Tostada Nueva

The recent summer weather has nudged me out of my primavera surliness and ignited my desire to paint again. I suddenly feel energized. Focused. Turned on. I've been toning wood and masonite panels left, right and upside down, laying on thick and juicy strokes of pigmented Gesso in rose, peach and ocher- warmth as a foil to my preferred palette for brushy skies and abstractions.

This is a welcome turn. As many of you know, it's been a somewhat weird and challenging seven months. It feels good to be back in my tiny studio again, blasting music and standing upright, paint brush in hand. I am even thinking of starting another blog- a place to show and sell my smaller works. Why not?

And what have I been eating this hot and breezy week, you ask?



Have I got a quick and easy solution for those sultry summer nights when it's too damn hot to turn on the oven. I'm calling the recipe Tostada Nueva. This is not your typical fried corn tortilla topped with shredded iceberg lettuce, red tomatoes and ground beef. Nope. It's light and fresh and snappy. And it's dairy-free (translation- cheese-less) so you can serve it to your GFCF Sweethearts.

I used Trader Joe's Brown Rice Tortillas (thanks to a Fabulous Reader who turned me on to TJ's new gluten-free wraps) for the tostada base. The rice tortillas cooked up flaky and just crisp enough. I fried them briefly in my iron skillet, heated with a splash of olive oil.



Tostada Nueva

I topped my brown rice tostada with slices of Applegate Farms Honey & Maple Turkey Breast and pieces of cooked and crispy (nitrate free!) Sunday Bacon, but you could use any of your favorite deli meat. The heirloom yellow tomatoes are bright and citrusy- perfect for summer.

For each person you'll need:

1 brown rice tortilla-wrap
Olive oil, as needed
3 slices of Applegate Farms Honey Maple Turkey
2-3 pieces of crispy cooked Applegate Farms Sunday Bacon
A handful of organic baby greens
1 smallish yellow tomato, sliced

Honey Mustard Dressing

Whisk together, per person-

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon honey mustard
1 small clove garlic, finely minced
1 dab of agave nectar
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste

If you are making dressing for four servings, I might quadruple all the ingredients listed except for the garlic- one clove is probably enough.

Assemble your ingredients.

Just before you are ready to eat, heat a little olive oil in a medium hot skillet. Fry the brown rice tortilla on both sides, briefly, until it is slightly golden and crisp. Remove with tongs and place the hot tortilla on a serving plate. (Drain it on a paper towel first, if you like.)

Top with the turkey, fresh baby greens, yellow tomato slices and cooked bacon. Drizzle with the Honey Mustard Dressing. Season with more sea salt and fresh ground pepper.

Boom. Dinner is done.

Does it get any easier?

Serve with a side of my Easy Guacamole with Lime. Or how about some of my Horseradish Spiked Red Potato Salad?

Note: I love Applegate Farms because their products are organic, nitrate and antibiotic free, as well as gluten and casein free. Not to mention, delicious.

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Horseradish Spiked Red Potato Salad

Summer has arrived almost instantaneously here in the desert north of Santa Fe. Last week I was layering t-shirts and hoodies to keep warm against the damp and gusty wind. I was shivering and cranky at the Santa Fe Farmer's Market. It felt more like March than May. This weekend? It was quintessential June weather. Hot bright sun. Dry air. An almost too-warm casita. We turned on the ceiling fans.

On weekends like this you kick off your shoes and peel off your long sleeved black jersey, opting instead for the lime green tank top. You feel your bones begin to knit from the longer, warmer daylight and post-dinner walks in the rose hued sun. You smile at the young jackrabbits and their impossibly erect ears. And your thoughts turn to dining al fresco, sitting beneath the dappled shade of the portal with a chilled glass of white and a zesty potato salad.

Last night's Twitter:

Cheap thrills in the desert: S is making animal sounds to alarm a jackrabbit. The sound that makes it freeze in terror? A chicken cluck.




