Our lettuce crop has been especially successful this year and luckily for me there’s no such thing as “too much lettuce.”  Here are some reasons why I love lettuce and want to grow tons of it:

1)    Salad season doesn’t last all year and it’s important to stock up while supplies are good.

2)    One season madame was pregnant—okay, actually more than one season—and she had an aversion to greens which meant we didn’t eat salads and while I was supportive I couldn’t help but feel a bit sad, knowing what I was missing out on.

3)    It’s really healthy to eat green vegetables and it’s also healthy to eat vegetables straight from the garden that still have bits of soil on them.  This is because living in the soil are wonderful local beneficial microbes that can help inhabit your internal microbiome, giving you many benefits!  This is why I only barely wash my homegrown vegetables and those from my CSA. (For more on this go read Farmacology (available in Canada too) at your local library!).

4)    Salad is delicious and full of endless possibilities and potential combinations.

5)    Having salad as part of a meal makes the meal look more pretty.

6)    Lettuce is a great addition to a amazing local sandwich (on homemade sourdough).

7)    Lettuce is easy to grow and the seeds can be saved and planted again.

Lately I’ve had two goals related to lettuce: one is to eat tons of it and the other is to use it in salads that are unique.  So here are few ideas to help make salads more unique, which in turn helps to achieve goal number one which is to eat tons of it (because it’s harder to get tired of eating different things!)

1)  Make croutons from stale bread.

• Simply fry pieces of bread in butter or bacon grease until they are turning golden and getting crunchy.  They will be more crunchy after they cool.

• Use different types of bread to provide variation from salad to salad.

• Add different flavors to the croutons, like garlic, herbs, or even balsamic vinegar.

2)    Use combinations of raw and fresh vegetables.

• Roasted sweet potato is an awesome addition.
• Butter or bacon-fried radishes are great, and the frying softens their sometimes harsh flavor.

• Kale can be lightly steamed if it’s gotten too thick and you don’t want to “massage” it.

3)    Make a different salad dressing every time by playing around with different ratios and ingredients.

• We usually start with a base of ¼ cup oil and 3 tablespoons of vinegar, then start adding whatever sounds good!
• For a more bitter salad you can balance things out by adding some honey or maple syrup to the dressing.

4)    Don’t forget fruit!

• Strawberries go nice with onions.
• Apples and pears like stinky cheeses.
• Watermelon and basil go together!

5)    Nuts add great texture and flavor.

• Try lightly toasting them in the oven or in a pan, but don’t leave them alone, they burn quickly.
• Toss them in a pan with a bit of honey and butter for some caramelized nuts!  This is a nice addition when you have bitter vegetables to balance.

6)    Cheese is the ultimate ingredient to make a salad unique because there are so many kinds of cheese!

• Play around with different combinations until you find your favorites.
• Our family favorite is goat cheese because it tastes wonderful and adds a nice creaminess to the salad.

So, there are a bunch of ways to make salads unique, but I’m sure there are many more.  What do you put in your salads to make them awesome and unique?

Linking at Nomday Monday.

This post was originally written for Bailey’s Local Foods.

I’m very new to the world of fermentation, especially when it comes to foods.  I didn’t grow up eating sauerkraut and still find it a bit odd.  However, the first time I had kimchi I knew I’d have to learn how to make it (because I’m kind of cheap, but mostly because I love learning how to make new things!).  So I took two recipes and made my own version using as many local ingredients as I good.  The result is KWimchi, or KW-Chi, or a Kimchi for KW.

Trying to emphasize the ingredients we have available from local farms this kimchi is a bit more of what Sandor Katz would call a Kraut-Chi.  Regardless of what you call it, it is delicious enough to eat by itself (which I’ve been doing lately!).

Our recipe is based on these two:

The Kitchn’s How to Make Easy Kimchi at Home

Nourished Kitchen’s Hot, Salty & Sour: My Kimchi Recipe

Most of the meals we made last week ended up coming from a great book that I picked up from the library.  The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters is a cookbook in the true sense of the word.  It features many recipes but also explains the process of making different foods.  For example, before giving a recipe for sautéed broccoli, she talks about the best methods for sautéing vegetables.  The recipes in the cookbook are quite good but the goal of the cookbook is to empower the reader to be able to create new recipes, using the book as a starting point.  Thus I felt inspired to cook the way I used to cook more often in the past—by making things up!

My favorite dish of the week was one those Alice Waters-inspired dishes, it was a side of stir-fried radishes, asparagus, and zucchini with peanuts and chili to go with pea soup and fresh sourdough bread.  (Sorry, no pictures, our camera lens is getting fixed!)

