Some More CSA (week 44, 2012)

So. VeganMoFo has ended and I didn’t meet my goal of 20+ posts… I got to 19! Not bad for a newbie, I think. Especially considering I’d planned to write some in advance but didn’t have the time. I also didn’t live up to the promises I made about travel-friendly recipes and how I survived my holiday in France as a vegan. Don’t worry, I still mean to make good on them! But now it’s back to normal with my weekly veggies and menu plan.

For some, CSA season has already ended. Not here though: our local organic vegetables will continue until the week before Christmas. Lucky me. :)

Here’s this week’s fall haul.

• Kale
• White cabbage
• Tomatoes
• Garlic
• Celeriac
• Radicchio

Menu plan Wednesday October 31st – Wednesday November 7th

Including veggies we didn’t manage to eat up yet (green cabbage, fennel, leek, sweet dumpling pumpkins) the following will arrive on our dinner table.

• Wednesday: Nigel Slater’s peppers & chickpeas with harissa (adapted) with Sarah Kramer’s cumin spice quick bread (freezer stash) and fennel-tomato-olive salad with fresh basil (Groentegerechten p.32).
• Thursday: stuffed mini pumpkins with rice and gyro style roasted lemon olive seitan with dill sauce (Vegan Eats World p.54, 253); radicchio Caesar salad.
• Saturday: dinner @ my aunt’s!
• Sunday: kale-celeriac-potato mash with leftover veggie dogs & chorizo tempeh (VEW promo card), cabbage salad with coriander-mayo dressing left over from Sarah’s spiced potato salad.
• Monday/Tuesday: Nigel’s spicy stuffend pittas and soup (probably freezer stash or pantry).
• Monday/Tuesday: leftovers or improvising.
• Wednesday (when @variomatic is joining us for dinner): Chloe Cascarelli’s pasta ‘Alfredo’ & salad.
• Possibles: apples from the oven with chocolate sauce (still have some left!) and Chloe’s cinnamon-espresso chocolate chip cookies..!

Bon appétit!

VeganMoFo Day 18 ~ C-C-C-CSA week 43, 2012

Lots of C’s in this week’s CSA haul. Elstars, leek and salad greens rich with vitamin C, and carrots, corn salad and cilantro starting with it… No-one’s laughing, I know. ;)

• Carrots
• Cilantro
• Corn salad
• Leek
• Elstar apples
• Fennel

My fridge is pretty full with open tins, leftovers and even more vegetables, so here’s my plan to use up as much as possible.

Menuplan Friday October 26th  – Tuesday 30th

• Noodles with leftover takeaway garlic tofu from Soy with additional vegetables (carrot, leek, yellow pepper, borlotti beans) and mushrooms. [Friday]
• Pea soup (freezer stash), pasta salad with leftover avocado pesto and sun-dried tomatoes, Caesar salad (dressing from La Dolce Vegan! p.93), bread and dip. [Saturday – DEXTER DATE]
• Leek & potato soup with cilantro (La Dolce Vegan! p.109), tasty tempeh chili for NVV-forum La Dolce Vegan! cookbook challenge (p.163) and bread.
• Potato salad with avocado pesto, balsamic vinegar, onion and sun-dried tomatoes, coconut-carrot soup with cilantro (La Dolce Vegan! p.112 half recipe).
• Fennel salad with tomato, basil and olives, roasted sweet dumpling pumpkins stuffed with Gyro seitan from my new Terry Hope Romero cookbook Vegan Eats World (p.54 & 253), leftover dill sauce.

Last night I went to the Terry Hope Romero cooking demo, Q&A and book presentation of Vegan Eats World (more about that soon). We got to taste the gyro seitan with creamy cashew sauce and a banana-chocolate ‘cheesecake’. Both were awesome so I bought the book and put the seitan on the menu right away! It’s my first time making seitan, so fingers crossed…

VeganMoFo Day 9 ~ What’s On The Menu?

I had to play truant for a couple of days, but now I’m back at VeganMoFo with my traditional CSA (b)log post and menu plan.

• Red, yellow & chioggia beets
• Silver beet
• Lollo Bionda lettuce
• Hokkaido pumpkin
• Doyenné pears
• Parsley

I still got last week’s runner beans and will be getting cauliflower and purple kale tomorrow from another local organic garden. So what’s up this week?

