Will Run For Jerusalem Artichokes

September Soup

I would like to pretend that I've been enjoying the fall harvest but instead I've been enjoying mushroom gravy from a can, oven french fries and way too many bowls of cereal for supper.  There was an attempt at broccoli hummus but I can't bring myself to eat anything that smells like foot.  Luckily A who is staying with me for a couple of weeks has no problem eating things that smell like foot (or farts as she likes to say).

A was kind enough to bring me jerusalem artichokes from her garden.  Maybe she thought I needed an intervention or she's feeling bad about all the hair that she's been leaving in the bathroom.  Either way I was more than happy to make soup out of them.   

jerusalem artichokes from roomy's garden 

farmer's onions

farmer's new potatoes

diced onions and garlic

simmering artichokes, onions, garlic, tomato & potato

pureed fall vegetables

September Soup(makes 10+ cups)

ingredients

2 cups diced jerusalem artichokes (scrubbed and washed peeling isn't necessary)
3 small cooking onions
3 cloves of garlic (local is best)
2 cups diced new potatoes
1 Tbsp sunflower oil (olive works too)4 cups canned diced tomatoes with juices (I used tomatoes from  I had frozen from the garden last season)
2 cups vegetable broth
1 tsp fresh rosemary (or dried from the garden)
2 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
ground red, black & white pepper (for garnish)

Heat 1 tablespoon of sunflower oil in a large frying pan.  Dice onions and garlic.  Saute until soft.

Scrub and wash artichokes and potatoes.  Dice into small pieces and add to frying pan.  Saute until potatoes and artichokes for approximately 5 minutes.  Add tomatoes, vegetable broth & spices.  Simmer until potatoes and artichokes are tender.  Blend using a handheld blender until desired consistency is reached.  You could garnish with pepper and/or sunflower seeds or sunflower sprouts.

Or forget the blending add some carrots, brussel sprouts, cooked green lentils and/or barley and enjoy.

Will Run For Cake Pops!

what isn't there to love about cake on a stick?

I survived the first week of school (without having to cry at my desk or wear my tutu to school)!  There was some doubt.  The tutu making kit was ready just incase (how can you feel anything but happy in tule, organza ribbon, glitter, etc.).

My week was most definately better than some of my colleagues.  I did not ask a small child if he needed to use the bathroom only to hear, "No.  The poop already came out".  I didn't have more students than chairs and no one called me an old lady.

Today is our cousins gathering.  Cousin J shows us up just about every time we get together.  Last time it was his delicious chocolate cinnamon vegan cake.  Granny wanted to know why my cakes never taste like J's (whole wheat flour Granny!  Whole wheat flour!).  J couldn't stop at a delicious cake.  He needed to add cinnamon buns!

ridiculously delicious!

Apparently salad is no match for cinnamon buns EVEN if if it's a salad from the new Peas and Thank You cookbook.

chickpea strawberry mango salad

I'm not sure what J has up his sleeve today but I have Momma Peas' cake on a stick.  I added some cinnamon & used 1 C of coffee instead of water.  

cinnamon chocolate cake on a stick

What could possibly be better than cake on a stick?  We'll soon find out.

Will Run For Flax Chia Vanilla Pudding

a great excuse to eat maple syrup

Summer vacation is O-V-E-R!  That means no more lemon poppyseed pancakes, waffles, or delicious baked goods for breakfast.  Who has time for that when they're scrambling to lesson plan ( I would never do this.  No.  Not me), walk the dogs, pack a lunch and eat breakfast?  It does mean breakfasts that can be prepared while multi-tasking, travel well and can be eaten well after they have been prepared.

Flax Chia Vanilla Pudding

(serves 2)

ingredients

1 C soy milk (or milk of your choice)

2 Tbsp chia seeds

1 Tbsp ground flax

1 Tbsp vanilla paste

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 cups mixed fruit (e.g. strawberries, bananas, mango, pineapple)

1 tsp maple syrup 

Warm milk over medium heat milk until hot and steamy. 

 Add chia seeds, ground flax, vanilla, and cinnamon.  Allow to simmer for approximately one minute. 

  Poor into a wide shallow bowl.  Allow to cool (at this point I usually put the whole bowl in the freezer because I'm impatient). 

 Once mixture is cool whisk until desired volume is reached.  

whisk mixture

Top with mixed fruit and maple syrup.

breakfast in no time

If all of the above seems like a little much and you remember to plan ahead simply place all of the ingredients in a bowl (with the exception of the fruit and maple syrup) and allow to soak overnight.  Whisk (or not if you don't mind a gelatinous chunk).  Top with fruit and maple syrup.

