I mentioned a few weeks ago that D and I decided to join Hungry Harvest. To be more specific, we joined the “mini harvest”. This means that we are purchasing non-organic fruits and veggies that are recovered, meaning, not pretty enough to sell in a grocery store but still taste great. (As much as we’d love to purchase all organic foods, at this point in our budget we are committed to organic milk and meats. We do some organic fruits and veggies but not very consistently).
Anyway-its rocking our worlds. D and I are pretty crazy when it comes to food waste. We really try our best to not get rid of food that can be eaten, its not weird for us to be eating the same soup for a full week. With that being said, the last two weeks we’ve noticed a huge change in our diets. We have been focused on not wasting an ounce of these fruits and veggies so very rarely reach for something that is packaged. Its a huge bonus!
Another cool thing is we are eating foods that are not our “go-to’s”. I have never purchased red cabbage, chayote, acorn squash, minneola, and GASP eggplant. I also have only purchased a whole butternut squash once, more about that later.
I thought Id share a few recipes that we really enjoyed!
First things first, red cabbage. This first recipe came in an email from Hungry Harvest. A few friends were over when I made it and it got thumbs up all around, only problem was it was enormous and was more of a salad with dressing which gets funky after a few days. Just today I decided to use the second half of it and found a warm recipe for red cabbage and had three bowls, it was so yummy! Here’s that recipe.
Chayote. This was a food I’d never even heard of. The inter-webs described it as a cross between a pear, a zucchini, and a cucumber. We roasted it and I think it ended up tasting a bit like a sweet zucchini. Here’s the recipe, it was good. I’d make it again!
Acorn Squash. This is one of those foods I just think of when I go to our local apple orchard as a decoration. I’m not sure why it never dawned on me that people eat it. Anyway, today I sliced it up after getting the guts out, and tossed it with some olive oil, garlic powder, and parm cheese. I roasted it and it was really good! A bit intense, maybe next time I’ll do less garlic. Here’s that recipe.
Minnelo is just a fruit, no need for a recipe. I liked it, kind of tasted like an orange and a grapefruit got married.
Oh, eggplant. I’m going to be honest. D’s “mommom” makes fried eggplant almost every Monday at family dinner and it is so delicious. I am scared to even attempt eggplant because it could never measure up. I may put my big girl pants on tomorrow and give it a try. I’m also scared because I’ve recently gone Gluten Free due to some migraines so I wil have to use gf flour and the whole thing is making me nervous!
Lastly, I bought a butternut squash exactly one time. It took soooooo long to cut the skin off of it that I vowed to only buy them pre-cut for life. Of course, week two a butternut squash came in our box and I got online and was elated to find that you can cook them in a slow cooker. I’m serious. You put the entire thing in the crock pot for 7 hours on low and then peel the skin off like a band-aid. That’s a gross visual but its true. So easy. As if you need a recipe, here it is.
That’s about it! Just got the email and we will have the following foods delivered to our doorstep on Sunday:
- Mustard Greens (no clue, help!)
- Yukon Potatoes
- yellow Onions
- Snow Peas (never made them)
- Red Plums
- Nectarines
- Rutabagas (no idea. Elle watches a show (Tumble Leaf) which stars a rutabaga)
- Grapefruit
So if you have any great recipes or ideas, send them my way!
Also-Stay tuned, we are picking colors now for our dining room, living room, and master bedroom! So many colors!!!
rentals and beans 