So, I have a thing…not really a problem, just a “thing.”
You see, when I go to the Farmers Markets and grocery store on the weekend, I get so excited about all of the colors and possibilities in produce (which is obviously exploding now even more with warm spring weather…praise be!). And so, I kind of just go wild, grabbing whatever produce strikes my fancy in the moment and just throw it in the cart, without really having any kind of plan in mind most of the time.
Then, I get home, and when I can barely shut (if I’m able to at all) the veggie drawer in the fridge, I start thinking “now what in the heck am I going to do with all of this?” There was probably a time in my life when a lot of produce would go to waste, but with as much as I’ve come to love getting creative and healthy in the kitchen over the last year, that’s definitely not the case. Somehow I always find a way to use everything and make something (or many things) delicious.
This past week, I sat with this big haul in front of me and started to scheme. I’m pretty darn pleased with all the yummy dishes I made throughout the week:
Sunday:Packed Veggie Buddha Bowl
This is the only one I did a good job on showing the step-by-step on…sorry!!! Promise I’ll try and do better with this!
For this one, I started with a base of broccoli rice, but you could totally use some other rice, or a good grain like quinoa if you wanted. For mine, I took one medium broccoli crown and pulsed it in the food processor till it was nice and rice-like, then threw it in the microwave to cook.
While that was cooking, I worked on some of the other veggies, hot and cold, that I wanted to throw into the bowl. This particular night, I started with a little red cabbage from The Produce Place that I chopped up and sautéed with some mushrooms and spinach. Side note: The Produce place sells partial heads of red cabbage, which is a game changer. I feel like I never used this ingredient because my hubby’s not a fan, and I can’t usually use a whole head myself before it goes bad, so thanks for that!
While the veggies were sautéing, I thinly sliced a couple of radishes to throw on top for a little coolness and crunch.
Then it was time for the best part of every dish ever created: SAUCE! This one is a coconut milk-based sauce. I started with 2 Tbsp Baes Butter sunflower seed butter and whisked together with lite coconut milk and soy sauce till I felt like the consistency was right. The beauty of this one is I think you could literally use whatever nut or seed butter you have on hand and it would be so easy and delicious. I have like 8 jars of different nut/seed butters in my pantry right now (yes, it’s an addiction…we’ll talk about it another time) and I’m already dreaming about making this sauce with each and every one of them.
Now all that was left was to mix and coat everything and enjoy!!
Monday: Spicy Beet Root Curry
Out of all the veggies I picked up in this week’s haul, I was for sure most intimidated by the bamboo shots I grabbed from Bells Bend Farms at the Richland Park Farmers Market. The only thing I really know to try with bamboo shoots is some type of Asian dish, and with the can of coconut milk I still had leftover from the night prior, I thought a Thai Curry would be a great idea.
Then came the beet. See, I always thought I hated beets. My mom made them sometimes growing up, and I just could never get on that boat. I’d tried them again a few times in my adult life, but still couldn’t do it. But, to be fair, I never really tried doing anything else with them other than boiling them in vinegar. Then, on a British Airways flight back from France last month, they served these sweet potato sliders with a beet relish that I thought was actually super yummy, and I thought it would be worth giving beets another chance and just trying something a little different.
For the base of this dish, I decided on spaghetti squash noodles, one of my FAVORITE veggie “noodle” go-to’s. I just took a spaghetti squash cut in half, scooped out the seeds, brushed with a little olive oil and sprinkle of salt and placed cut-side down on a baking sheet, then roasted in the oven at 425F for about 35-40 min. After that, it’s tender and ready to be scooped out and dressed with whatever you want!
To make the curry, I peeled one small beet and chopped it up into fine chunks and tossed in a pan I had sprayed with Olive oil. After giving the beets a couple minutes to cook and soften, I threw in the rest of the can of coconut milk (I’m guessing it was about 1/3 cup, but I didn’t measure. The sauce definitely thickens up and reduces a good bit as you let it simmer on low, so if you feel like you need to add a little water to get a consistency you like, go for it. As the beets and coconut milk simmered, I also added ~1tsp each of grated ginger, garlic, dried chilies, and curry powder. You could add more chili for a bigger kick, but this one had a good bit as is. Dash of salt and pepper to taste, and you’re good!! Total simmer time was about 8-10 minutes.
While the sauce was simmering, I prepped the bamboo shoots by removing the husks and slicing up the usable parts. I watched a couple Youtube videos to figure out the best way to do this:
I sautéed the bamboo shoots with one green pepper until nice and tender.
Meanwhile, I heated up a couple handfuls of Tyson diced chicken.
Ok, recap: Squash roasted, veggies sautéed, chicken heated, sauce simmered. Now all that’s left was to put it all together.
To do this, I scooped out one squash half into a bowl (and saved the other half for work lunch the next day). Then I added the veggies, chicken, and curry to the bowl, mixed it all together, and plated it back inside the squash skin to serve!
Y’all, I am definitely doing this one again!
(Taco) Tuesday: Chayote Squash Tacos
While perusing the produce section at Kroger, I came across this squash I hadn’t seen before. Honestly, it looked more like a pear than a squash. With my curiosity piqued, I picked one up, and brought it home with me.
I started doing some research when I got home to figure out how the heck to use the little guy. It’s actually a pretty versatile little guy that can adapt itself to sweet, savory, and spicy dishes alike. After finding a recipe for Chayote squash tacos, I knew I had a perfect Taco Tuesday plan, and decided to create some tacos of my own.
