Ah, another week of greens, greens, gorgeous greens! Even with two nights off from cooking, they got all ‘et up.
Tuesday night: Hearty Miso Soup with the Mizuna greens. You don’t have to be a vegetarian to appreciate this soup. I added soba noodles to make it even heartier. The recipe includes making a traditional fish-based broth with bonita flakes and kombu and you could substitute vegetable broth, but I recommend searching out the fishy ingredients because it really tastes authentic.
Wednesday night: No cooking, we just ate the rest of the miso soup. It was running low so I added some chicken broth. Which changed the taste enough that we ate it with walnut bread from Barrio Bakery. It should have been weird but instead was pretty tasty.
Thursday night: No cooking because it was our 10 year anniversary from the night we met (yay!) So we went to a new (to us) sushi restaurant that we loved: Sushi Ten. Cute, cozy spot with delicious, affordable sushi.
Friday night: Oh My Gosh Spaghetti Squash. I used collard greens and instead of toasted hazelnuts I just tossed on some Trader Joe’s Pistachio Nuts. There’s no picture because I completely forgot. So let’s just imagine it looked exactly like the picture from the My New Roots website.
Saturday night: No cooking because we were still celebrating our anniversary with a staycation getaway at the Starr Pass Marriott (fabulous!) including an amazing dinner at Primo. It was romantic and flavorful with attentive service. At times we were looking at each other with raised eyebrows mouthing the word “Wow”. A total treat.
Sunday night: Chicken cutlets with mustard greens and roasted acorn squash. I used chipotle-marinated chicken breasts from the Co-op freezer and this recipe for the squash. But a little warning about mustard greens. They are by nature on the bitter side. Even though this particular variety (Osaka Purple) is just beautiful.
Aren’t they pretty? Normally I cook them with something really rich like sausage – you know, something STRONG to compete with the bitterness. At least a healthy dose of garlic. In this dish I just sauteed them like you would milder greens with olive oil and salt and pepper. I liked it that way – because we had some bread and butter and the velvety acorn squash alongside – Jamie, not so much. But I have to emphasize it’s an acquired taste. The acorn squash, though, would be a hit with most people – I would have never thought to pair Parmesan cheese with roasted squash but it SO works.
Monday night: Indian Spiced Chickpea Quinoa Stew – A great crock pot recipe. I only started using a crock pot last fall and can’t believe how long I’ve deprived myself. One of my downfalls as a cook is a lack of patience to let things simmer long enough to truly be tender. Usually because I’ve waited too long to get started and I’m trying to get dinner ready before midnight. But with the crock pot, you dump in the ingredients in the morning. Then this:
turns into this:
while you work. I also added some other Indian spices like cinnamon and cardamom pods. It might give your digestive system a challenge (lotsa fiber!), but it’s a tasty veggie dish.
Left over: I still have one carrot and some of the potatoes – which is fine because they both keep very well – so I’ll probably use them up in a soup this coming week. And I was able to freeze some of the leftover spaghetti squash dish and Indian quinoa stew.
Not bad, not bad at all. I’m savoring the cool weather soups and stews while I can because in the desert, they won’t last much longer. It’s already starting to feel like spring. Not that I’m complaining. At all.
Oh and I got some cool grapefruit suggestions from friends on Facebook:
- Baking them: section it up then put sugar or honey and cinnamon on top, then bake it. (Courtney Robbins)
- Using them instead of lemon in a preserved lemons recipe. (Jared McKinley)
- Juicing them with oranges, honey, ginger and, get this, bell pepper! (Leila Lopez)
Off to the CSA for the next adventure. Here’s the new list:
- Arugula
- Black Spanish Radish
- Carrots
- Navel Oranges
- Purple Top Turnips
- Salad Mix
- Spring Onions
- Sweet Potatoes
Tune in next week to see what I do with them!