glut(tons) of rhubarb

Lucky me! A friend has a huge, gorgeous rhubarb plant and she was willing to share...we cut about eight pounds or so (my guesstimate)...

I chopped and chopped...and chopped and chopped...and ended up freezing 27 cups of raw, chopped rhubarb...

I also made two rhubarb crumbles plus a really nice gingery compote (based on this recipe, but I also added 2 tablespoons raw grated ginger--gave it a good kick)...

It's great in green smoothies, too!

hot-dog hilarity

The beans think this is so, so funny: Put your ketchup, mustard, and pickle relish in the order shown above and you've got yourself a traffic light.

(And don't forget to buy all-natural, chemical-free hot dogs! Your bod will thank you.)

cauliflower and cornmeal pizza crust

Believe it or not, this entire (gorgeously yummy) pizza is completely gluten and dairy free.

Yep, you read that right, folks!

I loosely based it on Eat Drink Smile's cauliflower crust, but made it my own and we will be putting this in our tummies quite often from here on out.

I started with raw cauliflower (and used the stems, too)...then food processed it till grainy (don't process too much or it will turn to mush)...

Then microwave it in a big bowl till soft. You mix it with cornmeal, egg, some Daiya "mozzarella", and spices, flatten it out onto a cookie sheet, and bake.

Pull it out of the oven, top as you like, and broil till bubbly and browny and happy.

We have to section ours because some folks don't like anything except sauce and "cheese", others only like pepperoni, and then the Big Beans (that's hubby and me) like everything. Yes, please.

 Twenty minutes later...

For the crust, you'll need (for a 10 inch X 15 inch rectangular cookie sheet):

• 2 1/2 c. cooked cauliflower (after processing and microwaving)
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1 c. cornmeal
• 1 c. Daiya mozzarella
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 t. Italian seasoning (rosemary, savory, basil, marjoram, and oregano)
• 1/2 t. salt
• olive oil for brushing on just before baking

Do this:

Wash and chop your precious cauliflower (one of my favorite veggies!), then process till grainy and not mushy. Put into a microwave-safe bowl, cover, and microwave 7.5 minutes. Preheat your oven to 450 F, spray a cookie sheet with oil, and add your eggs, cornmeal, mozzarella, garlic, spices, and salt to the cooked cauliflower. Press into the pan and brush with olive oil.

Bake about 15 minutes. Then add sauce...

For the sauce, you'll need (I base it on this recipe):

• 1 small can tomato paste (4.5 oz.)
• enough water to make a smooth sauce
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 t. Italian seasonings
• sugar to taste (I use about 1/2 t.)
• dash of pepper 

Feeling saucy!

Add the toppings of your choice and some more Daiya mozzarella on top, a sprinkling of Italian seasoning, and it's going to grab you and never let you go.

I had some cooked cauliflower left over (I had a big head) and I froze it. Will let you know when I make my next lovely pizzer (as my grandma calls it)!

sriracha pickles

 Red cabbage pickles and rainbow chard stem pickles.

After I made my rainbow chard smoothie the other day, I had the stems left over and I COULD NOT compost them. They were too pretty and I knew they had a kind of crunchy salty flavor. I thought PICKLES! And sure enough, when I searched for chard stem pickles, I found a recipe. And there I was thinking that I was the only one on earth who had imagined that combo.

The recipe I found is from Bon Appetit and it's called Sriracha Fridge Pickles. I keep sriracha hot sauce on hand, so with vinegar, sugar, and onions, I was good to go. (Didn't have celery seed so used celery salt.)

My lovelies. So bright they're almost iridescent.

I tripled the pickling brine and used some red cabbage I had on hand for a second batch.

You'll need:

• 1 1/2 c. chopped chard stems (I prefer rainbow for the brightness and happy factor)
• 1 c. distilled white vinegar
• 2 c. sugar (I used 1 c. instead and it was a good amount of sweetness for us)
• 1/2 onion, halved and then thinly sliced
• 3 T. sriracha (I used 2 T. and that was plenty of heat for our taste buds)
• 1/2 t. celery seeds (I used 1/2 t. celery salt)

Do this:

Stir the vinegar and sugar together in a bowl, then throw in the celery salt (or seeds), onion, and sriracha. Pour it over your rainbowy stems and let it hibernate in the fridge for a few days (two was fine).

