I just finished a strawberry mango mylkshake for dinner, and I'm feeling rather fat and sassy and not too much like working. I probably should have thought that one through a little better, but it sure was good. I had made a nice kale salad for dinner, and then Darius came up with the brilliant idea of a mylkshake, and all my good green intentions went out the window. Well, the kale salad will make a good lunch tomorrow, right?
I'm actually pretty amazed that we still have kale as it (and most greens) do better in cooler weather. I suppose it is cold enough somewhere, right? I was thinking today how blessed we are that California got into this organic thing so many years ago (back in the 70's I'd guess) so that we can have these foods available today. So many growers are "going organic", and they are finding it is not as easy as our California neighbors have made it look. I suppose it will all work out as more and more people want organic foods, but demand definitely surpasses supply.
There's a lot of people who feel that organically grown food costs too much. I have learned that eating junk food all my life cost me a lot more than organic groceries would have cost. I also believe people would be a lot happier about having a more plant-based diet if they had delicious organic fruits and vegetables to choose from instead of badly grown conventional produce. Too many people don't know what a good apple or peach or piece of celery tastes like. (I couldn't believe how many people told me they don't like celery when we offer it with our honey almond butter samples.) And don't get me started at the awful taste of conventional lettuce that comes precut in those bags at the grocery store. They must literally bathe the lettuce in chemicals to get it to hold up longer.
Many of the varieties available aren't chosen for their flavor; they're chosen for how well they'll hold up after they're picked so that they can be shipped all over the country. As we get more and more farmers close to home to grow our food, we're going to discover how delicious other varieties are that wouldn't be options for food that has to be trucked somewhere.
Times are changing, and people are discovering plant-based diets are good on many different levels besides just health. Doctors practicing preventive medicine are even beginning to encourage their patients in that direction. As people begin living this life-style, they are wanting food that satisfies their palette as well as their health needs. Tasty varieties of fruits and vegetables are a key component. And I plan on living long enough to taste every one of them!!!
We have 2 kale salads in our repetoire now, a sweet kale salad including raisins and curried cashews, as well as our old favorite savory kale salad with onion, tomato, and avocado in a lime vinaigrette. We've really been enjoying the olive cheese spread (one of our customers loves it on everyday bread). I like it with celery, and it's also good with tomatoes and/or cucumber/zucchini slices. I also mixed it into shredded zucchini for a mac and cheese variation. Tasty with some marinated mushrooms.
We're also having some Waldorf salad this week since we got in a new variety of apple, Pink Cripps, a cross between an Australian apple, Lady Williams, and the common golden delicious apple. Waldorf salad is a delightful salad of apples, celery, walnuts, and raisins. We dress it with avo mayo instead of the traditional mayonnaise, and I like it better.
We finally made more of our Mexi-Cali wrappers this week. These make such great taco shells, so of course we'll have some elotes con crema this week (corn mixed with picante mayo). Mexican Rice (minced cabbage to replicate rice mixed with tomatoes and spices) will do nicely on the side.
We're still enjoying vanilla yogurt sylk (cashew cheese with honey and lime) to sauce our berries and peach parfaits. I also made some queso dulce (cashew cream cheese with raisins) to go with another all celery dinner. We have been loving fruit for dinner many nights, both solo or with the sylk or sweet cheese. It is my favorite thing about summer. There's plenty of time for heavier foods when it gets colder.
We made some Hawaiian granola this week too from some of the delicious pineapples that have been coming. I love that with some chopped apples and vanilla yogurt sylk too.
Of course we'll have a few regular salads too. I've been on quite an olive kick lately using a mixture of every kind of olive we have to top my salads. The kids love mushrooms on theirs, and Ranch dressing of course. We just made some kale chips by dipping some kale leaves in ranch dressing. We'll have to see how they turn out. Sounds good though.
Desserts this week: Rawky Road, pumpkin pie, key lime pies, skinny mints
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