Giving Thanks

Every day as I pull vegetables out of the fridge I think of the farmers who grew them for me.

As I'm prepping our morning fruit I think of Jorge who grows the grapefruit and pomegranates, Rocky Canyon Farms who grows outstanding melons, Finley Farms for the strawberries.

At lunch I eat salads with great lettuce from Finley Farms, and finish with an apple from Ha's Apple Farm. (See the apple slide show to the lower right to get a sense of the diversity of apples I am lucky enough to eat.)

And dinner includes onions and garlic (and sometimes potatoes or sweet potatoes) from T&D Farms out near Joshua Tree, greens from South Central Farmers Cooperative or Flora Bella up near Three Rivers, brown rice from Koda Farms, peppers from Tutti Frutti.

I get such a thrill from appreciating not just the earth from which these foods sprang, but the farmers who commit their lives to doing the hard work of growing organic, sustainable, nutrient-filled produce that keeps me healthy and strong.

To all of you who grow my food, I say thank you every day of the year.

But especially today, Thanksgiving Day, when Larry and I will raise a glass in toast to you all.

Thanksgiving Preparations

Larry came home last night to the sight of three separate pots of beans boiling on the stove. One was for dinner and two were for the Thanksgiving lentil loaf in a squash.

"Something smells good," he said as he walked into the kitchen. And he was right. The gently-bubbling beans warmed the kitchen with an aroma promising a good meal. It's a hard one to describe, and those of you who think you don't like beans (or have only eaten canned beans) will not understand it, but when beans have become a regular part of your diet, smelling them cooking foretells a good filling meal in the way the smell of pot roast does to a meat-eater.

Larry has come to appreciate beans in a way that could not have been predicted 20 years ago. (Although when I met him he did cook a mean tofu stir-fry.)

When we were discussing the Thanksgiving menu a few days ago, he suggested that we go vegetarian. He had been thinking about what he was thankful for, and realized he was really grateful for the incredibly healthy (vegetarian) food we eat every day, the food that keeps him strong and vital when others in cubicles around him are dragging and sickly. While I was thinking of getting him a turkey part, stuffing and gravy from Trader Joe's, he was looking forward to celebrating with lentil loaf.

So our Thanksgiving table will look similar to the one we had last year when Tracie joined us and proclaimed her (short-lived) conversion to vegetarianism.

We'll have lentil loaf in a funky-looking squash, mashed potatoes, corn and peppers, green beans, and a salad with persimmons in it. Dessert will be a cranberry concoction - although we'll be too full so it will wait until Friday to be tasted.

It's a simple meal which, now the lentil loaf is cooked, will take a couple of hours to bring together. I plan to spend the day in the garden, and then we'll gather in the kitchen around 4 p.m. to chop and bake and mash these fresh delicious foods. Truly a day to be thankful for.

Lentil Loaf
1/3 cup trail of tears beans
1/2 cup red lentils
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 egg
1 carrot, coarsely grated
1/2 cup grated aged cheddar
1 cup fresh wholewheat breadcrumbs
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp ketchup
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp hot chili powder

Cook the beans and lentils in separate pots of boiling water until cooked all the way through. The lentils will take about 15 minutes, the beans about 90 minutes. When they're cooked, drain and set aside.

Warm the oil in a skillet and sauté the onion, garlic and celery until softened, about 5 minutes. Set aside to cool slightly.

In a food processor, combine the cooked beans and lentils, the cooked onion mixture and the egg, and process until smooth.

Transfer to a large bowl and add the carrot, cheddar, breadcrumbs, tomato paste, ketchup, cumin and chili powder. Stir together well, then pour into a greased 9x5 loaf pan.

Bake at 350°F for 1 hour.

This is great warm or cold, in sandwiches, in a pumpkin, fried into burgers, served as slices with mashed potatoes and ketchup - any way you would eat meatloaf. (Although I'm not sure anyone has ever served meatloaf in a pumpkin.) It also freezes well.

Green Beans with Hazelnuts

Finley Farms at the Hollywood Farmers Market has had excellent green beans this fall. The Finley children enjoy them raw. We've eaten them cooked but plain - simmered for 9 minutes in boiling water - no butter or salt or pepper required.

Cooking is really easy when you start with good produce.

The other night, however, I decided to dress up the green beans with some hazelnuts I found in the freezer and some mint and a lemon from the garden.

