Sunday, August 15, 2010

weekend cooking

I started a new job on campus (doing the same thing as before, just not working from home anymore); and I'm gone from 7 am until 9 pm every weekday. yikes! (Don't worry, that includes fun in addition to work). So I'm trying to work out my food prep. I think it involves a lot of weekend cooking. Here's what I tried out this weekend.

First I had a snack because I was hungry after yoga:














These are some of my favorite foods: frozen mangos, romaine lettuce, carrots, and sugar snap peas.

Then I made housemate's smoothies. Here's a gigantic bowl of fruit, mostly frozen, with a bunch of fresh grapes. I kinda went overboard on the fruit but that's okay, it just turned into 13 smoothies instead of 10. We have a visitor coming this week so I made extra.
















Next I assembled yummy beans in carrot juice. I tried out my new juicer. Housemate was irritated with me for getting a new juicer since I already had a good one. But I sure like this one. It's easy to use, smaller than the old one, and easy to clean up. Here's the juicer in action:















Then I couldn't resist playing some more so I tried out an apple. First slice (using an apple corer/slicer):



















Then juice. Here's the juice from one apple. The apples are local, fresh, and yummy:















This is just a treat. Whole apples are healthier because they have all the fiber.

Okay, that was Saturday. Sunday morning I put the beans on to cook and went to church. Sunday afternoon, the weather was too nice, so I went biking. Then Sunday night it was time to make the veggies. The garden is overflowing with collards so that was the main ingredient, but it also included kale, swiss chard, eggplant, lots of herbs, onion, and garlic. Here's some of the produce left, after most was processed in the food processor:














I seriously used a ton of collards, so the only way to fit them in was to chop them tiny with the food processor. I just chopped everything with the food processor, because it was fast and it compressed the food more. This was a ton of veggies! At left is my big pot and at right is housemate's---she has much fewer veggies, and some potatoes added in. Oh, and this was before all the greens were added to my pot:















While these were cooking I made tomorrow's salads. I forgot to take a picture: romaine lettuce, yummy fresh strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and kiwi, and a few pumpkin seeds. I'll add D'angou pear vinegar when I'm ready to eat them.

Now time to assemble the veggies: the cooked greens&veggies, the cooked beans, some canned tomatoes (from the garden), and just a bit of date syrup (leftover from the smoothies):










Put them in the freezer (joining the smoothies):















Here's tomorrow's food in the fridge:

















oh yeah, that's housemate's spritzer in the back. Ignore that. For brekky and lunch I'll have salad, cooked greens, and my favorite raw veggies: carrots, sugar snap peas, and kohlrabi. For dinner, sweet corn & mashed avocado and salad. I'll have something similar every day. The salads and raw veggies I'll prepare every night for the next day, and the cooked stuff will come out of the freezer. We'll see how this works.

4 comments:

Dokken said...

Hi Barb,

I was with you on the last day of the Getaway when you were contemplating your Omega juicer purchase. Looks like you're enjoying it! Is it everything you thought it would be? You look super organized. Your work hours sound brutal, so being prepared will serve you well!

I made your baked beans today and my husband and I both loved them. It's his 5th day on ETL - he read the book when I got home from the Getaway and decided to become a nutritarian. (I think my enthusiasm was contagious.)

Good luck with the transition from home to campus!

To Your Health,
Lois (Dokken)

kneecap said...

Hi Lois!!!

ha, that's right, we were together when I checked the box for the omega juicer! I did feel sheepish when I got home and couldn't justify it. But once I started using it, all regrets vanished. I forget, were you thinking of getting it too?

I'm not sure I'm naturally organized, but I'm just trying to make it so I can have some fun on some of my weeknights, go to my morning exercise class on the way to work, and have enough time to sleep. All those hours away from home aren't just for work, so it's not a brutal schedule. And I'm totally enjoying working on campus!

That is wonderful news about your husband! I saw some of your posts on the forums. You commented that he is doing better than you did at first. Well, it must help having your experience to guide him, as well as your cooking!

-barb

The Crazy Woman Inside Me said...

Mmmm, your wonderful photos made me hungry, Barb! :D

Since I went vegan over a year ago (I'm not 100% any longer), I think greens have become my favorite veggie--especially kale. I actually salivate over the stuff! LOL Picked up 3 bunches at the farmers market and we'll be having that tomorrow with cashew-walnut garlic sauce. Yum!

A couple of months ago I treated myself to the Omega Vert juicer and I've been very pleased. I was deciding between that and the type that you have. From what I know, they're both supposed to be wonderful machines. Pricey, but worth the money for the healthy, tasty results.

Barb, thanks so much for your kind words about my artwork. I appreciate it. That's what I enjoy doing most when I'm not writing (or juicing--LOL). :)

kneecap said...

HI Susan,

Thanks for stopping by! It's fun when a famous person such as yourself visits. :) I'm glad we both like our juicers! I look forward to seeing more of your drawings on your blog!

-barb