Delightfully Fresh Strawberry Spinach Salad

I stumbled upon this simple, but delightful combination at Torque Moto Cafe, a woman-owned space that seems to have been one of the local small business losses coming out of this pandemic. Although it’s bittersweet to share this ‘recipe’, this fresh and nourishing dish helps lift my spirits! Here’s my flexible take for you do what you’d like with it—

INGREDIENTS

strawberries

spinach (any mix of salad greens is equally delightful here!)

salt and pepper to taste

Make it a super healthy meal by adding your protein of choice—Try any combination of lightly roasted pecans, walnuts, pepitas, sunflower seeds, roasted garbanzos, edamame or even feta cheese.

I love this just as is, but if you’re a dressing-on-your-salad person, try a vinaigrette.

Vegetarian Quiche

As we look ahead to spring picnics with those we love, I finally took the leap into my first attempt at making quiche. I'm happy to report the kids cheerfully ate it (that’s the ultimate test these days) and I have lots of ideas for making it even yummier next time. It’s the perfect make-ahead-of-time dish to share outdoors. The chickens are happily laying eggs and the chard this week is beautiful, so I figure it is the season. Here’s my flexible recipe for future experimentation:

INGREDIENTS

For the Crust—

4 cups almond meal

1 tsp salt

4 heaping tbs coconut oil (melted)

2 eggs

As a Topping—

½ box (6 to 8) mushrooms, chopped in 1/4s, drizzled with olive oil and salted, baked at 400 until lightly crisped (about 10 minutes)

For the Filling—

Around 6 cups of greens, finely chopped (last time this was ½ bag of spinach and 3 large chard leaves, but kale, amaranth, dandelion, verdolagas --that is purslane, in English-- or even turnip greens would work!)

2 large leeks or 6 green onions or 1 medium onion, finely chopped 

3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped

1 tbs coconut or olive oil

8 eggs (to make 1 pie pan plus 4 cupcake-sized mini quiches)-- reduce to 6 eggs if you only want the pie. 

1 tsp salt (drop this a bit if you use an herb mix that already has salt)

2 tsp dried herbs or 2 tbs fresh herbs (This first time, I went with the dried --1 tsp Trader Joe’s 21 season salute and 1 tsp thyme--because I was cooking this on a late, rainy night and didn’t want to go harvest the fresh stuff. Next time, though, I’ll be sure to use fresh herbs, I’m thinking marjoram and rosemary. Fresh makes a big difference!)

2 heaping tbs nutritional yeast or ¼ to 1/2 cup cheese, whatever type floats your boat! My boat skips the cheese (C:)

pepper to taste

1 cup sun dried tomato

INSTRUCTIONS

For the Crust—

Mix salt and almond meal in a large bowl. Add in the coconut oil, then the eggs. It’s recommended that you let it chill for a while, but I skipped this step and it came out just fine! In a greased (just rub it down with coconut oil) pie pan, and/or cupcake tin lined with baking cups, press and pinch the dough in to form the crust. Set it aside while you prepare the filling.

For the Filling—
Saute the leeks or onions for a few minutes, then add the garlic and stir for another minute, then add the greens and stir for another minute or two until slightly wilted but still bright green. Let cool.

In a large bowl, mix the eggs, with the salt, pepper, herbs and nutritional yeast or cheese. Then mix in your sauteed greens, leeks/onions and garlic from the pan.

Stir in the sun-dried tomato.

Scoop the filling into the crust.

As a Topping—

If you’re adding mushrooms, place them on top.

Bake at 375 or 400 for 35-45 minutes (25 for the mini quiches!)

Eat right away or refrigerate to save for later. You can put it back in the oven for 10 minutes if you’d like to serve warm at a later time. Enjoy!

Green Potato Leek Soup with Mushrooms

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 to 3 large leeks, thinly sliced

3 to 4 cloves of garlic, sliced

3 to 4 cups greens, thinly sliced and then chopped up into small short pieces (Here, you can consider using up all the limp celery you didn’t get to in the last weeks, leaves and all! Kale, collards, spinach, turnip or beet greens, chard all will work. Mix and match. This is your chance to clear out the old greens to make space for the new!

2 to 3 potatoes, sliced into 1-inch slices and then cut into half moons (No, I don’t peel my potatoes! But I do make sure they’re organic. If you don’t have access to organic potatoes, maybe it is worth the trouble of peeling them. Potatoes are amongst the heaviest-pesticide-carrying crop in the industrialized agriculture fields.)

salt and pepper to taste

2 to 3 bay leaves

1 to 2 tsp thyme

8 to 10 cups veggie broth (or chicken broth if that’s your jam) If I’m using bouillon cubes, I will use 2 cubes Edward & Sons Not-Chick’n and 2 cubes Garden Veggie.