Will Run For Garlic Flatbread

Not only will I run for garlic flatbread but I'll wait in line for 20 minutes for garlic flatbread.  It's easy to wait in line when you're eating a garlic pickle on a stick (brilliant) and you've just eaten a warm creamy square of garlic fudge.  

There weren't any pickles on sticks or garlic fudge today but there was delicious leftover garlic flatbread.

If you have 3 1/2 hours to spare this is the recipe for you.

Flatbread

(makes 2 fairly large sized breads)

ingredients

1 tsp active dry yeast (really important that it hasn't expired)

1 C + 1/4 tepid water (same temperature as the water you get from your running partner)

3 C brown bread flour

1tsp salt

2 Tbsp olive oil

Finishing Salts/sea salt

Topping

ingredients

1 small tomato diced

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp earth balance (butter)

1 large clove of pressed garlic

Place water in a bowl, sprinkle with yeast, add 1 cup of flour and wait patiently for at least 2 hours.  You should place the bowl in a warm area.

After lounging around for 2 hours because you've been 'busy' making bread add remaining 2 cups of flour with salt and stir into yeast mixture.  Add 2 Tbsp olive oil and up to 1/4 C of water so that the dough sticks together.

On a lightly floured surface knead dough for 5 minutes (I used the same technique that I use for wedging   clay for pottery probably not exactly the same thing as kneading).  Place in an oiled bowl, cover with a dishcloth and let sit for approximately 1 hr (just long enough to go for a 7K run or long enough to get changed and think about going for a run).

waiting

Preheat oven to 400F.   Sprinkle baking stones with cornmeal.  Divide dough into two balls.  Roll to desired thickness (about 1/4 inch).

Top each flatbread with fresh rosemary, chopped tomatoes, garlic earth balance/olive oil, and finishing salts.  Bake for approximately 25 minutes.

garlic butter, rosemary, and tomatoes

da, da, da, la!

delicious garlicky wedges

Will Run For Zucchini Mash, Hash, & Succotash

I thought that I would share part of my favourite zucchini poem (doesn't everyone have a favourite zucchini poem?) written by George Shannon and illustrated by Sam Williams. 

It begins....

Zucchini

Meeny

Miney

Moe.

Plant a seed

And watch it grow

And ends with...

Zucchini juice.


Zucchini mouse.

Zucchini jam and scone.

Zucchini hash

And succotash

Zucchini

Meeny

Miney

MOAN!

I'm not going to lie. I don't really like zucchini.  I especially don't like zucchini in vast quantities (there is a reason for international put a zucchini in your neighbour's mailbox day).  I might have spent almost every Saturday singing the praises of summer squash at the local market last summer but that was only because I wanted other people to buy the summer squash so I wouldn't have to eat it.  A girl can only eat so many slices of zucchini loaf. 

Then I discovered Mama Peas' Summer Succotash Quesadillas with Nacho Mmm Sauce recipe from her blog www.peasandthankyou.com .  But why would I follow a delicious recipe when I could wing it (so that I can enjoy a very empty and clean refrigerator that's why)?

Mash, Hash & Succotash

(Serves 4)

ingredients

1 small yellow zucchini 

1 small green zucchini

2 large portobello mushrooms

1 medium cooking onion

1/2 large ripe tomato 

1 Tbsp sunflower oil

Daiya mozzarella shreds 

Begin by slicing zucchini, mushrooms and onions.  Dice tomatoes.  In a large frying pan over medium heat warm oil.  Saute onions and mushrooms until soft.  Add zucchinis and tomato.  Saute ingredients until zucchinis are soft but not limp (disgusting!)

saute your vegetables

Mash, Hash & Succotash Sauce

(approximately 1 C)

ingredients

1 ripe avocado

1/2 C chunky salsa

1/4 C nutritional yeast
1 large garlic clove

1 Tbsp lime juice

chipotle chili powder (decorative)

Blend all ingredients in blender until desired consistency is reached.  You may have to scrape down the blender.

blend salsa, garlic, nutritional yeast, avocado, and lime juice

decorative chipotle is hot!

