A Pint Of Green Juice

I was a good girl this morning. I made a huge batch of green juice for a healthier May. 

The last time I drank my green juice was early in April. I had not been feeling well with my auto-immune and I have a horrible habit of thinking, if I feel so crummy, then I can eat whatever, as I can't possibly feel any worse.

Logically - that doesn't work. I do feel worse -- not being vigilant eating well for my auto-immune. It's funny where internal beliefs drive us.

Then I saw a beautiful bouquet of Mock-Orange in my Instagram feed and when I was all finished cleaning up the juicing operation, I went out and cut myself a bouquet. Right next to these fragrant Mock Orange blooms were these luscious Iris's. Love the deep purple against the white.

 Cleaning out the fridge for juicing, I came across this Cauliflower moldering in the vegetable drawer. I turned it into a quick soup.

Cream of Cauliflower Soup
Non-dairy, non-soy.

Head of cauliflower cut up into chunks, trim off the icky bits.
Steamed in beef stock (or whatever liquid you have lurking in your fridge).
If you use water, you'll need to adjust herbs.
2 tsp. dried Thyme
dash salt

When tender - about 20 minutes, turn off heat and let sit while you finish your juicing clean-up.

Use your stick blender to blend and mush the cauliflower, slowly adding coconut milk until you feel it is the right amount. Between 2 -3 cups. Blend until smooth.


easy peasy dinner for tonight.

 My green juice always seems to taste better in cool glasses.
Thank you dear daughter.

Today's Green Juice.
In your juicer:
3 granny smith apples
1 1/2 bunches of celery

In your blender:
Use juice from apples and celery to blend:
1 giant bag of fresh spring greens - spinach, kale, arugula, etc.
5 baby bok choy's ('cuz baby veggies taste better?)
4 zucchini

and today I added:
Stalk rhubarb
2 tbsps sea kelp
1 cup Hemp hearts

I have heard Rhubarb is  anti-parasitic. My doc thinks my fatigue and depression this spring might spring from a parasite I picked up during my January trip to Hawaii when I was so tired after the Christmas work (63 hrs/wk!).

I grew up with rhubarb and seriously dislike the texture - stewed rhubarb anyone? But I'm willing to try anything and oftentimes, veggies taste better as juice.
The hemp hearts were something new at my store and I thought I'd try them. The sea kelp was bought a while ago and forgotten about.

The only other weird thing about juicing is I prefer the green. If you add blueberries - it's brown. as in - eeuuwhw. If you add beets for the sweetener instead of apples, it's red, which is slightly better than brown.

I prefer green. I can't tolerate too much fruit, so my juice is mostly veggies.

And hubby has asked, "what's that taste like?"  me: "like drinking your veggies". I wouldn't do it if I weren't so sick. I try to use organic as much as possible. It's like 30 minutes to clean up, so I make enough for the week.

My sweet SIL gave me this little garden ornament for my birthday.

Chicken Curry - Mulligatawny Soup

Two weekends ago I made a new soup.

I found it in a Susan Wiggs book. It might have been The Apple Orchard. Or not. I was reading a couple of Wigg's books at the time.
There were various recipes at the start of each chapter.

It's a pureed soup with plenty of veggies.


Onion, Apple, Celery, Carrot,Tomato, Bell Pepper. Diced.



Used up my vintage Curry Powder and bought Garam Masala spices at my local Thriftway.



This is such a great soup. Perfect for Fall. It can be easily changed up - if you want it vegetarian - just use vegetarian stock and leave out the chicken.

Mulligatawny Soup
from a Susan Wigg's novel.

1 whole boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces
salt & pepper
4 Tbsp. butter (separated)

diced fruits & veggies, including a whole onion, whole apple, stick celery, a carrot, a tomato, a bell pepper.

1 clove of garlic, minced
1/4 cup flour (Rice flour)
1 Tbsp. Curry Powder
1 tsp. Garam Masala
4 cups chicken stock (I used beef stock because we are out of chicken)
1 cup cream or plain yogurt (Coconut Milk)
Cayenne pepper to taste

Season diced chicken with salt & pepper. Warm two tbsps. of butter over medium-high heat in a wide, deep pot. Add chicken and saute until golden; remove chicken and keep warm.

Add the rest of the butter to pot and reduce heat to medium. Add diced veggies and garlic and saute until mixture starts to brown.
Sprinkle in flour, curry pwd. and garam masala.

