My refrigerator and I are in midst of a cold war at the moment (ha! pun totally intended!). It is full of fabulous items from our farm box delivery, like fresh carrots, peas, mushrooms, baby lettuces, cabbage, oranges, and little vidalia onions. I, on the other hand, am still full of snot. Which makes all vegetables, and most fruit, completely unappetizing. I don't know why it is that whenever I feel the slightest bit sick, vegetables lose all of their appeal. When I was pregnant with our youngest, just seeing a salad would make me vomit. Does this ever happen to Alice Waters???
So, we are continuing to eat things like pizza-that-gets-delivered-rather-than-grilled, and I feel guilty watching that cabbage slowly shrivel a bit more every day.
With any luck, we'll be back to our healthy ways next week. Have a great weekend.
Showing posts with label Vegetables. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vegetables. Show all posts
Friday, April 15, 2011
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Iron Chef, Savannah Style
Is it wrong that I'm in love with an appliance? My husband recently gave me a new coffeemaker, and I find myself disturbingly attached to it. I think I look forward to seeing it in the morning more than I do my children.
***
In keeping with our (my) New Year's resolution, I've signed up to get weekly deliveries of vegetables from local farmers. But here's the twist - you don't know what you're getting until they arrive. We got our first delivery today, and got green beans, spinach, acorn squash, watercress, citrus fruit, carrots, and a loaf of fresh baked bread. Awesome. The bread is always included and the vegetables vary depending on what's ready to be picked. Deliveries are on Thursdays, so from here on out, Thursday will be our Iron Chef night - I'll have our meat ready, and then we'll eat with it whatever veggies come, along with the bread. Tonight I had pizzas ready to go, and then topped them with the spinach and a few other things I already had in the fridge. Savannah readers: if you're interested, e-mail Carmen Jackson at farmbox@cha-bella.com. It's $25/week and requires a 6 week minimum. Delivery is free. Just based on this week, I highly recommend it.
***
In keeping with our (my) New Year's resolution, I've signed up to get weekly deliveries of vegetables from local farmers. But here's the twist - you don't know what you're getting until they arrive. We got our first delivery today, and got green beans, spinach, acorn squash, watercress, citrus fruit, carrots, and a loaf of fresh baked bread. Awesome. The bread is always included and the vegetables vary depending on what's ready to be picked. Deliveries are on Thursdays, so from here on out, Thursday will be our Iron Chef night - I'll have our meat ready, and then we'll eat with it whatever veggies come, along with the bread. Tonight I had pizzas ready to go, and then topped them with the spinach and a few other things I already had in the fridge. Savannah readers: if you're interested, e-mail Carmen Jackson at farmbox@cha-bella.com. It's $25/week and requires a 6 week minimum. Delivery is free. Just based on this week, I highly recommend it.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Thawing Out
Okay, how's everyone doing with their New Year's resolutions? We are trucking along here, and doing surprisingly well with upping our vegetable intake.
Here's what has worked:
--Setting out raw vegetables (sugar snap peas, baby carrots, sliced green pepper, cherry tomatoes) with ranch dressing for boys (including DH) to munch on while I cook dinner. This has the added benefit that it seems to draw DH to the kitchen where I'm able to put him to useful work setting the table, pouring drinks, etc.
--Serving two vegetables every night. I've noticed that my boys seem to like a variety of things on their plates, so I've been making it a point to make at least two things be a vegetable.
--Adding more vegetables to things we already eat. Easy example: tossing more vegetables onto our weekly homemade pizza.
***
Savannah is finally thawing out after 2 weeks of temperatures in the 20's. I wasn't sure I was going to survive. For those of you still below freezing, here's a wonderful, though very imprecise recipe for roasted vegetable soup. It's one of our favorites, and everyone, even my 2 year old, inhales it. The basic instructions are this: take 2 half sheet pans. Fill each with a single layer of diced vegetables, any combination you have on hand of cherry tomatoes, sweet potatoes, yukon gold potatoes, carrots, onions, celery, and butternut squash (basically, use up all your odds and ends of veggies - a great recipe to make at the end of the week). Toss the vegetables with olive oil, sprinkle liberally with salt, and a little less liberally with pepper. Roast the vegetables at 425 degrees for 30 minutes. Once they are nicely cooked (browned and tender all the way through), dump them in a large soup pot, and add 2 cups of chicken stock. Blend with your handheld blender until you reach the desired consistency, adding more chicken stock as needed. Taste for seasoning and add more salt and pepper as needed. Heat through and serve hot. Freezes brilliantly.
