Loving Vegetarian Food...and Cake

I am not a vegetarian, but I've had some great vegetarian experiences this week, both in my kitchen and out.  I love animals, and I believe that they should be treated well.  But I am not opposed to eating meat or animal products.  I just think that we should be aware of where our food comes from and support those who provide animal products from hormone-free, well-cared for animals.

This was the last week of school, so there was very little cooking in the Whiskers' home.  There was a lot of blending.

The one night that I did cook, I made a vegetarian meal.  I was surprised at how time efficient it was.  Chopping and cooking a package of tofu is much faster than dealing with slimy chicken breasts.

I had one more CSA veggie in the fridge and decided to make an Asian dish.  Pak Choi is a Chinese green with a mustardy, spicy flavor.  It's tender spoon-shaped leaves sit atop celery-like stalks.  Chopped up, it makes for a delicious stirfry, and I was craving orange.

Asian Orange Tofu Stirfry

Stir Fry Ingredients:
1 head of pak choi
1 small head of broccoli
8 oz package of extra firm tofu
1 bell pepper
1 T grapeseed oil

Orange Sauce:
3/4 c water
1 T orange juice
2 T lemon juice
2 1/2 T gf soy sauce
3 T brown sugar
1 1/2 T orange zest
1 1/2 T minced ginger
2 garlic cloves minced
dash of cayanne pepper
1 T cornstarch
1 T water

1.  Make the sauce first, and then set it aside.  In a medium saucepan on medium-high heat, combine all of the sauce ingredients except for the cornstarch and water.  Once the sauce boils, turn off the heat and let it sit.

2.  Mix the cornstarch and water together in a small bowl until it's smooth.  Set it aside.

3.  Heat the oil in a wok on medium-high heat.  Add tofu, fry for 5 minutes, and remove it from the pan.  Place the vegetables in the pan, fry for a minute or two, and then add the orange sauce.  Return the tofu to the veggie mix along with the cornstarch slurry.  Cook for a a few minutes until the sauce has thickened.  Serve over brown rice.  Who needs takeout?

This recipe definitely gets printed and filed in the over-stuffed recipe box.  Thanks, Wheat Free Meat Free for the orange sauce recipe.  It's perfect.

This week the Husband happened to be in East Nashville and remembered my post about Aunt April's Bakery as he saw The Wild Cow.  April supplies The Wild Cow, a vegan restaurant with an extensive gluten-free menu, with their gluten-free bread and assorted yummy desserts.  Because I have the best husband in the universe, he stopped in to pick up a slice of April's gluten-free Chocolate Heaven Cake for me.  Considering that this was the last week of school, coming home to chocolate cake was an incredible treat.  Kitchen happy dance moment.

This cake was beautiful.

This cake was moist and light.

This cake was...wait!!!  Now, I trust my husband implicitly, so I'm not sure why I had to ask this.  It just sort of popped out of my mouth after I recovered from the first delicious bite.  "Are you sure this is Aprils' gluten-free cake?"  There wasn't anything about this cake that said, "I'm gluten-free."  The texture was perfect.  The plate didn't weigh five pounds.  The cake itself was light and airy.  The frosting.  Oh, the frosting.  Excuse me while I take a moment here...



Yes, of course it was April's gluten-free cake.  Of course, the Husband peppered the poor Wild Cow employee with questions about the cake, gluten, and cross-contamination issues.

The cake didn't last long.  I'm lucky to have this picture.

On Saturday, I had vegetarian experience number two.  We actually went to The Wild Cow for lunch.  I loved that I got an entire laminated menu of gluten-free meals.  No little star designating the three items on the menu that could be made gluten-free if I requested modifications.  This menu was covered with options from front to back!

I highly recommend the Prince Fielder on April's gluten-free flax bread - marinated and grilled tempeh, avocado, tomato, sprouts, cucumbers, shredded carrots, onions, Vegenaise, and spicy mustard.  Even the Husband ordered his sandwich on April's bread.

And the cold quinoa salad was fantastic.  The dried cranberries, toasted almonds, and parsley made the quinoa taste like a picnic at the park.

So, am I becoming a vegetarian?  No.  But I have to say I sure felt clean and satisfied after my vegetarian experiences this week.  There's just something about eating food from the earth that makes you feel alive and healthy.  Now that school is out, maybe it's time for some vegetarian experimenting.

What are your favorite vegetarian meals?

What Does CSA Day Mean?

It means getting a half bushel of the freshest greens I've ever tasted.

It means finding new greens and wondering what to do with them.  What am I going to do with Italian Dandelion Greens?

It means we're having salad for dinner.  It will be better than any restaurant salad, not because of the distracting toppings, but because of the goodness and richness of each tender leaf.

It means finding a new way to enjoy the last turnips of this season.  Pureed Turnip and Potato Soup tasted of home.

