Wahsega Valley Farm

Cauliflower "rice" and zucchini "pasta"

Here are a couple of fun things to make if you've stopped eating grains or just want a chance of pace.

Since I've given up grains, that rules out rice and pasta - and yeah, even the gluten-free kind. I didn't eat much of either anyway, so it wasn't a big sacrifice for me to give them up. But there are always times when I'd like to put a nice curry dish on top of some rice or have tomato sauce over spaghetti. The paleo people have come up with of a bunch of cool alternatives for the foods we used to eat and cauliflower rice and zucchini pasta are two of them.

Here is a picture of the cauliflower rice before I cook it:

To turn cauliflower into "rice", you just cut it up and toss it into a food processor and let it go until the pieces are about the size of rice. You don't want mush, so don't be overzealous. Then, I usually just stir fry it with some onions, garlic and mushrooms, and add a little Bragg's Liquid Aminos for extra flavor. I can eat it plain (it's good!) or use it as I would rice. It's nice with stir-fries or any recipe that has a sauce. It's versatile, just like rice is - and is quick to make. 

Then, there is zucchini pasta:

I like it a lot. Mike said he would have liked the spaghetti better the other night if I hadn't told him it was made with zucchini noodles. But he's never been a big fan of spaghetti anyway, so... mox nix. For me, it's guilt-free eating and doesn't bloat me up and spike my blood sugar levels like grain-based pasta. And, depending on how much you cook it, the noodles can be firm and crispy or soft and noodle-y. You can cook them in the microwave, in the oven, steam 'em or on the stove top.

To turn summer squash into noodles, you can use a mandolin - which I would have used if mine wasn't packed up with 95% of our belongings that wouldn't fit into this tiny cabin - or you could use a julienne peeler like I did. Mine is Kuhn Riko brand, but there are several out there. You just peel the length of the zucchini, stopping when you hit the seeds. (I feed the zucchini scraps to my chickens after I put them in the food processor to make them bite-sized.) You end up with what you see in the bowl above; they hadn't been cooked yet.

So, there you have it - two foods to help those who are trying to kick grains or for those who just want to try something different. 

Paleo Quick Breakfast Poppers

That's what I call the new, fun breakfast I've been eating lately... a breakfast you can mix and cook in a coffee mug! I got the idea from several Paleo recipes I found online (a big thank you to whoever originally came up with the concept) and tweaked it until it was what I wanted. (I'm not "officially" Paleo so don't care whether or not cavemen ate vanilla extract or baking powder.) Since I no longer eat oatmeal in the mornings, I'd been looking for a wheat-free replacement since I don't want to eat eggs every day - even though I have a constant and fresh supply. And I missed my old pancakes and waffles. They were gluten-free but weren't grain free. Why am I grain-free? I will write a post about that soon. Anyway, these little poppers satisfy my desire for something soft, mushy and sweet in the morning - without the use of any sugar spiking grains, gluten or sugar. And, oh yeah, for me one of these is plenty filling. And, one more big plus: if you leave out the sweet stuff, you can eat it like regular bread; how cools is that? I've made scrambled egg sandwiches with them and they're wonderful.

RECIPE

Makes: 1 serving
Time: one minute plus however long it takes you to mix the following ingredients together 
Calories: before toppings: 231
"Health" Rating: Totally depends on if you believe conventional wisdom or more recent studies regarding cholesterol and saturated fat 

Ingredients:
1 egg
2 tablespoons ground flax seeds (I grind mine very fine)
1 tablespoon blueberries or other small or cut up fruit (bananas are good)
1 tablespoon chopped walnuts
1 teaspoon coconut oil
1/2+ teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 to 1 teaspoon vanilla and/or almond extract 
1/4 teaspoon aluminum free baking powder
Dash of salt
1 packet of stevia 

Directions:

1.  Put all the ingredients in the mug you are going to cook it in, or mix in a small bowl. I use a bowl because the coffee mug I use is pretty narrow. Be sure to use a straight-sided coffee mug or container so the popper can be removed easily. You can use different shaped containers to achieve another shape; I want to try an English muffin shape next.  

2. Mix really well with a fork and pour into coffee mug if you're using a bowl for mixing. Don't let "batter" sit around for long or the flax will absorb all the liquid and the popper won't rise as much.

3. Put into microwave and cook for approximately one minute, depending on your microwave. Open door and check it out! It's all puffed up and ready to go.

4. Popper will just pop out of mug. I cut mine in half and add a little butter. You can see the blackberries and walnuts in this one if you look closely. The fruit settled towards the bottom.

5. Then I add some home-made strawberry sauce and more blackberries.

It's super quick and easy with very little clean-up. And you can easily tweak it for your own taste preferences.

