Quesadillas de Melocotón y Verdura (Peach and Veggie Quesadillas)

This was one of the more experimental recipes I've tried lately and it was really, surprisingly good. The sweetness of the peaches worked really well with the spicy peppers, the crunch of raw cucumbers, the juciness of the fresh tomatoes, and the nuttiness of the quinoa. Brett's only complaint? There weren't enough peaches in the dish - he's a hummingbird, there have been times that I've truly wondered if there is a such thing as sweet enough to him! :-) But I did agree that more peaches would not have been a bad thing. When I had created this recipe, I decided that 3 peaches seemed a good amount for the dish. I was thinking of the larger sized peaches I've seen around the farmer's market. Well, after much frustration this past weekend, we finally found the only stand (that we are aware of) that was selling pesticide free peaches, and they were a little smaller than the other peaches. So next time I make this meal, if we are using the small peaches, I will use 5, otherwise 3 it is.

I was a little nervous about this dish, as the only fruit I had ever tried in a meal has been pineapple, and I was nervous when I made that too! I was really happy it turned out and we had a lovely fresh batch of Green Chile Taco Sauce that complemented these quesadillas perfectly.

Just a reminder of the produce legend:
* = farmer's market
** = CSA
*** = Container or Community Garden

















Quesadillas de Melocotón y Verdura
1 cup quinoa, cooked
3 peaches, washed, cored and diced *
2 serranos, seeded and minced ***
2 petite bell peppers, seeded and minced ***
1 gypsy pepper *
2 cloves of garlic, minced *
1/4 red onion, diced *
1 cucumber, minced *** (we used one of the cukes we nabbed from an abandoned plot)
1 large tomato, seeded and chopped *
juice of half a lime
dash chipotle chili powder
dash cumin
dash cinnamon
dash white pepper
dash salt

tortillas
Green Chile Taco Sauce

Heat a few tablespoons of water in a small skillet. Add the peppers, onion and garlic and cook for 10 minutes or until soft. Drain any excess liquid.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and season to taste. Refrigerate for about a half an hour.

Either drain the filling or use a slotted spoon* to layer filling in a warmed tortilla and fry.

Serve with Green Chile Taco Sauce.

* There will be liquid at the bottom of the bowl of filling, I suggest draining it so there isn't a risk of soggy tortillas, nobody likes that.

It's always nice when an experimental meal goes well.

'Til next time!

Garden Update #18

The theme of the week with the gardens is that the butternut squash is winning. It's winning the battle to take over our garden, other people's gardens, and well, I think its plan is to take over the world. Every time we go down there we have more "escapees", new growth trying to make its way somewhere, even at the expense of the other plants. One of our tomato plants, as you'll see below, has really felt the wrath. The squash plant decided to grab a hold of it, and has proceeded to try to both strangle it and pull it over. This combined with all the rain we've had over the past couple of weeks doesn't provide a whole lot of hope for the plants survival. It's pretty yellow and gnarly looking - so we'll just have to see.

Otherwise, things are just moving along, lots of pepper growth, some even starting to ripen, and our zucchini and yellow squash all have a few little fruits on them

Check out the container garden:

















































Banana peppers.
































Our "regular" bell pepper plant. We've gotten a couple of small peppers off of this and they are really good. As I noted in yesterdays post, the peppers from our container garden don't get as big as the ones from the store, but there is no comparison with flavor.















The cayenne pepper plant is going crazy. It's looking like, after these all ripen, we might get another large round. This has been a very productive plant. I think next year we'll have two or three of these plants and we'll be set for cayenne and crushed red pepper!



















The Hungarian Wax plant is literally infested with blooms. If these all turn into peppers, we are going to have a serious Hungarian Wax supply!



















The gorgeous and lush jalapeno plant. Look at all those peppers!



















Petite bell peppers. A few are even ripening.















A ripening Super Chile. I think this plant has about had it. It is so waterlogged and it seems as if it always rains at the most inopportune times.

















The other container banana pepper plant.

