Barbunya Pilaki

The first time I had Pilaki was several months ago when I stopped in to a local Middle Eastern cuisine restaurant, Anatolian Kitchen. My daughter Katie is a vegetarian and I knew there would be excellent options there for her on a lunch date.

My food knowledge is fairly extensive as I read, breathe, and live food on a regular basis, but somehow I had never heard of this particular dish. Pilaki is a Turkish dish made of what you see here in this recipe, and is named differently for the color or type of bean being used: barbunya for red or pink beans, and fasulye with white beans.

Katie really enjoyed this, so when I got home I looked up recipes and used several to come up with what I knew she would like. This is that recipe. By all means, cook your beans from dried if you have the time, but this quicker method is tasty, as well. I also have thrown everything into the pressure cooker for a quick 15 minute cook and that was delicious, as well.

Barbunya Pilaki
Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 14 ounce can of roman, borlotti, or cranberry beans drained- can also use kidney beans (pictured)
4 Tablespoons olive oil
1 medium yellow onion - finely chopped
2 cloves garlic - minced
1 large carrot - peeled and diced
1 large potato - peeled and diced
2 large plum tomatoes - seeded and chopped
2 cups water
1 Tablespoon Kosher salt
1 teaspoon coarse grind black pepper
Juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup flat leaf parsley - chopped


Directions:

1. Heat olive oil in a heavy bottomed pot, add onions, carrots, and garlic. Cook until onions are translucent, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Add potato, beans and tomatoes with water and bring to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes or until vegetables are tender and a thick stew has formed.
3. Stir in lemon juice and parsley - reserving a Tablespoon of parsley for serving.
4. Ladle into bowls and to with parsley.

Veggie Wednesday: Un-stuffed Vegetarian Peppers

Un-stuffed Vegetarian Peppers

In this house we all love stuffed peppers, but sometimes I need a quicker and healthier alternative and this casserole fits the bill. This is full of colorful peppers, tomato and your choice of brown or white rice. Top with cheese and all you need is a salad to complete this veggie friendly menu.

Un-Stuffed Vegetarian Peppers

Serves: 4-6
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

3 cups diced peppers, red, yellow and green - 1 cup each
1/2 cup diced onion
2 Tablespoons olilve oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
15 ounces tomato sauce
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups cooked rice, brown or white

Yields 4-6 servings

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add peppers and onions and cook until veggies start to soften, 5 minutes or so.
3. Add garlic and stir well.
4. Add rice, tomato sauce and salt and stir to combine. Remove from heat.
5. Pour rice into a greased casserole dish, about 10 x 6 in size and top with cheese.
6. Bake fore 15 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Garden Frittata

Garden Frittata

Nearly every year since I began gardening my yard has been filled with zucchini, grape tomatoes and fresh herbs. One of the quickest and easiest way to use them up is in a frittata. Economical and fast, it's a favorite here and the ways to change it up are many. Whatever is growing in your garden or being sold at your local farmers' market is game here. Serve with a green salad and toasted bread for a delicious and frugal meal.

Garden Frittata
Hands-On Time: 7 minutes
Ready In: 10 minutes
Serves: 4 to 6
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

6 large eggs
1 Tablespoon milk
3 Tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan
1 Tablespoon freshly snipped herbs - flat leaf parsley, basil and chives were used here
1 cup zucchini - diced
1 Tablespoon olive oil or butter
10 grape tomatoes - halved
salt to taste

Directions:

1. Prehat broiler and place rack 4-5 inches from element or flame.
2. Mix eggs and milk with a whisk until frothy. stir in Parmesan cheese and herbs.
3. Heat a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat and add oil or butter. Toss zucchini into pan and cook for 3-4 minutes or until barely softened.
4. Add eggs and stir several times bringing the cooked parts to the top. Tilt the pan as necessary to keep the bottom covered in egg. Cook for 2 minutes until the bottom is just set and the top is still wet. Remove from heat.
5. Arrange grape tomato halves cut-side down across the top of the frittata.
6. Place pan under broiler and cook for 2-4 minutes keeping an eye on the frittata so it doesn't burn. Remove from oven.
7. Allow the frittata to stand for another 3-4 minutes to finish cooking before cutting in wedges to serve.

Homemade Hummus and Wheat Pita

Hummus and whole wheat pita is one of my very favorite things. In fact, I joke with my son Ian that he's 'half hummus and pita' because I ate it so often when I was pregnant with him. I used to pay big money to get good hummus and pita and then I started making my own. Not only did it taste better, but it's so much cheaper that I don't buy the pre-made stuff any longer. I paid less than $5 for both the pita and hummus - a far sight less than when I bought it at the grocery.