10 to 12 mushrooms (or more!), sliced in fourths (This is about what you’d find in an 8oz box at the grocery store)

fresh parsley leaves and/or microgreens for garnish

INSTRUCTIONS

Place mushrooms in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and bake in oven at 400 for about 10 minutes, or until beginning brown, sizzle and crisp a little bit.

Heat oil in pan and saute sliced leeks sprinkled with salt and pepper on medium-high heat for about 5 minutes. Add garlic (and celery, if you’re going with that!) and stir fry for a couple more minutes.

In a pot, add the veggie broth or water and bouillon cubes, bay leaves, thyme, potatoes, greens and your sauteed leek and garlic goodness. Bring to a boil, then cover with a lid and simmer until potatoes are cooked through. Turn off heat when ready.

Now, the quick and easy way to finish up is to get your potato masher (metal please! Don’t stick plastic into your boiling liquid!) and semi-mash your potatoes directly in the soup pot. This leaves you with a soupy/chunky mix that I love to serve topped with croutons and pan-fried veggie italian sausage. Although, doubling the mushrooms is healthier and often filling enough for me to skip the sausage.

Alternatively, and perhaps, more traditionally for a potato-leek soup, you can blend it smooth. An immersion blender works great and you can better control how smooth you want the soup to be. The last method I would suggest, if you love your soup smooth and creamy, is to let it cool a bit, then transfer into your blender. The big blender is faster than the immersion blender, gets it smoother, but takes more patience waiting for the soup to cool enough to transfer to the blender, and then, of course, there’s more clean up because you’re stuck washing the blender. Blend and return to your pot (reheat if necessary) and serve topped with your garnish and mushrooms. The upside of blending to me, is that the kids tend to eat more greens this way. Can’t pick them out if it’s all blended up!

Delicata Mushroom Pasta with Walnut Sage Pesto

Thanks to A Beautiful Plate for the original inspiration for this recipe. I (as usual!) have simplified the recipe (skipping the fried sage leaves), doubled the greens, use kale instead of parsley in the pesto and added the mushrooms.

Ok, I am one of those people that has a hard time calling anything pesto if it’s not made with basil. My efforts to eat more in tune with our local seasons means that basil isn’t abundant enough in my yard now to make batch after batch of pesto. So…I’m giving this sage-and-kale pesto a try. The walnuts are good for my brain, I hear. And I can see the sage growing in my backyard. The kale is abundant, now, too! My hope is that it will be distinct enough to not rival the ‘real’ pesto. It will be in a category of its own. And sage and delicata squash are delicious together. I know this from my favorite biscuit recipe. Maybe, it will be my new go-to winter pesto to help me get through the cold months and into spring! Let me know what you think.

INGREDIENTS

For Roasting the Squash and Mushrooms—

1 or 2 delicata (winter) squash

1 or 2 portabello mushrooms OR lots of cremini or white button mushrooms—Did you know these three are the same variety of mushroom, just at different stages? Check it out.

extra virgin olive oil

salt & pepper to taste

For the Pesto—

2 packed cups kale leaves, finely chopped

1 cup toasted walnut halves or pieces (Here’s two ways to toast walnuts)

3 to 4 garlic cloves

8 to 10 large fresh sage leaves

1/2 cup (or more) extra virgin olive oil or roasted walnut oil

3/4 to 1 tsp salt

freshly ground pepper to taste

For the Pasta—

Your pasta of choice cooked according to the instructions on the package. Try a fusilli, farfalle, or pappardelle I think those shapes hold more pesto for maximum flavor in each bite.

INSTRUCTIONS

For Roasting the Squash and Mushrooms—

In a large pot, start the water for cooking the pasta.

Preheat oven to 425.

1. Slice the delicata, in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds. Then slice up each half into thin (about 1/2 inch) half-moon slices. No need to peel the squash at all! The skin is edible and it’s good fiber for your digestive system.

2. Lay out the slices on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

3. Leave your mushrooms whole and arrange them sparsely around the delicata slices. Drizzle with olive oil. Optional— Sprinkle with salt and pepper (go light or skip this step altogether, as the pesto will also be salty!).

