Transitions

I’ve been thinking about this my last blog post of 2016; to say it has been an interesting year would be an understatement. 

I’ve spent another year focusing on healthy living and eating. While I continue to consume a mostly plant-based diet, I incorporate fish in situations where a healthy alternative is not available. This years garden will go down as one of the best, as a matter of fact I finished baking the last of the acorn squash and putting it in the freezer this afternoon. 

We did some traveling and then there was the trip that got away. We spent time on the North Shore, traveling along the Mississippi from Minnesota to Iowa where we stayed at the B & B Hillary Clinton spent time at during her campaign, In Chicago where we saw Kinky Boots (you must see it) and we spent time with family in Fargo and at a cabin in Cross Lake. 

I was lucky enough to reconnect with some high school friends for a long weekend of catching up and laughter - next time ladies let’s not wait another 40 years. I also continue to hang out with my book club and Saturday farmers market / walking friends. I truly enjoy our time together.

I celebrated a BIG birthday and have started thinking about retirement (generally about what I’ll do until Dan retires). While it’s still a few years away, I’m planning to start taking courses in the fall of 2017 to become a Master Gardener. I’m also looking forward to having more time to volunteer, read, garden, cook, travel and spend time with friends and family; who knows I might even dust off one of my NaNoWriMo novels and whip it into shape and publish it. 

Speaking of NaNoWriMo I was a finisher again this year; although I have to say it I was not excited about the end result - oh well 2017 is just around the corner time to start thinking about the next novel. 

Camille continues to allow us to live in her house and cater to her every whim. She spent a great deal of time in the garden last summer, sleeping under the pepper, cauliflower and tomato plants. She continues to age gracefully but we know our time with her is short. 

Amazingly Dan used the word “like” in a sentence that also contained the word "kale" (I know right). As a matter of fact the shot below is a rustic onion, kale, mushroom and goat cheese tart that I made last night. I believe I heard the word delicious - so there is hope for turning my sweetie into a vegetarian after all. 

As we transition from 2016 into 2017 we wish our friends and family good health, happiness and joy. 

See you next year!

Cauliflower Fried Rice Makes Everything Nice

I am officially done with my holiday shopping and now it’s time to start enjoying the holiday season. The tree is up, the mantel is decked out and we did our grocery shopping for Christmas dinner last night and yes there will be turkey - just not for me. 

If I’m going to indulge in turkey I’ll save that for Dan’s homemade turkey soup, which he makes the day after Christmas with the turkey carcass. He boils it for hours until he has a rich and golden broth. Then he puts it outside and waits for the fat to rise to the top. He removes the fat, skims the bone and skin out and then adds, leftover turkey, carrots, celery, onions and spices - it is a favorite around here even with the vegetarians in the house - everyone has their guilty pleasures and this one is mine. 

For those of you who are not in Minnesota or the Midwest, you might have missed the plunging temps we’ve had around here. Last weekend the temps dipped to -16 - yep it was cold but we still managed to have dinner at a new restaurant with some good friends on Saturday evening and we went to Orchestra Hall on Sunday and then dinner at the Red Stag Supperclub on Sunday. 

I’ve been to the Red Stag a couple of times for breakfast with girlfriends, the restaurant is located next to the Herbivorous Butcher, which as you know is a favorite haunt of mine. I’ve wanted to take Dan there for breakfast for a while they have a roasted root vegetable hash that is simply delicious but we’ve not made it there yet. All of that changed on Sunday when I looked at the dinner menu - they had many vegetarian options - what a pleasant surprise. 

We started with a flatbread that was a combination of baba ganoush topped with green olives, feta and almonds. The smokey flavor of the ganoush, the briny olives and the cheese and almonds totally worked - I’m hungry just thinking about it. For an entree I had a roasted butternut squash that was topped with mushrooms, kale, parsnips and other root vegetables and served with a grape mostard sauce on the side - it too was delicious.

After all that eating out it was time to start eating the great veggies in our fridge. I found a recipe for cauliflower fried rice and we had some tofu in the fridge so I decided to give it a try. The cauliflower rice took a little more than 30 minutes to make from start to finish. I made a couple of adjustments; first I used edamame instead of regular peas because that is what I had in the freezer. Second it needed additional spicing so I included 1.5 times the garlic, some ginger and crushed red pepper - which of course made it perfect!

The recipe is here: http://bestrecipebox.com/recipes/cauliflower-fried-rice/

Dan cooked the tofu perfectly; crisp on the outside and delicious on the inside. We tossed it into the “rice” and then topped it with green onions. Lucky for us there were leftovers we had them for dinner again last night. Now off to wrapping those presents, some cleaning (you know before the person who does the cleaning comes because you don’t want her to think you are messy - I know not logical) and baking - it’s going to be another great holiday.

Wishing you and yours a safe, happy and healthy holiday season.

Carrots in Winterland

Welcome Minnesota winter I knew you would show up eventually in spite of global warming. Last weekend Dan and I headed down to Madison to visit his daughter Mary, step-daughter Sasha and niece Helen. The drive down on Friday afternoon was lovely. It was a cool crisp day, the roads were clear and the sun shining. 

