I'm getting tired, but I am trying to write every day. I have been working a lot yesterday and today, so I am not cooking or eating very much. Yesterday we made milkshakes for breakfast, and that is all I had to eat all day. They really do hold you all day.
I had put some caramelized onions in the dehydrator, and I had some of them when I pulled them out. They really are irresistable. Onions are sliced and mixed with their sauce made of 1 cup dates, 3 tablespoons nama shoyu and a little oil (2 tablespoons) plus 1/4 cup water. They can be dehydrated until they're soft representing a sauteed onion, or they can stay in a little longer to become crispy. I'm going to make some more for the market this week, so I'll try to post a video when I do that.
I have been thinking about the mylkshakes Wyatt likes to have each morning for breakfast. The only fat in them is the almond mylk. I don't know fatty it is, but I was thinking that the consistency of the shakes comes from the bananas, not the mylk. So this morning I only had 1/3 cup of almond mylk left, so I decided to test my theory. I made our morning shake with rejuvelac, lemon juice, agave nectar, and bananas (4 frozen and 2 fresh). It was very yummy, and I loved it. Roger and Wyatt didn't seem to know they were drinking anything different than usual. Of course, if you had both drinks sitting next to each other, I'm sure you would be able to tell the difference. The point is that they are both tasty, but one is significantly lower in fat which is a good thing when you are working with sweet fruit. Fat in the blood stream holds the sugar in the bloodstream instead of letting it do its thing. As the sugar remains in the bloodstream, problems can occur. (Check out 80-10-10 by Dr. Doug Graham.) The issue is not calories OR fat as much as it is on the ability of the sugar to be absorbed into the bloodstream. I'll give numbers after I get it figured out.
Besides my morning mylkshake, I had 3 mangos. I snacked on some of the zucchini chips and dried tomatos and of course, some crispy onions.
I started some buckwheat to sprout yesterday, so today I mixed up some pizza crusts. They are still dehydrating. I've never made them before, so I'll post the recipe after I see what they taste like. We had some beautiful basil at the market Saturday, so I decided to make some pesto to put on the pizza. It seems really nice, but again, I'll let you know. I've never had pesto very much, so it will be a work in progress.
I was making some rejuvelac too, so made some bread with the berries based on Alicia's recipe: sprouted wheat berries (leftover from 1 cup wheat, soaked, sprouted, and juvied), 3 to 4 tomatoes, 1 teaspoon salt, and Italian seasoning. Alicia's recipe used Greek seasoning. Anyway, it's in the dehydrator and will come out tomorrow.
That's it, we're done.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Stepping up
Man, I can't believe how crazy this week was. I really want to record this each day, but I just couldn't get done early enough to do it. I put in 16 to 18 hours each day. I think I worked 20 hours one day. I try not to think about it, but this week is is kind of bugging me because I couldn't do some of the things that are important to me, like this blog.
Anyway, we got through graduation which is what was creating a lot of the stress. It was a great group of graduates.
Anyway, back to the food...
I have to start with today because I don't know where I left off before this, and I'm not sure how far back I can remember!
Today, no breakfast; not hungry. Not sure why as I had a "no fat" day yesterday which means not too many calories consumed. After church today I had 3 altaufo mangos, my new favorite food. Later after home teaching we pulled all the partial jars out of the fridge to get it cleaned out. Wyatt had his favorite: shredded zucchini with marinara. Roger cleaned up the crabby patties from last night, and I had some refried no-beans on lettuce leaves with salsa, sliced avocado, and hemp sour cream.
Last night after a long day, Roger and Wyatt had some crabby patties that I had fixed the day before. I whipped up some tartar sauce from the mayo I made for the un-tuna. I sliced up some dill pickles and some onion, and it looked pretty tasty. I made some cole slaw by grinding up a head of cabbage in the blender with water. I then strain it through a nut mylk bag. I also ground up a carrot. I made a dressing from apple cider vinegar and agave nectar with a little salt. It was delicious, and I ate several helpings of it. I had planned on having some of the dinner, but I was too full from the salad to eat anything else. I did drink a quart of rejuvelac lemonade:
1 cup lemon juice
1 cup agave nectar
Pour this into a half gallon container. Fill the container with rejuvelac. That's it. Darius and Alicia only half fill the container with rejuvelac, and then fill it with regular water. I like to pour it over crushed ice.
