seedy quinoa power salad

The perfect use for left over quinoa! A super seedy omega protein salad. As with rice and beans and lentils, when ever I cook quinoa I always cook enough to make a salad with the next day, even if you just add a scoop to the top of a green salad, it’s a nice addition. Anyway this was just a big fridge clean salad, complete with dressing made while standing in the fridge door.

 

2 cups of cooked quinoa

finely diced veggies:

2 small tomatoes

3 bunches of red kale

1/2 cucumber

2 green onions

1 cup of a small red cabbage shredded

 

Toss veggies with quinoa and add the following seeds:

1/2 cup hemp seeds

1/4 cup flax seeds

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

 

drizzle with equal parts:

hemp or flax oil (walnut oil would be really yummy too)

apple cider vinegar

 

season with:

S+P

lemon zest

 

toss and enjoy, or put it in a mason jar and take it for a hike in the woods to keep you going!

 

almond butter pad thai and citrus spinach salad

I know it has been a long time since my last post because when I went to find a picture for a recipe and found I have 5 images waiting to post! I guess I have some homework to do…. I have been really swamped with gardening, and getting ready for a little one year in the valley celebration this past long weekend, at least I have still been snapping pictures of the tasty bits along the way.

Everything here is getting green and blooming, and the little chards and collards are popping their heads out if the mulch, little purple artisan lettuce’s are lapping up the rainy drizzle and I am waiting for them all to grace out table. Tonight after running to town and rushing around the valley, I came home with two simple ingredients: rice noodles & goat feta from up the river.

I made two quick and delicious light dishes tonight that went beautifully together; an almond butter tofu pad thai with hemp seeds and a citrus spinach salad with feta and cabbage, complete with miso hemp dressing. yum and yum.

This salad is super simple: spinach, one orange, some purple cabbage shaved thin, fresh goat feta, sunflower seeds, and a little shaved carrot all snuggled up in  my new favourite miso hemp dressing.

roasted roots n rice

A simple way to celebrate the lonely beet and the often over look carrot … roast them with honey and herbs and serve them on a bed of sticky rice and greens!

Making dinner with an sparse fridge is often a challenge, for me town day is once a week and until my garden wakes up I often find myself out of inspiring greens by weeks end and struggling to create a healthy hearty, meat and potato free dinner. I rely often on rice, lentils, beans and greens. This dish was a total off the cuff, whim that turned out really great. What I found in my fridge was 2 beets 4 carrots and half a bunch of swiss chard, what I created amounted to much more than that!

cook

2 cups of brown rice

cut season and roast

2 beets and 4 carrots cut into uniform (thick fry) 2” pieces

toss the root veggies in organic vegetable oil, season with S+P, cumin, granulated garlic, and dried lemon rind. Roast in a small cast iron pan at 425º for about 30 minutes. Once roasted squeeze 1 heaping Tbsp of honey over the veggies, quickly toss and return to a hot oven for 5 more minutes.

Fry in a large deep pan

1 yellow onion sliced thin

2 cloves of garlic minced

season with S+P

cumin seed (whole)

once golden reduce heat to low and add in finely sliced swiss chard or kale (small bunch)

top with lemon juice and braggs (about 2 tbsp each) and remove from heat. Once the rice is cooked add it to the large frying pan, along with 4 eggs whisked together well. Toss everything with the egg mixture and and allow to sit covered for about 5 minutes. The egg should be cooked but not visible as egg, it simply adds a silky coating to everything. Finish rice with a good drizzle of miso hemp dressing and a sprinkle of nutritional yeast. Serve topped with roasted root veggies and enjoy. For a vegan dish simply omit the egg and add a little extra dressing!

greens gratin

It’s not everyday I cook up 3 huge bundles of bitter leafy greens and the dish is licked clean, but today I pulled out an old trick from my mom bag and just covered everything in cheese! Mmm It was the right call. I made this gratin gluten free by using quinoa flour and I also used almond milk and oil, rather than butter and cream, it’s far from vegan because I slathered it in Edam cheese, but this dish could easily be made vegan just by omiting the cheese, making a larger batch of béchamel and punching up the spices and miso in the white sauce, in this case I would top it with bread crumbs rather than more cheese)

Finely chop and wash

1 small bundle of swiss chard

1 small bundle of kale

1 large bundle of spinach

Salt the greens and allow them to drip dry in a strainer or salad spinner

In a small pot cook

2/3 cup of vegetable oil

2/3 cup of quinoa flour

Wisk and brown on medium high heat for about 5 minutes.

Add

2 Tbsp garlic granules

2 Tbsp grainy mustard

S+P

1 Tbsp miso

mix well then slowly  stir in

1.5 cups of almond milk (unsweetened).

cook until thicken on medium heat stirring often.

Add

1 cup grated white cheese (something sharp like gruyere would be nice, but anything will do)

*now you want this béchamel to be THICK! really way thicker than you normally would do, because the greens will add a TON of moisture to the pot, so fight the urge to thin it down, and if your mix is too thin, and more cheese.

In a large bowl toss the greens in the hot cheese sauce and squish everything into a nice deep casserole dish, cover the works with a handful of grated cheese, and bake covered at 350º for 15 minutes. Remove lid and broil for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with fresh parsley and be sure to serve with something you can sop up all the garlicky cheesy goodness with.

I caught my daughter in action using the massive serving spoon to lick up every last drop of greens gratin from the serving dish! That says it all.

lentil chard pilaf with maple glazed tofu

This delicious pilaf was devoured the other night by a tough table of city kids used to lots of chemical flavors, fillers and colours, so if this hearty earthy dish can please the mcfood lovers I know I am on to something with this combination of smoky sweet flavours.

Start by boiling 2 cups of water and quickly cook 1 cup of black lentils straight up (no seasoning), once cooked (15-20 minutes) set aside. I had 3 cups of cooked brown rice in the fridge so this is a great dish if you have leftovers if not get a rice pot on too!

