Modern Wife

Tag: vegetables

  • Giant Puffball Mushroom

    Giant Puffball Mushroom

    Overnight it seemed, these giant puffball mushrooms sprouted in our backyard. We spotted them in autumn last year and let them grow till they popped into greenish brown powdery spores. Cute, then gross. This year, we found a bunch of them in the same spot. I wondered if they were edible. Google said yes. And it has been found to contain a mucoprotein called calvacin, which is a potent antitumor agent, but becomes toxic with prolonged use. Once a year, though, and eating it as close to nature as possible instead of ingesting a distilled version? I’m willing to give it a try.

    So we plucked one out, inspected it to make sure it really was a Calvatia gigantea, and rinsed the dirt off.

    Wash the dirt off the giant puffball mushroom

    Cut off the bottom. This picture shows a couple of the defining characteristics of a Calvatia gigantea: no stem and no gills.

    giant puffball mushrooms have no stem and no gills underneath

    Slice it up. Some people slice off the outer layer and wind up with a block. We just sliced it. As you can see, we picked it early enough in its development stages. The inside is still white and perfect. Do not eat if there are spores.

    slice the giant puffball mushroom

    Store and refrigerate the rest.

    store and refrigerate the giant puffball mushroom

    Some organic extra virgin coconut oil on the cast iron griddle over medium low. Throw in a sliced onion and cook until glassy. I mixed equal parts safflower oil and soy sauce, some salt and pepper to taste, garlic powder, pinch of cayenne, dipped the giant puffball mushroom slice both sides and cooked it.

    cooking the giant puffball mushroom

    Cut it up into strips and serve it up. It would make an amazing addition to stir fry vegetables. The mushroom flavor is subtle and takes on seasonings really well. The texture is soft and smooth against the tongue. I love it!

    stir fry giant puffball mushroom strips

    Also great dipped in a beaten egg and French Toasted.

    dip giant puffball mushroom in egg and cook it

    Gluten-free French Toast Giant Puffball Mushroom with maple syrup drizzled on top and fruit on the side.

    Gluten-free French Toast Giant Puffball Mushroom with maple syrup drizzled on top and fruit on the side

    Have you ever eaten a Giant Puffball Mushroom? Got any recipes to share? Scroll below to comment. Thank you!

  • Quail Eggs

    Quail Eggs

    Aren’t quail eggs cute? Five of these quail eggs would have the caloric equivalent of one large chicken egg. They’re rich in vitamin A, choline, selenium, and iron. (Source)

    You may encounter raw quail eggs on top of tobiko in fine sushi restaurants. It makes my mouth water just typing those words up.

    I bought mine at my local farmers market. At home, I hardboil them for 3 minutes, peel, and serve with soup. Here’s a quick recipe that is done in minutes. You’ll spend more time peeling those quail eggs than cooking this meal. Ya!

    Noodles with Quail Eggs

    Miso Noodles with Quail Eggs

    Ingredients:
    1 tablespoon dulse
    2 tablespoons miso
    3 cups water
    6 oz. soba noodles
    1 nardello sweet pepper, chopped
    hardboiled quail eggs
    green onion

    Bring water to boil on high heat. Add dulse and miso. Once boiling, add noodles. Cook for 4 minutes. Toss in sweet pepper and quail eggs at the last minute. Serve with green onion garnish. Serves 3.

    Lunchtime!

  • Aloo Gobi

    Aloo Gobi

    Aloo Gobi is one of those dishes I’ve enjoyed in lunch buffets at Indian Restaurants, but don’t usually order as an entree for dinner. It’s unassuming and understated, not as much star power as the tandooris or the tikka masalas.

    When it comes to home cooking, though, Aloo Gobi wins because I can make it in under an hour. Also, a quick glance down the list of ingredients reveals at least five ingredients that are known to be cancer-fighting immune boosting superfoods.

    Extra Virgin Coconut Oil is blowing up all over the internet with lists upon lists of the many benefits and uses for it, from nutrition to personal care to first aid to household uses.

