Dairy Free Strawberry Ice Cream

Two small avocados, a large banana, about two cups fresh organic strawberries, one 14oz can of chilled coconut milk, 1 TB Agave syrup, 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract. Blend all ingredients and freeze. Hold out about 3/4 cup of strawberries, slice them and stir them in the blended mixture so there are some chunks of fruit in the ice cream. My husband took the picture and said he really liked the part that came next, the eating part.

 

~~~~~Peace Friends~~~~~

Herb Polenta Vegetable Bake, Italian stuffed Foccacia Bread

Polenta and Vegetable Bake
Cheri Swoboda

Makes 8 servings
Ingredients

    * 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
    * 1 medium eggplant, diced
    * 1 small zucchini, finely diced
    * 1/2 teaspoon salt
    * 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
    * 1/2 cup water
    * 1 10-ounce bag baby spinach
    * 1-1/2 cups prepared marinara sauce, preferably lower-sodium
    * 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
    * 1 14-ounce tube prepared polenta, sliced lengthwise into 6 thin slices
    * 1-1/2 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese (divided)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Coat a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add eggplant, zucchini, salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender and just beginning to brown, 4 to 6 minutes. Add water and spinach; cover and cook until spinach is wilted, stirring once, about 3 minutes. Stir marinara sauce into the vegetables and heat through, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in basil.

Place polenta slices in a single layer in the prepared baking dish, trimming to fit, if necessary. Sprinkle with 3/4 cup cheese, top with the eggplant mixture and sprinkle with the remaining 3/4 cup cheese. Bake until bubbling and the cheese has just melted, 12 to 15 minutes. Let stand for about 5 minutes before serving.

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I posted this recipe on my blog this morning and I will tell you how I made it today. It came out very nice. It's kind of like a lasagna with lots of roasted vegetables.

I added a chopped portabello mushroom to the vegetables, I didn't have spinach, but I did have some nice collard greens I got at the farmer's market today from Eva.

I made my own Polenta instead of buying that tube of Polenta. There is a good brand in the market, but it is still processed food and contains some kind of preservative. If you notice, it's on the shelf, not in the cooler. Hmmm. It also cost about $3.99 for one of those tubes. I made this for about $1.50. Dry polenta is about $2.49 lb. I used 2 cups, some water, sea salt, a little sunflower oil, and fresh herbs.

I used some Mama Nano's Caponata Sauce, vegetarian style, from our farmer's market. This sauce is made with whole, fresh vegetables: green beans, onions, cauliflower, carrots, cucumber, celery, two kinds of olives, and herbs. The vegetables are really chunky so it adds to the texture.

My version of the Polenta Vegetable Bake

I also made some stuffed foccacia bread. Yes, from scratch and dairy free. It is an easy recipe using whole spelt flour. This is the same recipe I posted a couple days ago with different stuffing. After the second rising I stuffed little rolls of dough with the Mama Nano's sauce, about 1/3 cup each. They can be served as a meal themselves. This stuffed bread was a very good idea.

Enjoy!

Things to Do: Garden, Cook, Read, Crochet, Relax

A blustery, winter-like Saturday and I would like to stay home and enjoy life in my little peaceful world as much as I can this weekend: garden, cook, read, and get some crocheting time in. We might go on a short hike through the woods or in town, but that's a joy and part of relaxing.

I have almost enough vegetables to do whatever meals I want to create for our weekly staples. I really don't have to go the market unless I want to. I have some beans soaking and am skimming the vegan and vegetarian blogs and websites for other ideas. I do like it that my kitchen is pretty much transformed to a kitchen full of whole, fresh ingredients. There are very few processed food items around and when I see something I want to prepare, I usually have most, if not all, the ingredients. I am also finding that I am spending less than we did as carnivores. I only needed some fruit and a few vegetables when I stopped at the produce stand yesterday. I spent $33 and have enough food to get us through at least four or five days. I think I am spending about $75-100 a week for two people. That will go down too when the garden starts producing.