Onto the community garden:
































This is a plant we haven't photographed for awhile. Anyone who has been following the Garden Updates for awhile - remember the two tomato starts we got at the beginning of the season from the market? Well we thought they were both dead, it seemed as if they had gotten something. We took out the Brandywine, but forgot about the Better Boy, and it's making a comeback!















This is the only banana pepper plant in our community garden that is easily visible in the tangled mess that is our butternut squash plants. There are three others besides this one, we have to dig through the jungle in order to check for peppers.















Yellow straightneck squash plant.















This is our first picked butternut squash - well right before we picked it of course.















Another butternut, it looks like it is quickly ripening, we should be able to pick it next weekend we think.















This is the poor tomato plant that has been terrorized by the butternut squash plants.

Our Roma tomato plant is really producing like mad. We took a series of pictures so as to illustrate its abundance.























I can't wait for them to ripen, but I'm a little nervous they are going to ripen all at once and I don't have a water bath canner yet, we might be eating a LOT of tomatoes!

















Our two zucchini plants. The larger one is mostly just for looks; we haven't actually gotten anything off the larger one.

We've also noticed quite a few clusters of these things. They appear to be the eggs of some sort of bug. It's weird; some of the "egg sacks" have cut all the way through the leaves as if they were sewed on. Anyone know what these are? Should we be removing the leaves with these egg sacks on them? Are they pests or beneficial? Any help would be much needed.

















As promised in the commentary to yesterday's post, here is Brett's recipe for refrigerator pickles.

The produce legend is:
no asterisk = from the grocery store
* = farmer's market
** = CSA
*** = Container or Community Garden

B's Famous Summer Pickles
sliced onions **
thickly sliced cucumbers (smaller ones work best)**
1 part water
1 part white distilled vinegar
salt
dash of ground black pepper
a drizzle of olive oil

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Let marinate at least 24 hours before eating.

The marinade for this recipe can be used for multiple rounds of pickles.

'Til next time.

Midwestern Taco Salad

Both Brett and I are huge fans of taco salad. Not only are they tasty, they are also a snap to make and don't require you to heat up your home in order to have a good meal.

The seasoned black beans and traditional refried beans combined with the crispness of the cucumbers and lettuce, and the juiciness of the tomatoes complimented for a great texture as well as flavor.

This taco salad will be appearing on our dinner tables quite regularly this summer.















Midwestern Taco Salad
black beans
chili powder
ground coriander
cumin
Mexican oregano
salt

traditional refried beans, heated
long grain brown rice, heated
diced tomato
diced cucumber (pared)
shredded lettuce
small can black olives, drained
tortilla chips
salsa

Combine black beans with seasonings and heat up.

Layer tortilla chips, refried beans, black beans, rice, veggies, olives and salsa.

Enjoy!

'Til next time.

Homemade Baked Falafel with Roasted Red Pepper Hummus and Lizzy's Vegan Tzatziki

It feels really weird to do two posts in one day, but I am getting behind and don't want to get "backlogged". I wouldn't get used to as many food posts as you will see this week on a regular basis. I've had a long weekend and naturally I have done more in the kitchen.

I wish I could describe how good this meal was, so simple, nothing special, but a real treat nonetheless. It probably looks like I spent a lot of time in the kitchen, as there is a lot of stuff here, but I didn't. This is an easy meal, and pretty much everyone likes falafel.

I made some roasted red pepper hummus, as this is Brett's favorite kind (he got really excited when he found out I was making the hummus, I love seeing him happy like that!) to go with it, and now I'll have easy lunches when I go back to work Wednesday and there will be food here he likes enough that I can be confident he'll actually eat (I wonder how he survived before me...).

