Pics for memory sake

I want to just post pics of some food, for memory sake I guess, and not write a recipe down. Haha. Sorry for the teaser pics, but if you really want a recipe, I'm sure I can remember what I did if you comment or message me :)

Soup: Beef broth with kidney beans (not canned, but made by cooking with the beef broth) collard greens, carrots, onions, garlic, tomato paste, pasta and spices. 

Soup: Ham bone with pinto beans (not canned, but cooked with the ham bone and spices), carrots, onions, garlic, chili powder, and cumin. 

Soup: Currier Butternut Squash 

Cuban Style Black Beans with Veggie Tortillas

Mmmm, roasted garlic goodness. 

Sweet and Savory Pasta Salad with roasted garlic, dates, quince, olive oil, hemp seed and spinach. 

Grilled peanut butter, honey, and toasted coconut sandwich with a cup o' cold whole milk. 

Whole Wheat Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

Beans, Spinach, Sweet Potatoes, and Carrots

Servings: 8-10 as a side dish, 4-6 as a main dish served over rice or another whole grain. 

It was a super yummy dish that we had with tamales and Spanish rice. My seven year old nephew was over for dinner and kept going back for more helpings. 

Co-Op

1 can Pinto beans, drained and rinsed

1 can Garbonzo beans, drained and rinsed

2 tbs Olive Oil

Salt and pepper to taste 

Farmers Market

3 small Carrots (about 1/2 cup), 1/4" dice

2 small Sweet Potatoes, 1/4" dice

1 small Onion, 1/4" dice

2 Garlic cloves, minced

1 tbs Orange Zest (zest of a medium orange)

Trader Joes

3/4 package cooked frozen Spinach

(I had this in the freezer for like 6 months. He. He. It wasn't frost bitten or anything. I had eaten the fresh spinach I bought last week already, but wanted some kind of green in the dish, so the frozen kind had to do)

Hatch, New Mexico 

2 tbs Green Chili Powder (optional)

Tucson

1/2 cup Water

Directions:

Place the oil in a large sauté pan on medium high heat, add the onion, garlic, carrot, and sweet potatoes. Cook until the onions start to turn translucent then add the green chili powder (you can sub in another chilie or cumin if ya want or use roasted green chilies), salt and pepper. Once the spices are spread out on the veggies, put in the spinach, orange zest, and water and let simmer Covered, on medium heat for 8-10 minutes; then its done and ready to eat. 

Veggie Fried Rice

1-2 servings 

Co-Op-

1 1/2 cups Whole Wheat (short grain, but any length will work;) Rice, cooked

1/3 large Carrot, 1/4" dice

1/4 medium Onion, 1/4" dice

1 medium Celery Stock, 1/4" dice

1tbs Olive Oil

1 Egg

Soy Sauce to taste (about 2 tsp)

Farmers Market-

1 Swiss Chard Leaf, 1/2" strips with stem removed 

1 Garlic clove, minced

Grocery store

1tbs Sesame Oil 

In a medium sauté pan, heat up (on medium high) both oils then put everything except the egg and chard in. Once the carrots start to brighten and soften, about 3 minutes, make an opening in the center of the pan and crack the egg into that spot. Add the chard and mix everything together until the chard starts to wilt; and egg cooks about 2 minutes. Now you're done, eat and enjoy :)

Organic Strawberry Shortbread Whole Grain Cookies

Super tastiness makes 30 quarter size individual whole grain shortbread cookies. You can put a dollup of any fruit on them or or eat 'em plain. 

Shortbread recipe adapted from Whole Grain Baking by King Arthur Flour

Co-Op

1 1/4 cup Rolled Oats turned into flour (throw the oats in a blender or food processor for 30 seconds and viola you have oat flour) 

1/4 cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour

4 tbs Salted Butter, almost at room temperature 

2 tbs Sour Cream (I highly recommend the "Nancy's" brand)

1/3 cup Unrefined Cane Sugar

2 tbs Strawberry Jam or preferred fruit jam (homemade would be preferred, but I'm not that cool, so I buy "Crofters" brand which I love.)

Directions:

Pre heat oven to 350F. 

In a medium bowl cream together butter and sugar. I use an electric mixer on medium speed for a minute until the mixture starts to look a little fluffy then I mix in the sour cream until it's all incorporated. Add in the flours and hand mix everything together. 

The dough is a stiff dough and does better with a wooden spoon at first, since the dough is still sticky, until you can get your hand in there to mix. I use my right hand in the bowl to push the dough ball into the bowl and work it onto itself for a minute. When all the flour is absorbed the dough is ready to roll into large marble size balls. 

I get 26-30 cookies out of this dough, they're small little guys, but you can make them bigger if you want and get less cookies. 

