Spicy Peach Smoothie

I know this blog has been quiet for quite awhile. I think of it often, but haven’t gotten my butt in gear to write. But then I made this, and I knew I had to share it with the rest of you:

Spicy Peach Smoothie

I recently started a fruit share from Blades Orchard and it’s peach season. This week, we got white peaches and regular (if by regular, you mean huge) peaches. They’re great to slice up and eat, but a coworker suggested that I make a peach smoothie.

Genius.

So I combed the interwebs for smoothie recipes. All called for either dairy or a non-dairy milk (meh). I then happened upon a couple of recipes that called for coconut milk (the real stuff, not that sweetened liquidy cereal-milk replacement).

And so I was inspired. Lately, I’ve been adding a lot of ginger and turmeric to stuff. The benefits of doing so are many (anti-inflammatory, tasty, etc.). This smoothie is no exception. The ginger really gives this smoothie some bite and the turmeric helps boost the yellow color.

I’m weird and don’t like to drink super cold stuff. You could make a cold smoothie by adding a few ice cubes to the following or freezing some of the fruit before blending it.

Spicy Peach Smoothie
Serves 2 (or 1, if you are me and not willing to share)

2 large peaches, pitted and sliced
1 banana
1/2 can coconut milk
1 inch of fresh ginger, peeled
1 scant teaspoon ground turmeric
1 scant teaspoon honey

Blend it all until smooth and enjoy!

The Haul: Here Comes Sandy Edition

The market was hopping yesterday morning — people were picking up Halloween pumpkins, prepping for OysterFest and chatting about the incoming hurricane. Alas, the two vendors whose products I was craving were nowhere in sight — therefore, no maple sausage links from Black Bottom Farms and no smoked salmon salad from Neopol. Hopefully they’ll both be back next week.

Here’s what I picked up after trips to the open-air market, the Amish market and the seafood market:

• yellow onions
• garlic
• cucumbers
• carrots
• sweet potatoes
• cherry tomatoes
• mushrooms
• blue pumpkin
• kettle corn
• 2 pounds bulk bison burger
• 1.5 pounds ground pork
• 2 pounds of chicken sausage (1 pound spinach feta and 1 pound Italian)
• turkey jerky
• 1 pound wild salmon
• 1 pound scallops

I toyed with picking up smoked salmon from the seafood market  to try and make my own smoked salmon salad, but unfortunately, the brand that they carry contains nitrites. Neopol smokes their own fish and their products do not contain nitrites.

I haven’t figured out how I’ll prepare the wild salmon. I’m dreaming up a lemon-garlic sauce for the scallops.

I bought the pork to make my own maple breakfast sausage. The chicken sausage will supplement when that runs out and I can also eat that for lunches/dinners.

I’ve been eating a lot of burgers lately and that’s why I bought the bison. I like making my own patties better than the pre-formed patties.

Garden Update

I took down the greenhouse cover off of the VegTrug — it was tied down with velcro strips, but I didn’t think they’d hold in strong winds. I hope the baby spinach plants survive. I have more hope for the kale, rosemary and chives.

I went around picking flowers from my black-eyed susan and cosmo plants — they won’t survive the storm and I’d like to enjoy them awhile longer.

Likewise, I took cuttings from my parsley and thyme plants, assuming they won’t weather the storm well (the parsley probably will; the thyme, not so much).

Today, I ordered some garlic grow bags, bulbs and soil to plant after the storm is over. I’m looking forward to next year’s harvest!

The Haul: Frosty Fall Edition

Soon-to-be-soup pumpkin.

Coldest morning of the fall so far here in Maryland. I stayed tucked in bed as long as I could. Then, I made bacon. Fortified by that, I headed out to the library and the market. I used to worry about getting to the market early so I didn’t miss out on the good stuff, but I like going later. The music today was really good again — Swampcandy. I’d seen him before at the Night Cat. His first song (at around 10 a.m.) was about drinking whiskey. Cheers to him.

Here’s what I got:

• Mushrooms
• Smoked salmon salad
• Cherry tomatoes
• Slicers
• Eggplant
• Green pepper
• Kale
• Bison filet
• Maple pork sausage links
• Kielbasa
• Broccoli
• Figs
• Pumpkin!

I quizzed Crystal at C&D Produce about what pumpkin would be best for soup. I had selected one that I thought would be fun to display on my porch before I cooked it — it had little orange “knuckles” all over it. She said that particular type would be hard to cut and wouldn’t have a lot of flesh. She suggested that I buy a neck pumpkin instead, explaining that they are the type that are used for canning pumpkin. She showed me how to cut it and bake it to get to the flesh. The bulb at the end is like a cantaloupe and the seeds are there. The neck can be chopped into sections and then halved and baked. I can’t wait to try it! It’s sitting on my porch in the meantime.

