I’m going to be trying out a new “series” of posts where I share notes about what I cooked based off of the produce I found at the market that week. I’d like these to be a reflection of what I made at the end of the week. This will also be to reduce my food waste (to make sure I haven’t forgotten about anything) and to show you how a normal person meal plans and cooks on a daily (well, not every day 😋) basis.
Part of this whole zero waste thing is a big focus on reducing food waste by using up all the last bits and pieces, the odds and ends. Hopefully you can get some ideas from what I’ve made and repurpose your own leftovers in creative ways. Leave me a comment if you like what you’ve read!
Here goes:
Week of July 30th
This week was decidedly Tex-Mex taco-themed (and I’m 100% okay with that) because Nick and I made a giant vegan taco feast for our friend Roxanne. It included:
- Homemade tortillas.
- Pico de gallo.
- Corn and cabbage slaw.
- Chili-spiced quinoa (recipe coming soon because we make this all the time).
- Fermented cashew cream (recipe coming soon).
- Roasted yukon gold and purple potatoes.
- Slow-cooked pinto beans.
Sure I went a little cray but as a result, we had leftovers for days, which is a perk of any cooking marathon 😝
Corn and Cabbage Slaw
The sweetest corn in history this week was sliced fresh off the cob and tossed with thinly sliced red cabbage, a bit of lime juice, olive oil and ground cumin.
Oven-Roasted Potatoes
Potatoes, purple and gold, were chopped small and roasted with more cumin and olive oil until crispy yet still soft on the inside. We put these into tacos and pan-fried the leftovers with a bit of onion to make a tasty hash.
Pico de Gallo
Some tomatoes we ate fresh, thick-sliced and dressed simply with a pinch of sea salt and a tiny drizzle of olive oil. Some were roughly chopped, tossed with a bit of fresh onion and olive oil for a quick pico de gallo.
How I Used The Leftovers
After our taco feast on Wednesday, we had leftovers of everything: fermented cashew cheese, pico de gallo, corn and cabbage slaw and smoky spiced quinoa. I layered all of these into a (not pictured) taco pie, topped with a generous portion of nutritional yeast and baked in the oven. This made enough for 4 servings, easy.
Tortillas > Chips
The tortillas were a bit stale so I brushed them with olive oil, cut them into triangles, sprinkled with salt and baked them for about 10 minutes to make chips! They came out great and I’ll definitely be making homemade tortilla chips again.
Odds and Ends
There were extra diced onion, fresh corn and shredded cabbage from the week as well. I sauteed those with some of the fresh green beans, leftover orzo, garlic, ginger, liquid aminos and coconut oil to make an untraditional but tasty stir-fry.
The rest of the tomatoes sat on my ‘sill until Saturday when I roasted and stored them for sauce another day. The long thin ones are not quite Romas but crisped and candied up so nicely in the oven and will be amazing for a sauce base I make in the future. 🙂
Romaine was cleaned and shredded and thrown into numerous taco salads with leftovers from the above.
Nectarines were eaten as-is, fresh!
I’m quick-pickling the green beans as I type this.
What I Learned This Week
- Prep days are super helpful. This week I prepped nearly all of my veggies on Tuesday and it meant that cooking the taco feast on Wednesday was not too much work at all. It also made repurposing leftover odds and ends of veggies into healthy and quick dinners and lunches a breeze. I even pre-diced onions and potatoes and kept them in glass tupperware until I was ready to use. They kept really well that way.
- Don’t stray from your favorite market stands. At this point, I’ve figured out my favorite farm stands at the market. Last week I was tempted into buying a huge, beautiful head of romaine from a stand I don’t usually frequent. The quality was sub-par. Lesson learned. The best part about this lesson is that it makes the shopping process that much easier. I’m just popping in to each stand that I know I like and not visiting each and every one. On a crowded and hot Sunday, this is a big time-saver.
Cheers to the week ahead! Hope ya’ll are cooking up something tasty.
xo
