BLT my way

Three years ago I decided to stop eating chicken, beef, pork, basically all land animals. The reasons for this are very complicated, involving the production of meat in this country and my concern to reduce my carbon footprint. Many of you know my story, or have heard one of the sermons that I have presented at Westminster in honor of earth day. I have not been able to get away from dairy (yet).

So when I have a BLT now, it is Brie, Lettuce and Tomato. The lettuce and the tomato came out of my garden. The sandwich below also had grilled eggplant (mine) and carmelized onions added to it, with a smear of:



This pesto is made locally, you can get it at the RI College Farmer's Market and the Pawtuxet Village Farmer's Market. For other locations, check their website: Besto Pesto



So everything in this BLT, except for the Brie is local. I know the wheat is not local, but the bread was baked locally. We pick it up at the Farmer's Market in Pawtuxet when we are there. They bake on Federal Hill. Can't remember the name of it right now. The bread is a multi-grain, densely textured and delicious.

If anyone knows of a local Brie, let me know!

Lemon Balm Iced Tea

There is Lemon Balm growing in several areas of my yard. Some of it I planted and some of it is "volunteer". I have recently been making iced tea with the abundance that I have.




To make the tea (you could also use mint if you have that), cut about 7 or 8 full stems of the lemon balm. Put it in a tea pot. Heat enough water in a separate pan, enough to fill the tea pot, just to a boil. Add the heated water (carefully) to the tea pot. Add several teaspoons of local honey. Let it steep for at least 10 minutes. Refrigerate.

YUM!

green eggs, no ham

Dan brought home the above eggs on Wednesday from the farmer's market at Rhode Island College. Aren't they just gorgeous?! They are different from what you would find in a conventional grocery store for several reasons. Obviously, one of those things is the color of the shell. Another difference is the price, the eggs from the local farmers are anywhere from $4 to $5, but if you are cutting back on the amount of proteins you are eating, .66 or .82 cents per sandwich is relatively inexpensive. The other thing about these eggs that is different is they are usually higher in Omega-3 because the chickens are free range and eat all the things that chickens are meant to eat, unlike chickens in the huge egg factories. I'll not get into that discussion right now, but if you are interested, check out "Farm Sanctuary", but beware, you may end up a vegan after reading it.



EGG SALAD SANDWICH:
Put 6 eggs in the bottom of a 2 quart saucepan, and add just enough water to cover the eggs by an extra 1/2". Put the lid on the pan. Heat on med. high, just to boiling. Turn off burner right away, and let sit for 9 minutes. Put in bowl of cold water & let stand for 5 minutes. Peel right away by rolling the egg on a cutting board to break the shell and then use a spoon to work off shell. After you have taken off all the shells, rinse with cold water. If you have an egg slicer, use it. If not, just put the eggs in a deep bowl and chop through with the tip of a sharp knife until they are a good consistency. Let cool off. Add 2 Tbsp. mayo, pepper & a little salt to the bowl. Blend. I like mine with a spoon of Gulden's mustard mixed in, it reminds me of Deviled Eggs.
Serve on crusty whole wheat bread, with lettuce and tomato so that you are getting some veggies into your body.

Egg salad is something local that you can make all year round. Last winter I was able to get eggs at the winter farmer's market. Don't have one near you? Many people these days have chickens in their back yards. Ask around, or put an advertisement on Craigs List. I've found people in Rhode Island offering eggs on that site.

LAOTIAN EGGPLANT W/TOMATOES, ONION & MINT

Last Wednesday, my husband called me to find out what I would like from the farmer's market. We are lucky that there is one held every Wednesday at RI College where he works. I told him to bring home some fruit and some eggplant.

Dan tends to overbuy, and above is the amount of eggplant that he brought home. He got them from our friend Michelle who owns
Zephyr Farms

These are long, small eggplants, and the skin is not so tough, they are very good for stir fry types of dishes.

Most stir fry recipes I have do not have eggplant as their main ingredient, so I went into my Vegetarian Times magazines to find something with a LOT of eggplant. In the July/August 2009 I found "Laotian Eggplant with Tomatoes, Onion and Mint". I had some tomatoes from Morris Farms, and some onions from the Pawtuxet Farmer's Market, so I was all set. The mint came from my back yard.

Yes, I know the kids will think it is yucky, but I quite liked it.


LAOTIAN EGGPLANT WITH TOMATOES, ONION AND MINT
1 Tbsp. organic canola or coconut oil
1 lb. Japanese eggplant, trimmed and diced, 3 cups (see photo)
1 med. red onion, thinly sliced
2 med. tomatoes, chopped 2 cups
2 Tbsp. local honey
2 Tbsp. organic soy sauce
2 tsp. lime juice (organic if you can get them)
1-1/2 tsp. chile-garlic sauce, (see my photo)
3 cups bean sprouts
1/3 cup of snow peas, cut in half the short way
1/3 cup chopped fresh mint



Above is how you should cut the onions. Easiest way to do this is to peel the onion, cut it in half from stem to tip, lay the flat side on the cutting board, and just make thin cuts across.


