FOOD!

I love food.

Have you noticed?

I also love food challenges:

1. vegetarian, and even a meatatarian will like it?
2. pasta with VEGGIES!? (that one's for my brothers)
3. salt free, fat-free, and flavourful?
4. a new ingredient?
5. leftover pumpkin puree in a savoury dish?
6. use up lots of __________ before it goes bad?
7. make a meal for 15 people from the contents of the fridge and pantry, with no opportunity to stop by the shop?

All of those things, and I've done it.

1.  Veggie 'meat'balls in a sweet & sour sauce over rice. (The meatatarian's complaint? There were peppers in the sweet & sour sauce. We didn't tell him about the meatless 'meat'balls til after he'd finish a plateful & declared it good.)
2. Pasta with veggies for my brothers: just once. I pureed the veggies into the regular pasta sauce, and they loved it. Then I had to brag about what I did, and they never left me alone when I was cooking again.
3. Salt-free, fat free & flavourful: plenty of times, when my parents were both going through the stages of gall bladder issues resulting in surgery. I'll post a recipe soon.
4. A new ingredient....yes. Multiple times. Avocado, chipotle peppers, quinoa, fresh ginger...
5. Leftover pumpkin in chili.
6. Cucumber....recipe below.
7. Cream of Potato-Celery-Spinach Soup. It was yum!

Summery Cucumber "pickles"

Ingredients:

•   cucumber, peeled & thinly sliced
•   vinegar, to taste
•   water, to taste
•   1tbsp dill weed, optional
•   2 garlic cloves, optional

Throw them all in a Tupperware container like mine. Or, a jar works too, I suppose.

I usually do about 2 parts vinegar to one part water (til all the cukes are covered.) But you should adjust it to how sour you like it. You can always pour off a bit of the vinegar & add more water. Or eat a few, and add in more cukes.

You should leave to sit in the refrigerator for at least a day. The dill& garlic ones would be better with an even longer rest period.

I currently have two containers in the fridge, one is dill-garlic & one is plain. I keep adding more cukes too, because I had 7 to use up. A few cukes I just ate raw with tzatziki sauce. Also yum.