Greens/Potatoes/Cheese/Onions dish

Actually this dish also has onions and cheese as well in layers with potato and greens. It goes Potatoes, onions, cheese, greens, and repeat until everything is all used up. Seasonings or salt (whatever seasoning you want) go on top of the greens layers.

I used up the kale and the bok choy and I think I had to cook these a little more than usual because they are almost 6 days in the fridge and seemed a lot stiff. They weren't frozen just really cold.

After I drained the kale and made the layers and popped it in the oven, I was left with a lot of greens liquid. So, this will make a nice soup base in the next day or two.

This ability of learning how to use what you have and reuse leftovers is a learned skill.

Sabers and sword and all kind of metal things are being rattled about a war in the Middle East, US going to fight Iran. Iran has stopped selling oil to Uk and France because of latest sanctions.

Do we really have a good way and enough "boots on the ground" to be able to invade Iran? It's about 3-4 times bigger than Iraq. The Iranians would put up a big fight and I better much more than the Iraqis did in their insurgency.

peace, Shamba

Vegetable report for the week ... :)

this weeks veggies:
Carrots Kohlrabi
Rubi Stripes Tango/Lola Rosa Mix
Spinach Endive
Cilantro Citrus

I still have veggies leftover from last week but I'm doing better at managing them all week by week. also, one solution to too many veggies is to give some to neighbors or friends. It keeps things from being wasted which is my main concern. Maybe it will introduce them to some new things as well.

One of my neighbors got a deal on some russet potatoes and wanted to know if I could use, like if I “ate potatoes”. So, now I have about 8 medium sized russets and I gave her some of my CSA share. She didn’t ask for the greens but I know that she really likes greens and she took spinach and a portion of all the other greens we had this week.

As for tonights dinner, its a potato, greens, cheddar cheese and onion casserole.
this recipe is from the Crooked Sky Farms Recipes is below. I'm not in Tucson but the recipes are on the Tucson site.
Crooked Sky Farms Recipes

Greens and Potatoes Casserole
Adapted from Cooks.com
8 cups water
2 bunches chopped greens
6 or more red potatoes, sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 or more onions, sliced
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded cheese
1/2 cup vegetable broth
Preheat oven to 350°

Bring water to a boil in a large pot. Add greens, and cook.
5 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Drain; set aside.
Arrange potato slices in a single layer in oiled baking dish; top with single layer of onion slices. Sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt; top with half of greens mixture.
Sprinkle with 1/2 cup cheese. Repeat layers once, ending with the greens. Cover with remaining slices of potatoes, and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese.

Pour broth evenly over potato mixture, and sprinkle with remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt. Cover with foil.

Bake at 350° for 45 minutes.

Uncover and bake 30 minutes or until lightly browned and potatoes are tender.

And I'm sure this can be done in the solar oven as well as my inside oven. Maybe the potatoes won't brown on top but it will be all cooked and taste quite good, I'm sure.

Peace, Shamba

Veggies veggies, veggies !

I have been remiss in keeping up with my vegetables from the CSA. Actually, I just haven't felt very energetic this week. My cold seems to wax and wane with the rainy weather. The next week is up to 75 degrees so I'm hoping warmer weather will make me feel more energetic.

So, today is Roasting beets and Roasting Root Veggies. The roasted veggies are good with just about anything so they’re quite easy to eat. They’re also good enough that I want to eat them so they’ll be gone in a day or so.

I’m also going to have to think interms of whole meals being vegetarian instead of just side dishes. That’ll be new for or at least I haven’t done it for long time.

CSA stuff this week:

Arugula Mizuna
Fennel Dill
Spring Mix Carrots
Tokyo Bekana Citrus

the oranges are gone(!), some of the spring mix is eaten. I want to try braised fennel sometime this weekend. I'm always nibbling on carrots so they'll be gone by next CSA day. The greens are always a little more than I can eat raw so I'm going to have to cook more of them. S. would like some arugula and dill and I certainly have it to spare.