Not sure how I’m going to prepare the bison filet yet, but that will be dinner and will most likely involve the mushrooms and some bacon.

Garden Update

Cosmos (I think)

It got down to 34 degrees last night according to my phone. Not quite freezing, but close enough to start killing off my basil, even inside the little greenhouse covering on the VegTrug. I snipped off the dead part and took a couple of clippings to try and root them in water.

My kale is almost ready to harvest — about another week. These are the old plants, which regrew when I cut them back to the ground. The new ones haven’t really gotten past the seedling stage. The spinach I bought is growing slowly but surely. I still don’t have enough for a side salad though.

I did a few fall clean-up items around the yard — disconnected the hose and spooled it, trimmed dead stalks off some of my hostas. I figure my flowers outside (the summer ones) aren’t long for this world if the cold night temperatures continue. I cut a pitcher full of black-eyed susans, cosmos buds and some purple wildflower that I can’t identify. Might as well enjoy them while they last!

I’m considering planting some garlic now for next summer. Haven’t gotten any further than considering it though.

Falling Behind

This week’s haul.

I have been making it to the markets lately I just haven’t been managing to blog about it. I did score quite a bit yesterday.

I bought:

• 2 eggplants
• 2 half-pints (okay, so 1 pint) raspberries
• 2 pints cherry tomatoes
• 1 jar of dark local honey
• 1 spaghetti squash
• 1 butternut squash
• 1 bunch kale
• 1 pound hot Italian sausage
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 half-pint Chapel White (marinated feta from Chapel Country Creamery)
• 1 mini pumpkin-like gourd (to accompany a mini goose-neck gourd I bought last week)

THEN, I went to the Renaissance Festival with friends and bought still more honey (blackberry), plus honey soap, and a large pottery mug from which to enjoy cider and beer while walking around (I also stuffed my face with ocean-style fries, sweet potato fries and steak on a stake).

Today for breakfast, I tried to make Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free pancakes, but I had to substitute applesauce for the egg called for on the packaging. I’m guessing this is why the finished pancakes still had the taste of raw batter even though they seemed to be cooked through. Phooey. I will keep experimenting.

I also made homemade pork sausage with ground pork from a new-to-me vendor — Country Vittles from Critter Hill Farm out of Taneytown, Md. They are at the UMD farmer’s market on Wednesday. I’d already eaten their beef jerky and beef kielbasa earlier in the week. The pork made for good sausage, but I think that my favorite is still that from Black Bottom Farm. I’ll definitely be getting more jerky from Critter Hill in the future though. Kudos to them for making it without nitrates/nitrites.

For lunch, I made homemade sweet potato oven fries, a Chapel White burger (using beef from Black Bottom Farm) and reheated roasted kale from earlier in the week.

Dinner was super-yummy. I made this recipe for “pasta” with sausage, eggplant and feta. I used roasted spaghetti squash instead of the penne called for in the original recipe. I substituted spicy Italian sausage for the breakfast sausage, chopped fresh tomatoes for the canned and added crushed red pepper for still more heat. The marinated feta was really good in this.

Garden Update — Very Naughty Caterpillar Edition

The seedlings and plantlings I have started in the VegTrug haven’t been growing as fast as I’d like to see, so I resolved to finally “harvest” some of my compost to see if that will help them along. Finally, after a year and a half of faithfully saving all of my vegetable/fruit scraps, shredded docs, toilet paper tubes and similar, I gathered a bucketful of “black gold” and headed over to the VegTrug.

Before I could distribute this homemade fertilizer amongst the new plants though, I had to evict some caterpillars who had taken up residence on my most mature carrot, stripping it of all its leaves. I went ahead and harvested it. It appears some of the younger carrots had suffered damage too, but they didn’t have enough greenery to interest the caterpillars for long.

Here’s hoping that’s the last I see of them and that the remaining carrots, kale, spinach and broccoli seedlings and plantlings enjoy the compost.

Allergy Update — Going Nuts Edition

Either I am quite in denial that some food I have re-introduced back into my diet is causing me problems or something I never stopped eating is the culprit behind some skin problems I’m still confronting. My thought is that it’s the latter, as I never truly kicked all of my issues when I started this process back in June.

My next strategy is to cut out tree nuts for at least a week and then see if that makes any difference. Then, reintroduce them and see what effect that has.

