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Posts Tagged ‘ginger’

Minty Lemon Balm & Ginger Herbal Tea

I thought I was going to be sharing a broccoli recipe with you today, but if you’re in the pacific NW area, you’re with me when I say hello sunshine! So I changed my mind and went with something a little more refreshing.

I’ve been playing around with the herbs currently growing in my garden. The perennial chocolate mint and lemon balm seem to have exploded onto the scene overnight. If I don’t keep them in check, they’ll soon take over; this I am sure. So herbal concoctions have been keeping our thirst quenched in a major way.

Much of the end of April brought quiet backyard fires going into the evenings, friends over for dinner, and bike rides. Now the mountains are calling us, and we’re headed up for a little hiking this weekend, so I’m keeping this post short. Happy weekend friends! If the sun isn’t around where you are, keep this one tucked away for later when it warms up.

Minty Lemon Balm & Ginger Herbal Tea / makes 4 cups
I used chocolate mint, but I think other types of mint would work just as well. If you’re vegan, you can replace the honey with cane sugar if you’d like, just make sure to add it while the water is still pretty hot so it has time to dissolve.

4 cups water
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
4 tablespoons chopped fresh lemon balm
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1-2 tablespoon raw honey

Bring the water to a boil, then remove from heat and let sit a minute.

Meanwhile, place the mint, lemon balm, and ginger in a large strainer over a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, making sure the leaves will be fully submerged once the water is poured in. Alternatively, you can wrap the herbs and ginger up in several pieces of cheesecloth, tie a knot at the top.

Pour the hot water over the leaves and let sit for about 15-20 minutes. Lift out the strainer, add honey to taste, then place in the fridge until cold. Serve cold, over ice and garnish with mint and/or lemon balm sprigs.

Breakfast, Drinks, Gluten-Free, Spring, Summer, Vegan

Sunbutter Noodles with Fresh Veggies

It was time to thin out the garden. If you follow me on facebook maybe you’ve seen a little glimpse into our backyard garden. It is so crazy how in mid May everything was still a bare patch of dirt. Now it’s overflowing and I’m placed with the hard task of thinning out the carrots and greens to let the others grow larger. I’m also slowly learning that I have more I want to plant, but I’m running out of space to put it until other things have run their course. It is no easy task for me to rip out the small, fragile plants I grew from seed, but I know I’ll get something better if I do.

This task reminds me to think of the whole picture. When creating, I can become so worked up in the end or final product, that I forget or begrudge all the small steps I have to take to get there. Good things take time and they sometimes take sacrifice.

So inspiration for this sunbutter noodle bowl; I credit the carrots… and the squash that is teetering on taking over very soon. I’m slowing that process by eating them young and stealing a few blossoms here and there.

On a side note, we’re packing our bags and leaving the keys for a friend to watch the house and garden, while Scott and I head south later this week for a work/vacation trip to California. We’ll be at the Renegade shows in San Francisco and LA and camping and visiting family in between. I am really excited for this trip. I love the OR and CA coast and it’s going to feel good to take a little road trip. I plan to eat crazy fresh food, stopping at the many road-side places that always seem to be in abundance in CA and hope to take lots of pictures of our adventure. If you happen to live in those cities, please come stop by and say hello during the show. I’d really like it and I’ll try not to be too shy : )

I also have a post lined up for next week and it’s a special one. Nicole, over at The Giving Table has created an event to raise awareness for Slave Free Tomatoes. On July 24th she’s inviting food bloggers to donate a post to raise awareness about injustices in U.S tomato fields and ask the CEO’s of major supermarket chains to endorse the Fair Food Program, ensuring the tomatoes you buy are slave free. For all the details please visit her site.

Sunbutter Noodles with Fresh Veggies / serves 4

I made my own sunbutter. It’s totally easy and I give instructions below. If you only want to make the sunbutter, I suggest adding a pinch of salt and a nob of honey to sweeten it up, delicious. I think leaving the sunbutter sauce on the thick side would make a great dip for fresh veggies too. Also, I use rice noodles here, but I think soba or possibly even spaghetti noodles would work as well.

