Green Bean Salad & Ravioli

On Monday night, I was inspired by the long green and purple beans I got from the garden to make my dad's green bean salad that he makes every Thanksgiving. I cut up lettuce from the farmer's market and added red onion, carrot, a tomato and cucumber (from the garden as well), some feta cheese, and of course, the beans. I tossed the salad in some olive oil and balsamic vinegar and finished it with some black pepper. Overall, the salad was great! This particular variety of beans were a little bitter for my taste though. Next time I'll probably use the shorter beans.

Tonight, I finally cooked up the sweet potato ravioli that I bought from Antonio at the Farmer's Market on Saturday. I threw the ravioli in a pot of boiling water for four minutes. Afterwards, I tossed the ravioli in a bit of butter and added some basil and shredded a little parmesan cheese on top. I could have cooked the ravioli a tad more, but I'd rather have undercooked that overcooked mushy pasta. The ravioli itself was amazing! With such fresh ingredients so strong, you don't need sauce, just a bit of herbs to make the flavors stand out. The sweet potato made the ravioli (not surprisingly) sweet which was complemented well by the parmesan. I can't wait to try more flavors!

Veggie Fajitas

Since both my parents had been having pretty stressful/hectic weeks, I decided to cook dinner for them Saturday night. Following my meal plan, it was fajita night!

To start off I had to make the rice since this would take the longest to make. Instead of buying a package of "Spanish Rice" from the supermarket, I decided to season the rice myself. In general, this is a really good way of avoiding unnecessary ingredients such as extra salt and "natural" flavorings. If you don't know how to season whatever it is you're trying to make, look at the pre-made version and read the ingredient list for some ideas. I seasoned my brown rice with half a red bell pepper, a clove of garlic, some onion, and paprika.

For the veggies, I sautéed some green Carmen peppers, red onion, and baby portobellos in a pan with some olive oil and garlic as per usual. For the rest of the toppings I heated up some black beans, cut up some cherry tomatoes from the garden and for the greens I used a spring mix. I also grated up some cheddar cheese. As part of my plan to avoid processed foods, I will now no longer buy pre-grated cheese. Most pre-shredded cheese contains an anti-caking agent called cellulose. I learned that from one of the posts from 100 Days of Real Food and you can find the post here http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2012/06/18/cheese-and-other-dairy-products-are-they-processed/ Finally we wrapped up the fajitas in whole-wheat tortilla shells.

The rice could have used a bit more seasoning but other than that everything turned out pretty good!

Toppings.

The veggies.

The final product :)

Saturday at the Farmer's Market

This morning I went to the Athens Farmers Market again, but this time I knew to come with an empty stomach. I had my breakfast of organic blueberry pancakes at Farm 255's last Farm Cart at the market. They were knock your socks off good! The smells of breakfast cooking are intoxicating.

At the market I bought some two heads of different types of lettuce, a Romanian garlic, celery, and home-made ravioli. When I asked Antonio, my new Italian friend, which ravioli he recommended, he said it was an easy choice - the sweet potato. Trusting his wisdom, I bought some of the orange colored ravioli and can't wait to try to it!! Needless to say, I was ecstatic to meet Antonio because of my love of everything Italian! When I expressed this love, he invited me to help him set up during market days and speak Italian with me. I can't wait to take him up on his offer! Antonio makes his pastas using freshly picked herbs and vegetables from his own garden. He also makes the ricotta and mascarpone that goes into the ravioli himself. I can't wait to try more flavors and learn more about Italian culture and cuisine my next time at the market. You can learn more about Antonio and his pastas at his website: http://antzenere.wix.com/antoniosfreshpasta#!

Once I got home and finished unloading my produce from the market, I decided to cut open the cantaloupe that I brought home from the garden on Monday. After smelling the sweet fruit every day to check to see if it was ripe, I couldn't wait another day. And the wait was worth it - I sliced it open at its peak of ripeness!

Summer Veggies

My new favorite past time is to cook while listening to my Edith Piaf Pandora playlist (La Vie en Rose in particular). Tonight I boiled some corn, roasted okra, and sautéed eggplant, peppers, and red onion. It was my first time making corn myself, and it was amazing! I'm not entirely sure why, because I didn't do anything too special. I just rubbed a little butter on it and sprinkled some black pepper on top after it came out of the pot.

