How Much Does Produce Cost in Alaska? & Blender Minestrone

Can YOU guess how much this pile of produce cost? Minus the 4 pluots I ate in the car... and the squash was a different purchase. I guess I should mention that this is all organic, and those are Valencia oranges, and Pluots. I still have produce to order from Juneau. It comes out to about the same,  (freight from Juneau vs. markup in town), I just have more options.

I've got to wait for most of it to 'ripen,' but that will help me control myself. I've been low on produce for a few days, nursing a couple grapefruits and luckily picking from my garden.

On another note! I just LOVE tomatoes. It's always been a favorite. If you do not feel like cooking, chopping, and barely feel like chewing, I've got a great recipe for you! Almost any veggie works!

Blender Minestrone
Veggies:
2-3 Tomatoes
1/4 of Red Pepper
1 Carrot
2 inch piece Zucchini
1 inch piece Red Cabbage
Couple slivers of Onion
1 Garlic Clove
Half handful Parsley (or fresh basil)

Spices:
Pinch Tarragon (totally makes it)
Dash or two of oregano/basil/garlic powder/black pepper
Salt as needed
Dash of Cayenne (as finishing touch-just my thing)

Place tomatoes, parsley, red pepper and carrot in blender. Blend well, but not completely smooth, you want tiny carrot chunks.
Pulse/chop in the rest of the ingredients (so you have slightly larger chunks).

If you have a high powered blender, you can leave it on stir for a while to warm it up.  Otherwise, transfer to a pot, gently warm on low heat.

This soup is a little on the thin side. Two options to thicken:
1) If you have any last season tomatoes jarred, they have this canned consistency that is great for thickening (or just use a good quality canned stewed/diced etc).
2) I like to add a touch (1/8 cup or so) of almond milk once the soup is warm and directly into my bowl (as opposed to in the pot).

SO easy. And it is very satisfying. Change up the spices to your liking. Serve with love! Shown served with my Rosemary Grissini Crackers (recipe coming soon!).

Dande Lyin'

Current Crop

Are YOU a weed eater? Everything comes a little late in Alaska, and Dandelions are no exception. On my run this morning, I saw brilliant yellow streaked along the roads and in fields. A very welcome contrast to the inhospitable mountains and usually cold, cloudy sky. On a clear day they GLOW! Yellow is one of my favorite colors; and although most people hate the pesky non-native invaders, I think they are beautiful! Free floral landscaping!

Maybe you've heard stories from the Depression Era of Dandelion green salads as a supplemental source of veg. Maybe, you think it's WAY freaky to eat lawn veggies. Maybe it's those pesticide commercials that give 'em a bad name? Maaaybe, you should just try it!

If you've had Arugula or your basic Mustard Green lettuce, you've tasted a bitter/spicy green. Dandelion greens are very similar to Arugula and are best picked young, before the flower stalk has grown. The greens will be much more mild and tender at this stage. If there are stalks, you can also pick the smaller leaves before the bud has bloomed. The larger ones are edible, but not too palatable and certainly not the best way to introduce your taste buds to this wild forage.

Pick the young leaves (Left) not the old leaves (Right)

Pick off the blossom right HERE

Keep the green on to keep the blossom together..

There are so many things you can do with this wild burst of sunshine. The plant is entirely edible, blossoms included. You can dry the leaves or root and make tea. (Roasted Dande root tea is kind of like coffee.. to me). It will be bitter (but not as bitter as say, Golden Seal and is tasty enough with honey). It's a kind of digestive tonic (like ginger root tea). If you are interested in foraging more, check this fun slide show out.  All kinds of landscaping, edible beauties like nasturtiums. I'm hoping to harvest some rose hips soon. I'll post something yummy with those.

Don't you want to be a little bee?

Onto Dandelion Salad!
You can add anything you want to these greens. Try to balance the bitter with something sweet. I went for sweet root veggies, beets and carrots and sweet baby spinach. You could try butter crunch lettuce, a ripe tomato, pear and onion.. and maybe sprinkle in some raisins. Experiment!


Dande Lyin'
1 C Dandelion greens (chopped in half or whole)
1 C Baby spinach
1 Beet shaved thin
1/2 Carrot shaved thin
Handful of Dandelion Blossoms

Mmmm edible sunshine!

Ready to Eat!

Miso Honey Mustard Dressing:
1 Tbs Miso (I use brown rice miso-anything will work)
1 Tbs  Apple Cider Vinegar
1/2-1 tsp honey
1/4 tsp Mustard Powder or 1/4-1/2 tsp Dijon mustard (any kind really)
Any basic vinaigrette would work with this. I just wanted something tangy and sweet.


