our little garden is exploding!!!! my mom and i are so freakin excited. we counted over 20 tomatoes on one of our sun sugar plants! i am dreaming of my kids picking tomatoes and perhaps trying one... falling in love for the first time over a sweet & juicy, perfectly ripe garden tomato.
oh wouldn't that be lovely?
have a wonderful weekend!!
ps
my sissy is in town and we went golfing today... FORE!!!!!!
as promised from monday's post, here are the dishes i whipped together when my chimmie was here... read em and weep! they were so so so so good. no recipe books were out for these guys, i am getting better at this gumption thing if i'll do it with company around!!
no guts no glory.
the mullies gluten free, organic chicken enchiladas
1 container of prepared enchilada sauce (i used wildtree organics. oh.my.word.good)
1 package brown rice tortillas (i used 5 tortillas)
2 lg organic chicken breasts shredded optional
1 lg organic zucchini diced
1 lg organic yellow squash zucchini diced
1 organic onion diced
2 organic carrots diced
2 equal handful fulls of fresh parsley & cilantro finely minced
1 c imported sheep's milk cheese grated (cacao de roma from whole foods) optional
2 T organic aroma free coconut oil
s&p
preheat your oven to 350 degrees. boil the chicken in water until they are no longer pink inside (about 10-15 min). remove and shred with two forks. in a large saute pan melt the coconut oil over med high heat. throw all the diced veggies in together and season with s&p. mix occasionally until the veggies are soft and perhaps browning a bit. pour in the enchilada sauce and stir until well mixed and heated through. grab your casserole dish and start layering in the following order: sauce - tortilla - sauce - shredded chicken - a little more sauce - a little cheese & repeat until you have enough layers to reach the top of your dish. the last layer: tortilla - sauce - cheese. *i used just a sprinkling of cheese on each layer and saved the most for the top. cook for 30 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly and browning a bit.
the mullies gluten free, organic zucchini, squash and sweet potato fritters
1 organic sweet potato grated
1 lg organic zucchini grated
1 lg organic yellow zucchini squash grated
3/4 c gf flour
3 organic, pastured eggs (vegan? try an egg sub here and tell me if it works!!!)
1/2 c homemade ranch
3 equal bunches (about 2 T each) of fresh dill, parsley and mint
splashes of light coconut milk
1/2 tsp sea salt
pepper
2 T organic aroma free coconut oil
1 T ghee
homemade gluten free, dairy free ranch (inspired from it's all good by gwyneth paltrow)
about 1 c vegenaise (i eyeball this in a lidded jar... so who knows!)
juice from 1 organic lemon
1 T penzeys mural of flavor (here is link to recreate it. or find the real deal here)
2 T dried chives (fresh would be lovely, but i never have it on hand)
1/2 c sheep's milk yogurt (go probiotics go)
mix everything up in a large bowl. add splashes of light coconut milk until the consistency resembles lumpy pancake batter. melt the oils together in a large saute pan (i eyeballed the oil until i had a thin layer). spoon little patties onto the oil and fry away. it takes about 3-4 minutes per side. once cooked, let cool on a paper towels (i layer them over cooling racks). serve warm, sprinkle with a little more s&p if desired and pour some homemade ranch over the top.
i feel so lucky to have girlfriends who know so much about cooking. christina bumps me right out of my veggie comfort zone with this little how-to and complete dinner ditty and i hope she inspires you too! my mouth is watering for her finished dish.
take it away my dear hot mama....
***
So not to sound braggy, but there are not many readily available vegetables I have not had some experience with. I like trying new things and love finding new flavors and recipes. So when I saw these lovelies at the grocery store I thought why not??!! Do you know what they are? They are fava beans. When I think of fava beans, I think of this...
I had never made them and never had fresh ones before. I ate them as a kid but we called them lupini beans and they were sort of preserved in a salty water brine. So here is my first, and definitely not my last, experience with fava beans. I plan on buying a ton more and freezing them for later.