I had a glass of the lemonade for breakfast on my way to the market, and then I snacked on pieces of strawberries and oranges.
I had made some banana brittle to bring to the market, and I think everone who tried it really liked it. Many signed up for the newsletter and asked for that recipe in the next one. One guy asked me to assemble the recipe components for him, minus the bananas of course.
1 cup date paste
5 medium bananas
1/4 cup flax meal
2 cups shredded unsweetened coconut
2 heaping cups of walnuts chopped in the food processor
Blend the dates, bananas, and flax in the food processor. Pulse in the coconut and chopped walnuts. Spread this on 2 dehydrator sheets and dry until brittle. It can be dried less for a sweet pizza.
I promise to include some pictures when I get caught up.
Last week we had some of our case of zucchini and roma tomatoes left over. They were beautiful quality from Lady Moon Farms. I didn't want them to get even close to going bad, so I went ahead and sliced them thinly and dehydrated them. I love zucchini chips. In fact, I included this suggestion in our first newsletter sent out last week.
Crabby Patties are a big hit at our house. I've adapted the recipe we got from Present Moment, but theirs is a great recipe too. I think it is posted earlier in the blog.
I think that's all I've made this week with all the work. I need to come up with some new stuff. I'm now making the raisin cheeze by the gallon. Stepping up all of my recipes to accomodate 6 of us. What to make, what to make?
Anyway, we got through graduation which is what was creating a lot of the stress. It was a great group of graduates.
Anyway, back to the food...
I have to start with today because I don't know where I left off before this, and I'm not sure how far back I can remember!
Today, no breakfast; not hungry. Not sure why as I had a "no fat" day yesterday which means not too many calories consumed. After church today I had 3 altaufo mangos, my new favorite food. Later after home teaching we pulled all the partial jars out of the fridge to get it cleaned out. Wyatt had his favorite: shredded zucchini with marinara. Roger cleaned up the crabby patties from last night, and I had some refried no-beans on lettuce leaves with salsa, sliced avocado, and hemp sour cream.
Last night after a long day, Roger and Wyatt had some crabby patties that I had fixed the day before. I whipped up some tartar sauce from the mayo I made for the un-tuna. I sliced up some dill pickles and some onion, and it looked pretty tasty. I made some cole slaw by grinding up a head of cabbage in the blender with water. I then strain it through a nut mylk bag. I also ground up a carrot. I made a dressing from apple cider vinegar and agave nectar with a little salt. It was delicious, and I ate several helpings of it. I had planned on having some of the dinner, but I was too full from the salad to eat anything else. I did drink a quart of rejuvelac lemonade:
1 cup lemon juice
1 cup agave nectar
Pour this into a half gallon container. Fill the container with rejuvelac. That's it. Darius and Alicia only half fill the container with rejuvelac, and then fill it with regular water. I like to pour it over crushed ice.
I had a glass of the lemonade for breakfast on my way to the market, and then I snacked on pieces of strawberries and oranges.
I had made some banana brittle to bring to the market, and I think everone who tried it really liked it. Many signed up for the newsletter and asked for that recipe in the next one. One guy asked me to assemble the recipe components for him, minus the bananas of course.
1 cup date paste
5 medium bananas
1/4 cup flax meal
2 cups shredded unsweetened coconut
2 heaping cups of walnuts chopped in the food processor
Blend the dates, bananas, and flax in the food processor. Pulse in the coconut and chopped walnuts. Spread this on 2 dehydrator sheets and dry until brittle. It can be dried less for a sweet pizza.
I promise to include some pictures when I get caught up.
Last week we had some of our case of zucchini and roma tomatoes left over. They were beautiful quality from Lady Moon Farms. I didn't want them to get even close to going bad, so I went ahead and sliced them thinly and dehydrated them. I love zucchini chips. In fact, I included this suggestion in our first newsletter sent out last week.
