W

hen I was younger, I 
detested vegetables. 
My mom, always the 

overbearingly health-conscious 
cook (though I love her for it), 
incorporated a serving into 
every meal. I would hungrily 
await dinner, then remember 
that eating dinner also meant 
having to eat vegetables, 
and apprehension replaced 
my hunger. Broccoli with 
the night’s dinner? Couldn’t 
stand to look at it. A salad for 
lunch? I would rather lose TV 
privileges.

Now, I can’t get enough of 

them. Literally. I can’t get 
enough vegetables. As a busy 
college student that makes it 
to the grocery store twice a 
month, it often gets difficult 
to stretch my produce supplies 
through 
the 
month. 
Most 

produce goes bad within the 
week — so buying them in large 
quantities isn’t always the best 
option. But, there’s a great big 
world of produce out there that 
holds various opportunities to 
incorporate more veggies into 
our sparse college diets. When 
stored and used properly, these 
veggies stand the test of time 
and bolster simple, nutritious 
meals.

Ever since moving out of the 

comfort and security of college 
dorm life, which inherently 
included a coveted meal plan, 
and into the scary threshold of 
off-campus home cooking, I’ve 
developed a means of optimally 
preserving and using up all of 
my favorite vegetables. I haven’t 
thrown out moldy tomatoes or 
found myself vegetable-less in 
over a year –– yes, that’s right. 
I didn’t have to buy less produce 
to do so. I simply developed 
a few habits and tricks that 
helped make the most out of all 
the 
glorious, 
nutrient-packed 

produce our (sometimes) friendly, 
local grocery stores have to offer. 
 
 

If you’re trying to pack your 

diet with more veggies and 
diminish the hassle of cooking 
week night meals or just trying 
to get your mom to stop nagging 
you about eating your vegetables, 
then read on. There’s a plethora of 
places where your vegetables can 
go rather than in the trash. Here 
are a few, just to name them:

The oven
If you have a lot of veggies (and 

not a lot of time), you can use 
my favorite method of cooking 
them, which is to roast ‘em. Just 
crank your oven to a toasty 400º. 
While it’s preheating, slice up 
your veggies (they don’t have 
to be perfectly sliced, just give 
them a few rough slices). I like to 
do this best with vegetables like 

bell peppers, onions, eggplant, 
zucchini, 
carrots, 
portobello 

mushrooms and sweet potatoes. 
Just toss them in some olive oil 
and salt and let them roast for 
about 25-30 minutes (the sweet 
potatoes and eggplant may take 
a little longer). Your veggies 
will get a nice burnt crisp on the 
edges, which brings out a ton of 
flavor.

This method is great if you’re 

short on time. You can eat them 
plain, straight out of the oven 
(which I often do, with some nice 
crusty bread and olive oil to dip 
in on the side). You can also toss 
them with some quinoa and fresh 
herbs for a salad or pile them up 
on bread with mozzarella for an 
easy sandwich. The options with 
these are pretty much endless 
and definitely delicious.

Note: 
if 
you’re 
roasting 

eggplant and zucchini, make 
sure to sprinkle them with salt 

after you slice them, let them sit 
for 10 minutes, then pat dry with 
paper towels to get out any excess 
moisture before roasting.

The freezer
This is probably the quickest 

and easiest way to preserve your 
vegetables when overcome with 
uncertainty as to how you’ll 
utilize them and subsequent 
anxiety about having to toss them 
out. I know, I know –– you can 
buy already frozen veggies at the 
grocery store, but I personally 
believe that buying them fresh 
and freezing them tastes better 
and is better for you. And you 
can freeze them in individual 
portions for quick use. I like to 
use this method with broccoli, 
cauliflower, greens and herbs. 
This way, I never run out of my 
beloved spinach or kale (which 
I sautée for almost every meal). 
For cauliflower and broccoli, it’s 
best to blanch them first (a.k.a. 
quickly boil them). Simply boil a 
pot of water, throw them in for 
2-3 minutes, then quickly remove 
them by dumping them into a 
strainer or colander and rinsing 
under ice cold water for a minute 
or so. Just note, any vegetables 
you plan on freezing will be best 
if used for cooking rather than 
eating raw (i.e. Do not try to make 
a salad with thawed spinach).

In a scramble, omlette or 

frittata

This one is pretty much a free 

for all. Eggs are an essential 
component 
of 
any 
college 

student’s diet and don’t believe 
anyone who tells you otherwise. 
You can put anything in a 
scramble and it’ll probably taste 
great. A few of my favorite veggies 
to throw in are mushrooms, 
kale, spinach, sweet potatoes, 
asparagus, tomatoes and redskin 
potatoes. If you’re making an 
egg dish, it’s best to cook the 
vegetables first (either in the pan 
or the oven). For the potatoes, you 
can cheat and microwave them 
on high, wrapped in a wet paper 
towel, for 5-7 minutes. Let them 
cool a little, then dice them up and 
fry them in the pan with some oil 
or butter for a few minutes before 
adding the rest of your veggies 
and eggs.

