Garlic Scape Pesto

I'm learning that making a fresh pesto is as easy as blending up whatever greens and garlic you may have on hand with some lemon, nuts, olive oil, and water.  No special measurements needed.

For this pesto, I used some lovely garlic scapes from my CSA in place of mature garlic.  [Garlic scapes, I learned, are the "thinnings" from the garden.  To grow garlic (or anything else, really) you plant a bunch of seeds, and then pick some of the shoots to thin them out as they grow.]

For the greens, I used kale and beet greens.  My bullet-style blender is small, so I blended the greens and garlic with the lemon, oil, and water, and put the results in a bowl.  Then I blended the walnuts with some oil and water and mixed the result into the same bowl.  It made for an artsy and unusual pesto presentation that tasted just the same as regular pesto when spooned over whole-wheat pasta.

Bok Choy Salad

I had an entire head of bok choy and no appetite for anything Asian.

So, I took to Google and searched for "unusual bok choy recipe."

To my delight, I found an idea from a blogger who I happen to know in real life (outside the blogosphere!).

The Dirty Radish had a recipe for raw baby bok choy salad.  Like her, I had never before considered the possibility of eating bok choy raw.  It's amazing!

Her recipe still skewed a bit Asian for my taste last evening, but I used the concept, and sliced the stems very thinly, as she suggested.  My bok choy was decidedly not "baby" bok choy, but it wasn't too bitter at all.  The resulting salad was delicious.

My husband and I split what turned out to be about four cups of bok choy.  What a way for each of us to get 1/3 of our recommended daily allowance of calcium (more, in fact, than in a glass of milk).

Head of bok choy, leaves chopped and stems sliced thinly
Raisins (to taste)
Walnuts (to taste)
Olive oil (to tatste)
Balsamic vinegar (to taste)

I am in the middle of reading "Eat to Live" by Dr. Furhman.  This salad was my recognition that "the salad is the main dish."

Grilled Carrots with Carrot-Greens Pesto

If you Google “carrot greens,” you will come up with a lot of conflicting information about whether or not they’re edible.  I didn’t find any sufficiently authoritative source (a public-health organization like a hospital or a government agency) saying that carrot greens were toxic, but I did find a number of bloggers who posted recipes using carrot greens, and who lived to blog again.

After two weeks of cautiously using carrot greens only for making stock (can you see them in the pictures here and here?), I decided to try a straight-up, carrot-greens recipe.  My husband and I both ate this for dinner on Thursday and -- I’m pleased to report -- survived.

I took the fabulous idea for grilled carrots with carrot greens pesto from Not Eating Out in New York.  I agree with her wholeheartedly that this dish “just makes sense somehow.”  I followed her recipe almost exactly (halving the carrots, blanching the greens, etc.), but used my own pesto recipe (excluding the kale and rosemary).  Actually, my own recipe is remarkably similar to hers, with only the addition of some fresh lemon juice and the omission of salt. 

I served the carrots as a side dish to plain, baked chicken, and put the pesto all over both the carrots and the chicken.  It was amazing.  In contrast to last week’s kale pesto, which blended into a smooth, creamy sauce, the carrot-greens pesto retained the chunkiness that is more characteristic of a typical (basil-based) pesto sauce.  The carrot greens have a fresh, herby, “carrot-y” flavor that is hard to describe but easy to appreciate. 

Even my husband liked the carrots and pesto, though he did complain at the outset that carrot greens are not food, and that they are meant to be thrown away.  The funny thing is, I left about a quarter inch of greens attached to the carrots, and my husband left those behind on his plate.  I pointed out to him that leaving the attached greens behind was silly; they were, after all, the same greens that formed the pesto.  In response, he reiterated his position that one does not eat carrot greens, and then asked me if I was a rabbit.  Some fights are not worth having: He was taking a big bite of pesto covered chicken as he said it.   

This was a great recipe that I’ll definitely make again.  That is, of course, if I live that long after having eaten carrot greens in the first place.

Spring Greens and Rosemary Pesto Pasta

Basil isn't in season yet, but that doesn't mean you have to forego fresh pesto sauce!  This version substitutes kale for basil, and is really amazing.

1 pound of whole-wheat pasta
3-4 cups kale, stems removed
1 cup of olive oil
1/2 cup of shredded Parmesan cheese
1 cup of walnuts
1 clove of garlic, chopped
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
Sprigs of fresh rosemary

Start a pot of water for the pasta.  Cook pasta according to package directions.

Meanwhile, put kale, olive oil, cheese, walnuts, garlic, and lemon juice in a high-powered blender.  Blend until smooth.  Top with rosemary.

Drain the pasta and serve with sauce, additional Parmesan cheese, and cracked black pepper.

Who needs basil?!

Carrot Cake Oatmeal

The more I read food blogs, the more I notice an absolute obsession with oatmeal.  Kath Eath Real Food.  The Gracious Pantry.  There are many others.

I never shared the obsession.  I always thought oatmeal was...just...okay.

I was wrong.

The problem was that I had never gotten creative enough with my ingredients.  And that I had never included any egg whites (who knew?).

