Kenyan Curried Cabbage

I am normally not very partial to cabbage (which is why I still had some kicking around from last week's CSA delivery).  But this recipe changed my mind.

Cabbage is now at the top of my list!

[Which is a very good thing, because I still have another whole head of it in my fridge.  The CSA stops for no woman.]

My father-in-law has high blood pressure.  He recently researched foods that could help him to control it.  At the top of his list was turmeric.  My in-laws are AMAZING cooks, but turmeric is not a spice they're used to using.  I promised to research some recipes for them.

It turns out that turmeric is a key ingredient in curry powder.  Curry is a staple food in my house, but my in-laws don't prefer "hot" foods, so I imagine that they don't eat curry very often.  I didn't want to suggest a curry that they wouldn't enjoy, so I went looking for something a little more unique.

I thought this recipe for Kenyan Curried Cabbage, adapted from Kayotic Kitchen, would appeal to them.  The recipe uses wheat flour and milk, both of which are off limits to my poor father-in-law.  However, I imagine that gluten-free flour, and soy or nut milk, would work equally well in place of the wheat and dairy here.

1 medium head of cabbage
1 medium onion
2 medium carrots
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 tablespoons whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup low-fat or skim milk plus 3 tablespoons of low-fat or skim milk
1 teaspoon curry powder (contains turmeric!)

Shred the cabbage, onion, and carrots.

[I should note that I had gorgeous blue/purple carrots from my CSA, but that any kind of carrot would work fine.]

Put the olive oil in a skillet and cook the onions for about two minutes over medium-high heat, until they begin to soften.  Add the cabbage and carrots.  Cook for an additional two minutes, until the cabbage begins to soften.

In a small bowl, combine the flour, 3 tablespoons of milk, and the curry powder.  Stir until the lumps are gone and it forms a smooth paste.

Add the paste to the onions, cabbage, and carrots.

Stir well to coat.  Cook for about one minute, and then add an additional 1/2 cup of milk (I measured the milk into the same bowl I used to make the paste, in order to grab the remaining curry powder).

Cook until the cabbage and onions reach your desired consistency.  For me, I like my veggies to be barely cooked.  The equivalent for a steak would be "still mooing."  I cooked my version until the cabbage and onions were softened on the outside, but retained a nearly "raw" crunch on the inside.  I achieved this in two to three additional minutes.

The result was sweet, spicy, creamy and crunchy, all at the same time.  Something about the taste and texture of this recipe made me really want to add raisins to it, so I sprinkled them over my individual serving.

Ahem.  Serving(s).  I went back for seconds, thirds, and fourths.

I hope you enjoy it, Bud, and that it has the intended effect!

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."

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!

Carrot-Raisin Salad

This is the exceptionally sad story of my hyper-local carrots.

Last weekend, I looked out over my deck to the space where my daughters and I had a small vegetable garden in the back yard last summer.  Much to my surprise, I saw carrot greens sticking up!

In case I doubted that carrots were still growing locally in December, my own neglected garden showed me that a beautiful bunch of carrots could indeed be harvested in Maryland the week before Christmas.

Look how excited I am about my carrots!!

I brought them in the house and intended to wash them later.  Later turned into a few days, and the carrots were still in the fridge -- unwashed, with greens still attached -- when my husband came home from a business trip.

When he got home, he took one look at them and threw them directly in the trash.

When I found out about this, I freaked out.  "Why would you throw out perfectly good carrots?!"

His response: "They were dirty."

I almost fainted.  "THEY ARE DIRTY BECAUSE THEY CAME FROM THE GROUND!"

The bleach-dunked, machine-lathed, pre-bagged "baby" carrots at the grocery store have clearly made an impression on my otherwise very smart and wonderful husband.

We clearly have a long way to go on our local food journey.

This recipe for carrot-raisin salad is what I would have done with my hyper-local carrots.  Instead, I did it with the other carrots in the 'fridge.  At least I can take solace in knowing that they are "clean."

Carrots, shredded (as much as you want)
Raisins (until the carrots-raisin ratio looks right to you)
Plain, fat-free Greek yogurt (enough to coat carrots and raisins lightly)

Put everything in a bowl and mix it together.

Sprinkle ground nutmeg over the top.

Easy and delicious.  If not hyper-local.

I handed a small bowl of this salad to my toddler while she was completely engrossed in an episode of "Fraggle Rock."  She broke her concentration long enough to say, "Mama, I love this snack!"

I guess it doesn't matter (that much) where our food comes from, as long as we enjoy it.  Right?

Oatmeal Apple Raisin Cookies

My mom makes the most incredible oatmeal raisin cookies.

She makes them every Christmas.  I have very fond memories of my sister and I helping her to make them, and of eating them through April because I kept asking for batch after batch.

Once I grew up and moved out on my own, she gave me recipe.  I have since attempted to make them every year at Christmas.  Every year, my cookies come out like crap.  I don't know what the problem is, other than that they require "my mother's love" as one of the ingredients.