Horseradish Spiked Red Potato Salad

If you really, really prefer sour cream or mayonnaise in your red potato salad- by all means, Babycakes, substitute away. But if you've never tried a mayo-free dairy-free version of this popular side dish, why not give my vegan potato salad a whirl? You might even make some new friends at your next barbecue. Vegans are sprouting up everywhere these days, you know.

2 to 2 1/2 pounds small red potatoes
Sea salt
1/4 cup fruity tasting extra virgin olive oil, as needed
4-6 tablespoons apple cider or rice vinegar, to taste
1 smallish red onion, finely diced
2 tablespoons prepared horseradish- I used Bubbies
Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1-2 teaspoons dill, to taste
1 teaspoon caraway seeds- optional

Wash and cut up the red potatoes, toss them into a pot of salted fresh water. Bring the water to a boil and simmer the potatoes until they are fork tender. Drain well.

Pour the cooked potatoes into a large bowl. While the potatoes are still warm, sprinkle with sea salt and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and vinegar. Toss to coat and to soften the edges of the potatoes pieces a bit. Add the diced onion, horseradish and toss to distribute. Taste and season with more sea salt and plenty of fresh ground pepper. Add the chopped parsley, dill and caraway; mix.

Taste test. Add more olive oil or vinegar, sea salt or herbs.

Serve warm (so yummy!) or cover and chill.

Remember that chilling the potato salad will subdue its flavor considerably. I always season my potato salad more vigorously if I am going to serve it chilled. Taste test after chilling it and add more seasoning if it needs it.

Serves 6 to 8.

Notes:

This a food allergy friendly recipe- it is gluten-free, soy-free, egg-free, dairy-free.

If you're not a fan of horseradish, try my Champagne Vinegar Potato Salad.

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Blueberry Oat Muffins

We woke to the sound of water. It is raining in the desert this morning. The overflow is spilling over the edges of the canales, splashing onto the wedges of flagstone scattered in the sand around our casita. It feels like we are living inside a Zen fountain- waterfalls on all sides. The mesa is hidden in mist. The air is heavy with the scent of juniper and wet bark. I am deeply comforted by all of this. Moisture is a rare commodity here.

I breathe in the friendly air and flash on a rainy autumn day in New Hampshire, the sidewalk wet with red and gold leaves. I remember a cup of coffee and an American Spirit, sipped and smoked in a clammy car parked at the edge of a beach in Orleans, the surf a dense gray-green from the chop of a spring storm. I think about a blue and breezy afternoon at Venice Beach, taking photographs of sand and seaweed. All this, conjured from the smell of the desert in the rain.

I miss the ocean more than I ever thought possible.


In the dreamy rainy day mood I'm in it is difficult to concentrate. I lazily edit photographs of blueberry muffins. I sip peppermint tea. I smile big and wide and send the State of California Supreme Court a big wet kiss for today's wise and compassionate decision (long time readers know my thoughts on this particular issue of love and marriage- you will always find me on the side of love). Love is the bigger, deeper, sweetest thing, after all.

So here is a muffin recipe in celebration of all things sweet and good. A muffin to love. Brown sugar oatmeal goodness that is vegan, gluten-free, egg-free, dairy-free, and even soy-free. One thing it isn't? Free of flavor. I'm not lying. Make these and see for yourself. You'll thank me. With a big fat blueberry kiss.

Blueberry Oat Muffins

I have been using either Laura Scudder's GF Oats or Bob's Red Mill certified gluten-free oats in my baking- both the rolled style and the steel cut. When I make muffins, I like to use rolled oats- the topping looks so pretty.

