ZUCCHINI BREAD

It has begun!  That period where the summer harvest (zucchini) get away from you and you run out of things to do with them.  Enter the Zucchini Bread.  Subtly sweet with a fresh, green fields taste.  I also make a lot of ratatouille once the tomatoes really kick in.  So far this year I've harvested more than the last 3 years combined....don't know why but I'm cooking and baking the heck out of this vegetable.  I can go out in the garden in the morning and there will be a small to medium sized zucchini but by the time I return in the afternoon it's the size of a baby's arm.

Preheat oven to 350

Ingredients:

Dry ingredients

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 cup oat flour (make your own by putting whole oats in your spice grinder) 

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground mace (or nutmeg)

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup organic raw coconut sugar

Wet:

1 cup over ripe bananas (mashed)
1 cup shredded and chopped zucchini (keep the skin but if you want you can remove the seeds using a teaspoon)
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Optional:
1/2 cup walnuts almonds (chopped)
1/2 cup raisins

Thoroughly mix all dry ingredients together (a whisk works well for this).  In a separate bowl, mix all wet ingredients.  You can put the wet ingredients in a blender to mix, but leave the zucchini out.  In a large bowl, combine both the wet (including the zucchini) and dry ingredients until just mixed.  Don't
over mix.  Pour bread mix into a 9 X 5 X 3 inch loaf pan (paper pan, parchment paper lined, non-stick or silicon pan).  Bake for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out dry. Remove the pan from the oven and turn the loaf out onto a cooling rack and wait about 45 minutes to an hour to slice into it.  It continues to cook outside of the oven so this is a critical step.  If you want it warm you can always warm it in the oven before you serve it.  Serve it with some of my homemade cream cheeze.

BOEUF BOURGUIGNON (Seitan and Red Wine Sauce)

This is a classic French dish with a WFPB n(o)il twist.  It's a lot of ingredients, but don't be scared.   It's well worth it!

Ingredients:

8 oz bakin (either this recipe or your favorite fake bacon) chopped

3 Portabello Mushrooms varying sized chunks

1 pint sliced crimini mushrooms or baby white mushrooms

24 oz. Seitan (sliced or cut into chunks or a combination)

2 tablespoon whole wheat pastry flour

1 sweet onion thinly sliced

5 cloves garlic chopped

4 carrots peeled and cut 2" on the diagonal

2 tablespoons tomato paste

3 tablespoons brandy

1 cup dry red wine

2/12 cups salt and oil free Roasted Vegetable Stock  Plus extra for sauteing 

2 1/2 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped

1 bay leaf

1 red, yellow or orange bell pepper seeded and chopped

sea salt and pepper to taste

Method:

In a large, non-stick pan add the chopped Bakin, sliced onion, bell pepper, garlic and mushrooms.  Saute until onions are browned and mushrooms are soft.  use some stock to keep them from sticking.  Remove from the pan.  In the same pan, toss the Seitan with the flour and brown it for about 2 minutes.  Add back in the sauted vegetables and pour the brandy over the mixture.  If you're not familiar with flaming, remove the pan from the heat and using a long nosed lighter, flame the brandy and let it cook off the alcohol.  This helps de-glaze the pan.  Add the remaining liquids (stock and red wine), herbs (thyme and bay leaf), carrots and stir until well mixed.  Add salt and pepper to taste (start with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and go from there).  

Served over Smashed red potatoes and Saute' of Zucchini

SUMMER HARVEST BEGINS

An unusually hot spring kicked my Summer Harvest into and early Spring Harvest.  Can't wait for the rest to come in but lots of herbs, lettuce, corn, peppers and tomatoes, tomatoes tomatoes.  Already had more zucchini this year than I had all of last year.  Basil usually comes available late June and I have more than I know what to do with already.

But on the flip side, the Green Horned Tomato worms (which also like peppers, potatoes and eggplant) are already munching away.  Killed a 3/12 in one yesterday.  Got to get on more of that homemade organic spray of apple cider vinegar, garlic and cayenne pepper.  My trick is to follow the poop trail of the worm either early morning or late afternoon and it usually leads to a worm or two.  In case you're wondering what wasps are good for, they kill horn worms by laying their eggs on the worm and using it as nutrition.    Here's more information about these pests.

So, make some Aioli and enjoy a fresh picked organic tomato sandwich.

ICE CREAM SANDWICHES

I had some great ice cream at Cafe Gratitude last week and decided to make it.  No dairy, no eggs, no oil.
This is so rich and creamy you'd never know it wasn't heavy cream.


For the cookie:

2 Cups almonds
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoon soy lecithin
4 oz. Medjool dates Pitted
1/4 cup almond flour

Pulse everything together in a Cuisinart until it's well mixed.  When you're ready to roll it, sprinkle on a cutting board and roll to about 1/8 inch.  Cut in 4 inch round circles or 2" X 4" rectangles.  Put on parchment paper and freeze.

