A Day Of DELICIOUSNESS

Back to my eats!  Yesterday was seriously delicious! 

Breakfast was in a hurry and very simple (and delicious in its own way)……

Yes…I ran off to school fueled by simply an unpictured espresso to watch my daughter perform in several skits and monologues!

So filling….in a parental sort of way!

By the time I got home I was STARVING though!  and craving salad in a BIG way.  Lately I find I have been constantly craving huge, fresh, crunchy salads!

While I didn’t end up with huge I ended up with delicious.  

FabTeen had made some organic Annies organic Mac & Cheese so I had some of that as well.  

Kids complained it didn’t taste like Kraft Dinner…but that is a good thing!  It is a little blander, but doesn’t have all of those ORANGE chemicals, does it!

On the side I added a perfect avocado.  I forced myself to give FabTeen half of this creamy green perfection!

Over the top of the salad and  Mac and Cheese I sprinkled heavily some nutritional yeast.  I started eating it because I had to…but I am finding I  love the stuff!

Finally…I once again begrudgingly shared this perfect, juicy, sweet, and stunning peach (the last one from the box on Monday!) with FabTeen.  The things you do for your kids!

Dinner started out almost a disaster, but turned out far beyond my expectations!

I wanted to use up some things I had on hand from the box….and  thought I would make some couscous with veggies with a sort of Moroccan type flare.  I LOVE Moroccan/Indian/Middle Eastern seasonings. 

I pulled out a box of couscous and these veggies….

Carrots, half a cauliflower, tomato, onion, garlic, ginger, and broccolini.

I was going to cook the couscous and add in the veggies.

Couscous  turned out to be moth infested!!  YIKES!  What now!!!

I debated brown rice…but was worried the veggies would turn out mushy.  So then I switched to white rice…then finally quinoa.  Despite all the indecision, somehow I ended up pulling together something that turned out FANTASTIC!

While not the original plan,  I decided to cook the quinoa separately than the veggies, and add it to the cooked veggies. 

While the quinoa cooked I went to work on the veggies.  I  rough cut several  cloves of garlic and diced up a bunch (quarter cup maybe?) of fresh ginger (yum) and a whole onion.  

One of my major philosophies is that you can never have too much garlic or too much ginger!

Although first I pulled  out the olive oil…last minute decision led to using coconut oil instead to saute these in the cast iron skillet.  Another last minute  decision  was to toss in a handful of sliced almonds so they would be toasted too.   (originally I was going to add them at the end!)

You can’t imagine  the gorgeous aroma that came out of this pan..coconut, ginger, onion, garlic…aaaaahhhhh…DIVINE!

Once these caramelized a little I began adding the other ingredients. 

First the carrots as they take the longest to cook.

Then the cauliflower, chopped into nice little bite-sized pieces.

Then a  handful or three of raisins.

Then a drained  can of chickpeas (trying to make this appealing to FabHubs…he hates cauliflower and quinoa but somehow beans in some form seem to pacify him!)            I generously poured turmeric, cinnamon, and cumin on top and  stirred to make sure everything was coated. 

By now the pan was so full, so I decided not to add the broccolini or the tomato.

I also decided to serve the quinoa on the side rather than mix it in.

OMG this turned out UNBELIEVABLE!

Even my quinoa, stir-fry, cauliflower-despising husband begrudgingly acknowledged, said, “this is actually pretty good.”

HA!  I will win him over yet!

A Few Good Meals

I am way too tired to write…how about pictures instead…

My faaaavvvee breakfast!  Oatmeal made with almond milk and water, cooked with bananas, topped with cacao nibs, razzies, hiding strawberries, and a spoonful of almond butter.  My faaaaavvveee!!!For FabPreteen, whose tastes are evolving (finally!!!), yogurt mix…peach yogurt topped with razzies, strawberries, bananas, and a sprinkle of granola.  She loves this stuff..one day I will wean her off the yogurt with fruit…but for now I am happy she is eating this!Sweet organic grapefruit shared with FabPreteen. Organic tangerine…midday snack!

Dinner…chickpea/broccoli/potato coconut curry over quinoa and topped with raw cashews and raisins… OMG this was incredibly good!Breakfast this morning…FabPreteen and I had coupons for free oatmeal at Starbucks for…it came with cute little packets of dried fruit (currants, mixed raisins, cranberries) and mixed nuts (walnuts, almonds, and pecans)

And a cute little packet of brown sugar which I resisted at first (I never use it on my oats at home!) but at 50 calories I  succumbed..put all the packets in my oats..and felt so guilty!On a regular day I wouldn’t pay for Starbucks oatmeal when I could make it at home for pennies….and healthier…but it was good!  And probably better than stopping at Dunkin’ Donuts.Finally dinner tonight…shock shock shock…made by FabHubs!  Yes…HE COOKED THAT STUFF!  (He has resisted cooking dinner since we went organic/vegetarian..well I went vegetarian, he is resisting that too.   He always tells me, “I don’t know how to cook that stuff!”)

Roasted acorn squash, collard greens sauteed with garlic and onion, topped with parmesan cheese, and sauteed leeks.

Another shock…the collards, squash, and leeks are from previous weeks….and are the very last of older veggies. 

For the first time in I don’t know how long, I ONLY HAVE ORGANIC PRODUCE FROM THIS WEEK’S BOX IN MY HOUSE! 

I really can’t believe it!

And on that note…I am going to bed!!!!!

I Am Nearly Caught Up!