Add the chicken stock and stir to combine, then simmer until veggies are soft. Puree with your immersion blender or in batches in your counter-top blender.
The soup doesn't need to be perfectly smooth.

Add cream/yogurt/coconut milk. Season with salt & pepper , cayenne. Top with unsweetened coconut flakes.

Kathy's notes:
I only used half an onion as I have problems with onions. I used 1 1/2 apples - using up the rest of my lunch-time apple -- don't. The sweetness is interesting - keep it to one apple.
I also would use more chicken. One chicken breast was about 12 oz. This could be due to the size of my veggies - creating more soup. For instance, I used two stalks of celery, not believing one was enough.
My big substitutions were rice flour and coconut milk. Great tasting soup; leading me to believe you could substitute whatever is in season as long as you have the curry powder and garam masala spices.
This is a great tasting soup to add to my repertoire.

added: Once pureed, the soup is a light tan color - forgot to take photo. Had unexpected company. They agreed - Great soup.

Cream of Roasted Cauliflower Soup - non dairy, wheat, soy

 I've taken photos of my cream of broccoli soup and it looks green. Suffice it to say, cream of cauliflower looks --well --it's not photogenic. Really.

If you have been dreaming of Cream of Cauliflower soup, here's a version I did on instinct.

CREAM of ROASTED CAULIFLOWER SOUP

1 head CAULIFLOWER
1 quart Stock - I used homemade beef stock
THYME - 1 tsp.+
TURMERIC - 1/4 tsp
SALT
OIL - I used Hazelnut Oil
ARTICHOKE HEARTs in water. I used western family - 1/2 can ~7 oz.
Can of COCONUT MILK - I used Thai Kitchen 13.66oz

Cut your Cauliflower into chunks and place on baking sheet. Drizzle a bit of oil over Cauliflower. Place under broiler ~ rack at about  5" down. Broil/roast for about 10 minutes(?), turning a couple of times. Goal is to get some flavor into the cauliflower - not to make blackened cauli soup.

Meanwhile, heat stock in 3qt saucepan, add teaspoon+ of Thyme and 1/4 tsp of turmeric. Maybe some salt. As soon as cauliflower is roasted enough, add to pot and place lid on to steam cauliflower until tad past tender. -- 20 minutes? During the last five minutes or where cauliflower is about to go tender, add the artichoke hearts. We want them to go past tender too.

Turn off heat and mush with your blender stick and blend. If you need to throw it into a blender - go for it. I am loving my blender stick for these kind of soups.

At this point, you can add any kind of milk you can tolerate. Dairy and Soy are my nemesis's. Coconut milk is tolerable. Blend more until it is as thick & creamy as you desire.

Garnish with a bit of Romano cheese grated on top.

No idea why adding the artichoke hearts popped into my head -I guess I was thinking they would neutralize the strong cauli taste but I worried they would leave long stringy things. Steaming them until past tender took care of that worry. By the time you add the milk, it all works together.

RE: Oil. Use any oil that you have. Olive oil would work here as well as Walnut oil.  Grapeseed Oil too. This is what I had open.

Re: Milk. The 'fresh' coconut milk in the fridge had gone bad - they sell it in such big containers. I actually like the cans better - about two cups. I think if I made this again, I might use just a cup and see how it tastes.

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I've got lots to say in the blog but all my thoughts are really random, seldom finished. They are in progress.

The following could have gone into another post, but there are no photos, it's really random, needs to be written down to get it out of my head.

I have a serious addiction to Grimm going on. Thank God for Hulu TV. The little tv I do watch tends towards BBC productions and locally made shows. Movies put me to sleep which I reserve for those days when I am not feeling functional.

I am on Episode 5. During the first episode, I was thinking it was a little crazy scary in a Steven King way but I distracted myself by looking for Portland landmarks. However, when the mail carrier showed up - I got hooked. This fifth episode had  great shots of the St. John's Bridge - which my grandfather helped build. Grandpa was a steel worker.

I will probably have to watch this series again as it was filmed here in Portland and it's full of trivial pursuit-type film locations.

I had the last couple of Mondays off for the Christmas and New Year's holidays. I had time to relax and I prepped for it by checking out a few books from the library. Now it seems that I need someone to come tell me to move my butt as I am having a great time reading and watching shows on the internet. It appears I am doing nothing at all.

On New Year's day, I watched all four of the Downton Abbey episodes. The first three were on PBS.org  and the fourth was on real TV - as in - I stayed up to watch the fourth episode at 9pm.