Menuplan Thursday October 11th  – Wednesday 17th

• Thursday: homemade tomato soup, leftover pasta with pesto, and leftover saag with chickpeas made into a pasta sauce with mushrooms, leek and baked onions.
• Friday: rice with chili (freezer stash), avocado, home-made salsa picante and steamed silver beet.
  Baking pumpkin crumb cake with pecan streusel from Veganomicon (p.255) for my friend Loes’ birthday. Will adapt the streusel to a nut mix as I don’t have enough pecans.
• Saturday: Turkish beans (taze fasulye), carrot-walnut salad with soygurt dressing (cevizli havuç salatasi) adapted from Lokanta cookbook and pide bread or a grain dish.
• A variation of The Green Cuisine’s pumpkin-paprika soup -another VeganMoFo inspired dish!- and beet-potato salad
• Baked potatoes, veggiedogs and sautéed silverbeet with creamy cauliflower ‘queso’ from Cadry’s Kitchen.
• Quesadillas with leftover cauliflower ‘queso’; autumn salad with beetroot and baked pear/apple adapted from Baking Made Easy.
• Dessert: sugared puff pastry with pear and chocolate syrup.
• Snack: kale chips (or this VeganMoFo spicy kale recipe from The Green Cuisine).
• Sandwich spread: eggless salad with last week’s celery. Recipe recommendations really MUCH appreciated!

VeganMoFo Day 4 ~ “Don’t Eat Animals Day”

It’s World Animal Day today, coinciding with VeganMofo! Not only that, in the Netherlands it’s also unofficially “Don’t-Eat-Animals-Day”: EetGeenDierenDag. All Dutch are called to refrain from eating meat or fish today, even if it’s only for a single day in the year. If every inhabitant rose to this challenge, that would save 400.000 animals in JUST ONE DAY.*

So I hope all my fellow countrymen are joining! Several canteens from major companies will also only serve vegetarian food – yay! I wish they would do that every week for Meatless Monday though… There’s always a next step. ;)

I was too late in realising I should have invited a bunch of people for dinner and now I’m going out tonight. But I’m putting it in my calendar for next year, which will be a Friday!!! Nothing wrong with early planning. ;)

Back to the present. Here are the organic vegetables we scored in our CSA this week and the meals I plan to cook with it.

• Lollo rosso lettuce
• Carrots
• Runner beans
• Red mustard
• Corn cobs
• Celery
• Tomatoes

Menuplan Thursday October 4th (World Animal Day!) – Tuesday 9 th

I still had some carrots so they’re priority no.1! This is what I came up with. World cooking!

• Thai carrot soup, cumin bread (freezer stash) and salad.
• Indian saag (spinach), leftover dal tarka (lentils), basmati rice and papadums with chutney or soygurt-mint sauce.
• Turkish beans (taze fasulye), carrot-walnut salad with soygurt dressing (cevizli havuç salatasi) adapted from Lokanta cookbook and pide bread or a grain dish.
• Pasta avocado, peas and seaweed (instead of pickleweed) from Puur Plantaardig (p.82).
• I plan to make a dessert with some local pears that are ripe now — any suggestions?
• And with this week’s celery I finally hope to try my hand at some eggless salad.. Recipe recommendations much appreciated!

So, what will YOU be eating tonight?

Tonight I won’t be eating at home. I’m going to watch ‘Japalicious’ foodie films on the Camera Japan festival in Rotterdam: Eatrip (documentary) and Our Homeland (fiction). Alas, neither will be vegan but there is a Buddhist monk in the first one… And of course I won’t be eating animals today anyway! ;) On Saturday I’ll be going to the festival again, with Mr Gnoe and friends. Then we’ll be eating at a world restaurant, Bazar!

Any eggless salad recipe you can recommend? Or a pear dessert?

I’d love to hear it!

Last week’s menu is pimped with pictures, if you care to have a look.

* According to the host of EetGeenDierenDag, Wakker Dier.

Planning Ahead (organic CSA vegetables week 39, 2012)

I’ve got a busy week coming up with the start of VeganMoFo on October 1st. I haven’t been able to blog much lately and now I’m supposed to post daily and share the wonders of eating without animal products for a whole Vegan Month of Food! But more about that later.

