Juicing

Juicing! Probably the best birthday gift I just got for my wife was a Breville compact juicer. We've been

making a wonderful breakfast drink from celery, carrots, red apple, pear, ginger root, lime, red or yellow beets, and almond milk. Plus, some blueberries on occasion. Still have carrots in the ground, and celery growing profusely in our 2 Grow Y'own beds, even now at the end of January! Kale and chard is a little dormant, but its showing signs of picking up on some of these warmer days. I've got an order to put in a blueberry and strawberry open box for a client, so will let you know how that one works out, even though we've had many clients put in strawberries and had success. You have to grow blueberries in sphagnum moss, so the bed mix is a little different! A recent studyby a Women's Health organization said that through their studies, you can reduce your risk of heart attack by 1/3 by eating 2 or 3 servings of blueberries or strawberries per week. This shouldn't be too hard for anyone to swallow! And, in the Winter, sugars come up into the plants, so everything is a bit sweeter, like candy carrots, sugar beets, and sweet lettuces! You can get a Breville from Amazon on line for under a $100!

Ricotta Gnudi with Cherry Tomatoes and Marjoram

End of Summer's tomatoes are on in full swing, and one of my favorite, scrumptious recipes is Ricotta Gnudi with Cherry Tomatoes and Fresh Marjoram. Made this one last night with Brandywine Black Cherry tomatoes mixed with Supersweet 100's...yeow-za's! Also added in some Chipotle Oil instead of the extra virgin oo for a bit more of a kick. Couldn't stop dancin'! And away we go-

To make the gnudi- mix together 1# fresh ricotta cheese, 1/4c grated Parmesan,1 egg, 2 tsps melted butter, a generous pinch of nutmeg (fresh is better!), and 1 cup all purpose flour until just combined.  In a large saute pan over medium heat, saute 1 large, minced shallot (or more if you like), 3 garlic cloves sliced thin (or MUCH more if you like!), a generous pinch of dried chili flakes (as much as you can stand), 4 tbsps olive oil, plus 4 tbsps chilled butter, until shallot is translucent for about 3-4 minutes. Add 1 pint cherry tomatoes cut in half, and cook over medium high heat for about 10 minutes. Add some salt and pepper, cover, and keep warm. Now for the gnudi!! Roll it out on a floured surface into 1" thick ropes, cut 1 to 1 1/2" chunks, and arrange them on a floured tray. Toss the little buggers into a pot of boiling, salted water, and poach them until they begin to float- about 4 minutes. Transfer them gently with a slotted spoon into the warm sauce, and add 2/3 cup hot pasta water to saucepan. Gently fold the sauce over the gnudi, stir in 1/4 cup fresh marjoram leaves- roughly chopped, and divide among 4 plates. Top with Parmesan, and serve to a delirious audience!

Hope and Thom's Power Green Smoothie

"There is nothing as healthy as raw greens, but they're not always easy to consume. This smoothie actually tastes great. We love picking our greens in the morning and making the smoothie for breakfast."

Ingredients:

• 7 ice cubes
• 1 cup Aloe vera juice
• 1 cup Apple juice
• 10 large leaves of greens (20 small leaves)
• 1 big banana or 2 small bananas (frozen ideally)
• 1 Tablespoon bea pollen
• 1/8 cup ground flax seeds
• 2 Tablespoons fish oil (skip this if it bugs you, but we like it. Our doctor says she wishes we could put fish oil in the drinking water, since it's so good for our brains) 

Preparation:

1. Grind flax seeds in grinder
2. Remove stems from greens
3. Roughly chop and rinse greens
4. In blender put all ingredients, pushing the greens down
5. Turn on blender. If it gets stuck, add a little aloe juice through the top
6. Let this buzz for a minute to ensure smoothness

Add stevia or any other sweetener if it's not sweet enough for you.

Love that Lovage!

Love that Lovage! A prolific herb that is delicious when cooked with potatoes, tomatoes, or corn, or used raw in salads. Its like HUGE flat-leafed parsley, and tastes like wild celery. One plant is all you need, and it over-Winters extremely well. You'll have so much, you can share the Love!

