Fresh Picks March 14

Two heads of butter lettuce, carrots, cauliflower, crimini mushrooms, 2 zucchini, collards, spinach arrived on my doorstep this afternoon.

I was excited to see cauliflower, as my friend Jennie just told me that her husband loves it steamed and mashed with avocado. I tried it. Absolutely delicious. And so easy to do.

Carrots are the only vegetable in our house that EVERYONE eats. Normally all I have to do is steam them, sometimes I add a bit of butter and salt for flavor. Those will go no problem.

Zucchini is going into Paula Deen’s Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread. I usually cut the white flour in half and replace it with whole wheat pastry flour. I also cut out 1/2 cup of the sugar. Saves me two mornings of figuring out what to serve for breakfast.

Crimini mushrooms and spinach will be sauteed with a little garlic and added to dinner tonight. I bought grass fed beef sirloin steaks. Mmmmm.

The collards are going into my favorite vegan recipe, Hottie Black Eyed Peas, which I mentioned a few weeks ago but never got a chance to make. The black eyed peas are still in the cupboard.

Wow, that only leaves two heads of butter lettuce. This is actually Adam’s favorite kind of lettuce. And since the weather has been so warm I’m pretty sure I can serve it twice without complaint. I had an amazing salad for lunch today at the gym, a Mediterranean chopped salad that I want to recreate. Salami, Asiago and provolone cheese, roasted red pepper, tomato, chopped roasted turkey, chick peas, artichoke hearts, grilled portobello mushrooms and lettuce with an oregano vinaigrette.