Monday, March 29, 2010

Tomato Basil Soup

I'm a sucker for tomato soup - this is delicious and quick to make!

Prep time: 25- 30 minutes
Makes 4 servings

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 cups veg or chx stock
1 (14.5 ounce) can chopped tomatoes (Muir Glen has a fire-roasted canned tomato that make this soup real yummy)
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh basil
Freshly ground pepper

Heat oil and butter in a 4-quart pot over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, salt and saute until onions are soft and translucent. Add stock, tomatoes, and honey and simmer for about 10-15 minutes to marry flavors.

Let soup cool slightly and put half of it into blender with sour cream. Blend until smooth. Transfer to another pot. Blend the other half of the soup and add. Reheat blended soup. Add basil and pepper to taste before servings.

For babies 6 months and older:
Serve this soup with steamed broccoli on the side. Puree part of the steamed broccoli with water for baby.

From "Feeding the Whole Family-Recipes for Babies, Young Children and Their Parents" by Cynthia Lair, pg 131

Karen's Sesame Noodles

This is a great lunch - it's a recipe that we all love and Cara loves the udon noodles

Prep time: 15 minutes
Makes 4 servings

8 ounces udon or soba noodles
3 tablespoons tahini
1 tablespoon almond or cashew butter
1 teaspoon maple syrup
2 tablespoons brown rice vinegar
2 tablespoons tamari or shoyu
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

Cook noodles in plenty of boiling water according to directions on package.

While noodles cook, make the sauce. Put the remaining ingredients in small bowl and blend. Add enough warm water to create a creamy texture.

Rinse and drain cooked noodles. Pour sauce over noodles and toss well.

For babies 10 months and older:
Omit sauces. Cut plain noodles into bite-size pieces and serve.

Variation for children:
Try serving the sauce on the side and letting children dip the noodles in the sauce.


From "Feeding the Whole Family-Recipes for Babies, Young Children and Thier Parents" by Cynthia Lair, pg 101

White Bean Dip

This recipe turned out super delicious, and Cara did most of the work!

1 1/2 cups dry cannellini or other white beans soaked and cooked, or onw 15-ounce can
3 tablespoons olive oil

plus either

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons minced fresh or 1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 large clove garlic, minced finely or put through press

or

2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 large clove garlic, minced finely or put through press
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint or 1 teaspoon dried
1 tablespoon dill (frozen or dried)
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to tast, and drizzle a bit more olive oil over the surface if you like. Serve with crackers, bread or veggies.


From "Eating Close to Home" by Elin Kristina England, pg 43

Sunday, March 21, 2010

breakfast ideas

I just found this blog with a variety of soaked grain breakfast recipes.
I haven't tried any yet but they sound amazing.

www.passionatehomemaking.com:recipe-index.webloc

Planning on Canning Tuna

Anyone know the season for canning tuna? Emily and I have been talking about it, anyone else in?

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Blueberry Muffins (w/ wheat and dairy-free options)

"These sweet, buttery muffins are delicately spiced, with a cakelike texture. Fresh blueberries are best, but if you have only frozen berries, stir them into the batter without thawing, or their dark juice will turn the muffins purple." (Is this a bad thing?!)

2 C all-purpose flour (for wheat free, use 1 C buckwheat + 1 C oat or rice flour)
2/3 C sugar (I use Sucanat)
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 C milk (I use hazelnut or almond milk, coconut would probably work well, too)
8 Tbs. (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted (I use coconut or sunflower oil)
2 eggs
1 cup blueberries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter (oil) standard muffin tins.

In a medium bowl, stir and toss together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside. In another medium bowl, whisk together the milk, butter and eggs until smooth. Add the combined dry ingredients and stir just until blended. Add the blueberries and stir just until evenly incorporated.

Spoon into the prepared muffin tins, filling each cup about three-fourths full. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, 15 - 20 minutes. Cool in the tins for 5 minutes, then remove. Makes about 16 standard muffins.

Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Kitchen Library Series, "Muffins & Quick Breads", by John Phillip Carroll.

vegan chocolate cake . . . yumm!