Place the dough balls on a prepared cookie sheet (parchment, silpat, etc) leaving enough room for ya to smoosh them down and have them still not touch each other. I get six rows of five cookies each. Now smoosh down the ball, leaving a small indent from your finger to fill with jam (if not going to use jam, use a fork to flatten and mark like you would do for peanut butter cookies;). You really don't need more than 1/8tsp of jam per cookie, a tiny bit goes a long way. Once you've jammed them up put them in the oven for 10-12minutes. Softness to your preference. They're good soft (10min) or crunchy (12-15min). 

I was thinking this base recipe would be good for spiced cookies too. A little cinnamon and nutmeg. Mmmm. Maybe the next batch :)

*** alternate recipes with same base and directions***

PB&J Cookies 

Substitute half of the butter for peanut butter and add 2tbs milk to get the dough moist enough :) 

Roasted and Stuffed Sweet Peppers

I made these appetizers for a pre Thanksgiving party. I wanted a more traditional thanksgiving flavor so I went with thyme and sage as the herbs and oh man, they totally worked. These were super yummy! 

Co-Op

1/4 cup Rolled Oats

1/4 cup Olive Oil

1/2 tsp Dried Sage

1 tbs Parmesan Cheese, shredded

1/2tsp Salt or to taste 

Pepper to taste

Farmers Market 

2 tiny Acorn Squash, or 1 small, cooked and skins removed (refer to my previous weeks produce pics to gauge my definition of tiny size ;)

1/3 Red Onion, 1/4" dice 

1 tsp Dried Thyme

Safeway (grocery store close by)

10 Sweet Peppers, cut lengthwise in half and de-veined and de-seeded. 

I mixed the cooked, kinda mashed and chopped up, acorn squash with everything then put about 1tsp worth of mixture into each pepper half. Put a pinch of Parmesan cheese on each one, cook at 350 for 15 minutes and you have stuffed peppers that taste amazing and are good for the soul ;)

Turkey (dark meat), Sweet Pepper, and Sweet Potato Tastiness

2 servings

Co-Op

1/3 box Whole Wheat Rotini, or pasta if choice, cooked. 

1/4 cup Olive Oil

1 tsp dried Oregano

1/2 tsp Red Pepper Flakes

1 tsp Kosher Red Sea Salt 

2tbs Parmesan Cheese, shredded (optional)

Farmers Market

1 Sweet Potato, baked then 1/2" dice

2 medium Garlic cloves, thinly sliced 

1tsp dried Thyme

Local Grocery Store

6 Sweet Peppers, de seeded, cut in half then sliced

Thanksgiving leftovers from my sister

Dark Meat from 1-2 cooked Turkey Legs, 1/2" dice

Once the pasta and sweet potato are cooked, I put a sauté pan on medium high with the olive oil, garlic, peppers, salt, and turkey. Once the turkey warmed up, about 1minute, I put all the spices in and let the turkey crisp up in the olive oil, another minute or two. Then I combined everything in a bowl and let the flavors meld together for a little bit, then I ate. Mmmm. I wish I made more than two servings, that's for sure!

Produce Nov 14

$18

Grass fed beef neck bones

Swiss chard

Acorn squash

Zucchini

Tomatoes

Tomatillos

Peas

Green chilies

Jalapeño 

Bell pepper

Apples 

And a non edible loofa :)

Savory Pumpkin, Refried Beans, and Veggie Whole Wheat Tortillas

3 Recipes in one post:

Completed recipe directions coming soon...

** Crock Pot Beans **

2 cups of dry beans made about 6-8 servings cooked. 

Co op:

2 cups dry Pinto Beans, rinsed and the bad ones picked out (ones that are really dark, almost black and any that float)

1 Bay Leaf

1 tbs Cumin Seeds

1tsp Kosher Salt

Farmers Market:

1/2 medium Yellow Onion, large 1" dice

1 large Garlic Clove, smashed

City of Tucson: 

Water to rinse, soak, then cook beans in

Directions:

After beans are rinsed soak them for at least 2 hrs before putting them in the crock pot with about 6-8 cups of water, onion, garlic, salt and spices. Turn on low and let cook for about 8-10hrs. I personally don't mind them cooking while I'm sleeping, because waking up to the delicious smell is sooo enjoyable. Haha. This could also work if you started them before leaving for work though. 

Anywho, the beans are soft enogh to mash by hand, but I like my immersion/stick blender. I don't add any oil, I just drain off excess water and purée about 3/4 of the beans then hand mash the remaining 1/4 so there is a little texture with a regular spoon. The beans hold their shape pretty well, but are super soft, so if you want beans for a salad or something, I wouldn't cook them as long. They are then ready to be eaten. The beans hold up well for a week (sometimes longer) if you make sure they're covered in the fridge. 

I'm totally making more, I love having them at the ready for grubbing. Yum. 

