What's in the Veggie Bin?

I love to open the vegetable bin drawer and quickly fill a plate with fresh ingredients using what's on hand. Above we've a little romaine, some mixed young wild greens with radicchio, sliced radishes, sliced cucumber, slivered sweet onion, a few golden raisins, some walnuts and a generous sprinkling of Gorgonzola crumbles. The salad is lightly dressed with a dash of apple cider vinegar and a drizzle of high quality first cold pressed olive oil from Italy, salt and freshly ground pepper. I use a finer grade of olive oil for eating than I use for cooking.
On the other hand, practically the same group of veggies can easily become a spicy, hot stir fry.

Instead of romaine and wild greens, I've used some bok choy, radishes, sweet onion, carrots and jalapeno ( you can't see the chili - I added it as an after thought - found it in the bin after shooting the shot).

I started by sauteing the onion with some sliced garlic and a few flakes of crushed red pepper in a little olive oil, then added the crunchier veggies with a dash a tamari, saving the leafy greens to add last. In a separate pot, I cooked up a 1/2 cup of fragrantly delicious mixed brown and black Lundberg's rice. As the stir fry reached crunchy/tender perfection, I added a little more tamari, a dash of salt and pepper and plated it over a mound of the rice, topped with a few unsalted peanuts. Nice to have a 'found' meal with little effort.

If you shop with a little foresight, quick, easy meals are at hand in the fridge and pantry. Make your own 'found' meal with what's on hand. Give it a shot, and be pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to turn out a plate of fine tasting, healthy food in record time.

If you need something to read while you're eating, check out:

Nelson DeMille's WildFire or Greg Iles' True Evil both are rapid page turners! Though reading while you eat is not recommended if you're trying to lose weight. It's so easy to keep moving the fork from plate to mouth as you turn those pages!

Till next time . . . keep on cooking or better yet, eat it raw!