Organic Harvest Box for May 31, 2012

It just might be a soup weekend again, given that I have to close the windows in the house as it is getting too cold!!  I picked up my box today and the small coloured peppers are just about gone as they were my lunch when I was late for an appointment this afternoon.  Then I could barely keep them on the table to get the photo before little fingers were grabbing at them and just eating them raw.  I really shouldn't say too much because about a dozen blueberries snuck their way into my mouth pre-photo shoot as well.  I took the tomatoes out of their packaging in order to set up the photo and if the other ones are like mine, it would be best not to keep them in the packaging too long as they are ready to eat.

I am excited about the eggplant this week.  I didn't write about the eggplant last time as it was a late substitution so all week I've been thinking about it and what to write about.  There is this recipe that my uncle made when we were visiting him in Edmonton last year.  I tried messaging him and voice mailing him and he still hasn't gotten back to me - so I am going to do my best to wing it with the recipe because it is delicious.  Some quick tips first:

• To store the eggplant,wrap it in a paper towel or the paper it came in, 
• Place it in a plastic bag with holes and/or in the veggie crisper, 
• Eggplant shouldn't be left for more than about 4 days in the refrigerator as then it starts to get bitter,
• Try to use the eggplant as soon as possible for best flavor and results.  

My uncle would slice the eggplant, brush it with some olive oil and then grill it until soft.  He then cut it into strips and marinated it in . . .this is where I get stuck - I'm sure it was olive oil, garlic, some salt, and . . .whatever else was in there made it absolutely delicious served on crackers or sliced baguette or your favorite crispy bread.  (I'm sure he'll call me back sometime and I'll be able to fill you in.)  This Calabrian recipe for Melanzane Arrostite (Marinated Eggplant with Olive Oil, Garlic and Mint) looks delicious and very similar to my uncle's eggplant.  I also came across this recipe for Spicy Grilled Eggplant that I think would be very tasty and the slices could be used on a sandwich for a meal.  The eggplant could be roasted with the coloured peppers (stove or grill) with some olive oil, chopped and then added to some chopped tomatoes and fresh herbs to make a bruschetta.

The baby bok choy looks fantastic, so fresh and full, but make sure to give them a good wash when you are ready to use them.  Bok choy is a member of the cabbage family and apparently has some of the highest anti-oxidant levels compared to other veggies in the cabbage family.  It is also a great source of Vitamins A and C, fibre, folic acid, and calcium.  It can be stored in the veggie crisper for up to a week.  Chinese cabbage of any variety usually ends up in a stir fry at our house, and it's easy to use but a bit time consuming to do it right.  The stems take a bit longer to cook than the leaves so I often end up taking a little extra time when slicing the bok choy in order to put the stems in to cook before the leaves.  You might have to go get some shitake mushrooms, as the most appealing recipes that I found for baby bok choy included shitakes.  And coincidentally, all my favorite recipes for bok choy are from LCBO's Food and Drink (my vast collection sits in the bookcase next to me as I type each week).  Four different ideas for bok choy:

• Cold Noodle Salad
• House Noodles with Chicken - use the peppers as well in this one
• Steamed Chicken Breasts with Aspargus, Baby Bok Choy and Shitake Mushrooms 
• Bok Choy Stir Fry - for an easy side dish

I do get a bit wordy doing this but I have so many yummy food ideas all the time for all these veggies.  I don't ever get to cooking all of them, but I daydream about all of the fantastic recipes that I would have endless to make - and they would all turn out delicious of course.  Bear with me for two more things. Number 1 - cauliflower - my absolute favorite way to eat it is to toss the florets with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper, roast it in the oven at 400F for 20 min or so.  While it is cooking, mix up some cream or preferably creme fraiche, a bit of dijon mustard, and a small squeeze of lemon juice.  When the cauliflower is done cooking, toss it with the sauce.  

Number 2 and last thing for this week - field cucumbers - I know I had one witty post about uses for cucumber, but I have to admit, they are lunch box fare in general for us.  Cukes are so good just sliced up on their own, or with just a dash of salt to curb that craving for a salty snack that it's hard to make a point of "cooking" with them.  I do have one recipe that I use regularly that makes great use of the cucumbers - Gingery Pork and Cucumber Pitas.  My mom found it in Real Simple magazine and every time I make it, my husband and I say to ourselves, "why don't we make this more often?"  It's so easy, and so good and now I feel like I've given you a real recipe for cucumbers.