 

** Veggie Tortillas **

I use this recipe, but instead of all purpose flour I used whole wheat pastry flour (co-op), olive oil (co-op) instead of lard and instead of water I used hot puréed veggie stew with brown rice. I made the stew last week, but I wasn't impressed with it. It was full of good stuff like beets, carrots, sweet potatoes, and onion and I didn't want to just throw it out, so I puréed it up and saved it for just such an ocassion as this. I did experience a "Lesson learned" momen thought: rice should not be cooked in a pressure cooker, if you want traditional rice texture go with old school stove top or rice cooker :/ it comes out kinda gross otherwise. 

For this recipe, after the dough rested for the 15-30 minutes, I didn't need any extra flour on the counter to roll them out. It was cool :)

** Savory Pumpkin **

2-3 Servings 

I have soooo much pumpkin from breaking down the beast of a pumpkin my best friend have me after Halloween. I decided to roast about 2/3 of it and freeze it. I've been cooking with the remaining 1/3 from raw stage when I wanted it this week. Hence the pumpkin with tortillas and beans :)

Recipe:

2-2 1/2 cups raw pumpkin, cut into whatever shape you desire, aka whatever shape will cook at the speed you want to eat in. 

1 tbs Spice Mix *reference this post

1/2 cup Water

Co-Op

2 tbs Olive Oil

Farmers Market

1/2 medium Onion, medium dice

1-2 cloves Garlic, minced

Produce Goodies this Week

$20 well spent. 

Oyster Mushrooms, LOCAL!!! Yay!!! 

Swiss Chard

Kale

Onions

Red Potatoes 

Sweet Potatoes

Pears

Apples

I also have a pumpkin a friend game me on Saturday to use this week and an eggplant and some beets left from last weeks shopping :)

So this is the week for roasted garlic goodness maybe with pumpkin, eggplant, and lentils...

Then Pasta with garlic butter, oyster mushrooms, and kale for sure!

Swiss Chard, maybe with a spicy beet and brown rice stuffing...

Rosemary Potatoes with pears... Or a potato pear soup with rosemary! 

I love food. Adventures for sure this week. Yay!

Acorn Squash and Parmesan Pasta

Makes 1-2 servings

Truthfully when I put this together and tried it hot from the pan, I wasn't impressed, HOWEVER when it cooled it was pretty darn tasty! I will stick with it as a cold pasta dish instead of a hot one because truthfully I ventured eating my serving only after a taste testing, very adventurous and willing to try my food friend, told me it was really good. Haha. They didn't lie, it was, but only once it cooled ;)

Co-Op

1/3 package Whole Wheat Pasta, cooked (any shape will work :)

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded or grated 

3tbs-4tbs Olive Oil

2 tbs Maple Syrup

Salt to taste

Farmers Market

1 Small Acorn Squash, baked (or microwaved) skins removed, deseeded, and chopped in 1/2-1" dice

*the squash might break apart like a baked potato, but that's ok. It's going to get thrown in some oil to crisp it up and help hold it together in bigger pieces :)

1 Clove Garlic, thinly sliced

In a medium sauce pan on medium high heat put in a 2 tbs olive oil along with garlic and diced acorn squash. Cook until squash is browned on both sides, about 4 minutes. Then add maple syrup, stirring until everything is coated, after it's coated turn off the heat. Finally to the pan, or the bowl you're going to serve pasta in, add hot squash, cooked pasta, additional 1-2tbs olive oil, Parmesan cheese, and salt to taste. 

Then cool, eat, and enjoy. 

Garlic and Cream Cheese Goodness (seriously it kinda tasted like ranch dressing and it was good!)

Directions coming soon. 

2tbs olive oil 

2tbs Cream Cheese

1/2 cup whole milk 

4 cloves Garlic, minced

1/2 medium onion, finely chopped

1/2 lb fingerling potatoes, cut lengthwise is half

3 cups chopped Chinese greens, torn into 2" pieces

1/2 large zucchini, medium dice

1 tbs dry dill

1 tsp crushed dry rosemary

1/8 tsp crushed red pepper

1 package cooked whole wheat penne pasta, cooked

Salt to taste

Get a medium sauté pan on medium high heat going with olive oil, onions, garlic, zucchini and potatoes. Cook veggies until browned. Then add everything else, letting cream cheese melt down until you have a creamy sauce.  Add the creamy goodness to the cooked pasta and you're ready to eat. 

This combo of onion, garlic, dill, and cream cheese TOTALLY tasted like ranch! I've now made a version of this, like 3 times, just becaus it was so tasty. 

Enjoy. 

Peanut Sauce Goodness over Veggies

3-4 Servings 

I'm on a peanut kick, humor me :)

Recipe directions coming soon. 