It is still an easy side dish - it can even be made ahead and served at room temperature - so it would be good for Thanksgiving.

Green Beans with Hazelnuts
1/4 cup hazelnuts
2 tbsp chopped fresh mint leaves
1 tbsp grated lemon peel
2 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt (or more to taste)
4 tbsp olive oil
3/4 lb green beans

Toast hazelnuts in a dry skillet over medium heat until they smell good and are golden when you break one open. Tip them onto a kitchen towel, and when they're cool enough to handle rub them with the towel to remove as many of the brown skins as possible. Chop coarsely and set aside. (This can be done hours or days ahead.)

Stir together the mint, lemon peel, lemon juice and salt. Whisk in the olive oil. Taste and add more salt if desired.

Cook the beans in boiling water until just cooked - 7-9 minutes.

Now you can choose whether to serve them right away as a warm vegetable side or later as a room-temperature salad.

I served them warm by tossing the beans with some of the dressing, putting them on a serving plate, and sprinkling the hazelnuts on top. I served the small amount of extra dressing on the side.

To serve them as a salad, when the beans are tender plunge them into ice water to cool, then drain and set aside. When ready to serve, toss with the dressing, sprinkle with the nuts and serve.

Serves 2-3

Sunday Shopping

It was windy at the Hollywood Farmers Market this morning. Farmers were working to keep their canopies weighted and their signs attached.

Maybe it was all that air blowing through my brain, but we somehow ended up carrying a lot of heavy vegetables. And I can't use Thanksgiving as an excuse because it will just be the two of us (and a bounty of squash).

Here's what we came home with:
3 onions, 1 quart and 4 cups plain St. Benoit yogurt, green beans, eggs, 12 red bliss potatoes, cilantro, 3 poblanos, 2 red peppers (still roasting and freezing), 2 celery, 1 bacon avocado, carrots, rapini (oh boy!), radishes, turnips, a loaf of red fife cracked wheat bread (I need to make breadcrumbs for the Thanksgiving Lentil Loaf), chard, 1 pomegranate, 3 bartlett pears, 6 pink grapefruit, 16 oranges, 4 cameo apples, 2 arkansas black apples, 3 somerland apples, 5 delicata squash, 1 kabocha squash and 1 large sweet potato.

Apple and Spinach Salad

I love winter for the thick soups that make meals easy. Soup and salad has always eluded me though. I don't know how to eat from a soup bowl and a salad bowl at the same time.

However, it's important to eat raw food as well as cooked, so when I served Thick Bean and Tomato Soup this week, I started the meal with a plate of this Apple and Spinach Salad.

Usually I just toss the ingredients together in a bowl and we serve ourselves, but layered on small plates they looked very pretty. We ate our plates of salad and then bowls of awesome soup. Quite the satisfying meal.

The dressing is slightly sweet and very good on all green salads. There will be more than is necessary for this meal - save it for other salads in the week. It will last a few weeks in the fridge.

Apple and Spinach Salad
4 large handfuls of spinach
1 apple (I used cameo)
1 small carrot
1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
3/4 cup halved cherry or pear tomatoes
2 tbsp crumbled blue cheese
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp honey
1/2 cup olive oil

Wash spinach well. Dry and remove any large stems. Tear into bite-sized pieces and spread on 2 small plates.

Slice apple and carrot into bite-sized pieces. Place on spinach, along with onion and tomatoes. Sprinkle blue cheese on top.

Whisk together the vinegar, honey and olive oil. Serve on the side. (Or toss the spinach with some of the dressing before placing on the plate. Serve the extra dressing on the side.)

Serves 2

Thick Bean and Tomato Soup

The weather is cooling off in the evenings (down to the 50s), making soup a welcome meal.

A good vegetable stock and some vegetables and grains or beans makes a great soup.

This Bean and Tomato soup is a little more complicated than I usually make, but it's worth the extra time. First I made a thick tomato soup and puréed it. Then I added cooked beans and more chopped vegetables for texture. When they were tender, dinner was served. (For my simpler creamy tomato soup, see here.)

We ate this delicious soup three times this week, and I've frozen the rest to eat in future weeks. It makes a lot, which is a plus in my book.

I love good soup.

