Category Archives: Vegan Mofo 2019

Vegan MOFO 2019: Leftovers and more Okra

August 6, 2019

Yesterday was crazy, and exhausting. I just couldn’t wake up in the morning, and was so tired I was nauseas, so my lunch was cherry ice cream. Eep. Then Wolfie wouldn’t go down for a nap, so I figured might as well take a nap with him. 3 HOURS LATER I woke up! Wolfie stayed down for another 20 min. It was not expected at all. I had to dash out the door to get a vegan pizza slice and a cupcake because we were off to a birthday party. So by the time I got home I didn’t have the brain power to think. We just had some jarred tomato sauce, spaghetti and frozen “meatballs” from Aldi’s. I didn’t even think about blogging since I didn’t eat any food from the CSA, though looking back I could of made a fun post of CSA must have products. I guess next time right?

ANYWAYS…… what did I eat? Well I did take a LIIIIIITTLE bit of leftover stew from last week and made a burrito wrap with white rice and soy chorizo from Trader Joe’s it was much tastier than I was expecting. I do have to say you guys will most likely see tons and tons of wraps on the blog, because it is the main way I reuse leftovers. And if I can’t use the leftovers fast enough, they get wrapped up and frozen.

Naturally a great way to use up produce is pickling. That way it can stay in the fridge for awhile until you are ready to use them. I always pickle hot peppers from the CSA. It is pretty quick and easy, and is great because I hate buying ONE jalapeño at the super market for fifty cents. These pickled snap peas are being tucked into Jon’s lunch tomorrow. Our CSA had such a great year for peas BECAUSE of all the rain, so much that I think they have a pick what you can on the board. So I might of went a little nuts.

Next to the peas is salsa verde I made last week. I try not to make it since it involves roasting tomatillos, but I just couldn’t help myself this year. It was really rewarding to use poblano peppers from the farm as well. I haven’t decided but I am sure I will be making a wrap for Jon tomorrow as well.

The big dinner was an African peanut stew with eggplant, okra, tomatoes, and the stir-fry greens. The dish is from Chad and is called Daraba. I used this recipe and I wasn’t too impressed. The recipe was super simple, but I think that was it’s downfall. I think there were a few steps I could of added that would of given a lot more flavor. And I would of liked to add more spices to it as well. But it used up a lot of vegetables so that was at least good.

I’ve been itching to bake but it hasn’t happened yet. I am a little nervous, but I guess soon I should bite the bullet. Though I am not sure if I will be baking with any of the produce. So we will see what tomorrow brings.

Posted by Jennifer in Vegan Mofo, Vegan Mofo 2019 Tags: community supported agriculture, csa, eggplant, okra, peanut butter, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, Vegan MOFO, vegan mofo 2019

7 comments

Vegan MOFO 2019: Okra and Sweets

August 4, 2019

Jon and I were lucky and had a child free morning. Jon’s Mother saw we were very grouchy yesterday morning, and pretty much talked about how Wolfie has been waking up at least once every night since May. It isn’t a big deal, usually he comes in our room, I then follow him back to his room, and he lays down. Sometimes they are bad dreams, and one night recently he slept in our bed because he was so scared. But it was mostly nice to wake up and not scramble to get food in a cranky toddler.

Because of this I made myself an acai bowl without the fear of having to share. I topped it was peanut butter protein granola from Trader Joe’s, blackberries, and some ground cherries. It was yummy and very rewarding.

Then Jon wanted to eat some waffles, so I figured why not. Sadly, they were not vegan. Wegman’s was having a sale on waffle mixes and I picked them up, not even thinking they wouldn’t be vegan. Sure enough- buttermilk powder, in both. I noticed after buying and opening, and honestly they were on sale so I am not crying a river. So I might be offering them to my in-laws to use. But I did make a special waffle for myself, using Fit Quick Waffle mix. The mix is REALLY old, so I don’t know if it just getting old or if I needed to cook it in the waffle maker for another minute or two but it was okay. But I topped it with more blackberries, some chocolate peanut butter sauce, and some blueberry syrup.

