"Thou shalt plan meals" is, quite clearly, one of the ten commandments of the mummy-blogosphere. I've tried, people. I've tried. But I just can't do it. Here's why:
- Sometimes I just don't FEEL like eating what I planned, and since les gnenfants will probably complain about whatever I feed them, I'm going to make something I want to eat. So there.
- If I don't have a plan, I can base meals around whatever I find reduced at the supermarket. Hooray for yellow stickers!
- The veg box can sometimes throw a spanner in the works - like if we have even more parsnips than usual to use up.
- And then there's THIS issue...
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Am I the only one whose husband has a totally unpredictable appetite? We need to set up a support group, peoples!
No husbands were harmed in the making of this post.
Wednesday is veg box day around here (as well as being Five Favourites day, obviously), so I'm surprised I haven't written about it before now...
We get our box delivered from Riverford Organic
(and if you're in the UK and decide to give them a try, quote our
customer number - 598186 - for a free cookbook and a free 4th box, and
to help us earn free vegetables. Ta!). They do a variety of different
box types and sizes, so there's something for everyone. So - why go the way of the vegbox?
1. Less food shopping. There are few things I enjoy less than supermarket shopping, especially with small people in tow. Having a weekly delivery of fresh produce means I only have to do a "big" shop once a month (we freeze milk and bread, and buy extra fruit from the corner shop as needed).
2. Organic, seasonal produce. Deliveries come direct from a local farm, which is part of a larger franchise, meaning that we receive a greater variety than a single farm could provide. The franchise also includes a couple of farms in France and Spain which supply various items slightly earlier than we'd otherwise get them.
3. Price. Ok, the box probably costs a little bit more than I'd normally spend on veg (our usual is around £17.50, including free delivery). However, I know that we're getting good-quality stuff, and we're also getting more veg than I'd usually buy, meaning that we eat less of other things.
4. The culinary challenge. I must admit, I sometimes struggle to find things to do with all of the ingredients, but I always get there in the end, and we've made a few exciting discoveries along the way! (Wild garlic, anyone?)
5. Supporting producers and reducing food waste. As anyone who's been following the British media recently will know, supermarkets are pretty nasty to their suppliers, particularly vegetable farmers, and a lot of food is being wasted just because it doesn't meet stringent cosmetic criteria. This way, we're supporting farmers and eating the poor, maligned ugly vegetables. Go ugly vegetables!
(Not that they're that ugly, actually).
Here's what we got this week...
Mushrooms, salad leaves, spring greens, pointed peppers, broccoli, parsnips, leeks, spring onions and broad (fava) beans. It all comes in a box, which gets reused, and all packaging is picked up for recycling by the drivers. Win-win all round, really.
Linking up with Ashley for Five Favourites.
Much as I love our veg box, it does sometimes create minor problems.
And thus, this week, I find myself with three heads of celery to use up.
We're not keen on celery soup, and there is only so much of the stuff we can eat with hummous/peanut butter... please send help (in recipe form) or, failing that, a very hungry rabbit!
Hello t'interwebs! It's Friday again, which means it's time for 7QT...
1. I've just finished reading Sophie's Choice and I'm still not sure how I feel about it. Knowing what the "choice" was before I read the book obviously changed the experience a bit, and Styron's approach to the Holocaust is nowhere near as shocking now as it was in 1979 (add to that the fact that I studied the historiography of the Holocaust as a specialist subject in my last year at high school, and it loses its originality). What I really didn't like was all the (really) nasty language, which almost made me stop reading before the end of chapter 2. You have been warned...
2. (Hides face in shame) So I may have made my children matching outfits for Easter... This is possibly the last year where they'll all be happy to be matching, so it was now or never. Also, I found a really easy dress pattern on the internet. More to come on that one once I've sewn all the buttons on and taken some pictures! (Mothers of the internet: please don't shoot me. I'm still on maternity leave at the moment and I only have ONE CHILD for six whole hours on a Thursday, which is when these sorts of things happen).
