Upcoming Winter CSA!

Yes, a winter CSA in New Hampshire is totally a thing! This year Kearsarge Gore Farm and Greenhill Collective Farm are teaming up for a 10 week winter CSA that will be the best that NH has to offer this time of year. Weekly packages of organic root veggies, greens (yes, greens! grown in the greenhouse, available during the second half of the CSA), breads, dried herbs and mushrooms, teas, garlic and maple syrup will be dropped off for the CSA recipient to pick up at The Local on Main St. in Warner every Tuesday. This 10 week program, running from January 6 to March 10, is $300, boiling down to just $30/week for local, wholesome, trustworthy goods. If you are in the Kearsarge area, I urge you to try this CSA! I promise you will not be disappointed! 

Here are what I find to be some wonderful advantages to a weekly CSA; 

• Supporting local economy
• Getting to know the sources of our food (food security!)  
• Receiving the highest quality and most nutritious products
• Minimizing time and money spent in the grocery store
• Easy to plan meals when you have a weekly package of food to work with 
• Food travels less (think 15 miles vs 1500)  
• Minimizes overall environmental impact 

If you are interested in this CSA but not sure if you can make pick-ups in Warner, please message me and we can talk about arranging some sort of delivery. I would be happy to make this possible for absolutely anyone interested!  

Giving this Season!

I wanted to share some thoughts I have on the season of gift-giving that is upon us. We all know that Christmas has become quite devastatingly commercialized, which literally strips all of the magic and love out of the holiday. So I say, let's take it back! Here are some ideas I have on choosing thoughtful gifts that truly resonate with the spirit of love and giving that is Christmas!

• Shop locally
• I am certainly not the first person to suggest this, but it is an idea worth repeating! Don't know what to get someone? Check out local shops and artisans, where you know whatever you choose is made with time and skill from a community member who will certainly appreciate your business. I know there is a program in New London to encourage people to shop locally, with a card you punch every time you patronize a local business and discounts every Saturday this month. I have also seen many encouraging advertisements for local holiday markets  at restaurants and pop-up markets this month. Keep your eyes open for these opportunities! 

• Food
• Everyone needs to eat! Food as a gift is a wonderful idea, both practically and symbolically - giving the gift of nourishment and good health, what could be better?! Right now in New Hampshire farmers markets are still kickin', and you can find all sorts of root vegetables, squash, maple syrup and canned goods. Who wouldn't want a handmade basket full of potatoes, onions, garlic, canned green beans, salsa, maple syrup and ginger root? Well, this is possible, local, and incredibly thoughtful! Last year I got all my family members meat from Eccardt Farm in Washington, NH and wrote up a little blurb about the farm, what they offer and where to find them. This was a great way for me to share information about a local business as well as my passion for wholesome local food! And everyone loved it! Try it out, it is very rewarding for everyone! Making baked goodies, like yummy breads or cookies, is a classic Christmas passtime and works great as gifts, too! 

• Make your own
• I know not everyone has the time to make gifts, or maybe the confidence, but I think homemade gifts are the absolute best way to demonstrate love and the spirit of giving! Making cards is always a great place to start! Print out a couple pictures and put them in a nice homemade card or frame. Homemade candles and lotion are a couple things that I am excited to test out this year (shh), and beyond that I feel like there is a world of opportunity! 

• Donating in someone's name
• Trying to find a gift for someone who has everything? Want to break out of the materialism of modern Christmas? Making a donation in someone's name is a fantastic way to overcome these common gift-giving predicaments. Think about what causes or organizations your loved ones are interested and invest in their honor. Try this website, Kiva, to search for potential donation outlets and make Christmas special on so many levels!  

• Give your time
• One of my favorite gift go-tos - the homemade voucher. Sure, this idea comes from my childhood and college days when I had nothing to spend at Christmas time but my good intentions. But what could be more thoughtful then the gift of your time? Making homemade vouchers for babysitting, cleaning, massages, mechanic work or whatever skill you may have to offer is right on track with the spirit of love and giving that is Christmas. 

I don't see any magical at all in feeling compelled to go out for a hectic day of shopping, spending a bunch of money at giant commercial stores where everything is mass produced and cheap. I want to stimulate my local economy, know that my money is going to the people who deserve it, and show my loved ones just how much I love them! Cheers to that! 

Some random but totally awesome kitchen tips!

