Summer Pizza

The first time I had a "pizza" like this, I was attending one of those in-home parties for gourmet kitchen gadgets. It's a tasty appetizer or light meal, that can either be slightly sweet by topping with fruit, or a fun alternative to salad by topping with raw vegetables. I fell in love with the concept, and sought to adjust the ingredient list into something wholesome and nourishing.

Start with a plain baked crust, using my basic dough recipe. When the crust has cooled, spread "pizza sauce" over top. There are two different variations, depending on whether you are using fruit or vegetables.

For a vegetable pizza, use about 1/2 cup to 1 cup of sour cream with plain yogurt to taste. You can stir in salt and pepper, dill or other herbs if desired.

For a fruit pizza, mix a softened 8 oz block of cream cheese with vanilla yogurt. If using plain yogurt, also stir in a little sweetener, like honey, maple syrup, raw cane crystals, or xylitol.

Now comes the fun of garnishing with your fresh fixin's! Children especially enjoy decorating the pizza with sliced or minced fruit or vegetables.

Fruit ideas: kiwi, strawberry, banana, raspberry, blueberry, pineapple, mandarin oranges, etc.

Vegetable ideas: cucumber, sweet green or red peppers, broccoli, peas, carrot, spinach, etc.

~TamraGirl

Rainbow Bean Soup

What do you do when your MIL asks you to bring dinner that evening, specifically soup, and you have very few grocery items in the house? Well, I invented Rainbow Bean Soup. That's what I did.

A quick look through my cupboards yielded beans, beans, and some more beans. I had no soup broth ready, very few vegetables, no meat, etc.

Here were my ingredients.

1/2 pound black beans

1/2 pound red beans

1 pound pinto beans

5 tbsp butter

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 onion-diced small

4 cloves garlic-crushed

Chicken bouillon

large handful of fresh sage leaves

salt

pepper

cumin


With so little advance warning I resorted to the quick soak method to prepare the beans.

I placed the beans into a stock pot. Then I brought it all to a boil and removed the pot from the heat. A few hours later they had swelled to full size. I drained the water, replaced it with fresh water, added some salt and simmered them for about half an hour until they were soft. Then I drained the water again and set the beans aside.

I had a big bag of fresh sage that the kids and I picked on one of our walks. [Aside: Sage grows wild around here, and rosemary is used in landscaping in many places, also we have wild pepper trees. For fun, and extra value, check foraging sites for the kinds of herbs that grow in your area and then keep your eyes out for opportunities to take advantage of this by harvesting them. It makes your food more interesting, as well as your walks.]

I wanted to keep the other flavors light to maximize the effect of the fresh sage, but we did need other flavors, beans are kind of boring on their own.

In the bottom of the stock pot I melted a bit of butter for flavor, added some olive oil as well, and sauteed a bunch of crushed garlic and the onion. Once the onion had begun to caramelize I added in the beans, enough water to cover, a few spoonfuls of bouillon, and brought it to a boil. I chopped the fresh sage leaves into small pieces and added them to the broth.

I turned the heat off and added, pepper salt and cumin to taste. Let it sit for a while before serving so that flavor of the sage can permeate the soup. If I had left it to boil there would have been too much heat and it would have killed some of the flavor.

That's it. It was a colorful, tasty soup that went really well with the salad and crusty bread that my MIL made.

image by vavau

My New Favorite Summer Beverage

Have you ever tried sun tea? I hadn't. I didn't understand what difference it would make to brew tea in the hot sun for a few hours versus brewing it in the normal way.

Not coincidentally, I didn't much like iced tea either, unless it was sweetened. Last month on the way to a party my husband picked up a gallon of unsweetened iced tea from Trader Joe's. (Yes, we all know I love that store.) As I drank glass after glass I couldn't help commenting on how good it tasted, and how surprised I was that it didn't need a sweetener to be enjoyable.

This, apparently, is the difference between sun brewed iced tea and regular brewed iced tea, as my husband was quick to point out. Well, it's true. Brewing tea at a lower temperature in the sun releases the flavor of the tea leaves, but doesn't get hot enough to release the bitterness of the tannins as well.

