Urban Farmer Gals - UFG for short

Urban Farmer Gals - UFG for short

Yowzers!!  It has been a long time between posts!  Spring has sprung and life has been super busy as a result. 

Since my last post my 'seedlings' have been growing like crazy...they are almost ready for the garden.  Check out the pics below...they are beautiful!  I am so proud to have grown them and nurtured them myself instead of just buying the seedlings at a garden centre.  I can almost taste them already... One thing I noticed was that the tomatoes smelled like tomatoes almost as soon as they broke the surface of the potting soil. I wasn't expecting that from small seedlings (less than an inch high) they would have any scent at all. It was a pleasant surprise.

As I mentioned in a past post, one of my sisters and I are going to be sharing a veggie garden. Urban Farmer Gals is what we have dubbed ourselves...UFG for short. So that we could start planting some seeds my husband and I spent a weekend building our main garden and a smaller herb garden. Much frustration was vented using a mini sledge hammer to whack 12 inch spikes into the bed we made. We had a lot of fun.  The soil we used was a Jr bag of black earth from Big Yellow Bag.  It was easy to order...just called in, paid by credit card and they delivered it the next day to the exact spot I wanted it dropped.  We used the entire Jr bag for the main garden and the herb garden.  In hindsight, I should have chosen a regular size bag because we didn't have enough left over for a perennial garden we want to build as well. 

Tomatoes

Tomatoes and peppers

Butter crunch lettuce



Main veggie garden

Herb garden

This week we got together to plot and plan where everything was going to go and then we planted seeds for carrots, green onions, butter crunch lettuce, romaine lettuce, mescalin mix, spinach, peas, basil, chives, parsley, cilantro and dill.  To plot the garden I found a 30 day trial planner available on the Old Farmers Almanac site.  There is lots of useful information on the site and the planner was fairly easy to use once we got the hang of it. It seems that our plans were a bit bigger than our allotted space however so we are going to run out of room for the tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini and green beans.  To remedy that...the 3 planned perennial gardens at the side and front and back corner of my property are now going to have veggies mingling with the flowers and shrubs. Not to mention the containers that will have herbs, peppers, tomatoes, and lettuce...yes you read that right...we are going to grow hanging baskets of salad!  Such fun we are having!! 

Veggie garden plan

Herb garden plan

 

Stay tuned for more pics and stories!  And until we meet again...Grow gardens not grass!

UFG's Unite!





Marketday!

Today is Marketday and more often than not we spend Marketday with my sister.  We roam the market checking out what is fresh, we chat about our much anticipated garden…we have even named our gardening journey - Urban Farmer Gal’s Unite!   Today though, we spent Marketday with Dan’s parents.  They normally go to the St. Jacob’s market so we thought we would play tour guides and take them to the Kitchener market.  What a fun day!  Then we came home and started a nursery... We planted the seeds for some of the herbs and veggies that will be in our garden this summer.  F U N!  Mama brought seeds she saved from her own plants, she brought seeds from my sister and brother in law’s garden which is all the way in BC, and I had some of my own store bought heirloom seeds.  We spent some quality time digging in the dirt…on my dining room table.

 

 Last weekend we missed Marketday because we took a mini holiday and went to Buffalo.  We found a delightful restaurant that offered vegan and vegetarian options.  If you are ever in Buffalo, check out Merge…delish and lovely ambiance!  We highly recommend the Vegan Alfredo and the Gumki!!  Neither of those inspired the recipe I am posting today however…the appetizer was the inspiration for what I created in our kitchen this week…it was so good that we ate over half of it and walked around with food bellies for the rest of the night.  I can also tell you that this dish is even better the second day once the flavors have hung out and melded together.