I’m already allergic to pecans and walnuts. Lately, I’ve been relying on almonds and cashews as snacks to round out my diet as I need more protein than I used to. My thought is that since I’m already allergic to some tree nuts, other tree nuts are likely to be a problem as well.

I’m also considering that the soaps I use, even though they are already dye-free and unfragranced, may still be an issue. If the nut omission from my diet doesn’t have any effect, I think I’m going to try going even more basic on my soaps and detergents before I omit anything else from my diet.

The Haul: Shopping-While-Hungry Edition

I broke one of the cardinal rules of food shopping today and left for the markets before breakfast. The result: I bought a ton of food!

I started at the open-air market. I had already resolved to buy a bunch of tomatoes for freezing. I also bought:

• 2 pints cherry tomatoes
• 2 pints blackberries!!!
• 1 1/2 pint raspberries* (part of breakfast)
• a bunch of sweet potatoes
• 3 bell peppers
• 2 cucumbers
• figs!
• bison skirt steak

And I wasn’t done yet. I needed to go to the Amish market for sausage meat. Last week, I made this pork sausage recipe and it was really, really good, but I passed by the pork this week because the line was really long and got mixed ground turkey again. But, this weekend there’s a pig roast out in the parking lot! So, I also got suckered into buying:

• 1 pint peach ice cream
• homemade Amish potato chips (many of which became part of breakfast)

I also had resolved to buy fish to cook this week so I crossed the street and bought at Captain’s Ketch:

• 1 bag of onions
• 1 pound of wild-caught Coho salmon
• 1 1/2 pint of their amazing shrimp salad (also part of breakfast)

What’s more, I haven’t even touched the watermelon and butternut squash that I bought last week. Also, the plums I bought last week were far from ripe and so those have been hanging out until they soften up a bit. I still have some of the peaches that I grilled to eat too.

Oh, and after purchasing everything that I did today, I forgot to buy greens like I’d planned.

*It didn’t occur to me, until there were only a few left, that maybe instead of eating the entire half-pint of raspberries in one sitting, I could have frozen them for baking or something later. This is the second time this week I’ve downed that many at one time. The farmer’s market at UMD had them this week too. In my defense, the ones I bought at work were so ripe, they wouldn’t have survived until I got home and I did share some with my coworkers.

Amish hand-made potato chips (a.k.a., breakfast).

Allergy Update

It appears that wheat, and also probably gluten, are among my allergies. I’m still trying to figure out the gluten thing though. I can drink beer, but not wheat beer. I was able to eat non-wheat flour bread last weekend, but presumably it still had gluten in it? I did, happily, find flourless, eggless cookies at the UMD farmer’s market this past week. Definitely going to stock up on those!

Garden Non-Update

Not much to report from the garden. I still haven’t planted what I said I would. I had hoped to do some planting today, but now it’s raining. Hopefully, tomorrow.

Homemade Breakfast Sausage

So, among my newly discovered food sensitivities are MSG and nitrates, both of which are ubiquitous in even many “all-natural” products. I did find that the poultry counter at our Amish market has MSG-free sausage links, but I don’t care for it so much. The casings they use are rather slimy.

This week I decided to make my own sausage. I bought a pound of mixed white- and dark-meat ground turkey and did some recipe-searching yesterday. I settled on this one, though I was missing a couple of the ingredients (namely the white pepper and onion powder).

I pretty much followed the recipe to the letter. I didn’t miss the white pepper or onion powder in the final result. The seasoning is very reminiscent of that used in pork sausage, so if you choose to make your own using ground pork, I wouldn’t hesitate to use this spice combination. You wouldn’t need to add the olive oil to the ground pork though. Turkey tends to dry out, which is why adding the oil to the meat and herbs produces a good texture for the patties. I would also cook this sausage loose and add it to pasta sauce or other dishes.

The Haul: Tie-Dyed Tomato Edition

I kept it small this morning, mainly because I ran out of cash. I bought:

• 2 pints blackberries
• 1 pint small red onions
• 1 pint of a variety of small tomatoes (including a couple of tie-dye guys like the one below)
• 1 cuke
• 1 purple bell pepper

I still have some slicer tomatoes and carrots leftover from last weekend too.

Yesterday, I stocked up on meat again at the Amish market, which was good because the bison folks weren’t at the market today. I bought:

• 2 sage sausage grillers
• 1 pound apple maple little links
• 1 pound maple bacon
• 2 snack sticks (jerky)
• 1 petite filet (advertised as the next-tenderest cut compared to a filet mignon)

I doubt I’ll be able to grill outside today — it’s going to be a real scorcha as they say up in Boston. I might break out the grill pan and cook up the sausage grillers and maybe some of those onions. Off to cook the little links for second breakfast now (first breakfast was a handful of blackberries).

