Quick & Easies: Super Soba Salad

Hello there! It's been so long, I hardly recognize you!

First, a quick garden update:

The first two seasons of square foot gardening have been a successful and educational adventure! I will post the full journey and lessons learned soon, but here are the highlights.

The garden produced an abundance of collards, kale, basil, and beets; all mine for the cooking! The okra, bell peppers, habenero, jalapeno, and eggplant are still going strong, but I've planted the fall garden in the empty spaces - more beets, carrots, collards, and kale (these are cool weather crops, good for early spring and fall), as well as spinach, daikon courtesy of my generous friend Amy, and my almost ready to harvest black eyed peas. I hope the collards catch up, because I can't have one without the other!

Some Summer highlights:

Kale - I've planted more in the Fall garden - it tastes even better when exposed to frost! It's used in the delicious recipe below, so I know I'll be using plenty of it!

I didn't get many Heirloom tomatoes, but every one was more delicious than the last and worth every ounce of patience. I have one left and debating on whether to let it ripen, or fry it still green. 

Habeneros are notoriously hot, and these puppies are much hotter than what you get in the store. I guess that long truck ride zaps some of the spice. I've got more of these than I know what to do with - 20 so far and counting!

One of my favorites, these okra are going to become gumbo soon enough!

Now, on to the Super Soba Salad! Nine easy ingredients, and with a little boiling water and whisking, in 15 minutes or less you've got a salad worth of a main course!

Chopsticks optional.

Let's make it!

Ingredients: This recipes makes a a salad for two, double the recipe for 
Dressing:
1 T honey
2 T rice vinegar
2 t low sodium soy sauce (or the regular stuff, or tamari, or Braggs, or... you get the idea!)








Salad:
2 bundles of Soba Noodles (These typically come preportioned 4 gently wrapped bundles to a bag. I use one bundle per serving.)
1 cu thinly shredded kale
1 cu thinly shredded red cabbage
1/2 cu shredded carrot (about 1 carrot worth)
1 scallion, sliced into thin rings
1 T toasted sesame seeds

Soba Note: Soba noodles are easy to find these days in the Asian section of just about any grocery store. I buy the organic ones from Whole Foods. Fiber rich, these noodles made from buckwheat are an excellent choice to satisfy that carb craving.

5 Quick & Easy Steps:
1. Boil water and cook the soba noodles. Most recipes tell you to "follow the package directions," but I've always found that the directions tell you to cook it for way too long. These noodles just need a good stir and then 2 or 3 minutes in the water and that's it! Drain and rinse under cold water.
2. Whisk together the 2 T rice vinegar, 2 T soy sauce, and 1 T honey in a large bowl. Add the kale, cabbage, carrots and toss with tongs.
3. Add the soba noodles to the cabbage dressing mix and toss to combine.
4. Top with sesame seeds and scallions.
5. Enjoy!

Note: Although modified, I must confess that I gained inspiration from a Whole Foods recipe in the store. And I am so glad I did!

Quick & Easies: Vegan Choco-Banana-Nut Muffins

You probably have three overripe bananas sitting on your counter right now. What are you waiting for?

I set out to make this recipe as quickly as possible with as few ingredients and dirty dishes as possible but with as much yumminess as possible. Here are the results.

Makes about 12 muffins.

Ingredients:

2 T flax

6 T water

3 overripe bananas

1/2 cu sugar

2 T canola or veg oil

1 T vanilla (I use homemade vanilla extract and I love the flavor. If your vanilla is store bought  you may only want to use 1 teaspoon)

1.5 cu whole wheat flour

1 t baking soda

1/2 cu chocolate chips

1/2 cu chopped walnuts

Very Easy Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F Whisk 2 T flax and 6 T water in a small bowl with a fork. In a large bowl, add bananas.

2. Add 1/2 cu sugar to bananas and mash with fork. 

3. Add flax mixture, 1 T vanilla, 2 Toil, 1 t baking soda and mix. Slowly incorporate 1.5 cu whole wheat flour and fold in with spatula. Add 1/2 cu chopped walnuts and 1/2 cu chocolate chips and give a final stir.

4. Filled lined baking cups and bake at 350° F for 25 - 30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Enjoy!

Quick & Easies: Italian Roasted Green Beans

Hello! Happy New Year! It has been too long and I have so many recipes piling up to share with you, most notably my perfected Vegan Brownies. And I never did document last year's vegan adventure in Disney World. And I promise to walk you step by step through the start of my new Square Foot Garden! Oh the things I will grow!

If only everything could be so organized as my garden.

But those must wait for another day. For now, let me introduce you to a dish that takes less time to make than it took you to read that paragraph up there: Italian Roasted Green Beans. Here's what you need:

Ingredients:

1 bag frozen (yep, you read that right) French green beans

1 small sliced onion

1/2 pint grape or cherry tomatoes

2 T olive tapenade**

** Store bought is fine, but you can easily make your own by food processing (what? that's a verb!) your favorite pitted olives and any or all combination of parsley, olive oil, capers, lemon juice, garlic, red wine vinegar, sun dried tomatoes, and/or crushed red pepper.

4 Easy Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 400° F

2. Toss ingredients with bare hands on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone baking mat.

3. Roast for 15 - 20 minutes, tossing ingredients with a spatula every 5 minutes until tomatoes burst and onion starts to caramelize.

4. Enjoy!

PS: Leftover tapenade can be used on pasta, pita chips, or a fancy pizza, as a dressing, or in a sandwich just to name a few! How do you serve up olive tapenade?