***
I read a quote by a food critic this week that made me think she's been spying on our dinners: "Meals with small children do not end; they disintegrate." Truer words were never spoken. Can someone please explain WHY, when there are 2 children, and 2 candles to blow out, they have to fight over who blows out the one on the right?
Here's what has worked:
--Setting out raw vegetables (sugar snap peas, baby carrots, sliced green pepper, cherry tomatoes) with ranch dressing for boys (including DH) to munch on while I cook dinner. This has the added benefit that it seems to draw DH to the kitchen where I'm able to put him to useful work setting the table, pouring drinks, etc.
--Serving two vegetables every night. I've noticed that my boys seem to like a variety of things on their plates, so I've been making it a point to make at least two things be a vegetable.
--Adding more vegetables to things we already eat. Easy example: tossing more vegetables onto our weekly homemade pizza.
***
Savannah is finally thawing out after 2 weeks of temperatures in the 20's. I wasn't sure I was going to survive. For those of you still below freezing, here's a wonderful, though very imprecise recipe for roasted vegetable soup. It's one of our favorites, and everyone, even my 2 year old, inhales it. The basic instructions are this: take 2 half sheet pans. Fill each with a single layer of diced vegetables, any combination you have on hand of cherry tomatoes, sweet potatoes, yukon gold potatoes, carrots, onions, celery, and butternut squash (basically, use up all your odds and ends of veggies - a great recipe to make at the end of the week). Toss the vegetables with olive oil, sprinkle liberally with salt, and a little less liberally with pepper. Roast the vegetables at 425 degrees for 30 minutes. Once they are nicely cooked (browned and tender all the way through), dump them in a large soup pot, and add 2 cups of chicken stock. Blend with your handheld blender until you reach the desired consistency, adding more chicken stock as needed. Taste for seasoning and add more salt and pepper as needed. Heat through and serve hot. Freezes brilliantly.
***
I read a quote by a food critic this week that made me think she's been spying on our dinners: "Meals with small children do not end; they disintegrate." Truer words were never spoken. Can someone please explain WHY, when there are 2 children, and 2 candles to blow out, they have to fight over who blows out the one on the right?
Monday, January 4, 2010
Gone with the Wind
Let me tell you, this cold weather is going to be the end of me. I am, as anyone who has the misfortune to come within 10 feet of me in the winter time knows, a Cold Weather Wimp. Or perhaps more accurately, a Cold Weather Wimp And Whiner. The cold is bad enough, but combined with the Arctic wind we've been having, it's about to do me in. If there is a sudden dearth of blog posts, it's because I froze to death.
***
For those of you joining me in my Quest for More Vegetables, here's a great menu. Cozy and hearty enough for a cold day, but not too heavy like winter casseroles can sometimes be.
Ribs (Here's my usual recipe; for a fast weeknight meal in the spring or summer or fall when it's warm enough to grill outside, make these on a Sunday and eat them on Monday. If it's too cold outside to even light the damn grill, nothing wrong with grabbing some already roasted for you at Fresh Market!)
Cucumber and tomato salad (sliced cucumber and cherry tomatoes, tossed with your favorite vinaigrette and a little fresh dill)
Butternut squash soup (I pulled the last of it out of the freezer for tonight's dinner)
***
A non-food related comment: if the Tar Heels don't PULL IT TOGETHER it is going to be a really long basketball season. Arg!
***
For those of you joining me in my Quest for More Vegetables, here's a great menu. Cozy and hearty enough for a cold day, but not too heavy like winter casseroles can sometimes be.