Before I could figure out what to do with the beans, I had to clean them. This was a process, but I did it in the afternoon and it took about 30 minutes. Of course I googled it, I mean really what did we do before google?!
Step 1: De pod (see video) This was a great way for the kids to help!
Step 2: Heavily salt some boiling water and cook the beans for 3 minutes.
Step 3: Strain and submerge in an ice bath to stop the cooking process.
Step 4: Now you need to get them out of the outer skin. To do this just squeeze one end it will just pop out. As you can see from the picture, they will be as green as a pea!
Once you finish, you could freeze them for a rainy day, or cook em! Once they were clean, I didn't get as much yield as I thought I would so I figured I would combine them with some frozen organic corn. Looked up corn and fava beans on the web and found a recipe for risotto, yummy! I have made risotto enough in my days to make it in my sleep. Below is my standard risotto recipe, you can change up the broth and vege and the flavors will totally change. I did follow the recipe for the basil mint pesto, OMG so good I will be making this again!!
Corn and Fava Bean Risotto
1 1/2 white onion chopped
4 cloves garlic minced
2 cups warm broth (I used vegetable broth) need to add this when it is warm, I just warm it on the stove in a sauce pan
1 cup fava beans
2 cup corn
1/2 cup white wine
3/4 cup arborio rice
olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
4 tablespoons of mint-basil pesto
Step 1: In a deep skillet or pan, coat the bottom with olive oil. Add the garlic and onion and cook for 3ish minutes, until the onion is translucent.
Step 2: Add the rice and stir to combine with onion mixture, add the wine and ladle full of broth, stir.
Step 3: Keep on very low heat, the trick to risotto is not to hurry it, remember food is love.... when the rice has absorbed the broth add another ladle full. Keep repeating this until broth is gone, should be about 20 minutes.
Step 4: Check the tenderness of the rice, if it is al dente then it should have a little bite to the texture, it should not be crunchy, but also not mushy. If you need to add more broth, do so and keep cooking.
Step 5: When the last of the broth is almost absorbed, add in the corn, beans, 4 tablespoons of the pesto and butter. The butter is not necessary but does give the risotto a great texture. If you have had amazing risotto in a restaurant, it is because there is a lot more butter in it than you think there is ;)
I served it up with some grilled salmon the hubby made. Seriously. this was a restaurant quality meal, it was so great I will be making it again!! It could be amazing alone or even with chicken or other fish.
So don't be afraid of a new fruit, vegetable or grain. Challenge yourself and just try it! Next on my challenge list is... rhubarb.....
***
oh christina... are you kidding me!? corn and fava bean risotto topped with salmon and a basil mint pesto?!? that is crazy yums. thanks for the delicious inspo, i think i might just conjure up the gumption to try this too:)
and i'll definitely be sipping a nice chianti with that.
my chimmie came into town this weekend with her two darling kiddos.
it was life changing. let me tell you why.
first of all, this recent post has been whispering to me and boy oh boy did it finally come to fruition. the power of de-cluttering, cleaning and organizing. i hate doing it, i get distracted, i end up not getting rid of anything (i just hide it some place else) and i just really need help to really do it right.
laura lit a fire under me and we did it bunny!! both in our pj's on sunday, chris took all 5 kids out tubing and we went to motown on my kitchen and pantry.
so here's to treasuring the once in a lifetime friendships that make my world go round!!! this is the song that we had on repeat this past weekend and the best jam was when we burst our ear drums bouncing in my swagger van. oh what fun we had.
oh chimmie, remember these before pics!?!?! this is my real. i cleaned this sucker out 9 months ago... but i really haven't done anything with it since we moved in 6 years ago.
oye oye oye.
just disgusting... every countertop was filled including my table and don't even talk to me about what the floor looked like... really lindsey, really!?!?
clean clean clean... now for the restocking...
yup, that's a cheater bbq bag right there... leftover from a boy's golf trip. those things taste so good when they hit your lips.
