Chaing Mai Tofu Noodles

So far our big CSA adventure has been going great! Week one was a bit of a learning experience for us as we ended up wasting a bit more of our produce than I would have hoped. One bunch of arugula, a bunch of cilantro and sadly, the majority of our bok choy went into the trash. I figured out after I made this recipe for Chaing Mai Tofu Noodles that I should have put the whole bunch of bok choy in, not just one individual "bunch". I know we're still learning, so I'm trying to have grace with myself as I make mistakes. Still, it's hard not to feel ashamed for wasting. A few years ago I used to waste a lot. It would hardly bother me to pluck a small handful of herbs and let the rest go to rot, or buy produce with the hope it would force myself to eat it, but really I had no meal plan in place to use it. I was convicted over time that this wasn't being a good steward to the resources I was being blessed with and needed to be more diligent with using what I had on hand.

Before I get to the recipe, let talk about bok choy. Bok choy can come large or baby-sized (pictured in this post). In cooking, you would treat both the same way. These sweet, succulent and nutritious stalks are a popular crop in oriental regions, which is why we find it in many asian dishes. Bok choy is very low in calories, but high in dietary fiber and vitamins, such as C and A, which help our bodies resist infection and support our immune systems. Additionally, it is a good source of Vitamin K for bone health, and contains a good amount of minerals like calcium, phosphorous, potassium, manganese, iron and magnesium. Lucky for our bodies, bok choy can be eaten raw! It's important to remember that most vegetables lose nutrients once they are cooked, so eating your produce raw when applicable is always best. Bok choy can be stored up to 3-4 days in your refrigerators vegetable drawer without loss of nutrients.

Have you met my new friend, garlic scapes? They are A.M.A.Z.I.N.G., like a garlicky stalk of buttered asparagus. Garlic scapes are the flower that the garlic plant sends up. They have to be snapped off to convince the plant to send its energy down to the bulb. I'm not sure where you find them other than a CSA box or farmers market, but if you happen to run into them, do not hesitate to buy. They are so delicious. You can honestly add them into anything. We even cut up a few for a mushroom and garlic scape omelet the next morning. Drool.

Chaing Mai Tofu (or Chicken) Noodles
- Chop up 5-6 garlic scapes into 3 inch pieces, discarding the last 2 inches of the flower bud. If you don't have access to garlic scapes, you don't need to add them in, just forget-about-em!
- Chop 1 bunch of bok choy (as in the whole bunch pictured in the first photo) into ½ inch pieces, then wash well.
- In a large sauté pan over medium high heat, add 1 TBS grape seed or olive oil and the chopped scapes.
- Sauté for a few minutes then add the chopped bok choy.
- Cook for about 5 minutes until bok choy is just tender.
- Then add 1 tsp ground turmeric and 2 TBS red Thai curry paste (more or less depending on your spice tolerance).
- Stir for 1 minutes and then add 1 can of coconut milk and 1 cup chicken stock.
- Add 1 block of tofu and/or 1.5 cups cooked chicken and cook at a simmer for 15 minutes.
- Season with 2 Tbsp light brown sugar and 2 tsp fish sauce.
- Cook 1 package egg noodles according to package directions. Drain noodles.
- Divide noodles into (up to) 4 bowls
- Spoon the tofu/chicken curry over top and sprinkle with any/all of the following:
3 TBS chopped cilantro, 1 red chilli which has been halved, deseeded and shredded, some chopped green onions and some lime wedges.

Nutrition facts: nutrition-and-you.com
Recipe: Came in our CSA newsletter and adapted from Food from Plenty by Diana Henry

Honey Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes are vegetable to be marveled, and a superfood for sure. I'm not talking about the kind that come packed in syrup in the can, but rather, ones right out of the ground, whole and loaded with healthy vitamins. Sweet potatoes are high in dietary fiber. Dietary fiber includes all parts of plant foods that your body can't digest or absorb. Unlike other food components such as fats, proteins or carbohydrates—which your body breaks down and absorbs—fiber isn't digested by your body. Therefore, it passes relatively intact through your stomach, small intestine, colon and out of your body. Even more, when eaten with the skin, sweet potatoes have more fiber than oatmeal! Along the same thread, sweet potatoes offer a low glycemic index rating. That’s because the sweet potato digests slowly, causing a gradual rise in blood sugar so you feel satisfied longer.

