Sunday, January 30, 2011
Our Incredible Hulk Smoothie
new finds
I love food, esp. when I come across things that are new to me. Two of my recent finds that I'm loving right now are pea shoots and nutritional yeast. At the La Jolla Farmer's Market this morning, I started chatting with a vendor about the food she was selling. Her seaweed salad samples were delicious and when I asked about this lovely corncake thing she was preparing, she handed me one! The photo above is what she gave me -- a wonderfully moist and warm corncake topped with artichoke hearts, a cilantro hummus, onion sprouts and pea shoots. Pea shoots! Yum. I hadn't tasted these before. The pea shoots are tender, yet crisp and contain a lot of water. They'd make a refreshing snack on a warm day all by themselves. Another vendor today was selling about 8 different kinds of alfalfa/shoots so I picked up some pea shoots to snack on during the drive home!
My other recent find is nutritional yeast. Popcorn topped with nutritional yeast (using a little melted Earth Balance for sticking power) has become my favorite snack. I first purchased some from the bulk food section of a grocer three weeks ago. A friend had given me a recipe for a vegan "cheese" and nutritional yeast is one of the ingredients. I immediately fell in love with this stuff. Aside from the "cheese" I've made twice now, I've started to sprinkle nutritional yeast on other foods where I want a cheesy, nutty sort of flavor.
Exploring the produce section -- as well as the bulk foods! -- is becoming my new favorite past time.
Need Canning Advice
Healthy Lunch Ideas
Friday, January 28, 2011
Starting a Garden
We didn't not plant them inside. Because it was our first year , we deiced to do the easiest thing first and see what would happen. It was great
We bought all of our soil from Grims. THey have an organic soil that was amazing,
One thing we are going to do this year is only plant veggies and fruit that you can pick through out the summer...sugar snap peas,,, beans,, chard...tomatoes,,, blue berries,,,LOTS of different kinds of lettuce ( arugula ,,I am not sure on the spelling)
We started our garden in March. Lettuce was fun because you could always replant behind what you used so that you always had fresh greens. Roman lettuce was the easiest . You could cut it off and with in a week or so it would grow right back. After a month or so you would need to replant.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Vegan Recipes from Cherl
Creamy Broccoli Soup (Vegan)
adapted from Whole Living Magazine, January/February 2011
serves 4
1 head organic broccoli (1 pound), cut into florets, stems thinly sliced
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
One 15-ounce can organic Great Northern beans, drained (Cannellini beans would work here as well)
2 1/2 cups vegetable broth
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon pine nuts, toasted
Steam broccoli florets and stems until tender and bright green, about 3 minutes. Let cool slightly. Reserve 1/2 cup florets for garnish.
Heat oil in a medium pot over medium heat. Saute onion and garlic until translucent, about 6 minutes. Add beans and broth and bring mixture to a simmer. Remove from heat and add broccoli; puree in batches in a blender until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish each bowl with broccoli florets, toasted pine nuts, and shaved Parmesan or cheddar cheese, if you wish.
2 out of the 3 kids ate it no problem and I thought it was really good. The only problem was I used fresh Northern beans and I don't think they were soft enough. We will definitely have this one again! I served it with drop biscuits.
She also just emailed me a Vegan Burger recipe that sounds good.
- 8 oz. precooked lentils (I use Trader Joe’s Beluga Lentils, but you could make your own)
- 1/3 c. oats
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 t. vegan worcestershire sauce
- 2 t. reduced sodium soy sauce
- 1 T. fresh basil
- 3-4 sundried tomatoes
- 1/4 c. chopped onion
- 1 t. dijon mustard
- 2 T. chopped kalamata olives
- salt and pepper to taste
I combined everything but the olives in the food processor, and then stirred the olives in at the end.