Cultured Salsa Verde

1 small red onion, chopped
6 large or 8 small tomatillos
2 small or 1 large poblano peppers
juice of 1/2 lime
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup packed chopped cilantro
1 packet nondairy culture starter powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove husks from tomatillos and put chopped onion, whole tomatillos, and whole peppers on a cookie sheet or in a shallow pan. Bake 15 minutes.

Remove stems from peppers and seed if desired. Put baked ingredients in a blender or food processor and add lime juice and salt. Pulse a few times to blend (but leave chunky). Allow to cool to room temperature, then stir in culture starter and cilantro.

Put salsa in a mason jar, leaving an inch between the top of the salsa and the top of the jar. Liquid should cover the vegetables.

Put lid on jar and leave at room temperature to culture for 2 days. Then refrigerate. Use within one month.

 

Goosegrass Smoothie

Ingredients
1-1/2 cup goosegrass
1 mango
1 small banana
1 cup black grapes
1-1/2 cup water

Blend in high speed blender.

After seeing the author of “Foraged Flavor” at the Kansas City Library, I’m more conscious of what I am pulling out of my landscaping! I hadn’t seen this wild plant in the book, but I found it at http://www.eattheweeds.com. Apparently geese love it, hence the name. But not everyone does! It sticks to hands and clothing, so it is also called Gripgrass, Catchweed, Stickywilly, and Everlasting Friendship. Some other common names are Cleavers, Clivers, Bedstraw, Barweed, Hedgeheriff, Hayriffe, Eriffe, Hayruff, Scratweed, Mutton Chops, Robin-run-in-the-Grass, Loveman, Tongue Bleed, and Goosebill. None of the names sound very appetizing, but it makes a pretty good smoothie! You can wad it up in a ball (it even sticks to itself). I estimated I used a cup and a half, packed together.

You can find more interesting facts about goosegrass at http://www.eattheweeds.com/galium-aparine-goosegrass-on-the-loose-2/.

Bok Choy Salad

1 large head bok choy
3 small apples
2 carrots
2 shallots
1/2 cup almond milk
1/2 cup walnuts
1/4 cup red apple balsamic vinegar
1 tsp brown mustard
1/2 cup raisins

Wash bok choy well and slice thinly using food processor (I set mine on 1, the thinnest slice). Cut the biggest slices into pieces. Core apples and slice a little thicker, then chop. Peel and grate carrots. Peel and slice shallots very thin. Put vegetables in large bowl with half the raisins (1/4 cup). Blend remaining ingredients in high-speed blender, pour over vegetables and toss well. Delicious!

Crockpot Corn Stew

Serves 5-7.  Total cook time: 8 hours.

Ingredients
1 cup dry kidney beans
1 cup dry navy beans
5 cups water
2 carrots
2 small eggplants
3 small red onions
2 small red bell peppers
2 cloves garlic
5 small purple potatoes
2 tablespoons Dr. Fuhrman’s VegiZest
1 tablespoon dulse
2 teaspoons herbes de provence
2 cups corn, cut from cob (approximately 2 ears)
spinach and arugula
avocado

The night before, cover beans with water and let soak overnight. In the morning, drain and rinse beans and put in crockpot. Add water. Cook on low 4 hours. Peel and chop carrots. Cut potatoes and eggplant into cubes. Slice onions thinly and chop peppers. Chop garlic. Add vegetables to beans after beans have cooked 4 hours. Cook on low 2 more hours, then add seasonings and corn. Cook one hour on low, then turn down to warm for the last hour.

To serve, put 2 cups mixed greens in each bowl with 1/2 avocado (sliced) and cover with stew.

If I had to be out all day, I would put everything in the crockpot on low in the morning, but I like it better with the veggies less well done, so this was a weekend meal for us (with lots of leftovers for lunches this week).

Veggie Salad That Needs a Good Name

Duane liked this well enough to suggest I make more to take to the Pfander reunion potluck. This served 2 of us. We had our first ripe Galia melon (a cross between honeydew and canteloupe) for dessert. It was delicious!

