The Co-Op: Month 2

Here are some new (to us) recipes that we used for our produce this month. In case you forgot, here was what we received:

Recipe Inspiration: Easy Asian Stir-Fry

Veggie Stir Fry
Ingredients we used: 3 carrots, 1 green bell pepper, 1/2 a yellow onion, 3 garlic cloves, 2 cups of broccoli, 1/4 a head of cabbage, canola oil, Kikkoman stirfry sauce, salt & pepper

Other than changing up the ingredients, we followed the recipe as listed. It was very good, but I think I'd add more garlic next time. 



Recipe Inspiration: Baked Zucchini Chips

Squash Chips
Ingredients we used: 1 squash, Pam original cooking spray, McCormick garlic & sea salt grinder

I figured since I had done it with zucchini, I could do it with squash. I followed the directions almost exactly, but I baked them for a total of 2 hours this time, which made them much crispier than with the zucchini. These were good, and I will continue to make these as they are quite easy!



Recipe Inspiration: Crispy Smashed Potatoes 

 Roasted Smashed Potatoes
Ingredients we used: small red potatoes, olive oil, sea salt, black pepper grinder, dried rosemary

I've made these twice, the first time with not so wonderful results. So the second time I made some adjustments. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Instead of boiling the potatoes, bake them in the microwave, 3-4 minutes on each side, depending on the size. Smash them down (I used tongs), drizzle/brush with olive oil and sprinkle the salt, pepper and rosemary. Bake them for five minutes. That's it! These are SO DELICIOUS. The flavor is amazing, and it's my new favorite way to eat a potato!



Recipe Inspiration: Ranch Roasted Potatoes
** No picture for this one

Zesty Italian Potatoes
Ingredients we used: 2 pounds red potatoes, 1 packet Good Seasons Zesty Italian dry dressing mix, olive oil, salt

I followed the directions exactly, but make sure the potatoes are completely covered with oil or cooking spray and make sure the pieces are small enough to be cooked thoroughly.



Recipe Inspiration: Capellini Pomodoro 

Spaghetti Pomodoro
There are no changes to this recipe except the substitution of thin spaghetti for angel hair, and dried basil for fresh basil. It was still good! You might want to add some additional spices to give it a little more kick.      

We Joined a Co-Op

If you've looked at my Thrifty Thursday blogs in the past month, you may have noticed a sudden lack of produce. Well, that is thanks to the fact that Jamie and I have joined a co-op. We pay $20, once a month, for a ton of food! It has helped us with our goal of eating healthier, eating foods we probably wouldn't normally buy AND forcing us to learn how to cook some things.

We forgot to take a picture of the first batch of produce we got, so here's a list: red apples, oranges, strawberries, bananas, kiwi, beans, cabbage, carrots, corn, cucumbers, cilantro, greens, lettuce, yellow onions, spring onions, red potatoes, sweet potatoes, yellow squash, tomatoes, zucchini, and mushrooms.

Now, if you know me, you know how much I loathe cooking. I will 'Pin' food and recipes all day long, but when it comes to actually making it... that's a different story. So, I'm proud of us for buckling down and making stuff. Granted, it's all pretty easy, if I can do it :-)

Besides the requisite salads, here are some of the other things we made.

These are greens that Jamie cooked.
I'm not a big fan of them, but Jamie loves them.
You'll have to ask him for the recipe!

Here's the recipe for our homemade salsa: From our produce stock, we used fresh cilantro, yellow onion and spring onion. We didn't have enough fresh tomatoes, so we drained a can of Hunt's diced tomatoes and a can of Rotel tomatoes with chilies. We chopped up the onions and cilantro, then added them with the tomatoes into the blender and made it smoother. "(The picture is before it was blended) For a final touch of flavor, we seasoned with garlic salt and oregano. It was delicious!

These are baked zucchini chips. Although they look rather large, they're actually very tiny. I used this recipe, with a couple of alterations: Baked Zucchini Chips. I would recommend using a slicer b/c I had a mix of crispy and soft due to the fact that I sliced them by hand. I also ended up baking them for an hour and a half. As far as seasoning, I would use a grinder. That was the only thing I could figure out that would not put too much. Let me know if you figure something else out. In any case, these were really good. Hopefully next time I can more to be crispy!

I got the recipe for this roasted squash from my friend Mamie's blog. I used spring onion instead of red onion, and I didn't have any fresh spices, so I used dried basil and dried minced garlic. I actually made this twice, once using coconut oil and once with canola. The coconut was better because somehow it didn't seem as greasy, plus it just gave it a little bit of added flavor. Also, make sure to cut the squash into bigger pieces than normal, since they will get much smaller when cooked!

I'm one of those people that like to put all kinds of things in my salads: veggies, fruit and nuts. One of my favorites to make is a strawberry salad. In this particular one, I used lettuce, tomato, mushroom, mandarin oranges, strawberries, sliced almonds and pistachios. Top with a raspberry walnut vinaigrette or some type of asian dressing, like sesame ginger. Yum, yum!

In addition to this, we made Baked Sweet Potatoes, had sliced cucumbers with soy sauce, cooked Corn on the Cob, made a strawberry kiwi salad, taco salad and cooked carrots.

Here is our new batch of produce we got yesterday. Leave any recipe ideas for these new veggies in the comment section!!