5 Steps to a Full Fridge

Well, hello there. It is Kitchen Adventures time again! And I have returned from the Twilight Zone - aka the Frankfurt Book Fair - with a full week of adventures, explorations, dishes - and a full fridge.

Wanna join me on the journey? We've got cookies banana bread!

So this past week was an unusual, ongoing adventure in the kitchen ~ less concentrated on one or two days than usual. Well, I spent pretty much all my time at the Book Fair, the only time to cook was Sunday evening. Also my only time to relax that week ~ Book Fair is long hours, halls full of people, especially on the weekend aka public days. So there was little time to cook.

Thus, I took it step by step, dish by dish, day by day.

Five steps/dishes/days to a full fridge. (And it is full!)

Let's start!

Step 1 - oven baked curry with pumpkin (and other goodness)(Sunday)

This time it is actually a curry, too! Though I cheated and used pre-made (organic) curry sauce. Still, the recipe is simple:

• 1/2 pumpkin

• 2 yellow potatoes

• 2 sweet potatoes

• 1 red potato

• 3 small onions

• 150g rend lentil pasta

• 4 generous handfulls of frozen peas

• 1 jar of curry sauce (350ml + water from rinsing the jar)

• juice from one small(ish) lemon

  
  

And then, when it turned out that was not enough liquid:

• approx. 200ml water

• 2 teaspoons curry powder

  
  

In the oven for about 35 - 40 minutes ~ this depends, obviously, on how big your veggie chunks are, and how much liquid is in your casserole: the smaller the chunks and the more liquid, the shorter the cooking time.

If you are looking for an autumny, healthy, nutritious, and easy to make dish? This is it.

... the most difficult and time-consuming aspect is the veggie chopping. Though I have probably mentioned it before, I enjoy that part. I find it immensely grounding, and centering. It is something that keeps the hands busy, while allowing the mind to slow down and relax, with just enough attention required that I don't accidentally cut myself.

Which I didn't. Even sleep deprived. Just for the record.

Step 2 - all the beans (and comfort food)(Tuesday)

There had been a lot of green beans in my box the previous week. So, on Tuesday afternoon this week, I decided to make the batch the way I had originally planned the previous week (which then turned into something else. as my creative dishes often do. but not this time!)

... Of course, then I had a lot of green beans, even more ideas, and the need for comfort food. So:

Pictured on the left is Beans version 1: as a salad/side to home-made cheesy fries (with mayo and chili-sauce). Pictured on the right is Beans version 2: as veggies in a pasta dish.

Yes, it's totally a pasta dish, the sauce tickened when first prepared (from a bag, yes, I am still cheating this week), then became liquid again when cooling down, and refused to thicken again when re-heated.

Didn't really matter, though. Was still nice.

Pasta, by the way, is gluten-free/rice pasta. The sauce is a vegan "carbonara" sauce, with mushrooms instead of bacon. Check it out here: Biovegan Carbonara sauce.

Step 3 ~ One Pot Deluxe (cooked in two pots, because I didn't have one pot big enough, oops) (Friday)

A continuation, if you will of the Hot One Pot I made .... um ... last week? Two weeks ago? Some time ago!

Well, it is basically a one pot: veggies, green lentils, and buckwheat, cooked together. All right, kind of. But mixed together! And it grew out of the Hot One Pot, because I really liked the combination of veggies-greenlentils-buckwheat, and also I had So Many Veggies in my fridge.

(Not time to cook last weekend. So annoying. Also, the vggies pile up.)

Here is how to make it ~ that's right! It is Recipe time!

the ingredients:

• ½ pumpkin

• 2 sweet potatoes

• 2 small yellow potatoes

• 1 small red potato

• 1 carrot

• 1 zucchini

• 2 onions

• 75g green lentils

• 75g buckwheat

• 2 tablespoons ginger juice

• 4-6 table spoons rice vinegar

• 4-6 tablespoons tamari

• salt, pepper

• agava sirup

… I think that's it?

As always, measurements are more approxomations than anything else. Like, I used up the green lentils left in the bag, so didn't measure them beyond pouring into a juice glass. It was half a glass. Then I filled the glass with buckwheat. Called it done.

the creating:

• grate all veggies into two bowls: pumpkin, zucchini, and sweet potato in one; rest in the other ~ because these do have different cooking times!

• chop onions

• rinse lentils and buckwheat

• get a really big pot – or, well, one small pot and one large saucepan

• sauté onion

• throw in grated potatoes & carrot, let cook for a bit (2 minutes, for the Andromedans)

• throw in rest of veggies, let cook for a bit (another 2 minutes)

• add ginger juice, rice vinegar, tamari, agava sirup to taste ~ I was going for a sweet-and-sour taste here

• put on lid on saucepan, let cook until lentil-and-buckwheat is done

• so, yeah, I cooked lentil-and-buckwheat in a separate pot; like the above version, 15 minutes, seasoned with some salt and a splash of vinegar (lentils and vinegar make a great combination! At least, my tastebuds think so...)

• pour lentil-and-buckwheat into saucepan, mix together well

• done

Give it a taste test at this point, you might feel something else is needed. To me, this was perfect as is - no chopped tomatoes this time, it didn't feel right. Didn't have any chili paste anymore ~ used it up for the Hot One Pot, else I might have added some of that, though. Maybe lemon juice, though …?

Uh, it's getting full in the fridge, what to do, I cannot squish the Samwise Gamgee Pan in there anyway ...

Step 4 - falafel bake (Friday)

An attempt to prevent myself from drowning in potatoes and zucchini - there was another one in this week's delivery, while I still had the one from last week in the fridge - I experimented. And mixed

• 3 small, finely grated potatoes

• 1 small finely grated zucchini

  
  

with a chestnut falafel mix (from the German drugstore dm: check it out here.)

Also added: two generous table spoons of protein powder, for extra protein-kick. (I like this protein powder, it's basically finely ground pumpkin and sunflower seeds. Great to add into anything savoury. For extra protein kick.)

Then popped the whole thing in the oven for 30 minutes, and this is the result:

 As you can see, I couldn't resist a taste-test before the whole thing had even cooled down.

As you can probably also tell, the first taste test was successfull, and followed by a second.

And third. Yes, it's good. 😃

And, finally, last but not least:

Step 5 - banana bread (Sunday again)

With chocy chips. Vegan. Gluten free. Nommy.

... as you can tell by the fact that it smelled so delicious, I had to try it before it had cooled down, despite what the recipe said. 😃 😃

And this brings us to the end of the journey, the last step taken. My fridge is very full.

And not just with all the dishes I made, but also with the many veggies from this week's box I haven't yet been able to use up: a red pepper, a cabbage, loads of small parsnips, carrots, more potatoes ...

But that is something for future-me to contemplate. Present me has come to the end of the journey, and shall now go and tetris her fridge.

See you next week!