Nothing new here...just popcorn. But this particular popcorn is local + came from our CSA box.  :) Normally, we buy our popcorn kernels in bulk. Our minimalist kitchen doesn't contain a popcorn popper, so I just use my trusty lidded pot + about a tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat to pop it. A handful or two of kernels can fill the entire pot!

A few of the ways we like to eat popcorn include:
-sprinkled with salt + a melted butter 
-sprinkled with salt, melted butter + nutritional yeast (available in bulk where we live)
-a spoonful (or two) of sugar thrown in with the kernels (just shake the pot periodically during popping to avoid burning) + salt + melted butter (if desired)
-a little cayenne or cinnamon sprinkled in with salt + butter 

All of these make a great, light snack...in the middle of the afternoon or after dinner. What are your favorite popcorn "toppings"?

Love,
Jane

We find ourselves at an abundant spot in the season...especially as I've chosen to wedge myself between our garden + our CSA box. I've filled up all of my available jars (+ the freezer) with tomato sauce. I've put up a year's worth of pepper flakes. We've got a little stock of potatoes + sweet potatoes tucked away in a cool, dry spot.

Right now, I'm feeling most triumphant when we eat up some of our bounty. This meal did that alright...but it took some time to prepare. The process was easy + much of the time was spent simply waiting, after the initial chopping + mixing. Zero-waste meal preparation is often simple + straightforward...but it can also be a bit time consuming (which can be made a bit more so due to my minimal kitchen tools). 

I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this line of thought, except to say that I don't spend too long in the kitchen every night. If I'm making rice, I'll always make two nights worth in order to save myself the time (+ dishes) another night. I make big batches of beans + chickpeas + then freeze them in jars, so that I have stock on hand. Greens get washed + stored once per week. Carrots can be chopped + stored in a jar with just a little water...ready to use. Pickled vegetables or kimchi can be batch made.

If I was cooking for fewer people, I would still make just as much + store the leftovers for lunches or quick dinners. Vegetables could be chopped + roasted once per week + tossed into salads, soups, or grain bowls as desired. I do think zoodles (spiralized zucchini "noodles") can be made as quickly as pasta though!  :) 

Zero-waste food may take a little more time to prepare than a microwave meal...but zero-waste food is much more tasty + healthy too! The connection we make with our food as we gather it + prepare it is beautiful + important. Food is one of the things that makes the rest of our lives possible...so we might as well enjoy the process.

Falafel + all the veg                                            (measurements given for 4 servings)
from the garden:
-tomatoes
-pepper
from the csa box:
-2 zucchini, spiralized
-radishes
-onion
from the freezer:
-chickpeas
also:
-olive oil
-salt + pepper
-pepper flakes
-1 tsp. cumin
-4 Tbsp. flour or besan
-lemon
-yogurt
-dill

For roasted tomatoes + pepper :: Cut tomatoes in half (+ slice peppers), toss with a bit of olive oil + salt, spread in a single layer, and put in the oven at about 350F for at least an hour (checking periodically)...until roasted + a bit browned. (These are good for a few days in the fridge + tasted amazing on our avocado toast for lunch today.)
For falafel :: Mix chickpeas (I used about 16 oz. for 4 of us), onion, juice from 1/2 lemon, salt, cumin, pepper flakes, flour or besan in the blender. Form into patties + place on a lightly oiled cookie sheet. Cook at 400F for 10 minutes...flip + cook for 10 minutes more.
For zoodles :: Toss spiralized zucchini into hot skillet + cook for around 4 minutes.
For dressing :: Mix around 1/2 cup of yogurt, juice from other 1/2 of the lemon, dill, salt + pepper.
(I give measurements where they matter most + season or substitute as desired with the rest.)

Love,
Jane

I am a huge fan of leftovers. They feel like a gift from my past self. With a leftover half of an acorn squash, 1/4 of a can of coconut milk, some leftover quinoa, + a jar of beans...this was the result + it was delicious. There was no plan, but sometimes...one thing at a time...it just all comes together.  :)

Coconut Squash Grain Bowl
quinoa
black beans
spinach
1/2 acorn squash (cooked)
1/4 can of coconut milk
plain yogurt
pepper flakes
cinnamon
ginger
salt

Blend all ingredients from squash on down. Pour over the others.  :) Enjoy!

(We ate ours with the leftover half of a local honeydew.)

Love,
Jane

If I could only choose one spice (other than salt), it would be pepper flakes. We love them sprinkled into + onto most everything savory. From avocado toast to soups to grain bowls...we like them all a bit spicy. So last summer, after growing peppers for years + eating them all fresh, I was scared/inspired into trying to make pepper flakes out of some very spicy peppers that burned my hands when I cut them.  :)

Those pepper flakes lasted all year + were so good! We are still using up the very last of them. So, of course, we're at it again with this year's spicy peppers. I've found the best way for me to dry the peppers is just to put them in the oven on low heat (I've been putting them in at about 270F) until they become brittle enough to crack. I check on them every hour or so + remove the dry ones from the pan. I'd rather hang dry them (to avoid the power used for the oven), but my attempts last year made me realize that it is just too humid here to avoid some going bad in the process. Oven drying lets me avoid losing any of my precious peppers!

Once all of the peppers are dried, I crush them with the bottom of a jar (to avoid getting stinging pepper hands) + put them into jars. (This step involves a little sneezing, no matter how hard I try to avoid it...but confirms that this is good stuff!) That's it + we have spicy, zero-waste goodness enough to last another year!