On Friday, we had a great dinner at a lovely Italian/Mediterranean restaurant; the eggplant was delicious, the appetizer, a roasted red pepper spread, was to die for and the company was awesome. We spent Saturday touring the Mustard Museum - I know, I know it doesn’t sound glamorous but to be honest it was a lot of fun and we got a wine and chocolate mustard that was delicious. 

The museum boasts over 250 mustards, all which you can taste, some great history - did you know that 80% of mustard comes from Canada - I didn’t? The museum is a great mix of fun facts, history, artifacts and things you can purchase. 

After the museum we headed to a great bookstore called the Frugal Muse where I found some great holiday gifts. My favorite gifts to receive for the holidays are books and photos and I’m always looking for new authors to read. And then it began to snow - the forecast was like 10 inches and while we didn’t get 10 we got a lot - like a scary lot (for me that is). Never fear tho, Dan piled all of us in his SUV and we headed over to the University to pick up Sasha and Helen and we went to a great Afghani restaurant where I had a delicious veggie couscous - a spicy veggie couscous that is.  

Fast forward to Sunday morning - we braved the snow and headed back to Minneapolis slowly and steadily. The roads had good and bad spots; I think it depends on which county is plowing the highway; some have more funds than others and are more diligent. But for the most part is wasn’t awful and it only took us an extra hour to get home, which overall wasn’t bad based on the situation. 

And what does all of this have to do with this weeks blog? Well after all that stressful driving I wasn’t in the mood to go to the grocery store so I decided that dinner needed to come from whatever we had in the fridge. So I did a quick inventory and decided on a carrot and carmelized onion soup with rye bread; sounds good right? It was delicious if I do say so myself and who knew one could create a delicious, vegetarian meal out of so few ingredients. 

I started with a very basic recipe;

Ingredients:

2 large onions thinly sliced

2 stalks of celery chopped

1 sweet potato cubed

2 1/2 lbs carrots sliced into rounds

32 ounces of veggie broth 

Then I added spices (sorry I am not a measurer) which I shook, shook and shook again so these measurements are very rough:

1 tsp Cumin

1 - 2 Tbsp curry powder

5 - 6 grinds of sea salt

5 - 6 grinds of black pepper

3 - 4 shakes of red pepper flakes 

1 - 2 shakes of ground ginger

I began by caramelizing the thinly sliced onions in olive oil on a medium heat; stirring infrequently. To the onions I added the spices and other veggies and cooked them for an additional 10 - 15 minutes. Then add the broth stir and simmer for 25 - 30 minutes until carrots are tender. Place in a blender (we used the Vitamix) and puree, return to the pot, taste and adjust the seasoning to taste. 

Keep in mind the spice measurements are rough. I start with the best of intentions (to record my spicing) but I get carried away in my desire to make things tasty but in the end, the soup was delicious. And as the soup aged (over the next 3 days) the flavors became more intense. Actually we finished up the last of the batch tonight and I have to say today was the best version. 

The rye bread came from the Breadsmith - rye bread is my favorite. One night we paired the soup with a spinach salad with peppers, scallions, cranberries, cucumber, avocado and a balsamic dressing and tonight we added some baby crab cakes (yes every once in a while I indulge). The soup was good in all it’s iterations. 

Next up; finishing up my holiday shopping, making some cookies, cleaning and getting ready for the BIG event - gatherings with both families - I can’t wait to see everyone.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cold Weather, Spiralizing and Spaghetti - Comfort Food for the Minnesota Soul

The holidays are just a few short weeks away; actually 18 days - if you are counting. If you’ve been outside the past few days you are most likely pondering hibernation and the upcoming Minnesota winter, if you live in the area that is. For me winter always signals robust, hearty dishes like chili, bean soups and spaghetti. Some of my favorite dishes. 

When I was young my mom made the best chill and chicken and dumplings. I’ve mastered the chili (vegan and meat eaters alike) but I never got the hang of the chicken and dumplings. I was successful with the chicken and the sauce but my dumplings, well let’s say that one could either use them for trap shooting or toss them in the trash - not sure what my issues are but I’ve given up making them; some things are not meant to be. 

On Sunday, I noticed that my spiralizer was gathering dust in the hall closet so I decided we needed a spiralizer intervention and of course Dan agreed - actually he agrees to most things as long as they are not painful or disgusting, which by the way is really hard to do with him. 

Anyway, I grabbed some tomato sauce from the freezer, made a “meat sauce” of ground sunflower seeds, lentils, quinoa, rosemary, thyme, sage, salt and pepper. Actually truth be told the “meat” was suppose to be meatballs, and they started out really well as meatballs but then I added the tomato sauce into the pan and they turned to meat sauce - next time cook the sauce separate from the meatballs and pour it over the “noodles and meatballs”. Ah live and learn right?