Ezekial Wrap Chips

ingredients

4 Ezekial wraps cut into triangles

1/2 tsp unrefined sunflower oil

cumin

chili powder

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Lightly brush Ezekial wraps with oil.  Sprinkle wraps with cumin and chilli powder.  Bake in oven at 350 F on baking stone until the edges begin to curl and turn brown (5 minutes or less).

baked Ezekial tortilla with sunflower oil, cumin & chilli powder 

Top Ezekial chips with Succotash.  Add a dollop of Mash, Hash, & Succotash sauce.  Top with Daiya shreds or cheese.  Broil on high until cheese is melted.

meeny, miney, moan!

Will Run for Apple Cinnamon Dip

Summer vacation is almost over (gag!).  I've spent the summer filling up the sarcasm tank and mentally preparing for another ten months of 7 & 8 year olds (if anyone can really prepare for that). 

  The end of summer vacation means the beginning of cake club and staff room treats.  Sometimes you need a slice of coconut cream cake after you've just spend the last 40 minutes teaching two dimensional shapes to an opera singing ballerina chicken.  

While I'm not really one to pass up cake I love to share healthy treats with my students and my co-workers (who I am pretty sure think that I come from another planet most of the time.  It could be the homemade deodorant, my bright green shorty running shorts, my funky metal lunchpail or  101 other things).

On that note you'll find a delicious recipe for cinnamon dip below to go with the deliciously imperfect apples that are sitting on my counter.  Apples that have lumps and bumps and are not the size of a small child's head.

deliciously imperfect

While apples are delicious on their own dip makes everything better especially cinnamon dip!

Apple Cinnamon Dip

(makes 2 cups with some extra for taste testing)

ingredients

*Silken Tofu Extra Firm (for grilling, stir frying & sauteing)12 oz/349g

1/3 C apple juice

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp vanilla bean paste

2 Tbsp maple syrup

Place all items in a blender and blend until desired consistency is reached (1-2 minutes).

* Be sure to use extra firm silken tofu otherwise the texture of your dip will either be gritty or too runny.

This makes a great dip but it can also be used in place on yogurt in parfaits or as a topping for crumbles or cobblers.  Yum!  For a nuttier taste add 1-2 tsp of unrefined sunflower oil.

Lemon Lime Coconut Sugar Cookies

Sometimes you just need a cookie.  I recently had the pleasure of spending time with my favourite little cookie monster.  We went to the park, ate peanut butter and jam sandwiches shaped like hearts, drank steamed soy milk while playing with warthogs and beluga whales at a local coffee shop and went to the grocery store (It's probably not the best idea to let a 3 year old place your produce in your grocery cart unless of course you don't mind fruit that looks like it's been through a game of ping pong but you likely already knew that).

It was a very exciting trip to the grocery store. We learned how to grind coffee beans.  We also learned that ground coffee tastes really yucky and that it is really hard to get off of your tongue (don't ask and don't tell his mother)!  The cookie monster didn't get any cookies (or peas, or chocolate bars, or broccoli, or coconuts) but he did get an apple that was about the same size as his head (note to self: double check back seat for decomposing chunks of apple).

I like to feed this little cookie monster cookies filled with whole grains, dried fruit, & nuts (that's how I roll) but since I had no intention of sharing these lemon lime coconut sugar cookies were a great way to use the lemon and limes that survived the last week's refrigerator meltdown.

Lemon Lime Coconut Sugar Cookies

(18 cookies + a few spoonfuls of raw cookie dough)

ingredients

1/2 C unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 C wholewheat pastry flour

1 tsp baking powder

5 Tblsp Earth Balance (butter or margarine work as well)

1/3 cup turbino sugar

1 tsp grated lemon peel

1/8 C fresh lemon juice

1/8 C fresh lime juice

1/4 C grated unsweetened coconut

2 Tbsp turbino sugar (for rolling cookies)

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Place baking stone in the oven so that it can preheat as well.

In a small bowl combine flour, baking powder and coconut and set aside.  In a medium bowl cream Earth Balance & sugar until light and fluffy (you can use a spoon or an electric mixer.  I am way too lazy to dig out the electric mixer).  Add lemon peel, lemon and lime juice.  Add flour mixture to wet ingredients.

Roll dough into 1 inch balls and roll in sugar.  Place several inches apart on baking sheet.  Use the tines of a fork to flatten cookies.  Bake 10-12 minutes until golden.

* In order to maximize the amount of lemon/lime juice that you get from your fruit let your lemons/limes stand briefly in hot water and roll them on the counter before juicing them.  I personally like using a wooden lemon reamer (fancy name for a pretty simple gadget).