It’s Not Your Mama’s Cauliflower

It’s Thanksgiving week - you know what that means - turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy and all the trimmings and the induced food coma after. In all seriousness I love spending time with family and friends - it’s not about the food it’s about the relationships. 

This will be the first Thanksgiving that I don’t spend with my dad I have to say I miss him.Things will be different but time marches on. We’ll spend the holiday with Dan’s family - the food will be delicious, the conversation lively and I’ll get to see many of nieces and nephews it will be a day filled with fun and laughter. 

I have this week off so I took the opportunity to make a batch of herbed cashew cheese, a loaf of banana bread and have lunch with my friend Elaine (from Elaine in the kitchen). We spent 2+ hours catching up, talking about our food adventures and other important life things - she keeps me grounded and she has the best sense of humor. 

Aside from the cheese and bread I’ve been trying some new recipes. My new favorite is Gobi Musallam aka Whole Roasted Cauliflower in Creamy Makhani Gravy - but no matter what you call it - it’s delicious. A bit tedious, but delicious. 

If you want all of the beautiful pictures you can find them here otherwise read on for my condensed version. 

Ingredients:

1 head of Cauliflower head  – leaves, tough stem removed and washed

Water to blanch

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon chili powder (optional)

Sauce

2 teaspoons oil

1 medium red onion chopped

1 inch ginger chopped

5-6 cloves of garlic chopped

1/2 to 1 tsp chili flakes

3 medium tomatoes chopped

1 teaspoon garam masala

1/2 teaspoon cumin powder

1/2 teaspoon coriander powder

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

3/4 cup coconut milk(from can)

1/3 cup soaked cashews

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon agave

Cooking Instructions

Fill a large pot with enough water to immerse the cauliflower in and bring it to a boil. Add salt, turmeric and chili and blanch/cook the whole cauliflower. 

Cover and cook for 4 minutes on each side(top and bottom. Flip after 4 minutes)

Sauce:

Soak the cashews in water for at least 30 minutes (the longer the better). 

In a sauce pan add olive oil and onion and saute until golden approximately 6 minutes. Add ginger, garlic, chili flakes and saute for another 2 minutes. Add remaining spices and mix until fragrant.

Add tomatoes, salt, and agave mix and cook covered until tender. Mash the larger chunks of tomato during cooking - cook approximately 8-10 minutes.

Cool sauce mixture, add to a high speed blender, and blend with coconut milk and cashews into a smooth thick puree.Taste and adjust salt, spices as desired. 

Oil the baking dish and place the blanched cauliflower in the dish. Slowly drop the sauce on top of the cauliflower letting cover the entire head of cauliflower. Some sauce will fall on the side and into the pan - that’s ok. 

Place the blanched cauliflower in a baking dish.

Bake uncovered in a 400 degree oven for 40-45 minutes until the sauce covering the cauliflower is dry to touch. Turn the dish around after 30 minutes.

Serve hot with Naan and basmati rice.

Wishing you a Happy and Healthy Thanksgiving filled with good food, great friends and family and lively conversation!

A Curry Affair

Winter, or pre-winter as I like to call it before the snow sets in, has arrived. We were at Dan's favorite big box home store a couple days after Halloween and bought 2 small pie pumpkins. My original plan was to make a pumpkin pie but I hadn't gotten around to that project yet. I’m still picking kale and collard greens and the pantry is full - so I decided it was time for an experiment. 

Since Dan was doing a work thing that evening I decided to use up some of the kale (it's not his favorite thing but he'll eat it if I cook it or add a little bit to a salad). It was a cold night so a curry sounded like just the ticket to warm me up. I tossed this together adding things that looked and sounded good as I went along. My original dish was going to be a simple red lentil curry until I realized I only had brown lentils - but I think of them as interchangeable - I know I know many of you don't. 

I started by microwaving one of the small pumpkins so that I could cut the top off and clean out the insides. After about 3 minutes I was able to cut off the top, scoop out the seeds and then put it in the oven to bake. 

While the pumpkin was baking I prepped the rest of the ingredients:

I cup dry lentils - cooked according to package directions (for those of you who give me a hard time about using canned beans - take note!) 