4. Place in oven and roast for 20 to 30 minutes, until squash is soft and a bit caramelized.

For the Pesto—

There are a few ways to do this.

Method 1: To destress (if you’re not in a hurry!) get your molcajete out (your mortar and pestle for those of you not familiar with the Spanish term with Nahuatl roots) and put your strength into grinding. I recommend you do the garlic first, then the walnuts, and add the fresh leaves last, a little bit at a time. Your setting yourself up for frustration if you pile fresh leaves in—it’s just a lot harder to grind so many layers of leaves at a time. For me, it’s unsatisfying! But if you add two or three leaves at a time, you can really take pleasure in the meditative transformation of the beautiful leaves into a bright paste. As you need more room to grind, scrape out the ground paste into a dish. Finally, add the salt, pepper and olive oil. This is where you decide how thick to make your pesto. If you don’t want it so think, add more oil.

Method 2: Put all ingredients in a food processor or blender. Or, put it in a slightly oversized dish (like a 2-cup pyrex container, for example) and use an immersion blender directly in the dish. This is not the fastest, but by far, the easiest clean up if you can manage to keep the immersion blender immersed below the level of olive oil so that it doesn’t spray everywhere when you start to blend.

Final Pesto-Making Tip: It took me a long time to assimilate our italian roommate’s discovery that the way to mess up pesto is by adding too much garlic. I love garlic so that was hard to hear. I think he’s right though because the power of raw garlic can easily overwhelm. (This from a person who’s mouth waters at the thought of taking a bite of the fresh whole garlic clove!) So, the tip is—When in doubt, add less garlic.

Your pasta water should be at a rolling boil by now! Cook up the pasta, strain, and toss with the pesto sauce, roasted delicata squash and mushrooms.

This is a glass-of-wine-worthy dinner. Or sparkling water, at least! What I’m saying is, this is no common pasta dish. It’s fancy! You should dress up or something, before you sit down to eat. (C:)

Acorn Squash and Mushroom Tacos with Microgreens

Thank you Chicano Soul Food for the inspiration for this recipe. Can’t wait for you to start up again to enjoy your amazing tacos! In the meantime, everyone, make your own tacos and check out this article in which Sergio talks about Chicano Soul Food’s roots.

This flexible recipe is inspired by a recurring craving for the amazing pipian acorn squash tacos served at the Carbon Sink Convergence by Chicano Soul Food. Their pipian salsa (made with tomatillo and pepitas) was earth-shaking for me, as I had never had the opportunity to taste it before. It is southern Mexican deliciousness and my family is full of norteños (much love to all my relatives in Sinaloa and Sonora). This not being tomatillo season, though, I’ll leave the pipian recipe for another day. The simple act of pairing acorn squash with mushrooms in a taco is treat enough (yes, this was also earth-shaking for me!). I don’t see the winter squash pile up in my kitchen anymore wondering what to do with it. Instead, I savor the day I can make some tacos with it! Maybe this week, you too, have a stash of winter squash you haven’t gotten to yet. And maybe you, too, will delight in trying these tacos topped with a fresh bunch of this week’s spicy microgreens mix. Here goes—

INGREDIENTS

1 acorn squash (kabocha would also work here!)

1 box of fresh mushrooms (or more!), try cremini, white button, portabella or shitake

tortillas de maíz (corn tortillas, try La Fe’s corn tortillas—they’re the only affordable non-gmo option that I could find and they hold up well to the fire!)

microgreens (This week’s spicy microgreens mix goes great in a taco!)

your salsa of choice (My current favorite is just crushed chiltepin soaked in lemon and sprinkled generously with salt and pepper. Next on my list, if I’m in a pinch, would be the salsa de molcajete or the green salsa from Murphy’s Market. They get it right!)

INSTRUCTIONS

You can do this two ways—Cut the acorn squash in half, scoop out the seeds, rub with olive oil, salt and pepper and bake until soft. Then you can scoop out the squash to put it in your tacos. This method is less ‘work’ but more time in the oven, and an easy way to leave the skin off for those who prefer not to eat it.

The other way, takes a little more effort, but less time in the oven, gives the squash a chance to crisp and is best if you’re willing to eat the acorn squash skin, which, is full of good-for-you fiber! (Check out this take on which varieties of winter squash skin to eat.) Just slice up the squash into thin slices (maybe 1/2 inch) after scooping out the seeds. Then lay out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Bake at 400 degrees until soft (go longer if you want the crisp!)

