And dinner, and quite possibly breakfast tomorrow...

 I've been enjoying a number of ongoing conversations with friends who are all on similar dining trajectories these days; dairy-free, low sugar, low-to-no gluten, mostly vegan (and for me, no soy whatsoever) meals that taste FABULOUS.  Because really, what's the point in eating anything that tastes like cardboard?  I refuse because my taste-buds like to be titillated, and yes that is exactly what I just said.  

So!

Today I give you my latest foodie obsession, the FRESH Potato Salad!  This is the second batch I've made in a week, as the first batch I served to a group of friends (meat-eaters all) and every last bite was slurped up and seconds had.

~ Fresh Potato Salad ~

(like most of my recipes, feel quite free to tweak quantities and ingredients to what you have on hand!)

You will need:

2 pounds Red Potatoes, cubed into bite-size chunks

2 Bell Peppers (your choice of color), cubed

1 Large Cucumber, cubed

1 1/2 Cups Cherry Tomatoes, halved

A small handful of fresh Parsley (1/3 Cup minced)

An even smaller handful of fresh Thyme (2-3 Tbsp minced)

5-6 Green Onions, chopped

1 Can Black Olives, drained and rinsed

1 Can Beans (I prefer black, but kidney or even garbanzo would work just dandy), drained and rinsed

1/4 Cup Rice Vinegar

3 Tbsp Mild Flavored Oil (I've used both grapeseed oil and canola, and if you really wanted to, I'm sure olive oil would be fine too)

1 Tbsp Salt

A load of fresh cracked Black Pepper (this is an approximate amount ;)

And here's how:

*

Place cubed potatoes in a large pot of water (enough to cover the potatoes by 2 inches), bring to a boil, then simmer for 8-10 minutes (just until you can pierce them easily with a fork).  Drain off water, toss the potatoes in the biggest bowl you own, and pop in the refrigerator to cool for about 15 minutes.

*

While potatoes cool, chop the rest of your ingredients (peppers, cucumber, tomatoes, onions, etc.).  In a small bowl, mix your dressing: oil, rice vinegar, salt, pepper, fresh herbs.  Pour this over the potatoes, mix well, and allow to sit for another 5 minutes while the starches soak up all that deliciousness.

*

Add all veggies, olives and beans to potatoes, give everything a good stir, and eat up!  I prefer mine over a bed of lettuces, but of course that's optional.  Either way, load up a good size plate because that's how much you'll want as soon as you taste it!  Extra special bonus: this keeps really well in the fridge for a couple days too.

In the last month, since beginning this food sensitivity exploration diet, I've had a number of bloggy friends write with questions about what I am eating.  When I gave out the initial list of what I was not eating at first - gluten, dairy, sugar, eggs, meat, nightshade plants, corn, soy, tree nuts, citrus, and a few others - the remaining list of acceptable foods seemed dismal.  I've since added loads of foods back into my diet, but THIS is the meal that got me through.

More than got me through, it's been so good that BC and I make a huge pot nearly every week, tweeked to whatever happens to be in the fridge, and eat it for days.

You ready?

~ Buddha Bowl ~
The basic formula is this: start with a cooked grain, add a bean, add a raw veggie, add a cooked veggie, top with avocado.  It is endlessly adjustable, so feel free to experiment, but this is one of our favorites.  I know it seems like a lot of ingredients and plenty of steps, but you just put on some great music, start with the longest cooking time (the beans) and prep from there.

You will need:
1 1/2 Cups Adzuki Beans (pre-soaked, OR just switch 'em up for canned black beans, liquid reserved)
2 Large Yams
1 1/2 Cups Brown Rice
Olive Oil
1 Medium Onion
3-4 Cloves Garlic
6-9 Collard Green Leaves
2 Large Carrots
1/2 Cup Cilantro
Avocados (I like 1/2 an avocado per serving)
1/2 tsp Cumin
1/2 tsp Chili Powder
1 tsp Paprika (smoked if you have it)
Salt to taste