    Garlic has been shown to lower risks for certain cancers, as well as supports the immune system. We turn to our recipe for Honey Lemon Garlic Tea every time we feel under the weather and need a boost.

    Ginger fights cancer, relieves motion sickness and nausea, aids digestion, promotes healthy circulation, and many more. It is a major ingredient in Hulda Clark’s recipe for Kidney Cleanse.

    Turmeric contains curcumin, which is more effective than many pharmaceuticals against several chronic and debilitating diseases including cancer, and has no side effects.

    Cauliflower and other Cruciferous Vegetables contain sulforaphane, one of the ten best cancer-killing phytonutrients.

    So here it is, my version of Aloo Gobi, the cancer-fighting, immune boosting superfood that can be made under an hour. I started out with this recipe and modified as I went along.

    Aloo Gobi

    Ingredients:
    1 tablespoon extra virgin coconut oil
    1 teaspoon cumin
    1 teaspoon minced garlic
    1 tablespoon minced ginger
    1 onion, sliced
    2 medium diced potatoes
    1 teaspoon turmeric
    1 teaspoon paprika
    1 teaspoon garam masala
    2 tablespoons plain yogurt
    1/2 cup water
    2 tablespoons coconut milk
    1 head of cauliflower
    Salt to taste
    Rice
    Cilantro

    Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Saute cumin, garlic and ginger until the spices are infused in the oil. Spread onions across the skillet but do not stir. Let the edges of the onion caramelize. Stir in potatoes and cover to steam. Season with turmeric, paprika, and garam masala. Stir in yogurt, water and coconut milk. Cover and let it cook for about ten minutes.

    While the potatoes are cooking, cut up the cauliflower into florets and stir into the stew. Cover and let it simmer for half an hour. Salt to taste. Serve on top of rice and garnish with cilantro.

  • Sprouts Plus Vietnamese Noodle Bowl Recipe

    Sprouts Plus Vietnamese Noodle Bowl Recipe

    I sprout. Do you sprout?

    I just felt like it one morning. I got out a couple of quart mason jars and put in a tablespoon each of alfalfa and mung beans. Poured it full of water, a teaspoon each of food-grade hydrogen peroxide and let it sit for 15 minutes.

    I trapped a mesh net (I save the mesh net packaging my lemons come in) between the mouth of the jar and the band – see my blog entry on alfalfa sprouts. Pour the water out, fill it back up again and let it soak in water for 8 to 12 hours in a dark place.

    Pour the water out, rinse, pour the water out, let it sit. Repeat everyday. Once the sprouts are a good size they are ready to sit in a sunny place to grow some greens.

    Eat!

    Vietnamese Shrimp Noodle Bowl

    This is my version of the Vietnamese Shrimp Noodle Bowl. The traditional way to do it involves fish sauce which I don’t have, and pickled carrots, which is not well-liked by my family. So here goes.

    Ingredients:
    1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
    1 package (8oz) vermicelli (I have the Explore Asian Jasmine Brown Rice Vermicelli)
    1 tablespoon organic virgin coconut oil
    1 tablespoon Bragg’s amino acid (I may skip this next time. It tends to overpower all flavor.)
    1 teaspoon organic coconut palm sugar (I bought this thinking it would be a good sweetener but found out it was harvested using unsustainable practices.)

    From our local organic farmstand:
    leafy greens
    cut carrots
    cut cucumber

    mint from our backyard
    mung bean sprouts grown right in our kitchen

    Directions:
    Heat coconut oil in a large skillet over medium. Add the shrimp and cook until pink. Flavor with Braggs and sugar. Cook until sauce is almost cooked off.

    Boil water in a medium saucepan. Add vermicelli and cook for 5 minutes. Drain and wash with cold water.

    Arrange leafy greens, carrots, cucumber, mint, mung bean sprouts and cooked vermicelli on the plate. Top the vermicelli with shrimp. We skipped the syrupy sauce. The shrimp is plenty flavorful on the noodles.

