Huge pot o' veggies

This is along the theme of the veggie pot I made last weekend. I just throw in whatever veggies I have, and add greens, beans, and seeds to make it have optimum nutrition, following Dr. Furhman's advice. We've been getting these giant broccoli and cauliflowers at the co-op. We had them twice this week with a guest, i.e., 6 servings, and still had a lot left. Here's what I had in the fridge from the co-op, all fresh and local:

broccoli

cauliflower

zucchini

beets (sweet!)

onion

eggplant

carrots

And from the garden:

kale

chard

1 collard green (decided I'd leave the rest for other meals this week)

tomatoes,

dill

basil

parsley (italian and curly)

I forgot to check for green peppers in the garden.

Here's a picture of the garden haul. There's a lot of kale under there:

I also had cooked up some white kidney (cannellini) beans. As I assembled the ingredients I realized I didn't have enough beans, but luckily found a can of adzuki beans in the cupboard.

I cooked this all in the pressure cooker. Some veggies take longer than others so I did it in two stages. The first stage was the eggplant, carrots, onion, beets, and kale, all cut up of course. I washed and then chopped the kale in the food processor. I cooked these up for 1 minute. It's such a big pot, it takes a few minutes to reach full pressure so it actually cooks longer, and it continues to cook while it's cooling and I'm preparing the other ingredients. Then I added the other ingredients except the beans, cauliflower and herbs. I cooked the cauliflower separately and then blended it in the blender with a bunch of hemp seeds and walnuts (portioned into however much you want per serving.) This made a nice creamy sauce. raw cashews would be even tastier than the walnuts, and a little sweeter. I added this to the final result, along with the beans and chopped herbs. pretty good! Next time I will juice the carrots and beets and it will be even tastier. This made 5 large servings (over 2 cups each), which I can then have each day this week. This will be a side dish to the corn at lunch and maybe at dinner too. Here's the result. It's more purple in real life from the beets. I froze 3 of the containers so they'll be fresher later in the week. Plus my plans might change.

This took about 1.5 hours to prepare because of all the chopping. But it was a fun thing to do on a Sunday afternoon when it was raining outside. And now food prep will be very quick the rest of the week.

One lesson learned from the pressure cooker: I'm finding if I use bean juice as my liquid, it's easy to burn the bottom. So I need to make sure to use plenty of water as my liquid, at least 1 cup for this big batch.

aug. 4

brekky: 1/2 musk melon, 2 carrots, a grapefruit, 2 Tbsp sunflower seeds

Lunch: corn on the cob + avocado butter, and a dish of veggies+greens+beans. This would have been really good but I burnt the lentils. I didn't follow the instructions for my pressure cooker--didn't add enough water to the lentils. I didn't realize they were burnt at the bottom until I had mixed everything in and cooked some more and was dishing it out. oops! So the sweet flavor of the beets and carrots got lost in the slightly burnt flavor. It would have been a great meal, and instead it was just okay. It was all local food except the lentils: eggplant, zucchini, kale from the garden, beets, carrots, onions, lentils, and basil, chives and dill from the garden. Here's the garden haul before cooking:

Our first tomato! We sliced it and ate it as is. That's the herbs on the left and kale in the middle. The lentil veggie mixture wasn't too bad so I went ahead and ate it for lunch and dinner. I'll probably have the rest at lunch tomorrow.

Dinner: 1/2 musk melon, 1/2 small orange, 3 carrots, some salad greens, and leftover veggie-lentils. oh, and I figured I needed more seeds so I had 2 Tbsp hemp seeds.

veggie pot

I'm going away for the weekend and wanted to empty the fridge so I cooked everything that was in my fridge (except some potatoes):

beets, onion, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, celery, zucchini, carrots, bag of frozen edamame, and hemp seeds; and herbs from the garden (dill, basil, chives).

The beets, onion, carrots, and broccoli stems take longer so I cooked them for 2 minutes in the pressure cooker, then added the rest (except the seeds), and cooked for another 2 minutes. Then put it into three big tupperware bowls. Then ground 3 Tbsp of hemp seeds and put them in each bowl and stirred.

So this has everything you need: veggies, greens, beans, and seeds. And it tastes great! I love beets and edamame combination, well, and everything else. yummy. so I'll be set with food for the weekend. fun!

July 16 -- Sweet corn!

