Summer Lovin'

Happened so fast. It's summertime in KC and I am loving it! For one it's been so very gorgeous and all I can do is praise the Lord for giving me a 4th of July when I was outside all day long and loved every minute of it. I have thoroughly enjoyed many evenings spent on our gorgeous front porch sipping wine and spending time with a great sister and great neighborhood friends. This particular evening I was blessed to spend time with a couple of friends that live within a stone's throw and we enjoyed some great food and wine. Our evening was originally scheduled as a porch crawl but the 90 degree weather merited an inside dining experience. Nevertheless it was simply delightful.

On the menu for tonight: 

• Most delightful farm to market bread toasted with avocado mousse and slivered radishes.
• Massaged and sauteed collard greens with a delightful lemon olive oil dressing, sunflower seeds, and  blueberries.
• A couple of different veggie patty fritters that I concocted.
• Wine and the most interesting delightful sangria I've ever had made with cucumber, radish, and ginger slices among grapefruit juice and sparkling wine.

Veggie Patty#1: Mushroom Quinoa (I rarely measure so these are rough estimates)

In food processor rough chop:

• 2 cup mushrooms
• 1 cup eggplant
• 1 medium onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 large carrot
• 1 Tablespoon ground flax

Add:

• 1.5 cups cooked quinoa (I actually cooked together 1 cup raw quinoa with 1/2 cup red lentils and then ended up adding about 3/4 of the total mixture to the food processor. I ate the rest with some spices for a snack.)
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 1 cup yellow corn meal (I started out with 1/2 cup and then added handfuls until it was the desired consistency I wanted.)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon curry powder

Pulse all this until it is combined but don't over-process. Form into small patties and roll in additional corn meal. I then fried mine in a combo of grass-fed beef lard and coconut oil. Alternately they can be sauteed or probably baked if you are opposed to fat, although good fat is good for you!

Veggie Patty #2: Beet Falafel

Soak overnight 1 cup garbanzo beans. Drain the beans and into food processor put:

• Soaked, but not cooked, garbanzo beans
• 2 cups shredded raw beets
• 2 Tablespoon cumin
• 2 Tablespoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Handful of cilantro going to seed, aka turning into coriander, (alternately about 1/2 cup cilantro and 1 T coriander will do)

Remove from processor and add:

• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 1 egg

Form into small patties and fry also in your fat of choice. I fried them right along side the patties #1.

These patties were served with a funny little sauce that I concocted out of cashew butter blended with coconut milk, dill, and celery seed.

Most delightful. I love cooking for friends and wish I took more time for blogging about such adventures. I've certainly been creating some new things but have been too busy enjoying them with new friends to record the moments. Thanks Esther and MaryAnna for making me write these down!

Rainbow Bean Dip

Yesterday I made this lovely rainbow bean dip for an evening of appetizers and some friends from high school. It was delightful, the colorful salad and the company.
Into the salad went:

• 1/2 cup dry black beans, properly soaked and cooked
• 1/2 cup dry garbanzo beans, properly soaked and cooked
• 1 large yellow bell pepper, chopped
• 1 large avocado, sliced into chunks
• 1/4 cup dried tomatoes, I rehydrated them in the following vinegar for about an hour before adding
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 1/4 cup red onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup green onion, chopped
• 2 Tablespoons chopped roasted chili peppers, these I had in the freezer
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• juice of one lime
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

I was following somewhat of recipe that I found in a magazine but then altered it drastically to reflect the ingredients that I had on hand. If I was making this during the summer I would obviously use fresh tomatoes, but in the wintertime I refuse to purchase disgusting hothouse tomatoes from the store so instead I used some dried tomatoes that I dehydrated this summer. They added a nice flavor when they re-hydrated a bit in the vinegar. If you don't have roasted chili peppers, a nice fresh jalepeno would be good as well during the growing season.

Make sure to put this salad or dip to eat with tortilla chips together at least 3 hours before you plan to enjoy it. At it sits the flavors meld and create a very tasty salad or dip. It's even better the next day!

Squash Season

Tis the season for summer squash overload! I have been eating it numerous times a day, everyday, for the past several weeks. I usually eat it whole-heartily for a while until the squash bugs take over and kill my plants. Usually by then I'm ready for them to die. Although there are numerous recipe collections using squash online I usually don't even get to trying them. I thought I might share the methods of my squash eating as I have answered numerous requests lately for what to do with squash.

• Simply slice or dice, saute in a bit of butter, add desired seasonings and call it magic! This is probably my most frequent eating method. I like a little cumin, paprika, salt and pepper added. Sometimes I get crazy and sprinkle nutritional yeast on top for a cheesy nutty flavor. I eat this with my eggs almost everyday.
• Shred it, mix it with some more random spices, cheese, thickener of some kind like bread crumbs or cornmeal or specifically green pea flour and hemp seeds and make it a pancake. Once you have a thick mixture, slap it into a skillet and brown on both sides for a zucchini fritter type delicacy. Here's a picture of my creation last night!