 Ingredients
6 baby pattypan squashes, cut into small wedges (substitute a yellow summer squash if these aren’t available at the farmer’s market anymore)
1/2 large organic cucumber, sliced and slices cut into fourths
1 ripe avocado, chopped
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 very small red onion (maybe 1/8 cup?), cut in thin slices
4 leaves of chives (10 inches long each), snipped into 1/8 to 1/4-inch long pieces
Penzey’s Greek seasoning to taste

Our Favorite Granola Bars (So Far!)

Ingredients:
1/2 lb buckwheat groats, soaked 6 hours and sprouted 24 hours
1 cup black quinoa, soaked 4 hours and sprouted 12 hours
1/2 cup dried blueberries
1/4 cup sunflower seeds, soaked 4 hours
1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds, soaked 4 hours
4 organic apples
2 oranges
3 T maple syrup (or agave if you want to be 100% raw)

Blend peeled oranges, seeded apples, syrup, cinnamon, and salt in blender.  Pour over dry ingredients and stir.  Spread onto 4 dehydrator teflex sheets.  Dry 8 hours at 105 degrees F. Turn over onto mesh screens and peel off the teflex sheet. Dry another 24 hours or so.  Drying time will vary depending on the humidity and temperature!

Quantities, ingredients, and soak, sprout, and dry times are all very forgiving!  Buckwheat groats need to be rinsed several times while soaking and while sprouting.  Quinoa needs to be rinsed well, too, to remove the bitter saponins.

Inspired by the Two Moms in the Raw bars that Starbucks sells, for which I don’t really want to pay $3.95 each!

The best dehydrator available, imho: http://www.excaliburdehydrator.com/vegetarian.htm

The Books That Got Me Started

In the summer of 2009, my daughter called me from camp and told me that they had made green smoothies that day, and that they were actually good!  She asked me to get her a book called Green for Life. What mom could refuse to get her teenager a book about making smoothies with spinach in them?! Well, the book arrived before she got back from camp, and I couldn’t put it down!

I started making green smoothies with my Oster blender.  They were not so smooth!  Still, they really did taste good.  Amazingly, for the first 6 months I drank them I had not a single migraine!  Then a stressful period occurred and I had a couple of headaches that might or might not have been migraines, but since those, I have been migraine-free! I have experienced many more health benefits as well–weight loss, no more unexplained bruises, clearer thinking, more energy, better mood.

Boutenko has since written another book focusing on green smoothies:  Green Smoothie Revolution: The Radical Leap Towards Natural Health.  This one has many more recipes. And the original Green for Life has been updated and re-released as well.

This website is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate  advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and  linking to amazon.com.  Any Amazon credits that accrue to Eschewcookedfood as a result of your clicking on a link are used to encourage young people in the Midwest to drink green smoothies daily and eat living food!

Duane’s Favorite Green Smoothie Ever

Water spinach, also called hollow leaf or morning glory by some (it's not the morning glory we commonly think of in the U.S., but does apparently have a similar flower)

Today I went with my friend Linda to City Market in Kansas City, Missouri, and bought (among other things) fresh peaches from an orchard in Missouri and water spinach from Neu, whose mom grows it in KCK. I had bought these greens before, and different vendors call it different things–hollow green (you can see why in the photo), morning glory leaves, and water spinach are the names I can recall. If any of you know how long it will be in season, let me know! I forgot to ask about that.  I love this stuff, and you can’t beat it at about $1/pound!

(Duane’s Favorite) Peach green Smoothie

Ingredients:
1/2 bunch water spinach, leaves and stems (about 1/2 pound)
3 tree-ripened peaches
1 frozen banana
2 cups water

Blend!

If you don’t have a high-speed blender, cut the greens into short pieces and blend those with water first.  Add peaches and banana (also cut up) and blend again.  This is the best method I found when I was using an old Oster, before I got my Vita-mix.  Now I can put all the ingredients in at once, start slow on the variable speed setting, turn the variable speed up, then flip the switch to high for a few seconds and it’s perfectly smooth!

When you are a green smoothie addict, you’ll probably want more greens, but these amounts are perfect for a non-addict. 🙂