Sharing kitchen knowledge is a great way to stay connected to one another and progress in our kitchen endeavors. Little tips you learn along the way can help you be more efficient with your tools, ingredients and time, as well as make cooking and crafting more exciting! Learning kitchen secrets, which aren't always intuitive, is a skill worth honing! This is why I feel compelled to share a few completely random yet totally helpful kitchen tips that have been rocking my world lately. Pass it on!

• Soak potatoes to release starch (courtesy of mom!):  Love crispy homefries or hash browns? Potatoes have a lot of starch in them, which can cause them to be mushy and/or stick to the pan when frying. Soaking potatoes in cold water helps to remove a lot of that starch, allowing the potato to get nice and crispy, be it in home fry or hash brown form. Cut or grate the potatoes into nice cold water, let them sit until the water gets nice and cloudy (as it extracts the starch), rinse and repeat one more time. Rinse again and dry thoroughly before adding the potatoes to the skillet. Works like a charm!

Grated potato, twice-soaked in cold water, on its way to becoming crispy delicious hash browns! 

• Shaking garlic cloves in mason jar to remove skin (courtesy of chef Isaac): I don't know why, but peeling garlic skins just seems like THE biggest pain in the butt to me. Maybe it's because I use a ton of garlic in everything. If you feel the same way, you MUST try this incredible trick! Simple put individual cloves, or a whole head, of garlic into a mason jar, screw on the lid and shake baby shake! Get a nice vigorously up and down motion going so the garlic is beating against both ends of the jar. Like magic, the cloves are all peeled and ready to go! Beautiful!

• Vegetable scraps = totally easy and awesome vegetable stock: Minimizing food waste is like my number 1 kitchen priority. Making vegetable stock with vegetable scraps could not be easier or more convenient. Ya know how you always have ends of carrots and onions or hearts of celery or cabbage left after preparing for a meal? Well, throw all of those things into a crock pot with some water. Add sprigs of herbs, like parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme (thanks Simon and Garfunkel ;) ). Turn it on low and let it all infuse for as long as you want! Set it and forget it! You can add absolutely anything to this, like apple cores (from making all those apple pies!), citrus rinds, squash skins, beet juice from boiling beets - anything. Just filter it once its done, put it into a big mason jar and have it on hand for all sorts of things, like making soup or boiling potatoes or rice. 

Seasons Eatings!!

Choosing Food this Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is upon us again! It is a time for celebrating the food we are blessed with, so I'm thinking why not choose the food most worth celebrating?! For me, this really boils down to sustainable local foods grown in a healthy and balanced way. I absolutely realize that it is unrealistic for all of us to eat 100% local, especially on this upcoming day of abundance. I do know, however, that there is much room for improvement in terms of choosing local. For my own benefit as well as whoever is interested (and that's probably you if you're reading this!), I have compiled a list of things that I know can be found locally right now to help make Thanksgiving dinner a meal worth celebrating.

• Potatoes - for mashed potatoes...duh! A staple in any Thanksgiving reportoir. These babies are abundant in New Hampshire now and through the winter. 
• Onions - the foundation of so many yummy things. These are also abound in NH now and through the winter
• Carrots - same story as the other guys! Don't be afraid of the funny-looking carrots you may find at a farmers market...these are often the tastiest! 
• Pumpkin - Poor pumpkins get kicked to the curb after Halloween...forgotten in the cold. But lets not forget these delicious local goodies are super edible and super integral to Thanksgiving. Try to make a pumpkin pie from scratch this year and support your local pumpkin grower!
• Squash - So many delicious varieties of squash are plentiful in NH right now...gotta try them all! 
• Celeriac - A funky looking root vegetable that is new to me! It is a reliable NH crop this time of year that I am sure has the potential to add incredible flavor to Thanksgiving necessities like stuffing.
• Kale - Kale might not be a traditional Thanksgiving food for most, but this hardy green lasts well into the fall in New England. Maybe try some steamed kale as a delicious side dish this year!
• Beets - Maybe you aren't used to having beets at Thanksgiving, I know I'm not. But this year I am trying a beet salad to honor this NH classic and try to keep it local!
• Cranberries - One of the last few traditionally North American crops that remains a staple in our diet today. We are lucky to have cranberry bogs abound in New England, especially Massachusetts and Maine. 
• Maple syrup - Pies are a Thanksgiving must and usually have a lot of sugar added to them. This year, maybe replace some of that sugar with local maple syrup! YUM!
• Apples - Apple season just came and went but lots of great NH apples are still floating around...and everyone knows apple pie is a Thanksgiving classic.
• Eggs - If you are using eggs this season, for desserts or what have you, don't forget that there are great New Hampshire eggs all around, including at the grocery store! 
• Dairy - Dairy is a classic New England industry at the heart of our local agricultural system. It won't be too hard to find local dairy products, but don't forget to do some research on the best, most humane and healthy products! 
• TURKEY! - Turkey is obviously the heart of most Thanksgiving meals, but I am willing to bet without a doubt that the turkeys sold at the supermarket are far from a meal worth celebrating. Do some research, find local and humane turkey farms or hunt one yourself! 