Recipe:

Meatballs/meat sauce

1 cup green lentils, rinsed & drained

¼ cup quinoa, rinsed and drained

1 Tbsp olive oil for cooking onions + 2-3 Tbsp for sautéing lentil balls

1 yellow onion, minced

1 tsp garlic powder

Italian seasoning - rosemary, thyme, sage to taste

¼ cup sunflower seeds, ground to a fine powder

¼ cup fresh basil, thinly sliced + extra for garnish

Sea Salt and pepper to taste

Cooking:

Rinse and drain the lentils, cook according to package. Drain the excess water, transfer to a large bowl and mash with the back of a fork until you don't see anymore whole beans.

Rinse and drain quinoa. Cook according to package directions, add to the bowl with the mashed lentils.

Mince onion and sauté in olive oil in a large pan, over medium heat until translucent. Add onions to the bowl with lentils and quinoa. Don't wash or drain the pan because you're going to cook the lentil balls in the reserved onion infused olive oil.

Use a food processor to blend the sunflower seeds into a fine powder, add the powder to the bowl.

Add basil, Italian seasonings, garlic powder, salt and pepper to lentil mixture. Using your hands, mix until everything is completely combined.

Create medium sized balls, and add them to the pan with a little extra olive oil. Cook for 8 - 10 minutes, gently turning to brown on all sides - this is where things went wrong!

After cooking the “meatballs” I added some of my homemade tomato sauce and the meatballs simply fell apart, while it was still tasty it was not the look I was going for. 

Skip the starchy pasta and spiralize 2 medium sweet potatoes, toss them with a bit of olive oil and roast them in a 400 degree oven for approx. 10 minutes until tender. Place sweet potato noodles in a bowl and top with lentil meat sauce, serve with a salad and garlic bread.

It was delicious and we finished the leftovers for dinner tonight. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Thankful

I always think of Thanksgiving as the kick off to the holiday season. This year we spent Turkey day with my father, his wife and her family. There were all the traditional dishes, turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, a scalloped corn dish, rolls and of course pie; pumpkin, pecan and apple. 

After spending the afternoon with my family Dan and I headed over to the local movie theatre and saw Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them in the most luxurious recliners I’ve ever experienced a movie in - move over barcalounger this theater has you beat! I am an avid Harry Potter fan and while this movie is not about the Potter clan in any way, it is a great story and as I understand there will be 4 more installments - personally I can’t wait. 

We headed back to Minnesota early Friday morning to spend some time with Dan’s family and his daughter Mary who was visiting from Madison, WI - it had been a while since we saw her - it was so good to catch up and hear about what she’s been doing - she’s been busy. She was polite enough to oh and ah over the pottery we made in our last class - the girl is a gem. 

On Saturday we ventured with the thundering herd (aka Dan’s extended family) to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum to see the Bruce Munro light show. It was a creative mix of light and landscape and Dan’s mom dubbed it “Awesome”. I truly enjoyed wandering around with the family, most of our nieces and nephews were in town; we talked, we caught up with each other and we enjoyed the art. After the show we headed over to our favorite Indian restaurant (all 18 of us) and had a delicious meal complete with mango lassi’s, samosas, lamb, chicken, eggplant and a host of other dishes. 

Today has been a mix of cleaning, organizing, shopping (grocery and holiday), writing (nearly finished with my NaNoWriMo) and cooking. The freezer is now defrosted, the refrigerator cleaned, 3 holiday gifts purchased, and groceries in the house. The hot tub is ready for soaking and I tried out a new recipe. 

I was chatting with my brother-in-law Brian about gardening and he mentioned that they were a little disappointed they didn’t harvest all of their kale before the frost - oh but wait kale is frost resistant - which reminded me we still have a boat load of kale and collard greens waiting to be eaten!

I found a recipe a while ago, which had brown rice pasta, collard greens and shiitake mushrooms. I’m not a fan of pasta in any way shape or form, so I decided to use one of our butternut squash, spiralize it and use it for the pasta. The result was delicious. 

Ingredients:

1/4 cup of tamari or soy sauce

1/4 cup of maple syrup

1 Tbsp. of rice wine vinegar

2 - 3 T olive oil

1 lb of shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, sliced

3 large cloves of garlic, finely chopped

a large knob of ginger, finely chopped

1/2 lb of collard greens, stems removed, and thinly sliced (about 4 cups)

1/4 cup of finely chopped peanuts + more for garnish

1 small butternut squash spiralized on medium noodle

Instructions: 

Peel, seed and spiralize 1/2 of a small butternut squash, toss with olive oil and roast at 400 degrees until edges are slightly browned. 

Combine tamari/soy, maple syrup and rice wine vinegar; whisk to combine and set aside.

While squash is roasting, add 1 T of oil to the pan, stir fry shiitake mushrooms  for a few minutes and then remove from pan. Add 1T oil to pan with garlic and ginger stir fry approximately 1 minute until fragrant and then return mushrooms to the pan. Add soy/vinegar and maple syrup to pan, reduce heat to low, cover pan and cook for 2 - 3 minutes. 

To the mushroom mixture add collard greens and stir until wilted, remove from heat, cover and set aside. 

