The Summer Harvest Begins & Tofu Piccata Recipe

Strawberry Crowns

My favorite time of year, summer, when fresh produce is abundant.  Each weekend I get to store something wonderful for the future months.  This week my husband and I froze and dehydrated about forty pounds of fresh strawberries.  We've already started on the cherries, but I expect to be spending the weekend preparing more cherries for drying and freezing.  Then I'll be working on tomatoes and then peaches.  it makes for some busy weekends, but it's so worth it not to have to go to the grocery store as much in the winter.

The fresh organic produce is starting to show up at the farmer's market.  We picked up some fresh organic cucumbers, zucchini, some golden beets, and lots of fresh greens Saturday.  We spent the day Sunday listening to the Blues Festival broadcasted from Portland with the windows open working on a little kitchen organization project.  I have more things to store now that I've started teaching plant based cooking and doing cooking demos.  I need to get more organized in the kitchen.  Very soon, there will be an abundance of vegetables to clean, process, and/or give away.  We are so blessed.

I picked some nice oregano from our garden and pureed it and froze it for use in the winter.  That's the first time I've done this.  I got the idea from one of my FB friends.  What a great idea!  I think I'll do this with basil and rosemary too.  I just cleaned and removed the stems, added a little filtered water and pureed the oregano.  Then added a touch of avocado oil in the bottom of the ice cube tray and froze.  Now I have little herb pellets anytime I want them.

I did take some time to make a nice Sunday meal though.  I made a tofu piccata with super firm tofu.  I love this ingredient, it's so easy to marinate and saute or grill.  It holds together well and really has a hearty texture.  The white wine and lemon combined with the capers made for a very nice summery meal.  I steamed some fresh corn and zucchini and sauteed some baby portabellos in toasted sesame oil.

Tofu Piccata

4 - 6 ounces linguine pasta, I used a gluten free quinoa pasta
10 ounces super firm tofu
sea salt and pepper
3 TB flour (A gluten free flour can be used, brown rice flour, oat flour, etc.)
2 TB vegan margarine, I use Organic Earth Balance
¼ cup white wine
juice of 1 lemon (about 2 tablespoons)
2 TB capers
4 TB chopped Italian parsley

1. Slice tofu into 1/8" cutlets, salt and pepper each side, dredge in the flour.
2. Cook linguine according to directions.
3. Meanwhile, heat a pan to medium-high heat and add 1 tablespoon vegan margarine.  Add the tofu slices and cook for about 2 minutes on each side or until golden.  Remove from pan.
4. Deglaze the pan with the white wine.  Squeeze the lemon juice and add the capers, stiffing to remove any cooked-on bits from the pan.  Remove from the heat and add half the parsley and the remaining 1 tablespoon of vegan margarine, stirring until melted.
5. Top the linguine with the tofu and drizzle the sauce over.  Sprinkle the remaining parsley over and around the plate.

Enjoy

January Sunshine

Took advantage of the sunshine yesterday and walked out to the garden.  Looks like the garlic is happy and many of the herbs made it through the winter. Just about time to get some seedlings started. Woo Who!

Herb Hill: Thyme, Oregano, Sage, Rosemary

Garlic

Sage

 

Thyme

"I have an existential map, it has 'You Are Here' written all over it"
     
     ~Steven Wright

Herb to Skin - Homemade Herbal Soap

I haven't talked about the garden for awhile.  The daylight will be getting a little longer now and I'll start to look forward to spring and getting back out into the dirt.  Meanwhile I'm looking to January and thinking about how I'm going to set up the downstairs nursery.  Soon it will be time to start some seedlings.  I'm thinking about what to plant and when. Last year I learned how to garden indoors and get a jump on the season.  The second year at the seedling planting, we've learned a few things, it should go better than last.

I met my friend Morgaine out in the our garden a few seasons ago and when she saw the all the herbs she asked me what I did with them.  At that time all I did was dry them.  She asked if I made my own essential oils and I said no, but there was an immediate,  loud, conversation in my brain.  Essential oils are expensive, I buy them, I did make some of my own cleaning products with them and use them on dried flowers, etc.  I would make them if I knew how.  Is it something I can learn?  Of course it is, I don't have a problem learning how to make anything I've tried. Yes, next year I will make oils. Does she know how to make oils? Last Christmas she made some wonderful herb soaps and body sprays. She gave us some of her sage soaps, lotion, and sprays right before we went to Baja.  I took it with us and every time I used it thereafter, I thought of our wonderful trip in Baja, a little aroma therapy working. Is it difficult? do I have to buy equipment? maybe she'll teach me how. How cool is that, I must do this!