It was also my first time cooking with okra. Unfortunately, I only had two small pieces of okra to cook with because I put the okra from Monday's garden haul into the refrigerator and it didn't fair too well. So Wednesday I only picked a couple more and tried leaving it out. I was able to cook with it, but I have still yet to figure out how to make okra last. To avoid any slimy disasters, I decided to just roast the okra in the oven. I chopped the okra into thick slices and spread them around in a little olive oil. After a dash of salt and pepper, I put them in the oven for about 10 minutes. They actually turned out really good.

For the other veggies, I sautéed them in a pan with some olive oil, minced clove of garlic, and some ground pepper. Simple but delicious. I love the smells that seem to instantly rise from the pan!

Last night I had salmon and green beans from the garden. The green beans I sautéed and seasoned the same way as the above vegetables. I was slightly disappointed that my purple beans turned a dark green after they were cooked. For the salmon, I marinated it with a little soy sauce, lemon juice, honey, black pepper, ginger, and half a clove of minced garlic. I've been wanting to try a honey marinade, but it turns out that most of the recipes I found were practically the same marinades I've been using plus honey. Though it tasted about the same, there was definitely a distinct taste of honey in a few of the bites.

The Art of Beeing

I've been hearing about the importance of bees for a little while now and how their disappearance is a testament to how we've been treating the environment. So today, I finally watched Queen of the Sun, a documentary that explains the dire state of bees across American and in other parts of the world as well. Michael Pollan is featured in the movie as well as many organic beekeepers, scientists, an entomologist, etc... The movie delves into the important role that bees play within our ecosystem. Bees pollinate about 40% of the our food supply, without them we would start to lose many of the plants and crops that we rely so heavily on, including almonds and many fruit trees which are pollinated exclusively by bees. I highly recommend this movie! I have a greater respect for bees and their keepers and it has even inspired me to pursue beekeeping when I have my own farm.

On an unrelated note, I had to post a picture of my dinner tonight. Though it was leftover peppers and onions and the pasta I had from my birthday dinner, it was just as good tonight! For the pasta, I cut up fresh garlic, basil, and the tomato I got from the garden yesterday. I also added a sprinkle of olive oil and parmesan cheese.

The UGArden & Meal Plan #2

This morning I started volunteering at the UGArden again. The UGArden is "a student organization dedicated to the protection, upkeep, and production of the only student-run garden on the University of Georgia campus." And...all the food is grown organically! The best part about volunteering, besides learning how to grow your own food, is that volunteers are allowed to take home as much produce as they want!

There are so many benefits to producing your own food through a personal or community garden. Learning a time honored craft of learning to sustain yourself is invaluable. The average American meal travels between 1,500-2,500 miles from farm to table. The amount of energy and fossil fuels that goes into the transportation/refrigeration of this food is enormous. By buying your food from a local farmer's market or CSA (community supported agriculture) or better yet, growing it yourself, you prevent tons of harmful emissions from being released into the atmosphere. Besides contributing to a smaller carbon footprint, you are also eliminating the middle man, and becoming that much closer to your food source. Knowing exactly where your food comes from and how it was produced is extremely valuable for it contributes to the health of yourself as well as the environment.

Here's what I got from the garden:

Green beans, cantaloupe, tomato, okra, cucumber, eggplant, peppers, and cherry tomatoes.

Today I got to taste the first ripe cantaloupe of the season! It was a very special treat. There's just something better about eating a fruit straight from the garden. The sweet juices run down your face as you take that first bite...and when you're done, you can throw the rind into a compost pile that will fertilize next year's harvest. Everything is connected.

Besides the tasty produce, I also learn something every time I go to the garden. Did you know that there are varieties of purple green beans?! I didn't. But I can't wait to cook with them for the first time. This will also be my first time cooking with okra - it's going to be an adventurous week!

Speaking of, here's the meal plan I formulated based on birthday leftovers and my garden haul. Another benefit of working at the garden...shorter grocery lists and spending less money!

I bought three apples instead of carrots and some Paprika to spice up my fajitas. Other than that, I stuck pretty closely to my grocery list this week. The total ended up being $31. You'll have to trust me on this one because I already seem to have lost the receipt.

For dinner, tonight I made a chicken salad with the leftover lemon-basil chicken from my Italian birthday dinner. Yes, there are still leftovers - it was a huge meal! With the chicken, I used a spring salad mix, red onion, carrots, feta cheese, cherry tomatoes (from the garden), and drizzled a little balsamic vinegar and olive oil on top. It was amazing!!

