WIAW 41

Wow – last night was the last CSA pickup of the season… We’ve been eating the more perishable vegetables, the last week or two, and saving the more durable ones that would keep, and we’ve had some very dense vegetables, so I’m now  entering the winter with cabbages and winter squash and kale. We also have a freezer full of sauteed peppers, roasted eggplant, mirepoix, and other vegetables I’ve already prepared and frozen.

For the next six months, I’ll shop at Greenmarket (which seems to have more winter vegetables every year, as the farmers learn that there is a customer base – and as high tunnels and other season extending methods become more popular) and the little greengrocer across the street – not local, but small and independent, and with better and fresher vegetables than the supermarket down the block. We also will eat some frozen vegetables… to me, it makes more sense to eat frozen vegetables from the Midwest  than to insist on bringing fresh ones up from Chile out of season. Your mileage may vary and all that…

We are also now in the three month period in which lighting for pictures is going to be difficult. For one thing, the sun sets long before we eat dinner… But during daylight it is low in the sky, and shines very brightly straight into my kitchen. I’m learning to play games with diffusers and reflectors – but please bear with me while I figure out how to do something about the hard shadows and bright hot spots. I was never a photographer, and the learning curve is steep… (I guess it’s a step that I now recognize problems I didn’t even see a year ago…)

Anyway… breakfast. I am falling into a pretty strong pattern of beans and eggs and muffins. As I said in my last post, I do want to avoid eating the same thing every day – and actually you missed my first tryout of millet porridge (needs work, at least for my taste. I’ve been told I should try vanilla and fruit in it – I will.)  I just bought a commercial Hot Cereal Mix, and I’ll see how I do with that. This is good, though, and I also do like the beans and egg with tortillas, which I can get easily… and next I will try other muffin recipes.

Lunch was odds and ends – leftover chicken and gravy from the night before, some frozen green beans (we’re helping friends clear out freezer and pantry stuff – long story – so I have a couple of things I might not normally get, at least not this early in the season.) Heated it all together, put it over rice.

We’d gone down to the CSA pickup – they had a little party, Rich got a glass of wine, we said “See you in the Spring!” to some people…  But I got a migraine. So when I got home I scrapped the dinner I’d planned, because I was too washed out. Instead we had burgers, and rice heated with some quick beefy mushroom gravy (dried mushrooms, Bovril, buckwheat roux cube… yes, I’m testing roux cubes all over the place) and the rest of the kale I’d cooked the day before… And those are Freezer Souffles. Or at least, that’s the idea. You may note that they didn’t souff (or however one would describe that)  though they did taste good… so I’m not writing them up until they do what I want them to. Anyhow, I tossed them into the toaster oven while I put everything else together, which did prove *that* concept, at least… and dressed up a hamburger quite nicely, even if they weren’t pretty.

Joining Jenn, as always…