    This is one way we sprout. How do you sprout?

  • Fiddleheads

    Fiddleheads

    I’ve never met this vegetable before: fiddleheads.

    It’s the curled ends of a young ostrich fern, harvested in early spring. It is rich in vitamin A and vitamin C.

    There are so many recipes and ideas for cooking fiddleheads online, but here is the simplest way to serve it:

    Steam the fiddleheads for about 20 minutes. Melt butter on warm fiddleheads. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with quinoa on the side.

  • Honey Lemon Ginger Tea

    Honey Lemon Ginger Tea

    It’s a lifesaver. Ginger is known to alleviate headaches, stomach aches, nausea and many other pains. In addition, raw honey is an antibacterial elixir and lemon is rich in vitamin C, which boosts the immune system.

    Ginger Lemonade

    Here’s the recipe for Honey Lemon Ginger Tea (or Ginger Lemonade, if you like it cold):

    sliced organic ginger
    juice of 1 organic lemon
    raw honey to taste

    Heat 1 quart of water to just before boiling point. Add ginger slices and let it steep for 20 minutes. Add lemon juice and sweeten with raw honey.

    Serve warm right away. Store the rest refrigerated in a quart jar.

    I like to keep the ginger slices in so it steeps even longer and brings it a stronger ginger flavor day after day.

    If reheating for tea, take it off the burner just before it boils. It’s also delicious served cold.

  • Organic Easter Eggs

    Organic Easter Eggs

    For weeks now I’ve been walking past grocery aisles seeing brightly colored plastic Easter eggs that pop open to contain candy. We’ve been saving our set year after year, and called it the eco-friendly way because they’re reusable. But a basketful of candy is hardly the celebration of spring I would like to encourage as a healthy family tradition.

    At one point we also brought home an Easter Egg dye kit from the local convenience store. It came with little tablets of dye and a bunch of stickers for decorating hardboiled eggs. Although the package states it’s non-toxic, the list of ingredients contains synthetic chemical dyes that have been found to cause allergies and behavioral problems in children.

    So this weekend we are starting a new old tradition of making Easter eggs out of vegetables that are naturally staining.

    Like beets!

    Easter Eggs dyed with beets

    And red cabbage!

    Easter Eggs dyed with red cabbage

    And turmeric!

    Easter Eggs dyed with turmeric

    The recipe is easy.

    You need:
    1 tablespoon of distilled white vineger for each cup of water
    white organic eggs

    So if you need 3 cups of water in a saucepan to cover your eggs, then you will need to add 3 tablespoons of vinegar.

    Then chop up and add your staining vegetable of choice. Put them in the vinegar/water combination with the eggs. Bring to a boil, turn off the stove, then cover and let sit for 15 minutes. Transfer the whole soup into a quart mason jar or any quart-sized recycled plastic container you don’t mind getting stained. Some people strain the vegetables out but I decided to keep my vegetables in the soak, in hopes there would be some patterns stamped against the eggs. Let it sit overnight.

    Get the eggs out and let it dry on paper towels or old newspapers. This is how my eggs looked just out of their color soup. Turmeric made yellow, red cabbage made blue, and beets made red.

    Easter Eggs dyed with beets, red cabbage and turmeric

    After they dried, more patterns emerged.

    Easter Eggs dyed with beets, red cabbage and turmeric

    Transfer the dried Easter eggs back into the egg cartons they came in originally. Refrigerate until Easter morning.

    Here are other ways to do this:
    Recipe from Full Circle
    Go Eco when Dyeing Eggs

    Have a great week and an egg-cellent Easter!

  • Guacamole & Salsa

    Guacamole & Salsa

    I make the easiest and most delicious Guacamole & Salsa east of the Mission. Or so I think. Give it a try and see if I’m right.