3. I had two heads of cavolo nero (black kale) lurking in the back of the fridge that I wasn't sure what to do with. In the end, I made kale pesto:
- Strip leaves from kale stalks. Discard stalks.
- Plunge leaves into boiling water for 1 minute, then drain, rinse in cold water and squeeze out most of the moisture
- Place kale in blender with a couple of cloves of garlic, a glug (yes, that is a culinary term) of olive oil, salt, pepper, and a handful of blanched almonds
- Find toddler willing to press blender button several times over the course of a few minutes.
We had ours with roasted root vegetables (it being Friday in Lent and all), but it would work pretty well with pasta, gnocchi, etc. I have a jar of preserved garlic cloves in the back of the cupboard at the moment, so I used those: they have a fairly mild flavour and don't need cooking. If you're using normal, raw garlic, though, I'd suggest blanching it with the kale.
I suspect walnuts would be a pretty good substitution for the almonds, and it goes without saying that parmesan cheese would definitely add something... in any case, my kids ate it without complaining, so it's a winner in my books.
4. Also on a culinary note, I have oompa-loompa orange hands at the moment from chopping up butternut squash this morning. I just felt the need to share that. Sorry.
5. Last weekend, Mx asked me if her godmother had fixed Jesus. It took me a while to work out where the idea had come from... turns out she was getting "Jo" (her godmother - who also happens to be a doctor, so you can see where the fixing-people thing comes in) mixed up with "Dieu" (i.e. God). Nice idea, but... no.
6. Pointless philosophical reflection of the day: why is it so hard to find purple shoe polish? Hmmmm. Mx's boots are definitely looking a bit the worse for wear, and I'd like it if they could last until after Easter...
7. I had to change the names of two of my posts when I found out that "BabyLit" is actually a thing. They're now called Baby Edits. Vol. 1 is here and vol. 2 is here.
On that note, have a very happy weekend!
Linking up with Kelly for 7QT.
Goooooood morning the internet!
As you may have noticed, it's Lent. For many families, this means eating less (or no) meat.
I find that one of the easiest ways to make a vegetarian version of family favourites is to pick a veg as a "focus" for the dish; our favourite "replacement" vegetable at the moment is butternut squash.
Lent coincides with the hungry gap (the period when very few vegetables are ripe), so our veg box includes quite a lot of imports from further south or crops which keep well - leaving us with a pretty good supply of squash!
I don't really deal in actual recipes, seeing as the internet is full of them - these are more ideas. One thing, though: roasting your squash first really does make a difference in terms of flavour. If the skin is thin enough, peel it first, then cut into cubes. If the skin is a bit tougher, cut into rounds, then chop the edges off and cut into cubes as before. Toss the cubes in a little oil and bake at 180°C for about 20 minutes. And then...
1. Pizza. Homemade pizza, topped with cubes of roasted squash, rocket (AKA arugula) and mozzarella cheese.
2. Risotto (orziotto). This is one of our favourites. Orziotto is just like risotto, but made with pearl barley instead of rice. In this case, squash goes well with peas, mint and parmesan cheese - and possibly a few hazelnuts for added crunch.
3. Lasagne. Use your usual recipe, but replace the meat sauce with roasted squash, leeks, (bell) pepper and rosemary. We had this last night and it was pretty good.
4. Moroccan squash stew. Cubed squash, tinned chopped tomatoes, tinned cooked chickpeas, a couple of carrots and an onion. Salt, pepper, cumin. Chili, if you like. Crockpot, low, four hours. Go.
(Good with couscous, or rice, or potatoes, or just bread).
5. Make friends.
Have
a squash you don't know what to do with? Googly eyes and a touch of
felt tip make all the difference. Just sayin', internets. Just sayin'.
(also, if anyone knows why my font keeps changing in blogger, please let me know!)
Linking up with Ashley for Five Favourites.
