Raw Vegan Angel Hair "Pasta" with Pesto

Last night’s dinner was courtesy of the garden. The smell of basil is intoxicating; permeable when watered. I don’t think you can ever sow enough basil seeds. I’m considering growing it in my sunny foyer.

I harvested a hoodie full of basil or 3 tightly packed cups and several zucchini including pastel green Clarimore and buttercup yellow Golden Dawn. Seeds are from Squash, Zucchini, "Tricolor Mix" and were purchased from Renee’s Garden Seeds.

I learned to make Angel Hair Pasta with Pesto at Judita’s Raw Food 101 class and speaking of, her next class will be held on Sunday May 3 and I highly recommend it. Since taking her class I have incorporated more raw foods into my diet, feel full and fueled, crave less cooked food, and have experienced weight loss. I fit into 3 pair of old jeans. Woot!

The pièce de résistance; a perfect spring/summer dinner. Not one burner needed for this rich guilt-free dish. This pesto recipe is sans blanching and I used raw almond slivers instead of pine nuts because it’s what I had on hand.

My tweaked recipe for pesto:
1 cup basil leaves, tightly packed
¼ cup of extra virgin olive oil (I use Braggs)
¼ cup of raw almond slivers
1 garlic clove, crushed
¼ teaspoon of sea salt

Pasta Noodles:
3 zucchini, peeled and cut into thirds. Cut in half if zucchini are small.

Thin noodles can be made with a vegetable spiral slicer or you can simply use a vegetable peeler and make “fettuccine” type noodles. Draw the peeler down all sides until you reach the core.

Toss with pesto and enjoy!

Lastly, yesterday I started day 1 of pre-cleansing in prep for THE colon cleanse. The wonderful Judita turned me on to Blessed Herbs colon cleanse. The first three days you gradually decrease your solid food intake in anticipation of a five day liquids only fast. Here’s the satisfying and sustaining food I ate:

Breakfast: Organic Raw Kombucha-Multi-Green flavor
Lunch: Organic apple & a handful of organic flax & sesame seed tortilla chips
Dinner: Raw vegan angel hair pasta with pesto & three vegan chocolate chip cookies. I had a weak moment.

Tonight’s dinner will be sunflower herb pate with shaved beet salad and chard with homemade lemon herb dressing. Beets, chard and lemons are from the garden and I’ll forgo the cookies.

What's For Lunch?!

I don't know about you but I am having this. It's sitting right behind me and I kinda can't stop thinking about it.

I recently acquired a New West Knife Works Chef 8” knife and I haven’t had a chance to use it. I must have felt inspired this morning because at 7:30am I started to chiffonade rainbow chard. I’m a tad embarrassed to say that the chard had been sitting in the fridge for a couple of weeks. I don’t want to hawk a bunch of goods but let's just say I use a certain as seen on TV produce bag and well, it works!

On to the food, b*tchin Not Tuna (I think it should be called Nut Tuna) that Judita taught at her Raw Food 101 class, homemade sprouts, avocado, jalapeno-stuffed olives, on top a bed of rainbow chard tossed in lemon and a smidge of EVOO. Did I just say that? Let's eat!

*Rainbow chard (not pictured but it's pretty, trust me), celery and Rossa Lunga di Firenze onion from the garden.

You Are What You Eat

Here I be, footloose and fancy free in 2006. Who knew one day I would resemble a cauliflower.

This badass is Cauliflower-Purple of Sicily. These Italian heirloom seeds where purchased from one of the raddest seed suppliers around, Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. If I don't attend the Spring Planting Festival in May I'm going to run away to Bakersville.

A flawless cauliflower! Planted in the shade garden and undisturbed by the insect infested broccoli raab that sat next to it. I fearlessly snapped off a shoot and consumed it immediately. Normally I wouldn't do that considering I spit out a slug recently. Oh yeah, no joke, it was living in my salad. Bleh.

Pretty and delicious. Mild and not at all caulilflowery. I roasted half in a little olive oil, sea salt, and ground pepper. The other half I’ll eat raw. Clear out room if you like cauliflower because I highly recommend this variety. I’ve never harvested such a perfect vegetable.