Brekky: finished off the cantaloupe and honey dew melon. and the last ripe peach. yum.

Lunch: Sweet corn season is finally here! We have a corn stand a few blocks from our house with corn picked fresh each day. How great is that?! So of course, lunch was sweet corn. I also made a big batch of greens & beans, using my last kohlrabi and leaves from the garden, some fresh local beets, a little zucchini, black beans, and almond butter instead of seeds. I think I like the ground seeds more than the almond butter. I think I'm not a big fan of the almond butter. Anyway, this is at right in the picture:

For housemate, I made a potato & greens dish. For the corn, instead of butter, mashed avocado tastes fabulous. I have to resist the urge to add anything to it. I didn't resist today and added a few chives and basil, but it's better just plain. Then you taste the sweetness of the corn and the added fat and flavor of the avocado. I think this is better than butter. So you don't have to feel deprived. If you don't have avocado I just like it plain. The corn is really good on its own. Of course, it's been engineered to be way sweeter than it should be probably, which explains why it tastes so good. Here's housemate enjoying her corn:

Dinner was some watermelon, leftover greens & beans dish, and an apple with almond butter. Again, I'm not a big fan of the almond butter. I did a whole bunch of food prep after this and I guess I ate more than I thought while munching on the food. I occasionally nibbled on the almond butter. Well, I must have nibbled too much because I got really full. I am still full and it's 9:40 am the next morning. I hope I'm hungry by lunch. Anyway, I made a huge batch of greens & beans to freeze and take on my trip. This version was more of an Italian take, like this post. I used eggplant, mushrooms, zucchini, tons of kale from the garden, herbs from the garden (basil, dill, garlic chives), a leek, scallions, fennel, and 2 cans tomatoes (almost done with last year's garden cans!), about 6 cups of cooked canonelli beans (at least, it was 1.5 cups dried) and almond butter instead of seeds. I thought the almond butter would go better with the tomatoes but I still didn't like it as much as seeds. I also added some nutritional yeast. I forgot to get garlic at the store so didn't have that. It was good but I felt it was missing something--maybe the garlic. Maybe a touch of vinegar would be good too. This made a huge batch. I had fun preparing it. Here are four big pots. At top left are the short-cooking vegetables (zucchini, mushroom, herbs, chard), top right are the beans (cooked 8 minutes in the PC), bottom left, ton of kale shrunk in volume using the food processor, then bottom right, the rest of the veggies. I combined the bottom two pots, cooked for 3 minutes in the pressure cooker (PC), then added the short-cooking veggies, cooked for another 2 minutes, then added the beans, nutritional yeast and almond butter. It made about 12 generous cups which I dished into 6 plastic bowls for freezing.

After this I made 4 giant collard green/spinach smoothies to freeze. Now I'm all set for my trip. We are visiting friends who's eating style is completely opposite of mine--I mean, the complete other end of the spectrum. Everyone agrees we'll all be happier if I bring my own food. I'll just bring the frozen stuff and put it in their freezer. I also made a batch of cashew-orange dressing that I froze. So if they have some salad I'll eat that too.

another beans, greens, and seeds dish

This is as easy as this one, just a little different.

Ingredients for 2 servings:

about 5 oz chopped greens (collards, kale, chard, bok choy, etc.)

some starchy veggies (carrot, beets, zucchini)

1 cup beans

3 Tbsp seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, hemp). Hemp make the creamiest sauce, so I like 2 Tbsp hemp, 1 of something else. Grind in coffee grinder

some herbs or spices if you want (today I used a lot of parsley, and some dill and basil).

Cook the greens and veggies and herbs together (easier that way). Collards, kale, carrots, eggplant, and beets take a similar time to cook so I like that combo in the pressure cooker for 3 minutes. or steam for 25 minutes (for collard greens). Add the beans and seeds and the water the veggies cooked or steamed in. It turns into a creamy sauce. I made this today with kohlrabi and its greens, 2 small beets and their greens, and a carrot for the veggies & greens; black beans; and the herbs I mentioned above. It was really good. The beets and carrots made it sweet so it doesn't really need more flavoring. This is in contrast to this version that combines eggplant and mushrooms with tomatoes. zucchini can go in both recipes.

beans, geens, seeds and a cream sauce

Ingredients for 1 large serving

4 oz greens (e.g., collards, kale, chard)

a vegetable or two--e.g., carrot, beets (optional)

half of leek or onion

1 small zucchini or 1/2 large

1/2 cup beans

1 Tbsp hemp seeds

1 Tbsp sesame seeds

juice of 1/2 lemon

steam the greens, zucchini, onion, and vegetable. I cooked them in a pressure cooker for 3 minutes. I peeled the zucchini but didn't cut it up, since it cooks faster than collard greens if it's cut up.

