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Drowning. . .

A ONE MORNING HARVEST

OMG we are drowning in tomatoes! This is one morning and we are getting that much again in the evening.

Do you feel sorry for me?  I sincerely, hope not!  We have great food and our neighbors and friends love us since we keep giving tomatoes away.

Last year, our first year in this very harsh environment, we had lots of tomato troubles:  diseases, fungi and pests .  Because we got here in May, we rushed to get the garden in. Unfortunately, we did not do a good job of tracking which varieties were the best producers, the most disease resistant or the best tasting.

This year we wanted to experiment with several different varieties and to keep better records. We are tracking planting dates, problems, production and taste. The ones we are watching are: Early Girl, Celebrity, Better Boy, Black Prince, Black Krim, Big Cherry, Husky Cherry, Black Cherry, Yellow Pear, Roma and a VFN variety. Obviously we needed a couple of each types of plants. So we have ended up with quite a collection.   I am beginning to think, however, that we may have gotten a little carried away! When we finally counted all of the tomaotes plants we came up with 52!

We have some that are producing lots of tomatoes right now as you can see in the picture: Early Girl, Black Prince, Black Cherry, Yellow Pear and Roma. Some that have lots of green tomatoes; we haven’t gotten any ripe ones yet: Big Cherry, Husky Cherry, Celebrity and Black Krim.  Some plants that are still to small to be producing fruit, yet: Better Boy and VFN.

Results so far?

• Favorite eating varieties are the black ones – Black Prince and Black Cherry; the flavor is beyond belief.
• Best producer by far -- Early Girl.  The plants all have yellow leaves and kinda look bad, but they are producing great tomatoes and lots of them!
• The most troublesome -- yellow pear.  We have lost one plant and it looks like another one is one it’s way out.

No matter how you cut it we have a lot of plants, a lot of fruit and are learning a whole lot!  Bottom line for me:  Lots of tomatoes now and a whole lot more on the way so I need to get busy over the weekend and

1. Buy some canning jars
2. Read up on canning tomatoes
3. Research Dehydrators
4. Make some Gazpacho
5. Find some new recipes that use tomatoes
6. Upgrade this site: we will be down starting Friday afternoon until sometime on Saturday. Be sure to come back next week and check out our new look.

Eggplant “Non-Parmesan”

My friend Beth gave me an assignment – create a vegan (non-dairy), gluten-free, fat-free (or close too it), additive-free Eggplant Parmesan to use in Sandwiches.

You know how I am, can’t resist a challenge. So I started experimenting. Many of the recipe components can be found on the Basic Recipes Page: Tapioca Eggs, Cashew Cheese and Quick Italian Red Sauce. Please refer to that page for the specific recipe otherwise this post is going to be way to long.

The Beef of Vegetables???

Over the weekend I spent a couple of hours surfing the net. I was on a mission:  finding some good kale recipes. Almost immediately I saw an an amazing article title: Kale, the Beef of Vegetables. Of all the odd titles I have stumbled across recently, this has to top the list!

My first thought. of course, was, “no wonder I don’t particularly like it!” Then I cracked up (I do tend to amuse myself, easily). Look, I’m really, really, really trying to eat it and like it. Damn it!  It is so good for my body that I should at least eat it and hopefully, learn to like it! 

When I finally quit laughing at myself, I settled down and read the article.  It was yet one more in a long series of articles extolling the virtues and benefits of kale.  Did you know that it is full of :

A Plant-Based Diet: Slow and Easy!

There is a tremendous body of research about the benefits of eating a plant-based diet.  The numerous benefits sound almost unbelievable! A list of the diseases that eating well can prevented and/or treated include :

• allergies and autoimmune disorders (sinusitis, fibro-myalgia)
• arthritis (osteo, Rheumatoid and Gout)
• diabetes (type II)
• heart disease (high blood pressure, coronary artery disease)
• cancers (breast, prostate and colon)
• high cholesterol
• intestinal tract problems; specifically IBS and Gastro*esophageal Reflux
• obesity

And that is just for starters.

Eating Out–Subway Offering Vegan Sandwiches

Plant based eating is becoming almost mainstream! Subway is offering vegan sandwiches in the South (Virginia and Maryland).

The news made me remember a trip to the Southern US thirty years ago.  My most vivid memory of the trip is that I almost starved to death!

We were traveling and eating in restaurants. Every day, feeding myself was a challenge! The first hurdle was finding anything vaguely vegetarian on the menu.  If I found something besides salad I still had to be very careful.  Lots of added bacon (salad dressing, baked potatoes, even mac and cheese) and foods cooked in lard. Asking the server about the ingredients was a whole other problem. Mostly the people who served me and the people I ate with couldn’t get over the fact that I didn’t eat any meat.

The last time I went South, there was plenty to eat!  The winner was a fabulous Lebanese feast in Louisiana! There the server did not look at me like I had two heads when I told them how happy the menu made me: Lebanese food is heaven for a vegetarian.  The waitress lit up.  In fact, and trust me that this is a sign of progress, she  told me that she was vegetarian too – she only ate chicken and fish.  Progress not perfection!

