Cashew Green Bean Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients:

toasted sesame oil

1 small to medium sized onion, diced

2 to 4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 tbs ginger, grated or chopped

1 lb protein of choice (I use tofu or tempeh), diced

green beans, diced

carrots diced

cashews, chopped or slightly crushed

lettuce

microgreens (we’ve got broccoli this week!)

Hoisin Sauce (Try this flexible recipe if you want to make it at home)

Instructions:

Stir fry onion in a large pan with sesame oil until translucent. Add garlic, ginger and your choice of protein

Add green beans, carrots and cashews to the pan and drizzle generously with hoisin sauce.

Stir fry for a few minutes (up to you how well-cooked you like your veggies!)

Serve over lettuce leaf and top with microgreens or, better yet, put everything out (maybe with some rice or quinoa on the side) so people can make their own. This DIY “lettuce tacos” dish gets my little ones to put down the lettuce!

Strawberry Orange Popsicles

Beautiful simplicity (two ingredients—maybe three if you wanna get fancy) and a gentle exercise in planning and patience (gotta think ahead and wait for them to freeze) followed by an exercise in focus (gotta eat it before it melts). Homeschooling looks like this sometimes…activities that serve me just as much as my kids and are best completed outside in the sunshine. So, here it is—a flexible Strawberry Orange Popsicle recipe (adjust proportions to your liking):

1 cup strawberries (chopped)

2 cups orange juice

ideas for a third ingredient—mint, basil, or even microgreens (we’ve got purple kohlrabi this week!) if you’re feeling adventurous or are looking for ways to get your kids to eat more greens.

Instructions:

1. Blend all ingredients.

2. Pour into your popsicle mold. Here’s an article with ideas of how to make popsicles without a mold.

3. Wait a few hours.

4. Go outside, sit in the sun and enjoy.

Napa Cabbage Kimchi

This week we have napa cabbage in our Fresh Five bags. While this delicious green tastes great in any quick stir fry, the most exciting version of napa cabbage, for me, is spicy, sour and probiotic kimchi. If any of you are feeling motivated to do some fermentation, here’s a few recipes that guide you through the process to make this delicious Korean staple.

A Traditional Version of a Kimchi Recipe (the ingredients are specific and probably require some shopping)

A Close-to-Traditional Version that’s Vegan (again, I would need to do some shopping to pull this off!)

The Flexible Easy Version that Uses What We’ve Got (surely not as delicious as the recipes listed above, but making due with minimal shopping trips, I hope it will fulfill the craving!)

Based on the flexible recipe linked above, here’s what I’m thinking to use:

1 napa cabbage (in our bag this week!)

salt (about 1/5 cup per pound…coarse, if you’ve got it, use a little less if it’s finely ground)

water (about 1 cup/pound of napa cabbage)

radish microgreens (because it’s in the bag this week!)

kohlrabi (a little weird, I know, but also, in our bag this week!)

carrot

apple

onion

garlic

ginger

miso

chiltepin (our stock chile for everything these days, but any red pepper flakes could do…)

What are you experimenting with? We’d love to hear what you tried and how it went.

I want to keep at this until fermentation becomes habit!

Updated Note: It seems lots of new research is emerging around the power of fermented foods in relation to COVID. Check out this article entitled Could Kimchi Combat COVID-19 for a quick summary of some of these findings.

Citrus Strawberry Cabbage Salad

Here’s a quick and easy salad using this week’s fruit and veggie rainbow. Adjust the ingredient proportions to your liking and enjoy alone as a refreshing snack or as a side to a hearty meal.

Ingredients:

Lettuce (this week, we’ve got red romaine)

and/or

Kale

Cabbage (this week it’s red cabbage, which is really more purple)

strawberries (sliced)

microgreens (this week, it’s tatsoi and kale mix!)

citrus (orange, tangelo or tangerine will do! peeled and cut in wedges)

vinegar (balsamic or apple cider)

olive oil

salt and pepper

nuts (optional to add protein—Use whatever you’ve got around—try almonds, pistachio, pepitas, walnuts or pecans)

Instructions:

Just rinse, chop and mix or layer ingredients. Save the olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper to drizzle and sprinkle over the top. Feel good about the mountain of vitamins and flavor you’re putting into your body.

