Subtly Fresh Cucumber & Sugar Snap Pea Summer Salad

This is chock-full of veggies & basil that are all in season right now, so if you try to eat locally & seasonally like us, give this salad a whirl!  It was rated a "10" by my "no where near as picky as most kids but still pickier than I'd like her to be"-daughter.  ;)  *Proud Mama moment*!









Ingredients:
2 large scallions/1.5 cups sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
2 small cucumbers/1 heaping cup, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
8 small-medium radishes/2/3 cup, finely chopped
2 cups sugar snap peas (strings & ends removed) cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 cup cooked black beans
2/3 cup fresh chopped basil
Wisk together the ingredients for the dressing & pour over veggies, mix well:
1 tbsp organic soy sauce
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tbsp local honey

Enjoy!  And Happy Cooking!  :)

Banana-Oatmeal Pancakes

Doesn't it just figure that it's supposed to be 90 degrees today & my 2-going-on-3 "I know what I want" son wants pancakes, so here I am heating up the kitchen first thing in the morning.  ;-P  The things we do for our kids...  ;)

I use basic pancake recipe from The Joy of Cooking (doubled) simply to get the proportions of ingredients correct.  The recipe is entirely my own creation.  :)


Ingredients:
Wisk together in large mixing bowl:
3 cups water (if you want, you can use milk or your favorite non-dairy milk, however I use water to cut the Calories - these are just as flavorful made with water, trust me!  :) )
4 free-range eggs
1/4 cup olive oil (or vegan butter)
3 tbsp local honey, real maple syrup, or vegan sweetener
Slowly add the following, wisking as you add:
3 cups organic spelt flour
3 tsp baking powder
Fold the following into the pancake batter:
1/3 cup organic flaxseed
2/3 cup organic quick oats
2 cups ripe, mashed bananas
Yield: approx. 44 3.5-4 inch pancakes

Parenting note: The kids LOVE to help me in the kitchen, & pouring the ingredients into the bowl & wisking the batter is one of those things that they can help with, even at ages 8 & 2 (yes, even 2).  ;)  They love to be in the kitchen with me (it's one of the places I spend the most time in addition to being in front of the washing machine & at the clothes line, at the sewing machine, & in the garden) not just for the quality time, but they both seem to get a real sense of accomplishment out of just adding & wisking ingredients!  It really is the little things that kids remember, & I hope that they look back when they're older & have fond memories of being in the kitchen with their Mama.  :)

Work in batches, cooking over medium heat on a cast iron griddle, drizzled with a bit of olive oil/veggie oil/etc.




These are a big crowd-pleaser in our house.  :)  Our daughter had 3, the pup had 4, & our son has already gobbled up 5 (without sweetener like honey or maple syrup!!) with no signs of slowing down!  :)  My intention when I make these is always to have left-overs & these end up lasting 3-4 days, but one of these days it'd be nice to double this recipe so I have enough to freeze too, especially in the summer so I cut down on the number of mornings I have to heat up the kitchen.  ;)

Enjoy!  And Happy Cooking!  :)

Short Tour of the Kitchen & Flower Gardens July 11, 2012

Venting time. ;) I've been a vegetarian for 17 years (but I still ate fish, dairy, eggs, & honey) & I've only had a handful of incidents where I got take-out or was eating out at a restaurant & ended up with meat in my dish, either because I didn't understand what an ingredient was (like Mexican chorizo mixed with refried beans) or because the server or cook didn't listen to my request for a "meatless" meal.

