Saturday food haul

At the farmers' market (about $25)

1 quart button mushrooms

a bunch of collard greens

a bunch of kale

a bunch of winter salad greens (watercress, etc. mix)

1 head of green leaf lettuce

several bulbs of red shallots

10 red carrots

3 bagels

2 brownies

1 quart apple butter

At Mariposa co-op (about $35)

1.5 lbs rolled oats

1 lb penne pasta

1 lb asparagus

1 quart rice/soy milk

a bunch of dulce (sea vegetable)

dijon mustard

Tofurkey deli slices

4 bananas

lapsang souchong tea (bulk)

raspberry leaf tea (bulk)

valerian root powder (bulk)

nutritional yeast (bulk)

1 can of red beans for the food drive at my school

1 can of spicy refried beans for the food drive at my school

6 starter strawberry plants

I forgot to get beans for us (bulk red beans), and I forgot garlic. The winter greens mix and collard greens were the best deal of the day: $2.40 for both at the Pennypack Farms table. I'm into mushrooms for sandwiches again. They're filling and high in protein and they soak up whatever flavors you put on them. With springtime, I'm into sandwiches again, which just always seem like an appropriate food for warm weather. We've been getting hoagie rolls from Fu-Wah, and I bring sandwiches on them for lunch. Mark has been making me a delicious pasta and bean salad for lunch that I just don't get tired of. It saves my life on those long Wednesdays when I have to go out to Glenside for class after school.

Lapsang Souchong tea is now one of my favorite things. It is smoky and sexy. It's campfire tea. Valerian root is for relaxation, including relaxing your muscles, so I wanted to try it to help ease the tension in my neck and shoulders that doesn't let go at the end of the day. Raspberry leaf tea is especially for ladies. I just discovered that the co-op has bulk teas, which is great. I got a lot of the campfire tea for $4, which, a box of 16 Russian Caravan tea bags (another smoky tea) is over $4, and this is a lot more tea than that. I don't know how to use the Valerian root, so I have to look that up.

We've been running out of money pretty much every week as we catch up from winter heating bills, unemployment, and the general January-April money curse, so we've gotten creative with food a lot. Mark's payday was yesterday and not a moment too soon. Yesterday, I actually brought four slices of cheap white bread and a container of apple butter to spread on it for lunch. Thursday, I brought a bag of raisins and got a bag of pretzels and a very sad banana at the 7-11 near the school. Pitiful. Back on top of things now. I tried to be conscious about what would last the longest, with the exception of the Tofurkey slices, which were a splurge. The quart of button mushrooms, with greens, vinegar, mustard, and onions, will be great for sandwiches for lunch. I'm sure I can sweet talk Mark into making me another pasta salad. I still have lots of raisins, and the rolled oats are $1.02/lb, and a lot of bang for the buck, with high protein, calcium and iron, and very filling for breakfast (or dinner). Adding raisins sweetens the oatmeal and ups the calcium. Cheap pasta sauce from Fu-Wah, along with the cheap white bread for garlic bread makes for a good, cheap, filling pasta dinner. We also have plenty of whole wheat flour and black pepper for gravy, and Mark perfected a rice-and-gravy dish this past week that is ridiculous-tasty. I don't know what the hell I would do without Mark's mad cooking skills. My life would be sadder and less fulfilling. And then there's the love. That makes things better, too.

Saturday, Swiss chard, and bean salads

Saturday was the day we had to be out of our old apartment, so I haven't blogged the groceries yet. I got so much stuff at Thursday's farmers' market, that Saturday felt more like a Thursday. Only spent $28 Saturday morning... er, afternoon. I actually forgot to go to the market until half past one, because of all the excitement.


Saturday Shopping List

The four lovely heirloom tomatoes you see above
5 red shallots
3 bunches of small orange carrots with the greens on
6 ears sweet corn
4 cucumbers
1 pint blackberries
1 lb. maple granola
1/2 loaf banana sourdough bread
1 loaf multi-grain bread
and a 16-oz iced coffee

Total: $28

On Thursday, I had spent $36.50, and got kale, mustard greens, Swiss chard, lettuce, potatoes, onions, mushrooms, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, peaches, tomatoes, green beans, and garlic. I may be forgetting something.