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!

Indulgent Quick Pickle Beet Salad

Ingredients:

Once Harvard Medical School’s Vegetable of the Month, this article highlights a few the nutritional and medicinal benefits of beets (high in vitamin B and manganese and contributes to lower blood pressure). Also, they find that you gotta make it sound indulgent if you want people to eat more of it.

1 to 2 cups beets (thinly sliced— try shaving it with a potato peeler) Option to do half carrots, also shaved with a peeler

1/4 to 1/2 cup vinegar (try red wine vinegar, rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar)

1/2 to 1 1/2 tbs sugar (or not, people make sugar out of beets so they’re already pretty sweet…you decide how much to indulge!)

1/2 to 1 tsp salt (again, you decide how much)

lettuce or other salad greens—use what you’ve got!

olive oil

microgreens (this week, we’ve got purple kohlrabi!)

other optional toppings: nuts (try pistachios!) and/or seeds (maybe sesame, sunflower or pepitas)

Instructions:

In a small pot, heat vinegar, salt and sugar until boiling then remove from heat and add beets (and carrots if you’re using them). Let sit and cool or at least 10 minutes.

In a salad bowl, toss lettuce (or salad greens) with a little olive oil, salt, pepper and a dash of lemon.

Add cooled quick pickled beets (and carrots, if using)

Top with a generous handful of microgreens and other optional nuts and/or seeds.

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.

Orange Thyme Mermelada

Orange Thyme Mermelada is cooking!

Ok, I told my kids this morning that we were making “mermelada” today. They were thrilled and had no further questions. But, if I’m sharing this with a broader audience (beyond the ears of my five and two year olds!), then, i feel I should do my due diligence to make sure I’m calling this what it really is…so, I did my research: The recipe I came up with was inspired by this jam recipe but I cut the sugar by more than half, more than quadrupled the amount of zest and tripled the thyme. Since the sugar is so low, it’s no longer a jam because I doubt it would keep the way jams should. We will be sure to eat ours this week! Maybe it’s more of a compote…it’s definitely citrusy deliciousness. Doesn’t even need the toast…we’ve been eating it by the warm spoonful this morning.

Ingredients:

6 oranges (zest four of them and set the zest aside, then peel and chop those 4 oranges into 1 inch pieces getting rid of as much of the white pith as you can; use only the juice of the last two oranges and compost the rest)

1/2 lemon (both zest and juice, no pulp or pith)

1/2 cup brown sugar (or any sugar, really)

6 sprigs of fresh thyme (if you’ve got it) or 1 tbs dried thyme, or leave it out…

1/2 tsp salt

Instructions:

1. In a small pot, add chopped orange segments, orange juice, lemon juice, salt and sugar.

2. Uncovered, bring to a boil and let simmer on low heat stirring occasionally for about 30 minutes.

3. Add orange zest, lemon zest and thyme leaves and continue to simmer, stirring every few minutes until it thickens (maybe another 30 minutes, but stay close because it could be sooner).

4. Grab a spoon and enjoy. Refrigerate and it should keep a few days!

How to eat it up? Spread it on toast, top your pancakes or crepes, flavor your plain yogurt, pair it with cheese (maybe even in a grilled cheese sandwich!), mix it with olive oil and vinegar for a salad dressing or glaze a savory dish—maybe roasted tempeh, meat or mushrooms…

Makes about 12 ounces, a little over a cup.

Cabbage--Making It Last: Curtido and Kraut Recipe Ideas

Check out this infographic—amongst the many benefits, I was surprised to see that cabbage is high in omega 3 (with a good omega 3 to omega 6 ratio, at that!).

It’s cabbage season and I love it in so many ways: atakilt wat (ethiopian cabbage carrot potato dish), stir fried like my tias in Mexico do with chile, tomato, onion salt and coriander, in soups, baked as a cabbage steak with tofu, carrots, pineapple and peanut butter…the list goes on. But, even though it’s totally possible for our four person household to go through a cabbage in a week, there’s also good arguments for taking the time to preserve it so it lasts months maybe, or at least more than a week or two. What are these good arguments? The probiotic health benefits of fermented foods for one. And, the therapeutic benefits of knowing you have food in your fridge that you can eat in the next month or two. I’m no expert on pickling or fermentation, but I hear you don’t have to be…even novices like me could get good results. So, that’s my project for the week. If you want to try it out, too, here’s a few recipes to try:

(and please share any tips or comments—I have a lot to learn!)