When squash noodles are done, put on serving platter and top with mushroom/collard mixture, sprinkle with chopped nuts and serve. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend - thanks for stopping by!

Holiday Countdown

Happy Thanksgiving week! I’ve been absent from my blogging for a few weeks. It doesn’t mean we haven’t been cooking up delicious food because we have. It’s actually been a couple of things first I’m doing NaNoWriMo again this year and second we’ve been busy with work, family going to pottery class, bookclub, and hanging out with a museum meet up I’ve joined; at the end of the day I’m beat. 

For those of you who do not know what NaNoWriMo is, simply its National Novel Writing Month, you write a 50,000 novel in 30 days. It has to be fiction, not published before and  you cannot write the first word before November 1st. You can ponder plot and characters beforehand but you cannot write. 

This week the holiday season kicks in and Dan and I are heading to Fargo to spend it with my Dad, his wife and her family. We’ll have a traditional turkey dinner with mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potatoes, home made rolls, and pie. Both Dan and I are looking forward to seeing everyone.

On Friday we’ll head back home and get ready to spend time with Dan’s family. We’re going to the Bruce Monroe light show at the Arboretum and out for dinner - it’s gotten very good reviews - it should be a great time. We’ll probably spend the rest of the weekend catching our breath and then move into a fully packed December. It seems like we don’t have a free weekend from now until January. With that being said, most of it is filled with family, good friends and fun activities so no complaints here. 

As far as food goes, we’ve been cooking up all of our favorites; soup, field roast vegan sausages, roasted root veggies (complete with parsnips and turnips), of course enjoying the squash from our garden. I’ve finally found a preparation for kale that Dan likes and it’s super simple. 

1 -2 T olive oil

8 cups shredded kale

2 - 4 cloves of fresh garlic (depends on how much you like garlic)

nutmeg - to taste

crushed red pepper flakes - to taste

salt 

Heat the olive oil in a large pan and add the kale. If it doesn’t all fit in the pan don’t worry  as it cooks down you can continue to add it. Toss in the garlic, nutmeg, salt and crushed red pepper and heat until it is all wilted. I usually take it off the stove, cover and let it sit for a few minutes. 

I’ve also been experimenting with single crust pies. I’m a big fan of fruit pie which generally comes with a top and bottom crust. While I do love my carbs I’m trying to eliminate them as much as possible; some days are more successful than others. 

I had some apples that I mixed up with the lemon, brown sugar, cinnamon, etc. in the freezer that I was originally planning to make into a pie for movie night but things got behind and I had to use plan B - which was chocolate so there were no complaints. 

Since they were already thawed I needed to use them so I decided to make a single crust apple pie and to be honest I liked it better than the traditional 2 crust apple - more apple flavor - less crust I think it’s a winner. 

I’m thankful for all of the things in my life a loving family, talented and fun coworkers, friends and good health. Wishing everyone a happy and safe holiday weekend. 

Changing of the Guard

It’s officially November, I know this because I started writing my NaNoWriMo novel. For those of you who don’t know what that is - it’s National Novel Writing Month. It occurs every November and the goal is to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days, which translates to about 1700 words each day. This is my 5th attempt and I’ve finished 4 times; so far so good. Of the novels I’ve written there are 2 I’d like to go back and edit - who knows maybe publish but that is for another blog post. 

It’s also time to start prepping for winter, raking the leaves, cleaning out gutters, putting on storm windows (yes I know its an old house) and putting the gardens and flowers to bed. If you’ve been following this blog you know that 2016 will go down as one of our best harvests ever - actually I picked the last of the tomatoes off the vines last night and I noticed that I am still swimming in collard greens and kale, gotta do something about that this weekend. 

Yesterday was a beautiful fall day, not too crisp, clear blue sky and some of the trees are still sporting beautiful color. After work Dan and I took a walk around the park and then hurried home so we could start mulching the leaves - OK Dan got out the mower and mulched the leaves, which put me on kitchen detail. 

I had a block of tofu, which I bought a bit ago and I was going to use it to make sofritos but I never got around to it. I found a recipe while browsing through Pinterest and I realized I had all of the ingredients - plus some additional ones, which I wanted to add. Luckily for Dan it was a curry, which is his favorite. 

INGREDIENTS

1 tbsp coconut oil

1 large yellow onion, finely chopped

2 fairly large garlic cloves, center germ removed and crushed with a garlic crusher

2 tbsp ( or more! ) fresh ginger, grated

8 - 10 dried apricots, diced

4 tbsp curry powder

1 - 2 tsp numeric

2 cans coconut milk

2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed - for those of you who are purists - and you know who you are - you can cook your own from scratch.

1 package of tofu, patted dry and cut into cubes

3 cups packed baby spinach

2 tsp coarse sea salt

Heat the coconut oil in a wide pot on medium heat.

Add onion, garlic, ginger and apricots and sauté for a few minutes, until the onion is translucent and soft.

Add curry powder and mix it in well with the rest of the ingredients. Allow the spices to toast for a minute without letting them stick to the bottom of the pan. Add the coconut milk and season with sea salt, mixing well.