Personally I am shopping for Thanksgiving at the Kearsarge Gore Farm and Greenhill Collective Farm this year to see what I can gather before stepping foot in a grocery store. I understand that access to local food might be a very real barrier between you and choosing local (which may or may not be the focus of a little project I am working on with friends, soon to be revealed!) but start looking around and you might be surprised at what you might find! Contact your local farm through Facebook, find a farmers market and look for local food in your supermarket.

Finding even just a few local items to be integral parts of Thanksgiving dinner will impact the quality of the meal substantially and help us to move toward a more locally-sourced diet. I know I want to feel good about the products I am buying, who I am supporting and how it affects the health of my loved ones and the planet. Thanksgiving is a wonderful place to start making a shift toward healthy food worth celebrating! CHEERS! 

Black Bean and Roasted Cauliflower Veggie Burgers

I don't think it's any secret that veggie burgers have the potential to be pretty terrible. In fact, I would say that it is far easier to get your hands on a less then desirable veggie burger than a truly tasty one. But, hey, maybe that's just me. At any rate, last night I set out to make a delectable veggie patty to assuage my burger craving.

I'd like to just preface this with some food for thought (sorry, I had to). I am not a big fan of meat substitutes, such as your Tofurkies or your "Chick'n" Nuggets or vegetarian hot dogs. That is, things that are trying desperately to replicate meat in every way but really just beg the question, What exactly am I made of? I used to be super into these things, thinking I could enjoy a hot dog guilt free! What could be better? Until I realized that the ingredients list was practically a novel composed of impossible-to-pronounce words. I have since tried to steer clear of these mysterious chemicals and randomness, which is, I think, definitely for the better.

That being said, these black bean and roasted cauliflower veggie burgers were made from scratch, using lots of CSA veggies, so I could avoid questioning their contents. Problem solved.

Here is what happened.

I roasted some cauliflower, coated in olive oil, in a 350 degree oven.

When the cauliflower was nice and soft and flavorful, I mashed it up along with some black beans. To that I added eyeballed amounts of:

• chopped green onion
• cilantro 
• olive oil
• lots of garlic!
• milled flax seed
• breadcrumbs
• garlic powder
• onion powder
• cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper 
• and one beaten egg to hold it all together

Then it was just a matter of making the patties (which is always easiest, albeit messiest, by hand) and frying them up in a skillet, trying to get the outside as crispy as possible without the patties falling apart. Just like with regular burgers, I find it is best to pop them into a hot skillet and not touch them until it is time to flip them, flip them once and don't touch them until they are done. It is unbelievably tempting to poke at them and mess with them to see how they are progressing, but it is really best to fight those urges, for the good of the burger!

I added a generous amount of sharp cheddar cheese just at the end to get all melty. 

Served on a bun with fresh tomato and lettuce, along with homemade baked french fries. Very yummy and much healthier and less fattening then a regular burger. This doesn't necessarily mean that a veggie burger has the capacity to always replace a real burger, but I think any time it is chosen over it's beef counterpart is a win for everyone. 

And THEN, this morning for breakfast I added a patty to a breakfast sandwich (or really I just added an egg to the burger). Either way it was wonderful. 

Some things I might have done differently, or might try next time, are leaving bigger chunks of veggies in the patty and flash frying each side for a crisp and then baking them. One of the worst things about a veggie burger is there potential to be mushy and lack a solid form. I will certainly be looking for ways to reduce this risk as I continue to experiment with veggie burgers and let you know! But overall this was a success! 

The Fantastic Falafel!

Before you write falafels off as "dirty stinking hippie food", let's talk about how great they can be!

Falafels, or little balls of chickpeas either fried or baked, are incredibly tasty and full of protein, which makes them a great alternative to meat. Easy to make, healthy and versatile, the falafel is, or should be, a staple on any household menu!