I got my Mojo Back! Made Veggies au Pistou ( a fancy French name for a basic Veggie Stew with Pasta and Pesto)

I am GREATLY relieved to be able to report that I have my cooking mojo back!  This week everything I cooked turned out well.  In fact better than well. . . it was all downright good!

Monday morning I went out a picked a great assortment of fresh veggies. Spinach, yellow squash and tomatoes shown here.  I also trimmed a big basket full of basil and a bunch of onions. 

In the fridge there were navy beans from last week, a head of lettuce and a big cucumber that we had gotten at Farmer’s Market.  It was obviously a Greek salad day.

We are now officially in summer and menus are guided by what I pick on any given more.  This morning I had LOTS of basil that was either going to get harvested or bolt.  I harvested.

Plant-Based Diet Myth: It’s Expensive

One of the most baffling  things people say to me is “I would love to eat a plant based diet, but that is just too expensive!” I am always a little blown away but this assertion. I go to the grocery store and I watch food prices closely. . .

It was nice to find a discussion about this in The Starch Solution. Here, John McDougall states that a plant-based diet averages $4,000 savings per person per year. Or savings of  $333 per month.  You can read his discussion on pages 203-206 or search for “Food Costs” on your digital device.

For our household (just the two of us) that means saving about $650 per month. That, by the way is about what we currently spend each month.  In other words if we started eating animal based products we would double our monthly food costs.  Just in case I need another reason to stay on a plant-based diet that would work!

Bad Week at Black Rock

Just so you know, Not everything I try is a success. I know that there are friends that think I am making it up.  After all I am a proficient cook with lots of experience and knowledge.

Now, it is true that I am a proficient cook with lots of experience and knowledge.  And yet, trust me, I have very bad cooking experiences!  Last week was an great example. . .  I was on a roll!

Beans, Beans the Musical Fruit. . .

Cute poem. Uncomfortable reality.

Here is a fun factoid:  the average person passes gas from 14-23 times per day. But seriously, it doesn’t matter if you call it flatulence, farts or gas – it is embarrassing and uncomfortable.

New vegetarians and vegans complain about inordinate amounts of gas.  Which, makes sense when you think about it.  All of a sudden the body is flooded with large amounts of fiber; particularly things like beans, cabbage, kale and asparagus. Nailing down the exact cause gets a little tricky because what causes gas in one person may not cause it in someone else.

No matter what specifically causes it, the mechanism is the same. The intestinal tract is inundated with foods that do not digest easily and the result is gas.  The enzymes and bacteria needed to digest and absorb certain carbohydrates are either in short supply, out of balance or entirely absent. The result is gas: belching, farting, bloating, abdominal discomfort and sometimes real pain.

The good news is that the body will adapt as you continue to eat the vegetables that cause the gas.  Beans, however, may remain problematic.  So what can you do?

First multi-tomato harvest and garden pests . . .

The good news is that this week we have actually been harvesting and eating from the garden everyday.  We have had spinach (we are very close to the end of this batch), kale, cabbage leaves, beet greens, radishes,  zucchini, onions and tomatoes!

Tuesday morning there were actually 5 largish and 5 cherry tomatoes! We obviously got a little carried away on the whole watering thing (you can tell my the big cracks) but that seems to be a problem every year. . . takes a little bit to figure out exactly how much to water unless you invest in a moisture meter.  We, of course, wing it!

Giving Up Sugar

Admittedly, my memory about actually giving up sugar is a little fuzzy – thirty years is a long time.  I do remember, viscerally, how hard it was and how badly I craved it.

The first nutrition book I ever voluntarily read was Sugar Blues by William Duffy.  I was in a lot of joint pain. I had been diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis and was feeling quite sorry for myself.

The chiropractor I was seeing at the time told me that if I alleviated my depression I would reduce my pain.  He added that the simplest way to ease my depression was to give up sugar.  He went on to say that he was convinced that cutting sugar out of my diet would have one other great benefit.  I would reduce joint inflammation and lessen the pain in my body.

Red Beans and Rice

A big favorite in our household is Cajun Red Beans and Rice.  Traditionally cooked on Monday which was laundry day because cooking beans the traditional way is an all day (and sometimes close to two) process.  Taking the time is almost worth it since the pot of beans is to die for!

Any red bean will work – small, large, kidney.  The dish tastes  almost as good if you use pressure cooked red beans.  And you can always use canned kidney beans.  Whatever beans you decide to use the basic recipe methodology is the same.

The Big Six– The Necessary and The Absolutely NOT Necessary (but wonderful) Kitchen Gadgets

For me there are three absolutely can’t live with out kitchen appliances:

• Heavy duty food processor – I wrote a piece not long ago about choppers of all kind
• Toaster oven – a multipurpose device for warming up food, toasting bread and quick heating instead of a microwave.  It is great in the summer for baking something small and not having to turn on the hot old oven!
• Crockpot– Year round convenience. It is wonderful for soups, sauces and casseroles. Start a meal and walk way.  I use it instead of the oven or stove top in the summer.