    Guacamole & Salsa, when made fresh with organic ingredients, are a super healthy combination. Avocado has more than two times the potassium found in a banana, and is rich in the B vitamins, folic acid and vitamin E. Tomatoes contain lycopene, a powerful anti-cancer nutrient. Cilantro is excellent for removing toxic metals such as mercury from the body. Red Bell Peppers are rich in antioxidants, vitamins A, B, C and E, and a number of beneficial minerals.

    Guacamole

    Ingredients:
    2 organic avocadoes
    1 organic tomato, chopped
    a bunch of organic cilantro, chopped
    salt and pepper to taste

    Mash the avocadoes with a fork. Add chopped tomato and cilantro. Salt and pepper to taste. Mix together.

    Salsa

    Ingredients:
    2 organic tomatoes, chopped
    1 teaspoon lemon juice
    1/4 cup organic bell peppers, chopped (I used red in this recipe, but any color will do)
    a bunch of organic cilantro, chopped
    salt and pepper to taste

    Mix all ingredients together. Squeeze a little lemon juice.

    Serve either or both Guacamole & Salsa with organic and/or non-GMO chips, such as Garden of Eatin’ Blue Corn chips, as seen in the photo above. Enjoy the fiesta!

  • Green Eggs

    Green Eggs

    I started making green eggs when my daughter was a Dr. Seuss-loving toddler. I started out serving it as a sandwich spread, but now that my family is on a gluten-free diet, I serve it with salad. Let’s start with the recipe.

    Green Eggs

    Ingredients:
    1 organic avocado
    2 organic eggs
    salt and pepper to taste

    Boil eggs. For perfect yellow yolks, put eggs in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a rolling boil on high then turn the burner off. Let eggs sit in hot water for 15 minutes. Pour out the hot water and replace with cold water. Let it sit for a few minutes, until eggs are cool enough to touch. Peel.

    Mash the avocado, then add eggs cut up roughly with a spoon. Mix together. Salt and pepper to taste.

    Here’s how I serve it nowadays:

    Green Eggs on salad

    Mine, left, on a heap of green salad – spinach, cucumber, red pepper.

    My daughter’s, top, on the side of 9 spinach leaves (for every year of her age), cucumber slices, and 5 tiny bits of red pepper.

    My husband’s, right, no green eggs. Just a salad and slices of deli turkey. He does not like green eggs and ham. He does not like it, Sam-I-am.

  • Carrots for Red Highlights in Hair

    Carrots for Red Highlights in Hair

    My husband’s grandmother was an Irish redhead. My husband’s mother had auburn hair. Our daughter’s hair bleached blond under the sun, and darkened as she grew older. She has natural copper  highlights in her hair when the sun hits it. She wanted more of that red to come out. Tonight she showed me a YouTube video of how to use ingredients from our kitchen pantry to enhance the red highlights in her hair. Here’s the video:

    We didn’t have cranberries but we had everything else. So here’s what we whipped up:

    Ingredients:
    3 medium organic carrots, grated
    3 tablespoons organic plain yogurt
    2 tablespoons raw honey

    Other things needed:
    plastic shower cap
    plastic bag to wear over clothing
    paper bag or old newspapers to stand on and catch drippings

    Carrot, Yogurt and Honey brings out red highlights in hair

    Get ready by pulling a plastic bag over clothing and spread paper bag or old newspapers on the floor to catch the drippings. Mix the ingredients together in a bowl. Spread all over hair until it is all soaked and caked.

    Carrot, Yogurt and Honey brings out red highlights in hair

    Put a plastic shower cap over head. Let it sit for at least half an hour. Rinse it out in the kitchen sink so the carrot shavings don’t clog your bathroom drain. Jump in the shower and wash/shampoo hair as usual.

    It really works! I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Carrots do stain. I’m wondering now if it would be just as effective to juice the carrots and use that instead of grated carrots. It would save us the trouble of picking out little carrot shavings out of hair, which we had to do a lot!

    We’ll try cranberries when they become available in the fall. I bet beets would do the job too.