Hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park

Last weekend, the day after picking produce in Boulder with Pam, I joined a few AmeriCorps gals on a hike in Rocky Mountain National Park. Claire, my coworker, made it super easy for me to join them on the hike: we met and Britney's and my place and Claire drove us up there. She'd researched where she wanted to go and we just joined her. The only bummer was that I'd babysat super late the night before (I think till about 2AM) and we left super duper early that morning (I got up at 5:45AM). I was a bit sleep deprived to say the least but it was a blast. It was a gorgeous day and I made sure to make a point to everyone that it was my mom's birthday. When we sat and took a break we all said "Happy Birthday Mom!" The next hike we do needs to be a bit more difficult I told Claire because I'm ready to get sweaty and see beautiful sights. Here are some shots that Claire took with her super awesome camera:

Amy, on the right, in a panorama!

Coworker buddy shot: Me on the left and Claire on the right (in case it's hard to see haha)

Britney, me and Amy by a waterfall.

The four super intense hikers haha: Amy, Britney, me and Claire.

We all struck yoga poses: I was doing more of a ballet stretch while Amy was doing the tree pose and Britney was doing a slight back bend!!

YAY Colorado, so beautiful!!! 

Mixed Greens from a Salvaged Salad

Last week we had a family event and I took home some extra greens and carrots. They've sat in my fridge in a plastic bag for over a week now due to the excessive amounts of food in our fridge. Today I started worrying they would go bad and that I should use them. I grabbed a head of garlic from the garage (from Jill's garden), chives and basil from Jill's garden and sauteed them. I then added the chopped carrots and a zucchini (from Pam's garden). I let them cook for a while with some S & P & chili flakes. I added too many flakes because my lips are still burning. I then stuck the wilted and somewhat slimy greens into the pan and let them reduce down. I was SO impressed with myself. If you'd smelt the greens in the bag, I bet you would have thrown them out. I didn't and I took a risk with them. Luckily it was a good risk and they turned out delicious, if a bit spicy!!

Beets Beets Beets

With all the food I helped harvest in Boulder in addition to our farm shares we get each week, I've been spending a TON of time in the kitchen these past few weeks. For example, today I was expecting to simply make the apple crisp in 1 hour, but I ended up working in the kitchen for over 4 hours making all sorts of things. Here is a mumbo-jumbo mix of the things I've been working on this past week:

I got a ton of potatoes this past week in our farm share. I was going to make just some mashed potatoes but then decided to add some of the boiled beets I'd picked and prepared last week. I started by sauteeing some garlic and chives in EVOO then added the mashed veggies, Earth Balance (vegan butter) and rice milk. They are delicious and my favorite color! ;)

I also decided to roast some potatoes in EVOO, rosemary and garlic. I added the course salt I bought last weekend in addition to some pepper and they were awesome. Britney and I devoured them as soon as they cooled!

I peeled all the beets because they were so dirty and then cut some up to boil them. Here are all the different beets in a bowl of water, waiting to be cooked!

How beautiful, right? This was my first year of seeing such unique beets!

Here are the boiled beets. I ate some plain, put some in a salad and threw others into the mashed potatoes and beets.

Here are the apples after we cut them, boiled them and drained them to make the applesauce. 

Roasted beets! Oh they were so delicious I ate them all for lunch one day haha! I definitely had my fare share of beets this week!

Salt-roasted potatoes. I found the recipe in The Week and was concerned it would be wasteful with all that used salt. I used course salt and threw some time into the salt (I don't think that did anything at all). I used the bigger potatoes that I had and then also used some beets too. I shouldn't have peeled the beets though because they looked funky, all black and bubbly later after being cooked. The potatoes didn't end up tasting all that special, simply cooked. I wouldn't probably do it again just due to all the salt I used (and have kept, so maybe I will do it again just to re-use the salt and to try and make it more exciting) and the long time needed to cook the beets.

The blacked, boiled beets and potatoes. The potatoes look pretty, the beets not so much!

Borsche!! I made it myself and I made it vegan. I threw in all sorts of things and am pretty proud of it. We had so much food in our fridge this past week that I actually haven't ate any of it, but I do have 2 containers of it in the freezer for future use; I made a lot!! I used soy milk and even included some beet greens into the soup. The one annoying thing was that the beet greens wrapped themselves around my immersion blender blade and that was a pain to clean. Otherwise it's a nice, thick soup full of nutrients!

Another shot of the purple-pink soup!

That night, last Sunday, was Jill's night to make dinner. It was beautiful and so simple too! Brown rice, refried beans with cilantro in them. Then she sauteed a bunch of veggies (peppers, carrots, etc) and made her own salsa. I loved loved loved the dish and can't wait to try it myself. The one issue I have is that I usually use dried beans so making refried beans will take several steps and lots of planning. I think I can do it, I'll just have to figure it out and expect to spend a good amount of time in the kitchen!