As usual I’ve planned my meals for the next few days so that I won’t have to think about that any more, nor run to the shops at the very last minute. Every little bit helps in finding time and peace to participate in the blogfest!

Now here’s our veggie haul.

• Red Batavia lettuce
• Leek
• Santana apples (hypo-allergenic)
• Rucola (rocket)
• Corn cob
• Patisson pumpkin
• Fennel

Other stuff in/around my fridge: carrots, chickpeas, roasted paprika, cauliflower, coconut milk, pumpkin & butternut squash, zucchini, cabbage, mushrooms, cilantro and some leftovers.

So here’s the menu.

Menu plan 28 September – 3 October

• Lettuce soup, leftovers lentil-beetroot salad and Greek chickpea salad, bakeoff bread [Friday]
  
  
• Seitan stroganoff, minty bulgar with leek (A vegan taste of Greece p.76) or Oven-braised potatoes and leek (p.67) [Saturday]
  
• Dal Tarka with cauliflower (possibly peas) but without sweet potato, roasted butternut squash with coriander seeds (Veganomicon p.112), basmati rice and (prefab) papadums. Maybe some mint dip [Sunday]
  
  
• Patisson soup and casserole with potato mash, leftover sautéed cabbage & roasted pepper, blue ‘sheese’ and a nutty crumble on top [Monday]
  
  
• Something improvised from the pantry, leftovers, takeaway – what ever’s easy [Tuesday]
• Stuffed courgette, fennel-avocado salad (A vegan taste of Greece p.89), bakeoff bread [Wednesday]
• Sometime during the week I also hope to make some roasted pepper houmous.

You’re welcome at our table if you see anything you like! :)

I edited last week’s menu with photos of my meals.

Changing Seasons (CSA week 38, 2012)

These are the veggies we got for the last week of summertime.

• Savoy cabbage
• Lettuce
• Escarole (2 bunches)
• Carrots
• Red paprika
• Corn cob

As we’re changing seasons today, these vegetables will be used in summer and fall menus.

Menu plan 21 – 27 September

While planning our meals I got distracted by all the yummy recipes and forgot to include the escarole, even though I had marked it urgent on my list. :\ So I’m somehow trying to squeeze it in at the last minute.

• Freezer stash Friday: courgette soup, Fry’s chicken style burger on bread with vegetable toppings.
  `
• Saturday ~ from summer to fall: fresh tomato soup, seitan piccata with longbeans (p.174 V’con = Veganomicon) and oven-roasted sweetly spiced carrots with maple syrup (p.34 V’con).
  
  
  Postscript: I used all ingredients but pretty much messed about with the proportions of beans and seitan – still it turned out awesome!
• Sunday: red lentil – cauliflower curry with leftover roasted carrots for lack of parsnip (p.186 V’con), cumin spiced quick bread (p.267 La Dolce Vegan) for the Dutch vegan society forums cookalong and some extra simple veggies on the side, like braised escarole/cabbage, corn on the cob and/or escarole salad.
  
• Mediterranean Monday: Briami (p.56 A Vegan Taste of Greece), Turkish bulgar with chickpeas (freezer stash) and lemony cucumber salad.
  
• Asian Tuesday: cabbage ramen/noodles (double recipe) and teriyaki tofu with leek or (vegan) egg roll. Maybe sautéed escarole with leftover smoky tempeh marinade.
  
• Wednesday: vegetable roti with tofu and chickpea salad (p.82 Vegan Taste of Greece) with raw escarole.
  
  
• Thursday: pesto pasta with Savoy cabbage (with pesto from a jar), Puy lentil salad with beet (and pine nuts, leftover smoky tempeh or bread garlic croutons instead of goat’s cheese).
  
  

I also hope to bake some lemon cupcakes, based on the recipe for  coconut-lemon Bundt cake in Veganomicon (p.256). I really don’t have a reason, except that it’ll be Nina’s first anniversary of being out of the shelter and living with us. She’s starting to believe she actually has a home! :)

Lemon cupcakes were a favourite when I still ate dairy & eggs and I haven’t dared trying a vegan recipe yet… But this cake by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero comes highly recommended! So will I find the time and courage this week?!