I have made one item since New Years as a thank you to someone who sent me fun presents from Japan. She is a new friend for me and lives on Awagi Island. Waiting to post on that one.

I know I have been busy but it has been at a slower pace. I managed to take down the Christmas ornaments and sort through to make a box each for my daughter and son. I plan on mailing it to them when they turn 30. Hopefully they will be situated by then and get all teary-eyed at unwrapping christmas ornaments they made in second grade  (macaroni pasta christmas tree anyone?).

I hope anyone who reads this had a chance to slow down too. It feels good once in a while.

Celery Root Soup

 

I spotted this recipe last week  and it grabbed my attention with ingredients I can eat.

It's really difficult to find soup recipes with no flour or dairy or beans or grains.

I can only eat so much chicken soup, squash soup or beef soup before its gets really boring.
I do like soup because it's fast to reheat and its easy. Therefore, when I have soup made, and in the fridge, I am a good girl as regards to my health issues.

In the old days, I would never have looked at a recipe like this. It's complicated. It takes a couple of hours to make. These aren't ingredients I have in my fridge or pantry.
I have never in my life bought celery root before. Before I made this soup, I ranked celery root right into the parsnip/rutabaga nightmares that were my childhood. 

It's time to get past my childhood.

The soup turned out really good. We ate it as a first course because we felt so 'gourmet'.

Celery Root Soup with Granny Smith Apples and Chive Oil

 This is a three-part recipe.
1. Cooking down the celery and seasonings

2. Making the cashew cream - starts with soaking the nuts for 24 hrs in the fridge.
3. Chive Oil?

Pinch of Sea Salt
3 Tbsp. X-virgin Olive Oil
2 Med. Celery Roots, peeled and cut into 1" chunks
2 Ribs Celery, chopped
1 lg. Onion, chopped
2 qts. Stock
1 Bay leaf
1 cup Cashew Cream***
salt & pepper to taste
1 granny smith apple, unpeeled, diced small. ( I used a Fuji Apple).
2 Tbsp. Chive Oil***

We start with a large pot over medium heat. Warm the sea salt  for one minute. Add the oil and heat for 30 seconds, careful not to let it smoke. This will create a non-stick effect.

Add celery root, celery and onion; saute for 6 - 8 min. until soft but not brown.
Add the broth(stock) and bay leaf and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

Add cashew cream and simmer for ten minutes more.

Remove bay leaf from soup (oops).
Working in batches, Puree soup in blender with lid firmly on.

Season with salt & pepper to taste. Ladle into bowls. Place a spoonful of diced apple in the center of each serving and drizzle with 1 tsp. chive oil around the apple.

 

Soup keeps for 3 - 4 days in the fridge. It can be frozen, thawed and reheated. When reheating, vigorously whisk or re-blend the soup for optimal creaminess. Chop apples just before serving (browning).

***Cashew Cream.

Put 1 cup of raw cashews in a bowl. Cover with cold water and soak in fridge overnight. Drain and rinse two times. Place in blender with enough fresh water to cover the nuts. Blend on high for several minutes until smooth and creamy. If you want more creaminess, place through a sieve. (My blender texture was fine.)(I forgot the 24hr thing - so mine were put in freezer for 30 minutes).

***Chive Oil.

Blanch 1 small bunch of chives for 30 seconds in boiling water, then drain and chill in an ice bath. Squeeze moisture from chives and place in a blender with 1/2 cup canola oil (used Safflower Oil) and a pinch of salt and pepper. Puree for 2 minutes. Strain with sieve (I used a tea strainer). Oil is very flavorful, so only use 5 -6 drops per serving. Can be stored in fridge for several weeks.

When I first thought of this soup, I envisioned a green soup - kind of a split pea green soup. This soup is more of a tan, creamy color. The cashew cream was easy to make even if I forgot to soak them 24 hours in advance. The chives were freshly picked from my garden and packed a lot of new spring into the soup.

I am, I confess, the only person on this planet who dislikes Granny Smith apples. I can see where a green skinned apple and the green chive oil would compliment each other for presentation. I used a Fuji and it was all right.

This soup was thick & creamy. Same blender process as my butternut squash soup but the nut cream is crazy cool. Then there were the subtle flavors of the celery and the chives - hints if you will - nothing overpowering. The diced apples were different but added to the flavor notes.
I liked this as part of a meal. I would definitely make this again and even looked at Celery root seed in my garden catalog.