In a deep cast iron pan dice and fry 1/2 a yellow onion, 2 large carrots, 3 toes of garlic, and 2 celery stocks in olive oil. When the onions are just brown, add 2 cups of boiling water and season with S+P about 1 tbsp of chili blend (I used my tequila sunrise which includes cumin, but if you use a chilli blend without make sure you add it in), cumin, and a few splashes of braggs. let this all bubble away on medium heat for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile cube up 1/2 a package of firm organic tofu and fry it off to a nice golden brown in organic canola oil. Season with S+P, dry lemon rind, and a dusting of chamela giri gara masala blend. When the tofu is golden on most sides and is nearing completion toss in about 3/4 cup of sunflower seeds and give them a quick toast.Once the tofu and seeds are nicely brown on all sided add a glug of maple syrup to the pan and give it all a quick toss. remove from heat and continue to toss and give it a squirt of sesame oil, and another sprinkle of sea salt then set aside.

Back to the big pan, add cooked rice and lentils to the reduced veggies and stock. Season with some sesame oil, lemon juice and a pinch of anise.

Chop 3-4 large leafy stocks of red chard into 1 cm strips (remove stock and save for another time), dice up 3 green onions finely. Add the veggies to the top of you deep pan, shut off heat to the burner (but keep the pan in place) and cover and steam for 3 minutes. Finally add the tofu and seeds to the pan,  toss everything and serve!

mason jar miso hemp dressing

This is a yummy new addition to my miso collection of successful experiments! And I have fallen head over heals in love with this wonderful new cold pressed organic hemp oil I have in abundance, making this dressing a delicious combination of  two perfectly pairing superfoods!

I love to make dressings in mason jars which makes for an easy way to measure, shake, serve and store it.

Start with 1 generous Tbsp of miso and mix into 2 Tbsp of hemp oil using a small whisk or the back of a spoon, until well blended. Add 2 Tbsp of lime or lemon juice, and 1 tsp of honey or maple syrup. S+P, and one toe of garlic minced. Shake well and douse your greens in this nutty rich dressing. This fab dressing keeps well in the fridge for a while, so you can scale up the recipe to make a larger batch easily.

simple split pea chaat masala soup

A savory and warm split pea soup with smoky cumin and masala spices: vegan, vegetarian, gluten and wheat free.

Why is it I always forget how much I adore pea soup until it reaches my mouth? I fall in love all over again every time I taste it. I think I have only made pea soup once before but today was the day for batch number 2.

This soup took very little input it just bubbled away most of the afternoon smelling fabulous.

mega omega rice bowl

It truly doesn’t get much easier or tastier than this super brain food quick dish. A gluten free and dairy free rice bowl with fresh lake fish, hemp seeds and hemp oil makes for a omega packed snack, that would travel well for lunch or make a lovely dinner served with a big green salad.

You’ll Need

1.5 cups of left over honey lime lake fish (but you could use any cooked fish)

2 cups cooked brown basmati rice

1/2 cup frozen garden peas

1 green onion, thinly sliced

S+P, rice wine vinegar, braggs, nutritional yeast, hemp oil, & hemp seeds.

In a hot skillet add a splash of oil and start warming cooked rice, along with the frozen peas over medium heat. When the rice is warm add left over fish and about 1/4 cup of warm water and a good splash each of Braggs and rice  vinegar. Stir everything up and season with S+P. Cover pan with lid and remove from heat. Let sit for 2 minutes then dish and finish with finely sliced onion, a sprinkle of both hemp seeds and nutritional yeast , and a hearty drizzle of hemp oil.

Thanks it. dig in and enjoy.

Buckwheat Butterscotch Cookies

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Mmm I found an inquiry on chow looking for help with a butterscotch cookie recipe, which really inspired me because the cookie looked just like my great grandmothers gingerbread chew cookie, which everyone loves!

I decided to give it a whirl, although never one for sticking to any recipe, I made it gluten free and broke out the buckwheat again. The test was a great success and I am pretty happy with the texture of this all buckwheat cookie as well as the deep brown butter sugar flavour. My old vintage oven runs really hot… so next time I will bake these at 275º for a few extra minutes instead of the 350º the original recipe calls for. I love the idea of starting a cookie with a bubbling butterscotch base! mmm

Wheat / Gluten Free rich dark deep sugar cookies.

180g unsalted butter, browned in skillet until nutty and golden

1 3/4 cups dark brown organic cane sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

2 tablespoon pure vanilla

2 1/2 cups buckwheat flour sifted along with:

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Sugar For Dredging

1/4 cup vanilla cane sugar with a pinch of Himalayan sea salt.

Start by browning your butter in a small cast iron skillet on medium heat, until golden and nutty smelling. Mix hot butter and sugar in stand mixer for 5 minutes until well combined and gooey and ridiculously yummy smelling. Add eggs one at a time and combine well before then next egg. Scape sides and beat everything for another 2 minutes, along with salt and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, sift together buckwheat, bs, and bp. Slowly add flour to wet mixture, scraping down bowl as needed. Mix until everything is well combined then allow dough to cool slightly in fridge for about 10 minutes.

Using a mechanical ice cream scoop portion your cookies and drop them into a large bowl with the sugar dredging mix, gently toss dough balls until covered then position on a silpat sheet. Bake at 350º for 10 minutes, or until lightly cracked and golden. This batch yielded 30 x 1 oz cookies.

Honey Lime Lake Fish Tacos

I was thrilled the other day when our friend dropped of some beautiful fresh Dolly Varden fish steaks, from a successful day on the lake. I decided to whip us some  fish tacos for dinner last night and I am happy to share the simple steps I took to get these beautiful fish steaks on the table. These tacos aren’t your traditional fish tacos, but they are a really nice spin on the old stand by.

Punk Rocker Chocolate Drops

I couldn’t decide what to call these fabulously chocolate-y  vegan cookies, but I found the inspirational starting point for this recipe at the post punk kitchen, thus my Punk Rocker Chocolate  title. I tweaked this recipe a bit by taking out the standard wheat flour and replacing it with a blend of Buckwheat /Hemp and Kamut (I posted this as a WF/GF recipe because brown rice flour would be ideal in place of Kamut to keep this GF, however I just ran out and my partner is OK with ancient wheat grains, new discovery on the allergy front… yeah!)

