Fattoush, A Vegan Salad

      Crazy week here. Sick people and puppies. Has been very little attention paid to good meals. Except for the night my daughter graduated from the 8th grade. That night I took her and her best friend to her favorite Japanese restaurant for her favorite meal. She is not a very reliable vegetarian. At home I have to pay very careful attention to her diet to make sure it is balanced. But I just love watching her at a Japanese restaurant. She ordered a bowl of miso soup, an order of vegetarian sushi, and iced green tea. Makes me very happy to see her eat that meal. That night I ordered something called the tropic roll; a delicious blend of mango, shrimp, and avacado sushi.

       She was less excited about the Fattoush I made last night. Fattoush is a middle eastern dish, and if you have noticed anything about my style of cooking you will see how Fattoush is right up my alley. It encourages the cook's creativity, and allows you to use what is on hand. In fact the dish was designed as a way to use up Syrian bread that is becoming stale, which was just my motivation. I also have lots of mint and parsley on hand, so this was perfect. Children are not likely to be crazy about Fattoush, but you never know. The more they are involved in the growing/ picking/ preparing process the more likely they are to enjoy it. It is a very tasty and refreshing summer salad. It is a bit more tasty if you toss the chopped Syrian bread with olive oil and garlic salt and toast in the oven first, but this is not necessary. I couldn't resist that step myself, though I would never fry it which is often done in the middle east when this salad is made. Don't fold the pita pieces in more than a half hour before you are ready to serve. Also, use whatever lettuce you like. Purslane is traditional, anything somewhat bitter like Mizuna would work well. I used three very fresh Belgian endive heads. Not traditional, but seemed perfect. Herbs are important with sumac being traditional. I didn't have any on hand. Use this recipe only as a jump start for your own creation.

Fattoush is Arabic: فتوش, also fattush

1 clove garlic, minced
1 T lime juice
1 T lemon juice
3 T red wine vinegar
2 T olive oil
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cucumber, thinly sliced
1 large ripe tomato, chopped
1.5 cups lettuce, thinly sliced
1/2 cup parsley, chopped
10 mint leaves, chopped
2 or 3 cups toasted pita pieces
salt and pepper


     In salad bowl whisk together first five ingredients to make dressing. Toss with chopped vegetables and herbs, saving bread until almost ready to serve. Serve at room temperature. This is enough for a large gathering as a side dish, or lunch for about four people.

snack food idea

     I think it's important to promote other like-minded blogs in my blog, and this one called Weelicious is written by a mom after my own heart. There are meat based recipes at her site, but lots more very creative ideas designed just for children like this French fry looking yummy that I am dying to try;
     http://weelicious.com/2010/06/03/carrot-snack-sticks/
     Her site is particularly useful to parents of babies and toddlers. I realize I write primarily about feeding teenagers and thought I should offer some good guidance about the little ones, which really is the time to start healthy eating practices, and the time when most bad habits are developed.
      Give her a look and in the meantime I'll test these out on my brood, and report back to you. I invite you to do the same.

    

"weggebobbles and fruit"

     This gave me a chuckle. I was doing some research for my other blog (http://aintiawriter.blogspot.com/) about James Joyce's novel Ulysses (Happy Bloomsday!) when I came across this Huffington Post article on the subject that was more appropriate for my pescetarian blog. Ellen Kanner writes a syndicated column called the Edgy Veggie. So here it is, just for you. If you see it through to the end there are a couple of interesting recipes given, though you should have a nice Guinness to go with them... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellen-kanner/bloomsday-celebrate-james_b_604291.html