And... We're Back!

I took a brief break from gardening this weekend which basically means I did not mass produce soil blocks and instead transplanted a few, or like 10, seedlings, yanked out the broccoli raab, harvested Lettuce, Container "Garden Babies" and transplanted chives and more lettuce. I also counted 41 tomato seedlings before Rocky murdered 6 of them. *Shaking fist*

Check out these beauties. At first I thought they were marigolds, shows you how much I know about flowers, then I remembered these were the Bouquet Cosmos "Double Click" from Renee’s Garden Seeds I sowed on December 15, 2008. They’re anchoring the corners of one of my raised beds and they’re stealing the show from the zucchini’s. This is just the beginning too. There are tons of buds waiting to reveal their pretty little faces.

Speaking of zucchini's, they're rolling in! Ever since taking Judita’s raw vegan culinary class all I can think of is the dreamy angel hair pasta and pesto she taught us to make. I hope to share this recipe with the “I’m Vegan” crew on April 11th when they’re here filming my contribution to their documentary.

I have about 10 different squash planted. This is Golden Dawn Zucchini from the Squash, Zucchini, "Tricolor Mix" seed packet and also from Renee’s Garden Seeds. I counted 6 zuccs on this plant alone. Did I mention I have 9 others? Looks like I’ll be cranking the spiral slicer all summer long!

*I apologize for all the linkage. Vegetables make me happy.

Beetiful!

Hi garden cohorts! I wanted to thank everyone that has left a kind comment or took the time to send me a gracious email. I'm thrilled that growing your own has really struck a chord across the country.

My friend to the left is Beet Early Wonder. I soil block my beets because that's just the way I block and roll™!

Dollars from dirt: Economy spurs home garden boom

The Associated Press recently asked for my opinion regarding recession gardening. Between the vegetables I’m growing in the garden and the fruits and vegetables I exchange with my neighbors our grocery bill has been significantly reduced. This month’s food exchange yielded tangerines, loquats, lemons & parsley.

Pictured right is half the harvest from the raised bed seen below. It took two hours to wash all these crops but the results were four 1-gallon bags of Lettuce-Flashy Trout’s Back, Lettuce-Container Garden Babies, Kale-Dwarf Blue Curled, rocula, and an abundance of three types of onions. Not pictured: two celery stalks and four rogue carrots.

Here are some quotes from the article. Full story at ABC News.

By Gillian Flaccus
Associated Press Writer
Photos by Nick Ut

"Adriana Martinez works in her backyard garden in Long Beach, Calif. on Wednesday, March 11, 2009. With the recession in full swing, many Americans are returning to their roots, cultivating vegetables in their backyards to squeeze every penny out of their food budget."

"Adriana Martinez, an accountant who reduced her grocery bill to $40 a week by gardening, said there's peace of mind in knowing where her food comes from. And she said the effort has fostered a sense of community through a neighborhood veggie co-op. "We're helping to feed each other and what better time than now?" Martinez said."

On a side note, our grocery bill is probably lower than $40.00 a week. Occasionally I’ll burn through cash in the baking isle and H is omni so his items are a bit pricier but even then he doesn’t indulge as often as he used to.

We bake our own bread and make our own pizza dough. The dogs go insane over the pizza crust. Rocky gets what I call “crazy eyes” when I feed it to him so pops is going to start making them their own treats from the same pizza dough recipe. Oh yeah, and we’ll be making our own nut milk and creamer too. Stay tuned for that post.

I don't need you corpo agriculture!

Garden Pizza Redux

We're fortunate enough to live near pizza dynasty Buono’s. We used to frequent this establishment a least once a week. Before I became vegan their Buona Lisa was one of my favorite pizzas. Buono’s was still a commonplace after I converted to veganism but the veggie pizza sans cheese is no Buona Lisa.

I turned to Whole Foods and discovered a vegan white pizza that left something to be desired well after my second giant slice. I befriended the pizza maven and she divulged her secret. Vegenaise. I grabbed a jar and urged the hubs to make it happen. He did and then some.

