What would you do with this stuff?

[bex]

OK my mind has stopped working and I need help. I have a very limited list of stuff I can buy locally. If the following list was all you could get at your grocery, what would you make?

veggies: cabbage, carrots, eggplant, okra (for a couple more weeks), asperagus (for a couple more weeks), potato, onion/green onion, garlic, ginger, tomato, lettuce (occasionally), chilies, cucumber, pumpkin (occasionally)

other: flour, sugar, oil, butter, bad processed cheese, eggs, soy sauce, mayo, ketchup, noodles, rice, rice, rice, spices (curry, cumin, coriander/cilantro, etc)

I recently found a source for fresh tofu so I'm experimenting with that. I make bread, tortillas, etc at home.

If you have ANY ideas I would greatly appreciate them!! TIA!

[ShangriLewis]

We love tofu. You can use it to make curry or bake it. We like it Thai style. We cut a block in 8 cubes and then fry them in coconut oil till they are brown and chewy on the outside then we add it back to the sauce. Serve over rice.


Do you have a stove? You can roast all those veggies in the oven. Asparagus is really yummy that way. Okra could be in a stew or deep fried.

How are the kids doing with your food choices?

Nice to hear from you again!

Heather

[ShangriLewis]

Wait let me try again...lol. Can you pick up some kind of beans when you are in another country? I remember you visiting somewhere else.

Pierogies: cabbage, onions, mashed potatoes, garlic in a little dumpling. Sometimes they have cheese, but they are just as good without.

Do you have a freezer? If you do then roast the pumpking and freeze it, so you always have some around. It's so good for you. You can make soup or pies with that. You can roast it or add it to Vegetable soup.

Vegetable soup: Saute a finely chopped onion and garlic to taste in a big pot. I like to make sure my onions are totally see through. Then I turn off the heat and add all the veggies I have. Okra would give it a gumbo feel. I always add squash or something similar that has been cut in small cubes. It melts and gives the soup body. I use Thyme, parsley and a big squirt of Braggs for flavoring. Curry powder is good, too. Just use soy sauce instead of Braggs. When I mean veggies I mean lots..fill the pot up to the top. Then I cover it all with water and let cook for one hour over a simmer.

We usually just slice cucumbers into half moons and serve them along dinner. I would imagine you might be able to get some soybeans to make soymilk or maybe some local milk to make youghurt. If you can you could add the chopped cucumber to make a tzatki sauce. If milk isn't readily available maybe you could invest in a soymilk maker. It can make soy, rice or nut milks.

Rice milk. You need a blender though..do you have one. (Sorry I keep imagining you living in a yurt under a bunch of snow. How bad am I?)

Potatoe chips..not healthy I know.

Quiche, hashbrowns, breakfast burritoes, fresh salsa.

Have you learned anything from any local ladies?

Potatoe curry, potatoe salad, egg salad, tofu salad, rice salad

coleslaw made with the mayo or with a vinagerette type of dressing.

And, I love hot stuff..so I would use peppers in everything. Are they just little peppers or can you get green bell peppers, too.

(Edited to add) Twice baked potatoes. Bake the potatoes. Slice in a half lengthwise and scoop out the potato. Put the potatoes in the bowl and add some of the mayo, the cheese if you don't mind eating it and then anything else. Small bits of onion (you may want to saute it first), garlic, chopped veggies or peppers. Stuff the filling bake into the potatoes and bake around 350 for 20 mintues. Just enough to brown a little on top and heat through.

Barbecue sauce. The ketchup, sugar and some spices. Then you could make barbecue tofu. Just cube or slice tofu and marinate in barbecue sauce. Then bake until it starts to get brown and bubbly. Barbecue sauce is good on homefries or for dipping fries in.

Heather


OK my mind has stopped working and I need help. I have a very limited list of stuff I can buy locally. If the following list was all you could get at your grocery, what would you make?

veggies: cabbage, carrots, eggplant, okra (for a couple more weeks), asperagus (for a couple more weeks), potato, onion/green onion, garlic, ginger, tomato, lettuce (occasionally), chilies, cucumber, pumpkin (occasionally)

other: flour, sugar, oil, butter, bad processed cheese, eggs, soy sauce, mayo, ketchup, noodles, rice, rice, rice, spices (curry, cumin, coriander/cilantro, etc)

I recently found a source for fresh tofu so I'm experimenting with that. I make bread, tortillas, etc at home.

