Tag Archives: vegetarian

Corn Pudding Cake

Posted on June 2, 2014 | 2 comments

I was craving an alternative to the corn bread or corn muffins I usually make with chili. I love the creamy corn pudding at Indigo Grill (a popular San Diego restaurant) and searched for a similar recipe. Unfortunately, all the recipes I found were the same one, using processed, packaged and canned foods. If you follow my recipes, then you may have noticed we prefer to eat whole, real foods that have not been processed. I even found the Indigo Grill recipe published and, strangely, it claimed to be the same processed mix. One intrepid blogger made it from scratch, but first she recreated the cornbread mix, the creamed corn concoction, etc. and then followed the same recipe. There had to be a simpler way! So, I whipped up my own version with corn meal, flour, eggs, milk, butter and yogurt. It was very moist and delicious, but slightly more “cake” then “pudding.” Maybe somewhere in between. It was a keeper!

Corn Pudding Cake Recipe

3/4 cup corn meal
3/4 cup flour
(optional) 1/2 cup brown sugar or honey
1/4 tsp salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 stick of butter
1 cup of milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup of plain yogurt
1/2 cup of fresh or frozen corn kernels
(optional additions) thyme, green onions, cheese (omit the sweetener)

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Use the end of the stick of butter to grease a round soufflé pan or baking dish.

In a small sauce pan, melt the rest of the butter. Take off heat and allow to cool slightly. In a medium bowl, add to the milk, yogurt, eggs and a liquid sweetener, such as honey, if using.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Include sugar if you are using it, but not honey or a wet sweetener.

Combine the dry and wet ingredients until just mixed. Add the corn kernels and any additional ingredients. Have fun and make it your own recipe!

Bake in greased dish for about an hour, just until the middle is set and not liquid.

Serve warm as an appetizer or along chili. (I promise to share my chili recipe, soon.)

2 Comments

Posted in Food, Restaurant Recreations

Tagged easy entertaining, meals for the whole family, vegetarian

Strawberry Picking and Green Strawberry Pickles

Posted on May 4, 2014 | 4 comments

Strawberry Picking

Last weekend we celebrated Papa Bird’s birthday with a fun family day at Suzie’s Farm. They held their annual “Strawberry Jam” last Saturday and we all had so much fun, picking strawberries and eating yummy food. Little Bird loved apple picking as a tot and felt right at home with the plants and chickens.

We started off picking organic strawberries. Every plant was filled with the most perfectly beautiful, sweet and flavorful berries. (At home, Little Bird tends to pick all of our strawberries while they are still green and small.) I did get some temporary hives from stinging nettles, but they went away.

Next I sampled strawberry chutney, drank a strawberry and basil kombucha, and made green strawberry pickles with Austin from the San Diego Fermenter’s Club. Little Bird loves them. They are mild, slightly crunchy and have a hint of strawberry flavor. You can find the recipe for Green Strawberry Pickles here.

green strawberry pickles

After all that hard work, I was ready for a grass fed burger made with strawberry jam, and a beet and quinoa salad from Green Truck. The cold and windy weather discouraged our plans for eating ice cream from our friends’ Calexico Creamery, but we took home a pint of (what else?) Fresa and a pint of Mexican Cocoa. Little Bird and I hid out from the wind in a teepee and she gathered twigs and sticks to build a play fire.

Check back tomorrow and I will share the best recipe for strawberry jam! It has hardly any sugar in it and no pectin. The only other ingredient is a lemon…

–> Update: Strawberry Jam now posted HERE.

4 Comments

Posted in Family Adventures, Food, Green Parenting, Healthy Recipes, How To, Our Family, Parenting, Preserving and Canning, Recipes for the Whole Family, Recipes from the Garden, Recipes to Make with the Kids, Seasonal Recipes, Urban Homesteading

Tagged easy farm to table, easy seasonal cooking, easy seasonal recipes, farm to table, vegan, vegetarian

Brussels Sprouts and Sweet Potato Latkes

Posted on December 5, 2013 | 6 comments

This year as Hanukkah approached, I craved matzo ball soup (usually associated with Passover.) My husband did not complain about having to eat matzo ball soup and proclaimed my soup to be one of his top ten favorite dishes. (Recipe is here.) But as we came to the final night of Hanukkah, I couldn’t resist making latkes. This year I tried a variation with Brussels Sprouts, based on a recipe from foodwanderings.