Enough sun is available on the back patio for solar cooking again back there.

cheers,
shamba

January 13th: Happy New Year!

I’m keeping on with my “using up leftovers and produce” even if the challenge is over. I drove out to the Thunderbird Banner Hospital to find out where the CSA produce is located. I’m taking over the payment and the contract for their next session next Wednesday.

A very grand lady I met on the internet in my scifi days has passed away at her home in Missouri. Her husband and some of her children were with her. Bluetopaz had a lung cancer and she was in her late 70s. She was a bright light and I’ll miss her. I'm very glad I took the pictures of her that I have now.

On January 6th, news on local NBC affiliate reported “fewer’ jobs lost than expected” in December 2008. A turn around may only be a few months away, the anchor said. I doubt it but I live in interesting times I guess.
Cheers, shamba

I lost some produce in the past few days but not much. Two pears were hiding in the back of a fridge shelf and died there :), some arugala didn't make it to cooking.

I dehydrated a bunch of green beans I'd gotten but then I intended to do that with them anyway so there was no risk of any of them going to waste.

I cooked two turkey legs on some greens, kale, onions and some parsley and seasonings. The greens were okay but i wasn't fond of the turkey legs. I loved those when i was a kid maybe it was just the way it tasted that particular day.. Anyway the cats were very grateful for the turkey meat! If I hadn't given it to the cats, I would have done some casserole thing with pasta, veggies and baking the whole thing.

This challenge has been worth doing and a longer one can teach you how well you can do with things over a longer stretch of time.

Risa, about the almond roca...lol!

May all of you have a good weekend and don't let the holiday crazies get to you. Two weeks till chrismas and it all begins to press in on you!.

Peace to all,
Shamba

Dec 3 Food related post

I had some leftover green beans, some kale, celery of which some was about to go under (!) so I threw them in a pot with some chicken broth--not home made--and made a pretty decent soup out of it. I have enough of it for about two more meals.

I hadn't made soup with greens and it smelled okay and tasted okay but I just generally don't like cooked greens--limp and wierd looking. :) But it was okay!
Once upon a time I would have just looked, thought "Meh!" and tossed the bunch.

I'm trying to decide if I'm going to use the solar oven to cooke something in the next few days. I haven't decided what's next yet to be cooked now that the leftover cycle from last cooking time is about done.

Peace,
shamba

October 15

My 20 day Challenge Report:
Challenge this week or the past 10 days or so:

1. Used bones, some meat, celery seed, salt, pepper in making chicken broth from leftover chicken. I haven’t done that for a long time. There wasn’t really much meat as the final leftovers were given to the cats.

2. Used up the last of the lentils/rice/diced tomato dish with some chicken broth from item 1 above for dinner that night.

3. Had some leftover strawberries with oatmeal the next morning.

4. Bell peppers are going into the dehydrator today or tomorrow.

5. I failed completely at using up the mustard greens I had got at the store! I thought it’d be interesting to try they but maybe another time.

6. Had lunch out with some friends and used the leftovers from that meal the next meal.

7. Broken down and ordered pizza DELIVERED twice in the past two weeks. How many points off is that?but they tasted good! :) and they are leftovers for at least one day probably two.

My sundried tomatoes came out quite well. I'll do more next time.

peace, shamba

Oct 7th

I ate out yesterday with leftovers for dinner. I had lunch with Donna and Mildred on Tuesday. M. wanted to take us both out for the help we'd given her on her genealogy. It was a beautiful day, 82 degrees. We just sat in the Paradise Café for three hours after we ate, talking and talking. They don't think we'll have any more downslide into depression--"the worst is over"-- but we'll not have much of an economic recovery for a while. I've been increasingly schizophrenic the past two months about the whole financial/economic thing. Sometimes I think "okay, maybe, it won't be so bad and we'll stabilize and have some weak recovery" but usually that lasts only a day or so! I see something like a business going out of busines, or hear some news, or talk to friends about their job situation and then I think, buy some more oatmeal or practice making bread, rolls, etc.