Love, 
​Jane

My feelings about green peppers are the same as they are for green tomatoes...I'd rather have red ones. The farmers get to make the selections for our CSA box, however, so green peppers it is. We eat some version of this often (proof). I love that this meal...full of good stuff...can be made entirely zero-waste! This time our stuffed peppers were a combination of:

Stuffed Peppers
pepper 
brown rice
beans
tomatoes
spicy pepper
onion
garlic
salt
cinnamon
cumin
​avocado

Sometimes I cut the peppers in half + put them into the oven at 375F for about 20 min. while cooking + cutting the other ingredients. Sometimes I stuff the peppers before putting them into the oven. Either way...it's good.  :)

Love,
Jane

Locally grown okra showed up in our CSA box last week + my heart did a little dance. Okra is not a vegetable that we saw in Michigan where I grew up...so I associate it (fondly) with my family's yearly trips to Tennessee (when I was a girl).

I always liked it fried, so I set out to replicate the dish I remembered minus the frying.

Sautéed Okra
Okra, sliced...tips + tops removed
1/4 cup cornmeal
1/8 besan (chickpea flour)
1 tsp. salt
cayenne to taste
2 Tbsp. olive oil

Preheat oven to 350F + set skillet over medium heat. Add oil to skillet. In a bowl, toss the rest of the ingredients until well coated + add to a hot skillet. Cook until lightly browned...about 3 minutes on each side. Put skillet in oven for 10 minutes.

I added some chickpeas + onions to the mix as well for this meal. Next time, I think I would make a yogurt/herb dressing to drizzle over the top. Add some watermelon for desert + it's dinner!  :)  (A big, big thank you to our favorite farmers for planting, tending, harvesting, assembling + transporting the okra, corn, onion, cornmeal + watermelon that made us smile, filled our bellies + nourished our bodies! Our gratitude runs deep!)

Love, 
​Jane

Truth #1 :: Anyone who has ever been a gardener or lived in the vicinity of a gardener, knows that when zucchini are planted...they are plentiful. Gardeners are notoriously generous with zucchini...so when five large zucchini showed up in our CSA box, I should not have been surprised. Likewise, when the following week brought five more!  :)

Truth #2 :: I don't like single use gadgets. There is a whole series in this space lauding the merits of multifunctional items in my kitchen. 

I made zucchini bread (yum!), but it only uses up one (!) zucchini at a time. 

Truth #3 :: I had been intrigued by zoodles a number of times in the past + had even scouted out which (compact/less expensive/less complicated) spiralizer I would choose. I know that my tribe likes spaghetti squash (Julia even asked for it as her birthday meal once upon a time), these noodles would be a great gluten-free noodle alternative...they would be nutritious...the spiralizer is compact...and I had a lot of zucchini! So...I decided that it was time. (I was even able to find the one I wanted at the grocery store!)

Truth #4 :: We like zoodles a lot! I've made this dish twice in a week (+ those zucchini in the top picture are the ones we still have left)! I'm not at all sad about adding this little gadget to my kitchen. (This is not a recommendation to go out + buy anything...just relating my experience. This recipe is just as good with spaghetti squash!)

Zoodles + Sauce
serves 4

2 zucchini (spiralized)
2 tomatoes (chopped)
chick peas
onion (chopped)
garlic (minced)
salt
cayenne
2 spoonfuls of besan/chickpea flour (optional- to thicken)
pepper jack cheese (grated)

Sauté zucchini in a bit of olive oil for a few minutes over medium heat. Move zucchini to bowls. Add other ingredients (minus the cheese) to the pan with a little olive oil. Stir until thickened. Assemble + enjoy!

We enjoyed some leftover zoodles for lunch the next day with these simple toppings.

Love, 
Jane

Eating straight from the farm has been very tasty + quite economical. The local, organic vegetables in combination with a few staples from the grocery store are all that's needed to get dinner on the table. Above is a combination of rice, carrots, broccoli, chickpeas, onion, basil, tamari + pepper flakes.

This meal involved roasted beets, onions, chickpeas, kale chips (just throw the oil-rubbed + salted kale on top of the roasting beets + onions during the last 15 minutes of roasting at 425F), rice, feta cheese, lemon, salt + pepper flakes.

The beets are plentiful, so this meal involved stirring some blended, roasted beets into polenta + topping it with black beans, onion, cilantro, avocado, salt, pepper flakes + lime.

I never plan on making a post out of our everyday meals...so I don't have a good picture of the flatbread on its own. I added spring onion to this batch (sprinkled onto the batter once it was in the skillet) + will definitely do that again!

Our menu is now based on what we receive in our CSA box...which is like getting a mystery grab bag each week. I may not have come up with this meal otherwise, so at the moment I'm really digging this way of meal planning! (Because this was really tasty + it wasn't until I'd eaten half of it that I realized I wanted to remember it...only half of my poorly lit plate is visible above.)  :)

Flatbread (via)
1 cup besan (chickpea flour)
1/2 cup tapioca flour (I can buy this in bulk)
3/4-1 cup water (depending on desired thickness)
1/2 tsp salt
Whisk together. Cook over medium heat, as you do pancakes. I put a little olive oil in the skillet before the first scoop of batter goes in + don't need to add anymore. (If your skillet is well seasoned, this may be unnecessary.) Add chopped spring onion/herbs/spices, if desired. Cook for 1-2 minutes per side.

For this meal, we topped our flatbread with some:
grated pepperjack cheese
tomato
basil
​the rest of the spring onion
kale chips (chopped kale rubbed with olive oil in 425 degree F oven for about 15 minutes)
Flavors inspired by this favorite (glutenous) sandwich.  :)
​
Thank you so much, Michaela, for sharing your recipe!

Love,
Jane