How to Save Wilted Greens

-Sad Leaf :(

Oh no! I waited to long to use my kale and now it no longer has that durable, crispness. The kale seems smaller…and I do not know how well the kale will cooked in this wilted state. Ice water to the rescue! 

This trick can save nearly any leafy green that was forgotten about for one day to long. I used this for radish greens, spinach, baby card, etc.

Method: 

—1 Fill a bowl large enough to fit your greens with cold water and ice 

—2 Submerge the greens in the water and leave for 15-20 minutes, or however long it takes for the leaves to regain their crispness and body. 

—3 When done, pat dry and use! 

-Happy Leaf! :)

How to Save Wilted Greens 

-Sad leaf :(

Oh no! I waited to long to use my kale and now it no longer has that durable, crispness. The kale seems smaller…an  

Oh no! I waited to long to use my kale and now it no longer has that durable, crispness. The kale seems smaller…and I do not know how well the kale will cooked in this wilted state. Ice water to the rescue! 

This trick can save nearly any leafy green that was forgotten about for one day too long. 

-Happy leaf! :)

Method: 

—1 Fill a bowl large enough to fit your greens with cold water and ice 

—2 Submerge the greens in the water and leave for 15-20 minutes, or however long it takes for the leaves to regain their crispness and body. 

—3 When done, pat dry and use! 

Happy leaf saving!

Kale Soup

Here is a recipe using the vegetable scrap broth made from the recipe below! This soup is full of vegetables, and thanks to the chick peas and brown rice, it can be a complete meal. This soup can be enjoyed warm or cool, for dinner or for lunch. For the rice, you could substitute with another boiled grain like barley, or use some pre cooked pasta. White beans can also be subbed for the chick peas. This dish also goes great with some shredded chicken pieces as well.

Ingredients:

• One bunch kale 
• 1 bunch carrots 
• 4-6 garlic scrapes 
• 1 heaping cup cooked brown rice (add more if you wish.)
• About 2/3 of a head of celery 
• 1 can chick peas (I did not drain them)
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil 
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin 
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper 
• Salt
• 7-8 cups broth 

Method: (If going to use the scraps made from the vegetables going in making a broth, chop these vegetables before and save them in the refrigerator.)

1—Wash all produce. Cut off ends of the celery and save the leaves for for a garnish or for a latter recipe (or just eat them there). Peel away the strings and chop into 1 inch cubes. Chop carrots into 1 inch cubes/rounds. Rip kale leaves away from stem and tear into bite sized pieces. Chop garlic scrapes into 1 inch segments. 

2—Bring broth to a light boil. Add the vegetable ingredients and then reduce to a simmer. Cook until vegetables are tender, about 20-30 minutes. 

3—Add rice and chick peas. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed

Serve with grated parmesan cheese or toasted chopped nuts.

  

Enjoy!

Recipe and photos by Kate Mitchell 

Vegetable Scrap Broth 

What do you do with all those carrot tops and and vegetable peels? You many have noticed that I often say to save those things in my recipes, and here is how you can use them! This recipe helps use every part of the vegetable, so you can get the most of your money and the farmer's market 

There is a basic guid for making your own vegetable broth, and that is to have a carrot + celery + onion combination as your base. Once you have that, you can add the ends and skins of almost any other vegetable. I found I did not have to keep the onion part of the formula, but I would defiantly recommend keeping 2 of the 3 in your broth. 

If you do not want to have the scraps taking up space in your refrigerator, you can freeze them until you have amounted enough to make a batch of broth with. 

What I did was keep a container in the refrigerator where I would put my scraps. Also, I pre cut the vegetables for the soup recipe I was going to use the broth for and put those fresh scraps right into the broth as it was steeping. 

