Healthy Meal / onion

One thing we all have in abundance right now are zucchini's, either from your own garden or from your neighbors leaving bags full on your doorstep.  Your welcome!  A summer squash saute with onions, topped with fresh basil is my easy go to for abundant zucchini.  Making pancakes with zucchini is a bit more interesting and they freeze really well so this is a nice way to make dinner, or breakfast, and save all the leftovers for later in the season.  

In this recipe I use chick pea flour for best flavor and because it's gluten free, lower in carbohydrates and very nutritious.  There is also a super low carbohydrate option: coconut flour.  The measurements are different since coconut flour has a very high fiber content and will absorb much more liquid than the chickpea flour will.  Either one is delicious.

On our way to dinner with friends, I reheated these under the broiler in a few minutes.

Ingredients:

8 Cups shredded zucchini

1 shy cup of finely chopped onion

2-3 cloves of garlic, pressed or finely chopped 

zest of a small lime

1 Tablespoon of lemon juice

2 teaspoons dried oregano

Black pepper and salt, to taste

4 medium sized eggs, beaten

1 Cup of flour: chick pea works great, oat flour or spelt is nice too.  For a super low carbohydrate option (Atkins, Candida Diet, etc) substitute with only a 1/2 cup of coconut flour.

Method:

Shred the zucchini, by hand if you want a work out or with the shredder attachment on your food processor.

Toss the shredded zucchini with salt and let it drain in a colander over a bowl for about 20 minutes.  I know it's tempting to skip this step but it is crucial to ending up with yummy pancakes instead of globs of mush. 

8 cups of shredded zucchini, salted, and set to drain into the bowl below.

Beat the eggs in a large bowl (large enough to accommodate all the ingredients), add in the onion, garlic, lime zest, lemon juice, oregano and black pepper.

Go back to your sweating zucchini after 20 minutes and give it a good squeeze. Really get in there and squeeze as much liquid out as you can.  I got a full jam jar and then some and my zucchini was reduced in size by about half.  

After 20 minutes and a lot of squeezing!

You can save the zucchini water for soup or you can be super hardcore and just drink it, it's good for you!  I diluted mine with some ice water, it was a bit too salty, and added a shot of Fire Cider.  

Once the zucchini has been squeezed and drained, mix it in with the eggs and seasonings. 

The mixture will be soupy, which is where the flour comes in.  Add the chickpea flour, 1/4 cup at a time till your zucchini mix is like thick muffin batter. Mine usually takes about one cup. You are now ready for frying!

I used my large cast iron skillet to cook these since I use my large cast iron skillet for everything.  Add organic peanut, coconut or grapeseed oil to generously coat the pan and turn the heat to medium high.  You can make these pancakes as small or as large as you want just be sure to get them nice and brown on each side- about 3 minutes each. Set them on a plate covered with paper to absorb the excess oil.  

Serve immediately, topped with fresh goat cheese and more fresh oregano.  

Or, let them cool completely on a cookie rack.  Wrap them up and store them in the freezer.  They make an excellent quick meal, just unwrap and pop them in your toaster oven or under the broiler.

 

Recipe by Noel Prophet Last summer Dana and I went to a pot luck beer and food pairing: everyone brought a dish and a beer that went with it.  Dana made a summer saison that was a bit citrus-y  and it went well with the berries n biscuits I brought for dessert.  However, I thought the best dish was the jerk chicken that Noel and Kristen brought along with some very appropriate Red Stripe.  Just recently Noel sent me his jerk sauce recipe which I was pretty darn excited to see if I could replicate.  As per his suggestion, the recipe can be modified to suit, the one that follows is enough to marinate 3 pounds of chicken/meat/tofu with enough leftover to serve as a side sauce for greens.   I only made a few changes to Noel's recipe and the end result was deliciously hot and there were no leftovers! [caption id="attachment_551" align="aligncenter" width="516"] Bright ingredients makes for a spicy brown sauce.[/caption] Suggested Ingredients:

• Up to 6 scotch bonnet peppers or whatever hot peppers you like - I used the one Habanero that was ready in our garden and then some of the chili peppers that Pete and Jennifer from Woven Roots Farm gave us at the Harvest Festival.
• 2 Tablespoons each: dried thyme, ground allspice, Fire Cider, salt and black pepper
• Cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger (fresh or powdered), to taste.
• 8 garlic cloves
• 3 medium onions, chopped
• 1/2 cup or less olive oil
• 1/2 cup or less tamari
• Juice of 1 lime or lemon, or more, to taste.

Method: Chop up everything and then put all in the blender.   Or, put all ingredients into a wide mouth mason jar and use a wand blender to puree, same difference.  The marinade is done, ready to eat now on cooked greens or... Poke holes in your chicken (or tofu!) before you jerk it so it will hold the flavor better. Marinate overnight. When you are ready you can bake, grill, roast, etc your jerked chicken.  This would also work well with tempeh or tofu or other meat. Here's what I did with the chicken I let marinate in the fridge, well covered, for over 12 hours: Pre-heat the oven to 365.  Spread the chicken breast (I had about 2 pounds) and the jerk sauce I used to marinate it, in a wide glass baking dish.  I covered the dish with aluminum foil (or a glass lid if you have one) and baked it for about 45-50 minutes, until the thermometer read 142 and when I sliced into it, it was juicy and cooked through! Dana made coconut brown basmati rice to go with the baked jerk chicken.  I made a huge side of broccoli rabe dressed in olive oil and salt, which we ate with the remaining jerk sauce. [caption id="attachment_552" align="aligncenter" width="538"] All covered in Jafakin' Jerk Sauce![/caption]

Just add green beans!

[caption id="attachment_299" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Pretty beans in the garden.[/caption]

This is Brian’s raw salad recipe and it's ready to eat in just a few minutes.  If you have a garden or know someone who does, chances you've got fresh, crispy green beans in your fridge or backyard right now.  I love to eat them raw, straight off the plant, something I started doing as a kid, grazing in my dad's garden.  If you want to fancy up your beans a bit, try this:

Grab a couple of fistfuls of fresh raw green beans and cut each one into bit sized pieces. Chop up some red onion and colorful bell pepper. Combine all the veggies in a container with a fitted lid, like a wide mouth mason jar.

Dress with a drizzle of olive oil to coat plus course ground salt and a healthy splash of Fire Cider.

Put the lid on and shake well to combine all the ingredients.

Eat now or pack it for lunch or a picnic!