Crabby Patties are a big hit at our house. I've adapted the recipe we got from Present Moment, but theirs is a great recipe too. I think it is posted earlier in the blog.
I think that's all I've made this week with all the work. I need to come up with some new stuff. I'm now making the raisin cheeze by the gallon. Stepping up all of my recipes to accomodate 6 of us. What to make, what to make?
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Happy Mother's Day
My experiments worked out pretty well. The peppers were terrific; I used some in the salsa today hoping it would absorb some of the water from the tomatoes. It had a nice consistency.
The "parm" tasted like parm, but the consistency was different of course. We haven't had an Italian dish to try it on, so we'll see how it goes.
The carmelized onions were amazing. I could make a batch of them everyday if I had time. They were a delicious snack. We never got far enough to have them on a dish. I am anxious to try them as a pizza topping.
The breads were fine. Wyatt will enjoy them. The tortillas got left in all day as I had to work in Jacksonville, and I think they would have been nicer if we could have pulled them while they were still flexible. They had a nice flavor. I haven't used them in a meal yet. I forgot to bring them out for the Mexican meal at lunchtime.
We had a lot of parsley left over from the farmer's market as we had to buy a whole case, so I started dehydrating it when I pulled the other stuff out today. One bunch went on a tray. It worked out nicely because I used the last of my dried parsley on Friday. It is a very nice product. We actually used it to make our ensalada today since we didn't have any cilantro, and it was delicious.
Our dinner today:
Living Tacos made from refried no-beans on romaine lettuce leaves
salsa (roma tomatoes, onion, dehydrated red peppers, salt, garlic)
guacamole
hemp sour cream
ensalada (shredded cabbage, parsley, lemon juice, salt)
ears of corn
Happy Mother's Day!
The "parm" tasted like parm, but the consistency was different of course. We haven't had an Italian dish to try it on, so we'll see how it goes.
The carmelized onions were amazing. I could make a batch of them everyday if I had time. They were a delicious snack. We never got far enough to have them on a dish. I am anxious to try them as a pizza topping.
The breads were fine. Wyatt will enjoy them. The tortillas got left in all day as I had to work in Jacksonville, and I think they would have been nicer if we could have pulled them while they were still flexible. They had a nice flavor. I haven't used them in a meal yet. I forgot to bring them out for the Mexican meal at lunchtime.
We had a lot of parsley left over from the farmer's market as we had to buy a whole case, so I started dehydrating it when I pulled the other stuff out today. One bunch went on a tray. It worked out nicely because I used the last of my dried parsley on Friday. It is a very nice product. We actually used it to make our ensalada today since we didn't have any cilantro, and it was delicious.
Our dinner today:
Living Tacos made from refried no-beans on romaine lettuce leaves
salsa (roma tomatoes, onion, dehydrated red peppers, salt, garlic)
guacamole
hemp sour cream
ensalada (shredded cabbage, parsley, lemon juice, salt)
ears of corn
Happy Mother's Day!
Friday, May 8, 2009
Experiments Gone Wild
I'm getting too confident in my experiments. I have never been this fancy free in my cooking. I hope this craziness stops! I don't like the unstructured chef in me...
I've got the dehydrator loaded with a hodge-podge of experiments - well, some of them are tried and true, but there will be a few surprises when the rest comes out. I've got my fingers crossed that they will be pleasant ones.
First, the almond meal went in after I made almond milk this morning. That's no surprise. We have been using it, so we don't have a backlog of it like we did. I am really grateful we found ways to use it as I hated wasting it. We made lemon smoothies as that is something we can take in the car with us.
Secondly, I decided to make some tortillas out of the squash scraps Roger always has after he spiralizes "spaghetti" noodles out of it. There are 1/2 inch chunks that won't go through the machine. He always puts them in the fridge, and I usually throw them out after they go bad. I remembered that I had read about making tortillas out of squash, so I thought I'd give it a go. I poured the squash remnants into the blender with some olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and flax meal. We'll see what pops out.
