Farmer's Market Coleslaw

Radishes Squared - Colored Pencil drawing by Nicole Caulfield

What happens when you go to the farmer's market to get radishes for a drawing? You get cabbage too and make coleslaw! These radishes and the baby cabbage I got at the Brattelboro Farmer's Market in Vermont are so yummy it is ridiculous. The radishes are Easter Egg Radishes and come in 4 pretty colors. 

2 cups shredded cabbage

10 radishes cut into thin slices

1 small container of chobani plain yougurt

1 tbs mayonaisse

1 tsp Splenda (or your choice of sweetener)

salt & pepper

Spinach Chickpea Salad

I don't know about where you live but we just had some really HOT days! & here in New Hampshire most people do not have air conditioning! My hubby came home from work the one day and I directed him straight to the freezer of Mealpods. There was no way I was going to cook!

Its cooler again but still perfect for refrigerator salad meals. This is a Spinach Basil Chickpea Salad adapted from the Mediterranean Chickpea Salad on My Recipes. Yum. This recipe makes about 4 servings so double it if you want leftovers in the refrigerator for the week.

1 15 oz can chickpeas drained and rinsed well

1 handful (about 1 cup loosely packed) fresh basil leaves chopped small 

1/4 cup olive oil

1 clove garlic minced

lemon zest of 1/2 a lemon

 4 oz mozzarella cheese cubed

2 cups cherry tomatoes quartered

1/2 bag baby spinach

salt & pepper

2 tbs fresh lemon juice

1. Combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl to marinate at room temperature. 

2. Add in last four ingredients. Cut the sinach if you like or serve the chickpea mixture on top. 

3. Refrigerate covered. 

Father's Day Freezer Fill!

I have to admit that my freezer of Mealpods was down to the weird things... the recipes that weren't winners or that just were better fresh. So for part of my father's day present I emptied the frezzer and filled it with 3 recipes (48 pods total) that my husband loves.

Can't Fail Gluten-free Penne Pasta with Zucchini and Peppers

This is a no brainer recipe:

2 boxes gluten-free penne noodles
5 zucchini cut into thick chunks
1 cup diced sweet peppers
garlic powder
Italian Seasoning
1 tbs olive oil
1.25 lbs 90% lean ground beef (or other of your choice)
2 jars of the best marinara you can buy

The trick to this recipe is having the ratio of veggies to noodles high on the veggies.
I used 2 boxes of gluten-free penne pasta noodles and made a sauce with my favorite jarred marinara sauce. It is a local (boston) sauce company called Strega. I buy their marinara sauce at my local grocery store and I just love it. It is not an organic product but the ingredients are real foods. I actually love their ingredient label:

Italian peeled tomatoes, tomato puree, fresh basil, citric acid, sea salt, fresh garlic, extra virgin olive oil, crushed red pepper, love, respect.

Okay so to two jars of Strega Marinara I browned about a pound - a pound and a quarter of 90% lean ground beef. I also chopped up some big chunks of zucchini and peppers. I wanted the veggies to be really high in ratio to the meat and pasta so I bought a big bag of zucchini. I just cooked them for a little bit in some olive oil keeping them still crispy and added it and the meat to the sauce. Yum. I seasoned the zucchini and the sauce with some garlic powder and Italian seasoning.

I also made some meatlof cupcakes (how could I resist) which I posted before. Here's the link to the recipe which is a bit different than other meat cupcakes because there are folded egg whites in it as well as baking powder.

& my husband's all time favorite Mealpod and one that he made up himself Honey Curry Chicken with Brown Rice and Carrots. Here's the link to that recipe. Not the prettiest photo and I now make it with way more carrots and less rice to keep the ratios better.

Summertime Hours

Sorry for the lack of posts. It is the end of school here in New Hampshire and as a teacher and Mom it gets kind of crazy. I did take pics of a couple of things and will post soon! Sis is busy busy with summer activities already but I'll try and get her to post too.

I am thinking that for the summer our goal will be once a week posts.

For now I will leave you with a colored pencil drawing I just finished: "Berries Squared." :-) Off to fill up the freezer with my husband's favorite meals for Father's Daywhich I have posted before. Maybe I'll share them with you again if I have time to photograph while I cook.