• Pickle the suckers just like they were cucumbers! They certainly don't turn out as crunchy and crisp as pickling cucumbers would but they still are tasty pickled creations.
• Make a tasty fritatta like I did today for the kiddos at the Summer Feeding Program. I shredded the zucchini and potatoes and sauteed with onion. Then poured a bunch of farm fresh eggs on top, added some cheese and let cook into a delightful healthy veggie filled fritatta. The kids loved it too!
•  Of course most people know that zucchini lends itself pretty excellently in a quick bread or cake. Tonight I made my first batch of zucchini muffins and I'm pretty proud because these do not involve a pound of sugar and they are quite tasty. Find the recipe here.

On another squash note, I have started harvesting my first acorn squash. I have honestly never grown a successful crop of winter squash variety because my plants always get devoured by squash bugs before they produce anything. Praise the Lord, these acorn squash grew out of my compost that I had buried in the garden and they were a complete surprise when I found the wonderful squash ready for picking!

Got any other brilliant ideas for using the abundance of summer squash? Please leave a comment and let me know how you prefer to eat these tasty treats!

Curry Creation

I had a  rather interesting one-pot curry creation this past week while foraging the Lindahl freezer and pantry. I really wanted to make a curry and had a number of rather interesting ingredients on hand. This is how the curry went down.....

Always start with the onion.

Added some venison steak chunks.

This is one of the rare occasions where I kept track of the spices I added.

 

 

 

 

Just a little ridiculous.

Sweet potato

Frozen turnip went in along with frozen turnip greens.

The medley long grain rice that I soaked overnight and cooked up.

My final creation made complete with half & half, tons of spices, and venison bacon on top. It was a little crazy and I definitely learned that I should keep the spice combos to a relative minimum if possible.

Color the Potluck

It is certainly my job to bring health and color to any potluck that I attend. All people that know me well know how to find what I bring. Does it look colorful and is it healthful and nutritious? Now I don't claim to always bring healthy things, however, more often than not I do feel the need to bring something healthy. It's not that I don't enjoy a really great unhealthy treat but I just feel like it's my role as a nutrition educator and a health coach student to bring something with life, color, and nutrition to the table. 

Today for our church potluck I chose this wonderful collection of bell peppers. Super simple this is simply a nice combination of red, yellow, green, and chocolate bell peppers mixed together with a red onion, lemon juice, olive oil, and fresh parsley. Sprinkled with salt it was a refreshing healthy salad. The peppers were the end of the season fresh peppers from a KC market and a KC friend's garden. Perfect. 

This would be the soup I made last night for our KSU football watch party. It was a nice combination of all things random in my fridge that needed to be used, a mix of chili and taco soup. You'll find plenty of onion and bell peppers in this one along with corn, tomatoes, V8 juice, a few okra, carrots, can of chili beans, and a healthy serving of bulgar. My friend Amos remarked, "This is good, but it would be better with meat." Silly meat eaters just can't get over having something without meat.  I thought it was tasty after I added a healthy amount of chili powder, taco seasoning, paprika, cumin, and red pepper.

First time

Presently, I'm sitting in the lovely outdoor weather of Abilene, Kansas soaking up some rays and trying to make my very first Farmers' Market sales. I don't have any vegetables to sell yet, but I have some amazing 100% Whole Grain Cookies for sale! I think they're pretty fabulous. My sign says 100% Wholesome. They have a whole lot of wholesome goodness and love in them too.

The past couple of weeks have been a little crazy in my world. So to start catching up in the blogging world I'll tell you about my first time preserving turnips. I picked quite a few from the garden. My turnips seem to become pretty spicy if they get any size on them. The heat around here has also caused them to get a little more spicy as they are fresh. I decided to blanch and freeze them and amazingly most of the spiciness went away after blanching. We'll see how they serve up a little later in my stews.

Turnip chunks and greens!

I also managed to make a first time new veggie burger recently. This burger is a combo of lentils, beets, greens and some other goodness I can't remember. 

Feelin' Hot Hot Hot

It is mighty hot out there. I got up early this morning and thought about going running but decided to head out to the farm for some garden work instead. It was about 75 degrees when I was driving out at 7am and it quickly got up to the 95-100 degree mark. At least today there is a bit of a wind but hello hot, humid Kansas summer in the beginning of June!

I first harvested some lettuce. I don't think we'll get much more, with all this heat it is quickly turning bitter. I then went to town weeding and mulching. I dug out some of the tomato cages, staked some of the bigger tomatoes and then planted some winter squash and some more basil. I officially filled up the entire garden space. 