Thick Bean and Tomato Soup
3 tbsp butter or olive oil
2 lbs potatoes, peeled and diced 1/2 inch
1 leek, white only, halved and sliced
3 onions, peeled and diced, divided use
3 cups diced celery, divided use
28 oz can tomatoes
1 lb tomatoes, quartered and stem removed
1 tbsp dried Mexican oregano
3 cups vegetable stock and 5 cups water (or some combination)
4 carrots, diced (about 2 cups)
2 fennel bulbs, diced (about 2 cups)
1 1/3 cups white beans, cooked (or 2 cans, drained)

Melt butter in large soup kettle and sauté potato, leek, 1 onion and 1 cup diced celery, stirring frequently, until onion just starts to brown, about 10 minutes.

Add canned tomatoes and fresh tomatoes; stir well, scraping any onion off bottom of pan. Add oregano, water and stock. Bring to a boil, lower to a simmer, and cook, loosely covered, until soup begins to thicken, about 45 minutes.

Remove from heat and purée with an immersion blender (or in batches in a blender). Season with a teaspoon of salt and a few grindings of pepper. Depending on the saltiness of the stock you used, you'll need to add more salt. I added close to a tablespoon. (Still very little salt compared to packaged soups.)

Stir in carrot, fennel, remaining onion and celery, and simmer gently until they are almost tender. Stir in the cooked beans, and keep cooking until all is warm and tender, stirring regularly, about 25 minutes total.

Taste and season to taste.

Serves 10-16

Lasts a week in the fridge. Freezes well too.

Sunday Shopping

I love fall weather. The leaves turn beautiful colors, the farmers market is full of gorgeous squashes, and maybe water will fall from the sky.

I am still optimistically working on my rain farm. So on Sunday we did a quick run through the Hollywood Farmers' Market, ate a fast breakfast at K24 on Cahuenga, and then made a short stop home to unload the groceries before heading to Home Depot for rain farming supplies.

Here's what we bought at the market:
green beans, 2 red onions, 2 onions, 5 potatoes, 1 heirloom pumpkin for decoration and then delicious eating, 1 leek, 4 fennel bulbs, 7 poblanos (some to eat, some to freeze), cilantro, 3 bartlett pears, 4 limes, 7 tomatoes, 3 satsuma tangerines, 2 dozen eggs, 3 small St. Benoit plain yogurts, 6 grapefruit, king crimson grapes.

Russ sharpened two sets of garden shears for us while we shopped.

Fall Bean Salad

The beautiful peppers at the Hollywood Farmers Market inspired this chickpea salad. Because this is southern California, I was able to buy fresh asparagus at the market to add contrast. I could have used green beans instead.

It had good staying power - I took it for lunch 3 days in a row along with a green salad. I tossed the two together for an excellent lunch, followed by a farmer's market apple. Real food is a great break in a busy day.

Fall Bean Salad
1/2 cup chickpeas
juice of 2 limes
2 tbsp basil, chopped
1/3 cup olive oil
8 oz asparagus
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
12 kalamata olives

Pick over chickpeas and remove any stones or clumps of dirt. Bring a quart of water to the boil and add the chickpeas. Cover and simmer, adding boiling water from the kettle as necessary, until the chickpeas are tender - 2-3 hours.

Whisk together the lime juice, basil and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste

Drain the chickpeas and put in a bowl. Add the dressing and stir to combine.

Steam the asparagus until tender. Cut in 1 inch pieces and add to the chickpeas along with the chopped peppers. Pit and slice the olives and add to the salad.

Serve on lettuce.

Serves 4

Pear and Blue Cheese Salad

The pears are so delicious at this time of the year - juicy and sweet and, unlike apples, fleeting.

The pears we buy at the market are not completely ripe - they keep getting better as they sit on the counter. As with peaches, I check them every day, pressing gently near the stem to see if they are softening. If I'm impatient and cut one too early, it is chalky and dry. But when I wait until they are a little soft at the top - not mushy all over - they are fragrant and luscious.

I used a perfect one on this salad last week - Larry's favorite that I make only during the few weeks when good pears are available.

Pear and Blue Cheese Salad
2 tbsp walnut oil
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tbsp finely minced shallot
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp white pepper
1/4 cup walnuts
4 cups chopped romaine
1 ripe pear
2 oz crumbled blue cheese

Start by making the walnut oil vinaigrette: whisk together the walnut and olive oils, white wine vinegar, shallot, salt and pepper. Set aside.

Toast the walnuts in a dry heavy skillet until fragrant. Let cool.