Turnip soup recipe

Sarah's Turnip by Nigel Fletcher

This is a follow-up post for the one where I was looking for a good turnip recipe after having been given about five pounds of turnips from one of Mike's customers.

I lucked out on the first turnip recipe I tried! I've never really liked or disliked turnips because I've never had fresh turnips in anything that I can remember. But I knew I disliked rutabaga a lot from the canned stuff I was forced to eat as a child. Uck. Pah-tooey. I kinda threw turnips into the same category.

I was recently going through a lot of my cooking magazines - tearing out the recipes that held promise and tossing the rest. In this small cabin, there is no room for collecting piles of magazines. In the third magazine I went through, my January 2009 issue of Vegetarian Times, I discovered a bunch of cream-free "cream" soups. The two that caught my eye the most were the Curried Cauliflower and Sherried Kabocha with Spiced Pepitas, but on the next page, what did I see? Cream of Turnip Soup... Eureka. How how easy was it? Very.

And, how good was it? I liked it a lot, though I did make a few changes. ! I was actually surprised, with the simplicity of ingredients, but there you have it. And, here is the recipe for anyone looking for a turnip recipe that doesn't taste like dirty socks. :) At least it didn't to me.

Cream of Turnip Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 pounds fresh baby turnips, peeled and diced
1 small onion
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup soy creamer (optional)
1/4 cup celery leaves, sliced into fine strips

Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add turnips and onion, and cook 15 minutes or until vegetables are translucent, stirring occasionally. Add bay leaves and three cups of water, and season with salt and pepper, if desired. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low. Cover, and cook 25 to 30 minutes, or until turnips are very tender.

Remove from heat, and remove bay leaves. Add soy creamer, if using. Use blender or food processsor to puree ingredients until smooth. Season with salt and pepper, if desired, and stir in celery leaves just before serving.

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The changes I made:

I didn't have any celery leaves on my celery, so just added celery to the turnip and onion mix and cooked with them. 

I added 1/4 cup of dry, white wine while cooking the turnips, onions and celery.

I used a large onion instead of small one.

I used veggie broth instead of water.

I added two large heads of garlic.

It tasted better the second day. And, when I ate it, I sprinkled a little cheese into it. And the next day when Mike came home, he was toting a bag of Frito Corn Chips - not an item on my normal eating list by any means, but I crunched some on top of the soup for texture and it was even better. I'm not a proponent of junk food as any of my regular readers know, but hey - it was a fun change of pace. Next time I think I'll try the crunch of something better... like pumpkin seeds.

Really easy yeast bread

Here is a super easy bread to make if one is apt to eat gluten bread. I'm not much of a bread eater at all - gluten or gluten-free, though I usually stick to gluten-free when I partake. But when I saw this recipe on 101cookbooks, it was so simple I just had to give it a try. Plus, I've had good luck with most everything I've tried from Heidi's site; I love her recipes. Talk about easy! You don't have to knead it at all! Just mix, let rise for 30 minutes and cook. And it's really good... and pretty:

Mike eats bread a lot more than I do, and loved it, so I'll probably make it often for him. I'd like to mess around with the ingredients a bit to see if I can replace white flour. The only change I made from Heidi's recipe was I added 3/4 teaspoon salt instead of the 1 1/2 recommended and used organic whole wheat pastry flour instead of regular whole wheat flour because that's what I had. And I used a smaller bread pan because I wanted my bread taller. It sure tasted good with apricot preserves on it:

If I make any substantial changes that make it better (in my humble opinion, of course), I'll post changes later. I already have some ideas of changes and additions. But as is, I highly recommend it for a treat; it's very good - and so easy!

*****

For those interested, the green stuff behind the bread is my lemongrass plant being processed. I cut the stalks into sections and froze them, keeping a small part of the plant to winter over inside and then I'll plant it back in the garden next spring. It smelled amazing as I was cutting it up. Here's the plant straight from the garden - rootball and all - a much smaller version than the one I grew the year before:

Southern cornbread

I made some cornbread today... something I've never made too often, but always liked. Mike says he doesn't care for it, but he'll get another chance to change his mind tonight - heh. Southern cornbread doesn't have any sweetener in it. When I've gotten it at restaurants here in the South, it's either unsweet and bone dry like sawdust or sweet and sticky like cake. Ugh. Good cornbread is crisp on the outside and moist on the inside and not sweet!