How To:
1.  If you are using adzuki beans (or any other dried, pre-soaked bean), cook until just tender.  The basic formula I use is 1 cup soaked beans to 3 cups water in a large pot.  Bring to a boil, cover but leave the lid just barely cracked open, and simmer on low for one hour.  If you are using canned beans, skip this step.
2.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Cube yams, toss in olive oil (just enough to give a light coating), set to roast for 40 minutes (tossing once).
3.  Cook brown rice according to directions.
4.  Dice onions and garlic.  Wash and chop collard greens into bite size pieces.  Grate raw carrots.  Roughly chop cilantro.  I prep all these things while the beans, yams and rice cook.
5.  Pour a tablespoon of olive oil into a large saucepan over medium heat, add onion and garlic and sautée until translucent.  Add cumin, chili powder, paprika, then add beans plus 2 cups of the liquid they cooked in (If you are using canned beans, just pour the whole business in).  Cover and set to simmer for 10 minutes.
6.  Blanch collard greens.  If you're like me, this means bringing a cup of water to boil, tossing in the greens, and letting them boil until bright and tender, then pouring off the excess water.
7.  Now take the largest bowl you own, add in ALL the above and mix well.  Taste, add salt as needed.  Serve in large bowls with half an avocado, diced, on top.

YUMMERS!
Plus it's gluten-free, vegan, low-fat, high-fiber, but you don't have to tell your family all that!
Eat.
It.
Up!

At the Tuesday afternoon Farmer's Market I may have accidentallyonpurpose bought 50 pounds of tomatos.  You see, one of the biggest trade-offs to living this close to the ocean is the fussy nature of growing tomatos.  They just don't love my misty, cool summers without a lot of babying.  So when the farmers 30 miles inland bring out the real summer produce I am a moth to the flame.
Literally.
Diving into bushels of fruit without a care for my safety or sanity.  Open mouthed.  Wide eyed.  The girl in a mini skirt at the market, lugging around two huge flats of red goodness with canvas bags criss-crossed over her shoulders filled with zucchini and cucumbers. 

That said, the last 24 hours have seen a merry bubbling of multiple pots on the stove and a whirlwind of activity as I've tried to preserve every last drop for those dark grey days of winter.  All in all, 24 pints of tomato soup, 10 pints of salsa, and 13 half-pints of apple butter (did I mention the apples? A gift from BC's parents from their fuji tree; we stood together in 90 degree temperatures and filled a bucket last weekend, tossing bruised apples for Sancho and crunching through as many as we could). This year, when the hail falls and the birch trees shiver, I'll be sipping on soup and remembering when I wore tank tops and bare feet.

Actually I may start sipping soup now.  It's that delish.  So much in fact that I decided to share the recipe with you just in case you too are a nutcase for tomatos OR just have a bumper crop to preserve!

Umberdove's 
Tomato Soup to Cure the Winter Blues

You will need:
13 lbs Tomatos - scrubbed, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 1/2 Cups Chopped Onions
1/4 Cups Chopped Garlic - about 8 cloves will do
1 Cup Fresh Basil - washed and coarsely chopped
1 Cup Red Wine  - something just nice enough that you will enjoy drinking the rest of
1/2 Cup Red Wine Vinegar
1 tsp Sea Salt
1 tsp Sugar
1 6oz Can Tomato Paste

~ One ~
Put on some music.  Don't fool around here, this is important.  For me, I started a new pandora station based on En Vogue and TLC.  That's right folks, old school, belt it out over peeling tomatos.  They gotta hear the passion in your voice!
"Whatta man, whatta man, whatta mighty good man"

~ Two ~ 
Place tomatos in a LARGE stockpot:  I begin by washing, blanching (to make the skins just slide off), peeling, and rough chopping 6-8 tomatos, tossing them juice, seeds and all into the pot, and bringing them up to a slow boil.  From there repeat with remaining tomatos, keeping a steady low boil / high simmer.  Stir regularly and mash (using a potato masher) to break down tomatos.

~ Three ~
Pour 1/4 Cup Red Wine into a sauce pan and saute onions and garlic.  Toss 'em in the stockpot.  From here add all remaining ingredients: 3/4 Cup Red Wine, Vinegar, Basil, Salt, Sugar, Paste.  Bring back up to a full boil.

~ Four ~ 
Working in batches (or using an immersion blender if you're fancy and have one of those), blend soup until smooth and creamy.  Return to pot and bring back to boil.  From here, continuing simmering, stirring regularly, until soup reaches a consistency you prefer.  I like mine fairly thick and hearty.

~ Five ~
Fill hot, sterile jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace, and process in a boiling water bath.  If using pints, process for 35 minutes, for quarts process 45 minutes.

