thoughtful consumption

This week’s take

nectarines, peaches, Asian pears, apples, and muscadines

zucchini, tomatoes, and basil

shelled field peas!

hydroponic lettuce

almond and peanut butter bars!

Vacation mode!

Next week, Chris, James, and I (and hopefully my parents) are going to Daytona. So this week’s plans are influenced by the fact that I’m leaving for a week starting this Saturday.

Fruit plans and flies

Peaches and nectarines are already chopped and frozen for future mini-cobblers or muffins. The peaches were not soft yet, so I’ll be curious to see how the mini-cobblers and muffins turn out.

Asian pears are delicious. They’re crisper and sweeter than normal pears. In the past I’ve sautéed them in olive oil. They’re cool because they hold their texture after sautéing. You could also julienne and stir-fry them or make apple slaw.

However, given my time crunch, I’m going to peel and slice these guys along with the apples and bake them as rings.  They will make excellent beach snacks or snacks on our return.

In addition to the vacation timetable, I’m also eager to deal with the fruit quickly because we are currently overrun with fruit flies. They know the end is nigh, and they’re overwhelming our usual trap set-up.

And, uh… muscadines. If you’re not sure what to do with muscadines, you’re not alone. Jelly and wine are the usual suspects, but they require larger quantities. I’m going to try this sauce recipe scaled down for a pint.  I’ll figure out what to do with it when we get back.

Tomatoes and more

The tomatoes are the firm and muscular variety. These make good sauce because they have a higher meat to goo ratio than slicer tomatoes. So that’s what I did last night.

I’m developing a vicious crème fraiche habit. It does incredible things for sauces and pasta, and nothing else comes close.

I heated some olive oil along with the crushed garlic clove. Then I removed the garlic and added the tomatoes with some salt.

Wait, wait! Stop the presses! We need a zucchini here!

I chopped up the zucchini and added it to the pan. I cooked the tomatoes and zucchini on medium-low for a while (maybe 20 minutes?). I had to keep the tomatoes going to get the late-arriving zucchini done. Then I added a little white wine.  (Red would have been better, but white’s what I had open.) Then it was crème fraiche time.

I dumped this sauce on top of some defrosted pasta – an uninspiring and somewhat dry chicken, eggplant, and penne dish I made a month ago. I mixed it up, heated it through in the microwave, and topped it with fresh basil. Much better.

Also appearing: sautéed sweet potato greens with raisins and walnuts

Speaking of basil, I’m making pesto with the rest of this week’s along with some other I scored this weekend. Pesto freezes well.

Upcoming meals

Today, I’m going to cook the field peas. Can you believe it – shelled field peas? I feel like a princess. The downside is they won’t last more than a couple of days. So if you’ve got shelled peas, cook ‘em up quick. I’ll cook mine with a pork bone, onion, and garlic and serve them with rice and some of the hydroponic lettuce.

Chris and I also need to finish off some lo mein I made this weekend with eggs, arugula, onion, garlic, and Asian eggplant before Saturday. It’s good stuff, but I wish I had diced the eggplant instead of leaving it in rounds. It didn’t get quite cooked enough.

Tomorrow before the gym we’ll eat tuna and salad with the lettuce and some onion and arugula from last week.

Birthday bars!

I was so happy to get the almond and peanut butter bars in this week’s delivery. Next week is James’ 20^th birthday, and I meant to order some of these as part of the celebration. (They’re awesome but kind of expensive.) Now we’ll have them!

James and me a while back