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…

Advertentie

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.

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?

Fall Greens (CSA vegetables weeks 43 and 44, 2011)

I’ve got a lot of vegetables left over in my fridge, so it’s time for some serious menu planning!

Amelishof CSA vegetables week 43

Last week’s veggies:

• red Batavian lettuce
• cilantro
• pointed paprika
• (Batavian) endive
• leek
• celery

Amelishof CSA vegetables week 44

This week’s greens:

• pumpkin
• lollo bionda lettuce
• Elstar apples
• parsley
• kohlrabi
• green beans

Menu plan Wednesday November 2nd – Tuesday 8th

You’ll even find vegetables on the menu from my CSA loot further back!

• Wednesday: eating out with birthday boy @variomatic in Hotel de Goudfazant (Amsterdam)
• Thursday (Mr Gnoe’s piano night): leek-fennel soup (veganized version of Vega Gerechten p.134) & veggie dog with greens
• Friday: spicy sweet potato soup, chili con ‘carne’ tacos and fennel-orange salad with black olives (Vega Gerechten p.150 & 179)
• Saturday: Indonesian dinner! Osèng-osèng kohlrabi, sambal goreng tofu & green beans with white rice (Vegetarisch Indonesisch Kookboek p.50 & 94)
• Sunday (Dexter-5 Night with Elsje): garlic-Jerusalem artichoke soup, garlic or rosemary bread from Vlaams Broodhuys, 2 types of hummus (red beet & pumpkin), cooking pears and red beet salad with walnuts and balsamico (Vega Gerechten p.81, 61 & 188)
• Monday: Ethiopian lentil dish (cutting from Leven, lente 2011) with ‘faux sour creme‘ (La Dolce Vegan!), pita bread and kohlrabi salad (Groentegerechten p.32) OR Indonesian leftovers with nasi goreng
• Tuesday: eating @ mother-in-law’s

Cabbage and Carrot Salad Recipe (CSA vegetables week 26 and 27, 2011)

The first two weeks of summer brought some really nice greens to our dinner table. Introducing a new feature on Graasland as well! But you gotta read on a little for that. ;)

Organic CSA vegetables week 26, 2011

Here’s what we found in our CSA box the previous week.

• Leek
• Spinach
• Radicchio
• Gooseberries
• Celery
• Chinese cabbage (napa, michihli)

It may seem a bit meagre but there’s something missing from the picture! Half a head of Chinese cabbage and a whole head of red Batavian lettuce. We picked up the veggies on our way to my aunt’s and since our fridge was still rather full we decided to leave some of the loot with her.

Organic CSA vegetables week 27, 2011

Now more importantly: this weeks veggies…

• Broad beans!!! Love ‘em!
• Tomatoes
• Field peas
• Basil
• Iceberg lettuce
• Pak choi (bok choy)
• Savory (bonenkruid)

I hope I won’t bore you by sharing another menu plan?

Menu plan July 7-12 2011

Due to our schedule there’s a lot of ‘easy food’ on the menu this week.

• Vegan Spaghetti Bolognese [Wednesday]
• White bean & tomato soup (freezer stash), baguette, green salad with scapes, radicchio and pinenuts [Thursday]
• In between hike and going to the vets: Indian lentil soup (dahl, freezer stash), homemade pizza, cabbage & carrot salad (recipe below) [Friday]
• Broad bean soup, rosemary focaccia from Broodnodig, leftover mashed carrot salad, radicchio salad [Saturday]
• After a day of hiking: vegan ‘shoarma’ (Vivera roerbakreepjes) with pita bread, garlic sauce and leftover carrot-cabbage salad [Sunday]
• Field peas with veggies Provençale (adapting recipe for fresh peas), baguette, salad
• Stir-fry of pak choi, leek, mushrooms and tofu with rice

New feature!