I have a small confession to make… I actually HATE cookies. I know you are thinking no one on the planet hates cookies, and I know this is a true fact, because back in my city life I owned two cookie companies, and I did pretty well catering to the cookie cravings of the rest of the planet. Ok so now you’ll understand that after a decade of  making millions of cookies I don’t actually eat them, crave them, or enjoy them almost ever. Well this morning something happened… the universe has shifted, because I actually ate 3 of these! 3!

This speaks volumes at just how wicked these babies are!

YOU’LL NEED

2 cups organic (gluten free if applicable) Oats

1/2 + 1/3 cup buckwheat flour

1/2 cup kamut flour (or Rice flour for GF cookies)

1/3 cup hemp flour

2/3 cup cocoa powder

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

pinch of sea salt

1 cup organic cane sugar

1/2 cup hemp seeds

2/3 cup chocolate almond milk (you could use regular)

2/3 cup canola oil

2 tsp pure vanilla

1 cup fair trade dark chocolate chips.

Portion cookies and bake on baking parchment at 350º for  12-16 minutes.(depending on how big you make the cookies) I used a 1 oz mechanical ice cream scoop and yielded 30 super stellar cookies!

cha cha cha chia!

 

Amazing Vegan Gluten Free Super Power Squares!

Packed full of energy and essential fatty acids these are not only the most requested recipe I have, they are a personal favourite! I have made a raw variation of this snack too, which I am happy to share if anyone requests it.

YOU’LL NEED

1 1/2 cups crispy brown rice cereal

1/2 cup raw sliced almonds

1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds

1/4 cup hemp seeds

2 tablespoons whole chia seeds

1/4 cup flax seed

1 cup dried Medjool dates (about 6 ounces), pitted

1/4 cup natural smooth unsalted almond butter

1/4 cup brown rice syrup

1/2 teaspoonsea salt

1/2 teaspoon real vanilla

1 Tbsp pure cocoa powder

Toast cereal and nuts and seeds in oven for about 15 minutes (until aromatic and lightly browned) and then allow to cool for a few minutes before  pulsing the  mixture in a food processor  about 5 (1-second) pulses. Transfer to a medium bowl; set aside.

Place dates in the food processor and process until finely chopped and a ball forms, about 15 seconds; set aside.

Place almond butter, rice syrup, salt, and vanilla in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir until mixture is combined and runs like slow-moving lava, about 1 minute. Remove from heat, immediately add dates and cocoa powder, and, using a wooden spoon, stir, smashing down on the dates, until well combined and no streaks of cocoa remain. Pour / spoon hot syrup over cereal mixture and stir, pressing as you do, until evenly combined. (This takes some muscle and time, about 5 minutes.) Transfer to the prepared baking pan and, using your hands, spread and firmly press the mixture into the pan. Let cool completely.

Remove the date-seed slab from the pan. Cut it in desired size bars and keep in an air tight container or you can freeze them.

* I have a sweet little vintage flower  biscuit cast iron pan I often use to form these, in which case I call them chia flower power!

 

Ginger Pear Chocolate Buckwheat Loafs

That had to grab your attention!

These little darlings would be super stellar baked straight up with any old flour, however I wanted to crack open the bag of Organic Buckwheat Flour I got when I visited Annie’s Flour Mill out in Abbostford over Thanksgiving, so I took a pear loaf recipe I scratched down a while ago and tweaked it into this divine little creation.

You’ll need:

1/2 cup butter at room temperature

3/4 cup of organic cane sugar

2 fresh eggs

1/2” of grated fresh ginger (or 1Tbsp of ground ginger)

1 cup of Kamut or Spelt Flour if you can tolerate ancient wheat if not use rice flour to make it GF

1/2 cup of Buckwheat flour

2 tbsp pure cocoa powder

1 Tbsp baking powder (non aluminum)

a pinch of sea salt

1/3 cup of yogurt, (or soured raw milk, or sour cream)

1/2 cup of of premium dark chocolate chunks

1/2 cup of dried pear chopped up small (or fresh finely diced pear)

1/4 cup organic candied ginger finely diced.

In a mixer cream butter, sugar until well mixed then add eggs, and fresh or ground ginger. Beat until smooth, scrapping down the bowl as needed.

In a bowl sift flours, bp, cocoa add sea salt together. Add 1/2 of flour blend into the mixer, once incorporated add yogurt, followed by the balance of the flour. Now add candied ginger, chocolate chunks and pear, Stop mixing as soon as everything is incorporated.

Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake at 350º for 60 minutes for 1 large loaf or 25 minutes if you use a mini loaf pan.

These are so very lovely

 

Cosmic Collision Cookies

This is what happens when you dump all the seeds you have in the pantry in to a giant bowl and lace them with chocolate, molasses, coconut and spelt, a cosmic cookie collision of flavour and texture! I make a version of these best selling cookies at the cafe and they have become a valley favourite! Funny too because the gal who originated this recipe now lives in this very valley, as the storey goes… she created the cosmic cookie recipe for Planet Organic, which got published (without her knowledge I hear), the recipe ended up in the hands of a vegan baker friend of mine, who shared a version on her blog, I made it at the cafe, and now make a little different version at home. So here is my homespun cosmic cookie.

This cookie is vegan and uses spelt flour (however I have used kamut and barley flour both successfully as a variation)

mix in HUGE bowl

3/4 cup  oil

1 cups rice / almond / hemp or soy milk

1/4 cup molasses

1 cup cane sugar

1 Tbsp cinnamon

2 tsp salt

add dry:

2 cups spelt flour

2.5 cups oats

1/4 cup pumpkin seeds

1/4 cup hemp seeds

1/4 cup flax seed

1/4 cup chia seeds

1 cup coconut

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup dried fruit (raisins or currants, or cranberries)

Mix everything together, portion with a scoop or by hand and bake at 350º for 15-18 minutes. So quick and easy to make the beaming approval and gushing praise will make you feel almost like you  cheated!

Savory Vegetable Leftover Noodle Soup

Savory Vegetable Leftover Noodle Soup: Vegan, Wheat & Gluten Free

My favorite gluten free noodles are quinoa hands down! They have a great tooth and the best thing about them is they don’t get all soggy, or mushy and overcooked. They don’t turn the water into slime like rice noodles do, they are just more like wheat noodles than any of the many GF noodles I have tried.

