Roasted Corn Salsa

The first time we visited Syracuse, it was to see if it was somewhere we would like to live.  For us, that meant visiting the Central New York Regional Market.  We had to see what was available from the local farms.  One of the trucks at the market was there primarily to promote the market and share a recipe made from what could be found at the market that day.  On the day of our first visit, it was Corn Salsa.  Wow!  It was delicious.  We picked up a copy of the recipe and somehow managed to keep track of it as we traveled home, packed, and moved.  I want to share it here because I think you'll enjoy it as much as we do and I figure it's only a matter of time before I lose the piece of paper with the recipe :-).

Corn Salsa

10 large ears corn, husked
Salt and freshly ground pepper (to taste)
8 vine-ripened tomatoes, about 1 pound total
1 cup diced red onion, 1/4-inch dice
1/2 cup julienne fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup red wine vinegar

Grill corn until light gold all over and cooked, about 12 minutes.  Let cool and cut off the kernels.  Discard the cobs.

Core the tomatoes and cut a small X on the bottom of each.  Place on the grill, X side down, away from direct heat.  Cover the grill and cook until the tomatoes begin to soften, but are not cooked all the way through, about 15 minutes.  Set aside until cool enough to handle, then peel.  Cut the tomatoes in half crosswise and squeeze out the juice.  Reserve the juices and chop the flesh.

Add the chopped tomatoes, reserved tomato juice, onions, basil and red wine vinegar to the corn.  Toss well.  Taste for seasoning and adjust with salt, pepper, and vinegar.

The recipe does call for some extra-virgin olive oil, but we leave it out and don't miss it.  We also thickly slice the red onion and grill it before chopping it and adding it to the salsa.

Serve on tacos/burritos, chips, cucumber chips, bell pepper scoops, etc.  We usually make a double batch and freeze the extra for later use.

Enjoy!

Lentil Barbecue

When I was growing up, our church hosted an annual Christmas bazaar.  Many crafts and baked goods were sold to raise money for the women's group.  Lunch was also served and it was always Beef Barbecue.  It was a favorite!  Moving to a more plant-based diet doesn't have to mean depriving yourself of favorite flavors.  Recipes, like this one, that are based on seasonings are easy to convert.  We've actually substituted lentils in many other favorites:  Cincinnati Chili, Sloppy Joes, taco filling, and chili sauce.  The results are just as tasty, healthier, and more economical (1 lb of dry lentils = 3 lbs of cooked lentils)

This is the Beef Barbecue recipe that I grew up on, but with lentils.  It was always made for a crowd, so this makes a lot (the original recipe calls for 6 lbs of beef).  I'm working on testing it to see how it works in smaller batches.  In the mean time, I'm enjoying the large batch that I started with.  I packaged the leftovers in 1.5 cup portions and froze them for future use.  They are wonderful on those evenings when I either don't have a dinner plan or don't have time to cook.  I just thaw/reheat and serve with some baby carrots, sugar snap peas, or some other quick and easy veggie.  I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do.

Lentil Barbecue

2 lbs (4 cups) lentils
8 cups water
1 stalk celery, chopped
3 large onions, chopped
1 tsp Tabasco  sauce
2 Tbsp. chili powder
1 Tbsp salt
1 bottle catsup (14 oz)
3 Tbsp barbecue sauce (CNYers - I used Dinosaur BBQs original sauce)
3 Tbsp vinegar
1 tsp pepper

Place all ingredients in a large crockpot and cook on low for several hours, until lentils are desired consistency (not crunchy, soft but not mushy).  I'll continue to work on this to get a more specific time for you.

Kale Chips

Kale chips are my new, favorite snack.  Our meals and snacks are mostly whole food, plant-based, but every now and then I still want to snack on something thin and crispy- like potato chips.  However, I don't like the way I feel afterwards.  Enter kale chips.  These are light, quick and easy to prepare and they satisfy that need to crunch.  Also, kale is a nutritional powerhouse.  Check out these stats:

One cup of raw kale =
33 calories
5% RDA fiber
2g of protein
9% RDA calcium
6% RDA iron
206% RDA vitamin A
134% RDA vitamin C

source:  Self Nutrition Data

Plus, there's an added bonus. The British Journal of Nutrition published a study titled Association of dietary fat, vegetables and antioxidant micronutrients with skin ageing in Japanese women in May of 2010. This study showed that "A higher intake of green and yellow vegetables was significantly associated with a decreased Daniell wrinkling score". Wow! Eating more green and yellow vegetables will decrease those crows feet! I'm sold!

