Green Options

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The calendar says May, but where I live in San Francisco, it’s been feeling like the dead of summer lately. My thermometer says 85, which is unseasonably hot for my otherwise moderate city. Usually, my lunchtime staple is soup, however a warm bowl full of chili may be great in November, but none too appealing today.

I decided instead to concoct a cooling summertime soup. I’m a sucker for Gazpacho, but I wanted something a little lighter today. I also needed to use up all the dill from my herb garden that’s been withering away in the heat.

Here’s my recipe for Cucumber Dill Soup that as refreshing as it is delicious (and not to mention, healthy and quick to prepare!)

Lovin’ Fresh is a series of recipes designed to showcase produce gathered from local farms or grown in my own garden.

Quiche is something I covet, particularly for brunch.  I personally enjoy it more when chilled, but any and all quiche is welcome to apply within (my mouth).   When my partner and I met, he was trying to go from vegetarian to vegan (a mission since abandoned due to our mutual “interest” in ice cream).  Being especially eager to prove my culinary prowess in those first few months of dating, I gave my first tofu quiche a whirl.   While I didn’t miss the eggs in the least, I did lament the absence of cheese.  So we compromised and now I have a “standard” tofu quiche recipe that I typically make with spinach.

Now, if you’re scrunching up your nose at the idea of an eggless quiche, don’t despair.  I’m sure if you have a standard quiche recipe of your own (or care to do a quick search for one), you can easily use the flavor components of this recipe with an egg base instead.

One year, my father got my daughter a subscription to Your Big Backyard, published by the National Wildlife Federation. Unfortunately, this was at the height of her girly princess stage, and she barely gave the magazine any notice. The other day she found an old copy in the car, and she was very interested in it. Perhaps this newfound interest is from her ability to read or perhaps it is simply maturity, but she was excited to find a recipe in Your Big Backyard. She read me the entire recipe in the car, and Eco Dad made it on the weekend. It was very good corn chowder and easy to make. As always, we used organically grown ingredients.

Organic, Vegetarian Corn Chowder

Melt in a medium saucepan:

• 2 Tablespoons butter (use oil for a vegan version)

Add and cook until softened (about five minutes)

• 1 chopped large onion
• 1 chopped bell pepper
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced celery

Add and cook for another five minutes:

• 4 cups fresh or frozen corn
• 1/2 teaspoon basil
• 1/2 teaspoon rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• pepper to taste

While browsing the St. Lawrence Market last weekend, I was elated to spot the paisley-shaped heads of fiddlehead ferns. I won’t get into my love for the regional delicacy too much, as Jennie already posted a great recipe, but I felt that - despite their season of only a few weeks - the wild, gamey greens deserved more than one ode to their deliciousness.

Before I’d left the market, I’d snapped up two bunches of ramps and a bag full of stinging nettles among my regular staples. In fact, the stinging nettles purveyor was kind enough to write out a recipe for tea (pictured below). It was my first ever stinging nettle experience.

More on that and other recipes inspired by my wild green windfall after the jump.

When it comes to the commercialization of holidays, people tend to point most of their angst towards Christmas. And who can blame them, when it’s not just a day, but a whole season of consumption? I have a similar knee-jerk reaction when it comes to Cinco de Mayo.

A day that’s supposed to celebrate Mexican patriotism, instead conjures up images of frat boys in factory-made sombreros, red, white, and green beads, drinking out of plastic margarita cups. All of this festive decor will find itself in the dumpster tomorrow. (And we had just finished getting rid of all the plastic Easter eggs and St. Patrick’s Day streamers.)

This year instead of wallowing in holiday cynicism, I decided to let it inspire me to create a great meal. Luckily, my neighborhood has dozens of small Mexican shops and produce stands, where the veggies are a steal. (I bought my supplies for this entire meal for under $10!)

I decided, rather than serving up some seitan, or veggie crumbles, which are taco staples in my vegan household, to go with something a bit more authentic and light: black bean tacos with mango salsa. Here’s my recipe:

Lovin’ Fresh is a series of recipes
designed to showcase produce gathered
from local farms or grown in my own garden

What’s your favorite mythological creature? Unicorns? The Loch Ness Monster?  The Yetti?  Lake Champlain’s Champ?  El Chupacabra?  Up until yesterday, I might have said the Fiddlehead, had I been asked.   Like all the previously named questionable characters, there are many pictures to prove their existence (heck, there’s even a picture on one of my sets of business cards), and yet, somehow, I’d never seen one for myself.  The curly heads rising up on slender necks from the forest floor resemble an other-worldly creature for sure.  And in the culinary world, fiddlehead ferns are almost unmatched in their elusive promises of gourmet delight, much like morels or truffles. 

