Smoothie Kick

I've been on a green smoothie kick lately. It started with Lydia's babysitter. She would whip one up when she got to our house in the mornings and would often share with me. I was hooked.



I started making them myself a few weeks ago, and I love it! Here's the basic recipe I use.

1 cup flavored Kefir (I usually use strawberry or peach because that's what they have at Kroger)
1 large handful of greens (I've used kale, swiss chard, and spinach)
1/2 banana
1/2 cup fruit (raspberries, strawberries, mango, etc)
1 Tbsp black chia seeds (for fiber to feel full)
1 Tbsp flax seeds (protein for sustained energy)

Blend on low, then high until smooth. Add 1 cup ice if you like yours chilled. Blend on high until all ice is blended.

So, depending on what fruit you add, the smoothie will probably be brown or gray. Not green. But that doesn't bother me. I feel great getting in so many fruits and veggies first thing in the morning. I do find that sometimes I need a mid-morning snack when I just have a smoothie, so I keep Autumn Wheat Kashi at my desk to munch on.

Kombucha Tea: My New Favorite

Have y'all tried it? This "Trilogy" flavor is good. Kombucha, raspberry juice, lemon juice, and ginger juice. I love the sour flavor.

According to multiple articles, the stuff is better for you than soft drinks.
http://www.refinery29.com/kombucha
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/09/30/226531998/kombucha-magical-health-elixir-or-just-funky-tea

Oh, and the pic is my desk at work today.

- Posted from my iPhone using BlogPress

How I Cooked It: Mustard Greens

My weekly CSA box from Yokna Bottoms Farms has contained mustard greens the past three weeks. At least I think they are mustard greens. They definitely aren't collards, but I guess they could be turnip greens. Point being, I really don't know what they are, which is why I had a hard time finding ways to use them.

As always, Susan Voisin over at the Fat Free Vegan Kitchen had a good recipe for me to try: Balsamic-Glazed Chickpeas and Mustard Greens. 

Photo credit: FatFreeVegan.com

I made a few adjustments to the recipe, so here is my version.

Mustard Greens with Glazed White Beans

Ingredients:
2 large bunches mustard greens
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 15 oz can of Great Northern beans
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp low-sodium soy sauce
2 tsp oyster sauce

Directions:

1. Remove stems from greens, tear leaves into bite-sized pieces, and soak leaves is a large bowl of cool water to remove grit. Agitate the leaves a bit, and the grit will settle to the bottom. Remove leaves from water by grabbing them and placing in a colander. Do not pour out the greens & water! The grit should stay in the bottom of the bowl. 
2. In a deep saute pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat and add onions. Saute the onion until translucent, then add garlic and red pepper flakes. Saute for a minute more. Add mustard greens and 1/4 cup water and cover for 5 minutes to allow the greens to wilt to a bright green (do not overcook). 
3. Remove greens and onions from the pan with a slotted spoon, allowing liquid to drain into the pan, and place greens in a bowl. 
4. To the remaining liquid in the pan, add balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, and oyster sauce. Add beans. Cook, stirring occasionally, over medium-high heat until the liquid is almost gone and the beans have a nice glaze over them. 
5. To serve, spoon the greens onto serving plates and top with glazed beans. Top with remaining glaze.

I had it for lunch today over brown basmati rice - it was really yummy! I'd say that 2 bunches of greens cooks down to about 2 servings. Not nearly as much as I thought it would be. Stemming and washing greens is a ton of work for not a lot of reward because you get so little food from a TON of greens. I will say though that the greens from the farm were really clean to begin with, so I didn't have to be super vigilant about soaking and rinsing them. 

Next up I need a recipe for all the green bell peppers I had in this week's box. I am not a fan of green bell peppers, so I may make up freezer mirepoix like I did with the last batch... perfect for quick weekday soup making.

