Whats the best thing about 4 cups of dead strawberries?

I couldn't resist another post today because I made strawberry soft serve ice cream for dessert, and it was awesome. Keeping with the theme of today, I didn't really measure most of my ingredients but made this recipe in record time.

Strawberry Ice Cream

Coconut meat from one young thai coconut (not too thin. not too thick. just right.)
A splash of coconut water (maybe half cup)
1.5 - 2 tsp lucuma powder
1 tbsp coconut oil (was melted from the summer heat)
1/3 cup raw cashews
Pinch of vanilla bean powder (ground vanilla beans)
3 drops french vanilla liquid stevia

I blended all of these things into a nice cream, fairly thick, but not as thick as the dill cashew cream from my earlier post. *Note to self - create a cream thickness rating scale*
It is important to blend these things first before adding the frozen fruit because it keeps the coconut oil from hardening in chunks and it totally breaks down the cashews and coconut meat.

Then, to the blender I added:

3.5 -4 cups frozen strawberries (from fresh strawberries that I had washed and frozen a few weeks ago)

Using the vita mix plunger, I rammed the crap out of the berries, plunging them straight into the unforgiving blades of the two horse power machine until they were completely pulverized and smooth.


My taste buds were dancing with joy. I think I even heard them laughing and telling dead strawberry jokes.

Peas out of the Pod

When I was a little girl my dad always grew peas in our backyard garden. They were my favourite snack of the summer and very few peas actually escaped past my mouth into the basket for the rest of the family to enjoy. I bet the other vegetables thought I was some sort of pea monster...that doesn't sound right.

I just made a pretty fun salad. It was quick too! I bought a bag of peas-in-the-pod at the market yesterday and had some broccoli in the fridge... and I didn't really use any measuring tools... sorry (deal with it).

Summer Pea + Broccoli Salad w/ Dill Cashew Cream

approx. 1.5 cups of shelled fresh peas
approx. 3/4 or 1 cup of broccoli that has been chopped into pea-sized bites (or a bit bigger)
1 green onion, minced

Place in mixing bowl and wait for the cream...

Dill Cashew Cream

1 cup raw cashews
approx. 2/3 or more cup water (add more to get creamy but not runny consistency - you want it to be pretty thick
approx. 5-6 stems of baby dill (stems included)
approx. 1/4 teaspoon sea salt (or to taste)
pinch of fresh ground black pepper (I used my fancy wild black pepper, yum!)
a couple squeezes fresh lime (or lemon) - almost half of a lime's juice

Blend all this in a vita mix or high speed blender until creamy. Taste for salt and dill.

I put about 4 tablespoons of the dill cream on the pea mixture and tossed it together.

Pea Monster hungry

I plan on using the rest of the dill cream for making dill flavoured kale chips. I'll probably add some apple cider vinegar and more salt... maybe some miso and extra dill too. Oh, and onion.

Ok Bye!

Fruit Truck Salad

Hoorah for "fruit truck" day in Banff. Fresh B.C. produce. Let's make a big ass salad shall we...

You will need whatever fruit and vegetables your local market has to offer. I used:

1/2 cucumber, sliced thin then chopped in half
1/2 big yellow paddy pan squash, sliced thin then chopped in half
3 radishes, sliced with a vegetable peeler
2 apricots, cut into wedges
a couple handfuls of blueberries
one package of Earthbound Organics baby arugula (no, the market didn't have baby arugula, booo)
one green onion, sliced thin
a handful of raw walnut pieces (pine nuts are great on this salad but I didn't have any)


Preserved Lemon + Dill Vinaigrette
(I made this dressing up last year and loved it so much I put it in a cook book that I made for a friend)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh baby dill
3/4 of a preserved lemon rind, chopped small (recipe to follow)
1/4 cup canola or olive oil
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 small white onion, chopped small
1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger, chopped small
1 tablespoon raw apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon sake (optional)

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until onion and lemon are very broken down but not 100% smooth (but pretty much). You can probably use a food processor for this too. You want itsy bitsy pieces of the lemon and onion and flecks of dill.

Throw everything into a bowl except the nuts (unless you want to throw the nuts in, I'm not there to judge you) and toss really well to coat with vinaigrette.