Slice up the mushroom (i usually get four slices per mushroom) and put in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Place in the oven at 400 degrees alongside the squash and bake for about 10 minutes until slightly crisped.

Warm up your corn tortillas and serve up your tacos with the squash, mushrooms, microgreens and salsa of choice (or just a squeeze of lemon)!

Vegetarian Menudo Recipe

I know, I know, it’s a stretch, for anyone acquainted with authentic menudo, to believe it can be made vegetarian. For those of you standing in disbelief—disregard the title of this post and let’s just call this a caldo de verduras. For those of you, like me, that have been witness to the wonders of menudo the morning after a long night of New Year’s Eve partying…but just happen to have made the choice to stick to a vegetarian diet, try this nourishing soup and call it what you want! A special thank you to my Tia Carolina and her audacious friend that invented a recipe and called it veggie menudo. Prior to her sharing it, I, too, thought it impossible. I’d always just stuck to veggie pozole. They aren’t that different, given the absence of meats that differentiate the traditional versions. To fulfill my own crazy need for categories, I’m reserving the cabbage and radish toppings for my veggie pozole. So, here is my version of veggie menudo, using this week’s in-season veggies. If you’d rather make the “real thing”, here’s a recipe for you.

Ingredients:

For the soup—

1 large onion, chopped

8 cloves garlic, chopped

1 handful celery tops

2 big handfuls dried shitake mushrooms (we buy these at our local Vietnamese grocery store)

2 tbs dried oregano

1 tsp lemon pepper

1 tsp dried chile flakes (optional)

6 small carrots or 3 large ones, sliced

1/2 head of Napa cabbage, sliced

1 cup spinach, sliced

6 cups hominy OR 1 large yucca root, peeled and sliced into 1/2-inch slices (yes, I know this isn’t traditional but it saved me a trip to the grocery store and it did the trick!)

radish microgreens

lemon

tortillas de maíz

For the sauce— (mind you, this step is optional, if you’re ok with less work and a lighter broth or just spicing it up with chile flakes. Yes, I used chiltepin! On the other hand, if you want to go for it, you can make lots and then use the leftover sauce to make enchiladas another day)

6 guajillo (dried) peppers

1 tsp cumin

1 cup broth (from your menudo pot)

3 cloves garlic

Instructions:

Set aside a little bit of onion for garnish and sauté the rest of the onion in a pan with a little olive oil until translucent and a tiny bit browned.

Add the garlic and celery leaves and dried mushrooms with a little more olive oil and sauté for another minute

In a pot, add about 10 cups water along with the sautéed onions, garlic and celery leaves, 4 cubes veggie broth (this time, I used two “Not Beef” cubes, one “Not Chicken” and one “Garden Veggie” cube from Edward & Sons), oregano, lemon pepper and optional chile.

Once it’s boiling, add your veggies and the cooked hominy or yucca root.

If you’re going for the sauce, too, here’s what to do:

Toast the guajillo peppers in a pan

Break or slice the peppers and soak them in a bowl with broth from the soup until soft (maybe 10 minutes). Press them down into the broth so they soak thoroughly and put a lid on the bowl to keep the heat in and speed up the process.

Then blend them in the blender along with the broth, cumin and garlic.

Serve your menudo topped with radish microgreens, a squeeze of lemon, sauce to taste and a warm tortilla on the side.

Mushroom Pizza with Arugula Microgreens

This week’s recipe idea strives to be super flexible—the important note is simply that arugula tastes amazing on pizza. In my opinion, this is the best possible thing to do with arugula and this is the week to make it happen! Now, option 1 in my current exhausted and slightly stir-crazy state of mind is that after sooo long of just eating at home, it’s time to order a pizza for delivery… and once it is here, I want to top it with a heap of our arugula microgreens.

Note: To anyone finding the sharpness of the arugula too strong for their taste, just the tiniest bit of heat brings the flavor intensity way down. So, stick the pizza with the arugula in the oven for just a minute or two and enjoy a more mellow version of this nutritious green.

Another important note: Check out this recent Edible San Diego article about TakeIn, a new delivery service that better supports local businesses. I am excited to try it this week for my pizza that I’m not going to make from scratch!

Option 2: For anyone not into ordering out for the time being—there’s always Trader Joe’s fresh pizza dough as a shortcut to make yummy pizza at home.

Option 3: If you’re not stocked up on pizza dough or pizza crust and/or don’t want others making any part of your pizza, aren’t dog tired (like me this week!) and happen to have water, yeast, flour, salt and a bit of time around— Here’s one of many recipes out there for making your own pizza dough.