How I Cooked It: Carrots

We got carrots in our box from Yokna Bottoms Farm two weeks in a row. The first week I snipped off the green tops and put the carrots in the fridge. When I got them the second week I still hadn't used my previous batch, so I thought... Time for carrot salad. My most favorite carrot salad is this one, heavily modified from two different carrot salad recipes in "The Art of Simple Food" by Alice Waters.
Ingredients:
6-8 little carrots, grated using a food processor
1/2 teaspoon each of ground cumin and coriander
juice of 1/2 fresh lemon
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Optional: 2 tablespoons chopped parsley or cilantro
Directions:
Toss the grated carrots with the cumin and coriander. Add lemon juice, olive oil, vinegar, and herbs to the carrots and toss gently. Taste for seasoning and add salt and lemon juice as needed.
I served the carrot salad over mixed greens, also from YBF, with the chicken with mushrooms in Madeira wine sauce from Come On In.

- Posted from my iPhone using BlogPress

How I Cooked It: Snow Peas

I've always wanted to try a CSA. This year when Yokna Bottoms Farms offered to deliver CSA shares to FNC (the company I work for) every Tuesday at 3pm, I knew I had to sign up. Cooking in the moment with fresh ingredients is one of my favorite things to do, so I thought it might be fun to share what I've cooked with the veggies from Yokna Bottoms.
So far I've had lots of lettuce and radishes for salads. Yum yum. We've also had an abundance of Chinese cabbage, and I've used it in many stir-fries with pork and noodle or tofu and mushrooms.
This week we had snow peas. Chip is under the weather, so I made Asian Chicken Noodle Soup. The recipe is one I've made many many times, clipped from Food + Wine. In addition to the farm's snow peas, I used four of the many spring onions we've gotten in our box. This soup is so good! Ready in 30 minutes.

- Posted from my iPhone using BlogPress

It's a Celebration

Tonight we are celebrating the birth of our daughter. Chip is making dinner. The starter is a watermelon salad with roasted figs, feta, manchego, and balsamic dressing. Then for dinner, filets and rosemary roasted potatoes.






We opened a 2005 Bond Matriarch from our Napa collection from our visit a few years ago. Wine, I sure have missed you!

I'll update the blog tomorrow with all the details about the birth of my beautiful daughter, Lydia Grace.


- Posted from my iPhone using BlogPress

Late Winter Dinner

I tried out two new recipes for dinner tonight. The first is cinnamon and cayenne roasted sweet potatoes. The second is the "Crackling Cauliflower" they have at the Whole Foods deli. It is cauliflower roasted with Indian spices, reminiscent of aloo gobi.

The sweet potatoes were OK. I miss my huge rosemary plant... My favorite preparation for sweet potatoes is to roast them with rosemary and kosher salt. It is always so good. The cinnamon and cayenne was just so-so. To do list for the summer: get a rosemary plant and find some sun to grow it in!

The Crackling Cauliflower was fantastic! I've never actually had it at Whole Foods before, but I've seen it in the deli. Last week I bought a purple cauliflower at Kroger with another recipe in mind, but tonight I decided I needed something quick and easy, and this cauliflower dish fit the bill.



It kinda looks like broccoli in this photo, but I assure you, it's much better than roasted broccoli.

Crackling Cauliflower recipe: http://www.themeasuringcup.com/recipeDetail.asp?id=24

And here's a better photo, courtesy of peasandthankyou.com.

Beans and Rice?

Beans and rice... Can you believe that it is one of our favorite meals? But not just any beans and rice. The Black Beans with Yellow Rice from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Suppers cookbook will make you change your mind about this health food.

It starts with basmati rice cooked with coconut milk, turmeric, and saffron, then builds on flavor with black beans seasoned with chipole chiles and cumin. Pickled red onions are almost the best part of the whole dish, especially for someone like me who craves an acidic counterpoint.


Please try this dish. You won't be disappointed.