I also made Lizzy's Vegan Tzatziki. I love tzatziki, Brett loves tzatziki. That tangy cucumber-yogurt sauce is a wonderful compliment to Middle Eastern meals. The only problem, well most yogurt is dairy and for Jennifer that = very stuffy, snuffly, it's not pretty. The last time I had tzatziki (incidentally, I believe also the last time I intentionally had dairy), was when I was on vacation. Shortly after I enjoyed my delectable treat, I was standing in Union Station in Washington, DC sounding as if I had some sort of disgusting, very communicable disease. People were literally shying away from me, I couldn't help it! My nose was runny, I was coughing, sneezing, it was awful. Anyways, so I've always longed for a vegan version of the sauce, but have never been too much of a fan of any soy products or "replacements", so I thought it just wasn't going to happen. When I saw that Lizzy had made some tzatziki using soy yogurt, and said it was good, I knew she wouldn't let me down, so took down the recipe. This weekend, I got some soy yogurt, some local cucumber, and made her tzatziki. I am very serious when I tell you I could not tell the difference. It was amazing, and so simple. Thank you so much Lizzy, you have livened this meal like you wouldn't believe!

This was also my first time making falafel from scratch. I've been finding out lately that many of these culinary things I have been intimidated by are not really anything to be scared of, they aren't as hard as we make them seem in our minds. This was no exception. I just kind of went with what I learned via Brett from a cool dude from Jordan he used to work with, what I've had, and what I found online.

Enough yammering, here are the pictures and the recipes. And I seriously, strongly urge you all to try Lizzy's Tzatziki, it was really good.















Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
3-4 cups of garbanzo beans (chickpeas), cooked*
1/2 cup water*
1 large fresh red bell pepper, roasted and stem removed (trust me, fresh is better)
1 clove garlic, peeled
1 tbsp tahini (sesame seed paste)
1 tbsp good olive oil (optional, but recommended)
cumin (to taste)
salt (to taste)
cayenne pepper (optional, to taste)

Combine all ingredients in a food processor, adding water until hummus has reached desired consistency.

Refrigerate for about an hour to allow flavors to meld.

*If cooking beans from dried, reserve about 1/2 cup of the bean cooking liquid.















Falafel batter.

Basic Baked Falafel
1 cup garbanzo beans (chickpeas), soaked in water for 12-24 hours, drained
1/2 yellow onion
3 cloves of garlic, peeled
1-2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp good olive oil
2 tbsp flour
1 tsp baking powder
cumin
ground coriander
parsley (fresh is best, just a little bit)
cayenne pepper (seriously, I put this stuff in everything)
black pepper
salt

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine all the ingredients in a food processor until blended and of a fine grain.

Lightly oil a baking sheet (or line with parchment paper).

Form falafel into golf ball sized balls and lightly flatten out.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, flipping halfway through cooking time.



















With the falafel, hummus, and tzatziki, we also had fresh local lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber slices, whole wheat pita bread, kalamata olives, and pickled peppers.

'Til next time.

Sushi 'Burgers' with Asian-ish Slaw

This meal was one of the more experimental things I have tried and I'm pleased to say it turned out really well. I modified the recipe for the sushi 'burgers' from here. I loved the spiciness of the burger and it even had a slightly "fishy" quality to it, but not overpoweringly so.

I added shredded beets to the coleslaw for some sweetness, which complimented the savory and slightly spicy burger quite well. The dried cranberries offered more sweetness and a nice addition of texture. The peanuts add an additional burst of protein and good fat, while adding a nice crunch to the dish.

The meal was also quite easy as I had my microplane grater and food processor do most of the work for me.















Sushi 'Burgers'
Makes 4 large patties

1/2 cup sushi rice, cooked
1 cup adzuki beans, cooked
1 sheet of nori, shredded
1/2 cup Panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
1 carrot, peeled and shredded (I used a microplane grater)
1/2 cucumber, peeled and shredded (Again, I used a microplane grater)
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and grated with the microplane (or finely minced)
1/2 yellow onion, shredded with the microplane (or finely minced)
2 hot banana peppers (or jalapeno, Anaheim, Hungarian Wax, Serrano, etc), stems removed, shredded with microplane (or finely minced)
1 1/2 tbsp seasoned brown rice vinegar
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp sesame seeds
2 tbsp shoyu (or other soy sauce)
1 tsp wasabi powder
1/4 tsp ground ginger

In a large bowl, lightly mash the adzuki beans with a fork.

Combine with the rest of the ingredients.