Ribs (Here's my usual recipe; for a fast weeknight meal in the spring or summer or fall when it's warm enough to grill outside, make these on a Sunday and eat them on Monday. If it's too cold outside to even light the damn grill, nothing wrong with grabbing some already roasted for you at Fresh Market!)
Cucumber and tomato salad (sliced cucumber and cherry tomatoes, tossed with your favorite vinaigrette and a little fresh dill)
Butternut squash soup (I pulled the last of it out of the freezer for tonight's dinner)
***
A non-food related comment: if the Tar Heels don't PULL IT TOGETHER it is going to be a really long basketball season. Arg!
Sunday, January 3, 2010
You've Come a Long Way, Baby
We have just returned from a fabulous beach weekend with our Tar Heel friends Katie and Chris, and their adorable munchkins who are the same age as our kiddos. Katie and I first became friends when our oldest kids were 5 months old and in the same daycare class. Now those boys are 5 years old, a fact I find simply amazing.
Our first night at the beach all 8 of us were seated around the dining table, and it was a sight to behold. No highchairs, no booster seats, no jars of baby food, no bottles. Just four beautiful children and their very happy parents. Is there anything better in life than sharing good food and wine with family and friends? I think not.
***
I'm working on my menu planning and grocery list for this week, and focusing on my serve-more-veggies mantra. My plan this week is to try setting out a tray of nibbling-friendly vegetables (baby carrots, grape tomatoes, snow peas, and some ranch dressing) around 5pm, and see if the boys (hubby included) will pick at those instead of coming into the kitchen every five minutes to tell me how hungry they are and how they will surely die from starvation if I don't feed them that very minute.
***
Finally, here's the question of the day, brought to you by my afore-mentioned 5 year old: Are pickles vegetables?
Our first night at the beach all 8 of us were seated around the dining table, and it was a sight to behold. No highchairs, no booster seats, no jars of baby food, no bottles. Just four beautiful children and their very happy parents. Is there anything better in life than sharing good food and wine with family and friends? I think not.
***
I'm working on my menu planning and grocery list for this week, and focusing on my serve-more-veggies mantra. My plan this week is to try setting out a tray of nibbling-friendly vegetables (baby carrots, grape tomatoes, snow peas, and some ranch dressing) around 5pm, and see if the boys (hubby included) will pick at those instead of coming into the kitchen every five minutes to tell me how hungry they are and how they will surely die from starvation if I don't feed them that very minute.
***
Finally, here's the question of the day, brought to you by my afore-mentioned 5 year old: Are pickles vegetables?
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Veggie Tales
Ooohhh...I had such plans tonight of sitting in front of the fire and blogging tonight but got totally sucked into Office reruns. Why is that show so funny even when you know what's going to happen??
Dinner tonight: homemade pepperoni pizza with veggies added: onion and mushroom for me; onion, mushroom, and a big handful of diced green pepper for DH (discovery - nothing keeps me from eating too much pizza like putting green pepper on two thirds of it...). Everyone got a side of snow peas for munching.
Happy New Year! I'll be back next week.
Dinner tonight: homemade pepperoni pizza with veggies added: onion and mushroom for me; onion, mushroom, and a big handful of diced green pepper for DH (discovery - nothing keeps me from eating too much pizza like putting green pepper on two thirds of it...). Everyone got a side of snow peas for munching.
Happy New Year! I'll be back next week.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Ew. For the bunny, not for you. Oh. Whew.
(You will understand the title of this post if you also could recite Sandra Boyton books in your sleep).
We do not eat enough vegetables around here. This is due to two factors. First, although I love to eat salad, I find it so ridiculously tedious to make. You have to do all that the washing, or, if you get the bagged salad, picking through and tossing the nasty bits. Then there's the scraping. And the chopping. And the tossing. And the extra salad bowls to wash. And after all that work, it's not even the main dish, or something you can freeze so you have it on hand later! Grrr - irritating to me. So we do not have a salad with dinner as often as we would like. Actually, this is one of the things DH loves about eating at my parents' house - not only do they always serve salad, but my mom puts things like onion and hearts of palm in her salad, which never make an appearance in any salad of mine.