Stay cool, everyone!

Tie-Dye Tomato

Elimination Round

Scrambled eggs with arugula and Old Bay.

This blog’s going to be taking a bit of a different tack over the next few weeks. I’ve been advised to try an elimination diet to rule out any food allergies that may be causing me problems. I am already aware of several allergies that I have to some tree nuts and fruits. I’m going to start out this diet eating only meat, veggies and a little fruit (no grains, no caffeine, no alcohol). I’ll have to stick to it for a few weeks before I can gradually start adding things back in.

Earlier this weekend, I lived it up, eating pizza, drinking beer and sangria. I gradually weaned myself off of my daily green tea and so far, so good. I haven’t had a headache yet today. I did allow myself two glasses of decaf iced tea.

Herbed grilled chicken.

Breakfast was three scrambled eggs with arugula and chives and a sprinkling of Old Bay (above). Lunch was an Italian tuna salad salad from Piazza Italian Market. I picked up some raw pumpkin seeds and roasted them for an afternoon snack. Dinner was herbed grilled chicken and grilled veggies. I nursed a lemonade throughout the day (yep, I’m counting that as fruit).

Herbed grilled veggies.

All told, it was pretty easy to follow the diet today. I’m concerned about sticking with it at work. I cooked enough chicken and veggies to take some with me for lunch tomorrow. I hard-boiled eggs for breakfast, which I’ll have with some strawberries on the side. I picked up some green grapes and carrots to snack on, along with the pumpkin seeds. Here’s hoping I can resist the temptation of all the processed foods at the downstairs cafe of my building.

Garden Update

My squash plants are gigantic and there’s already several buds on both. The zucchini plants are doing much better. Three of my tomato plants are thriving. The fourth is the runt of the litter, but I hope it will still do well. I scored a pumpkin plant from friends over the weekend, though I’m not sure it’s going to make it. The large leaves wilted on the drive home. I planted it and watered it right away, but only the baby leaves appear to be surviving. Fingers crossed. It would be so cool to grow pumpkins. I planted it in front of my tomato planter, dislodging several spring bulbs in the process. Ah well…

The Haul: Sweet and Sour Edition

I didn’t make it to the markets this weekend because I was visiting friends, but they happened to have a sour cherry tree that was ripe for picking in their backyard. I scored enough cherries to make a pie or crisp at a later date. It was a lot of fun picking the cherries with their fam (pitting them, a little less so). We probably picked enough cherries for 10 pies and the tree was still laden.

Smoothie Update

I had much more luck this morning, making up an Oatmeal Strawberry Green Tea Smoothie. I brewed the tea (8 oz) and sweetened it with honey and then poured it over ice to cool it down. I added that to about a cup of whole strawberries, 1.5 cups ice, 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt, 1/4 c. oatmeal and 1 tbsp ground flax seed. Blended that all up and added a bit more ice to get the consistency right. It still wasn’t as smooth as it might of been with some banana added in, but the flavor and color were much better than yesterday’s experiment with a kale smoothie. I might try adding in a small bit of kale next time. I still think mint would be a nice addition, but didn’t try that today.

Adventures in Smoothie Land

Well, I *tried* to make kale smoothie this morning. Actually, I did make a kale smoothie, it just wasn’t very good. I have a bumper crop of kale right now and had been wanting to try using some in a smoothie because that just seems so wholesome. I also had strawberries, vanilla yogurt, and of course, ice. Seemed like I was on the right track.

I also wanted to add in some ground flaxseed and possibly oatmeal too. I found an oatmeal smoothie recipe online and started to follow it, throwing in the kale too. I didn’t have the coconut water called for, so I poured in some cranberry juice instead. I didn’t have a banana. I also added some fresh basil, as that pairs well with strawberries.

The mixture had the right consistency, but was too tart and earthy. I tried adding some honey, which I’d forgotten to add in the first place. That helped a little, but not quite enough. The mixture also had a slightly unappetizing mud color, with specks of green and red from the strawberries and kale.

I then decided to look up kale smoothies online. I found a recipe that was very similar to what I had started with, except it also included a banana. I don’t typically buy bananas because they’re not local to here at all, but that flavor certainly would have balanced out the smoothie I made today. Hmmm…

I’ll probably try again, but without the basil, which was a little too strong — I might try adding mint though. Still not sure what I’ll use to try and provide more natural sweetness — any suggestions would be appreciated!