today's produce

Produce from today's trip to the Ithaca Farmers Market: dandelion greens, heirloom tomatoes, kale (looks different from last week's Russian kale which had purple stems and flatter leaves), arugula, baby bok choy with purple leaves (!), and a little bunch of cilantro.

The good thing about having so many veggies in the fridge is that I am forced to eat healthy instead of subsisting off of PB&J sandwiches. The bad thing is I have to figure out how to eat it all.

I'm thinking baked kale chips. Heirloom tomato salad drizzled with a reduced balsamic vinegar glaze. Wilted dandelion greens in lentil soup (using Uncle Etienne's recipe). Or wilted dandelion greens and bacon. YUM.

chickpea, kale, and marinated tofu fry-up

Last night's weird fry-up of chickpeas, kale, and marinated tofu. Paired with bread drizzled in extra virgin olive oil. Two things I've realized: (1) I really do not know how to cook or prepare kale... woops, and (2) my mommy still makes it the best, with little bits of bacon and garlic.

Marinade: Soy sauce, ketchup, maple syrup, garlic powder (blech), black pepper, and onions - sounds terrible, but I assure you it was quite tasty, if a bit sweet.

breakfast burrito

Originally this was going to be a ranting post in which I discuss the lack of cumulative kitchen knowledge within my apartment and lay out three fundamental tenets of kitchen courtesy, the first being "Thou shalt wash thine dirty dishes"; the second, "Thou shalt not cut meat on a wooden cutting board, ESPECIALLY when you have a track record of not washing your dirty dishes"; and the final, "When washing nonstick pans, for God's sake, DON'T USE THE SCRUBBY SIDE OF THE SPONGE."

But I decided against that. While I may have lost my favorite egg-frying pan (RIP), I have at least found another use for the avocado-bell pepper-tomato-feta cheese combination on which I survive.

Breakfast burrito (for dinner) with slightly caramelized onions, heirloom tomatoes, scrambled eggs (thanks to the one remaining clean pan in our kitchen), avocado, red bell pepper slices, a sprinkling of feta cheese, and a smear of hummus in a spinach / sun-dried tomato wrap.

beautiful kale

Old news by now, but this is the beautiful kale I got from Early Morning Farm at the Ithaca Farmers Market this past weekend. It came with a little green cabbage worm which caught me by surprise (that is, I nearly had a heart attack when I found him stuck to my hand). I liberated him in the grass behind our apartment building and left him with a bit of kale stem for company.

espinacas con garbanzos

Espinacas con garbanzos for dinner one night. A less fussy version than the one from Smitten Kitchen that inspired the meal. Contains spinach and chickpeas (duh), onion, tomatoes, cumin, garlic, extra virgin olive oil (not ideal for cooking but it was either that or the canola oil which is not nearly as tasty), salt, and pepper.

I didn't have tomato sauce (weird, I know, given that it's supposed to be every college kid's staple), so I just chopped up some grape tomatoes and cooked them until they were all smashed, which is actually probably a healthier option than using canned tomato sauce. I once read somewhere that although most vegetables give you more nutrients if they're eaten raw, tomatoes are an exception. It has something to do with the lycopenes being more effective once they're cooked. So hurrah, double points for me.

Quick and easy and really delicious on couscous, or pasta with Parmesan or Asiago, or some thick crusty bread.