Scraping By With Garlic Scapes!

Garlic Scape Walnut Pesto with Braising Mix, Soy Curls, Whole Wheat Rotini Pasta and Lemon

Pesto Pasta Power!

     I love Bell Organic. Not only are they the nicest people in the world, but they grow the best produce in the Wasatch Front. And just like the name implies, it's all certified organic! Last year was my introduction to joining a CSA through Bell Organic. Not only did I get an education of in the wide world of veggies, but I learned about and fell in love with new plants, like arugula. Now, I can't get enough of this spicy salad green! 

Soy Curls and Braising Mix

What More Could You Ask For?

      I feel pretty confident around greens. When collards are in the bag , I'll be making citrus collard greens with raisin redux. Green beans means pad prik king will on the menu. However, every now and again, the Bells like to switch things up with a curve ball.  Last year, I had a choice between kohlrabi or beets. Feeling adventurous, I went with the kolrabhi (I ended up making THIS). This year, garlic scapes appeared, along with a recipe for the garlic scape pesto. Garlic scapes are these snake like plants that resemble a more curvy, less rigid green onion. The taste is a much milder version of bulb garlic. Unfortunately, I didn't grab a photo before grinding them up so I'll have to rely on the internets. 

Garlic Scapes

Photo from Floyd The Guy (floydthefoodguy.com)

     While the original recipe called for chicken and Parmesan cheese, I decided to veganize it with soy curls. I've already written about how much I love soy curls. Quick, easy to use and versatile, they are my go to for making meals. Plus, I have a 12 lbs box that I'm cooking myself through. Yup, I don't mess around. For the Parmesan cheese, I went with the Galaxy foods one, however I bet it would be amazing with the new Parmesan cheese alternative from Parmela, It got a glowing review from Vegnews saying it was "dead on".

Whole Wheat Rotini Pasta

No Semolina Flour Here!

      Just one more tip before I post the recipe. It does call for extra-virgin olive oil, something that I skimped on. I went with walnut oil because I was out of olive and had it in the cupboard. It's about what you have, folks. So don't judge me! Plus, I was using walnuts as the base, so in my defense, I thought it would complement it. It wasn't bad, but it would have been banging with some organic unfiltered cold-pressed olive oil. More modifiers make it more better, right? Even plain ole extra-virgin oil would have been better. Just learn from my mistakes or at least stock your cupboards better.
     Oh, one final tip, if you're lucky enough to live near a Trader Joe's pick up these spices below, the lemon pepper and south african smoke, they go perfect with everything, especially this pesto. My mom showed me the light on my last visit and I was able to smuggle some back to our Trader Joe's less state. Now I'm just crossing my fingers that they will last until the end of the year when we'll get our own Salt Lake Trader Joe's! I'm craving some of that cookie butter, too! 

Lemon Pepper and South African Smoke 

Trader Joe's Awesome Spice Grinders

Garlic Scape Pesto with Braising Mix, Soy Curls, Whole Wheat Rotini Pasta and Lemon Recipe (adapted from Bell Organic)

Ingredients:

1 lb pasta, choose your favorite shape, silly. whole wheat or regular

10 large garlic scapes

1/3 Cup nuts (walnuts, almonds, pine nuts, or pistachio)

2-3 TBS vegan parmesan cheese

1/2 teaspoon salt (I recommend Real Salt from Redmond, Utah)
1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/3 Cup extra-virgin olive oil (try not to substitute)

4-6 oz of Soy Curls, rehydrated and drained

1 bag of Braising Mix, preferable from Bell Organic (though you could get away with a bunch of another bag of greens, like Bok Choy, Collards, Arugula or even Kale)

1 lemon

1/4 teaspoon Italian herbs, your choice.

1/4 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes

Lemon Pepper or Smoked Grinders from Trader Joes (optional, but not really).

     Directions:
     Okay, now start boiling the water. Throw some salt in and cook the pasta according to the directions. But really, you can cook pasta, right? You could use the leftover water to hydrate the soy curls, if you wanted to be ecologically conscious. Next get out the food processor or if you're like I used to be, thinking that I could just use a blender for everything, you can get away with that, too. You're life will be easier with a food processor, though. trust me. Well, unless you have a high-powered blender like a Blendtec or Vitamix. Anyway, throw the garlic scapes (I didn't even cut them up), nuts, vegan parmesan, olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 pepper and get crazy. Blend until smooth. This will be your pesto. Love it embrace it.

     Now, get out a large cast-iron skillet (another worth while investment, trust me) and heat that sucker up. Saute the braising mix and hydrated and drained soy curls together until the greens are wilted, maybe 8-10 minutes. Sprinkle some salt, red pepper flakes and the Italian herbs while it's cooking. Once, it's done combine it with the pasta then combine that with the pesto and then juice a lemon into the mixture. Depending on your level of pesto loving, you could just use 1/2 to 2/3 cup of the pesto and freeze/save the remaining pesto or be like me and just use it all. Choose your own adventure, folks! Top it with some tomatoes, a sprinkle of more vegan paremsan and a twist or two of the grinders. Enjoy and share!