In a blender, blend up the zucchini, seeds, and lemon. It makes a nice creamy sauce. Pour that over the vegetables and stir. It's tastes decadent because of the sauce, even though it's healthy. Here I used carrot for the veggie, and black beans.

easy beans, greens, and seeds

This is a high-protein meal, good for building muscles (if you exercise), and easy for me because it uses garden produce.

Ingredients for 2 servings:

about 5 oz chopped collard greens or other greens (kale, chard, mustard, bok choy)

1 leek or onion

1 16 oz can tomatoes

another veggie if you have one: e.g., zucchini, eggplant, mushrooms, about 1 cup chopped.

various herbs (today I had chives, dill, tarragon, basil, parsley from the garden)

1 cup cooked or canned beans

1 Tbsp each sunflower, pumpkin, hemp seeds (or any combination, all sunflower, whatever you have), grind in coffee grinder

Collards and kale take the longest to cook. Cook them and the leek/onion on stove top for 20 minutes or pressure cooker for 2 minutes (get a pressure cooker!). Then add everything else, cook for a little longer (5 minutes on stove, 30 sec in pressure cooker).

This was even better at dinner. Maybe it was the herbs. They added a nice flavor, especially the dill.

eggplant, veggies, & seeds

This is one of my favorites now. I finally learned how to make eggplant: you have to cook it enough for it to get really tender--at least for my tastes. The pressure cooker is perfect for that.  But this dish will work fine one a conventional stove--just cook for a long time.  Which reminds me,  the PC is a great summer appliance because it cooks things so quickly.  I highly recommend it!  Here is the one I got:

Ingredients:

1 eggplant

1 bunch of kale, or more if you'd like

a bunch of mushrooms, 8-16 oz

a leek or onion

any other veggie you want to throw in or subsitute--zucchini, for example.

2 16-oz cans of tomatoes (or 1 if you want)

herbs or italian spices or other spices (I used stuff currently in my garden:  chives, cilantro, tarragon, parsley.  The basil isn't ready yet).

ground seeds, I used hemp, sunflower, pumpkin.  I did 4 Tbsp but I might do 6 next time.

Peel and cut up the eggplant.  Cut up the kale, mushrooms and leek/onion.   Here's how I made it in the pressure cooker:  cooked the eggplant in 1/2 cup water for 2 minutes.  Then added the kale and onions for another 2 minutes.  Then added everything else for another minute.   For conventional stove, cook the eggplant, onions, kale and tomatoes for about 20 minutes, then add everything else for another 10.  that's my guess.  maybe cook the eggplant for even longer.

The ground seeds remind me of ricotta cheese so this feels kind of like an Italian dish.  

You can add beans or edamame too.   I often add edamame to the leftovers.

veggies, greens, & seeds

This is similar to beans, greens & seeds, but has veggies instead of beans.

Ingredients:

some veggies: I used a beet, a zucchini, some mushrooms, and some cauliflower

some onion or leek: I used 1/2 leek.

some greens: I had kale, mustard greens, baby bok choy.

some seeds: I used 1 Tbsp pumpkin and 1 Tbsp hemp, grind in coffee grinder

some herbs: I had tarragon, rosemary, cilantro, and chives from the garden.

I used a pressure cooker (PC) which made it go fast, but you can do this with a regular pot, steaming everything. Cook the longer-cooking things first (beets for 3 minutes in the PC). Then add the shorter-cooking stuff and cook some more (everything else but the seeds and herbs, 2 minutes in the PC). Then add the ground seeds and chopped herbs. Use whatever veggies, greens, seeds or nuts, herbs (dried or fresh) you have on hand.

It was great!

beans, greens, & seeds

I listened to a Fuhrman telecon about how to build muscle in which he recommended that you eat a high-quality protein meal combining beans, greens and nuts& seeds after exercising. Protein gets excreted from your system if you don't use it (i.e., build muscle), so it's good to eat it one or two meals after exercising. It turns out that this is an easy and delicious meal to make. Here are two examples, from today's lunch and dinner.