Spread the romaine on a plate. Core the pear, quarter it lengthwise, and slice into 1/4 inch thick slices.  Scatter on the lettuce. Sprinkle the walnuts and blue cheese over top, and drizzle some of the dressing over the top. Serve the rest of the dressing on the side.

Serves 2

Sunday Shopping

For the past few weeks, I have been exercising excellent restraint when walking past the colorful winter squashes at the Hollywood Farmers Market.

Today, restraint left the building.

I mean, really, is there a table decoration more beautiful than a winter squash? Plus, when you're bored with looking at it, you can eat it.

The weather promises to be cooler this week - maybe even down into the 60s - so I feel I can decorate with squashes. (Last week our house got into the high 80s - not good for winter squash storage.)

When Larry observed halfway through the market that our bags were heavier than usual, I had to admit that a few colorful winter squashes had jumped into the bags he was hauling.

Here's what we lugged home:
3 large sweet potatoes (cool weather is coming so I'm planning sweet potato soup), 2 garlic, 1 small (really) butternut squash, parsley, world-famous heirloom spinach from Finley Farms, green beans, radishes, 2 small romaine lettuce, 1 cucumber, a small amount of mesclun, 1 red butter lettuce, 7 red peppers (many will be roasted for the freezer), 1 ambrosia cantaloupe, 5 medium shiitake mushrooms, a bunch of beets - first of the fall season - from South Central Farmers, 3 persimmons, 2 lemons (ours are all green), 3 quinces from Mud Creek Ranch that I

promised Larry will not end up in the morning fruit - instead I will make them into excellent dessert or jam, 2 potatoes, 3 bartlett pears, 1 loaf of wheat rye sourdough bread from Bezian Bakery (for a quick breakfast of fried eggs and toast before heading into the garden to optimistically work on the rainwater farm), 1 dozen eggs, 2 kabocha squash, 1 lb Columbian coffee from Cafecito Organico, 1 turban squash, 1 large and 4 small plain yogurt from St. Benoit, 20 oranges for breakfast juice to counterbalance the fried eggs, 3 grapefruit, 4 pomegranates and 1 dumpling squash.

Also, Russ sharpened a knife for us while we shopped.

Fennel and Orange Salad with Pomegranate Seeds

We ate chili and rice on Sunday night - an easy slow cooker meal - and I decided we needed something crisp and fresh as a complement.

I combined fennel, oranges and pomegranate seeds in this salad that was so yummy and pretty, I might put it on the Thanksgiving menu.

It's also simple, and still tasted good on the 2nd day when we ate it as a side with black quinoa in a pumpkin.

Fennel tastes like licorice but in this recipe the robust flavor is toned down by the oranges and honey, and contrasts well with the slightly spicy olives. (If you don't have spiced olives, add a dash of cayenne to the dressing.)

The key is to slice the fennel thinly, but not too thin. I cut a few slices with my mandolin, but decided they were too slender to give enough crunch. Instead, I just sliced them across with my knife. They softened a little in the dressing, but didn't become soggy.

Fennel and Orange Salad with Pomegranate Seeds
1 lb fennel bulbs
4 small oranges
9 spicy red pepper stuffed green olives
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup pomegranate seeds
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp honey

Cut the fronds off the fennel bulbs and set aside, and remove the outer segments of the bulb, including any which are brownish. Cut in half lengthwise, and then cut out the core - a triangle at the bottom of each half - and discard it. Slice the remaining pieces of the bulb cross-wise and place in a medium-size bowl. Chop about 1/4 cup of the fennel fronds and discard the rest.

Wash and dry the oranges. Cut off each end (top and bottom) to reveal the orange pulp. Place one end on a chopping board, and cut down between the white membrane and the pulp to remove the peel. Once the orange is peeled, hold it over the bowl and use a small knife to cut between the segments, separating the pulp from the white membranes. Let the juice fall into the bowl with the segments - but not the seeds. Squeeze the remaining juice from the membranes before discarding.

Slice the olives and add to the bowl, along with the parsley and pomegranate seeds.

In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lime juice, red wine vinegar and honey.

Add the dressing to the salad, and stir in the fennel fronds.

Serve at room temperature or chilled. Serves 4-6

Halloween Pumpkin

When I saw black quinoa in the cupboard and a small pumpkin on the counter, I knew I had to combine them for a festive Halloween dish.

I had found Organic Royal Black Quinoa at my local grocery store. It's organic and fair trade from Bolivia, so I thought I'd give it a try.

Larry was dubious - he said this dish looked unattractive but tasted good, which I take as a compliment.

