Summer has hit Portland.

Having a CSA is seriously saving our monetary lives right now.

I'm being challenged to use up the vegetables we're getting in order to prepare for the next week's share. Sometimes, I fail (fennel, I'm looking at you). Sometimes I win (hello, newfound love for collard and kale chips). Each week is an adventure in frugality and utilizing what we have. The last big push to stock up on dry staples such as rice, beans, pasta and such has allowed us to live the past couple weeks without buying much at all. But the reserves are running low.

This week's share

At the moment, we have in our fridge, just from our CSA:

1.5 bags of fava beans

1 bag of kale

1 bag of collards

1 head of lettuce

1 onion (it still had the dirt on it from being plucked from the ground!!)

1 bunch of carrots

1 fennel bulb
1 bunch of gorgeous carrots

some heads of broccoli and cauliflower

I'm finding that you can make pesto out of pretty much anything. A favorite of the household is Isa's edamame pesto, so I cooked up some of the fava beans from last week's share and threw them in the blender with basil, macadamia nuts (it's what I had!) nutritional yeast, water, olive oil, salt and pepper. While not as tasty as the edamame pesto, it surely made a delicious base for the "let's use up all these vegetables" pizza. It had broccoli, zucchini, mushrooms, onion and soy curls draping its beautiful self.

The pizza crust I use is from Emeril and it's so easy and delicious.  Seriously. It deserves its own fan club, even if Emeril is not somebody I'd like to meet.

Some other ways I've been using up this bounty of green? 

I know this sounds like a total hippie statement, but try kale chips. Seriously. And sprinkle them with nooch. You won't regret it.

Lots of pasta, of course.

Have a lovely week! It's getting hot here in Portland, so I'm trying to keep my cool. Hardy har har.

I *heart* beer

This is no secret to those that know me. I blame my beer snob ways on my husband. I've really started to cut back on drinking the liquid of the gods due to being broke and wanting to be healthier. But I can't pass up a good opportunity to drink delicious, local brews for free.

Every year, Portland hosts the North American Organic Brewers Festival. Local and national breweries come and hock their organic wares in beautiful Overlook park in north Portland. I first signed up to volunteer last year out of sheer boredom and after all the free beer I got to drink I couldn't resist signing up again to pour this year. 

Another awesome aspect of the festival is the food. The festival requires all vendors to use compostable cutlery and there are recycling stations around the park to prevent the least waste possible. My favorite food cart, Viva Vegetarian Grill from Eugene, was there serving up delicious vegan cheesesteak sandwiches, hot dogs, soy sausages and tempeh reubens. If the cart wasn't 2 hours south, I think I would eat there every. freaking. day.

A taster of beer is one token and four ounces, and I had 20 tokens, just from volunteering. I enlisted the help of a friend for the imbibing on Sunday and it was an amazing day for being outside in Portland.

Flower of the Gods IPA from Lompoc (my favorite brewery)

Viva Cheesesteak with awesome cashew cheese

Mo' Money, Mo' Problems

I am so sick of getting laid off.

This time, though, I can't claim unemployment. I didn't work enough hours (680) in 9 months to claim. I had planned on quitting anyways at the end of the summer when school started back up, but this was definitely unexpected.

Due to the job climate and my not wanting to get a job JUST for the summer (I will be getting work study in September!) I've been working on overhauling our budget, big time. Not that there's much we can cut out. I think we'll squeak through unharmed, but it's definitely nerve wracking.

Luckily, our grocery bills are going to be the easiest. I signed us up for a CSA and paid in full before all the shit hit the fan, so at least we'll be getting veggies once a week until October.  We had originally budgeted $100 a week for groceries, the CSA brings us down to $75. I stocked up big time on dried beans, lentils, rice, oatmeal and pasta this last paycheck, so that will help shave more dollars off. As long as we stick to the perishable essentials (coffee, not-milks and such) we will be fine. I gotta keep repeating that: we will be fine.

Last night, I made myself a dinner almost completely made of CSA goodies. Our box this week included green onions, daikon radishes, garlic scapes (!), red leaf lettuce, spinach and chard mix and collard greens. I had seen a couple recipes for garlic scape pesto floating around and based mine on this recipe. It is SO GOOD. I didn't even miss the basil! I cut out the cashews and tofu, subbed the arugula for some of the spinach-chard mix and added in edamame for creaminess. I then smothered some broccoli with it. On the side I steamed some of the chard-spinach mix with garlic and a little bit of salt.