Organic Harvest Box for May 17, 2012

Happy Victoria Day weekend!  The weather is looking fabulous so it should be a great weekend for bbq-ing, gardening, or just enjoying the outdoors.  We are headed to the cottage and are hoping the blackflies don't eat us alive.  And though I didn't get there last weekend, we are hoping to go see Joyce and Wayne at Belle Terre Botanic Garden in Otter Lake, QC on Sunday.  I can't wait to bring back some tips, ideas, and photos.

Guess what - haven't used my cabbage yet, but I am going to use it to make the Japanese Coleslaw (from last week's blog) this weekend when we have a large group of friends visiting at the cottage.  I call those types of salads my weekend salads, as they do well to sit for a couple of days and can be a dinner side and then part of lunch the next day.  I am also going to make a Quinoa Salad that can last as well for a couple of days in the fridge.  Here are 3 absolutely fantastic quinoa salad recipes that are versatile and can be used with the tomatoes, peppers, cucumber and/or apples in this week's box: Summer Quinoa Salad, Quinoa Salad with Chickpeas, Feta, and Apples, and Vegetable Quinoa Salad.  My other favorite "weekend" salad that I often make is a Broccoli Salad, which you probably have had in some form or another:

1 1/2 c. broccoli, cut up into florets
1 c. celery, chopped
1/2 c. chopped red onion or green onion
1 1/2 c. grapes, red or green, halved
Any combination of:
handful of sunflower seeds, unsalted
handful of bacon bits
handful of raisins
handful of slivered almonds


Dressing (this is my aunt's recipe - it can be a bit sweet):
1 c. mayonnaise
1/3 c. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. white vinegar
OR
Dressing (a little healthier with no sugar):
1/2 c. low fat plain yogurt
1/4 c. light mayonnaise
1 tbsp. lemon juice


I went to my recipe box to grab the broccoli salad recipe, and found this one that I need to share, Broccoli Salad with Oriental Flavours.  And I found one that is a great summer salad and a good use for the romaine lettuce, Romaine Lettuce Salad with Spicy Blueberry Salsa.  Do try making the raisin bread croutons, they are so yummy.  Just a few salads later, and there's not much left in the veggie box except some fruit, asparagus and avocado.



Did you know that in some parts of Europe, people won't eat the green asparagus and will only eat the white asparagus?  White asparagus is grown the same way as green, but the plants are covered up with mounds of dirt to prevent light from getting to the plants.  The white asparagus tends to be milder and more tender and restaurants across Spain, France, Poland, Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland will prepare special menus for asparagus during the season.  In Germany, asparagus season has it's own name, Spargelsaison or Spargelzeit and often regions have their own celebrations.  Our "lowly" green asparagus doesn't always get that same status, but in order to treat your asparagus best, you might want to consider:

• eating it soon after purchase,
• store it as you would a bouquet of flowers, trim the ends, and store standing up in a small amount of water to keep the stems fresh,
• small asparagus stems can have just a little bit cut off the end,
• larger stems can be more woody so should have their ends snapped off or the stalk can be laid flat on a cutting board and peeled with a vegetable peeler,
• asparagus can be prepared a number of ways, boiled, steamed, sauteed, or roasted

Our favorite way to have asparagus is to roast it with some olive oil and parmesan cheese, either in a roasting dish in the oven or wrapped in tinfoil and done on the barbecue.  