BTW did I tell you I’m going to be present at Terry Hope Romero’s World Vegan Eats cookbook presentation and cooking demo in Amsterdam at the end of October? Looking forward to it!

I updated last week’s menu with pictures from my meals, so have a look if you’re curious!

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Join Beth Fish’s Weekend Cooking with a food-related post!

Back to Normal (CSA vegetables week 37, 2012)

It’s Monday, our holiday is over and things are back to normal. That means having more healthy meals at home and making my menu plans. Highly necessary because there’s a HUGE haul of veggies in the fridge.

Here’s this week’s addition to it (apologies for the bad pic).

• silverbeet
• green beans
• garlic
• mini plum tomatoes
• red beets
• red Batavia lettuce

We still got lots of veggies left from last week, and from another type of CSA haul. From the top of my head: tomatoes, potatoes, corn on the cob, leek, fennel, radishes, sprouts, spring onion, spinach, white paprika, courgette, turnips, pumpkin, pointed cabbage, carrots, string beans.

So let’s dig in and make a dent!

Menu plan September 16th – 19th

• SUN ~ Saffron garlic rice (Veganomicon p.119) and Italian style sautéed spinach & tomatoes  (p.106) with a tofu burger that’s a souvenir from France and radish salad with sprout greens and mustard dressing (inspired by Zonnig zomers tafelen p.21).
  

  

  foto

• MON Indonesian ~ Nasi goreng and leftover tofu tausi takeaway (= black bean sauce) with some extra veggies added, simple cabbage salad (Feestmenu’s p.68) and emping.
  
• TUE Mexican ~ Chilli with tortillas and a little leftover rice, corn on the cob, guacamole and coleslaw with avocado (Groentegerechten p.58). Change of plans: Indonesian ~ rice with sambal goreng boontjes á la Mr Gnoe.
  
• WED ~ Sautéed silverbeet (Veganomicon p.106) with smoky tempeh (p.130) on mashed potatoes and a sweet beet salad (Feestmenu’s p.68). Yesterday’s plan: Mexican ~ Chilli with tortillas and a little leftover rice, corn on the cob, guacamole and coleslaw with avocado (Groentegerechten p.58).
  
  
• THU ~ Sautéed silverbeet (Veganomicon p.106) with smoky tempeh (p.130) on mashed potatoes and a sweet beet salad (Feestmenu’s p.68).
  

I hope Wednesday’s loot will be on the small side! ;)

Colour Combinations (CSA week 28, 2012)

I love the subtle colour combination of fresh greens, purple and white.

• Pointed cabbage
• Leek
• Romaine lettuce
• Cucumber
• Courgette
• Marrowfat peas

And here’s how it’ll look on the menu!

Menuplan 11-17 July

• [Wednesday] Leftover night: courgette soup with baguette, lentil salad, broad beans, fennel beans with tomato-paprika sauce and cajun potatoes.
• [Thursday] Chilli with guacamole and rice.
• [Saturday or Sunday] Indian cuisine -to be decided- with leftover rhubarb chutney and papadums.
• Sambal goreng boontjes & kool (cabbage & beans) with nasi goreng (fried rice).
• Spaghetti al (faux) ‘tonno’ with marrowfat peas.
• Veggie roti (potato, carrot, green beans, bell pepper, tofu).

Most meals will be accompanied by salad.

Also: courgette soup (again), EVA’s cucumber spread that Uniflame recommended, ‘tuna salad’, broad bean spread and I have yet to make those rhubarb-strawberry muffins! I didn’t feel like baking this morning. :( Maybe tomorrow?!

What’s on the Menu? (week 26, 2012)

The week is almost over but I didn’t have an opportunity to share my CSA vegetables and menu plan before today! I bet you could hardly wait.. ;P

• tomatoes
• leek
• turnip tops
• lollo rosso lettuce
• escarole
• 3 varieties of radish

In addition on Friday I got some local organic broad beans, marrowfat peas, cilantro and (curled) parsley.

Other ingredients in my fridge that need to be used up:

• 3 stalks of rhubarb
• scapes (garic shoots)
• snow peas
• spring onions
• avocado
• carrots
• mint
• basil
• cranberries…
• open jar of cooked brown lentils
• soygurt
• soy cream
• La Bute Island’s “blue cheese style” Sheese
• firm tofu
• silken tofu
• creamy basil dressing
• rhubarb chutney & syrup
• cranberry compote

So here’s this week’s menu!