It's also a lot easier than you may think. Here are the recipes I use most often.

Hummus
Makes 2 cups
Printable Recipe

2 cups cooked and drained garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
1/2 cup tahini - sesame paste
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon salt
juice of 1 lemon

Toss everything into a blender and pulse until smooth. For this one I added in a cup of diced red pepper. You can add in other veggies, etc. just make sure to balance out the liquid so the hummus isn't too thin.

Cooked chickpeas

Lemon, garlic, tahini and salt


Red pepper

Red Pepper Hummus

Homemade wheat pita

Wheat Pita
Makes 12
Printable Recipe

2 1/2 cups warm water
1 packet active dry yeast
1 tablespoon honey
2 cups whole wheat flour
3 cups white flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon olive oil

Stir flours together with salt and set aside. Add yeast to 1 cup of warm water and stir until dissolved. Mix in 1/2 cup of flours and let stand until bubbly.

Make a well in the center of the flours and pour in the yeast mixture. Start mixing together and add the remaining warm water. Stir well until combined and knead for 5-10 minutes or until dough is smooth and elastic.

Coat a bowl with the oil and add the dough - turning over once to coat both sides with oil. Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm spot until doubled in bulk.

Preheat oven to 500 degrees F and place a cookie sheet into the oven to heat as well.

Punch down dough and divide into 12 equal pieces. On a well-floured surface, roll each piece of dough into a 6 inch circle. Let stand for 10 minutes. Taking turns, place each pita onto the preheated cookie sheet and bake for 4-5 minutes. Turn over once and continue baking until the pita puffs up. Remove from oven and push down gently with a wooden spoon to flatten out. Continue until each pita is baked. Let cool and store in plastic bags.

Veggie Wednesday: How to Cook Everything Vegetarian

Have you seen Mark Bittman's newest tome? This thing, like all his previous works, is huge. How to Cook Everything Vegetarian is 996 pages of every little thing you would ever possibly need to know about vegetarian cooking - and then some.

In his usual casual and non-preachy style, Mark Bittman shares the basic, the not-so-basic and everything else in this fabulous all-you'll-ever-need-to-cook-vegetarian resource. It's not wordy, fluffy or filled up with extras; just straightforward and honest.

There aren't any full-color photos, but rather simple and effective line drawings placed throughout the book to help demonstrate techniques. I know it's hard to believe such a large book could in any way be simple, but it is. It's not more than you need to know, and certainly not less. Oh, and the recipes? Delicious; as expected.

In summation, just two words: Get it.

Veggie Wednesday: Flavorful India Cookbook

I don't make Indian cuisine often, but once I started reading Flavorful India: Treasured Recipes from a Gujarati Family by Priti Chitnis Gress, however, I couldn't wait to get out to the grocery to search for ingredients and hurry back home to start cooking.

Gujarat (a western Indian state) is largely known for vegetarian dishes, and although we didn't make any of those (we made Tandoori Chicken, Cocktail-Size Meat Samosas and Sweet Dough Balls with Coconut) the dishes we did make were perfect. My very-hard-to-please husband loved the tandoori and the dough balls; something I thought he would turn his nose up at, and the kids ate the samosas as I was cooking them so there weren't many left once we sat down to dinner. I'm confident that the vegetarian dishes would elicit the same response, and we'll be making them to test that theory.

I love that each recipe has a story to it, and the sections on cookware and utensils, spices and Indian ingredients are priceless. This is Indian food at its most uncomplicated. It's homey, delicious and fitted for the Northern American kitchen. There isn't one recipe that is too difficult for a novice cook to handle.

While not a comprehensive compilation of Gujarati recipes, Flavorful India is at once personal, informative and basic, drawing from Priti's own family traditions; the perfect addition to any kitchen, but most especially the vegetarian home.

Find your copies:

Softcover at Hippocrene Books
Hardcover at Amazon

Also check out, Hippocrene Cooks, a blog with entries from the many Hippocrene cookbook authors, including Priti Chitnis Gress!

Veggies in the Valley

For many people the beginning of Spring heralds the start of another year of fresh vegetables. Admit it, nothing says Spring like a crunchy pea pod or succulent stalk of asparagus.

