Bursting with Summer Sweetness

Shartner Farm, here in Exeter, RI has "Pick your own Blueberries" during the Summer months.  Aren't they just beautiful?!  And they taste utterly fantastic.  I see a pie in my future, or maybe a Blueberry Buckle Cake from Vegan Pie in the Sky!

For the moment, a breakfast smoothie will have to do...

Blueberry Peach Summer Fruit Smoothie

(For two)

2 1/2 cups fresh blueberries

2 ripe peaches, sliced

2 bananas (1 of mine was frozen)

1-1/2 cups unsweetened soy or almond milk

1-2 kale leaves

1 tbsp chia seeds

Combine fruit, kale and milk in a blender and process until smooth and kale leaves are blended.

Add chia seeds and blend one more time.

Enjoy your Purple-y goodness!! ;)))

Classic Tabbouleh - An Atypical Salad for the 4th of July

"Because nothing screams 'Fourth of July' like a big bowl of fresh, Middle Eastern parsley and grain salad..." ~My co-worker's reaction when I told her what I was planning to bring to a Fourth of July cookout.

But, I did not let that discourage me. While the rest of America was feasting of burgers, dogs, pulled pork and sausages, I had something else in mind. I was asked to bring something fresh and healthy to L's co-worker's family cook-out, to balance out meat-centric fare that was going to be served.  L mentioned something along the lines of a grain salad, so I thought this would be a great choice.



Several years ago, I attended a Vegetarian Cooking class over at Johnson & Wales University Culinary School.  This Classic Tabbouleh recipe was one of my hands-down favorites of the day.  I have never made Tabbouleh any other way since.  For this batch, I decided to add a 28 oz can of chickpeas, which I roasted for about 25-30 minutes with some olive oil and Greek rub (oregano, garlic, salt, pepper and lemon peel).

Classic Tabbouleh

Total Time: 30 mins

Prep Time: 15 mins

Cook Time: 15 mins

Serves 10 

1 1/2 cups bulgur wheat

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 cups vegetable stock, boiling

1/2 cup scallion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

3 cups flat leaf parsley, chopped

3/4 cup mint leaf, chopped

4 tomatoes, diced

1 seedless European cucumber, diced

1/4 cup lemon juice

salt & pepper, to taste

Directions:

1.  Mix bulgar wheat and 1 tbsp olive oil in a bowl.

2.  Pour boiling stock over, cover and let stand for 15-20 minutes, or until tender.

3.  Not all broth will be absorbed, so please drain bulgur well in a strainer.

4.  Toss rehydrated bulgar with remaining ingredients and remaining olive oil.

5.  Add salt and pepper to taste, and refrigerate until ready to serve.

The results:  A big hit, and both the host and her good friend asked to take home leftovers, something that always makes me smile!

And there was even enough for lunch the next day!

Pasta with Zucchini in Lemon Garlic Cream Sauce

Still looking for some creative ways to use up your garden zucchini?  Try this recipe out!

Pasta with Zucchini and Lemon Cream Sauce

1 lb pasta, cooked according to package directions
(today we have pipette pasta by Barilla)

Their shape is somewhat similar to macaroni, but the tube is wider and bends in the middle, just like a pipe!

1 large zuchini, diced into small cubes
1 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, minced
3 tsp Italian seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste
crushed red pepper flakes, optional



For the Zucchini Sautee:
Heat a large skillet over medium heat.
Add olive oil and garlic, and heat until garlic is golden and fragrant.
Add in crushed red pepper if using.
Next, toss in the diced zucchini, and stir to coat with olive oil and garlic.
Add Italian seasoning, and salt and pepper, to taste.
Sautee 8-10 minutes, or until soft but not mushy

For the sauce:

2 cups water

1/2 cup raw cashews

¼ cup nutritional yeast

2 cloves garlic

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons tahini

Juice and zest of 1 1/2 lemons

Combine all the ingredients above into a blender, and blend until super smooth, and no bits of nuts remain. If you have a decent blender, there is no need to soak the cashews for this sauce.  My blender is an Oster, nothing fancy like a Vitamix or Blendtec, and it handles raw nuts quite well.
Pour the blended liquid into a saucepan over medium heat and bring to a simmer.  Be sure to whisk continuously.  Reduce to low and simmer for 5-10 minutes, or until thickened.