Prep time: Varies, but not much more than 15 minutes total 

Total Time: A little over one hour 

Yield: About 7 cups of broth 

Ingredients:

• (That I used) 
• About 3-4 loose cups of:
• Carrot tops 
• Fennel stems 
• Kale stems 
• Celery bottom plus peels 
• Radish tops 
• Half a cucumber’s worth of peals 
• 6-8 cups of water 
• 1 teaspoon bullion
• Salt and pepper to taste 

You can also use potato peels, onion hearts and their outer peels, ginger peels (effects taste a bit. But if thats what you want, awesome.) and herb stems. 

There are some vegetables to avoid using in your broth, such as cabbage, and beets, as it will turn the broth a bright purple and might leave a overly strong flavor.

Method: 

1—Place all ingredients in a large pot 

2—Bring to a boil, then turn heat to low and simmer for an hour

3—After the hour is up, taste the broth. If the flavor is too mild, let simmer for a little longer

4—Remove vegetable scraps and compost or discard 

Store for a later us, or add vegetable pieces to make a soup! 

Enjoy! 

Recipe and photos by Kate Mitchell 

Black Bean Patties 

Who needs meat when you have beens and rice and veggies? These patties have a complete protein, along with the nutrient rich yet low calorie density vegetables for extra texture and flavor. 

In these I used brown rice, but you could also use quinoa or bread crumbs. It gives the patties a lighter texture.

The chard works very well in this dish. The cooked leaves were tender and the flavor lends well. You probably could use regular “adult” chard as well.

The end result goes *really* well with ketchup. I highly recommend it. 

For serving ideas, you could put them on slider buns, serve alongside scrambled eggs, as a plain side dish, or eat them as is, like I did :) 

Time: 25 minutes 

Makes: about 5 small patties, or two servings

Ingredients:

• 1 cup black beans, drained
• 1/2 bell pepper, chopped 
• 1/2 cup brown rice
• 1 chopped scallion, including the greens
• About 2 handfuls of baby chard 
• Salt 
• Pepper 
• 1/2 teaspoon chilli pepper 

Method: 

1—Drain and rinse beans and wash produce.

2—Chop pepper into 1/2 inch cubes. Remove large stems from the card and rip/chop into smaller pieces. Chop scallion finely.

3—Heat 1 teaspoon of oil, or about 1/4 cup water, in a skillet and add the vegetables. Cook until soft, about 7 minutes.

4—In a medium sized bowl, combine rice, beans, vegetables, and seasonings. Mash with a potato masher or with a large for until the mixture turns into something that you can pick up and form into ball with your hands. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed. 

5—Form the mixture into small patties, about 3 inches in diameter. Heat a little more oil in the same skillet and fry the patties until they start to get slightly brown and can be flipped over. 

6—Once browned on both sizes, they are ready to serve. 

Enjoy!

Recipe and photos by Kate Mitchell 

Enjoy!

Day 3

Got on top of plaining and things are feeling fine. There is less food in the refrigerator so it makes going in there less overwhelming. Feeling happy with all the good food I have been able to make. 

In the name of using every part of the vegetable, I will attempt to make pickled Kale stems. I once talked to someone running a no food waste cooking demo, and even he said he threw out his kale stems. However I found online (thank you epicurious.com) someone saying you could pickle the stems, so I am going to try that and see how they come out. Operation no food waste goes onwards!

Lessons: Plaining is very important. Next time I will organize what I am going to use and when, so I can place the produce I will be using at the beginning of the week in the front of the fridge and leave things that can last a few days like the napa cabbage berried in the back to be unearthed when it is ready. 

Tips: The internet is such an amazing food resource. Trouble shooting? Someone has had the same problem and has written an easy on how to solve it. I also like to get 2-3 variations of a  recipes before I make it for myself, to get an idea of what is curtail to the dish and what I can experiment with.  

SAVE THOSE CELLRY LEAVES! I once saw a professional chef use them to garnish a dish, and I found that the leaves had a wonderful sweet celery flavor and were very tender. I use the leaves in two recipes tomorrow.