Sweet potatoes are also high in beta-carotene, vitamin A, vitamin B6, vitamin C, thiamine, niacin, potassium and copper. They are a good source of protein, calcium and vitamin E. Beta carotene is the nutrient responsible for giving sweet potato’s flesh its orange pigment. Beta carotene is converted to vitamin A in the body. A meager 200 gram (less than a cup) serving of sweet potato yields 769%DV of your vitamin A! Vitamin A can help improve vision and decrease your risk of heart attack and lung cancer. When cooking sweet potatoes, make sure to do so with some sort of fat. By eating sweet potatoes with fats, your body will more readily absorb the available vitamin A.

Honey Roasted Sweet Potatoes
2 pounds red-skinned sweet potatoes (3-4 small-medium)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons honey, agave if you want to make it vegan
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
A few pinches of salt
1/4–1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper, depending on spice tolerance
2 peeled and sliced shallots

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cut the sweet potatoes (skin on!) into 1-inch pieces and put in a baking dish or rimmed cookie sheet along with the sliced shallots. In a small bowl whisk together olive oil, honey, cayenne and lemon juice. Pour mixture over potatoes and toss to coat. Sprinkle with salt and bake, stirring half way through the cooking, for about 40 minutes until potatoes are tender.

Eat over rice or quinoa. I sometimes toss in whole, raw, peeled carrots with the potatoes and shallots. They take about the same amount of time to cook and provide a second heaping dose of beta carotene, which I need since my husband and I are blind as bats and our children are doomed to being those babies with the crazy strap on eye glasses right out of the womb.

Strawberry, Banana, Mango & Avocado Smoothie

Wait, what? Avocado? Yes! Avocados are an excellent source of healthy monounsaturated fat, contain 13 different essential vitamins your body needs, are high in folate, which is great for babies and pregnant mamas, contain potassium, which our body needs to function normally, contain Lutein to keep our eyes healthy, and provide a moderate amount of Magnesium, which helps our bones absorb calcium and is important for our heart muscle. They are also believed to be an aphrodisiac. Need I say more?

Have you added avocados to your grocery list yet? Even better, you don't have to buy organic avocados. In fact, they've made the "clean 15" list of produce that is safe to eat in non-organic form. Conventional produce with a thick outer skin you peel is generally okay to consume without concern. Although my man isn't much of an avocado fan, he will usually choke them down for me. Lucky for him, you can't taste even a hint of avocado in this smoothie. All the benefits with no avocado taste. By the way, did you know avocados are a fruit?

Lately we've been into smoothies for breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner or dessert. They're so versatile, sweet and perfect for summer. Despite the fact that summer hasn't quite hit Seattle yet, our "eco-friendly" apartment traps heat like no other and we generally spend our evenings baking in front of the fan. So smoothies are a great option for us.

We purchase most of our frozen smoothie fixings at Trader Joes and try to keep our freezer stocked with different types of fruit and berries, so as not to limit our culinary creativity! I do admit though that we don't always purchase the organic variety of berries to save on our food budget. I tend to splurge more than my husband does. You can even freeze your avocados and store them in a freezer bag.

Another trick I've figured out is always adding a few chunks of frozen banana, no matter what flavor you're trying to achieve. The banana just adds a hint of creaminess and somewhat acts as a dairy replacer.

More on our Vitamix later, but for now all I can say is, BEST. WEDDING. GIFT. EVER. (Thanks Uncle Bill and Aunt Cathi!)

Strawberry, Banana, Mango and Avocado Smoothie
Servings: 1
2 chunks frozen banana
1/4 c frozen mango chunks
1/2 c frozen strawberries
1/6–1/4 of an avocado
1/2 c Strawberry Kefir
~1/2 c of your favorite milk (conventional, soy, almond, rice, etc.)

Add all ingredients into your blender and blend on high until smooth. You may need to add more milk depending on how thick you like your smoothies.

Check our our cute new straws from IKEA ($1.99)!

Posts you might have missed:
•  Reduced Guilt Frozen Banana Bites
•  Getting Ready: From her perspective

—
Resources:
Hand Grown in California
The Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 of Produce