First, make a pot of beans (or just use a can!). Today I made a mixture of lima and pinto. I soaked them overnight, then rinsed, and cooked with a chopped onion for about 3 hours. At the end of cooking, I added from fresh herbs from the garden. Today that was chives, dill, a little cilantro, and tarragon. The garden cilantro and dill will end soon, but the basil will be strong soon, so there should be something all summer long. For fun, I added 2 tsp of fig vinegar. That was unnecessary but good.

Next, chop some greens and one other veggie. or more. whatever you want. My greens today were kale, baby bok choy, and mustard greens. I made enough for two. It was probably about 10 oz, so 5 each. I didn't measure it. It went into a big pot. I also added some mushrooms and a can of tomatoes. I cooked them in the pressure cooker for 2 minutes (or steam for 15 minutes or so). I ground up 1 Tbsp of hemp seed and 2 Tbsp sunflower seeds in the coffee grinder (the meal served two people). I added that to the greens, poured 1/2 cup beans on top, and the seeds. The seeds mixed with the cooking liquid and made the sauce a little creamy. It was fabulous.

For dinner, my greens were asparagus. okay, that doesn't count as greens, but it's a healthy vegetable. I added sesame seeds to the asparagus and pressure cooked for 2 minutes. then I thought I could grind them but I realized after cooking that you can't really separate them. So I thought, they might not digest well, so I ground up 2 Tbsp of sunflower seeds. Added that and juice of 1/2 lemon to the asparagus, topped with 1/2 cup beans. And added more herbs that I had picked for lunch. It was fabulous too!

I may be doing this sort of thing a lot. It's an easy way to get a high-nutrient, high-protein meal!

may 22

Today I was running out of food so I became creative and it turned out quite good. Brekky was the usual smoothie.

I froze some bananas in equal portions and had some leftover. I didn't feel like eating it right after brekky, so made a salad dressing out of banana, fresh mango, 1/2 oz walnuts, and 1 Tbsp blueberry vinegar, all blended up. I prefer beets instead of banana but this was still good.

Lunch was a salad, made from lettuce, orange bell pepper, 1/2 cup edamame, cilantro, and chopped kumquat peels (like orange zest), and the dressing I made. Cilantro and kumquat peels are good on just about anything, for future reference. This was really good! I ate some carrots while preparing.

I made a salsa for housemate's dinner (chips and salsa). I didn't have any of the usual ingredients, except canned tomatoes and cilantro, so I made it with tomatoes, kumquat peels, cilantro, and goji berries. It was really good, better than the standard recipes. I had some with celery sticks.

For dinner I used the pressure cooker (PC) to make vegetables with rutabaga-sesame sauce. This was easy and good. It is one of my favorite recipes because it feels like comfort food, and is somehow reminiscent of meals you get in restaurants (because of he sauce I guess) except this is healthy. First I cooked up the rutabaga and a beet in the PC for 2 minutes (peeled and cut them first). put the rutabaga in the blender. then added broccoli and mushrooms (the only veggies I have left in the fridge) to the PC and cooked for a minute. The extra minute finished cooking the beets and the other veggies. Then took the leftover liquid, added it to the blender with the sesame seeds and lemon juice. I forgot to rinse the sesame seeds and that does seem to make a difference--it did seem more bitter. I added some lime juice from my last 1/4 lime in the fridge. Blend this up into a nice sauce and pour it over the veggies and beets. yum. I didn't notice the bitter taste of the sauce when mixed with the veggies. Here's what it looked like before I devoured it. The sauce had a purplish color because of cooking the rutabaga with the beets. It was actually kind of pretty.

It's magic!

I tried out my new pressure cooker today and it was...like magic!  I cooked rutagaba in 2 minutes!  That takes about 30 minutes in a regular pan to get tender.  I cooked asparagus at the same time, so also in 2 minutes!  These were thick ones and you know how long those take to get tender in a regular pan (about 30 minutes!).   I cooked carrots and broccoli and cauliflower and peas in 1 minute.  Holy cow.  This was too fun.  and easy to use.  I am going to have so much fun with this!   Meals are going to take even less time to prepare!   Not only that, they preserve more nutrients than steaming in a regular pan.  Thanks to leangreenmama for an informative post about pressure cookers.  I bought the one she bought, without bothering to research.  Here's the amazon link.