Local Fruit

Green Chick's comment on my Farmers' Market post got me started researching what foods are available right now in Florida. I found the Tropical Fruit Growers of South Florida's website and their fruits for the month for July and August: longan and mamey sapote. The longan is called the little brother of the lychee and I have actually enjoyed both the longan and the lychee with dear friends in Hilo, Hawaii. And I served canned lychees with kiwi in a crystallized ginger syrup as dessert (photo above) for the Indian Feast. I am not familiar with the mamey sapote, but that will be part of my research next. The Tropical Fruit Growers also feature dragon fruit which I recently saw at Whole Foods along with fresh lychees. Our friends in Hilo also took us to a farmers' market to sample the dragon fruit, which I have to admit I didn't especially care for.
The nearest CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) is Green Cay Produce, Farming Systems Research in Boynton Beach. On their website, they have charts for the monthly availability of their produce. Of course, they operate only the months of October through May, so we are not able to take advantage of that source of local produce during the summer months.

Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has a chart of produce availability which can be downloaded as a PDF. In July, the crops listed are avocados, cantalope, green beans, green peppers, mangoes, and watermelon. I am sure that those items will soon be appearing at Publix and The Boys Market if they are not already there.

Today's Sun-Sentinel Food Section Vegetarian Today column by Steve Petusevsky is "Some Delectable Mango Recipes," written because people are bringing him so many fresh mangoes from trees growing in yards. He says he welcomes them all and gives advice about using the bounty both now and frozen for later use. That appears to be the secret to eating local: buy it when you see it and preserve it. Be sure to see the mango chutney recipe in the Indian Feast post which includes a link for those who do not know the easy way to cut a mango into pieces.

My favorite salad is perfect for eating local this time of year in Florida. The salad consists of romaine, field greens, spinach, red onion rings, sliced avocados, sliced mangoes and passion fruit vinaigrette dressing.

The pantry - storm and otherwise

After our trip, I went to Whole Foods, The Boys and Publix to restock the food supplies. I am not a tidy housekeeper, but I have decided to show you the food I have in the kitchen when the cabinets and refrigerator are full. People often say to me that our diet must be so limiting. You can see from the overflow of food products that is not the case at all. In fact, we eat a wide variety of foods, probably more than most people on a Standard American Diet.

In the refrigerator, I keep mainly fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as several kinds of flour, soy milk and the usual door full of mustard, ketchup, etc. The freezer contains more flour, breads, bagels, and a few frozen vegetables and fruits, in addition to Boca soy products. This time of the year I try to empty the freezer as much as possible because it is hurricane season. Last year we were fortunate and had no hurricanes, but in previous years, I was really sorry to have a freezer full of food thawing and spoiling in the drawn-out electricity free aftermath of the storms.

The pantry is stocked with canned beans, broths, cereals and vinegars. This is also where Jerry keeps his salsa and home-baked tortilla chips, his main snack foods. Although he cooks almost nothing, he does make the tortilla chips on his own from corn tortillas we buy at Publix.

The pantry also contains the hurricane supplies that can feed us without electricity for storage or cooking. I buy small cans of vegetables and fruits so we will empty them at one meal since there is no keeping leftovers in Florida after a big storm. There are some wonderful recipes for that kind of meal preparation in The Storm Gourmet: A Guide to Creating Extraordinary Meals Without Electricity by Daphne Nikolopoulos. My favorite recipe from that book is the one for Salad Nicoise with canned cannelini beans replacing the tuna. I never use canned potatoes or green beans, preferring to use fresh vegetables. However, after a hurricane, this has tasted fabulous.

Salad Nicoise Hurricane Style

1 8-ounce can sliced white potatoes
1 15-ounce can cannelini beans, drained (not rinsed if water supply has been interrupted)
1 8-ounce can green beans
1 small jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained (or used as dressing)
1 2.75-ounce can sliced black olives

Toss together with a simple dressing of red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard and salt and pepper. Serves 4.

Okra - Again

Having said I wasn't especially fond of okra, I had to make it again. Just back from a road trip, I was faced with a nearly empty refrigerator at dinner time. In addition, weight begins to creep back on when there is little exercise and too much food and too much fat. I won't say on whose body. So I returned to Dr. Dean Ornish's Eat More, Weigh Less to search for fat-free vegan meals I could make with the foods in the refrigerator, freezer and pantry. I made Dirty Rice without celery. It was good, but the celery enhances both the taste and the crunch so if I had it I would always include it. Eat More suggests serving Dirty Rice with okra. And there in the freezer were frozen okra slices. There usually are because I am slow to include them in meals.

I researched recipes to use for the okra. Most of the non-Indian recipes have onions, garlic, tomatoes, green peppers, celery and bacon along with spices. That's what I used without the bacon for obvious reasons and no celery or green peppers because I didn't have any. What resulted was a dish that was perfect with the rice.

