The Dinner Files Continue

If anyone is still interested in what I'm eating for dinner ( I don't blame you if you're not) then I will tell you what I had tonight. But first, I need to mention that today I discovered Pat's Farms in North Merrick. It was quite by accident actually. All I wanted was some place to pick up milk so I searched the GPS for Grocery stores near to the warehouse in Uniondale (which has been my base during days on the mobile food pantry).

I was excited by the crowd at Pat's Farms - they even had people directing parking- and it seemed like a small friendly place. There were some fruits and veggies outside ( Strawberries for $1.99 for a big box) and some seasonal flowers. Inside was a Mecca of beautiful fresh vegetables at pretty reasonable prices. I had to restrain myself from buying up the place but I did pick up an eggplant, some endive, a head of lettuce, some nice Jersey milk,a box of yellow rice, a jar of sauce, frozen tortellini and the box of strawberries as well as some much needed salt and pepper. I'm certainly going to have to go back as their prices were very reasonable. Did I mention that I paid under $20 for all that food? There were baskets of fresh herbs and great big papayas cut in half and some odd large radishes and all the usual things. The fruit was less impressive, except the strawberries. There was some nice frozen pasta and a whole meat and cheese section in the back as well as a little bakery. Definitely worth a trip for certain items.

So, having purchased my goods I started planning for dinner. I was excited by the eggplant. I used to buy eggplant quite often from the market near school but somehow I haven't thought about it or seen it in the store recently.

I had the thought of a sort of stew thing. I've had cans of chopped tomatoes and some beans in the cupboard since I moved in and I haven't quite had a plan for them yet. So I decided to make an eggplant/ tomato extravaganza. We were giving out yellow rice today for the food pantry and I realized that as rice goes I do like yellow rice quite a bit more than other rice, so I made some for dinner. In the microwave.

So here's what went into my dinner: Eggplant, Diced Canned Tomatoes, Garlic, Onions, cannellini beans, asparagus, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper.
Then Yellow rice plus peas, carrots, corn mix. And a dab of sour cream.

It wasn't quite as good as I was hoping it would be but it was not bad. I think I may have thwarted my appetite a little by snacking on cereal beforehand. But I have lots of leftovers and I still haven't used all my veggies!