However, since I've given up dairy just about a month and a half or two months ago, three times when we've gotten take-out from two of our favorite Mexican restaurants, I've ended up with cheese in my taco salad even after multiple requests for no cheese.  sigh  Yesterday evening my hubby brought back taco salad & he even checked it twice before leaving the restaurant parking lot to see if they'd sprinkled cheese on it.  Nope.  Got home & we all sat down to eat & I when I got down to the refried beans & cooked veggies, I saw cheese melted thoroughly & mixed in with the veggies & beans.  sigh  No, I'm not allergic to it.  I won't die if I eat it.  It doesn't even really make me sick to my stomach.  However it does make my allergies flare up & makes working out, well, challenging.  This morning, after my workout, I had a monumental coughing fit that was so bad I nearly threw up multiple times, just from accidentally eating that small amount of cheese yesterday.  Yes, I realize that there are bigger problems in the world ;) , heck, there are bigger challenges in my own life, it just bugs me when people don't take their jobs seriously.  In every job I have ever held, even if I was only making $7 an hour in a retail position, I always gave it my all because I take pride in what I do, regardless of the paycheck.  Even doing what I do now, not getting paid at all & putting in 15-16 hour days (full-time mom), I do it 110%, so the fact that people whose job it is to make food to order can't follow a ridiculously simple request like "no cheese" really irks me...

Anyway, back to happy things ;) , after working out, showering, & getting dressed, I went outside to let the chickens out of their coop & into their run & I watered the potted plants & walked around my garden beds, deadheading all of the day lilies & inspecting my veggie plants.  That is, without a doubt, one of my favorite times of the day.  :)  Before the (sometimes oppressive) heat & humidity hits & the kids are bouncing off of the walls, it's nice to have calm, cool, & quiet...


I've been checking on my yellow straight-neck summer squash plants once/day because I just love to see how quickly they produce fruit, but I accidentally knocked off one of the tiny squashes two days ago.  Whoops!  I've got to learn to be more gentle... ;)




(Sorry for the blurry-ness.)  My pepper plants are small this year.  I've scratched Epsom salts into the soil around the plants twice now (a tip I learned from a local organic farmer two years ago) which, when I did it to my pepper plants two years ago, had such an effect on my habaneros that my husband & I couldn't keep up with them & we're still eating the canned bounty.  So this sweet pepper plant is short, maybe 8-10 inches tall, but she's still bearing fruit!  :)  I hope the jalapeños, habaneros, & Hungarian wax peppers will soon follow suit.



I'd been worried that my (over a dozen) zucchini plants weren't getting pollinated even though I see plenty of pollinating insects outside all of the time so I was thoroughly relieved when I saw that most of the plants had started to bear tiny little zucchini fruits.  YAY!  No hand-polinating.  :)  It really is the simple things that make me happy.  ;)



I just love this variety of day lily although I'm not sure of it's name.  Like most of my flowers, it was given to me by someone thinning out their garden which, as far as I'm concerned, is the best way to get perennials because, never mind the fact that they're free, each flower reminds you of the gift-giver so it's like walking amongst your friends as you walk through the garden.  :)  This particular plant has gotten quite a bit bigger than last year, producing several beautiful blooms like this each day.




The hubby & I enjoy our heat...  Spice, that is, not temperature; we both actually seriously detest the heat & humidity.  ;)  This is my first year growing cayenne peppers & they're really coming along!  I have a feeling these will be a regular in our garden from now on.  :)




Our single-bloom day lilies have been going like gangbusters for a couple of weeks now.  I try to let no more than two days go between deadheading them, as they keep producing more blooms if you remove the spent blooms right away.  You can see a flower spike from a hosta too.  This is the only garden bed that had obviously been cultivated when we bought the house & every year I take many, many transplants from this area & add them to one of the garden beds that I've put in over the 5+ years we've lived here.

For more views of my garden, check out my short tour that I posted on on July 7, 2012.

Enjoy & Happy Gardening :)

Fresh, Juiced

As I've said many times before, I am not one of "those" people who can drink 30 ounces of liquified lettuce & other "green stuff" with a smile on my face & be happy about it.  ;)  *barf*  While I am whole-heartedly committed to my health, nope, not going to choke it down; if it's going in my body, it better not only be good for me but taste good too!  ;)

That being said, this is a fresh juice full of green stuff that won't turn you green as you drink it!  ;)



Ingredients:
5 large carrots
5 medium-large celery stalks with leaves
1 medium-large head of romaine lettuce
Yield: 26 ounces

Enjoy!  And Happy Juicing!  :)

(FYI - this was juiced in our Breville juicer, not blended in a blender)

