What's New: Kitchen Stuff, Washing Method, Co-Op Location, Soup Recipes & Faux Baking

It finally feels like fall here. That means nice temps in the 80* degree + range, sunny days and a bit of rare rainfall. I also finally broke out my hoodie for night time because once the sun is behind the mountains it gets chilly quickly. I have been wondering when I was going to start craving autumn foods and the time has finally come! I have about 10 pounds of apples in the fridge that are quickly releasing gases and ripening all other foods, and need to be turned into something, or plain eaten. Even though it has been cooler outside, I still eat ice cream as much as possible (soy, not cow, for those new readers). Here we have a newer version of my infamous fruitshake with a lot less ingredients. This is Double Rainbow Soy Vanilla Bean ice cream with 365 organic soy milk, organic hemp seeds, tons of blueberries and a few Newman's O's. Oh yum.

Above is my new veggie and fruit washing method. Dreena has a wonderful method for washing produce and I decided to do the same. What a time-saver. I love having everything cleaned at once, ready to go in the fridge, and I don't have to worry about those extra steps while prepping food. This is my real dish drainer, but I have converted a smaller one, but deeper for my new washing method. I highly recommend trying this. It really cuts out a lot of time in the long run. Thanks Dreena!

Ah, yes... fridge photos. This is craziness I tell you! The co-op is in the process of moving. The new store will be open this Saturday and I don't know how I am surviving all week without the co-op. Oh wait, I do... look at all this produce and other good stuff I stocked up on. I'll be fine for a long while! One day stuff was 25% off and then Julie let me know that the next day it was 40% off! I stocked up both days. The first day was mostly bulk items that you can't see because they are in the pantry, not fridge (minus hemp seeds for 60% off!), and the organic oj with pulp. The next day is where I really went crazy. You will see 4 pomegranites on the bottom left. I love pomegranite and have since I tried them in first grade. I asked the lady if they were "by the pound" or "each" and that would make a difference in the size I would buy. She didn't know, and I was holding 2/4 of them and she said to just "take them". Sweet. Then she looked over and saw the other 2 lonely guys and told me I could just have those also! I got 4 free organic fresh poms (not that crappy POM company that refuses to stop testing on animals) and that really added to the bonus of the overall sales. I am happy.

The fridge looks ridiculously full, but there is a lot that was not new from the co-op, I could only buy perishables and frozen stuff for the sale anyway. For example, that chocolate stout beer that's been sitting there for months. And some leftover pastas (you will see below), always many kinds of "milks", and lots of tofu I keep on the middle shelf. Plus some kiwi and other produce I already had... I did splurge on certain items such as Tofurky, miso and Men's Bread, items that are usually more costly, but not this time. There's also stuff that I keep on hand all the time tucked in the back (wheat germ, extra Earth Balance, pita breads). Oh, and those are Virgil's cream soda's but I found out after reviewing my reciept, they were not on sale. Ray really likes Virgil's brand (I'm not a soda/carbination fan).

As per Julie's request, here's what I got (the second day for 40% off)... all organic.
Soy Delicious creamy orange bars, 2 Virgils cream sodas, oj with pulp, boylan's black cherry soday, soy whip cream, non-hydrogenated Tofutti cream cheese, frozen peppers (a few bags), 2 blueberry spelt donuts, frozen edamame, naan bread, many limes and lemons, a green bell pepper as big as my face!, yellow bell pepper, 2 red bells, 6 jalepenos, Asian pears, a red pear, a bunch of red chard, oranges, poms (free), white miso, Rocky Road Soy Delicous, White Chocolate Raspberry Double Rainbow ice cream (yes, 3 ice creams 40% off), hemp seeds, 2# carrots, 10# apples, Tofurky, Men's Sprouted bread that I forget the name of the brand. Total = $44 including multiple bag discounts. That's a lot of stuff, I'd say.

I am really proud of myself for creating this soup above. I am also really surprised and proud of Ray for liking the soup, as I thought he'd turn his nose up at it. Overall, this is a thick soup, and I froze the leftovers and plan on serving it over rice or quinoa. Probably quinoa.

Leslie's Chickpea and Red Lentil Soup (yes, a real recipe)
1/2c green peppers, diced
1/2 medium onion, diced
3 carrots, sliced and peeled
1c veggie broth
2c water
1 15oz can chickpeas
14oz can diced fire roasted tomatos
1c red lentils, rinsed and drained
1t salt
few dashes black pepper
1/2t tumeric
2 cloves garlic, minced
1T olive oil

Method: In a 3 quart stockpot, saute onions and carrots in olive oil until onions are translucent. Add garlic and saute for a few minutes longer. Add the rest of the ingredients and cover. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat to simmer. Simmer for about 30 minutes, or until lentils are soft and soup has thickened. *Edit to add: to make the soup like the photo, simply blend 1/2 the soup with an immersion blender or take 1/2 the soup in batches and carefully blend in a blender or food processor. Enjoy as a soup/stew or serve over a grain. Makes almost 3 quarts.

Now on to the seasonal goods. I haven't used the oven since December and I am really starting to miss using it now. Especially smelling all the wonderful baked goods, besides eating. Since I still wasn't going to use the oven, I decided to make something oven-like and pretend it was baked. I made an apple crumble to top vanilla soy cream. Oh yum! I am finally starting to make my own recipes again which is nice because I tend to make pretty good random stuff. Here's the recipe for my faux-baked apple crumble.

Leslie's Faux-Baked Organic Apple Crumble
serves 4
3 large apples, keep the peel on, diced
3 handfuls of organic rolled oats
1 handful walnuts (toasted yourself or untoasted is ok)
1 handful pecans (same as above)
1/3c maple syrup
pinch of sea salt
1T brown rice syrup
1t blackstrap molasses (for added nutrition)
1t cinnamon, ground
1/4t nutmeg, ground
Method: In a small pot or skillet, toast the nuts and oats until you smell the wonderful aroma, and not anything burnt, about medium-high heat. Mix in the syrups, salt and molasses. Reduce the flame and stir for about 5 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients, including the chopped apples, and mix around. Heat for a few more minutes and take off the stove. Cover the pot and let the heat steam the apples to get a bit softer for 5 minutes. Serve over ice cream (or plain) and enjoy.

View from the pot.

Ok, I promise this is going to be the last of the pesto. Well, the last photo really is. I decided to have a go at an easy, quick, dense meal. I had one leftover pesto that I made a while back and took that out of the freezer. I really wanted more than just pesto so I skimmed through VwaV and decided on the Creamy Alfredo Suace. I've looked at the recipe before but finally needed a photo for convincing. I am sure glad I made this but I never was a fan of alfredo sauce, so this was a bit too creamy fo me. I do like the flavor though. I will modify next time. And, this plate below is 2 servings, not one, we sort-of slid our halves onto each plates.

This is the last of the pesto for real. This is strictly pine nuts. Follow my recipe in the post below and sub pine nuts for any other nut in the recipe. Yum.

Fin.