Adapted from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Suppers

Black Beans with yellow rice

Pickled Onions

•  1/2 large red onion, thinly sliced
• kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• apple cider vinegar

Toss the sliced onion with a pinch of salt and the sugar. Cover with the vinegar. They'll soften and turn bright pink in about 20 minutes, and will keep for about 5 days in the refrigerator.

Coconut Rice

• 1 1/2 cups  basmati rice
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 2 pinches of saffron threads
• 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Bring 2 cups water and the coconut milk to a boil with the saffron and turmeric.  Add the rice and salt, cover the pan, and cook over low heat until the rice is done, about 20 minutes.

Black Beans

• 2 teaspoons peanut oil
• 1 green pepper, finely diced
• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/3 cup chopped cilantro, plus leaves for garnish
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon or ground chipotle chile
• 2 15-ounce cans organic black beans plus their juice (about 3 cups)
• 1 scant cup coconut milk (or all the coconut milk remaining from the rice)
• 2 limes, 1 juiced, 1 cup into 4 wedges

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan.  Add the pepper, onion, bay leaf, and cilantro, and cook, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes.  Add the garlic, cumin, and chipotle, then the beans and coconut milk.  Bring to a boil and simmer until hot.  Season with salt and add fresh lime juice to taste.

2.  To serve, scoop the hot rice into a bowl, spoon beans on top of the rice, and garnish with the cilantro leaves, pickled onions, and lime wedges.

Chance of Snow

So, what do you do when it is cold and rainy and there's a chance of snow?

You make hot chocolate. With bourbon. Or, in my case, Malibu rum. The recipe, complete with cardamom pods, was inspired by chef Maria Hines at Tilth Restaurant in Seattle. YUM.

It's Been A While...

So I am going to try to ease back into this. Today I am testing brunch recipes for a baby shower I'm hosting in a few weeks for Leah. I made my favorite muffin recipe - Morning Glory muffins - and modified it for mini-muffins. Morning Glory muffins are filled with goodies: carrot, apple, pineapple, raisins, nuts, and cinnamon spice. Little nuggets of fall.









-- Post From My iPhone

Pumpkin Parfait with Granola

Casey, a good friend of mine and fellow blogger on A Five-Leaf Clover, has a link to a food blog called Healthy Food for Living. I was browsing through those recipes back in October and decided I had to try to the Pumpkin Parfaits. Mmmmm... Chip and I are big fans of yogurt and granola. With the addition of lightly sweetened pumpkin, I thought these would be divine. And they were!
I took a few shortcuts with mine, and they were still delicious. I have a few cans of organic pumpkin pie filling that I bought on sale at the grocery store last year that have been waiting all year for the perfect recipe. I added maple syrup and a little extra cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice to the canned pumpkin mixture. For the yogurt, I didn't have any greek yogurt on hand - just regular plain yogurt - so I lined a seive with paper towels and poured in the plain yogurt to let some of the water drain out. After 30 minutes of draining in the refrigerator, the regular plain yogurt is thicker and creamier. Then, I made the yummy parfaits. Pumpkin-spiced granola was sprinkled between layers of pumpkin pudding and yogurt. I topped the parfaits with local honey. Yum!

Dinner Recap

So, here is how everything turned out.

The rice was really good. I used this recipe from the PBS show America's Test Kitchen. This rice turned out perfectly - not at all sticky. Very fluffy and flavorful.

The naan was AWESOME. These naan were chewy and had a great balance of salty and slightly sweet. I made the dough on Tuesday night and refrigerated it after the first rise. Then, on Wednesday while I made the other dishes I let it come to room temperature and rise again. Right before our guests arrived I pulled off bits of dough, rolled out the rounds, and grilled it on the grill pan. I really wish I had more time to make homemade bread. It just tastes so good.

The chicken tikka masala turned out really good, too. The sauce is really flavorful. I took the advice of a lot of the recipe reviewers on AllRecipes and cut down on the amount of salt. Also, I had to add more cayenne (to taste) because it just wasn't spicy enough for our bunch.