For lunch both Wolfie and Jon had wraps using old stew. The stew was a moroccan white bean, zucchini, and carrot stew from Appetite for Reduction that used old produce from our CSA. There isn’t much of it left, but I am thinking probably a “burrito” wrap again.

Well, one pro-tip to plan your produce is to use the vegetables that will go bad first. Usually things like fruits are the first to go, so I always try to use ripest tomatoes first. But I find that okra doesn’t always last after a week. So I wanted to use it up since I already have leftover from last week. I made the recipe from Tahini and Turmeric, caramelized okra in a pomegranate molasses sauce. It was awesome, Jon took a bite and said “This is actually good.” A first for okra lol

Sadly it didn’t really photograph well. I don’t think I used enough okra, as the stems probably made it weight more than what I was actually using. It was pretty simple to make, it just took a REALLY long time, like an hour. I will totally be making it again.

We served it with white rice from the rice cooker, and my in-laws gifted us some corn, so that is added thing to use up XD But a quick trick to making perfect corn really quickly is microwaving it! Just toss the corn with husks and all and cook for 3-5 minutes. It depends on how many ears are in, and how good your microwave is. I am sold on the process.

Looks like tomorrow we will have to go grocery shopping. Not looking forward to that, but we already made a pretty big dent in the produce.

How do you like to make okra?

Posted by Jennifer in Vegan Mofo, Vegan Mofo 2019 Tags: acai bowl, community supported agriculture, csa, fitquick, ground cherries, okra, Vegan MOFO, vegan mofo 2019, waffles

7 comments

Vegan MOFO 2019: Week One Haul

August 3, 2019

Things at the farm has been a little disappointing. In June there was some heavy flooding, about a years worth of rain in a span of a few weeks. Many crops suffered and it now finally showing. A bit of a bummer, but it is probably a little good. Our power went out for two days, so we ate at my in-laws for those two nights. Before that we cooked for them the previous two nights, using their produce. So we went almost the whole week without cooking with any of the produce. Yikes!

I got used a good bit, but I ended up with much more than I would of hoped for. That’s okay since i got less than what I was expecting from the farm! lol I had a hard time “filling a bag” from the mix and match table that I ended up grabbing some more okra, something I am not super fond of. I will say I am excited about the ground cherries, I already ate some in an acai bowl with some blackberries. I also cheated a little with my share and took my in-law’s share of tomatillos. Not 100% sure what I am going to use them for though.

What’s Leftover

2 garlic scapes
1/2 cucumber
2 green bell peppers
1 kohlrabi
1 small head of cabbage
10 oz okra
2 1/2 lb beets (half golden, half red)
6 1/2 oz carrots
1 bunch of scallions

New Produce

1 pint blackberries
1/2 pint ground cherries
1 quart sun gold tomatoes
1 lb 5oz tomatillos
3 1/2 oz green beans (1 pint)
12 oz mixed stir-fry greens (1/3 a bag)
3 small leeks
3 slicing tomatoes
4 small salt & pepper cucumbers
1 small striped eggplant (10oz)
1 lb 11 oz red beets
4 hot peppers
3 cipollini onions
14 oz carrots
1 lb 10 oz okra

So what am I cooking today? Not much. I had a smoothie and a bagel, which both did not use any vegetables from our farm. The closest I got was making an acai bowl topped with ground cherries and blackberries. Jon and Gavin ate a few blackberries as well. We will be eating at my in-laws tonight, who are making eggplant “meatballs” and some pasta so that sounds pretty good. I also have some chocolate cherry sorbet in the ice cream maker for dessert.

What would you make with my haul?

Posted by Jennifer in Vegan Mofo, Vegan Mofo 2019 Tags: community supported agriculture, csa, Vegan MOFO, vegan mofo 2019

8 comments

Vegan MOFO 2019: Quick CSA Questions

August 2, 2019

You might of seen my original post introducing the theme of my Vegan MOFO posts, but you might have tons of questions. So I am making a quick little FAQ page while I wait to pick up my CSA share tomorrow morning.

What is a CSA?

