I imagine that you probably think that farmshare folks sit around in homespun hemp gnawing on raw vegetables with ascetic delight. And that may be true for some folks, but I prefer a bit of indulgence to balance out the veggie virtue.

The late comedian, Mitch Hedburg, once declared that he believed that eating a good food with a bad food cancelled out the negative affects of the bad food. Eating a carrot, along with some fries, gave the fries a ‘free pass’ into his gullet, and I must admit, I adhere strongly to the same principles.

After a weekend of decadent wedding food and, horror of all horrors, two pit stops at McD’s, I came home craving, yearning for my the fresh veggies from my latest farm share.

Not long after arriving at home, a pile of peppers, bunches of carrots, and one large, firm, brilliant head of cabbage found themselves on the chopping block, awaiting shredding by my lethally powerful Cuisinart.

A bit of mayonnaise, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, and mustard later, and I was delving into a crunchy, tangy, refreshing, and so-satisfying bowl of tangy mustard cole slaw.

If you are at all familiar with Michael Pollan, author of Omnivore’s Dilemma, you’ve likely heard his mantra, “Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” It is a shockingly simple prescription for health, and its efficacy can be assumed by applying the proof of contradiction principle or inverting the mantra: If one eats a diet of processed food products, a tremendous amount of them, and little produce, the health picture looks grim.

It seems unlikely that someone who regularly extols the virtues of beef ribs, sausages, and a perfectly medium-rare steak would adhere to this maxim, but I am a firm believer that 1 or 2 mostly veggie dinners each week stabilizes weight – or, at least, prevents it from reaching gargantuan proportions. Veggie dinners make me feel, in mind if not in body, more healthful, and they are so agreeably easy and quick to make on a frantic weeknight.

Have you ever considered how nearly impossible it is to do all of the things that we should/want/have to do in any given day? Most of the people I know dedicate 10-12 waking hours each workday to their profession, including travel time. Assuming 6-8 hours of sleep, that leaves precious little else for personal hygiene, eating, exercise, staying current on world affairs, having a hobby, talking to your significant other, etc. And, what’s even crazier, is that I’m here beseeching you to make homemade meals, buy local & organic, and add other inconveniences to your life in the name of good eating. It’s madness, but I will try to rectify the situation.

The ‘Weeknight Dinners’ category contains recipes that can generally be prepared – soup to nuts – in a half hour or so and require few, if any, ingredients that would warrant a trip to the store. Today’s recipe, however, is the mother of all lazy day dinners. Born from the remnants of the Beef Tenderloin with Crème Fraîche Sauce recipe, it is essentially the crème fraîche sauce over pasta.