Big Momma Freedom Chocolate Cake
from Vegan World Fusion Cuisine, by Mark Reinfeld and Bo Rinaldi of the Blossoming Lotus, Kaua'i

DRY
2 1/2 C Spelt Flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour)
2 C Sucanat
3/4 C Cocoa Powder
1 12 tsp Baking soda
1/2 tsp Sea salt, or to taste
1/2 tsp Cinnamon powder

WET
6 Tbl Safflower oil (I used Sunflower)
2 1/4 C Filtered water
2 Tbl Apple cider vinegar, raw
1 tsp Vanilla extract, alcohol free

Loving Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix well. Combine wet ingredients in a small bowl. Add wet to dry and mix well. Pour into a parchment paper lined 9" X 13" baking pan and bake until a toothpick comes out clean, approximately 35 - 40 minutes.

Amy's Notes: I used an oiled 11" springform pan which worked fabulously. Also, I baked the cake for 35 minutes on the middle rack - when I checked it, it wasn't done in the middle, so I moved it to a lower shelf in the oven and cooked for an additional 15 - 18 minutes.

Options ~

Vegan Fusion Frosting Recipe (which I did not make - see next option)
2 C Chocolate chips
12.3 oz Silken firm tofu or ripe avocado
2 Tbl Maple syrup
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract, alcohol free

Place chocolate chips in a double broiler on medium heat until chips are melted, stirring frequently. Combine with the remaining indredients and blend or food process until smooth and creamy. Refrigerate until it thickens. Cool cake before frosting.

~ OR ~

Raspberry Sauce

1 pint raspberries
1 tsp lemmon or orange juice (I used lemon)
1 Tbs maple syrup, honey or agave nectar (I used maple syrup)

Put in blender and blend until smooth.

Serving suggestions ~
I placed some raspberry sauce on the plate and put the cake on top of it, and then drizzled some on the top of each piece. Other suggestions from VF are to garnish with toasted coconut flakes, strawberries (or any favorite berry!), toasted pecans and/or chocolate chips.

Variation: replace chocolate chips and cocoa powder with carob chips and carob powder.

Enjoy!

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Breakfast Ideas

Here's what I wrote down when we were talking breakfast last night. I'm sure I missed ideas so feel free to post them in the comments. I'm just going to write the basic ideas-- there are endless toppings and variations.

- quinoa, soaked overnight in water then drained and cooked in coconut milk
- porridge of equal parts amaranth, quinoa and millet
- fried leftover porridge pancakes (mix with egg and fry up)
- homemade granola (ex. "extreme granola" on Epicurious)
- leftover cornbread with fried eggs or topped with warm milk and molasses
- muffins with yogurt
- toast with almond butter and jam or honey
- scrambled eggs with veggies
- breakfast burritos
- add shredded carrot to oatmeal
- next day french toast: butter a pan and both sides of bread, pour egg/ milk/ cinnamon/ salt mixture over bread, cover and chill overnight, cook in morning at 425 for 15-18 minutes


-- Heather

French Green Lentil Salad (warm or room temp)

Hi, mamas. Here's a link to the lentil salad my family loved. It was really fast and easy. I can't remember what I served it with but the posting has lots of suggestions.

Thanks for a great night last night. With the time change especially, it felt reminiscent of my band days to be coming home so late.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Resource List

JENN'S RECIPES/BLOGS:

• 101 cookbooks

• Cookus Interruptus

• World’s Healthiest Foods (whfoods.org)

• Mighty Foods

• Paula-Wolfert.com

• CHOW

• Mark Bittman blog

• Chocolate and Zucchini

• Smitten Kitchen

• Hannah’s Country Kitchen (hannahscountrykitchen.blogspot.com)

• Mexico Cooks

• Gourmet Sleuth

• Serious Eats

• Eating Asia (eatingasia.typepad.com)

• The Boy Done Food (theboydonefood.blogspot.com)

• Thai Recipes Kitchen (thaiimport.com)

• Sanjeev Kapoor

• San Luis Obispo County Farmers (slocountyfarmers.org)

• Laptop Lunches

• Lunch in a Box (lunchinabox.net/recipes)

BREAD BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS FROM EMILY:

recipes/guidelines from The Bread Builders (which Mazzi from Hideaway recommended -- also includes plans for building a wood-fired bread oven), The Village Baker (traditional European bread recipes), and The Tassajara Bread Book (good ol' hippie classics).

