The Miller's Daughter

How will I spin all this straw into gold??

CSA Haul, Wed. 10/23/13: 

Vine tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, eggplant, turnips, "spicy mix," beets, arugula, cauliflower, broccoli, kale, spinach, lettuces and carrots.

With the help of my Rumpelstiltskin, of course!

Rumpelstiltskin.

How are you guys managing the plentiful produce that the height of the season provides?

If you don't have enough bounty to complain about, get thee to a Farmers Market before it's all over!  Just put your zip code into the search box and check "Farmers' Markets."  BTW, it seems folks find it difficult to agree on Farmer's vs.  Farmers' vs. Farmers Market, though each manifestation has fans. Most commonly it's Farmers Market or Farmers' Market, if  anyone cares.

Remember the Haddonfield Farmers Market? This coming weekend is it's last weekend for the season.

I would love to hear what you guys are making, since I can't share what I'm making! How are you spinning *your* straw into gold??

Pepita Beet Spread and Sweet Corn Ice Cream (!)

So, from our box this week came the following:

Gorgeous Pepita Beet Spread (recipe below!) as a boost to this gorg salad (tomatoes are local but not CSA, yet!).

 Grillin' up the CSA bounty.

 Swiss Chard (as usual! 6th week in a row!), Beets & Greens (3) but 5th week in a row!), fresh onions (5), fresh corn (yes! 6 ears), fresh garlic (one clove, yes!), zucchini (4) and cucumbers (2), scallions (yes!) and 4 tomatoes are from my garden.

 Israeli Couscous with CSA Zucchini, Onions, and Organic Homemade Chickpeas.

 Yeah, I'm at it AGAIN with the ice cream maker!  FRESH CORN ICE CREAM!!

 Library Style.  

 

Sweet Corn Ice Cream (from Hannah's Book Vegan A La Mode) made with local, Organic CSA Corn. This ice cream is totally amazing (and our corn was amazing, so use local, organic corn if you make it). It is probably the most unusual and surprising ice cream I have had in years, and it is delicious. Texture and taste is right on the money.

Garnished with Half-Sharp Paprika (which is quite hot and spicy if you ask me). Delish!!

Onto the Pepita Beet Spread!

Pepita Beet Spread...

The perfected recipe is now forthcoming in Soy Not Oi 2!

image from Soy Not Oi's website.

I'm so thrilled to be a part of SNO II!  

If you don't already have it, the original Soy Not Oi is the classic, vegan anarchist cookbook.  Check out the peanut butter chocolate chip cookies I made from it!  They are SO good.

As soon as Soy Not Oi 2 has a link for purchase, I'll put it up.  I can't wait to see what else is in there!

XOXO

Herbed Ice Cubes and Garlic Scape Pesto

If you have left over pesto, greens, or herbs, which, after blending the heck out of everything in your CSA box you are sure to have, just pour it into an ice tray, freeze it, and pop it out.  Then place cubes in a plastic bag and store in your freezer.  Cubes become an instant sauce for pasta, salads, casseroles, pizzas, etc. whenever you need it! Just stick it in a small microwave-safe bowl and microwave at 50% power or heat gently in a small pan over low heat until defrosted.  Add to whatever you like: pastas, pizza sauce, casseroles, tortillas pies, tofu scrambles,  veggie burgers, etc.

 Top cubes are Green Lantern Pasta Pesto (almonds, cilantro, garlic, lemon zest, big hit with my kiddo) 

and the darker ones are Spinach Cilantro Cubes (spinach and cilantro :-)

You can blend and store any herb or green or combination of both this way.  Just combine half the volume of herbs/greens with half the volume of water and/or oil, blend, and freeze.  Add some salt if you want.  

You can do parsley, basil, cilantro, mint, marjoram, the list is endless. 

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So, onto the CSA box...the only way I could think to make a dent in that HUGE bag of garlic scapes was to blend the heck out of them.  Basically, this is Groundhog Pesto with Scapes instead of garlic, and with organic arugula and almonds.  You can use any greens you have, and of course, any nuts or seeds.

Garlic Scape Pesto

1/2 cup Nuts and/or Seeds (I used almonds today)

1.5 cups chopped up Garlic Scapes (this is about eight large scapes)

Zest and Juice from one small Organic Lemon

2 tsps Kosher Salt

1 cup hot pasta cooking water (but grab at least 2 cups to thin it out later if needed)

2-3 cups Greens and/or Herbs

(today I used organic arugula that I bought last week before the CSAs started and some basil and rosemary from out back :-)

1/4 cup olive oil or any other oil you feel like using

Put everything in a VitaMix or Blendtech or high-speed blender in the order listed.  Blend about 30-60 seconds.  Add more pasta water as needed.  If using a food processor, add everything up until the pasta water and pulse until finely chopped, scraping down as needed.  Add hot pasta water gradually and pulse until incorporated.  Add greens and stream in oil with food processor running.  Taste for salt, seasoning, etc. and add what you feel like!  Add beans, tofu cubes, grilled seitan, or more veggies to top it if you like!

 Escapin' scapes.  Tonight in my home this pasta was, "Yoda's Green Light Sabers."

Now, what?

CSA Box #2: A Veritable Vegetable Volcano

So, I picked up my second CSA box of the season yesterday and OMG:

 Um, WHOAH! Red Leaf Lettuce, Garlic Scapes, Swiss Chard, Radishes, Broccoli, Beets with their Greens, and Bok Choy!

 Chard, Radishes, Broccoli, Beets and Choy

 FIVE HEADS OF RED LETTUCE. 

 Radishes

 Beets & Choy

That gorgeous red leaf lettuce!

