Thursday, July 28, 2016

Guest Post-Monique and Vegan Greens Dip

I have pretty great people in my CSA this year, as always. And a few who have come out to help me weed the garden, and chat of course. It's nice and the time just flies by.
I can't tell you how much I have enjoyed Monique's company. She picks up her basket on Wednesdays from the farm and comes a bit early to get some weeding done. She's great company and I have been sending her home with her veggies, but also a whole lot of lambs quarters. 
I'm not short on veggies right now, nor greens, but I really love lambs quarters. They are delicious and very nutritious-read about them here.
If you'd like to try them, let me know. I have lots and lots. Monique made the following recipe with lambs quarters instead of spinach and she tells me it was delish. I bet!
Thanks Monique for everything.

My husband and I found out about Linda at Tree and Twig last year through his father.  We bought some wonderful tomato plants and beans last year. This winter we were looking at her website because I wanted to attend her seed sowing class and saw the food share program and decided we wanted to be part of it.  I mentioned to Linda at the seed sowing workshop that I wanted to come by this summer to help on the farm and she said I sure hope you like picking weeds because there is always weeding to do.  I started picking up my food share in June every Wednesday and noticed every time I went that Linda was in the garden picking weeds.  So a couple of weeks ago I decided to go early to pick up my food share and start help weeding.  I was there for about an hour and it flew by.  They say time flies when you’re having fun.  I had so much fun that I’ve gone back every Wednesday for the past 2 weeks.  And every week I stay a little longer.  I even get the keep what I pull out…haha.  Most of the weeds we pick out are edible and delicious.  I got so much lamb’s quarters last week that I put it in pretty much everything we eat. I still have some from last week and grabbed some again this week so I can start adding it to my green smoothies and try juicing it.  I put it on our eggs in the morning, in all my sautéed greens, and in most recipes that call for spinach I switch for lamb’s quarters.  Below is a recipe that I made yesterday and it turned out to be delicious.  Instead of chopped spinach I substituted chopped lamb’s quarters.  You can also use apple cider vinegar instead of rice vinegar and olive oil instead of coconut oil.  Also, when it comes to the onion, garlic and greens you can use less or more it really doesn’t make a difference to the recipe.  I always use firm tofu because that’s all I usually have but you can use soft tofu.  I guess you can say this recipe is pretty easy and can be changed to whatever you like.  If you’re like me you follow the recipe exactly the first time and then experiment after with the next batch and never make it the same after that.  I hope you enjoy and remember even weeds are edible! 

Vegan Greens Dip
  • 1 package of tofu
  • ¾ cup raw cashews (soaked for 6-8 hours)
  • ¼ cup nutritional yeast
  • 1-2 Tbsp Rice vinegar
  • 1 cup diced onion
  • 2-3 cloves of garlic or 4-5 garlic scapes
  • 2 cups of chopped spinach
  • 2 Tbsp melted coconut oil
  • Salt & pepper

Blend tofu, cashews, yeast, vinegar, 1 tbsp of melted coconut oil, salt & pepper until very smooth

Add 1 tbsp of coconut oil, onion, garlic to frying pan and cook until onions are soft.  Add greens and cook until wilted.  Add blended puree and cook until heated through.  Put in a serving bowl sprinkle with paprika.  Serve with nacho chips or pitas.

2 comments:

David, Niagara Gourmet said...

I love Lamb's Quarters and have been harvesting them for years. I do sometimes notice the oxalic acid aftertaste that kind of coats your teeth. I did not plant my small vegetable plot this year as it doesn't receive full sun. However the Lamb's Quarters and Purslane are bountiful! I opted for container grown crops (mainly tomatoes) in full sun and they are very prolific!

Linda said...

I love the Lamb's Quarters too David. I have a good crop this year!