Speedy Spicy Peanut Stir Fry

• 2 Tbs. oil or clarified butter
• 1 tsp. sesame oil
• 5-6 radishes, coarsely chopped
• ½ pound asparagus, ends broken off, chopped slightly diagonally
• 1 small zucchini, quartered lengthwise, then sliced ¼-inch thick
• ½ cup peanuts, finely chopped
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp (or more) crushed red chilies
• Salt
• Pepper

Over medium-high heat fry chopped radishes with the lid on so they steam a bit while frying.  Stir every few minutes.  After about 6-7 minutes add the chopped asparagus and zucchini, along with the chopped peanuts, minced garlic, and crushed red chilies.  Fry, stirring, just long enough for the zucchini and asparagus to be starting to brown, add salt and pepper, and serve.

Optional: Add tofu, and serve over rice!

Yeah, that dish turned out really awesome!  The vegetables were all still slightly crunchy but soft enough to be delightful to eat.  The chilies were quite spicy although they were balanced by the peanuts.  I’m still quite grateful to Joel at Well Preserved for pointing out that radishes and peanuts belong together.

Getting back to the point of this post, this week’s meal plan features dishes from The Art of Simple Food, as well as a vegetarian grilled dinner adapted from a recipe in the LCBO’s Food and Drink magazine.  We will be leaving next weekend for a trip to Michigan with my parents so the meal plan ends with Friday.  There will be no plan posted next week (but I look forward to my mom’s meal plans!).

June 24-30

As always, linking up at Menu Plan Monday!  

For several years I was a vegetarian*.  Because those years were very formative years for me as a cook I have continued to prepare mostly vegetarian meals since my return to occasionally eating meat.  In my view veggie burgers do not replace meat burgers.  They are simply a different food, probably owing more to falafel for their origin than any burger made with meat.   The beauty of a veggie burger is how easy it is to modify and adapt recipes to make them unique and new.

This recipe by Emma at From Scratch Club is a great one and we had an easy time making it and an even easier time finishing off the final product at the dinner table.  Served on top of fresh English Muffins and accompanied by skillet-roasted radishes with scallions and peanuts it was a  very satisfying summer meal, all cooked over the grill (which in my mind makes a meal feel like summer).

Spelt English Muffins

Modified from Joy of Cooking (Aka, my most indispensable cookbook!)

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbs. warm water
• 2 ¼ tsp. active dry yeast
• 1 cup water
• ½ cup warm milk (or soy milk)
• 2 tsp. honey (or maple syrup or sugar)
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 cups whole spelt flour (or whole wheat flour)
• 3 Tbs. butter or margarine
• 2 cups all-purpose flour

Stir together in a large bowl the warm water with the yeast and let stand for 3-5 minutes.  Add the 1 cup of water, warm milk, honey and salt and mix together.  Gradually add the spelt flour and stir for 1-2 minutes.  Cover the bowl and let the sponge rise for about 1 ½ hours, until it is very bubbly.

Mix in the butter and then gradually add the all-purpose flour.  When you can no longer stir the dough it’s time to knead.  Knead until the dough is smooth but still somewhat sticky (you may need to use slightly more or less flour than called for).  Generously flour a surface and roll the dough out to a thickness of ½ inch.  Using a round cookie cutter or a glass cup (I prefer to use a pint glass) cut out the muffins and transfer them to a floured baking sheet or large plate and cover with cloth.  Allow the dough to rise until doubled in volume, 45 minutes to 1 hour.

English Muffins are cooked in a skillet rather than an oven.  If you make them on a grill you can get the best of both worlds plus a nice smoky flavor.  If using a charcoal grill push the coals to one side of the grill for an indirect heat, otherwise you may scorch the muffins without actually cooking them evenly.  If using your stove heat the skillet over medium heat.  When the skillet is hot melt 1-2 table spoons of butter or margarine.  When the butter is bubbling add as many risen muffins as will fit in the skillet.  Cover the skillet or grill and wait 2 minutes, then check to see if they are lightly browned and flip the muffins.  Cover for 1 more minute then remove to a cooling rack or a plate covered with a towel.  If the muffins turn out undercooked in the center allow them to cook a little bit longer at a lower heat.

Black Bean Mushroom Burgers

Adapted from Elle M’s recipe on From Scratch Club

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked black beans (or a large 14oz can)
• 4 Tbs. reserved bean liquid
• 1 cup onions, chopped
• 1 cup mushrooms, chopped
• 2 cups greens (chard/spinach/mustard/kale)
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp. paprika
• 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup oats
• 2 Tbs. flax seeds

Fry the onions and greens over medium low heat for 3-4 minutes.  Add the mushrooms and spices and continue frying for 5-7  more minutes, until the mushrooms are soft.  Mash the black beans and add the other ingredients to them.   Add the reserved bean liquid (or 4 Tbs. water), oats, and flax seeds and mix everything together.