If you have ANY ideas I would greatly appreciate them!! TIA!

[ShangriLewis]

Here I am again!

Seitan. I love that stuff. Most recipes use the gluten. But, you can make it from flour. I do think it works better with whole wheat though. Basically, you just add water to the flour to make a stiff dough and then you need it like crazy to make the gluten work. Then you rinse it under water or in a bowl of water till you get this strange spongey stuff and that's seitan. In needs to be boiled in strong broth of soy sauce, water and flavorings. Then it can be sliced to make sandwhiches or whatever else you like.

http://home.teleport.com/~noelvn/vegan/gluten_seitan.html Here's a recipe for using just flour. If you haven't had it before it turns out kind of like slices of roast beef.

We usually coat ours in bread crumbs and pan fry. You could serve that on a tortilla topped with coleslaw!

Do you make pasta? That's labor intensive, too. But, if you can't find pasta anywhere you could make it yourself in big batches. You can let it dry on a dowel or rack and then pack it away for later.

Heather

[Shawn]

The only thing I can think of right now is the asparagus as a side dish. We had this yesterday. It's fast and super yummy.

Wash the asparagus, take the top in your left hand, the bottom in your right hand and bend the stalk until it breaks. Throw away(or into the compost pile) whatever's in your right hand. Get a big pot of water boiling. Drop the asparagus in and leave for maybe a minute or two. They'll get bright green, and should still be crunchy. Serve alone, or make some sort of sauce-- maybe butter & garlic...

[bex]

Heather...once again you came through for me!! :highfive Stove...yes. Itty-bitty freezer. No idea I could make seitan...definitely checkin' that one out! People here eat rice and curry for every meal...yes I mean three times a day. Throw in a big hunk of pork fat or some meat you've been drying out on your rusty barbed wire fence...deeelicious. Curry here just means boiled veggies with chilies, onion and oil/butter. They consider chilies a vegetable here. My friend told me it's fairly common for a family of five to eat a kg of chilies in one meal -- THAT'S 2.2 LBS!! I like chilies in most everything but that's HOT!!

[ShangriLewis]

Yummy =) My friend from India taught me how to make curry. Where's the curry powder? I guess that's something they added for the British and it's not very traditional. I love how it tastes after cooking all day. You'll have to update us on you Seitan. I love that stuff.

Heather

[GrowingInGrace]

just a few disjointed thoughts:

asparagus: good in pasta dishes, good stir-fried in asian-style dishes, good roasted and even raw in salads.

cabbage: salads aside, good stir-fried, good baked with stuffing (seasoned tofu and carrots would work well for that!), good pickled ala saurkraut or kimchee.

potatoes: wow, a LOT! potato pancakes, cubed roasted or pan-fried with herbs, boiled with herbs and veggies, baked with sauces, plain baked, sliced and baked ("fries"), hashbrowns, casserole filler, potato flour (don't know how to make, granted) works for bread, potato soups, stew. (my mom, who comes from irish stock, even likes them raw!)

carrots: shredded in salads (including fruit-based salads), baked with other veggies and sauce, stir-fried, in soups, raw with dip (or without), candied.

onions and spring onions can be used in a TON of things. I season nearly every savory dish with onions (soups, casseroles, etc). They also go well in stir-fries and spring onions go especially well in chow mein. you can also cream them and serve as a side-dish. There's always baked or fried onions too (carmelized for sandwiches).

garlic is my other main season, I use it liberally! it can also be roasted and mashed or served whole. use it in stir-fries, soups, pasta sauces, pizza toppings, etc.

tomatoes, obviously fresh. also you can slice and roast with herbs (I pesonally love dill and garlic), bake whole with rice in it, stir-fry, make your own....

salsa! all it takes is onion, tomato, garlic, chili peppers and some salt and lime!

what about dark leafy greens? could you grown those yourself? It's not actually that bad a list, just lacking in iron sources. :)