Sundays with Ems

Welcome to Sundays with Ems!

 Sunday mornings I set my alarm just so I can sleep through it. Sundays mornings I can practice yoga like I'm not running late for work. Sundays I write letters and lists and plan projects of all kinds. It's Sunday mornings that I spend hours experimenting and prepping food for the coming week. 

Trying to live on local food without plastic is hard. Especially when you get stuck at work without a lunch, or end up going somewhere straight after. The more I can do on my weekends to prepare myself for the week, the easier it is to avoid those situations. Here are a few of my Sunday recipes and a plastic free, local shopping list. 

Sunday's Menu: 

Roasted Veggies*:

 Roots, kabocha squash, brussel sprouts, onions, and pulp from making almond milk

Roasted Kabocha Seeds

Kabocha seeds, safflower oil, salt

Black Beans ala Pressure Cooker

Soaked black beans, water

Roasted Veggie Black Bean Quinoa Tacos

Ready made roasted veggies, black beans, and quinoa; tortillas**, vegenaise, safflower oil, salt, hot sauce

Roasted Kabocha Seeds: great plastic free snacks

Roasted Veggies (1 hour): 

Chop finger size, bake with salt and safflower oil in the oven at 400 for about an hour. Half to soften under tinfoil, and about that again to crisp without the foil. Add the almond pulp after you remove the foil.

Black Beans (30 minutes):

Soak over night. They will cook on high in the pressure cooker in 15 minutes after the pressure had been reached. (Don't ever add salt when they're cooking. Beans refuse to soften with salt.) My pressure cooker can cook dried beans in about 45 minutes once at pressure, but if I'm planning ahead it's nice to use less cooking gas.

 Kabocha Seeds (30 minutes):

Removed them from the squash and placed them in the top shelf of the oven at 450 with salt and safflower oil for about half an hour.

The whole project took an entire episode of This American Life and a phone call from my dad to complete, as well as 20 cups (1 gallon 2 pints) of water to clean. Over a gallon of water to wash the dishes is a lot, but I will be able to feather these treats into my meals for most of the next week.

Lunch later that day:

Roasted Veggie Black Bean and Quinoa Tacos (10 minutes):

Heat safflower oil in pan. Add your ready made veggies, black beans, and quinoa. Done when hot.  Heat tortillas** in cast iron skillet. Serve tacos with vegenaise and hot sauce. My lunch dishes took 3 minutes and 2 1/3 cups of water to clean.

Roasted Veggie Black Bean and Quinoa Tacos

Today's Plastic Free Local Shopping List: 

People's Coop:

Onion 0.99/lb

Celery root 1.49/lb

Rutabaga 2.99/lb

Golden beets 1.99/lb

Kabocha squash 1.49/lb

Brussel sprouts 7.00/lb*

Purple potatoes 1.49/lb

Bulk black beans 2.49/lb

Bulk Colorado Quinoa 5.89/lb***

New Seasons or Fred Meyers:

Vegenaise 7.49/quart

Bulk almonds 5.99/lb

Safflower oil 8.99/740 ml

Tapatio 1.33/10 fluid oz

Tortillas** 2.99/70 ct

Oregon's January vegetables

* I only buy produce that is grown in Oregon or Washington. This is the most difficult in the winter. I have found the People's Coop to have the best year round selection of local produce. At their Wednesday farmers market I can usually find local greens. They have local roots inside the store all year round. Some items, like brussel sprouts, can get pricey in the winter. I usually just buy kale. I also have some cabbage and kale still alive in my back yard.

** I have yet to find a place to buy tortillas that aren't packaged in plastic. I find when I don't buy them I go to taquerias more. I know restaurants and carts go through tons of plastic, even if I don't see it on my plate. Right now I'm allowing myself to buy tortillas on the condition that I don't eat out often. I hope that sometime soon I'll be able to find a better habit, or just make my own tortillas. I'm not there yet, though. My apologies for having them in this blog.

*** This is more expensive than Bolivian quinoa, but it is grown in the United States. You can get it in bulk at the People's Coop at certain times of the year. Because I don't eat a lot of quinoa, I usually eat beans, I don't mind paying a little more for some that's not grown half way around the world.