A little late for Cinco de Mayo, but our avocado is going to be used to make guacamole this weekend, served alongside some quesadillas grilled up on the BBQ.  I also came across this recipe for Kale Salad with Apricots, Avocado and Parmesan which led me to read some of the links from thekitchn.com and their posts about avocados.  What I learned was that avocados that are not ripe can be stored on the counter, but if you want to halt the ripening process, put your avocados in the fridge so that they don't get over ripe.  To keep a partial avocado from going brown put the cut avocado in a 500ml plastic container (ie. leftover yogurt or sour cream container) with a chunk of onion.  Apparently the onion acts as a preservative and keeps the avocado from going brown.  The fun part of an avocado is removing the pit, in fact if I am cutting an avocado, I usually get an insistent look from my husband that he wants to do it.  Why?  Because the easiest way to get the pit out is to slice the avocado in half lengthwise and then strike the pit firmly with the heel end of a  good chef's knife so that the knife lodges into the pit and then give it a gentle twist and it should pop out nicely.   Just be careful getting the pit off the knife, as it is a slippery little thing.  (Photo credit from www.thekitchn.com)

I am looking forward to some time at the cottage and since we are entertaining friends up there, I know that the contents of my veggie box this week will be gone by the end of the weekend.  But I may have some of those salads left for lunch on Tuesday when we're back to work.  Enjoy your long weekend.

Organic Harvest Box for March 22, 2012

Welcome back to the Life Organic Blog!!  I am really excited to be writing the blog for Life Organics.  My family has been receiving the Basic Harvest Box for more than year and have enjoyed the variety of produce and the opportunities to try vegetables that I may never have picked up before.  So, I'm not new to Life Organics, but I am new to blogging, so would be happy to have any feedback about style, recipes, and content that you want to give.

Before I get into the ideas for this weeks produce, I wanted to mention that I bought a case of the Camino Fair Trade Organic Mango Juice (did you know they were featured on Episode 2 of The Big Decision on CBC) that Life Organics was offering the last couple of weeks, and my two kids have loved it.  I do recommend to cut the mango juice with water for little kids as it is almost like nectar and very tasty and rich.  This week I ordered a case of Tropical Juice and Limeade and can't wait to try both.  I'm thinking that the Limeade with a bit of tonic, club soda, or sparkling water would've been a great patio drink this week.

When I originally looked at the list for this week's selection all I could think about was grilling, BBQ-ing, and fresh summer salads given our fantastic weather.  Looking at the forecast for the weekend and next week I think that I might still be in the mood for some soups and casseroles.  Tasha and I have had radish discussions over the last couple of weeks, how best to keep them  (trim the leaves, wrap in plastic and refrigerate), what to do when they get soft (immerse them in ice water for an hour before serving), and how to eat them.  I use the Joy of Cooking (Rombauer, Rombauer Becker, and Becker) to look up all sorts of cooking information and was interested to read that radishes were considered an appetite stimulant and that the French had a custom of starting the day with a handful of radishes, eaten with sweet butter.  In our house, we mostly eat our radishes raw, a bright addition to a vegetable tray, or sliced thinly into a salad, but I was interested to find a variety of cooked radish recipes such as, Sauteed Radishes with Watercress or Roasted Radishes. Certainly with the baby lettuce or spinach in this week's box, I think the radishes would be a great addition to your favorite salad recipe.

The other items in the box all inspire a variety of meal ideas.  Our fruit always gets eaten as it is and we've been ordering extra navel oranges because we are finding them so juicy and tasty right now.  The apples could be used for a Baked Apple dessert.  The potatoes could be roasted on the BBQ, boiled, or mashed but for us will probably get used in Leek and Potato Soup, with our leeks from last week.   To take advantage of the early BBQ season I think that we will roast the green beans on the grill (you could add the zucchini with them) in some tin foil with some olive oil, garlic and seasoning.  Or you could do a French Bean Salad with Tarragon and Green Peppercorn from one of my new favorite food websites, Food52.

Lastly, I was happy to see both peppers and zucchini on the list so that I could use it in one of our favorite, kid friendly, regular supper recipes, Chickpea Curry, served over rice or thin egg noodles.

Chickpea Curry 
1 tsp. garlic, minced
1 tsp. fresh ginger, finely chopped or minced
1/2 c. chopped onion
oil
1/2 c. each red or yellow or green pepper, chopped
1/2 c. zucchini, chopped
1 tbsp. each of cumin, ground coriander, and curry powder
1 tsp. salt
1 c. canned diced tomatoes, drained
3 c. chickpeas
1 can coconut milk


Saute on med-high heat, onion, garlic and ginger in oil until onions are soft.  Add peppers and zucchini and cook until soft (5-7 min).  Add spices and salt and cook for 2-3 min stirring frequently.  Add coconut milk, diced tomatoes, and chickpeas.  Bring to a boil, turn down heat to medium and simmer for 10-15 min.  


