Friday Food Frolic! Garden Pesto!

The basil is plentiful in our garden at this time of year,
so I thought I’d share our favorite pesto recipe.

Basil Pesto
2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
½ cup grated parmesan cheese (optional)
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup pine nuts or walnuts (optional)
2 garlic cloves, minced
salt and pepper to taste

1. Rinse leaves and add to food processor.
2. Add olive oil. More or less depending on how thick you like your pesto.
3. Add garlic and cheese.
4. Add pine nuts/walnuts.
5. Add salt & pepper to taste.
Sometimes I omit the nuts & cheese and it tastes perfectly fine that way, too!
Tip – spend the $$ on quality pine nuts (don’t buy any from China) or you could end up with pine mouth!

How to preserve all that extra basil? Try:
**Drying**
Rinse the leaves and spread them single layer on a screen
OR
Tie the stems together and hang upside down in a dry, airy place.
Once the leaves are completely dry, crush them up into spice jars.
(Be sure they are completely dry or they will get moldy - yuck!)

**Freezing**
Half make the pesto recipe,
by blending just the basil and oil.
Freeze into ice cube trays
then transfer to an airtight freezer container.
Each ice cube holds about 2 tablespoons.
You can freeze the entire pesto recipe, too, if you want.

Yummy Blueberry Buckwheat Muffins!

Blueberry Buckwheat Muffins
1 ¼ cup buckwheat
1 c whole wheat flour
1T baking soda
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
¾ cup vanilla coconut milk
¼ cup applesauce
1 cup blueberries
¼ cup agave nectar

Mix dry ingredients. Mix wet ingredients.
Blend both together – batter will be thick & lumpy.
Spoon into greased muffin tins (makes 12).
Bake in 400 degree oven for 10-12 minutes.
*Hints*

I eat mine with a little Earth Balance spread on them!
Paper liners will stick to the muffins.

And I like to use Bob’s Red Mill Buckwheat Cereal
and grind it a couple of times in the food processor
before baking with it.

Almost Vegan Spiced Oatmeal Cookies

These are by far, my most favorite cookies. Everytime I make them, I tweak the recipe even more!  They are great raw and even better cooked! They make a quick & healthy breakfast or afterschool snack. To up the protein, you can substitute a little flour for a couple spoonfuls of protein powder (my kids can always tell, so I usually skip it).

Spiced Oatmeal Cookies

1/2 cup 50/50 Smart Balance Butter Blend**

1/2 cup Agave Nectar

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. cloves

2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 tbsp. wheat germ

1 cup coconut*

1/4 cup crushed pecans*

1 cup oats

1/2 cup multi-grain oats

*optional

**substitute the butter blend and you'll have a full-on vegan treat!

1. Beat on medium speed until blended: butter, agave, baking powder & soda, cinnamon, cloves, and vanilla.

2. Beat in flour & wheat germ.

3. By hand, mix in: coconut, pecans, and oats/muli-grain oats.

4. Press into a 9x9 pan OR

5. Make into 1 inch balls (pack like a snowball!), press flat and place on cookie sheet.

6. Bake in a 325 degree oven for 9-11 minutes. 

7. Enjoy!

Friday Food Frolic! The Fizzy MeMo

Our family's take on homemade soda.

The little ladies love that it's sweet and fizzy.

It's so easy to make that they can practically do it themselves!

The Fizzy MeMo

Ingredients:

(try to find organic versions)
2 cups grape juice
2 cups cranberry juice
2 ¼ cups cold sparkling water

Directions:
1. Mix the cranberry, grape juice

and sparkling water in a pitcher.
2. Add ice cubes.

3. Cheers!

Friday Food Frolic! Garden Pasta Salad

In a good year, we can successfully grow most of the veggies in our own garden.  My girls like to pick the veggies and help make the salad.  In a year that the deer help themselves, our local market supplies all the organic veggies we need for this salad.

I like to use Newman's Oil & Vinegar dressing. It's all natural and tastes homemade, so while not organic, it's a great time saver.  Sometimes Meira will want cheese in it and sometimes not, so I left that optional in the recipe.  It makes a great school lunch - filled with protein and veggies and grains - and doesn't need to be heated, so it sits well all morning in a thermos.

Garden Pasta Salad

Ingredients:

1 box of tri-color pasta

1/4 cup chopped red pepper

1/4 cup chopped green pepper

1/4 cup chopped yellow pepper

1/2 cup thinly sliced & peeled cucumber

1/2 cup sliced green olives

1 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced

1 stalk chopped celery

shredded parmesan or mozzarella cheese (optional)

1 bottle Newman's Own Olive Oil & Vinegar dressing

Directions:

1) Boil pasta according to directions on box. 
Rinse & drain under cold water.

2) Mix all veggies in a large bowl.

3) Pour dressing over mixture,
add cold pasta and mix well.

4) Chill (and add cheese, if using) before serving.

Friday Food Frolic! Maple Sugar Candy

Candy is a thorn-in-my-side in my house.
Everyone LOVES it and there are constant negotiations
with the little ladies to get their hands on some. 

So as a sort of compromise, we make maple sugar candy. I
t's good, it's very sweet, and it's not made with all sorts of white sugar and artificial colors.

MAPLE SUGAR CANDY

Ingredients:

2 cups fancy grade-A pure maple syrup

1/4 teaspoon organic milk or cream (can be omitted,

but helps to keep the mixture from boiling over)

wooden spoon

candy thermometer

powdered sugar

Directions:

1. In a large deep pot, heat the maple syrup and the milk or cream over medium-heat until the mixture reaches 233-300 degrees F. on a candy thermometer . The lower the temp, the more brittle and clear the candy will be, the higher, the more grainy it will turn out.

2. Let the mixture sit for about a minute. Stir with a wooden spoon and immediately pour the syrup into a wax paper lined jelly roll pan or into oiled candy molds.

3. Let the candies cool. Then pop them out of the molds or

out of the tray and break into small pieces.

4. Toss with powdered sugar to keep from sticking

and store in an airtight container.

Enjoy!