2 nights a go I made some quinoa elbow noodles with a simple garlic pesto dressing, they were great but I had a lot of leftovers as we have had visitors this week and I always cook to much when feeding a crowd, so I decided to add the left over noodles to a hearty veggie soup. All day I simmered some carrots, onions, garlic, leek and corn in a rich vegetable broth I had frozen down earlier. I seasoned the stock with dried lemon rind and a little kelp powder, along with some apple cider vinegar and lots of peppery chili’s. After the soup was seasoned perfectly, I added the now room temp left over pesto noodle to the broth and simmered it for 10 minutes before serving.

The soup was a huge hit… even in a very un-veggie friendly crowd!

I am baking up a storm right now… more great wheat free dairy free dessert and snack recipes around the corner!

Sunday Noodle Salad

Simple, punchy and fresh this vegan gluten free lunch won over my whole family even the picky little one (who actually made the dressing for this)

If I had tempeh or tofu I would have grilled it up like this earlier recipe for orange glazed tempeh and added that as well, but this simple lunch is  great straight up with any combination of veggies you have kicking around!

I used rice vermicelli noodles and I think I finally have a reliable way of cooking them without being disappointed, as has happened all to many times. So here is what you’ll need to make 4 portions:

Sticky Ginger Tofu, with Swiss Chard and Cashews

Sticky Ginger Tofu, with Swiss Chard and Cashews: Wheat & Gluten Free, Vegetarian & Vegan.

This dish makes a wonderful meal with a nice grain like quinoa or brown rice. It takes only minutes to make and is packed with vitamins and flavor. Also it is some of the only local fresh veggies I can get these days, So i try to cook with Kale and Chard as much as possible.

Goat Cheese Please!

Gluten Free Penne with creamy goat cheese, peas and pesto. Our plates were licked clean all round, poor dog didn’t even get a crack at them!

This was really quick to throw together:

Start by boiling salt water to cook about 2.5 cups of organic corn penne. Once the pasta is cooked drain and quickly add 2/3 cup of frozen peas (from the garden), a dollop of butter (we used goat butter and it is really really nice, it adds just a little of that goat cheesey taste) 2 tbsp of goat cheese, S+P, and 2-3 Tbsp of pesto (I have found a pretty good locally made organic pesto that will cover me while there is no fresh basil to be had… but this summer I vow to make and freeze a whack of pesto’s while the basil and arugula are fresh and abundant) That is it, stir and serve. This delicious dish takes about 16 minutes from start to finish. Enjoy.

 

 

Storing Solar Energy, in Mason Jars!

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Store & Capture Energy : A Permaculture Principle

It dawned on me the other day, as I was digging around my pantry for some yellow pickled beets, that my pantry is full of stored solar energy. The foods in those jars are a harvest of sun power delivered to my veggies and herb, stored and waiting to deliver their vital nutrients to us on a cloudy winter day. A taste of the summer sunshine and abundant harvest.

Back in the summer I made the following commitment in an earlier blog and I am still striving to follow it each day;

Seedy White Bean & Feta Veggie Balls / Burgers and Winter Kale Pesto

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I made this stellar veggie burger mix and turned it into burgers the first night and bean balls the next days, both worked out great. The veggie patty is a white bean and nut burger that came together pretty quickly. The next day I whipped up a winter pesto with kale, artichoke and sunflower seeds and used that as my sauce for corngetti and bean balls.

Seedy White Bean & Feta Burgers / Balls

Soak and cook 1 cup of white beans. I just learned that if you don’t add salt or acid to beans while they boil they cook way way faster! Why didn’t I know that before?  Set beans aside to cool, meanwhile toast 2 slices of gluten free bread cut in small cubes over medium heat with a glug of olive oil and sea salt. Remove the bread crumbs and in the same pan brown 1/2 or a large yellow onion sliced thick, cook until soft and  brown.

Beans, Barley and Lentils

The last few night I have been raiding my legume jars in search for healthy hearty meals and I created some pretty yummy, stick to the ribs dinners, perfect for dark winter nights.

Lentils and Rice

This dish was really earthy with the bright flavors of cardamom and toasted cumin, hits of garlic and citrus. When making this I used left over basmati brown rice which I often cook in over sized batched so I have extra on hand for soups and stir fry or just to entice the dog to clean her plate. Start in a deep cast iron pan by browning 1/2 of a yellow onion and 3 diced carrots in a good glug of oil along with about 2 tbsp of whole cumin seeds and sea salt. Allow the onion to brown then add 1 cup of French lentils, coat them with oil and start to simmer them in 2 cups of water. To this add 1 tbsp cardamom, 1 tbsp garlic granules, black pepper, and a squeeze of lemon juice and apple cider vinegar. Simmer this on med-low for 25 minutes, adding more water as necessary. Once the lentils are cooked add 1.5 cups of cooked rice and S+P along with 1 tbsp of nutritional yeast, a squeeze of Braggs and a little pad of butter and continue cooking for 5 more minutes. In a separate small pan toast some almond slices seasoned with a little S+P and a pinch of garlic powder. Add toasted almonds to each serving and enjoy.

Barley Risotto

My wonderful “sister in law” sent us a big ‘ol case of wine for Christmas and the lovely assortment included some white wines, which inspired me to make risotto,

stupid easy – super quick – fried rice feast

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I have been baking up a storm these days, but have neglected my blogs oh so much… tis the season I guess. I have a million images of things I have been making, however I just haven’t found the time to share recipes and post them.

I feel I am still morning the loss of my garden, and I am eager to get back into the growing season: I miss sun warmed tomatoes, and fresh greens and herbs, and my heart breaks when I have to buy lettuce these days! The one thing I am certainly not buying currently is eggs! we are flush with eggs… our little ladies are up to 7 eggs a day, this has meant lots of frittatas, macaroons, and fried egg samies!

