Blueberry Popsicles, Grilled Radishes, and Pasta Verdura!

In keeping up with my CSA, here are my creations of the week:

Organic Blueberry-Strawberry Popsicles

6-8 ice cubes

1/2 to 3/4 pint of organic blueberries (we got them last week, forgot to mention them!)

6-8 organic strawberries, hulled & sliced

2 Tablespoons maple syrup or agave syrup

1 cup organic soy or almond milk (or your fave plant milk)

Blend up in a blender (I used my VitaMix for 1 min) until smooth, pour into popsicle molds and freeze.  You can also add yogurt, ice cream, herbs like mint or basil or whatever else your heart desires.  More pops to come!

These were unbelievable.  Seriously. SO good.

These grilled radishes were also amazing!

 Pre-grill: Trim radishes, slice large ones in half, add organic scallions or other onions, some cubed butter and a sprinkle of turbinado sugar (it has a high melting point so is great for the grill).  Wrap up in your foil packet and grill until radishes are tender.  Radishes & Scallions both from my Organic CSA.

Done! They were custardy, mild, and sweet.  I added organic lime juice for a kick of acid, and salt and pepper of course.

You can also grill your beets, which I did! We've been getting beets every week in our CSA and I LOVE beets! Grilling them is great because they take so long to cook I didn't want to do them indoors when it was so hot a few days ago. Just add a little olive oil, salt and pepper to the beet packets and grill until tender.

 Lastly, an easy greens saute.  All greens were from my CSA: Radicchio, Swiss Chard, Beet Greens and Garlic Scapes, and non-CSA Garlic and Organic Raisins sauteed in olive oil with salt and pepper.  Serve with al dente pasta for a lovely Pasta Verdura!

Pasta Verdura, SO good.  

The sauteed radicchio tastes like a slightly more bitter escarole, perfect for me!

Now, I'm ready to pick up my new box tomorrow!  Bring it on, Honey Brook Organic Farm! 

Grillin' and Gardenin'

A thing of beauty!

 Grilled, Caramelized Onions

They are easy! On a large piece of foil, put thinly sliced Vidalia (or any sweeter onion) inside, add tiny bits of cubed butter (EB or whatever you like) probably about 1 Tbs per every two onions, organic brown sugar (about 1 tsp. per sliced onion), and sea salt (sprinkle generously over the onions).  Mix with your hands.  Fold up the foil into a nice packet.  Add another piece of foil and wrap again, sealing up all the seams.  Grill until tender and as caramelized as you want them.  

Here's the foil packet as I was about to open it.  You can see I unfolded the left side already.  

Other wonderful things to grill in the packet:

 Fresh, Jersey Asparagus (peeled, French style :-)

 Green Beans with Salt and Sesame Oil 

Really, any food that will fall through the grill cracks can be grilled in a foil packet.  Don't forget it! Just add your seasonings and a little oil, mix with your hands, and fold up that packet.  Yeah!

And, some gardening for you.  I made Mother's Day planters for my mom, my husband's mom, and my sister:

 Planted with Organic Basil and Organic Chives.  

My son picked out the pots, I loved them!

My planter:

Also basil & chives.  This way I don't have to go outside to get them! I think I threw in a bunch of arugula, too, so, it's gonna be crazy in there.

Also, my artichokes have "taken," and I see new growth on them, my Scarlet Runners were raided by something that ate all the leaves off 3/5 of my plants (but left the two healthiest, largest ones), I have tons of primroses blooming, my fig tree is leafing out like crazy, and I put in my Zucchini Garden with four hierloom zucchini plants!

What are you guys cooking & planting?

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake.  My husband asked for me to invent this, so I happily obliged.  We had a hot charcoal grill at the ready after grilling our broccoli & seitan steaks, so I whipped up this cake to throw in there while the grill was still hot.  I made it once or twice last year, but didn't write down the recipe.

It's crunchy yet chewy, sweet and loaded with chocolate chips.

 You can see how crispy the bottom crust is.  The bottom caramelized from the hot temp of the grill and the sugar and the oil in the cake.  A delicious result.  I still have to nail the exact baking time, but in a charcoal grill that's almost impossible, the heat is just super dry and super hot (and declines rapidly if the temp outside is cold).  It's much easier (but less fun) to calibrate temperature and baking time with an oven (which I will approximate below).

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

1 cup organic sugar

½ cup brown sugar (organic, TJ’s)

3/4 to 1 cup olive oil 

3 tablespoons apple sauce (4 if you use 3/4 cup oil)

2 tsp EnerG replacer powder (just the powder)

2 1/3 cups flour (white whole wheat, which is a whole grain!!)

1 tsp Vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

½ to 1 tsp salt (1 tsp really brings out the flavor, but might be too salty for you)

2 cups chocolate chips

½ cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Mix the wet ingredients (sugar through the EnerG powder) in a large bowl with a hand mixer or whisk.  It will become kinda like a gel in consistency, and won't look liquidy at all.  You could add non-dairy milk if you wanted, tablespoon by tablespoon if you want the dough a little wetter (don't know how that would turn out yet as I haven't tried it myself).  So, take the dough and press it into your buttered loaf pan:

Bake the sucker.  I'd guess 30-40 minutes in a 375 oven, until a toothpick comes out clean and the edges have begun to brown and pull away form the pan, or however long you'd like to try in your grill.  I'm getting a lot better at grilling with charcoal, so may have more specific advice soon.

And, I'm craving this like mad:

Guesses?

Answer:

Home Made Pizza with: Roasted Eggplant, Fresh Tomatoes, Red Peppers, Cashew Ricotta and Home Made Vegan Pepperoni.  Amazing.  Made it a while ago, but could really go for it right now!

What are you guys making this weekend?

Grilled Broccoli

That's right. Grilled broccoli.  It's easy, it's the best broccoli I've ever had, and my three year old agrees!

You will need fresh stalks of broccoli (duh) some butter or oil, salt, pepper and whatever else you want to put on it.  I use Smart Balance Light (yes, it's vegan!) salt, pepper, garlic powder and a little sugar to caramelize it a bit (and to entice my three year old :-).

Spread the butter over the top of the broccoli just like you are painting it (works very well with Smart Balance because it is soft like a margarine), I even buttered the stalk on all sides. Now, place it on a big piece of aluminum foil and salt and pepper and garlic powder the whole thing (or hot sauce or any other powdered spice you like, could try to sprinkle freshly chopped garlic on it even, but that was too much bother for me).
Like so:

Now, wrap it up.  Looks imposing, doesn't it? 

P.S. I had to use another big piece o' foil to cover it all the way around. 

Now, grill it up.  I just put it on the grill (I guess it was about 400 degrees) for about 10 minutes or so per "side." (I flipped it over once).  It takes a while because broccoli is a pretty tough veggie.  I'd go up to 15 minutes per side, especially if your grill isn't as hot.  To tell if it's done, just pierce the stem with a fork to see if it is tender and as soft as you'd like it.  If not, re-wrap it and put it back on for a few minutes. 

Best part? The STEM.  Tastes like artichoke hearts done this way.  We all fought over it.  

Let me know if you try it! Enjoy! <3 Dawn