Hello again! We’ve finally emerged from our early spring slump. Our CSA ends in March and our farmers’ market closes for the season in mid-April, so we enter this confusing 6-week period where we have to shop at the regular grocery store to supplement what we can get at our neighborhood’s small local foods market. It’s very uninspiring.

We still aren’t quite into the summer harvest season, but Erik picked up some delicious . . . → Read More: Quick Asparagus and Hazelnut Pasta]]>

Hello again! We’ve finally emerged from our early spring slump. Our CSA ends in March and our farmers’ market closes for the season in mid-April, so we enter this confusing 6-week period where we have to shop at the regular grocery store to supplement what we can get at our neighborhood’s small local foods market. It’s very uninspiring.

We still aren’t quite into the summer harvest season, but Erik picked up some delicious local greens and asparagus this week that motivated me to get moving in the kitchen again. It was also 80 degrees yesterday! Crazy! The combo of perky veggies and a warm breeze have shaken me out of my funk enough to dig up an old favorite recipe. I’ve got a file folder full of recipe clippings, so I’m not sure where this one came from, but it was probably Real Simple or Whole Living. On a side note, it’s weird how you get to know a magazine’s font and layout after a while, isn’t it? Useless knowledge, but it sticks in my brain somehow. Anyway…I changed up the recipe to serve two and use more veggies and a leeeetle bit less pasta. The pasta adjustment is mostly because we have a FANTASTIC Italian grocery store nearby that sells dirt cheap, high quality, super delicious fresh pasta and I feel silly asking for 9 ounces of pasta, so I just get half a pound (which is 8). We’ve stopped making our own pasta, because this place is so great!

Besides being yummy, this is a very quick meal. If you start the water heating and the hazelnuts toasting before you slice the asparagus, you can have dinner ready in just about the time it takes to boil a pot of water. If, like me, you forget to start the water until you’re done prepping the asparagus, it’s still pretty fast.

Pasta with Asparagus and Hazelnuts

Makes 2 hearty or 3 smaller servings

Directions

1. Start heating a large pot of water on high heat. Give it a good pinch of kosher salt, if you’d like.
2. Heat the oven to 350. Put the hazelnuts on a small baking sheet and toast them for 10-15 minutes or until fragrant and the skins are starting to darken. Once they’re toasted, give them a rough chop and set aside.
3. While the water is heating and the hazelnuts are toasting, slice the asparagus as thinly as you can stand, lengthwise. You can use a vegetable peeler for this, if you want. I usually cut each spear in half lengthwise, then, placing the cut edge flat on the cutting board, cut each half into 3-5 long strips. The texture is best with thinner strips, but it’ll still be tasty if you lose patience.
4. Once the water comes to a strong boil, add the asparagus and set a timer for 2 1/2 minutes.
5. After the asparagus has cooked for a minute (1 1/2 minutes left on the timer), add the pasta to the same pot. Give the whole thing a stir so that the pasta doesn’t clump up.
6. Once the pasta and asparagus are done, drain them and put back in the pot. Add the chopped hazelnuts, oil, salt, and pepper. Stir gently to distribute evenly. I normally use tongs, because they help to integrate the asparagus into the pasta.
7. Put the pasta on two or three plates and grate or crumble the cheese on top. I like to use a vegetable peeler to carve nice long ribbons of Parmesan. Eat up!

Smoothies are an easy way to cram more veggies into your day. A little fruit covers . . . → Read More: How to Make a Winter Smoothie with Local Ingredients]]> In the winter, I usually crave hot breakfasts. Oatmeal with applesauce and peanut butter, eggs of all sorts, or pancakes. Recently, I haven’t been eating particularly well, so I’ve been trying to get a little “insurance” at breakfast to make up for the Pad Thai at lunch and burger, fries, and a shake at dinner. Yep. That was yesterday.

Smoothies are an easy way to cram more veggies into your day. A little fruit covers up the healthy taste and if the green color bothers you, just avert your eyes. This has become my go-to recipe, but you can make some tweaks if it’s not sweet enough for you. Add a tablespoon of maple syrup or use a whole peach/banana instead of half.

We don’t have a fancy blender…although I really really really want one, I can’t justify the crazy price. There’s an easy technique for making a good smoothie with a normal blender. Check out this video from Good Eats – the technique info starts at about 4:22.

My blender has four speeds. I run it on the first until the vortex starts, then each higher speed for one minute. If a bubble forms, I turn off the blender, give it a little shake to encourage the “burp”, then turn the speed back up. It takes about 4 minutes of blending, but that’s enough time to put away the ingredients and make a cup of tea.

