Farm Fresh Pita Pizza

Um Yum right?! Sometimes the truly simplistic recipes are the best and farm fresh produce is just so much better than store bought and shipped from who-knows-where. Lets live and eat sustainably people! Buy local, plant your own organic garden (I just started mine!) and share the love with your friends and family. I have been eating these non stop these past week, in fact I think I'll have an other now! I hope you enjoy and you will love these as much as I do!

Pita Pizza

Ingredients 

serves one

One six inch pita bread

A Farm Fresh Tomato

One Avocado

A Tbsp of chopped Cilantro

Sea Salt & Freshly ground pepper to Taste

White Bean Spread

One cup of freshly soaked or One Can of organic Cannelloni beans (without liquid)

Juice of One Lemon

Two cloves of Garlic

Sea Salt to Taste

How-to

1. Place all ingredients of the spread in a Cuisinart or blender and blend until smooth. Place into refrigerator to chill until ready to put it all together (This will be great for a few days, you can use as a dip as well or make more!)

2. Toast your pita bread in the oven until golden brown, flip once.

3. Chop your tomatoes and avocados (use as much or little as you'd like- all based on your personal preference!)

4. Put it all together by first putting down the white bean spread on the toasted pitas, sprinkle with cilantro, place tomatoes and avocados on top and dash each with a touch of sea salt and freshly ground pepper - Mangia!!

Brussel Sprouts with Avocado and Lime

This dish was inspired my a pinterest post. If you have always been scared to eat brussel sprouts, this is a great dish to start with to familiarize yourself with its taste and texture. Unlike a lot of brussel sprout recipes, these brussel sprouts are chopped up so you cant even tell what kind of veggie it is! I would make this dish everyday if I could. It was a big hit in my family, and there are some picky eaters amongst us, so I guarentte you will love it too!

Ingredients

1 lb brussel sprouts

2 garlic clove, minced

1 lime

1 avocado

Red Pepper flakes

Olive oil

salt and pepper

Directions

Prep

Chop the stem off of each Brussel sprout (the stem is what makes it bitter)

Chop up the Brussel sprouts length wise, they will fall apart as you cut them up.

Juice the lime

Slice avocado into strips

Cook

1. Add a tbsp of olive oil to a warm pan with raised edges and lid.

2. Add garlic and let saute for 1-2 minutes

3. Mix in brussel sprouts, stir in a little bit more olive oil and cook for 2-3 minutes.

4. If brusel sprouts are not softening, add water to the pan and place a lid on top to let it steam for a minute or two.

5. Once brussel sprouts reach a consistency you enjoy, add a pinch of red pepper flakes (2 if you like the heat) and pour in the lime juice, mix well. 

6. Bring all the brusell sprouts onto one side of the pan, leaving half of the pan bare.

7. Warm the sliced avocado by placing each piece on the empty half of the pan. (Try not to mash them, just warm them!)

8. Once each side has been warmed, carefully mix everything together

9. Add Salt and Pepper to taste and serve!

Udon noodles with Asparagus and Cashews

When I was home, Kristin told me about a delicous tofu dish she wanted to make (see post below). I made this dish to compliment the tofu. It was so tasty and the aspargus paired perfectly with the udon noodles and the cashews provide a crunch amongst the noodles. If you don't like asparagus, brocolini would be a good substitute for this dish.
Ingredients
15 oz udon noodles1 bundle of asparagus (8-12 depending on size)
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
2-3 cloves of garlic
2 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp seseme oil
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
1/4 cup water
1/3 cup cashews


Directions
Prep
1. Bring 2 1/2 cups water for the udon noodles to a boil.
2.Chop aspargus into 1 inch pieces ( if you are using slender aspagus, cut in half only)
3. Mince the garlic
4. Chop cashews.
Cook
5. Once pot of water is  boiling, add udon noodles, and cover. This will cook for 5-8 minutes. Once udon noodles are finished, drain water and transfer noodles to a serving dish
6. Add oil to a warm frying pan (preferably one with a lid) then add garlic. Sautee for 1 minute
7. Add aspagus and sautee till bring green.
8. Mix in soy sauce and seseme oil and continue to cook for another 2 minutes, aspargus should begin to turn tender
9. Dissolve cornstarch in the water and stir in with the asparagus. Continue to stir until a thick sauce is made.
10. Transfer cooked aspargus and sauce to the serving dish that the udon noodles are in. Toss ingredients together.
11. Add chopped cashews, toss once more, then serve.

Warm Tofu + Spicy Sauce

Ashley's in town!! So we are cooking!! For her first night we made "Warm Tofu with Spicy Garlic Sauce" that I actually found through Pinterest (obsessed with that website, but I mean who isn't right?). The recipe is from Gourmet and it is the most simplistic recipe, almost, ever. Also very new, as I have never prepared tofu the way it calls for, just simmer in warm water, go figure. The sauce, which I will definitely use again for a satay or a marinade, takes just minutes to make but packed with flavor. Oh but I should warn you they were not kidding when they named it "Spicy Garlic Sauce" because Holie Mac was it was spicy! I literally had to put my hair up. Oh but was it just delicious mMmm! It was served family style, because hey thats a pretty huge chunk of tofu, a little jasmine rice to go along side and wham- a flavorful and very fulfilling meal. 

