thoughtful consumption

A rainbow of tomatoes!

grape tomatoes, slicer tomato, peaches, and golden plums

I’m going to take a break from peach muffins this week and make a crumble or cobbler with the peaches and golden plums. Cobbler is tastier, but crumble is easier. We’ll see how I feel tomorrow. (Right now, crumble would win by a landslide.)

mozzarella, eggs, and sweet corn

I immediately stuck the mozzarella in a marinade of olive oil and sea salt. This idea is from La Pietra Cucina, where they use it as an amazing spread for bread. I’m not sure what I’ll use my mozzarella for, but I can’t think of any dish that calls for mozzarella that wouldn’t benefit from extra olive oil and sea salt.

First stop, bruschetta with the pretty grape tomatoes.

Veggie karma

baby red Pac choi and Zephyr squash

Double this picture in your mind. I gave half of my Pac choi and yellow squash to a friend before this picture was taken. One of the best things you can make with fresh produce is a happy friend.

I’ve got bunches of Pac choi in my crisper. Good thing it keeps pretty well. I’m going to tear into all the bunches, pull out the tenderest leaves, and add them to the lettuce below. Then if fried rice or another stir-fry doesn’t finish the rest this week, I’m going to try baby bok choy pesto. Here’s the recipe from Jamie’s Recipes.

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BABY BOK CHOY PESTO

2 c Baby bok choy, cleaned and chopped
1/2 c raw cashews
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 inch piece of ginger, minced
1/4 c Parmesan cheese, grated
1/3 c Olive Oil
small splash of Toasted Sesame Oil
pinch of salt & pepper

Add all ingredients through Parmesan cheese into blender or food processor. Pulse a few times to chop and combine ingredients. Slowly drizzle in olive oil until everything becomes one. Scrap down sides of container as needed. Add salt & pepper, and small splash of toasted sesame oil (this has a very strong flavor, so only a little is needed) and pulse until combined. Transfer to a serving dish, cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes for the flavors to combine. ENJOY!

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If you’re behind with your yellow squash, I recommend squash muffins.

Getting a head start on prepping

leaf lettuce

I washed and spun the lettuce Wednesday. It’s so nice to have it in the salad spinner all ready to go. This bunch runs to bitter, so I added honey to our normal mustard vinaigrette to tame it.

Root veggies

onions, carrots, and Asian turnips

It’s always fun to try to come up with uses for the tops of root vegetables. Some of the onion tops and the Asian turnip greens will be good for fried rice scraps. Carrot tops make excellent compost.

The turnips and carrots themselves are happily stored away in the fridge. Asian turnips aren’t really that turnip-y. We slice them like radishes for salad or throw them in fried rice or other casseroles.

For the onions, I separated the bulbs and left them out to dry on the kitchen table. After a couple of days, I’ll put them in a wire basket on my shelf.

This worked great with the onions I got in the May 12 delivery. Here’s the only one left from that bunch.

See how nicely it dried? I think it could last another two weeks. (But I’ll use it before then.)

Online store luxuries

duck eggs, rustic bread, and New Jersey tea

Wednesday night supper

We eat sweet corn as soon as we can – not because it goes bad but because it’s so good when it’s super-fresh. 2 x2 minutes in the microwave in the husk is all it takes. So for supper Wednesday, we threw together a plate of scrambled eggs, corn on the cob, sliced tomatoes, and salad with carrots and Asian turnips.

Friday lunch

I forgot about the “less is more with bruschetta” lesson that I learned last week and overloaded today’s bruschetta.

First, I chopped tomatoes, onions, and garlic scapes.

(should have used half this much for two servings)

Then I cooked them slowly in olive oil.

(colors sure are pretty, though)

Then I spooned this mixture on top of pre-toasted rustic bread with marinated mozzarella.

(so... much... olive oil)

And the resulting meal…

(overloaded, perhaps, but still one tasty lunch)