I was surprised to find the texture and look of the black quinoa more appealing than the red or white kinds, and combined with shiitake mushrooms and cashews it had great flavor.

I could have served the quinoa as a side dish instead of in a pumpkin, but I enjoyed the combination. If you don't have a pumpkin, any squash like an acorn or delicata or hubbard will work just as well. Cook it in the same way, checking for doneness more frequently if it's a small squash.

Black quinoa keeps its color

Halloween Pumpkin
1 small pumpkin or other winter squash
1 cup black (or other color) quinoa
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cups sliced shiitake mushrooms
1/2 cup sliced scallions, white and green parts
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup roasted, salted cashews
1 lime

Make a few slits around the top of the squash (to make sure it doesn't explode while cooking) and bake it in a 375°F oven for 30-60 minutes until a thin knife slides in easily. Set aside.

Rinse the quinoa thoroughly in a fine mesh sieve, using hot water and then cold, to wash away the bitter saponins that coat the grain. Put it in a pot with 1 1/2 cups water. Cover, bring to a boil, reduce the heat so it simmers, and cook until the water is absorbed, about 20 minutes. Set aside.

Heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the shiitakes and cook, stirring occasionally, until they are slightly crisp. Stir in the scallions and cook, stirring frequently, until they wilt. Remove from heat and stir in the soy sauce and vinegar. Stir in the quinoa and cashews, making sure to combine well. Then grate the zest of half the lime over the grain, and squeeze the juice from one half. Taste and add pepper and lime juice to taste.

Slice the top off the pumpkin and scoop out the seeds and stringy insides. Pile the quinoa inside - there will be a lot leftover to serve on the side.

I carved the pumpkin into wedges to serve, and spooned the quinoa filling alongside on the plate. The quinoa did not hold together, but it all looked pretty together. I also could have scooped the flesh from the pumpkin along with some grain. Or just eaten the quinoa alone, which we will be doing as leftovers.

Serves 4-6

Roasting Peppers

One of the fall aromas in our house is that of peppers roasting on the gas stove.

A little burn, a little sweet, a little spicy. Fortunately I rarely set off the smoke detector.

Fall is the time organic peppers are inexpensive at the Hollywood Farmers Market, and I buy extra to roast and freeze. All winter I will enjoy the ease of pulling a roasted pepper from the freezer and adding its smoky sweetness to a stew or casserole.

I mainly roast red peppers and poblanos. You can read how I do it here.

Our friendly squirrel prepares for winter by burying nuts. I prepare by burying peppers in the freezer. We are both most satisfied.

Sunday Shopping

The topic of discussion at the Hollywood Farmers' Market this morning was rain - as in, we enjoyed the quarter inch Friday night but will there be more. With the temperatures heading back into the 80s in a few days, no one felt comfortable that the winter rains were really here. (Although Flora Bella up in Three Rivers had their first snow of the year, so they felt wintry.)

I continued buying peppers to roast and store in the freezer. Here's what we came home with:

2 cameo apples, 3 sundowner apples (bred by the same Australian farmer who bred Pink Lady apples), 3 bartlett pears, 2 oranges, red grapes, 2 pomegranates, 1 large and 4 small plain yogurt, 1 dozen eggs, 2 lb pinquito beans, 6 anaheim peppers, 6 poblano chiles, 2 red peppers, 1 early girl tomato, 9 shallots, 4 onions, 2 large potatoes, lacinato kale, arugula, 1 red lettuce, green beans, asparagus

Bean Salad with Rooster Sauce

This was a pretty salad for Halloween week - black beans, orange cherry tomatoes, red peppers, and rooster sauce (Sriracha) to give it a kick.

Bean salads are great to eat daily - they are low in calories and high in fiber and antioxidants - and if you make a batch of bean salad you can easily scoop it into containers for the lunch box. (I take mine along with a green salad, then mix the two together to get a very healthy meal that, along with an apple, sustains me through my busy day.)

Bean Salad with Rooster Sauce
1 cup black beans
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp rooster sauce
1/2 cup orange cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped red pepper
juice of 1 lime

Cook the black beans in plenty of simmering water until tender. Drain. Put in a bowl and stir in the vinegar and rooster sauce. Let cool to room temperature.

Stir in the remaining ingredients.

At this point it can be refrigerated for up to 5 days. Before serving, stir in extra lime juice if desired.

Serves 4