Terrible picture of the tomato/pasta sauce I made today. I had all those beautiful heirloom tomatoes hanging out in my fridge all week and I started to worry that they would go bad. A lot of them actually seemed fine but I didn't know when I'd get another chance to use them. I've had a few delicious sandwiches and salads with the fresh tomatoes so I decided I'd use up all but one and make a veggie pasta sauce a la Pam. I included a white onion, a head of garlic (a very small head), two banana peppers (I've been getting too many spicier peppers to know what to do with), basil, S &P and of course the tomatoes. Oh I also added a few of the carrots I got from my farm that were smaller in size and the skin of the eggplant that I used to make the babaganoush out of. I just froze the whole amount I used in a large tupper ware because, as I keep saying, our fridge is overflowing with food and I don't want any of it to go bad! I'm not complaining, I'm just saying!! I think it's part of the bargain when joining a farm :)

Picking Produce in Boulder

Last weekend, I was lucky enough to be invited to Boulder to join Pam, Rich, Olivia and Dianne to pick some produce. It was a fantastic day and I came away with WAY more food than I'd expected. Pam owns some houses in Boulder and two of them had apple trees ready to be picked so we not only got lots of apples, but we also got lots of beets at a farm that she has connections with. Dianne and I carpooled up to Boulder from Denver and met Olivia, Pam and Rich's new friend. She is going to school in Oregon but is taking the semester off to bike across the country, from Oregon to Florida!! She met Pam and Rich one day bike riding and they invited her for the farm extravaganza in Boulder!

 

Here's the group of us after a long day of harvesting, enjoying our lunch together!

We made out like bandits at the beet farm. On the left is Bob, the farmer, who was so nice to us. We picked TONS of beets in addition to several delicious tomatoes!

Look at how huge these beets are! Olivia was picking the white ones, while Dianne and I picked the pink ones (that are swirled). Pam got the ginormous purple ones!

Olivia, Dianne and I showing off our harvested beets! Boxes full!!

Pam said it all with that quote!

Here was the beautiful meal we enjoyed after all our hard work. We had some tomatoes and cucumbers in addition to the boiled beets and sauteed beet greens (with garlic and EVOO, thanks to Dianne). YUM!!!

The farmer and the harvester, or the harvester and the farmer--such talented people when it comes to growing food! :)

We got to sit in the back of the truck as we were driven to the beet field where we harvested for about 15 minutes and got SO MANY in so little time!

Olivia and I loved the pumpkin stand Bob had at his produce stand. There were some beautiful gourds and colorful pumpkins!

The crazy green, twisted gourd Olivia was holding ended up breaking. I guess they're more fragile than we expected!

 

Us four girls hanging out in the apple tree we were about to harvest. I got to use the super fun apple picker that had a little cage that caught the harvested apple, AWESOME!

Dianne, finding the good apples on the ground.

Olivia, using the table to pick the hidden apples in the tree.

I had too much fun with that apple picker! :)

Here is Olivia with her super hard-core bike that she is using to go cross-country! You go girl!!!

Here's all the produce I ended up getting in Boulder. On the left are all the beet greens. The middle box are the beets, tomatoes and a few random things (chives, peppers, zucchini) from Pam and Rich's garden in Boulder. The right box is all the apples I got!!

So much food all for $10!!

These are the apples I used to make the apple crisp for tonight's dessert! And we made lots of applesauce---delicioso!!!

A bunch of applesauce!! Yum!! 1 week later and it's almost all gone, that's how much we don't like applesauce...just kidding! 

So many beet greens I blanched and froze. 

Frozen beet greens ready to use.

I also snabbed some lavender from Pam's yard. It's pretty but I wish it were stronger so that when you walked into the house you'd smell LAVENDER!!!

Some on the kitchen table

And some in my room!

Babaganoush

2006, Ellie Krieger, All Rights Reserved

Show: Healthy Appetite with Ellie Krieger 

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ellie-krieger/babaganoush-recipe/index.html

Ingredients

• 1 large eggplant (about 1 pound)
• 1 glove garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, plus more for garnish
• 2 tablespoons tahini
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Prick eggplant with a fork and place on a cookie sheet lined with foil. Bake the eggplant until it is soft inside, about 20 minutes. Alternatively, grill the eggplant over a gas grill, rotating it around until the skin is completely charred, about 10 minutes. Let the eggplant cool. Cut the eggplant in half lengthwise, drain off the liquid, and scoop the pulp into a food processor. Process the eggplant until smooth and transfer to a medium bowl.

