Gardening, smoothies and tempeh

It's been so busy around here and it's hard keeping up with a blog--I've made so many things I want to share, been working on my new garden and going to yoga almost every day. So I'm going to cheat and take elaborate blog posts and combine them into a super quick catch-up:

Gardening!

My garden. (This is supposed to be about 'home ec' after all, and what's more home economical than investing in a garden??) We put in a mixture of seed and seedlings, planters and raised beds. All told, we have in the ground: basil, thyme, mint, lettuce, arugula, mizuna, kale, spinach, bok choy, pumpkins, watermelons, summer squash, zucchini, tomatoes, onions, broccoli, climbing beans, malabar spinach, red bell peppers, jalapenos and carrots.  It's beautiful and cute, see? And I have this handsome guy to stand guard:

And this handsome guy as a chore boy:

 

And I love everything about it. *sipping lemonade from the sidelines* *...yeah, right.*

I have a feeling this is the beginning of a long and beautiful love affair between gardening and I.

 Smoothies! I've been drinking one every day as my first meal of the day. It's my first effort towards getting more fruit, greens and raw food into my diet--not to mention probiotics (from almond yogurt), omegas (from flax) and maca root. It's convenient and fast to be able to consume all these things quickly so I have more time in my day to do what I do best: write. And make dinner. :)

Side note: for a long time I didn't understand or care to understand the "raw food" movement. If you're like I was, you don't either, so here's the quickie, super-simplified explanation (it's actually interesting!)--your body needs enzymes to do everything, including to digest food. So, food already has enzymes in it, if you don't cook 'em dead. If you're not eating your enzymes, the enzymes elsewhere in your body are all 'Aw, man! I was just in the middle of stopping this cancer cell or healing this inflamed joint! And now I have to go help digest this food! Sorry to abandon you, Other Lifesaving Work, but basic nutrition trumps all!' So. Make sense? Increasing raw foods, if not going on a pure raw diet (kind of pointlessly rigid, in my opinion), is good for you. The End.

Smoothies have been very experimental and some have been better than others. I made a post-workout smoothie the other day that was outstanding; it tasted like a delicious chocolate covered raspberry dessert. But, and I quote from the source: "The walnuts in this shake provide heart-healthy fats and about 4.5 grams of protein, as well as potassium and magnesium, essential electrolytes for muscle function." So drink up, workout junkies!

Raspberry Walnut Smoothie:

1 cup unsweetened almond milk

1/3 cup frozen raspberries

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 frozen banana

1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder or cacao nibs

1 tsp vanilla

dash of lemon juice

dash of agave syrup

Ridiculously good.

And tempeh! 

My new staple food! I think I've had it maybe once before, but I couldn't really remember so I definitely didn't have it as good as I made it last night. Why I love it: it's super high in protein, it's a fermented soy product (assuaging my soy do-I-or-don't-I? anxiety--Google "fermented soy" if you're like 'huh?'), and it's really freaking yummy.

Recipe for the salad I made for dinner last night, from Food 52.

Snow Pea, Cabbage, and Mizuna Salad with Marinated and Seared Tempeh

By Gena Hamshaw • April 3, 2013 •

Photo by James Ransom

Serves 4 (or 2 if making as a dinner salad)

Basic Marinated Tempeh

• 2 tablespoons apple cider or rice vinegar (apple cider is my preference)
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon grated or minced ginger root
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• 8 ounces tempeh, sliced into thin strips (about 1/4 inch or a little less)
• 2 teaspoons coconut oil (optional, for frying)

Snow Pea, Cabbage, and Mizuna Salad with Miso Mustard Dressing

• 6 ounces snow peas, trimmed
• 2 cups red cabbage, shredded
• 1 cup carrot, shredded
• 2 cups mizuna
• 2 green onions, sliced thin
• 1/4 cup cilantro, diced
• 2 tablespoons mellow white miso
• 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 small clove garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup

1. To prepare the tempeh, whisk together the vinegar, soy sauce or tamari, water, ginger, and sesame oil. Arrange tempeh in a large, shallow bowl (a small casserole will also work) and pour the marinade over the pieces. Allow them to marinate for 2-3 hours (or over the course of a day, refrigerated).
2. You can either bake or pan fry the tempeh. To fry, heat the coconut oil on a skillet pan or in a large frying pan over medium high heat. Cook each side for about four minutes, and serve hot. To bake, heat an oven to 375 degrees and bake them tempeh pieces for 25 minutes, flipping once through.
3. To prepare the salad, heat a small pot of water to a boil and boil the snow peas for about thirty seconds. Rinse under cold water and let them dry, then cut the peas in halves or thirds.
4. Mix all remaining salad ingredients.
5. To make the vinaigrette, blend the miso, mustard, lemon, oil, garlic, and syrup in a blender till smooth or whisk together briskly. Dress the salad to taste, and top with the seared tempeh. 

Wow is all I have to say about that dish. Just vegan perfection on a plate. (I opted to fry my tempeh in coconut oil, FYI.) I couldn't find mizuna anywhere, however, so I mixed arugula with more mellow spinach figuring I'd get a similar flavor profile. I was also in a huge hurry and forgot the snow peas. OOPS. And STILL amazing. Here's what mine looked like:

 

And that's all she (me) wrote! Off to the library for some novel research...