Tropical Tart Juice

While my husband (who doesn't have a sweet tooth for candy, chocolate, ice-cream, etc, mind you) loves the sweet juices, I prefer the veggie ones.  However the tartness of this juice was a real treat!  It was good to shake things up this morning.  :)



Ingredients:
1 papaya, seeded
4 oranges, peeled
2 limes, peeled
Yield: 36 ounces

Enjoy!  And Happy Juicing!  :)

(FYI - this was juiced in a Breville juicer, NOT made in a blender)

Fresh Salad for Late Spring/Early Summer with Peas, Radishes, & Cherry Tomatoes with a Lime-Basil Dressing

Someone I know who used to garden quite a lot but who now buys the majority of their food at huge chain stores (*sigh*) once told me that, across the board, it's a waste of time to plant a veggie garden because you spend 20 minutes shelling peas only to end up with a tiny little bowl-full.  Well, not to be rude, but DUH!  That's why you plant snap peas & snow peas instead of shell peas!  ;-P  It's all about balancing the time & money that you put into it with what you get out of it, just like anything else.  There's a reason why I plant so many different varieties of beans & tomatoes - pst: they pretty much grow themselves & are simple to harvest & eat too!  ;)

Suffice it to say, I do not plant shell peas in my garden ;) however we did end up with a handful in our CSA share this past week in addition to a larger bag of the "less time-intensive" snow peas.  YUM!  What at treat!  :)  So I scoured my favorite vegan recipe website for a great salad or side dish with fresh peas but all I could find was a few hundred recipes for split pea soup!  So I did some experimenting and oh... my... WORD!  This is my new favorite salad!  It utilizes mostly veggies that are ready for picking in the late Spring, early Summer, so if you try to eat seasonally like us, this is the perfect salad for you.  :)




Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup fresh shelled peas
• 3 scallions, chopped (white & green parts)
• 1 handful of radishes (about 6 small-medium sized), chopped
• 1 handful cherry tomatoes, quartered (about 8-10)
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
• 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• juice of 1/2 lime

Mix all ingredients well.
Serve.
Enjoy!  :)





Variations:

• Substitute cilantro or parsley for sweet basil.
• Add 1 cup of cooked black beans (yummy protein!).
• juice of 1 whole lime as opposed to just 1/2 (I found that adding black beans weakens the lime flavor so using the juice of 1 lime instead of 1/2 of one evens it out).
• Later in the season, when local corn is harvested, I'm going to have to try this with corn too!
• Add 1 tbsp of honey, maple syrup, or your choice of sweetener for a sweeter salad.

Enjoy!  And Happy Cooking!  :)

A (Pretty Much) Perfect Day & a Short Tour of my Kitchen & Flower Gardens

It was a great day. It was one of those days that makes a month of, ahem, "challenging" days, worth it. ;)

In the morning, I watered the potted plants & deadheaded all of the flowers, including my vast number of daisies, which are by far my favorite for their simplicity, cheerfulness, & resiliency.

One of my double-day lilies. As much as I love all of the single day lilies that I have so many more of, these are a rare treat.

Elegant & beautiful. Day lilies. Hardy, non-invasive native or non-native plants are all you'll find in my flower beds. No invasive species here!

In the afternoon, I taught my 8 year old daughter the difference between a weed (grass & clovers) & a veggie or herb plant (basil, beans, cilantro, dill) & she happily & proudly partially weeded one of my raised beds. :) She'd hand off the weeds to my 2 year old son who'd happily run them down to the chickens - even managing to open & shut the door of the run all by himself!! (Proud Mama moments all around!!) :)

Here are several of our 12 week old chicks, happily munching away on their treat of garden weeds.

Later in the afternoon, I painted a good portion of the window & door trim on the exterior of the house while the kids played with the chickens & the pup.

The calm of the day was broken by a screech from my son.