*SHORTCUT: I have been experimenting with microwaving sauces and gravies at 1 minute, 30 second intervals to thicken them, instead of simmering on the stove.  I use my pyrex 4 cup glass measuring cup which is microwave safe , and holds a good amount of liquid. My microwave is weak, so I start out at 1 minute 30 seconds, to get the mixture hot, (sometimes it doesn't always get there, but sometimes it does) and then do 30 second increments from there, whisking in between, until the sauce is thick.  

It worked like a charm with this sauce, and it left me free to sautee the zucchini on the stove, without having to constantly whisk the sauce.

Pasta should be boiling at this point, in plenty of salted water.  Drain pasta and place in a serving bowl.

Pour thickened lemon sauce over cooked pasta and gently mix, then top with your garlicky, sauteed zucchini.  
Enjoy ^_^

The Benefits of Friends with Gardens: Butter Beans and Greens

I feel truly blessed that I have so many friends and colleagues who were kind enough to share the fruits of their gardens with me this Summer.

My dear friend and colleague, Elaine, brought me this gorgeous bounty from her brother's garden.  Elaine's brother's garden is his livelihood, so this is more than just a backyard patch of tilled soil with  His vegetables are featured throughout Farmer's Markets in the East Bay all Summer long, and Elaine has her pick of all vegetables, anytime.  I am so pleased that she though of me!

I have to say, these tomatoes we the most, red, ripe and luscious tomatoes I have had in a while.  Nothing like Summertime!

I made this salad above for an afternoon lunch with my dear friend, Neil.  The WHOLE salad looked spectacular, but alas, I lost the picture of the full platter on Instagram, due to an iPhone glitch.  Here are the leftovers I took to lunch the next day, which, I think, still looked good.

My folks are living in Italy for the next few months, so I was feeling a bit "Mediterranean".

Butter Beans and Greens
Here we have:
1 can of Butter Beans (cleaned out mom's pantry before her trip, thank you)!

Rinse and drain beans, then toss with:
2 chopped scallions
1 minced fresh red chili pepper, seeded (from the Farmer's Market)
2 roasted red peppers, chopped (another score from mom's pantry)
olive oil, oregano, salt and pepper to taste.
Set aside

Salad:
1 organic heart of romaine, chopped
2-3 cups fresh arugula (from the Farmer's Market)
1 large cucumber, seeded and chopped (from my dear friend, Tara's garden)
2 large garden tomatoes (from Elaine's garden)
1/3 cup kalamata olives (clean out the fridge)

Dress the salad greens with some olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper.  Toss with remaining vegetables, and then top with the beans.

We enjoyed this with a fresh baguette, and some pasta with roasted zucchini, eggplant and sweet peppers (pictured above) and tomatoes.  Buon Appetito ^_^

Chilis from the Farmer's Market - the one I used was right in the middle :)

Watermelon Juice - Hydrate in Style

As the days of Summer draw to a close, I'd like to reflect back on one of the season's most popular fruits:  The Watermelon.  What backyard cookout would be complete without one?  As its name suggests, watermelons contain large amounts of water, which is fantastic for hydration.  The fresh juice can not only re-hydrate and cool you, but also provide vitamins and nutrients that promote health, and reduce the risk of disease.

The beautiful, red flesh of the watermelon contains high quantities of lycopene, an antioxidant that helps prevent the risk of strokes and other ailments like rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, colon cancer and asthma.  Another benefit is that watermelon is a great source of potassium, which helps to regulate blood pressure levels, keeping your heart healthy.  Watermelon juice, I read, also helps to lower risks of age-related macular degeneration that may lead to loss of vision in elders.  My granny suffers from macular degeneration, so I found this fact particularly valuable.

Contrary to popular belief, it is not just the red flesh that can be consumed or juiced.  Watermelon RIND is full of minerals and nutrients, and excellent for juicing.  Scientists have discovered that the white rind has high concentrations of citrulline, one of the next great phyto-nutrients now being studied.   Citrulline actually converts into the amino acid arginine which helps remove ammonia from the body.  It is also suspected by researchers that it relaxes blood vessels, therefore lowering blood pressure, which is always a good thing if yours tends to be high.

The juice pictured above actually came from six (6) watermelon slices that were given to me from Campus Dining, where I work.  I was walking back to my car, and they were just wrapping up an outdoor cookout that they catered for the students. There was quite a bit of leftover food, including veggie burgers, they they were wrapping up and giving away, So I scored two veggie burgers and the watermelon.  They were just as glad to give it away, and I was pleased to make good use out of it ^_^

Now before I run my watermelon through the juicer, I usually make sure to trim off the thin layer of dark-green, outer skin.  Or, you can wash and scrub the outer layer very well in order to remove any dirt or pesticide residue, before slicing, and adding to your juicer.  Organic watermelons are expensive here, so I usually end up peeling off the dark green.  

