Mushroom Weekend

What do you do when your brother in law shows up with giant haul of brown oyster mushrooms? You eat mushrooms for every meal until you can't stand them anymore. Then dry some for later and share the rest with friends. Here's a few highlights:

Tomato, basil and mushroom pizza with three-grain homemade crust

Vegetable, mushroom and barley soup

Mushroom fettucini based on this great recipe

Fill the house with hot steamy mushroom smell as they dry! The things my wife puts up with.

Brown Oyster Mushroom

My brother in law stopped by this evening bearing a gift.

That is an enormous clump of brown oyster mushrooms he found growing near downtown. The brown oyster likes cool damp weather like we've had recently. Needless to say, we'll be eating mushrooms with every meal for the next week. They're great for you and will be good in soup and on pizza.

It measures over 12 inches across. I wish I had a kitchen scale to weigh it, I'm sure it's several pounds. We'll eat what we can, share some, and then dry the rest. Thanks Leo!

They Sow. You Reap.

The past several months Tiffany and I have been eating a plant-based diet. We're not vegetarians and definitely not vegan, but we have cut way back on animal-based products such as meat, eggs and dairy. This has helped us drastically increase our consumption of plant-based products like rice, beans, whole grains, vegetables and fruit.

This year, for the first time we've decided to try a local CSA program. For a fixed price, we get to share in the weekly harvest from a nearby farm. We've purchased from Greenbrier Farms before at the Greenville Saturday Market. They have an outstanding reputation and a great product, so we've opted to try their program this summer.

In the past I've been reluctant to try something like this because I've been concerned we would waste so much. But the past few months we've had a blast learning to cook things we like with fresh produce. Participating in a CSA makes so much sense. You get the benefit of fresh, seasonal, local, organic produce. It benefits a local farmer which is good for our local food economy. It's good for the world because it isn't sprayed with petroleum-based pesticides and then shipped across continents. Everybody wins.

I'm sure there are other good CSA programs out there, let me know if you have one you like.

January Challenge: Week 3

Our January Challenge is moving right along. As of last Saturday, we had spent about $125 on groceries for the month, so we're in good shape to finish on target. This past week we've been enjoying stir-fry, rice and beans, soup, fruit and fresh salad, and homemade granola with dried fruit. Not too shabby.

One of the biggest things this experiment has taught us is how much food we waste. In the past our refrigerator has been half full of leftovers and half used ingredients that we had no honest intention of using. I hate having the same thing three days in a row. So we've learned if we cook more than two meals worth of something, immediately freeze the extra for lunches and meals down the road. When we plan meals, we've also learned to begin with assessing what we have already. A lot less food goes to waste.

Our fearsome guard dog keeping watch

This is also helping as assess realistically what should we preserve during the growing season. This past year, we didn't freeze much, so we're getting low on frozen vegetables. Our peppers and green beans are gone. At this rate we'll be out of peas, broccoli and corn in the next month or so. I'm already plotting and scheming my garden and plans to put food aside this summer. In the weeks to come, i'll share some of my ideas and look forward to hearing yours.

Homemade Hot Cocoa

This is why I eat healthy the rest of the week. Homemade hot cocoa. We modified this recipe by using soy instead of milk (be careful not to burn), using a 1/4 cup of sugar instead of 3/4 (can you imagine that much sugar!), and in additional to the vanilla, I added just a touch of almond extract. So nice on a cold evening.

Tofu Stir-Fry with Vegetables and Rice

Today was "make something with leftover ingredients day," so I put together a stir-fry. This is my very favorite tofu stir-fry recipe. Unfortunately I didn't have any asian vegetables on hand, but cooked what we had with the same method. I'm not a big tofu guy, but browning the tofu and coating with the rice vinegar, sesame oil and soy sauce is pretty good.

We had half a block of tofu leftover in the fridge, so I browned that. Then added what was left of a bag of carrots, and from the freezer added broccoli and peas. Serve over rice and you have a pretty nice cheap and healthy meal. 

The part to watch out for is the soy sauce. I love soy sauce. I've been known to dip my sushi in a measuring cup of soy sauce. Unfortunately, one serving (1 tablespoon) is 1/3 the amount of sodium you should have in a day. So this meal could easily be enough sodium for a day or two or three if you're not careful. 

Roasted Sweet Potato, Quinoa, and Avocado

When I arrived at work this morning, an avocado had magically appeared on my desk. Actually it was a gift from Sandra at work who had bought a bunch and they all ripened at the same time! Not wanting to waste a delicious avocado, Tiffany made us roasted sweet potato, quinoa and avocado for dinner. It's super cheep and easy.

First just peel and chop a few sweet potatoes, roll in olive oil, sprinkle with some herbs, put on a cookie sheet and roast in the oven for about an hour. They should be tender with a crunchy caramelly texture on the edges. Sweet potatoes are loaded with Vitamin C, fiber and iron.

Prepare quinoa just like you would make rice. We use a rice cooker, makes rice or quinoa super easy. It's a perfect protein and gluten-free.

Avocados contain 25 essential nutrients. We like them on the side, just cut one in half longways, remove the pit, cut it into slices and scoop the slices out with a spoon. Thanks Sandra!