First I had to preheat the oven to 425F and cut my little squash into cubes. I left the skin on and didn’t remove the soft, edible seed inside, but you could do both of these things if you prefer. After tossing the pieces in some olive oil and salt, I roasted them in the oven for 35 minutes.
While the squash was roasting, I got the rest of my ingredients ready. I heated up some cauliflower rice (just used a frozen bag this time around), cut up half an avocado (and put the other half in a kale salad I made for work the next day). I took a little of the kale I made up and massaged for my salad the next day and gave it a quick sauté to wilt. Then I sliced up a couple cherry tomatoes. I finely chopped two whole Serrano peppers and sautéed them for a few minutes. When the squash came out of the oven, I added them to the pan with the peppers to finish off with a 2 Tbsp of taco seasoning.
Now for the taco assembly!
Actually, after I assembled this taco, I decided I wanted a Taco Bowl instead (hey, what can I say I’m fickle). So, I put the tortilla inside a bowl put all my toppings back on, then finished off with a little plain yogurt and scorpion pepper hot sauce from Green Door Gourmet (have I mentioned I like spicy things?)
Muoy Bien!!
Wednesday: Thai Peanut Salmon Salad
I’m going to go ahead and say this was probably the most delicious and beautiful dish I made all week. And the best part was I made enough that I was able to make half the recipe for dinner, and had half leftover to take for one killer lunch at work the next day. Double win!!
I started out with a base of zucchini noodles I made out of one medium to large zucchini in my spiralizer. I L.O.V.E. my spiralizer. There’s a lot of good ones out there, but I use this one and it works great and gives me three different size options for noodle size. The secret to good zucchini noodles is getting the excess moisture out, so I placed one paper towel on a plate before spiralizing, then put another paper towel on top after, and put some extra weight on top to help squeeze the moisture out. While I let that work, I prepped everything else.
I grated two large carrots and finely chopped some more of my head of red cabbage.
For the salmon, I took the filet I picked up at Kroger, seasoned with salt, and brushed on a little red chili paste. Then I baked it skin-side down at 450F for about 12 minutes.
While the salmon was in the oven, I chopped up a few slices of cucumber and peanuts for garnish, and mixed up the SAUCE!!
For this sauce, I used 1/4 C nut butter (I chose Earth Balance creamy coconut and peanut spread and it was SO GOOD) and mixed with 3 Tbsp soy sauce, 2 Tbsp lime juice, and 1 tsp sriracha. You can also add water 1 Tbsp at a time to get a little thinner consistency if you’d like.
To complete this one, I layered half the zucchini noodles on a plate, then spread the grated carrots and chopped red cabbage on next, and topped with the salmon. Then I finished things off with a drizzle of my Thai peanut sauce and garnished with the chopped nuts and cucumber. Drool-worthy!!
Thursday: ……Leftovers
Hey….so sue me. Thursday was a busy day with work and practice anesthesia oral board exams going into the evening, so easy things like leftovers from the last couple days and chopped veggies with hummus it was. Don’t worry though, as I finished off the week strong!
Friday: Kale and Artichoke Alfredo “Flatbread”
Thanks be to sweet baby Jesus for the day I perfected a vegetable “pizza crust”, which was the inspiration for this tasty dish. I basically used a smaller version of my broccoli pizza crust recipe to make a personal flatbread, and it was perfect!
The “bread” was made by ricing 1 small/medium broccoli crown in the food processor and mixing with 1 egg, 1/4 C shredded mozarella, and Italian seasoning. The key here is taking the riced broccoli in a kitchen towel and really wringing out as much of the moisture as possible before combining with the other ingredients. Once combined well, I emptied the mixture onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and shaped into my desired flatbread size by hand. Next, I baked the crust in the oven at 400F for 12 minutes.
After the flatbread crust came out of the oven, I spread 2 Tbsp of Alfredo sauce and topped with sautéed kale, artichoke, fresh diced tomato, and a sprinkling of parmesan cheese, then placed back in the oven for another 8 minutes.
Pretty pleased with the results!!
Saturday: Spicy Zucchini Hash
When I looked in the vegetable drawer Saturday afternoon to see what was left out of everything I’d gotten in my haul at the beginning of the week, I found the following:
- 1/2 a roma tomato
- 1 zucchini
- A few Serrano peppers
Coincidentally, I had been watching a YouTube video a couple days prior of Alton Brown explaining how to perfectly poach an egg (…what? like that’s NOT a normal activity?), and figured now’s a good a time as any to try it out, and that’s how the idea for this spicy zucchini hash with poached eggs was born!
I grated one zucchini and drained all (or as much as possible) of the water out using paper towels. Meanwhile, I sliced three Serrano peppers and began sautéing them in a non-stick skillet before adding the zucchini, sea salt, and 1 Tbsp parmesan.
I poached my eggs using the wise Alton Brown’s guidance:
Tip: (1) Don’t use a paper towel with grooves in it when you take the eggs out of the pan, and (2) be careful when moving them from the towel to plate. I messed one of my eggs up by doing (1) and not doing (2)…. (sad day…but hey…nobody’s perfect)
Next, I plated the zucchini hash and topped with the poached egg that survived (R.I.P. other little guy). Perhaps a bit random, but I decided to serve the hash/egg with a Morningstar Farms veggie burger and the remainder of that roma tomato I mentioned, then drizzled the whole plate in sriracha (because sriracha is life, y’all, and I will fight anyone who tries to say otherwise).
Well there you have it: challenge complete!! Here’s to getting creative and having fun with vegetables!!!
