THIS IS YUM!!!!!! (that’s what I thought when I tasted it!) zucchini idea

Okay. First you need to understand that I grind up all my garlic and put it in olive oil (because my roommate cannot stand the smell of dehydrating garlic)… the good part is I have garlicky olive oil, and my garlic lasts as long as it takes me to use it, if I keep it in the refigerator.

Next, it is a good idea for you to understand that I put a lot of my “dehydrator sun-dried tomatoes’ in olive oil to save them and use them more easily (they stay softer than if they are just dried and stored)

I  got a lot of  zucchini in the last two  shares, and, with my roommate  in  Japan  now,  I am really stretching to get through the share…. There  is a limit to how many times you can eat zucchini pasta in a day…….. let alone in a week.

INGREDIENTS

2 med. zucchini
1 sm. onion
1/4 C sundried tomatoes in olive oil (fork out of the container)
1 fork-worth of ground garlic in olive olive oil (@1 T garlic powder plus 1/8 t oil)

In a food processor, combine all ingredients, and process to a fine paste.

Use as a pate, served on a plate; as a dip for vegetables or crackers; or as you will.

I plan to dehydrate anything I have not used by tomorrow afternoon.  (I will smoothe the leftovers on a teflex sheet and dehydrate them, then use the crumbles in salads or pile them into green smoothies, or add them into sauces.

11/01/07 CSA SHARE: the reality

This farmer obviously thinks I need lettuce. He substitutes all sorts of things, but he never substitutes anything for the lettuce. Fortunately, as I think I may have mentioned before, I have discovered that you can dehydrate lettuce, and, last night, I dehydrated 3 heads of lettuce which had survived the two weeks that I was away (I guess my room-mate doesn’t like that much lettuce either — she neatly disappeared all of the other vegetables, but the lettuce lay there, waiting for me)

 Here you have what they said I would get vs what I got

Radicchio…………………1 head         2 small eggplants
Broccoli……………………2 heads      1 head
Carrots……………………1 bunch
Toscano Kale…………….1 bunch
Purple Top Turnips……..1 bunch……….1 huge turnip
Red Oakleaf Lettuce……1 head
Scallions…………………1 bunch
Arugula………………….1 bunch
Green Boston Lettuce…..1 head

I know that I can make all of this food disappear this week.  Between the lettuce dehydration, my new smoothie expertise, and my juicing skills, it might be gone by the weekend.

I do like that Boston lettuce, though…. now this seems funny to me– earlier in the season, we got the same thing, but that time it was called butter lettuce.  Boston/butter lettuce is so soft that you can wrap up things in it very easily. I might make some wraps with it tonight, using the leftovers from last night (I made a quick and easy almond pate with some soaked almonds, a handful of the summer’s dried tomatoes, a sprinkling of the dried leeks–they turned out to be quite spicy–, and some herbs, and some kale.)

DINNER TONIGHT

DINNER TONIGHT

Sorry no specific recipes. I just looked at what I had from the CSA tonight, and what I had left over from last week, with some almonds and dehydrated tomato slices (thanks to the 40 lbs of tomatoes last month!) I had on hand.

I chose:
red kale
several turnip leaves
an onion
a red bell pepper
two Roma tomatoes
1 med. small turnip
1 beet
arugula leaves
1 red lettuce leaf
1/4 clove garlic
@ 1 tomato worth of dried tomato slices, soaked
some almonds
Thai curry paste
sea salt
apple cider vinegar
extra virgin olive oil

I made massaged greens salad with the kale and turnip leaves (see recipe in recipes section), 1/4 onion, all sliced very thin, 1/4 bell pepper minced, a squirt of Thai green curry paste, a sprinkle of sea salt, and a dash of olive oil (extra virgin, of course).

I made a pate with @ 1-1/2 C almonds, 2 Roma tomatoes, the dried tomato slices, 3/4 red bell pepper, 1/2 onion, 1/4 clove garlic, all ground fine in the food processor.

I made a beet/turnip/onion salad with the turnip, the beet, 1/4 onion, and @1/2 tsp. apple cider vinegar. I processed everything fine in the food processor, to the consistency of apple sauce.

Because my room-mate is a foodie, and cares about presentation, I placed the greens neatly on the plate, put three arugula leaves on the plate and flattened two balls of the pate on top of them, and then put 1/2 of the red lettuce leaf on the plate and arranged an interesting drizzle of the beet/turnip/onion salad in the shape of the leaf. She ended up wrapping the pate in the arugula leaves, and the beet/turnip/onion salad in the lettuce. (I ended up copying her wraps, and I wrapped the greens with the pate)

You know… I did not stop to think about food combining tonight. I absolutely did not think about 80/10/10 (because I never do). I know I need some fat and protein, so there were the almonds and the oil (I did consciously think about that). This was a totally “intuitive” meal.

I feel okay, and I am really happy that I had a delicious meal. I do not feel any ill effects, and I am going to save the leftovers and eat them tomorrow at work. I really do not even feel that I need to be giving excuses, although I am, simply so you will not go saying “Oh, but you should have….” Let’s put it this way. I ate a good healthy meal. My body is happy, and I am not having any rash break-outs (that is how my body reacts to wrong eating). I am full, and I am looking forward to tomorrow, not to the next thing to eat.