Braised Okra With Tomatoes

1 small onion, minced
1 garlic clove, pressed
2 tablespoons water
1/2 pound frozen sliced okra
1 14-ounce can petite diced tomatoes, mostly drained
cayenne pepper to taste

In a non-stick saucepan, saute the onion and garlic in the water until soft. Add the okra, tomatoes and pepper. Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes until the okra is hot. It is not necessary to cook the dish for any longer to have fresh tasting vegetables.

On the road

While on our recent trip to the mountains in Western North Carolina, we took food in a cooler because it is so hard to find food on the road. It is not just that it is hard, but it is very stressful for us. It isn't just that we want to have vegan foods, which we do, but we also would prefer to eat food lower in fat than most prepared foods. So we search and grow increasingly frustrated. This trip we did it right though. We had a cooler and enough food to graze on fat-free vegan foods the entire 11 plus hours drive.

Our wonderful host and hostess actually ate several vegan meals with us. Hostess P had a delicious lentil vegetable soup simmering on the stove when we arrived and kept us supplied with corn chips and salsa, nuts, fruits and excellent veggie-based meals throughout our stay. Host B had enough of the vegan food by the end of our visit however so they enjoyed meat the last night while we continued to enjoy our usual diet.

One day we went into Brevard at lunch time. We checked out Jason's, which had a couple of choices on the menu for us, and then decided on Falls Landing , which actually had the word vegetarian on the menu. I had a fabulous spicy black bean taco salad. Although his black bean burger and fries also looked good, Jerry eyed my salad with envy as he ate. Our host and hostess happily ate salads with lots of fresh greens. We next grocery shopped at Ingles, which emphasizes organic produce and has a large selection of Veggie cheeses.

We drove to the Blue Ridge Parkway and had a surprising meal at the Pisgah Inn. The elevation there is over 5000 feet so the view was spectacular. Sitting at a table at the window soaking in the view, Jerry and I both had penne pasta with an excellent marinara sauce, sliced mushrooms and spinach and a mixed greens salad. Host B had a portobello mushroom sandwich which also looked very tasty.

While in the actual city of Brevard for lunch, we visited the new Transylvania County Public Library. Our host and hostess were justifiably proud of this new facility and the contributions of so many local people that made it possible. Among the many user friendly services was a very large community handouts display. It was there that I found the bumper sticker above, part of a promotional campaign of The Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project. The food may not have traveled, but we did. We did our best to consume local produce and hope some day to return to do it again. If you want to know more about eating local, check out this page from the Appalachian project and read Barbara Kinsolver's "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A year of Food Life."

Okra Gumbo

Before my first taste of any kind of gumbo, I was definitely an adult. In fact, the first time might have been when I was in my late twenties on my first trip to New Orleans. Of course I liked the gumbo as well as the oysters Rockefeller, the bananas Foster, the fish en papillotte, the Sazerac cocktails. What an experience it was for me to have breakfast at Brennans and dinners at both Antoine's and Galatoire's.

It was then that I learned to like gumbo, but okra and I have a limited relationship. I like okra prepared at our favorite Indian restaurant, Woodlands, in Lauderhill. Once my son used a recipe from one of Emeril's cookbooks and created a fabulous gumbo with shrimp when he and I were both omnivores. And I love this okra gumbo recipe.

If you want to know absolutely everything on the subject of gumbo, read the chapter "Gumbo Zeb: history in a bowl and more" in Crescent Dragonwagon's Dairy Hollow House Soup & Bread. It is interesting, but it is important to note that what she says contradicts what Emeril has to say about gumbo. Finally, if you are up to preparing an authentic gumbo, follow Dragonwagon's instructions for preparation of the soup over three days beginning with a base containing over 30 ingredients.

If you are looking for fewer hours in the kitchen and a spicy, delicious and healthy meal, prepare the following recipe and serve it with steamed brown rice and a big chopped salad. The flavor of the gumbo improves on the second day.

Okra Gumbo

1 large onion, diced
3 stalks celery with leaves, chopped
1/4 cup scallions, sliced
32 ounce can whole tomatoes, broken up
1 pound frozen sliced okra
3 bay leaves
1 tablespoon Emeril's rustic rub
16 ounces vegetable broth
2 cups steamed brown rice

In a 5 quart pot, saute the onion and celery in 1/4 cup broth until the onion is transparent. Add the scallions, tomatoes and bay leaves and cook for 10 minutes. Add the okra, seasoning and remaining broth. Simmer for 30-45 minutes.

Serve in soup bowls with a scoop of rice in the center of each bowl.

Substitute for 1 tablespoon of Emeril's rustic rub:
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

Optional addition: If you like soy substitutes for meat, add coarsely chopped pieces of a soy based sausage such as Tofurky Italian sausage.

Alanna Kellogg, author of the blog Veggie Venture, encourages all of us to seek out fresh produce from our hometown farmers markets. She commissioned an icon to help showcase fresh vegetables and fruits and invites fellow bloggers to adopt the icon, too. So you will see the icon here in my posts and in other places that feature fresh produce and other farmers market finds.