and this cluster cluck... yup, it has looked like this for forever and a day. sometimes i tidy a little bit, but yeaaaa, i like to call it my anxiety corner.
here is my pile of byebye's... those oyster crackers were so stale they stunk. how did i miss this stuff?!
my stomach started hurting when i found those. we had a good laugh.
i can breathe i can breathe!!!! and i have a little coffee/tea station. what dream did i wake up in!?
she made me a work station!!! somebody pinch me.
thanks for the super boost chimmie. i needed that bigtime.
we of course cooked.up.a.storm, so i'll be sharing those little ditties later in the week.
stay tuned love bugs. i think i'm going to clean out my laundry room now... this girl is on FIRE.
ps
ok, i just had to share... check out these new hot coral lamps we found at homegoods!!! gold insides and all. treasure hunting is so fun:)
oh boy oh boy... we're really cooking up some gumption now.
the boys went to baseball last night and abbie and i decided to capture ourselves cooking together... it was one of those, "let's do something silly shall we?" and oh what fun we had. we hope you like our first team installment - cooking with kale 1,2,3,4,5... thank you miss iphone, you did a great job in the mullies and i'll definitely hire you again.
this next one is super funny cuz abbie does the taping in the beginning. put your seatbelt on sally.
i couldn't hit play fast enough for her on this one... perhaps she'd make a good auctioneer?
and last but not least, we eat our yummy kale creations and break it down.
i think i like the 350 degrees a bit better. that's what i get for not checking my notes and putting my timer on... charred kale!!
abs, i love you girl and i can't wait to do this with you again! thanks for cooking up a storm with me last night. do you remember when you would struggle to try anything on your plate? and remember that not too long ago, you didn't have much interest in cooking with me either! you are growing up way.too.fast. i am so happy i kept asking and you kept trying. i am so happy we have a special place to laugh and talk and learn and make memories with each other. and more than anything else, i dream that you'll be teaching me some day:)
i brought my green salsa to the beach last week and i'm just a crazy freako about it right now.
anytime i can sneak the green stuff in, i do it. this salsa is oh so good and oh so easy... i think you'll turn into a super freak right along with me.
#1 make this green juice in your blender, magic bullet or vitamix. strain it like the recipe calls for and drink the juice of course.
#2 take the super nutritious green pulp and mix it equal parts to any salsa you have on hand. i had trader joe's salsa verde and hello perfection. this will work in any salsa, just go for it.
#3 i brought it to the beach and had all my girlfriends try it. we of course played, "guess what's in it".
#4 make this salsa and perhaps you'll get a rainbow sky too. arriba arriba!!!
We sure had a great Father's Day. I have a couple of noteworthy happenings to share:
#1 My Dad almost melted our grill with a grease fire (luckily we had two firemen in the house and my bro took control so our whole deck & faces didn't go up in flames).
#2 My Mom and I got our baking groove on and tried two new recipes from Gwyneth P's It's All Good." I made Chocolate Cake with Darleen's Healthy Buttercream" and she made "Flourless Anything crumble"from scratch and everyone loved them. I was missing a few things in my pantry and could only find them all at Whole Foods. I struck out everywhere else. Is that annoying that I had to make a special trip to WF? Yes. Is it expensive? Yes. So be it: quinoa flakes (by the lb only, can't find it prepackaged), Spectrum organic non-hydrogenated veg shortening and organic brown rice syrup were worth the special car ride with my Dad and now I have it all on hand:)
#3 Need an easy & amazing chicken marinade? Take 1 cup of Vegenaise (or mayo) and mix 1 T of Old Bay seasoning. Put the organic chicken thighs (did you know that dark meat is better for you nutritionally than white meat?) into a plastic bag, smoosh em all up with the marinade and refrigerate for an hour or two. I laid them right on the grill. These puppies will wow the pants off everyone (and were not the cause of the grease fire mind you).
#3 Tommy fell asleep on the couch just like that.
#4 To my Dad - I love you so. Thank heavens we don't need a new grill:) Muah!
