Help!!! What did I just buy at the grocery store??

I_love_frogs

I just don't know what to do with most of them.

I have leeks, turnips, eggplant, zucchini, cucumber, a green squash, cherry tomatoes, parsnip, tomatillos, jalapeno pepper, radishes lemons, onions, spinach, avacados, blueberries, oranges, apples.
I also bought tahini paste and garbanzo beans to make hummus!

Can someone please tell me how I can eat or prepare all this?
I don't want to waste this food, but I don't know how to eat it.

Well, lets see...leeks can be made into an amazing chicken soup called Cockaleekie. (you can look up the recipes online...)

I roast the zucchini, squash and parsnip. They are also good in a stirfry type of deal too. I use parsnips in soup and mashed in potatoes <to bring the potato mass down>.

Lemons or oranges can be used with fish. They are sooo good together!!
**I also quarter an orange, a lemon, an half onion, add some star anise and a cinnamon stick and stuff my whole chicken with it. It smells sooo good and flavors the meat as well a little. I also throw in chunked carrots, the other 1/2 onion, potatoes and turnips and parsnips around the chicken to cook with it...they pick up the chicken flavor and its sooo yummy!

Cucumber, radishes, and cherry tomatoes go well in a green salad.

Blueberries go well in oatmeal, as do the apples.

Eggplant can be used as a lasagna noodle substitute...and a bunch of different uses as well!

Avocado can be used in a salad OR once it is really soft and ripe, can be used on a sandwich instead of mayo.

Never used tomatillos...and I don't care for jalepenos so can't help you there.

Good luck and have fun!!

stepgingerly

Cucumbers -super thin sliced with thin sliced onion. Put in a huge sealed jar with 12oz rice vinegar, 1can FF evaporated Milk, and One small FF Greek Yogurt, Salt and Pepper to taste and LOTS of chopped Dill. Let it marinate overnight and it makes a great cucumber salad (half pickled) that lasts for at least a couple weeks in the fridge. I just keep adding cucumber to the jar as I go along. I lost like 20 pounds eating this for snacks since it was handy in the fridge.

Take the cooking veggies and dice small to put into a couple of quiche. Or you can slice them semi-thin and layer them into a veggie lasagna. I sauteed a couple peppers, onions and mushrooms today with a few drops of olive oil and layered it with cheese in a low-cal tortilla folded in half and put back in the pan to grill for a couple of minutes on each side to make a veggie quesodilla. You can do that with almost any veggie and it tastes great.

Use the fruits for the refrigerator oatmeal everyone's talking about, or in morning smoothies!

ZoeyRobinson

www.ohsheglows.com has so many great recipes. They are moslty vegan and filled with veggies you might want to snoop and find one that tickles your fancy.

monicalosesweight

http://www.extension.iastate.edu/Publications/PM1045.pdf

Here's a nice link on how to freeze and prepare veggies and fruits. It's a quick helpful document.

Monica

P.S. I just thought I should add this link: http://www.organicgardening.com/cook/freezing-basics

It has a list of veggies that are appropriate for freezing. Apparently, not everything is good frozen.

Gidzmo

I just spent $100, Yes, I said $100 on ALL VEGETABLES from the produce store!

I just don't know what to do with most of them.

I have leeks, turnips, eggplant, zucchini, cucumber, a green squash, cherry tomatoes, parsnip, tomatillos, jalapeno pepper, radishes lemons, onions, spinach, avacados, blueberries, oranges, apples.
I also bought tahini paste and garbanzo beans to make hummus!

Can someone please tell me how I can eat or prepare all this? I don't want to waste this food, but I don't know how to eat it.
I figured if I bought it, I would be forced to learn how to eat cleaner. Now I have a kitchen full of stuff I'm too uneducated to eat.

Leeks--related to onions. Can be used in a soup.

Cucumber, onions, spinach, avacadoes, tomatoes, and radishes--can be used in salads.
Jalapeno pepper--can be used in salsa (along with the tomatoes and onions). Less heat: take out the ribs and seeds.

Tomatillos--did see a recipe once that used them.

Oranges--can be eaten raw or as a juice. Lemons--lemonade.
**If you can't use citrus soon after you get it home, juice the fruit. The resulting juice can be frozen in ice-cube trays. Once frozen, store in ziptop bags in the freezer and take out what you need (the juice can be used for maranades).

Apples--if not eaten right out of the bag, get a dehydrator and make apple chips (other fruits and veggies can also be dehydrated for later munching).

Blueberries--can be frozen, if not used immediately. Simply place in a single layer on a cookie sheet and freeze. When frozen, store in a ziptop bag.

Zucchini--can be steamed (I posted a veggie plate recipe over in the recipe section).
Eggplant--could possibly be used in a stirfry.
Green squash--did you mean zucchini?

Turnips--not sure what to make with them, except as an additional veggie in a stirfry or soup.

Glad to see that you're going to try to make hummus (very good with pita bread)! We've used the canned garbanzo beans for salads.

ThatGrl32

I can say from experience, DON'T just throw the eggplant in the blender and DON'T eat it raw, lol. It really taste terrible raw! I have not found a good way to eat eggplant that doesn't involve salt

Also, tomatillos are usually used in Mexican cooking, I make sauce with them. Soooo tasty, wish I could get them in Italy!

I agree with checking out allrecipes.com !

Good luck

Mdin1029

Great job on getting lots of veggies and fruit!

Grilled zucchini is great-just slice in half the long way, put a touch of garlic and if you want olive oil, and if you have a George Forman grill or other grill it will grill in a few minutes green squash can be used the same way

Jalapeno pepper can be tasty on a sandwich, as can avocado

Avocado-you can make guac with lemon and chili or just eat 1/4 of it at a time by itself as a snack. Squeeze lemon on the rest to keep it green longer

Spinach, cucumber, and cherry tomatoes= very tasty salad! Use a little olive oil, balsalmic vinegar, and lemon juice

onions can be chopped and added to anything you cook

blueberries are best in a smoothie for me

apples with peanutbutter are great, or alone of course as well as the oranges, but I like to sometimes put either in a salad as well as the radishes. Leftover garbanzo beans can also be used for salad. Radish can be dipped into the hummus.

I don't know how to cook leeks or turnips, parsnip, tomatillos,

I have leeks, turnips, eggplant, zucchini, cucumber, a green squash, cherry tomatoes, parsnip, tomatillos, jalapeno pepper, radishes lemons, onions, spinach, avacados, blueberries, oranges, apples.
I also bought tahini paste and garbanzo beans to make hummus!

Enjoy!