In the bottom of a large bowl, mash the avocado with the other ingredients. Toss in salad fixin’s and enjoy!

In my salad pictured above, I had some romaine in there, some baby lettuce mix, carrots, snap peas, green onions, grape tomatoes and about 1/2 cup of black beans. Alongside, I had some leftover oven roasted broccoli. Together with the avocado dressing, the entire meal was about 400 calories. How do I know how many calories this was? Well, from my calorie tracking app, of course! And just because I’m trying to lose weight doesn’t mean I avoid fat and fatty things like avocados. In fact, I eat at least half an avocado every day.

Have you guys used this? I’ve been using it for about the last 6 weeks and have lost about 6 pounds so far. I sort of fell off the wagon last week and am just now getting back to logging everything. For a free app, it’s really quite impressive. If you’re trying to keep track of what you’re eating for whatever reason (weight loss, weight gain, whatever), I highly recommend it.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. This is crucial– be sure to let it preheat 5-10 minutes. Prepare broccoli by washing it and cutting into florets. Arrange broccoli florets on sheet pan in a single layer. Drizzle or spray with oil of choice (anything works here, even coconut oil). Generously sprinkle with spices and dried herbs of choice. I always use salt and pepper and also sometimes also use garlic powder or Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Salute. That’s it! Once you sprinkle the stuff on, there’s no need to toss the broccoli around. Put into the preheated oven and allow to roast 7-8 minutes or until tender. Once it’s in the oven, don’t touch it, turn it, or flip it and avoid the urge to open your oven door all the time to check on it.

Sometimes I just use the salt and pepper only and then top with lemon zest and juice after it’s done cooking. When you pull it out of the oven and it’s still hot, zest a lemon over top of it, then squeeze the juice all over. It’s so good!

Delivery from our first week: an assortment of greens and a bunch of green onions.

Making changes to your deliveries couldn’t be any easier either– just log into the account you set up when you start the deliveries and make all the changes there. This is also where you’d make any special requests for your deliveries– for example, I have requested never to receive English peas and thyme. I hate thyme and find fresh peas to be annoyingly time consuming when fresh tastes exactly the same as frozen. Aside from this, I’m happy to receive just about anything.

What I love about it:

• I love that we’ve been eating more variety.  When I shop, I tend to buy the same things week after week.  I feel like we are eating much more variety now.
• I love that I’m “forced” to eat more vegetables.  I like to saute up a bunch of different veggies now for breakfast and love that I’m eating a veggie with every meal.
• I’m not going to the grocery store as often now and thus don’t have many snack foods on hand.  Instead, I’m snacking on the apples and oranges from our box.
• What can be more convenient than someone picking out your produce for you and bringing it to your house?  Love that!
• It’s a great deal!  I get the “monster mixed” box, which is normally $55 weekly but I found a coupon code on yelp and have only been charged $45.  If you decide to join, use promo number 482 for the discount.  Be sure to let them know that I referred you (it gets me a free box): Meredyth Hite.
• I love that there’s something for everyone in our box.  Matt and I enjoy the vegetables, Emma enjoys some of the vegetables and all of the fruits, and there’s even stuff I can make for Amanda.  Just this week, I steamed and pureed some beets for her (she likes them, but what a mess!!).  I’ve also cooked the broccoli for her.

We love it and if you dislike grocery shopping as much as I do, give them a try!  There’s no long term obligation– just cancel if you find it doesn’t work for you.

I’ve made the dilly potato salad several different ways and I always wing-it with whatever I’ve got in the fridge. For the dressing, I sometimes use Vegenaise, other times I use Tofutti cream cheese, Tofutti sour cream, plain So Delicious coconut milk yogurt, or a combination of all of the above. Add a squeeze of lemon, a few tablespoons of chopped fresh dill, chopped red onion and celery, S&P and you’re good to go. The “recipe” (I suppose it’s more of a method than a proper recipe) is very versatile and foolproof; serve it warm or cold, both ways taste great.

(Sorry for the yucky photo. Had to use the flash.)

Easy Vegan Minestrone Soup

1 cup kidney beans, dry

1 cup cannellini beans, dry

1 cup chickpeas, dry

1/4 cup olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

5 cloves garlic, chopped (roughly 1-2 tsp)

2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped

2 TB dried basil

1 TB dried oregano

1 tsp dried sage

2 quarts veg stock

1-28 oz. can diced tomatoes

1 head cabbage, chopped

4 cups baby spinach, lightly packed

Any pasta type or shape that you like

S & P to taste

1. Begin by soaking the beans and chickpeas 12 hours or overnight.  After soaking, drain off soaking liquid and rinse with fresh water.  Drain.  Add to slow cooker.
2. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-low heat.  Add all the veggies and saute until tender, about 5 minutes.  Add herbs and saute another minute.  Add to slow cooker.
3. Add the stock and tomatoes to the slow cooker.  Cook on high for 4-6 hours or until the beans are cooked through.
4. Add the cabbage, spinach and pasta* and cook another 1-2 hours.  Season with S & P to taste.