So this year I planted a few more of the herbs: lemon basil, Thai basil, the big leaf green basil, two kinds of sage, thyme, rosemary, cilantro, parsley, lavender, and fennel. I call it herb hill.

Lemon Basil

Sage

Isabelle stood on herb hill this season.

I picked the herbs, dried some as usual, and this year I made oils.  I also picked some organic lavender in Sequim in July.  I couldn't grow enough here for oil The lavender oil takes quite a bit of flowers.  It was 16 tablespoons per steeping and I think it was strained and steeped four times.  The oils came out great, I used organic olive oil so I can also use them in cooking.  The sage and rosemary I picked the first hour of the full moon in September and steeped them until the next moon.  They are supposed to have the fullest potency then according to some old Farmer's Almanacs and a pretty good book I read this year about the lunar cycles, Lunar Calender, The Art of Timing.

Last night for the first time I found soap making.  It was easy and fun.  I bought the materials hoping to do that on a day off soon.  This time of year is very slow at work, it will be pretty quiet until January 3 when the holidays are over.  I usually end up taking a couple vacation days. I thought I'd just try a little this weekend and turns out it was so easy I ended up using all the soap base I purchased, eight pounds.  I do have some holiday gifts to give that I didn't count on.  That's pretty fun.

For one batch I used a goats milk base and added lavender and sage.  To the olive oil base I added rosemary and sage oils.  I also added some quinoa seeds and crushed sage for texture and skin softening.  The third batch is an avocado cucumber base which I added rosemary oil, citrus zest, and quinoa seeds.  The fourth soap is a Shea butter base with lavender oil and quinoa, lots of lavender oil. It smells wonderful.

Thanks for the inspiration Morgaine. You've helped me realize that I'm a kitchen witch too.

Roasted Garden Veggies

Columbia River Gorge, George, WA

We went to the Gorge this last Labor day for some sunshine, camping, wandering, and enjoying music with friends.  When we returned after not being to the garden for almost a week, we found that it had kind of exploded.  We harvested at least three carloads of veggies out of there this week.  I not only gave away lots to friends and family, our local produce stand took some too, giving me credit toward some winter veggies and fruit.  Life is good.

A portion of what I harvested yesterday became a tasty vegetable roast shortly after arriving home.

I sliced the squash, eggplant, and tomatoes to about a half inch thick. I chopped the parsley, a little fresh oregano, and the garlic. I layered it all in a glass baking dish lightly greased with some coconut oil. I added a little grated Romano cheese and some Panko bread crumbs to the top. I baked it for about 40 minutes at 375°.

Before Roasting, adding just a small amount of Romano Cheese

After Roasting.

The lemony early girl tomatoes were delightful with the roasted eggplant and fresh oregano. 

Dairy Free Mint Ice Cream

Dairy Free Mint Ice Cream with homemade Chocolate Sauce.

I just started going through the recipes in the Veg News food issue.  This is the first one I had to try.  I broke down and bought a little kitchen ice cream maker for the occasion.  I can see a lot of fun with this little gadget.

 
Raw cashews, coconut, agave, fresh mint from the garden, vanilla bean, and a dash of salt. The chocolate sauce is made with raw cocoa and agave with the seeds of a vanilla bean.

This ice cream received quite a few thumbs up from the fans at work.  They are getting a little less worried about trying the vegan treats I bring in.

Living Corn Chowder

On the way home from the gorge last weekend we picked up some peaches and some beautiful fresh corn.  Ours isn't quite ready in the garden.  I made a very fresh, lively corn chowder.  It's called living corn chowder because this is a cold, raw vegetable soup.   It's a  very refreshing summer treat. Most of the other ingredients were grown in my garden.

This recipe is a variation of Aiyah's Garden Living Corn Chowder, in the Blossoming Lotus, Vegan World Cuisine Fusion Cookbook.

Filtered water
3 cups fresh corn
1 C avocado
¼ cup diced fennel bulb
¼ cup diced onion
1 Tbl Shoyu, or to taste
1 tsp Ginger, peeled & minced
1 tsp Garlic, peeled & minced
1 tsp Sea salt, or to taste
1 tsp Fresh jalapeño, seeded & diced
¼ tsp black pepper
2 tsp Cilantro, minced
½ cup Red bell pepper diced

Place 2 cups of corn and all remaining ingredients except cilantro and red bell pepper in a blender and blend until smooth.  Add the remaining corn, bell pepper, and cilantro.  Serve chilled.

Fresh and Simple: Salmon, Artichokes, & Potato Salad

I love this time of year, everything is so fresh and available.  It's so easy to prepare fresh food, in season, and local.  I can stop by the garden once a day to pick herbs and vegetables now.  I  didn't even need to go to the farmer's market this weekend.  I gather my vegetables and decide what I'm cooking when I get home and survey the ingredients.  Last night I roasted a fresh Salmon Fillet in an agave-mustard glaze, steamed some tender little artichokes from the garden, and made a vegan potato salad.

