Peachy Keen Green

The best things I've learned so far from a 2-week  Purple Carrot trial are (1) the surprising fun and beauty of layering items on beds of other items, (2) using a peeler to make zucchini ribbons (delicious tossed in a little lime and salt and used as a raw topping, like for soba), and (3) easy, flavorful cashew cream sauces that pull the dish together. Two (of the six) meals in the trial -- Smoky Portabello Tacos and Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Spicy Cashew Sauce   -- both had really good cashew cream sauces. These two were my favorite meals (partly because of the tasty sauce!) and they were the easiest to make, too. Photos and recipes below! See also How to Make Cashew Cream . Ingredients Jalapeno Cashew Sauce: 1/3 C cashews 2 garlic cloves 1 lime, juiced 1 jalapeno, deseeded and roughly chopped Serve on: Corn tortillas topped with Spanish rice, sliced portabellos sautéed in a little soy sauce and liquid smoke, diced scallion, sliced radish, and shredded purple cabbage Spic...

Munira brought back a masala dabba for me from India. So exciting! The next morning I filled it with some of the spices I use the most, and drew a key to help me remember what is what. It was SO fun to use it to make my  Pav Bhaji this weekend. I need to make Aloo Patta Gobhi next. Thank you SO much, Munira!

We have SO many blackberries we can't keep up. I started putting cups and cups of them in bags in our freezer - which is getting WAY too full. I got an idea: What if I try to use up some of these by making a blackberry syrup? I found this recipe for homemade blackberry syrup from daring gourmet . Oh. My. Flying. Spaghetti. Monster. It's incredible . I'll NEVER complain about too many blackberries again! The following recipe (slightly adapted with a bit less sugar) makes about 1.5 cups syrup. Try it over pancakes or (vegan) ice cream! Double if you can! Oh, and put on an apron -- or wear clothes you don't mind getting stained! Ingredients 4-5 cups blackberries (fresh or frozen) 1 cup extra fine sugar 1 T lemon juice 1 tsp pectin Instructions Place the blackberries in a medium-sized pot and bring them to a boil over medium-high heat.  Once boiling, reduce the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes until very soft and mushy.  Remove from heat and mash with a potato ...

Munira gave us some delicious homemade hot green chutney. I tried to replicate it - with success: even Munira and Vinod liked it! This is adapted from a video Munira shared for this r ecipe for Green Chutney (Mind & Coriander)  and also Neelam Batra's The Indian Vegetarian cookbook. Most of the ingredients came from our garden, which was extra fun. Serve with samosas, on veggie burgers or sandwiches like  Pav Bhaji  (but that might make it too hot to eat!). Ingredients 1 red onion or 2 long scallions, sliced 2 jalapeno peppers, sliced (carefully!) 2 inches of ginger, sliced 2 C cilantro (fresh coriander) 1 C fresh mint (or 2 parts cilantro to 1 part mint) 1 tsp cumin juice from one lime (or lemon) optional: 1/4 cup seeds from pomegranate 2 cloves garlic 1 green or yellow pepper salt and pepper to taste Instructions In the food processor, grind the onion, peppers, and ginger coarsely (and any optional ingredients like pomegra...

Jeff & Brenda came over for lunch, and they had a hankering for bbq chicken, so we bought them a roast chicken at Costco and I made some homemade BBQ sauce. The sauce was delicious and super easy! Takes about 30 minutes. Could use this for bbq tofu, or bbq seitan sandwiches , yum! Jeff even put it on top of a pita slathered with hummus and ate it that way, it was so good. Ingredients 1 T canola oil 2 cloves garlic, minced 1/2 onion, diced 1 cup ketchup 1/3 cup molasses 1/3 cup brown sugar 2 T chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (Judi's vote!) or ground red pepper to taste 4 T distilled vinegar 1 T Worcestershire sauce Dash salt Instructions Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and onions and cook for 5 minutes, stirring, being careful not to burn them. Reduce the heat to low. Add the ketchup, molasses, brown sugar, chipotle peppers, vinegar (or less to taste), Worcestershire sauce and salt and stir. Allow to simmer for 20 minutes. Remov...