* I prefer to cook the pasta separately and add to each bowl of soup.  I find that cooking it in the soup only makes it super mushy if you have leftovers.  For this recipe, I used quinoa pasta, but you could use whatever you like.

If you want to do this on the stove top, it will probably only take half the time.  Keep a watchful eye on it and add more liquid as necessary as m0re will cook off on the stovetop than in the slow cooker.

Matt has been working late all week and I haven’t really prepared and elaborate meals. Last night, though, I wanted to cook up a kabocha squash that I bought yesterday and I really, really wanted to make a Thai yellow curry sauce to go over it. Why? I don’t know. It just sounded like a good combo.

First, the squash:

Cut in half lengthwise, scoop out the seeds. Place cut-side down onto a lightly greased baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until the inside is very soft.

Next, the sauce:

I followed my yellow coconut curry soup recipe as the base, but I let it reduce down a lot. This intensified the flavors and made it so good. Like, seriously so good that I was eating spoonfuls of it out of the pot– you know, just to make sure it was perfect *wink, wink*.

In a small sauce pan, heat the olive oil over low heat and saute the onions, garlic and ginger. Once softened, after about 5 minutes of cooking, add the curry paste and turmeric. Saute for another minute or so, then add the remaining ingredients. Stir to combine then simmer for 15 minutes until the liquid has reduced by about half. Using an immersion blender, blender or food processor, puree the sauce until smooth. Taste for seasoning and add more salt or Sriracha if desired.

*I use Tamari here to keep it gluten-free. If you don’t care about that, go ahead and use soy sauce instead. (Did you know that soy sauce contains wheat?)

I was all out of brown sugar, so I used regular sugar and a small drop of blackstrap molasses. It worked fine. Also, I think this would have been even better with a little lime squeezed in at the end. I’ll be sure to do that next time.

I served our squash with some red quinoa and simple sauteed spinach. For the spinach, I heated a tiny bit of olive oil in a skillet, put the baby spinach in and lightly sauteed until just wilted. Then I put some salt and pepper on it.

And to start things off, I have an awesome recipe to share… but no photo of said awesomeness. Sorry! Hey… at least I’ve got a post for today. It’s a step in the right direction, right?! And, just so you know that I’m not a lazy bum, I’ll describe to you the scenario that is my life at this moment in time:

Emma, my 4-year-old is so generous that she brought home something from preschool and shared it with me– a yucky cold! Aaah! I tried my best to keep Amanda, my 7-week-old, from catching it, but she caught it too and it’s hit her pretty hard. I took Amanda to the doc today and he did a nasal swab to determine just what virus is making her nose so stuffy and he thinks that she has broncholitis. There’s not much I can do for her aside from what I’ve been doing, so we just have to let it run it’s course. She’s not sleeping well, which means I’m not sleeping well, but things should improve soon. So, I have her snuggled fast asleep in my Ergo Baby (I LOVE this thing!!) while Emma is sitting on my bed talking to me without pausing for a breath.  I also haven’t finished unpacking the groceries that I bought yesterday and my kitchen is a mess. The joys of motherhood!

Ok, back to the food…

I’ve been making these sandwiches lately and they’re so darn delicious that I just had to share the recipe, even without a photo.  Instead here’s a photo of the world’s cutest kids (I’m a bit biased, I’ll admit).

Broiled or Grilled Veggie Sandwiches

For the Sandwiches:

Bread, whatever kind you like (I like using foccacia or ciabatta; anything with a soft crust works well)

Eggplant

Zucchini

Red Onion

Red Bell Pepper (*see note below)

Portobello Mushroom

Lettuce leaves

Tomato Slices

For the Herbed Mayo Spread:

1/4 cup vegan mayo (I use Vegenaise)

Juice of 1/2 small lemon, about 1 TB

1 TB chopped fresh chives

1 TB chopped fresh tarragon or basil

S&P to taste

Prepare the veggies (except the mushroom, lettuce and tomato) by slicing them to 1/4″ thickness, brush with olive oil and sprinkle with S&P.  Put onto a hot grill or place under a preheated broiler and allow them to char a bit before flipping.  Once they are charred on both sides and tender, remove and set aside.  After cooking the mushroom, slice to 1/4″ thickness.

Prepare herbed mayo by mixing everything together.  Spread a thin layer on both sides of your bread, pile on the veggies and top with lettuce and sliced tomato.  Voila!  You can cut these large to serve as a meal or cut them small and stick some toothpicks or skewers into them to serve as appetizers.