It means strawberries for dessert.  Not strawberry pie, not strawberry shortcake, and not strawberries dipped in chocolate either.  Just strawberries that taste like sunshine and the sweetness of life.

It means using my senses.   Feeling the tender leaves.  Hearing the crunch of stalks as I chop.  Smelling the richness of God's creation.  Marveling at the array of color that comes from the ground.  And tasting, tasting, tasting.

Pureed Turnip and Potato Soup

5 medium turnips
1 cup turnip greens sliced into strips
1 large potato
2 T unsalted butter
1 medium onion chopped
1 bunch of green onions sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup of dry white wine
1 qt of vegetable stock
sea salt and white pepper to season

1.  Chop turnips into 1 inch pieces.  Peel potato and chop into 1 inch pieces.
2.  Heat butter on medium-low in a soup pan and add minced garlic, chopped onion, and turnips.  Cook, stirring continuously until onions are tender.
3.  Add white wine, and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until the liquid is reduced by half.  Smell that!
4.  Pour the vegetable stock in the soup pot and add potatoes.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 15 minutes or until the potatoes are soft enough to pierce.
5.  Remove soup from the stove and ladle into a blender or Vita-Mix.  Puree in small batches and return puree to the soup pot.
6.  Saute turnip greens and green onions for 2 minutes.  Then add them to the soup.
7.  Season with sea salt and white pepper.

Taste.  Savor.  Enjoy.

When the Floodwaters Rise, Stirfry

If you haven't turned on the news lately, Nashville is in a state of emergency.  We've had 13.75 inches of rain,  9 fatalities, and over 600 water rescues.  We've been cooped up for three days watching the deluge, rivers flowing just beyond our property line, as well as images on the TV and internet such as these.

I was on my way home from a church event when the water levels on the road started to get scary.  Tornado sirens were sounding all around me.  I was thankful that the Husband traded cars with me that morning.  The Jeep's big beefy tires kept me anchored to the road.

Thankfully I made it home before the major flooding started.

This is the YMCA where I teach classes.  Behind the building is the running path where I do most of my training.

This intersection is just miles away from our home.

Thankfully our home is built into a hill, so our yard only suffered a little pooling, but flooding all around prevented us from getting out.

So, what's a girl to do with a refrigerator filled with CSA veggies,

a brand new birthday gift from the Husband,

and time on her hands?

Stir-fry!

When your county is in a state of emergency, it's not a good idea to run out to the store for missing ingredients.  So, I had to get a little creative.  I placed all of my veggies on the counter and started grouping them.  Which flavors would go together?  This is what I came up with.

1.  Golden Beet and Greens Stir-fry

Have you ever tried a golden beet?  They don't bleed like red beets, they have a subtle sweetness, and they are a good source of potassium.  The beet greens are actually more nutritious than the beets themselves as they contain twice the potassium.  They're also exceptionally high in beta carotene and folic acid.

Beets, beet greens, and swiss chard sauteed in grapeseed oil with garlic and caramelized onions was not only delicious and nutritious, it was beautiful.

I asked the Husband to describe the taste.  He said it tastes like stir-fried vegetables.  Thanks.

When I asked him to focus on the golden beets he said, "It has a bouquet of beet, a distinct nose of beet, and an aftertaste of beetiness."  Again, thanks.


2.  Turnip and Greens Stir-fry
I don't think I'd ever had a turnip before joining the CSA.  I'd seen the white and purple roots and passed them by.  But Hakurei Turnips are a delight.  They are perfectly round and pearly white.  They are mild enough to eat raw or sliced on salads, but we've had a lot of salads lately, so into the stir-fry they went.

I started with the same minced garlic and caramelized onions combination, but this time I added some balsamic vinegar, green onions, turnip greens, and spinach.  Tangy, sweet, and scrumptious.

3.  Ginger Carrot and Mizuna Stir-fry
What is Mizuna?  It's a tender, crisp, deep green Asian lettuce with jagged edges that tastes mild yet tangy.  It is often found in mesclun mixes and is used in salads, soups, and stir-fries.  I would have loved to have used fresh ginger root for this stir-fry, but flood waters made a run to the grocery store seem frivolous, especially when ordered by police to stay home.  Thankfully, I had some bottled ginger in the fridge.  

I sauteed chopped ginger, minced garlic, and onion in grapeseed oil, added carrots until al dente, and then piled on mounds of mizuna the last minute of cooking.  The mizuna quickly cooked down to about a quarter of the size. 

Sweet, sweet, sweet.  The natural sugar in the caramelized onions and carrots mixed beautifully with ginger and fresh garlic.


It was a wet day.  It was a creative food day.  The house smells spectacular.  We are well fed.  