I'm pretty sure you can take it from here! Place salad in bowl. Stir dressing well, drizzle over salad.. enjoy!

 

Spring Cabbage Slaw

Picnic Anastasia Island

While I was in Florida, I indulged in fresh produce allll day long. Florida Bananas, Watermelon, Cantaloupe, Blueberries, Strawberries, Peaches, Tangerines, Grapefruit, Kale, Squash, etc. etc. Oh my gosh, the list goes on. I ate SO much fruit. It was heaven. I browsed the Farmer's market listening to live music for well over an hour shopping.

This tangerine tree to the left is at my Aunt's house. I even brought some grapefruits from her trees home with me. MMMmm.  Well, now I'm back in Alaska and produce is a little harder to get. Much less LOCAL produce. So, my diet comes back to a lot of root veggies and greens. Which is great, yes. But I do miss the fresh fruits in a bad way. All of our berries are frozen, our bananas are the conventional gassed kind, and watermelon.. basically doesn't exist. We do get a lot of produce from Washington (Full Circle Farms) and California. We can get greens from the neighboring farm (or from our own once they are ready). This area is definitely bountiful in berries during summer. Looking forward to that! It was much easier to keep a raw food diet in Florida though. Now I'm eating sprouted grain tortilla's and eggs again (loaded with raw veggies) when I'm feeling slack. I definitely rely on more dehydrated raw foods here. I definitely feel the difference in my energy. I ate 5 various citrus fruits alone yesterday. Which are $2.77 lb here. So, that was rather indulgent. It's so much more expensive to eat produce here. :(
Last night I made a delicious Red Cabbage Slaw. I generally avoid all sugar not found in fruits/dates etc. But I did use a bit of Agave in this. I found some very interesting (and disheartening) info on Agave and how your body metabolizes it similar to HFCS. Who knows. For now, until I have time to research it more, I'm cutting it out.

Delicious and Beautiful!

Spring Cabbage Slaw
1/2 Red Cabbage sliced into thin shred
1 Carrot Shred
1/8 cup Raisins (soaked)
1 Leaf Kale Shred
1/4 cup Cubed Cucumber

Dressing:
2 Tbs Red Wine Vinegar (or ACV)
1 Drizzle of Olive Oil (or sesame if your feeling like asian slaw)
2 Tbs Onion Chopped
1 Clove Garlic
1/4 Tsp Celery Seed or Salt
3-4 Cranks of Ground Blk Pepper
1/8 Tsp of salt (or more to taste)
1 squirt of Agave Nectar (could use honey)

Process all dressing ingredients until onion is tiny.

Mix all veggies in a bowl, add dressing, stir. Let sit for 10 minutes at least in fridge. Enjoy!

Mexi Spice Carrot Hummus & Wild Rice Collard Wrap

The Flight Path My Produce Makes

Here in Alaska, produce can be a challenge to get. And once you receive your produce, it may or may not be 'good.' Ordering in season definitely helps. 

Here is my latest produce order story: Last Thursday, I updated my produce list in Word as usual,  and faxed it in. The Safeway I order from shops for me (charges a minimal fee) and takes my produce to the airport. The airline then flies my food over and I pay bush shipping and freight costs to them. Well, first of all my card was undercharged by about $60, so I knew that once again, I wasn't getting everything on the list (they rarely call to discuss the order). This time I sadly did not receive: chard, kale, collards, cherries, among a few other things. At least I got in spinach. Not to delay the story any longer, but an example of how it goes here is the grapes I ordered were $17 (for 2lbs) and the apricots I ordered were $14 (for 2 lbs). Now the grapes aren't in season, but I love them so much. They normally come in squashed and 'bad' and become treats for my chickens. The grapes came in delicious and perfect this time (so happy), but the apricots are tasteless, the 3 apricots out of the bunch that weren't rotten all the way through. Last weeks apricots were SO amazing, so I ordered double, paid more, but got less in the end.

Anyway! We had quite a bit of snow, no planes came or went from Friday to Sunday afternoon. I spend about $100-$150 a week on produce. I can 't remember how much I used to spend in the lower 48.. so it's hard for me to know if that's a lot.  Of course in the summer, root vegetables are very easy to grow here and I have a better chance at produce that is in season in WA and shipped to Juneau. There are ways to eat local here. Fish, Moose, berries etc. I'm just frustrated I can't get leafy greens half the time, the other half of the time, not one grocery store in Juneau will have say beets, my favorite.