Add the rest of the ingredients (except for the spinach), let it come to a boil and reduce heat to a low simmer. Heat for 5 to 8 minutes to absorb the flavors and the coconut milk has become a creamy sauce. Turn off the heat and add the spinach one cup at a time until wilted. 

Serve with basmati rice and fruit. 

Thanks for stopping by

A Southwestern Squash Song

Believe it or not we are still harvesting things out of the garden; although we are almost to the end, which makes me happy and sad. I’m happy that we’ve had such an amazing harvest and sad because it’s over; well kind of. 

Last weekend Dan and I took a lovely trip down the Mississippi to Iowa. We stayed at two lovely B & B's -one in Dubuque and one in Muscatine. We did some hiking, a little site seeing, some shopping and ate breakfast at the same table Hillary had coffee at durning her campaign - it was a great get away. Dan was a bit under the weather during the trip; suffering from a cold, which he was kind enough to share with me - well actually not but it is what it is right? 

Now we are back home and dealing with the harvest. At last count we had 4 butternut squash, 15 acorn squash, tomatoes (red and green), kale, collards and a bit of swiss chard to contend with. Dan commented that we had enough squash so that we could have it once a week until the rest of the year. I had to correct him a bit because we'll actually get into Jan and beyond. I was planning to do something with them over the weekend, but the cold that Dan so kindly shared was in full force and I didn't have the energy to do anything but lay on the couch and binge watch Blue Bloods. 

If you’ve not seen it, Blue Bloods is your basic cop show, which normally I am not a huge fan of. What I like about this show is the characters and the relationships; actually the police work is almost incidental. And then there is Tom Selleck, who is the police commissioner - still nice to look at after all these years.

Before I got sick I baked a stuffed squash that was pretty darn good. Dan topped his with Brie cheese but I left mine plain; well plain in the sense that there is no cheese or dairy in it. We’ve also subsisted on soup while blowing our noses and hacking throughout the weekend; some squash, french onion (from Panera) and a spicy black bean - which we made when we started to feel better. But back to the stuffed squash. 

I started with a medium sized acorn squash, which I put in the microwave for one minute to soften a bit. Then I cut in half, cleaned and put in a 350 degree oven to bake. 

While the squash was baking, I chopped an onion (have you ever noticed that most of our recipes start with that) and sautéed it in a bit of olive oil. I added chopped celery, shredded carrots, chopped red, yellow and green peppers (all from the garden), some finely chopped kale, some fresh tomatoes, a little frozen corn, black beans, garlic, cumin and red pepper flakes.

When the squash was done, I mashed it a little and filled the cavity with the veggie and bean mixture and then Dan added his cheese and put it back in the oven for 5 minutes until it melted. And that was dinner - and a delicious dinner it was. 

Now that we are feeling better my challenge is what to do with all those green tomatoes? Dan suggested making a chutney that could accompany the curries he so likes to make and eat. I found a recipe, which I think I give a try. I'm planning to save enough for at least one more batch of fried green tomatoes and a green tomato pie. 

If you have any favorite green tomato recipes send them my way, and as always, thanks for stopping by. 

The Cabbage Pot

Fall, my favorite time of year. The leaves are beginning to show a beautiful red, yellow and orange canopy, the morning air is crisp and cool and the mosquitos have finally left. It’s also a great time to dig out my favorite sweaters, and make soup and home made bread. 

The garden is winding down although we still have few tomatoes on the vine, about 8 squash, kale, collard greens and a couple heads of cabbage to pick. Friday was movie night with our friends Gerd and Maria and I’m always trying to find a new recipe to try on them since they are such gracious guinea pigs. To tag along to our weekend it was also the Flamingo Cup, which is an annual potluck and croquet tournament so I was looking for something that I could use for both events.

I’ll start by saying I like cabbage but it is not a go to vegetable and mainly because aside from a few things like cole slaw, marinated and curried I don’t know what to do with it. I’ve had it roasted and boiled and neither really hit the spot. Now I can see you shaking your head and saying so, why would you plant cabbage if you didn’t love it? In one word - husband.

Remember when I said we expanded the garden, well I was out of town one weekend with some girlfriends and I came home to cabbage - 4 purple heads, 4 green heads. When I inquired about the number of heads of cabbage the response was “I wanted both green and purple and they only came in 4 packs” - go figure. 

The purple got very large but the green were smaller most likely due to the amount of sun; the green got a bit overshadowed by the squash plants, which have taken over. But we did get 4 smaller cabbage; one of which I used in a soup for movie night. 

I started with a recipe on Pinterest but then noticed it had white potatoes in it and I’m not really a white potato fan - in any form. So I decided to use the recipe for proportions and cooking methods but use what I had in the fridge for ingredients. 

To a stock pot I added:

2 stalks of celery diced

4 carrots chopped 

1 large onion diced

2/3 head of green cabbage

1/2 cup brown rice

Fresh rosemary, oregano and thyme (sorry I did’t measure just tossed)

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

6 cups of veggie broth

Cover, bring the soup to a boil and then simmer for about 45 - 50 minutes. When the rice is cooked and the veggies soft, add 2 cans of beans (I used navy beans), 14 ounces diced tomatoes and adjust seasonings. 