2 cups of chopped cooked pumpkin

1 medium onion chopped

A handful of kale - rolled and shredded

1 can of coconut milk

2 cans diced tomatoes with juice - I used fire roasted

2 tsp curry powder

1 tsp garam masala

garlic - 3 - 4 cloves minced

ground ginger 

salt and pepper 

Saute the onion in 1 Tbsp olive oil until soft, add all spices and cook 1 minute until fragrant. Add coconut milk, tomatoes, cooked lentils, cooked pumpkin and shredded kale. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 20 - 30 minutes. 

Enjoy!

A “Chili” Kind of Day

From crisp fall days to snow and sleet - Minnesota does not disappoint. I woke up this morning to cold, wind, rain and sleet on my walk - definitely gets the blood flowing. On a happier note Dan’s daughter Alona and her betrothed Nate have set a date - the wedding will be on June 3rd - we’re so happy and excited for them. Lots of great adventures ahead for everyone.

I’ve been eyeing my garden in hopes that the last 2 butternut squash will ripen but today I made an executive decision to pick them (during the rain, sleet and snow) and hope they ripen. If they don’t well the other 12 squash won’t be able to become acquainted with them - but I doubt they will care. 

If you’ve read my blog or you know me, you know that Fall is my favorite time of year - root vegetables, pumpkin, crusty french bread, a glass of wine, a fire and a good book set my evening on the right path. Tonight Dan built an awesome fire and we feasted on a batch of chili made with peppers and tomato sauce (a delicious and spicy red and green tomato sauce) made with ingredients from our garden. 

Two things; there is no such thing as too many onions and spicy is good - but not the kind of spicy that burns your mouth, the kind of spicy that is flavorful. I’d like to tell you I have a recipe for my chili but I don’t - every time I make it, it’s different. A lot of that comes from the ingredients I have on hand, the freshness of the spices and of course my mood. 

Some days I’m feeling spicy some savory and some sweet (but not in chili of course)! This go around I wanted spice, not that kick ass spice that makes you sweat but the kind that warms you and in this go round I achieved it - score!

Ingredients:

2 medium to large onions diced

1 red pepper - chopped

1 orange pepper - chopped

3 small poblano peppers - chopped

1 can black beans - rinsed and drained

1 can white kidney beans - rinsed and drained

1 can chili beans (beans and liquid)

2 large carrots, peeled, chopped and microwaved until soft

3 - 4 cups tomato sauce - I used the sauce that I made from the red and green tomatoes in our garden - you can also use 2 - 3 cans of diced tomatoes with green chilis 

Instructions:

Chop all ingredients. In a medium to large sauce pan, saute onions, peppers, and partially cooked carrots in olive oil until softened. 

To a crockpot add, onion mixture, beans, tomato sauce, garlic, chili powder, crushed red pepper flakes and cumin. Cook on low for 3 - 4 hours to meld flavors. 

Serve with cornbread or a crusty grain bread for dipping - it was delicious!

Stay safe and warm!

Squash with a Twist

With the exception of the few frost hearty crops like kale, collard greens and hard shell squash, we’ve said goodbye to another great garden year. The other day I picked the squash (with the exception of the 2 that are not quite ready), made a batch of green tomato chutney, and a final batch of green/red tomato sauce - the freezer is full.

We’ve got 3 kinds of squash this year; acorn, butternut and buttercup all waiting to be roasted or turned into something wonderful. My go to recipe is simply roasting and serve with a splash of maple syrup - maybe butter if I’m feeling like living life on the edge. 

Squash is extremely flexible it can be cooked, roasted, flattened into patties, fried, or included as a base flavor for soups. The seeds of squash are also edible, and can be made into a number of different forms or their oils can be extracted. 

I've been thinking about using butternut squash for the “cheese” in macaroni and cheese and turning acorn squash into a dessert - a fall custard if you will. This custard is simple to make and has only 5 (seriously count them) ingredients I found the recipe over on It’s a Love / Love Things blog - you can check it out here.

 Ingredients

2 cups of baked acorn squash

4 eggs

1/4 cup of coconut oil

2T butter (or more coconut oil if you prefer)

1/2 tsp cinnamon

maple syrup to drizzle. 

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350. Toss all ingredients into a high speed blender and puree until smooth. Pour mixture into a greased pan (I use coconut oil) and smooth with a spatula. Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes. When a toothpick inserted comes out clean, the custard is done. Allow to cool on a cooling rack for 20 minutes. You can serve it warm or cold with a drizzle of maple syrup. 

Enjoy!

