wednesday

Nope, no clever title. It's just wednesday, what can I say. Only AJ needed a lunch today.

AJ's lunch: rice triangle w/goma shio; Tofurky slice; honeydew melon; a pickle; blanched spinach w/toasted sesame seeds.

When the cool fall mornings arrive, I really shy away from the typical american breakfasts.
My breakfast of ramen noodles with miso shoyu sauce, shaved salad turnips, turnip greens, kombu & scallion. Total yumminess! I don't always use the same greens of course. Whatever is available from the farm or the yard or nearby trails will suffice: dandelion greens, radish tops, spinach, tat soi, mizuna, mustard greens, carrot tops, beet greens, etc. A variety of seaweed options round out the meal, usually about one tablespoon dried seaweed crushed, ripped or chopped goes in with the noodles. In place of the salad turnips I have substituted radishes, bok choy, leeks & mushrooms. This is an easy way to make a quick, cheap, hearty breakfast.

Apparently I'm not the only person who feels noodle soups make an excellent breakfast (well, besides the country of Japan!). Check out Chez Cayenne's thai tofu noodle soup! Looks delish.

more meals

Some more food from the end of the school year...
Teddy
Bear
Picnic
day
for
Nate
at pre-
school,
so both
his
snack
and
Ryan's
lunch
were
teddy
bear
themed.
I think
I'm
going
to have
to be
more cautious how "cute" Ryan's lunches are in 2nd grade this fall, since he will be turning 8. He doesn't complain either way, but I have the feeling that plainer lunches will be the norm for him, while I get creative for Maia's preschool meals!
A picnic dinner can save the day when there's no time to cook.Adding greens to hummus, and dark leafy greens to sandwiches, bumps the nutrition up a notch.Nate had a lot of end of the year birthday parties to attend. So I sent imitations of the party foods: chik'n nuggets and cupcakes.
Again, adding greens to something as easy as noodles makes lunch more healthy & colourful:When
it was
Ryan's
turn
to read
the
book
he'd
written
and
illust-
rated
in 1st
grade,
every-
one
was
invited
to an
author's
tea.
Parents
were
asked to bring a snack, so I tried to bring something different from the usual fruit & juice.

foraging

I love to look for wild edibles...but I need to increase my knowledge so I have more variety! Our CSA offered a fabulous walk & talk with a visiting expert on the subject 2 summers ago, but of course I had to go and have a baby and miss the whole thing. Bother!
Recently I have been enjoying blogs like The 3 Foragers. They are also from New England, so what they find is similar to what is in my local area.
So this week during school vacation I will focus on what spring has to offer here in the way of FREE food!

I began in our yard, right next to the house...





















The top 2 pics are chickweed, very easy to identify once you know how. I have no idea what the bottom left plant is called, but I have been picking and eating it for literally as long as I can remember; I used to call it "sour grass" as a kid as it is very sour, reminscient of SweetTarts candy to me! Does anyone out there know its name?? Bottom right is obviously dandelions. All of the plant can be used, but I started with just the greens, best when young without a thick rib down the middle.

Not quite as wild, but often overlooked...

Rhubarb doesn't need
any attention to do its
thing. Just let it grow
and pick when the stems
are pink/red. Though it's
a vegetable, rhubarb is
usually treated like a
fruit and used in desserts.
It is also quite tart and
needs sweetening. Just
remember that only the
stems are edible.

There are many varieties
of violets, but the delicate
ones growing in yards and
roadsides and in forests are
easy to identify and pick. The little flowers add some nice
color to salad, and can make a lovely embellishment for desserts!

Now maybe there are some of you out there more expert than me on the subject. I've got a few books on my Amazon wishlist, but have yet to purchase anything.





















I've heard that some varieties of sedum (top left) are quite tasty, albeit peppery. And what is this groundcover on the right? Or how about the lower left that carpets the forests in the area? Or the weed on the lower right that is EVERYWHERE around these parts? Even if they're not edible, I'm surrounded by them and would love to know the names of some of these plants.

After washing the greens
in a big bowl of water, I
stuffed them all into the
food processor with a bit
of salt and chopped them
up. Then added the rest of
my usual tofu quiche
ingredients.

I cooked up some onion
and bac-un strips and
mixed everything together.
Normally I probably use
about 1 cup of greens, but
I had at least 2 cups of
packed greens and I used
them all.