Form into 4 large patties and refrigerate for about an hour to let the patties "set".

Lightly coat the bottom of a small skillet with oil (I used coconut, probably about 1/4-1/2 tsp). Fry patties for about 5-8 minutes on each side, or until golden brown.

Top with Asian-ish slaw (recipe follows).

Asian-isn Slaw

Salad:
1 cup red cabbage, shredded
1 cup green cabbage, shredded
2 carrots, peeled and shredded
1/4 yellow onion, shredded
2 beets, peeled and shredded
1/4 cup dried cranberries (or raisins)
1/4 cup crushed peanuts

Dressing:
2 tbsp vegan mayonnaise
1/3 cup peanut oil
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup seasoned brown rice vinegar
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
2-4 tbsp raw sugar
2 green serrano chilies, seeded and minced (Thai chilies would be even better)
1/4 tsp ground ginger
salt and white pepper to taste

Shred all the salad ingredients except the peanuts and cranberries in a food processor or with a box grater. Set aside.

Whisk together all the dressing ingredients and pour over the salad.

Refrigerate for about an hour to allow flavors to meld.

Right before serving, stir in the cranberries and peanuts.

This meal had quite a bit more oil in it than I usually use, but we had a more active than usual day. We had this on Saturday, so, as usual, we walked to and from the farmer's market and we also went out walking for a couple of hours with a good friend at a local park, so this meal was very nice after a long day walking outside. We were lucky to be able to walk in a shaded park, it felt so much cooler beneath those trees than out exposed to the scorching sun.

Well, I'm off to prepare a simple dinner, enjoy a fresh batch of sun tea (our favorite recipe is a gallon jug filled with water and 4 fair trade, organic Darjeeling tea bags and 1 organic peppermint tea bag, so refreshing!), and probably take a sneak peek at the book I chose for the month of July's "Blogging Borkworm" review, though I still have to finish Wealth and Democracy by Kevin Phillips (it's a really long book). I chose "The World Without Us" by Alan Weisman, he explores how the planet would respond without the pressures of human civilization. Interesting topic to ponder.

Oooooh, and we stopped by the smaller, but still lovely, farmer's market that runs on Monday's and Wednesday's here in Columbia and picked up some gorgeous local peaches. They were so yummy looking we both just ate one right there at the market, along with everyone else who had gotten peaches. :-) Never done that before.... They were so juicy, and perfect, this was my first local peach, and I gotta say, no peach I've had before even comes close. And to think, we got 9 local peaches for $5, who says buying local has to be expensive?

'Til next time.

Roasted Veggies with Cranberry Beans, Marinated Roasted Portobello Mushrooms, and Brown Rice

This meal could have also been called 'Really Simple Food That Speaks For Itself'. I am always amazed at how good veggies are when roasted. They don't need anything, just a bit of salt. They have enough of their own flavor.

I was looking for a simple, yet tasty and healthy dinner the other night, and I think I found the perfect meal! Brett and I raved about this and were also happy with how good something so basic could be.

We made some long grain brown rice and cranberry beans to go with the roasted veggies.

The portobello mushroom was marinated in balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and about 1 tsp of juice from a jar of kalamata olives (Brett's idea - a good one too!) for a few hours and then roasted, along with a zucchini, red bell pepper, garlic, some small onions from our CSA, and some asparagus.

Once all the veggies were roasted, I sliced them up, tossed them with just a bit of olive oil, and layered them over plates of brown rice and beans. This was a really good meal.

Marinating the portobello.

Pan full of veggies ready to be roasted.

The finished product. Yum!

Remember when I talked about the lovely bagel sandwiches Brett and I have been enjoying the other day? Well, I had actually taken pictures of the sandwiches and fruit, but was too lazy to post them. So I'll do it now. :-)

This was Brett's sandwich. He had veganaise, spicy mustard, leaf lettuce, tomato, cucumber, and pickles. And of course, some beautiful organic cherries.

My sandwich was the same as Brett's less the pickles. I also had an organic peach and some extra cucumber slices on the side.