Every few afternoons I put 4 of the large Lipton Iced Tea bags in a gallon glass jar and let it sit in the sun for a few hours on our patio. Once it's chilled it is a truly refreshing drink. And for a lot less than the Trader Joe's version. One $2 box makes approximately 5 gallons of iced tea.

May I also point out that it has no calories and many antioxidants as well?

The perfect everyday summer beverage for me. Aside from water of course.

Image by all things michigan

The Farmer's Garden

Do you garden and grow more food than you can eat? Do you wish you could eat garden fresh produce without needing to garden?


Here's a cool solution for every one.

The Farmers Garden, where you can buy sell and trade locally grown backyard produce. It's free to register and post adds on the site and easy to browse adds to find others in your area with produce to sell. I'm hoping someone with a garden in my area will register soon. Maureen Farmer, the creator of this site, is a master gardener who built this site as practice while learning php. Thanks for the great idea and service Maureen.

Coconut & Lime Rice Pudding

Usually when I think of rice pudding, I think of a comforting, wintertime food. Not so with this scrumptious take on an old favorite! The lime gives it just the right touch for a summertime treat.

Coconut milk is full of the healthy kind of fats, namely lauric acid, which is needed for brain development and strong bones, making this a particularly good recipe for children and pregnant or nursing mothers.

I used coconut milk for the entire milk amount. I love the subtle flavor, but if you want less of a coconut taste, just use regular milk for half. I have found that I prefer the refrigerated coconut milk that comes in a carton over the canned coconut milk, but either will work beautifully. I used the So Delicious brand.


Coconut & Lime Rice Pudding

• 1/3 cup white rice
• 3 1/4 cups milk
• 1/3 cup raw sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons lime zest

Soak rice in cold water for 30 minutes. Drain.
In a saucepan, bring milk, rice, sugar and salt to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer about 45 minutes, or till thick and creamy, stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat and stir in lime zest.

Serve warm or chilled.

Empty the Fridge Frittata

It is so thrilling to be a part of the Real Food Revolution! My mind has been whirling with all the possible recipes and ideas to share here. Truly, the most difficult part is knowing where to begin, especially since I don't want to disappoint anyone's high hopes after Carrien's glowing introduction. *gulp*

So let's just start with a recipe that I have been making every week, shall we? It has the ease of a no-crust frittata, the moistness of quiche, all with the simplicity of an oven omelet.

I love this recipe for many reasons. It's easy, gluten free, very flexible, and can be made ahead. I often have moms and children over for brunch and its a cinch to whip up the night before, bake partway and then refrigerate till morning. Soon before our friends arrive, I bake it the rest of the way. There's no need to limit it to breakfast though, as it also makes a tasty dinner when paired with a soup or salad.

This is one of those recipes that is great for using up the little odds and ends that seem to gather in my fridge, like bits of meat, veggies, herbs and cheese.

Feel free to use less or more of any ingredient. Believe me, I really just throw this all together and it has always turned out delicious.

Empty the Fridge Frittata

Main ingredients

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 8 to 12 eggs
• 1/2 cup to 1 cup sour cream, yogurt, or milk
• salt and pepper

Possible Additions

• Cooked meat (optional) - bacon, ham, chicken, hamburger, sausage.. I've even used leftover roast beef
• Fresh veggies - red or green pepper, spinach, zucchini, tomato, onion (raw or sauteed)..
• Fresh herbs - basil, parsley
• Cheese - sharp or mild cheddar, mont jack, feta...

Grease a pie dish generously with butter.
In a separate bowl, beat eggs and dairy. Season and stir in desired additions.
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes to 1 hour, depending on how many eggs you used, or till set.
Serve warm. This recipe is even delicious cold.

Introducing...

I a super excited to announce that the real food revolution has a new writer. I'll still be here, writing as infrequently as ever. [cough] In addition Tamra will be adding her thoughts and considerable expertise on healthy eating, and preparing real food on a budget. I've already tried some of her recipes and can tell you they are worth checking out.

If we're lucky perhaps she'll also tell us how she taught her kids to cook so that they are now a big help to her in the kitchen.

So look forward to her contributions in the coming weeks. I'm expecting great things.

Tamra also blogs at tamragirl.com, Klaty.com, is landscaping and planting french style vegetable gardens in her story book looking house, tends to her goat farm, and is mother to 6 children.