Lemon Lime

It's citrus season in California -- ok, technically it's citrus season everywhere but in California it's all local and fresh. I got a 3 lb bag of blood oranges at the farmer's market for $5. Someone at my workplace has a lemon tree and brought in a bag of lemons. And for the first time ever, we cooked with lemongrass.

Last week, however, I really didn't eat much. Thursday we made the broccoli leek soup that was the recipe in the last post.



Friday and Saturday night we had more of this. Sunday I made a vegan risotto (with lemon zest!) topped with fried tofu squares.



Monday Dandelion the Bitter Green made roasted veggies with a miso sauce, brown rice, and fresh turmeric red lentils.



By Tuesday he had left for a recording gig at the Magic House in Montara so I had the best Asian fusion dish ever. Leftover lentils with leftover roasted veggies served on corn tortillas.



Wednesday night I had my first sock knitting class. It was great except that it was two hours long and I had failed to eat a proper dinner before I arrived. I ate a bagel with peanut butter and jelly at 9:30 at night and then went to bed.

Thursday night we ordered Thai food. Friday night we ate popcorn. Saturday night we finally felt like cooking again. Dandelion the Bitter Green handled the lemongrass in a stir fry with broccoli and carrots. I made broiled tofu with a lemon- tamari marinade.



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As a new feature for the blog I'm going to include some book reviews. I recently checked out Supermarket Vegan by Donna Klein. I haven't made anything from it yet and I'm not sure if I will. It's a cookbook designed to help people make simple vegan food using simple ingredients that you can find at any store. So no tofu, tempeh or seitan. I think this is a good idea in theory for people starting out with being vegan. She suggests meals that use cans of beans or jars of tomato sauce, packages of pasta or frozen vegetables. But seriously, people, did you really not think of using can of beans before? Is it that much of a revelation? Many recipes, to save time, encourage you to use frozen vegetables or the pre-cut ones from the produce section. Yes, this does save some time but you'll never be eating in season with frozen peas. And you'll be paying a lot more to have someone else cut your veggies for you. If your time is worth that, then this method might work for you. For me, it's still going to be easier to cut the veggies myself. If you really feel like you have no time, cut up the veggies when you get them so that they are ready to use throughout the week. Get good cans of beans (I'm definitely in favor of cans of beans, so long as they have no added salt) and use them to improvise quick dishes based on the tradition of your choice: Mexican, Italian, New England. Freeze your own veggies or fruit so that not only are you saving money but you have strawberries in February (if you like that kind of thing). Go to your favorite store and see if they have a slightly damaged produce bin. Make stock out of those veggies and then freeze the stock in ice cube trays. You'll have small amounts available to use for sauces or larger amounts for soup. You can also do this with lemons. Juice all those fresh lemons you got from your coworker's tree and freeze them in ice cube trays. Once frozen put them in a plastic bag in the freezer. Then you'll have just the right amount of lemon when you need it.