  A very simple, but flavorful meal.  I whisked about 1 tablespoon grainy mustard with 1 tablespoon raw agave and a dash of red pepper sauce.  I brushed the glaze mixture on the fresh salmon  with a pastry brush and sprinkled some fresh rosemary from my garden. I cut up some small onions I picked just yesterday in half and placed them face down in the pan and on the salmon.  The long green stems sliced and sprinkled on the fish. I roasted this in my oven with the convection fan on to evenly cook everything, for about 35 minutes at 350°.

Before Roasting

After Roasting

The vegan potato salad was also fairly simple.  About 2 lb of little red potatoes, quartered and simmered in water and sea salt for about ten minutes.  A small diced red onion, diced stalks from the rainbow chard, garlic, parsley, about 2 TB sweet pickle relish, half a diced red bell pepper, 2 oz. flax seed oil, 1 oz. homemade garlic chili oil and sea salt to taste. Toss it all together and chill.

Barley with Tomato, Capers and Kalamata Olives

This is another of the test recipes for The Flexitarian Cookbook.  It is supposed to be made with Farro which is a whole grain similar to wheat berries or barley.  I couldn't find it in town and when I looked it up online it was $11 a pound. Yikes! I substituted pearl barley without a problem.  I really like this grain dish, it's very flavorful with unexpected flavors, as my husband called it.  It's a warm or cold whole grain dish with a zesty flavor and great texture.  It's very easy to make, the prep time for everything except the barley is about 20 minutes.

It's a very simple meal with roasted red peppers, garlic, fresh parsley, fresh tomatoes, capers, and kalamata olives.  I served it on a bed of fresh picked beet greens.  This salad will make future appearances at my house.

Garden Update

Even though our spring has seemed like the return of fall our garden is moving along.  We harvested some fresh snap peas and radishes this week.   There will be some fresh lettuce and fennel to pick shortly and everything seems pretty happy.  I love how the artichokes are growing, they are very healthy, firm and a deep green. 

Vegetarian Pizza

 
In the past it was commonly believed that pizza was not really a healthy food. Part of the reason for this is that it was put in the same group as other fast foods, such as hamburgers and fries. This is a major misconception, as pizza can actually be a highly nutritional meal. There are health benefits to pizza, especially home made where I can control the ingredients.

I made a crust with whole wheat flour. Soy, rice, or bean flour can be used for a gluten free pizza.  I brushed a little olive oil on the crust, spread some tomato paste, sprinkled some toasted garlic and oregano, caramelized onions, chopped tomatoes, fresh zucchini and crookneck squash slices, organic mozzarella cheese and chunks of sesame garlic tempeh marinated in shoyu.  I baked it for about 20 minutes at 425º.  Just omit the cheese for a vegan pizza.

Pizza Crust

1 tablespoon yeast
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons warm water
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon agave
1 tablespoon oil
2½ to 3 cups whole wheat flour
cornmeal

Soften yeast in  2 tablespoons warm water in a large mixing bowl.  In about 5 minutes when the yeast is dissolved, add remaining 1 cup water, salt, agave, oil, and 2 cups flour, mixing until dough can be formed into a ball.  Turn out onto a well-floured surface and knead in remaining flour as necessary to make a smooth dough.  Knead for 5 to 10 minutes.

Place dough in an oiled bowl, I used coconut oil.   Turn so that entire surface is greased.  Cover with a cloth, and let rise in a warm spot a minimum of 2 hours or as long as 10 hours.  When you are ready to assemble the pizza, punch down the dough, let rest for 5 to 10 minutes to make handling easier.  Divide dough in half and shape.  Bake on a baking sheet or pizza pan dusted with cornmeal.  This dough can be prepared and frozen for use at a later date.

Black Quinoa Salad with Red Pepper and Bok Choy

Now this is an original recipe.   While browsing through the bulk grains at People's a couple weeks ago, I noticed some black quinoa.   I like black rice, I should probably like this, so I bought some and finally tried it today.   I cooked up a cup and let it sit and cool for a bit.   Then I added chopped red bell pepper, a couple diced cloves of garlic, about a teaspoon of ginger juice, a tablespoon of chili oil, a tablespoon of flax oil, a little lemon juice, shoyu, and a dash of Celtic sea salt and cayenne pepper.   I had about half a head of bok choy from last week's market so I sliced it very thin, kind of a chiffonade.  I also added some chopped parsley and cilantro, both picked in my garden today.  It's has a nice zesty flavor and it's pretty too.  It should be really good tomorrow after sitting in the cooler all night letting all the flavors meld together.