The result was VERY green,
and a bit strong, but Nate &
I loved it. The only person
who didn't finish his was
Ryan. I served it alongside
some potato & carrot home-
fries, with a touch of ketchup.

Salad Resolutions

I am not a big salad eater (yeah, I know most omnis think vegans eat nothing but rabbit food), at least not the traditional house salad served aside so many entrees in the average restaurant. But if you're trying to boost your greens consumption or increase your raw food intake, a salad is probably a familiar start.
So here are a few I do enjoy...

The first is my take on a
favourite of both myself &
my husband. A caribbean
fusion restaurant named
Ortanique located in the
Paris hotel & casino in Las
Vegas recently closed, much
to our dismay. The restaurant
had become one of our
destination locations strictly because of a simple salad, so that's saying something!!

Tropical Salad a la Ortanique

a few cups fresh mesclun (baby salad greens)
1/2 of a ripe mango, julienned
1 heart of palm (I use the jarred variety), julienned (easy to do as they act like string cheese)
candied pecans or walnuts (you can buy them at stores like Trader Joes, or make your own by toasted nuts in a dry pan, then adding a little sugar to carmelize, but don't let them burn!)
1-2 tsp. citrus-infused grapeseed oil

Pile a plate with greens, top with remaining ingredients in a visually appealing fashion, drizzling the oil over everything at the end.

Chunky Guac Salad

1/8-1/4 of a red onion
1 T. lime juice
1 ripe avocado
1 ripe tomato
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
a pinch of salt

Slice the red onion into a wedges and separate pieces. Drizzle with lime juice. Set aside for at least 10 minutes.
Slice avocado & tomato. Toss with onion & lime juice.
Top with cilantro and a pinch of salt.

(If you don't care for raw onion, feel free to roast it tossed in olive oil first, or you might prefer a smaller amount of very thinly sliced onion instead.)

Roasted Vegetable Salad

1 head broccoli
2 cups large button
mushrooms
1 cup cherry tomatoes
1/8-1/4 cup olive oil
2-3 cups salad greens
1-2 T. balsamic vinegar
salt & freshly ground pepper to taste

Wash broccoli & cut into bite-size florets.
Brush or wash mushrooms & cut into quarters.
Wash cherry tomatoes.
Place all 3 vegetables on a baking sheet and drizzle/toss with olive oil. Bake in a 400F oven until broccoli begins to brown and tomatoes burst, 10-20 minutes.
Place greens in a large salad bowl. Top with warm roasted vegetables & drizzle with balsamic vinegar, salt & pepper.

This next salad I ordered in
a Korean BBQ restaurant
in Tokyo...I mean, what else
is a vegetarian to do with a
bunch of omnis in a BBQ
joint? As it turns out, there
was also a large selection of
mushrooms brought to me
to grill adjacent to my meat-
eating friends...I kept my shrooms well away from their steak & pork though. The original salad was made with only baby spinach, but I make it often with a variety of fresh greens from our CSA share...

Korean Cold Tofu Salad

2 cups baby greens
1-2 slices firm cold tofu, cubed (the asceptic pack kind)
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes
1-2 scallions (green onions), sliced
1 T. soy sauce

Plate the greens, top with remaining ingredients.

Everything's gone green

The CSA season can overwhelm a person with green produce from time to time. Sometimes it's hard to make the time for preparation of so much perishable food. I often score some extras on pickup day when someone says "Do you want our spinach? We can never eat that much." Or "you can pick our braising greens. I never know what to do with them." The farm's weekly newsletter includes recipes highlighting a certain item, and there is an additional CSA cookbook for sale that is packed with ideas.
But I thought I'd share some of our typical uses of local greens. This is by no means the only ways I use them, just the most common. I also steam & freeze many greens for use in the fall & winter. If you have a unique way to use any of your local greens please share in comments!

lettuce & salad greens – I'm actually not a big salad eater, but during the CSA season I keep at least one big bowl of salad greens washed and ready to eat every week. I also use them in sandwiches, wraps, & lettuce roll-ups.