Goats & Torts

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Slow Stewed Goat Tacos; I was trying to come up with a witty title for this recipe; bah bah black beans, goat-ita’s, chimichangoat… you get the picture, and while I realize that it may be unlikely you have goat meat in your freezer, I wanted to share this easy, meaty Mexican dish which is great for strong and gamey meats; ground lamb, venison, or elk would all be nice slowly stewed in this blend of beer and chillis. Goat is one of my favorite meats, I adore a good Caribbean goat curry with roti, and would maybe give a toe for a firy Indian goat vindalo, seriously. This was my first time cooking goat and I was really thrilled to be given a few bundles of goat meat from some new and lovely friends who are in their first year of goat keeping and very recently they learned how to pack the gents neatly into brown paper. They now have two Nubian girls left who are sweet as pie (with another hopefully on the way) and of course milk and cheese to follow…

Lushious Little Spelt Carrot Loafs

Mmm these little carrot loafs are my take on the Rebar Carrot Cake Recipe, and of course carrot cake wouldn’t be complete with out creamy cream-cheese frosting.

Chedda’ Chive & Chili lock down

I confess. It’s true. I am guilty as charged! This recipe is neither healthy, nor easy, nor local (per say), nor is it allergen friendly. What it is however is kickin’ and cheesy and wrapped in gooey organic goodness. I found a recipe online somewhere for Apple Walnut Cinnamon roll cupcakes, and I made a version of these at work the other day, and while working with the dough I kinda fell in love with it’s silky elastic-y body. And so in another effort to make interesting lunch treats for my daughter I decided to make a savory take on the sweet buns.

This is defiantly more of a Sunday afternoon recipe than an after work ordeal. It takes time and love and a few cups of tea before you get to enjoy the fruits of your labor, but somehow when you get there it’s all worth it. 

Rock ‘n Veggie Rolls

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This is a real crowd pleaser, they look like way more effort than they are, and once you make them yourself, I am certain you won’t buy the “asian appetizer sampler” from M&M ever again!

Start by browning both sides of firm tofu slices about 1/4” thick you will need three of them, season with S+P and brown in a blend of canola oil and sesame oil, set aside to cool a little. Add to the hot pan: 1 jalenpeno diced, 2 garlic cloves minced, 2” ginger knob finely grated and 1/4 of a red onion finely minced. Get these guys all browning and then add: 3 julienne carrots (sliced finely lengthwise). Reduce heat.  You want the carrot to get just tender… not cooked through, about 1-2 minutes only. Add equal parts about 1-2 tbsp each: soy sauce, rice vinegar, sweet chili sauce, and just a splash of sesame oil and coat mixture evenly. Turn off the heat, but leave your pan on the element and add two big handfuls of bean sprouts, 3 green onions diced, and your browned tofu now sliced like the carrots. Mix everything together and place in a bowl. Add a little cilantro chopped and a small handful of fresh spinich finely chopped. Toss everything and set aside to cool completely, then refrigerate until your almost ready to serve the spring rolls. Before using strain the juices from your filling.

shitaki soba noodles * return of the mushrooms!

Ok, so maybe you are thinking.. again with the tofu and mushrooms? enough all ready.

But in all honesty this recipe is truly an amazing combination of flavors, and it takes about 12 minutes to make. I am sure you could easily add chicken and cashews instead of mushrooms and tofu and it would be just as wonderful.

In this recipe I used 3 of my favorite ingredients: Soba king rice noodles (the pumpkin flavored ones) SilverKing Tofu (firm) and fresh local mushrooms (I used shitaki tonight)

Got energy-balls?

Well if you have 5 minutes and a food processor you do!

This is just a super quickie recipe I wanted to share. It’s Gluten Free / Dairy Free / Raw / Organic and a super yummy power snack, great for the lunch box or a guilt free late night treat. We make a few yummy versions of these at the local cafe I am baking at a couple days a week, and they are always a top seller.

Take 1 cup of dried fruit: anything at all, this batch I used equal parts gogi berry, cranberry and raisin, but dates are really yummy, so are apricots! I don;t think apples would work on their own very well but would be nice with something more goopy.

Take 2 cups of seeds and nuts; again anything you desire, my last batch I used sunflower seeds, chia seeds, almonds, and cashews.

Give these a whirl in the processor along with 1 tsp of cinnamon and a pinch of salt and blend it all until everything is really pebbly then add a good squeeze of honey, agave, or rice syrup (about 2 Tbsp) along with 1 Tbsp of coconut oil. Wiz it a little more and it will start to form a ball in the processor. Simply scoop out 1- 2 oz portions and form into balls using your hand or mechanical scoop and roll them in something, I used coconut last night, (which I adore) but I have used hemp seeds before, or ground nuts or flax meal.

The great thing about these is you can use what ever you have kicking around, I have even taken a really fruity trail mix and just used that!

So no reason not to make these.. you will love them, and once you make them once, you’ll find them so easy and so tasty they will be a regular part of your snack artillery.

 

 

Chantrelles & Moma Cows

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The garden is finally frosting and getting ready for a long winters rest. I have lots of work to do to clean up the beds and do some due diligence work to keep spring couch grass at bay. The garlic is getting planted tomorrow in a deep dark bed of soil from my first Kootenay compost pile! Currently I am drowning in grapes so I am going to attempt a batch of grape juice tomorrow, I had hoped to dry some and make raisins except the grapes I am flush with right now are seeded and after removing seeds from a few I decided juice would be more fun to make.

While I write this I am drinking the most delicious cup of tea ever, made with creamy delicious milk from the glowing mommy cow you see above. It doesn’t get much closer to your local food source than a gift of fresh milk 😉

Last night I whipped up a small batch of yellow pickled beets, which are sure to be my last pickles of the year.I couldn’t resist buying 10 lbs from a no spray farm we visited in Chilliwak last week, they were $2 a bag! I really love the recipe I am using for pickling beets which includes vinegar, apple cider vinegar, honey and cinnamon sticks, yum!

Mia came home from school today with a lovely little selection of Chanterelle mushrooms, as her class did a mushroom walk with the same biologist who taught our excursion 2 weeks ago.  So I did an Asian inspired stir fry of Chanterelles with tofu and pumpkin seeds on a bed of brown basmati rice for dinner tonight that was pretty divine if I do say so. (recipe below)

mushrooming

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You will see from the first image in this set that within 2 sq/ft of our lawn alone there are over 7 species of mushrooms (that I can see anyway, I am sure, in fact certain that a mushroom expert would spot double amount) So you will understand with our forest flush with fungal life why we all anticipated our Sunday mushroom study so!