The Lehigh Valley has it's fair share of the vegetable
trade; from vegan desserts, to farmer's markets, to
independent farms bursting forth with their freshly
picked crops, to it's very own vegetarian society aka
Lehigh Valley Vegetarians.

I spoke with Mr. Frenkel on the phone and he was more
than happy to send me more resources than I would be able to list here.
If you are in the Lehigh Valley or surrounding areas,
send him an email, tell him Anne sent you, and he'll
gladly add you to the mailing list.

Lehigh Valley Vegetarians
2509 Stones Throw Rd.
Bethlehem, PA 18015
Phone: 610-709-8984
Contact: Len Frenkel
e-mail: frenkel@rcn.com


Here are some listings I was able to find~linked where there is a website or other info.


Farmer's Markets

Bethlehem Farmer's Market

Campus Square at Lehigh University, South Side Bethlehem

Thursdays 12 - 4

Summer only

Plaza Grower's Market
PPL Plaza, 9th & Hamilton
Wednesdays, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., rain or shine
June through October
info@plazagrowersmarket.com

Allentown Fairgrounds Farmer's Market
17th & Chew Sts.
Allentown, PA 18104
(610) 432-8425

Easton Farmers' Market
1 S. Third St., 4th Floor
Easton, PA 18042
(610) 250-6758
eastonfarmersmarket@rcn.com
Emmaus Farmers Market
235 Main St.
Emmaus, PA 18049
(610) 965-6279
emmausmainst@enter.net


Health Food Stores


Garden Gate Natural Foods
17 South 9th Street
Allentown, PA.
610-433-8891

Queen's Nutritional Products
1450 Pennsylvania Avenue
Allentown, PA
610-691-6644

Sign of the Bear
514 North Street Cloud Street
Allentown, PA
610-429-8575

Nature's Way
143 Northhampton Street
Easton, PA
610-253-0940

The Old Copella Store
2064 Bushhill Center Road
Bath, PA 18014
Phone: 610-759-7573

Shaffer's Health Center
1825 Chew St.
Fairgrounds Market
Allentown, PA 18104
610-439-1013
484-695-9496

Frey's Better Foods
1575 Main Street
Hellertown, PA 18055
Phone: 610-838-6989

Taste Of Nature
241 S Broadway
Wind Gap PA 18091
(610) 863-4616

Healthy Alternatives
7150 Hamilton Blvd.
PO BOX 466
Trexlertown, PA 18087
610-366-9866

B-Natural Health Foods
2 North Robinson Avenue
Pen Argyl, PA 18072
(610)863-3388

Area Produce and Dairy Farms

Gottschell Farm
5318 Limeport Pike
Coopersburg, PA 18036
Steve and Nicole Shelly
Steve: (267) 671-5340
Nicole: (267) 496-6303
nicole@gottschellfarm.com

Strawberry Acres
1767 Clearview Rd.
Coplay, PA 18037
(610) 262-1890 or (610) 261-2323
upikfruit@aol.com

14 Acre Farm
169 E. Whitebear Dr.
Summit Hill, PA 18250
Kevin Ruch & Albert Sabatini

Pheasant Hill Farm
Don DeVault
3502 Main Road East
Emmaus, PA 18049
610-965-6871
pheasant_hill@emmausmarket.com

Klein Farms Dairy and Creamery
410 Klein Road; Easton, PA 18040
(610)252-0961
kleinline1@aol.com

Cihylik Farms
Box 546, Cove Road
Treichlers, PA 18086
610-261-1261
Nicholas Cihylik

Lettuce Alone Farm
1846 Independent Rd.
Breinigsville, PA 18031
610-285-2779
Chuck Armitage

Rolling Hills Farm
PO Box 250
Saylorsburg, PA 18353
610-498-2431
fpollock@enter.net
Frank Pollock and Heidi Secord

Stagecoach Orchard Apiary
PO Box 381
Lehighton, PA 18235
610-377-1875
Peter Sliwka

Suyundalla Farms
1848 Clearview Road
Coplay, PA 18037
610-261-9098
skorinko@fast.net
Kenneth and Heather Skorinko

Tara Pome Farm
6825 Woodlawn Drive
Zionsville, PA 18092
610-965-4833
Greg and Joanne Widney
and their children
Jake and Joya

Wills Valley Farm
379 Dunkels Church Rd.
Kutztown, PA 19530
610-683-5540
bock@enter.net
Timothy and Ann Bock

Newhard Farms
3250 Mauch Chunk Rd
Coplay, PA 18037
610-799-3303
Fax: 610-262-6602
info@thecornshed.com


