VEGETARIAN FOOD QUEST

Sunday, July 15, 2012

QUICK QUIZ

A couple of quiz questions from the Food Network Magazine:

1. According to the National Restaurant Association's Chef Survey, what is the top dessert trend for 2112?

pies
cupcakes
macaroons
ice cream

2. Which of these typically has the smallest profit margin?

wine
mixed green salad
pizza
rib-eye steak

3. A product can travel _________ miles and still be considered "local".

10
50
250
400

1. ice cream, Artisan and house-made
2. steak, restaurants often break even or lose money on steak dishes
3. 400 miles
Bottom line? Shop at your local farmers' market and get to know the real locals.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

SIMPLE SEASONAL BREAKFAST

so simple, so good

What's better than fresh peaches? Try this quick simple combination for breakfast or lunch.

Spread 1/2 flat bread with almond butter and a layer of fresh peaches. You can't eat just one!

(or make a sandwich for easier handling)

VEGAN COOKBOOKS

SUMMERFEST 2012...

I attended over 8 hours of cooking demos. From those demos and lectures, a myriad of cookbooks emerged as "the" books to purchase. I ended up buying, in my opinion, the very BEST two.

Let Then Eat Vegan! by Dreena Burton is a sweet little book filled with very inventive tasty recipes. She has a dynamic personality and its reflected in the food. Canadian born, Dreena has been creating vegan recipes for 20 years. She uses only whole ingredients, works with fresh, NO processed vegan substitutes or white flour. Dreena has three children so a lot of her recipes are very kid friendly.

Unprocessed by Chef AJ, contains over 100 easy, delicious, nutrient-rich and gluten-free recipes. I attended the class that challenged us to take the UNPROCESSED CHALLENGE. One lovely young woman in the audience had already lost 150 pounds. If you want to eat extremely healthy AND/OR you want to lose weight...try this book. Warning: OIL is an absolute NO NO. Chef AJ offers a basic 6 salad dressing, NO oil. I'll share this with you on a future blog.

Friday, July 13, 2012

AVOCADO BITES

ripe avocado cut and seasoned, now into the freezer

Try this one at lunch or snack time for a quick healthy pick me up. This is a good way to use avocados when they start to all ripen at the same time. Now buying the huge bag at Costco finally makes sense.

Sprinkle avocado slices with chile powder and sea salt. Freeze up to 4 hours. Serve

I just might be trying one of these in my next bloody mary.

SAVING A GARDEN'S HARVEST

Brother Jon knows I'm totally into my garden and harvesting all that I can gather. Received some great information from him this week regarding saving a garden's harvest AND links to many recipes for the use of this harvest.

Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences offer this site to help us preserve fresh foods and do it safely. New to their site this year is the Food Preservation Blog, updated regularly with tips that home food preservers can use as the gardening season progresses.

This site contains excellent articles on food safety, with specific questions being asked and answered.

http://extension.psu.edu/food-safety/food-preservation

Thursday, July 12, 2012

APPLE PANCAKE CIRCLES

each pancake contains a slice of apple

inspired by the Food Network magazine

INGREDIENTS:

buckwheat pancake batter to make 6-8 pancakes

cinnamon

vanilla

2 apples, skin on but cored and sliced about 1/3 inch thick

DIRECTIONS:

To the pancake batter, add the cinnamon and vanilla.

Place apple slices on the griddle. Cook on medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes. (I've only made these once; it might be a good idea to just par cook in microwave to soften)

After apple slices are starting to brown, carefully ladle some pancake batter over each apple slice.

When the bubbles appear, flip over and cook on the other side.

Serve with Agave, date syrup OR my blueberry compote (see blog).

side one is cooking with the batter

turned and awaiting side 2

TRAVEL AND GARDENS #3

The Community Garden, Shrewsbury, NJ

check it out

This is the most amazing project. I visited and supported this garden while I lived in NJ but it is OH so expanded. Students of Rumson Country Day volunteer their time to plant and work this vegetable and herb garden. These local students work with nature learn the benefits of growing and helping those in need. Hence, the name, From Seed to Need. These students plant, water and maintain this now very large garden. Seating is available for the public to rest and ponder.

Check out their site and contribute if you can. http://www.grovewestnj.com/garden.php

For those of you that may never see this garden nestled in a shopping center parking lot, I offer these pictures.