H used to hand craft his pizza dough but now he uses the Breadman TR875 instead. It makes dough making so easy I may even try making it. Not. We prefer a thin crispy crust and it must be able to hold a bevy of toppings that may or may not be used. H never knows what I’m having on my pizza until the last moment. It keeps him on his toes.

He fretted when I mentioned this harvest was going on my side of the pizza. I sautéed my favorite onion, Rossa Lunga di Firenze, Rainbow Chard and Summer Squash Sunny Delight in a splash of olive oil and a dash of sea salt. Easy and delicious. I’ve used this combo before and filled blue tortillas for a flavorful and satisfying meal.

Piled high on top of tofu ricotta and marinara. Crappy food staging/picture but it was the bomb! The crust held its own and H out did himself again.

If you'd like to view visually appealing food pictures check out JennShaggy or the QuarryGirl dou. They rule at everything vegan.

Cabbage: The Unsung Hero

Cabbage. Not a vegetable I usually care for. I’ve never felt compelled to purchase cabbage. The very idea of cooking with it perplexes me. Where do I even start? Cole slaw? Yawn. The only memory I have of the shredded stuff is of grams topping off posole (pork and hominy soup) with it.

At first, I grew cabbage purely for novelty reasons; for garden kitsch. Then it became a challenge. The cabbage worm and his hooligan wigglers were real jerks but I wasn't going to let them take over my turf. It became my version of the $64.00 Tomato!

Finally! Here she is, Cabbage Copenhagen Market. I sowed these Botanical Interests seeds who knows when. The point is I got a cabbage.

I couldn’t stop eating it raw; mild, buttery and delicious. I didn’t make anything exciting with it last night. Atop homemade bread I topped a Smart Dog with a handful of cabbage, avocado, and tomato. I think I’ll make a variation of Rustic Cabbage Soup tonight.

Those cabbage worms were really onto something!

Garden Interrupted

Hey dude! It’s been a while, I know and I apologize. What’s new? Well, my newly planted basil is getting pounced in the rain but never mind that. I’m going to shift the onus for my absence onto the newest addition to the family. Our brood has grown; we are now parents to a sweet Rottweiler/German Shepherd pup. He’s not exactly a puppy. Many have told us he may be between 8 to 12 months old. Long story but we found him on February 6th by the Metro station, running wild in the rain and ID less.

We named him Rocky and he won’t sit still long enough to have his picture taken so instead here’s an illustration of what he looks like. Handsome, right?

The victory garden has remained rockin’. I transplanted six different types of eggplants into separate containers. I tilled New Zealand White Clover where corn will grow. I amended one of my beds with compost and I harvested a cabbage. It took lots of tries for the one cabbage but success against the cabbage worm was finally mine!

Till next time!

My People Call It Maize

Actually it’s called a chayote. Mother Earth News has a 4 page history of the chayote that I highly recommend. My knowledge of this fruit has been kicked down from my mama and grandma. Grams can grow anything and everything and sometimes even the illegal but I won’t go there.

Mother Earth say, “by February it (seed sprout) should be approximately six inches long” and Mother Earth is right! My seedling is ready to be planted however the challenge is going to be finding a spot where this hefty vine can grow. It’s a climber and can grow up to 30 feet; ah what?! Chayote needs a long growing season; by October fruit should be ready for harvest.

Chayote is a mandatory ingredient in caldo (or caldo de res) and for my non-Spanish speaking friends, beef stew. However I enjoy it roasted or in veggie enchiladas. Cook it like you would any squash or substitute chayote for any recipe calling for squash.

I picked up my seed at Henry’s (Costa Mesa, CA). If you’ve got the space, grow this unique fruit and let’s swap recipes in October!

Shade Happens

Who knew you could grow vegetables in the shade? I’m sure you fellow gardening friends knew but it never occurred to me. Never. I have a narrow ick spot between the side of the house and the space where we park a car that is always shaded. It’s been screaming for an update.

A search on mother Google yielded a plethora of possibilities. An article on In the Garden Online was especially helpful. The article mentions 10 crops that are suitable for shade and I happened to have some of those crops hanging around.