We served the soup with some fresh whole wheat bread and baked acorn squash (from the garden). The dinner got rave reviews. 

Fast forward to Saturday and the Flamingo Cup - what to make for the potluck - you guessed it more soup! We simply added more of everything to our left over soup pot, tossed in the crockpot and heated it until it was time to head to the park. 

Saturday was a beautiful Minnesota fall day; clear blue sky and warm with a tinge of crisp, it was a great day for croquet. Neither Dan nor I won one of the coveted Flamingo’s (gold, silver or bronze) but we had a great time with family and friends. And the food, as always, was awesome; calico beans, samosas, cauliflower salad soup, and dessert. The winning dessert for me this year was caramel popcorn balls - they were the best. 

We ended the day on the back deck enjoying a glass of wine and relaxing, it was a wonderful day.

An Adventure in Leftovers

The forecast is rain – again. Seems like this is the rainiest fall ever. Generally the warm and dry August days give way to brown patches in the front and back yard but not this year; it's as green as it was in spring.

Good news – we've had an amazing bounty in the garden. Bad news – the ground is saturated and people are bailing out their basements – not fun. You might recall we had water in our basement earlier in the season but this last flood go around we were dry as a bone – thanks to the landscaper who figured out how to regrade our yard and now all the water goes away from the house instead of toward it.

Last weekend Dan hosted a lovely 60^th birthday party for me – we had great food, family and a lot of fun. The weather cooperated so that we could be outside and I got to spend time with the people who really matter to me.

I did have a hand in helping Dan with the food and true to form we had too much. As a matter of fact we are finally getting to the end of the leftovers. One of the things we had too much of was grilled veggies; eggplant, zucchini, summer squash and asparagus. Don't get me wrong, I love eggplant but I get tired of eating leftovers even if they are wonderful leftovers.

On Saturday I decided that we needed to find a way to finish up the last of the roasted veggies so I decided to make soup, which just so happened to go well with the wet and cool day we were having.

I started with 2 chopped onions, and some garlic. To that I added the leftover roasted eggplant, zucchini and summer squash and 4 cups of vegetable broth and simmered until the veggies were hot, which didn't take very long since they were already cooked.

I pureed the mixture in batches in my Vitamix and for good measure I added two thai chili peppers from the garden to give it a kick; and a delicious kick it was. We served it with fresh bread and a spinach salad.

We're still pulling tomatoes out of the garden and the kale, collard greens and squash are not showing signs of giving in. I've been keeping notes on what worked and didn’t and have decided that I won't be planting carrots or eggplant again – our soil and/or conditions aren't conducive for growing them. I will however, add more broccoli and cauliflower – they were awesome. And I'll try to get the hubby to not plant so many cabbage plants – a girl can only eat so much cabbage.

If you have recipes for kale and collard greens – other than smoothies because if you know me you know I'm not drinking that stuff  - EVER, please send them my way.

Thanks for stopping by!

Bottling the Summer Harvest

It's harvest season and our garden is in full swing and then some. I was calculating our expenses for August this evening and I noticed a distinct absence/shortage of purchases at our local grocery store, which is not a bad thing, in fact, it's awesome.

We've been more than knee deep – actually closer to hip deep in cauliflower, broccoli, red, yellow, orange and green peppers. We've finally finished the swiss chard but the kale and collard greens are still going strong, actually I'm not sure what to do with ALL THOSE GREENS!

Our neighbors have stopped taking our calls and barely make eye contact with us these days; I guess they are afraid I'll wander over with another load of tomatoes/cucumbers or whatever I need to get rid of - let's just say we're having an amazing garden year.

Camille is still insisting on spending her free time in the garden sleeping under the pepper and tomato plants. When she can convince us, she wanders into the far reaches of the back yard, sometimes sauntering, sometimes leaping (when the grass is wet) to the highest spot in the yard so she can survey her/lands. To be honest it's hard to deny her anything. She is old, frail and still a sweet, sweet girl – most of the time.

I started my morning around 5:45 am with Camille sitting on my head, meowing in her own special way because, well she was hungry and it is my job to crawl out of bed at whatever time she chooses to feed her (note – Dan was up and not more than 20 feet from her food bowl – obviously he has other duties).

Since I was up, awake and ready for the day I decided to make another batch of tomato sauce – so I chopped, pureed, sautéed tomatoes, onions, herbs, 2 thai chili peppers and an entire head of garlic and let it boil down into a rich, red, tomato sauce – I can't wait for chili, zoodles with tomato sauce and soups this winter –it will be awesome.

Tonight I also found myself with 10 nectarines all ripening at the same time, so I decided to make freezer jam. I first learned about freezer jam from my friend Shane. I like jam but the whole water bath thing seemed complicated. Enter freezer jam no boiling, no canning apparatus just dice the fruit and add the sugar and lemon juice and cook.