And we are thankful.  We're thankful to be safe and dry.  We are thankful for fresh, organic food.  We are thankful for our farmers.  We are thankful for the stir-fry meals that we'll be enjoying for the next three weeks.

Our prayers are with those who are still being rescued from the flood waters and those who are cleaning up the devastating damage. 

Strawberries Day 2: Shortcake

I accomplished my goal.  We didn't lose a single precious strawberry.  I did end up freezing one of the six pints from our CSA, but I know we'll enjoy those in a few weeks blended in smoothies.

After looking through various gluten-free recipes for strawberry pies, crepes, cobblers, and cakes, I decided that I had to go with the traditional strawberry shortcake for dessert tonight.

Recipes for gluten-free shortcakes were not hard to find, but Elana Amsterdam's almond flour Classic Drop Biscuit recipe looked so simple.  And simplicity is important after a long day.  Plus, every recipe I've tried from her cookbook has been a hit.  Oh, and I do still have about 18 pounds of almond flour in my refrigerator.  So this was an easy decision.

Strawberry Shortcake

Classic Drop Biscuits
(from The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook)

2 1/2 c blanched almond flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 c grapeseed oil
1/4 c agave nectar
1 large eggs
1 tsp lemon juice

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Whisk together the wet ingredients and then stir them into the almond flour mixture until thoroughly combined.  Drop the batter in scant 1/4 cups 2 inches apart onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

I sliced three pints of strawberries, lightly dusted them with sugar, and then I actually made my own whipped cream.  Yes, Cool Whip Girl has grown up.  The Kitchen Aid worked extremely hard whipping the heavy cream.  All I had to do was add a dash of vanilla and a few teaspoons of powdered sugar.

The biscuits were gorgeous.

I split the them in half, and after suffering from shock that the two pieces didn't crumble to bits, as many other gluten-free baked goods do, I layered the shortcake, strawberries, and whipped cream until my creation was almost too gorgeous to eat.

Almost.

The Husband and the Housemate decided that they would split this serving.  But I had a sneaking suspicion that they would eventually decide to split a second one.

I was right.

I'm glad that I have plenty of ideas for our next delivery of strawberries from our CSA as we'll get six more pints in May!

Strawberries Day 1: The Challenge

I picked up my half share of CSA strawberries yesterday.  After excitedly bouncing up and down in the parking lot, marveling at their natural beauty, romanticizing about my farmers from Bountiful Blessings who lovingly picked six pints of berries just for me, I came back to reality.  What was I going to do with all of these strawberries?

So I went to the deep pool of wisdom.  Facebook.

Now, the Husband is very anti-Facebook, but he's a purest.  He thinks it's ridiculous that I have 160 "friends".  If I considered the true definition of "friend" he'd be right.  I would definitely have a much shorter list, but the concept of "friendship" on Facebook is more loosely defined.  I've enjoyed reconnecting with friends from the past, going a little deeper with people that I see for snippets of time throughout my week, and chatting weekly with people that I'd rarely get to communicate with otherwise.

Yes, so to my Facebook Friends I went with my deep question.

What are your favorite things to do with strawberries?

AnnMarie:  "If they are as good as you are making them sound, EAT THEM just by themselves. Put your feet up and savor!!!"

Did you notice that there are only five pints in the picture above?  I'm surprised that they made it home.

Becky:  "I like them in plain yogurt or on top of cereal!"

Breakfast this morning was gluten-free Corn Chex with strawberries and milk.  It was a sweet taste of the summer to come before running out the door to teach.

Courtney:  "Cut them up on a spinach salad with cucumbers (if I'm feeling healthy), dip them in chocolate if I'm not."

Spinach salad.  Of course!  Why didn't I think of that?  We had Strawberry Spinach Salad for dinner tonight.
Spinach, strawberries, red onion, avocado, feta cheese, pine nuts, and Briannas Blush Wine Vinaigrette.  Recipe?  Layer it and make it pretty.

And if I'd had any chocolate, a decadent dessert would have followed.





Karen:  "Freezer jam. Put them on dutch babies. Eat them hand over fist."

I'm going to have to do a little research on this.  The jam part, that is.  I'm pretty proficient at the hand over fist method.

Brittney:  "Collin make a mean strawberry crepe drizzled with chocolate as well as a YUMMY shortcake. You'd have to figure out a way to make them gluten free, but I know that is part of the fun for you! Oh, and what about margaritas? Duh!"

Oh my, two absolutely amazing options.  There has to be a way to make gluten-free crepes.  And I don't think I could make strawberry margaritas without sharing them with Britney and Collin!  Oh, wait, maybe I could try.

Sue:  "Shortcake.  My mom's favorite."