Like anything, I am sure there are many ways to make a tasty falafel. And once you have that down, you can make a falafel and pita, falafel salad or falafel appetizers with a yummy dipping sauce. Here is what I whipped up the other night.

First of all, I got the idea to make some falafel goodness because I had a lot leftover hummus from a little dinner party the night before (made by chef and life superstar Lauren Howard). This was a chickpea and edamame hummus, a simple yet incredibly delicious spread made by mashing the chickpeas and edamame and adding garlic and lemon.

Since I had so much leftover, I figured I would just use that mixture and enhance it just a bit with new flavors to create the falafel balls. I got some naan on which to craft delicious falafel sandwiches.

To the hummus I added some bread crumbs, olive oil, finely diced onion, cumin, coriander, onion powder, and cayenne pepper. I would have added an egg to help it all stick together and remain moist, but I didn't have one. It all worked great, so no stress if there is an egg missing from the equation. I rolled the new mixture into little balls by hand and placed them on a baking sheet.

I baked them in a 350 degree oven. You can deep-fry them as well and of course they would be to die for, but the healthier way is definitely to bake them. They still get a nice crisp and crunch in the oven.

While those cooked, I made a crunchy slaw to serve on my falafel sandwich. I thinly sliced or grated red cabbage, green cabbage, salad turnips and carrots.

 

Then I made a little sauce. Traditionally, falafel sandwiches are served with a tahini (or sesame) based sauce. Sometimes I find the tahini sauce, while being super delicious, can also be rather dense. This time around I kept it super light with a cucumber yogurt sauce. To make the sauce, I eyeballed portions of the following:

• Plain greek yogurt 
• Sour Cream
• Lime juice (I used a whole lime)
• Grated cucumber (from my CSA, of course!)
• Garlic 
• Cilantro

This turned out to be sinfully delicious, I highly recommend it! Would be great to have a jar of this in the fridge to bust out for all sorts of dishes.

When the falafel balls looked and smelled done, I pulled them out of the oven.

And then the fun part.

I stared with some soft, warm naan (pita works great too, or any kind of flat bread really) and onto it I spread a healthy amount of hummus (I kept some of the original aside).

Then, some crisp CSA lettuce.

Followed by the slaw.

Then I drizzled a generous amount of the cucumber yogurt sauce and topped it with several falafel balls.

Finally, I topped it all off with more of the cucumber yogurt sauce, some sriracha and cilantro.

Boom! Truly fantastic, I must say. And yes, it might start out as a sandwich and turn into a salad and that's OK! These things can be messy but the flavor remains amazing!

Crock pot Creations!

The crock pot! 

What a marvelous creation. I am a huge fan of kitchen tools that serve multiple functions, and the crock pot is an excellent example of how to get the most of cooking. Whether you want to save time, make a big batch of delicious goodness to freeze for later, warm up with a hot bowl of stew or combine a bunch of random stuff in your fridge for one awesome result, the crock pot is your guy. Variations on the idea of the crock pot include the slow cooker, but from where I'm standing both do the same thing: they allow you to throw a bunch of food into one big cooking machine, turn it on low and let it all come together for hours and hours. Niiiice and sloooow. This is a fantastic way to easily create rich, deep and hypnotizing flavors. And since we are in full fall mode here in New England, now is definitely the time to dust off the crock pot, plug 'er in and go rake some leaves while a delicious meal is basically made for you. What could be better?

If the idea of the crock pot is new to you, check out crockpot 101. If you would like to see a comprehensive list on what you can do with your crock pot, check this out, or do some research on your own. It is way to easy to find great ideas on how to get the most out of slow cooking.

I had a great time using my crock pot for the first time this fall just the other day. I had a very specific goal in mind: find a way to combine some leftovers in the fridge with fresh veggies while expelling minimal time and energy for one warm and tasty result. This is what happened.

First, I collected my fresh veggies and chopped them all into comparably sized chunks so they would cook evenly in the crock pot. I used the basics, all from CSA or local farms:

• Squash
• Carrot
• Onion
• Celery
• Potatoes

I threw it all into the crock pot, turned it on HIGH and poured in a little white wine to prevent any burning. I kept it on HIGH for one hour so the veggies could come up to cooking temperature. Then I turned it on LOW and let just those veggies cook together for about 6 hours. 

Then I added some lentils and let it all cook on LOW for another 6 hours, approximately. If it is on low, let go! For me, with just a bunch of veggies in the crock pot, it could cook for an eternity and just get better and better. 

