Here is my mushroom patch. It is in the rubbermaid bin to keep spores from dirtying the carpet. The mister bottle is to the right. The plastic beyond the mister bottle is a humidity tent, and the skewers in the patch help hold the tent up. You can see a new mushroom at the right of the far end of the patch.

Here is one shiitake mushroom that I clipped from the patch.

The kit came with a number of recipes, but so far I've just been sauteeing the mushrooms in a bit of oil or butter. It's delicious.

I have read that the stems get too tough for cooking, so I boil the stems for soup stock. I then freeze the stock for future use.

Here’s my shitake cooking recipe so far.

Ingredients

• fresh shiitake mushrooms
• oil or butter

Directions

• Wash the mushrooms
• Cut off their stalks, save for boiling in water to make soup stock
• Slice caps in half, then cut into sections
• Heat oil or butter in pan on medium-low
• Add mushrooms
• Sautee until done.  The color will change and they will cook down.
• Serve hot

Mmmmmmm…..

Here are some tips on freezing corn.

• The first step is to get some good ears. Get to know your vendor. Choose ears that have been kept cold. Avoid ones with “dry” cut ends. With fresh corn, the silk will still be moist. It should be brown, but not black. The husk should feel tight.

• DO NOT PEEL THE HUSK BACK! This is a big no no because it ruins the ear for anyone else. If you feel the need to peel it back — buy it. The husk keeps the kernels moist and fresh.

• Ask WHEN it was picked. (You want to hear “last night” or “early this morning.”) Keep it cold. Bring a cooler and take it directly to your fridge.

• Before I get to husking, I get organized. I like to husk outside, so I pile up all my ears next to a clean pan for husked ears. I use a wheel barrow to throw all the husk and silk in.

• When I peel back the husk, I think the most efficient way to do it is to split the silk at the top and grab at least 1/3 of it firmly, then peel it off. Repeat this until you have it all off. If you just pull on the green parts, it will take forever. Grabbing from the silk ensures you will get most of that off at the same time.

(Make sure you keep an eye on your dogs while all this is happening.)

• While I husk, I put my biggest stock pots on the stove to boil. This time, I broke the ears in half before dropping them into the water. This allowed me to get 3x as many ears in the pot.

• Blanch the ears for NO MORE THAN 3 minutes.

• Take them out and drop them into cold water to stop the cooking. I use one half of my sink. (Make sure it’s sparkly clean.)

• Beside the sink, I have another set-up: a cutting board with a towel on top. The towel does a pretty good job of keeping the “corn juice” from bouncing all over the place.

• Make sure you hone your knife. In the 40 ears I cut, I stopped to clean and hone my knife three times.

• Try not to eat too much of your cut corn. It is y u m m y !

• As I cut, I transfer corn into a large bowl. I don’t bag it until the very end because I feel it is more efficient (unless you have a little helper that is willing to bag while you cut.)

• Bag in small freezer bags (just enough for one dinner), freeze and enjoy!

Ingredients:

• white potatoes (1 large)
• sweet potatoes (1 medium-large)
• hard boiled eggs (2-3)
• mayo (2-3 tbs) — I use Hain’s Safflower mayo, which is dairy-free.
• brown mustard (1 tbs)
• fresh chives (1 tbs)
• fresh parsley (1 tbs)
• capers (1 tbs)

Directions:

1. Peel potatoes. Cover with water, boil and cook until soft.
2. Drain and set aside to cool.
3. Hard boil eggs. (I place eggs in boiling water, cook for 12 minutes. Remove and immediately place eggs in ice water.)
4. Chop herbs. Put herbs, mustard, mayo, capers in a mixing bowl.
5.  Add potatoes to the herb mixture and mix well.
6. Chop eggs (in quarters or eights), add to mixture and lightly mix.

This is tasty when warm, or after refrigerated. You can easily double or triple this if you’re taking it to a picnic or family reunion.

Pressure cooker filled with white beans and water, with sage leaves and garlic on top. The sage is tri-colored sage from my herb garden.

Ingredients (all measurements are approximate):

• White beans (1 1/2 or 2 cups)
• Fresh Sage (12-15 leaves)
• Garlic (5 cloves)
• Parsley (1/4 cup)
• Olive Oil (3 tbs)
• Green Onions (2)
• Lemon (1 tsp)
• Honey (1/2 tsp)
• Vinegar (1 tsp)
• Brown Mustard (1 tsp)
• Salt & Pepper

Part One:

1. Rinse beans and remove any ugly beans or hard debris.
2. Add to pressure cooker and cover with water about 3 inches above the level of the beans.
3. Peel and coarsely chop 5 garlic cloves, add to pot.
4. Add sage leaves.
5. Add 1 tbs olive oil.
6. Seal pressure cooker and cook for 60 minutes.
7. When cooked, empty the excess water and discard the sage. (Leave the garlic.)

Part Two:

1. Add lemon juice, 2 tbs olive oil, lemon, honey, vinegar and mustard to large bowl.
2. Add a dash of pepper, and some salt (approx 1 tsp).
3. Finely chop green onions and parsley and add to bowl.
4. Mix well.
5. Add the beans and stir to coat.

The beans are especially tasty when served still warm, but can be enjoyed at any temperature. Rich and buttery (without butter!), great side for any season.