And then there are the ones that are absolutely not necessary, but sure make life a whole lot easier appliances:

Do You Know about Excitotoxins?

Four years ago David developed a gluten allergy. That began a series of radical changes in our diet. But there were more to come!

Two years ago he started having a series of “weird” problems.  He was not diabetic or even pre-diabetic but he clearly had a blood sugar problem!  On any given day his blood sugar spiked and dropped for no apparent reason.  He was alternatively shaky and moody. And eating seemed to make the problem worse.

We were at our wits end!  So in an effort to figure out what was going on we started tracking the symptoms and what he ate. The place to start was in the grocery store; reading labels.

Summertime and the Livin’ is Easy

My favorite part of gardening is watching the seeds sprout and poke up through the ground.  My second favorite part is harvesting the food. Third, is eating it.

It is immensely gratifying to actually see the results of all your hard work. Watering, weeding, keeping after pests and fungi is hard work. Never mind the transplanting and soil prep.  It’s definitely work!  But there are so few things in life where you can actually see, taste and experience such tangible and direct results.
 
Harvesting means menu planning.  Now, in the winter menus are usually about the finished product – casseroles, soups, stews and meatless meatloaves.  In the summer it is about making sure I have cooked rice and beans in the fridge, nuts in the pantry and a few things in the freezer.

Blueberry Pancakes (no gluten, sugar or eggs involved)

David is the breakfastmeister in our house.  For years he was the eggs and potato king.  Or pancakes and eggs emperor. The rice and eggs sultan. You get the idea.

As we started to eliminate eggs from our diet we (obviously) had to rethink breakfast.  Consequently, we have been eating hot grain cereals, granola and occasion gluten free pancakes or waffles topped with nut butter and fresh fruit.  The problem with gluten free pancakes/waffles is that they require an egg, use processed flour and are expensive.

Then one day David had an idea: he know how to create a decent pancake with no gluten no eggs and no processed sugar.  Long story, short, we invested in a big bag of buckwheat groats.

What’s in a Name"?

Vegetarian Diet?  Vegan Diet?  Plant Based Diet?

Over the last year as we changed how we ate, my dilemma has been what to call the “diet” we eat.  

Being a vegetarian (as in eating a vegetarian diet) is fine with me.  It is, in fact, an accurate description of my life-long dietary habits. Mostly I have been a lacto-ovo vegetarian which means I ate eggs and dairy as part of my regular diet.

Pills or Veggies?

Did you know that almost 105 million people in the United States are either diabetic or prediabetic? 

That is a staggering number.  If you figure the US population is roughly 335 million that means that roughly 1/3 of the total population is at risk!  Here is the breakdown as provided by the American Diabetes Association regarding type 2 diabetics in the US in 2010:

• Diagnosed: 18.8 million people
• Undiagnosed: 7.0 million people
• Prediabetes: 79 million people

When A Plan Starts to Come Together!

Planting a garden is a small act in creating a long term plan.  You plant seeds, water, watch and wait.  And then one day you see a little shoot of green poking up the dirt. This is my very favorite part or gardening!

The miracle of life and growth always makes me happy!  I walk around with a big grin on my face all day. There is nothing like a little miracle to remind me how wonderful life is and how grateful I am just to be alive.

Choppers! I love them!

Not the noisy big ones, the other kind. . . So you can imagine my excitement today when I  made a great find today: a small food processor (chopper) for $5.00 at the Habitat for Humanity Restore.  This may be the most exciting purchase I have made all month! I told you, I love choppers!

Here’s the deal: choppers make life easier.  And as far as I can tell, there is no such thing as having too many choppers in my kitchen! The picture here shows my three favorites (just try and ignore the 60’s vintage orange counter top).

What you see on the right is my full size Cuisinart food processor – top of the line and a gift from my parents my years ago.  I have had to replace a couple of small parts but it is truly a workhorse and has served me well. I use if for soups, making nut butter and just about anytime I make a large casserole.

Lasagna

David found a package of rice lasagna noodles the other day and said, “you know, I am really hungry for lasagna.  Think you can make a vegan version that tastes good?”

Nothing like a challenge!  Especially since lasagna is one of those quick meals that is perfect for a crowd. The trick, of course is to bake it on low heat with lots of liquid so you never have to precook the noodles!  I really have not made this dish since we gave up dairy last year so I figured I just wing it and see what happened.

The place to start was with my more or less standard combination of vegetables (carrots, zucchini, green pepper, onions, garlic and spinach). That was all easy!  The part that took a little thinking was what to use in place of ricotta cheese.

There are hundreds of cheese replacement recipes out on the net. Most of them are cashew based. I don’t know, there is something about the idea of cashew cheese/sour cream that just didn’t seem right. But a challenge is a challenge, so what the hell. . .

I have to say I was impressed!  This is something I would be happy to serve to anyone!  I am also willing to bet they would never know that it wasn’t a traditional lasagna with ricotta.

