Mulberry Lemon Coffee Cake

My spouse is the baker so this is his recipe.  This is his favorite breakfast during mulberry season.

For the topping, into food processor:

2/3 cup whole wheat flour (or spelt or flour of your choice)
2/3 cup pecans (or nut of your choice)
1/2 brown sugar (or sugar of your choice)
5 tablespoons melted butter or oil of your choice (walnut would be nice)
pinch sea salt
zest of 2 lemons

Pulse until a course meal texture and set aside.

For the cake, in a separate bowl, mix:

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/3 cup quinoa flour
1/3 cup oat flour
1/3 spelt flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of sea salt

And set aside

In a separate measuring cup, mix:

juice of 1 lemon
add buttermilk to 1 1/4 cups
1 teaspoon vanilla

And set aside.

In a bowl to a stand-up mixer, cream:

4 tablespoons butter or oil of your choice
1/2 cup evaporated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
zest of 2 lemons

Add 2 eggs to mixer, (incorporate 1 at a time).

Alternately mix in a third of the flour mix, then a third of liquid, repeating until all incorporated.

Spread mixture into a buttered 9x13 pan. Sprinkle on top 4 cups of fresh mulberries. Then sprinkle on the crumbly topping.  Bake at 350 degrees 40-60 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean of cake (but you'll still see berries on the toothpick).

Light Vegetable Soup

I'm doing a short fast to rest my intestines.  I fasted yesterday (just water) and today I'm keeping my calories very low and drinking veg/fruit juice with little to no fiber, fat, and protein.  Tomorrow I'll add more calories and fiber, keeping my fat and protein low, with a fruit and greens smoothie for breakfast and this soup for lunch and probably dinner.  After that, I'll start to add in grains (maybe oatmeal for breakfast and a mushroom and wild rice soup for lunch), then add a bit more protein (maybe a lentil soup), then a bit more fat (adding nuts and seeds), progressing until I reach my normal diet, as long as my intestines seem to handle each day healthily. 

½ tblsp olive oil
½ cup yellow onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

½ cup carrot, diced or julienned or thin sliced quarters
½ cup celery, diced
½ cup zucchini, chopped or sliced
1 cup tomato, diced (fresh or canned) with juice
3 cups vegetable broth
1 cup fresh greens, packed, rough chop
a handful of Italian parsley leaves, fresh, chopped
sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Sauté the onion and garlic in the oil in a pan on medium heat until they begin to soften, about 3 minutes, stirring (do not brown). Add the carrot and celery and cook until they begin to soften, about another 3 minutes. Add zucchini and cook until it begins to soften, another couple minutes.

Add the tomato and broth and simmer briefly. Stir in spinach and parsley and season to taste.

3 servings

Growing my own Kitchen Sponges

As I've endeavored towards creating zero waste, one of my issues was finding a decent, sustainable implement for cleaning dishes.

As a kid, my family had a dishwasher, which seemed to me worthless, since I had to clean the dishes before loading them.  Consequently, as an adult, I've never owned a dishwasher and have always hand washed my dishes.  I've learned to do this while using a minimal amount of water, so as not to waste this precious resource.  And now that I own my home, I've plumbed my kitchen sink water to drain into mulch basins that water fruit trees, herbs and native plants in my front yard.  I use soap especially made for grey water that breaks down into plant food; not only does it not harm the soil, it benefits the earth.

But for many years I struggled with the kitchen sponge.  Even the more natural options are still highly processed and packaged and disposable.  I tried numerous clothes, wooden scrub brushes and the like and found them unsatisfactory.  Ultimately, I hit upon the idea of loofah, typically used in the shower, but why had it never occurred to me to use it in the kitchen?

I found them offered by a small citrus farmer at the Hillcrest farmers market.  I bought all he had; four desiccated husks.  I think I paid a dollar a piece for them.  They were a total pain-in-the-ass to peel; it took forever.  I cut them up in four-inch sections and they worked beautifully!  Perfect texture for scrubbing without damaging my enameled pots.  Food bits easily rinsed away.  Each section lasted months and then they go into the compost!

And I saved the seeds!  It took me a couple years to get them to grow (and the loofahs I bought almost lasted me that long).  Now I've grown my own kitchen sponges!

And they are much easier to peel before they've completely dried out!

Holiday Loaf

A new favorite!  