Potatoes on the left with green beans

My biggest tomato plant. Go baby go!

Like a diamond

First planting of corn.

Cabbage and potatoes in the distance

My second and third plantings of corn.

Burger Delight

I had a recent success in the creation of my very own veggie burger. It was definitely inspired by the random contents of the fridge and a new blog find.

The contents:

• Mung beans- these are tiny little green beans 
• Quinoa- a fabulous complete protein 
• Carrot
• Green onion
• Oatmeal, I used some prepared and some dry
• Egg
• Curry powder
• Salt & Pepper

I pureed all together in a food processor and then added additional oats until it was the consistency I wanted. Mushy but not too mushy. Then I slapped into the handy non-stick skillet and cooked on each side until crispy. Place between a toasted whole wheat bun, add some pesto, cheese, sprouts and lettuce and you have my fabulous burger delight!

On a most delightful day!

Green

The month of March as National Nutrition Month is quickly coming to an end. I have been slacking on my nutrition posts but hope to get through the rainbow of colors before the end of the month. I've already addressed Yellow/Orange and Red. Today, since I was able to work with some greens outside in the garden, I'll address the color green.

I've been eating tons of salad lately. Mostly due to the fact that I've been participating in Walk Kansas, which requires me to count my amount of exercise and cups of fruits and veggies each day. It is a bit of a contest and since I like to eat fruits and veggies I've done a pretty good job of consuming over the 5 a day recommendation. My salad greens thanks to AeroGarden.

Greens in the form of lettuce, spinach, beet greens, swiss chard, mustard greens, bok choy, and kale are all great leafy vegetables. These green leafy vegetables are some of the greatest superfoods because they are not only chalk full of nutrients but they are inexpensive for all their greatness. Leafy greens contain lutein which aids in eye health as well as calcium, iron, and folate which protects against birth defects. Vitamins A, B, C, and K are all found here as well. Add all that up and find some excellent antioxidants, cancer fighting nutrients. Enough said, green leafy vegetables are super foods in my book.

Broccoli, cabbage, green peppers, cucumbers, green onions, peas, beans and celery are additional green vegetables that contain many of these same nutrients. Kiwis, green grapes, limes, green apples are all fruits with the green color goodness as well.

The green fruit, the avocado, is another extremely beneficial food. Avocados contain many essential nutrients and are heart healthy. They contain mono-unsaturated fats which are hearty healthy when they replace saturated fats. These lower LDL (bad) cholesterol. Avocados are high in fat which when eaten in place of other fatty foods is beneficial as it keeps us satisfied longer. This fat when consumed with other nutrient dense foods aids in the absorption of many fat soluble vitamins and minerals. Double bonus!

So there's my green spiel, just a week late from Saint Patrick's Day! Might I add that green is one of my favorite colors and half my closest is green.

Red

Eat right with the color RED!

Tomatoes, red peppers, red apples, beets, cherries, strawberries, raspberries, pomegranate, red & pink grapefruit, rhubarb, cranberries, watermelon

The color pigment in red fruits and vegetables comes from  lycopene and anthocyanins. These are both powerful phytonutrients that help fight many types of cancer and improve heart health, lower blood pressure, reduce LDL (bad) cholesterol and ease the pain of arthritis. The color red seen in these fruits and vegetables also contain essential antioxidants Vitamin A & C. Eating right with the color red has immeasurable health benefits, tastes so sweet and good, and is low in fat and calories!

Red cherries contain melatonin- regulates sleep

Raspberries are fruit with highest antioxidant levels and
among the highest in fiber. 

Post-jog smoothie: Strawberries, blueberries,
plain yogurt, milk,  hemp protein powder

Dinner is served.

Tofu with bok choy, shitake mushrooms, water chestnuts, green onion.

My parents weren't diggin it so much but they ate it.

Thanksgiving Harvest

Psalm 100

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.

Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.

For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

This Thanksgiving I felt like a real pilgrim. So very thankful for the bountiful harvest and the warm autumn season that has allowed me to continue harvesting for so long. Thankful for bell peppers that I had harvested a couple weeks ago to go along with the corn that I had frozen from summertime.

Thankful for root and tuber veggies. Some from my fall planting that actually produced enough to harvest. 

Thankful for swiss chard still kicking it.

Oh and thankful for the free range turkey, even if it did come from California. 

Thankful for the bounty of choices and big plates to put it on.

Thankful for my advisor, boss, and friend that made this pecan pie. Retail value = $50. Even more thankful for his wife that keeps him humble.

Such a great day spent with my family and friends. Always worth the effort and time in the kitchen for a great meal, even with frozen bread!