Reading This Week: The Starch Solution by John McDougall

David ordered this book last week.  Very nice of him! I promptly stole it right out from under his nose and have been reading it all week!  All I can says is PLEASE read this book!

Finally a diet book based on good sense AND as an added bonus, the science is solid. Over the years I have had hundreds of arguments about the evils of carbs. I knew intuitively that carbs were not the enemy but couldn’t articulate what was wrong with the starch turns to sugar which turns to fat argument.  Thanks to this book, now I can.

Cookbooks as Suggestions (or a few words about my recipes)

First of all, lets be clear that I consider cooking more art than science. The important disclaimer as that we are talking cooking not baking. Baking is kinda fiddly and requires much more science. But that said, I think of recipes as crude hand drawn maps. They give you a rough idea about the general direction you are planning to go.

Pasta And Veggies

There must be some Italian buried in my genes!  It would at least explain why I love pasta so much!  When David found out he was gluten intolerant I was pretty sure my life was over.  No more pasta??

Fortunately there are a lot of great gluten-free pastas on the market.  After trying brown and wild rice, corn and quinoa, we decided we like brown rice best.  But if you haven’t experiment with the kinds, you owe it to yourself to try.

This is my own version of veggie pasta based very loosely on a similar dish I once at at California Pizza Kitchen.

My Pantry

Of course I have a stash of the must have foods.  As long as I have the things shown here plus a few basic veggies and herbs I can always figure out how to cook a meal.  Here’s my pantry

• On shelves 1,2 and 4 are glass jars full of
• beans – black, white, red, garbanzos, lentils and fava
• rice – black and brown
• grains – cornmeal, quinoa, buckwheat
• nuts – almonds. cashews, pecans
• seeds – sesame, chia, sunflower
• On Shelf 3 are jarred items:
• Oils
• prepared mustard
• salsa
• raisins
• honey
• minced garlic
• dried chopped onions
• On Shelf 5 are canned items:
• white kidney beans (most red ones are canned with sugar)
• diced tomatoes
• black beans
• garbanzo beans
• green chilies
• brown rice pasta – fusilli, penne and shells

In the fridge, freezer or stored in a cool dry place you will find:

• onions
• celery
• carrots
• spinach
• potatoes (either red, white or sweet)
• jar of lemon juice
• nut butter (almond is our favorite)
• ak-mak crackers or corn chips (preferably baked)

Finally, salt and pepper and a few dried herbs:

• basil
• thyme
• oregano and/or marjoram
• dried chipotle chilies
• bay leaf
• cinnamon
• nutmeg

Because we buy most of these items in bulk at either Costco or from various online sources the packages shown are very large. The good part is that a lot of this stuff only needs to be replaced every month or two (sometimes three). Just to be clear, we did not stock this pantry all a once!  We, like most people, have a food budget. What we did was to just started adding a couple of things each time we shopped and before long we had a surprisingly full pantry with no damage to our budget!

During the summer our garden supplies all the fresh food except the potatoes.  During the winter we buy either at Costco or by watching the paper for weekly specials and stocking up.

I could feed anyone tasty vegetarian or vegan food for a week just using these few items.  And trust me, so could you!

The First harvest

This week we got to pick and eat the first veggies:

Spinach  - I sautéed these up with garlic and onions in a little olive oil and then finished them off with a little water and a splash of lemon juice

Tomato – went directly from the hand into my mouth!  We have lots and lots of them starting to ripen.  Since this is the veggie (which is really a fruit) that I love most, I am like a kid waiting for Christmas.  Every morning I run outside to see if there are any ripe yet. A few more days! I am trying to be patient and grown up but it is really hard.

Radishes were put in a salad using the lettuce we bought at the Farmer’s Market on Saturday. Can hardly wait for next week when we can use our own lettuce!

Made up a very simple dressing with olive oil, lemon juice, fresh basil and salt.

There are pots of herbs right outside the door – basil, marjoram, thyme, oregano, dill and epazote. 

There are two big pools full of onions that we are starting to use. One of these days I may even get a picture. Right now, I have to go eat something!

Our Garden --- another kind of adventure in feeding ourselves!

Let’s just say we do NOT live in a gardener’s paradise.  We are on granite, desert mountaintop.  Our soil is rocky and dry.  We live close to wild life – rabbits, deer, coyotes and javelina use our side yard as a race way and eat everything in sight.  And then there are small rodents and the birds!

Most gardener’s here either have securely fenced yards or have built raised beds (a big planter and filled it with soil).  Some have both.  They work great but are more or less permanent and expensive to build. David and I moved here last year. At the time we were not sure that we would be staying here permanently, so we leased a house for a year.  Turns out we love it here, but now we need some time to find the place we want to buy. The point of all that is that we are renting and do not want to go to the time and expense of building a big fence or even raised beds.

David is nothing if not inventive. One day, he hit upon a great solution.  A $9.00 child’s plastic swimming pool.  Then he build a waist high table  from some scrap lumber he found. The table was the inspired part – no kneeling or bending over to work in the ground.