The eggplant all diced up & ready to go.


The chile garlic sauce

Heat oil in wok, or large skillet over med-high heat. Add eggplant & onion; stir-fry 10 min. Stir in tomatoes, honey, soy sauce, lime juice and chile-garlic sauce. Cook 3 minutes more. Add bean sprouts and snow peas; stir-fry 2 minutes. Garnish with mint.



Doesn't this look good?

pickled cucumbers

Don't you just love my cutting board? Made in Rhode Island last year by my son for my birthday gift. He's a carpenter, so he just took a piece of his scrap wood, cut out the shape, and then he etched the outline of our little state onto the board. I think it is quite lovely. Of course, I don't utilize that side, I turn it over & use the backside.



I make these easy pickled cucumbers constantly throughout the cucumber season. These are not to be confused with "canned" pickles, which is a whole different process and require sterilization and lots of time.

To make these pickled cucumbers, use a clean glass jar. Fill the jar 1/3 of the way with apple cider vinegar, cut the cucumbers in thin slices, add to the jar. Then take 2 cloves of peeled garlic and just crush them with the flat side of your knife. Add the garlic cloves to the jar. Add some whole black peppercorns, cover & shake. Let them sit in the refrigerator for at least an hour before eating. If you don't have apple cider vinegar, they also taste great with red wine vinegar, or white vinegar.

Don't they look good? My family eats them just as they are or they add them to sandwiches.

fruit salad

Dan works at Rhode Island College, and on Wednesdays they have a farmer's market. I usually shop at the Pawtuxet Farmer's Market on Saturdays, so around Wednesday we are ready for some more fresh goodness, and because he works there, it does not involve any extra driving.


Last week Dan picked up some strawberries, blueberries and raspberries. I had some cantaloupe in the fridge from Moosup Valley that I had purchased on Saturday. Breakfast the next morning was this beautiful and tasty fruit salad:



After cutting up some of the cantaloupe and adding whole blueberries & raspberries, I cut up some strawberries, put all of it into a bowl and then drizzled it with Bernie B's honey.




Bernie is a sweet man, no pun intended, who is a beekeeper, that's his smiling face in the above picture. He lives less than 3/4 of a mile from my house and has beehives even closer to my house, so for a sweetener, I cannot get any more local than that! After drizzling with honey, I topped it with organic ground flax seed, which is an excellent source of Omega-3, fiber, and is rich in essential fatty acids.

Adding the honey (the ground flaxseed is already sprinkled on top):




There is no recipe for this salad because it will change with the availability of the season's. When strawberries or blueberries are no longer available, use watermelon. Quite soon peaches & pears will also be available. If you want to make this fruit in the wintertime, most farmer's markets have local apples all through the year, just add some organic fruit in place of berries.

Enjoy!

"bruschetta" salad

I have wanted to start this blog for quite some time, and now we are in full growing season here in Rhode Island, so I figured I'd better get my act in gear. In this blog I plan to post photos and recipes of the foods that we eat that have a local source. This being Rhode Island, I often consider New York and Maine part of my definition for "local", but if it is grown in Rhode Island that is always my first choice. Granted, during the winter not all of our meals are locally grown, but a balance of local and organic where available.



Yesterday I visited Morris Farms: http://www.farmfresh.org/food/farm.php?farm=15
to get some of their delicious butter & sugar corn. If you ask me, they have the sweetest corn that I have ever had the joy of eating. While I was there I also picked up some tomatoes and some of their romaine lettuce. Luckily they did not have the tomato blight that has been so widespread in Rhode Island this year. I also picked some of my yellow grape tomatoes from my own garden, and put together the following salad. Bruschetta is one of my favorite summer treats, but I have been trying to limit my bread and pasta consumption, so I thought I'd try my bruschetta topping in a different way:

"BRUSCHETTA" SALAD (Serves 2)
Topping:
2 med. tomatoes, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 dozen large basil leaves

Salad:
Romaine lettuce
1 med. cucumber
kalamata olives (optional)
2 Tbsp. Parmesan, grated (optional)

Mix all topping ingredients in a medium size bowl. Cover & let sit for at least a half hour to blend flavors (not in the refrigerator).
During this half hour wait, wash & rinse salad greens and put into individual salad bowls. Add cucumber slices and kalamata olives. Grate cheese over all. When ready to serve, spoon topping over salad & serve.


To complete this meal I served steamed corn on the cob and carrot sticks.