Parents - you know "that" scream. There's "Stop bothering me!!," "I want that toy, give it to me!!" and then there's, "I'm hurt." This was a true "ouchie" screech. :(

Now since its been so muggy, the kids have chosen to spend their outside play time in the shade of their sandbox, the afternoon shade of their swings, or their pool as opposed to their clubhouse, so no one noticed when yellow jackets decided to move in to their clubhouse. (We've also never had an issue with yellow jackets in the 5+ years we've been here...) My son, in all of his 2-going-on-3 cheerfulness & playful glee disturbed their nest & got a nice bite on his cheek for it. :(

Fortunately he's not allergic (he's never been stung before!) so he just had a slightly swollen cheek & he bounces back quickly, & he was back to happily screeching while chasing after his big sister in no time.  :)  I was able to finish the painting & most of the weeding.  Happy kids, happy Mama!!  :)

While rain is a great thing for a garden, 5 days of non-stop pouring rain, a day or two to dry out, then another week of rain is nothing but paradise for slugs. I've never had an issue with slugs until this year but I knew that setting out beer traps would take care of them, however with so much rain falling every day I knew the traps would just overflow & dilute the beer & I doubted they'd catch anything. Above is my one remaining cucumber plant, the short, sad specimen that she is, bearing flowers. We'll see what happens. The slugs killed all of the rest, at least a dozen others. I replanted the area with peppers & tomatoes instead of more cukes.



My little man hanging out in the shade of the lilac bushes while I weeded.



We always have enough thyme, but never enough time...  ;)




One of our four little yellow squashes & the plants are promising more!  I'm not a fan of the heat, but these gals love it.  :)



One of our five varieties of lettuce.  They're doing better than they've ever done before!  Guess the trick is to buy transplants, not start from seeds.  ;)



They weren't quite ready for July 4th, but it was close!



Grasshopper on some beautiful lettuce.



So THIS is where the phrase "dog tired" comes from.  ;)  A very satisfied pup snuggling with her human brother's stuffed animal.

All in all, it was the best day we've had in a while.  :)  The memories of this day will get me through more challenging, chaotic days to come.

"Have a Great Morning" Juice

I've been making a batch of this almost every morning for the past few weeks, it really is a great way to start the morning, & it's super-simple to boot!  This is one of the hubby's favorites.  :)




Ingredients:
9 large carrots (or 12 small-medium ones)
6 oranges, peeled
Yield: approx. 44 ounces

This makes enough for the hubby & I to each have a jar.

Enjoy your morning!  And Happy Juicing!  :)

(FYI - these were blended in our Breville juicer, NOT blended in a blender)

Bok Choi Bliss Juice

One of the veggies that we've gotten on a weekly basis in abundance from our wonderful CSA share has been bok choi.  There's only so much stir fry & soup that one can eat, especially in this heat & humidity...  so I've been juicing with it!  If you love bok choi, you'll love this juice.  :)





Ingredients:
5 large carrots
10 bok choi leaves
Yield: approx. 20 ounces

Enjoy!  And Happy Juicing!  :)

(FYI - these were juiced in our Breville juicer, NOT blended)

Orange-Lemon Frozen Juiced Pops

(Okay just kidding, THIS is my final post today ;) )

If you've read my posts before, you most-likely know that we got a juicer a few months ago (a Breville) & I've been on a juice kick lately now that the full intensity of the summer heat is upon us. ;)

My daughter wanted to make freeze-pops with juice from our juicer last evening.  I was beyond exhausted from working outside all day on the house & in the garden (never mind the two crazy kids being at home with me) & I still had to make dinner, so making a mess with the juicer was pretty low on my list of priorities, but she'd been beyond well-behaved & a SUPER helper ALL DAY, so I sucked it up & we made juice for freeze pops together.  :)





Ingredients:
3 oranges, peeled
1 lemon, peeled
Yield: 4 large freezer pops, 6 small freezer pops

I'm going to have to invest in some more freeze pop holders!  These were ready to eat at 9 pm yesterday evening & as of this morning we only have 3 left!  ;)  My 2 year old son ate 2 bowls of watermelon & five of these pops for breakfast & snacking, so when he asked for a plate of melted cheese & banana-raisin muffins for lunch, I didn't have a problem with it.  ;-P

Enjoy!  Happy Freeze-Popping!  :)

(FYI - these were made with a juicer, not a blender)

Summer Punch Juiced

One last share for today.  :)

