Green Cay Heirloom Tomatoes

The cold weather in Florida has caused considerable damage to agricultural crops, but the CSA I belong to has not had extensive loss of vegetables in the fields. I had been worried about it, of course, because as a member of a CSA,  I have made a commitment to the farm and that makes it so much more real. Remember hearing about the citrus crops that might be lost because of the freeze? If you  are like me, you thought, "Oh, that's too bad." and went right back to what you had been doing.

I am not saying that my concern about the loss is anywhere near the concern of the farmer whose money, sweat and worries are all wrapped up in the farm. It is just that now that I have a share in a farm, losing the crop would mean that people who have entered my life are having a bad time and I would not have the wonderful heirloom tomatoes you see in the photo.

Today was my first day to pick up my box in quite a while because of the holiday season and I was thrilled to return home with a box overloaded with fresh vegetables grown 1 mile from my house.  In addition to the cherry tomatoes and arugula in the photo, I received red cabbage, kale, summer squash, green beans, French breakfast radishes, yellow and orange carrots, and fennel.

The summer squash will become muffins. The red cabbage is going to be a coleslaw with rice wine vinegar dressing, and the green beans my favorite vegetable dish, and the kale will be perfect in beans and greens.

It may be cold in Florida, but we still can enjoy local vegetables in January.

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!