On a cutting board, work garlic and 1/4 teaspoon salt together with the flat side of a knife, until it forms a paste. Add the garlic-salt mixture to the eggplant. Stir in the parsley, tahini, and lemon juice. Season with more salt, to taste. Garnish with additional parsley.

Vegan Apple Crisp

Apple Crisp

http://www.theppk.com/2007/10/apple-crisp/

by IsaChandra

Serves 8

This apple crisp is just perfect. Sweet and crunchy and spiced just right, I like it served warm with Vanilla Bean Soy Cream.

Ingredients

For the filling
4 lbs apples (I use Roma)
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup apple juice or water
1 tablespoon arrowroot powder (cornstarch will work too)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1/2 cup raisin (optional)

For the topping
1 cup quick cooking oats (not instant)
1 cup flour
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup canola oil
3 tablespoon soy milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 F

Peel, core and thinly slice apples. Dissolve the arrowroot in the apple juice or water. Set aside.

Place apples and raisins in the baking dish, add sugars and spices and combine everything well (you may need to use your hands to do this). Pour arrowroot mixture over everything.

To prepare the topping, in a medium bowl, combine all dry ingredients. Add oil, soymilk, and vanilla, mix well. Crumble topping over the apples. Bake for 45 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool at least 15 minutes before serving.

Wednesday's Crazy Zucchini Creations

I had a funky day on Wednesday where I thought I'd get out of work early and go to yoga. I ended up getting out of work more than 30 minutes later than expected. Then it was raining and it took me over an hour to go pick up this week's veggies and get back to my house. By that time I was tired and just wanted to hang out at home. I was a bit antsy though and I wanted to do something. I decided that with all the food I had around, I'd better cook. I checked with Britney and knew she'd be home for dinner so I started pulling things out of the fridge. I realized I had a TON of zucchini with no idea of new things to do with it. Although I absolutely adore the sauteed zucchini with the nutritional yeast, I didn't want to do the same thing over and over again. I wanted to explore. I started looking online and thinking of different things I could do. I consulted my father the chef and came up with a game plan. As I started cooking, Britney came home and joined me in the kitchen for another cooking lesson session! 

We started with some mashed potatoes. 

Boiled potatoes, stuck them in the food processor with some rice milk, vegan butter and S & P. Got them to the texture we wanted and put them back on the burner to wait till the rest was ready. 

Then we made ZUCCHINI SOUP!! We roasted a bunch of zucchini with some garlic and ginger. That was delicious on its own. Then we added that to the cleaned food processor and added enough rice milk to make it a good consistency. When we put it in a pot to re-heat I also added some curry to it to make it a ginger, curry zucchini soup!

Britney cutting this really small red pepper from Jill's garden into really thin slices. I forget the correct culinary term but that's what she's doing to the pepper. 

I sliced two extra yellow zucchini, coated them in whole wheat flour, egg replacer and then bread crumbs. Stuck them in a pan with some vegetable oil and let them brown. I should have added more salt and seasoning to the bread crumbs. They were still tasty though. 

I never garnish but I really should start. Now that is a good looking soup with the zucchini, ginger, curry soup base, the browned zucchini slices and the beautiful red pepper on top. 

We also made some stuffed banana peppers. I didn't take a picture of that final product but this is the slop we stuck into the peppers. It's made with quinoa and then we added a bunch of goodies including 4 ears of corn (without the ears), a fresh tomato, some of the salsa Pam and Rich gave me and onions and garlic. We then put that into the banana peppers and put them in the oven for 45 minutes or so, to see if they'd brown. We saved that meal for another night. 

Vegan Zucchini Bread!!

We had so much leftover zucchini meat from the stuffed zucchinis earlier in the week that I thought we could also make some zucchini bread. The zucchini was already in such small pieces and had no skin on it (since it was just the inner meat from the HUGE zucchini we stuffed). Britney got to experiment with vegan cooking and by goly it was spectacular!! It was crispy on the outside, ooey gooey on the inside. I never made zucchini bread before and now I'm a HUGE fan. Also, a secret I added was a bit of fresh ginger as well as some ginger powder along with the cinnamon. It was a fantastic addition!!

Zucchini Bread

Ingredients 

    2 cups zucchini, grated
    2 cups sugar
    3 egg replacers
    1 cup vegetable oil
    3 teaspoons vanilla
    3 cups flour
    1 teaspoon salt
    1 teaspoon baking powder    3 teaspoons cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix the zucchini with the sugar, egg replacer, vegetable oil, and vanilla. 

2. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Grease 2 (9x5x3") pans with cooking spray and put 1/2 the mixture in each pan. 

3. Bake for approximately 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the bread comes out clean.

The bread freezes very well if you want to save some for later.  It's delicious!

Makes: 2 loaves, Preparation time: 30 minutes, Cooking time: 1 hour
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