The Swiss chard is GREAT for roasting. I usually roast kale and mustard greens for about 30-35 minutes. I had forgotten a pan in the oven recently and burned it to a crisp after 45 minutes. Well. I got the Swiss chard, put it on the bottom, put kale and mustard greens on top, and put it in the oven intending to leave it about 30 minutes. Did the same thing again! Forgot about it and after 45 minutes I went in there steaming mad, figuring I just ruined another pan of perfectly good greens. No. The chard was still a little moist and had protected the other greens and everything else was golden brown and crispy. The chard was golden brown and flaky like a pie crust! It was ridiculous. The flavor was strong. It was very savory and rich. Now I have a reason to buy Swiss chard. So good.


Mark made this delicious summer bean salad. It has: red beans, corn, cucumber, tomato, carrots, and purple lettuce, with an oil & vinegar dressing and cayenne pepper. Shut up. It's amazing. He made another, similar one, but with green beans and potato, and with an avocado dressing that he made himself. I think it was just avocado and olive oil with pepper. That one was also delicious. The avocado dressing made it very filling and added some good fat.

Fruity Thursday

There is so much fruit in my house right now.

Thursday Shopping List

1 pint blueberries

1 pint blackberries

1 pint raspberries

6 peaches

6 green apples

1 lb. baby spinach

1 bunch curly kale

1 bunch mustard greens

1 quart green beans

3 ears bi-color sweet corn

6 tomatoes

Total: about $30 (berries are pricey but worth it)

The apples are perfect. I don't remember seeing these last year. They're smallish and green. They are very crisp, both in texture and taste. They have a tartness but are not at all sour and with a sweetness to balance it out. They seem like they would be great for pies. Now I just need to try actually baking a pie. I got them from Fahnestock Fruit Farm, the same people I get the peaches and tomatoes from.

I got the mustard greens specifically to try roasting them, as I usually do with kale. I made a bunch of roasted kale and mustard greens when I got home, and there wasn't much difference between the two, except the mustard greens had more of a bite to them. I think this makes them slightly superior for roasting. Again, here's how you roast greens: coat them with olive oil, sprinkle liberally with sea salt, place in a cast iron pan and into an oven preheated to 350, for 30-35 minutes. Greens should be browned (actually, I like to blacken them a little bit) and super-crisp and dry, like very thin, green, misshapen potato chips.

Incidentally they're great for a hangover.

Spring Market

In a few weeks, the Clark Park Farmers' Market will be a buffet of vegetables I had forgotten about. Over the summer, the variety will change weekly. Carrots in every color of the rainbow, roots that look like they came either from outer space or the core of the earth. Greens tinged with purple, red, blue. Patty-pan squash in three colors. Yellow summer squash, zucchini, cucumbers. Potatoes whose skins are a mix of colors shimmering like an oil slick only to hide a completely different pigment underneath in their flesh. Heirloom tomatoes like your granny grew. People will set out buckets of tall flowers that drip water from their stems when you lift them out. And okra! Okra! My favorite meal will again be okra with tomatoes, and crunchy, salted, sauteed green beans on the side like fries.

Yesterday was the first official market of spring, and already the offerings were more diverse. A lady had potted plants ready to set out in your flower beds. She also sold micro-greens, which you see above. These are new to me. They are packed with flavor. I had two sandwiches with these yesterday. They're pretty, too!

Saturday Shopping List

6 red potatoes
12 small sweet onions
1 leek
1 head green butter lettuce
1 head purple butter lettuce
1 head crispy green leaf lettuce
1 bunch kale
1 lb. white beans
a carton of micro-greens (pictured)
10 orange carrots
6 small red carrots
1 pint white mushrooms
1 portobello cap
1 loaf multi-grain bread

Total: about $30

This morning, we went out walking in the sunshine and came back with 2 grapefruits, 2 cinnamon-raisin bagels, a thing of vegan cream cheese, some rolled oats, and a cup of coffee. Good weekend.

Two Sandwiches

A couple of sandwich meals I've been having.

