

Happy fridge cleaning!

-Emily

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Wanted: Seasonal Produce Advice!

I mentioned at the end of last week that it's been a budget savvy couple of weeks. Well, I'm happy to report that TOMORROW IS PAYDAY!!! I'm even happier to report that it's somehow a few dollaz more than I thought it would be. Who wouldn't be happy about a little more cushion in the budget?!

We used to meal plan for two weeks at a time, but would usually end up with a lot left at the end of the two weeks. In the worst cases, we would forget about some of the things we bought and they would go bad :( In the best cases, we would just use the unused foods to stretch our budget further the for the next two weeks by incorporating them into the next meal plan.

We saved a lot of money over the past two budget savvy weeks by closely examining what we already have at home and finding ways to eat some of that stuff up (which explains all of the beans, we had a 3+ lb bag of black beans hanging out in our freezer). We also saved money by buying frozen veggies that we could easily toss into any of our meals for a boost of nutrition.

[This week's batch-o-beans, complete with onions and spinach!]

But everything I know about nutrition tells me that the BEST way to do veggies is buying fresh produce. Duh. So I really need help figuring out how to get the most bang for my buck when it comes to meal planning around seasonal produce (because it will be both easier on the budget and more fresh). I don't want to consult a "seasonal produce guide" each time I grocery shop, and then have to search my pinterest archives for a recipe that COULD have those ingredients.

Maybe that's lazy? I just can't imagine that being a quick process. And when my grocery shopping takes too much planning, I know myself well enough to know that my motivation to plan a healthy week will go out the window. Any advice? How do you decide what to make and eat when you're at the grocery store?

-Natalie

[nedevour]

Eggplant Conclusion!

I'd say overall, this eggplant adventure was a success.

As this recipe suggested, I followed these directions for roasting the eggplant. I was a bit concerned that it wouldn't work as well since I'd already chopped them the night before, but it looked good.

We roasted for 20 minutes, stirred, and roasted again for 15. Once we put them in the second time, we started sauteing the onions and garlic. Then we added our spices and coconut milk and let it simmer while we waited for the eggplant to finish.

We finished up a bag of frozen green beans, tossed in a mixed veggie medley, and used the remaining half of a can of chickpeas leftover from a salad. The coconut rice managed itself on the back-burner.  After the veggies were thawed we added the eggplant. 

I'm so glad we didn't add salt, because there was plenty to go around from the de-watering experiment. I wouldn't say the flavor was necessarily what I had expected, but it was SO delicious! There were even leftovers, which we finished last night. And this time, we added a very generous splash of lime juice, and I really think that's what was missing before. I would DEFINITELY make this again. Shane even suggested buying another can of coconut milk in order to make curries at the spur of the moment. I'm totally game for that! He even made sure to remind me that I should take a picture before devouring, you can thank him for this one.

Oh, and remember when I said that my "artistic" photo was deleted? Well, it suddenly reappeared on my phone. I don't even know, nor do I think it's worth trying to understand. Better late than never, right?

And the pasta sauce? Wonderful. We each have a Sicilian sauce recipe from our moms, so we started merging the recipes to create our own. The eggplant basically took on the flavor of the spices in the sauce, and adds a nice texture. Similar to the texture of some of the tomato chunks, so it blended quite well.

-Natalie

[nedevour]

Hey--how did this and your curry turn out? Eggplant is one of those things I really like, but feel like I can never get a good consistency or a good recipe for. Any hints? (BTW, I learned how to make really good tofu recently, if you have any interest in hearing about that. :)

-Emily

So here’s (a less artistic) take two:

Any suggestions for using up about a pound of chopped eggplant? We don’t eat much eggplant, hence why I bought too much for our tomato sauce that’s currently simmering on the stove, I had no idea how far a 2 lb eggplant would go!

I thought it would...

[nedevour]

COOKIES!

Today I made this recipe, for no real reason, other than I've been eating like a thousand things lately.

They turned out SO good. Although, just to clarify I: -Used regular white sugar 'cause I ain't fancy -Used a combo olive/vegetable oil instead of coconut 'cause I ain't fancy -Didn't really read the directions for how big they should be, so they puffed up HUGE in my little pan (I cut them with a wine glass to get them a more appropriate size...then I promptly ate the scraps.) -Had HOMEMADE strawberry rhubarb jam from my friend Janiece to top them!

Speaking of cookies, this:

Plus this:

Equals this:

For realz. Try it. Gotta use Skippy though.

-Emily

[nedevour]

Eggplant Surplus Solution

Ashley at Edible Perspective has come to my rescue again! Her expansive list of veggie (and gluten free) friendly recipes is one of the first places I go for recipe inspiration. After reading yesterday's article about the benefits of eggplant, and learning it should be stored whole, not chopped, I knew I had to hurry. Rookie eggplant mistake. Thankfully, I remembered that I have a can of light coconut milk and some chickpeas in the cupboard, plus an assortment of frozen veggies. The beans scheduled for tonight can wait. Today, I am thanking Ashley for a coconut curry and an eggplant curry recipe. My plan is to follow both recipes, picking and choosing my favorite flavors and ingredients from each. Oh, and I'll definitely be making the coconut brown rice too. Hopefully we don't nomnomnom it all before I snap a photo! -Natalie