Based on a recipe from The Greens Cook Book (a long-time favorite), how have I never made this before?  I didn't know it's what was missing on our holiday table.  It took Tribute Pizza (another favorite) sharing how it's their favorite on the holiday table for me to seek the recipe out and adapt it:

3/4 c brown basmati rice, cooked
3/4 c walnuts or pecans, toasted
1/4 cup cashews, toasted
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1 T butter
sea salt
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/2 oz dried porcini mushrooms, soaked for 20 minutes in hot water
1 T fresh flat parsley leaves, chopped
1 t fresh thyme leaves, chopped
1/2 T fresh marjoram or rosemary leaves, chopped
1/2 t fresh sage leaves, finely chopped
1/2 c cottage cheese
6 oz grated cheese (gruyere, asiago, jarlsberg or your favorite cheese blend)

2 backyard chicken eggs, beaten

freshly ground black pepper

Cook the rice (or reuse leftovers).  Finely chop the nuts.  Chop the soaked mushrooms and reserve the liquid for a later use.

Saute the onions in butter until translucent, season with salt and add the garlic, mushrooms, and herbs. Cook until any liquid released from the mushrooms is reduced.  Remove from heat and allow to cool a bit.  Add nuts, rice, cheeses, egg, and pepper and mix to combine.  Pack into a small, buttered loaf pan and bake uncovered for about an hour at 375 degrees, until crusty and golden.  Allow to cool slightly to set before serving.

Serve with mushroom gravy or onion sauce.  It would also make a great neatloaf or veggie patty!

Double the recipe to bake in a standard loaf pan.

4-6 servings

Crackers - plain, herbed, seedy, or peppery

Crackers are a pretty simple recipe to pull off, but I've never made them before!  The trick was getting the dough rolled out as thin as I could and baking until golden, not brown, on the edges.

1 c all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1/2 c whole wheat flour
1 t baking powder
1 t course sea salt
1 t evaporated cane sugar
3 T butter, melted, or olive oil
1/2 c water

Flavor options:

2 t fresh thyme or rosemary, chopped fine
1 t fresh ground black pepper or other spice

2 t seeds (poppy, sesame, flax, chia...)

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Pulse the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and any herbs, seeds or spices in a food processor until well mixed. Add the butter or oil and pulse 6 times.  Add the water and pulse about 10 seconds, just until the dough starts to stick together.  Remove dough, press together to form a ball, and cut into four, and let rest for 10 minutes.

For each piece of dough, roll out on a lightly-floured surface as thin as you can.  Cut into whatever size and shape you want.  Place on the baking sheet.  Bake 4-5 minutes, then flip each cracker and bake another 4-5 minutes, making sure they don't get too brown.  Let cool to crisp.

Makes roughly 50 small crackers

Based on Carla Hall's and Alton Brown's recipes.

Pandemic Practice

my garden
my ancestors
my breath
the seeds
the earth beneath my feet
the squirrel, the bird, butterfly, and bee

these are my teachers, my family, my sangha
i carry them with me
lightening my burden, my mind, and my path

Backyard Banana Bread

Years ago I planted a raja puri banana and this is the first harvest!  They're unexpectedly good–a little tart, a little sweet, a little firm–just a really excellent little banana.  I've got a whole big bunch ripening.  We're eating them in our breakfast, I'll be freezing a lot of them, but because of COVID-19, I'm not seeing very many people to share them with.

This is based on my mom's recipe.  Don't mash the bananas too much or it takes forever to bake.

1/2 cup safflower oil
1 cup rapadura and/or evaporated cane sugar
2 backyard eggs
1/2 cup buckwheat flour

1/4 cup quinoa flour
1/4 cup oat flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour (or your mix of favorite flours)
1 tsp baking soda
1/3 tsp sea salt
1 cup lightly mashed very ripe banana
1/4 cup yogurt or sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup toasted pecans or walnuts, chopped (optional)
1 cup chocolate chips or blueberries or mulberries (optional)

Beat oil, sugar & eggs. In a separate bowl, shift together dry ingredients. Alternate mixing in dry ingredients with the banana, sour cream & vanilla. Mix in the nuts & chocolate chips.  Bake in a greased & floured loaf pan at 325 degrees (convection) for 60-100 minutes until firm in the center.

Variation:

Add crisp topping before baking: 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup whole wheat flour, 3 tblsp cubed cold butter, 3 tblsp rolled oats, 1/2 tsp ground flax seed, 1/2 tsp hemp seed, 1/2 tsp chia seed, beat together until homogenous