My last batch of rejuvelac was ready, so I had some berries to process into "banana bread". I think it's kind of nappy, but Wyatt loves it, so he will be glad to see it when he gets home. Roger has been hiding his bread from him, so he hasn't been eating as much, but it is building up too much. I guess I shouldn't make so much.
Then I decided to try a real experiment: rejuvelac "parmesan" made from soaked pine nuts. I mixed in some lemon juice, rejuvelac, salt, and some pizza seasoning, blended it up, and poured it on the teflex. It smells good, but I don't think it will be the right texture. I don't know what we'll do with it. We'll decide when we see how it turns out.
My last dehydrator experiment is "caramelized" onions. I mandolined 3 large onions. In the blender I mixed 3 T nama shoyu, 2 T olive oil, 1 cup soft dates, and enough water to make it blend (about 1/3 cup). Then I just mixed the date paste with the onions and spread them out on the teflex sheets to soften. I guess I need to think of something to eat them with.
I think I'm going to whip up a few dips to take to the market tomorrow as I plan on cutting up some fruit and veggies to share with the passer-bys. I think a lot of people do not realize that organic fruits and vegetables taste different. How are they going to find out if we don't let them try some? Of course, we'll need some dip or something for the zucchini slices, etc. We have lots of cabbage; I wonder what I'll figure out for that... Hopefully I'll be able to post my results, and hopefully they will be positive!
Roger had his first rejuvelac lemonade today; I think he liked it! I guess that will be a keeper.
We stopped taking "bad" food to seminary, and the students have been eating "our" food for the whole week. I took raisin cheeze and apple slices a couple of days, and we had the "peanut butter and jelly" apple slice thing with almond butter and raisins. Roger also gave them bananas once or twice. One day he took apples, and they didn't take any, so that's when we figured out we needed to slice the apples for them. They want their breakfast "fixed" for them! Anyway, they seem to be surviving it ok. They don't miss their processed foods at all (I don't think). This is more work though...
I've got the dehydrator loaded with a hodge-podge of experiments - well, some of them are tried and true, but there will be a few surprises when the rest comes out. I've got my fingers crossed that they will be pleasant ones.
First, the almond meal went in after I made almond milk this morning. That's no surprise. We have been using it, so we don't have a backlog of it like we did. I am really grateful we found ways to use it as I hated wasting it. We made lemon smoothies as that is something we can take in the car with us.
Secondly, I decided to make some tortillas out of the squash scraps Roger always has after he spiralizes "spaghetti" noodles out of it. There are 1/2 inch chunks that won't go through the machine. He always puts them in the fridge, and I usually throw them out after they go bad. I remembered that I had read about making tortillas out of squash, so I thought I'd give it a go. I poured the squash remnants into the blender with some olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and flax meal. We'll see what pops out.
My last batch of rejuvelac was ready, so I had some berries to process into "banana bread". I think it's kind of nappy, but Wyatt loves it, so he will be glad to see it when he gets home. Roger has been hiding his bread from him, so he hasn't been eating as much, but it is building up too much. I guess I shouldn't make so much.
Then I decided to try a real experiment: rejuvelac "parmesan" made from soaked pine nuts. I mixed in some lemon juice, rejuvelac, salt, and some pizza seasoning, blended it up, and poured it on the teflex. It smells good, but I don't think it will be the right texture. I don't know what we'll do with it. We'll decide when we see how it turns out.
My last dehydrator experiment is "caramelized" onions. I mandolined 3 large onions. In the blender I mixed 3 T nama shoyu, 2 T olive oil, 1 cup soft dates, and enough water to make it blend (about 1/3 cup). Then I just mixed the date paste with the onions and spread them out on the teflex sheets to soften. I guess I need to think of something to eat them with.
I think I'm going to whip up a few dips to take to the market tomorrow as I plan on cutting up some fruit and veggies to share with the passer-bys. I think a lot of people do not realize that organic fruits and vegetables taste different. How are they going to find out if we don't let them try some? Of course, we'll need some dip or something for the zucchini slices, etc. We have lots of cabbage; I wonder what I'll figure out for that... Hopefully I'll be able to post my results, and hopefully they will be positive!