Pannettone

The last part of my Italian birthday dinner, was actually completed the day after. I wanted to make pannettone, an Italian dessert-like bread usually eaten around the winter holidays. However, I didn't realize that I was supposed to let the dough rise overnight and then once again for a few hours the next day. I followed this recipe. http://www.babble.com/best-recipes/night-before-panettone/

I used whole-wheat flour instead of all-purpose flour and brown sugar instead of white sugar (we used the last of our cane sugar on the tarimisu). Finally, because I couldn't find "candied citron" at the store, I decided to just chop up some dried apricots instead, which I think turned out even better! They turned out delicious! It tastes similar to raisin challah, just with added apricots. Next time I think I'll add various nuts as well.

I also might have skipped the step where you're supposed to take out the dough after the over-night rise, sprinkle it with flour, cover it with a cloth and let it rise again. Instead, I just let it rise throughout the next day. As far as I can tell it didn't make much of a difference, and since I have nothing else to compare it to, I'd say it tastes just as good! Next time I'll follow all the steps and see if it makes any difference.

Mio Compleanno Italiano

Yesterday for my birthday I wanted to cook a big, traditional Italian dinner with my dad. So we started where anyone who wants to cook an Italian dinner should start, an authentic Italian market, E. 48th Street Market. There we bought home-made angel hair pasta, Lady Fingers, mascarpone cheese, freshly baked bread, and polenta. We also stopped at a farmer's market for fresh tomatoes and a new cafe called Crema for some strong expresso. Besides the expresso, I decided to try a machiatto, and boy was it a departure from Starbuck's caramel machiatto. Very bitter! But it's growing on me. Finally, we went to The Fresh Market to pick up the rest of our ingredients. For most of the recipes we followed the Summer Kitchen Notes of Frances Mayes from her book, Under the Tuscan Sun (my new favorite book!).

The menu:

ANTIPASTI
Bruschetta with Red Peppers & Onions Melted with Balsamic Vinegar

PRIMI PIATI
Angel Hair Pasta with Tomatoes, Basil, Garlic, Olive Oil, and Parmesan

SECONDI
Basil and Lemon Chicken
Polenta Parmigiana with Marinara

DOLCI
Tarimisu

I've never been so intimate with the insides of a chicken before!

Before: The chicken was seasoned with lemon juice, scallions, basil, and lemon pepper.

After

From the top, clockwise: Angel hair pasta; polenta parmigiana with marinara; bruschetta with mozzerella, peppers, & onions; lemon, basil chicken.

Tarimisu sprinkled with cocoa powder!

Overall, the dinner was a great success - we had full, content stomachs all around! It was my best birthday yet and I will always cherish the memories of my dad and I cooking this special meal together!

My Birthday Eve

So last night, my dad and I made vegetable stir fried rice, using whole-grain brown rice, of course. It was delicious as always! It included zucchini, garlic, red & orange pepper, green onions, red onions, small portobello mushrooms, water chestnuts, snap peas, broccoli, bamboo shoots, carrots, and a scrambled egg. Whew! Hopefully I'm not forgetting anything.

After dinner, my dad wanted to surprise me with a little pre-birthday dessert: carrot cake (my favorite cake) and Tarimisu (because Italy has been on my mind lately). Though well intentioned, there was a reason I told him in the previous weeks that I wanted my cake to come from Whole Foods (this was before I decided I wanted to bake my cake myself). Though Whole Foods may not be perfect, there is a list of ingredients that Whole Foods will never carry in its stores, including any artificial colorings or flavorings. Here's the full list of ingredients listed as unacceptable in any Whole Foods products: http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/about-our-products/quality-standards/unacceptable-ingredients-food

Not wanting to be rude, I did take a bite of each...ok two of the carrot cake. They were both so good! But, not good enough to tempt me to eat the whole thing. There's no reason why you can't bake a dessert with as few additives and artificial ingredients as possible. By cooking at home you have so much more control over not only what goes into your food, but the portions of things such as sugar and salt as well. I found a recipe for carrot cake that doesn't call for any sugar or oil! http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/carrot-cake-recipe.html I can't wait to try it!

Lesson: READ LABELS! You'll be shocked by what you find. For example, why does the white icing for the carrot cake below require six different kinds of artificial coloring?! 100 Days of Real Food has a great post about artificial food dyes. http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2012/03/13/real-food-tips-7-reasons-i-hate-artificial-food-dyes/

Carrot cake ingredients.

Tarimisu ingredients.

