white veggie chili

My partner always raves about a white chicken chilie his mom used to make when he was young, so I thought seeing as she was here visiting us that I would try my hand at the memorable dish. I opted to use tofu rather than chicken, but nobody missed the bird. They both enjoyed the chili and I will certainly make this again. It was rich and deep and filling, and was the perfect way to end a day of summer thunderstorms.

In a large deep soup pot combine and fry the following:

1 large yellow onion diced fine

4 toes of garlic chopped

3 hearty portabello mushrooms cubes

2 large carrots diced

1 brick of firm tofu

brown everything for about 10 minutes on a good glug (or two) of olive oil

At this stage in soup making I like to fill up the electric kettle and get it boiling (often i do this 2 or maybe three times over the course of a day)

Once  the onion and tofu is nice and golden add :

the kernels from 2 ears of fresh organic corn

2 cups of cauliflower florets

2 cups of white navy beans (soaked overnight+)

about 8 cups of boiling water along with the following seasonings:

a little handful each of finely diced fresh herbs from the garden; chive, oregano, parsley, basil and thyme

S+P

2 tbsp lemon peel dried

2 tbsp hot chili flakes

white pepper a pinch

2 tbsp light miso blended well into the stock

allow this all to bubble away over low medium heat for as long as you have.

about 20 minutes before you are ready to serve to throw in 1 cup of qunioa and 3 cups of milk or cream (the milk we use is raw and farm fresh so it has a heavy heavy layer of cream which I glugged into the soup.. maybe half cream and half milk would fetch similar results, if you don’t enjoy the luxury of farm freah milk) alternatively un-sweetened almond milk is perfectly suited for the job however I might thicken it with a Tbsp or two of potato starch.

once the quinoa sprouts it’s little tail, your ready to serve it up, garnish each serving with some fresh herbs and your all set.

This is lovely with some corn chips and grilled avocado guacamole

garden greens + hemp kiwi dressing

There are so many  greens and shoots and edible flowers popping up these days from the garden! My salad bar is back and it is fabulous!

The other evening we enjoyed a pot luck at a friends house up the river, I brought this garden salad with a really nice hemp kiwi dressing, but far more impressive than anything we ate was the show we got to enjoy: a fire dance accompanied by a chello along with a thundering lively lighting show, while sitting around the camp fire with our fabulous brew co-op wine in hand!

magical summer evenings.

I have been spending lots of time in the garden and on the lake these days, and although I am making lots of lovely meals for our revoloving door of guests I haven’t been taking the time to write about them all… so I am starting the process of going through images of meals past to reveal some recipes and do some posting, in all my free time!

This salad was simple any green assortment I pulled from the garden along with some thin cucumber slices, kiwi slices, shaved cabbage, edibale flowers and a handful of hemp seeds.

The kiwi dressing :

1 part hemp oil

1 part apple cider vinegar

2 juiced kiwi fruits

1 part olive oil

S+P

finely minced fresh chive and basil about 1 tbsp each

and about 3 tbsp black sesame seeds.

toss before serving and enjoy!

* the picture below is my evening dinner collections complete with the first lovely easter egg radishes that don;t have much chance to get to the table between me and my daughter and our snacking.

brown rice sugar pea stir fry

This dinner takes a few pans and a few steps but is plated in about 25 minutes and the ultra dose of deliciousness makes the extra dishes worth while!

simple summer hemp tabouli

There is nothing like a fresh bunch of parsley to make one crave tabouli salad, bright and green, fresh and crisp. My mother in law is visiting this week and she came home from the local market with a huge bunch of organic parsley, and immediatly I put the couscous on!

quickly boil 1 cup of water along with a glug of brags and season with S+P and lemon peel, add 1 cup of couscous, stir and remove from heat and cover, set aside for 5 minutes.

meanwhile finely chop 1 bunch of fresh parsley and toss it in a large bowl.

give the lot a good glug of olive oil as well as hemp oil (about 1/4 cup+ total)

add 3 cloves of minced garlic

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

season with S+P

add 1/2 cup hemp hearts

Once the couscous has sat for 5 minutes, fluff it with a fork and add it to the parsley with, toss and refrigerate for an hour, then enjoy!

This is lovely when you substitute millet for couscous to make it gluten and wheat free!

 

homestead cheese please!

