Throw-it-all-in Veggie Pot Pie

This recipe is from the Joy of Cooking and we absolutely love it. I'm including here the ingredients recommended in the original recipe, but I tend to throw in whatever I have and leave out what I don't. Parsnips are a key component though - they really add something great that I don't go without if I don't have to. Those overly mature beans from last week's harvest were terrific in it - we just pulled the beans out of the pods and threw them in.

Chop up and keep separate so you can saute each to perfection...
2 medium red onions cut in thick slices
3 medium carrots, peeled and cut in 1-inch pieces
3 parsnips, peeled and cut in 1-inch pieces
1 celery root, peeled and cut
1 butternut squash, peeled and cut
1 acorn squash, peeled and cut
8 oz. portobello mushrooms cut in thick slices and halved

Heat 3-4 T olive oil and 3-4 T butter in skillet. Saute the vegetables each until slightly soft but not brown, first onions, then carrots and parsnips, and so on down the list. As you finish with each, throw it in a casserole dish and season with salt and pepper.

Preheat oven to 400.

Add to veggies 2 T chopped fresh marjoram or 1 T dried. Mix and pour over the veggies 3 c. veggie stock (the recipe recommends 4 but I find it makes the recipe too soupy). Cover and bake until veggies are just tender, 30-45 minutes.

Meanwhile, make cheddar biscuit crust (this is my easy recipe, not Joy of Cooking):
3 c. flour
6 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 c. cream or half and half (milk if you don't have those)
6 T. oil
1/4 t. cracked black pepper
Stir together and then add 3 cloves minced garlic with a generous handful of grated cheddar cheese.

When veggies are just tender, pull out and add biscuit crust in big dollops over the veggies. Any extra can be turned into biscuits! Bake until biscuit crust is browned 20-25 minutes. Remove, let stand for 10 minutes, and serve.

Onion Soup

6 Alisa Craig Onions
4 Red Potatoes
Parsley, small bunch (Chop stems into little pieces. Reserve leaves for garnish)
1/3 cup Olive Oil
Water
Ume Plum Vinegar or Red Wine Vinegar
2 TBS dried Thyme
2 tsp Paprika
dash of red pepper
fresh cracked pepper
A whole lot of Sea Salt

Slice onions thin. Chop potatoes into small pieces. Heat olive oil in the base of a stock pot. In hot oil saute: onions, potatoes, and parsley stems until the onions are translucent. Then add thyme, paprika, pepper, red pepper, and sea salt to vegetable saute. Once spices are combined well with the onion saute, add enough water to the pot so that it looks like soup. Let simmer for a half hour (or more if you can). Taste the soup to be sure there's enough salt. Add a dash of vinegar to each bowl before serving, and garnish with parsley leaves. It's extra tasty with some cheddar cheese on top too!

Hidatsa Stuffed Sugar Pumpkin

1 Sugar pumpkin, 4-5 pounds
2 t Salt
1/2 t Dry mustard
2 T Rendered fat
1 lb Ground buffalo, venison or beef
1 Medium onion, chopped
1 c Cooked wild rice
3 Eggs, beaten
1 t Crushed, dried sage
1/4 t Pepper

Preheat oven to 350 deg F. Cut the top off the pumpkin and remove strings and seeds. Reserve seeds for another use. Prick the cavity with a fork and rub with 1 teaspoon salt and the mustard. Heat fat in a large skillet, add meat and onion and saute over medium-high heat until browned. Off the heat, stir in wild rice, eggs, remaining salt, sage and pepper. Stuff pumpkin with the meat mixture. Place 1/2" water in the bottom of a shallow baking pan. Put pumpkin in the pan and bake for 1 1/2 hours, or until tender. Add more water to the pan as neccessary to avoid sticking. To serve, cut pumpkin into wedges, giving each person pumpkin and stuffing.
Spirit of the Harvest

Garlic Herb Pasta with Egg on top

Serves 2 as a filling meal, serves 4 as a side dish.This may have been the best pasta I've ever made- and it's so easy! Garlic pasta is a dish made traditionally in northern Italy- especially (I'm pretty sure) in Emilia-Romagna. It's traditional to ladle a bit of very high quality balsamic vinegar over the dish. Here's my recipe:

1/2 head of Garlic
Olive Oil to generously coat saute pan
1/2 pound whole wheat pasta
1 bunch of parsley
1 bunch of basil
a few stems of oregano
4 eggs, fried or scrambled
2-4 tsp. balsamic vinegar (or lemon juice)
salt and pepper

First, boil water for pasta.

Then chop up all the herbs. Set aside.

In a saucepan, saute garlic in plenty of olive oil over medium heat. Let the garlic cook until it is translucent. Don't let the garlic brown, or else it will become bitter. As the garlic is cooking, fry eggs in another pan.

If eggs or garlic is ready early, just remove the pan from heat and cover with a lid.

Cook pasta in the waiting water, drain.

Separate pasta into bowls. Pour garlic saute over pasta, then mix in the fresh herbs. Sprinkle balsamic vinegar over pasta, then place eggs on top of dish. Salt and Pepper. If you wish, sprinkle some parmesan on top as well. Mange!

Tabouli

Here's the recipe for the awesome tabouli Kristin prepared for us at this Tuesday's work day, compliments of Caroline from Frankie Lappe’s "Diet for a Small Planet."

TABOULI (Zesty Lebanese Salad)

1. Pour 4 cups boiling water over 1 1/4 cups raw bulgur (cracked wheat) in a bowl. Let stand covered, about an hour, until light and fluffy. To remove excess water, shake in a strainer and squeeze with hands.

2. Combine Cooked Bulgur with

3/4 cup garbanzo beans, cooked or canned, rinsed and drained

1 1/2 cups fresh, minced parsley

3/4 cup fresh minced mint

3/4 cup chopped or sliced scallions

3 medium tomatoes chopped

1/2 cup (or more) lemon juice

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tsp salt (or to taste)

Freshly ground pepper to taste

3. Chill at least one hour. Serve on raw grape, lettuce or cabbage leaves.

Red Bean Dip

Mary Ellen reminded me to share this recipe for the Red Bean Sauce/ Dip I made at the first work day this year. Here it is! Also, I used this same recipe last night with black beans instead, and that was tasty too.
1 can of Red Beans (Kidney Beans), drained
1/4 cup Olive Oil
half a Jalapeno Pepper
2 splashes of Red Wine Vinegar (or a big splash of Apple Cider Vinegar)
2-3 cloves Garlic
splash of Water
Pepper Salt

Blend everything together in a blender. Great served as a crispy veggie dip or over a salad.

Cucumber Tabbouleh Salad

Kristin's tasty tabbouleh inspired me to make more!
But I didn't have any bulgur wheat.
And I didn't have any quinoa.
But what I did have was lots of cucumbers!
Here's what transpired:
2 Lemons, juice of
1/4 cup olive oil
4 cloves of garlic
1 tsp maple syrup or honey
.... Blend in blender. That's your dressing to put over the vegetable medley below:

Two big bunches of Parsley and one bunch of Mint
~wash herbs and chop finely.
4 cucumbers, copped fine
1 Tomato, chopped fine
cracked Pepper
(Sea Salt- but not until serving. Otherwise the salt will pull all the water from the cucumbers and there will just be a soupy mess.)

Arrange the vegetables in a pretty way on a plate before dressing. Or mix everything together, and make little bunnies with a few romaine leaves!

Citrus Radish Confit

9oz radishes
1/2 lemon zest & juice only
1/2 orange zest & juice only
2 tbsp sugar
1oz butter
Salt & pepper
Water to cover

Place all ingredients in a wide shallow pan, just enough water to cover ingredients . Bring to boil then simmer until all liquid is reduced down to a few tablespoons of rich buttery syrup. Serve warm.
Can be reheated.

Thanks, Mike!

Zucchini Lemon Lavender Blueberry Muffins

In the first bowl combine:

1 TBS Lemon Zest
1 TBS lavender buds
1 cup grated Zucchini
1 egg (or omit egg, and use 1/2 cup almond milk total)
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 almond milk (or any kind of milk)
1/4 cup orange juice (or lemon juice)
1 tsp vanilla extract

In second bowl combine:

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup corn meal or polenta
1 TBS baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp nutmeg

Mix each bowl so that the ingredients in each are well combined. Then add first bowl contents to second bowl. At this point, add:

1 to 1 1/2 cup fresh blueberries.

Combine everything gently. Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups.
Bake for 20-30 minutes in a 350 oven, or until golden brown.

Ideally, these muffins should have a tangy sweet topping. Here are two ideas:

~1/2 maple syrup + 1/4 cup orange juice, simmered in a saucepan until thickened, then drizzled over muffins when done baking.

~cinnamon sugar

Serve with a flower salad! The flowers pictured are from our garden and lawn. In the mix are: cilantro flowers, nasturtium, pansies, white clover (this grows wild), white clover leaves, dill flowers, and marigold petals. Flowers are the missing part of our diets- and they're so pretty and fun to eat! For pictures of a few more wild edible flowers, check out Sergei Boutenko's page here.

(I learned how to make vegan muffins from Meredith McCarty, who has an incredible baking cookbook called "Sweet and Natural". All the recipes in it use natural sugars like honey or maple syrup, and use only plant oils instead of butter or eggs.)

Sun Tea

Sun Tea can be made with whatever one might make regular tea! Sun tea has a fresh and vibrant taste achieved by the gradual heating of the water- it gently pulls the flavor of the herbs into the water.

I went around my garden and plucked things here and there (except the lemon- I plucked that from the refrigerator).
Here's what's in this tea:

Half of an organic Lemon, sliced very thin
Small handful of Mint
4 Stevia leaves*
1 stem of Thyme
4 Chamomile flowers
1 Lavender flower sprig
1 Raspberry Leaf
1 Strawberry Leaf

Use a big Mason jar. Rinse all the herbs. When putting green leaves into the jar, crush them in your fingers. This will help release the oils. Set outside in the sun, and let it sit there all afternoon. Serve tea over ice and garnish with flowers or fresh herbs.

Sometimes I like to leave mine out all night so it gets moonlight too!

*If you don't have stevie leaves (which make the tea sweet), perhaps try a little dollop of honey or maple syrup instead of the stevia.

Pad Thai Cabbage

INGREDIENTS (not pictured: bok choy) Sauce:
1 can Coconut Milk
1 Lemon, juice of
1/2 cup Almonds
2 Garlic Scapes
1 tsp Ginger Powder (fresh ginger is best if available)
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp fresh cracked pepper

Put all these through a blender or food processor.
Vegetable Part:
4 cups Green Cabbage
Pull off the outer leaves and stack for easier chopping. Slice thin, like so...
1 yellow squash, chopped
3 baby bok choys, chopped
2 carrots, shredded with a vegetable peeler (there's 3 carrots in the picture, but I only used 2)
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup basil, chopped
Mix sauce with vegetables, add a can of drained garbanzo beans, then garnish with herbs and sliced almonds.
Enjoy! I adapted this recipe from one in Rainbow Green Live Food Cuisine by Gabriel Cousens. He says that a good way to tenderize cabbage slices is by massaging sea salt into them before serving. That could also be accomplished by letting the sauce marinate the cabbage for some time before serving.

Bacon Kale Recipe

from Ron MacDonald...
I got this from Cooking Light many years ago. I ramp up the bacon, but will post their version.

4 slices of bacon
1 large onion
1 large bunch of kale

Dice 4 strips of bacon and fry in a large saute pan until completely crisp.
Remove the bacon pieces and set aside. Leave the bacon fat in the pan.
Cut the onion into strips and cook in the bacon fat until carmelized.
Clean the kale well and chop. Cook until well wilted in the bacon fat with the onions.
Toss the bacn bits with the kale and serve.

I add or subtract any ingredient depending on availabiliy and mood. If the bacon is very lean, I use more. I sometimes load up on the onions. White beans added at the end work well, too. Basically, this is a base for lots of variations. Enjoy!

Ron

Kale Scape Pizza

Feeds 4 people well.
Ingredients......

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
Olive Oil for sauteing
1 bunch of Kale
10 Garlic Scapes
10 Garlic Cloves
2 TBS Dulse Seaweed
1 can olives
1 small jar artichoke hearts
1-2 cups shredded cheese (mozzarella is great)
2 cups tomato sauce (this isn't necessary. You can dress your pizza with more olive oil instead, or pesto, or fresh tomatoes sliced thin)
Handful of fresh Thyme
1 generous cup of fresh herbs, mixed: parsley, oregano, basil

Start with the pizza dough. The link above has a great recipe. It says to rise the dough twice, but I don't bother with that. Once it rises after about 20 minutes, I shape the dough into a pizza and put on the toppings. So then, first mix up the dough and set it aside to rise.

While it's rising, make the toppings. In a saucepan, saute garlic, scapes, kale, and dulse. Notice how the kale is shredded with kitchen scissors here, making it easier to eat on pizza.
When the kale is soft, remove the pan from heat and set aside. Chop up the olives and artichoke hearts. Strip the thyme leaves from their stem. Then, take your risen pizza dough, knead it out, then stretch it out into a pizza circle. Now sprinkle all the thyme over the dough and roll it in with a rolling pin or jar. For more flavor, also roll in some garlic salt or cracked pepper.

Place dough on the baking sheet and make your pizza! Sauce first, then toppings and cheese, salt and pepper. Bake for about 20 minutes at 425 in the oven. While it's baking, chop up your cup of fresh herbs. Right before serving, sprinkle all the fresh herbs over pizza. Maybe with some red pepper flakes! Enjoy!

Cilantro Salad

Salad is composed of:
Butter Lettuce
Cilantro, cut up with kitchen scissors
Dill
Radishes

Salad Dressing. These ingredients all get blended together in a blender:
2 cups cilantro
1 cup olive oil
juice of 6 limes
splash of water
Handful of dried apricots

Veggie Cobb Salad

Make a bed of Romaine Lettuce or Spinach. On top of that add:
Toasted Pecans
Hardboiled Eggs
Thinly Sliced Red Onions
Lots of fresh Thyme

In a saucepan on low medium heat, let simmer for at least 15 minutes...
1 cup butter
3/4 cup honey
about 15 stems worth of thyme leaves

Right before serving, pour hot dressing over salad.

Wilted Summer Greens, by Jo Judd

WILTED SUMMER GREENS ( really you can make it year round)

A great recipe for using greens from the CSA. I pick up our veggies on Wednesdays and anything left in the fridge goes either into this recipe or into a pot of soup on Tuesdays all summer long. Or you can just make it on purpose.

(The measurements for ingredients is at the end of the directions)

Saute onions and garlic in butter (or oil if you prefer)

for a few minutes, then add the finely chopped stems of the greens, and cook until soft.

Add sliced tomatoes, and cook a few minutes. Then add the chopped leaves of the greens and cover the pan. Cook until wilted --about 5 minutes.

Add basil ( I actually used some frozen pesto I made last summer from DTE CSA last summer because the basil isn't ready yet. Also add a half a medium knob of grated fresh ginger, ( To keep fresh ginger around all the time, put some medium sized knobs in the freezer in a plastic bag or freezer container.) You can grate the frozen ginger directly into whatever dish you are making, adding it near the end. Cook another minute after adding the basil and ginger). thats it!

You can serve this over quinoa, pasta, rice, or couscous or mix it into risotto ( or any of the above) with some grated hard cheese.

Approximate quantities of ingredients to serve two hungry people for a meal or four people as a side dish:

4 tablespoons of butter or olive or grapeseed oil

1 large onion

1 red onion

2 cloves garlic

3 plum or 2 regular tomatoes chopped

4 cups (about 2 pounds) any greens mixed ( I used kale, collards, beet greens, and asian greens on Sunday) (Other greens to use when available are chard, turnip, sorrel, mustard,)

1/2 cup chopped basil

2 tablespoons (approx) grated fresh ginger (or you can use ground ginger if you like it better)

salt and freshly ground pepper ( I didn't put in any last Sunday )

Cilantro Dip

1 full handful of Cilantro
1 Avocado
2 splashes of Olive Oil
small Lemon
2-3 Garlic Cloves, or 1 Garlic Scape
splash of Water
Sea Salt to taste

Blend all in a blender. Tasty with nachos or on top of a salad!

Spinach!

Spring Spinach is popping up fresh for the harvest! Spinach has a lot of star power already- it doesn't need much primping to be delicious. Here's a few spinach prep ideas....

Spinach sauteed with Olive Oil and Garlic as a side

Spinach in a Salad: Drizzle a Hot Dressing (some kind of warmed fat like butter or olive oil) over the spinach just before serving. The spinach will wilt a bit to make chewing easier.

Spinach in sauces: shred and throw into any kind of Italian-flavored dish, or how about mixing spinch into a curry coconut milk sauce? It goes great with lentils!

Spinach can be used like an herb! Mix fresh chopped parsley and shredded spinach, and mix in with a hot grain just after it has finished cooking. Tastes great with couscous, rice, millet, and quinoa.

Spinach in a Stir Fry!

Spinach in Scrambled Eggs!

Spinach on Our Heads! (that's the food fight recipe:)

Here's one of my recipes that I love to serve for Brunch...

Florentine Eggs Benedict (serves two)
4 local Eggs, poached
3-4 mounded handfuls of fresh D2E SPINACH, then steamed
2 Ezekiel sprouted grain English muffins, toasted
organic Cream Cheese
zest of 1 Lemon
handful of Parsley
a few chopped Green Onions
Garlic Powder
fresh cracked Pepper
Sea Salt

Mix yer cream cheese with: lemon zest, parsley, green onions, garlic powder, pepper and salt. Spread cream cheese mixture onto the toasted English Muffins, then pile drained steamed spinach atop the cream cheese, then gently place eggs atop the spinach. Garnish with green onions and cracked pepper!