The Miller's Daughter

How will I spin all this straw into gold??

CSA Haul, Wed. 10/23/13: 

Vine tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, eggplant, turnips, "spicy mix," beets, arugula, cauliflower, broccoli, kale, spinach, lettuces and carrots.

With the help of my Rumpelstiltskin, of course!

Rumpelstiltskin.

How are you guys managing the plentiful produce that the height of the season provides?

If you don't have enough bounty to complain about, get thee to a Farmers Market before it's all over!  Just put your zip code into the search box and check "Farmers' Markets."  BTW, it seems folks find it difficult to agree on Farmer's vs.  Farmers' vs. Farmers Market, though each manifestation has fans. Most commonly it's Farmers Market or Farmers' Market, if  anyone cares.

Remember the Haddonfield Farmers Market? This coming weekend is it's last weekend for the season.

I would love to hear what you guys are making, since I can't share what I'm making! How are you spinning *your* straw into gold??

Grain Parade!

I know I missed posting for the 4th of July with her crisp gingham picnics and luscious fruit pies, sorry guys!  I get cranky in a hot kitchen in summer.  I need something fast and easy to go with my CSA hauls, something that I don't have to cook for a long time (or, preferably at all)...

During a trip to TJ's today, I came across these grains, all are quick cooking (excepting the steel cut oats):

Ten minute Farro, Bulgur and Barley, come to momma! 

Precooked brown rice, it would be nice if you are also delicious since you say to only microwave you for a minute!  Also included are TJ's organic, rainbow quinoa (I have not tried their brand of quinoa before) and I'm finally trying the steel cut oatmeal that everyone raves about.

I think I'm going to try the farro first...

Yes, yes I am.

Here are some light, delish grain salads I have been making with my organic CSA farm hauls and some quick cooking grains I already had in my pantry:

Blueberries + Basil...what grows together goes together! 

P.S. That's a nice longish orzo I used there for the grain.

Hubby created this one and I added my Golden 'Fu:

He used that boxed tabouli mix from Fantastic Foods and jazzed it up, it was really delish.  

Perfect with my Golden 'Fu!

Let me know if you'd like to see the recipes for either of these grain salads here on Vegan Fazool and I'll see what I can do :-)

In the meantime, I am going to experiment with those quick-cooking TJ's grains and get back to you guys if they are really good (or really bad, or just ordinary).

More low to no heat posts are coming soon to the VF, stay tuned...

What do you guys like to make (or not make) in the heat of summer?

Keepin' it Green: Lettuce Burritos!

I picked up my first CSA box of the season yesterday!!  

(Really, it is the second box of the season, but my share partner got the first box last week since I am "sharing a share" this year.) 

Here it is:

CSA Week #2, Wed. June 5th, 2013: 

This is all certified organic produce from Honey Brook Organic Farm.

Bottom row, from left to right: Romaine Lettuce, Snap peas, Strawberries, Dandelion Greens, Arugula, 

Back row: Baby Bok Choy (center back), Boston Lettuce, Red Lettuce, Spinach hidden in the back in a bag and KALE!!

This is a nice, diverse haul with varied goodies.  Yeay! (But no garlic scapes, boo! Hopefully soon!)

Kay, so you have to wash and prep your leafies for proper storage.  

This year, I'm going to try out a "lettuce burrito" style storage wrap and see how long it holds up.  I find that the single layer-type wrap where you add the lettuce to the center of the towel and roll the towel around the lettuce doesn't work that well.  So, I developed the Lettuce Burrito!

I highly recommend you invest in the biggest, best salad spinner you can put your hands on.  I like the big, Oxo spinner for CSA duty.  (I also have the small one from my apartment dwelling city days!)

The big Oxo spinner.  I love her!

To Make Your Very Own Lettuce Burrito:

1. Wash your lettuce leaves.  I just rip off each leaf and rinse it under cold water.  It's surprisingly fast and kinda fun to do it this way, you really connect with your leafies!  Alternately, gently place several leaves in a big bowl of cold water and swish them around.  Let the dirt settle to the bottom and then *lift the leaves out* do NOT "strain" or "drain" the leaves because the dirt from the bottom will just get all over them again :-) Rinse them again if they are still sandy.

2. Place the washed leaves in a single layer in the spinner.  DO NOT OVERFILL.

If you load the spinner with more than one layer, the water from the inner leaves will just spin out onto the outer leaves.  Believe me.

3.  Spin! Fun for kids and adults.  

Use the black button stopper to stop the basket.  This will push even more water out of your greens with some extra centrifugal force.  If the greens still look wet, move them around placing them in a single layer again and re-spin.

4. Place dry leaves on a paper towel and make a Lettuce Burrito!

Hold the lettuce down while you roll it again. 

Keep going until you come to the end of the towel.

Wha-la!  If you use longer paper towels, you can roll up a much bigger burrito.

Now, carefully slide your lettuce burritos into a big zipper bag.  I used the huge, two gallon ones and could fit two burritos in there.  Here are my Romaine Burritos:

Seal the bag and store your lettuce burritos in your fridge.

Eat and enjoy! 

I'll let you guys know how long the lettuces held up with this style of storage.

I burrito-ed the Boston, Red and Romaine lettuces as well as the spinach.

*Update as of 6/28/13: The Boston and Red lettuces lasted two weeks, and the Romaine lasted very close to two and a half weeks in the burrito! Oh yeah.*