I then added garlic, a couple bay leaves, some light seasonings like cumin, salt and pepper. I added some chopped tomato, some tomato paste, and a little veggie stock. 

The vegetables release a lot of moisture when they cook and it doesn't boil off so I always wait to see how much liquid I need to add after they have been cooking for a while (if you want to thicken up your mixture, you can add some tomato paste or dissolve some corn starch in cold water and mix it all into your creation). I then added some stir fry leftovers that had been sitting in my fridge for almost a week. Still totally good to eat (passing the smell test and all) but not exactly appetizing as a meal on it's own since we had been eating so much. Throwing it in the pot at this point, it will just blend into everything and enhance the richness and flavor. I let this all cook for a couple hours. 

Then it is really ready to go any time! Of course, something like this is best served with some crusty bread.

Warm, delicious, healthy and easy! Just one of truly infinite ways to use the crock pot! 

Won't you step into the freezer?

I must admit that I have never been that good at freezing foods. I might throw something in the freezer, maybe some leftovers that I don't want to throw away, and find it a year later all freezer burned and inedible. So my new project is to learn all about efficiently freezing foods and convert that knowledge into practice. I figure I might as well offer a little "guide to freezing" that includes the tips that I learn along the way.

There are many reasons to freeze food. If you cook for one or two people and find that you often have leftovers, freezing is a great way to eliminate food waste and store those leftovers for another time. It is also a great way to prepare meals ahead of time so you don't have to worry about cooking during the week. Whatever your reason for freezing, here are a couple tips to get the most out of the process.

• Proper storage! I think it is pretty much common knowledge that properly storing foods in the freezer is the best way to get the most out of them for the longest amount of time. Freezer burn occurs when there is air exposure and moisture loss. To prevent that from happening, choose containers that are durable and leak-free, or even try a foodsaver so you can store foods in completely airtight bags. Trust me, this is an investment that you won't regret! 

• Freeze Time and Date Labeling My suggestion here would be to label everything you are freezing with a date and do some research on how long that particular food can last in the freezer. Definitely give food a good once-over once it is thawed to be sure that it looks and smells good.

• Portions I have found that freezing things in portions is helpful when you want to defrost an exact amount. If I make a giant container of soup and want to enjoy it over several occasions, I will store it in several different containers so I don't have to thaw and re-freeze it, a process that may decrease the quality of the food.

• MAKE A LIST FOR THE FRIDGE This is probably one of the most important tips I can offer because it has helped me so much: make a list of everything that you have in the freezer and put it on the fridge so you are always clear on what you have and when it should be used by. This will help to cut way back on food waste. 

• Thawing It is best to thaw things in the fridge because thawing at room temperature increases the chance of unwanted bacteria growth. 

• Don't Freeze There are some things that don't freeze well. Among these things are sour cream, yogurt, lettuce, cucumbers, cooked eggs, and fried foods. My tip would be to do some research if you are unsure of how something will freeze.

3 Weeks of Vegetables!

I have been on a little computer hiatus for the last month or so, just trying to soak in the last drops of summer. It has been quite wonderful, but in so doing I have missed reporting on three weeks of incredible CSA veggies. Here is a brief overview of the deliciousness that I have been picking up from the Vegetable Ranch every Tuesday.

Week 15

This week brought me a very solid, standard selection of amazing veggies that are staples in any kitchen!

• Carrots 
• Tomatoes
• Onions
• Eggplant
• Garlic
• Lettuce
• Parsley
• Kale 

Week 16

Another great week with a package of vegetables that included some of my all time favorites, like beets, cherry tomatoes and salad mix!

• Onions
• Beets
• Potatoes
• Bok choy
• Squash
• Tomatoes
• Cherry tomatoes
• Salad mix

Week 17

More yumminess and even more variety, with some new treats like cauliflower and salad turnips.

• Eggplant
• Squash
• Onions
• Cauliflower
• Cabbage
• Tomatoes
• Cucumbers
• Salad turnips
• Lettuce

Salad turnips are not something you see every day at the grocery store, so you might be wondering what you can do with them. First of all, I store them just like I store radishes (cut off ends and keep them in some water in the fridge). As for how to use them, they definitely are a great addition to any salad, just like the name implies. They are a mild, slightly sweet flavor with a great crunch. They can also be roasted or sauteed for delicious results. 