Recipe found here at Gourmet

-kristin

Vegetable Barley Soup

This is one of those soups that makes for the best leftovers. I would have liked to use more fresh vegetables, but the Campus Market doesn't supply that much variety in fresh vegetables so I went the easy way out and got some canned goods that did cut down prep time and cooking time. This is an easy dish to make if you are looking to eat a variety of veggies at one sitting. I hope you enjoy!

Ingredients
3/4 cup dry barley (rinsed and drained)
4 cups water
3/4 cups vegetable broth
4 cups water (seperate from the other water)
1 can mixed veggies (carrots, green beans, corn, lima beans)
1/2 can green beans
1/2 chopped onions
1 small zuchinni chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 tsp rosemary
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper

Directions
1. Pour 4 cups water and barley into a large soup pot. Bring to a boil and let simmer with lid until almost all the water evaporates (30 minutes)
2. Add four cups more water to pot, along with onions and zuchini.
3. Bring to a boil and add canned veggies (mixed and green beans), stock, olive oil, and herbs
4. Lower heat and cover for 15 minutes.
5. Add salt and pepper to taste
6. Serve

Quick Sqasush and Spinach Side Dish

Since I am sure everyone is trying to abide by the "My Plate" guidlines, putting together a vegetable dish sometimes can be tough. Eating the same old veggies everyday is usually pretty boring so I thought I'd put up a simple post of a very tasty vegetable combo that I made earlier today that I absolutely loved. I didnt measure out the ingrdients since I was just cooking for one but I'll let you know what used and how I used them!

Ingredients

Oil

1 small squash sliced

2 hand full raw spinach

2 cloves garlic (minced)

dried rosemary

dried thyme

lemon juice

salt

Directions

Start by heating your skillet. Let it warm up as you cut up your squash. Add the squash to the skillet and just a splash of oil. Saute the squash until pieces are starting to turn tranlucent. Add minced garlic. Continute saute on medium heat for 2 minutes. Add the raw spinach on top. Sprinkle salt over vegetables. Cook until spinach is welting. Add a few pinches of rosemary and a pinch of thyme. Sprinkle some lemon juice on top. Mix all the ingredients under low heat for another minute. Serve and eat!

Green Soup with Ginger

Lately I've been a tad obsessed with finding new blogs to follow. Whether they be about food, day-to-day life, weddings and events, or crafts, I really have been eager to see what's out there in this little blogosphere. My friend Aimee, who blogs about her life in San Francisco, fashion and all things fabulous here, suggested I check out the blog 101 Cookbooks. All of the recipes are made with natural foods, most are vegetarian and many are vegan so naturally I fell in love. Many of the foods are quite foreign to me, which is really fun because with alot of things I tend to fall into pattern then into a rut. This is helping me expand my vegan food dishes and even my palate! I started with a recipe that had a lot of unfamiliar ingredients, well at least to my taste buds, with leeks and green chard! Whats even better is that this recipe is one she adapted from an other, so now through that I've found even more sites and books of more recipes! I was delighted with this recipe, it tasted amazing. I ended up not using any vegetable broth and only the water, for a very hearty soup. And be sure to add the freshly ground black pepper and fresh squeezed of lemon juice at the end, oh man does that just multiply the exuberance of the flavors!! Because I like a little crunch I went ahead and quickly made fresh croutons (so fast and easy, who knew!) to put right on top for the perfect texture balance. 

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did!

Click here for the link to 101 Cookbooks and the full Green Soup with Ginger Recipe 

"1 large yellow onion 
2 tablespoons  olive oil 
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt, plus more to taste
1 large sweet potato 
1 large leek, white and light green parts
1 bunch spinach (8 ounces)
1 large bunch green chard (12 ounces)
3 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger, plus more to taste
2-4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
freshly ground black pepper

Chop the onion and cook it slowly in the olive oil with a sprinkle of salt, stirring now and then, over low heat until it is soft and golden, about half an hour.

Meanwhile, peel and dice the sweet potato and put it in a large soup pot with 4 cups (1 liter) water and a teaspoon of sea salt. Thoroughly wash the leek, spinach, and chard, chop them coarsely, and add them to the pot, along with the chopped ginger.

Bring the water to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer the soup, covered, for 30 minutes, or until the vegetables are completely tender. Add the caramelized onions when they are ready. When the vegetables are soft, add the vegetable broth (you can add less if you like a thicker soup) and decide whether you want your soup chunky, like this, or smooth. If the latter, puree the soup in a blender, in batches, or with an immersion blender until it is smooth.

Stir in 2 teaspoons of the lemon juice and a few grinds of black pepper. Taste, and correct the seasoning with additional salt or lemon juice.
Serves 5-6.

This recipe was adapted from Love Soup by Anna Thomas. Published by W. W. Norton & Company; September 2009. For those of you who want to get books signed, Anna is visiting quite a number of California book stores throughout October and November, more info here. 

Prep time: 10 min - Cook time: 30 min "

Homemade Croutons
Dice two slices of bread of your choice, lately I've been using a sourdough, and place in oven safe dish. Drizzle extra light olive oil until well coated, crack a bit of pepper and salt on top and lightly toss together. Place under a high boil until golden brown. Be sure to toss a few times so to cook evenly.