Cabbage contours by Jacqueline Tinney

Many people don’t know what to do with cabbage. That’s a pity because it’s such a healthy vegetable; loaded with vitamins A & C, potassium, calcium, phosphor. It is also thought to be anti-carcinogenic! And if you’re a CSA participant like us you’ll often find it in your box. :)

So. I decided to share some cabbage recipes I like as a special feature on Graasland! Starting of with this week’s side dish of cabbage & carrot salad. Other recipes you can expect in the future are ‘Cabbage with Coconut’ and Indonesian ‘Sambal Goreng Cabbage’.

Easy cabbage-carrot salad

This is a veganised version of Eethuis Iris’ recipe from Zonnig zomers tafelen (p.20).

Cabbage-carrot salad & orange juice

Ingredients
Serves 4.

• 350 g pointed cabbage (I used a mix of pointed and Chinese cabbage; you could also take ordinary white)
• 100 g carrot, cleaned
• 3 tbs veganaise
• 0.5 dl fresh orange juice
• pinch of curry powder
• salt & pepper
• 2 tbs of roasted sunflower seeds
• chopped parsley (optional: it’s not in the original recipe but I added it for colour)

Preparation

1. Clean cabbage and cut out the hard core.
2. Shred the cabbage very finely.
3. Grate the carrot — or pulse a few times in your kitchen machine.
4. Make a sauce of veganaise, orange juice, curry, salt and pepper.
5. Mix vegetables and dressing, top with sunflower seeds and parsley.

On the contrary of what you may expect, the cabbage in this recipe is not overwhelming. I will make this salad again, maybe tweaking it here and there looking for an even better version: like adding a dash of lemon juice and possible some sweetener like agave syrup or golden raisins.

Do you have any favourite cabbage recipes to share? I’d love to hear them!

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

Recipe submitted to the July Whip Up Something New! Challenge hosted on Joyfully Retired

Strawberrrrries! (CSA vegetables week 22, 2011)

• Radishes
• (Bundle) leek
• Red Batavian lettuce
• Tomatoes
• Endive frisée
• Bundle garlic (spring garlic)
• Strawberries

Yum, I’ve been anticipating those strawberries for a whole week! So much that I couldn’t resist buying some in the days in between ;) The very last one ended up in yesterday’s cold noodle bento. These strawberries in our CSA vegetable bag come from about 3 miles from our home! #greenliving ;) We immediately had them for dessert last night, so no need to come over to have a taste! ;)

I did manage to keep Ringo from devouring the endive (he haz a taste for it), so you may want to hop over one of the other nights?

Menu plan June 2-8 2011

• Asian fusion: tofu in tausi black bean sauce (leftover Chinese takeaway), nasi goreng (fried rice) and toemis spinach (Vegetarisch Indonesisch kookboek p.45) [Wednesday]
• Mexican night: bean burritos with steamed spinach [Thursday]
• Bihoen with faux ‘chicken’ (leftover Chinese takeaway) and Toemis endive (Vegetarisch Indonesisch kookboek p.46), pangek brown borlotti beans (Vegetarisch Indonesisch kookboek p.51), nasi koening (freezer stash) and salad with leftover miso dressing
• Endive-potato mash with mushroom gravy (La Dolce Vegan p.181), onion and vegan sausage, salad
• Tomato-garlic pie (Amelisbode wk.22), green salad
• Gnocchi with grilled zucchini and tomato salad

I’ll leave you with two more pictures of dishes from last week’s menu plan. The noodle salad was good, especially with emping for topping (chopped nuts will probably be great too), so I’ll definitely make that again. The leek soup recipe was a bit of a disappointment though — will need to look further!

Cold noodle salad

Leek soup, noodle salad and emping kurupuk

Another Batch of Veggies (week 21, 2011)

A quick post about this week’s organic vegetables from Amelis’Hof. If you think you missed some veggies lately — you’re right! I’m two weeks behind but will post about them a.s.a.p.

• Spring onions
• Bok choi
• Leek
• Lettuce
• Parsley
• Red bell pepper

Looking forward to next week when we’ll be getting STRAWBERRIES!