What you'll need::

1 cup certified gluten-free rolled oats

Soaked in:

1 cup warm vanilla rice or hemp milk, for 20 minutes

Beat together:

1/4 cup Spectrum Organic Shortening
3/4 cup organic golden brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons agave nectar or honey

Whisk the dry ingredients in a large separate bowl:

1 cup sorghum or rice flour- or a blend of your favorite flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4 teaspoon xanthan or guar gum
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

To assemble you'll need:

Egg Replacer (or two eggs, beaten):

1 tablespoon Energ-G Egg Replacer
4 tablespoons water

Whisk till frothy.

Add at the end:

1 cup blueberries- fresh or frozen* see note

For crumble topping:

Rub together 2 tablespoons each:

Certified gluten-free rolled oats
Organic brown sugar
Spectrum Organic Shortening
Add cinnamon, to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a 12-muffin tin with paper liners. Or a 6-muffin jumbo pan.

Add the soaked oats to the shortening mixture; combine briefly and scoop into the dry mixture. Mix by hand to combine.

Add the Egg Replacer or beaten eggs.

If the batter appears too stiff or dry, add 1 to 4 tablespoons of vanilla rice or hemp milk- one spoon at a time- till soft and moist. Add the blueberries right at the end of mixing.

Divide and plop the batter into the twelve muffin cups. Sprinkle with brown sugar oat topping.

Bake in the center of a preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes; if you are making large jumbo muffins, bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

Note* If you use frozen berries, your muffins may need five extra minutes to bake. Keep an eye them.

Check doneness with a wooden pick.

Remove the muffins from the tin and cool on a wire rack (this keeps the bottoms from getting soggy- no one likes a soggy bottom!).

Serve however you like- warm, or at room temperature.

Just be sure to kiss the people you love today.

More Blueberry Goodness:

Sour Cream Blueberry Muffins
Brown Sugar Blueberry Muffins (vegan)
Summer Blueberry Crisp
Blueberry Cobbler (vegan)

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My First Pork Roast

It's Monday. Right? I've been sitting at my desk for an hour. And not a single sentence has been birthed. Even after one hot mother of a mug of coffee (and a decaf peppermint green tea that really doesn't count because, well. It's tea!), I'm still in a post Hallmark fog today, basking in the afterglow of a Sunday afternoon spent with Joey and Will- those two delicious friends of mine. We ate and drank our way through six hours of non-stop conversation. I get all warm and fuzzy just thinking about it. And then my head spins.

I love these two so much. And I'm more than a little tempted to wax poetic about friendship and how we choose our true family, and what a head banging blue-in-the-face relief it is to sit at a table with soulful people who wrestle with big questions and hunger for authenticity and integrity while also making you laugh out loud without covering your teeth and feel proud of your three-inch pie roll and your potato salad.

But I won't. I'll tell you about my first pork roast instead.


I'll say it up front. It took decades to get me here- to ease into a place in my life where I might actually, finally, consider buying a hunk of pork and roasting it. I started off slowly, slyly, trying turkey bacon ten years ago. Then I graduated to the real deal roughly six years ago. Organic Sunday smoked bacon. Nitrate-free, of course. And when my body did not protest and the world as I knew it did not go up in a hellish ball of blistering flames, I decided to move on to the hard stuff. I was ready. It was finally time to roast a pork loin.

And Dear Reader- was I intimidated. You know it. In fact yours truly was almost quaking in her Rocket Dogs. Well, maybe not quaking. More like, shivery-nervous. So I decided two things.

First- that I would use my trusty slow cooker. Simple. Familiar. Not too much to screw up. Second- that I would make a sauce with pomegranate juice and a jar of apricot jam. It just seemed like a good fit.

And guess what? Tender, juicy, tangy-sweet deliciousness ensued.



Pork Roast with Mushrooms and Brown Sugar Apricot Sauce

I made this sauce intuitively- starting with a jar of jam. It was delicious- I admit. But next time I'm going to add a dash of wine or brandy. Just because.