Made: 

Black Bean Patties 

Vegetable Broth 

Kale Soup 

Ginger Pickled Carrots

Pickled Kale Stems and Asparagus 

Breakfast: black bean patties 

Lunch: leftover alfredo and potato salad with chicken 

Dinner: kale soup with chicken 

Zucchini “Alfredo” Noodles 

While this dish may not taste exactly like traditional linguini with alfredo sauce, it is still quite tasty while being incredibly low carbohydrate, low fat, high protein and high in nutrients. I use the same vegetable “noodler” that I wrote about in the Carrot Cucumber Soba Salad recipe, and for $20 (actually it's on sale for $11 at the moment) you get a really fun way to eat many vegetables. The zucchini has a compact texture that keeps its shape when cooking, thus the end product is noodles that you can twirl around with your fork. 

If the sauce is not rich enough for you tastes, feel free to add more oil. This dish also goes great with toasted bread crumbs (I used toasted tortilla crumbles as that was the only bread like substance in my house at the time). It gives that extra texture boost, and since the “pasta” is actually a vegetable, there is not gilt to using bread to mop up any remaining sauce in your bowl.

Serves 2 

Time: 25 minutes 

Ingredients: 

• 1 large zucchini or 2 small ones 

Sauce:

• 3/4 cup low fat or fat free greek yogurt 
• 1 heaping Tablespoon grated parmesan cheese 
• 1-2 teaspoons lemon juice 
• 2 teaspoons olive oil 
• Salt 
• Pepper 

Method: 

1—Wash produce. Get out a vegetable spiralizer/zoodler and make the noodles according to the appliance’s directions. Using the zoodler that I have, I found that holding the appliance steady on the countertop while I twisted the zucchini was the easiest method of making the noodles. I would recommend cutting the noodles a little as you go as otherwise the noodles can get so long it becomes a logistical challenge to eat them 

2—Heat a small amount of oil/butter or water in a skillet and then add noodles and cook until tender, about 7 minutes. Ideally any excess water should be cooked off by the time the noodles are done, but if not, drain any water that is drainable. Toast bread if using that as a topping.

3—Mix all sauce ingredients in a small bowl, taste to and just seasonings if needed, and mix in with noodles. 

4—Put noodles in bowls and top with crumbled toast and additional grated parmesan cheese. 

Serve warm 

Enjoy! 

Recipe and photos by Kate Mitchell 

Carrot Cucumber Soba Noodle Salad 

What is better then a cold noodle salad on a hot summer day? In this salad there are vegetables cut into noodle like shapes to add more flavor and texture, and also to lower the caloric density of the dish, so you can go ahead and have a good sized bowl! I learned a few lessons from making this dish. 1, to use a large pot to cook the soba in as my noodles got all cut up into 1 inch sections by the time they were drained. They were still delicious, but just not the look I initially had in mind. The second lesson is to always be innovated, creative and on my toes when preping produce! Instead of using a vegetable noodle maker like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Zoodle-Slicer-ZS001-Vegetable-Spiral/dp/B00M6I6MG0 as I was originally plaining on, I needed to slice the produce by hand after I found the carrots and cucumber did not fit in the appliance. I recommend saving the carrot ends as they are great for making home made vegetable broth.

It's beast to eat this dish within 3-4 days otherwise it starts to get glommy and starchy

Ingredients:

1 package (or 4 servings worth) buckwheat soba noodles 

3 medium carrots 

1 medium cucumber 

1 Tablespoon soy sauce 

1 Tablespoon rice vinegar  

1 tablespoon toasted sesame seed oil 

Ginger powder 

Garlic powder 

Touch sugar 

Method: 

1—Prepare soba noodles according to instructions on package. Put cooled noodles in a large mixing bowl and set aside.

2—Wash produce. Peal and cut out seeds from cucumber (cucumbers will very) and chop off hard ends of carrots. Either slice into noodle sized slices by hand or use a mandolin. Cut ends off carrots and mandoline into long strips by taking the whole carrot and sliding it lengthwise down over the mandoline blade. 

