thoughtful consumption

Here’s what happened with this week’s produce...

The pumpkin got moldy on the outside. I think it’s because the stem broke off when I picked it up. We’re going to cut the pumpkin open and cook it tonight if the insides aren’t moldy. So this week I learned not to pick up winter squash by their stems.    Update: The pumpkin was fine on the inside. The texture is ropier than acorn squash, but it was still good. And we toasted the seeds, too. Here are some directions, but we just put them in the oven on a baking sheet while the pumpkin was cooking.

I peeled the daikon radishes and then sliced them thinly and added them to salads. They’re not as pretty as those little pink radishes from a couple of weeks ago, but they still add a nice bite to the salad. I also used some of the daikon with the green onions and Komatsuna in a stir-fry recipe. The sauce in the “Indonesian” recipe was made of soy sauce and peanut butter. It sounded interesting, but next time I’m going to use just soy sauce. The sauce was so strong we couldn’t really tell what the vegetables were.

The chicken Francese was very, very good. The Diet for a Small Planet part of me cringes at using chicken and eggs in the same dish, but I guess it’s worth it every once in a while. This recipe called for four eggs for the wash, but I think two would’ve been enough. Hours later at bedtime, my stomach was still smiling.

Some of the peppers went into a pot of turkey chili, and some found another home.

We baked our potatoes in the oven and topped them with cheese, bacon, and some green onion tops. These potatoes are so good baked. I roll mine in some oil and kosher salt and then wrap them in foil and bake them a couple of hours. It makes the skins extra tasty. Hope we get more of these this week!

And last night I got hungry before bed, so my husband scrambled me up a couple of eggs. Scrambled eggs plus a glass of white wine make a very nice late supper.