If you want to get crazy, add half an avocado to the mix. We ordered a box of them from California Avocados Direct, a responsible family farm, and were blown away.

Local Winter Smoothie

Makes 1 large smoothie

Directions

1. If you are organized and want to be like Alton Brown, prep your smoothie the night before. Put everything except the ice cubes into the blender (in order) and stash it in the fridge. In the morning, add the ice and blend, following the directions above. Make sure all the spinach/kale blends in. Sometimes a leaf or two will stick to the side. This is a great way to have a nice smoothie even on a busy morning.
2. If you, like me, are usually not that with it at bedtime, make your smoothie when you’re ready to eat it. Add all the ingredients to the blender (in order) and blend, following the directions above. It might take a little longer for the vortex to form, because the fruit is still frozen, but you can get it going by stopping the blender and smushing the spinach/kale down toward the blades. When you start up the blender again, the smoothie should start moving. It might take a couple of tries. If it’s really giving you trouble, add a little more water/juice/milk. It’ll thin out your smoothie, but usually does the trick.

My brother was in a band in high school called The Unmundane. They were pretty good and had a nice little following. I have a couple of their CDs and a t-shirt I wear running. I also have the word “unmundane” in my vocabulary now. It snuck in there at a time in my life when I used either “random” or “sketchy” to describe just about everything.

I probably also used “wicked” a . . . → Read More: Unmundane Lentil Soup]]>

My brother was in a band in high school called The Unmundane. They were pretty good and had a nice little following. I have a couple of their CDs and a t-shirt I wear running. I also have the word “unmundane” in my vocabulary now. It snuck in there at a time in my life when I used either “random” or “sketchy” to describe just about everything.

I probably also used “wicked” a little too much, as in “lentil soup is wicked boring”. Because of that narrow mindset, I almost didn’t make this one from Art of the Slow Cooker, probably because the combination of spices seemed random. But, I was trying to eat less meat and this seemed to fit the bill. I was prepared to choke down a bowl in the name of self-righteous healthiness, but I was surprised on the first bite by its unmundaneness. It wasn’t common, ordinary, banal, OR unimaginative. Instead, it was thick and full of spices and lemon.

Now that we’re definitely entering winter in Boston, it’s time to pull out the slow cooker and some tasty soup recipes. I think the smell of soup cooking all day warms up the house. Can a smell make you feel warmer? Why not? So this afternoon, I’m sitting on the couch covered with a blanket recuperating from a cold and watching The Usual Suspects, smelling the onions browning, because my awesome husband is making dinner for me. I’m counting the hours until I can dig in with a spoon and a big piece of crusty bread. It’s supposed to warm up on Sunday, which is good, because we’ll be out of soup by then.

Unmundane Lentil Soup

Makes 6 servings

Directions

1. If you want to get fancy, use whole coriander and cumin seeds. Toast them in a hot skillet for a couple of minutes, until slightly browned and fragrant, then grind. I don’t usually get fancy and the soup is still great.
2. Chop the onions.
3. Heat the sunflower oil in a large skillet and cook the onions over medium-high heat until starting to brown. This is the foundation for your soup, so take a little time, maybe 5-8 minutes.
4. In another pot, heat the broth until boiling.
5. While the onions are browning, measure out and combine all the spices except for the red pepper flakes.
6. Add the garlic and spices (except for the red pepper flakes) to the onions and cook until you can smell the garlic.
7. Add the tomatoes and juice to the onion mixture. Break up the tomatoes and cook until the juices boil.
8. Once the onions and broth are boiling, dump both into the slow cooker. Heating the ingredients to boiling speeds the cooking time and keeps the food away from the Danger Zone, e.g. the temperature range in which nasties thrive. Cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 8-10.
9. When you’re ready to serve the soup, stir in the red pepper flakes, lemon juice, and fresh herbs. Top with a dollop of yogurt, if you’re into that kind of thing.

Regarding the amount of stock: Red lentils disintegrate and really thicken the soup, so if you use a full two cups of red lentils, you’ll want to use 7 or 8 cups of broth. More broth = soupier soup. Less broth = stewier soup. If you use red lentils and another type of lentils, you can use 6-7 cups of broth.

To make this work on a week day, I cook the onions, garlic and spices the night before, letting them cool down before covering and storing them in the refrigerator. In the morning, I add the tomatoes to the onions and bring them and the broth to a boil while I’m eating breakfast and getting ready for work. Pour everything in the slow cooker, plug it in, leave the dishes in the sink, and run out the door.