COOKBOOKS:

Feeding the Whole Family by Cynthia Lair

Nourishing Traditions Cookbook

Nourishing Traditions Cookbook

The Ancient Cookfire – Carrie L’Esperance

Italian Easy – Recipes from the London River CafĂ© by Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers

The Japances Kitchen by Hiroko Shimbo

Vegetable Every Day by Jack Bishop

Tassajara Cooking by Edward Brown

The New Vegetarian Epicure by Anna Thomas

Vegan World Fusion Cuisine: Healing Recipes & Timeless Wisdom from our Hearts to Yours by Mark Reinfeld and Bo Rinaldi

Best Ever Curry Cookbook by Mridula Baljekar

Eating Close to Home by Elin Kristina England

Mama Nature’s Bar & Grill by Dan Vishny

Kundalini Cookbook by Ek Ong KAr Singh and Jacquiline Koay

Fast Whole Food by Maria Middlestead

South of the Sahara: Traditional Cooking from the Lands of West Africa by Elizabeth A. Jackson

Horn of the Moon by Ginny Callan

The Enchanted Broccoli Forest by Molly Katzen

Laurel's Kitchen by Molly Katzen

Farmer John Cookbook from A to Z by Farmer John

From Asparagus to Zucchini

Encyclopedia of Natural Healing for Children and Infants by Mary Bove

Hungry Planet by Peter Merigel and Faith D'Alvisio

Real Food for Healthy Kids by Tracy Seaman and Tonya Wenman

FOOD GEAR/KITCHENWARE:

I have and recommend the Family Grain Mill (attaches to my Kitchen Aid mixer); it has a plastic casing, but the grinding mechanism is steel. Here is a link if you are interested: http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/family_grain_mills.asp. This company lists it for 89.95 with free shipping. It is definitely a great mill for the price; I use it all the time. The one I REALLY want (but am having a tough time justifying the high price tag) is the Country Living Grain Mill ($395-sighL). Here is a link if you would like to dream with me... http://www.homestead-products.com/mills-countryliving.htm. If you scroll down to the bottom of this page, there is a discussion about different grain mills and their benefits/drawbacks: http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/index.aspx#CLM.

MOVIES:

Food, Inc.

GMO Trilogy (2 DVD set)

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Sourdough Crumpets

Hi mamas,

Looking for something to do with your extra sourdough starter? I was, until I found this great recipe (again from the C&Z website). I don't have crumpet rings, so mine turned out more like bubbly pancakes, but they were quite tasty with butter and jam nonetheless. Her pictures look beautiful (here's the link...http://chocolateandzucchini.com/archives/2010/01/sourdough_crumpets_with_natural_starter.php), and have inspired me to seek out some rings to make my crumpets more fluffy. Enjoy!

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Peacamole

Hi mamas,



I can't claim this recipe as my own, and I haven't even made it yet. However, it looks easy to prepare and delicious as a snack for our kiddos (and ourselves). I found it on the C&Z website. Here's the link: http://chocolateandzucchini.com/archives/2009/03/green_pea_cilantro_spread.php

I am planning to bring some to our gathering this Saturday so we can run a mamas taste test:)



Sunday, March 7, 2010

Winter Farmers' Market Question

Hey Mamas:

I've been ordering from ELF lately, but I'm wondering what kind of vendors are at the two Saturday farmers' markets here in Eugene. I know that there is one at Hideaway each Saturday, and one every other Saturday downtown. Does anyone know who is selling at those two locations? Is Deck there, by any chance?

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Hummingbird Order

Hi Mamas:

We are placing our next Hummingbird orders on the 13th! If you can post some preliminary thoughts on what you might order in the comments section here, we can begin to figure out who might be sharing what.

Looking forward to seeing you all soon!