Veggies

In my lunchbox last week – two whole and one half of an avocado. Okay, so that’s not really what I ate, but I thought it was funny. Oh, and they were in the fridge because I prefer avocados cold.

Do you think of avocados as fruit or vegetable? If I recall correctly, they are technically fruit, but the green hue seems rather more vegetable-like. Actually, I tend to group avocados with other fats, but it doesn’t really matter.

What does matter is that they’re delicious and nutritious and satisfying and pretty much my favorite food at the moment. I’m averaging one a day. (Side note – does it drive anyone else crazy that certain places on the internet advise limiting servings to 1-2 tablespoons?! Avocados come in two serving sizes: half or whole. End rant.)

I hated avocados for most of my life, but after becoming enamored of guacamole a couple of years ago, I’ve learned to love them in all forms. Even mashed up with a little salt and eaten by the spoonful.

Other ways I love to eat avocado …

Chopped on a salad (in this case, taco salad.)

To add a little healthy fat to a meal – here, a plain Jane chicken breast and broccoli.

As glue to hold my wraps together. I’ve also been known to spread mashed avocado with a little honey on toast in place of butter. It sounds crazy, but it’s so good!

To add something fresh to an otherwise processed meal. I’ve been kind of hooked on the fire grilled steak Evol Bowls (thanks in equal part to Laura and my dad for introducing me to those) and like to top mine off with half an avocado.

Oh, and have I mentioned guacamole?

So tell me, what is your favorite way to enjoy avocados?

I know I’ve said this before, but GFBF is not quite as into vegetables as I am. He’ll eat them, and he’ll try pretty much anything. And every once in a while, he’ll surprise me by liking something I didn’t think he would.

Case in point: the first time I made bok choy, I made only a little. He asked for seconds of “the stir fried lettuce stuff.” now we buy 2 lb tubs at Costco, and we get about two meals out of it.

As his girlfriend, I absolutely do not harbor delusions that it’s my job to make him eat his veggies, but when he eats more, I eat more. So most of the time, I stick with the ones we both like: broccoli, asparagus, artichokes, sweet potatoes.

But I like to try new ones from time to time, and we’ve had several surprise successes. And GFBF requests veggies more and more. Last week, he told me he wanted a warm salad. He also dared me to try and make him like beets, which he thought were gross.

I found some fresh beets at my farmers market last weekend and rose to the occasion.

First, I roasted the beets with olive oil, salt, and pepper. While those hung out in the oven, I chopped up shallots, kale, the beet greens (which are pictured at the top of this post). I fried up a little bacon, and when it was done, cooked the veggies in the bacon grease with lemon juice and balsamic vinegar. Then I chopped up the bacon and threw it back in with a handful of walnuts and fresh thyme.

When everything was done, I served the roasted beets on top of the warm, fall flavored salad.

Yes, it’s true. I, the gf-gf, am addicted to shopping.

Just to clarify, I’m not talking about shoes or designer denim or accessories (although I did just buy a really cute hat yesterday, but that’s beside the point.) No, what I’m talking about is an addiction to buying groceries.

I’m being a little facetious, but on Friday night, I made GFBF drive across Seattle in rush hour traffic so that we could visit Seattle Olive Oil Company. I came home with a bottle of balsamic vinegar (I now have two bottles) and mini bottles of pear flavored balsamic and vanilla infused olive oil.

No idea what I’m going to do with vanilla olive oil, but I’m sure I’ll manage to come up with something. And the pear balsamic has already been put to good use – my modified version of the Healthy Everythingtarian’s squash and goat cheese grilled cheese sandwich.

Instead of making a balsamic gastrique, I spread a little of my new pear balsamic on my gf bread, and instead of putting the butternut squash onto the sandwich, I made butternut squash soup on the side.

I’ve been meaning to make the sandwich since she posted the recipe last year, because when I suggested them to GFBF, he said something along the lines of “why do you keep taking everything I love and ruining it?” I’m being overdramatic, he just didn’t want squash on his grilled cheese sandwiches. When we were first dating I was obsessed with adding veggies to everything and Joel was not on board. Now, we’ve reached a compromise. I’m a little less veggie crazed, and he willingly eats my veggiefied creations from time to time.

This week’s was a stripetti squash (a spaghetti/delicata hybrid) with red sauce and chicken meatballs.

And in case you haven’t noticed, I’m still obsessed with squash. I’m waiting on some kabocha scones to come out of the oven right now, I’ll let you know how they turn out.

The earth really knows what it’s doing with that whole seasonal produce thing. By the time I’m sick of berries and zucchini and tomatoes, it’s fall, and I’m more than ready for apples and squash.

Washington state, you may have heard, is infamous for its apples, but those are no ordinary Washington apples. Most are grown in Eastern Washington, across the mountains from Seattle – mine are San Juan Island apples, grown by an associate of GFP’s (that’s my dad – gluten free popsie). The kabocha and butternut squashes I bought from our local Asian Market. And I have been eating squash in practically everything.

Like chili. GFBF looked at me like I was crazy when I said “I’m going to make chili,” walked into the kitchen, and started peeling a golden nugget squash. But even he thought this chili was awesome, with squash, bell pepper, and diced tomatoes.

And after a few weeks of making my squash sweet with cinnamon or nut butter or maple syrup, I’ve been loving on savory squash. My favorite condiments are butter, herbs, or goat cheese.

I also had an AMAZING red curry with kabocha squash at a Thai restaurant last week.

And most of those apples became applesauce that we ate with pork chops and roasted broccoli last night. By the way, it you’re wondering how to make pink applesauce, it’s easy …

… with pink apples!