Mike and I buy organic cornmeal from an old fella who sells it on the side of the road from corn he grew himself. He's trying to raise money for college for his 14-year-old granddaughter - who had a horrible accident several years ago. She was taking money from a customer when the wind blew it up to the corn grinder - a huge machine. Her grandfather had told her to never go near it because it was dangerous, but she was trying to help and climbed up next to it when he wasn't looking. When she leaned over to pick up the money, the grinder grabbed her hair and pulled most of her face and hair off. It was a miracle she lived, but after quite a few operations, she's okay but looks like an extreme burn victim on her head and face. Mike fell in love with her and we stop to buy the cornmeal and fresh eggs from him when we can. She's a little shy now because some people stare at her, but Mike flirts and makes her smile.

His cornmeal is the best and today I wanted to make some cornbread to go with the soup I made (and harissa to go with the soup). Here is the simple-as-can-be recipe the grandfather gives to his cornmeal customers:

Southern Cornbread

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups finely ground white corn meal
1/2 cup flour (gluten-free, whole wheat pastry, etc.)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
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1 egg or egg substitute
1 1/2 buttermilk, milk or rice, almond or soy milk
-----
1/4 cup oil

Directions

1. Heat oven to 450 degrees. Put oil in an 8" cast iron skillet (or other cast iron pans like I used above if you have them) and put in the oven for five minutes or until it's hot.

2. Put the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda into a large mixing bowl and mix well.

3. Add the egg to the buttermilk and mix. Then pour into the dry ingredients and mix well. Pour the oil from the hot skillet into the batter and mix in.

4. Pour the batter into the hot iron skillet and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Like I said, it's as simple as can be and it turned out crisp on the outside and moist on the inside. With butter or a butter substitute, it's like most breads... awesomly good right after coming out of the oven.

Chocolate oatmeal coconut cookies

 
Ready to eat!

Yesterday I had a strong hankerin' for something chocolate. I pondered my craving a bit and wanted to make another batch of JenW's gluten free/dairy free/no refined sugar brownies that I've already made twice (with my own added touches), but was out of cocoa, so I grabbed my trusty Maida Heatter's Cookies book and decided to cook a cookie that I used to make often many years ago. Only I changed it to a gluten-free version, replaced the butter with a vegan butter and virgin coconut oil and cut the sugar by 1/3 - and it tasted as good if not better than when I used to make it following the recipe exactly. Next time I will either cut the sugar to half of what is called for - because they are still very sweet if you ask me - or use a decent sugar substitute. I was lucky to even have sugar in the house since I so rarely use it. It's an organic turbinado sugar, so is less processed than the white stuff, but it still does what sugar does to the body. This recipe would also be very easy to make vegan by replacing the one egg with an egg replacer like the one made by Ener-G, or by using flax seeds. The recipe I used as a base for my version is Maida's Chocolate Oatmeal Crispies.

 
Ready to go into the oven

They were so addicting I almost made myself sick by eating too many yesterday. And Mike raved about them, though he can only have one a day.

I'm going to add my version of the recipe to my Food Recipes section sometime this weekend for anyone who'd like to give them a try. In the meantime, a cup of hot coffee accompanied by a cookie sounds like a mighty fine idea just about now...

Back to the garden

I've learned a few things in my garden this year. Here are a few:

1.  Set up a long arbor type support system for the cucumbers to climb on so I can walk underneath/through it and pick the cucumbers as they hang down from the vines and leaves. My cucumbers have vines so long and vigorous that they are too thick to see through on the support we have and I have a heck of a time getting to the cukes. And there is no more room on the support, so the vines are now taking off on the ground and getting ready to climb up the tomato plants and hook up with the squash. Their tendrils are mingling and grabbing each other... they're outa control!

The beans in the background could be a topiary; they cover whatever is there to grab a hold of. The winter squash in the foreground.

2. Allow at least twice as much room for my winter squashes and melons. The squashes have run out of room and are thinking about climbing up the bean supports and taking over the cucumber support, which is barely supporting the cucumbers. Fortunately, the melons are next to the part of the garden I never had time to plant, so for the most part they are spreading over open territory:

Here's one of the blue hubbard squashes, now almost the size of a football:

And some of the baby Emerald Gem melons:

And one of the Tigger Melons, that will turn bright yellow and red when ripe:
 
 

3. Buy or build heavy-duty tomato supports.The cheapo ones I had on my deck last summer are laughable in our garden. They have crumpled with the weight of the tomatoes and blown over with the wind. Half of my plants are lying on their sides and will probably stay there for the rest of this year or until we get replacements. Once bent, they're worthless. The plants are still producing tomatoes - more than we need, but I'm not too happy about seeing them on the ground.

