Lunch!

Leftover quinoa, sugar snap peas, cucumber & lettuce.  Quick dressing emulsified in a small jar-- yogurt, olive oil, chives, parsley, Dijon mustard, lemon juice, garlic and salt.  Delicious.

Super Fresh

After a trip to the farmers' market compiling this tasty lunch was a snap.  Fresh sugar snap peas, cucumber, lettuce leaves and kohlrabi with homemade faintly "basiled" hummus drizzled with leftover creamy basil dressing (recipe in the previous post).

Garden Hummus

1 can chick peas, drained
1 heaping tablespoon tahini
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Large pinch salt
1 clove garlic
2 fresh chives
2 large basil leaves
About 1/4 cup water
Juice of 1 lemon

Combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender.

Shortly going to try cooking and eating the kohlrabi leaves...

Herb Garden Harvest

We have massive amounts of oregano, basil, sage and mint in our garden so yesterday I made it my mission to use mass quantities of at least a few of them.  The result was a really excellent dinner.  The bean dish uses a hot oven which I only recommend if it is under 80 degrees.

Creamy sage beans and crunchy green salad with basil dressing.

Creamy Sage Beans

4 servings.  Takes an hour and a half to make.

1 bulb of garlic
2 cans white beans (cannellini/great northern/navy/etc), drained
1 carrot, diced
6 fresh sage leaves, finely chopped
2 cups veggie broth
Fresh ground pepper

Heat the oven to 400 degrees.  Wrap the garlic in foil and roast in the oven for about 20-30 minutes.  You'll know it's done when tongs easily can mash the bulb. Remove from the stove and reduce the oven to 380.

While the garlic is roasting and cooling prep the rest of the bean dish and make the salad below.  Combine the beans, carrot, sage, broth and a few grinds of pepper in a small dutch over.  Once the garlic has cooled enough that you can handle it, use a serrated knife to cut the top 1/2 inch from the bulb so you have chopped off the very top of each clove, exposing them.  Squeeze each clove on to a cutting board.  Finely chop the roasted garlic and stir into the dutch oven.  Cover and place in the oven for about an hour, stirring occasionally and making sure the beans never get dry.  The beans should grow in size, the dish should become creamy and when you remove the pot everything should be very moist but not soupy.

Before.

Crunchy Green Salad with Basil Dressing
4 side dish servings.  Resist the urge to drink the dressing.

1 small head of dark leafy lettuce, torn into bite sized pieces
Handful of spinach, torn into bite sized pieces
4 stalks of celery, sliced into bite sized pieces

Roasted hazelnuts, chopped into small pieces (or pine nuts)

Creamy basil dressing:
About 1/2 cup packed fresh basil leaves (handful)
Juice from one lemon
Large pinch salt
Fresh ground pepper
1 clove of garlic
2 heaping tablespoons Greek yogurt
2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Place all items into a blender or food processor and process until everything is pureed.  Makes enough dressing for about 2 recipes of the salad above.

After.

Best Veggie Burger

So one of my favorite food and cooking blogs TheKitchn.com created a recipe in an attempt to replicate the amazing veggie burger of Northstar Cafe in Columbus, Ohio.  I'm very excited to try it and those looking to make a homemade veggie burger that is grill-friendly this one will do it.  Link to the full post and recipe below

http://www.thekitchn.com/restaurant-reproduction-bestev-96967

TheKitchn.com: Best-Ever Beet and Bean Burgers
Inspired by the veggie burgers at Northstar Cafe in Columbus, Ohio
makes about 6 burgers

Photo from TheKitchn.com

1/2 cup brown rice (doubled if you like more rice)
1 onion, diced small
3 large red beets (about 1 pound), diced small
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons cider vinegar
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
juice from 1/2 lemon
1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 Tablespoons parsley, minced
1 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon thyme
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
salt and pepper
thin slices of provolone or monterey jack cheese (optional)

Bring a large amount of water to a boil. Add a handful of salt and the rice, and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook the rice until it's a little beyond al dente. You want it a little over-cooked, but still firm. This should take about 35-40 minutes. Drain the rice and set it aside.

Heat a teaspoon of olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, reduce the heat to medium, and cook until the onions are translucent and softened. Stir in the beets. Cover the pot and cook until the beets are completely tender, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and cook until it is fragrant, about 30 seconds. Deglaze the pan using the cider vinegar.

Empty the black beans into a large bowl and use a fork to mash them up a bit. Add the cooked rice, the beet and onion mixture, the lemon juice, the olive oil, and all the spices. Stir to combine and then taste for seasonings. Add salt and pepper to taste. Once it tastes the way you like it, add the flour and stir until you see no more dry flour.

Heat a cast-iron skillet over the highest heat. Add a few tablespoons of olive oil - the oil should completely coat the bottom of the pan. When you see the oil shimmer and it flows easily, the pan is ready.

Using your hands, scoop up about a cup of the burger mixture and shape it into a patty between your palms. Set it in the pan, where it should begin to sizzle immediately. (If it doesn't sizzle, wait a minute or two before cooking the rest of the burgers.) Shape and add as many more patties as will fit in your pan. Once all the patties are in the pan, reduce the heat to medium-high.

Cook the patties for 2 minutes, then flip them to the other side. You should see a nice crust on the cooked side. If they break apart a little when you flipped them, just reshape them with the spatula - they'll hold together once the second side is cooked. If you're adding cheese, lay a slice over the burgers now. Cook the second side for another 2 minutes.

Serve the veggie burgers on soft burger buns or lightly toasted sandwich bread along with some fresh greens.

Cooked burgers should be eaten that same day. You can also save leftover mix in the fridge for up to a week and cook just one or two burgers as you want them.

