Miner's Lettuce Salad with Orange-Sesame Vinaigrette

This salad is not in the book, but the vinaigrette dressing is. Miner's Lettuce (AKA Indian Lettuce), is a wild lettuce found here in California and in my back yard. It is totally edible and is even showing up on the menus of shi-shi restaurants around town. (See below for info on where you can buy seeds to grow your own. Mine reseeds itself, although we have reduced its habitat in our yard since we have landscaped!)

Isa's Orange Sesame Vinaigrette couldn't have been easier to make (I used orange juice instead of fresh squeezed oranges and had some lovely fig vinegar instead of red wine vinegar.) I normally don't like vinaigrettes, but this one doesn't have too much vinegar and the orange juice really sweetens it. The toasted sesame oil really makes the flavor pop.

Of course if you can't get your hands on Miner's Lettuce, you can use any kind of lettuce you like!

The salad is my recipe:


Miner's Lettuce Salad

2 cups Miner's Lettuce
2 cups chopped Romaine
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (pine nuts or sliced almonds would be fab)
1/4 cup dried cranberries (dried cherries would be good)

1/2 Recipe of Orange Vinaigrette

Indian Lettuce/Miner's Lettuce

Claytonia perfoliata

You can buy a packet of Miner's Lettuce Seeds from Larner's Seeds in Bolinas, CA for only $5.50. Be sure to check out all the other native plants and flowers they have seeds for!
http://larnerseeds.com/_pages/wildflower_annual.html

Interesting Native American salad trivia: Native Americans would eat this green like a salad as we do today. Instead of a fancy dressing from a bottle or recipe from a cookbook, they would just let ants crawl all over their greens. From the Almaden Wildflowers website:

"Lettuce? Yes, you can eat it--raw in salads or boiled like spinach. Early settlers and Indians collected and ate it. It is said that California Indians used to place it by red ant hills to pick up formic acid as a dressing. I would be worried that the ants would eat it. I rarely pass the young plants without pulling off a leaf to nibble on. It tastes a lot like raw spinach to me, not as delicate as lettuce. It has none of the peppery kick of the the somewhat similar garden plant (weed?) nasturtium Tropaeolum majus, which is also in the Purslane family."

Everyday Chickpea-Quinoa Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

Appetite for Reduction

Isa's first recipe and my first attempt. Pretty easy and I thought it turned out well. I tried to skimp and not use the whole recipe of dressing, but I think it can take it, the quinoa will absorb it just fine. Remember to make the quinoa the day before and soak the cashews (for the dressing). I didn't see her mention that you need to rinse quinoa first before you cook it otherwise it will be bitter (for those of you new to this grain). Quinoa is wonderful and easy to cook, a whole grain with protein that cooks in 15 minutes–the ease of white rice but so much better for you. I used a quinoa mix that has a couple different colors and both Romaine and Red-leaf lettuce.

I could see adding some garlic, basil or tofu as she suggests, but the tofu might be overkill with protein for me.

Update 2/24/11: I had leftovers of this for lunch today and I added some perfectly ripe avocado. Yes! That was a good idea! Onions have become problematic for my DH (Darling Husband) so I will need to make a lot of these dishes without finely chopped onion (and add it to mine as I eat it) or slice it in big chunks so he can pick it out easily. Final update: We've determined, oddly enough, that quinoa is also a culprit for the DH, so I won't be making this for him again. But I will make it for myself and company.

Did the DD eat it? No. "I don't like garbanzo beans."

Would I make this again? Yes, I love this salad and the dressing. Great for a brunch.

Rating: Salad: 5 out of 5 Forks

Rating: Dressing: 5 out of 5 Forks

Bistro Broccoli Chowder

This is another easy soup to make. Amazingly, I had the parsnips on hand that the recipe calls for. I've never eaten a parsnip in my life (knowingly). I had bought them to try a raw mock tuna recipe that I never got around to making. I used soy milk instead of almond milk since that's what I had in the fridge. I had dried rosemary in the cupboard, but I walked down to my neighbor's house to pick some fresh for the garnish. It was in flower, so I picked a little of that, too.

