ORGANIC VEGETABLES

I usually buy my groceries at a supermarket on my way home from somewhere.  I get to the market about three times a week and pretty much buy ingredients for dinner without much thinking.  About six months ago I signed up for a grocery service that delivers weekly to the house...  Every week a catalog comes and every week I mark off what I want to order...  Weekly the groceries, frozen foods too, come packed in large Styrofoam boxes.  If I am home, fine, if not that's okay too.

This system has its good and bad points.

Good...  Well, supposedly the company's service is strict about additives and have screened the foods they provide.  At least I get the impression that we are eating healthier things than in the regular supermarket.  Being delivered to the house means I don't have to lug shopping bags back and forth from the car but this is a questionable benefit as I still go the supermarket three times a week and besides, my car is only parked a few steps away from my front door...

The somewhat bad points about this system is that I forget what I've ordered the previous week though maybe in my subconsciousness my mind is fixed on that ingredient.

"Eggs... eggs...  I think we need eggs."

And yes, we do... but I'd remembered the eggs because I'd already marked down an order and the next week I'll be inundated with eggs.  Or I'll see something in the supermarket,

"Spring rolls!  How nice.  I've been craving spring rolls.  I'll buy these."

And then later I'll realize that I'd been drawn to the spring rolls because I'd already ordered them through the catalog.  Yes, I know...  this says something about my brain cells...  I'm just pointing out the faults of this system for me.

And I must admit that the cost for the service... screening, delivery etc. means that the cost of groceries is a bit higher.  And it is easy to buy things when you aren't opening your wallet at the cashier lane...

On top of this grocery delivery service I decided to go a step further and register in an organic vegetable program.  For about $15 a week some, CERTIFIED organic, in-season vegetables will be delivered to my house.  No choice about the vegetables!  Cook what comes!

This is a huge challenge for me who is not very good at cooking.  Again, I was drawn to the organic promise and also I figured I might get out of my cooking rut.  So far I am satisfied with the organic vegetable delivery.  The biggest plus is that we are eating a lot more vegetables!

Here is what arrived on my front porch this week.  A large Styrofoam box with a short newsletter from the farm co-op.

And inside were this week's 6 vegetables.  (The apples there on the side were mine).

Shungiku (a type of leafy green vegetable often used when cooking sukiyaki). Turnips (three).  Long green onions.  Asparagus (a whole 5 of them).  A half a bundle of shimeji mushrooms.  And chingensai, a leafy green vegetable used in stir-fry.

Quantity-wise, this is quite enough for just Tetsu and me.  I'm still trying to get through the spinach and komatsuna (ANOTHER leafy green vegetable) from last week.  I suppose it is a bit pricey when laid out on my counter like this but they are ORGANIC vegetables remember.

And on the back of the newsletter there is always a simple recipe for non-cooking people like me to find a way to use a new vegetable included in the box.  This week's recipe was for chicken and green onions.

• Cut one green onion into inch size rounds.  Cut chicken to same size.
• Make a sauce of 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 tablespoon sake, 1 tablespoon mirin (sweet sake) and 2 tablespoons sugar.
• Cook the chicken in a tablespoon of oil (I'm using avocado oil these days!).  Add green onions.
• Cover with lid and cook until the onions are tender.
• Add the sauce and heat through.

I had some boiled snow peas there and it was a toss up as to whether they were going into my salad or into the chicken and green onion dish.  The green onions were no longer green so this dish got the snow peas.

And as an old standby, I cooked up salmon and sliced potatoes and sliced onions and mushrooms in foil.  Throw them all onto a square of foil, top with salt and pepper and butter, wrap up the foil tightly and bake, roast, or grill for 10 minutes.

Tetsu thought my dinner delicious (I also served a lettuce, broccoli sprouts and tomato salad).

"The chicken is great.  Is this yakitori that you pulled off the skewers?"

Yakitori is sold outside supermarkets from a traveling van...  It is the ultimate easy way to add an extra dish to your table.

"I beg your pardon!  I made this chicken dish from scratch!"

"Tastes just like yakitori."

Maybe next time I'll just buy something from the supermarket van...  but that doesn't help with using up my organic vegetables.