AND we can bag soil and move it with us where ever we go.

For tomatoes and peppers he bought some 5 gallon buckets from Home Depot and used them as containers.  Amazingly easy and not terribly expensive!

Now, there is nothing in this world like a fresh tomato picked off the vine! Here is the first once from our garden this year!  Store bought tomatoes often look great and don’t have much taste.  Farmer’s market tomatoes taste great but cost an arm and a leg. Tomatoes are the extreme example of the difference between store bought, farmer’s market and veggies picked fresh out of the garden.

Sure, home grown require a little work and a lot of attention, but they are sooooo worth it!  And the good news is that you don’t need a lot of space.  With a small kid size swimming pool and a couple of 5 gallon buckets, a few of bags of soil, some water, sun and seeds you can have an abundance of fresh food.

More about our gardening adventures as the weeks go on.  You can also check out a picture diary on shutterfly.

Rice and Veggies

Brown rice is probably our most flexible staple. We use it as breakfast cereal, for specialty rice dishes (like Spanish Rice),  salads or a quick add to bean based meals for an extra protein boost. 

At the end of every week we gather up any veggies we can find laying around, nuts and even beans. We throw them in a pan and add rice for a quick, thrifty meal. The trick is adding a good mix of herbs and mirepoix to give it great flavor without resorting to too much salt or soy sauce.

Here is what I found to use this week:

BASIC RICE AND VEGGIES 

1. In Dutch oven or big frying pan heat a liberal amount of oil and when hot add
• 1 chopped onion
• Garlic to taste
• 1/2 cup mirepoix
2. When onions are clear lower the heat
3. Add herbs; this will vary with the veggies you use, but in this one I added
• Basil
• Marjoram
• Dill
4. Add 1/2 cup chopped nuts (I like cashews and peanuts best).  Mix thoroughly with veggies and herbs
5. Chop the veggies (either by hand or with a food processor); this week I had and added:
• celery
• green pepper
• beet greens (from our garden)
• asparagus
• corn (left from corn on the cob)
6. When veggies start to soften add 1/2 to 1 cup water; cover tightly and cook about 5 minutes
7. Turn the heat up and add the final ingredients:
• 1 cup brown rice
• 1 big handful of spinach
• Salt (to taste)
• Small squeeze of lemon
8. Cook on high stirring constantly until spinach is totally wilted and cooked; serve hot

You can use just about any combination of vegetables. I try to balance the green and colored veggies. An alternative veggie mix would use green beans, zucchini, red chard, asparagus and cauliflower and fresh diced 2 tomatoes

Almost any nut will work – pine nuts, peanuts, almonds (especially slivered almonds) or pecans. If you are not vegan adding scrambled eggs is a nice touch.

If you don’t have brown rice you can use white rice, pasta or quinoa instead.

Your imagination is the only limit!

Bean Veggie Burgers

I grew up eating veggie patties.  Mom would serve them smothered in gravy and accompanied by potatoes and a veggies. Leftovers would be recycled as “hamburgers” for lunches or snacks.  We usually have some sort of veggie burger or veggie loaf in the fridge for exactly the same reason.

I probably have 25 versions of this recipe, but this happens to be the one I used today.

BEAN VEGGIE PATTIES/BURGERS

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees
2. Lightly oil a cookie sheet
3. In a large frying pan sauté 2 cups of grated veggies in olive oil.  The important thing is two cups of veggies not the kinds, but for the record here is what we used today was
• 1 medium onion
• Garlic to taste
• Mixed peppers (I use a mix of Jalapeno and Anaheim)
• 1 carrot
4. When onions are clear add herbs and spices and continue to cook 5 minutes longer (you may need to add a little extra oil):
• 1Tablespoons fresh thyme or 1Teaspoons dried
• 1 Teaspoons dried mustard or 1Tablespoon prepared mustard
• Optional:  1 teaspoon salt
• Optional:  1  teaspoon of cumin
5. While the veggies are sautéing, get out the food processor
• Grind 1/2 c of dried bread into crumbs
6. When the veggies are done throw them into the food processor with the dried bread crumbs and add
• 1 1/2 cup of black beans (or 1 15 oz can of drained black beans
• 1/4 cup applesauce or for those who are not vegan add 1 egg
• 1/4 cup chia seeds
• 1 Teaspoon olive oil
7. Pulse the entire mixture in the food processor about 20 times or until it is well mixed and then empty it into a large bowl
8. Take a handful of the mixture and make it into a 3 inch ball; you should have  between 6 and 8 patties
9. Place on cookie sheet and bake for 1/2 hour
10. Pull patties out of the oven and turn over; once they are turned use the spatula to gently flatten each one out
11. Return to the oven and bake for 1/2 hour

If you are in a hurry or you don’t want to heat the kitchen up with the oven you can always fry them in a shallow pan.  In any case the extras make wonderful sandwiches.

Got any veggie burger recipes you want to share?  Send them to me! I will try them out and then publish them giving you full credit and a link to your email, blog or website.