Use an ice cream scoop (or large spoon) to measure out each burger and transfer to a hot frying pan (or a cast iron skillet on the grill).  Cover and cook for 4-5 minutes, then flip and cook another 4-5 minutes. Serve on top of those delicious English Muffins with your favorite burger/sandwich condiments!

Roasted Radishes with Scallions and Peanuts

Thank you to Well Preserved for the Radish-Peanut combination idea!  (This is a very easy side and tasted great alongside the sandwiches.)

Ingredients:

• 4-6 radishes, cut into quarters
• 2-3 scallions, chopped
• ½ cup peanuts
• 2 Tbs. oil or butter
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• Salt and pepper

Heat the oil in a skillet over the grill (or stove) and when hot add all the ingredients.  Cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally until the radishes and scallions are beginning to brown.  Try one radish and when it has softened to your liking the dish is ready.

———————————

*I was a vegetarian and continue to eat a mostly plant-based diet out of concern for the planet and the people and animals that live here (and will hopefully continue to live and thrive here!).  In fact, this meal can easily be prepared vegan by using dairy alternatives.

This week’s meal plan is lacking Monday and Tuesday because we will be out of town for Madame’s work conference in Niagara!  The boys and I plan to hit up a local nut farm and go searching for strawberries too since rumor has it they are ripe there…. Oh yeah, and then we’re going to Madame’s parent’s house for Father’s Day weekend, so there’s a gap on both ends of this meal plan, lucky me—a vacation (and I love helping cook when we go home to our parent’s house, but I don’t have to make the plan!!).

Since this week is lacking on menu ideas, if you feel like you need more ideas just check out last week’s menu which was so good, every day’s meal was wonderful and almost all were new to us.   Shaved Asparagus Pasta was pretty much the easiest meal I’ve ever cooked, I recommend it as an easy seasonal meal!  The meal originally comes from Martha Stewart, but The Red Spoon has a much more detailed version of it that is quite helpful.

June 10-16

These days the menu features lots of green items.  It’s wonderful.  It also would seem that there is some debate on the internet (and maybe beyond) as to whether it’s healthier to eat leafy greens raw or cooked.  Since my 3-minute internet research session was inconclusive I’ll stick to just not worrying about it, and will cook them sometimes and sometimes not.  Basically I will let the recipe and my stomach decide what sounds best (which reminds me of this interview I started to read last night).  For further reading on cooking leafy greens try reading this article about Kale and its recent popularity.

Looking back at least week, one great meal was Cream of Asparagus Soup with Fresh Cheesy Garlic Bagels!  We ate it last night and like I just said, it was a great meal, especially the fresh bagels, which were topped with cranberry goat cheese (since we rarely buy cream cheese).  Let me just say, once you start putting goat cheese on bagels it’s unlikely you’ll ever go back to cream cheese…

Spring is beginning to arrive at the market and that is good.  It also is beginning to arrive in my backyard where I’ve been able to harvest small amounts of leaves from various young plants—dandelions, mustard, spinach, kale, and lettuce.  So this is good.  However, asparagus hasn’t come yet (Friday we will get some from Bailey’s!) so it still kind of feels like Spring isn’t fully here yet.  At the Kitchener Market we were able to pick up some local greenhouse arugula and chard, but neither of those really makes me feel like spring the way the asparagus will.

Sunday afternoon we went for a hike at Rattlesnake Point which is on the Escarpment that looks out over Lake Ontario.  It was beautiful!  We joined two of Madame’s brothers and their spouses, had a lovely picnic, played some Frisbee and kicked around a soccerball, hiked, enjoyed the warmth of sun, and had a great time!  When we got home instead of doing our Cinco de Mayo feast we had guacamole (a mini, non-local celebration!) and a frozen Beet, Potato, & Mushroom Casserole.  Thus we will celebrate Siete de Mayo.  I checked that phrase on google and the only interesting thing I found was a blog from a US surgeon in Afghanistan from two years ago.  His reason cited was the same as mine, well not the same really in any way other than the fact that when you can’t celebrate Cinco de Mayo you celebrate when you are able!  So, come on over for some great Mexican food on Tuesday night if you’re nearby!

The Eggplant Parmesan will be made with local greenhouse eggplants.  Kind of hilarious, and strange… but I was excited to eat something different and pretend that it’s summer.  Tonight’s Penne with Cabbage is something I’ve made before, but a long time ago.  It’s simple and tasty.   Also, I’m branching out this week, or returning to my roots–the Moosewood Cookbook is featured this week in two recipes, Eggplant Parmesan and Spanokapita.  Should be great!