What I am reading....

I have been reading Jane Goodall's "Harvest for Hope" it is a fascinating read...She is such an amazing woman..I am only half way through and there is some great information there...One of the most telling and interesting thing to me was about organics and chimpanzees ...if the banana is organic the chimpanzee eats the whole thing if it is not they peel it!!! Wow! I could see maybe them choosing to eat organic first which is what many animals do but to actually remove the most harmful part and then eat it....

This book is really fascinating and is full of useful information about food, farming, interesting cultural stuff (like geophagy/clay/dirt eating which I thought was something only children would do), and facts about that evil poisonous company Monsanto. I have this out from the library but I may have to purchase it.

"Must be a better food blogger, must be a better fod blogger"

Well, I am still cooking and baking ....I forget about the blogging part

Veggie Shephards Pie

2 cups cooked brown rice
2 cups cooked adzuki beans

1 onion finely chopped
4 chopped garlic
6 carrots chopped
1 yellow zucchini
4 chopped celery
In a little oil fry the onion and garlic for a few minutes add the rest of the vegetables stir over medium heat for about 10 minutes..
Add: 1/2 a can of tomato paste
Tbsp. each of oregano and basil
1 tsp of marjoram

stir and add rice/bean mixture
this should be very wet slightly "soupy" if not add a bit of water or stock.
Put in a large casserole dish and top with enough mashed potatoes to cover the top.
Cook at 350 for about 40 minutes...

Healthy Yummyness

Rice, sunflower seeds, tofu, garlic, yellow zucchini, carrots and kale....Very plain quick and the whole family really likes it. Sweet pea doesn't mind garlic but does not care for onions...I often leave them out of these kind of dishes or he spends the whole dinner "editing". In foods where the items are not as easy to pick through to discover the onions he eats them just fine:)

Duck Eggs

We had never had them before..My friend mentioned that someone she knew had given her some and I asked what they were like. She didn't know because she was uncomfortable about trying them. So she gave me some and I fried them for breakfast. The shells themselves were quite beautiful smoother than a chicken egg more translucent with a delicat swirling on them. The yolks were HUGE and the shell a bit harder. The taste was similiar to a chicken egg. I went online afterwards to read that you are suppose to really cook the eggs to well done...Well, we all survived...Suggested uses were for baking as they give baked products more loft. Higher in Cholestrol and Fat ...we won't be having them again ..but it was fun to try them out............

Strawberry Ice Cream

Mix 450 grams strawberries with 150 grams sugar and 1 TBSP vodka and let sit for an hour or until Sweet peas "When's it going to be ready?" starts to drive you batty:)

Put the strawberry mixture into a food processor with 240 grams sour cream and the juice of half a lemon. Process!
Let cool in the fridge for an hour to cool or until "Pester Power" wins out. Process in the ice cream maker and a little right away while still soft and freeze the rest for a harder ice cream...This was so yummy! I wrote it down forever ago from I think recipezaar.

Digging deep into an empty fridge...

What we had...two acorn squash, 6 baby bok choy and some sprouting potatoes...and a yummy meal is born...
I roasted the potatoes
braised the bokchoy with some limp green onions that I found in the bottom drawer of the crisper and added a few sesame seeds and a few squirts of Braggs at the end

the acorn squash:
cut into half circles and browned them in a frying pan put them in a casserole dish
topped them with a sauce made of:
the last few Tbsps of Maple syrup (and with the price that MS is now we may not have it in a very long time:(
a bit of canola oil (maybe a Tbsp)
pepper
a bit of ground coriander
1 freshly squeezed orange
a bit of brown sugar
a few Tbsps of pomegranite molasses
pour it over the squash cover the casserole and bake at 350 for about 30 to 40 minutes