Using Up CSA Veggies

I am going to preface this with an  apology.  My computer keyboard is acting up and it randomly doubles or even triples letters and  spaces. It has done this before but I don't remember how to  fix  it. I will try to catch all the typos but it is a pain. Please bear with me.

I almost always add  veggies  to sloppy joes, usually peppers and  sometimes carrots. I've added corn before  too but that  was a little strange. This week, I had a lot of miscellaneous CSA veggies to use up so I just chopped them up  and added them to the ground turkey. I used red onion (that was a great choice!  Red onion is  one of my favorites), turnips, spinach, carrots, and bell peppers. It was surprisingly really good. I don't know why  I'm always surprised when something with so many veggies tastes good.


I will also mention that  I used  canned sloppy joe sauce that was bold. I think the bold  really makes a difference. Some day,  I will make my own sauce but right now I don't have enough burners.

Another good thing to add veggies to  is tuna salad. Celery is a good addition but I  didn't have  any  this time. So for crunch, I added raw red bell pepper. I  also added lots  of red onion, spinach, and cherry  tomatoes. In the past, I have also added white beans to it without much taste difference.

In  both recipes (sloppy joes and tuna), my  kids gobbled them up and  couldn't get enough! Sometimes I try to hide  the veggies from the kids  but I am also a huge  advocate of  having  them try everything too.

By  posting this, I hope it will encourage you to add more veggies to  recipes you already love. Plus, I have had some requests for what veggies  I add to some kid favorites. Basically, since belonging  to the CSA, I have added veggies to everything--whatever I have  on hand.

Cream Cheese Wontons

Every time I get Chinese food, I get wontons. They can be crab rangoon, cream cheese, or even those dessert-y cinnamon ones some places have. But no matter what, I have to have them. They're addicting. Even my kids love them!

Since moving (different story for a different day), we have been very consciously trying to eat out less. It's actually not all that difficult because the only place to eat within a 25 minute radius is pizza from a gas station (now, I am not dissing that pizza. It is actually AWESOME. And we do go there about once a month to treat ourselves). So I have to recreate some of our favorites at home. Most things are a little difficult when you only have one burner (think hot plate--it can't boil a pot of water if the pot is big) and no oven (but yes, a toaster oven. A very old, very small toaster oven!)

I bought wonton wrappers the other day to use up the crab that the kids stopped eating. By the time the wrappers made it home, the kids ate up the crab. How does that happen??

So I got a little more basic and did cream cheese wontons.

1/2 pack of wonton wrappers (I believe it was a 48 wrapper pack)
a couple dashes of garlic
a couple dashes onion powder (if I had them on hand, I would've used green onions or chives)
2 packs of (softened) cream cheese

Mix the garlic, onion powder, and cream cheese until well combined. Add a dollop of mixture into center of wonton wrapper. Dip your fingertip in a little bowl of water and wet the edges of the wonton wrapper. Fold as you wish (I made little envelopes, some people do triangles, and some people can master the true wonton shape).

Put in toaster oven at 350 until browning (ten minutes? I kind of lost track of time doing these). Let cool (because they will be CRAZY hot!) and enjoy!

Huge hit with myself, kids ate them, husband tolerated them (but in his defense, he doesn't really like wontons anyway). I personally think they were better than the take-out ones (but isn't homemade stuff usually better anyway?)