Quick White Bean Soup

The advantage of cooking a big batch of beans on Sunday is that even after making the Baked Beans, I still have some extra.  There a probably a thousand ways to use extra beans.

One of my favorites is to make a quick soup to heat and eat for lunches or to add to dinner when you want a little something more.  Lots of nutrition and great low calorie treat.

This is a family favorite


Quick White Bean Soup
In a large frying pan or Dutch oven sauté in olive oil:

• Garlic to taste
• 1 medium onion
• 1/2 cup mirepoix
1. When onions are clear add herbs and spices and veggies. .Continue to cook 5 minutes longer (you may need to add a little extra oil):
• 2 Tablespoons fresh rosemary or 2 Teaspoons dried
• 2 Tablespoons fresh oregeno or 2 Teaspoons dried
• Optional herbs will depend on the greens you choose like dill, mustard, basil
• 1 cup of greens (whatever you have or can scrounge up like chard, spinach, kale, beet greens, turnip greens)
• 1t salt
2. Sauté until greens are completely wilted
3. Add
1. 2 cups (or 1 15oz can) cooked white beans
2. 1 15 oz cans of diced tomatoes or 2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
3. 2 c water  You may want to add more or less
4. Bring to a boil; turn down to simmer for 10-20 minutes

I often make this soup with more garlic, onions and herbs and leave out the tomatoes. It still is yummy

Southwestern Baked Beans

Beans are one of those wonderfully healthy foods.  High in fiber, protein and minerals and very low in calories. So when it comes to baked beans, I always been ambivalent about eating them. I like fact that they burst with flavor but all the brown sugar and molasses give me great pause.

Beans, especially white beans, are pretty much flavorless. So we decided to try something different.   Over the winter (when having the oven on felt great) we did a bunch of baked navy bean experiments and came up with our favorite. It is flavorful, filling and tastes as good with honey in it as without.


Southwest Baked Beans.

1. Soak 3 cups navy or any other white beans overnight and then pressure cook for 10 minutes (Or you can used precooked/canned white beans )
2. In a large frying pan or Dutch oven sauté in olive oil:
• Garlic to taste
• 1 medium onion
• 1 cup mixed peppers (I use a mix of Bell, Jalapeno and Anaheim)
• 1 cup mirepoix
3. When onions are clear add herbs and spices and continue to cook 5 minutes longer (you may need to add a little extra oil):
• 2 Tablespoons fresh basil or 2 Teaspoons dried
• 2 Tablespoons fresh oregeno or 2 Teaspoons dried
• 2 Tablespoons dried and ground mustard or 3 Teaspoons prepared mustard
• 1t salt
• Optional spices include cumin, dill, ginger and cilantro
4. Mix  together
• Cooked Beans from above
• Veges and herbs from above
• 1 15 oz cans of diced tomatoes or 2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
• 1 cup favorite salsa
• 2T honey; this is optional and mainly cuts the acid from the tomatoes
• Salt, Pepper and mustard to taste
5. Bake at 350 for 1 hour covered; uncover and continue to bake for 1-2 hours in a conventional oven. 

There are a couple of notable variations on this basic recipe. For example:

• If you do not want to heat up the kitchen cut the liquids by 25% and put the entire mixture into a crockpot or slow cook and let bake for 3-4 hours stirring occasionally
• Do not precook the beans add 25% more liquid and bake in the oven for 6-7 hours.  Be sure to stir about every hour and
• Do not precook the beans and cook them in the crockpot or slow cook cooker for 8-10 hours.  Stir occasionally and add liquid as needed

These beans work well with corn on the cob, potato salad, cole slaw, on toast and even as an accompaniment to veggie burgers.

What to Eat -- Sample weekly menu

Since we are constantly asked what we eat, I have decided to post our dinner menu plan for this coming week.  Over the next few days I will add the cooking tips and the recipes we use.
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There are several things to note – we almost always have certain basics in our fridge.  These include cooked brown rice and prepared beans of some type; this week it is navy beans.  In our cupboards we keep a supply of things like olive oil, nuts, herbs, spices, canned and frozen veggies and salsa. As a practical matter we buy bulk and stock items like rice, beans, nuts, flours, oils, herbs and spices once a month on a “big shop” day.

Every weekend David and I spend part of a day procuring and preparing the food for the week. We have a lot of fun and use it as quality time together spent shopping, cooking, talking and singing to the tunes on Pandora.

Yesterday was the day.

First to the market for seasonal veggies.  One of the big things I hear all the time about healthy eating is that it is expensive.  It really isn’t! Because we eat a primarily plant based diet, we are spared the expense of meat, eggs, milk and other dairy products. But I digress. . .

Back to shopping, sure we prefer local, but it is not cheating to shop at Costco or Sam’s Club or even WalMart for things like containers of organic spinach, onions, carrots and celery.  It also pays to look for your local supermarket specials!

