Shi-so Nice!

Okay, my amazing friend Masami just left a package of homemade goodies on my front steps.  Shiso and sesame pesto, basil and walnut pesto and shiso juice.  I just finished off a selection of toast triangles with pesto and others with ginger pear jam and finished it off with a refreshing glass of shiso juice.  Thanks M!  I only recently became familiar with shiso from Masami this year when she offered me a leaf off her plant.  To my limited taste buds I felt like it had a really savoury flavour like a basil or curry plant.  It was really delicious though  and I could easily imagine it eaten raw and being roughly chopped and placed in a salad, sandwich or on top of a pizza.  With a little research I found out that shiso is the japanese name for perilla.  It's an annual herb with purple or green leaves that are slightly serrated.  It's from the mint family and is rich in minerals and vitamins and has anti- inflammatory.  I'm a fan! 

Beautiful Beans

Aren't these amazing? Some tri-colour and orca beans from my garden.  The purple splotched ones are from my C.S.A bin.  They look a little different when boiled though.  Do you have any good bean recipes?

Zucchini Cake with Crunchy Lemon Glaze

This is one amazing cake.  My friend Sarah made me this cake for my birthday last year.  It's from the David Lebovitz blog.  If you're not familiar with him, you should definitely check out his blog.  He's an American baker who moved to Paris motivated by his passion for French cooking. This is my second time making this cake.  I used the zucchini from my garden and it tastes like summer.  The refreshing sweet glaze on this spicy zucchini cake is a perfect August dessert.

Cake:
1 Cup almonds, pecans, or walnuts (toasted)
2 Cup flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. sea salt
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
3 large eggs
1 3/4 Cup sugar
1 Cup olive oil
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/2 Cup grated zucchini

Glaze:
1/4 Cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/3 Cup granulated sugar
1 Cup powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Grease a 10 cup bundt cake pan.  Grease with butter and dust with flour and tap of excess.

2. Pulse the nuts in food processor until finely chopped.

3.  In a bowl; sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg, set aside.

4. In the bowl of stand mixer, beat eggs, 1 3/4 Cup sugar, olive oil for 3 minutes on medium speed until light and fluffy.  Scrape sides then add vanilla.

5. Mix in dry ingredients, then stir in nuts and zucchini.

6. Spoon into cake pan and bake for 45-50 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean and cake pulls away from pan.

7. Make glaze by whisking ingredients together.  Let cake cool for 10 minutes, brush glaze or cake then cool completely.

Garden Fresh Rhubarb Crumble

Rhubarb crisp is one of my favourite desserts and I've always been excited when someone has made one for dessert and shared it with me.  But, I've recently learned how easy it is to make.  Since, I've made four batches in the last two weeks.  So tart and comforting.  Time to share the recipe.  It's that good.

(This is a really rough estimate.  I didn't measure anything and added additional rhubarb and flour.  And, it worked)

5 Cups Rhubarb

1 Cup Brown Sugar

2/3 Cup Regular Oatmeal (not instant)

1/2 Cup + 1-2 Tablespoon flour

5 Tablespoons butter

Preheat oven to 400. 

Pick rhubarb from garden 

7-8 stalks

Chop rhubarb and add flour and brown sugar

Mix

In separate bowl or mixer; add butter, sugar, oats and flour

Mix

Put chopped rhubarb mixture in casserole dish, pack down

Add rolled oats topping over rhubarb and pack down

Place in the oven for 35 - 40 minutes or until golden brown on top

Dish into bowl and serve with ice cream!

 

Garden Fresh Carrot Cilantro Soup

It was harvest time for my 'Jeanette' and 'Nutra Red' carrots.  I used some of them for a big pot of soup.

2 Tablespoon Olive Oil

1 Onion

3-4 cloves of Garlic

5-6 Cups of Chopped Carrots

1 Can of Coconut Milk

4-5 Cups of Vegetable Broth

1/4 Cup of Chopped Cilantro

pick carrots from garden

cut tips and ends off and save for broth

make broth from scraps from garden and garlic and onion

In separate pan, sweat onion, garlic, and ginger

chop carrots

mix carrots with onion mixture and cook until carrots are tender at medium temperature

add broth to carrot/onion mixture when carrots are soft

add coconut milk when broth is starting to boil

pick cilantro from the garden

add cilantro to soup 

mix and turn off the heat

mix in food processor 

garnish and enjoy! 

Cooking with Edible Flowers

My Mom wanted me to mention edible flowers in my blog.  It's a pretty great idea.  These are the flowers that I found in my own backyard.  Nasturtium, mustard green, rose, marigold and zucchini and chive blossoms.  I gave them all a taste test. They would all do well in a savoury salad (the chive in particular).  The nasturtium and mustard green were really peppery.   I actually enjoyed the flavour of the zucchini blossom the most though.   Perhaps, I'll give this Stuffed Squash Blossom Recipe a try.  Perhaps you should too! 

Stuffed Squash

• 2 squash blossoms
• 2 to 4 teaspoons cheese (goat, blue, fontina, cheddar, or cream cheese with a dab of grated parmesan)
• 1 teaspoon butter

To prepare squash blossoms, gently reach into the centre of each, pinch out the stamens or pistil, and discard. Rinse the flower carefully and invert to drain.  You can cook the blossoms with the stems or break the straight stems off first.  

