Shoots, Greens & 'Shrooms

Is there anything better than fresh greens in the spring after a long winter of nothing leafy from the farm? Ok....so maybe the first ripe tomato of summer is equally as exciting....or the deep rich sweet taste of roasted
winter squash in the fall....and then there's that blueberry pie full of juicy purple deliciousness....but spring greens are pretty high up on the list.  The Wednesday farmer's market in Chattanooga is back in full swing and the gettin' is good right now. Dinner tonight was delicious, quick, easy and almost all local. I picked up some pea shoots (my 14 year old son asked me to please NOT call them pea tendrils because it sounded like tentacles) from Williams Island Farm, some fresh beautiful spinach from Sequatchie Cove Farm, some Shiitake mushrooms from Crabtree Farms and some fresh milled grits from Riverview Farms. Spring food has so much flavor it doesn't need much seasoning- especially those crisp sweet pea shoots!

Shoots, Greens & 'Shrooms

I sauteed the shiitakes with a couple of cloves of garlic in olive oil, added in the pea tendrils and spinach at the last minute (it only takes them a couple of minutes to wilt down to perfection). Added a couple of splashes of tamari and some cracked black pepper. I cooked the grits in water and added a bit of half & half after they were done for some richness. I served the greens & shrooms over my grits and topped with a little shaved parmesan and some cracked black pepper. We also had some left-over black beans in the fridge (with Sequatchie Farm sausage) that we added on the side. This dish would also be delicious topped with a poached egg. It was some kind of yum.

Thank you farmers for a spectacular and nourishing meal!

Search for a farmer's market near you here: http://www.localharvest.org/

Quinoa Salad with Kale

I had the pleasant surprise of kale from around the corner show up in my refrigerator today, and I was already planning to make this cool quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) salad, so I threw the kale in with it. It's a nice spring dish to get me through this seasonal transition.

1 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained
2 cups water
1 bunch of kale leaves pulled away from stems and torn into bit size pieces
3 carrots, shredded
1/4 red onion, finely chopped
1 cup frozen green peas or shelled edamame
1/4 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 2 lemons
1/4-1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 Tablespoon Dijon style mustard
1 teaspoon local honey
salt and pepper to taste

Place rinsed quinoa and water in a saucepan with tight fitting lid and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and set timer for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, shred carrots in a food processor, cut onion, and place in large bowl.
Make vinaigrette by mixing together last  6 ingredients in a jar with tight fitting lid and let sit.
Heat 1-2 Tablespoons of water in a skillet with tight fitting lid on medium heat. When water begins to steam, place kale in skillet, cover, and cook for about 1.5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
When timer goes off for the quinoa, put the frozen green peas (or edamame) in the pot on top of quinoa to defrost. Replace lid and remove from heat.
Let quinoa cool and peas/edamame defrost, then combine with carrots, onion, and kale. Add vinaigrette and mix thoroughly. Eat immediately or chill and serve later over salad greens with walnuts sprinkled on top.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

In honor of St. Patrick's Day this week I'm adding in an extra serving of greens each day--at breakfast. It's been fun merging my breakfast usuals with greens. So far I've put some greens in with eggs (not so unusual) or had them as a side dish (kind of on the scale of forcing them down), but this morning, I got fancy and had some Amaranth hot cereal (any whole grain hot cereal will do) topped with flash steamed greens (leftover from last night) and some fresh avocado slices. I sprinkled a little Gomasio on top, and let me tell you, it was delicious!

So this year for St. Patrick's Day, set your intention to add an extra serving of greens in the morning. And maybe, if you forget to wear green, you can convince the "pinchers" that you're wearing green on the inside!

Amaranth for Breakfast

I have been working on intentionally changing up food a little bit when I'm on duty for cooking, so I decided on Amaranth for breakfast this morning, just to give oatmeal a rest. It's a great grain that's full of protein, and it contains calcium (two time more than milk), iron, potassium, fiber (three times as much as wheat), vitamins A and C, and iron (five times as much as wheat). It's also easy to prepare. Here's what I did for breakfast:

1 cup Amaranth
3 cups water

Put everything in a pot, cover it, and bring it to a boil. Turn it off, stir to be sure it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot, and let it sit overnight. In the morning, warm up the grain, and serve with maple syrup, raisins, and walnuts (or pecans). Serves 4 (nice size portions).

KID APPROVED: I have a 13 year old in my breakfast care these days, and he won't eat oatmeal or brown rice porridge. He ate the Amaranth cereal this morning and said he liked it--yippee!

Mung Mash

OK, I have to admit upfront that this recipe is not the prettiest dish I've ever made, but on the flip side, it might be one of the easiest, and it's really tasty. It's actually a variation on this recipe.

Mung beans are relatively new to me, but not the health store where I shop--they have them in the bulk section, which rocks my world, because that means it's a cheap meal. I have since discovered that mung beans contain high levels of protein, potassium, fiber, magnesium, and B vitamins (which help boost your mood during this gray time of year). The best part, especially after the holidays, is that they have only 30 calories for a whole cup.

