Vertical Herb Garden

I saw this on pinterest – and totally fell in love.

http://lifeonthebalcony.com/how-to-turn-a-pallet-into-a-garden/

so I convinced my dear hubby to cut down a pallet – I knew I couldn’t fill a whole full-sized pallet – so we just cut it down to a more manageable size.

You’re supposed to put the plants in as tightly as possible without gaps of soil.

I bought what I thought was  a ton of herb plants – parsley – basil, dill, chives, mint, thyme.

It didn’t fill it all the way up – this is my result – but it was fun to make – and I definitely love – just leaning out the door to clip fresh herbs for sauces, salad dressings & smoothies – whenever I want!

chick pea flour success!

I ordered chick pea flour on Vitacost.com – I thought I’d make falafel.

Following the recipe on the back of the package, I got some dry nasty little balls of lead that were completely unappetizing.

I then attempted to make socca – and it was just okay – kind of dry.

I’d just about given up hope, when I decided to try a smaller, quicker version of socca- I mixed just a little bit of the flour  & water, tossed it into a frying pan with some coconut oil – let it brown on one side, flipped it, and topped it with salsa & vegan cheese & then tossed it under the broiler for just 5 minutes.

It was fantastic.

Mung bean success

whooo hoo!

I have found mung bean love!

It took a while. I still had the old bag of mung beans from last fall, and was in no rush to use them up.

I also had a colossal failure in making falafel with chick pea flour. So I’d been googling recipes on how to make my own veggie burgers – when I stumbled across this – http://www.nourishingmeals.com/2010/02/spicy-thai-mung-bean-burgers.html

I made the mung beans and the quinoa – and mixed up the batter – but they were still warm – so I put it in the fridge over night – the next day it was still a bit too wet to make patties – so I stirred in some of the chick pea flour until I got a better consistency.

Then I made patties & fried them in coconut oil – soooo good.

I went back to nourishing meals to find some sauce and salad dressing recipes – all 3 were fantastic.

Below is a pic of chickpea burger with sweet potato fries and tahini dressing – sooo000 good!

The cauliflower harvest

Well, here it is. My entire cauliflower harvest for 2012. It was not enough to make a side dish – so had to add some farmer’s market peas. We got so little broccoli it was not worth taking a picture. Hubby has forbidden me from planting either again.

Foodie Pen pals June Reveal

This is my 2nd month of exchanging fun food gift boxes.

My package this month came from Amanda in the midwest – check out her blog at www.semihealthyblog.com

She did  a great job – I love trail mix (and the caramel chocolates were a lovely addition), granola bars, and I’ve been drinking more and more tea.

My kids chowed down on the Special K bars, and I must admit that even as I’m typing this entry – I’m eating the microwave popcorn.

Which pretty much means that all of my lovely care package is gone! So – two thumbs up to Amanda!

This super fun idea is from the “Lean Green Bean” blog.

More info is here – http://www.theleangreenbean.com/foodie-penpals/

Kale, and Swiss chard & lettuce oh my! CSA week 3

 

The CSA basket – week 3 contained 3 heads of lettuce, two swiss chard, a bunch of kale, rhubarb and beets, plus a $15 gift certificate to the greenhouse.

I sauteed a pile of greens and topped them with chopped pecans and bacon bits.

I simmered strawberries and rhubarb with honey and mint for a yummy dessert sauce.

Finally – I boiled the beets and hard boiled eggs to pickle them – Pennsylvania style.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/pennsylvania-dutch-pickled-beets-and-eggs/

Finally – I took my $15 gift certificate and got bunches of herbs (since it’s late in the season, all the plants were 1/2 off – so $15 went pretty far), I got mint, sage, parsley, oregano, and basil.

I’m hoping to make a miniature version of this vertical herb garden – http://fitfoodista.com/2012/05/build-your-own-vertical-garden/

Rhubarb oat muffins

We’ve had a bunch of rhubarb from the CSA the past couple weeks.

My hubby loves Rhubarb strawberry pie – however I’m trying to resist the urge to head straight to desserts with the rhubarb.

So, last week I made Lentils with rhubarb – yummy!

http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipe/indian-spiced-lentils-with-spinach-and-rhubarb/

I also found this website of savory rhubarb recipes that I hope to try soon –

http://www.thekitchn.com/rhubarb-for-dinner-savory-rhub-151491

Finally- I made rhubarb oat muffins – http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Rhubarb-Oatmeal-Muffins – which are yummy, dense & not super sweet – but are a nice breakfast on the go – I used spelt flour for a little added wholesomeness.

********UPDATE****************

Be sure to refrigerate the muffins – I left mine on the countertop – my hubby had one on day 4, and it had sprouted!

Alas, my poor cauliflower

I guess I have not mastered my garden.

My cauliflower started off so promising – at just 3 weeks, I had small heads forming. I read up on “blanching” – and tied up the leaves.

However, in just 4 days, most of the leaf bundles came undone – and the cute little white cauliflowers had become long, leggy yellow flowers.

They went straight to the compost.

I’ll be looking for something to plant in this newly vacant row.

 

Great yoga workshop today

Kismet offered a free workshop today with Joe, who trained under Baron Baptiste (and looks strangely like Javier Bardem). I’ve never been to one of Joe’s classes – he teaches mornings during the week.

I also haven’t been to a yoga class in ages. Between the accupuncture and the 5-K training – it sort of fell off my schedule.

I know that I feel better about life when I do yoga regularly. I tend to live in a state of tension and stress, and yoga releases it both physically and mentally.

At the beginning of class, Joe was talking about how we’re all built perfectly and that yoga just allows us to re-align ourselves.

Well, it actually made me tear up a little bit –  it was just really nice to hear that I don’t have to work so freaking hard at trying to improve myself. Sometimes I just need to relax.

He was a really great teacher, broke down a lot of moves into easy to understand  explanations – and even got us all up against the wall to do handstands. My very 1st yoga handstand – it was quite exciting – God bless Joe – thankfully he’s sturdily built and was able to get me up into the air.

And then to round out my lovely relaxing day – my favorite girl & I went to use my Groupon at Prana. It was really yummy! We had raw sushi (made with coconut – not rice, a Naan pizza, a strawberry smoothie, fabulous kale chips, and a chocolate sundae – all vegan)

The CSA returns!!!!

Yay – After 7 months of winter – the CSA veggies have returned!!!

It’s week 1 – Early June – things have just started – but we got strawberries, rhubarb, 3 Romaine lettuce, 1 other lettuce (not exactly sure what kind), and a bunch of tiny baby beets.

I sauteed the beets, greens & stems with onion, garlic, apple cider vinegar & coconut oil.

I marinated one of the heads of romaine in vinaigrette dressing then grilled it.