And finally, Brett and I made a really awesome find the other day. Now, I'm not sure how many Americans have noticed that Coca Cola does not taste like it used to, at least not how I remember it as a kid. I chalked it up to the fact that they now use high fructose corn syrup and a myriad of other crazy chemicals. As a result, I do not drink 'regular' soda anymore, I rarely drink 'non-regular' soda, but when I do it is generally Izze or Jarrito's (Mexican soda, are you surprised?). Well, when Brett and I were at the store the other day, browsing the 'ethnic' aisle, we noticed Mexican Coca Cola, in a glass bottle (how soda should be), sweetened with sugar, and with an ingredients list about half as long as American Coca Cola. It was far more expensive than American Coke ($1.69 a bottle for this stuff), but it is so much better than American Coke, seriously. I won't drink it very often, as it's expensive, comes all the way from Mexico, and, well, soda is not all that good for you, but it will make for a nice treat from time to time.

Check it out:

Refresco is right! ;-)

'Til next time.

Southwestern Lentil Burgers with Spicy Shoe String Yams and Roasted Asparagus

This meal was really good. I modified the recipe from one of Chandelle's that can be found here. I basically changed the spice combination to suit our tastes and changed up the ingredients based on what we had on hand.

'Burgers' are a great summer meal as you can make up a large batch, freeze what you don't use, and have yummy dinners that require the stove to be on for just long enough to cook the burgers. I don't know about anyone else, but I like to avoid using appliances that heat the place up when it's hot!

Note: Don't get the 'super-ultra-mega' big burger buns like we did. I had to make the patties HUGE, these were so big we didn't need the sides! In my own defense, these buns had the fewest preservatives in them.

Southwestern Lentil Burgers with Spicy Shoe String Yams

Lentil Burgers:

1/2 cup green lentils (raw)

2 cups veggie broth

1/2 cup quick oats

1/2 cup Matzoh meal

1/4 cup long grain brown rice, cooked

2 jalapenos, seeded and minced

2 serrano peppers, seeded and minced

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1/4 red onion, minced

juice of half a lime

2 tbsp Bragg's

chili powder

cumin

salt

The Rest of the Stuff:

whole wheat (or whole grain) burger buns

leaf lettuce

sliced cucumber

sliced avocado

sliced red onion

chipotle vegan mayo (I just mixed some chipotle chili powder, cumin and salt in some Veganaise)

Bring broth to a boil and add the lentils. Simmer for about 30 minutes. Drain any excess liquid.

Meanwhile, heat a few tablespoons of water in a small skillet. Add the peppers, garlic and onion and cook for 10-15 minutes or until soft, drain any excess liquid.

Combine all other ingredients with the lentils.

When cooled, form into patties.

Heat just a bit of coconut oil in a small skillet.

Fry for 5 or so minutes on each side until golden brown.

Spicy Shoe String Yams:

1 large yam, cut into very thin strips

1 tbsp coconut oil

chipotle chili powder

cumin

cayenne pepper

ground coriander

dash cinnamon

dash cocoa

Mexican oregano

salt

Preheat oven to 450.

Toss yams with oil and seasonings. Layer in a baking dish.

Roast, uncovered for 30 minutes or until soft.

We also made some roasted asparagus to go with the meal.

Aside from the size of the burger, this was an excellent meal!

'Til next time.

Yummy Vegan Wedding Food, Another 5 Things About Me, and A Grocery Store/CSA Wrap Up

First off I'd like to give a big thanks to everyone who wished me well during my 'tooth ordeal', it means a lot! I'm happy to report that I'm back in action! I am able to eat solid food and have really been enjoying it. My first 'celebratory' meal was vegan sushi. I love sushi! We made avocado rolls, cucumber rolls, and avocado/cucumber rolls. We, as always, added pickled ginger directly to the roll.

Last night, we had the wonderful honor of watching some good friends of ours get married. The ceremony, with some glitches, but with a sense of humor about it, was wonderful and both the bride and groom looked amazing. Both so happy! Brett was able to get a picture of the vegan dish prepared especially for yours truly.

