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3 Thai eggplants
1 Chinese eggplant
1 standard eggplant
1 tight handful (grabbing by the stems) of reddish-greenish lettuce (picture approximated)
1 less tight handful (by the stems) of spinach
7 small round tomatoes
1 pint or more of small cherry tomatoes
7 medium-sized red potatoes
1 rutabaga
3 green peppers
4 large cucumbers, about to get soft
1 short yellow zucchini
1 ear sweet corn (I'll eat it plain once I figure out how to cook it)
I'm stumped. I don't know what to do with...real food...I measure powders and make cakes out of them according to precise recipes. I don't [i]improvise[/i]. I don't want to go shopping; I'm getting close to the end of my lease and just want to get this food made into healthy "leftovers" I can put in tupperware and eat for the next 3-4 days. Besides, if I go shopping, I'll buy Frosted Mini Wheats and live off those and bread like I've been doing for the last week.
Here are the other ingredients around my house:
1-2 cups couscous
Rice (some average-looking white kind that seems to be from Vietnam)
2 lbs spaghetti
1 lb whole wheat rotini
1 lb penne
1 lb tri-color fiori
2 qts milk
3-4 cups heavy cream
Egyptian lemons pickled in salty lemon juice
Salt
Pepper
1 head + 4 cloves garlic
Dried basil
Powdered oregano
1T dried Italian seasonings
2T dried Herbes de Provence
Balsamic vinegar
white wine vinegar
red whine vinegar
Olive oil, both strong- and weak-flavored
vegetable oil
butter
cheddar (brick form)
grated Italian hard cheese w/ peppercorns (close to parmesan)
1 can black beans
1 can white hominy (beans)
1 can fava beans
1 can chick peas
1 tub of East African powdered peas (shiro)
chicken broth in a box
beef broth in a box
artichoke hearts in a jar
4 oz. brown mustard
8 oz. yellow mustard
sugar (granulated, brown, & powdered)
all-purpose flour
Note: I don't have any onions left.
I already made bruschetta with last week's huge batch of tomatoes, so I'd like to try something different that will use all the ingredients at the top.
Thanks for your creativity! If you're in the Twin Cities, you're welcome to come by for the finished product, assuming I get some ideas for finishing it.
August 6 2005, 01:48:59 UTC 6 years ago
1. slice thai eggplants in 1/2" to 3/4" slices.
2. lay slices out on a plate or cookie sheet and salt.
3. let salted eggplant sit until it starts to sweat. little beads will form on top of the eggplant, that's how you'll know it's ready for you.
4. rinse eggplant and place on a cookie sheet lightly greased with olive oil.
5. apply crushed garlic and pepper to taste.
6. place cookie sheet in a preheated 350 degree oven and cook until you think it's done.
7. cook couscous along with chickpea. if it says add salt, add some of that salty lemon juice instead. or just buy a lemon. add diced tomato when it's almost done cooking.
8. serve eggplant on top of couscous.
9. there ain't nothin wrong with artichoke hearts. ever.
yeah?
August 6 2005, 02:18:02 UTC 6 years ago
Someone sent me a recipe for Ratatouille, which uses about half my veggies in almost perfect proportions to what I have. This uses fewer of my veggies, so I'm stuck with more creativity to execute, but MAN does that sound like my kind of meal. A lot moreso than ratatouille.
I suppose I could just stick mashed or whole chickpeas between ratatouille & lemon-salty couscous if I don't come up with enough other recipes to make yours.
Man...we should make each other couscous sometime when we're in the same town. Sounds like you know what you're talking about.
August 6 2005, 06:15:38 UTC 6 years ago
The new potatoes (at least, that's what we call red-skinned ones here)... I like to just eat those in butter. Slice them up fairly thin, leave the skin on (you'll want to scrub them first), throw em in a big skillet (grease the bottom) and just let them fry. You can layer them pretty deep... just flip em over and move em around throughout the cooking with something like a big spatula so they evenly cook. I usually stick a lid on top of the skillet too, so they sort of steam and cook faster. When they're soft and done, salt/pepper to taste and add more butter.
August 6 2005, 06:30:32 UTC 6 years ago
Also it's freaking easy to make in about 100 other ways. You can put it on a grill outside, in the husks, for like 5-10 minutes and it's done. You can put it in the microwave in the husks for a few minutes (just look online for that). Just make it hot through for like 2 minutes and it's done.
August 7 2005, 16:35:45 UTC 6 years ago
August 7 2005, 16:35:54 UTC 6 years ago
August 6 2005, 15:44:27 UTC 6 years ago
I'd just eat the cherry tomatoes. They taste too good not to.
Cucumbers don't cook well - they're much better raw. My grandma always sliced them thinly and refrigerated them in a brine (white vinegar, water & sugar) with an onion, and it was a side dish at dinner.
Green peppers stuffed with spinach & tomato couscous, topped with feta. Make sure you cover them with foil when baking so they don't burn.
August 7 2005, 00:18:15 UTC 6 years ago
it looked like more of a nice-looking appetizer type food than a meal, but sounds fun anyway.
August 7 2005, 15:43:47 UTC 6 years ago
August 7 2005, 16:34:48 UTC 6 years ago
But for this one? No...I really wanted it to look the way it does, and I went to a lot of trouble to find images that were each less than 200x200, to format properly, and to keep the number down so it wouldn't cause anyone screen or bandwidth problems.
August 7 2005, 17:54:13 UTC 6 years ago
August 7 2005, 20:47:31 UTC 6 years ago
August 8 2005, 04:45:49 UTC 6 years ago
August 10 2005, 00:29:57 UTC 6 years ago