*Note:  I buy red peppers already roasted because it’s easier and sometimes cheaper to buy them that way instead of fresh.

Well there you have it!  I’m off now to finish unpacking those groceries and clean up the kitchen so that I can make some muffins.  I’ve been making muffins lately and Emma has been loving them no matter what kind I make.  Her favorites have been banana, carrot spice and pumpkin.  I welcome any opportunity to sneak extra veggies into her so today’s muffins will be extra veggified.  Stay tuned for that… and I just may get that post up tomorrow.

]]> http://www.missionvegan.com/photo-less-recipe/feed/ 2 http://www.missionvegan.com/farmers-market-tips-for-making-your-produce-last/ http://www.missionvegan.com/farmers-market-tips-for-making-your-produce-last/#comments Wed, 25 Aug 2010 22:54:42 +0000 maida http://www.missionvegan.com/?p=3127 Today was my farmers market (FM) day and I thought I’d post a picture of all the stuff I came away with. I could have gotten a lot more, but it was too hot and I wanted to get in and out. I stopped at only a few of the stalls at only one end of the market and that’s all I could handle.

Greens: this is a great way for washing and storing your greens and I have to give credit to Rachael Ray and my mom for these tips. To wash, fill a big bowl or your sink full of cold water. Put your greens in and give them a good shake. All of the dirt and bugs will sink to the bottom of the water. Remove the greens from the water and place onto a clean kitchen towel and arrange in a single layer. If you have more greens than what will fit in your towel in a single layer, put a paper towel on top and add another layer on top of that. When all of your greens are arranged, roll the towel up like a burrito. Store in a plastic bag in the fridge. They will keep for about a week this way, but be sure to check them every few days to make sure they aren’t wilting. If they do start to wilt, use a spray bottle to get them damp again or place a damp paper towel on top of the greens to rehydrate them.

How Long Will This Last Us:

I know this looks like a lot, but we are big fruit eaters around here and I suspect this will last us through next week. I think Emma and I eat 5 servings of just fruit in a day and I like to pack my husband a container of fruit to take to work in the mornings. The veggies will for sure be gone by next week, but we may have some fruit still floating around. Besides that, I could go into labor at any time and at least the house will be well stocked with fresh fruits and veggies if I’m not around for a few days.

Tips for a Greener FM Experience:

• Take your own bags: this goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway since I see so many people who don’t do this.  I take my own cloth bags for carrying my haul, as well as several smaller produce bags for things that you pay for by weight.  You can see one of them in the lower left of the first photo above; it’s what is holding our potatoes.  Using those provided plastic bags is so wasteful, especially if you are using a separate plastic bag for everything you’re buying (i.e. potatoes in one, carrots in another, etc.)!
• Take back everything that you bring home:  what I mean by this is that I save all of those strawberry baskets, the 1/2 flat cardboard box and any rubber bands and take them back the next week.  Besides being less wasteful, it saves the farmer some money because they don’t have to continually replace these things and that’s when they can pass that savings on to you.  Speaking of savings, you can generally get some awesome deals if you hit the market near closing time.  The farmer would rather give stuff away at a discounted price than take it back, especially if it’s something that won’t last them until their next market day.

That’s all I can think of off the top of my head. Do you have any green shopping tips to share?

Wednesday’s are my farmer’s market days, which usually means that by Tuesday I have either nothing left in the house or some random fruits and veggies that need to be eaten. In an effort to use up what I had on hand before buying more stuff, I did a “clean out the fridge” night and made this pasta dish that turned out pretty good.

Here’s what I had: a pint of cherry/pear tomatoes from my grandma’s and friend’s garden, some herbs from the same friend’s garden, and a jar of marinara sauce about 2/3 full. The obvious direction was pasta…

In my largest, high-sided skillet, I sauteed one clove of minced garlic in some olive oil. I added my cherry/pear tomatoes and cooked them until they started to burst, about 7 minutes on medium-low heat. Add some herbs– I used about a TB of fresh parsley and a TB of fresh basil– and some salt. Then add the marinara sauce. Ta da, as my Emma likes to say! I served mine over some brown rice pasta. I like the brown rice pasta as much as I like regular wheat pasta, so it’s pretty much all I use now for pasta dishes. It’s gluten-free and I eat enough gluten that I could probably stand to eat a little less. Case in point: I have a loaf of wheat bread baking in my bread machine right now. It should be done in about 20 minutes, in fact.

For some extra protein, I threw in about a cup of cooked chickpeas. I cooked up a huge pot of them recently and had 2 quart jars stashed away in the freezer. It took about an extra millisecond to thaw some and throw them in, so I figured why not?! Maybe tomorrow I’ll take a photo of my farmer’s market goodies to share with you all.