Cantaloupe is another CSA adventure for us. Both of us kind of like it, but not nearly as much as the other fruit that tempts us at the farmer’s market – peaches, blueberries, raspberries… Yum! When it showed up in our share last week, I ate two slices then cut up the rest and froze it. Granted, we just got an awesome chest freezer, so I’m a little freezer-happy at the moment, but still. . . . → Read More: Awesome Spicy-Sweet Cantaloupe Slaw]]>

Cantaloupe is another CSA adventure for us. Both of us kind of like it, but not nearly as much as the other fruit that tempts us at the farmer’s market – peaches, blueberries, raspberries… Yum! When it showed up in our share last week, I ate two slices then cut up the rest and froze it. Granted, we just got an awesome chest freezer, so I’m a little freezer-happy at the moment, but still. It’s kind of embarassing. I was determined not to do that again, so I hunted and hunted for a recipe to blow me away. There are a million (seriously, a million) recipes for the melon, cured meat, soft cheese, and viniagrette combo, but I’m on a very strict diet to help control my migraines and can’t have cured meat, cheese, or vinegar. Gah! Of course, all those recipes looked delicious and made me hungry. So then I took a lunch break.

After lunch, I gave up on the melon and started looking for fun slaw recipes to tackle the two heads of cabbage we also got from the CSA. Double success! With just a few modifications to a mango slaw recipe from Smitten Kitchen to accomodate my weirdo diet and what we had on hand, lunch was served.

This might be my new favorite salad. It’s crunchy, spicy, and sweet. Like any slaw, it takes quite a bit of chopping, but just take your time to cut things roughly the same size.

Spicy Sweet Cantaloupe Slaw
Serves 6 as a side or 3 as a main

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Toast the nuts or seeds on a baking sheet for 5 to 10 minutes. Smaller nuts/seeds will need less time, so keep an eye on them. Give the pan a shake once during cooking so that they brown more evenly. While they’re toasting, work on the veggies, but don’t forget about the nuts! Once they’re done, let them cool while you finish up.
2. Prep the cabbage: Remove the outer leaves. Quarter the cabbage from the North to the South Pole. Holding your knife at an angle, cut out the core and discard. Slice each cabbage quarter into short, thin ribbons. Put the ribbons into a big bowl.
3. Prep the pepper: Quarter the pepper from the North to the South Pole. Remove the stem, seeds, and membranes using your fingers and discard. Slice each pepper quarter into short, thin ribbons. Add these to the bowl with the cabbage.
4. Prep the onions: Remove the outer layer of each onion. Slice each onion from the North to the South Pole. Slice each onion into thin, half-moon slices. Add these to the bowl with the cabbage and peppers.
5. Prep the cantaloupe: Halve the cantaloupe from the North to the South Pole. Set aside one half to use for something else. Use a spoon to scoop the seeds out of the half you’re using. Slice that half into as many equally sized wedges as you’d like. We did eight, but it depends on the size of your melon. Smaller wedges are better. Lay a wedge on it’s side and cut the rind off. Cut the wedge into thin slices like you’re cutting a banana. Repeat with the other wedges and add to the bowl with the rest of the vegetables.

   

6. Add the cilantro and mint to the bowl.
7. Put the lemon juice and salt in a small bowl. Slowly whisk in the oil.
8. Pour the dressing over the slaw. Add the cashews and mix well.

The “creaminess” in this recipe comes from the avocado, mustard, and walnuts. It offsets the firm bitterness of the raw kale. The apple gives it some sweetness. All in all it’s very well balanced, very nutritious, and a cinch to make.

Creamy Kale Salad with Apple and Beets

Makes 2-4 servings

This was part of the fantastic picnic that we brought to Governor’s Island. This is a great recipe straight out of The Candle Cafe Cookbook,which is from a great vegan restaurant in NYC. They call it white bean “pate”, but to me “hummus” is a better term. That’s essentially what it is only with another type of beans substituted for the chick peas / garbonzo beans.

Tuscan White Bean “Hummus” Sandwiches with Tomato . . . → Read More: How to Make Tuscan White Bean “Hummus” Sandwiches]]>

This was part of the fantastic picnic that we brought to Governor’s Island. This is a great recipe straight out of The Candle Cafe Cookbook,which is from a great vegan restaurant in NYC. They call it white bean “pate”, but to me “hummus” is a better term. That’s essentially what it is only with another type of beans substituted for the chick peas / garbonzo beans.

Tuscan White Bean “Hummus” Sandwiches with Tomato and Arugula

Makes 2-4 servings

Directions