My favorite frittata recipe 

uses sweet potatoes (roasted in 
the oven, or boiled if you’re in a 
hurry), sautéed kale or spinach, 
caramelized onions and goat 
cheese. I whisk 4-5 eggs with salt 
and pepper to taste and about a 
¼ cup of milk or cream. Once 
my sliced onions are nice and 
browned (about 10 minutes) and 
the greens have wilted in the pan, 
I add in the sweet potatoes, eggs 
and cheese and stick it in an 425º 
oven for 20-25 minutes.

In a soup
There’s nothing like hearty 

soup to get you through those 
cold winter months in Ann Arbor. 
I lived off of mostly soup for the 
entirety of junior year because it’s 
so easy to make and store. Like in 
the latter method, you can do this 
with most vegetables — especially 
beans, 
tomatoes, 
zucchini, 

squash, potatoes, greens, etc.

My favorite recipe: Winter 

Tuscan kale and bean soup. This 
soup is great because it uses most-
ly pantry items that are cheap 
and easy to have on hand. Dice 
an onion, celery and some garlic 
and sautée in a large pot for a few 
minutes. Then add some chopped 
kale (stems removed), two 15 oz 
cans of cannellini beans, two 15 
oz cans (or one large 28 oz. can) 
of diced tomatoes with the juice 
(alternatively, you can dice up 
fresh vine or heirloom tomatoes if 
you have them on hand), a 32 oz 
box of chicken or vegetable stock 
and 1-2 additional cups of water. 
Bring it to a boil with salt and 
pepper to taste (or whatever other 
herbs you have on hand, such as 
dried parsley and oregano) and 
let simmer for 20-30 minutes (or 
until all the vegetables are ten-
der). This soup is great as a meal 
with macaroni noodles and par-
mesan cheese sprinkled on top.

To freeze, simply store the 

soup in a large Tupperware con-
tainer and let thaw overnight 
before reheating. Or, you can let 
the soup cool and ladle into Zip-
loc bags for individual servings 
(just make sure to lay them flat 
in the freezer).

Buddha bowls
You 
may 
be 
wondering, 

“What the heck is a Buddha 
bowl?” or, “But I don’t even go 
to yoga!” Fear not, you don’t 
have to contort your body 
to 
eat 
these 
delicious 
and 

filling bowls. Buddha bowls 
are simply what bowls filled 
with grains, veggies and other 
healthy toppings are referred 
to. They are a great way to use 
up veggies and pantry items. 
I typically make mine with 
quinoa (just cook according 
to the package instructions –– 
and you can substitute chicken 
broth for water if you have it). 
Then I roast some chickpeas 
(drain and pat dry a can of 
chickpeas, drizzle with olive 
oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder 
and paprika and bake at 400º 
for 30 minutes), sweet potatoes 
(same thing, except I only use 
salt and pepper to season), kale 
(toss in olive oil and lemon 
juice or sautée in a skillet for a 
few minutes until wilted), and 
whatever other veggies I have 
on hand (like carrots, avocado, 
or shredded cabbage). If you 
have a tub of hummus laying 

SHIR AVINADAV
Daily Food Columnist

Help your produce stand the test of time with innovative ideas

Better places for 

your veggies

FOOD COLUMN

EL CLUB

This looks like the opening shot of Boogie Nights.

The greater Detroit area is 

peppered with charming, rela-
tively small venues that host a 
plethora of local and upcom-
ing acts week after week. If 
you 
are 
relatively 
familiar 

with the indie music scene, you 
might recognize names like the 
Majestic Café, Marble Bar and 
UFO Factory (among others). 

Most recently, El Club has 

been added to the growing ros-
ter of hip concert spots, hosting 
shows by Car Seat Headrest, 
Porches and Titus Androni-
cus in its first six months of 
operation. Despite the unde-
niable coolness of the venue 
and of the many acts who have 
already graced its stage, there 
has been one markedly uncool 
aspect of every show I have 
attended at El Club: people just 
don’t seem to understand the 
certain unspoken rules to fol-
low when attending a show at a 
small venue.

At first glance, my com-

plaint — we’ll call it a griev-
ance — might sound like indie 
snobbery, but hear me out. 
Understand first that I do not 
seek to blame El Club for its 
misbehaved clientele; there’s 
nothing the venue can do about 
it. Eventually the hype will die 
down, and El Club will no lon-
ger be the extra-hip new spot.

But until then, as is com-

mon for newly opened bars 
that double as concert venues, 
locals will attend for “alcohol 
and live music!” rather than 
for, say, Joyce Manor or Twin 
Peaks specifically. This results 
in a crowd that is an interest-
ing mix of young professionals 
— for whom the show is a spec-
tacle — and fans of the specific 
artists, for whom the show is 
the only reason to attend.