I substituted our sweet potatoes from the garden instead of regular potatoes. Our sweet potatoes are only slightly sweet, almost a cross between a regular potato and a sweet potato and are very tasty. I didn’t have fresh mint or dill but used fresh parsley and fresh cilantro. I loved her suggestion of cumin seeds and used both the seeds and ground cumin. The cumin worked really nicely!

Click here for the original Brussels Sprouts and Potato Latkes recipe. I served it with leftover cranberry clementine compote (acknowledging Thanksgivikkuh) and a puree of parsnips and winter vegetables. I think it would also be lovely with the traditional applesauce and sour cream. Since there was a lot of batter after making enough small latkes for the three of us, I made one large “hash brown” with the remaining batter and baked it in the toaster oven at 400°F for 20 minutes. It was easy to reheat in a pan the next day.

Little Bird LOVED Hanukkah. At 26 months, this is technically her third Hanukkah, but this is the first year she really got to experience it. With all the counting candles, it is the perfect holiday for a toddler!

6 Comments

Posted in Food, Recipes from the Garden, Seasonal Recipes

Tagged farm to table, meals for the whole family, vegetarian

Farewell to Summer Fig + Feta Salad

Posted on September 26, 2013 | 2 comments

With the fall equinox, the season finally seems to be turning in Southern California. It seems as though the rest of the country has moved past apples and onto pumpkin, but we are still picking tomatoes, peppers and eggplant. (Complaining of SoCal problems sounds like humble bragging.) I’m sharing my favorite fig and feta salad as a farewell to summer. Our tree’s fruit are in their last stages and our mint barely survived the last heat wave. I had wanted to first post my feta recipe, but at this stage of my pregnancy, I don’t have the time or focus for a long cheesemaking post, like this one on chèvre.

Little Bird thoroughly enjoyed figs straight from the tree this summer. There is something lovely about eating them slightly warm from the sun. Here she is showing one of her best buddies where to find the ripe ones:

As I wrote the recipe (below), I felt a little silly typing out the ingredient list. With only the four ingredients in the title, it seemed a little pointless. This combination is so flavorful and balanced, it doesn’t even need salt and pepper!

Fig and Feta Salad with Mint and Balsamic Vinegar

Figs
Feta
Mint
Balsamic Vinegar

Gently rinse figs. Cut off stems and then cut in half. Arrange in a shallow bowl or plate. Sprinkle with crumbled feta cheese and chopped, fresh mint. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar or a balsamic reduction. Gently mix and serve.

2 Comments

Posted in Food, Healthy Recipes, Home Dairy, Recipes for the Whole Family, Recipes from the Garden, Recipes to Make with the Kids, Seasonal Recipes, Urban Agriculture, Urban Homesteading

Tagged appetizers, cheese making, easy entertaining, easy farm to table, easy seasonal cooking, easy seasonal recipes, meals for the whole family, naturally gluten free, Urban Homesteading, vegetarian, victory gardens

Oven Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

Posted on September 22, 2013 | 2 comments

I finally got around to processing our extra tomatoes this weekend. Out of 5 pounds of heirlooms and Roma’s, I made tomato sauce with garlic, based on Alice Water’s recipe. But my absolute favorite alchemy is what happens to cherry tomatoes when they are slow roasted in the oven. If you like the taste of sun-dried tomatoes, but could do without the leathery texture, then you will love these oven roasted cherry tomatoes. And you will be surprised how easy they are!

I love having the taste of summer throughout the year, and nothing speaks to the sunshine and vitamins of summer as well as these easy tomatoes. Try using them in place of sun-dried tomatoes in recipes, such as this Roasted Red Pepper and Walnut Pesto.

Oven Roasted Cherry Tomatoes Recipe

Cherry, Grape or small Roma Tomatoes
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

Rinse tomatoes and cut in half. Spread, cut side up, on a silicone mat or parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Drizzle, lightly with olive oil and a sprinkle of salt and pepper.

Roast in a 225°F oven for 2-3 hours or until somewhat dried, but still a little juicy. Let cool.

Enjoy as is or pack into a clean jar, cover with more olive oil, and can or freeze. If freezing, leave a little space at the top. Tip: as awesome as garlic, shallots, and fresh herbs are with tomatoes, DO NOT put them in your jars. They contain moisture and will make it mold more quickly.