New Box

The fortnight rolls around again and the veg box is back.

This one contains:
Potatoes
Onions
Carrots
Parsnips
Swede
Savoy Cabbage
Kale
Squash
Brussels Sprouts
Eggs
Portabello Mushrooms
Cauilflower (a tiny cauli, if truth be told)

I can see the return of the minestrone soup to use up some of the swede, and I'm wondering if I can sneak the rest into a shepherd's pie topping.

Slimming World Pasta Bake

I've been steadily losing weight since last New Year, thanks to Slimming World, and I'm very close now to my three stone target loss. Sometimes, though, there's a real need for a big, heavy, gooey pasta bake, and, sadly, under Slimming World rules, all that white sauce and stodginess just won't do. 

Happily there is a version more conducive to weight loss using low fat yoghurt and eggs as the basis for the sauce - much nicer than it sounds, and a lot less fiddly than messing about with butter and flour to make a roux base.

I've done various versions of this bake, sometimes involving spinach, broccoli or courgettes, depending on what was in the fridge. Tonight I had the remainder of the cauliflower to use up.

150g pasta shapes
450g cauliflower, broken into florets
8 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 clove garlic, chopped
(I had a single portabella mushroom left too - this was sliced up and included)
500g very low fat plain yoghurt
2 eggs
1 -2 tablespoons grated parmesan
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Seasoning

Start by beating together the yoghurt, eggs, mustard, Parmesan and seasoning
The pasta is cooked in boiling water until it still has some bite, and the cauliflower added right at the end of the cooking time for just a couple of minutes before draining.
Meanwhile, fry the tomatoes and garlic (and mushroom, in this case) then tip in the drained pasta and stir it all together for a couple of minutes. Place in a baking dish, pour the sauce over the top and put it into a 200C / Gas 6 oven for about 20 minutes. I usually take it out after 15 minutes, sprinkle some grated mozzarella over the top then put it back in until that's gone brown.

So, a nice winter warmer, and totally allowable under Slimming World rules. I had mine with the rest of the very crispy, spicy mixed salad that came with the box this week. I suspect, though, that might be the last of the salad this year.

Cauliflower Pilaf

Sunday night was Dr. Who night, so I wanted something that was quick to make, easy to eat in front of the television and didn't create too much washing up. The box this week came with a recipe sheet for a Cauliflower and Broccoli Pilaf with Chicken, which I adapted into a veggie version that incorporated the ingredients that I actually had in stock.

150g Quorn chicken-style pieces (about half a bag)
2 tbsp Rogan Josh paste
200g basmati rice
500ml stock
2 tbsp lemon juice
450g cauliflower, cut into florets
A couple of handfuls of frozen peas
Seasoning

I fried the Quorn in Fry Light, then added the rice, stirred around for a minute, then added the curry paste. After another minute I poured on the stock and lemon juice, covered it and left it to simmer for about 10 minutes. Then I added the cauliflower and peas, covered again and gave it another 5 minutes or so until the rice was cooked through.

It came out very well, with the cauliflower still fairly crunchy. I should really have thrown in some fresh coriander at the end (I always buy the price-reduced bunches when I see them in the supermarket and keep a supply in the freezer), but I could hear the TARDIS coming in to land in the other room, so it was the last thing on my mind.

Winter Minestrone

Savoy Cabbage
Originally uploaded by visionthing64

The Savoy Cabbage that I received this week was crying out to be used up today and I wanted to do a little more with it than boil it and serve it as a side vegetable. Besides, I still had that swede to finish up, so a quick trawl through the internet found this recipe on Veg Box Recipes for a Winter Vegetable Minestrone, which sounded perfect.





I fried up one of the onions in Fry Light , added some garlic that I picked up at the Tatton Food Festival the other week, diced one of the carrots and most of the remaining swede and added them with a leek from my last box that I found lurking in the bottom of the fridge. Along with the stock, pasta and tomatoes I chucked in a tin of mixed bean salad to make it a bit more substantial.





The shredded cabbage went in right at the end so that it wilted, but kept a bit of crunch. I served it topped with black pepper and grated parmesan cheese. Lovely! I almost wished that it had still been wet and stormy outside so that I could get the full comfort food effect.




Even Asha, who had been moaning about the swede content of this meal beforehand said that it was good, so I have to say that it was a success.

A Beginning, At Last

Portabello
Originally uploaded by visionthing64

This blog has been sitting idle for about eighteen months while I decided what to do with it. Starting to receive a vegetable box has refreshed my approach to the kitchen in that it has inspired me to seek out new recipes to use up all that good stuff. Hopefully it will kick my photography into shape too, which has also fallen into a bit of a rut of late.

It sounds like a plan, anyway.

So ... I get a fortnightly box from Riverford at Stockley Farm in Cheshire. This one contained:
Potatoes
Carrots
Onions
Spinach
Cauliflower
Savoy Cabbage
Mixed Salad
Portabello Mushrooms
Free Range Eggs
Cherry Tomatoes
Pumpkin
Swede (oh, no)

I'm not a big fan of swede, and I probably should have tried to substitute it with something else, but I forgot and it duly arrived.So, I chopped half of it up and roasted it, then stirred it into a risotto with some of the spinach and plenty of black pepper and parmesan, and it was actually pretty good. I saved the rest for that good old standby, soup.