3—In a skillet, boil about 1/2 cup water or a small amount of oil. (I like to use as little oil when cooking as I can). Add carrots and cook for about 4 minutes, until they start to soften but are not fully cooked. Add sliced cucumber and cook until everything is cooked through, or soft to your preferences. The idea is to get them a similar texture to the buckwheat noodles. 

4—Cool veggies by running them under cold water in a colander (the same colander used to drain the noodles ideally. Saves time) 

5—Place all ingredients along in the bowl with the noodles and toss to combine. Taste and add more rice vinegar, soy sauce, ginger, or some sugar. 

6—Serve chilled 

Enjoy! 

Recipe and photos by Kate Mitchell 

Day 2

Feeling a lot better about the project now that I see the the veggies in the refrigerator being put to use. Now that the fennel is in its respective salad and it's big green stems are in a "scrap" container saved for broth, the amount of green stuff in my house feels a lot more controllable. 

Lessons: Communication is VERY important. I had planned to make a radish and carrot green pesto, but unfortunately someone in my house who is used to throwing them out good-naturedly cut them off for me. Oh well. Next time I will state when I get home my plans of using every part of the vegetable I can. Of all the things to be lazy with, communication is not one of them I have found. It also might be best to store cucumbers in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. I tried some internet advice and left them out on the countertop, but they had lost some of their water by the time I had got to them (3 days).

You get the odd shaped veggies and the seedy veggies at the local market. But that is such a good thing! Those vegetables might have been thrown out if they were sent to a supermarket.

I have also found that it is really easy to waste when you have a lot of food in the house. The more you have, throwing a little away seems like less of a crime. A carrot green here, one leek there…I must not let it happen! So far I have managed to waste very little. Though some fennel stems I was saving for broth did not make it back into the refrigerator…I am still pleased with my progress.

Tips: I highly recommend getting a mandoline if you do not have one already!  I have had a very small dinky one for some time now, and it has really been a pleasure. I find raw vegetables sliced paper thin easier to eat, and they take on more sauce that way too. 

Things Made: 

Carrot Cucumber Soba Noodle Salad

The second half of the Fennel Radish Potato Salad

Zucchini “Alfredo” Noodles 

There is much to be learned and much to be learned!  

Mini Blueberry Tarts With Oat Flour Crust 

There are blueberries in the market now! From eating frozen blubbery smoothies all spring, I wanted this dessert to showcase the blueberry in it’s fresh, raw glory. But sometimes a dessert needs to be more then just a bowl pf fresh blueberries (it still totally can be though!) I followed an oat flour pie crust recipe because one, my family likes to go wheat free when we can, and two, it was a lot simpler then a typical tart crust recipe. I served this at a dinner party and got great reviews from everyone.

You can make your own oat flour very easily! All you need is to place the same amount of oats as the amount of flour called for in the recipe (1 cup of oats makes approximately 1 cup of flour). 

I followed the video in the recipe link here: http://www.oatmealwithafork.com/2014/11/14/5-ingredient-no-roll-pie-crust-gluten-free-nut-free/ but found that it needed 1 more cup of flour. Funny. You can follow my recipe, or you can start with the lady’s recipe and keep adding flour until it reaches the texture as is in the video.

Makes 10 tarts 

Equipment: Muffin tin

Ingredients

Filling:

1 Quart fresh blueberries 

2 Tablespoons honey 

Lemon juice 

Cinnamon for garnish (optional)  

Mint for garnish (optional)

For Crust:

2+1/2 cup quick oats 

1/4 cup olive oil 

2 Tablespoons sugar 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

4-6 Tablespoons very cold water, as needed

Sprinkle cinnamon (optional) 

Method: 

1—Pre heat oven to 375 F. 

2—Make oat flour, or portion out of a bag if store bought. (when I made my own oat flour, I had to put it in the freezer because the act of blending the flour made it very hot) Mix all dry crust ingredients together. 