Summer Vacation

After two back to back fabulous trips, I wanted a dinner that was simple, full of vegetables and super healthy.  The garden kale, the grocery store and the Vitamix delivered.  This soup is not attractive (looks thick and pea green) but it is really delicious.  I promise.

Summer Fresh Vegetable Soup
2-3 servings as a main dish.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, roughly chopped
2 very large carrots or 4 med. carrots, roughly chopped
4 stalks of celery with their greens, roughly chopped
Large pinch of salt
2 large portobello mushrooms, roughly chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
4 large kale leaves, destemmed and roughly chopped

1/2 lemon, peel and seeds removed
Handful of raw cashews*
2 cups water
1 veggie bouillon cube
Sriracha or other hot sauce
Unsweetened almond or other milk

*Replace with 1-2 tablespoons of cashew butter or tahini if using a regular blender.

Add the first five ingredients to a hot, deep pan and saute over medium high heat for about five minutes, stirring regularly.  Add the mushrooms and garlic, stir and saute for a minute or so.  Bring the heat down to medium and cover with a lid.  Let cook for 5 minutes.  Stir again, add the kale on top of the vegetables and cover again with the lid to steam the greens, 5 more minutes.  Uncover and stir again.  The mushrooms should be browned and releasing their juices.

Add the lemon, cashews, water and bouillon to the blender.  Add a squirt of hot sauce (you can always add more later).  Add a splash of milk (you can always add more later).  Add in the cooked vegetable mixture and pour in any pan juices.  Blend at high speed until blended.  Blend 2 minutes until hot in the Vitamix.  Blend until combined in a regular blender, and then pour into a pot on the stove to heat through.  Serve and enjoy!

Summer Lovin

A delicious and even fast dinner if two are cooking together.  An early summer salad and Beijing-inspired dumplings.  All vegetables in season at the market... we had a fresh mushroom medley in our dumplings from the nice mushroom man.  (Apologies on the poor quality photos.)

Green Salad
Asparagus, sugar snap peas and cucumbers in avocado mint dressing.  Four side dish servings.

Small bunch asparagus, cut into 1 inch pieces
Pint sugar snap peas, cut into 1 inch pieces
Large hunk of cucumber, cut into small cubes
1/2 avocado
Chives
Mint leaves, a few
2 tablespoons olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
Zest from half a lemon
Salt, generous pinch

Blanch the asparagus and the pea pods, separately, in boiling water.  (I did the pea pods for about 30 seconds and the asparagus for about 2 mins.)  Dunk immediately in an ice bath. Prep the cucumbers.  Make the dressing-- combine the remaining ingredients in a blender.  Stir everything together in a boil, test for salt.  Set aside in the fridge until ready to serve.

Mushroom Tempeh Dumplings with Delicious Sauce
Two main dish servings for very hungry people.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, finely diced
1 cup of finely diced mushroom, whatever varieties you like
2 cloves garlic, finely diced
1/3 block of tempeh, crumbled/cut into very small grain-sized pieces
Ginger powder (or grated fresh)
Salt
Splash of rice wine vinegar and ginger beer if you have on hand
Water
20 or so wonton wrappers

Sauce:
Chili garlic sauce, jarred
Rice wine vinegar
Soy sauce
Lime juice
Dark sesame oil
Water

Heat the oil in a wok or deep cast iron skillet.  The onion, mushrooms and garlic should be so fine they are nearly shredded or grated.  Start sauteing the onions first for a minute or two, then add the mushrooms, garlic and tempeh.  Stir fry at medium high heat for several minutes.  Dust with ginger powder, a generous pinch of salt, add the vinegar and ginger beer and stir.  The tempeh will absorb much liquid so add some water if you need to keep things from sticking.  Cook until everything is browned and soft.  Turn off the heat, unload the mixture into a bowl and set aside.

Get a large pot of water bowling.  Brush one wrapper at a time with water, then put a spoonful of the tempeh mixture into the wrapper.  Follow the package instructions to make into dumplings--you basically fold into a triangle and stick the corners together.  This recipe should make about 20 dumplings.  Boil them 10 at a time, placing them gently into the boiling water and boil for 2 minutes until they start to become translucent then fish out with a slotted spoon.

To make the sauce, add a few heaping teaspoons of chili garlic sauce into a small bowl.  Add about a tablespoon of soy sauce, a generous amount of vinegar, a splash of lime juice and a splash of sesame oil.  Stir or whisk together.  Add a generous splash of water and taste the mixture for spicy, tartness and salt levels.  If too salty add a splash more of vinegar and water.  If not spicy enough add more chili sauce.  If too vinegary or generally intense, add more water.  Taste again until you get it right.

Serve the dumplings with small personal dipping bowls of sauce.

Back to the Blog!

Sorry dear readers for my absence.  Things have been a little busy.  And I'm sad I've missed posting many delicious meals.  Below is a photo from a particularly good should-have-been-blogged meal.

But first, a healthy summer dessert treat!  It comes out thick, creamy, sweet, minty and delicious!  Also comes out a pretty pale orange color, flecked with red and green.

Minty Fruit "Sherbet"

2 servings.  Technically more like a frozen yogurt-smoothie-cream but sherbet is the closest noun that describes its taste and texture.

1/2 pound frozen mango chunks (half a regular sized bag)
4 frozen strawberries
1 frozen fruit pop (I used an old large acai berry frozen bar)
4 dates, pitted
5 fresh mint leaves
About 1 cup of plain yogurt (regular style, not Greek/strained)

Blend it all up.  You'll need a high quality blender for this and I wanted it thick so had to frequently use my tamper to press everything through the blades of my Vitamix.

A post I wish I would have done was this dinner I made many weeks ago, made with warm fresh fava beans and local asparagus with a light dressing and parmesan shavings: