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 )