 

 

Sweet Potato Lentil Gratin

Serves 4 to 6

 4 small/medium sweet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced (I used my mandolin)

1 tbsp olive oil
½ sweet onion, diced
1 minced clove of garlic
1 cup chopped pineapple
¾ to 1 cup unsweetened coconut
¾ tsp ground cardamom
½ tsp cayenne (less or more depending on how hot you like it…we try to lean more to the hot side so I used more)
Salt to taste
Fresh ground pepper
½ cup finely chopped mixed nuts
1 ½ cups of organic lentils

1.       Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

2.       Parboil the potato slices in boiling salted water for about 5 mins…maybe a bit less depending on how thick you have sliced them.
3.       Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat.  Add the onion and cook until tender – about 5 minutes; add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more.  Stir in the pineapple, coconut milk, cardamom, cayenne, and salt to taste.  Heat on medium for about 2 or 3 minutes. Set aside.
4.       Lightly oil a casserole dish.  Arrange half of the sweet potatoes on the bottom of the dish; lightly season with salt and pepper; spread half of the lentils on top of the sweet potatoes.  Top with half of the pineapple mixture.  Arrange the rest of the potatoes; season; spread the remaining lentils and then top with the remaining pineapple mixture.  Sprinkle the nuts on top. 
5.       Bake for 40 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. 

Nom nom nom…nuff said!

Marketday = Joyday!

What a week it has been!  Every day was go go go seemingly without an end in sight.  Lucky for me…Friday is here and my favourite day of the week is tomorrow.  Marketday.  Otherwise known to the general population as Saturday. 

 

I love Marketday.  On a day that we could sleep in with the dogs…we instead get up early and go to the market.  We go in the same way every week and hit the local organic coffee café – 1 decaf almond milk latte please and thank you.   I used to be a die hard coffee drinker...the coffee was brewing first thing in the morning by necessity.  I only normally had a cup per day but I HAD to have that cup.  Fast forward through the last couple months and I have completely nixed the caffeine habit…with the exception of my weekly decaf almond milk latte at the market.  First thing I do once it’s in my grubby little mittens is to inhale the aroma of my weekly treat.  Joy in a cup!  Now, in order to get to the fruits and veggies we have to go downstairs.  Halfway down the stairs I stop…likely driving anyone behind me crazy, namely my husband…I need to look at the hustle and bustle; take in all the colours; listen to the sounds of the market.  It’s about 8:30 a.m. and once I have had my fill of the sights and sounds and with my coffee in hand, I go down the stairs and start our weekly ritual of chatting with the vendors and finding just the right veggies and fruit for our meals.   This is living and the only thing that will be better is when I am harvesting veggies from my garden this summer!  That's another blog tho...watch for it...Urban Farmer Gals Unite!

 

Why do I shop at the market you ask...I mean besides the latte?  For a couple really great reasons.  1.) I believe in supporting our local farmers and trying to ensure that our produce is bought as close to home as possible.  This time of year I will admit it is more difficult but we do try.  2.) It's cheaper!!!  WAY cheaper!  Nuff said.  

 

Once we leave the market, it's off to the local health food store to stock up on pantry items.  Again...I could get the things I need at the larger grocery store in town and yes I could save a couple bucks on my Earth Balance etc...but the folks at Full Circle are knowledgeable and friendly...and a small local business instead of a large conglomerate.  So they get my extra bucks... 

Now, by this time of the week the pickings in the fridge are getting pretty slim…I don’t want to buy at the grocery store when I know I am a day or two away from Marketday.  So breakfast becomes a creative exercise…today was no exception!  Breakfast is often fresh juice or a smoothie.  Today it was a smoothie…and although it wasn’t the loveliest color…it was fabulous!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mango Kale Smoothie

Makes 1 serving

Put the ingredients in the blender in the order they appear - this keeps the kale close to the blades and keeps the seeds from flying all over the place.

½ cup fresh strawberries

5 kale leaves (I ripped them up a bit to give my poor blender a break but if your blender is strong you may not need to do this.)  
1.5 tbsp ground flax seeds
1 tbsp chia (soaked or unsoaked)
1 cup of frozen mango chunks
1 ¼ cups of coconut water (not from concentrate)

Blend, pour, enjoy! 