Preserved Lemons
Ok, so I take 2-3 months to make my lemons (actually, Grant Parry's lemons), at Pure Food and Wine they take 5 days- they are more efficient in NYC. I have only made this vinaigrette with my (Grant's) version of preserved lemons. They do not use sugar for their preserved lemons at Pure Food + Wine so if you use their version you may need to add a sweetener to the dill vinaigrette.

You need a large mason jar.
6-8 organic lemons (important to get organic because you eat the peel only)
1 package of sea salt
1 package of organic cane sugar

Stand lemon on end and cut 3/4 of the way through, vertically and again to create a "+" when looking straight down. In a large bowl, combine two cups of the salt with one cup of the sugar and mix well. Slightly open each lemon from the top and pack tightly with salt/sugar mixture and slightly close again. Place the lemons in the mason jar until you can't cram any more in. Pour the remaining salt/sugar mixture over the lemons in the jar and fill to the very top. Make more salt/sugar if you need to. Put the lid on the jar and leave it on your counter for 2-3 months. You may need to add more salt/sugar as time passes and the lemons become exposed on top. (Juice seeps out of lemons and melts the salt/sugar slightly)

Keep the lemons in the jar, even when ready. To use, cut the inner bits out and throw away, keep the rind. I usually rinse the rind before using to get rid of any excess salt/sugar.

This is my current jar of preserved lemons. I used very coarse salt, as you can see.

Pure Food and Wine 5 day Preserved Lemons
(Because you might not want to wait 2-3 months to make this salad)

7-8 lemons
2 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 cups filtered water
2 tablespoons sea salt

Cut the lemons crosswise into very thin slices. Remove the seeds and place the lemon slices in a salad press or other container. In a blender, combine the lemon juice, water and salt and blend well. Pour over the sliced lemons and apply pressure with the salad press top or using another method to fully submerge the lemons in the liquid. Cover with a dish towel and set on counter for 5 days. Store in fridge after 5 days.

I love summer food!

Yellow Day

It is a yellow day. Not only because the sun has finally made an appearance here in Banff, but also because I decided to make raw banana bread - yipee! (I LOVE banana bread but have not been able to eat it for the past 2 years)

Remember - no sugar, no flours, no idea how to do this...

Ok so I had sprouted some quinoa on the counter last night and knew I wanted to incorporate that. There were three pretty ripe bananas on the counter... but what to use for the bulk... check the fridge... carrots! Ok, here we go:

2 bananas
1 cup raw walnuts
1/2 cup carrot pulp left over from juicing

Place all in food processor and pulse until just combined and walnuts are broken down but not into smooth butter. Transfer to bowl.

Add:

1/3 cup ground chia seeds
1/8 tsp ground vanilla beans
pinch or two sea salt
pinch cinnamon
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1/4 cup sprouted quinoa (Soak quinoa on counter for 6 or so hours in glass jar or sprouting jar. Drain and Rinse. Let stand overnight in dark place to sprout in the jar. Rinse and use)
3 drops of vanilla flavoured stevia liquid

Mix all with a spoon until well combined and spread onto teflex sheet, about an inch or inch and a half thick. Slice the third banana and place on top. Dehydrate at 100-105 for about 5 hours, flip off onto mesh screen and dehydrate until you feel it is done. I just sliced into mine after 5 hours on the teflex and 1 hour on the mesh and it was quite moist inside. Tasty, but I would like to see how it turns out when kept in for longer. Let you know later tonight!



Finished!

Might add some home made chocolate chips next time or dried coconut flakes. Overall, I think this recipe is a success. Some of you sugar-eaters may want to add dates (and yes, I realize that bananas and carrots have lots of natural sugars... Yum!)

UPDATE: JULY 15 - So I had something really strange going on with my taste buds where everything was bitter and gross - everything I ate for 3 days! I'm not sure if this recipe is actually good or if it was the reason my taste buds were so messed up (don't think so based on the ingredients but you never know). Anyway, I have decided that this recipe was NOT a success. Please don't try this at home haha.

Check out this ant I almost stepped on in Revelstoke last Tuesday - He is carrying a flower! (It is not a yellow flower, so I stepped on him immediately after this photo. Hope he learned his lesson)

Summoning Summer

I should be making web sites and designing stuff but it is Canada day and every other person with the day off is probably doing something un-work related so I decided to un-cook. (Dear Valued Clients, the wheels are in motion - I swear).

