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By Emily, July 18, 2010 8:34 am

Brian and I are still doing the CSA thing, though clearly it hasn’t been blogworthy as of late.  Still, there’s nothing more awesome than local, fresh, organic food (I swear it tastes better).  Our town’s farmer’s market just started up this weekend (I have no idea why it begins so late) and so I bought some potatoes and cherry tomatoes, in addition to all the stuff we grabbed at the CSA on Tuesday.

But sometimes all these fresh veggies are overwhelming.  I want to use as much of them as possible while they’re in season, but what do you do with so much food?  Luckily, the internet is here to help with that issue.  Confession: I haven’t made any of these recipes yet, but they all look good to me and we’ve still go time for trying them out.

A reader on The Kitchn asked for “quick, easy ways to get more vegetables into her diet” and the answer features several recipe round ups, plus a bunch of helpful reader comments.

Apparently, colored cauliflower is all over the place.  I didn’t realize this, but perhaps I just haven’t been looking.  Will people eat more vegetables if they look really cool? (Hint: My post for tomorrow says “yes”)

The Marinated Mushroom Salad on Serious Eats looks like a yummy side dish…I may have to try it this week.  Brian has recently realized that he doesn’t hate mushrooms, so now I don’t have to think twice about using them.

I made this recipe for “movie style” ratatouille a couple weeks ago, but there’s a more traditional ratatouille recipe from the Boston Globe that I wouldn’t mind trying out (especially since I’ve got a whole bunch of eggplant in my freezer).

I eat way fewer sandwiches than I used to, but these White Bean and Roasted Red Pepper Vegetable Wraps with Spinach featured on Cheap Healthy Good might change that.

Summer Vegetable Salad is this week’s “What’s On Your Plate?” recipe on Good Cheap Eats.  It’s like pasta salad…only more veggie-y.

I don’t have a grill or a grill pan, but this Layered Vegetable Tort in the NY Times looks so appetizing I may have to get one–or find another way to cook the vegetables.

We’ve recently picked up some carrots at the CSA…green tops and all.  Luckily, the internet also has recipes for carrot tops.  Maybe this week they’ll get used instead of tossed.  (via The Kitchn)

And, last but not least, recipes for everyone’s favorite summer bumper crop, zucchini:

Zucchini pilaf with almonds (Diner’s Journal)

Herbivoracious’ zucchini stuffed zucchini blossoms

12 recipes to help eat  up all your zucchini, from the Kitchn.

I’ve recently discovered 2 more ways to use up our CSA vegetables which are delicious–but that’s getting its own post, tomorrow.

(Almost) Every Saturday, I choose a theme and highlight blog posts, websites and news articles from my Google Reader which I found interesting (and hope you do too!) If you want more reading, check out “What I’m Reading” on my sidebar.  And don’t forget to add Relishments to your reader or “like” Relishments on Facebook!

Comments (2)

By Emily, April 27, 2010 8:49 pm

Nothing I have done in the past 16 months of changing my eating habits has aroused as much suspicion and curiosity as my decision to make vegan brownies last weekend.

Yes, you read that right: I made vegan brownies.  No milk, no butter, no eggs.

I didn’t start out with the intention of doing something “crazy”.  One of our friends was coming to visit for the weekend and Brian suggested that it might be nice to have something in the house for dessert (and I think we both wanted to overload on sugar, given our recent day without).  That idea led to brownies, which, it was decided, should be made from scratch.  Then I remembered that I had saved a recipe for vegan brownies which had appeared on No Meat Athlete awhile back.

Bless my poor husband, he actually let me make them, despite the fact that (and he literally just admitted this to me) they sounded “vile”.

Christine’s recipe for Black Bean Brownies may be vegan, but fear not– there’s plenty of sugar, cocoa, hazelnuts and instant coffee contained within.  And, as the name suggests, a can of black beans for moisture, texture and…protein?  I followed the directions, poured the batter into a pan and half an hour later, produced my first vegan black bean brownies.

I was so pleased with my creation (okay, Christine’s creation that I made) that I shared the news with my mother.  “What’s the point of vegan brownies?” she inquired.  I replied with something about using less animal products and that some people are vegan and that it was an experiment.  Then I convinced her that I wasn’t vegan, but I think that just confused the issue more.

When our friend Josh arrived (bringing, ironically, brownies) we made him try one, without warning him about the vegan-ness.  He ate that one, and several more over the course of the weekend.

Why?  Because they’re surprisingly delicious. And, if I didn’t tell you, you wouldn’t know they were vegan.  Would I make them again?  Probably.

Still, I may wait a few weeks before I try making White Bean Blondies.

Have an interesting recipe to share?  Ever trick anyone into eating vegan?