Well, on the bright side of things; those grapes are delicious! And not having produce even Saturday, forced me to be creative with what I had left. A few collards leaves and a few carrots among my produce drawers. I invented some carrot 'hummus' wrapped it in a collard leaf with some wild rice I had sprouted and drizzled some hot pepper oil on top. Voila! It was delicious! & Nutritious~

Mexi Spice Carrot Hummus & Wild Rice Collard Wrap
2 carrots
1 Tbs tahini
2 dashes Cumin and Chipotle powder
1-2 grinds of salt
2 collards, stem carefully cut out
1/4 cup wild rice (soaked/sprouted) or reg rice, whatever you want!
1 Tbs Hot Pepper Oil (easy to make, take ground red pepper, like the pizza shaker kind, mix 1 tbs to 2 tbs oil and let sit at least 15 minutes.. after a week or so it is really strong and beautiful)

Process the carrot, tahini, spices and salt until smooth(ish) then spoon onto the end of a collard leaf, spoon on some rice (or whatever veggie) and roll up, cut in half.. drizzle with oil, Enjoy!

Beet Chocolate Cake

Also thought I'd share the delicious (naughty) dessert I indulged in every day for 4 days last week (while I waited out the frostbite warning advisory-I'd like to keep my eyelids and nose thank you).  I made up for it with XT. Vegan Beet Chocolate Cake. "Enough Said" as they say... Well, but I have to say YUM! Of course I had tiny pieces. The body runs better without flour and sugar.

I jumped right back in to running, but not my routine. I found fun ways to get back out there. Running Sunday to a craft (bati) party, with an iron strapped to my camelbak; taking a needed rest yesterday and today running to the post office with my orders and taking the long way back. Fun, and it was double duty!

Rest Easy Recipes Apple/Cran Juice Phyllo 'pot pie'

Cran Apple Juice

Today is a rest day! Even though I got the normal itch to run, I stayed home because I told myself yesterday I needed a rest. I was draggin' through my run yesterday; heavy legs, felt weak, couldn't. lift. legs. faster.  So, today is yoga, peace and quiet near the woodstove with the dogs and Kukicha twig tea. Ahh... spa treatment!

Here is a basic  Cranberry Apple juice that tastes like candy!  Great anytime drink, but I especially like it in the afternoon as a pick me up (or a "don't reach for those chocolate almonds!").

Candy Girl Cran Apple

3/4 cup fresh Cranberries

1 Sweet Variety Apple ( I especially love Fuji for this! but gala and pink ladies are great too)

Juice cranberries, then apple (cored! Apple seeds contain a small amount of Cyanide-bad for you and especially dangerous for your dogs!)

ENJOY! An ice cube, or previously refrigerated fruit makes this a refreshing and healthy treat!

Phyllo Pot Pie

Aaannnd a recipe for Vegan Vegetable Phyllo "Pot Pie"
1 pack of Whole Wheat Phyllo Dough
2 Tbsp Coconut Oil
1 C Brussel Sprouts (quartered)
1 C Carrot Cubed
1 C Mushrooms sliced
1 C Apple, 1/2 inch chunks or smaller
1 C Leeks sliced in 1/2 inch moons (not the green tops)
2 Cloves Garlic (mashed)

For the sauce:
1 cup vegetable broth (homemade or store bought)
pinches of basil, oregano, tarragon, paprika, dry mustard, black pepper and sage
1/4 cup almond milk
1/2 tsp arrowroot powder (or cornstarch)
I grind it a bit of salt towards the end, but only is your stock is not salted. Taste and see if you need it.

Springform pan works great, but you can use a flat casserole too.

Sauce first: Mix arrowroot in small bowl with 1 tbs water, set aside.
Combine all ingredients in sauce pan (except almond milk and arrowroot). Bring to boil, then lower heat to med. Add arrowroot mix and let simmer until thickens. You want it a little thicker than you'd think at this point. Turn off heat. Stir in Almond milk. The sauce will be thinner now. If it is too thin, add more arrowroot, but do not reheat.. it will reheat in the oven.

Saute leeks and carrots 5 min.
Add sprouts and mushrooms, and garlic, another 2 min. ( remember it will cook more in the oven and I like veggies crisp versus mushy).
Pour in bowl and set aside.

Melt coconut oil on med heat. Once melted, remove from heat. With pastry brush, oil pan, then layer phyllo one sheet at a time in pan, let it overlap pan rim. You can oil each pastry sheet as you layer, I do every other one or every two.

Do all but about 5 sheets of dough (save for top).

Pour sauce over veggies, stir. Then pour veggies in to phyllo lined pan. Overlap corners/edges of dough over the veggie filling. Brush top with oil. Use remaining phyllo to cover any open space over veggies (make a top crust). Brush with oil.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until brown!  Cool 5 minute or so. Enjoy!