Bean harvest

A little over 1/2 of our bean harvest.
(tea mug for scale)

bee

This little bee is on a broccoli flower.  I may make her the mascot of I like it green! I love her.
 
 
 
 



    I call this one "artistic bee."



  This is "nothing can stop the natabee!"

Working on a new recipe

 
My girls can cook!  All of them!  This summer we'll share more of their cooking.  This is Natalie working on perfecting a chocolate chip muffin. I think she got it just the way she wanted it.  I'll have to share it with you all soon -- or maybe she will blog it here.

Oh!  Here's a photo she took of cupcakes she and her sisters made one day. Yum!

New dinner: Broccoli, hashbrowns, and spice

I have a lot of broccoli in my garden. My winter garden is coming to an end (probably in a week or two) but for now, we are enjoying the broccoli. I don't know how much I got today, but I cleaned and chopped for a long time.  It was the biggest bunch I'd ever picked. I should have taken a picture. Alas.

A couple of weeks ago, I was looking for new ideas for my broccoli and kale.  I found this:
 http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2013/02/healthy-hash-brown-casserole.html

I changed it up a little.  Here's what I did:

Sauce1 1/4 cups water and 1/4 cup cashews -- make a cashew cream in the blender

In another larger bowl mix:
the cashew cream
1 cup plain, sugar-free non-dairy milk (I used soy)
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
3 tablespoons potato starch or cornstarch (I used cornstarch)
2-3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 - 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 - 1 teaspoon powdered mustard seed
1-2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, optional
1/2 tub of the chipotle salsa (pictured)

Casserole
Veggie broth as needed for cooking the onion and broccoil (see below for instructions)
1 large onion, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
A LOT of broccoli ... 'cause I had it.  I probably used the equivalent of 3 big heads
16 ounces frozen hash brown potatoes, thawed (no oil)
1 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained

 

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Grease a 11x9-inch baking dish.

Saute the onion in broth when soft add in the garlic, broccoli, and cook until broccoli is slight soft.  Add the sauce, hash browns, and chickpeas.

Cook, stirring constantly, until the sauce begins to thicken. Pour into prepared baking dish.

Cover with foil (I use a silpat) and bake for 40 minutes.

Uncover and bake for another 10-15 minutes.

Serve hot.





Yum!  Comfort food!  Only 3 out of 5 of us liked it, but those of us who did really liked it.


I'll make this again with kale.  This is the second time I made the casserole and I used cashew cream (like I said in the ingredients. On the orginal recipe she suggested using tahini instead of cashew cream.  I tried it with tahini the first time and I definitely like cashew cream better.