For the regular weekly fresh things we try to shop local.  It can get pricey so that idea is to buy only what you will used.  A handy trick for keeping the cost down is to decide exactly what you can afford to spend and then get that amount of cash from the ATM and go shopping (cash in hand). The game is to find fresh foods that are reasonably priced,look good and are fresh and still stay on budget. 

This week there were lots of great spring choices at good prices.  We spent under $40 which included a huge splurge on fresh organic tomatoes at $3.50 a pound. Here is what we came home with:

• yellow onions
• celery
• carrots
• corn on the cob
• a bunch of red leaf lettuce
• cucumbers
• tomatoes
• green onions
• baby spinach
• asparagus

Back home we spent spent some time in the kitchen cooking:

• mirepoix
• cups of brown rice in the rice cooker. 
• a couple of bags of navy beans in the pressure cooker
• Made 1/2 the beans into  Southwestern Baked Beans in my crock pot
• Roasted the asparagus in the oven (more about roasting later)

Here’s the menu plan based on what is in the fridge and cupboards and what we got at the store:

Monday	Greek Salad (uses lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, green onions) and Quick White Bean Soup
Tuesday	Southwestern Baked Beans (uses mirepoix), Corn on the Cob and cucumber salad
Wednesday	Pasta and veggies (uses asparagus and spinach) with tossed salad of lettuce, radishes and green onion (all fresh from our garden)
Thursday	Bean Patties (another recipe to look for), rice with sauteed spinach and chopped carrot/celery salad
Friday	Rice and Veggies (uses left over veggies, mirepoix and cashews)

I just made myself hungry!

Crunchy Granola

David loves granola, but most of it either contains lots of sugar and/or is filled with gluten containing grains like oats. 

We started on the quest for easy to make, sugar free, gluten free granola.  The first thing we found was gluten-free oats.  They are expensive, but worth it (maybe).  Oats worked well,  but I felt like they added a lot of carbs and for some reason seemed to have less fiber than the regular oats. The granola tasted good, but after a couple of hours I was ravenous. 

After a few experiments what we figured out is that things we like best are coconut, nuts and fruit.  So what about using nuts, seeds, coconut and dried fruit.  Good idea but the dried fruit got leathery and created the blood sugar drop.  The nuts and seeds didn’t really hold together to well. 

After a few tries here is the recipe that we like best.


GRANOLA

1. Measure out 2 cups of nuts and seeds; here is what I use:
   • 1 cup raw almonds
   • 1/3 cup raw cashews
   • 1/3 cup raw pecans
   • 1/3 cup sunflower seeds
2. Soak nuts and seeds overnight
3. The next morning preheat the oven to 200 degrees
4. Drain and rinse nuts well; spread them out on a clean towel and pat dry
5. Heat the following until liquid (I use the microwave when I am in a hurry):
   • 2-4 Tablespoons honey*
   • 3-4 Tablespoons coconut oil
6. Throw nuts into the food processor and add:
   • Liquid honey and coconut oil
   • Add 2 cups Rolled Oats (we use gluten free oats)
   • 1/2-1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
   • 4 Tablespoons chia seed
   • 1/2 cup dried shredded coconut
   • a pinch of salt
   • a pinch each of the spices you like best – cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves pumpkin pie spice etc.
7. Pulse the mixture until it is a size and consistency you like. I personally like bigger pieces but it really is a personal preference
8. Put mixture on parchment paper covered cookie sheet and bake for several hours (usually takes me 4-5). Be sure to stir about every 1/2 hour until nuts are roasted through
9. Cool and store in an airtight container; should last at least a month!

The bad news about this recipe is that it is very high in calories!  The good news is that 1/4 of a cup with fresh or dried fruit and diluted coconut milk with fill you up and leave you feeling full for a long time!

If you are short on time, or if you don't want to heat the kitchen up you can start with pre-roasted nuts; chop them in the food processor and then put them and all other dry ingredients (oats, chia seed, coconut, salt and spices) in a big bowl.  Liquefy honey and coconut oil and mix into dry ingredients.  Bake at 200 for about 1 hours.

I would love to hear what combinations you come up with for nuts and spices or any other ingredients you add.

*This actually tasted great without the honey and both Stevia and Agave syrup will work as substitutes.

Why Start This Down to Earth Fare Blog? Part 2

Yes, this experiment is an adventure in eating and changing our lives, but in the end it is more than that! Over the last year we have transformed our bodies – inside and out. 

Remember, a year ago, we are basically really healthy people*.  Sure, we had the typical complaints of aging boomers – aches and pains, digestive disruptions,allergies and lagging energy: all relatively minor particularly given where we had been even 10 years ago.

By any measure we were poster kids for good eating when we decided to explore the final frontier and eliminate, gluten, chemical food additives and animal products. I mean in the last 20+ years we had avoided sugar, eaten organically (mostly) and taken our vitamins. As a result we both had low to normal blood pressure, great cholesterol numbers and no blood sugar problems. David takes no medications and my only prescriptions are to alleviate the nastier side effects of menopause. 

