The Dirty Dozen – When To Buy Organic and When To Skip It If Your Budget Does Not Allow It

We all know that we really should buy organic as much as possible (it’s healthier for us and it supports the small scale farmer).  But there are times when one simply cannot afford to totally go organic.  Thankfully research has been done from the Environmental Working Group and below in ranking order of fruits and vegetables from worst with pesticide residue (buy organic at all costs) to the best with the least amount of residue (OK to buy non-organic). Detailed data sheet can be found here.

Rank (worst to best)

Buy Organic At All Costs

1 Peaches 
2 Apples 
3 Sweet Bell Peppers 
4 Celery 
5 Nectarines 
6 Strawberries 
7 Cherries 
8 Lettuce 
9 Grapes – Imported 
10 Pears 
11 Spinach 
12 Potatoes 

Quick Fix White Vegetable Soup

Today was the day we put the the Amish-Style Noodles that the twins and I made yesterday afternoon to the test, which came out superb.  Originally we were going to have buttered noodles for lunch but their dad came home with some yummy turkey and spinach/feta croissants. So we went to Plan B with a quick vegetable soup to complement the edible surprise.

Ingredients:

• 6 cups water
• 3 vegan vegetable boullion cubes (or equivalent to cook 6 cups of water)
• 1 large potato, peeled and cubed
• 3 carrots peeled, sliced
• 2 small or 1 medium turnip, peeled and cubed
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped cauliflower
• 1 cup Amish-style egg noodles or medium sized egg noodles
• 1 large sprig of fresh thyme or 1/8 tsp dried
• 1/2 tsp dried minced onion
• Fresh ground pepper to taste

Directions:In a large pot, combine water, thyme, and boullion cubes and completely dissolve (If you use regular vegetable broth, disregard this direction). Add carrots, turnips, potatoes, cauliflower, and minced onion. Simmer for 20 minutes or until all vegetables are tender. Add egg noodles and cook according to package directions. If you hand made your Amish-style noodles, cook about 8 – 10 minutes. Remove thyme stems as the herbs should have fallen off by now. Season with ground pepper and serve hot.

Note: You may have noticed that I did not include any salt to taste. This is due that most broth cubes have an excessive amount of salt and none more need added.

End Result:

It’s Gonna Be A Long Night!

I just returned from my final trip to the CSA for the year. At the end of the season they have what is called the annual ‘pig out’ in which members essentially take whatever was leftover at the farm. We were allocated 50 lbs of whatever produce we wanted. Only minor catch was that we need to come up with 15% of the total weight in either broccoli, cauliflower, collards or kale. The 15% will go to the local food bank just in time for Thanksgiving! A wonderful way to give back to the community.

I was only to make our way to broccoli on the food bank list so we had a whole bucket full of large heads for charity. I was more than happy to take the side shoots, less work on my part for steaming. I found out that they had purple cauliflower when I dropped off our donation. I was heart broken, my mother makes the meanest purple cream of cauliflower soup. I ran out of time as the twins were on the verge of having a meltdown from lack of nap.

Nevertheless, we were blessed to come up with the following veggies for our freezer this winter:

• Beets (3 kinds)
• Turnips
• Kholrabi
• Radishes (2 kinds)
• Broccoli (lots of it!)
• Celeriac and Cooking Celery
• Daikon (including a near 2-footer!)

Much of the celery stalks were damaged from the frost, but was able to salvage a fair amount for cooking purposes only. Celeriac has been sliced and steam blanched. I froze them in small batches to use as needed. I already saved a hassle for Thanksgiving vegetable side dish with the broccoli and the rest is going in the deep freeze.

Tomorrow I will tackle the beets as it is going to be a very messy affair. Old grubby clothes will be my fashion statement. The turnips and radishes I will do last.

Regarding my previous dillema as to what to do about next season it is still up in the air. We timed the driving at best to be bit over 45 minutes, fifteen minutes longer than our usual boxed share pick up.

Decisions decisions…

Curried Cauliflower Soup, Success!

I have been tinkering with this soup on and off for the last year and I think I have the winning combination, would love to hear comments. Though it does call for chicken broth, I personally use a vegan boullion substitute, not because I do not like chicken, but rather I hate the store variety and I do not make my own broth/stock very often.

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion diced
• 1 small bunch (about 4-5) green onions w/ whites and light green section thinly sliced crosswise
• 1 1/2 tbsp. sugar
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 5 tsp curry powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• 2 pinches of garam masala (optional)
• 3/4 lb fresh spinach, stems removed and coarsely chopped
• 1 large head cauliflower, cut up into florets (about 8 cups)
• 3/4 lb potatoes skins on, diced
• 7 cups chicken broth or vegetarian substitute

Directions

Heat oil in heave large pot over medium high heat. Add yellow and green onion and saute until translucent (3 – 5 minutes), add spinach and saute until thoroughly wilted. Add salt, sugar, curry, cumin, and garam masala and stir one minute. Add cauliflower and potatoes, stir one minute. Add broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until vegetables are tender (about 35 minutes).  Take a hand held potato masher and mash to desired consistency.

Note: I use the hand masher as I do not have a blender, which is the preferred method.  In that route, work in batches and puree.

Serve with a dollop of plain yogurt, fresh cilantro and a touch of mint.