So, I had no idea what to do with five heads of lettuce (it doesn't even last overnight) so I immediately washed it all and gave two heads to my neighbor!  

Today, I cooked the Beet Greens and Swiss Chard for another Green Leek Pie since we can't stop talking about the first one.  I used lots of scapes instead of the leek this time (though I did have a piece of leek left from last week that I threw in).

 Beet Greens! They taste like how they look: just like Swiss Chard :) Tasty!

 Swiss Chard on top of the Beet Greens.  A Vegetable Volcano!

 After the explosion.

So, I'll finish that pie later.  The crust is chilling in the fridge now.

Oh, and I had a wicked craving for my Blood Orange Banana Bread, and I had tangerines in my fridge and three super overripe bananas on my counter, so here she is:

Slammin'.

CSA friends, how is it going with your boxes??

Homemade Strawberry Jam

Homemade Strawberry Jam

8 cups organic strawberries, washed and hulled (this was about 2.5 quarts worth)

2 cups organic sugar

¼ cup organic lemon juice (this was about three small, organic lemons)

That's it!

First, pick your berries!  

Now, get to washing and hulling your strawberries.

Fill a large bowl with water and gently add berries.  Gently stir around to loosen dirt from the farm.  

There’s a lot of dirt in them, so really wash them well.

Remove berries from water and remove stem (there is very little you need to remove on fresh, organic berries!).  I just picked out the individual berries, cut off the tiny bit of stem, and put the hulled berries in fresh bowl. 

 Whatever you do, do NOT “strain” them out by dumping the water and berries out together, this will pour the dirt right back over the berries!  You have to lift them out.

Add the sugar, mix gently and refrigerate.  

Allow the berries to sit (refrigerated) overnight or at least for a few hours to mascerate and let the juices start to flow.

Next, add the freshly squeezed lemon juice, and mix again.  Cook down in a large non-reactive pan (I used my large, wide stainless pan that is really a small roasting pan) over medium heat until reduced into a gel-like consistency. This takes about 20-25 minutes.  

 Mash up with a potato masher while cooking to break up the berries.

Skim foam off near the end of the cooking time to get a mostly clear jam.

That’s it! You’ve got jam!  You can keep it in the fridge for up to three weeks just as it is in a tightly covered container, or you can “process” it by canning it for real, and it will last up to a year.

I just stuck it in the fridge because we will easily eat it in three weeks, and, I don’t have any canning lids as of right now…I totally need to get canning stuff!

Enjoy!

Crispy Oat Cakes (Pancakes)

Crispy Oat Cakes with Strawberries!

 These were unbelievable.  I had them for lunch and dinner.

But, first, to the strawberry fields to pick the strawberries--then on to the recipe, don't worry!

 Honey Brook Organic Farm in Chesterfield, NJ

You could ride the tractor to the picking fields!

 Which we did, of course.

 See the fields in the distance and the tiny people picking strawberries?

 Me, picking! It was slow going at first.  The strawberry plants are very prickly, I wished I brought my gardening gloves, but I didn't know to!  Oh well.  And they were border planted with these thistle-y things:

 Damn, they were prickly! But, I bet they prevent deer and such from eating the berries.  Oh, and the fields were loaded with ladybugs! Organic farming is awesome!

 Just look at these beauties!  They said the tiny berries are the sweetest and most flavorful.

 Pondering.

 Kiddo whaling on the berries but trying to hide it.  He ate like a pint of them!

 Once we got warmed up with the picking, it was all we could do to pull ourselves away from the fields.  I just wanted to pluck those jewels all day long.  So bright and alluring!  So ethereal!

Me, with my full quart and my official Farm I.D. :-)

Heading home with our allotted three quarts (we thought we were only going to get two!):

Now, let's make some pancakes.  These are oat-based, low gluten and totally whole grain.  And, they are delicious!

Crispy Oat Cakes

Inspired by Molly Katzen’s recipe for Oatmeal Waffles in her Sunlight Café cookbook.

½ brick (6 oz) of silken tofu (the one in the aseptic box) , mash up with a fork in a small bowl, add:

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

3 T of melted butter or canola oil.  Mash some more until well-combined, set aside.

In a large, 4 C. measuring cup, mix:

2 cups of plant milk (I used TJ’s organic soy milk)

2 tsps apple cider vinegar

And let sit to curdle (this will be your vegan buttermilk). 

In a large bowl, mix your dry ingredients:

1 cup rolled oats (I used Old Fashioned oats, you can also use steel cut oats)

1 cup flour (I used White Whole Wheat, you can use all-purpose or whole wheat if you want)

½ cup oat bran

¾ tsp salt

1 ½ tsps baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

2 Tablespoons sugar

Now, make a well in your dry ingredients and mix in your tofu mixture and your milk until everything is just combined into a thick batter.  It won’t look very pretty, but it will taste awesome!

Heat a dry cast iron skillet on medium heat for about 3 minutes.  Add butter or oil to lightly coat the pan and after about 10 seconds (once it is done bubbling/sizzling) add your batter (make sure it is shaped so you can get your spatula under the whole pancake to flip it).  Cook for 2-3 minutes on the first side and add your fruit (if desired) while this first side is cooking.  Arrange by hand 1-2 tablespoons of berries or sliced fruit over the pancake and press it down a little bit.  

Now, use a butter knife or a spoon and get some extra batter from your bowl.  Gently spread the extra batter over the fruit so it is covered completely.  Spray with canola oil before you flip it:

Cook 1-2 minutes more on the second side.  Serve with real maple syrup, tons of extra berries, strawberry syrup (I just thought of this now, omg!) or whatever else you like!

Enjoy!