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Gardening: I Grow It In the Ground

As I’ve written before, I am very fortunate to have a garden plot in the backyard behind my apartment.  I’m not growing a wide variety of things, mostly tomatoes of varying sorts, and cucumbers.  Speaking of cucumbers here is one of my lemon cukes:

lemon cucumber plant

I’ve got four plants in the ground right now.

I’m also growing tomatillos:

tomatillos

These have really taken to the soil and are quite large now compared to when I put them in the ground.  Tomatillos are crazy growers and two plants should supply me with plenty of fruit this summer.

I’m growing ground cherries:

ground cherry

There are about four plants in there, and when they get a little bigger, I’ll separate them.

I’m growing tomatoes, too.  Two of the varieties are Prudens Purple and Silver Fir.  Thanks to the urban gardener meetup a few months ago for the Silver Fir seeds!

prudens purple

silver fir

I’m also growing an Amish paste tomato, and I attempted to grow a yellow pear.  The yellow pear especially is not thriving – I think it’s because of the location in the plot.  Unfortunately, this space doesn’t get as much sun as I would like.   I may put one of the remaining pear tomatoes in a container on the deck.

And finally, another gratuitous tree shot:

through the trees

Hooray for the warm weather growing season!

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Zukay Probiotic Relish is Delicious

zukay

Since it’s Memorial Day, the unofficial start of summer, some of you are probably having BBQs today. When I am grilling, I really like to cook hot dogs – via my CSA, I have access to awesome dogs made with pastured meat, yum. And one of the things I like putting on my dogs is pickle relish.

For years, I just used conventional relish, but over a year ago I became aware of some pretty excellent relish made by a company called Zukay, thanks to Ann Marie over at cheeseslave.  In fact, she liked it so much, and felt it was such a good product, that she gave away an entire case of the stuff!  I was inspired, and definitely wanted to try it, so I picked up a jar of the garlic dill relish at Whole Foods one day.

fermented

So, how did I like it?  I loved it!  Still do.  I put it on hot dogs, but I bet it would be good in tuna or salmon salad, and chicken salad, too.

Now, what makes this stuff so special?  Why did I chuck my old relish for this? Well, it’s naturally fermented for one, which means probiotics, which means good for your digestion.  It’s raw, dairy-free and gluten-free, too, which could be really beneficial to those of you who have these intolerances.

ingredients narrow

Best of all, though, it’s delicious.

relish

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Friday Bits

This week was an unusual one – I had a bunch of evening meetups, so there wasn’t much cooking going on at my house.  I won’t deny it – I love going out to restaurants – but I also love cooking at home.  Next week looks busy too, but I hope I can get more cooking in, despite.

Probably my favorite dish I made this past week was a gluten-free tabbouleh.  I tested this recipe for the upcoming cookbook by Shauna and Danny Ahern last July; I loved it then, and it’s just as good now.  I did make some adjustments – upped the amount of a few things, primarily, to match my personal tastes.  It was great with some greek yoghurt on the side.   I can’t give you any more details until the book comes out (maybe in October?  I can’t remember exactly), but when it does, I’ll post the recipe.

As for my garden, the little plants in the ground are slowly growing up.  The tomatoes, cucumbers, and tomatillos have loved the recent hot, humid days, and I hope for more hot (though not necessarily humid) days to encourage growth.  I see tomato plants from nurseries, and experience a little bit of “size envy”, but I have to remember that those plants were probably grown quickly in a hot house and not from seed in paper pots in someone’s backyard.

I’ve added a couple of things to the site itself – at the top of the right sidebar is a line of icons leading you to the Harmonious Belly twitter feed, Facebook page, RSS feed, and a new contact form.  The contact form is the best way to get in touch with me with questions, comments, or suggestions.  That and formspring.

Finally, I made the decision to eliminate sugar from my diet again.  Even the little bit I’ve been eating seems like too much right now, so I’m going to go back to just abstaining.  My plan is for doing this for two weeks, and at that point I’ll see where I am.  I think it will only be a positive adjustment, especially with respect to my running and general feeling of well-being. Perhaps this will usher in a new era of kombucha brewing!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend, everyone!

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Lemon Water

lemons

One of the things I’ve been doing while straightening out my eating practices is to drink lemon water in the mornings.   I first became aware of the benefits of lemon water via Joy McCarthy’s twitter feed.  She’s a big proponent of lemon water and encourages pretty much everyone to drink it.

