Food In Many Forms

I took a week off for my friend's wedding, but I am back in the kitchen this week, prepping foods from my farm share. Our half of the share included: - Cucumber - Salad turnips - Fennel - Yellow squash - Zucchini - Carrots - Pointed Cabbage - Broccoli - Salad greens - Herbs We still had greens left over, so the first thing I did was prep the cucumber, turnips and carrots for a salad. We have used those cut up veggies for multiple salads this week. The yellow squash and basil we sliced up and put on 2 different pizzas - 1 with red sauce, 1 with pesto. The broccoli will probably be frozen for later, and the zucchini will end up in a fried rice. The fennel was my biggest question mark this week. I went to Martha Stewart to tell me how to use this uncommon vegetable, and she had a roasted tomato, fennel, and basil relish. Initially, I wanted to cut the recipe in half because it makes 3 cups, but I also wanted to use up all the fennel, so I left the quantities as they we...

It's week 2 of the CSA and here's what we received: 1 head broccoli 1 cucumber 3 heads lettuce, including 1 romaine, 1 red leaf 1 bag spinach 1 handful garlic scapes 1 kohl rabi 1 rainbow chard 1 bunch of salad turnips (5-6) 1 bunch of green onions (6-8) 2 yellow squash 3 zucchini PYO basil PYO strawberries The broccoli from last week had to be frozen because we never ate it - it got blanched and bagged up on Tuesday. At the same time I steamed the swiss chard to go with some macaroni and cheese, I cooked the shelling peas leftover from last week, and I marinated some chicken for the next day's dinner. We washed all the salad greens, and I chopped up the cucumber in combination with some halved grape tomatoes. Last night, we had a meditarranean-style chicken on a whole wheat pita, with a mix of salad greens, a sprinkling of cucumber and tomato, and a drizzle of tahini. Then I made a salad for today's lunch of salad greens, cucumber, tomato, chicken an...

CSA season is like a marathon of food preparation, and it started yesterday. Last season, I found it stressful to find ways to use all the different vegetables, to the point where I couldn't wait to give them away and I got angry when I forgot to use them up in the forms of veggie kabobs for bbqs, or side dishes at parties and dinners. Eating healthy shouldn't be so stressful. So this season, we are splitting the share with another couple and I am going to get organized and enlist help. This week's box included: kale spinach  red leaf lettuce  spring mix bok choy broccoli radishes scallions garlic scapes  PYO snap peas  PYO strawberries  PYO lavender Last night when we got the box, we washed all the greens, and made our own proprietary salad mix that we put in an old supermarket container. I chopped up the broccoli and put the green onions in water. Tonight I made a radish and greens salad with a homemade mustard dressing from epicuri...

How do I find time to cook at home?  How do I prevent getting bored of the same foods when I am cooking for one? How do I incorporate seasonal produce into my food routine? These are typical questions that come up during a nutrition counseling session. My clients often want easy answers at first. They want a meal plan; they want to be told what to eat. But the more they learn about good nutrition, and the more they prepare their own food, the more they learn to eat their own favorite foods in different ways and to plan out their meals in a way that works for them.  Let me tell you about my experience when I first was learning to cook and feed myself. I remember when I started this blog, back in college, around 3-4 pm, I would start running through the mental inventory of the food in my fridge. Would I start with rice, pasta or tortillas? Did I have a good protein? Did I have leftovers I needed to use up?  By the time I was walking home after class, I...

I'm easing my way into a more vegetable, fish and legume focused-diet. This recipe can serve a family of 4 or become lunch for a few days during the week. As long as you wait to add the salad greens, the tuna salad should only grow in flavor. Ingredients 1 can of chickpeas, rinsed 2 6 oz cans of chunk light tuna, drained and flaked 1 large bell pepper, diced 1/2 cup onion, diced 1/2 lemon, juiced 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil Ground pepper, to taste 8 cups mixed salad greens Directions Combine beans, tuna, bell pepper, onion, parsley, lemon juice, and olive oil. Season with pepper. Divide the greens among 4 plates. Top each with the tuna salad. Adapted from : http://www.eatingwell.com/recipe/252451/mediterranean-tuna-antipasto-salad/ Allergens : fish Nutrition (1/4 recipe) : 264 kcal, 12 g fat, 2 g saturated fat, 8 g monounsaturated fat, 30 mg cholesterol, 334 mg sodium, 362 mg potassium, 17 g carbohydrate, 6 g fiber, 22 g protein, 69% vitamin A, 82% vitamin ...

Once I did the nutritional analysis of my original appetizer for my themed meal - a prosciutto and goat cheese salad - I knew I had to change it. It had more fat then I care to admit. So I went in the exact opposite direction and found a recipe that is amazing with minimal oil and no cheese at all. Just think how good it would be with a sprinkle of Parmesan! It was still tasty after a few days in the fridge so I had it for lunch a few days in a row. Thanks Giada! Ingredients: 8 ounces green beans, cut into 1 to 2-inch pieces (about 2 cups) 1 head Romaine lettuce, torn 1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed 1/2 cup pitted black olives 1/2 red onion, cut into slivers 1 lemon, juiced 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1 ounce shaved Parmesan (about 1/2 cup) Directions: Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the green beans and stir. Cook for about 2 minutes, or until beans are slightly tende...