Produce Obsession

This is what our kitchen counter looked like on Sunday afternoon…

Aside from the plastic storage bags, it was a really lovely sight.

I love having fresh fruits and vegetables in the house. Herbs, too. (Although that is another story with a very crabby plot.) I particularly love having a child who will eat pretty much any fruit or vegetable we put in front of her. In fact, our Kidzilla is the reason we’ve tried a whole bunch of new and exciting things over the last year or so.

Zilla is fascinated by food. But she is especially interested in fruits and vegetables. She has picked out plumcots, golden raspberries, and tomatillos all on her own during various trips to produce markets and insisted we bring them home to try. Most of our shopping trips end up with an experimental fruit or vegetable. If we read about one in a magazine recipe or on the Internet, Zilla will often ask things like “what is a parsnip, Mom?” And so we’ll learn about parsnips, put them on the shopping list, and figure out what to do with them.

Even when our selections are fairly standard, we like to find different ways to prepare them. For example, this lovely salad was the result of a leftover head of red cabbage purchased for the purpose of making a particular sandwich wrap. You’d be amazed what you find when you Google “what the hell can I do with an entire head of red cabbage?”

Meet Red Cabbage and Apple Salad with Ginger Vinaigrette. I have it pinned on my Pinterest site under Salads. It was delicious and probably not something I would’ve thought to do. But on those occasions when we end up with a little more produce than is reasonable for three people, I do not want to end up with a crisper drawer full of wasted food because we didn’t know what to do with it. So we figured out fast how to make Zilla’s produce obsession more, well, fruitful…

For us, there are two key factors. First, prep and store the produce right away so it’s ready to grab and use. Second, if we buy something for a recipe that will result in leftovers, we look for another way to use it right away. This works really well for non-produce food issues as well – more on that later.

Since we’ve been doing well in this regard for a while, we decided to sign up for a CSA box this year. We went all out – picked the family size “full share” option and fully plan to share with Mom and Super Sister. When I was living on my own, I tried the CSA thing for a while, but ended up wasting most of the food. Sad. Most of the problem was that I simply didn’t know what to do with some of the “odd” vegetables and at that point wasn’t terribly willing to try. Kale was horrifying then; now I eat it for lunch most days of the week. Who knew? But we have become much more willing to try new things in the produce section and our Kidzilla is an eager participant. With that factor and another household to share the bounty, we should do well. I can’t wait until the first box!

In the meantime, give this baby a try…it’s really delicious.

Red Cabbage and Apple Salad with Ginger Vinaigrette

(from an article on eating raw from Health.com)

Here’s what you need:

• 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons grated peeled fresh ginger
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 cups packed shredded red cabbage
• 2 cups packed shredded Napa cabbage (we used shredded romaine the first time we made this because it’s what we had and needed to use – worked just fine)
• 2 cups thinly sliced Granny Smith apple  (or whatever other kind you like – why not?)
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup golden raisins, plumped in hot water (used currants the first time around to finish up a box from The Fruitcake, believe it or not – worked just fine)
• 1/4 cup toasted, unsalted sunflower seeds (bet any type of nut or seed would work)

Here’s what to do:

1. Whisk together first 5 ingredients (through garlic) in a small bowl. Whisk in olive oil, salt, and pepper; set aside.

2. Toss cabbages together in a large serving bowl. Toss apple slices with lemon juice to keep from browning.

3. Add apple, raisins, and half the sunflower seeds to cabbage. Toss with the dressing. Garnish servings with remaining seeds.

This recipe makes a lot – four 1 1/2 cup servings. For us, this was way too much, but it’s not hard to adjust and go smaller.

Enjoy!