Navigating the Green Sea

Creamy Vegan Corn and Potato Chowder

5 small potatoes peeled and cubed
4 ears of corn
3 cups vegetable stock
1 small onion
1/8 cup grapeseed oil (or another high temp oil)
salt and pepper to taste

saute diced onion in grapeseed oil on medium low heat until soft and transparent. Cut the corn kernels off the cob. Add the vegetable stock to the cooked onions and bring to a rolling boil. Add potatoes and corn. Cook 25 minutes. Use immersion blender to blend. Leave some whole corn and potato. Add pepper and salt to taste.

Blueberry Muffins

It's blueberry season. This Saturday I picked up a quart of the sweetest and loveliest blueberries from the All Local Farmer's Market. Since my pregnancy cravings dictate what I eat and that tends to be sweet and carb filled, Blueberry Muffins were in store. I played around and came up with a healthier version that still taste yummy.

2 cups Whole Wheat pastry flour
¾ cup sugar
2 ½ Tsp baking powder
¾ cups milk
3 tbl canola oil or applesauce
1 tbl vanilla
2 large eggs (3 small)
Pinch salt
2 cups blueberries
Mix dry ingredients and then wet, stir to combine. Bake at 375 for 25 minutes.

Easy Creamsicle Pops

I love ice cream in the summer and can eat it everyday. I decided to try out some lower sugar options that could count as healthy. Here using coconut milk and fruit I devised a creamy and yet healthier ice pop.

1 can light coconut milk
1 ½ cup pureed fruit (or small can fruit drained from juice)
½ cup sugar

Makes 8.

In sauce pan mix all ingredients over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Pour into popsicle molds or into small paper bathroom cups and insert wooden popsicle sticks.

Mandarin oranges or pineapple are particularly yummy. I also added fresh blueberries to my pineapple pops.

Mock Coconut Pie (made with yellow squash)

You can easily fool anyone with this pie's taste, but if you have a finicky eater peel the squash to ensure your deception stays sealed. It does nothing for the taste but makes the shredded squash indistinguishable from coconut once cooked.

1 ½ cup grated squash
1 ½ cup sugar
4 eggs
2 tbsp. flour
1 tbsp. each of coconut, lemon and vanilla flavoring
½ cup shredded unsweetened coconut

Grate a yellow squash using the fine setting on a mandolin or handheld grater. Mix all ingredients except coconut and pour into uncooked pie shell. Sprinkle the coconut over the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until brown on top.

I used unsulferized unsweetened coconut, if you can’t find that reduce the sugar in the recipe by ¼.

Easy Pie Crust

1 cup cold butter
3 cups All Purpose Flour
3 TBLS sugar
1/3 cup cold water

In the mixer combine the flour and sugar, add butter cut into small pieces. Mix until incorporated well. Add the cold water and mix until it is crumbly. Form into two balls, flatten into disc and refrigerate for an hour.

Zucchini Bread

This is the easiest, tastiest, and most moist Zucchini bread recipe I have found. It does well with ingredient variations, so if you only have three eggs, no applesauce, or only white sugar power on!

4 eggs
4 cups grated Zucchini ( I use 4 but you can get similar results with as few as 2)
½ cup oil
½ cup applesauce
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups Whole Wheat Flour
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons Cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
½ cups nuts (optional)

Makes two 8 inch loafs or 24 muffins.

Grate the zucchini into fine strips. A mandolin chopper works well for this.

I froth the eggs for a few minutes, then add applesauce, oil, vanilla, and shreaded zucchini.

Next, I mix all dry ingredients into a bowl and stir to combine well. I use a combination of half whole wheat pastry or bread flour with half regular whole wheat.

Combine wet into dry ingredients and stir to mix.

Bake at 325 for one hour.

Freezing Squash

Our garden has been producing enough squash to feed an entire city block each day. This is pretty common. I heard a joke the other day that here in the South that you should never leave your car unlocked in the summer, not because it will be stolen, but because it will be filled with squash when you get back. Well, I love my squash so I won’t be filling anyone’s car but I want to preserve it to eat after the season is over. After some Internet research I found blanching and freezing is the best method to keep squash. This can be done with pretty much any variety of summer squash. I prepared some Yellow squash and Zucchini.

Step 1:
Wash and trim the squash, then cut into ½ inch disks. Make sure not to cut the squash up too far in advance as it does oxidize if exposed to air for over 30 minutes.

Step 2:
Blanch in boiling water for 3 minutes. You want them to still be crisp and green but blanched long enough to destroy the enzymes that break the squash done.