~ A Few Tricks and Tips ~
**  To make your soup as safe as safe can be, do not lower the quantity of acidic ingredients (tomatos, vinegar) or raise the quantity of alkaline ingredients (onions, garlic, basil).  Let's stay botchulism free!
** This recipe yields 10-12 pints of soup.
**  If you are not comfortable with canning / processing your own soups, I'm pretty certain this recipe would freeze BEAUTIFULLY.
** I plan on eating this with a dollop of cremé fraiche and a sprinkling of fresh herbs as well as with a crusty grilled cheese sandwich and a side of cucumbers.  YUMS!

p.s.  what the what....?

Ok.
Maybe not always Pope hats, but they certainly do wear little toques in the oven and they certainly have been blessed by the heavens.

Which brings me to the discussion at hand: namely BREAD BAKING.  A few months back I promised some lovely bake-tresses that I would post my very own bread recipe, but it's possible I became sidetracked for a hundred or so days.
I've been baking my own bread for years now, tweaking and experimenting with various recipes until finally developing a hearty loaf with a chewy crumb and a touch of sweetness that lends itself scrumptiously to poached eggs, jams of all sorts and smears of brie.  It's practically perfect in every way.

There is so much about baking bread that makes me feel intrinsically connected with the act of feeding my little family.  I know every ingredient that goes into my bread, I'm able to make purchasing choices I believe in (buying local and organic ingredients), I work over the bread, kneading and forming the loaves, timing the rises with other kitchen tasks, the whole while allowing the heady scent of bread to fill the house.  

UmberDove's
Honey Whole Wheat Bread
(makes three loaves)


You will need:
3 Cups Warm water (110 degrees F is the going rate for "warm")
2 Tbsp Active Dry Yeast (or two packets)
2/3 Cup Honey (divided)
3 Tbsp Unsalted Butter
1 tsp Salt
5 Cups Bread Flour
1 Cup Oat Flour**
3 Cups[ish] Whole Wheat Flour
2 Tbsp Ground Flax Seeds**

~ Step One ~
In a large bowl, dissolve yeast into warm water.  Add 1/3 Cup honey, give a stir, then add in 5 Cups of Bread Flour (stirring the dough after each cup is added will help with the mixing process).  Set the bowl aside for it's initial rise in a room temperature spot for 30 minutes - or until the dough is puffing up into a large and bubbly (but very gooey) consistency.
~ Step Two ~
Melt the butter in a small bowl, then pour over dough.  Add salt and remaining 1/3 Cup honey to dough then give the mixture a good stir.  Add oat flour, ground flax seeds and 1 Cup of whole wheat flour to dough and stir gently (I only say gently because vigorous stirring generally results in this:).

~ Step Four ~
Once the dough has doubled in size, give a solid punch-down then turn out onto your work surface.  Divide the dough into three equal portions, then give each a light kneading and shape into loaves (more than anything here, you are making sure that any air bubbles are released).  If you need direction on shaping loaves, a simple youtube search will do the trick.  Place the bread-to-be into three lightly greased loaf pans and set back in your warm place for their final rise, about 20 minutes or until the dough has risen and topped the sides of the loaf pan by about one inch.  Meanwhile preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
~ Step Five ~
Bake Em'!
Bake your loaves for 25 to 30 minutes, interrupting the baking process half-way through to place the bread hats - a single 6"x8"ish sheet of foil - over each loaf to keep the tops from becoming too dark and hard.  Turn the loaves out onto cooling racks when done, and prepare to carb-overload!

~ A few tricks and tips ~
**I buy rolled oats - the same kind used for oatmeal - and whole flax seeds in bulk and grind them to a floured consistency in a cheap coffee bean grinder.
* Buy great quality flour.  I've always loved King Arthur flours, but recently I've been playing with a local organic flour - but of course don't let a lack of flour keep you from baking!
* When testing the bread for doneness, tap the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon.  A "done" loaf should give a hollow knock - but if you're still in doubt, do insert a wooden skewer and be sure it comes out completely clean.
* This recipe makes three loaves - perfect for slicing into one immediately and freezing the other two for later consumption (once the loaves are completely cool, wrap them well and pop 'em in the freezer - they'll defrost beautifully).
* Buy real butter.  I'm just saying.  Smear it on and take the stairs.

Full bellied and Loafily yours,
- Umber