So, why is it a good idea?  Well, lemon juice mixed with water creates a beverage that, when imbibed, helps to raise the body’s pH level.  Lemon juice, when metabolized, is very alkalizing and therefore can help balance out an acidic body.  Being acidic is not a good condition to be in – if this is the case, one is more susceptible to falling ill, feeling fatigued, etc.

Lemon water helps to stimulate digestion as well, and ameliorate heartburn and bloating.  Some people believe lemon water is helpful for weight loss, too, but I’m not absolutely sure about that.

It’s very simple to prepare – just cut a lemon in half and squeeze it into a glass, then add 8-12 oz of water.  That’s it!  I drink it first thing in the morning, but some people also drink it mid-day and in the evenings as well.  In the mornings, the key is to drink it first thing before you eat anything.

After you drink it, though, it’s best to rinse out your mouth with water to get rid of as much of the residual acid as possible – while lemon juice is alkaline when metabolized, it is acidic in the mouth and can affect tooth enamel and such.  Wait about a half- hour to brush your teeth.  Brushing too soon after drinking/eating things acidic can do more harm than good, as the tooth enamel will still be too soft – you’ll most likely be removing a microscopic layer that could have been repaired by the minerals in your saliva.   So, be careful in this respect.

For me, I find that I feel sort of “cleansed” after drinking lemon water.  Some years back a massage therapist friend of mine told me that drinking lemon water after body work or rigorous exercise has a detoxifying effect, too.  I like drinking it after I run.  I also find that when I drink lemon water regularly, I have less sugar cravings and my digestion is calmer.  All good things.

Definitely try it out and let me know what you think!

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Garden Update

My garden now exists fully in two spaces – upstairs on the deck outside the dining room, and downstairs in the yard, in a corner plot.  Being able to plant in the ground is a huge deal here in NYC, so I am really grateful to have this space.  For now, though, I’ll focus on what is growing up on the deck.

My arugula is growing like crazy!

arugula

It seems to like the soil it’s in and its placement on the deck.  It’s constantly sprouting new growth, so I expect to have baby arugula all summer.  I like to eat it with a simple vinaigrette made with olive oil, fresh squeezed orange juice, salt and pepper.  For vinaigrettes containing citrus, I find it imperative to use freshly pressed/squeezed juice – it tastes fantastic, for one, and you bypass the whole pasteurization thing present in ready-made juice at the supermarket.

As an aside, have you heard about pasteurized eggs?  So strange.  I can’t imagine wanting to eat them.

There are two herbs growing in my planter that I did not plant myself.  One is cilantro – I found it growing one day and have cared for it ever since.  I love love love cilantro, so I’m especially happy about this.

cilantro

The other is lavender, which I originally thought was tarragon.

lavendar

It smells amazing – not sure what I’ll do with it, apart from simply enjoying it with my eyes and nose.  Perhaps honey lavender ice cream is in store for us this summer, or some sort of cocktail.  I’ll have to look into it.

I started a couple of things from seed this past week, and they are in the initial sprouting stage.  First, I planted thyme in a small pot – I did this so that I can transport it into the house when it gets cold in the fall.  Thyme is my favorite herb to pair with winter squash, so it will be nice to have some fresh thyme when the time (ha ha!) comes to start roasting squash again.

thyme sprouts

I also planted tatsoi next to the cilantro.  Tatsoi is a very tasty asian green, similar to bok choi, and is very high in calcium.   I love growing greens because they sprout so quickly!  I’m looking forward to eating the tatsoi, perhaps even mixed with baby arugula for a nice fresh salad.

new tatsoi sprouts

And finally, the fruit trees are full of abundant green leaves!  The apricot tree isn’t going to fruit this year, but I have spied a few plums.  Here’s one of the trees from today:

trees

I just love all this greenery these days!  Soon, I’ll write about what’s growing in the ground.

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Brownies – A Conversion Story

brownies

These days I’m not totally refined-sugar-free anymore.  However, I have managed to find a way to eat refined sugars in very small quantities – mostly in a bite or two of gelato here and there, or some dark chocolate, or in a treat made by a friend – and I eat natural, unrefined sugars in small amounts – raw honey in my tea, mostly.  I don’t eat sweets every day, either.  This works for me, and who knows – maybe someday I’ll be able to totally and forever kick the sugar habit, both refined and unrefined!