3—Add olive oil and mix to combine. Add the cold water one Tablespoon at a time, until you can make a ball with the mixture and it will stay in that form. You want to make the mixture so that it does not crumble apart when forming it, but also so that it is not so wet that it sticks to your hands. 

4—Portion out the dough into 10 spaces in a muffin tin. Form into little cup shapes, where the bottom and sides are a little less then 1/2 of an inch thick. Make indentations on the bottom of each with a fork so that the bottom will not puff up in the oven.

5—Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until they crusts are showing a golden brown color. When done take out of the oven and let cool completely. 

6—While the tarts are baking, place all the filling ingredients in a bowl and lightly toss with a spoon to cover all the blueberries. 

7—Run a small knife or spatula around the edges or each tart and carefully remove and set on a plate. Spoon enough of the blueberry mixture to from a little mound. Garnish with whatever inspires you. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Fennel Radish Potato Salad 

This is a side great for summer thanks to its minimal cooking time. This dish has more protein and much less fat then typical potato salad thanks to using greek yogurt as a base for the dressing. So I would say this is pretty much guilt free! I found it went great over a bed of baby arugula. The sweetness of the salad went well with the tartness of the greens. 

Want to use every part of the fennel plant? Save the long, tough green stems for using to make home made vegetable broth! The flavor is sweet and in broth fairly subtle.

This is a dish where it tastes best after sitting in the fridge for an hour

Total time: 20 minutes 

This recipe is for a half batch and serves 4

(I liked it so much I made a second batch with the remaining ingredients I had) 

Ingredients: 

Half a fennel bulb 

2 medium red russt potatoes   

1/2 bunch radishes

For the dressing: 

1/2 cup greek yogurt (I used fat free, but you could also use 2%)

1 heaping Tablespoon miracle whip or mayo 

1 Tablespoon honey 

Pepper 

Salt 

About 2 Tablespoons chopped greens (the parts that looks like dill)

1 Tablespoon lemon juice 

Method: 

1—Bring enough lightly salted water to cover potatoes to a boil in a small pot. Chop potatoes into 1 inch cubes and add cubes to the water. Cook until a fork can be inserted easily, after about 7 minutes. 

2—While potatoes are cooking, chop fennel cross wise into pieces that resemble the ones in the picture. They should look like little “U”s and be about 1/8 of an inch in thickness. A mandoline slicer can help with this. Either mandolin or slice the radishes as thin as possible. 

3—Add cooked potato, radish and fennel to a large bowl. Add dressing ingredients and toss until all the ingredients are well mixed. 

Serve chilled

Enjoy!

Simple Summer Squash Frittata 

It is hard to go wrong with eggs and vegetables. There are endless 

combinations! Eggs help bring out the sweetness of vegetables, add protein, flavor and heft. I really like this recipe because it is relatively easy to make, is incredibly healthy, and just tastes so good! It can be eaten at breakfast, dinner or a snack. Any time of day really! This made recipe about 4 servings, but I only got one because my family ate it before I could have some for lunch! Next time I will make more :). I used a 5x7 heat proof glass dish and it was perfect for this recipe, but any glass baking dish that is not too big should do.

The key to frittatas is to cook the summer squash and zucchini before adding the egg. It makes sure the dish will have a great texture and not turn out soggy.

Total Time: 45 minutes 

Prep time: 15

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 small zucchini 
• 1/2 large summer squash
• 1 whole scallion, including greens, chopped 
• 2-4oz fully cooked ham, chopped into tiny pieces 
• 3 eggs
• Splash of milk
• A few pinches oregano 
• Salt
• Pepper

Fresh Tomato slices for serving.

Method:

1—Set oven to 415 degrees F. With a large knife or with a mandolin, cut zucchini and summer squash into either 1/8th or 1/4th of an inch slices. 

