May Garden Update

My favorite outfit—Dirty Knees

Saturday brought us some sunshine in the afternoon.  Yesterday was rainy off and on, but not enough to keep us indoors.  The garden is coming along just fine.  We have some more ground to plant, but there is already lots of progress.  We got some of the last of the tall weeds out yesterday and readied the ground for more seedlings.  There was some spinach hiding in the weeds that was as thick as celery.  I almost didn't recognize it.  The little green frog we see saw in early spring is still hanging around.  I noticed some purple beans popping their little heads out of the ground, starting to see some radishes, and the artichokes are very healthy.  I am planting more flowers than I did last year.  I want a little more color all over the garden this year.

Roasted Beets with Butternut Squash Creme Sauce and Roasted Tempeh

Inspired by my meal in Portland Friday night and the wonderful red and golden beets I picked up at the People's Co-op the same night, I cooked up a very nice hearty meal.  I cut up a mixture of: 3 red beets, 3 golden beets, a large yam, four or five small Walla Wallas, an Anaheim chili, four cloves of garlic, a red pepper, and an orange pepper in large chunks, about 1" x  2 ".  I tossed the vegetables with:  1/2 C filtered water, 3 TB Sunflower oil, some chopped fresh sage and oregano, about 1 tsp sea salt and fresh ground pepper, a dash of cayenne, 2 TB Shoyu, and 1 TB golden balsamic vinegar.  I placed it all in a  9x13 baking dish and roasted at 375º for about 50 minutes until all were roasted and the liquid was absorbed.


I also roasted a butternut squash for about 35 minutes, just sliced it in half, removed the seeds and placed face down in a lightly greased baking dish.  After it cooled a bit I scraped out the squash and placed in a blender with:  about 1/2 can coconut milk, a dash sea salt, black pepper, and a dash of cayenne.  I blended this until it was a smooth creamy sauce, butternut squash creme sauce.


I poured the sauce over the roasted vegetables and then topped that with roasted whole grain tempeh marinated in a lemon herb marinade.


Lemon Herb Marinade


1/2 C Filtered water
2 TB Lemon or lime juice, fresh squeezed
1 tsp Shoyu
2 tsp herbs, minced
I used minced cilantro, crushed cumin, and 1/2 tsp curry.

Old Fashioned Tapioca

I always make us something sweet on the weekends, this weekend I picked up some tapioca pearls and made some old fashioned tapioca pudding. Well, it's almost old fashioned. I don't think my grandmother used non dairy milk. But, then the milk she used, she got herself from the cows raised the way cows should be raised eating what cows should eat. The milk was much different. I cut out the processed sugar by using Agave and Stevia powder. I did use eggs, but I get my eggs from a local farm, I know what they feed their chickens and they roam freely in the sunshine, well, I should say in the rain. :-) I was a little worried the egg whites wouldn't stiffen with the Agave. I don't buy eggs but once a month and only had four. If it didn't work, the pudding would have a thicker consistency I suppose. I poured it in very very slowly as the egg whites whipped. It did work and the pudding came out very creamy and thick as it should.

Tapioca Pudding

1/3 cup small pearl tapioca
3/4 cup filtered water
2 1/4 cup non dairy milk
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs separated
1/4 cup Agave
1/4 tsp Stevia powder
1 vanilla bean, scrape inside

Soak small pearl tapioca in water for 30 minutes in large saucepan, 1 1/2 quart.  Add milk, salt, and lightly beaten egg yolks to tapioca and stir over medium heat until boiling.  Simmer uncovered over very low heat for 10-15 minutes. Stir often.

Beat egg whites gradually adding Agave and Stevia until soft peaks form.  Fold about 3/4 cup of tapioca into the egg whites and then gently fold mixture back into saucepan.  Stir over low heat for about three minutes.  Cool 15 minutes then add vanilla.  Serve warm or chilled.  I topped mine with fresh ground nutmeg and fresh fruit.

Buckwheat Teff Pancakes - Vegan Sunday Brunch

While browsing through my Vegan World Fusion Cuisine cookbook yesterday looking for a fun way to use my beets, I noticed a recipe for buckwheat pancakes.   I love buckwheat pancakes, I have since I was small.   They have much more body and flavor than the traditional white flour pancakes.  Of course they do, whole grains have more texture and flavor than over-processed white flour.  I didn't have quite enough buckwheat, but I did have some teff.  I ground some teff and used half a cup of buckwheat and half a cup of teff instead of 1 cup buckwheat.   I didn't have any applesauce, as called for in the recipe, so I just threw a small apple in the blender.  I served them with a drizzle of pure maple syrup and fresh fruit salad made with papaya, kiwi, plum, avocado, and lime juice.

Buckwheat Teff Pancakes with Fresh Fruit

Benevolent Buckwheat Pancakes

Vegan World Fusion Cuisine, page 182

Dry

1 C Buckwheat flour

1 C Spelt flour

3 TB Sucanat

1 TB Flax seed, ground

1 TB Baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp Sea salt

Wet

1 ¼ C Filtered water

¾ C non dairy milk (soy, oat, almond, hemp, rice)

2 TB Sunflower oil

2 TB Apple sauce, unsweetened (chopped fresh apple will work just fine)

Pinch Cinnamon Powder

Place Wet ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix well. I used the blender as I used a whole apple. Combine the Dry ingredients in another bowl and mix well.  Combine all ingredients in one bowl.  Grill as you do any pancakes on a lightly greased grill. Flip over as the bubbles form and pop, about 3 minutes on each side.

Serve with warm fruit, jam, almond butter, or whatever you like on your pancakes.