5 Day Raw Food Cleanse: Days 4 and 5

Last Thursday and Friday marked days 4 and 5 of the raw food cleanse. I was feeling great all the way through and staying strong until I went out to eat for lunch and dinner on Friday and kind of splurged on french fries and a quesadilla. From that experience I learned, first hand, how important it is to set yourself up for success! For me I think this means planning a cleanse during a time when I will be home every day making my own meals. Maybe I should call this one a 4.5 day cleanse. Oh well, the rest of it was awesome and incredibly refreshing!


Alright, here is what my menu looked like for days 4 and 5.

Breakfast
Both days I had the same smoothie for breakfast:

• Frozen raspberries
• Avocado
• Carrot juice
• Almond milk
• Lemon
• Milled flax seed

An easy and quick way to pack in maximum nutrients.

Post workout smoothie (both days): Banana, almond milk, peanut butter.

Lunch
Thursday I made a delicious salad:

• CSA salad mix
• CSA cucumber
• Alfalfa sprouts
• Walnuts
• Raisins
• Goat cheese
• Olive oil, lemon and balsamic

Friday, like I said, I went out to eat. But I didn't just eat french fries, the bulk of my meal was an incredible pear salad.  

Dinner

Thursday I was not super hungry come dinnertime, so I just grazed on almonds, blueberries, hot peppers and homemade pickles, along with some herbal tea. 

By dinner time Friday I was ready for some melted cheese, the thing I missed most during the cleanse. So, since I was out to eat, I had a veggie quesadilla. And, I must admit, it was amazing. Next time I will definitely try to make it the full 5 days!

I am excited to have a new way of looking at food that will carry over into my life now that the cleanse is over. I have a renewed understanding of how good foods make you feel good long after you're done eating them, how they give you energy and balance. I know I will try to stick to smoothies in the morning and several raw meals each week, and not just salads but more interesting raw food creations that get me out of my comfort zone. A great learning experience overall! I suggest it to everyone!

5 Day Raw Food Cleanse: Day 3

After completing day 3 of the cleanse, I feel truly great. And I have been experiencing some wonderful things.

First, I feel a serious increase in my energy. It isn't that cheap, fleeting energy you get from caffeine, but a more sustained and complete energy. Very cool.

Second, I am noticing the difference between hunger and craving. I feel truly hungry in the morning, hungry for nutrients. I feel my body's need for nutrients being satisfied when I drink a smoothie or eat an apple. It is different from craving a big fat breakfast sandwich and an ice coffee. And because I have noticed this distinction between hunger and craving, I have learned that you should eat whenever you feel hungry! Simple! For instance, yesterday morning I was really hungry, so I ate more then I did the day before at that time. But in the afternoon I was not hungry at all, even though I thought that I should be because it was "lunchtime". Instead of just eating because I was craving something or thought I was supposed to, I waited until I actually felt hungry. Very simple yet supremely awesome in it's simplicity.

Ok, here is what I ate yesterday.

Breakfast

An apple
A Smoothie: So delicious! A blend of:

• Frozen raspberries
• Half an avocado
• Almond milk
• Carrot juice
• Milled flax seed
• lemon

Post-workout smoothie: My new absolute favorite thing in the world - banana, almond milk and peanut butter. 

Lunch

I had a late lunch of a little cottage cheese and some leftover bean salad. 

Dinner

An incredible salad! 

Since I miss the time and art of cooking, I decided to get really creative with the presentation of this salad. Having an attractive plate of food is one of the qualities that enhances your enjoyment of that food! And since raw foods don't have the aroma of cooked foods, which would even further increase it's deliciousness, it is important to craft beautiful plates. 

In this salad:

• CSA salad mix
• CSA tomatoes
• CSA cucumbers
• Red Cabbage 
• Alfalfa sprouts
• Avocado
• Mango
• Pecans 
• Sesame seeds

And the dressing:

• Olive oil
• Garlic
• Grated ginger
• Soy sauce
• Rice vinegar 
• Lime juice 

Here is what it looks like when you cut it all up (as my boyfriend loves to do, very methodically until every component is the same size and shape). Makes it super easy to eat! Yum! 

5 Day Raw Food Cleanse: Day 2

So far so good with the raw food cleanse. Day 1 brought a pretty bad headache in the afternoon, which I attribute to a caffeine withdrawal, but other then that I feel really great.

One of the best things about trying to eat only raw fruits and vegetables is you really slow down and think about what you are eating. It is a more mindful food experience, something to be carried into any diet choices I think. It is definitely worth it and the meals you do eat become more worthwhile and satisfying. Plus you have to get a little more creative, which is always fun!

