Kawartha Ecological Growers CSA Love July 24, 2009

So before getting on with the food of the day, I have to give a major shout-out to Kat of Kat eats local in Toronto. You see, last Friday I was in a hurry to get to the registrar’s office before they closed, but on the way I passed by a table set up behind Hart House, full of veggies, with a crowd of people around it, and a big price list posted. I heard snippets of conversations that included “you can get either a large share of a small share”, “I have some extras of those you can buy”, “those are reserved for members”, etc.   It sounded like a CSA to me, and I was very intrigued, but like I said, in a hurry so I didn’t stop to investigate, though I had every intention of going back to check it out this week.

Meanwhile, I had left a comment to Kat that I was jealous of her Plan B CSA deliveries (deliveries are virtually impossible in my apartment building and their depots are not at all conveniently located or timed for me). Saturday morning she suggested I check our Kawartha Ecological Growers since they had different pick-up locations. Imagine my delight when I discovered they were the ones at Hart House! So this afternoon I very happily headed back to Hart House to hand over a check and pickup my very first share of goodies. I filled up my bag with beets, spinach, mixed basil, red leaf lettuce, cucumber, broccoli, peas, and raspberries. All organic (or close to organic but not certified), local, and BEAUTIFUL!

Anyways, on the the food. For breakfast I dug in the fridge for the last of the greens and produced a fabulous chocolate milkshake concoction 🙂 In the mix is Chocolate Spirutein (candy, again), kale, collards, spinach, wheatgrass ice cubes, chia seeds, and a banana. And once again and brought most to work, but enjoyed a little at home with blueberries (chocolate covered blueberries = yum).

For lunch I fixed up a fabulous salad with romaine, zucchini, yellow pepper, carrot, dulse, pineapple salsa, avocado, and Marti cheese.

After work I headed to Simply Bulk to stock up on a few items, and saw they had Peanut Butter Cookie Larabars, so I pounced. I got to Hart House early for the CSA, so I enjoyed a bar and a book in the courtyard of University College while I waited. OMG, this flavour is so GOOD! It seriously tasted just like a PB cookie.

I also stopped to enjoy the flowers outside of Trinity College.

And finally, for a very late dinner I did some space clearing in the fridge for my CSA goodies. I fixed up a salad of romaine, zuke, orange pepper, and snow peas tossed with sesame oil and lemon juice. And alongside that I steamed (definitely steamed…) the last of my kabocha, with tomato paste and a peach for dessert. I think the kabocha monster is in need of a dentist, but that’s just my opinion.

Mama needs to learn her colours May 12, 2009

As in Mother Nature. Why are all the purple vegetables called red? Red cabbage, red onion, and now red kale. Which featured in my delicious afternoon snack. But we’ll get to that in a bit.

For breakfast I started out with a fantastically awesome bowl of oatmeal. For some reason, I’ve never actually made pumpkin oats. I liked the idea, and it sounded good, it just never actually happen. That changed this morning. In the bowl is oatmeal, pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, maple syrup, and pumpkin seed butter. Amazing! I now understand why some people eat it so often.  The maple syrup helped too though, it’s so good!  From my roomie’s uncle’s sugar shack…because we only have 3 jugs of it occupying space in the fridge…plenty to last us the year.

For lunch I chopped up a red pepper, carrots, cucumber, and strawberries (sorry, no art today).

And I had a delicious green monster throughout the afternoon. I tried two new things in my smoothie today, red (aka purple) kale, and Vanilla Spirutein. Both were excellent, especially when combined with a banana, mango, and pineapple. There was a gritty nature to my monster, which might have been from the protein powder, but it could also have been from the pineapple since it was the core that I added. Either way I didn’t mind at all, I’m used to the slightly gritty ground chia seeds anyways.

I even got my cubicle-mate to try it. She obviously saw the green colour first and was intrigued, then when she caught of whiff of the scent she loved it, so I offered her a taste. She liked it, and asked what was in it. And the next question was “What’s kale?” Hehehe…oh dear.

There might have been a few parnoosh dates consumed upon arrival at the apartment, but the camera didn’t see.

Then for dinner I steamed a huge pile of broccoli, cooked up some chicken with sesame oil, and sliced a tomato with salt and pepper. Perfect.

And for a shocker, no cake tonight!