Here's a favorite:

White mushrooms soaked in balsamic vinegar, mixed greens, alfalfa sprouts, onions, and Vegenaise. (If you don't have Vegenaise, use olive oil mixed with your favorite spices - that's what I often do.) In this picture, it's on country white bread, because they were out of multi-grain, but multi-grain is my personal favorite for this sandwich. This sandwich keeps well, if you want to make it in the morning and wrap it up for lunch. Because the mushrooms soak up the vinegar, you can have a lot of flavor without the ingredients being too wet.

On the side: green beans lightly sauteed in olive oil with salt and pepper. Don't cook them long - leave them crunchy, and then coat them with crunchy sea salt. These are also a great movie snack. And of course, if you have a sour pickle to add on the side, all the better.


I don't think this next one photographed as well, but it's a good hoagie.

That's Tofurkey kielbasa cut into strips and heated in a skillet on the stovetop. Top that with raw onions, alfalfa sprouts, and a little bit of the sauerkraut you're going to have for your side dish. The roll is a standard hoagie roll from any Philadelphia corner store. (Or your favorite steak roll from wherever you live.)

Side dish: seared brussels sprouts and sauerkraut. Use a small amount of olive oil, salt and pepper for the brussels sprouts. Cook them over high heat. You want to leave them crunchy but blacken parts of them. Some of the outer leaves will fall off and those will get nice and crispy. Don't use too much oil because when you add the kraut, there will be a lot of moisture. Keep the heat high and add the kraut - this will blacken a little, too, and get smoky. Sprinkle the whole mess with pepper.

Good times.

Cheating on Clark Park with Weaver's Way Co-Op

I was off work today, because my new job gets canceled if the buses can't run, so we decided to take the train out to Mt. Airy and check out Weaver's Way Co-Op. The thought of a week without green food was pretty sad, and it would take almost as long and be more annoying to go into Center City to Trader Joe's or something. Anyway, we had been wanting to check out Weaver's Way for a while now.

Worth it. Worth it. Oh, damn. Worth it. Better selection than the park, and we got more stuff than usual for the same price as usual.

Weaver's Way Shopping List

4 leeks
a lb. of salad greens
about a quart and a half of brussels sprouts!
about a quart of green beans!
3 bunches of broccoli
a 6 oz. thing of bean, lentil, and pea sprouts (aka pure energy)
a 4 oz. thing of dill and alfalfa sprouts
a yellow bell pepper
an orange bell pepper
about 2 quarts of white mushrooms
5 tomatoes

almost forgot, a 6-pack of frozen spring rolls

Total: $35

It looks like a short list, but those brussels sprouts will last forever, especially considering that we have other green things at the same time. In the summer, we had okra and green beans, then they went away and we had brussels sprouts, then they went away, and the broccoli is iffy, and we're left with basically kale for green food. To see this diversity of green foods made my heart pound. We were so excited we forgot to get asparagus. Which they also had.

So, the green beans will last a while, the brussels sprouts will, the broccoli will, the leeks will make four soups, the mushrooms will last well into next week, even the salad greens should last us a while. These bean sprouts aren't going to last long if I don't go make something to eat and stop munching on them. Oh, they're good, though.

And I can put alfalfa sprouts on my sandwiches! I am so excited. I'm hungry, but I don't even know what to make, because we have so much food. I also happen to have sauerkraut, so I can have my favorite - brussels sprouts and sauerkraut if I want. I want a sandwich right now, though. With greens and sprouts and mushrooms. And I'm going to saute some green beans with oil and salt to have on the side. Oh. Yes.

While we were there, we had soup for lunch. Two of the three soups available were vegan. I had tomato rice, and Mark had vegetable soup. With two feet of snow on the ground, we had lunch outside. The weather was just that gorgeous.

Perfect sandwich greens from Landisdale Farm

I take back what I said about these being overpriced. I would pay a zillion dollars for these sandwich greens.

You eat them with thinly-sliced Portobello mushrooms drenched in balsamic vinegar, coated with olive oil, onions. Mustard would be perfect, but I don't have any. Had a very thin coating of Vegenaise on each slice of bread, because the cracked-wheat bread is very heavy and requires dressings. I would prefer mustard. You want to layer the greens with the mushrooms. Pile them pretty high. Remember, your bread is heavy, so lots of wet ingredients are good, and your mushrooms and greens are coated in oil and vinegar.

My camera's batteries died before I could photograph the finished sandwich.