I found a new salad
dressing I'm enjoying
this season. It's creamy,
tangy, and rich in
omega-3's...what could
be better!

spinach – Our favourite
use is blanched cold
spinach with a light soy
sauce dressing (oshitashi),
but spinach is also great in
salads, sushi, cooked with
pasta, cooked into pasta sauce, used in pesto, in tofu "ricotta", an easy addition to homemade veggie burgers & loaves, great in tofu "quiche", added to soup, smoothies, & pancakes.

kale – Sautéed with garlic, chopped or pureed and cooked in pasta sauce, added to a creamy nutritional yeast sauce, as part of a base for veggie burgers, a nutritional boost for pesto, chopped & added to soups.

chard – Sautéed with garlic & raisins, added to soups, baked in muffins.

collards – sautéed with garlic, great in homemade veggie burgers, added to soups.

arugula – cooked with diced potatoes & pasta, soups, added to salads.

mustard greens – added to soups (especially lentil soup), chopped & blanched in Mediterranean grain salads.

beet greens – steamed with creamy dressing, added to salads, added to soup, in sandwiches & wraps, in cold spring rolls.

bok choy – In Chinese dishes, added to salads, in cold spring rolls.

cabbage – I'm not a big cole slaw or sauerkraut fan, but there are many other uses for cabbage that I enjoy: sesame stir-fries, sautéed with other veggies, spicy kimchee, & sweet Russian cranberry coleslaw.

broccoli – steamed, roasted, casseroles, finely chopped in mashed potatoes, with rice & herbs, broccoli coleslaw, in soups, Chinese style, tempura, raw with dip.

green beans – asian dishes, steamed, bean salads, casseroles, raw with dip.

pea shoots & pea greens – in salads, in wraps, stir-fries, pureed as a pasta sauce, blanched cold with light dressing, as a garnish.

peas – raw shelled peas, mixed in salads, steamed, in soups, in casseroles, in stir-fries, in fried rice, raw with dip (for edible pods).

cucumber – In salads, as an asian salad, hummus & cucumber sandwiches, raw slices with dip, chutney, sushi, quick refrigerator pickles.

zucchini – muffins, breads, pancakes, sautéed, soups, tempura, in pesto, pasta sauce, lasagna filling, raw "chips" with dip.

garlic scapes – In soups, sauteed with other greens, in hummus, garnish on salads.

scallions – In stir-fries, dips, hummus, sushi, on salads, as a garnish.

Sunday:
Steamed beets and a
creamy homemade
dressing made this
salad into a meal.
Unfortunately I'm the
only one in the family
who cares for beets,
unless they are pickled!

Monday:
An easy way to add
nutrition to ramen
noodles--add fresh
greens! I cooked sliced
snow peas with the
noodles, then topped
with plenty of
chopped scallion.

The afternoon included
our first outing with all
4 kids in the minivan
(Maia is facing backwards
so you can't see her). All
the boys got haircuts, then
we went out for sushi. It
couldn't have gone more
smoothly. Whew!

Tuesday:












Nate had a great time picking berries at the farm for the first time. He consumed quite a lot of blueberries, raspberries & our entire allotment of cherry tomatoes. Maia visited the farm for the first time too.
Weekly farm share:
- 3lbs garlic
- 3 cucumbers
- 2 quarts green
beans
- herbs (I picked
some dill & cilantro)
- 12 stems kale
- 12 stems rainbow
chard
- 1 head broccoli
- 1 hot pepper
- beets
- 1 lb carrots
- zucchini, summer
squash, & pattypan squash
- 1 bunch scallions
- 1 head lettuce
- 1 quart blueberries
- 1 bouquet flowers (not shown)

Also not shown: extra cucumbers & zucchini from the "seconds" table.

Wednesday:

Unfortunately AJ's
camp teacher was
sick, so I did not
need to pack him a
lunch. But here is
part of dinner: tempura
zucchini & carrots.

Thursday:
Husband's lunch for work: rice; sauteed kale & chard with garlic & raisins; cold tofu; asian cucumber salad; blueberries; mini bagel "salad" sandwiches; purple grapes.

On his way home from work he stopped at the farmer's market & got 1/2 a dozen ears of local corn, along with some tomatoes, potatoes, & fresh bread.

Friday:
No food worth photographing. Baby Maia is almost 2 weeks old and weighs 5 ounces above her birth weight and has grown 3/4 of an inch.

Fresh Farm Meals

No snacks this week since it's the first week of summer vacation!
On the weekend I made everyone's favourite dinner "The Yummiest of Yummy Tofu Dinners" as Ryan calls it, or ma po tofu with veggies:
I think I could make this every
night for a week and nobody
would complain. And it's a great
way to use green vegetables,
especially asian greens and beans.
This week I used our baby bok
choy from the farm.


