Please Peas me

Those Fresh Cream Peas were amazing - I cooked them long enough so they got super soft, I ate them almost every day with rice and some curried vegetables I whipped up - sauteed cauliflower, sweet potato, the amaranth greens, carrots etc in some coconut oil and curry paste, add some coconut milk and simmer.  So good

I did make the Tofu Squash Curry - using the Amaranth Greens and Lime -  super super tasty!

I served up some watermelon with chopped mint which was super refreshing in this heat

Also roasted the potatoes to a nice crisp with olive oil and garlic for my son, i think he at them all in about 5 seconds.

Local Box 8/21/14 - Vegan Greenling Meal Plan

Hello folks - here is the photo of my lovely box contents this week - thanks Greenling!

Fresh Cream Peas

Bibb Lettuce

Amaranth Greens

Yellow Onion

Persian Limes

Watermelon

(the photo and the list show Bell Peppers but I didn't get any, i guess maybe they ran out by end of week deliveries!)

Cucamelons (!)

Spearmint

Red Potato

I'm cooking the peas as I type, they are bubbling in a pot with some carrots, celery & onion that I cooked up in some coconut oil till browning.  I will keep you posted on how they are and how I end up eating them!

Bib Lettuce - probably just salads for me and the kids

Yellow Onion - well one of them is already in that pea pot! I can never have enough yellow onions.

Persian Limes - I'm goint to make this Tofu & Sqash Curry - it calles for lime juice! It also calls for chard or kale but I think I will use those Amaranth Greens instead! I looked these up and you can stir fry them too so if there are leftovers I will do that also.

Watermelon & Mint - gonna toss together for a fresh snack.

Mint may also  go in a smoothie or two, or in my fave Salad Dressing Goddess Mint Dressing from
Blissful Bites

Cucamelons - these are so curiouis! they look like mini watermelons but are delicious cucumber things! I ate one all up right away because I cut it open to see what it looked like and to taste, and it was so good I just kept cutting more pieces and poppint them in my mouth

Red Potato - haven't decided yet - to be continued.....

Nanette & the Giant Peach (smoothie)

I wish I had a giant peach - I'm so in love with them.  I fear they are not actually balancing for my ayurvedic dosha but the summer is almost over so I'm going to enjoy their deliciousness while they are here.

For breakfast this morning I had this very delicious and unique tasting Peach Cardamom Smoothie - pictured here with a slice of ayurvedic banana bread I made and almond butter.  I did not use protein powder in the smoothie as I'm am staying away from processed foods as much as possible including the tons of protein powders I currently have in my cupboards.  So I added a half a teaspoon of vanilla. I also miraculously had saffron in my spice cupboard, who am I???

I made another smoothie with cardamom using one of the beautiful limes - Banana Smoothie w/Cardamaom & Lime - super refreshing in this 100 degree weather!

Here is a salad I made with the baby lettuce, microgreens & cucumber - it's topped with the Almond Balsamic Vinaigrette I posted a couple of posts ago - usuing the fresh oregano from the last box.  The almonds and raisins in the dressing are a good grounding balance to the raw greens

The Roasted Beet Quinoa salad is amaze - seriously.  The dressing with the garlic spices and mustard - so OMG.  I used red quinoa so mine didn't "turn pink" like in the recipe.  Also I used a mixture of pumpkin seeds & sunflower seeds instead of walnuts, and maple instead of honey.

Till next time peeps

Local Box 8/7/14 - Vegan Greenling Mealplan

i think i'm addicted to boxes that arrive at my door with surprise contents. it thrills me like no other

clothes, food, veggies....

so here's the deliciousness for the week:

Peaches (oh joy!)
Figs (oh double joy!)
Microgreens
Baby Lettuce
Slicing Cucumber
Persian Limes
Jalapeno Peppers
Garlic Chives
Yellow Onion
Beets

Last month I attended the Telluride Yoga Festival - one of the classes I took was an Ayurvedic class.  If you don't know, Ayurveda is an ancient Indian medical system.  Google it. I've always been fascinated, and I really dug the teacher, Pamela Quinn, her website is Elemental Om - so basically, I'm on an ayurveda kick, and focusing all my cooking and eating on the principals of Ayurveda - read on...

I'm so thrilled to get peaches & figs- my fave summer fruits.
I already at a peach and a fig in my morning granola and coconut yogurt.

I also plan to make this Peach-Cardamom breakfast Smoothie 

Cucumbers - this Cucumber Raita looks very good and cooling for all the curried dishes I plan to make. I will just substitute with coconut yogurt.

Jalapenos - so excited for these beautys - I was making a batch of black beans when the box arrived so one of those babies made it into the final 30 minutes of cooking.

Beets - Roasted Beet Quinoa Salad -looks super good

Lettuce and Microgreens - I will eat a salad or two this week, Ayurveda prinicples generally prefer cooked food, but a salad can be eaten as long as you have some more grounding foods in it, such as beans, nuts, dried fruit, maybe some blanched vegetables.

Eggplant dip & more

Holy moly - this dip was divine - Roasted Eggplant Almond Dip from my old fave Fat Free Vegan. So easy too. I brought this to the pot luck and had some left over that i ate for two days over quinoa and the roasted veggies below!

So below is pretty much everything else from the box, Potatoes, the other Eggplant, the Leeks, the cute lil Red Onions and the Yellow Squash, along with a carrot I added.  Tossed with the Orange Coconut Oil mentioned in the last post, salt and then roasted to delicious perfection!

I forgot to mentino the fresh Oregano in the last post - I haven't used it yet and it still looks good so I'm going to make some kind of dressing such as this one  (found on the big no-oil list of salad dressings online) and of course use more fresh than dried!

Dr. Fuhrman's Almond Balsamic Vinaigrette

Serves: 6 

1/2 cup water

1/3 cup roasted garlic rice vinegar (I used plain rice vinegar)

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup raw almonds or 1/8 cup raw almond butter

1/4 cup raisins

4 cloves garlic, pressed (I used 3)

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

Blend all ingredients in a food processor or high powered blender.