I wrote a lot about CSAs on my CSA Beginners Guide, which I would recommend checking out. But a quick answer is that you pay a lump sum of money, and each week for a set amount of time you get a box of the produce. I break down different ways farms do this on the page if you are curious.

So what does your CSA look like?

My CSA is one farm. They do boxed shares for pick up in Toms River and Holmdel, but I pick up their summer share at their farm in Chesterfield. It starts after Memorial Day, and then runs for 26 weeks. I pay $660, which averages out to $25.50 each week. Sometimes the farm offers an option to buy more produce, and has products from other farms to buy. They also offer a winter share, that we never participated in.

When we pick up the share there is a board that lists all the food we can take that is already picked. Usually

I want to join a CSA, where should I look?

You’ll probably have to do some digging, but the best place to start is asking friends if they are part of a CSA and if they are happy with it. But googling “CSAs near me” might not get much. But there are two helpful directories that I’ve found. Bounty from the Box has lots of information about each farm listed, though they have limited listings. Local Harvest has a more extensive database with Events, Farmer Markets, and CSAs. Even better is that they list what type of CSA it is, if they have pick up locations, etc.

How do you find recipes for your produce?

Pinterest and Google do a lot of heavy lifting. Sometimes the best thing to do is simply type in some of the ingredients you are trying to use and see what comes up. It also helps to have a large collection of cookbooks, but sometimes simple vegetable “bible” books help you get comfortable with the produce. I really like Vegetable Love as it breaks down chapter vegetable by vegetable. Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone has instructions for cooking lots of vegetable as well. Neither are 100% vegan though.

What do you do with vegetables you don’t like?

Think about what type of dishes you’ve tried with said vegetable. For example I am not a huge eggplant fan, so I sat and thought about what I’ve eaten with it, breaded and fried, lots of tomato based dishes, very Italian stuff. So I might search for Asian inspired dishes. If it is a texture you don’t like, look for dishes where you puree the stuff, like soups or sauces.

Any other recipe tips?

Pin any recipes you think are interesting, even if you can’t make it this year. Maybe you don’t have enough of that vegetable, or maybe you don’t have all the vegetables that week. It’s all good. Save it because then you can revisit it next week, or next year.

Also don’t knock non-vegan recipes. You can easily modify the recipe by using vegan alternatives. Use vegan yogurt, use a cashew cream, or tofu instead of meat. You get it.

Any other questions about owning a CSA?

For now, I’ll see you tomorrow with a list of the produce for the week.

Posted by Jennifer in Vegan Mofo, Vegan Mofo 2019 Tags: community supported agriculture, csa, Vegan MOFO, vegan mofo 2019

1 comment

Vegan MOFO 2019: A Month of CSA Produce

August 1, 2019

It’s that time of the year! VEGAN MOFO! I have been participating for the past 4 years, and been doing a lot of themes revolving around American Cakes and Sweets. I kind-of wanted to stick to that theme but it is hot, and our central air is still broken. I do not want to be doing any baking. So I thought I would do something that is kind-of hard to capture in one post, but is often asked- What the heck do you do with all that produce?!

My husband and I have been part of a CSA since we got married (and we got married there.) We pay Fernbrook Farms a set amount of money for a year worth of produce (or rather 26 weeks.) We pick up food each week, mixed between things we choose, things we pick in the fields, and additional foods we can pay for. When I explain our situation to friends and family I often hear similar comments, what do you do with all that food? Lots of people have tried doing a CSA and couldn’t keep up with the produce, or have taken a share once for someone and felt overwhelmed by the amount of food.

So each Saturday I will share what I got that week from my CSA and what I still had leftover from previous weeks. Then each day I will blog what I ate with the produce from the CSA. Maybe it is leftovers, maybe it something I feed my son, or give my husband. I will try and show the many ways we eat it up to give an accurate view of what being part of CSA would mean.

Hopefully I will be able to keep up, and I am excited to check out all the Vegan MOFO posts this year!

Posted by Jennifer in Vegan Mofo, Vegan Mofo 2019 Tags: csa, Vegan MOFO, vegan mofo 2019