I hope you enjoy my recipes and meal ideas, and I would love to see you comment with your ideas.  Enjoy!

Weekly recipe ideas for Thursday, June 9th, 2011

by Brie

When I opened my box this week I was the most excited to see a bunch of cilantro. That's right, cilantro. Cilantro is one of my favorite herbs because of its zingy flavour and its versatility. You can use it in a tomato salsa or curried carrots or kale and mushroom enchiladas. Cilantro is actually the leaves and stems of the Coriander plant. While I also like to cook with powdered coriander and dried coriander seeds, nothing beats fresh cilantro.

Kale is from the cabbage family. High in vitamins and minerals, kale is full of antioxidants. Kale is a common vegetable in Europe, historically and in the present day, and you will find many regional dishes make use of kale. Like Ireland's colcannon, Portugal's caldo verde and Germany's gruenkohl. A great way to cook kale is to steam it, letting you preserve the vegetable's nutrients.

Mini peppers are a small hybrid of sweet peppers.Their size makes them great as a stuffed appetizer, like in this shrimp and artichoke recipe or this turkey sausage recipe. They are also great oven roasted and served over lettuce in a salad.

Carrots are root vegetables that come in a variety of colours, most commonly orange. Carrots are a perfect addition to salads, a favorite meal in our house during the warm weather. From the classic carrot salad to a Korean-Russian carrot salad to spicy Moroccan carrot salad, the possibilities with carrots are endless! For those that prefer soups over salads, try this cashew and carrot soup.

As for the avocado in this week's box. Sure you could throw it in a carrot salad or make some bruschetta with celery, but even better is this recipe for oatmeal chocolate chips cookies (with avocado). Yum.

This week's box had some great summer fruit.The peaches and raspberries will make great lunch or afternoon snacks on this hot days.

These are some of the ideas on my menu plan this week. What are you cooking?

Brie loves eating food and is learning to love cooking food. She also blogs about motherhood at Capital Mom and about Ottawa with kids at Kids in the Capital.

Thursday May 26th

by Brie

The first thing I wanted to do when I opened my box this week was to eat the blueberries I found inside. Blueberries will keep 10 to 14 days after they are picked, and these blueberries look perfect for eating! Make sure you wash the berries just before using to prevent them from becoming mushy. The berries can also be frozen, without washing them to keep their skins tough, and then rinsed and drained right before serving.

Local Ontario asparagus is in season and I was happy to find some in my box. After growing up eating over-cooked asparagus, I have come to love this vegetable now that I know how to cook it properly. Asparagus really is perfect cooked and served on its own, maybe even with a bit of lemon juice, but it is also a versatile vegetable to add to dishes. You can bake it, add it to a goat cheese quesadia or put it in a vegetable handroll. And don't forget that while asparagus tastes great, it is also high in folic acid and low in calories.

In the box were also some Quebec red potatoes and Lebanese cucumbers. Toss in the local coloured radishes and you have the makings of a perfect summer salad. Add the snow peas from this week's box to the potatoes and try a curried salad. Or if you prefer, make a cold cucumber potato soup on a hot spring night. Potatoes are also excellent served, as always, fried up for breakfast.

We eat broccoli often at our house. I have steamed it, roasted it, added it to salads and eaten it in stir-frys. Looking for something different to do with broccoli I found this savory broccoli cupcake recipe. I am smitten and plan to make it as soon as possible. Do you have any new and different broccoli recipe suggestions?

Ripe peaches make great snacks. Peaches are low in saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium and a great source of Vitamin C. Now that Spring is here and the BBQ season has started you may want to try making balsamic-marinated pork chops and grilled peaches or grilled peaches with blue cheese and walnuts for dinner. For dessert make some maple-grilled peaches.
Our box this week also held bananas, chives and an orange pepper.

These are some of the ideas on my menu plan this week. What are you cooking?