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Pumpkin For My Punkin!!!

Pumpkin French Toast And Pumpkin Tofu Scramble

   With O.J. & French Pressed Cafe Ibis Kona Coffee 

  

     It's sad. I realized that complete with work, commuting and sleep that I'm left with only 4 hours left in the day. So I've been slacking on the posting, especially for the vegan month of food. I only made two posts in October. Oh wells. However, I haven't stopped cooking! Instead, I just have a backlog of posts to get through. Not to mention the plethora of cookbooks and the donut pan that I bought. Most of my best cooking comes on weekends when my only enemy is how long I can sleep in. When the special one had a late night, I decided to sneak out to the store and surprise her with breakfast. She's not called the special one for nothing, so I decided to demonstrate my affection through cooking. How do I love thee, let me cut and caramelize an onion for me...or something like that.

Pumpkin Tofu Scramble

Nothing Says Fall Like Pumpkin

     Although, I failed at the vegan month of food. I have been following the posts and have a mounting list of recipes to try. This was one from AstroNOMZ was one of them that I finally got to. I was expecting a stronger pumpkin flavor, but in all honesty, I didn't have all the spices so I'll still give it another try. It's the first time, I added greens to the scramble so I was nervous, but it was a hit with the special one! The greens I added were arugula and parsley that I had leftover from my CSA with Bell Organic. Did I mention that this has ginger in it? Yup, everything is better with ginger.

Pumpkin French Toast aka Freedom Toast!

Freedom Toast > Freedom Fries, Just Saying!

     I've gushed like a Bieber fan enough about Isa's Vegan Brunch already so I won't subject you to my admiration. Hands down the best cookbook that I own. Sorry, I couldn't resist. I haven't checked in a while but I believe that I'm just a few recipes from cooking everything in it, though most I have documented. This recipe is no exception. it's kinda like the Banana Rabanada, but with pumpkin instead of bananas. I didn't get pictures, but I used the seeded baguette from Crumb Brothers, an organic bakery in Logan (and maybe the best name for a bakery period!). I think next time I'll add a bit of sweeter so to make the flavors pop a little more.I paired everything with French Pressed Kona organic coffee from Logan's Caffe Ibis and Apple Sage Sausage from Field Roast because you can't cook everything.

Vegan Brunch

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Cooking With Bell Organic

Baked Tofu Smothered in Peanut Sauce with Steamed Vegetables Along with Spicy Peanut Rice and Citrus Collards with Raisins Redux

Organic and Local Vegetables from Bell Organic Farms of Draper and Sandy Utah

      I've had a spring and summer share from Bell Organic of Draper and Sandy, Utah for a few months now. It's been exciting to arrive once a week to see what the farm produced. For the Spring share, it was mostly greens, but with the switch from spring to summer there's been much more variety. One of these was kohlrabi, a german cabbage, that intrigued me, but I was almost ready to choose the easy path and pick beets instead. Instead, I asked David how they could be used and he was very knowledgeable and told me to treat it like a carrot. Simple enough. I threw them in the steamer basket with other veggies from Bell Organic and they came out delicious. Though, I might peel them next time. It's the lemon looking wedge in the lower right hand side of the first picture. I'll try and get a whole picture of one next time they appear in my share. 

 Kohlrabi

Photo from Wikipedia, the stems and the leaves have been trimmed here.

     After weeks of cooking with a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) share, this would be my masterpiece with almost all of the veggies coming from my share. Although, it's easier to get to the supermarket and pick out veggies that you need, I like the mystery and the challenge that the having a CSA presents. My mom has also experimented with a CSA so it's been fun to exchange recipes and find out what's she been getting, which is a lot of yellow squash! (If you have any recipes to help her out, let me know.) For Salt Lakers interested in Bell Organic, Salt Lake City Weekly is running a contest to win a free mid-season 9 week share from Bell Organic. Enter HERE.

Peanut Sauce

Lower Fat Peanut Sauce from Fatfreevegan.com

     My first introduction to Thai food was fried tofu over peanut sauce. Although, the tofu was unseasoned and flavorless, the peanut sauce held everything together. I can't think of many things better. This version from fatfreevegan.com does have fat in it, of course, but it's a lower fat version than the traditional version. I've tried making this before from a different recipe, but got discouraged. This recipe nails it. Get the recipe HERE.

Citrus Collards with Raisins Redux

Organic and Local Collard Greens from Bell Organic. 

     I love when I see Collards greens in my share because I know I can turn to Bryant Terry's Vegan Soul Kitchen's Citrus Collard Greens Redux with Raisins. It's the perfect way to cook collards. I do ignore his advice and leave the spines on since I think they're not as tough once you cook them. Plus, the crunch adds a nice touch. Perhaps, one of my favorite ways to cook greens. Maybe one day, I'll experiment with substituting kale and chard for the collards. Find the recipe HERE.