Weekend recipes & DIY Granola

So this weekend, my dad made an amazing marinara sauce and meatballs. Though he started with a base of pre-made marinara, I was very impressed with this "processed" food - only 7 ingredients, and I approved of all of them except one (citric acid, a preservative). We used the "Sweet Basil and Garlic" marinara from Dell'Amore. http://www.dellamore.com/16-oz-cases/sweet-basil-garlic

My dad started by chopping up some onion, roasted garlic, fresh basil (from our garden!), and carrots (for some sweetness). He sautéed all this in some olive oil until it simmered down. Then he added some balsamic vinegar. You can add salt and black pepper if you like, but we didn't this time. (We try to avoid extra salt at home and I don't like anything too spicy) Then my dad added the Dell'Amore sauce and the meatballs, which he makes from scratch! He makes them with ground beef, italian seasoned breadcrumbs, garlic powder, and black pepper and browns them in a pan with oil.

To top it off we added some mozzarella cheese and some freshly grated Romano cheese. Molto delizioso!

With all the leftover whole wheat pasta that I made, I decided to make a cold pasta salad (which my dad also helped me with). It was surprisingly easy, taking less than 10 minutes. We chopped up some carrots, green onions/scallions, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, zucchini, and an orange pepper and tossed it all with the pasta. Then my dad made a vinaigrette of olive oil, white vinegar, and an italian seasoning which he mixed in. Finally we added some grated parmigiano and romano cheese.

Last but not least, I made some granola! I don't know why I haven't done this before, it's so easy! After getting frustrated with the additives and sugars in even the health food store granolas, I decided to make my own. I didn't have all the spices I wanted at home and didn't find the extra honey in the cabinet to complete the recipe until after the granola was already baking, but it still turned out great.

I melted 6 Tbsn of butter with about 2 Tbsn of honey and then mixed it all up with one can of rolled oats. Next time I'll probably add more honey and some organic fruit concentrates. Once it's all mixed up, you simply spread it all in an even layer on a baking sheet (with parchment paper laid underneath) and bake for 75 minutes at 250 degrees. Now I probably have enough granola to last me months - I'll have to share some!

Restaurants doing right

Over the weekend I've had plenty of time to relax, which for me means finding new food blogs and researching new recipes. Through my wanderings, I have discovered several great resources and restaurants that provide an array of real food. These places use organic ingredients, source their food from local farms, and the menu changes based on what's in season. It makes me truly happy to see such gradual interest and development within the world of real food and I would like to heartily thank the restaurants, companies, and people involved. Eating from farm to table is not only good for the environment, but it also helps the community by supporting the local economy and developing relationships between people and farmers. As more people want to become more knowledgeable about where their food comes from, they have the power to ask the right questions and demand an improvement in our industrial food system. Vote with your dollars, and you will have a good conscious knowing that you did something good for the environment, the community and yourself.

Here are a few of the places I've discovered over the weekend.

Bi-Rite Market and Bi-Rite Creamery
Truly devoted to providing a link between customers and farmers and pushing for transparency in the food industry, this company does the community a great service all around.

http://www.biritemarket.com/who-we-are/ and http://biritecreamery.com/who-we-are

If you don't want to take the time to browse their sites, here's a short video that sums up who they are.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns0ekFWTvsQ&feature=youtu.be


Alon's
They strive to use natural ingredients, hormone-free meat, and source organic produce from local farmers. Everything is made from scratch.

http://www.alons.geomerx.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=storePage&customPageID=29

Here's what I had for lunch there on the 4th.

The Tuscany: Goat cheese with chives, arugula, marinated-roasted eggplant and sun-dried tomatoes on Whole Wheat.

So good! And I treated myself to some sparkling pink limonade :)

Digging for leftovers

The beginning of this week, I kept my meals pretty low key. Trying to just use up leftover food I had around the frig/freezer because I am going home for a long weekend to spend time with my family for the 4th. So therefore I was trying to avoid buying groceries when I was only going to be on my own for two and a half days. Here's what I was able to whip up...

Monday night: Halibut, broccoli and a few cherry tomatoes for some extra color.

Tuesday's lunch: Caprese salad (one of my favorites!)

Tuesday's dinner: Roasted potatoes and broccoli.

Like I said, nothing too exciting. But since I'm in Atlanta for the weekend, I have some new recipes and restaurants I'm going to try! Most cities, especially Atlanta, have so much to offer when it comes to eating locally and sustainably. It just takes a little digging and then you're bound to find whole networks of people and places that can connect you to great tasting "real" food.