Okra Lentil Dish, Savory Tarte Tatin and Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake

Unfortunately, my camera battery charger is still missing.

I came across this recipe:

Hyderabadi Dahi Bhindi Masala

which gave me an inspiration for using okra differently. I have been getting tons of okra from my csa. Mostly, I have made soups and ragus? by just tossing the veggies together in a pot according to what I had in the fridge. We ate it over noodles, over rice, over polenta and alone as a soup. We were all getting tired of these vegetable mixtures. The early summer appeal of the beautiful ripe tomatoes grown down the street had started to fade. I had lost the loving feeling for the vegetables that I had rushed to use with a focused gusto in the early summer. My vegetable drawer is now overflowing with lovely colorful peppers, slicer tomatoes, eggplant, okra, cherry tomatoes, green onions and green beans. They are just as beautiful, but no longer hold the attraction they did just a few months ago.

This recipe is a departure from my southern background. For any Indian purist, my recipe would absolutely not do. Mine is more of a fusion based on what I had on hand in my fridge and pantry.

Okra Lentil Coconut Stew

Okra, 1 bag chopped
Assorted tomatoes, chopped
Onions, chopped (I used green)
Raw cashews, handful
Green beans, 1 bag
Ginger, powdered
Curry spice mix, powdered
Cayenne pepper
2 cans lentils, drained
1 can coconut milk

Sprinkle salt on okra and let sit in a bowl for 30 mins. Saute okra and cashews in olive oil in a pan until cashews are light, golden brown. Place the okra and cashews in a bowl. In same pan, saute onions, adding the curry and ginger (~1-2 tsp. of each?). Add chopped tomatoes to pan and continue to cook on medium heat. Add green beans and coconut milk, stirring to combine the flavors. Cook until the green beans are tender. Add lentils and okra, cashew mixture. Stir together and heat through. Add cayenne to taste. This can be served in a bowl or over rice.

Vegetable Tarte Tatin

I found this recipe:
Pepper Tarte Tatin

It looks so good in her picture, and I was dying to try it.
I modified it slightly to use more of the veggies in my drawer. After preheating the oven to 350, I covered the bottom of my cast iron skillet in olive oil then placed sliced green onions, sliced cherry tomatoes and sliced colorful peppers to the bottom of the skillet in a decorative pattern. After drizzling the veggies with agave and white wine vinegar, I cooked the vegetables on medium heat without stirring for ~10 mins. I then covered the veggies with filo dough and placed in the oven for ~18 minutes.

I removed the tarte from the pan immediately by placing a plate over the skillet and inverting the tarte onto the plate.

I finished off my French-Indian fusion meal with a pumpkin chocolate cake based on this recipe:

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake

I always have to tweak a recipe and probably never make something exactly the same twice. I only modified this one a little. I just wanted to make it in a way I could justify eating it for breakfast. I substituted the 2 c. flours with this mixture: 3/4 c. ap flour, 1/2 c. whole spelt flour, 1/2 c. almond flour, 1/4 c. coconut flour. For the sugars, I substituted 1/2 c. agave nectar and 1/2 c. sucanat. I used ~1 cup of chocolate chips. This is a very good recipe, and the cake came out just like the picture!

Raspberry Tea Bread

I made this tea bread that I found at this link:

Raspberry Tea Bread

It is really, really good. I omitted the banana because I couldn't find where to add it in the recipe. I substituted agave for honey and used 3 Tbsp. (probably because I omitted the banana). I used dried cherries, because I don't love raisins. It's a very nice, light breakfast or tea bread. I will definitely make it again.

Potatoes, carrots and green beans

Tonight it was the above mentioned veggies in a pressure cooker with a little olive oil and ~ 1 cup of water.

So simple and good. Serve with a little butter and salt.

My camera battery is dead, and since Thomas is out of town I don't know where the charger is. . . so, no pictures of this or chicken fricassee.

Chicken Fricassee

I made this recipe because whenever my kids see white asparagus in the grocery, they think of their Oma's (grandma) special meal that she makes for them when they visit her in Germany. Ideally, it would be made with a roux so as to thicken it. I couldn't be bothered with the different pots that would entail, so I made it this way:

3 halves boneless skinless chicken breast (free range)
1 bunch white asparagus, peeled and halved
2 carrots, sliced
1 onion, chopped
2 handfuls snow peas
1 cup green peas (organic frozen)
1/2 qt. chicken broth
1/2 pint whipping cream
splash of sherry

Saute onions and carrots in olive oil in a pressure cooker. Add chopped chicken, asparagus and chicken broth to just cover the vegetables and chicken. Bring to pressure and cook for 6 minutes. Take off of pressure, add asparagus, peas, whipping cream and sherry. Simmer for a few minutes to thicken. Add the snow peas and cook for another minute or two.

Serve over rice.

Lentil Coconut Soul Satisfying Soup.

This soup was comforting and sublime. The flavor satisfied something in my soul. It was also very filling, so I could only eat a small bowl.