That is as soon as I can go to a farmers market.

Ever since reading Barbara Kinsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: a Year of Food Life, I have been wanting to get closer to the source of the food that we eat. But here in Flala land, that happens on a different schedule from the rest of you. Old habits die slowly and after five decades living in Central New York, the arrival of June meant the arrival of fresh produce. Some years we had vegetable gardens, but always we could go to the regional farmers market and to farmers' stands right on their own land. And, of course, Wegmans filled their spectacular produce department with locally grown fruits and vegetables for all of the growing months. I was spoiled and never knew it.

We do have excellent fresh produce here at Whole Foods and at The Boys' Market. We even have a CSA nearby. ( A CSA is community supported agriculture. Basically that is a farm supported by individual contracts with members of the local community to purchase produce on a pre-established basis for the duration of the growing season.) We do have farmers markets in Delray Beach and in Boca Raton that are close enough for me to shop there.

What we don't have is a growing season that puts produce in the CSA or the farmers markets now. The CSA begins supplying produce in October and the farmers' markets start up again in October. So if you live in Miami or Orlando or Syracuse and can go to the local farmers market, go there and buy the freshest, local produce in season that you can find. Even though most of the fruits and vegetables do not say organic, produce grown on smaller, local farms likely contain fewer pesticides than the ones that have been trucked a few thousand miles to get to you. And then take your treasures home and cook them with the least effort you can manage after you have washed it. Eat it raw, steam it, or quickly boil it. Leave out the butter, cream, and oil and you will be leaving out the cholesterol and fat calories. Serve a plate of them with a fresh loaf of bread and you will have a fat-free vegan meal. And then enjoy it because you are really lucky to have it.

ps If you have a vegetable that you don't know how to prepare, post a comment and I will find at least one recipe for you.

Breakfast muffins

I wanted to see what a photo of food in the oven would look like. The first shot I tried was taken through the oven window and it was nothing but white from the flash. The second shot was through the oven window without flash and it was a very foggy image of the cupcakes. The final shot, above, was taken with only the oven light. I really rushed the shot because I didn't want the oven temperature to go too low and ruin the muffins.



The proof is in the Jerry! My biggest fan and harshest critic, my husband, just had his second muffin for breakfast. Now I know the recipe is a winner. You don't have to eat them only for breakfast. They would be excellent with tea in the afternoon and for those without a sweet tooth, like me, they made a fine dessert.

I really recommend whole wheat pastry flour for baking. It is especially good in fat-free baking and is commonly available in larger grocery stores and online.

Zucchini Breakfast Muffins

1 3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup ground flaxseed
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup Florida crystals sugar or regular sugar
1 cup unsweetened applesauce or 3 4-ounce containers
1 tablespoon canola oil
1/4 cup rice milk
1 cup firmly packed grated zucchini
3/4 cup raisins
1/3 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350. Place foil liners in 12 standard size baking cups. (Fat-free baking is more likely to stick to the pan, so I encourage you to use these.)

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, flaxseed, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and sugar.

Pour in the applesauce, oil and rice milk (I prefer rice milk because it imparts no noticeable flavor to the muffins). Stir until mixed, stir in zucchini, raisins and walnuts. You want to stir enough to distribute all of the ingredients fairly evenly throughout the batter, but not so much that you begin to take out the air.

Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Bake 30-35 minutes or until a knife in the center of one comes out clean and the tops are lightly browned.

Serve warm, at room temperature, or microwaved for 10 seconds if refrigerated.


Next time I plan to try adding about 1/4 cup of Ghirardelli's Sweet Ground Chocolate and Cocoa. But if no one asks in a comment, I won't tell you how it turned out!

Memorial Day

Since I am old enough to remember when Memorial Day was actually a day (May 31) and not a 3 day weekend, I like to be contrary and celebrate on the "real" day. So last night we had a picnic meal without the Standard American Diet and watched the movie "Glory" on television. Both were excellent.

I am back to a meal without a recipe, however. We had Boca Chickin patties on an onion bialy, mine toasted and Jerry's not. All of the rolls I have tried are just too much dough for the patties, so I was happy to find that the bialy has just the right amount of bread to make a good sandwich. Layer the sandwich with mustard, sliced sweet onion, sliced tomato, lettuce leaves and you won't miss a burger.

The green salad contains field mix, chopped broccoli stems (left-over from yesterday's pasta marinara with broccoli), halved cherry tomatoes and vinaigrette dressing.

The potato salad is composed of boiled red potatoes with the skins left on, chopped sweet onion, chopped celery, a sprinkle of red wine vinegar and fat-free mayonaise. Top it with ground black pepper and a few capers.

The cabbage salad is so simple. Shred red cabbage and toss it with a dressing made with a tablespoon of unseasoned rice vinegar and a tablespoon of seasoned rice vinegar. Something about the vinegars gives the salad an oily mouth-feel which is a good thing.

Processed foods, yes, but food that Jerry will eat and not miss eating a Standard American Diet which is my primary goal.