Curtido Salvadoreño with True Fermentation (eat after 3 days, could last weeks!)

Curtido Salvadoreño Shortcut (uses vinegar instead of just salt to preserve, eat same day or within a week)

Red Sauerkraut (cabbage, beet, carrot, turmeric, ginger and garlic)

Traditional Sauerkraut (with caraway, optional though)

Brainstorming Kale--A Summary for Many Moods

Check out this Types of Kale art print by Marcella Kriebel.

Not counting, but it’s been many days of staying in and as much as I enjoy my home life and the freedom to create daily rhythms with my two kids as I see fit—I might be feeling a little stir crazy. I am confident this is the worst of it since the cold weather is on its way out and today’s sunshine, alone, has done wonders for my spirit. Anyway, this is the backdrop to my approach to this week’s recipe. I feel disconnected from the outside world and, as such, I’m not sure what type of recipe to share with all of you, given you may be going through any assortment of situations and feelings amidst this moment in history. So, I’ve decided to share my brainstorm and a summary of my findings rather than a single recipe. Here goes:

COMFORT Sweet Tooth and Chocolate-Fixes-Everything KALE

If you’re also feeling in a pit when it comes time to approach your kale of the week, maybe it’s time to make Kale Brownies. Based on my research, I think you can pretty much add 1 to 3 cups kale to your favorite brownie recipe. Raw and finely chopped is the way I’d go, but a more refined approach could also be to steam the kale until bright green and just wilted, then blend it up before adding it to your brownie batter. If you’ve got any floppy carrots that you didn’t get around to eating last week, you can steam one or two and mash it in, as well.

GREEN JUICE Keeps the Blues Away KALE

If you’re feeling good and want to eat light and clean (no added sugar, please), then maybe juice is the way to go. Slow juicers are fancy and nice, but you can also just use a blender and add kale, lettuce, any other veggies you want to consume—last week’s chard, and/or a stick or two of celery which gives it a yummy saltiness, a dash of lemon or orange juice. After a glass of green juice, I always feel more grounded and ready to make the best of my day.

BED OF KALE—A Foundation for Balance

If you’re wanting to keep a balance in your life through healthy, hearty and complete foods, you might feel good starting with a bed of kale as the foundation for your meal. What to put on your kale bed? Root veggies (try roasting the radish along with sweet potato with olive oil, salt & pepper), your protein (roasted garbanzos! eggs…or glazed walnuts or any other nut or seed, think pecans or pepitas), pasta or quinoa…Just chop and steam the kale, salt and season to taste, and top your bed of kale with whatever you like. Here’s a simple recipe for tilapia on a bed of kale you might want to try.

KALE SALAD—Keeping it Fresh for the Sunny Days Ahead

Some of us love salads. I must confess, this isn’t always me! But, with the promise of sunshine ahead (my kids were so excited about today’s sunshine, they took to running around the backyard naked for the better part of the afternoon) does make me feel better about eating cold food. A kale salad is quick, nutrient-dense, long-lasting and oh so flexible. My favorite version involves, at its simplest, chopped kale, orange and/or lemon juice, salt and a splash of balsamic or apple cider vinegar. Other ingredients might include nuts, seeds, avocado, carrots, apple, radish, and any kind of microgreens you’ve got around. Here’s a more specific Kale Salad recipe that runs along these lines.

I Need Food Now! KALE QUESADILLAS

This keeps happening, especially on days the kids and I get lost in the backyard working on projects. We hit a wall and need food NOW. Corn tortillas, cheese that melts and chopped kale (very finely chopped for the picky little ones, fat strips for me). Somehow, the kale helps me see this quick dish as more of a complete and healthy meal versus a hold-you-over junky snack. Sometimes, it’s cilantro, chard, or other leafy green instead of kale, but kale is my go-to favorite for this meal. Cholula hot sauce is my in-a-pinch salsa. I’ve switched to that over other hot sauce brands because it’s the only one I’ve found that doesn’t have a bunch of weird preservatives.