Orange Blueberry Banana Pancakes

      I have posted about pancakes before. I'm not a big pancake fan myself, but it is one of my fussy daughter's favorites, so I do whip up a batch every now and again. And yesterday morning when I woke to a house full of guests, it seemed the only thing to whip up in a jiffy. I do prefer to add nutritious mix-ins to the batter, which my daughter frowns upon. For example, I would love to serve this super food version shared by Meatless Mondays today; Orange Blueberry Banana Pancakes
     I hadn't thought that a meal of pancakes and fruit was a bad thing, but have been feeling just a bit guilty about that since I read this post at another mom's blog; http://trueslant.com/dreenaburton/2010/03/03/do-you-know-whats-in-your-pancake-syrup/.
      I do completely concur about allowing children to eat fake syrup. That stuff is nasty, and usually what you will be given in a pancake house. Seems ironic, but is all about $. As with the use of good butter, I think the best solution is to buy the best locally made products you can find, and teach your children what they are, how they are produced, how much they cost, and how necessary it is for the health of their bodies and the planet, to use them very sparingly and respectfully. My children have participated in churning butter and making maple syrup from first tapping of the tree to last bite.
      Any New Englander eating fake syrup "should be 'shamed".

Mint Chocolate Cupcakes

     I wish I had found this recipe last week when I needed to make 3 dozen cupcakes for my daughter's 8th grade dance, but I just discovered it today when it was published by Meatless Mondays. I really like the use of applesauce to make these treats healthier. Mint Chocolate Cupcakes

Pie as Promised

 

     As promised, I will now post about the pie I created a few days ago; Strawberry-Blue-barb with walnut streusel topping. A couple of factors were at work in the creation. As always I was trying to take advantage (again for both health and ecology) of fresh local produce. I grew the rhubarb and picked the blueberries myself.

That said, I'm not a big dessert eater, and am always trying to super-food up every dish I make. How can I tweak a traditional recipe to make it better for my body and the earth?
     With old fashioned desserts I start by reducing the white sugar that the recipe calls for. It's simple to do and often can be as much as halved. I find this actually improves the taste most of the time. Even though the strawberry jam I use is sweetened only with fruit juice it still does the trick quite nicely, especially when combined with the streusel topping.  Then I eliminated the top crust usually called for, reducing the fattening pastry by 50%. The addition of the streusel topping with both oats and chopped walnuts boosts the nutrition factor a bit. To stick with the super-food concept I would serve this with vanilla frozen yogurt if going a la mode. Anyway you slice it, this version got a lot of thumbs up.

Strawberry Blue-barb Pie with Walnut Streusel Topping

1 1/2 cups fresh rhubarb, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries, drained
small jar of all natural strawberry jam
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 pastry for double-crust pie (9 inches)
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup oats
1/4 brown sugar
1/4 chopped walnuts


Directions:

1.In a large bowl, combine rhubarb, blueberries and jam. Combine sugar, flour and salt. Sprinkle over the fruit; toss lightly. Line a pie plate with pastry; add filling.
2. Cut butter into last three ingredients to make a streusel and sprinkle on top of pie.
3. Bake at 450 for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350; bake 35 minutes longer or until golden brown. Let stand awhile before slicing.

Grilled Striper and Corn on the Cob

     Came across this site, located in Germany, on another blog. This group seeks to offset the carbon dioxide emissions of my blog by planting a tree just for me. I'm all for that. Check them out;
 

     Had a guest griller in last night to cook freshly caught striper for us. It was a decent meal, all of the dishes cooked over charcoal in my back yard. Both the fish and the corn on the cob were steamed, the fish in foil with an Italian marinade and some fresh herbs. The corn right in the husk (actually half schucked first) after soaking in cold water for several hours. It is my favorite way to prepare corn on the cob. learned in my childhood growing up in a corn growing town. The potatoes were tossed in herbs as well, with turmeric (I add that to most of my dishes for it's health benefits) and olive oil and also grilled in foil. Fresh mushrooms were pan sauteed in butter and herbs. Last a garlic focaccia was heated on the hot grill too. We had this meal with a locally brewed oatmeal stout. The result as I think the pictures show was a little bit too monotonous. It needed something green. The fruit pie I made for dessert was quite colorful though,and will be the subject of my next post. Here are a couple of before and after photos for you;