So, this year, I have officially given up, and decided to try a variation.  The originals wouldn't have worked, anyway.

My mom's original recipe calls for vegetable shortening, 1.5 cups of refined sugar, white flour, and egg yolk.  These are all ingredients I try to avoid anyway, so maybe it's just as well to let her make them.  I can enjoy them as a special treat when I visit her house!

My new version uses unsweetened apple sauce in place of the vegetable shortening, 1 cup of maple syrup in place of the refined sugar (I cut water from the original recipe to compensate for the additional liquid), whole-wheat flour in place of the white flour, and two egg whites instead of one whole egg.

The result is a cookie that is in absolutely no way reminiscent of my mother's oatmeal raisins.  It's an entirely different cookie: more cake-y between the oats with a unique sweetness.  But still yummy!

The one thing I didn't change: Letting my girls help me make them.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup applesauce
1 cup maple syrup (still a whopping amount, but less sugar than the original)
2 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups uncooked oats (must not be "instant")
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup raisins

Preparation:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine apple sauce, maple syrup, egg whites, and vanilla extract.

In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients (through baking soda).

Combine wet and dry ingredients.  Stir well.

Add raisins and stir.

Drop by rounded teaspoon (about 1-inch balls) onto an un-greased non-stick tray.

Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes.

Enjoy!

Nutty Vanilla Butternut Squash & Kale Soup

Last weekend, I bought a bag of kale, an acorn squash, a butternut squash, and a spaghetti squash from Trader Joe’s. I was hoping to prove to myself that I could be overwhelmed with fresh, seasonal vegetables that I don’t usually eat, and find something to do with them anyway. I arrived home from work last night to find both the butternut squash and the spaghetti squash getting a little weird and mushy in spots. It was time to cook them before it would be too late!



The spaghetti squash was easy. I had cooked those before. I halved the squash (which took two knives and a high risk of personal impalement), scooped out the seeds, rubbed it with olive oil, and cooked it cut-side down on a baking sheet for 30 minutes in the oven at 350 degrees. Once the squash itself was in the oven, I cleaned the seeds and popped them in, too. They took about ten minutes to toast.





When the spaghetti squash came out of the oven, I let it cool and then scraped it with a fork into a plastic container. I put it straight in the fridge. I’ll figure out what to do with those gorgeous strands some other time.

Meanwhile, I was making somewhat more complex (but still easy!) Nutty Vanilla Butternut Squash and Kale Soup. The recipe was inspired by this recipe for Nutty Vanilla Sweet Potato and Kale Soup, and the comments on it, which suggested that it was possible to use butternut squash instead of sweet potato. I actually arrived that the recipe via This & That, a blog about cooking produce from the same CSA I just joined!

Ingredients:
1 large butternut squash
1 teaspoon of chopped garlic
1 can lite coconut milk
1 cup 1-percent milk
1 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
4 cups kale, trimmed, washed and torn into small pieces
1 vanilla bean
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup unsalted peanuts, for garnish
Shredded coconut, for garnish

Preparation:

Halve the butternut squash, scoop out the seeds, and then cook in the microwave for 15 minutes.



Heat a large pot on medium high. Spray with cooking spray and add squash (scooped out of the skin), cooking until it begins to brown. Stir in garlic.

Add coconut milk, milk, allspice, pepper and flakes.

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

Mash squash with potato masher or puree with immersion blender.

Add raisins, kale and vanilla and cover. Allow to cook for 8-10 more minutes, until kale is bright green.

Portion into bowls and garnish with 1 tbsp each peanuts and coconut.



The soup turned out fragrant and delicious, and was an excellent use of the butternut squash. My veggie-phobic husband ate his entire bowl (including the kale!) and even sopped up the remaining broth with a piece of bread. This was his first experience with kale, and he declared it “okay.” That’s very high praise from him!

The CSA Virgin really hates to “diagnose” her food. She would prefer to make a recipe, enjoy it, and be done. But, admittedly, there was room for improvement on this otherwise excellent concept. The soup came out a little thick (perhaps because of the substitution of butternut squash for sweet potatoes), so I think I’ll add a little water or vegetable broth to thin it next time. Neither my husband nor I is a big fan of thick, creamy soup.

The original recipe called for garam masala (an Indian spice blend). While I’d like to say that I used allspice because I didn’t have, or couldn’t find, garam masala, that’s not true. CSA Virgin purchased BOTH allspice AND garam masala at Whole Foods, and then grabbed the wrong one when she started to cook. Not a fatal error, but one I might correct next time.

Overall, I think my squash night was successful. I now have two bowls’ worth of Nutty Vanilla Butternut Squash and Kale Soup and an entire squash’s worth of spaghetti in the fridge.

Normally, the fridge is looking a little bare by the end of the work week, but not this week!