Shortcake is one of my mom's favorites too!  But my mom made strawberry shortcake with real whipped cream.  I'm talking about the whipped cream that comes from a tub, not a carton.  Cool Whip.  I was quite disappointed the first time I had what others called "real whipped cream" to find out that it was flavorless whipped up milk.  Ick.  When the the first ingredients in Cool Whip are water, corn syrup, and HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, and not a single mention of dairy, I'd definitely turn my nose up at it today.  But who knew better in the 70's?

Gail gave me one of my favorite responses.  "A farmer's truck full of manure broke down in front of a mental institution.
Resident shouts through the fence, "What ya gonna do with that stuff anyway?"
Farmer: "Spread it on my strawberries."
Resident: "I know we're crazy here, but we put whipped cream on our strawberries." -Jan Karon, "Light From Heaven" [Mitford series]

So, my Facebook Friends came through for me.  I've received some great suggestions, and I have a few ideas of my own.  But now it's a race against the clock.  How many strawberry treats can I make before the strawberries go bad?

I'll have to let you know.

Christmas on Tuesdays

Every other Tuesday since October has been like Christmas in our home.  Imagine getting a Christmas gift every other week that was beautiful, colorful, delicious, and incredibly valuable.  For fourteen days it fed you, made you feel fantastic, stretched your creativity, and taught you something you didn't know before.  And just when the novelty of your gift wore off, it was time to get another surprise gift.  Who wouldn't love that?

We liked the concept of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) when we first heard about it - supporting local farmers who grow organic produce.  But it took a few years and the testimonials of friends to finally take the step beyond looking for local, organic produce in Whole Foods and visiting the Farmer's Market on our occasional free Saturday mornings.  We joined the Bountiful Blessings Farm CSA as a little experiment.  Would we save money?  Would we be able to eat everything that came in the box?  Would we like the produce? 

Look at the gorgeous produce I picked up this afternoon.  And we just receive a half bushel.

Extra radishes were available for the taking.

Does anyone know what in the world this is?  Tomorrow I'll get an email entitled "What's In the Box?"  I'll read the description of every single vegetable and play the matching game.  Once I've figured out the name of each veggie in my delivery, it's time to figure out what to do with it.

We've roasted a lot of root vegetables this winter - squashes, potatoes, sweet potatoes, beets, turnips, and onions roasted at 400 degrees with olive oil and sea salt.  Comfort food.

We've had a lot of stirfrys with kale, bok choi, collards, Swiss chard, turnips, and beet greens.  Thai Kitchen makes some great gluten-free sauces for stirfrying.

We've done a lot of research on what to do with salsafy, endive, escarole,  mache, sorrel, pac choi, tatsoi, mustard, kohlrabi, and the list goes on!

We've had a TON of salads.  Until we joined the CSA, I thought all lettuce tasted like...well, lettuce.  Did you know that lettuces actually have flavor?  And each type of lettuce has a different flavor?  Fresh, organic lettuce that was picked the day before you put it in your salad bowl is amazing!

We've also had a lot of smoothies.  Smoothies have always been a staple in our diet, but until this year our smoothies have mainly consisted of fruit.  A fellow gluten-free foodie, and the man who keeps the aches and pains at bay, Josh Renkens, turned me on to green smoothies last summer and gave me the website of the Vita-Mix Lady.  There are several veggies like spinach, kale, swiss chard, and collard greens that miraculously don't taste like vegetables when blended with other fruits.

So, this was our dinner tonight.  There is no way that the Husband would ever succeed in choking down that many vegetables in a meal, a day, or even two.  But he'll drink it.  Why?  Because it's delicious, not to mention incredibly good for you.

(The Husband's first taste test had to be done with eyes closed, because I'm not sure that he'd ever try a smoothie that looked like a shamrock shake.)

But doesn't this look delicious?

If you asked me for the recipe it would be next to impossible, because each green smoothie is different, but here's an example:




Green Smoothie
1 cup of milk, coconut milk, or almond milk
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
1/3 frozen banana
1 1/2 cups frozen fruit
1 tsp flaxseeds
10 almonds
two huge fistfuls of greens (start with spinach)

Blend in the Vita-Mix for a minute pushing the greens down with the tamper.  If you don't use frozen fruit, add ice on top of the greens.  It helps push greens down to the blades and makes a thicker smoothie.

I'd say that our CSA experiment has been a great success.  Have we saved money?  I have no idea.  I'd never buy half, no MOST of the produce that comes from our CSA.  I definitely buy less produce at the store.  Have we been able eat everything that comes in the box?  Just about.  There have been a few busy weeks when cooking hasn't been a priority.  And that's when the Husband says, "Throw it in the Vita-Mix."  Have we liked the produce?  Definitely.  What's not to like about fresh, delicious, organic vegetables?  I didn't expect to eagerly await Tuesdays.  I didn't expect to love the challenge of cooking new dishes.  I didn't expect to love our farmers, the sweet people who grow our food.  But Christmas on Tuesdays is full of unexpected and bountiful blessings.