Not only was I honored that they made a special dish for me - it was unbelievable! And the guy who prepared the food had never cooked vegan before, all I can say is he seems to have a knack and perhaps should. He marinated portobello mushrooms in balsamic vinegar and then stuffed it with ratatouille. It was topped with a bit of faux cheese and he made a balsamic reduction to go on top. It was out of this world! Seriously it looked and tasted like something you'd get at a really fancy restaurant. After we got ours, the meat eaters got in on the action and cleared them out! The omni's even enjoyed them. I was told that he would give the recipe, so I'm going to make sure I get it, I'll make that whenever I want to wow someone with vegan food!

Romina tagged me to tell you all another five things about myself. This is the third time I've done this! I'm running out of interesting 'Jen Tid-bits' but here you go.

1. I have never wanted a wedding, nor to have children. I guess I'm just not a 'traditional' person. Brett and I will get 'married' eventually, but neither want the fuss and hassle nor are we religious, so will likely do so at a courthouse. We are already committed to each other, we've lived together for 5 years, we just want to legal recognition at this point.

2. I'm sure this comes as no surprise, but I'm not into fashion, I like to look presentable, but don't really put a whole lot of fuss into it - never have. I've learned what colors and fits of clothing work for me and stick with that. Unfortunately, the colors that look the best on me are my least favorite colors: orange, red, pink, mustard, etc. Basically shades of red. So most of my clothes are colors I don't actually like. My favorite color, oddly, is brown, and I happen to look alright in that too, so it's not all bad.

3. I'm a very 'serious' person, I suppose you could say. But I'm equally as silly as I am serious. I love crass, politically incorrect humor. I love to make fun of myself, others and uncomfortable situations, it helps me cope with the reality we currently live in. I think humor is essential to a full, healthy life, and can help make times of strife more bearable.

4. I value honesty above being 'right'. What I mean by that is, say you are a racist, sexist bigot, I would rather you be honest about it, even though most people wouldn't consider those feelings 'right', than put on some facade and poorly hide your obvious 'ism's'. We can't solve really hard problems unless we can face our own 'ism's', it's tough, uncomfortable, but we all have them.

5. If I met the person I used to be now, I would want to kick their ass :-) or at the very least I would have considered myself a 'douche'. I used to be a very close-minded, selfish individual who cared only for myself. I also made horrible decisions, which I think most young-ins have the propensity to do. However, as I've gotten older I've consciously tried to explore my own short comings and do what I can to actually be the person I'd like to be.

Now I have to 'tag' five people to tell us five things about themselves.

Let's see:

Jessy from Happy Vegan Face; Lisa - the Show Me Vegan; Kumquat Peekapoo from The Path of the Vegan; Callina from Epic Eclectic; and M from My Face Is On Fire.

And finally, I will end this post with a grocery store/CSA wrap up. Our CSA bag was much larger this week thanks to the weather starting to cooperate (aside from far more rain than usual and lots of wind!).

Here is our grocery store haul:

I never know where to start. I'm going to change it up this week. Starting from the back left: pickled ginger, organic Mexican style cheese (for Brett, he likes regular cheese on black bean quesadillas), organic veggie broth, organic plain rice milk, organic Fair Trade Sumatra coffee, sushi nori, whole wheat burger buns, Newman O's, organic strawberries (from California!), a Sweet and Sara Peanut Butter S'more, sea salt, an Alternative Baking Company vegan Espresso Chocolate Chip cookie, wasabi powder, 3 organic California avocados, 2 organic cucumber, 2 organic yams, vegan jack, quick oats, organic frozen sweet corn, and black peppercorns.

Here are the peppers and such: 2 organic red bell peppers, poblano pepper, organic garlic, habanero, jalapenos, and serrano peppers.

Here's our CSA bag for the week:

It's all organic. We've got leaf lettuce, spinach, green onions, spearmint, radishes, and asparagus. I can't wait to eat that asparagus, it's so good!

Well, I'll try to get back on later to post the weekly garden update and catch up on all your blogs!

'Til next time.