This recipe will work with regular or instant oats.  If you use instant / packet oats, be sure the only ingredients are oats (or other whole grains / seeds) and maybe a pinch of salt.  No sugar.  No flavorings.  No colors.  No other ingredients at all.  In general, I would recommend steel-cut oats or other long-cooking, minimally-processed oats.  But instant is what I happened to have on hand.

This will make the world's most filling breakfast, given the protein from the oats, the egg whites, and the nuts, and the fiber from the oats and the carrot.  You might not feel a desire to eat again all day!

One packet of instant oats
Water, according to packet instructions
2 egg whites
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon maple syrup
1 cup of finely grated carrot (about 3 carrots' worth)
small handful of walnuts
sprinkle ground cloves
sprinkle ground nutmeg
sprinkle ground cinnamon

Prepare the oatmeal according to instructions.  When the oatmeal has been fully prepared, stir in the (raw) egg whites.  Fear not -- the heat of the oatmeal will cook them!  You will be amazed at how fluffy the oats get when you stir in the egg whites.

Add the rest of the ingredients and stir.

Prepare to become obsessed.

Kale Waldorf Salad

This one was easy and fun.

I threw together some fresh kale, dried figs, raisins, and walnuts in a bowl.  Then I put in about a half a cup of fat-free Greek yogurt and stirred to coat.  I diced up half an apple a put the pieces on top for a delicious Waldorf-style salad!

Thanksgiving Cheeseball

The most fun food at our Thanksgiving table this year was my sister's amazing, home-made cheeseball.  With three kinds of cheese rolled in nuts and herbs, it's indulgent and delicious.  [I won't divulge her secret recipe!]

This year's addition of grape plumes might have been tasty with the cheese, but the world will never know.  My toddler ate every single grape off of the skewers before anyone else got a chance!

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Caramelized Grapes

When I saw Brussels sprouts and grapes together in one dish on the cover of this month’s Whole Living Magazine, I knew I HAD to try the recipe.

As usual, I went off the reservation (not wanting to add salt, not having any thyme, and forgetting yet again to purchase any balsamic vinegar). But, I figured, how bad could Brussels sprouts and grapes roasted in a bit of olive oil and then sprinkled with cracked black pepper and chopped walnuts be?

I spread quartered Brussels sprouts and whole, red grapes on a tray until the ratio looked right to me. Then I gave everything the lightest coating of olive oil and popped it in the oven for 15 minutes at 450 degrees. Roasted brown and caramelized sticky, the results were ooey-gooey but not at all too sweet. I tossed the mixture with cracked black pepper and added some chopped raw walnuts (hard to say how much…just until it was about the ratio I wanted).

Very easy and very delicious, plus fancy enough to look like it took all day. I might make this again and serve this thoroughly unexpected side dish at Thanksgiving!

Fall Harvest Dinner Party

My husband and I entertained friends for dinner last night, which is not something we do often.  It was easy for me to plan a menu, though, because I knew I wanted to start with fresh, seasonal ingredients.  I also knew I had a bunch of kale in the 'fridge that it was time to use.

The menu?

Butternut Squash and Green Apple Soup
Green Salad with Pomegranate and Walnuts [No recipe: Just romaine lettuce, pomegranate arils, and walnuts with apple-cider vinegar and dijon mustard mixed together as dressing]
Pumpkin and Kale Pasta with Sausage

Here are my ingredients.  Literally the only things I cooked with that are not pictured are olive oil, vegetable broth, and walnuts (forgot to put them on the table!).  I'm pretty sure this is what it means to eat a plant-based, whole-foods diet: The natural plants overwhelm the meat, cheese, bread, and pasta!

Veg Up!

On Saturday morning, my wonderful husband offered to cook breakfast.

On the menu?

Pancakes, eggs, and sausage.

Delicious, for sure, but not exactly a plant-based, whole-foods meal.  I wasn't going to turn down such a wonderful offer, though, so I looked for ways to "veg up."

I added some walnuts and warmed some frozen blueberries to top the pancakes, and then mixed some cooked frozen spinach into my scrambled eggs.  These simple additions filled the meal with vitamins and minerals and made a meal of otherwise empty calories thoroughly nourishing.  The best part?  It was about what I could ADD, not what I had to take away.

The overall healthfulness of the meal was also helped by the fact that my husband used relatively "clean" ingredients.  The pancake mix and sausages were relatively clean from Trader Joe's, and he used yolks from only half the eggs (4 egg whites with only 2 yolks, scrambled together and then split amongst the family).  Even the ketchup is the organic kind with no high-fructose corn syrup.

Pomegranate Chicken Salad

As part of the unfamiliar produce I've been buying lately, I picked up a pomegranate at Trader Joe's last weekend.  Fearful that it would spoil, I faced it down this evening, learning online how to de-seed it from various websites, and then having fun watching the recommendations work wonders.

I first cut the pomegranate into chunks.

And then I de-seeded it by turning the chunks inside out underwater.

Then I rinsed off the remaining pulp.

And added my glorious pomegranate seeds to a salad of kale, walnuts, and leftover rotisserie chicken, topped with cracked black pepper.  I made a quick dressing of apple cider vinegar and dijon mustard whisked together, and enjoyed my tart combination!