Adventures and Soup

After a long stretch of amazing warm September weather it seems Fall has arrived in Minnesota - it’s not a bad thing, it’s what we expect when October 1 rolls around. Yesterday I spent 4+ hours at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum volunteering at the Annual Fall Festival helping families make scarecrows - it was a blast. The day reminded me of when I spent cool fall days with my nieces and step-daughters creating scarecrows - those were some wonderful times. 

Today was a recovery day - I laid around, read and then finally decided that I needed to get up and get my steps in (btw I’m on track to walk 2017 miles in 2017), get groceries and do a bit of yoga. Halfway through my walk the rain decided to pour down and I found my self standing under a tree for about a half hour waiting for the rain to let up, which of course it did not so I decided to brave the elements and walk home. 

About half way home I noticed an elderly gentleman heading toward the senior living center with 2 bags of groceries trying to navigate around the posts and tape keeping would be walkers from messing up  the new concrete. With one leg on either side of the tape he appeared to be “stuck”  and was having a difficult time getting his second leg over the barrier. I ran across the street and helped him get across and into the building, We were both soaking wet - I jogged the rest of the way home. 

When I got home i peeled off the wet clothes and made myself a nice cup of almond milk chai and wrapped up in a blanket to get warm and I started searching for my favorite curried squash soup recipe, which I found almost immediately. 

The original recipe came from Eater’s Choice - A food lover’s guide to lower cholesterol, which I bought ages ago. There are some great recipes in the cookbook, although I was a meat eater in those days so these days I browse the vegetables and soups section. The Apple Squash Soup recipe calls for acorn squash but you can use whatever you have on hand. It also calls for apples (hence the name) and apple cider. I decided to switch it up a bit and use caramelized pears - it was a nice change. The sweetness from the caramelized pears and at the curry were a nice combination. 

Apple Squash Soup

1 T margarine

2 C chopped onions

2 T curry powder

6 cups peeled and cubed squash (I used acorn)

2 pears

3 cups vegetable broth (I used the broth I made from my scraps earlier in the season)

1 tsp salt

1 cup apple cider

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Slice pears in half and place cut side down on a pan to roast (I use my Pampered Chef stone) for approximately 20 minutes - or until they begin to caramelize. 

In a large pot melt margarine. Add onion and saute until tender. Add curry powder and combine. To the onion - curry mixture add squash, pears, stock and salt. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 25 - 30 minutes. 

When squash is fork tender, puree soup in a high speed blender, add the apple cider and heat until warm. Pour in bowls and enjoy. Tonight we included a whole grain baguette and some brie and cashew cheese the result was delicious. 

Thanks for stopping by!

A Rustic Spanish Dish

If you live in my neck of the woods you know that Summer continues to linger and Fall is working hard to make itself known. 

Fall is my favorite time of year - beautiful trees, apple cider, pumpkin everything and cool, crisp weather. I love hoodies, tights, sweaters, sweatshirts and fires in the fireplace. Spiced Chai, and warm soups and stews. The only downside - putting the garden to bed. 

To be honest, this year rivals last year with respect to harvest and critters. We’ve had amazing cucumbers, tomatoes, greens, herbs, kale, collard greens, cauliflower, pepper (poblano, red, yellow,banana and green), broccoli and beans. Still to come; brussels sprouts, squash (buttercup, butternut and acorn) last count about 15. One pleasant surprise - watermelon at last count we have 6 - 4 will definitely mature and we’ll eat them, other two - not sure - but hey 4 watermelon is better than none right?

On Sunday the weather was cooler and I wanted to make a simple yet warming dish that used up some of the tomato bounty so I opted for a Spanish beans and tomatoes and for good measure I added a couple handfuls of spinach and some olives. The prep time for this dish is about 10 minutes and cook time 25 so dinner in 35 minutes leaves you lots of time to clean up the kitchen and spend the rest of the evening curled up with your favorite book.

I found the base recipe at https://veggiedesserts.co.uk/spanish-beans-tomatoes/

INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 teaspoon sweet smoked paprika 

1 Tbsp or more siracha (to taste)

2 x 400ml/14oz cans butter beans (lima beans), drained and rinsed

chopped fresh tomatoes - enough to fill 2 butter bean cans

Sea salt and black pepper

2 large handfuls spinach, roughly chopped

10 - 12 green olives - sliced in half

In a large saucepan, heat the oil over a medium heat. Add the onions and fry, stirring continuously, for 3-5 minutes until translucent but not browned. Add the garlic, paprika and siracha and fry for a further minute. Add the beans and tomatoes. Stir to combine, add the olives and season with salt and pepper. Stir well and reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 15 minutes, checking regularly so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. As it finishes, stir the spinach through to wilt.