Here are some of my grape and lemon tomatoes...

and a lemon boy tomato in with some lemon and one Poone Kheera cucumbers:

 
 
4. Spray for bean beetles! Though they've not affected the beans themselves, the leaves now look like delicate lace from where they've eaten everything but the veins of the leaf.

5. Check the garden every day. Once established, these guys sure grow fast: green beans, okra, cucumbers and tomatoes. I'm picking them every other day at least. And the okra spears (pods?) doubles in size from one day to the next.

6. Plant three times as many okra pants and at least that much more corn. The okra produce quickly, but each plant only has about two spears ready a day. The corn has been great, but I didn't plant nearly enough. I'd planned to plant four times as much, but life got in the way. Here is a picture of the first we tried out; it wasn't quite ready, but was good. What we had last night was perfect. It's a yellow heirloom, whose name I can't recall at the moment, that we got from Baker Heirloom Seeds.

7. Have access to my freezer in the basement. The beans I have picked over the last few weeks are taking over the refrigerator and frig freezer. We can only eat so many of them... though Mike really likes the recipe I came up with to help use up some of our peppers as well:

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Wahsega Valley Farm Beans:
- bunch of green beans trimmed to bite sized pieces
- onion to equal about half of the qty of beans
- 1 or 2 jalapeno peppers
- 1 or 2 serrano peppers
- some banana or other peppers
- garlic to taste
- olive oil

Just throw everything in big skillet or pot and cook on stove-top at medium heat until the beans and onions are kinda browned and starting to shrivel... maybe 30 minutes or so.

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That's it for now, though I will have other revelations as the season progresses. Here are some additional pictures of the garden taken about a week ago, for those interested:

Delicata squash:

   

Squash leaves and blossoms, both of which I am totally enamored with. The leaves are huge and the blossoms look like hibiscus to me.

 
My garden buddy, Sophie, walking down to the garden with me.

And hanging out near the cucumbers while I was picking beans:

Time to fold some laundry!

Quinoa with Moroccan Winter Squash and Carrot Stew (vegan)

I made this two weeks ago and liked it a lot. It's spicy, but not toospicy and I loved the flavor and texture. I will do it slightly differently next time though and cut the carrots and squash into smaller pieces and possibly add a sweet touch, such as raisins and a sweet potato, to the stew. And maybe some chick peas for extra texture and a dash of cinnamon. I used white quinoa, but try red; it's so pretty. The cilantro really gives it the crowning touch, but if you don't like it, leave it out. This recipe came from Epicurious, and I'm adding it almost as it is written on their site. I just want it here for easy access the next time I want to make it.

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Quinoa with Moroccan Winter Squash and Carrot Stew

A gorgeous, satisfying vegetarian main course that's easy to make. Quinoa requires no pre-soaking, so it's as simple to do as rice.

INGREDIENTS:

Stew:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
~~~~~
3 garlic cloves
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2 teaspoons Hungarian sweet paprika
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Pinch of saffron
~~~~~
1 cup water
1 14 1/2 ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
2 tablespoons lemon juice
~~~~~
3 cups 1-inch cubed peeled butternut squash (from a 1 1/2 pound squash)
2 cups 3/4-inch cubed peeled carrots
~~~~~

Quinoa:
1 cup quinoa
1 tablespoon butter or Earth Balance
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup finely chopped peeled carrot
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
2 cups water or vegetable broth
~~~~~
Chopped fresh cilantro

PREPARATION:

Stew:

1. Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion; saute until soft, stirring often, about 5 minutes.

2. Add garlic; stir 1 minute.

3. Mix in paprika and next 8 ingredients (through saffron).

4. Add 1 cup water, tomatoes and lemon juice and bring to a boil.

5. Add squash and carrots. Cover and simmer over medium heat until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally - 20 to 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

This can be prepared 1 day ahead. If so, cover and chill.

Quinoa:

1. Rinse quinoa; drain.

2. Melt butter with oil in large saucepan over medium heat.

3. Add onion and carrot. Cover; cook until vegetables begin to brown, stirring often, about 10 minutes.

4. Add garlic, salt and turmeric; saute 1 minute.

5. Add quinoa; stir 1 minute.

6. Add 2 cups water. Bring to boil; reduce heat to medium-low. Cover, simmer until liquid is absorbed and quinoa is tender, about 20 minutes.

~~~~~

Rewarm stew if made the day before. Put quinoa in bowl and spoon stew on top or to the side. Sprinkle with cilantro.

Sunday fun in the kitchen

I had so much fun last Sunday - spending most of my time in the kitchen with pots and pans a-flying. I started out making our Sunday morning waffles and was disappointed to find no more frozen strawberries and blueberries in the freezer. Alas, summer is indeed gone. But with autumn comes apples - lots of apples. So I grated one and added it to the batter, along with a mashed banana. And, instead of an agave and strawberry blend for a "syrup" for the waffles, we just added a bit of apple butter mixed with the agave and it was a mouth full of autumn.