Option 4: Gluten Free DIY pizza—Check out this idea for Millet-Crusted Mushroom Arugula Pizza.

A final note takes us back to the beginning—mushrooms! At the top of my pizza toppings list is mushrooms. Mushrooms with arugula hits the spot. Even more exciting, add sun dried tomatoes or pesto. Or whatever else makes the top of your list.

Another gluten-free pizza crust alternative: Cauliflower!

Garlic Mushroom Spaghetti with Microgreens

Comfort food to the max, I like to think of this spaghetti dish as quick and fancy.

Ingredients:

1 pack of spaghetti

fresh mushrooms (the more the better, but use what you’ve got. Lots of varieties work—regular white button mushrooms, cremini, portobello…you can even mix it up. This week we have bunashimeji and it’s delicious!)

extra virgin olive oil

salt

pepper

microgreens (broccoli, cabbage, arugula, amaranth, kohlrabi…so many colorful options!)

lemon

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400

2. Heat water in a pot for cooking the spaghetti

3. While the water heats up, slice up your mushrooms. If you’re using bunashimeji, all you need to do is cut the bottom inch or so off so that they separate. Spread them in one layer on a baking sheet (lined with parchment paper for easy clean-up). Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with garlic slices, salt and pepper and bake for about 10 minutes or until just a bit crispy.

4. Cook the spaghetti as directed, drain and toss with a little olive oil, salt and pepper.

5. Serve spaghetti topped with mushrooms & garlic, a generous pile of microgreens and a dash of lemon.

Mushroom Tacos

Ingredients:

mushrooms (white button mushrooms work just fine; portobello and shiitake are pricier, but also delicious!)

salt

pepper

tortillas (La Fe tortillas are non-gmo and affordable, which is hard to find!)

carrots (shredded)

cilantro (chopped)

microgreens

lettuce (in place of tortilla if you’re going light with the meal, or chopped as a topping)

lemon

chile, fresh and chopped (try chiltepin if you want real heat!) or hot sauce, if you like. (I’ve switched to Cholula as my hot sauce of choice in a pinch because it’s the only I’ve found that doesn’t have any added preservatives. )

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400.

2. Slice mushrooms in fourths (fat slices) and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper for easy clean-up. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast in oven for about 10 minutes, or until sizzling and just a bit crispy.

3. Warm tortillas. Set out mushrooms and rest of the ingredients as toppings and enjoy!

Sinigang-Inspired Tamarind Soup

This recipe was adapted from here.

Right up front, I want to tell you that I’m not of Filipino descent, nor have I had the pleasure of tasting an authentic bowl of Sinigang (which is Tagalog for “stewed [dish]”). However, I’ve heard of this dish for years and have yearned to try it. Being vegetarian, I haven’t found a Filipino restaurant that offers veggie options. If you have, PLEASE let me know where it’s at! In the meantime, I want to thank Vicki for reminding me that this soup exists and encouraging me to try to make it myself. Being Mexican, I am always excited about any food with tamarind in it! And I can’t seem to get enough caldo (stew), no matter the weather or time of day. So, here’s my attempt at making a pot of vegetarian Sinigang using in-season veggies from this week’s Fresh Five CSA.

INGREDIENTS:

2 small onions, chopped

8 cloves garlic, chopped

1 tbs oil (palm, or olive)

1 cup dried shiitake mushrooms (these, I get from our local vietnamese market)

12 cups water

28oz can of tomato sauce or 4 fresh tomatoes, finely chopped

2 or 3 tbs tamarind paste (more if you love sour; I use Aunt Patty’s Tamarind Paste, which I can usually find at Sprouts. I love it because I don’t have to spend a bunch of time picking seeds out)

3 cups turnips or radish, chopped

3 cups carrots, chopped

1 bunch of turnip greens and/or spinach, finely chopped (2 to 3 cups)

1 or 2 boxes tofu (depending on whether you want this soup as a side dish or the main course)

1 tbs salt

1 tbs pepper

miso paste

microgreens (This week, we have kale, kohlrabi and arugula. The more spicy ones are great for soup toppings, too—Try last week’s cress!)

Instructions:

1. Saute onions in oil (I used palm oil) until translucent and slightly browned

2. Add garlic and shiitake and saute for another minute

3. In a pot, add water, tamarind paste, tomato, chopped root veggies, greens, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer until veggies are cooked.

4. Serve hot and mix in a spoonful of miso paste to each bowl. Top with a handful of microgreens.