Our day started with a classroom lesson on mushrooms and what we are likely to see right here in our own backyard. We touched, smelled and digested a great deal of information. We then went on a mushroom hunting forest expedition and found all sort of crazy fungi. Both deliciously edible and unimaginably strange and beautiful. The one I found the most striking was the oozing strawberry and cream, the red ooze has been used as a die and it is one of the strangest mushrooms I have ever seen. We picked tons of lobster mushrooms, honey mushrooms, a crazy corral fungi, and dug up maybe a dozen the alluring pine mushrooms. Prized in Japan these very masculine mushrooms were my favourite taste of the day as well as the most challenging find.

After our forest hunt we had a tailgate mushroom tasting complete with wine and yet more myselium knowledge.

We left there having tasted and being able to identify (along with notes pictures and our trusty guide book) a great selection of tasty local options including; Boletes, Lobster Mushrooms, Chantrels, and the pine mushrooms of course.

Right after our day of mushrooming we went to visit “our kootenay parents” the namesake and responsibility was given to some amazing family friends by my partners mother, they had us over for a lovely Sunday dinner, where we enjoyed and entire feast of their plentiful garden. We left them with a good collection of mushrooms to enjoy and while we were there I did a lobster mushroom satay in garlic and butter.. mmm!

Last night I cleaned and sliced the rest our our pine mushroom haul and prepared a delicious asian marinade of garlic, ginger, braggs, rice wine vinegar, and sesame oil. Tonight I will serve these seared over soba noodles with an asian vinaigrette and some other grilled greens.

more squash and more pickling

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There doesn’t seem to be an end to the preserving of things these days…. My sweet neighbor brought over the most beautiful pale green tiny zucchini’s yesterday I sliced them up along with some beautiful jumbo shallots and made mustard garlic quick refrigerator pickles, which smells divine! I can’t wait to try these. I also did a huge batch of sauerkraut both green cabbage flavored with juniper berries and red cabbage with some garlic and hot chili too.

Last post I did while letting a new bread recipe rise and I was honestly really happy with the results. Pretzel making was a first for me the recipe I tried was really easy and didn’t involve too much waiting or hand kneading for that matter! We devoured 16 pretzels and a batch of super garlicky lemon mustard dip within 18 hours! The dough was proofed, boiled salted and then baked. I think this would also be a great start to a bagel recipe…

fall snacks

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I am starting to play with more savoury breads as the season change and I am looking forward to sharing more of these recipes with you all as I assemble some winners. Today I am working on pretzels, so I will report on my findings shortly.

Last night I threw together a really simple succotash to use up some left over shredded cabbage I couldn’t fit into a crock. We finally ran out of sauerkraut, just as we were all getting so used to having it on top of everything 😦  I am making a HUGE batch of green cabbage kraut as well as a smaller batch using purple cabbage that I will spice up a bit with ginger, garlic and chilli. But back to the succotash…. likely I am breaking traditionalist rules by calling our dinner a succotash but as I am not from the South nor have I ever tasted a true succotash, I figure when I fry corn and beans or veggies that pretty much makes for succotash onto itself. So here is what I made, and it was great I served it over brown basmati rice.

In a cast iron pan brown 1/2 onion with 2 cloves of garlic and a 1/2 pepper (I used a darling black pepper I grew.. and notably it was the only one that grew) brown these in oil and butter with S+P until just translucent. Add 8 slices of diced cured back bacon (or 6 slices or standard bacon or as the British call it streaky bacon). Let  everything brown on medium for about 5-8 minutes.

Add 1 cup of cubed summer squash (because no meal around here is complete without some squash snuck in) and kernels from 2 medium ears of corn. To this I added about 1 huge tbsp of a N’awlins spice mix I bought from a gal last year at Christmas Millarville Market. It’s a blend of paprika, peppers thyme salt and likely some garlic and onion granuils too. I think paprika and chili would be a great substitute here. Allow the corn and squash to cook for another 5 minutes along with a dash of red wine vinegar.

Finally add 2 cups of shredded cabbage to the top of the pan (don’t mix in yet) reduce heat to low and add S+P to the cabbage, a glug of maple syrup, and a splash of lemon juice. Leave this all for about 10 minutes, or long enough to take the scraps out to the chickens and enjoy the comedy therein, admired new chicken coop in progress, gets plates ready for dinner, toss and serve with a sprinkle of nutritional yeast.

Last week I started playing with raw and non baked granola bar type recipes because I want to incorporate  more chia seed into my families diet. It is a wonderful super food (you may know as salba) I came up with my own modified recipe inspired from this chow gallery on power bars. The bars were a huge hit and disappeared within hours. I then made them at the cafe I now bake at 2 days a week and same thing… all gone! The recipe I made was simply seeds, nut butter, date puree and rice syrup. So satisfying. I’ll whip up another batch today after the pretzels!

I started picking concord grapes yesterday under stunning blue skies in the warm 25º sunshine! I don’t have enough yet for jelly so I started a freezer bag which I hope to fill in the next week, and get this jelly making done soon!

One more batch of pickled cuc’s and carrots today, this time spicy large jars.

For the birds

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We spent the afternoon daubing the waddle for the winter coop, what a simple forgiving grounded form of building! I just love slapping around mud! I will go into more detail about the chicken coop on the building blog later this weekend but today I wondered around the yard and garden in awe of the changes of season…. I am letting everything go to seed to collect later, I am drying beans and peas, waiting on green tomatoes while beginning to enjoy the lovely tomatillo’s . The grape vines are flush and incredible and the chickens are getting HUGE! Thus the need for the second coop and extended run. Tomorrow will be a big day in coop finishing! You’ll see some new pics of our lovely birds, my favorite image is of Red Barron the little black and white bantam, on the coop perch kacadoodle-do-ing… ? We thought he was a gal… but we stand corrected, which sadly means he would make a very little roast and no tiny eggs 😦 Lucky for him we love his personality and he was keep to lean to jump today while Mia and I fed the birds peas if they jumped for them! It was too fun. The other bird picture I love is Elvis (a feather footed black cochin) surrounded by his Ladies: Sid Viscious and Miss Corby, as well as Yoko.