Roger had his first rejuvelac lemonade today; I think he liked it! I guess that will be a keeper.
We stopped taking "bad" food to seminary, and the students have been eating "our" food for the whole week. I took raisin cheeze and apple slices a couple of days, and we had the "peanut butter and jelly" apple slice thing with almond butter and raisins. Roger also gave them bananas once or twice. One day he took apples, and they didn't take any, so that's when we figured out we needed to slice the apples for them. They want their breakfast "fixed" for them! Anyway, they seem to be surviving it ok. They don't miss their processed foods at all (I don't think). This is more work though...
Thursday, May 7, 2009
New Uses for Old Friends
Not much eating or cooking going on this week as we have been very busy setting up a produce business where we sell organic produce at the Farmer's Market in Jacksonville. We had students today, our opening day, so were unable to be there, but Darius said there was a lot of interest in someone bringing organics there. There are a lot of venders who do not believe people will pay the extra money required for organics, and in this economy they may be right. We'll see. We have felt prompted to do this at this time, so we will see where it takes us. Here are some pictures Alicia sent me of opening day.
I decided to start making the cashew cheez in gallon batches since I do so many things with it, so I got my rejuvelac made and started a batch yesterday. It starts with 2 quarts of cashews. I also decided to try the rejuvelac lemonade Darius and Alicia told me about. It is kind of weird tasting, but somehow very enjoyable. I like it! It is a great way to get a sizeable amount of probiotics into our system as compared to cheezes which have a lot of fat and are not as digestible as the lemonade. I drank a quart of it for breakfast with no ill effects. I also had several glasses for my dinner last night and had no problems sleeping indicating no digestive upset. So that is good news, I think.
To make rejuvelac lemonade, I mixed 1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice with 1 cup agave nectar. Then I filled the half gallon container with rejuvelac (instead of water). Easy, easy.
For lunch yesterday, we shredded up several summer squash (called cousca, I think Jeff said), and mixed it with marinated mushrooms. We should have taken a picture of it as it was a very attractive dish. Then we added cheddar cheeze as a sauce individually. I think Angelina ate it without any sauce, and she liked it.
I was inspired by Alicia's salad dressing to try one today outside my usual comfort zone. I had some soaked pine nuts, added the juice from 3 lemons, several spoons of garlic, several spoons of miso, a sprinkle of nama shoyu, and enough rejuvelac to turn the blender blades. It was quite tasty although I still like the ranch better. It is nice to have variety though. I think Alicia's tasted better too, so maybe she used more miso or salt or herbs. I'm not sure...she's holding out on the recipe.
We made 2 pies over the weekend. Sorry I couldn't get here to post about them. Maybe next time. Things have been incredibly crazy this week with all that is going on.
I decided to start making the cashew cheez in gallon batches since I do so many things with it, so I got my rejuvelac made and started a batch yesterday. It starts with 2 quarts of cashews. I also decided to try the rejuvelac lemonade Darius and Alicia told me about. It is kind of weird tasting, but somehow very enjoyable. I like it! It is a great way to get a sizeable amount of probiotics into our system as compared to cheezes which have a lot of fat and are not as digestible as the lemonade. I drank a quart of it for breakfast with no ill effects. I also had several glasses for my dinner last night and had no problems sleeping indicating no digestive upset. So that is good news, I think.
To make rejuvelac lemonade, I mixed 1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice with 1 cup agave nectar. Then I filled the half gallon container with rejuvelac (instead of water). Easy, easy.
For lunch yesterday, we shredded up several summer squash (called cousca, I think Jeff said), and mixed it with marinated mushrooms. We should have taken a picture of it as it was a very attractive dish. Then we added cheddar cheeze as a sauce individually. I think Angelina ate it without any sauce, and she liked it.
I was inspired by Alicia's salad dressing to try one today outside my usual comfort zone. I had some soaked pine nuts, added the juice from 3 lemons, several spoons of garlic, several spoons of miso, a sprinkle of nama shoyu, and enough rejuvelac to turn the blender blades. It was quite tasty although I still like the ranch better. It is nice to have variety though. I think Alicia's tasted better too, so maybe she used more miso or salt or herbs. I'm not sure...she's holding out on the recipe.