I did find a baked vegetable polenta dish that looks fun. I might have to run to the produce stand for an eggplant. I've also been craving some roasted fennel, think I'll do something with that. I almost always have some. I found some organic strawberries yesterday and I want to make some coconut milk ice cream. I think that will be yummy. I am going to make the foccacia bread I posted the other day with a different filling, not sure what yet.

I also have some gardening to do in the basement to transplant broccoli, cauliflower, and eggplant seedlings into some larger containers. I only have three fennel coming up healthy right now, they are really pretty little plants. I had two in the garden last year and want more. We eat them in our salads a lot. I'll start some more today and see if I can get any better success. Remember, this is only my second year at gardening after not really doing it for ten years. I've had potted plants on my deck, but not a full garden as we do now. Most of what I am starting has been successful, but I am having some that haven't worked out like I'd like them to.

Now I have made my wish list for this weekend public. I am really good at doing what I say, so maybe I will get it accomplished. Oh No, I just remembered the farmer's market starts this morning. Guess I do have to go somewhere. I'm outta here, gotta welcome my farmer's and get some greens. I think my CSA farmer is bringing me some fennel plants, hope so.

I'll let you know what I do with my vegetables later. I will probably change this a little bit, such as using my own marinara sauce and adding some more fresh herbs.

Found this on the Food Day column on The Oregonian Live website. The link is "What's for Dinner."

Polenta and Vegetable Bake

Makes 8 servings

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 medium eggplant, diced
• 1 small zucchini, finely diced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 10-ounce bag baby spinach
• 1-1/2 cups prepared marinara sauce, preferably lower-sodium
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
• 1 14-ounce tube prepared polenta, sliced lengthwise into 6 thin slices
• 1-1/2 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese (divided)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Coat a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add eggplant, zucchini, salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender and just beginning to brown, 4 to 6 minutes. Add water and spinach; cover and cook until spinach is wilted, stirring once, about 3 minutes. Stir marinara sauce into the vegetables and heat through, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in basil.
Place polenta slices in a single layer in the prepared baking dish, trimming to fit, if necessary. Sprinkle with 3/4 cup cheese, top with the eggplant mixture and sprinkle with the remaining 3/4 cup cheese. Bake until bubbling and the cheese has just melted, 12 to 15 minutes. Let stand for about 5 minutes before serving.

Cheri Swoboda

Shadows, Sunset, & Dairy Free Pancakes

Yesterday was pretty calm, work has been fun, I got some exercise in and some gardening. The weather this time of year is so funny. We have a saying in Washington: "If you don't like the weather, just wait 15 minutes, it will change." This is so true this time of year. We can have sunshine, fog, clouds, rain, hail, and then repeat the same all over again in the same day. I noticed it was nice around sunset so we went for a walk and

followed our shadows 

 through the sunset.

And when we got home had whole grain dairy free pancakes with blueberries and pears for dinner.

Dairy Free Whole Grain Pancakes

1/2 cup w/w flour (use gluten free four for gluten free pancakes)

1/2 cup spelt flour

2 TB Sucanat

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp sea salt

1 cup coconut milk, or any non dairy milk

Egg re-placer for the equivalent of one egg (Bob's Red Mill makes a good one)

1 TB Sunflower oil

1. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. combine dairy free milk, egg re-placer, and oil; add to flour mixture, stirring until smooth. 

2. Spoon about 1/4 cup batter onto a hot nonstick skillet coated with a little coconut oil. Turn pancakes when tops are covered with bubbles and edges looked cooked.

The yields about 5 servings, 2 pancakes per serving.

For the fruit topping all I did was take about 2 cups blueberries and about 1 cup frozen pears and put them in a saucepan with 1/4 cup water and 2 TB pure maple syrup and let them cook down until it just started to boil. Then added a TB of corn starch and simmered it for a few minutes to thicken a little.

Happy Days.