Ingredients

• 2-3 T flour
• 1 lb eggplant
• 3 egg whites
• 3 T milk
• 6 pieces of dry bread
• butter
• 1 jar (26 oz) spaghetti sauce
• 1 1/2 c (6 oz) mozzarella cheese
• Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Add flour to zip lock bag.
3. Slice eggplant in 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick slices.
4. Put slices in plastic bag with flour and shake to cover.
5. Mix the egg whites and milk in a bowl with a fork.
6. Break bread into small pieces.
7. Dip flour covered eggplant into egg mixture and then into bread crumbs.
8. Place slices on a cooking sheet covered with aluminum and slightly buttered.
9. Bake 13 minutes or until eggplant is tender.
10. Reduce oven temperature to 350.
11. Butter a 13×9x2 baking dish.
12. Place about half the eggplant on the bottom of the dish.
13. Cover with about half the spaghetti sauce (it doesn’t have to be perfectly distributed, as it will run) and half the mozarella cheese.
14. Place the rest of the eggplant on the dish.
15. Cover with the remainder of the sauce and mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle with as much parmesan as you like.
16. Bake uncovered for 20 minutes for a crispy top.

Serves 2 with leftovers, 4 with side dishes.

One of our favorite recipes during the cooler months is my roasted new potatoes recipe. It’s simple, healthy and can be prepared quickly and best of all, everybody loves it. I serve this as a side dish to grilled cherry-chipotle chicken breasts and fresh from the garden steamed asparagus.

Roasted New Potatoes

1lb small red potatoes (may substitute any fingerling)
extra virgin olive oil
kosher salt
fresh cracked black pepper
4-5 sprigs of fresh rosemary

Preheat oven to 400°. Wash potatoes and remove any bad spots. Slice each potato in half so that all pieces are approximately the same size to promote even cooking. In a 9X13 glass dish, evenly distribute the potatoes. Drizzle olive oil over potatoes sparringly, just enough to coat. Toss. Season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Top with rosemary sprigs. Cover dish with aluminum foil and place into oven for 50 minutes. Remove foil, toss potatoes and continue to bake for an additional 12-15 minutes until potatoes are slightly golden brown. Enjoy.

According to the Tasty Bite web site, these are the Tasty Bites that are vegan:

• Yellow Curry
• Kerala Vegetables
• Tom Yum Soup
• Satay Vegetables
• Rendang Vegetables
• Bombay Potatoes
• Thai Lime Pilaf
• Punjab Eggplant
• Bengal Lentils
• Multigrain Pilaf
• Spinach Dal

I ordered $50 worth to get free shipping and got the stash you see above. So far, my favorite is Rendang Vegetables: “Lemongrass, coconut & vegetable stew infused with Thai spices”, shown below served with fresh steamed broccoli and tomato slices on top of jasmine rice.

Kicharee is made from the green mung bean, revered in India as the mildest and most digestible vegetable protein food. Designed to restore and heal the body, a three-to-five day kicharee diet (eaten for 3 meals a day) is considered an effective way to detoxify and purify the body in a safe and balanced way.

Ingredients you’ll need:

• mung beans (as seen in the jar on the top left of the photo)
• brown rice
• ghee (clarified butter) or sesame oil
• cumin seed
• coriander seed
• cumin powder
• coriander powder
• turmeric powder

First, prepare the mung beans:

1. Rinse the beans
2. Cook one part beans to 6 parts water
3. Add a pinch of salt
4. As the beans cook, you can skim off the froth on the top of the water
5. Cook beans until soft, about 2 hours (add more water if needed)

Next, prepare the rice:

1. Make the rice per directions with a pinch of salt (or 1 cup rice to 2 1/4 cups water, simmering for about 45 minutes)

Finally, here’s how to make kicharee:

1. Measure equal portions of each spice: whole coriander seed, whole cumin seed, powdered coriander seed, powdered cumin, powdered turmeric
2. Heat the whole coriander and whole cumin in sesame oil or ghee, stirring frequently
3. After a couple of minutes, stir in the powdered spices
4. Stir in some mung beans, adding water to make a soupy consistency
5. Cook for 5-10 minutes
6. Serve kicharee (the mung bean and spices you’ve just created) over rice
7. Optional: Steam organic green veggies and add to the meal

I prepare about 2 cups dry beans and 2 cups dry rice to last for a couple days. I save these in the fridge and then prepare the beans with sesame oil and spices individually for each meal so it’s hot and fresh each time. I serve the kicharee a little soupy on top of the rice, and then pile lightly steamed organic green veggies on top of it all. (My favorite veggies to use are steamed dinosaur kale, also called lacinato kale, or broccoli.)

Notes:
* When you follow this kicharee diet, you’ll probably feel hungry, even if eating it 3 or 4 times per day. That’s good! You’re giving your body a chance to devote energy to taking care of itself and not digest food.
* To mitigate your potential taste disappointment: the taste of kicharee is quite modest, not your typical Indian style meal full of spicyness and flavor.

Let me know what you think and how you feel after trying this cleanse ~ I wish all of you a wonderful year!

Plan A was to bake these mini berry pies as we ate dinner, while the oven was still hot from the sweet potatoes. Scrap that. I waited until today to clean the oven and bake them. I used frozen peaches and blueberries in 2, then apples in the other 2. I sprinkled some sugar and flower over the fruit. The apples got a shot of cinnamon.

Lately, I’ve been reading about superfoods like blueberries and apples. But I’ve also been reading about trans fats in hydrogenated oils like Crisco. (the oil is hydrogenated to make it more stable at room temperature. This process creates trans fats — bad news for your health.)

So with that in mind, here is the pie crust recipe. It’s from my mother.

1.5 cup flower

9 T butter flavor crisco

3/4 t salt

6-7 T ice water

Cut the crisco into the flower + salt combination. Add the water and let sit for a few minutes. Then my mother starts working it, but I like to put this in a plastic bag and into the fridge for a while while the flower hydrates. The fridge keeps the fat cold, allowing layers of flower and crisco to form when you roll the dough out — helping make the crust nice and flaky.

So superfoods and trans fats… a match made in heaven? Tastes like it to me!