Farmers Market

1 small Spaghetti Squash, cooked

1 small Eggplant, medium dice

1 medium Quince (Membrillo), cored and de-seeded, medium dice

1 medium Red Onion, medium dice

2 large Garlic Cloves, minced

Co-Op

2 tbs Peanut Butter (freshly ground yesterday, so it had the whipped effect still which means you could probably get away with 1tbs traditional pb)

1" squared piece of Thai Ginger (any ginger would work, Thai doesn't seem to be as potent though, so go with less at first if ginger scares ya), grated

2 tbs or add to taste Soy Sauce 

1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes

Traditional Grocery store

6 Sweet Peppers, or 1 Bell Pepper, medium dice

1 cup Water

Organic Toasted Coconut and Peanut Butter Cookies

These dear people are soooo dang tasty!! Thanks inspirational (not so good for us) Halloween candy for being the subject in a conversation that sparked the idea for these bad boys! 

Makes a dozen cookies

Co-Op

1/2 cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour

1 cup Rolled Oats

1/4 cup Butter, softened 

1/4 cup Peanut Butter (I fresh ground it today and it has no added sugars, oils, or salt, compensate your recipe if you use a on that has these added)

1/3 cup  + 1 tbs Unrefined Cane Sugar

2tbs Maple Syrup (I have grade A, but either works)

1/2 cup + 1/4 cup dried Shredded Coconut (again, no added sugar, oil, or salt), dry toasted 

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Kosher Salt (I just bought the Real Salt brand, pink kosher salt, and I LOVE IT!! Fancy that it tastes great, less actual sodium, and has natural occurring iodine in it too ;)

1 tsp fresh Thai Ginger, grated (powder would work too, start with 1/4tsp and add to your taste preference)

Farmers' Market 

1 Egg

Cream together the butters and sugars, then add the egg and ginger. After the egg is mixed in, add in the dry ingredients. In another small bow mix the 1/4 cup of toasted coconut and 1 tbs sugar. Once dough forms, spoon out roughly a golf ball sized amount of dough. Roll it around on your hand until a ball forms then roll it around in the coconut/sugar mixture. Flatten them out a little on the cookie sheet. You can add more topping of coconut and sugar now it you have some left. Bake at 350 degrees for 7 minutes. 

A great likeness to one of my favorite candies as a kid, the chick-o-stick!! Mmmm. 

Happy Halloween!!

FM this week

Curried Wheat Berry Salad

Recipe coming soon :)

Produce of the week, Oct 10

Lettuce

Chinese Greens

Spaghetti Squash

Butternut Squash

Sweet Potatoes

Fingerling Potatoes

Eggplant

Purple Bell Pepper

Cucumber

Zucchini

Garlic

Gerkins 

Yellow Onions

I want some roasted garlic goodness this week, in some cream cheesy goodness (cream cheese was on sale at the co-op when I went the other day and I didn't want to pass up such a tasty deal!) maybe on roasted fingerling potatoes and zucchini.

I bought some bulk yellow split peas at the co-op too and I'll try for an eggplant and bell pepper soup or chutney combo. Yellow and purple food together? Yes please. 

I'm sure I'll use the greens sautéed with olive oil, onions, and garlic with some pasta... Maybe I'll Carbanara style the noodles with egg for a creamy type sauce... 

I signed up to bring something tasty to my church "Talent Show", maybe I'll make the butternut and caramelized onion soup again. Its super easy, with minimum ingredients for such a high yield, and super tasty!

A salad or two will be made with cucumber and homemade dressing too. 

I'll try and cook up the spaghetti squash and maybe make some marinara for it with whatever veggies I have left and some canned whole tomatoes. 

I'll post pics and recipe ideas for sure if I have success :D 

Yay for $18 adventures at the Farmers' Market!

 

Buckwheat Soba Noodle Soup

I might have a slight obsession with my pressure cooker now that we have become friends... Long story, but about 8 years ago I had one explode in my face, ALL my own fault, and got second degree burns, I've since healed and learned people, pressure cookers are ahhhhmazing!!! Especially for a gal who likes soup that takes only 30 minutes from start to finish, but tastes like it could have been cooking for hours. Mmmmm.... Tasty soup. 

Farmers Market

1 medium Onion, medium dice

4-5 medium cloves Garlic, minced

1/2-1 whole roasted Pablano Pepper, 1/4" dice

Co-Op

1 bunch of Curly Kale (about 8 lrg leafs worth), de-stemmed, cut into 2" pieces

2 medium Carrots, peeled, 1/2" dice

4 tbs Soy Sauce (or qty to taste preference)

1 whole package (2 packs come per package) Buckwheat Soba Noodles  (refrigerator section, Anne Chuns brand)

1/2 Lime, juiced

Costco

1 cup dried Shitake Mushrooms

In a large pressure cooker, place 10 cups of water along with veggies, except Kale) (you can eat the stems of the kale though, just clean them well, chop them up and add them here. They're tough and only soften with longer cooking times than leaf) and soy sauce. Lock on lid, bring to boil and let steam for 15 minutes. 

