Savoring Every Moment of Life – Last of our Sugar snaps

Even as Spring rolls into Summer, and most of nature is just beginning to take life and flourish, there are those whose lifespan is spent. In seemingly moments ago, they were thriving and full of life and beauty, bringing us joy everyday. Now we have to let go of them, hoping to have their void in our daily lives filled by another. Forever grateful for the sweetness they shared with us.

tired but beautiful

Our snow peas and sugar snaps are  finished. No more early morning munchies as we pull their sweet, green crunch from the vines. The store bought just can’t compare, so we will rarely buy them. We’ve become too spoiled by the best. Better to cling to our homegrown snappers taste lingering on our palates than have the memory diluted by something not as precious.

Soon we will have tomatoes and basil filling the planters where we grew our pea vines. The recent warm, sunny days have exploded their growth and flowers. Silky Kentucky Beefsteaks, sugary Sun Golds and Sweet 100's, and sexy Anna Russians will soon be a regular staple to our meals. So far we are up to 18 different varieties of tomatoes and all are healthy at this point. Summer is going to be luscious.

But as the pea vines ended, and their textures and flavor became less than prime, we still loved them. Those same peas, if we had bought them at the farmers market or a grocer, we may have moped with disappointment. However we knew these vines.  We knew them in their glory.

Now that they were becoming tired and fading, we were still able to appreciate them for what they were. Just as a wrinkled, grey haired face is beautiful for the love shining through the eyes and the stories and life those lines show, our peas were still delicious in their final grace. Even those than had been enveloped in mildew from the funky spring weather.

In the end, as the peas swelled within their pods eventually splitting the sides, their texture lost some of its crunch, becoming more like an English Pea.  Fantastic in flavor, well worth the time spent picking and shucking. One last moment to savor.

-Todd

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Sauteed Peas with Yuzu Kosho
Yuzu kosho is an amazing Japanese chili salt made with the grated zest of the citrus yuzu. A little goes a long way, so if you can find a bottle, it it well worth the purchase. There is a red yuzu kosho (red chilies) and a green yuzu kosho (green chilies), and either work well with this recipe. To substitute, use a nice sea salt, finely grated fresh lemon zest, and a touch of your favorite chili, maybe a Serrano, Thai chili, or a little bit of Habanero and adjust the quantities of salt, zest, and chili. It won’t be quite the same, yuzu being the extraordinary citrus that it is, but it will still be quite tasty. This recipe will work with just about any pea you’d like to use, shucked or still in the pod. Serves 4. 1 lb fresh Peas1/4 c chopped Shallots1 t Yuzu Kosho, or to taste1 T Grape Seed Oil or other neutral tasting oil (canola oil is our second choice)Heat oil in a medium saute pan over medium-high heat. Add shallots and cook until soft, stirring occasionally.Add peas and yuzu kosho cook until heated. Serve immediately.

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Stuffed Tomatoes w/ Quinoa, Soft Tofu inspired by 101 Cookbooks “Super Natural Every Day”

The sun has been very kind to us over the last week. We had two fabulously warm days to dry out all the dampness that late Winter left behind. Indeed, we’re very lucky to be living in warm Southern California weather where our garden basil is looking fantastic and we are getting some early season tomatoes at the market.  And somehow, we got our hands on Heidi Swanson’s new Super Natural Everyday cookbook.

Honestly, today’s post isn’t meant to make anyone envious. We just kinda won the weather, produce & cookbook lottery!

We’ve been nurturing some tender baby basil plants and even this early in the season, it’s never too early to pick a few leaves and indulge in what Summer will soon offer.

It must be from all the vitamin E we’ve been getting from the sun because when ever the warmth arrives,  we’re craving tomatoes, basil and whole grains. How perfectly planned was it to have Heidi’s book with a stuffed tomato recipe waiting with our name on it? It’s stuffed tomato karma, that’s what it is.