Feb 24, 2013

Wow!  It’s been almost a month since our first blog and what a busy month it has been.  What have we learned this month you ask?  For that, you need some background info.  As foodies, we used to eat out 4 to 5 times a week.  We loved to experience different cultures thru food…heck we still do!  Since we have changed our diet and lifestyle we eat at home, and pack our lunches so we can control what goes into our food.  What we have learned in the last month since our diet is so clean and healthy, is that eating out is a painful experience for 2 reasons.  1.) It is much more difficult to find places where we can confidently order from the menu and know that our entire meal is plant based.  2.) When we do eat out we consistently experience bloating, upset stomachs and headaches…etc.  I do want to note here that we have found a couple really great vegan restaurants not too far from where we live and our experiences at both of these locations were great!  One other thing we noticed is that smells that used to make our mouths water now do quite the opposite.  We happened to be walking past the meat section of a grocery store the other day where there was an employee running a taste testing station.   The smell of the meat was over powering and we were so surprised that it was the complete opposite of appetizing.  It was kind of mind blowing really! 

One of our new rituals is to go every Saturday morning to the local farmers market to experience the sights, sounds (we love the buskers), smells and the food…oh the food!  We have made a commitment to try a new fruit or vegetable each week.  Last week it was fennel.  Now Mr. Pepper, he loves black licorice…but me not so much.  The smell is enough to have me running in the other direction.  However I’m all for new things so I thought what the heck!  I have been juicing a lot lately and prepping to do my first juice fast so I tried a green juice with fennel…had I not thrown some radishes in there because they happened to be on the count, it likely would have tasted ok.  So I will try it again but sans radishes.  

 

 

 

 

Part of our journey is trying new recipes…here is one that quickly has become a regular meal at our house and currently is my personal favorite:

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Enchiladas

3 large sweet potatoes and cut into large cubes
1/2 white onion
1 can of organic black beans, or 2 cups freshly cooked
3 tbsp molasses (I use fancy molasses but any kind will do)

1 tbsp almond butter
1-2 tbsp lime juice
1/2-1 tsp salt (to taste)
1 tsp cumin
2 tsp chili powder
Black pepper to taste

Herdez Green Salsa (avail at most grocery stores in the Mexican section)

8-10 whole grain tortillas (I have used Kamut as well)
1/2 cup or so Daiya pepper jack or cheddar cheese (optional)

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

Boil a large pot of salted water, and add the sweet potatoes. Cook till they’re fork tender, and drain and set aside.

Sauté the onion with a few tablespoons of water or some coconut oil spray until they are translucent and starting to brown. Add the sweet potatoes, black beans, molasses, almond butter, lime juice, salt, cumin, chili powder, and black pepper. 

Mash with a hand masher or fork till the mixture; leave the mixture a bit chunky.

Assemble your enchiladas by rolling about 1/4-1/3 cup of the filling into each tortillas; lay them side by side in a rectangular baking dish.

Cover them with the entire jar of the Green Salsa.

Sprinkle with Daiya or cheese if using either…you don’t have to use either if you don’t want to.  I’m not a fan of the processed vegan cheese so far but wanted to try it.

Bake for about 30 minutes; until the cheese has melted and enchiladas are hot.

Makes 4 to 5 servings of 2 enchiladas each.

Yummy!

Our Journey Begins

Welcome to our blog.  This is the first time we have ever blogged.  We are excited our the changes we are making and if the journey we are on is one that inspires someone else to make changes in their life...well, that would be a wonderful thing!!

I would like to introduce ourselves... Our friends affectionately call us The. Peppers’.  We are your traditional Mr. & Mrs. Omnivore…or rather we were. What happened you ask? We watched a documentary (Food Inc) and became more aware of our food.  Not only were we more aware of our food but as animal lovers we were appalled at the conditions and treatment of the animals that became our food and the industrialization of the food industry.  After that first documentary a surprising thing happened…we became uncomfortable making the same choices were always made; we began to challenge what we knew about our food and the food industry as a whole. Where we used to talk about what to eat, we began to talk why we ate it.  We started to question what we believed was true about food & the choices we made. And so the research began and we started to educate ourselves; we watched more documentaries; we read books; we asked questions at the butcher, the market, the bakery; we started to learn. And we started to change.  This blog is about the changes we are making and our journey to a plant based diet.  We invite to follow along and share our journey.  We will post stories, trials, triumphs, recipes and pictures as we document this new chapter of awareness in our lives.


Until next time...eat green!


The Peppers