Oooooh, man. This is good stuff. We ate them a few nights ago with tahini-lemon burgers (recipe to come!) and this made me so, so happy. Looking forward to having them again.

I've always been a pickles girl and just can't get enough--my mom said I used to ask her to buy pickles and olives for me when I was a kid and went to the grocery store with her. So there you have it: I've always been a bit odd. Odd, but with good taste buds.

rainbow chard smoothie

1/2 pineapple, 1 Granny Smith apple, 1 banana, key lime juice, water, rainbow chard, sweet baby lettuces. With some apple seeds in the background for the beans to plant later.

greenberry smoothie

3 leaves chard, 2 big leaves kale, 2 bananas, 3 navel oranges, 2 apples, 1 avocado, key lime juice, frozen blueberries. Blend. Yum.

breakfast of champions

Energy on a plate! Scrambled eggs with roasted red peppers, diced turkey breast, spinach, and tomatoes, with avocado on top. Super yum with a cuppa tea for breakie.

PW

One of my bloggin' heroes: The Pioneer Woman. I got to see her at Third Place Books recently with some friends, and even though we had to stand way in the back and my camera zoom doesn't do her justice, we had a great time laughing. The woman is a hoot and a holler!

snackies

Our munchies bag today included bananas, cashews, 100% fruit leather, and Korean dried seaweed. (I'm also hankering to make peanut butter balls again, but with almond butter instead. Also, none of the optional dry milk powder, but adding in sunflower seeds instead.)

What do you take along on outings? I'm nosy.

cheesy krabby appetizers

We're not doing much wheat or dairy lately, but when we go out, I'm not religious about it. Plus, we were sharing this with quite a few other folks and not downing it all ourselves.

Recently we had a Japanese homestay student staying with us and the leaving party for her group was potluck. Luckily I have a quick and easy appetizer to pull out of my hat! I got it from a 2001 or 2002 Taste of Home magazine that I had a year's subscription to, and this is one recipe from that year that I've kept and adapted (I found the original recipe online, too, if you're interested). It's basically wheat tortillas rolled up with cream cheese, cheddar cheese, krab, and baked. Of course I add my own flair!

You'll need:

• 1 package tortillas (I think this pack had 10 medium-sized ones)
• grated cheddar cheese
• 1 block cream cheese
• krab, chopped
• green onions, chopped
• black olives, chopped
• cilantro, chopped
• salsa for dipping

Do this:

Mix the cheddar, cream cheese, krab, onions, black olives, and cilantro in a bowl. Spread a bit on each tortilla and roll up. Place them next to each other on a cookie sheet, bake at 350 for 12 minutes or so (until melted in the middle and a bit crispy on the outside), let cool a few minutes, then chop into rounds. Serve with salsa and if you're so inclined, do the salsa.

purple "green" smoothie

I make green smoothies every day and we have them with our lunch. I guess they really are green sometimes but mostly end up being a bright shade of purple because we all love berries. A recent favorite:

• big bunch of organic spring mix greens
• one organic avocado
• key lime juice
• 2 organic Granny Smith apples, cored but unpeeled
• 2 organic bananas
• frozen unsweetened cranberries
• mixed frozen berries: raspberries, blueberries, blackberries
• a bit of water
• fresh cilantro leaves

The cranberries and key lime juice add such a wonderful tang and I've repeated this one a couple of times already.

turkey-bacon fried rice and quinoa

It all started with this lovely sprouted rice and quinoa blend (first heard about it from college friend Jen at her blog, Gluten-Free Gluttons, and then saw at Costco and had to have)...

The brainstorming set in and I sauteed a chopped onion and two sliced garlic cloves in quite a bit of olive oil...

I had cooked one cup of the rice and quinoa blend and then added that to the cast iron skillet, then cracked in two eggs and stirred till cooked. We had two strips of leftover cooked bacon that I crumbled in along with two thick slices of roasted turkey breast I had defrosted.