Asparagus Cornbread Pudding with Snap Peas

I've been reading a very fun book I received as a birthday gift, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, by Barbara Kingsolver.  It's the story of a family who ate only locally for a whole year.  I mean locally, they grew much of their own food and what they didn't they tried to obtain from within their county.  The whole family had a hand in writing this book and the daughter, Camille, has her pieces with a recipe at the end of  her commentaries.  I get kind of hungry reading this book.  Inspired by her Asparagus and Morel Bread Pudding I knew just what to do with the fresh asparagus and the little loaf of jalepeño cornbread I bought at the farmer's market today.  I made a similar bread pudding using her recipe as a guide.

I didn't have the morel's, but that's OK, my husband doesn't like mushrooms much.  (I still cook with mushrooms, but make them in very large chunks so he can pick them out and give them to me.)  I did have the fresh asparagus, the loaf of homemade cornbread which I sliced and toasted in the broiler, the spring onions, fresh parsley and oregano.  I used non dairy milk and omitted the butter used in the recipe.  I gently sauteed the asparagus in a little coconut oil and added some snap peas I had from last week's market.  I did use the eggs, but I do use local eggs.  Eggs are one of those things that appear that I am spending more, I pay from $3.50 up to $5 a dozen for my fresh local eggs, but a dozen will last me a month or more.  The cheese I used is a natural cheddar with wild smoked salmon and chives with a little freshly grated Parmesan.  I thought that would add an interesting flavor.

My husband took the picture and not only ate a piece while trying to get just the right shot, he then ate the piece he was photographing.  This is one of those meals that doesn't look too pretty, but it sure is good, flexitarian, comfort food.

Herbs, Corn, & Butternut Squash

What a beautiful sunny day it was yesterday.  The sun was warm and we got two full hours in the garden.  Planted some corn, butternut squash, some broccoli, mustard lavender, sage, radishes, and some sunflowers. I am hoping for a lot of gardening this weekend, the sun is supposed to be with us all weekend. It will be good for my body and soul to be outside working in the dirt.  Yesterday I think I went all two hours in the garden without speaking. When I realized that, I tried to listen to the quiet.

Bob is off to Afghanistan this morning, he left last night.  I woke to a voice mail telling me he loved me and will call when he can.  I seem to be having some sort of strange peace inside.  Not bad, not good, I'm just quiet inside.  I am not going to question this, it's OK.  I know there is a wall of frustration and fear right behind this quiet.  I'm going to start the day with a deep muscle massage which gives me some meditation time.  I anticipate a nice day at work.  I have a couple projects and it will be quiet.  The first Fridays of warm weather tend to give people reasons to work or play out of the office.  I am hoping to be done a little early to get some more time in the garden.  Easy Does it Today.

Tired, Sore, and Feeling Good

In Our Garden

I usually post recipes and pretty pictures of food on Sundays.  I am pretty sure the flexitarian goodies will start to appear midweek soon instead of Sundays.  As the weather gets warmer, the cooking will be transitioning to midweek.  Because, when the sun's out on the weekend, and we are in town, we're gardening!   When the garden gets into full swing and we are harvesting each day, dinner is usually in the garden and raw.  We worked from about 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. today.  Six wonderful hours in the warm sunshine today and we are sore, tired, have blistered hands, and some pink skin, but we feel really good.  It's a happy tired. We planted many of the babies we've been keeping alive in the greenhouse, just waiting for a day like today.  It's beginning to look like a garden.

We were glad to see the clouds come in the late afternoon. We were tired, hungry, and the garden could use a bit of water anyway.  Everything will look a little sad for a couple of days, but it always perks up and grows strong.  Today we planted tomatoes, broccoli, some eggplant, red and green cabbage, marigolds, some yellow flowers that look like daisies, a couple Celosia's, and various herbs that were ready: oregano, thyme, rosemary, cilantro, parsley, and some mint. we are tired, but pretty happy with our peaceful day playing and losing ourselves in the dirt.

Time to Go Home

Peace and Good Night

Stevia in the Garden

Stevia, one of my favorite sweeteners. One leaf will sweeten a whole pot of tea. One teaspoon of powdered Stevia equals a whole cup of sugar. I went to the Lavender festival in Sequim a couple years ago and learned it grows well up here. I just got four plants today for my garden. Stevia oil is great for baking and cooking, but it is kind of expensive. I will be making my own Stevia oil this year. Woo Who!

 Stevia

Sage

I like the sage, it looks so happy when it's reaching for the sun. The tray looks like happy little dancing plants.

 Benefits of Sage