Heidi’s latest kitchen labor of love is certainly felt in Super Natural Every Day. It’s a gorgeous book that feels so honest and real for her love of natural foods.

Without a doubt, every recipe is sure to be a winner. Each page is filled with her amazing images and nourishing recipes. You don’t even miss the meat when you look at her graceful textures of ingredients and grains.  The focus on fresh produce and perfectly spiced flavors sings from every page. Besides, we all should get back to eating more whole grains and vegetables every day. We’ll all feel super natural together!

In Super Natural Every Day Heidi developed a terrific stuffed tomato recipe with couscous. It was hard not for us to not immediately dive into making it. Without looking to see if had all the ingredients available, we started picking some basil from the garden and began the recipe. But shame on us for not checking the list because we didn’t have most of the main ingredients in the recipe.

So instead, we improvised with what we had in our pantry. Heidi’s original list calls for couscous, yogurt and harissa. We didn’t have any of those, so instead we replaced them with quinoa, soft tofu and homemade hot sauce.

The stuffed tomatoes turned out perfectly! The recipe was quite easy to adapt to what ingredients we had on hand and we were so pleased with the results. The tofu added extra protein, and the quinoa gave a satisfying bite, not to mention the great crunch of the top layer of quinoa.

Like we mentioned, we’re not wanting all you cold weather friends to be jealous because we’re certainly envious of all your great snow. But hopefully this recipe will give you something to celebrate in a month or so when your weather brings warmer sunshine, tomatoes and basil.

Enjoy,

Diane

super duper natural ingredients

wonderful meal!

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Stuffed Tomatoes with Quinoa, Soft Tofu, basil, shallots
adapted from 101 cookbooks, Super Natural Every Day

We substituted the original whole wheat couscous in the recipe with quinoa, which still turned out great. The quinoa on the top layer of the tomatoes became a nice crunchy texture. **The size of the tomatoes will greatly vary the cooking times and how long it will take the quinoa to be fully cooked in the center of the tomatoes. Continue checking the middle of the tomtoes to ensure that the quinoa is cooked.

We also substituted soft tofu instead of yogurt and hot sauce instead of harissa from the original recipe.

Ingredients:

6 medium-large, ripe red Tomatoes. Each tomato should average about 5 ounces each.1/2 cup of silky soft Tofu1 tablespoon of  Hot Sauce, to your preferred taste1 tablespoons of extra virgin Olive Oil, plus a little to drizzleabout 12 fresh Basil leaves, chopped2 shallots, minced1 teaspoon Soy Sauce1 Garlic Clove, finely minced1/2 cup of Couscous or Quinoasea salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste

1. Pre-heat oven to 350º F and place rack in middle of oven. Butter or oil a medium baking dish or of the size where the tomatoes will fill and just lightly be touching each other in the pan.

2. Carefully, using a serrated knife, cut the tops of each tomato, allowing enough room for you to spoon in the mixture. Work over a large bowl, scoop out the flesh of each tomato. If needed, break up any large chunks of the tomato flesh. Arrange the hollowed out tomato shells in the greased baking dish. Lightly brush the outside of the tomatoes with a bit of olive oil.

3. For the filling, combine 2/3 cup of the tomato flesh & juice, tofu, hot sauce, olive oil, most of the basil, shallots, soy sauce, salt, black pepper and garlic in a bowl. Add the quinoa and stir until all ingredients are combined. Adjust the filling to your acquired taste with salt and pepper. Using a spoon, fill the stuffing in the tomatoes till the tomatoes are almost full.

4. Bake the tomatoes for about 50-60 minutes, or until the quinoa is cooked. The tomatoes will start to wrinkle and brown. If this happens before the quinoa is fully cooked, then cover the tomatoes with aluminum foil and continue cooking the tomatoes until the filling is full cooked. The top layer of quinoa on the tomatoes will be slightly crunchy.

5. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil and remainder of the basil. Serve warm. Serves about 6.

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