So, when David starting talking about making these changes, I wasn’t even sure that it would make much difference in our health and well-being.

Well, I was wrong! 

Over the last year, David lost 50 pounds and I lost 30, despite never dieting. We just ate normal meals. David is wearing jeans that are 6 inches smaller in the waist.  I am down to size 4 jeans.  Did I mention, that we haven’t dieted at all?

The fire in my belly and my unruly digestive tract are cooled off and moving smoothly.  Our only aches and pains come from overdoing in the garden.  David’s blood pressure is down 20 points which matches mine at an average of 100/70. Our cholesterol numbers are a joke – in the low 130s (HDL is high and LDL is low) and triglycerides below 50. Allergies are less bothersome and we have tons of energy.

I feel so good it almost makes me sick!

We have been asked so many times what diet we went on, what foods we eat and don’t eat and how in the world we did it.  This blog will help answer some of those questions.

David and I  are both writing the story of what happened before this which we will post it later. We were both quite ill in our younger years. Over time we have educated ourselves and gone through a long process of change.  At the time we started this latest adventure we were both more healthy than anyone (including us) could have ever expected.

Mirepoix - The French Secret

Every cook has their basic ingredients.  You know, the 10 essential things you NEED if you are going to cook! Let’s assume that salt and pepper are already in the vicinity. 

What else do you need? What I need are:

• Onions
• Garlic
• Celery
• Carrots
• Olive Oil
• Basil
• Marjoram
• Honey
• Cinnamon
• Cloves

Many of my entrees and soup start with the first five – onions, garlic celery, carrots and olive oil.  Sautéing them up every time I want to cook is a time waster and a nuisance! So I use the traditional French approach and keep mirepoix in my fridge. For those of you who have a little trouble with weird French pronunciation -- it is pronounced meer-pwah.

About once a week I pull out the food processor and make a good size batch. There are as many ways to make mirepoix as there are French and Cajun cooks.  Remember, making it is an very inexact science. It is a matter of taste and what you have available.  Honestly, it is a trial and error process. 

To help you I have written down my recipe as a guideline. There is really only one rule -- HAVE FUN!!


MIREPOIX – Flavor Magic
1. Lightly Cover frying pan bottom with olive oil and heat
2. While oil is heating chop the following in the food processor

• Celery (6 stalks or about 1 cup)
• Carrots (2 or 3 or about 1 cup)
• Onion- equal to celery and carrots (2 or 3 or about two cups)
• 4 or five fresh basil leaves or 1T of dried Basil

3. When oil is very hot add:

• Contents of the food processor from above 
• Garlic to taste*

4. Stir well and cook on high for about 5-10 minutes stirring occasionally.

*A note about garlic: I would not even attempt to give you a measurement on the garlic! Especially since it would be hard for me to define “too much”. We love the stuff and buy it at Costco or Sams Club in 48oz jars. It makes no sense to me to spend time peeling, crushing, dicing etc!   I won’t even tell you how long (actually short) 48 oz lasts us; you'd be appalled!

Why Start This Down to Earth Fare Blog?

I LOVE good food! For a lot of my life, you could have taken one look at me and figured that out. As an adult I have weighed 110 pounds and 190 pounds and everything in between. I have been on hundreds of diets, can count calories, carbs and points with the best of them. I can tell you from hard experience that vegetarianism does not equal skinny or healthy!

Let’s be clear – I am a lifelong vegetarian because my parents were vegetarians. I like to tell people that I am a vegetarian because I lack imagination. But truthfully, it is because the three or four times I actually ate meat, I got really sick! There isn’t much virtue in foregoing something that makes you sick.

Thirty years ago, I discovered that sugar made my joints hurt.  I eventually quit eating sugar. Besides there was the whole weight thing and sugar which was an added incentive.

Twenty five years ago, I figured out that MSG gave me killer headaches.  That was actually pretty easy to give up! Keeping it out of our diet has been a whole other story. . .

Twenty years ago I figured out that diet drinks, contrary to the name, made me fat and cranky.  In fact, any sugar substitute seemed to have the same effect.  I gave them up. 

Fifteen years ago, I could no longer deny that I had big digestive problems with dairy products.  That was just too damn bad, I wasn’t giving that up, too! Seemed like drinking gallons of aloe a month was a small price to pay as long as you didn’t really bother to do the math.

For the last 20 years,I have been a champion label reader who tried to minimized food additives, buy organic and eat whole foods.  I considered myself one of the most nutritionally conscious people I knew.

Then David (my other half), the carnivore in the family, finally developed his very own dietary restriction; a gluten allergy. So, guess what we eliminated from our diet. . .

The final straw was seeing Forks Over Knives. David was so intrigued that he ordered a copy of The China Study. He actually read every page. Twice. He was a believer.

That was it!  We decided to give the whole vegan thing a try. I figured if he was willing to make that drastic of a change in his eating patterns, the least I could do was give up eggs and dairy!

The result has been, and continues to be, a series of experiments and adventures in shopping, cooking, gardening and eating.

This is the story of our journey.