Once depressurized, add noodles and kale leafs then stir gently until kale brightens in color and noodles seperate, check for salt and enjoy. 

Spaghetti Squash Salad

This made 4 servings, because I used a smaller squash. Use a bigger one and you obviously can feed more. Lol. 

Simple and delicious! No joke, I was a little scared it wouldn't taste all that good, but I guess you really can't go wrong with simple ingredients and garlic :D

Farmers Market

1 small Spaghetti Squash

1 medium Cucumber, 1/2" dice

1/2 medium Red Onion, 1/4" dice

2 medium Garlic cloves, minced

1tbs dried Basil (fresh leaves dried out ;)

Co-Op

1 16oz can Chickpeas (Garbonzo beans), rinsed

1/3 cup Plain Yogurt

2 tbs Hemp Seeds

2 tbs Butter

1/2 Lime, juiced (abt 1tbs)

1/8 tsp Red Pepper Flakes

Salt and Pepper to taste

I cooked the spaghetti squash in my pressure cooker, it sped things up and kept my kitchen cooler, but you can totally boil it traditionally on the stove top. Make sure you DONT cut the squash LENGTHWISE in half, but short wise (lay the squash down horizontally on the cutting board with the stem parallel to the counter, then cut in half) This will creat longer spaghetti like noodles. If you cut length wise in half you'll get super short ones. 

I placed the squash, de seeded, but skin still on, in a few inches of water with salt, turned up the heat and let the pressure cooker, once steaming, go for 15minutes. I then drained off excess water, and used tongs to get noodles out of the tough skin. 

Then I put butter on hot noodles, allowing it to melt and be mixed with them before I combined everything. I made sure the noodles were sepeated, added salt to taste and was done :)

Veggie Stew

This recipe fed 8 people. I only had 30 minutes to make it so I utilized the microwave for cooking the sweet potato and turnips so the flavors could stew together more instead of worrying about them cooking in the short amount if time, I also used canned pinto beans because of unpreparedness on my part to have made my own ;) I keep some beans in the cupboard for such occasions. Lol.   

Farmers Market

2 teeny Eggplant (or 1 small one), 1/2" dice

1/2 large Bell Pepper, 1/2" dice

1-2 medium Sweet Potatoes, 1/2" dice

2 medium Turnips, 1/2" dice (I have had these in cold storage, aka back of my fridge in a bag, for like 3 months, I seriously love root vegetables and their ability to last for months if stored properly)

1 large Carrot, 1/2" dice

1 medium Yellow Onion, 1/2" dice

2 Garlic Cloves, minced 

1/4tsp Thyme

Co-Op

4tbs Olive Oil

2 16oz cans Pinto Beans, rinsed

1 32oz can Chunky Tomato Sauce

1tbs Cumin

2tsp Chili Powder

2tsp Paprika

1 Bay Leaf

Salt and Pepper to taste

Plain Yogurt (optional to be added in after stew is in your bowl)

1-2cups Water

In a large pan, sauté the veggies with some salt and pepper, in olive oil on medium high. Once you can start smelling the veggies, add the spices, cook an additional 1-2minutes then add tomato sauce, water, and beans. Turn heat down to medium low and let simmer for 15-20minutes. Check taste and add salt as needed. (If you're using a shallow sauce pan for sautéing, transfer everything into a pot before adding liquids and beans) p.s. The quantity if water depends on your preference of stew thickness, add as much or as little as you would like. 

You could totally turn this into a crock pot meal and have it ready when you get home. You can eat it as is, or we ate it over brown rice, but cornbread would be super tasty too.

Linguini with Fresh Green Beans

Feeds 4-6

I forgot I was having people over for dinner until 30 minutes before they were supposed to be here. Hehe. So I got a pot of water on and started cooking up some veggies. 

Farmers' Market

1lb. fresh Green Beans, trimmed and snapped to 1 1/2-2" pieces

1 small Green Bell Pepper, 1/2" dice 

1 medium cooked Sweet Potato, 1/2" dice

3 medium Heirloom Tomatoes, diced 

1 small Red Onion, 1/4" dice

3 cloves Garlic, minced

1/4 tsp dried Thyme

1 tbs dried Basil (or a few tbs fresh)

Co-Op

1 tbs Olive Oil

2 tbs Butter

1/4-1/2 cup Plain Yogurt

1/2 cup Whole Milk

1 package Whole Wheat Linguini, cooked per package directions (any pasta could be subbed here)

1 Lime, juiced

Salt and pepper to taste

While the pasta is cooking per package directions, in a large sauce pan, on medium high, put in olive oil, onions, and garlic. Once they start to soften, add all the other veggies, some salt and pepper, and cook until they start to soften a little too (about 3-4minutes). Then add butter, milk, yogurt and spices. Mix them all together until the veggies are covered in the sauce. Once the noodles are done, drain off the water and place the noodles directly into the pan with the veggies. Stir everything together until combined. Turn off the heat, put a cover on the pan and let everything meld together for a few minutes. When you are about to eat, squeeze lime juice over everything, add a little salt, stir, and enjoy. 