Kale chips are so easy to make that there's no need to buy the pricier pre-made ones.

1.  Take a bunch of kale, cut the leafy part off the ribs, and cut the leaves into relatively uniform shapes (throw the ribs in your garden or compost pile!).

2.  Wash and dry kale leaves (a salad spinner is an excellent tool for this).

3.  Lay leaves out on a cookie sheet (you may want to use parchment paper to prevent sticking) or microwave chip maker.  Season to taste (I like a light sprinkling of sea salt).

4.  Bake in a 350 degree oven or microwave (2-3 minutes) until crisp, but not burnt.

5.  Serve!

This is also an excellent way to preserve an abundance of fresh kale. I've stored kale chips in glass jars or Tupperware containers and then added the kale chips to soups and stews. Yum!

Speaking of not liking how I feel after eating a bunch of potato chips, I came across this quote recently:  "Nothing tastes as good as healthy feels."  As someone who has been following a mostly (we did just go through the holidays) whole foods, plant-based diet since mid-summer, I can say that this is true for me.  I feel better and I have effortlessly reached a healthy weight.  I mentioned the holidays.  I admit that over the holidays I indulged in some of the traditional foods.  Did my taste buds enjoy the rich fare?  Sure.  But it wasn't worth the heaviness that I felt (for days) after.  This year we plan to keep our holidays whole food, plant-based.  However, we will not be sacrificing taste!  There are many delicious plant-based recipes out there.  We're even creating some of our own.  I'll share as I am able, so keep checking back to see what our latest culinary adventures have been!

Fall is Here!

Fall is finally here. It was a long, hot summer and many of us wondered when it would finally end. Now we have highs in the 70's and lows in the 50's. It's actually cold at night. I went out onto the deck, barefoot as usual, to bring our dog in a few nights ago and my feet got so cold! It's much better than highs in the 90's and lows in the 70's! However, with the talk of more extreme summers and winters, I wonder what winter will bring given the record breaking heat of this past summer and the lack of rain to go with it. But that's in the future. Now it's fall and it's wonderful!

We saw the first signs of fall in our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) box. Suddenly we could select from several varieties of winter squash: acorn, delicata, pumpkin. The neighboring farm set-up at the pick-up lot had cabbage again, beets, and so many varieties of apples that I couldn't keep track. I love going to pick up our CSA box because not only do we pick up our share, but we visit the other farm stands for additional produce that our CSA doesn't grow. Yesterday we canned peach sauce, made with some of the last peaches of the season. I think we have enough peaches leftover for me to prep and freeze for making jam when I have some time. We really didn't want to do this in the heat of the summer. Our kitchen is in the hottest part of the house! Today we took advantage of the many apples we bought this week. We made a crumb-top apple pie for dessert tonight and apple spice muffins for breakfast tomorrow. The house smells rich with apples, cinnamon, and nutmeg! Yum!

Another sign that it's fall: college football! We've been to two local games so far this season and, as always, we're keeping up with our Buckeyes!

Peaches

I love going to the farmer's market this time of year.  The fruit is in!  For the last few weeks we've been feasting on fresh, locally grown strawberries.  Then, last week when I went to pick up some strawberries for jam, I was greeted with peaches!  I decided it was time to expand my jam-making experience.  My neighbor and I went to the farmer's market yesterday and loaded up on peaches.  We met in my kitchen this afternoon and now I have two batches of fresh peach jam cooling on my counter.  There's something satisfying in preserving food for the year to come and making jam isn't all that difficult.  There are also still plenty of peaches for dessert tonight and the next few breakfasts.  I also plan to chop some to freeze.  They will be great this winter for cobbler, served over Angel Food cake, etc.  We're also contemplating canning sliced peaches next month when the freestones are ripe (they are SO much easier to slice).  I haven't canned anything beyond jam, but it looks like it should be even easier.  In addition, we're looking forward to blueberry and, depending on supply, blackberry jam next month. 
By the way, I am looking for a good, juice-only, sweetened jam recipe.  If you know of any, please send them my way.  Thanks!