Baked Tofu

Baked, Not Fried Tofu

     Normally, I press and pan fry tofu, but this recipe just calls for vegetable broth and soy sauce. It was one of the easiest ways to cook tofu that I've ever used. I'll probably start cooking tofu this way since I think the results are the same as pan frying without the addition of oil. Find the recipe along with the spicy peanut sauce HERE.

Spicy Peanut Rice Recipe

The Spicy Peanut Rice is on the left.

      I forgot to take a picture of this before I platted so I'll just duplicate the mean picture. This recipe came from the back of a package of Lundberg Organic Brown Rice. I normally buy in bulk, but the sale was too good to pass up. The recipe was an interesting twist of just plain brown rice and complimented the peanut sauce slathered tofu and vegetables perfectly. And you have to smell it cooking in the kitchen. Something, I've been looking for a while now. Though, I think I would try to cook it in my rice cooker next time instead of a pot and might kick up the spice since it like the spice.

Spicy Peanut Rice Recipe (from Lundberg Family Farms):

1 1/2 Tbs Olive Oil

2 Tsp whole cumin seeds

4 Whole cloves

1 Bay leaf

1 Cup of Chopped Onion 

1/4 Tsp of Red Pepper Flakes

1 Cup of Lundberg Organic Brown Rice

2 Cups of Water or Broth (I used water)

1/2 Tsp of Salt

1/3 Cup of Chopped Roasted Peanuts

Heat the olive oil in a heavy medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in cumin, cloves and bay leaf. Cook briefly until cummin seeds darken slightly. Add onion, garlic, red pepper. Cook until onion is tender. Stir in rice. Add water and salt. (This is where I would put it in the rice cooker) Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 50 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand; covered, 10 minutes. Fluff with fork. Remove bay leaf and stir in peanuts. 

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Only Kale Can Save Us Now.

Kale Chips

     Kale or Cow? I choose kale, even if I pronounce both the same way. Kevin @ Veganbrew.com made these for me the first time and I sniffed my nose at them, but after tasting them they were delicious. Not only is kale one of the most nutritious greens, it helps to satiate my potato chip addiction (specifically the Jalapeno ones from Kettle). My Spring CSA from Utah's Bell Organic had me loaded with greens out my ears. I've been eating lots of salads, but I couldn't keep up so I decided to make kale chips to make sure I didn't waste anything. Although, it still feels kinda wasteful to make chips out of kale, I would prefer it stir-fried or gingered like this, this is an easy way to use up your greens. I've tried it with mustard greens as well with similar results. I'll post the pictures after the recipe. Oh, and the title comes from a shirt from Herbivore Clothing Company.

Kale Before Chipping

Make Your Own Kale Chips

gather a bunch of kale, wash and destem (mustard greens stems are easier to eat, however, kale stems become really tough after cooling, though right out of the oven is fine), 

place the kale on a baking sheet and cook for 20 minutes at 400 degrees

remove from the oven and spray with cooking spray

sprinkle with salt and 1 TBS of nutritional yeast

*tip it is easier to coat the kale with the nutritional yeast if placed in a bag.

Mustard Green Chips

 Mustard Greens Before Chipping

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The Best Tacos Ever!!!

Courico Tacos With Grilled Pineapple Salsa

      I tend to be critical of the recipes that I make, but these are the best tacos I've ever had. It might be the best thing I've ever made. Lately, I've had some misses, which I'll post, so I turned to the trusted Vegan Brunch. A courico is a Portuguese version of a chorizo sausage. These tacos burst with sour, sweet and smokey flavors. Wow, just wow. My taste buds were very happy. Top them with Daiya Pepperjack cheese (Cakewalk is the only place in Salt Lake to get it) and it's even more impressive. Best of all, the marjoram that the recipe calls for comes from my Early Spring Share CSA Draper Utah's Bell Organic. While Salt Lake is lacking when it comes to vegan Mexican food, unless you count beans and rice, this meal would beat anything at Red Iguana, just saying.

 Butler Soy Curls

     The recipe calls for seitan or Soy Curls, which are all the rage these days. I ordered the Soy Curls from Pangea a while ago, along with white chocolate chips for white chocolate chip ice cream, but didn't know what I was going to do with them. Right out of the package, they don't taste like anything, just really bland, but they really soak up all the flavors. They also claim to use the whole bean, which is awesome. Although, they are GMO free and say no chemical pesticides were used, I wish they were organic. I also wish they were available to purchase locally instead of mail order so I could use them in more recipes. (I'm looking at you Cakewalk Baking Company and Grocery).

Grilled Pineapple Salsa

      I live in an apartment so I'm grill less. I've been looking into purchasing an indoor grill, but it's a daunting task. If you can recommend one, I would be stoked! Instead, I just put these in my skillet and brushed with oil and did some pan searing until caramelized on the outside. Not as cool as grill marks, but it did the trick. If you make these definitely make the salsa. I would like to try this with peaches, so I'm anxious for the first organic crop to arrive. Patience, tiger.

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