When life gives you cauliflower, make reubens.

Nom nom nom. 

Monster cauliflower! Sweet pie pumpkins! Hearty kale! Oh my! Locally grown loveliness is bountiful as our CSA for 2014 is still going strong. In fact, despite the cold weather, we've been getting more veggies than this entire season! And they are beautiful.

Last week we got these massive cauliflower heads. It had big leaves attached, which I had to remove just to get it in my bag so I could get it home. I'm sure everyone has a million things they can do with cauliflower: Roasted with turmeric, raw cauliflower spanish rice (thank you Lori for bringing this to my attention!), roasted cauliflower & garlic soup, steamed cauliflower with garlic "butter". So, I'm not going to talk about the part of cauliflower that you typically eat. I'm here to talk about those leaves I cut off. 

We are always so quick to disgard leaves. But, when you think about it, lettuce is leaves. Kale is leaves. Chard is leaves. Collards are leaves. And if you can eat those, you can eat cauliflower or broccoli leaves. They are in the exact family as kale, you know. 

I've been known to fill & roll them with some soaked and cooked black beans, avocado and tomato and lightly sauté in a pan. Or just use them as a wrap for your sandwich. They are extremely low in calories, unbelievably high in nutrients and minerals and help you (and me) look younger than our years. Greens are the fountain of youth ... both inside and out. So, throwing them out is not an option for me. Here's a quick idea for lunch this week. Put the turkey sandwich down (I'm talking to you, my husband). Open your mind & your mouth. Taste the goodness.

Reubens, revisited

Vegan reuben: Plant based, full of probiotics & enzymes, vitamins, minerals and protein.

INGREDIENTS

• Cauliflower leaves
• Grain free tempeh (this is literally the only way I will eat soy products ... fermented)
• Real sauerkraut (I make this myself. It's super easy!)
• Homemade Thousand Island (I literally will just mix mayo/vegenaise with organic ketchup and relish or homemade chopped pickles). Alternatively, you can use Hummus or Tahini, which I also LOVE.
• (Optional) Wilted spinach leaves

STEPS

• Trim center stalk out of leaves.
• Lightly brown tempeh in a cast iron skillet.
• Roll spinach leaves in your hands until they are wilted and soft.
• Place tempeh, spinach & sauerkraut in your leaf & top with thousand island, hummus or tahini. 
• Roll the leaf around the goodies & eat your heart healthy.

Trim the tough center vein out of the leaf & toss that vein in your freezer for veggie stock later.

Add the tempeh, sauce, sauerkraut & wilted spinach. 

It looks divine and your cells (and energy levels) will say "thank you". 

 I can't talk while my mouth is being stuffed full of deliciousness.
Happy lunching!

Brocc stalk slaw

Hey ya'll. Thrifty Cent is back! (That's my frugal alter ego). Remember way back when, when I told you to save those broccoli stalks instead of ditching them? Well, I have a pile I've saved since that post that I'm now ready to do something with.

Enter, brocc stalk slaw.

Such a pretty lunch … for almost being tossed in the trash!

Nobody can believe how unbelievable tasty this is. It's such a quick salad to put together. You can keep it (no dressing) in the fridge all week (munchies require quick pickin's & this kills pretzels in a nutritional battle) and pull out in times of hunger. You know I like easy. I ain't got time for hard! And I want you to spend your time with your loved ones instead of in the kitchen.

Let's see what we've got. Somewhere between 7-10 stalks of broccoli are ready to go!

Broccoli stalks ready to be skinned.

These stalks need the outer layer taken off. It contains fibers that are too hard to chew through. But inside, there's a crispy and delicate core that resembles the texture of a pickling cucumber with the slight flavor of broccoli … only sweeter. I use a chef's knife to slice off the "skin".

Broccoli stalk core, ready to be shredded. 

Now that your skins are off, don't throw them away! You can juice them in place of the kale stems in this juice… or any of your favorite green juice recipes. Or you can throw them in the freezer for veggie stock. I'll cover veggie stock soon!

Broccoli stalk skins ready to juice or freeze.

 Grab some slices of sweet onion. Vidalias are lovely! Chop them small.

Don't forget your sweet onion. It adds a level of flavor and is a boost of immune support!

Next, shred your broccoli stalk using a cheese grater or a food processor. I prefer the processor. I think the cheese grater should legally change its name to "knuckle ruiner".

Shred your stalk on a cheese grater or in a food processor. 

 Dump your shredded stalk and onion into a bowl and top with dried cranberries and pumpkin seeds and drizzle with ACV (apple cider vinegar) and sea salt. Alternatively, you can use my ACV honey dressing, but I like just plain ACV! I always soak, sprout & dehydrate my pumpkin seeds before eating them, for extra ease on my digestion and maximum absorption of vitamins and nutrients. I'll go over soaking and sprouting soon!