2—In a non stick skillet (or any other pan with just a smidge of oil), heat up about 1/2 cup of water until boiling. Add squash, a few flakes of salt, and cook, stirring frequently, until the slices are tender and starting to get that translucent touch that they get when cooked. Drain off any excess water 

3—While the squashes are cooking, prep the remaining ingredients. Beet the eggs with a fork until well mixed, then add the splash of milk, oregano, salt, and pepper. Chop ham into very small pieces, so there will be flavor in every bite without being overpowering. Chop scallions into 1/4 inch pieces.

4—Lightly grease a Take half the squash mixture and cover the bottom of the 5x7 glass dish. Take half of the squash mixture and half the ham and scallions and cover the bottom of the dish. Layer the rest of the squash and ham on top. Poor egg mixture over vegetables and top with a hearty amount of grated parmesan cheese. I had a scallion leaf left over, so I placed it on top as decoration

5—Bake in oven for 15 minutes, then turn off heat and leave in oven for an additional 15 minutes. 

Serve warm. To make a bigger meal, add slices of fresh tomato, avocado, and toast or boiled grain. 

Enjoy!

Day 1

Feeling some anxiety over the refrigerator situation. There are so many bags of leaves, it is difficult to find specific things that I need. (that second to the top shelf is "my shelf", the only space I am supposedly allowed) Also feeling concerned that I overbought at the market (later I will see that the amount I got was almost perfect). It would have been good to have logged how much veggies I ate in a week before doing this project. I will do that next time. Mother is very upset about the large fennel head. Good thing I have a recipe to take care of that! 

Things made: 

Simple Squash Frittata

Black Bean Arugula Bowl (Basically brown rice, salsa, fennel greens, chicken, avocado all over a bed of baby arugula. It did not taste great so there will be no recipe on it)

Fennel Radish Potato Salad 

Mini Blueberry Tarts with Oat flour Crust. 

Breakfast: Simple Strata with fresh tomato, avocado, and barley. 

Lunch: Black Bean Arugula Bowl 

Dinner: at a friend’s house, Mini Blueberry Tarts for dessert.   

Lessons learned: It was smart of use that fennel up quickly. This type of project needs a lot of plaining! I imagine if I had a better plain going into this, I would have been able to organize the refrigerator so that what I needed was always up front when I was ready to use them, e.g the the napa cabbage be in the far back because I will be using that on Monday/Tuesday. 

Tips: Going to a friend’s house for dinner and still need to use what you bought from the market? Bring a dish or dessert! 

Market Day 

June 30th 2016

The Goal: Buy enough produce to last me until the next market.

The Haul:

• 1 bunch beets 
• 2 carrot bunches 
• 1 fennel bulb including stems 
• 3 loose cups garlic scrapes 
• 1 medium bag baby arugula 
• 1 medium bag baby chard 
• 4 medium red potatoes 
• 1 small and one large zucchini 
• 1 large summer squash 
• 1 large green papper 
• 1 small napa cabbage 
• 1 bunch kale 
• 1 celery head 
• 2 large tomatoes 
• 1 quart blueberries
• 2 cucumbers 

What I Had in Mind While Buying: I had about 3 recipes already planned (pickled asparagus, beet chickpea bowl, and fennel radish potato salad) so I bought things for them, but other then that I just bought things that sparked my interest. Personally I find it fun to create recipes from random ingredients, however next time I would have a few more recipes plained before I went to the market. It would have made the shopping experience faster and less stressful. 

Lessons Learned: Before attempting to bring that haul home, it is very important to communicate how much food you will be bringing with anyone you are sharing living space with. I thought I had explained my goals to my mother well enough, but I misses some things and she made a portion of soup to last for several days the day of the market, throwing a challenge into my plain to eat only market food and to waste little to no food. 

Tips: Once you get home, make a plain of how to use the produce and when, prioritizing using the vegetables that take up the most space first. This helped give me some peace of mind. 

I felt rather unwell that evening, so the official challenge of using the produce would start the next day.

Here goes!