1 cup sunflower seeds, toasted (plus more for garnish) or 1/2 cup pre-made sunbutter
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons tamari
1-inch piece fresh ginger, grated
1 teaspoon raw honey
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon red chile flakes (depending on how spicy you like)
1/4-1/2 cup water
4-6 oz. rice noodles
1/4 lb. snow peas, washed, strings removed, sliced on the diagonal
1 bunch carrots, julienned
1-2 summer squash, julienned
4-5 squash blossoms, optional
1/2 cup packed cilantro, roughly chopped
green onion, roughly chopped

If making your own sunbutter, place the sunflower seeds into a food processor and blend until they become creamy and smooth, it’s going to take about 8-10 minutes total. After about 5 minutes, scrape down the sides, and continue blending. Once a creamy consistency, add the vinegar, tamari, ginger, honey, oil, ref chile flakes, and 1/4 cup water. Puree until smooth. If using pre-made sunbutter, place everything in at once. If you want the sauce to be thinner add more water.

Cook the noodles according to the package directions. Stir in about 3/4 of the sauce mixture and the cilantro. Add more sauce or water to get the the consistency you desire.

If you want a pretty serving (as in the first photo) plate the noodles and surround it with the fresh veggies. Otherwise, stir in all the vegetables and top with the green onion and extra sunflower seeds just before serving. Season with salt to taste and serve at room temperature or chilled.

Gluten-Free, Spring, Summer, Vegan, Vegetables

Gingered Carrot Millet Muffins

I realized the other day that I have so many recipes either bookmarked from online or tagged in my cookbooks and magazines, that have been sitting there, waiting for me to get to it, for way too long. Many times they’re a seasonal recipe I discover at the end of it’s prime season, so it gets saved until the next spring, or summer, or fall arrives in the hopes that I remember to come back and rediscover the recipe I found the year before.

So I found myself going through them, editing down my long list to what is relevant to me in this moment now. I felt quite organized after doing this and ready to start fresh and tackle the recipes I had long been waiting to try. The first was a millet muffin from Heidi’s book. I remember when I first came across her recipe and how intrigued I was by the idea of crunchy little millet seeds in a muffin. So I whipped up a batch for the weekend. They were delicious. Slightly sweet from the honey with a bit of tang from the yogurt, and of course, the crunch of millet that I was anticipating.

Her muffins were what lead my brain to these little gingered carrot and millet muffins. I craved adding some shredded carrots to the recipe. Then I gave myself the challenge of making them vegan so I could share a batch with our weekly Monday night potluck friends and everyone could enjoy. That meant no yogurt, honey, or eggs. Those got replaced with coconut oil, natural cane sugar, and flax meal. I thought about how ginger would make a great flavor profile alongside the carrots, so I added fresh and ground to the batter too. By that point they were a whole new muffin, but they came out as perfectly as I had envisioned. I knew there was a reason I had tagged that page. They inspired me to a new delicious recipe and hopefully one for you too.

Did you know millet is actually a small seed from the grass family and not a grain. Awesome right! I’ve been cooking millet for awhile now and love it combined with quinoa or bulgar for a slightly different texture. This was my first time baking with it and using it in it’s uncooked form, but I can’t wait to try it baked into more things. Have any of you experimented with millet in other baked goods?

Gingered Carrot Millet Muffins / makes 12-15 muffins

Inspired by Super Natural Everyday

This recipe yielded an awkward 15 muffins for me. I think next time I’m going to fill them as high as possible in the paper cups to get 12, as well as a slightly higher dome on top.

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/3 cup raw millet
1/2 cup cane sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons flax meal + 6 tablespoon water combined
1/2 cup almond milk
1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
2 cups grated carrots, about 3 large carrots

Preheat the oven to 400F. Line a muffin tin with paper muffin liners.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, millet, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, ground ginger, and salt. Set aside.

In a medium bowl combine the flax meal mixture, almond milk, coconut oil and fresh ginger. Stir in the carrots, then pour all the wet mixture into the dry. Fold the wet into the dry just until combined. This may take a few strokes as the batter is very thick.

Scoop out batter into prepared muffin tins, filling roughly level with the top of the pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow the muffins to cool slightly. Serve warm or room temperature. Store covered for about 2-3 days or freeze for a month.