I like this soup, although the parsnip flavor does come through–maybe it's an acquired taste. While I don't dislike it, but don't love it, either. I only had 1/3 pound of parsnip and the recipe called for 1/2 pound. Isa even says you can just put in more potato if you don't have parsnip. Since I have a ton of frozen broccoli on hand, I think I'll make a big batch of this and freeze it–just omitting the parsnip. (I guess my parents were not into root vegetables. I did not grow up eating turnips or rutabagas, either.)

I used my hand blender to blend and I think I'll put some in the Vitamix to see what it's like super-blended and creamy. Maybe even try a little soy creamer in it.

See these other posts for info on making your own almond milk (it's so easy) and more about parsnips, turnips and rutabagas.

Did the DD eat it? I didn't even make her try it.

Would I make this again? Yes, I liked it and it's an easy dish to make. I might omit the parsnip in the future. Or I'll develop a taste for it!

Rating: 4 out of 5 Forks (or spoons in this case!)

Curried Chickpeas & Greens

This dish has a lot of ingredients--mostly spices, but is still pretty simple to make. With all these dishes with multiple spices, I have been prepping my stove area with all the chopped veggies and pre-measured spices in little glass bowls so I can just plop things in at the right moment.

I used two cloves of garlic instead of four and no onion, which was called for. I used the two tablespoons of ginger in the recipe and I think it was a too much ginger for me, or I didn't mince it well enough. I just did a rough small chop. I forget how hot ginger can be in quantity!

Did the DD eat it? No, she won't eat chickpeas.

Would I make this again? Yes, I liked it and it's an easy dish to have the ingredients for. I think you could use spinach instead of kale.

Rating: 4 out of 5 Forks (reducing the ginger)

Arabian Lentil and Rice Soup

Easy to make, fun to eat! Well, maybe not fun, but certainly tasty. I followed the recipe to the letter although I had to cut it in half since I only had a 1/2 cup of red lentils. I did add another cup of water at the end of the first cook time and the rice was cooked though in only another 5 minutes or so. I added another cup of water at the final end since it was pretty thick.

The taste by itself is great, but my fat-loving taste buds were craving more fat. A dollop of margarine (vegan non-hydrogenated of course) was dancing through my head, but instead, I thought about my new-found fat-friend, coconut oil. Oh yeah! I put a teeny tiny bit in my cup, and ohhhh, yeahhhhh! Lovely.

You could add a tablespoon of coconut oil to this recipe, which would add 120 calories to the total recipe. But if you have added 2 more cups of water, you have 8 servings, not 6, so the total calories per serving would go from 172 calories (original recipe, 8 servings) to 187.5 calories which is still lower than 230 calories!
Original recipe, 6 servings: 230 calories per serving
Add 2 cups water, 8 servings: 172 calories per serving
Add 2 cups water, and 1 tbs coconut oil, 8 servings: 187.5 calories per serving.

Please, someone let me know if my math is wrong....oh, wait, I just realized that I made a half recipe and added two whole cups of water, which would equal 4 cups if you made the whole recipe. That really makes this a low-cal soup. I think if you wanted to keep the thickness, but add the water, just blend part of the soup to get a thick base.

Adjusted math..to how I made it:
Original recipe, 3 servings: 230 calories per serving
Add 2 cups water, 5 servings: 138 calories per serving
Add 2 cups water, and 1 tbs coconut oil, 5 servings: 162 calories per serving.

Did the DD eat it? Hasn't tried it yet. But I can guess no.

Would I make this again? Yes, love it.
Rating: 4 out of 5 Forks

 See a little about coconut oil and coconut butter on this separate post.

Garlicky Mushrooms and Kale

Yes!! Ymmm!! What a way to get your calcium. (Calci-YUM!)

Isa raves about this in her book and I love it too! I used half the garlic (3 cloves instead of 6) and it's still very garlicky. I served it with some roasted red potatoes. East to prep–just some chopping of mushrooms and cutting hard stems off the kale.