When Life Gives you Zucchinis, Make Zucchini Bread

Another Summer, another beautiful garden in Uncle Bob's back yard.  And once again, the zucchinis are a-plenty...  and huge.  I have already sautéed and juiced my way through one giant zucchini, so I thought I'd try something different.

Zucchini Bread Mini Loaves
(adapted from Joy of Vegan Baking by Colleen Patrick Goudreau)

INGREDIENTS:

3 Tbs ground flax seed

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cup apple sauce, unsweetened

1 Tbs white distilled vinegar

1 1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 cups grated zucchini (about 1 medium zucchini)

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup raisins

DIRECTIONS:

• Preheat oven to 325. 
• Lightly grease 4 mini loaf pans.
• I was tempted to use my Kitchen Aid for this, but didn’t feel like hauling it out of the closet.
• So, In a large mixing bowl, vigorously whisk the flax meal and water until thick and creamy, about 3-5 minutes.
• Add the apple sauce, oil, vinegar, sugar, and stir. 
• Next, add in the zucchini and vanilla.
• In a smaller bowl, combine the all purpose and wheat flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. 
• Whisk to combine. Add in the nuts and raisins.  
• Stir the dry mixture into the zucchini mixture. 
• Divide the batter evenly into the 4 mini loaf pans and bake 45-55 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

These loaves were moist, and full of flavor, with just the right amount of sweet.  I did cut way back on the sugar from the original recipe.  I halved the amount of oil and replaced it with half unsweetened applesauce.  I also thought I'd try replacing some of the white flour with a bit of whole wheat pastry instead.  The results were great.  I found I had to cook my mini loaves much longer than the original time stated in Colleen's directions, so I adjusted it a bit in my directions above.

Mango Fruit Salsa

Last month, I attended my friend Jess' Pampered Chef Party!  Usually, I am not one for "overly-specific" kitchen gadgets, but any party that involves food, and is centered all around cooking is fine by me!

(In all fairness, I do have quite a few Pampered Chef items, and I use them ALL the time; Some, almost every day). 

Almost can't live with out this!

I had so much fun at Jess' party, that I decided to have one of my own: VEGAN style!  My Pampered chef consultant was rather excited to do an all vegan version of her Pampered Chef demo, especially since she had never done anything like that before.  We decided on two recipes:  Mango Fruit Salsa, to highlight the new Manual Food Processor, and Mediterranean Hummus Flat bread Pizza - no cheese needed!

This salsa recipe is so simple to prepare,  and tastes wonderful. I even made this for two cookouts this Fourth of July, and it was a huge both times.

Don't worry if you don't have the Pampered Chef manual food processor. I find that I can dice the fruit with my knife just fine, and it even comes out a little neater looking; The manual food processor just saves time. Please feel free to use lemon OR lime, for juice and zest. I've used both, and they both work well. Depending on the sweetness of the fruit, I add agave nectar to taste, no more than 1 tbsp usually. Serve with Stacey's Cinnamon Sugar pita chips, or your own home made pita chips. This is also amazing served over ice cream! I believe 1/2 cup salsa = 2 Weight Watchers Points

RECIPE:

1 cup strawberry, hulled and diced
1 kiwi, peeled and diced
1 mango, ripe
1 teaspoon lime zest
1 tablespoon lime juice
agave nectar, to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1. If not using the Pampered Chef Manual Food Processor, try and chop your fruit into uniform 1/4 - 1/2" cubes.
2. For the mango, I usually peel the skin off first with my vegetable peeler, and chop a small slice off the top and bottom. That way it stays flat on my board as I slice around the pit.
3. The pit of the mango is large and flat. When you slice off a bit of the top and bottom, you can see its shape. I usually cut down the two wide sides of the mango first, and then carefully slice down the thinner sides to make sure I get all of the beautiful yellow mango off the pit.
4. Ripe mango is very slippery, so carefully slice fruit and dice into cubes.
5. Add all fruit to a large bowl.
6. Add lime (or lemon) zest and juice.
7. Taste, and add agave nectar, up to 1 tablespoons.
8. Serve with cinnamon pita chips.



My gift for hosting a show was this awesome Cool 'N Serve Tray, that has two green panels that you can put in the freezer. When you take your yummy salsa to a cookout in the sun, your fruits and veggies stay nice and cool ^_^