And lastly, the saag paneer. This dish was probably my least favorite out of all of them. I was rushed while making it, and I think that showed in the final dish. It really needed more salt and flavor. Now that we are eating the leftovers I've added more salt and it is MUCH better.

I have the next two Mondays off, and I am so looking forward to it! This weekend I plan to do some work in the garden. The area that I worked on earlier this year really took the hot, dry summer weather hard. All of the azaleas that I moved and planted are dead. The juniper is dead. Even the ornamental grass is dead. Fall is a much better season for moving and transplanting plants, so I hope I can finally put some life into this ugly spot in my garden.

Next weekend we are going camping at a local state park. I am really looking forward to kayaking on the lake and roasting marshmellows by the fire. Fun times!

More Birthday Dinner Photos

Things got pretty crazy at my house after work yesterday. Chip came back from Louisiana with lots of beer. He assembled the cheese plate, and I cooked rice, heated up the chicken tikka masala, made saag paneer, and rolled out naan dough. When the first guests showed up, I was very close to having dinner finished. Chip poured me a glass of Riesling, and the birthday celebration began. I grilled naan on the grill pan and placed the completed dishes in the oven to keep warm.

I don't have photos of the finished dishes, but we do have yummy leftovers, and I plan to take some photos tonight. I did take some photos of the dining room after I set the table yesterday. I am proud of the way everything came together.

Homemade Paneer (Indian Cheese)

Maybe I am crazy -- I don't know. I've finalized the menu for Chip's Indian birthday feast. So, here goes...

Appetizer/Cheese Plate: Roquefort, Parmigiano-Reggiano, Savannah Bee Tupelo honey with raw honeycomb, red Bartlett pears, toasted walnuts, crackers.

Dinner: Chicken Tikka Masala, Saag Paneer, basmati rice, Naan

Dessert: German Chocolate cake (purchased at Crazy Cat Bakers) decorated with candy corn and candles (by me)

Today, I made the paneer for the saag paneer and the chicken tikka. I've heard you can buy paneer at the Indian grocery store or maybe Fresh Market, but I didn't feel like driving all the way out there. The recipe did not look that difficult, so I gave it a try.

First, I had to heat one gallon of whole milk to a boil.

Milk very quickly boils over if you aren't watching it, so I had to watch it like a hawk and stir it to keep the bottom from scorching. As soon as the milk came to a boil, I took it off the heat and added 1/4 cup of white vinegar. The curds (solids) immediately began to separate from the whey (liquids).I let it cool for a few minutes while I lined a colander with cheesecloth. I actually couldn't find cheesecloth at Kroger, but Chip found some in the paint aisle at Home Depot.

I placed the cheesecloth-lined colander in the sink and slowly poured in the hot curds and whey, making sure the whey did not pool in the bottom of the sink.I lightly salted the top of the cheese curds, wrapped them in the excess cloth, and let them sit in the sink for about an hour while they cooled and drained.
Later, I placed another heavy pot on top of the cheese and put two 10-pound weights in it. This helped press out all of the whey so that I had a firm cheese that could be cubed.

I let the cheese drain under the press for about 4 hours. I think with the 20-pounds I had on top of it, 4 hours was a bit too long. The cheese was firmer than I would have liked it to be.Unfortunately, this is the point at which I forgot to continue to take photos. To finish the cheese, I cubed it, sauteed it in a little bit of canola oil, and let it drain and cool on a paper towel. Now my beautiful homemade paneer is in the refrigerator, just waiting to be eaten in some yummy saag on Wednesday night.

I also marinated and grilled the chicken for the Chicken Tikka Masala last night. Our house smelled amazing as it grilled on the grill pan.

Yum!!

Chip has band practice tonight, so I'll be busy cooking and getting ready for the party. Tonight, I am making the masala sauce for the Chicken Tikka Masala and making and refrigerating the bread dough for the naan. More photos to come!