Yummiest of Yummy Tofu Dinners

1 T. peanut, canola, or safflower oil
3 chopped scallions
2 chopped garlic cloves
1-2 tsp. minced ginger
1 tsp. hot sauce, red pepper flakes, or a small diced hot pepper
1 large head bok choy or 2-3 heads baby bok choy, chopped with stems & leaves separated
1 lb. firm tofu, cut into bite-size triangles
1 small can sliced bamboo shoots
2 cups frozen haricots verts or green beans
3 T. soy sauce
3 T. rice vinegar
3 T. cooking sherry
1 T. sugar
1 cup vegetable broth
2 T. cornstarch + 4 T. water
2-3 packages ramen noodles or rice noodles, cooked & drained (optional)

Heat oil in large pot or wok (I use a large cast iron pot) with scallion, garlic, ginger & hot sauce.
Add bok choy stems and stir fry about 2 minutes.
Add tofu and bamboo shoots and stir fry for another 1-2 minutes.
Add bok choy greens.
Mix soy sauce, rice vinegar, cooking sherry & sugar. Add to pot.
Add vegetable broth and green beans. Stir and cook at a low boil for about 5-7 minutes, or until greens beans are just wilted and soft.
Turn off heat. Stir in cornstarch mixture. Serve in big bowls over noodles or as is.

Father's Day:

The day began with a bunny
stick puppet show and pancakes.
I wasn't up to doing anything
extra special...being very
pregnant and having 3 boys
is enough!



For lunch I made this absolutely
fabulous "Pea Shoot Salad with
Avocados and Bacon" from the
Gourmet's Fresh cookbook. The
dressing was fantastic. And I used
Lightlife fake bacon that cooks
up crispy.


We ate out at a Mexican
restaurant for dinner, then
came home to enjoy an
apple-rhubarb pie with
Soy Delicious Neopolitan
ice cream. Dada is a big
pie fan.


Monday:
Husband's lunch: bell
pepper strips; steamed
asparagus; grape tomatoes;
purple grapes; more pea
shoot salad....there was
plenty of leftover dressing
for a few more servings.



Another recipe from Gourmet's
Fresh: "Farfalle with Roasted
Garlic and Pea Puree". A yummy
way to use peas. I decided to add
the pea greens to the pasta
cooking water at the very end
instead of adding them raw.
Very tasty.

Tuesday:
Another one of Ryan's creations:
a sandwich filled with Tofutti
cream cheese, carrot, grapes
& avocado. He loves to tell me
about when he grows up how I
can come visit him and all the
delicious meals he'll cook for me.
I can't wait! LOL.




Wednesday:

I must admit I am not a fan
of raw radishes. But they are
easy to grow and we always
get plenty from the farm, so
I am determined to find new
ways to prepare them so I
can enjoy them. I tried this
simple Pickled Radish recipe
online. It is so easy to slice
radishes, throw them into a
glass jar or container, shake
a few times, and in 24 hours
watch them transform into
something new and delicious.
I ate the whole batch myself!



Lunch: chinese-style asparagus
and super spicy eggplant over
rice.
Our last item from the previous
farm season is garlic, still hanging
in the basement stairwell, plant
tops and all. I just snip off a head
whenever needed.

CSA share:
- 1 bunch summer savory
- 1 head red leaf lettuce
- 1 head romaine lettuce
- 1 bunch rainbow swiss chard
- 1/2 lb. spinach
- 1/2 lb. mixed baby greens
- various herbs: sage, oregano,
thyme, sorrel
- 1 bunch pea greens
- 1 bunch scallions
- 2 quarts strawberries
- 1 quart sugar snap peas

Dinner: child & adult portions of:
strawberries; snap peas; sauteed
swiss chard with garlic & raisins;
tofu herb ravioli with sauce.

Wednesday:
Dinner: pasta primavera with
leftover pea sauce. Lots of
veggies including peas,
broccoli, carrot & bell peppers.





Thursday:
local pickins from the Farmer's Market: red & yellow new potatoes; flat-leaf parsley; a loaf of white bread (what a treat!); yellow squash & zucchini; 5 hothouse tomatoes.

I was so exhausted after a
visit with my midwives and
food shopping that I wanted
a simple comfort food dinner.
I whipped up a sun-dried
tomato & parsley hummus
spread on some onion focaccia
bread & topped with capers.
Oh, my, gosh...soo good. That
and a salad & some snap peas to munch was all that we needed.

Next week Ryan starts CSA farm camp...so I'll have at least a couple of kid lunches to post!