Fill blossoms (1 to 2 tsp each), then loosely twist tips closed.  Cook stuffed flowers in melted butter in a frying pan over medium heat until wilted and tinged with brown.  1 1/2 to 2 minutes. 

For a variation, you can dip the squash blossoms in all-purpose flower, then in beaten egg, and brown them in olive oil with a few cloves of unpeeled garlic. 

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Community Supported Agriculture- Week 3

This is my portion of the harvest box today.  Potatoes, broccoli, swiss chard, bok choy, radishes, green onion, kolrabi and daikon radish.  I made a stir fry with local shrimp that I bought from The Daily Catch on Commercial Drive. I used the asian greens, broccoli and radishes in it.  It was delish.  I sat in the remaining sunbeams of this evening and sipped on the Apricot Wheat Ale from St-Ambroise Brewery from Montreal.  Yep, life is pretty good! 

Community Supported Agriculture- Week 2

This is the harvest box from the CSA for week 2.  This week included 2 types of chives, sage, radish, garlic scapes, kale, asian greens, bok choy, lettuce, cabbage, and  kolrabi.  Tonight, I made a vegetable broth with the remnants from last weeks harvest box (tops and peels) and herbs from my garden at home.

Complete harvest box

Vitamin Booster

Okay, I haven't tried this recipe yet. But, I'd like to.  There are a lot of shrub roses along the bike path down the street from my house.  I gave more information about this book in The Backyard Reader section.  This recipe is from the book Grow Your Own Drugs by James Wong.  

Rosehip syrup is an old-fashioned winter remedy for boosting vitamin levels and keeping colds at bay.  Gather the hips in October and November when they're ripe and soft.  Children love this syrup, and it's good poured over pancakes, waffles, ice cream and rice pudding.


Vitamin C- Rich Rosehip Syrup


250 g fresh rosehips
5 cloves (optional)
1 cinnamon stick (optional)
2 cups (500 ml) water
about 1/2 cup (125 g) sugar


1. Crush the rosehips slightly, and place in a pan.  Add the cloves and cinnamon stick, if using, then add the water.  Simmer, uncovered, for 20 mins.
2. Strain, then add the same amount of sugar as there is liquid.  Stir until dissolved and bring to a boil, then simmer for 10 mins.  Cool and filter into small sterilized bottles.


Use: For Children, give 2 tsp per day.  To drink as a cordial, dilute 1 part syrup to 5 parts water.  Or use instead of maple syrup for the dishes above.


Storage: Keep for 1 week in the refrigerator once opened.  Unopened, keeps for up to 1 year.

Community Supported Agriculture- Week 1

My friend Sarah and I are sharing a harvest box through the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture).  We are each paying $300 shares ($25 goes to the local food bank) for the year to receive half a box ration each of produce weekly from today (June 26) until late October.  All the produce is grown locally using volunteered residential properties.  We pick it up weekly at a location in Mount Pleasant.  It's really great incentive to eat more greens! This is the selection that I received this week. 

my harvest box (asian greens, kale, swiss chard, spinach, bok choy, radishes and garlic scapes)

 

A volunteer CSA residential farm



my first meal - bean, rice and veggie stirfry

  



Farmer's Market Buys

I visited the Trout Lake Farmers Market on Saturday.  The produce wasn't quite in full swing yet, so my shopping tote was a bit light.  The vibe is always worth the visit though.   I did, however, splurge on some herbal cosmetic products.  A menses tincture with cramp bark to get rid of (guess what?)....cramps!  It's worth a try because I'm generally opposed to pharmacy products but end up popping Advil under duress every month.  I also purchased some natural toothpaste and deodorant. I'm most excited with the toothpaste because I'm always looking for more natural alternatives to the generic superstore brands.  The main ingredient is olive oil and a few others that seem to make up something similar to a natural liquid soap.  The addition of peppermint oil leaves you with a nice aftertaste.  The deodorant smells like lemon balm.  So far so good.   This is the link to there online store. Royal Herbs

Rosemary's Perfect Cream

This recipe is from one of the most treasured and dog eared books I have in my collection. This cream is rich and quenching. And any person that has ever wondered how moisturizing cream is made should try it. You can create your own little science lab in your kitchen.

This is one of my favourite recipes from

Rosemary Gladstar's book Herbal Recipes for Vibrant Health

Rosemary's Perfect Cream

Waters

2/3 cup distilled water (or rose water)
1/3 cup aloes vera gel
1 or 2 drops essential oil of choice
vitamins A and E as desired

Oils

3/4 cup apricot, almond, olive or grapeseed oil
1/3 cup coconut oil or cocoa butter
1/4 cup lanolin
1/2 to 1 ounce grated beeswax

1. Combine the waters in a measuring cup. (Tap water can be used instead of distilled water, but it will sometimes introduce bacteria and encourage the growth of mold). Set aside.
2. In a double boiler over low heat, combine the oils. Heat them just enough to melt.
3. Pour the oils into a blender and let them cool to room temperature. The mixture should become thick, creamy, semisolid, and cream coloured. This cooling process can be hastened in the refrigerator, but keep an eye on it so it doesn't become too hard.
4. When the mixture has cooled, turn on the blender at its highest speed. In a slow, thin drizzle, pour the water mixture into the centre vortex of the whirling oil mixture.
5. When most of the water mixture has been added to the oils, listen to the blender. You can slowly add more water, beating it in by hand with a spoon, but don't overbeat! The cream will thicken as it sets.
6. Pour into cream or lotion jars. Store in a cool location.