I am so grateful to be surrounded by friends who make cheese of all sorts! From the experienced goat cheese makers up the valley, who bless us with lovely raw milk each week and have perfected the art of feta and herbed chèvre, to our dutch jersery farmer friends making picture perfect gouda, to my fellow urban transplant girlfriend who has just started making goat cheese.. and is well on her way in the art of fine cheese making… with stunning little wheels of chalk white chèvre. I adore them all… my friends and their cheese’s.

Did I mention cheese is my favourite food group? When I used to own my bakeries, people always said how can you have a cookie shop and not be fat? and I always answered because I don’t own a poutine shop. Simple truth.Though I am without cow or goat or sheep for that matter at this time, it has always been my agenda to move to the country, raise goats and make cheese. Usually I am happily 1/3 of the way there.. but yesterday I whipped up a quick and easy batch of farmers / paneer cheese, with my surplus of both cow and goat milk.

It was painfully simple to make and doesn’t amount to much when compared to any of my friends curds… but it took no time, purposed my surplus milks, and it was fun. Because this paneer recipe uses no rennet it doesn’t have much in the way of depth of flavor.. it is an incredibly mild soft cheese, but torn coarsely and mixed with fresh basil and a long sweet red pepper minced up, a pinch of sea salt + a touch of hot chili flakes… and all of the sudden it’s the perfect salad and taco topper which is precisely where these dainty little curds will end up as we camp and canoe along the lake this weekend.

Basically I boiled 12 cups of milk (blended goat and cow.. which is likly is a cheese making sin.. but hey I am a newbie and don’t like to play by the rules much anyway)

Once the milk came to a boil (in a deep bottomed stainless pot) I slowly stirred and added 3/4 cup of organic lemon juice mixed into 1/2 cup of water. After about 3 minutes of stirring gently I removed the lot from the heat and continued to move the curds around for about 5 minutes.

I then strained everything into a tiny mesh cotton produce bag inside a colander, and let the curd drain. After about 30 minutes I added a weighted bowl and left the cheese for about 3 hours, then crumbled it and set it in a covered bowl in the fridge.. ready for herbs and eating. Surprisingly the texture was really really nice, not at all rubbery, it actually reminded me of nice cheddar curd (without the cheddary aged kick of course)

So the moral of my storey is, you don’t have to be a milk maid to make cheese, it’s not as scary as it sounds, and for the whole 15 minutes of effort it takes it is well worth your time. give it a try! and now I must bid you ado as the lake is to calling me…

I have added this post to a FIGHT BACK FRIDAY : FOOD RENEGADE blog circle, to read more article like this from folks fearlessly eating raw milk, SOLE food, and connecting with their food source just like me check it out here! Us Renegades should stick together!

hemp pesto + mint meatballs

My most favourite girlfriend from the city spent a few nights with us here on the home-front for the Canada Day long weekend and we made and enjoyed a really lovely meal together last night… hemp seed basil pesto on corn spaghetti with a bed of maple caramelized onions and tasty little hemp and mint meatballs, made with our ‘oh so local down the lane neighbours, lovely organic beef. Dinner was smashing and even her insanely picky carnivore fellow enjoyed the dish. (Even though I am sure he was wondering where I hide the tofu?)

This whole meal started with a bright bursting-ly summer fresh bag of basil from my local organic greenhouse gal and the lingering taste of Lebanese fatayia (little pillows of toasted white bread dough lovingly wrapped around mint and tomato infused beef) which she made and brought with her, which we enjoyed late at night with good wine.

hemp pesto

In a processors blend:

1 large onion

5 toes of garlic

remove half of the mix and keep it in a big mixing bowl to use for the meatballs

Now add 3 huge handfuls of fresh basil

the juice of 1 + 1/2 lemons

1 cup of hemp hearts

S+P

and a good heavy glug of hemp oil

a pinch of chili pepper flakes

and finish with a drizzle of a nice olive oil

puree until smooth and silky

this batch yields about 500ml of pesto and we used 1/2 of the jar to season 4 dishes of pasta.

mint hemp meatballs

In the large bowl set aside with onion and garlic mince (from the pesto) add:

1 lb organic ground beef

1 egg

1/2 cup hemp seeds

S+P

about 2 tbsp each; fresh basil, mint and flat leaf parsley,

and about 1 tbsp each; chilli powder and lemon rind

mix by hand and roll into desired size meatballs

set balls onto parchment pan and bake at 375 for about 35 minutes

While the meatballs are baking you can slowly caramelize 2 onions in butter and maple syrup, and cook your noodles of choice.

toss the pasta along with a little reserved pasta water with the pesto, and top with the meatballs (which were fresh and bright with the divine addition of the mint) and onions.

you are certain to enjoy this.