Produce and meal ideas Sept 26

Santa Cruz River Farmers' Market

I. Love. This. Place. 

I love talking to the vendors, meeting new people, and buying amazing produce. The pic above is $19 worth of produce. Here is what I got in quantities:

Heirloom Swiss Chard - 1 large bunch, $3

Heirloom Tomatoes -6, $2

Heirloom Zucchini (the round little guy by the eggplants) -1, $.50

Eggplant -2, $2

Green Bell Pepper -1, $1

Green Beans 1lb, $2

Red and Yellow Onions -3, $1

Cucumber -2, $1.50

West Indy Gerkins -4, $1

Gala Apples -5lb bag, $5

See why I love it so much?

This will be enough produce for 2-3 people this week. I try to eat a fruit and veggie with every meal (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) and I use grains as my filler to make the produce go further. I also have root veggies and pablano chilies I haven't used up from my last FM trip, and a spaghetti squash. They're pretty hearty things and will last a bit longer, but Ill try to use them this week too. 

Meal ideas:

Green Bean/Pinto Bean Salad

Apple Lentil Concoction (I got a good looking recipe from the food demo table at the FM:)

Some kind of Veggie Stew with Pablano

I've been wanting to make another peanut sauce with noodles lately, maybe Ill stir fry in some eggplant and zucchini

Quiche, with a whole wheat crust. 

Spaghetti Squash with homemade marinara 

Food is fabulous. 

Sweet and Spicy Fried Okra

 

2-3 Servings if eaten alone, if eaten with rice, make it 4.

 

I wanted something like orange chicken, spicy and sweet, so I figured I could make something up that might do that for me with what I had in the house... Okra was the medium, and I dare say it was a success!

 

Farmers' Market

 

12 Okra, cut into 1/2" rounds

2 large Garlic Cloves, chopped

1/2 Zucchini, cut into 1/2" pieces

1 small Bell Pepper, cut into 1/4-1/2" pieces

1/2 bunch Kale, chopped (any leafy green would work well here, chard, spinach, etc)

 

Co-Op

 

2 tbs Whole Wheat Flour

4 tbs Whole Milk

1 tbs Chia Seeds (optional)

1/2 tsp Red Pepper Flakes

1 tbs Olive Oil (if needed to cook up the other veggies if you don't have any grapeseed oil left in the pan)

1/2 cup Grapeseed Oil (truthfully you can use any oil with a high smoke point)

2 tbs Raspberry (or any flavor) Jam

Salt and pepper to taste

 

 

2tbs Water from my kitchen :)

 

To make the fried okra, combine flour, milk, water, chia seeds, red pepper flakes, and a pinch of salt in a small bowl, forming a goey batter the okra will be placed in. Once the okra is cut into 1/2" rounds, put them in the batter. The batter will be thick, but should cover each piece of okra with a pretty good amount if you stir them around in it; use enough batter so you don't see the green color of the okra or the defined shape. Heat up the oil on medium high in a small saucepan (I don't check for temps with a thermometer, but you totally can. Google temps for frying, I'm being lazy, sorry) until  you see the oil kinda ripple in the pan on it's own. Drop a bit of batter in, the amount the size of a pea, and see if it starts floating right away. If it does, you are ready to fry. I used a fork to get out batter covered pieces from the bowl and put about 6 in the pan to fry at a time. Cook them until the batter gets crunchy and darkens on one side, about 2 minutes, then flip the pieces over, and cook an additional 1-2minutes until the other side is cooked too. Pull them out of the oil and place them on a plate or a metal strainer (you won't have tons of excess oil drain off if you're frying them at the right temp), keep frying away until they're all done.

 

Then, in the same pan, you can add the garlic, bell pepper, zucchini, and kale. Cook them until they soften then add the raspberry jam and heat it up so it coats everything. You are ready to eat when you mix the fried okra with the other goodies. I ate it "as is" because I was in a hurry, but would have thoroughly enjoyed this sweet, sour, and spicy treat with brown rice.

 

I'll for sure utilize the batter idea with other veggies too. Mmmmm, fried tasty goodness. 

