Root Vegetable Soup - Vegan & Gluten-Free

One of my favorite things about Autumn is cutting the chill with a hearty, simple yet flavorful veggie soup.  Bring on the root veggies...

Utilizing mostly local, all organic ingredients, here's one of my latest soups that I cooked overnight in the crock pot.  As much as I love cooking on the stove top, I think tossing everything in the crock pot before bedtime & cooking as I sleep is my new favorite thing.  Everyone knows how much I love to multitask!  ;)  

Ingredients: (you can easily adjust amounts for your tastes)
Add the following ingredients to your crock pot, cook until done!  Mine was in the pot for about 8 hours.
Approx. 30 oz. homemade vegetable stock (that I canned in September)
8-10 turnips, peeled, chopped into 1-1.5 inch pieces
6 potatoes, peeled, chopped into 1-1.5 inch pieces
4 yellow onions, peeled, chopped into .75-1 inch pieces
6 garlic cloves, peeled, sliced 
6 carrots, peeled, chopped into 1-1.5 inch pieces
Turn off the heat.  Add chopped parsley & freshly ground salt & pepper to taste.  Let sit for no more than 2 hours.  Cool the rest of the way in the refrigerator.  Freeze!

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!  :)

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)

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!  :)

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)

"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!! :)