Which leads us to the other problem with vegetables in our house. DH and I don't like the same ones. Yes, there are the basics that we generally agree on: lettuce, tomatoes, corn, peas, green beans, sweet potatoes, and lima beans (with the caveat that they must be perfectly done and salted just right or I will not eat them, whereas DH will eat them cold right out of a can which just about makes me want to vomit). But these start to get a little boring after a while, and we diverge dramatically when it comes to other sections of the veggie aisle. DH will eat a green pepper like it's an apple, whereas I can't even eat one to be polite. I love broccoli, and he will grudgingly take a small bite if it's raw and covered in ranch dressing. He likes squash, I think it tastes like feet.
One of my all time favorites is brussels sprouts. I love them. To me they taste like the essence of how a vegetable should taste: earthy, slightly bitter but not terribly so, hearty enough to stand up to the meat on your plate but not so overwhelming that they take over your whole palate. They just taste green and fresh to me, and I would eat them once a week. Except for the little problem of a husband who not only will not eat them, but hates the smell of them and complains about having to be in the same room as them.
So last night, when DH was working, I made a huge batch of roasted brussels sprouts. I was so, so pleased with myself as I sat there munching on them like they were Halloween candy, until it dawned on me that this is what life has come to: finding happiness in a crunchy, salty brussels sprout.
I really need to get out more.
Roasted Brussels Sprouts
1 package of brussels sprouts (approximately 20-25) (I say one package because our grocery stores don't sell them loose - only in those net-like bags. Have not tried frozen brussels sprouts for this)
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
Preheat oven to 400. Wash brussels sprouts and trim bottoms. Cut each one in half. Toss with olive oil and salt, spread on half sheet pan. Roast for 35-40 minutes until brown and crisp. Serve right away.
We do not eat enough vegetables around here. This is due to two factors. First, although I love to eat salad, I find it so ridiculously tedious to make. You have to do all that the washing, or, if you get the bagged salad, picking through and tossing the nasty bits. Then there's the scraping. And the chopping. And the tossing. And the extra salad bowls to wash. And after all that work, it's not even the main dish, or something you can freeze so you have it on hand later! Grrr - irritating to me. So we do not have a salad with dinner as often as we would like. Actually, this is one of the things DH loves about eating at my parents' house - not only do they always serve salad, but my mom puts things like onion and hearts of palm in her salad, which never make an appearance in any salad of mine.
Which leads us to the other problem with vegetables in our house. DH and I don't like the same ones. Yes, there are the basics that we generally agree on: lettuce, tomatoes, corn, peas, green beans, sweet potatoes, and lima beans (with the caveat that they must be perfectly done and salted just right or I will not eat them, whereas DH will eat them cold right out of a can which just about makes me want to vomit). But these start to get a little boring after a while, and we diverge dramatically when it comes to other sections of the veggie aisle. DH will eat a green pepper like it's an apple, whereas I can't even eat one to be polite. I love broccoli, and he will grudgingly take a small bite if it's raw and covered in ranch dressing. He likes squash, I think it tastes like feet.
One of my all time favorites is brussels sprouts. I love them. To me they taste like the essence of how a vegetable should taste: earthy, slightly bitter but not terribly so, hearty enough to stand up to the meat on your plate but not so overwhelming that they take over your whole palate. They just taste green and fresh to me, and I would eat them once a week. Except for the little problem of a husband who not only will not eat them, but hates the smell of them and complains about having to be in the same room as them.
So last night, when DH was working, I made a huge batch of roasted brussels sprouts. I was so, so pleased with myself as I sat there munching on them like they were Halloween candy, until it dawned on me that this is what life has come to: finding happiness in a crunchy, salty brussels sprout.
I really need to get out more.
Roasted Brussels Sprouts
1 package of brussels sprouts (approximately 20-25) (I say one package because our grocery stores don't sell them loose - only in those net-like bags. Have not tried frozen brussels sprouts for this)
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
Preheat oven to 400. Wash brussels sprouts and trim bottoms. Cut each one in half. Toss with olive oil and salt, spread on half sheet pan. Roast for 35-40 minutes until brown and crisp. Serve right away.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)