Bountiful Baskets

April 14, 2012 Organic Basket

I've decide to start posting about what I get in my organic basket from Bountiful Baskets and post ideas and links for the recipes I make using the produce. I hope that other people will find this helpful especially when they get ingredients that they are not very familiar with like I did this week. I only get a basket every 2 weeks right now, but with the organic baskets having less than the regular ones I might start getting.

Note: The recipes are not created by me. I have gathered these from cookbooks and online and will give credit to the chef who created them. The recipes I post will typically be from scratch. So no or very few processed ingredients. We (my husband and I) are not expert chefs so these recipes are doable for people who have some basic cooking skills. Of course read the recipes to see if they fit in with what you are willing and able to do in the kitchen after a long day.

The contents of my basket include: 2 pears, 1 red apple, a bunch of bananas, 4 kiwi, 2 avocado, 3 romaine hearts, green onions, garlic, 2 small heads of broccoli, green kale, rainbow chard, 6 red beets, 1 cucumber, and fennel. (Bold type items I have never tried before.)
  

Rainbow Chard - So pretty

Apple, pears, kiwi, bananas - snacks and part of breakfast (most fruit in our house ends up being a snack or part of breakfast so you won't find as many recipes with fruit)

Garlic - Who needs a recipe for this? Not us. We probably cook with garlic at least 3-4 times a week. I did sautee some green beans and mushrooms last week in garlic butter. So yummy!

Fennel - I haven't used this very much so I searched for a new recipe. This sounds yummy.
Shaved Fennel and Green Apple Salad

Beets and Green Onions
Farfalle Pasta with Beet Vinaigrette and Parsley Pesto 

Beets - These look yummy and I have sweet potatoes left from my last basket. Hmmmm I guess I need to decide what I want to do with those beets.
Sweet Potato and Beet Chips

Rainbow Chard and Green Onions - this is a new recipe for me. I love anything with lemongrass.
Lemongrass and Ginger Egg Drop Soup

Green Kale
Kale Chips

Avocado and Romaine Hearts
Quinoa Avocado Tacos

Broccoli and Cucumber - these will just be snacks or a quick steamed side dish (broccoli)

So it looks like lots of new recipes to try this time around. Let me know if you try any of these recipes. I'll follow up later to let you know how they turned out for us.

Happy Eating!

Progress?

Okay so it's been nearly a month since I last posted. So have we gone back to the way we used to eat or have we been able to stick with it? I'm proud to say we've stuck with it. I don't think I can say we've made any big changes since last month, but we are continuing to eat as much real food as possible. We are by no means at our goal yet, but we are taking little steps.

So since last post:

• I went through our recipe book to see if there were any recipes that needed to be ditched, but I was pleased to realize that 90% of our recipes count as real food and a few could use minor substitutions to make them totally really food.
• I have been trying some new recipes with quinoa, fish, and granola.
• I made the chocolate powerballs. Hubby really liked them. I'm not a huge dark chocolate fan so I'd eat them, but I did not love the super dark chocolate flavor. However my son loved them and I'd eat them so we were all getting the benefits of 100% cacao. It's amazing what dates do as a sweetener.
• I've been reading like crazy and educating myself more on what to avoid and what to use as a substitute. I have so much to learn. I have found some fantastic blogs with great recipes and information on eating real food. Oh I wish I could blog like those ladies do. Maybe someday when I have more time and energy.
• We've been enjoying our grass-fed beef from our co-op order. What a difference in taste.

Things to try in the near future:

• Try to find more organic products at Costco. The Greenbacks Gal inspired me to scout out my Costco for yummy and healthy food.
• I got a variety pack of Naked juice from Costco. Super yummy, but expensive. I need to look into juicing at home. Not sure if I'm ready for that yet. Need to read up on it more.
• Try more new recipes and make good use of our basket ingredients. Maybe try to make some kale chips.
• Try to find a bulk source of chicken like I did with the beef.
• Read, read, read about real food lifestyles and share as much info as I can via this blog and Facebook.
• Connect with other real food foodies.