Earlier this week, I talked about using coconut sugar, a gentle, traditional sweetener derived from the sap of the coconut palm flower.  I used this sugar in a batch of brownies last weekend, and I thought it was a great alternative to refined white sugar.  The sweetness was gentle and light, with no acrid element to it at all.

Not knowing what exact results I’d get by this switcheroo, I felt that brownies would be more forgiving in this experiment – the combination of chocolate, eggs, butter, and sweetener is a pretty safe gamble in resulting deliciousness.

Additionally, I used sprouted wheat flour in exchange for cake flour; this was the first time I’d used a sprouted grain flour and I liked it a lot.  It added a nice texture to the brownie; in the past, I had used whole wheat pastry flour in place of the specified cake flour, and still enjoyed the more uneven texture compared to white flour.

Usually, one can substitute 7/8 cup all-purpose flour for each cup of cake flour, and add 2 tablespoons of cornstarch for every 7/8 cup all-purpose flour used.  However, I didn’t want to use any cornstarch, so I just stuck with the flour on its own.  I knew it would make for a heavier brownie, and I was ok with that.

The chocolate I used was, sad to say, quite inferior, but it was all I had at the time.  I do not recommend using unsweetened Baker’s chocolate for anything, really.  It imparted an anemic chocolate flavor – flat with no depth, no real richness.  Next time, I will search for something of higher quality, preferably organic.

The eggs and butter were fabulous.  The eggs are pastured “beyond-organic”, and come from my buying club.  The butter was Organic Valley Pasture Butter.  Plenty of CLA and Omega-3s there.

Vanilla, baking powder and salt are what’s left.  Nothing remarkable with these ingredients.

It had been a long time since I’d made brownies.  The recipe I use is from Cook’s Illustrated The Best Recipe, and I think it’s a very good basic brownie recipe.  The recipe converted ok, but I think it will convert even better if I use even less flour next time.  The brownies, which normally come out more fudgy than cakey, came out not quite cakey but certainly not fudgy.

My friend Charlene, who was there helping out, also remarked that using the full cup of sugar would also contribute to a more fudgy texture; I used only about 3/4 cup of sugar, because in tasting the batter it seemed sweet enough.  I understand that coconut sugar is not as sweet as white sugar, so the brownie batter tasting sweet enough with 3/4 cup coconut sugar tells me how far along I’ve come in my tolerance of sweet things.

The brownies did improve the day after, I believe.  They got a little softer and a little more intense in flavor, which I enjoyed very much.

My goal is to have a brownie recipe that is nourishing while still being a reasonably sweet treat.  I want to do some more testing with this recipe before I share the details of the adjustments I’ve made, so I am not going to reprint the recipe just yet.  Look for it in the near future, though!

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Coconut Sugar – Update!

coconut sugar

A month or so ago I talked about coconut sugar.  It’s a natural, traditional sugar made from the sap of the coconut palm flower, has a low glycemic index, and can be used 1:1 in recipes that call for regular conventional sugar.  This weekend I cracked open the jar and used it in a brownie recipe (more on that later), and I loved the results.

I was fortunate enough to have purchased the kind of coconut sugar that is more paste-like than rock-hard, because I don’t have the proper tool to break up a hard rock of sugar.  It was fun to unearth the the sugar by cutting through the thin layer of wax used in what I expect was the canning/preserving process.  Kind of like opening a present!

wax

The sugar itself was delicious – very gentle and not harsh at all, sweet but not too sweet, with a taste of maple syrup or caramelization in the background.  I loved it!  I could see using this in tea or coffee, using it in rice pudding, or in any kind of sweet thing that might benefit from a little bit of a caramelized flavor in amongst the sweetness.  I think it would work well in Thai or Southeast Asian dishes, too, like curries.

sugar exposed

I’ve read that coconut sugar isn’t as sweet as conventional sugar, and that was definitely my experience, but I do not consider this a bad thing.  For me, in fact, it’s better – since I’ve drastically reduced my sugar intake, I’ve tasted the natural sweetness in almost everything I eat.  I don’t like things to be too sweet anymore.

I’ll talk a little bit more later in the week about the results I met with replacing conventional granulated sugar with coconut sugar.