Mildred will be 89 in November! She drove herself yesterday; she does have some kidney and some severe joint things. She's okay in the mind but she's definitely getting a little frailer every year. She seemed a little more stooped in the shoulders than I've seen her before. I need to make a point of talking and seeing her more often. She was a great friend and neighbor to my parents and family when I was growing up. She's my second mother, as my mom told me once. D. and I are both 59. Thirty years between Mildred and us.

As for the Blog thing here, my posting about anything here will be spotty over the next 4-5 days as I have some appts and other things scheduled. this includes going through the food storage and seeing what is needed to use up soon and if I need more of anything. I ran out of canned tomato products in the kitchen cupboards but I have another place I keep "more" of that kind of thing. I need to go through them. I seem to use all kinds of tomatoes: whole peeled tomatoes, diced tomatoes of Italian or Mexican seasoning, stewed tomatoes with seasoning or none, tomato sauce, etc etc etc. I don't have any pureed tomatoes right now. I use these with all kinds of dishes, meat dishes, pasta, veggie anything.

For today, I have some leftovers of a soup I made the other day: Beef broth, some pearled barley soaked overnight, leek, scallions, carrots, 1 small potato, celery for a soup. I'll wash, slice and eat the two medium pears that need to be used up. I just like them as plain fruit, maybe with a little cinammon and brown sugar. They'd be good with a chocolate sauce but I'm not going to do that today.

All for now,
later,
Shamba

October 3 Saturday

Suffice it to saw that the economic news this past week has helped to dim the “bright lights” of recovery hopes. I’ll not get into that at all today. I’m enjoying the weather too much.
Not much in food news today. Eating the last of beef stew and veggies and have to make a big store run for all kinds of food and related supplies sometime today. I'll get to Sprouts for bulk purchases later this week after i checked out all those supplies in my pantry. At least, what I think of as my longer term storage pantry.

Thinking of emailing the local CSA and seeing what’s involved in getting on their supplies list.
My containers of basil, parsley and oregano are dong just fine.

Happy News from the Desert!

Our temps are now below 100 degrees, at least for the next 10 days!

On October 1st in the morning in my house it was 70 degrees from the weather alone. Ac didn't run all night and it was very quiet the previous night because my neighbors' ACs weren't running either.

It was cool inside! Not just an absence of warmth but actual coolth! :) :) :) :) :)

Peace to all,
shamba

Monday Sept 28th

Sun: I have the last of some brown rice in one of my glass jars to do something with today; not quite a cup. I have more rice but I’d have to open a package or something. So, I do what I do with rice, I’ll put it in the solar oven with some split peas/lentils, maybe add some vegetables at the end of the cooking time, dehydrated minced onions, cumin, coriander, salt and vegetable broth.

I’m losing more sun exposure on the patio faster and faster every day. Its interesting how fast it moves this time of year. I'll have to move i to the front soon.

Saturday: Put a piece of beef with assorted and some leftover veggies in the solar oven pot today. Potatoes, last 1 ½ leeks, carrot, little bit of a leftover onion, sea salt, ground pepper, freshly chopped up basil, parsley and oregano. I’m not sure how much of the fresh herbs really need to be added I’ll guess I’ll know better when the whole thing is done.

Update: the meat dish could have used a little more of the herbs, I’m just chicken with putting too much in dishes.

Wednesday: Used up the rest of the brick of cheddar cheese and grits and assorted other ingredients to make Chile Cheese Grits. I halved the recipe though as it makes a huge amount of food, about 12-14 servings. I’ve cooked the whole thing for potlucks before and kept half for me. The cheese I had wouldn’t have been enough for the whole recipe anyway. Note for next time: more green chiles make it tastier.

So, I have some cheese grits for today and froze the rest and that’s several days worth of food. It freezes well and reheats well. It cooked just fine in the Tulsi solar oven; I hadn’t cooked that dish in a solar oven yet.

Cheers,
shamba