Menu plan June 27th – July 3rd

• [Wednesday] Turkish takeaway from Ana’s Kuzin for Mr Gnoe’s B-day!
  Starters: prosecco wine with mixed nuts, Lebanese & pide bread, houmous, baba ganoush, antep ezmesi (chilli peppers, tomato, garlic & herbs) and non-vegan eggplant-yoghurt spread (ali nazik).
  Entrée:  Imam Bayildi (stuffed eggplant), börülce (beans in spicy tomato sauce), kisir (summer salad), rice with chickpeas and bulgur with peas.
  Dessert: fresh mint tea with homemade (!) baklava, limoncello ice from Roberto’s and cherry, followed by ice wine.

  

• [Thursday] Turkish leftovers (including dessert! :)) and mixed salad with pide croutons.
• [Friday] Chloe Coscarelli’s avocado-pesto pasta with steamed snow peas and spicy sautéed turnip tops with mustard & pecans (great recipe that I will share someday).
• [Saturday] Mr Gnoe: probably something cheesy ;) / Gnoe herself: lunch & veggie BBQ  @ Viva Las Vegas Food fest > leftovers at home because I was too tired to stay for the party.
  
  
• [Sunday] Lunch: Happy Herbivore’s fat-free tofu scramble with mushrooms using black salt for the 1st time!
  Dinner: escarole mash with ‘blue cheese style’ Sheese, oven-roasted cashews and mushroom gravy, sided with cool cucumber salad (La Dolce Vegan! p.83) and more baklava for dessert.
  
  
  
• [Monday] Leek & potato soup with cilantro (La Dolce Vegan! p.109), mini crustless tofu quiches and broad bean salad (Mediterraan koken p.48).
  
  
  
• [Tuesday] Rice with Teresa’s garlic shoot stir fry (La Dolce Vegan! p.138) OR another scape recipe via PPK forum (to be decided) with eggplant.

Optionals: Wolffie’s Black Bean & Lentil Salad (La Dolce Vegan! p.72),  puy lentil-carrot salad.

What’s on YOUR menu this week?

Amelishof Organic CSA Vegetables & Menu Plan (week 25, 2012)

A big pile of organic veggies this week!

• snow peas
• rhubarb
• frisée lettuce
• french onions
• Swiss chard
• beets
• garlic scapes (flower stems)
• strawberries for the 3rd time in a row!

And here’s what we’re planning to make with it!

Menuplan 20-26 June

• Wednesday: lentil loaf, escarole salad with snow peas and mustard vinaigrette (Eethuis Iris’ Verrukkelijk vegetarischp.41), fried basmati rice leftovers, sautéed Swiss chard
  
  
  
  My lentil loaf fell apart but that was no wonder as I found some essential ingredients still on the kitchen counter the next morning… :\ Will need to have another go at it!
• Thursday: Swiss chard tempeh with tomato (Vegweb), Mediterranean quinoa (herbes de Provence, balsamic vinegar), tomato salad with La Dolce Vegan!’s creamy basil dressing
  
  
• Friday: Kathleen’s Mom’s tortilla chip soup (adapted form La Dolce Vegan p.122) with nachos and mexican salad (corn, tomato, snow peas, cucumber, basil-chilli dressing)
  
  
• Saturday: carrot-beet soup (freezer stash) and small baguette with Veggiedeli’s Leberkase, fried onions and vegetable toppings
  
• Sunday: cauliflower with Wolffie’s ‘cheesy’ sauce (La Dolce Vegan p.175), Ottolenghi’s beetroot & rhubarb salad with Bute Island’s Blue Cheese Style Sheese, Vegalicious‘ tofu kabobs with rhubarb chutney (translated in Dutch on Plantaardigheidjes), potato mash
  
  
• Monday: pasta with creamy sundried tomato-basil sauce and broccoli (La Dolce Vegan p.133), leftover beetroot salad
• Tuesday: eggplant bharta (La Dolce Vegan p.144), puy lentil-carrot salad & prefab naan or homemade chapati (La Dolce Vegan p.267), or flatbread