 

 

 

Farfalle Pasta with Zucchini and Kale in a Garlic Cream Sauce

2-3 Servings

Farmers' Market

1/2 medium Zucchini, cut rounds in 4ths
1 large Garlic Clove, or 2 medium ones, minced

Co-Op

2 tbs Flax Flour
2 tbs Butter
1 tbs Olive Oil
1 tbs Sour Cream (I prefer Nancy's: Organic, it tastes soooo good!)
1/8 tsp Red Pepper Flakes (optional)
Salt and Pepper to taste


Sunflower Market (chain health(ier) grocery store that carries packaged whole organic foods too)

1/2 box Whole Wheat Farfalle Pasta, aka bowtie, cooked. (I had cooked up the pasta yesterday for lunch and hade left overs, so I stored it in the fridge to be used later. Cooked pasta ALWAYS comes in handy for a quick meal)
1/2 cup Whole Milk, plus 1/2 cup Water (if you use non whole milk, just use a cup of whatever you have)
2 cups of Kale. (I bought the pre packaged organic kale and used 1/3 of the plastic container)

In a medium sauce pan, on medium high, melt butter, add zucchini and garlic and cook until garlic starts to become translucent. Once there, add everything else except the flax flour. Turn down the heat and let everything simmer for a few minutes until the kale softens. Once there, turn off the heat and add flax flour, this is the thickening agent to turn the milk/sour cream goodness into more of a sauce. Once you have the thickness you like, add salt and pepper to taste and you're done.

Super simple, super fast.

If I had parmesan or another hard cheese I would have totally added it, but the pasta was good without it too.

Stuffed Kale

 

2-3 Servings (made 14 rolls)

Farmers' Market:

14 Kale leaves, (I didn't use curley kale, but flavor wise it would be fine... I just don't know about the rolling up part.) 

2 Red Potatoes, cooked and mashed (I utilize the microwave. Who knows if I will use the microwave forever, but I'll let you in a few of my cheat quick tricks right now ;)

1/4 Zucchini, shredded

1/2 medium Onion, finely diced

2 Garlic Cloves, finely diced

1/8 tsp Thyme (this is a super potent herb, utilize less than add more AFTER you taste the filling. You don't want to only taste thyme ;)

Co-Op

3 Tbs Plain Yogurt

1/4 cup Flax Flour

2 Tbs EV Olive Oil

3-4Tbs Butter

2 Tbs cup Wheat Flour

2 Tbs Milk

Salt/Pepper to taste 

Mix everything together except kale, oil, butter, wheat flour and milk. Once the flavors of stuffing is to your liking, start rolling :) About 1 Tbs per leaf. 

Start rolling from the thicker stem side so when you're finished the roll will lay nicely against the other rolls (as pictured) without popping back open. 

Then get bowls ready with wheat flour (season this with salt and pepper too) and milk. 

Roll each piece of kale in milk then flour. Set them aside and get the Oil/Butter heating in a small sauce pan in medium high. 

Once oil is hot, add in a few rolls

The coating will come off a little, or a lot, but if it does come off a lot, you can always pull out the crunchiness and put it right back on a roll. That's the point if the flour in the first place, crunch. 

Once they are browned, use tongs to pull them out and place on a plate... It'll take about 2 minutes per side, just enough time to heat up the filling. Then they're ready to eat!

This was a tasty experiment and I'll try I

 again to make sure the coating sticks better, egg wash or an actual batter? 

Also, these are made for one bite eating like sushi, you try to bite one in half and it  doesn't work so well; the kale is a strong leaf and cooked doesn't tare well. Haha. 

I liked these enough that I'll try to make a version of them again around Thanksgiving, what a great way to use leftovers and get some good veggies (finely shredding ANY veggie should work in the filling), greens, and grains in ya :)

Wheat Berry and Barley Raspberry Lime Salad

This side salad was pretty darn tasty and super easy! It fed A LOT of people! 8 "fill ya up" servings easily. 

Co-Op

1/2 cup Barley

1 cup Wheat Berries

2 tbs Raspberry Jam

2 tbs Olive Oil

2 tbs soy sauce

1 medium Carrot, shredded (I used a fine grater, but get it to the size you like)

Sunflower Market

1tbs fresh Lime Juice

Farmers' Market

1 medium Cucumber, seeded and diced

1/2 Zucchini, shredded (I used a fine grater, but get it to the size you like)

1 small Bell Pepper, diced

Cook the wheat berries and barley by putting them in a pot with 4 cups of water and 1 tbs of soy sauce. Boil on high for 20-25 minutes or until the berry is plump, a little chewy, with no crunch whatsoever left. Drain and set aside to cool (or run it under cold water to cool it if you've prepped the veggies already and want to put them directly together)

Prep and cut the veggies while the grains are cooking. Put the raspberry jam, lime juice, olive oil, and the other tbs of soy sauce in a lidded container then shake the container until the sauce is well combined. Once grains are cooked and cooled, combine everything and you're done. 