Stocked up on more canning supplies today and plan to do another round of pickles and and beets in the next few days as well as grape jelly…soon.

While wondering through the garden I picked a little basket of pizza toppings and we used Greek style store bought pita to make individual pizzas the one I especially adored both making and eating had a simple olive oil crust and garlic rub base (no sauce) topped with slice tomitillos (which were bright and almost citrus like), fresh fennel greens, some endive, black olives, hot peppers from the garden too, goat feta and mozza, topped with sea salt and pepper… mmm I then topped the toasted browned pizza pie with a  simple salad of greens and endive finely ribboned and tossed with Mia’s garlic lemon dressing. YUMM!

Fall Harvest, Fairs and Garlic

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Although we are amid a rainy and cloudy early fall the harvest is very abundant and exciting! This weekend we enjoyed the fall festivities of our thriving community, we took in both the local Valley Fall Fair as well as the Hills Garlic Festival. Seeing the huge and beautiful produce grown right here in my valley on display was a real treat; there were sunflowers over 12 feet tall, there were pumpkins that likely weighted more than me and my daughter put together, we drooled over giant squash, and perfect pears, lovely jellies and baked squares! Most of all we ate and ate and ate. My daughter bravely but  thoroughly enjoyed some locally made vanilla garlic gelato, and we all tasted dried garlic slices (for hours in fact we tasted it), pickled garlic and garlic scape (the stock of the garlic plant so I just learned), we also enjoyed wonderful deep dark Ontario maple syrup, local honey, gypsy tea, borsht, and fry bread, to name a few of our indulgences.

Our plant expert biology folk friends visited this weekend and we really really enjoyed walking our property with them again as they pointed out some real treasures in the woods, most impressive (for me anyways) was Marks keen eye for the multiple hazelnut tress we have right here! What a wonderful surprise. They are scrappy little tree’s with not much fruit this year… but now that we know they are here, we will given them some attention and look forward to the improved yields to come. We also picked some lobster mushrooms on our walk but after some research decided not to eat them, although we had no trouble identifying them I later learned that lobster mushroom are in fact a parasite to other fungi and are not mushrooms at all, so to safely enjoy these one should be able to clearly identify the original mushroom that has been taken over by the lobster “mushroom” parasite. We are all new to mushrooming so I cast the lovely specimen back into the woods. But our family will be doing a local mushroom walk and lesson in the coming weeks, and who knows one day soon we may be dining on mushrooms of all sorts!

Fire pickling

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Just had a cool reminder that fall is around the corner this week, which has me getting my winter greens in the ground, and starting to forge forward on the coop building, commencing tomorrow! I have a weekend with our mom’s visiting so I am hopeful that they will want to help me get the garden together and slap some earthen plaster around.

Last night I fired up the wood stove and decided to do a round of pickling inside, as I was growing wiry of the camp stove kitchen set up, the problem is that massive caldron of water took nearly 4.5 hours to boil, even with our fireplace burning at a raging 500º the whole time! The whole batch was sweaty and frustrating, but I yielded my favorite pickled veg; carrots! During the day we visited some neighbors and Mia picked some beautiful purple carrots from their garden, which I added to some orange ones we got at the Nelson market, along with some local garlic, dill, hot peppers, and a few of our tiny carrot ball variety thrown in for good measure.

While waiting for the vat of water to boil I whipped up a yellow summer salad to die for; I sliced some yellow sunburst squash paper thin, along with some thicker slices of these darling crisp little lemon yellow cucumbers we are growing, added some thin slices of locally grown organic yellow watermelon, & some tiny yellow heirloom tomatoes, all topped with a drizzle of lemon juice, olive oil, lemon and lavender sea salt and some fresh purple and green basil and a pinch of fennel tops all fresh from the herb spiral. I have seen watermelon and tomato salads many times before and never had the desire to try one, until my good friend and foodie reminded me on her recent visit how amazing the combination was, that and the fact the watermelon was yellow was all the convincing I needed.  Mmmm, it was stunning and I will defiantly play with this combination of flavors again.

After the long weekend, I hope to have pictures of the chicken coop progress.

dilly beans

Finally today I got around to harvesting a big bunch of purple beans and rattlesnake beans which are a striking green bean with purple markings. I dug out the canning equipment at set to work in my outdoor “kitchen” ie: coleman stove,  to do some pickling. The sad thing about processing or even cooking all my pretty heirloom beans is as soon as you add heat they resort to common green bean in appearance. I managed to get enough today to do 6 pint jars of spicy garlic dill beans and with a neighborly trade, the last of my plums for 2 long english cucumbers,  I managed also to get 5 jars of pickles done too! I had dreams of pickling carrots until the cows come home but I grew these stupid little Romeo round heirloom carrots, which as nice as they taste are way way too small to do much with other than admire and eat from the garden, like a two bite  brownie.

As I said the last of the plums are down and I yielded about 10 lbs of now frozen pitted diced plums along with the dozens we ate and baked, all and all the yield from this wiry old tree was entirely respectable.

I was really fortunate to join my neighbors for a short time yesterday while they harvested wheat and oats, 2 acres, naturally grown with no chemicals. The harvest was done with no combine or too much conventional farming equipment. It was amazing to take it all in. I have promised to clear my schedule in 3 weeks to participate fully in the Buckwheat harvest, I will bring my camera along and share images of the brilliant hand made farm equipment in use. I can’t wait.

I am trying to get my winter cold hardy veg in the ground, but I have so much in the bed I am waiting to seed I am finding it hard to  make enough room, I really can’t procrastinate much longer.

Kimchi, Kraut, elder-bubble and gingerbread

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Well I just finished kimchi part 2 and it was sooooo very easy! I did 5 jars of squash kimchi, 1 large jar of sauerkraut  all the while I drank gin with elderflower syrup and soda water. The drink is divine; slightly sour crisp with a floral finish, I used my best organic green juniper berry gin and I can’t imagine a more refreshing summer night drink. Next year I will collect way more elderflowers and make more than 3L of syrup, which is what I yielded after two batches. 2L I have ready to drink and I froze 1L down to use for making plum jelly, just as soon as my plumbs are ripe.