Garlic Scapes

Garlic scapes....sounds mysterious! Actually, they are the flower stalks of hardnecked garlic plants. They form in a spiral from young shoots, and have a bulb on the end as they mature. When young, they can simply be chopped up and put into salads, on bruschetta, over pasta, and on and on. Older shoots must be chopped up, sauteed in olive oil or butter for 5+ minutes, and then put in a processor and blended till smooth. Start with 1/2# scapes and 1/2 tsp salt. Then add in 1/4c pine nuts and 1/4 c parmesan cheese, and blend again. Lastly, with the motor running, drizzle in 1/4 c olive oil. Yeow-za's! Get ready for a real garlicky kick on whatever you choose. Mange, mange!

Recipes/Sorrel

After Star Trek... 'To go where no man has gone before'! Sorrel is one of those greens that few have come to appreciate or even know. We had it tonight in a cream sauce over fish tacos and it was outrageous. As a raw green, it has a similar texture to spinach, except that it explodes into a lemony aftertaste in a few seconds as you chew it. Great torn into small pieces in salads, or made into a sauce for meat, chicken, fish, or other vegies....or in soups and stews. The tart flavor is due to the presence of oxalic acid, and people with arthritis or kidney stones should eat it in very small quantities, as it can aggravate their conditions. However, it is rich in vitamins A and C. For a sauce....

Remove the center stem of the leaves, put 2 cups into 1 1/4 c fish or chicken stock, and simmer for 5 minutes. Cool the mixture, and then puree it. Melt1/2 oz butter in a pan, add 1 tbsp flour, and stir. Add the sorrel puree and simmer for 4 minutes. Add 4 tbsp cream, and season with salt and pepper. Use on top of your favorite dishes as a surprise element!

Deborah Madison Cookbooks

My favorite, complete-source, cookbook for all vegetables and herbs is the James Beard Foundation Book Award Winner by Deborah Madison called 'Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone'. Seven years in the making, it is the compendium everyone needs not only for information, but also recipes. A must-have!

Kale

Kale- that vegetable that so many say they don't like, and have only tried it after its been boiled, with some butter! Yech! There are so many delicious varieties....Laccinato- Tuscan dinosaur kale, curly dwarf Scottish, Red Bor, and White Russian.. to name a few. The main thing to know when cooking kale is that you have to remove the tough center rib, and just use the leaves.

• Cut them into 1-1/2" pieces, and parboil them for 15 minutes in a pan of water.
• Pour into a collander to drain, and then saute in a pan of olive oil, garlic, and salt and pepper. A squeeze of lemon adds zest.
• Or, you can take the same cut up leaves, toss with olive oil and salt, and
• bake at 275 degrees for about 20 minutes till crisp.

This makes delicious and healthy kale chips that you can eat as finger food. So comb your hair down, drop your eyebrows, and close that gaping mouth the next time someone says, "Want some kale"?!?

Swiss Chard

There's a whole blog post on the benefits of swiss chard, but what about cooking it? Well, its very similar to what you do with kale and spinach. Simply slice the leaves off the stems, put it into a pan of boiling water, and parboil it for about 5 minutes. Pour it into a colander, let it cool a bit, press out the excess moisture with the back of a spoon, and then put it on a chopping board. Now, you can either leave it whole like this, and then mix with olive oil, salt, and pepper,  or chop it up coarsely, put it into a skillet in heated olive oil, and saute gently for a few minutes with chopped garlic, a couple of pinches of red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, and a squeeze of lemon. You can also add in some sorrel leaves, which will give the mixture even more of a tangy citrus taste. Its also wonderful mixed with onions, and virtually all root vegetables. Tarragon, cilantro, and parsley are nice additions. Chard is delicious in pasta dishes, as well as with basmati rice, pilafs, and tomatoes. Once you've eaten it, and seen how prolifically it grows, how easy it is to cook, and how it can blend with so many things, you'll always want to have plenty in your grow bed for year round use!