Vegan Cooking Class to Benefit Animal Rescue

On Sunday, November 20th, we will offer our first vegan cooking class at Aquarian Yoga Center. Please join us at 2pm for a
KITCHARI WORKSHOP
Kitchari is a traditional Ayurvedic recipe used for cleansing and fasting. It is delicious, easy to digest and assimilate, and easy to make. Vegan chef Trish Sebben-Krupka will show you how easy it is to make kitchari, explain its health benefits, and teach you how to customize it for your health and body type. At the end of class, we’ll enjoy a delicious meal together. Kitchari is the perfect food to enjoy as your body transitions to winter, and a fantastic healing food for seasonal ailments.
This is a donation-based class.
All of Trish’s proceeds will be donated to St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Society. Please register in advance – email localgirmakesfood@gmail.com to reserve your space in this class.

Summer Squash

We're entering Week Five of our CSA, and I have to admit that we're already experiencing a bit of summer squash fatigue. We've enjoyed romanesco zucchini, pattypan squash, traditional zucchini, yellow squash, cousa and yellow zucchini in a variety of ways: roasted, stuffed and sauteed, in lasagne, pasta sauces, casseroles, breakfast scrambles, and tacos. The freezer is filling up nicely, bringing me closer to my goal of enjoying several meals a week from the summer growing season throughout the winter.

During the early flush of zucchini love, I made zucchini tacos. Nothing could be simpler. For about four servings, I sauteed a large onion in some olive oil, then added six smallish zucchini, seeded and diced, along with salt, pepper, a little garlic and chile powder. I made a quick pico de gallo with the first tomatoes from the farm, and a jalapeno picked fresh from our front lawn, where jalapenos and cherry peppers grow among the wildflowers. I finished the dish with warm corn tortillas and some broccoli slaw, along with a squeeze of fresh lime and a few drops of hot sauce. Ten minutes of work, and lunch was complete.

I'll be on my way to the farm shortly, and I know more summer squash await. I reminded my husband last night that what seems tiresome to us right now will surely be appreciated on a cold December night, so this week I'll be freezing a casserole of onions, tomatoes, fresh herbs and summer squash topped with a light bechamel, and also plan to serve this simple salad of Lebanese zucchini (cousa) with hot peppers.

Roasted Cousa with Pepper Salad

Cousa is a Lebanese summer squash similar to zucchini. This fast and easy dish is a twist on a traditional Lebanese recipe, replacing fried squash with warm, roasted squash, topped with a zingy salad of peppers and scallions.

6 medium cousa, trimmed and sliced on the diagonal ½” thick
1 red bell pepper, seeded and julienne sliced
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and julienne sliced
1 hot cherry pepper, seeded and julienne sliced OPTIONAL
½ bunch (about 4 oz.) fresh scallions, white and green parts, sliced on the diagonal
½ cup loosely packed, torn mint leaves
Juice of 1 lemon
Extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400°. Toss sliced cousa in a large bowl with about 2 tablespoons of olive oil, salt and freshly ground pepper. Place squash on rimmed baking sheets, and roast for 10-15 minutes, until squash is lightly colored but still firm. Arrange squash on a serving platter.

Meanwhile, toss peppers, scallions and mint with lemon juice and a tablespoon of olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Top warm roasted cousa with pepper salad. Serve immediately.

Serves four to six

Spinach and Tomatoes - eat what's in season!

Please check out my latest article for One Green Planet! Tomatoes and spinach are fresh and plentiful at your local market now...I hope you enjoy these delicious and easy to prepare recipes.

Read Lee Hall's interview with me in the Summer issue of ActionLine!

I recently sat down for a chat with one of the people who inspires me most, Lee Hall of Friends of Animals. Click the link to read the interview.
http://www.friendsofanimals.org/actionline/summer-2011/Locavorism.php

New article available at One Green Planet!

Stop by One Green Planet today to read and share my article...Artichoke Paella. This is the first of a monthly series that I will be writing. Thanks for checking it out!

Romesco Sauce

It's official. I am obsessed with Romesco sauce. It's just so delicious - a toasty blend of almonds and savory ingredients - perfect as a dip for crudite, a sauce for roasted veggies, or a topping for a veggie burger. Make some and enjoy!

1 slice crusty country bread (such as panella)

olive oil for frying

1/2 cup blanched almonds, toasted

1 clove garlic

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

4 ripe plum tomatoes

1 tablespoon parlsey

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

1 red bell pepper, roasted and peeled

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Toast almonds in a hot oven, and set aside. Fry bread in a little olive oil, and set aside to cool. When almonds and bread have cooled, place them in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Add garlic and red pepper flakes. Pulse 5 or six times to combine. Add tomatoes, parsley, paprika, roasted bell pepper and apple cider vinegar. Turn the machine on and process to combine well. With the machine running, add olive oil. Taste and season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Sauce can be made in advance and refrigerated for up to 48 hours.

Vegetable Stock

Did you know that those little boxes of vegetable stock at the supermarket are, like, $3 each? Or more? So that every time you want to make a pot of soup, someone is getting $6 of your hard-earned cash! And those stocks in a box or can DON'T EVEN TASTE GOOD! I suggest that you declare your freedom from nasty stock in a box. All you need is a freezer, a plastic bag or large container, a pot, water, and some herbs that you probably already have lying around anyway.

Here's what you need to do: Whenever you are chopping vegetables, save the scraps. I particularly try to save the scraps from onions, carrots and celery, as that will form the base of your stock. Save the skins from the onions, too, as they lend a nice golden color, like Grandma's chicken soup. You also want to save your parsley stems, as well as the scraps from any of the following "stock-friendly" veggies: tomatoes, mushroom stems, zucchini, red or yellow bell peppers (no green! yuck!), leeks, potato peels. Avoid the cruciferous vegetables - cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and the like - as well as asparagus, as they will lend a dominant and somewhat unpleasant flavor.

When your scrap bag is full, and you are doing other stuff around the house for a few hours, it's time to make stock. Aim for a ratio of one part onions, one part carrots and celery, and one part "other stuff". I usually throw in a fresh onion, as well as some fresh carrot and celery. I also like to add a splash of tamari, a bay leaf, a few branches of thyme, and a few peppercorns. If I have dried mushrooms in the house, either porcini or shiitake, I will include a small handful of those as well.

Now add your veggies to your biggest soup pot, fill it with water, bring to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer. At this point you can go do other stuff. Unlike animal-based stocks, you don't need to worry about standing around skimming it all day, as there won't be any impurities to remove. Your stock is done when you say it's done, usually after about three or four hours of simmering at a very low flame.

I like to cool the entire pot in a sink full of ice water, and then let the whole thing sit in the fridge overnight before straining. This is partly because I am lazy, and partly because I think it develops nice flavor that way. Once you've strained your cooled stock, pack it into freezer-safe quart-sized containers (such as glass jars -don't forget to leave an inch of head space at the top of the jar to prevent cracked glass and ruined stock!), and freeze what you won't be using within the next four days.

Voila - instant stock, nearly free, and you get to stick it to The Man when you stop buying all those $3 boxes of the nasty stuff.