I also broke down and made zucchini bread today; I know I know everyone hates the stuff, but inspired by “A home made Life by Molly Wizenberg” and her ginger chocolate banana bread so I tricked my daughter into making chocolate ginger bread with just a little bit of zucchini 🙂 instead of bananas. I used the Joy of Cooking’s zucchini bread recipe with lots of tweaks (as I usually do) I added cocoa powder, diced candy ginger, and lots of Callebaut chocolate chunks, and it passed the Mia test!

More on fermenting in my last post…

FoodShed: early August hot and rainy

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Another exciting week of food adventures to report! This week I am playing with lactic acid fermentation, I know it sounds scary but it is super exciting! Also I am flush with squash and zuc’s from the garden… thus the final inspiration to get me fermenting: spicy kimchi here I come! I have a huge jar of kombucha on the go right now, which Dylan’s mom started for me last weekend with one of her mother mushrooms. Talk about a daunting entrance to the world of fermenting. I have a massive Costco size pickle jar on my shelf full of pink fluid with what looks like a piece of pig skin floating in it; kinda like a science lab jar with a baby something in formaldehyde! Fortunately our family has experienced the benefits of kombucha already; both Dylan’s grandparents, his mom, and him have all reported an easing of stomach ailments upon using commercially purchased kombucha in a jar, and thanks to Helens efforts to buck the system we are now brewing our own! So let me take this all back a step and get you thinking about more commonly used fermented foods: yogurt, sauerkraut, kosher pickles, & Korean kimchi… not too scary right? Well all of these are made using a super simple, old world method of preserving foods which doesn’t require heat, which in turn doesn’t diminish the health benefits of the food being stored, and in fact in most cases the natural bacteria within the process are extremely beneficial, does PRO BIOTICS ring a bell? So not too long ago the universe seemed to be hitting me over the head with the idea of fermenting foods; A truly talented and inspiring chef from back home and fellow Permie Valerie Andrews, did a demo of sauerkraut making simply using salt and water for our PDC class in Nelson, this happened only weeks after meeting with yet another Permie who was racing home to Vancouver Island and his bucket of fermenting cabbage, I then read an earlier mentioned book “Independance Days”, where the author raved to no end about her adventures in kimchi making, right around this time Helen got her first starter kombucha mushroom, and now that I am diving deeply into any and all methods of putting up food that don’t require heat other than the sun for drying (namely because I still don’t have a stove top),  my current drowning in squash situation was really the straw that broke the camels back, enough encouragement for me to get on the fermenting band wagon. I am thrilled to share my adventures thus far!

foodshed 2.0

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Busy days on the home front! The past week was spent cooking for the troops and unfortunately less time in the garden. However I have been harvesting some amazing things!  I have no end of huge Yukon Gold potatoes, and I have been gushing at all the tri coloured star burst squash.

The other day my garden made the best ever salad: butter letus, endive, yellow starburst squash, purple pole beans, cucumber (the first one), purple basil, lemon basil, dill and anise greens: OMG with a little goat cheese from down the street and a handful of sunflower seeds with lemon mustard vinaigrette, it was a sunny summer day in ever bite!

I finished my first batch of elderflower syrup, and found my neighbours tree was flush with a dozen new flower bursts so I started a second batch. I also harvested some more saskatoon berries which are drying, shucked some peas (although I didn’t plant nearly enough), I also collected some pineapple chammomile growing wild on the driveway, which is also drying for tea.

All of these tasty adventures and by far the most exciting thing I have to report is my sheet mulch garden has been pretty darn successful! I dug out a volunteer potato plant that crept up in the middle of my lasagne garden bed and low and behold when I dug the tatters out I found soil! Deep black earth full of fat and juicy worms and critters, the soil was deep and dark and from the sandy stale state it was in back in May, it has come a long way!

The chooks are growing and we ‘ll have eggs soon enough! I can’t wait to have a rainbow of eggs collected fresh each day. I have been watching the plum tree for the first sight of ripe plums, and I am eager to harvest elderberries too! I have also just been told about small dukabor bear apples growing all along the rails to trails pathway, I plan to harvest and dry in cinnamon rings this fall too. I had better get my old vintage stove top running in time to do some canning and preserving soon!

The image in the slide show of the stunning spread of squash was my fabulous dinner the other night: one huge squash cut razor thin and raw drown in a citrus garlic dressing. It was divine.

fresh direction for SOLE food

Excerpt from rbrand building blog…

“I have also decided to amend my cooking with S.O.L.E blog: while living in the city, seeking out Sustainable, Organic, Local and Ethical Food could be quite a challenge, and cooking with found treasures, while meeting sustainable farmers was really enjoyable, but now that I am living as part of a food system that is so strongly founded in my ethics of eating I am going to shift my blog focus to my adventures in harvesting and preserving and preparing the bounty of my local Food Shed. The blog will be renamed FOOD SHED (in Kootenay time), and I can’t wait to get cooking, fermenting, drying, canning, cold cellaring and over wintering my bounty and sharing my trails and successes.

The garden is EXPLODING which is wonderful, I am still fearful I have not planted enough food, but I feel this way every year, and this garden is by FAR the largest under my belt. I am trying to follow a new mantra these days to do one thing daily which adds to our food shed. Inspired by the novel Independence Days by Sharon Astyk “ a guide to sustainable food storage and preservation” where I will attempt to do one of these things each day: Plant Something, Harest Something, Preserve Something, Minimize Waste , Waste Not, Cook Something New, Manage my Reserves, Work on my Local Food System. And I will add out of my own permaculture ethic BUILD SOIL to this list. Some of these things (especially the later half) I already strive for most days, or on any given opportunity… but planting and harvesting and preserving are my current challenges. Newly inspired by this great read Mia and I starting harvest huge bushels of Mint from our bog, which we have since dried and jarred. We will do more tomorrow along with picking thimble berries starting to splatter the hillside. I have a “Build Solar Dryer” on Dylan’s “TO BUILD” list but it is soooo long these days I am going to keep small batching things with what I can dry inside right now… which might mean frozen berries for a while.”