Breakfast, Desserts + Sweets, Grains, Vegan, Vegetables

Almond Ginger Granola with Blueberries

Do you ever go through food phases? I totally went through a granola phase for awhile. Then all of a sudden one day that ended and I haven’t made a single batch of granola for about a year… until now.

It’s not that I traded in my tasty homemade batches for convenient store bought versions. I just stopped eating and/or craving it for some reason. Then one beautiful late August weekend we decided to go camping with some friends of ours and they just so happened to bring along a nice large batch of granola. It was beyond delicious and I found myself shoveling handfuls into my mouth and wondering why (and how) I had gone so long without.

Fast forward to last week and I finally managed to get a recipe from my friend, which resulted in me making a large batch of the stuff on Monday, so that I’d have something healthy and delicious to snack on while flying to the east coast. In fact, I’m probably munching on some right now as your reading this and it’s good, very good : )

Almond Ginger Granola with Blueberries / about 8 cups granola
Inspired by the kitchn

I’ve made lots of changes to the original recipe and many of the changes are actually ones my friend made too. Substituting the peanut butter and peanuts for almond butter and raw almonds was the main change. I love that the ratio of nuts to oats makes this a great snacking granola, but definitely serve it with yogurt or milk too. I’m bringing it along on the plane, but I’m curious, what kinds of snacks do you travel with?

3 cups old fashioned rolled oats
2 cups whole raw almonds
1/2 cup hulled raw pumpkin seeds
1 cup wheat germ
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup honey
3/4 cup almond butter
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup olive oil
3/4 cup dried blueberries

Preheat the oven to 325F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine oats, almonds, pumpkin seeds, wheat germ, salt, cinnamon, and ginger.

In a small saucepan, warm the honey until very runny. Turn off the heat, stir in the almond butter and vanilla until smooth.

Pour the honey mixture over the oat mixture. Pour in the oil, and stir thoroughly until everything gets wet.

Spread the oat mixture evenly on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 40 minutes, stirring twice while baking. Transfer the granola to a large bowl and add the dried blueberries, tossing to combine. Store at room temperature tightly covered.

Breakfast, Desserts + Sweets, Grains, Proteins

Pear and Ginger Scones

I woke up to a gray sky and a blanket of snow out my window. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to make scones and hot tea, and curl up with a blanket to watch the flakes fall. It doesn’t snow here very often, and definitely never this early, but I’m sort of crossing my fingers that we’ll get lots this winter because I love it!

It feels like it’s been awhile since I last made scones, but these really were the perfect treat this morning. The sweetness of the little pear pieces goes perfectly with the spicy sweet ginger. All thrown into an un-sweet scone batter. Serve them with butter or your favorite jam, or as I did, plain because I think they are that good. If you find yourself with a few more people in your home this week plan on making a batch or two. They’re really simple and quick to make and something everyone will enjoy.

We’re packing up and moving next weekend, so I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving full of loved ones and great food. Can’t wait to see what I cook first in my new kitchen!

Pear and Ginger Scones / makes 8
Adapted from Everybody Likes Sandwiches

I only had three small seckel pears left that needed to be eaten soon, so they’re what I used, but if I had four I would have used them all. Jeannette used cardamom, but since I was out, I used all spice. It’s not exactly the same, but I still really liked it with the pear and ginger. If you want to make these vegan follow her suggestion for using margarine instead of butter.

1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon all spice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter
3 seckel pears, diced
3 tablespoons diced candied ginger
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup non-dairy milk (I used almond) + 1 tablespoon for topping
2 tablespoons raw or demerara sugar for topping

Preheat oven to 400F.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, all spice, and salt. Cut in the butter and blend it into the flour so that it resembles a coarse meal. Stir in pears and ginger.

Add the vanilla to the milk and pour into flour mixture. Use a wooden spoon to combine and then knead the mixture 4 or 5 times with your hands until it comes together.

Place dough onto parchment paper and pat into a round shape about 1-inch thick. Cut into 8 triangles and place the scones onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush with remaining tablespoon of milk and sprinkle with the demerara sugar.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the tops of the scones are golden. Serve warm with your favorite jam or a smear of buttery spread.

Breakfast, Fall, Fruits, Winter

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