We made 2 pies over the weekend. Sorry I couldn't get here to post about them. Maybe next time. Things have been incredibly crazy this week with all that is going on.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
When Life Gives You Lemons...
With everyone off and running early this morning, everyone was on their own for breakfast. I had a banana and then some celery with raisin cheeze. Alicia made a salad for lunch, and we had our ranch dressing made with cashew cheeze. It was quite tasty.
For dinner I made some miso soup:
finely minced spinach
1 carrot sliced very thinly
dried shitake mushrooms
These 3 ingredients were put in 1 cup of warm water per serving to rehydrate the mushroom which was then thinly sliced. 1 tablespoon of miso is mixed with 2 additional tablespoons of warm water (per serving), and the vegetable combination is then mixed with the miso blend. It was a little bland, so I may go with more miso next time along with a little less spinach. The children liked it a lot though which surprised me, so maybe bland is good with them.
I made more patties today, so we'd have food tomorrow, and took a quart of corn out to thaw for the mashed cauliflower we'll have with them. I tried to make my sunnies, but they were very weird looking, so I threw them out. I tried to wash them for a long time, but I was worried that they would make someone sick. One thing about fresh food: it is easy to tell when it is not spot on. (One clue should have been the other day when the tray on top of them was warm as though they were composting.) I had already mixed up some garlic and chili powder and had some more sunflower seeds soaking, so I just used them to make a small batch. I had intended them for some refried beans. They don't take long, so I just started some more; they'll be ready by the time we need them. I needed some sunny mixture to make the patties, so I used some of the dried sunnies instead, and I'm sure that will work out just fine.
We have lots of lemons now, so we're having lemonade. I really enjoy it, but we don't have the luxury of extra lemons all that often. We need to make it when we have them. The recipe is easy: 1 cup lemon juice, 1 cup agave in a 1/2 gallon container. Fill with water. Serve over ice. I'll experiment with some other fruits in the summer time.
For dinner I made some miso soup:
finely minced spinach
1 carrot sliced very thinly
dried shitake mushrooms
These 3 ingredients were put in 1 cup of warm water per serving to rehydrate the mushroom which was then thinly sliced. 1 tablespoon of miso is mixed with 2 additional tablespoons of warm water (per serving), and the vegetable combination is then mixed with the miso blend. It was a little bland, so I may go with more miso next time along with a little less spinach. The children liked it a lot though which surprised me, so maybe bland is good with them.
I made more patties today, so we'd have food tomorrow, and took a quart of corn out to thaw for the mashed cauliflower we'll have with them. I tried to make my sunnies, but they were very weird looking, so I threw them out. I tried to wash them for a long time, but I was worried that they would make someone sick. One thing about fresh food: it is easy to tell when it is not spot on. (One clue should have been the other day when the tray on top of them was warm as though they were composting.) I had already mixed up some garlic and chili powder and had some more sunflower seeds soaking, so I just used them to make a small batch. I had intended them for some refried beans. They don't take long, so I just started some more; they'll be ready by the time we need them. I needed some sunny mixture to make the patties, so I used some of the dried sunnies instead, and I'm sure that will work out just fine.
We have lots of lemons now, so we're having lemonade. I really enjoy it, but we don't have the luxury of extra lemons all that often. We need to make it when we have them. The recipe is easy: 1 cup lemon juice, 1 cup agave in a 1/2 gallon container. Fill with water. Serve over ice. I'll experiment with some other fruits in the summer time.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Marketing the Market
For breakfast today we had a delicious strawberry soup as given to us from Chef Tracy at Glaser Farms:
1 pint large fresh strawberries
1/4 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
5 large dates, chopped and soaked in OJ for 4 hours
1 cup fresh orange juice
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
Blend all in the blender til smooth. I spooned some of last night's "yogurt" into it as a garnish.
We made a large batch of untuna from some sunflower seeds we sprouted earlier this week. I still haven't made my sunnies, but I need to get them on tomorrow.