The sour-sweet was really good with the savory-sweet butternut squash and caramelized onion soup. I utilized this filling for inspiration, but truthfully, the soup only had 3-4 ingredients- water, beef broth(this is optional, but adds a deeper flavor), a large butternut squash, and a medium onion caramelized. I threw the squash and liquid in a pressure cooker on high and let it steam for 15minutes, then added caramelized onion and pureed it all with my immersion/stick blender. Salt and pepper to taste and that's it.

 

I dare say that the dinner party went well that I made this for, I fed 5 missionaries from my church + my mom and myself. Perk of dinner, I got to teach one of the missionaries what a wheat berry was and a Sister commented on how she usually doesn't like vegetable soup, but she loved this one and actually wanted the recipe. Lol. Success.

Telling you my story

Hi all who visit my blog! I wanted to let y'all know that I created a new tab up at the top of the blog titled, "This is why I choose to buy, cook, and eat this way". This tab will link you to my story of transformation into a healthier person written on my personal blog :)

I felt it was important to share the message of ones ability to change. We have so much control to become who we want to become, and sometimes we just need to be reminded if that. For me I needed to learn to eat better so I could become healthier. 

May God bless and answer your prayers too. 

Sarah

9/12/13: I just heard this on NPR and it made me happy, I thought I would connect a link to it so if anyone else is interested in reading/listening to it.

Pesto Pasta Salad

When you mix pesto with almost anything, it turns out super tasty!! I even tried it on watermelon and it was amazing :)

 

Servings 2-3

My Kitchen with help from the F.M. and C.O. :)

2-3 tbs homemade Pesto 

Farmer's Market

1/2 medium Nopales pad trimmed, 1/4" dice

8 Cherry Tomatoes, quartered

1/2 medium Cucumber, 1/2" dice

*basil and garlic for pesto were from here

Co-Op

2 cups Baby Spinach, torn up a little

1/2 package Whole Wheat Penne

Salt to taste

*olive oil, Parmesan cheese, and walnuts for pesto were from here

Cut the veggies while the pasta is cooking, per package instructions, and mix veggies together with pesto, except spinach, in a medium mixing bowl. Place spinach in whatever container you're going to strain the pasta in, once the pasta is cooked strain over the spinach (which wilts it), then mix the pasta, spinach combo, with the other goodies. 

Let the flavors meld together and add salt to taste. 

Meal done in less than 15 minutes. Yes!

Lentil Soup

I made my own beef stock with the neck bones I bought from the farmers market a few months back. I crock potted them with water, carrots, onion, garlic, celery, salt, peppercorns, bay leaves, and some balsamic vinegar (which added a really good richness to the stock) for a day on low. I then turned the heat up and let the stock reduce down for an hour or two. I made the stock condense down enough that it took up less room in the fridge because I knew I could add more water to it when I was ready to use it. When it was done cooking, I split it in two, half to the fridge, half to the freezer for a future date. 

Now, the soup was really this simple

4 cups of Beef Stock, plus 2 cups of Water

3 Medium Red Potatoes, 1" cubes, or diced to your size preference

2 Large Carrots, peeled, 1/2" cubes, or diced to your size preference 

1 Small Yellow Onion, sliced thinly, or diced if you'd prefer. 

3/4 cup Dry Lentils

Salt/Pepper to taste

Place all ingredients in a crockpot, place on low for 5-6 hours and you're ready to eat. You could do this on the stove top too, it would cook in less than an hour if you had it on medium, letting it simmer, but that would heat the kitchen/house up tons. I like set it, and forget it type soups :) Utilize the stove top if its cold though :)

I used a smaller crock pot, this soup made 4-6 servings, but you could totally make it to feed more (or less) by adding (subtracting) more veggies (any root vegetable would work with this, cabbage would too!) and stock (or broth). 

I added some shredded Monterey Jack cheese, but any cheese should be tasty if added to a bowl of hot soup. Parmesan or gouda would be good too; So would a dollop of sour cream or Greek yogurt. 

I really do love soup and adventuring in my kitchen. 

Farmer's Market Finds September 6

Yummy! Yummy! I'm excited!

Watermelon ($2.50 people!!)

Cucumber

Nopales

Okra

Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes

Onions

Basil

Thyme (Im going to dry some if these out so I have some fresh organic stuff with my dry spices)

Raw Honey! Its always a pricey trip when I buy honey, but guys, its really REALLY good! And it lasts about two months or so if I don't do tons of baking. 

I made some broth a few days ago, I see a tasty onion and potato soup in the future...

Maybe I should make a fresh mix of nopales, tomatoes, and basil with cooked barley or wheat berries too...

And a cucumber, tomato, onion, and butter sandwich... 

Then fried okra? I haven't ventured to play with these little guys before, but I want to try. Maybe with a sweet and spicy type dipping sauce? With rice?

I also bought walnuts awhile back, maybe I'll make PESTO! Mmmmm, pesto!