What I did with my Door to Door Organic box this week....

Quite a few of us now at IMX=Pilates have signed up with Door to Door Organics and couldn't be happier.  We formed a co-op, which entitles us each to a discount (yeah!).  I thought it would be fun to post each week what I did or plan to do with everything in my box. 

Since this my first post on this topic I will take a moment to introduce Door to Door Organics for those who are not familiar with this service.  DTD delivers fresh, organic produce to your door on a weekly or bi-weekly basis in the Kansas City area.  There are different sized boxes ranging from very small ("bitty") to large and you can choose to receive either a combination of fruits and vegetables or fruit only/vegetable only.  They have a ton of other items to add on, such as, meat, pantry items, Bread of Life bakery items, etc. and that list grows every week.  All organic.  They offer many local items, too, which is a list that continues to grow, as well.  Plainly stated, it rocks.  If you are in Kansas City area, you need to check them out and here's why:

1.  It's a great variety of the best looking and best tasting produce you can find.  You will NOT find this at your grocery store.  I even prefer it over (gasp!) Whole Foods.
2.  It's delivered.  You don't have to chase this stuff all over the city.  Heck, unless you join a co-op you don't even have to leave your house!
3.  You can tell DTD your preferences and even substitute up to 3 things in each box if you don't care to receive certain things.
4.  The people are so awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!  I met the area manager, Shane, at the Metropolitan Lawn and Garden Show in February and hung out with them in their booth passing out info about our cooking classes.  We are going to do the same thing every Wednesday we can at the 119 Green Market starting in May at 119th and Roe in Overland Park.  They're so fun!  Come out and meet them (and us)!
5.  It's so affordable.  Seriously, I get a medium combo box for $33.60 plus tax.  That's the co-op price (co-op = at least four people delivering to the same location).  Think about your office, church, school....anywhere you can get four people to deliver at one location.  Even if you don't join a co-op, it's still cheap.  I paid around $36 plus tax before.

So, go to http://kc.doortodoororganics.com/ to find out more. Signing up is so easy! 

Now for the good stuff.  What you can do with your beautiful bounty!  Like I said, I get a medium sized box, so for this week here is what I received: 

2 lb Yams
1 lb Leeks
1 ea. Green Leaf Lettuce
3 ea. Red Bell Peppers - Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
1 ea. Collards
1 ea. Celery - Snacks
1 ea. Cauliflower
1 ea. Carrots with Tops - Brown Rice Sushi/Smoothies
1 ea. Beets with Tops - Salad
4 ea. Navel Oranges - Salads
2 ea. Mangoes
2 ea. Grapefruit
6 ea. Danjou Pears
6 ea. Braeburn Apples
1 ea. Avocado

And here is what I made....

1.  Brown Rice Sushi - Used carrots, collard greens, and avocado.  Click here for the recipe!  Doesn't it look yummy....

2.  Roasted Beet Salad - Used green lettuce, leeks, beets and their tops, and oranges.  Click here for Roasted Beets and here for Basic Vinaigrette.  Toss with lettuce, chopped beet greens, finely sliced leeks, and orange segments.  Top with feta cheese and toasted walnuts.  I eat this every day for lunch!  This week I added some herbed quinoa, too, because I had leftovers from dinner Monday night.  Here's a salad we actually had for dinner with roasted beets, pitted nicoise olives, and ricotta salata cubes.  I think there were some sunflower seeds, too, if I remember correctly.  The little hand in the upper left corner is EJ going for some cheese.  I could have cropped it out, but it's too cute.

3.  Baked Sweet Potato Fries - Used sweet potatoes (aka "yams" - yes, I know there is a difference).  Here's how I made them:  Line a 12x18 baking sheet with aluminum foil.  Place it in the oven and preheat it to 500 degrees.  Meanwhile, wash and dry 1 lb. sweet potatoes.  Trim the ends.  Cut the potatoes into long, thin strips, 1/4 - 1/2 in. wide.  Toss the strips in a large bowl with 3 tablespoons grapeseed oil, kosher salt, and pepper.  Take the sheet out of the oven and spread the potatoes in a single layer.  They should sizzle.  Reduce the heat to 450 degrees and put the pan back in.  Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and run an offset spatula under the fries to unstick them from the foil.  Return to the oven and bake another 5-10 minutes until crisp.  Yum!  Serve with homemade ketchup.

4.  Roasted Red Pepper Sauce - Used all three red peppers, and leeks.  Plus celery and carrots for dippers.  This was so good and so easy!  Turn the oven broiler on high.  Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.  Remove stem and seeds from bell peppers and cut into quarters.  Lay the pieces in a single layer on the baking sheet, skin side up.  Broil for 5-10 minutes or until skin is charred.  Remove from oven and place peppers in a paper or plastic food bag.  Allow to cool.  Meanwhile, saute leeks and 6 cloves of garlic in a tablespoon of grapeseed oil over medium heat.  When peppers are cooled, remove the skin and add to a blender or food processer.  Add the leeks and garlic, a splash of balsamic vinegar, 1 tablespoon honey, salt and pepper.  Blend until smooth.  Slowly add 1/3 cup olive oil with the blender on until fully combined and thickened.  Add salt and pepper, as needed.  We had this tossed with whole wheat orzo and cubes of ricotta salata for dinner then used the leftovers to dip celery and carrots in:

That leaves me with the fruit and the cauliflower.  I totally missed the cut-off last Sunday to make substitutions; otherwise, I would have subbed out the cauliflower.  It's not my fave, but I don't hate it.  I am going to give this mock potato salad a go on elanaspantry.com.  And the fruit?  Well, some of the pieces went to church to serve on Sunday morning.   The rest we just ate throughout the week on their own.  Except the apples.  No one got to enjoy the apples, except this mess...