Lentil Coconut Soup
2 bags organic green dry lentils (soaked overnight or quick-soaked)
coconut oil
onions, chopped (1 medium or several babies)
sweet peppers, chopped
tomatoes, ~1 pint chopped
cooking sherry, just a splash
vegetable broth, 1 qt.
coconut milk, 1 can
fresh rosemary, 2 - 3 sprigs
fresh thyme, a small handful
celtic salt, a pinch
optional - hot pepper or cayenne



Saute the onions, peppers and tomatoes until onions start to brown. Add the rinsed and drained lentils that were soaked. Add the broth and coconut milk and bring to a slow boil. Add the rosemary and turn down to low. Allow the soup to cook until the lentils just begin to break down. Splash the sherry into the soup.

Garnish with some chopped red pepper and chopped herbs.

Coconut Milk Chocolate Pudding

I got this recipe from Gotta Learn to Measure and only changed a few ingredients:

Chocolate Coconut Pudding
1 14-ounce can of coconut milk, divided
3 tbsp sucanat
pinch celtic salt
1/4 cup arrowroot
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 tablespoons organic cocoa powder
3.5-ounce organic semi-sweet chocolate chips (or any dark chocolate)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Shake the can of coconut milk vigorously for a few seconds. In a heavy saucepan bring 1 1/4 cups of the coconut milk, sucanat, and the salt (just) to a simmer over low heat.

While that is heating, in a separate bowl whisk together the remaining coconut milk, arrowroot, spices, and cocoa powder. It should look like a chocolate frosting.

When the coconut milk and sucanat mixture has started simmering take about 1/4 cup of it and whisk it little by little into the arrowroot mixture, creating a slurry. Turn down the heat to the very lowest setting. Now drizzle the slurry mixture into the simmering pan of coconut milk whisking vigorously all the while. Keep whisking until the pudding comes back up barely to a simmer and thickens up a bit, about a minute.

Remove the saucepan from heat, continue whisking while it is cooling for about a minute. Now whisk in the chocolate and vanilla. Keep stirring until the pudding is smooth. Place in a refrigerator to chill thoroughly. To prevent a skin from forming press plastic up against the surface of the pudding.

Real local and organic vegetables

These sweet peppers and onions were tossed in olive oil in preparation for the grill.





I know I need to get a better camera for my pictures, but I'm trying anyway. Here's an awesome heirloom tomato. It was divine in a turkey blt with fresh herbs!









I have trouble eating eggplant - it makes my mouth itchy. But I love the color and don't mind preparing it for my hubby who enjoys it.

What's in those brownies?

I found the black bean brownie recipe on tastespotting and was intrigued. Several friends were also interested in trying them. I finally made them and was actually impressed at how well they turned out. They taste great, even though they are a little more fudgey than a traditional brownie.

I used this recipe:

http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/amazing-black-bean-brownies-recipe.html

CSA organic cheating vegetable dinner

This dinner was earlier in the summer. I made some roasted fingerling potatoes, some green beans with turkey bacon - the cheating part, a freshly made cole slaw and a summer squash mix with fresh rosemary.

Veggie dinner

Tonight I wanted to use my veggies from the csa, even though we're getting tired of okra, tomatoes and peppers.

I chopped some of the baby onions into a cast iron skillet with olive oil. I added okra that I chopped and sauteed to cut down on the slime factor. I added chopped grape tomatoes, torn collard leaves, torn fresh basil leaves and a can of chick peas to finish my tagine? or is it a ragu? I almost forgot that most important splash of wine vinegar!

Whatever you want to call it, I heated up some brown rice left over from yesterday. I served the tagine/ragu over the warm rice. On the side we had a salad of ramaine with avocado and a fresh lemon drizzle.

When I took the first bite of the warm veggie combo, I was transported to my grandmother's kitchen. Since she never made anything like this that I know of, I can only guess that it's the collards. She used to keep a pot of greens on the stove as well as a pot of field peas and her famous black coffee. Friends and family members who dropped by and knew her coffee would ask 'cut me off a slice of that coffee.' There were also always fresh biscuits in the oven that I have never been able to duplicate.

For a funny tummy

I wasn't feeling tip top yesterday so I made some brown rice. I added a little coconut milk, some grated coconut and some dried currants to the warm rice for an impromptu, comforting 'rice pudding' make-do. It hit the spot.

Apple pancakes

We peeled and cored a large apple then sliced it in1/4-1/2" slices. We used Pamela's gluten free mix for the batter. We dipped the apple slices in the batter, then laid the slices in a hot pan and spooned the batter on top of the pancakes. Of course, we sprinkled cinnamon on them.

So yummy - we didn't even need syrup.

What's for dinner

Tonight we roasted the fingerling potatoes in the oven with some olive oil, baby red onions and salt. We accompanied them with sauteed okra and cooked collards. I sliced up a beautiful orange pepper to add color to the plate. All the vegetables are organic and local from my csa.



Due to an abundance of 'horse apples' from the csa, I made some apple muffins from this recipe:

http://thecrepesofwrath.wordpress.com/2008/08/25/apple-nut-oatmeal-muffins

I doubled the recipe and substituted 3/4 c. almond meal, 3/4 c. coconut flour, 1/3 c. spelt flour, 1/3 c. oat flour, 1/3 c. oat flour, 1 c. ap flour for the flour. I also substituted 3/4 c. agave for the sugar. I left out the nuts and raisins, b/c my kids don't like either in their muffins.


They taste great. They are very light, just a tad crumbly due to the flour exchanges, but really really good. No one noticed the difference with the different flours, while they usually complain after the first bite. Now . . . if I can just maintain texture without the ap flour.