Brie loves eating food and is learning to love cooking food. She also blogs about motherhood at Capital Mom and about Ottawa with kids at Kids in the Capital.

Thursday, April 14th: Cooking with collard greens and rutabaga

by Brie

This week's box offered some great fruit for snacking, like a bag of Pink Lady apples, navel oranges and Bartlett pears. The fruit would also be lovely tossed with the lettuce, cucumber and avocado we got. Maybe in a balsamic vinaigrette dressing for a fabulous spring salad.

Avocados and mangoes also make for a great salad combination. You could also serve them together with pork chops or salmon. Add a tomato and some black beans and you have a southwestern tasty meal-sized salad! Avocados are a great fruit for snacking or in dishes due to their high potassium content (they have more than bananas!) and are also rich in vitamin B, E and K.

I have come to love all forms of greens, like kale, spinach and Swiss chard but I'm not as familiar with collard greens. Considered a staple vegetable in the Southern United States, where it is often served with ham, it can also be substituted for other greens in your favorite recipe. Spanakopita with collard greens maybe? Collard greens would be great served with the potatoes that came in the box this week or in a lentil soup.

Rutabagas are a turnip cousin. Low in calories, they are also a good source of Vitamin C , folacin and fibre. Often served as a side dish, they can easily be prepared as a mash similar to mashed potatoes. Rutabagas can also be roasted and boiled. You could even try them in smashed potato and parsnips or stew.

Potatoes are such a versatile, and tasty, vegetable. Full of vitamins and minerals, the potatoes in our box this week would taste great baked with zucchini and peppers or in a cold potato and cucumber soup.

These are some of the ideas on my menu plan this week. What are you cooking?

Brie loves eating food and is learning to love cooking food. She also blogs about motherhood at Capital Mom and about Ottawa with kids at Kids in the Capital.

Organic Harvest box for April 10, 2011

by Brie

Our box this week had four lovely small yams. I love yams for how versatile they are. You can throw them in chili or soup for added colour and flavour. My four year old's favorite way to eat them is baked with a little butter and brown sugar. She will happily eat them with a spoon! I have no problem with her eating two or three for dinner, as she has been known to do, because they are a good source of vitamins C and B, potassium, manganese and are low in saturated fat and sodium. Plus they taste good!

I was pleased to see some garlic in our box. I love garlic. I would be happy to just fry it up in some olive oil and eat it over pasta. But as a great cold cure, and we have a cold sneaking into the house right now, it will be the perfect base for roasted garlic and onion soup and mushroom soup with parsley and garlic. Those two soups are also a great way to use the bag of yellow onions and box of mushrooms we received this week.

Parsley is a herb that forms the basis of many popular dishes, like tabbouleh, lamb with persillade and gremolata. It can also be used, along with garlic, celery and onion in the Italian dish ossobuco alla milanese. Parsley is also widely recognised for its medicinal purposes in teas or when cooked in dishes. I am tempted to try crushing it and seeing if it is really an effective treatment for mosquito bites this summer!

Peppers and zucchinis make a great dinner combination. You could make a quick and easy zucchini and pepper pasta or, if you have more time, try stuffing zucchinis and peppers with turkey, parsley and onion.

I usually think of serving broccoli and cauliflower separately, like in broccoli risotto or cauliflower curry but they are also good combined together. Broccoli is a power food full of vitamins, minerals and protein and cauliflower isn't too far behind..They can be combined in dishes as simple as broccoli-cauliflower salad and broccoli and cauliflower pasta or served together in tandoori grilled broccoli and cauliflower kebabs.

The fruit we received this week, a grapefruit, a kiwi, pears and oranges are all a great source of Vitamin C. A bunch of yellow bananas were perfectly ripe and are great for snacking or trying flambed. The mango is a wonderful treat, and once you know how to cut it properly, easy to eat.  Fabulous to eat on their own, these fruit would make an excellent fruit salad tossed together or a sweet addition to a lettuce salad.

These are some of the ideas on my menu plan this week. What are you cooking?

Brie loves eating food and is learning to love cooking food. She also blogs about motherhood at Capital Mom and about Ottawa with kids at Kids in the Capital.