Untapped Bounty

Vegetables, how do they work?

This weekend, my mom came over with a box of vegetables for me to have (and split up with my friends). When she told me there were lots of vegetables, she may have understated it a bit. So now I have some eggplants, banana squash, zucchini, corn, chile, and tomatoes. I was pretty ready to make calabacitas, but it struck me that I ALWAYS make calabacitas. So here it is internet, the question: what should I do with these vegetables? I’m looking for ideas, recipes, plans, anything new or different. Not everything has to go together, of course, and having things separate would stretch them over the week…but right now I can’t think of much other than sauteeing them with butter.

I know that I have recipe books full of ideas, but I guess I’m sort of interested in seeing what you think. I’m almost done with my current food book (a surprise until I review it) and after that, though I have a couple more non-fiction food books, I was thinking of digging into a cookbook as my nighttime reading. While I’m talking books here (and asking for advice) I’m a little interested in knowing where you keep your cookbooks. I already have too many (and not enough space) for the kitchen, and I know they’d just get immediately spilled on there anyway, but where should one keep them? Right now, they are in a book shelf in the garage (door entry just off the kitchen). They’re out of the way, but maybe a little too much. Ideas?

On a small note, I made killer tacos for dinner tonight with some grass-fed local beef I got from the farmer’s market. Add in some local organic lettuce, menudo mix for spice (a staple in my kitchen), colby jack cheese, corn torillas, and Herdez Salsa Verde. Delish!

Crazy Easy & Delicious Albondigas

So when I was at Trader Joe’s this weekend, I saw their wall o’ recipes and decided to try the Albondigas (Mexican meatball soup) one. First let me say that I didn’t exactly follow the recipe. I did…mostly.

The recipe calls for 1 carton of beef broth (I had to use Kitchen Classics, as TJs was out), 1 bag mini-meatballs, 1 bucket hot or mild salsa (I used a smoky one instead), 1 avocado, some shredded cheese, and some chip strips and cilantro for garnish/flavor.

Instead of boiling the broth and salsa together, I threw them in with the meatballs, covered it in ye olde slow cooker (at 4 hour setting) – and then I left for hot yoga.

About 2 hours I returned to magically made soup, cut up some avocado, some cheese (I used colby jack), and cilantro (I forgot the chips with my first bowl, and it was perfect).

I LOVED my soup. Maybe it was post yoga, maybe not, but I feel like it was just plain excellent, and I want to make it and eat it again already.

The batch made about 4 bowls (enough for 2 people for dinner), and I highly recommend it. Yum!