Serve hot or cold, as tapas or a side dish, sprinkled with the fresh parsley.

Bursting with Flavors!

We had a fabulous holiday weekend. I took Friday off to catch up on all those things that you never have time to do, one of which was renew my drivers license. While it took 1.5 hours to do that and I realized the process was one of the MOST inefficient I’ve ever seen, I’m glad that is over. Next up, I need to renew my passport; I think I’ll go the mail in route this time. 

We spent Saturday at the Renaissance Festival. I like to go every few years because if I go every year the experience loses its fun - same with the State Fair, which we went to last year - looks like I’m good for about 3 more years on both fronts. My favorite part of Saturday - avocado fries, crispy outside and creamy inside I think I could survive on avocado fries.

Fast forward to Sunday we did a long hike with Dan’s sister Sue and her husband Brian. The guys are heading to half dome in a couple weeks and they wanted to do some training so we tagged along. Our reward was a delicious Indian dinner in St Croix Falls. Dan and I were driving through there a while ago and saw a sign that said vegetarian so we stopped and were delighted with our find. This time we not disappointed. I tried a curry dish that had carrots, broccoli, peppers, onions and plantains; kind of a sweet and savory in one bite - yum.

And what was our garden doing while we were not home? producing more things like this beautiful Brandywine tomato, eggplant, cucumbers, peppers and not quite yet ready we have brussels sprouts and squash - can’t wait. 

Fast forward another week - I’ve not been good about finishing my posts and getting them up there - mainly because I’m exhausted. I’ve been crazy busy at work; we’re kicking off training tomorrow, a webinar on Wednesday add that to my normal stuff and we’re busy. I’ve also been working to keep up with the garden harvest - no small task. 

This weekend I realized that unless I did something with all those tomatoes - we were going to have to trash them. Soooooo I made a tomato pie; flaky crust, caramelized onions, sheep feta and tomatoes, lots of tomatoes. I don’t have a hard and fast recipe but I’ll give you the basics. 

Start by thinly slicing 3 medium to large red onions - if you are a Pampered Chef fan, use the simple slicer on 1 - it makes them paper thin. To a heavy pan add olive oil and the onions. Saute until translucent and then lower the heat, cover and let cook for about 45 minutes, stirring every 15 - 20 minutes. 

While the onions are caramelizing, thinly slice the tomatoes and put them on a paper towel to absorb the moisture.

Assemble the pie; place a layer of tomatoes on the bottom, then a layer of onions and a layer of feta. Sprinkle shredded basil, rosemary and thinly sliced garlic on top. Repeat the layers 2 more times. Bake in a 375 degree oven for an hour. 

That brings me to today. Our neighbors have an apple tree and gave us some apples so Dan hauled out the trusty apple peeler and I tossed them in the crock pot with cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and 3 Tbsp of brown sugar for 4 hours. I let it cool and then put it in containers - it’s sleeping in the freezer waiting for us to open it after we finish the jar our neighbors gave us. 

I also decided it was time to start working on the collard greens - we have a lot - yikes! I have a favorite recipe, which I refer to as collard green wraps.

Ingredients:

12 - 15 collard green leaves - washed, thick part of stem removed

1 large onion diced

2 carrots peeled and diced

3 stalks celery - diced

1 poblano pepper - seeded and chopped

2 banana peppers - seeded and chopped

1/2 bag of Morningstar farms veggie crumbles

oregano

sage

basil 

3 - 4 cloves garlic minced

Salt and pepper to taste

In a skillet, saute onions, celery and carrots until tender, add peppers, spices (this is a to taste thing) I don’t measure I toss in tsp, stir and taste and keep adding it’s a process. Add the veggie crumbles, stir until heated and then turn off the heat. 

Fill a large pot with water, turn on high and wait until it boils. Add collard green leaves 2 - 3 at a time and blanch for 3 - 5 minutes, drain. Lay a single collard green leaf on a flat surface, spoon 2 - 4 Tbsp filling (depends on the size of the leaf) in the top third of the green, fold in sides and then roll. Place seam side down on a plate, continue until all filling/greens have been used. 

My normal go to recipe/ sauce for the greens is a spicy marinara but today I’m going to pop them into the freezer and wait for a chilly fall day and top them with the marinara I made 2 weeks ago. 

Next up - squash and brussels sprouts