In efforts to clean out the fridge, tonight I decided to roast a huge pan of whatever veggies I had left.  This actually wasn’t all of it…but it was a good variety. I grabbed one of this, one or two of that…and spread it out to see.I was going to serve them over quinoa….so I looked in one of my Xmas presents to find a recipe for something different to do with the quinoa.   (Oh yes…I am not afraid of quinoa any more!!!)

Looky what I got!  I dropped several hints about this one (including a blatant text message of a picture of the cover of the book, sent when I found it at B&N!)

FabHubs is not the world’s best hint taker so I was pretty excited when it actually showed up under the tree!

I think this is going to be my new best friend over the next few years….it has some fantastic recipes in it!

So back to the quinoa….the first recipe I found in the index for the quinoa, was quinoa with caramelized leeks.  Since I also had a bunch of leeks from last week that needed to be used up (I was saving them for leek lemon rice tomorrow) I got really excited about this and flipped to the recipe to see what it entailed. 

Good Ole Mr. Bittman hooked me at the description, “This dish makes an unbeatable bed for grilled vegetables….”

HELLO! 

Grilled vegetables….roasted vegetables…a bed is a bed I thought!  And a quick review of the instructions revealed that the hardest part of this dish was washing and slicing the leeks!

Easy????  That was all I  needed to be reeled right in to this one!  (The actual time description reads:  About 1 hour, largely unattended).  I definitely can do largely unattended!

So out came the leeks and quinoa, and the prep board then looked like this!  Such a beautiful variety of colors too!  The color-loving preschooler in me was in awe.

First came the ORANGE sweet taters, washed, chunked, and in the bowl.   I never peel these! (I am lazy!!)Next…a RED beet!  I am not a big fan of cooked beets but I figured I like everything else balsamic glazed and roasted…I would try the last beet this way too.  Besides, I am getting more tomorrow and had to get rid  of this one!

Mr. Beet got the same treatment…washed, chunked, and into the bowl.  Not peeled either.

Next came carrots!  Yeah…more orange.  And you guessed it…washed, chunked, and in the bowl with no peeling…. Green zucchini…yes…you can continue the theme! Yellow onions…okay…you got me….I peeled these!

My favorite color of all…PURPLE! As in PURPLE broccoli!  Gorgeous isn’t it! Into the bowl! I know you see my big blue bowls all the time…I got them years ago at a dollar store!  I have had them longer than I have had my husband!

I have two of them…they are huge and while not beautiful, they can take almost anything…and I use them all the time.Red grape tomatoes and White garlic…a whole bulb (peeled).   You can never have too much garlic ya’ know…especially roasted garlic!

A hefty splash and a half of this… (enough to be able to coat the veggies) A smaller splash of this…

A generous sprinkle of this… And into the pan it went at 450 degrees for nearly an hour.   I didn’t time it…I just left it roasting while I did everything else, and every once in a while pulled it out to stir.

Today I got to take home some leftover bagels from church and they were in this big roasting pan.  I was going to throw it out…but then realized it would be perfect for my enormous amount of veggies that were going to be roasted.  It sure came in handy!  I liberally sprayed with organic olive oil Pam and tossed the veggies in.Next it was time for my caramelized leek quinoa…..this sounded so good I couldn’t wait!

I cut, washed, and sliced the leeks and put them into the pan.

And then I got distracted and forgot to take pictures! 

I washed my quinoa like crazy…still don’t want to take any chances.  I did remember to take one picture once I got the quinoa and water into the pot, after the leeks were all caramelly and yummy.

Instead of olive oil I decided to try my unrefined coconut oil!  It was good and the quinoa had a definite coconutty flavor to it.  This was a huge hit. 

Well at least it was with me, FabTeen, and FabStepson. 

FabPreteen thumbed her nose at it but I made her eat one spoonful!  She still thumbed her nose at it (and I believe made a gagging motion or two) but at least she tried it.  And FabHubs…well he ate it.  And that is all I can say.I also had a last legs salad to throw together.  And look what I got last Monday that I forgot to tell you about!  It is a watermelon radish. I had never heard of one of these. 

I should have put something next to it for comparison…but this is about the size of a medium apple!  Very large for a radish.And when you cut it open….look how beautiful this is!  (I KNOW!  There I go getting excited over a veggie again!)

It is very mild and has a sweet flavor to it…no, not watermelon sweet silly!  More like veggie type sweet.  These were really good.  I have one more left! Another colorful dish….romaine lettuce, carrots, watermelon radish, tomatoes, green and red bell pepper (green not organic though!), and I think that is it. 

Hmmm….somehow these snuck in when I passed the picture of the radish around for the FabFamily to see!

Yes…she got away with pasta and red sauce…and a large salad, and a spoonful of quinoa.  She was supposed to try some roasted veggies too…but she distracted me and I forgot to make sure that happened!

Speaking of roasted veggies…this is how they turned out:

And my plate…minus the already eaten salad on a separate plate!The veggies were good…except for the beets.  I ate them, but I still can’t say I love them cooked. 

I will probably cook them again somehow, especially since I am getting another big box tomorrow…but my favorite way to have beets is still fresh grated in salads, and in my fresh juices.

So am I all caught up?

NO!

But I am close! 

Veggie-wise I still have a whole lot of sweet potatoes…(finally finished the white potatoes!), a bunch of arugula, two more zukes, a kobacha, a watermelon radish,  some grape tomatoes, onions, garlic, cilantro, parsley…and a bunch of fruit.

Oh but I have big plans for all of these!  Stay tuned…