I decided to I needed to use more of the apples we got on our day trip to the orchard a couple of weeks ago and made a Apple Upside Down Cake for the first time, substituting this and that to get what I wanted. It turned out great, but I want to add some more personal touches to it before I post the recipe. It's super easy.

After the cake, I made the Lentil and Farro Veggie Soup from the previous post and was very happy with the way it turned out. I particularly like making vegetable soups. I normally don't use a recipe and just throw together what I have in the pantry and fridge and it's always good. Sometimes the seasonings aren't what Mike likes (he curses cumin), but I love them all.

And, after the soup, I decided to finally try Heidi Swanson's Big Sur Power Bars from her 101Cookbooks site. They were super dooper easy to make and are very tasty. I didn't toast the nuts per her directions though because I prefer raw nuts. And I have a few ideas to make them my own that will suit my tastebuds just a bit better. Heidi is such an inspiration.

I've noticed that some sweet things I've been making with various sweeteners (agave, brown rice syrup, turbinado sugar and honey) are just too sweet for me. Mike doesn't think so, but I really believe I can cut back quite a bit on the sweetness in some of the treats I make. Some recipes really just don't have to be so sweet!

It was a fun and productive day in the kitchen and I'm ready for the weekend again. Now.

Lentil and Farro Veggie Soup (vegan)

On Sunday, when the winds were blowing in winter's cold air, I decided to make big pot of veggie soup, one of my favorite winter meals. I wanted to make a bean soup, but was out of beans, so opted for what I had on hand: French green lentils. I wanted to make Lentil Minestrone again from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison, but with a twist. It turned out to be one of my favorite soups I've ever made and was quite different from the first go-round. Here is what I came up with:

Lentil and Farro Veggie Soup (vegan)

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2.5 cups chopped onions
~~~~~
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/4 cup chopped parsley
5 large garlic cloves, minced
5 medium carrots, diced
1 cup diced celery (about 3 stalks)
2 teaspoons dulse flakes or to taste (or 1 teaspoon salt or to taste)
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1 cup French green lentils, sorted & rinsed
2 bay leaves
8 parsley branches
6 lemon thyme sprigs
9 cups vegetable broth
~~~~~
4 to 6 cups greens (cabbage, spinach, chard or kale) roughly chopped
~~~~~
1 cups uncooked farro (or brown rice, pasta, or barley)
2 cups vegetable broth or water
~~~~~
Tofutti sour cream
Harrissa
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Directions:

1. Heat olive oil in large soup pot and saute onion over medium high heat, stirring frequently, until lightly browned - about 10 minutes.

2. Add the tomato paste, parsley, garlic, carrots, celery and dulse or salt and cook another 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

3. Add the lentils, bay leaves, parsley branches and thyme sprigs and vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer, partially covered, for 30 minutes.

5. While soup is cooking, cook the farro in 2 cups veggie broth for about 30 minutes. If you want the farro to be a bit chewy, check it periodically and cook to the doneness you like. Drain farro, when done, if all liquid is not absorbed. The cooked farro will be added to the soup after the soup has finished cooking.

4. After 30 minutes, taste soup for salt and season with pepper, if desired. Remove the bay leaf, parsley branches and thyme springs. Set aside.

5. Stir fry greens with a little oil and tamari sauce until barely wilted.

6. Add the farro and greens to the soup and mix in.

7. Adjust seasonings.

Notes:

1. I used the dulse flake instead of salt. It gives it a little extra flavor and nutritional value.

2. Use fresh herbs if possible; it makes a big difference in the flavor. I tied the parsley branches and thyme sprigs together to make a "bouquet" - making them much easier to retrieve at the end of cooking.

3. French lentils (on the left, above) hold their shape more than the brown lentils, which can easily be overcooked and turn to mush. French lentils are harder to find, but are worth it. Bob's Red Milloffers them and I've seen them at Whole Foods, and various health and specialty food stores.

4. I've had some farro around for several months and decided to use it in this soup. Above, you see it cooked and uncooked. I'd never had farro before, but like the fact that it holds it's shape better than some grains, has very little gluten in it and cooks up quickly. It has a nice texture and is chewy.

5. I used Chinese cabbage instead of other greens since it's what I had in the fridge. But, next time I'd rather use some darker greens - one of the others listed.

6. When serving, I add a dollop of Tofutti brand vegan sour cream and a little harrissa if desired, though I think I prefer unadorned.