With a sprinkling of seasoned salt, we were ready to dive in.

Don't forget your greens for the side: mixed lettuces, cilantro leaves, cucumber, avocado, and black olives.


And the leftover fried rice the next day was great with a few squirts of Worcestershire sauce. Mamatouille's verdict? Mamayummy.

You'll need:

• 1 cup sprouted brown rice and quinoa blend (cook according to directions, and at some point I'll try it in my rice cooker and let you know how it turns out)
• generous splashes of organic olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced thinly
• 2 eggs
  
• 2 pieces thickly sliced leftover cooked turkey breast, nitrate and nitrite free, chopped
• 2 pieces leftover cooked chemical-free uncured bacon, torn into small pieces
• seasoning salt
• Worcestershire sauce, if desired (good on leftover fried rice)

Do this:

Saute your onions (if you remember and love Justin Wilson, pronounce them onYONS like I do, please) and garlic in olive oil, adding the onions first until they're soft, then throwing in the garlic a bit later to prevent burning. Add in your cooked rice and quinoa blend, then crack in the eggs and stir it all up. Next come the proteins and seasoned salt, and then bowl it up! (Don't forget your chopsticks.)

This makes enough for two adults and one kiddiewink-bean who had two helpings, plus it made some leftovers for a one-adult lunch the next day.

pear, cranberry, and gingersnap crumble

OK, I must confess that I haven't done any real baking in ages, and this recipe was actually in my archives, waiting patiently to be posted. (My just-turned-six-year-old did request key lime pies for his birthday party yesterday, but that's so easy--just 3 or 4 ingredients!) We've cut way back on sugar, dairy, and grain-carbs, and instead are focusing on meat, fish, eggs, beans, veggies, and fruits (not as a diet, just for health reasons). We're feeling good! (We're not saying no to anything when we're out at friends' homes, though.)

Anyway, I wish I had a box of these gingersnaps right now...I could eat a whole box of these puppies. They're what I used for the crust of this pear, cranberry, and gingersnap crumble from Smitten Kitchen.



I actually didn't have any lemon zest or white pepper on hand, but with these snappy cookies in the crust, I didn't feel it needed either.

Maybe I did add a wee bit of chopped crystallized ginger...I can never resist, and neither can the kiddiewinks. They'll eat a mouthful, guzzle water, and then beg for more ginger. Crazy beans! (I think they might just take after their mother. Maybe a teensy bit.)

fish croquettes and purple slaw

Crispity crunchity outside with warm soft salmony insides. Yum!

You'll need:

• panko, for the crust
• 1 16-oz. can wild-caught salmon (I sometimes use mackerel)
  
• garlic salt
• celery salt
  
• seasoned salt
• pepper
  
• 2 beaten eggs
• enough self-rising flour for binding

Do this:

Mix everything together except for the panko in a big bowl, shape into patties, and roll each one in panko. Fry in bacon fat in a cast iron skillet for maximum crispiness.

And don't forget the pretty purple slaw...

Adapted from this recipe.

You'll need:

• 1/2 head purple cabbage, shredded
• 1/4 c. finely minced onion (or less)
• 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and diced
  
• 1/2 c. raisins
• 1 c. mayo
• 1/2 t. salt and 1/8 t. pepper
• 2 t. sugar
• 2 T. lemon juice
• 2 T. milk (I used almond milk)

Do this:

Whisk the dressing ingredients together and then pour over the cabbage, onion, apples, and raisins. Mix gently and chill before serving.

Enjoy the warm crunchy fishy cakes and the cold snappy slaw--a perfect pair.

snack and green smoothie

A little healthy snacky I enjoyed recently: sliced organic bananas smothered in organic soy yogurt and dappled with honey and toasted pine nuts. (I've adored Nigella Lawson's simple dessert of vanilla ice cream, honey, and pine nuts, and it works well as a midmorning yogurt snackilicous with bananas thrown in.)


Green smoothie: 2 bananas, 4 carrots, mixed greens, flaxseed meal, 1 apple, 1 avocado, 2 navel oranges, mint leaves, almond milk, a bit of agua. Blend, slurp, and be well.