Ice Cream:

2 cups unsweetened almond milk
2 cups raw cashews (soaked for at least 8 hours)
1 vanilla bean (scraped, just the vanilla seeds inside the bean)
3/4 cup agave syrup
1/4 cup vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt

Blend all of the ingredients in a blender until smooth (no sandy feeling between on your fingers).   Using an ice cream maker, freeze according to your machine's instructions.  It will freeze to the same consistency as soft serve ice cream.  (My Cuisinart ice cream maker freezes in 20 minutes.  I then covered with plastic wrap and put the whole container back in the freezer.)

PEOPLE LOOK FOR GOOD EXCUSES TO SUPPORT THEIR BAD BEHAVIOR

In our fast paced lives it’s often easier if someone else does the research and we get the benefit of learning the results. (Case in point, the Paleo diet.  Yes, you probably will lose weight doing the diet.  Is it healthy or sustainable? The facts don’t support it.  Most people just hear meat is good for you, fat even better, forget about cholesterol and they think “now that’s the kind of diet I've been waiting for”.) But another problem with our fast paced lives is that we don’t care to read all of the information nor do we care where it came from, who backed the study, how many similar studies were done to support the claim and how many journal articles are written about it.  I can’t tell you how many people I have passed on information I have researched and shared with family and friends that in turn read a couple of sentences about the information learned in the study and decide they will pass it on to one of their friends and relatives when the advice I gave was actually for them. I know they say that the teacher will come when the student is ready, but often times the teacher is there and the student doesn't want to hear. 

The information shared on Dr. Oz for example, would probably kill you if you followed all of his advice.  He has so many conflicting stories I don’t know how anyone can know whether they are fat because they eat too much, have a bad thyroid, are lazy and want to diet without exercise and take a multi-vitamin and single supplements as a magic bullet as well.  Yikes!  I know that he’s extremely popular, but how can you possibly follow a single contradictory thing he says?  One day he’ll tell you to eat to lose weight and the next he’ll tell you to fast to lose weight.  And then people use his name illegally to sell products just because he said the name of their company once and people see the name Dr. Oz and they blindly buy the product figuring he did all the research…if he says it’s good it must be!

 I think that what’s going to really help is that slowly, as the WFPB way towards better nutrition takes hold, we as practitioners, students and teachers need to encourage people that we have helped to tell their doctors before beginning this program that they are going to do it and then have their doctor record the results in their charts as they make incredible changes in their health.  I have opened many a doctor’s eyes that poo-pooed what I was doing and now are starting to be believers when they see the change before their eyes.  We may not be able to do medically sanctioned human studies for a lot of chronic diseases, but if we affect a change based purely on diet and the outcome is recorded, at some point you have to believe that someone will listen and spread the word.

Ken Carlile

CHOCOLATE RASPBERRY CUPCAKES

I have to admit, I'm not a big chocolate fan.  I had to come up with something to make for my twin aunt's birthday that fit in with the WFPB lifestyle and it had to be easy.  I came across a recipe from Isa Chandra Moskowitz on the Forks Over Knives website and tweaked it just a little (Check out their websites for more amazing information and recipes).  The resulting cupcakes were both rich and delicious.  I've always loved raspberries and chocolate so the addition of the raspberry filling checked that box for me.

Preheat the oven to 350°

Ingredients:

Cupcakes Dry ingredients:
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/3 cup organic unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

13 BEAN SOUP

I had a bag of Bob's Red Mill 13 Bean soup, which is a little mis-leading because it's really just a mix of 13 different kinds of beans and lentils....ie. no spices, dehydrated veggies etc.  I prepared the bean mix somewhat according to the package.  Rinse and soak the beans (2 cups dry) overnight in about 2 quarts of water and then cook for about 3 hours.  Now that I had the cooked beans, what to do?  By the way, you can always use pre-packaged (canned) beans, make your own mix or any combination thereof.  I wanted to eliminate extra sodium so I cooked them with only sliced onions & garlic with a little liquid smoke.


6 cups Roasted Vegetable Stock (no or low sodium if you don't make your own)
2 tablespoons mellow red miso paste
1 tablespoon Better Than Bouillon Mushroom Base (optional)
1 teaspoon Marmite
4 tomatoes chopped (or a 15 oz can of diced tomatoes)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried tarragon
1 Yam peeled and cubed
1 carrot peeled and cubed
1 zucchini cut into chunks
1-2 cups cooked beans (as much or as little as you prefer)
2 cups mixed greens chopped (spinach, kale, swiss chard.  I buy Power Greens from Costco)
Cracked Black Pepper to taste (about 1 teaspoon)

In a large Pot add the stock, miso and bouillon.  Bring to a boil and make sure all of the miso has melted into the stock.  Add the carrots and yams and continue cooking for 25 minutes.  Add the beans, tomatoes and herbs and continue cooking for another 15 minutes.  Add the Zucchini an beans.  When it begins to boil again, remove from the stove and let it sit for awhile.  This is one of those things that actually tastes better the next day.  Before serving add the greens to the hot soup and serve with a crusty bread.  *I just ate this a day after I made it and I have to say it's one of the best soups I've ever made.....