Lunch today: pairing my brocc stalk slaw with my summer squash dish (which is up next! Stay tuned!).

I really hope you like this one! It's so easy and really a crowd pleaser! I just love creating things out of parts you'd normally think to just throw away or compost. It's so satisfying!

Happy lunching!
Steph

Scape to paradise

Today I'm talkin' rawsta. Why? Because summer squash is here, and it's my duty to share the tastiness. Above: Finished garlic scape pesto rawsta. See below for the details! 

So, do you remember that recipe I gave for garlic scape pesto? Well, this week we received a yellow summer squash in our CSA. And, I found this to be the perfect opportunity to make a raw pasta, or as I like to call it, rawsta!

Who doesn't love pesto in the summer? I ended up using this recipe instead (only, I don't do roasted nuts and used soaked and dehydrated pine nuts instead). I found it to be just a little bit easier. And if you've been following my blog, you know that I like easy. I mean, why be hard? Hard is too, well… hard. I want to make your life easy. It's too short to be hard.

Pesto is finished. Now it's time to spiralize this squash! (Sorry about the bad pic. Sun going down = high contrast shots = pesto not looking as good as it tastes!)

One gadget that I cannot live without is a spiralizer. If you do not have a spiralizer, get one today. I mean stop reading this blog right now and run to target or Williams-Sonoma or Amazon.com and get yourself one. I have a Ben Riner  but any will do, really. They have much cheaper ones now. It's the healthiest and cheapest kitchen gadget you can possibly get yourself this summer. You will never know how you lived without it. And it will help keep that yellow polka dot bikini looking oh so hot on your booty.

My Ben Riner spiralizer. Simply put squash in and turn. It magically becomes rawsta!

Spiralized squash. Yummy & nutritious noodles to top with anything under the sun! This is a big dinner plate. One squash made that many noodles. 

Save the ends of your squash that the spiralizer couldn't spiralize. Put them in your "spare parts" bucket (I use a pyrex and fill it through the week, then juice with fruit and lemon) in the fridge for juice, or cut them into a salad this week. 

Once the squash is spiralized, top with just a dollup of the pesto (a little goes a LONG way with pesto, folks). And now it's time to dig in.

Summer squash noodles. Delicate & delicious and almost no calories. 

So there's not much easier than this dish. You just spiralize your squash, blend up some pesto in the vitamix or blender, combine them, and eat. Pretty easy. You don't even have to turn the stove on and heat up your house up this July. Winner winner chicken-less dinner!

Oooh, and it's so pretty. And so are you. No really. You're beautiful. Now feed those beautiful cells some really healthy food.

Mangia mangia,
Steph

I'm cheap: CSA, part trois

YAAAAAWWWWWWNNNNNNNN!!!!! Good morning. I promised you breakfast. I know. Today, skip the coffee. Coffee leaves your body in an acidic state. Your best body, mind and soul can take a break from it, just for today. I promise you won't miss it.

Hello? Are you still there? Beuller? Did I lose you? I hope not. Okay. This is going to give you a jolt, but not from caffeine. This jolt is from nutrients and minerals coursing through your veins. And your body will thank you with tons of energy and no post-caffeinated crashing!

Spare parts ready for juicing!

Take your spare parts:
1. Kale/broccoli/kohlrabi stems
2. The core of a pineapple. Yes. Start saving these now too!
3. The leaves of your celery

Pineapple core is no longer tossed away.

Add in one non spare part (optional): Lemon

Throw these all through your juicer, and you have breakfast. If you don't have a juicer, you can blend them in a vitamix/nutribullet/blender/etc and strain through a nut milk bag. If you don't have one, you can use an old tshirt instead. But you should really get a nut milk bag. They come in very handy for lots of things! This is my favorite of all I've tried. It has the tightest weave!

Pineapple crushin' on some cruciferous stalks!

Pineapple does an excellent job at covering the overwhelming green taste of the leaf stems. Lemon gives it a little zing.

I know you're probably thinking "I will be starving by 9, if I had only this for breakfast". And I get that. I'm a nursing mom and have to eat 2-3 breakfasts/day. But, often times we feel hunger simply because we aren't getting all the vital nutrients we need to sustain our bodies. Sometimes I can go until 2/3 o'clock on just my morning juice. Tis true. But always listen to your body. What works for me, might not work for you.

If the idea of green juice just makes you want to hurl, you can use those stems as a crunchy veg to dip into some hummus.

So, let's see, we got snacks for the week and one breakfast out of our csa so far.

I still have a ton of kale, beets, scapes, kohlrabi, snap peas, etc. to get to. Stay tuned.