Here is what I ate today!

Breakfast

Smoothie: Frozen mango, blueberries and raspberries with carrot juice, beet juice, almond milk, lemon and ginger.

Smoothie #2: I exercised in the morning so I need some post-workout nutrients. For this I made the now classic banana, almond milk and peanut butter smoothie (my new favorite thing!). 

Lunch

Bean salad! A mixture of these things:

• Kidney beans
• garbanzo beans
• corn 
• onion
• tomato
• dill
• garlic
• olive oil
• lemon
• lime 

In Place of coffee

I was having some pretty serious coffee cravings, but instead I opted for caffeine-free peach tea with lemon and ginger. Very delicious and satisfying! 

Dinner

Fresh rolls! One of my favorite things ever. All you need are a bunch of yummy veggies and some rice paper, which you can find at the grocery store.

I chopped up some veggies for the filling of the fresh rolls. You can really use anything that you have on hand - a great opportunity to get creative! Here is what I used:

• Cabbage
• Basil
• Avocado
• Radish
• Cucumber
• Carrot 
• Spinach
• Broccoli sprouts

I prepared a bowl of water in which to soak the rice paper, where it becomes soft and malleable and adhesive. Then I set up a wet towel on the counter on which to roll the rolls.

From there, you really just have to go for it! I put the leaves down first, basil and spinach, then I added the sprouts, cabbage, carrot, radish and cucumber followed by the avocado. Then I rolled it all up like a little burrito. As I rolled one, I dunked the next rice paper in the water so it would be ready to go.

I made a little dipping sauce of coconut milk, peanut butter, soy sauce, lemon and garlic powder. Very tasty and very filling!

Kearsarge Mountain CSA: Week 14

Yes yes yes, another week of fresh vegetables. This does not get old! I am looking forward to trying a winter CSA through a couple of my favorite farms, so I will be sure to keep you updated on that!

But it's not winter yet! It is, in fact, still technically summer. Here is what I got in this week's summer share.

• Celery
• Boc choy
• Peppers
• Kale
• Cucumbers
• Tomatoes
• Radishes
• Salad mix
• Squash 

Very exciting! 

It was too easy to store all these goodies - most things went into the fridge. I thoroughly washed the celery and chopped it in half so it would fit into a container. The radishes were put into a bowl of water in the fridge. The squash and tomatoes went on the counter. Done!

5 Day Raw Food Cleanse: Day 1

There are many reasons to want to cleanse the body, and many ways of going about it. Personally, I have been eating too much junk food (pizza, ice cream, popcorn at the movies...) and I have begun to feel it (and see it!) in my body. I am sure there are lots of cleanse diets out there, but I have decided to makeshift my own kind of cleanse by eating primarily raw fruits and veggies for 5 days.

Here are some benefits of a raw food cleanse:

• Boost energy!
• Shave off some pounds
• A general detoxification of the body, ridding the body of excess waste
• Improve digestion, memory and immune system health!
• Cut down on household energy costs - no cooking necessary!
• Learn how to use new ingredients in creative ways

I thought I would share what I make over these 5 days to inspire ideas and also to show how I  incorporate CSA veggies into my raw food meals. 

My meals will be primarily raw fruits and vegetables, with nuts, herbs, legumes and seeds combined in fun and tasty ways. I will not be eating sweets, bread, meat or cheese (no alcohol or caffeine, either!). I am, however, making some small exceptions. I will be using minimal amounts of ricotta cheese, cottage cheese and plain greek yogurt. I have an incredible raw food "cookbook" that I will be deriving lots of recipe ideas from, and many of the yummiest things call for these ingredients. Additionally, some of the nuts I will use will be roasted (but not salted). I will also use small amounts of things like peanut butter, olive oil and soy sauce for flavoring. I want this to be a success so I am trying to be reasonable! 

OK, here is what I ate on DAY 1:

Breakfast 

Herbal tea with lemon, honey and ginger. 

Lunch

"Everything but the..." salad - I had many random leftovers in my fridge that I thought would all go together nicely in a salad

• Lettuce and chard
• Tomato
• Onion
• Pineapple
• Beets
• Basil and Parsley 
• Chopped almonds
• Lemon, olive oil and black pepper

Snack 

Banana, almond milk and peanut butter smoothie (yum! A must try!)