This is one of my husband's & daughter's favorites.  Not surprising, it tastes like candy.  ;)  I like it, it really is incredibly sweet, too sweet for me to enjoy an entire jar of it.  However if you have a sweet tooth, this will be right up your alley.  I made one batch of it (3 jars) this morning so I am planning on making some of it into frozen juice pops later on.  Yummy...  :)





Ingredients:
1/2 watermelon (yield: 36 ounces juice)
1/2 pineapple, peeled & cored
1 lemon, peeled
Yield: approx. 60 ounces (I split this up into 3 jars)

Enjoy!  And Happy Juicing & Freeze-Popping!  ;)

(FYI this is JUICED in a juicer, not blended)

Green with Envy Juice

I do know people who actually LOVE green juices...  I am not one of those people!  ;)  I've had one 100% green juice ever, & I barely choked it down.  Unfortunately I'd made some huge amount of it too, something like 40 ounces, but somehow I managed to get it all down.  Barely.  *gag*

So this was an experiment... I began with the spinach & bok choi, gave it a sip (*gag*), then added parsley & carrots.  This concoction is not only drinkable, it's really quite yummy!  :)




Ingredients:
2 handfuls of spinach (yield: 3 ounces juice & lots of foam on top)
10 pieces of bok choi
5 carrots
1 handful of parsley
Yield: 20 ounces

Enjoy!  And Happy Juicing!  :)

(FYI - this was JUICED not blended)

"Beet-ed" Veggie Juice

I have to admit when I did the juice feast a few months ago, I only drank one 100% veggie juice, & let's just say that nothing but liquified lettuce IS as gross as it sounds... *gag* For those 4 days, all of the juices I made were either 100% fruit or a blend of fruits & veggies.

However, with the arrival of summer, both my garden & our weekly CSA share have been overflowing with veggie-goodness, entirely too many veggies, actually, more than we could ever hope to eat, so I've been doing some serious experimenting...  I came up with this treat this morning!



Ingredients:
5 large carrots
2 medium-sized beets WITH greens
5 large celery stalks with leaves
10 bok choi leaves
Yield: approx. 32 ounces

Enjoy!  And Happy Juicing!!  :)

(FYI - these were JUICED not blended in our Breville juicer, which is a serious powerhouse)

Earth Goddess Juice

Now that summer is in full-swing, I've been doing some serious juicing. I don't know about you but when it's 90 degrees and 90% humidity, the last thing I want to do is eat anything beyond watermelon and frozen grapes. But I've still got to get my vitamins somehow... So I've been juicing for breakfast & lunch & enjoying a light dinner, something like a salad wrap with local veggies & home made dressing with garden- or farm-fresh herbs.  Sometimes I add a miso soup to that if it's cooled down enough in the evening - I like to throw a handful of chopped green onions or chopped radish greens into the pot as it simmers. If we're grilling I'll have a portabella mushroom, eggplant, or zucchini burger with a locally-made bun, piled high with farm-fresh greens and a little Vegenaise as a treat. ;) Yum!

Back to the juicing... This morning the kids, the pup, & the chickens & I were all outside enjoying the breeze & sunshine (especially after the muggy-ness that was July 4th, yuck...). After watering the potted plants, deadheading all of the flowers, doing most of the weeding & checking on my various veggie beds, I was getting dizzy-spells every time I stood up & realized it was 10:30 am & I hadn't had anything to drink yet (besides the obligatory 3 mugs of coffee ;) ). So we headed inside so I could make some juice for myself & get rehydrated. The result was this Earthy, satisfying blend of veggies that I've aptly called "Earth Goddess Juice."






Ingredients:
3 medium-sized carrots
2 medium-sized beets WITH the greens
2 handfuls of radishes (about 12)
2/3 head of romaine lettuce
Yield: approx. 28 ounces
(Tip: this is juiced, not blended. We have a Breville juicer.)

I like to pour my juices into a canning jar or reuse an empty, clean spaghetti sauce or a Vegenaise jar for the big batches (like this one) because I can put the lid on, carry it around with me, & give it a quick shake before I sip as some juices tend to separate.

Enjoy! And Happy Juicing!! :)