Quick & Easy & Nearly Free: Veggie Stock

Let's say your going to make these Black Bean Burgers. So, you gather this:

And chop it into this:

But wait! You're also left with this:

So the question is... what do you do with these little leftovers? You could throw them away (shame on you), feed the carrots to your dog (guilty as charged), compost them (getting warmer), or...

You can add them to your stock starter! I keep a ziplock bag in the freezer for just such scraps and when it's full or when I need broth, I don't have to use up perfectly good carrots, onions, and celery! I love this trick because it's the perfect combination of multitasking, efficiency, and saving money! And I use broth for everything - soups of course, sauces like BBQ or Teriyaki, gumbo, risotto, chili, stuffing, you name it! Just about anything that calls for water is made even better when you substitute this stock!  I make a big batch, use what I need and freeze the rest. (Sometimes I even use ice cube trays to make just the right sized servings for small portions.)

So, I said nearly free! I do add a few things to my stock: salt, white pepper, and herbs from the garden (usually sage and oregano, but just about anything works).

Here I've got kale and mushroom stems, a celery end, onion and carrot peelings, and even the core from a head of iceberg! Let it simmer for a few hours, strain and voila! You've just made stock. The possibilities are limitless! Oh, and now you can compost those veggies. And they'll turn faster because they were cooked!

Happy Stock Making!

Quick & Easies: Vegan Protein Crunch Bars

If you like these:

But hate shelling out this:

For this:



Then may I suggest you try these:

At under 50 cents a bar they are a steal and require very little time and prep! 

Credit where it's due: This recipe is a variation from the inspiration of Camilla at Enlightened Cooking. You can view the original here. I discovered this recipe while shopping for inexpensive treats to keep Robert full and happy while on our upcoming vacation! The experimental batch turned out so well they were gone in one sitting of Jaws with two friends. No better way to enjoy shark week!

The Ingredients:
1 cu crisp rice cereal (to add a little health factor to this ingredient, you can use a brown rice variety available at Whole Foods by Erwhon)
1 cu quick cooking oats (Old Fashioned and Rolled oats will work in a pinch, but the resulting bar will be chewier)
2 T ground flax seed
1/4 cu raisins (or dried cherries, or dried cranberries, or... you get the idea!)
1/4 cu crushed almonds (I placed whole almonds in a zip bag and let 'em have it with a rolling pin. You could use any nut or seed here.)
1/4 cu chocolate hemp protein powder
1/2 t cinnamon
1/3 cu brown rice syrup (with all the things you can do with this stuff, it's worth the investment)
1/2 cu peanut butter (you could use almond or sunflower seed if you like)
1 t vanilla extract

Three easy steps:
1. In a medium microwave safe bowl, combine the 1/3 cu brown rice syrup and 1/4 cu peanut butter. Microwave until well blended, about 30 seconds or so. Stir in 1 t vanilla.

2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the 1 cu rice cereal, 1 cu oats, 2 T flax seed, 1/4 cu raisins, 1/4 cu almonds, 1/4 cu protein powder, and 1/2 t cinnamon. Mix until well integrated.

3. Mix the wet and dry together in the large bowl. Start with a spatula since the brown rice mixture will be hot, but you will have to use your hands to mix it well. Pour mixture into a parchment lined and nonstick sprayed 9 X 11 pan (this is sticky stuff, so I lined the pan with parchment paper AND sprayed the paper with nonstick spray). Top with another piece of sprayed parchment paper use another pan to press down the mixture. Put your back into it and really squish the stuff! Refrigerate for 30 minutes then cut into 12 bars.

The bottom line: Our goal was to save money without having to sacrifice time or ingredients. These take about 10 minutes to make (minus chilling time) and although the cost of the whole ingredients may be in investment (the brown rice syrup will set you back around $5, while the hemp protein powder costs $10.99 for 16 oz) the final cost per bar is under 50 cents! And you will certainly find other uses for these products, right here in this blog!

Happy protein crunching!

Quick & Easies: Strawberry Fieldgreens Forever

If I ever own a restaurant, this salad will be first thing on the menu. It's incredibly fast, easy, and delicious! You don't have to add the goat cheese, but the way it combines with the balsamic is incredible. Credit where credit is due: thanks to Leila B. for introducing me to the powers of strawberries in salads.

Ingredients: No portions here, just do what you feel!

Lettuce (I use heirloom from the garden, but baby greens or spinach work nicely)

Strawberries

Pecans

Goat Cheese (optional)

Balsamic Vinegar

Directions:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6. Drizzle on the balsamic and enjoy! If you choose not to add the goat cheese, you may want to add some oil to the dressing. Olive oil or walnut oil if you've got it!

There you have it! Now, this is made for the freshness of spring, but in the fall you could add dried fruit and walnuts, too. Yum!

Quick & Easies: Corn Hash

The weather's changing, and it brings new seasonal fruits and vegetables. Here in Georgia that means: strawberries, beets, asparagus, and of course Vidalia onions! Inspired by some early appearing corn, I decided to make Robert's favorite side dish: corn hash. So simple, but when the ingredients are fresh (and local) this dish is perfection.

Ingredients:
2 ears of corn (I prefer the sweetness of white corn in this recipe)
1 large Vidalia onion
1 T olive oil
red pepper flakes (season it up to your spice level, I like 1 t)
S&P (white pepper works great in this recipe, but use what you've got)

Directions:
1. Shuck corn and cut kernels from the cob. If you have a bundt pan, this method is brilliant.
2. Dice Vidalia small enough to closely resemble the corn kernels.
3. Heat a cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Add 1 T olive oil.
4. Add corn and onions, red pepper flake and S&P. Stir occasionally until onions are translucent and corn has some nice color to it, about 10 minutes.
5. Enjoy!Serves 2 hearty portions