You're probably thinking wait she forgot the pectin – no, no I did not. No pectin in this recipe. The thing about pectin is that it adds a sour flavor, which then requires you to add more sugar and to be honest when you are done the jam tastes like sugar, not the fruit.

Most fruits naturally have pectin but it's added to jams and jellies to speed up the process. Truth is if  you boil the fruit longer, the natural pectin is released and you have the same result with less sugar and more fruit!

I started with about 2.5 pounds of nectarines, which I seeded and chopped. To that I added the zest and juice from ½ of a lemon and ¾ cup of sugar. The original recipe called for 2 ½ cups of sugar, which seemed like way to much and the fruit was sweet and juicy so I started with ¾ and tasted it first and it was to my taste so I left the rest out. 

As it was cooking I decided to add some spices to give it an extra kick so I included 2 tsp of nutmeg and ¾ tsp. of cinnamon. I cooked it (stirring often to prevent scorching) for about 40 minutes and then poured it into 3 jars, screwed on the lids and popped them into the freezer. 

I love the color and chunkiness of the jam and the addition of the spices will make it a perfect spread on whole grain toast on a cold winter morning. If you have any jam recipes to share, send them my way - it's like bottling summer. 

Rain; the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

As a gardener I'm a huge fan of rain, as a homeowner with a wet basement – not so much.

I've been remiss in not posting for the past couple of weeks, that doesn't mean we've not been cooking awesome veggie meals, it means we've been bailing water and dealing with the aftermath of a VERY WET BASEMENT. But this too shall pass – we've called landscapers to give us estimates to grade the yard and move the water away from the house, we've pulled up wet carpet and spent 5 days drying out the wood paneling in the basement – NOT FUN!

Looking forward or backward with respect to cooking experiences, we've been cooking up a storm with our garden harvest. We've harvested tomatoes by the pound, carrots, Swiss chard, kale, collard greens, broccoli, cauliflower, red, green, yellow and orange peppers, cabbage, Thai chili pepper and jalapenos. I have to say it has been our best year yet. This was last night's harvest.

For those of you wondering what we've been doing with all those veggies, well cooking of course here are a few of our favorite dinner pictures.

Here is one of my favorite dinners; roasted beets, roasted green beans from the garden, watermelon with feta and basil (from the garden) and my favorite lentil dal. 

And then there cooked up some Swiss chard with onions, mushrooms, garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes and black beans. Served with a side of tomatoes with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and a few feta crumbles. 

We've also been eating a fair number of tomato, avocado and mayo sandwiches for lunch and yes dinner too. I don't have a recent photo but trust me they are happening.

Tonight I decided that the red and green peppers were on the dinner menu and decided to stuff them with lentils, quinoa, kale and tomatoes (of course). Picture on its way - hubby is having some technical difficulties.

On deck for the weekend; cauliflower, broccoli, Swiss chard, kale, collard greens and tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes – did I mention we have a lot of tomatoes? I think there will need to be some tomato sauce and tomato jam making.

If you have any recipes that need tomatoes please, send them my way.

As always thanks for stopping by!

We're in the Swiss Chard, We're in the Swiss Chard

Guess what we're drowning in these days– yep you got it swiss chard. I've been so busy counting my acorn squash, tomatoes and harvesting lettuce, spinach, beans, kale and collard greens that I totally ignored the chard – until today. I think it grew to great proportions over night. SERIOUSLY, I AM NOT KIDDING!

We'll be heading out on vacation in the coming weeks so I'm in a no grocery shopping and we need to eat this mode. Sometimes it's a good thing and sometimes not so much. After bringing in a small fraction of the chard harvest and picking yet another 5 very large tomatoes I knew what we were having for dinner.

I first discovered Swiss chard when Dan and I were at a B&B in Sparta,

Wisconsin. Our host made a delicious omelet, which contained onions, mushrooms and Swiss chard – I was hooked.  I continue to search for recipes that contain chard but not cheese – let me tell you it's not easy. For some reason the world thinks chard should be in a gratin with 5 kinds of cheese (I know my comment is an exaggeration) but we live in a cheese centric world, or so it seems to me.

My favorite chard recipe is one of my own making with all of my favorite ingredients.

I start by sautéing one large finely diced onion until just about translucent. To that add the finely chopped stems of a large bunch of Swiss chard and continue to sauté until crisp tender. Add the mushrooms, 3 cloves of garlic, some shredded ginger and a shake or two of crushed red pepper flakes and cook until the stems are soft. Add washed and shredded chard leaves, 1 can of drained beans (either black or chickpeas) and cover and steam until leaves are wilted. 

And now you are wondering about those 5 large tomatoes. We've been picking tomatoes for a couple weeks my favorite way to eat them is in a toasted tomato and mayo sandwich. Start with a nice crusty, grainy bread lightly toasted, add mayo and top with thick slices of tomato, a little salt and some pepper – pure heaven.

I wasn't thinking about sandwiches tho, I wanted something fresh. I decided on a very simple; thinly sliced tomatoes topped with a little crumbled feta and some balsamic vinegar. 

