The ingredients for this salad came together based on what I had on hand, including the first two crops ready for harvest in our garden: mint and green onions. Yay for homegrown food!
We had also picked up some “real” tomatoes from the farmers market earlier this week, so I threw them in there too. All the flavors mingled together very nicely.
Tossed with pureed avocado (my favorite base for a salad dressing), this little concoction was surprisingly good!
It’s like a minty, beany, pasta salad!
Happy Earth Day!
To celebrate, I’m going to continue my “backyard foraging” kick, with a recipe for the under-appreciated dandelion. Eaten plain, dandelions are sustainable, “easy” to grow, and very very good for you. You can eat the root, the greens, or in this case- the flower. They are certainly more nutritious when eaten raw… but when they are eaten battered and fried, they are simply delicious.
I am not sure how to describe the taste, other than possibly comparing these particular fritters to vegetable pakora, with a cornmeal twist.
If you haven’t yet delighted in eating what your neighbors probably loathe- now is the time. While you’re at it, go ahead and don a dandelion crown. People will know you mean business.
These things are so fun to harvest, batter and fry, you’ll be foraging in your (or someone else’s) front yard every time you get a hankering for a fried treat. See ya later tater tots.
Guess what?
I made a culinary discovery in my very own backyard!
Let me preface this by saying that we had just moved into a new place in December, and we weren’t sure what to expect from our new patch of land. Since spring first sprung, we have been delightfully watching new baby plants pop up everywhere. And, about two or three weeks ago, we noticed that we had tiny fern babies sprouting up all over the place. While I immediately admired them for their curly adorableness, I never once thought to eat them. What kind of food blogger am I? Shameful…
But yesterday, for some reason, I had an epiphany: those little curly baby ferns sure did look a lot like the one’s on Vegan Yum Yum’s site last year about this time- and they also look very similar to the one’s we saw at Whole Foods last weekend. Hmmm….
A quick Google search (not recommended unless you are totally familiar with wild edibles and/or have a reliable guide) told me that my backyard was full of exactly those gourmet treats: a delicacy referred to as Fiddlehead Ferns. Cool!
It also told me that we were just catching the very end of Fiddlehead season. Damn.
Fiddleheads are the teeny fronds of young ferns before they have unfurled. There are a few varieties, but in our case, we have Ostrich Ferns. They are best enjoyed when just two inches tall. I recommend reading Ms. Yum Yum’s very well written explanation if you are curious about them. Our fern sprouts were a tad bigger than desired, although there were still a few stragglers scattered about. Score!
Despite our late harvest this year, I am excited to know that come this time next year… we will have Fiddleheads a plenty.
Depending on where you live, you may still be able to catch some Fiddleheads in your neck of the woods (literally) or at your local Whole Foods or similar store. If not, top this creamy pasta with your favorite sauteed veggie and get prepared for next year’s forage!
And, if you do decide to go out and hunt for your own Fiddleheads, use common sense and some caution… there are definitely some not so yummy look-a-likes out there. Just warning you…
Since the weather outside is so frightful, (and freezing!) soup is on my mind. This lentil soup is nice and light, yet very satisfying. It is also chock full of warm fuzzy feeling. I created it to emulate a soup I always order at one of my favorite restaurants. Fragranced with lemon and cilantro, and pleasantly mild, even my lentil hating husband loves this stuff.
Here’s to soup, and keeping warm!
I have got a lot of Polish in me- in lineage as well as culinary preferences. My mother has blessed me with so many good Polish recipes over the years and had created very fond food memories for me in my childhood. And what she had taught me had been handed down for generations. I think one of the great talents many of our family members posses is the ability to make countless dishes with a bag of potatoes. These little potato patties are called platskis, and this weekend I went to work in the kitchen with my mother to re-create our family recipe to be animal friendly. They turned out deliciously.
I hope you enjoy these simple potato cakes as much as my whole entire extended family does. And, let me assure you, there are a LOT of us.
Ziemniaki!
The other day we were lucky enough to receive a beautiful basket of bell peppers from my sister-in-law’s garden. They were tiny and very colorful: red, green, orange and purple! Once I saw them, I had to stuff them. I used quinoa, because it is the new rice, and added mushrooms, onions and currants. The peppers I used were much smaller than the gargantuan variety found at the grocery store, so we each ate two, rather than one. I like the simplicity of this recipe. Yet, it does take a little time to prepare. And then the baking time is a little long too. But this stuff is killer good over some homemade mashed potatoes.
Today is the first day of VeganMofo!! And to kick off October I wanted to include a recipe for a quick, easy, and lowfat delight that always perks me up during the colder weather: Potato Soup. This particular potato soup is thick, flavorful, and very filling. It also keeps well frozen or refrigerated. So, one batch’s leftovers can provide you with lunch for a week. I have named this recipe “Homestyle” because it is what I grew up with at home, and frankly, it is the only type of potato soup I will touch. My mom used cow’s milk in her recipe, so I subbed lowfat soymilk, and wouldn’t ya know… it tastes exactly as I remember. Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do.