While I have many, many budget friendly meals up my sleeve, I will be researching and adding my own spin to them and posting them here. I believe it's incredibly easy to eat well on a very restricted budget. I mean, dried beans and rice are some of the cheapest foods out there. Fresh, local veggies are so wallet friendly and bulk spices are amazingly cheap.

Busy Busy

This quarter is just about done. Until somewhat regular posting can resume, here are some still life shots for my photography class.

Deep Breath!

So I've finished my challenge. I'm finding that it's really flippin' hard to commit myself to something like this AND do crazy school and work hours AND attempt to be healthier.

But no worries, dear readers.

I managed to squeeze in two recipes from the Vegetarian Times cookbook last week....for the same meal....on a Sunday. Hey, it works, right?

#1 & #2 - Pesto Mashed Potatoes & Sesame Broccoli

Wow, this is a sort of lovely picture!

The potatoes basically soaked up the broccoli's juices. It was tasty, but something was missing from both. There's an espresso cake in the Veg Times book that I've been waiting for the perfect opportunity to make, so I'll be making my third recipe....in the future.

This week, I also made my challenge recipes from the Almost No Fat Cookbook for the same meal. I had a long, luxurious time in the kitchen, and I'm happy to say that it was time well spent. Well, except for the third recipe. The first two were delicious and used up sooooo many veggies I had laying around!

#1 - Enchilada Casserole


#2 - Spanish Rice (drowned in salsa)


#3 - (not pictured) tofu sour cream. I don't know what happened here. I think the tofu I bought THAT DAY was bad, cause this was awful. I've made variations of tofu sour cream before, so I know this wasn't supposed to taste rotten!

I have about 2 more weeks of school and then I can breathe and ready myself for the big kid's school. I've got Isa's East Coast Coffee Cake in the oven, variation chocolate chip + strawberries. It smells insane.

Inconsistency.

Sometimes I like to start things with the very best intentions.

Most of the time I falter from the task at hand, feel guilty and then quit entirely.

That's kind of what happened with the cookbook challenge, and always what happens when I try to improve my diet. Honestly, I'm surprised I've stuck with veganism so long. But then again, I stuck with a vegetarian diet for what, 6 years? I love how I eat now.

I'm making 2 recipes from the Vegetarian Times cookbook for lunch today, on the last day, sticking with the challenge in the best way I can.

And starting today, every damn meal will be healthy and in moderation. No more going back for more cereal, no more pasta as the main dish, no more Coconut Bliss as lunch. And I'm quitting alcohol, at least until I can feel I can go a day without having a blasted beer. Jeff has me hooked on yerba mate and it's almost sun-tea season.

But for now, I present some photos I turned in for the the "portrait" assignment in my photo class.
She's such a good model.

Veggies Veggies Veggies

The past two weeks have been a little crazy in our little household. Midterms, speeches and rent have all been due and you know I, the great procrastinator, dutifully put it all off until the last minute.

The challenge was adhered to last week, but not in the order I was supposed to do. And this week? Pssh, nothing. I stick to nobody's rules, not even my own.

Instead of making 3 recipes out of my Weight Watchers book, I made one and then made three other recipes out of The Reader's Digest Vegetarian Cookbook. Let's delve into a couple pictures, shall we?

That's right, I only have two.


#1 - Zesty Chickpeas & Shells


From the Weight Watchers book. I thought it was pretty good, Jeff didn't like the whole chickpeas in it. I may have also thrown in some tempeh that I NEEDED to use up, so there was a double dose of protein in that dinner!

#2 & #3 - Curried Lentil & Vegetable Pilaf with Hot Cajun Wedges

The pilaf is made with coconut milk, so it was incredibly rich and creamy. And SO MANY VEGETABLES!!!! It made a ton of food, so leftovers last week were pretty amazing. The cajun wedges got thrown in there to use up some potatoes and were also delicious. Then again, potatoes are an almost daily occurence here....

Next week I'll be on track with the Vegetarian Times Cookbook. I'm planning on making more than 3 recipes since the book is incredibly large.

Have I mentioned that I got into Portland State for fall term? Uber excited.