It was a simple and my favorite kind of delicious supper. Thanks for stopping by.

Avocado - Creamy Deliciousness!

A friend of mine once said, "I'll order something from a menu with ingredients that I'm not crazy about if the dish has avocado." I kind of feel like that too – avocado is one of my favorite foods. I especially love when Dan makes egg wraps with sliced fresh avocado and salsa – it's the best.

A couple weekends ago I took a trip up to Fargo to visit my dad. We had a nice afternoon; we sat on his patio and talked, went out to lunch and then just hung out. My favorite part of the conversation was when we talked about our first car.

My first car was a red convertible – it was totally smashed on one side but the top worked and the motor was sound – that's all I cared about. My parents purchased the car for me but I was responsible for keeping it running – lots of good life learning lessons.

These days our garden is over flowing with lettuce, spinach, kale, collard greens, herbs and radishes. I hate that my carrots did not come up but at last count I had 5 acorn squash which are about 6 inches and growing. We've harvested 2 heads of broccoli, and a gallon bag of green beans (which we will be eating this week). 

Our tomato plants are loaded and we've been eating cherry tomatoes in our salads for a few weeks now. The red, yellow and green peppers are coming along nicely and I noticed just today that the thai chili peppers are going crazy. I'm excited about this year's harvest (ok I'm excited about every harvest what can I say).

But I digress, on Sunday night Dan and I did a joint cooking. He had a Greek bruschetta recipe from the Blue Zone, which he wanted to try and I was hungry for portabella mushrooms on the grill.

The bruschetta was delicious; the bread was perfectly grilled and topped with fresh tomatoes, kalamata olives, garlic, and olive oil – yum definitely high marks on that one.

The mushrooms turned out as well. I started by marinating 3 large caps in balsamic vinegar, olive oil, cumin, garlic, paprika and black pepper for about 20 minutes, turning them occasionally to evenly coat them.

While the mushrooms were marinating I made an avocado chimichurri sauce with fresh parsley from the garden, olive oil, garlic, red pepper flakes, lemon juice and avocado. This was a definite do again recipe. I loved the combination of zesty balsamic flavor with the creamy avocado – so delicious.

If you are not familiar with the Blue Zone you can check out their website here:

https://www.bluezones.com/

And the recipe is here:

https://www.bluezones.com/recipe/easy-bruschetta/

To get the full recipe for the mushrooms hop over to The Minimalist Bakers site here:

http://minimalistbaker.com/portobello-steaks-avocado-chimichurri/

I'd love to hear from my gardening friends - if you have some favorite foods that you've been cooking up and would like to guest blog on A Vegetarian for One Year drop me a note!

Thanks for stopping by!

A Bevy of Veggies

If you are on this side of the pond I hope you enjoyed a lovely 4^th of July holiday. My co-workers in the UK let me know that they celebrated Thanksgiving on that same day – I think they were messing with me – but that's ok I still like them.

Dan and I had a wonderful long weekend – a little work, a little play and some delicious food. We tried to sprinkle a little of each into every day.

We started on Friday by attending the Guthrie production of South Pacific it was awesome. For those of you who remember the Stillwater High School choir production – you're probably tapping your toes and washing that man right out of your hair as I speak. I sang along with every song and Dan nudged me a few times but I ignored him and kept on singing.

We started our Saturday with a trip to the Minneapolis Farmers Market – so many beautiful vegetables! We loaded up the car and then headed home to work in the garden. We weeded, dug, put down grass seed, mulched and planted - we accomplished a lot.

We ended the day with a delicious roasted veggie dish from our market trip; green beans, sugar snap peas, asparagus, carrots, sweet potatoes, bok choy and onions seasoned with basil, sage and oregano from our garden – I love that I can walk out on the deck, grab some herbs and toss them in. The preparation was a simple, wash, peel and slice/dice. They toss with olive oil and sea salt and roast at 400 until done. 

By the time Sunday rolled around we were a bit sore but Dan had a vision – he wanted to transform the space where the peony plants are (in the front of the yard) into something with a bit more curb appeal – so we set our course for project "curb."

He dug out grass, tilled the dirt, added healthy soil, laid brick, and planted – the result was perfect. What did I do you ask? I shopped for plants, sifted dirt, helped spread mulch and provided the moral and beverage support– it was a team effort.

We still had alot of leftovers and we were tired so on Sunday we heated up the leftovers and added some mexican cups with refried beans seasoned with chili powder. To that I added chopped onion, red and orange pepper, black olives and some seasonings and then topped with vegan cheese and baked in a 350 degree oven until the tortilla were crisp. 

On the 4^th, we needed a work break – we spent the afternoon seeing Finding Dory – if you loved Finding Nemo, get yourself to the theatre – if not all I can say is "What's wrong with you ?" Then we had a nice dinner at a local tex mex restaurant – I  know, I know not very American but I no longer do hotdogs.

We ended the weekend watching fireworks from the neighbors deck and catching up with them. Overall I'd say it was a successful  weekend retreat.

Thanks for stopping by.