Tonight I was experimenting with my cashew cheeze and substituted it into my ranch salad dressing recipe. I wasn't hungry so didn't taste it, but it got rave reviews from everyone else. They made quite a feast of it with some broccoli spears and celery sticks. I also made a batch of "cheddar" from the remainder of the cashew cheeze. I discovered yesterday that we still had a nice patch of parsley in the garden, so I got that to use in the recipes. Nice touch!
I also ate a banana today and 2 of my beloved mangos. I do look forward to the mango season every year.
We decided today that we would try to make a run of introducing the Jacksonville Beaver Street Farmer's Market to organic produce. We have talked to the venders there, and many of them fear people won't pay the extra price for organic produce, and it doesn't really matter anyway. I believe very strongly in using organic when it is available. One of the most amazing things to me about it is how much different it tastes. I love the flavor of organic, in most cases, much more than conventional produce. There are some foods I won't even consider buying conventional for the taste factor alone including: strawberries, bananas, apples, grapes, lettuce, celery, and cucumbers. How a fruit or vegetable is grown definately affects its flavor, and I have to assume its nutritional value as well. There is still a lot we don't know about this aspect of horticulture.
We are experimenting with our garden this year of putting as much living soil into our grow boxes as possible to see if it affects the quantity and quality of the produce grown. We are anxious to see if it helps it to ward off viruses and funguses so prevalent over the summer here.
Our goal at the farmer's market is to educate the public re: the importance of eating more raw, fresh, organic (when possible), fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. We are going to distribute literature and have samples of foods we like. We cannot prepare and sell these foods without a lot of permits, but we're not sure that's the direction we're supposed to be going anyway. Our thing has always been education, and this new aspect of our lives isn't any different. So, we hooked up with a couple of organic producer and/or distributors today, and we are hoping to start next weekend. See you at the market!
1 pint large fresh strawberries
1/4 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
5 large dates, chopped and soaked in OJ for 4 hours
1 cup fresh orange juice
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
Blend all in the blender til smooth. I spooned some of last night's "yogurt" into it as a garnish.
We made a large batch of untuna from some sunflower seeds we sprouted earlier this week. I still haven't made my sunnies, but I need to get them on tomorrow.
Tonight I was experimenting with my cashew cheeze and substituted it into my ranch salad dressing recipe. I wasn't hungry so didn't taste it, but it got rave reviews from everyone else. They made quite a feast of it with some broccoli spears and celery sticks. I also made a batch of "cheddar" from the remainder of the cashew cheeze. I discovered yesterday that we still had a nice patch of parsley in the garden, so I got that to use in the recipes. Nice touch!
I also ate a banana today and 2 of my beloved mangos. I do look forward to the mango season every year.
We decided today that we would try to make a run of introducing the Jacksonville Beaver Street Farmer's Market to organic produce. We have talked to the venders there, and many of them fear people won't pay the extra price for organic produce, and it doesn't really matter anyway. I believe very strongly in using organic when it is available. One of the most amazing things to me about it is how much different it tastes. I love the flavor of organic, in most cases, much more than conventional produce. There are some foods I won't even consider buying conventional for the taste factor alone including: strawberries, bananas, apples, grapes, lettuce, celery, and cucumbers. How a fruit or vegetable is grown definately affects its flavor, and I have to assume its nutritional value as well. There is still a lot we don't know about this aspect of horticulture.
We are experimenting with our garden this year of putting as much living soil into our grow boxes as possible to see if it affects the quantity and quality of the produce grown. We are anxious to see if it helps it to ward off viruses and funguses so prevalent over the summer here.
Our goal at the farmer's market is to educate the public re: the importance of eating more raw, fresh, organic (when possible), fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. We are going to distribute literature and have samples of foods we like. We cannot prepare and sell these foods without a lot of permits, but we're not sure that's the direction we're supposed to be going anyway. Our thing has always been education, and this new aspect of our lives isn't any different. So, we hooked up with a couple of organic producer and/or distributors today, and we are hoping to start next weekend. See you at the market!
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