2 pounds boneless pork loin
Extra virgin olive oil, as needed
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper
5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 large sweet onion, sliced
2 cups sliced Baby Bella mushrooms
A sprig of fresh rosemary

For the sauce:

1 8-oz. jar apricot jam- no sugar style
1 1/2 cups unsweetened pomegranate juice
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
4 tablespoons organic light brown sugar
2 teaspoons dried Italian Herbs- oregano, thyme, sage, rosemary
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon paprika

Turn on your slow cooker to low.

Place the pork loin into the slow cooker. Drizzle with a little olive oil and season with sea salt and fresh ground pepper. Throw in the garlic, onions and mushrooms. Toss in a sprig of rosemary.

Make your sauce:

Combine the apricot jam, pomegranate juice and balsamic vinegar. Stir in the brown sugar, herbs and spices, till smooth. Pour over the pork loin and mushrooms.

Cover and cook for about five hours. Test the internal temperature with a meat thermometer. It should read 145 degrees F. To be honest, I let the temperature get up to 160 degrees F. I wanted my first pork roast to be well done.

Take the roast out of the cooker, tent with a piece of foil, and allow it to rest for ten minutes.

Remove the sprig of rosemary and pour the sauce and mushrooms into a medium sauce pan; keep warm until serving. If the sauce is thin, thicken it with a slurry of tapioca or arrowroot (dissolve 1 tablespoon of either starch in two tablespoons cool water or liquid; then add it to the heated sauce; whisk until thickened).

Serves 4.

We enjoyed this with Champagne Vinegar Potato Salad- but this fruity mushroom sauce would be fab on cooked rice. Next time? I'm going to serve this dish spooned over a bed of white or brown rice.

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Pomegranita

I'm delirious. I could blame it on the wind. There is a loco spring wind, you know. And it can make you, well. Crazy. It rough rides up the Chama River like nobody's business and bitch slaps the mesa behind us. It buffets the casita absolutely senseless and whips tumbleweeds into a frenzy. I'm not kidding. There are moments when you wonder when the roof will lift off. You start looking out the window for flying monkeys. You hunker down and make hemp mashed potatoes to cope. You bake lovely cheesy vegan casseroles. You cook buffalo meatballs in salsa.

But I'm not ready to post those recipes. Why? Because, Darling Sane Reader (you are more sane than I am, right, even if only by a whisker?) I whipped up something smoothalicious this morning. And I don't have the heart not to share it. Pronto. Now. Like, yesterday.



We all know that dark and vibrant hued fruits are good for us. You've read about all those studies, right? And all those yummy antioxidants and goodies like anthocyanin that feed our brains and keep us sharp, on the edge, where we need to be?

Psychology Today reports that preliminary results indicate that people who eat a cup of blueberries a day perform 5 percent to 6 percent better than a control group on tests of motor skills. I'm not good at math (will blueberries help?) so I'm unsure if "5 to 6 percent better" is a huge deal, but, Hell. For the sake of my asymmetrical motor skills (I was the Aspergian geek who was never, ever, picked for any team in school- ever!) I'm willing to eat more blueberries, pomegranates and cranberries.

Because they taste so good!

Pomegranita

This slushy treat is more like a granita than a smoothie- though with added hemp milk it could be nudged into the smoothie category. Play with it and see how you like it. I'm thinking of making this some warm and windy evening- and adding a shot of Chopin vodka to it. Or tequila. Hmmm. Pomegranita Loca!

For a single smoothie::

1/2 cup organic frozen peach slices
1/2 cup organic frozen wild blueberries
1/2 cup organic unsweetened pomegranate juice
1 tablespoon agave nectar
1/2 cup vanilla hemp milk- or non-dairy milk of choice

Toss the frozen fruit into a sturdy blender; add the pomegranate juice and agave. Cover and blend on high. It will be thick. Add the vanilla hemp milk. Blend. Add more liquid if you need it.

I served it slushy and thick and, Oh my- it was smoothalicious. Can you see me smiling?

Browse more smoothie recipes.

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