I used the amount of oil she called for and I did spray a little extra on the kale once it was in the pan.

I ended up eating most of this. The DH liked it and he got his share, but I finished off the pan. It would serve four as a side, but you'll need a hearty entree, too. Or serve two with another smaller dish like I did (potato).

Did the DD eat it? She tried two little tiny pieces of kale (even though she said she likes kale and she loves garlic.)

Would I make this again? Yes! Very tasty side dish.
Rating: 5 out of 5 Forks

Potato-Spinach Curry

This is another easy dinner to make. There is some chopping of potatoes, but that's about it. I substituted fresh spinach since I had a whole box of it (I did not get the creamy texture Isa was going for, but that's OK with me) and a can of diced tomatoes instead of fresh plum tomatoes. Use whatcha got, right? I had to omit onions for a family member sensitivity, and reduce the garlic from four cloves (wow!) to a big half clove and I was a little low on ginger. I think all that did reduce the flavor. If it were to make this again, I would add back the onions, make sure I had all the ginger called for and increase garlic to two cloves (and can't see using four!). I also added about another cup of water and I think more could be added. The sauce was thin, so maybe mash up a few of the potatoes if you like a thicker sauce. I used the full two pounds of potatoes called for and that was plenty. Maybe more salt.

I think it will make a good "left-over" meal...great in burritos, mash it up, add water/stock to make it a thick soup, etc.

Update: I had this for lunch for a few days after I first made it and it got better. Maybe a combo of the flavors intensifying as well as the familiarity factor coming into play. (Like when you listen to a new song from a group you love and you don't really like it until you've heard it several times.) I ate it over brown rice pasta and it was wonderful. It's a nice dish on a cold gray day.

Did the DD eat it? Yes, but forced.

Would I make this again? No, it didn't really light up my taste buds. (I liked it more later.)

Rating: 3 out of 5 Forks

Smokey Split Pea Soup

This is an easy recipe to make. Just some chopping of carrots and onion, saute, throw in spices, broth and split peas and simmer. The smoked paprika gives it that smoked ham essence without ending the lives of any piggies. (We like that.)  I didn't have much smoked paprika left so I had to use mostly regular Spanish paprika. I think it's worth it to have some smoked on hand for this soup.

My only complaint, and it could be ME not the recipe, is that the dried split peas took forever to cook. I tried doubling and tripling the simmer time, adding more water and still had hard peas. This is the first time I've ever made split pea soup. (Well, the first time I remember that I've made split pea soup. Apparently by age nearly-50 one starts forgetting what one has done in one's life.) Should I have soaked the peas first? No instruction to do so. And I thought split peas and lentils were both so small you could cook straight from dry without soaking. I'll investigate. The taste is great, though.

One thing I do remember from childhood is that my mom always put some sherry in our Campbell's split pea soup, and yes, it was always good. (Yeah, I even did that as a kid.) I didn't have any sherry in the house today, but I had some sake, which is another sweet wine. It worked. I think any white wine will do.

I garnished the soup with croutons for the picture, but since I am wheat-free these days, I will eat it without them. I used to eat split pea soup with tons of broken up saltines, too. I could see adding some veggie bacon bits for some more of that hammy flavor.

I did a little research and found some info on how to cook split peas. Mine should have cooked, although the salt I added before cooking might have caused my problems. I'll have to experiment next time and not add any salt until after they are done.

One thing I didn't do was rinse the peas and sort out stones first. I'll just have to hope they are fine! Blame it on the Campbell's generation, huh?

Here are some websites that offer interesting info about cooking with split peas:

http://www.bestcookingpulses.com/recipeTips.html
http://startcooking.com/blog/560/How-to--Beans--Split-Peas-and-Lentils
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=56
http://www.recipetips.com/kitchen-tips/t--1141/all-about-peas.asp

Did the DD eat it? No. "I don't like pea soup."

Would I make this again? Yes, if only to see if I can get the peas to cook through.

Rating: 4 out of 5 Forks