When we had company unexpectedly this week, I had to think quickly of a dish to serve. Earlier that day, I made some of the raw beet salad that I wrote about last month. I had about two cups of leftover shredded beets + carrots. So I decided to pickle them in a combination of rice vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper and honey for the rest of the day.

As a quick snack for my pop-over friends, I made a modified Bahn Mi sandwich (you know, those incredibly complex Vietnamese sandwiches of liver pate, chicken and pork pieces, and pickled veggies between crusty slices of baguette).

To take the place of the liver pate, I used homemade hummus. The beat salad stood in for the usual daikon-and-carrot mixture. Instead of meat, I used some extra-firm, marinated tofu (a.k.a. the best tofu ever). The crusty baguette, veggies and tofu are all locally grown/made and picked up at the farmer’s market. Recipe after the jump:

In my family, tofu pot pie is comfort food. This recipe is a great way to pack a bunch of veggies into your child, and it is perfect in all seasons. In the winter, we enjoy its warming qualities, and in the summer we pack it full of garden veggies. If you make a crust with oil, this recipe is vegan, but I prefer a flaky buttery crust. Be creative with your own pot pies and mix together the veggies you have in the refrigerator. Every pot pie comes out differently, but they are always delicious, especially when using organic ingredients.

Tofu Vegetarian Pot Pie

Prepare the crust

Combine:

• 1 cup unbleached white flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• dash of salt

Cut into flour mixture:

• 2/3 cup chilled butter

Add:

• 5 to 6 Tablespoons cold water

Knead until the dough holds together (you may need to add a little extra water), but do not overwork it. The warmth from your hands will soften the butter, and you will lose the flakiness of your crust.  Divide the dough into two balls and chill for 30 minutes in the refrigerator or 10 minutes in the freezer. Roll out a top and bottom crust.

It’s springtime and love must be in the air! We’ve had a few wedding related posts lately around the Green Options Network. Check out some green wedding tips here on Feelgood Style as well as some sources for eco-friendly wedding bands on Crafting a Green World. My own green wedding took place last summer, and I return to writing about it now because my husband and I were honored with being featured in this month’s issue of VegNews Magazine.

The publication profiles several weddings every year. I highly recommend picking up a copy (because I also love their recipes and features.) If you can’t find it at your newsstand, here’s a scan of the article where I’m featured.

I’m not just posting this to brag (but seriously, squeeeeee!). I also wanted to point you towards some green catering resources. Whether you’re planning a wedding, a fundraiser, or any other special event, we all know that large groups of people can create a lot of waste. So choosing caterers who specialize in local, organic food is one way to lower your event’s carbon footprint.

I have to give a lot of respect to Jews that keep Kosher, because I know how difficult it can be to stick with a restricted diet. During Passover especially, that diet becomes so limited, that some of my Jewish friends recently asked me if I thought it was possible to stay vegan during Passover. At first I thought, “No leavened bread? No problem!” but then I realized that some keep rules far more strict than that.

I learned that Ashkenazi Jews also avoid a group of foods categorized as kitiniyot which includes rice, peas, lentils, beans, and corn. (Now I know what Meredith was referring to in her recent Passover foods post, when she mentioned becoming aware of so many corn additives!) So no legumes, eh? No soy products… no grains… Ok, that does in fact rule out a major chunk of my vegan diet.

But I wasn’t ready to back down from this challenge just yet…

We northern Midwesterners tend to be humble cooks. Too often we don’t view our everyday fare as anything special. As a born and bred Midwestern gal, I sometimes fall in line with my peers and lust over hip California cuisine, Big Apple restaurant trends or Food Network designer chefs. The greens may seem greener over the border, which unfortunately results in us under-appreciating how good we have it in the land of cheese, wild rice and rhubarb.

But I’m forever reformed and now proudly flaunt my Midwest roots after bonding with The Minnesota Homegrown Cookbook: Local Food, Local Restaurants, Local Recipes. A new release from Renewing the Countryside, a Minnesota-based non-profit organization that champions the positive stories of rural revitalization, this photography rich book is a love song for local food. Through narrating the stories of 31 of Minnesota’s chefs and restaurants, the Minnesota Homegrown Cookbook offers 100 recipes that celebrate locally grown, organic and sustainable cookery.