Here's what you need:

• Crock pot
• 4 cups water
  
• 2 cups Mung Beans washed and picked over
• 1 medium sized sweet onion, chopped finely
• 2-3 medium sized carrots, chopped into small pieces(optional)
• 2 cups cooked brown rice (optional)
  
• 1-2 hand fulls of fresh, raw spinach (or other green)
  
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 Tablespoon Coconut oil or butter (optional)
  

Here's what to do:

• Wash and pick through the beans to remove anything that doesn't look like a bean.
  
• Chop the onion and set it aside while you...
  
• Put the beans in the crock pot with 4 cups of fresh water.
• Turn on the pot to cook at least 2 hours on high or 4 hours on low (actual cooking time will depend on your pot, of course. I cooked on high for 3 hours, then turned them off for an additional hour).
• Throw in the onion.
• Walk away.
• When beans are getting to the soft stage, add salt and pepper to taste and the oil. This is when I also added the carrots and turned off the pot ( I don't like my carrots too mushy!).
• Chop up some fresh spinach while warming up brown rice.
• Serve as a stacker...
• Brown Rice on bottom
• Chopped spinach in the middle
• Mung Mash on top
  
• Option: top it all off with a little sour cream or grated cheese.
• Enjoy with 4 or 5 of your favorite people!
  

Leftover love--throw some of the mash straight out of the fridge into a wrap with some fresh spinach leaves and Voila! You have an easy lunch for home or on the go.

Winter Staples: Rice, Beans, & Greens

Cold weather = hot food at our house. That's why we had the winter standby last night:

 

greens
BEANS
brown rice

We stacked up steaming whole grain brown rice with protein packed azuki beans and topped it off with immunity boosting, mucus reducing, spirit lifting kale. Just for fun I added roasted sweet potatoes to the stack. Unbelievable! A wonderful, soothing, cold night meal.

The nice thing about this throw together stack is that I can add whatever I've got on hand (last night was sweet potatoes). Also, I don't have to spice it up. I just let everyone choose their own condiment to suit their personal taste. I usually offer soy sauce, a variety of vinegars, salt and pepper, salsa, or sour cream to season it up just right. Sometimes I'll whip up some guacamole to give it a little creamy healthy fat.

When you're looking for something warm and soothing on a cold night this winter, give this stack a try. It warms you from the inside out.

Beets & Fennel with Wild Rice

I had both beets and fennel to contend with in my CSA box this week, so this recipe worked nicely. It's a beautiful color. Also, I threw in some leftover turkey the next day and made a whole meal out of it--de-lish!

1 large bunch of beets with greens

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

1-2 fennel bulbs, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 cup Basmati and Wild Rice mixture (1/2 cup of each), rinsed

2.25 cups vegetable stock, heated

Salt and pepper

1/3 cup chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 400. Cut greens away from beets and set aside. Wash beets, wrap them in foil, and bake until tender to the core with a fork (about an hour depending on the size of the beet). Meanwhile, cut away stems from the beet greens. Chop into bite size pieces and place in water to soak.

Put the oil in a cold skillet with a tight fitting lid and sweat the onion, fennel, and garlic very gently until softened. Add the rice and coat it well with the oil. Then add the hot stock slowly. Mix well, cover with tight fitting lid, and let simmer until most of the liquid is absorbed. This usually takes 20-30 minutes.

Remove skin from cooked beets and cut into bite size pieces. Add to rice mixture along with salt and pepper to taste.

Place greens on top of rice, cover, and turn off the heat. Let stand 5-10 minutes until greens are tender, but still bright green. Stir to mix in greens.

Transfer to serving dish and sprinkle pecans on top.

Enjoy!

Simple Breakfast Porridge

We love a good whole grain for breakfast--especially on cold mornings. The nice thing about this breakfast is that you can use leftover grains (variation 1) or cook it the night before and leave it on the stove to warm in the morning (variation 2). Easy, breezy--that's what I like for breakfast!

Variation 1
1-2 cups leftover cooked brown rice (or any leftover grain)
~2 T rolled oats (optional)
~2 T water
Toppings of choice*

Put everything in a pot over medium high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer for 10 minutes or so until oats are cooked. Add toppings.*

Variation 2
1 cup whole grain (quinoa, oats, brown rice)
~2 cups water (add a little more if you like it creamy)

Put grain and water in pot with tight fitting lid and bring to a boil. Turn heat off and leave pot on stove overnight. Warm in the morning and add toppings.*

*Topping suggestions--experiment and find your favorite combination:

• Sweeteners--local honey, maple syrup, brown rice syrup, dried fruit,  fresh fruit (especially berries), crystallized ginger
• Crunchy--nuts & seeds & nut butters (peanut, almond, cashew, sunflower)
• Spices--cinnamon, ginger
• Other--flax meal, wheat germ, miso
• Unusual combo--just to spice things up, try steamed veggies and greens drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with gomasio