Classes
The Nourishing Well
610-649-5797
Marilyn Moser-Waxman
**********

What would a post be without recipes? Here are three to whet your appetite for a little healthier eating.Vegetarian Paella
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 cup white rice
Few strands saffron or ½ tsp turmeric
2 cups water
2 small green peppers, finely sliced
4 oz fresh peas
4 oz fresh green beans

Heat oil in a large skillet; saute onion and garlic for 2 minutes. Add tomatoes;
cook 2-3 minutes. Add rice, salt to taste, and saffron. Mix well; add water.
Cook over low heat about 14 minutes, until rice is tender. After cooking about
10 minutes, add peppers, peas, and beans. Let stand a few minutes before
serving.
~~~~~~~~~~

Cajun Veggie Burgers
Makes 8 Burgers
Printable Recipe

2 cups cooked red beans
1 cup chopped celery
3/4 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 medium green pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, pressed
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon dry mustard
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. With a spoon or your
hands, mix all the ingredients together until well
blended, and form into burgers. Arrange the burgers on
an oiled baking sheet, and bake for 15 minutes on each
side until browned.
~~~~~~~~~~

Anne's Lentil Salad
Printable Recipe

1 cup dried lentils
1 cup diced carrot
1 cup diced red onion
2 cloves garlic - minced
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
water - as needed
1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tbls. lemon juice - preferably fresh
1/2 cup diced celery
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper

In a saucepan combine lentils, carrots, onion, garlic,
bay leaf, and thyme. Add enough water to cover by 1
inch. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered
for 15 to 20 minutes or until lentils are tender but not
mushy. Drain lentils and vegetables and remove bay leaf.
Add olive oil, lemon juice, celery, parsley, salt, and
pepper. Toss to mix and serve at room temperature.

I Love Falafel

Really I do. My oldest daughters love it too so I buy dry falafel mix often (Near East is good but I prefer Manischewitz). It is a bit pricey though so I found myself doing an intense search for falafel recipes. All I could find were recipes using cooked beans, mostly the traditional garbanzos.

I figured if the big companies could make an "instant" falafel mix, so could I.

I had 1/2 pound of dried lentils on hand and decided to give it a whirl.

I put the lentils into the blender and blended them to powder, added spices and flour (I am out of whole wheat so I used all-purpose), added water to the mix and fried away.

The first batch tasted fine, but they were a bit flat so I added baking soda to the next batch and although they don't taste like the commercial stuff, they were definitely good! They do need some parsley and possibly lemon juice added with the water but, all-in-all I was pleased with the result.

This is the basic recipe I came up with but keep checking back. I plan on trying whole wheat flour, matzoh or even panko as a binder.

Lentil Falafel
Printable Recipe

1/2 lb dried lentils
1/4 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
spices to taste-what I used was:
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp. curry
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. salt
few dashes of black pepper

Grind the whole thing into powder in a blender or food processor.

To 1/4 cup of mix add 1/4 cup of warm water and let stand for 5 minutes.

Drop mix by teaspoonsful into hot oil and fry, turning once until browned. Drain on paper towels.

We eat our falafel in whole wheat pitas with fresh tomato, cucmber slices, and raita or tzatziki.

Cucumber Raita
Printable Recipe

1 cucumber, peeled and grated
1-1/2 C. plain yogurt
1/2 C. water
1/4 C. fresh coriander leaves, chopped
1/2 tsp roasted cumin seeds
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cumin/coriander powder
1/4 tsp chili pepper
Add cucumber to yogurt and water. Roll cumin seeds to a powder and add. Add coriander and spices.

Tzatziki
Makes about 2 cups
Printable Recipe

1/2 European cucumber, peeled and seeded
Salt
2 cups plain yogurt, drained 4 hours
4 cloves garlic, mashed in a mortar or minced
1 tablespoon fresh mint, chopped, optional
1 tablespoon fresh dill, chopped
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, optional
2-3 teaspoons lemon juice

Grate cucumber on the large holes of a hand-held grater until you have 1 cup of
grated cucumber. Spread cucumber on several layers of paper towels, salt lightly
and let drain for 15 minutes. To keep tzatziki rich and thick, be sure to blot
cucumber thoroughly. In a bowl, combine drained yogurt, cucumber, garlic, mint
(if using), dill, olive oil (if using), and lemon juice to taste. Stir to mix well, season
with salt and serve. This may be made ahead a day, but do not add garlic until the
day of serving.