Day 1: Veggie curry
Day 2: Sesame noodles with bok choy
Day 3: Homemade pizza w/ pesto, Tossed salad w/ olives
Day 4: Egg salad sandwiches with radish and scallion
Day 5: Brats, Thin mint smoothie
Day 6: Black bean and chard quesadillas, Salsa and guac
Day 7: Disappearing greens gumbo
Notes: To make this weeks meals come together quickly, prep as much in advance as you can. Many of the veggies can be chopped and stored in the fridge until ready to use. You also can make several batches of pesto and freeze the extra. Hard boil the eggs whenever you have time. I also make the filling for the quesadillas the night before, then when I get home from work all I have to do is slice the cheese, take out the tortillas, assemble them and either put them on the grill or under the broiler.
GLP tip of the week: Don’t let those veggies go to waste! In my former life I used to eat only the white ends of scallions, peel all my veggies, pick out only the best looking produce, and throw a lot of scraps away. But through trial and error and cooking experience over the years, I’ve learned that you can use ALL of your vegetables. Of the vegetables that most people consume, almost every part of it is edible. When you are cooking, think of this as a challenge and a money saver. Here are some suggestions of ways to use everything:
- I don’t use my vegetable peeler any more. I’ve found that if you give your veggies a good scrub and then cut up as usual, most of them don’t need to be peeled and there is minimal effect on the taste (this goes for a lot of fruits too). In fact, there is a lot of nutrition in carrot and potato peels. And if you start your kids out with unpeeled veggies early on, then they will never know the difference. I do peel broccoli stalks since the outer part is woody and tough to eat, but you can save the peels (see below). The center of the stalk is sort of sweet and my kids prefer it to the crowns. It can be eaten raw or cooked.
- There also is no reason why you can’t use the green ends of scallions or the greens on your beets, turnips, carrots, and radishes. The gumbo recipe this week is an excellent way to use the tops of root vegetables.
- I am not picky about looks. Sometimes vegetables are not perfect in appearance, but the actual produce is completely edible and tasty.
- Keep a bag in your freezer and throw in any scraps that are leftover. Broccoli peels, kale stems, and root ends trimmed from carrots and onions. When you have a full bag or have some leftover meat bones, you can use them to make broth.
- After exhausting all other options, the leftover parts can be put in the compost so they will eventually return to the earth.
- These produce parts you should avoid: tomato stems and leaves, rhubarb leaves, and asparagus berries. Compost them all.
CSA notes: I am on vacation this week so I’m not getting a box. You’ll find that the recipes above are very versatile and you can substitute just about any vegetable. The curry works well to use up really any sort of vegetable, you could switch it to the end of the week to use up what is left in your fridge. The Disappearing Greens Gumbo is great for kale, spinach, turnip greens, radish greens, chard, really any green – even lettuce if you have it leftover. You can make pesto out of basil, kale, or spinach. Any greens can be added to the smoothie, but I prefer more mild greens like spinach. You can also use kale, spinach, or chard in the quesadillas. The sesame noodles go well with bok choy, totsoi, or broccoli. The egg salad would pair well with radishes, turnips, scallions, or spring onions. So many options! I’m going to miss cooking this week, but I’ll be back next week with some great recipes and a detailed list of how to use each veggie in your box. Happy eating!!