Dinner: 

Stuffed mushrooms - baby bella mushrooms with ricotta dill stuffing

• Clean the mushrooms thoroughly and pull out the stems
• Grind the stems in blender and mix with ricotta cheese, garlic, onion, fresh dill and black pepper
• Stuff the mushroom caps! 

Gazpacho - To accompany the mushrooms I made gazpacho, which is primarily all the following ingredients mixed in the blender, to taste.

• Cucumber
• Tomato
• Onion
• Garlic
• Eggplant (because I had some that needed to be used)
• Some homemade pickle juice with pickled jalapeños
• Sriracha 
• Tomato paste
• Cayenne pepper, black pepper, and a little salt 

I feel nourished but not full. Overall very satisfied! Looking forward to day 2! 

Food with Friends: Part II

I love love love hearing about the creative and delicious meals that friends are cooking, no matter where they are in the world. Since starting this blog, I have been sending and receiving so many good food pictures and ideas, it's like a whole new form of communication. 

One of my most recent suggestions came from great friends and foodies France Hahn and Garrett Bauer, all the way from South America (ya gotta love technology!). They suggested that I try making something I had never heard of: Shakshuka.

Shakshuka is a North African/ Middle Eastern dish that basically consists of eggs poached in a spicy  tomato sauce. Food friends France and Garrett sent me this link to a Shakshuka recipe, knowing that this time of year in New Hampshire there is an incredible bounty of tomatoes that could be used in place of, or alongside, canned tomatoes in this dish.

The first step I took in creating this meal was cooking up some homemade chunky tomato sauce (you can certainly stick to canned tomatoes, but I wanted to try making my own sauce, something I have been meaning to do for a while). I used CSA tomatoes and tomatoes from my parent's garden that needed some love. I kept this process very simple:

• Core the tomatoes and cut big X's into the skin

• Dump them into boiling water for 1 minute
• Transfer them to cold tap water
• Use the X's to peal off the tomato skins (I have learned from my dad, a master cook, that it really is important to remove the skins while making tomato sauce because they will be very tough, especially after freezing the sauce)
• Coarsely chop the tomatoes and throw them back into the pot with some olive oil to cook down to the desired consistency. The longer you cook them, the more they cook down and thicker the sauce will become. I used a potato masher to break up some of the larger chunks as it cooked. 

This made about 2.5 cups of tomato sauce. It is crazy how much tomatoes cook down. This is a great process if you have lots and lots of tomatoes to use up, but not really if you only have a few. 

Next, onto the Shakshuka process, which really could not be easier! I loosely followed the recipe, but definitely improvised as I went along. The great thing that I have learned about Shakshuka is that, traditionally, it is a dish that is made with anything that you have on hand. My kind of meal! 

First, I sauteed chopped onion. After a minute I added lots of garlic. 

Then I added green pepper a couple jalapeños.

And eggplant, because I had some that needed to be used. 

After a few minutes, I dumped in my tomato sauce. To that I added some canned sauce to give it more volume, a couple tablespoons of tomato past, the juice of one lime and spices: cayenne pepper, cumin, ground coriander, chili power, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. This all simmered for about 7 minutes.

Then, the fun part - cracking in the eggs! 

I covered it and let the eggs poach for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the yoke was pretty much cooked. This part is all about preference, whether you want the eggs runny or cooked completely is up to you! I served it for dinner with lots of parsley and feta cheese, along with crusty bread and an herb salad. Lots of CSA ingredients and lots of yumminess!

But I'm not done yet! I had so much tasty Shakshuka sauce left over that I was able to make two more meals out of it! 

Rolling it over to breakfast and another continent: Huevos Rancheros! 

This just felt like the natural next step. First, I heated the Shakshuka sauce with some rice that I had leftover in the fridge. 

Then, I opened a can of black beans and heated them on the stove. 

I baked some corn tortillas until they were nice and crispy. You can fry them but there was a lot going on on my stovetop so I thought baking them would be easier. Either way works great!

I then fried some eggs.

And then I melted some cheddar cheese on the eggs and began assembling the dish: the tortillas first, covered in the sauce and beans, topped with eggs and some parsley, all served with sliced avocado, salsa and sour cream. 

Finally, for dinner that night I made tacos with the leftover sauce and beans. A toasted tortilla with melted cheese, lots of chard and the sauce and beans...

Wow! Making Shakshuka was a huge success. And the whole time I had my good friends, France and Garrett, in mind, even though they are so far away! This is a beautiful thing!