Y voila! I forgot to take a before picture but frankly it was ugly looking and who wants to see that side of me?

I transplanted Cauliflower-Purple of Sicily, Cabbage-Copenhagen Market, Lettuce-Container Garden Babies, Chard, and Parsley. Ah, chard, my arch nemesis. I have 5 different types of chard seeds. I think this is Rainbow Chard or it could be Bright Lights. Who knows and who cares because after about a year of trying I was finally able to grow it! My neighborhood BFF "just throws the seeds out" she says and gets enough bounty to feed the block. I on the other hand only produced three seedlings. What the pickles?

How cute is this lettuce? I mean c’mon it’s called Garden Babies. I haven’t tried it yet but it’s doing well in the new shady vegetable patch.

Coming Up Radishes

I'm going to take a wild guess and say that these little beauties are from the December 1st soil blocking session. Don't ask me who's who but these are Easter Egg II and Breakfast Petit Dejeuner radishes.

So much for taking better notes in '09. I have the capacity to note what seeds I sow however once it goes in the ground so does my good intentions and note taking ability. All would be fine if I didn't have several seed varieties.

How do you properly note what's growing in your garden?

Soil Blocking 101: A Pictorial

It happens every time. Me: “I’m going to peak in on the backyard; I’ll only be a few minutes.” Six hours later and this is what I did… Tada...

Get out your gardening gloves and let’s get blocking! First thing needed is soil. I use what Martha uses to start her seeds, Vermont Compost Company Fort Vee Potting Soil.

My husband bought me four 60 quart bags for my birthday. I’m down to two bags and I’m a little concerned.

Vermont Compost products can be found on several sites online or you can use your favorite seed starting mix.

Next, my weapon of choice is the 2" by 2" soil block maker. It produces 4 perfect little squares.

I own two other sizes: a 3/4" by 3/4" soil blocker that is suitable for small seeds like lettuce or oregano. I also own a behemoth 4” soil blocker(another birthday present). This big guy comes in handy when your seedling has outgrown its 2” block and you wish to raise stronger seedlings. Simply transplant the 2” block into the larger block’s divot.

Get your trays ready because you’re about to start blocking and rolling! I soil block directly onto standard size 11” by 21” leak-proof trays but you can use whatever size tray is best suited for your needs.
Dump your seed starting mix into a bucket. I recycled an old plastic drawer that was formerly used as college furniture.

Thoroughly moisten the soil by adding water and mixing with your hands. Continue to do this until a lump of soil can be squeezed and it’s able to hold its form.



Place your bucket on a sturdy surface and dunk the soil block into the bucket. This step requires a lot of elbow grease.







For uniform blocking scrape the soil blocker on the bottom of the bucket. This will pack the soil into the blocker.

Place the blocker directly on the tray, push down on the handle, and lift.





Y voila! Repeat about a thousand times or however many times it takes to fill your tray of choice.




The standard trays I use hold 40 blocks and enough room is allowed for proper air circulation and watering ease.

Time to reach into your seed vault. The last time I counted I had 112 vegetable seed packets. Since then I have added to my sick seed obsession. I store my seeds in a convenient tray in the fridge.

Let the seed sowing begin! Drop in a couple of seeds in each block. One seed per block is acceptable. I sow two per block because I like my seeds to have back up and I’m just crazy that way.


Repeat, repeat, repeat. When you’re sick of blocking it’s time to tuck in your trays. Keep them warm; a windowsill, any sunny spot in your home or in a hobby greenhouse. Some trays may be purchased with plastic lids which act as mini-greenhouses. Saran wrap can also achieve this effect. Keep your babies moist and wait patiently for your reward.

Interdietary Bliss

I can’t remember which new age-y spiritual guru once said, “You have no right to interfere in someone else’s learning process.” That statement confirmed that I could continue to promote my vegan beliefs without imposing them on anyone, even my omnivore husband.

However with that said not only has H drastically reduced his consumption of animal products but he has also expanded his palette to include many vegan options. That makes him more rad!