July 1st... Canada Day... it IS summer, right? Cool, I'll make food with summer vegetables then. I think they came from California (ssssshhhhh don't tell), where things grow because it IS summer there. The fruit truck visits Banff once a week on Wednesdays in the summer and is supposed to bring fresh fruit and vegetables from the Okanagan. I saw dole and green giant stickers last week on a few items... gross! I didn't purchase those items, but I did purchase green peas, green beans, red beets and yellow zucchini. Lately I have been obsessed with fresh vegetables chopped up and tossed together with a little bit of pink sea salt (massaged in) and good quality organic olive oil. That is all you need if your produce is at its best - yum.

Ok so here is the menu for this evening:
Fresh Green Pea + Cashew Cream stuffed Coconut Purses with Flat Leaf Parsley Pesto, wilted Green Beans and Red Beet Salad.

This is the shopping list:
*a couple of young thai coconuts
*green onions
*red beets or any other deep coloured vegetable you want to juice for colouring
*a medium yellow zucchini
*a few handfuls of green beans
*a bunch of green peas
*chia seeds (optional)
*raw cashews
*a lemon
*pine nuts
*small bunch of basil
*large bunch of flat leaf parsley
*small bunch of cilantro
*olive oil

Equipment:
*vita mix
*dehydrator
*food Processor

I would like to say that although the visual idea for the coconut purses was not my brain child, I made up my own recipe for these little guys. If I was to make these again I would double the recipe for the purses. Most of my coconuts had no meat inside so I had to make do with one cup.

Coconut Purses:
1 cup young coconut meat
2 green onions (white part only)
1/4 tsp. sea salt

Blend until smooth and creamy then add:

1/2 medium yellow zucchini, peeled (save peel)

Blend again until smooth and creamy

OK - I was experimenting so bear with me..

I took 1/3 cup of this mixture out and put it aside, and another 1/4 cup out and put in separate bowl and mixed a few dashes of spirulina powder in it (for green colour. I didn't have any spinach to juice, otherwise I think I would have done that instead, nicer flavour).

I then juiced one small red beet to get approx. 1/8 cup juice. Look at the crema on top of that beat juice - beauty! I am now officially a home juice barista. That's right.


I put this beet juice into the vita mix with the remaining coconut/zucchini puree. Then I took another 1/4 cup of the puree out and added 1 tsp. ground chia seeds to the remaining mixture in the blender. Just wanted to see what turned out better, chia infused wrappers or regular wrappers (they both turned out good).

Anyway, you must be bored by now... skip to the end...

Spread each different puree out pretty thin on a teflex sheet and dehydrate at 105 for about 3-4 hours, until you can peel them off with no residue left on the teflex. Trim the outer crustier edges away and slice into large rectangles or squares. Squares are probably best but who is judging.

Put in fridge until you are ready to use. Don't let any water get on these delicate little guys.

Fresh Pea + Cashew Cream:
1 cup cashews, soaked for a bunch of hours (like 4 or more)
1/2 cup fresh shucked peas
1 teaspoon lemon zest
juice from one lemon (about 2 tablespoons)
1/4-1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/8 cup water
1 small piece of celery from the inside of the bunch, you know, those really light green guys that look quite young

Blend all in vita mix and use the plunger to force the cream into the blades until smooth. Place in fridge until you need it.

Flat Leaf Parsley Pesto:
2 cups packed parsley
4 large basil leaves
small handful cilantro
1/4 cup good extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/2 teaspoon pink sea salt
pinch fresh black pepper

Place all in food processor until it looks like the very top image above on the far right.

Ok now take some fresh green beans, slice lengthwise down the seam, coat in olive oil, sea salt and black pepper and throw in the dehydrator for a few hours at 105 to "wilt".

Now take 2 small beets or one med red beet and shave it with a veg peeler until you can't shave any more off. Now slice those shavings lengthwise in half. Thin strips.
Toss in olive oil and sea salt. Mince 1 green onion and toss with beets.

If you actually did all this, wow good for you! If you actually understood all this, you are a champ.

Now fill the coconut wrappers with green pea puree, folding the sides in to create a pocket

and tie them up with the outside of the zucchini shavings (may need to cut shavings in half and make sure they are dry). You will want to do this right before you serve them because the coconut wrappers have about a half hour/hour max shelf life before they start to turn to mush where they are in contact with the pea puree.

Take a look at the pictures, that is easier than me trying to tell you how I assembled everything.



Well... cheers to summer!