At a large venue, it may be 

acceptable to shout and scream 
“we love you!” between (and 
during) every song, primarily 
because the performer prob-
ably can’t hear you, and the 
rest of the audience is being 
loud enough that you’re not 
distracting anyone.

In a smaller venue, this 

changes 
considerably; 
any-

thing said between songs at a 
volume normally reasonable 
for conversation can and will 
likely be heard by everyone in 
the venue, including the per-
former.

So 
when 
one 
individual 

decides to be particularly loud, 
that person, whether they real-
ize it or not — and often they 
don’t — is drawing attention 
away from the performance 
and directly to themselves. In 
the extreme, these individuals 
essentially become hecklers, 
and more than once I have seen 
performers at these small ven-
ues stop their shows to directly 
ask the person to stop or leave.

Therefore, I implore you: do 

not be the kind of individual 
who is so loud that you draw 
attention away from the actual 
show. By all means, cheer at the 
end of every song! Lose your 
voice in doing so! But don’t 
repeatedly shout the name of 
the song you most desire to 
hear them play, even if you 
just “need” to hear them play 
it. And no matter how “clever” 
or downright “hilarious” your 

borderline jeering may be, I’d 
put my life on it that the show 
as a whole will be at least mar-
ginally more enjoyable without 
your contribution.

These notes about etiquette 

should really go without say-
ing, and they may seem under-
whelmingly 
apparent. 
They 

are, but, for whatever reason, 
there remains a small portion 
of the population that remains 
oblivious, or just doesn’t care. 
Anyone who has been to any 
general admission concert has 
likely witnessed — if not dealt 
directly with — someone push-
ing straight through rows and 
rows of strangers to guaran-
tee themselves the best spot 
possible. In and of itself, this 
behavior is relatively harmless, 
but the ideology from which it 
proceeds is dangerous.

Maybe the person believes 

that they deserve a better spot 
because they’re a more ardent 
fan than everyone else in the 
audience — that’s why they 
showed up early to get a good 
spot, right? Or maybe they’ve 
adopted a contortedly capital-
ist approach in which he who 
shoves hardest deserves the 
best spot — politeness is weak-
ness, and non-confrontational 
tendencies simply a reflection 
that you aren’t a serious enough 
fan.

I have only the desire that 

you realize the following (or, 
even better, that the following 
is already painfully obvious): 
the show is not about you. It’s 
about the performer, who has 
spent innumerable hours pro-
ducing art for not only you, but 
everyone in the audience. If 
you truly have respect for the 
artist and their work, then you 
will also respect your fellow 
audience members. Your goal 
should be to ensure that every-
one has the best experience 
possible, not just you. 

SEAN LANG

Daily Arts Writer

Rule one: don’t take attention away from the performance

The unspoken rules to follow when 
attending a small and local venue

MUSIC NOTEBOOK

around, you can also scoop 
a healthy spoonful into your 
bowl and you’ve got a meal.

For inspiration, you can check 

out this one on @eggs_n_baecon 
(I apologize for the shameless 
plug for my food Instagram).

If you can’t make it to a gro-

cery store but are desperate to 
replenish your vegetable sup-
ply, here are some other great 
options:

Fruit fairies
For just $17, you can place a one-

time order for a basket of hand-
picked (by “fairies?”) vegetables 
that is delivered to your doorstep 
for free. A weekly subscription 
only costs $15, or alternatively, you 
can create your own custom bas-

ket from their selection of produce 
(individually priced).

You can find more information 

on their website here.

Replenish
Some 
of 
the 
produce 
at 

replenish is actually, shockingly, 
decently priced.

Though I usually resort to 

Replenish as my last option, a 
container of spinach or an onion 
will cost you the same (if not a 
few cents more) than at a grocery 
store.

Maize and Blue Cupboard
Pick up a free bag of produce 

from the Trotter Multicultural 
Center courtesy of Maize and Blue 
Cupboard, a nonprofit student 
organization that fights against 
food insecurity on campus by 
providing students with free 
access to grocery essentials. Food 
distributions are every month, 
so check their Facebook page for 
details on when distributions will 
be taking place.

Anyways, this has been my 

vegetable-mongering, “Eat more 
vegetables!” 
rant 
— 
because, 

though we hate to admit it, our 
mothers are usually almost always 
right.

At a large venue, it 
may be acceptable 

to shout and 

scream.

Now, I can’t get 
enough of them. 

Literally. I can’t get 

enough veggies.

Just crank your 
oven to a toasty 

400 degrees 
Fahrenheit

DO YOU PREFER 

THE DEBATE 

BETWEEN 
“BIRDMAN” 

AND 

“BOYHOOD” 

OVER THE 

DEBATE 
BETWEEN 
DEMOCRAT 

AND 

REPUBLICAN?

THEN JOIN 

ARTS!

Email ajtheis@umich.edu 

and katjacq@umich.edu 

for more info.

4B — Thursday, October 20, 2016
b-side
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com