Menu plan for the week (#21)

Easy Carrot-Orange Soup

• Carrot-orange soup, Puy lentil salad (from The Vegan Table Cookbook p.190 via Food for Thought podcast) and panini. [Wednesday]
• Noodles & sesame-ginger stir-fry with tofu, shiitake mushrooms, pakchoi, leek, paprika and carrot (inspired by Eileen’s stir-fry in La Dolce Vegan! p.148). [Thursday]
• Veggie hotdog, lentil leftovers & green salad.
• Noodle salad & leek soup (Mc Donald’s Kitchen p.59).
• Sweet potato with spicy cumin mayo (VEGA-gerechten p.364), veggie burger and baked leek with oyster mushrooms (Eethuis Iris’ Groentegetechten p.40).
• Lentil loaf (from The Vegan Table Cookbook p.248 via Food for Thought podcast)

On Tuesday I’ll be dining out with friends so I’m guessing Mr Gnoe will be eating pizza, omelet or something else with cheese and/or egg. ;)

Do you have any plans for the week?

Salad of Puy lentils

The Second Veggie Loot of the Season (week 19, 2011)

Most weeks there’s one vegetable in our CSA batch that was grown indoors: tomatoes (last week) alternated with paprika, eggplant, et cetera. Or it’s interchanged with fruit, that doesn’t necessarily come from the glass house.

• Endive
• Leek
• Red lettuce
• Rocket
• Chard
• Pointed pepper

On the menu this week were mashed potatoes with raw endive and an Indian chard dish (in lieu of spinach) to eat with the leftover takeaway of cauliflower bhajee and dal tarka (lentils). And basmati rice of course — it’s the best smelling rice I know!!!

Unfortunately naan bread is often made with animal products like yoghurt. So I always make sure to have some bake-off organic naan that is 100% vegan in the pantry. Can’t have Indian food without it, can you? ;)

The first! (Of the Season)

Hooray, CSA season has started again!

Yesterday Mr Gnoe went to pick up our vegetable bag for the first time in 2011. It’s the 4th year we’ll be getting a bag of local organic veggies from Amelis’hof garden (formerly known as De Aardvlo) every week till Christmas. And the 3rd year I’m consistently logging them with a picture on Graasland.

For those of you wondering what CSA means — have you noticed the Glossary of terms on Graasland?

• Herb flowers
• Leek
• Tomatoes
• Rapini (or turnip tops)
• Spinach
• Lettuce

I already used some spinach and tomato in a pasta salad I had for lunch today. Those beautiful white flowers accompanied last night’s vegan pasta with white asparagus. So now I need to think about what to make of the rest… I guess it’s back to menu planning for Gnoe!

Some of you may have seen my FourSquare tweet last Friday in which I talked about picking up some CSA veggies… #confusing There’s another organic farm nearby from which we get additional vegetables: Groenekans. It’s different in that we aren’t ‘shareholders’ but we do pay a certain amount in advance which enables the farmer to invest in seedlings etc. It also varies from our regular, real CSA in that we get to pick our groceries from a list of availabilities, instead of receiving a surprise packet. And that’s exactly why it is such a good addition to our weekly mystery bag of Amelishof goodies. :)

Any tips on what to cook this week?

The Last (CSA vegetables week 51, 2010)

Our third season of CSA has come to a closing. Now we’ll need to decide on which veggies to buy all by ourselves again… Not an easy task! #lazybums

• purslane
• leek
• thyme
• red cabbage
• choggia beets
• apples
• variety of onions: shallot, red and white

When I got beets last time I made Nigel Slater’s Beetroot Seeds Cake and it was goooood!

Clicking on the picture will bring you to Flickr, where I’ve put up the link to the on-line recipe and some adaptations I made.

Yesterday was another Meatless Monday (Plantaardig Maandag) and supposed to be December’s #twitterfoodparty about squash, so I made a vegan Indian curry with basmati rice and (prefab) mango chutney with last week’s hokkaido pumpkin. The picture didn’t turn out too great but it tasted better than it looks. ;) Anyway, the food party got postponed due to too many ‘twabsentees‘…! If you want to join in, just make something with squash on January 10th, use the hashtag and tweet a picture!

So, no more CSA (b)log posts until the first week of May 2011. Some of you might think that a good thing… But hopefully not all???