Onto the eats. In his younger years the husband worked at a pizza parlor. Now I benefit from his pizza making abilities. Two very different pizzas sit side by side in harmony. The right side (touché)is vegan.

Sitting atop homemade pizza dough is Veganaise (the secret to creamy pizza according to the Whole Foods pizza lady), Follow Your Heart mozzarella cheese alternative, mustard greens sautéed with shallots, onions Rossa Lunga di Firenze, and homemade spicy Italian vegetarian sausages.

Mustard greens and onions are from my garden and speaking of garden veggies, the green zebra tomato bounty of ’08 continues to be enjoyed. Lettuce and mesclun pictured also from my garden; salad perfection.

Out of the oven and ready to be devoured.

The mustard greens tasted a lot like kale chips. I see a lot of crispy chippy mustard greens™ in my future. I think I’ll add this recipe to my Vegan Victory Garden Cookbook. ™

Leafy Greens Galore

I've had a difficult time keeping up with the lettuce. My entire crisper, one huge drawer, is full of lettuce, mesclun, and mustard greens. I've been on a pizza (vegan of course) kick lately and just haven't gotten around to eating salad.

Check out my onions. I can't begin to describe the wonderfully pungent aroma emitted and they taste even better. Thus far they have been my favorite vegetable to grow.

Look what's growing, Summer Squash Sunny Delight. I sowed these seeds on October 26 as part of my "if it's sold at the farmer's market I should be growing it" experiment. My squash is so punk that the rain and cold can't stop it!

And Then There Were None

Yesterday I yanked out my mythical 7' tomato babies. The plants were covered in flowers but they weren't producing the healthiest of tomatoes so it was time to let go and get the bed ready for spring.

After removing the tomato plants I sowed New Zealand White Clover cover crop and added Martinez brand compost. I'll be amending and testing the soil often and will continue to add compost.

Crops left in bed above: radishes, lettuce, mesclun, garlic, shallots, cayenne, and jalapenos.

We harvested the last brandywine and beefsteak tomatoes along with several green green zebras and sun gold tomatoes. Good thing I have a great vegan fried green tomatoes recipe.

I also transplanted Lettuce, Container "Garden Babies," Spinach, Baby Leaf "Catalina," Kale, "Dwarf Blue Curled," Onion, "Yellow Granex," and Rucola. Except for the rogue Rucola from Italy, seeds are from Renee's Garden Seeds and Botanical Interests and all seeds sowed germinated. Who needs a 401(K) with that return on investment?!

My biggest challenge during the next couple of months will be to not sow any seeds that need transplanting into the garden soon; like lettuce and radishes. However I plan on getting a much earlier start on spring so my kitchen table will be seed starting central.

Till then Wrinkles and I will be tending the onions and continue to pick the cabbage worms off of our remaining crops.

What's Growing On?

A couple of weeks ago I received a package from Renee’s Garden; one of my favorite seed suppliers . I was asked to trial test the new 2009 seed varieties and a test it will truly be. Out of 12 seed packets I received only three are vegetable seeds and the remainder are ornamental flowers.

I don’t gravitate towards ornamentals. I have an extremely difficult time watering anything that isn’t going to feed me. I planted brussels sprouts amongst flax, pentstemon, and daylilies just so the non-vegs can be assured of some water. The only flowers I’ve been able to successfully grow are daisies, marigolds and coleus. I kind of have a black thumb for all others.

The torrential rain has forced me to soil block at the kitchen table. I was planning on blocking yesterday but after hours in the garden, a long walk with Wrinkles, and three hours of cooking, I shined the whole project. I’m behind my planting schedule already and I need a heating mat stat.

I’m clearing out the beds slowly. Here’s Sunday's harvest. It made a delicious salad.

Why I'm Crazy About Growing Veggies

This...
And this...








Turns into this and then we eat!

I made spicy salsa, topped crock pot black beans with fresh cilantro, and stuffed a pita with homemade hummus, a green tomato, and lettuce. Not pictured were a couple of white icicle radishes and mustard greens.

Too much produce for one picture!