My Grandmother's Garden

On Saturday I stopped by my Grandma Cain's house in Sallis, Mississippi for a visit. July 10th is a significant day for us, so I wanted to see her and give her big hugs and kisses. She fed me lunch of homegrown purple hull peas, snap beans, corn, and squash dressing. There were mashed potatoes and baked chicken, too.

My grandparents' garden always amazes me. In their summer garden they grow tomatoes, yellow summer squash, zucchini, cucumbers, butter beans, purple hull peas, snap beans, and corn. I am sure there are other things that I am forgetting about. I don't think a single day goes by when there isn't at least one of those homegrown vegetables on the table. In the summer, you can usually find all of those vegetables on the table at one meal. And, they don't just grow a few of each of those vegetables. My grandmother grew up in a large family, and she has never wanted to scale back the garden. At 80 years old, she still grows enough produce for at least ten families.

Oh, I forgot to mention there are also plums, peaches, figs, watermelons, honeydew, and cantaloupe.

Her flower garden is dear to my heart. Since I rented my first house I've tried to recreate it on what ever patch of land I've had. In the back there are the dark orange sunflowers that she loves so much. There is a rose-of-sharon, yellow and peach gladioli, cleome, and marigolds. And then there are the zinnias. All in shades of purple, just like she likes them.







I brought some zinnias home with me and put them in a mason jar to remind me of her special home.

Another Summer Salad

This week I pulled out another salad recipe from my summer arsenal. This recipe combines crusty wheat bread with feta cheese, basil, balsamic dressing, and tomatoes. The surprise in this recipe is the edamame. I clipped this recipe from Better Homes and Gardens quite a few years ago, and I have to admit that I didn't even try it until last summer. The combination of ingredients didn't really appeal to me at first. But out of necessity last summer to make something with some leftovers, I pulled out this recipe and gave it a try. I was so impressed! First of all, the feta, yogurt, and basil spread that goes on the bread is divine. I can eat it by itself with crackers. Then the sweet bite of the tomatoes and crunchiness of the beans really takes it up a notch. Definitely give this recipe a try soon!



EDAMAME BREAD SALAD
3/4 cup feta cheese
1/2 cup Greek yogurt or plain low-fat yogurt
2 Tbsp. snipped fresh basil
1 small clove garlic, minced
2 12-oz. pkgs. frozen soybeans (edamame)
1-1/2 lbs. fresh green beans, trimmed
1 recipe Balsamic Dressing, below
2 cups yellow cherry tomatoes, halved
12 slices crusty country bread, toasted
Fresh basil leaves

In bowl combine feta cheese and yogurt. Using fork mash into paste. Add basil and garlic, mash to blend. Season with salt and pepper. Refrigerate, covered, up to 8 hours.
In saucepan bring 8 cups lightly salted water to boiling. Add soybeans and green beans; return to boiling. Reduce heat and cook, covered, 6 to 8 minutes or until tender. Drain; cool. Prepare Balsamic Dressing.
Add tomatoes to bean mixture. Drizzle 1/2 of dressing; toss to coat. Refrigerate, covered, up to 8 hours. Toss before serving.
Spread feta mixture on bread slices; place slice on serving plate; mound bean mixture on top. Drizzle remaining dressing; sprinkle basil.

Balsamic Dressing:
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons each balsamic vinegar and red wine vinegar
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, lightly packed
2 tablespoons whipping cream

In blender combine first 5 ingredients; blend until smooth. Add cream; blend to mix. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Summer Cocktails

On Sunday night, Chip made us two yummy, warm-weather cocktails. For me, a Pink Salty Dog. For himself, a Blackberry-Mint Julep. Both recipes I'd clipped from Martha Stewart a few years ago.
My salty dog was so delicious! It reminded me of a grapefruit flavored margarita. I didn't try the julep because I'm not really a fan of bourbon, but Chip said it was delicious, too.