Zucchini Cakes

Earlier this week, I saw a recipe online for "crab" cakes made from zucchini rather than . . . y'know, crab. The recipe was vegetarian, but not vegan -- and I was lacking a couple of the key ingredients (like Old Bay seasoning). So I winged it a bit.

The results were delicious. Looking at the picture now, I am making myself hungry again. I can see why the recipe called them crab cakes, even though the taste isn't the same; the texture is very crab cake-like. I had already shredded the zucchini and summer squash the same night I made the Chocolate Summer Squash Bread, so there was hardly any prep work involved; the cakes made a fast and tasty meal before I went off to teach class.

After class, we picked up some Old Bay seasoning at the store; I'm going to definitely make these again once we get another batch of squash (which will undoubtedly be this week). I will try them with the Old Bay and then post a definitive recipe here. For now, the picture is all I have to offer.

(Update: finished recipe for vegan crab cakes now available!)

Vanilla and Agave Nectar Cake with Orange Glaze

Any birthday celebration needs a birthday cake, so I decided to make Vanilla and Agave Nectar Cake from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World . . . except as a cake instead of as cupcakes. To convert from cupcake recipes to cake, just add about 10 to 15 minutes of extra time. The recipe says to bake for 20-22 minutes; the cake came out at 35 minutes perfectly cooked.

The only snag with the cake was that my dad was out of normal flour and I used what he had -- pastry flour. It wasn't until the cake was finished and I tasted it that I realized there was even more to it than that; it was whole wheat pastry flour. Whole wheat pastry flour is fine for many baked goods, but the agave nectar cake has a very subtle flavor that was overpowered by the whole wheat taste. If I'd realized, I would have added cocoa powder and made a chocolate-y cake that could stand up to the taste of the flour.

The orange glaze that covered the cake was made simply from cornstarch and pure orange juice. I whisked together the cornstarch and orange juice, then brought it to a boil -- still whisking. Once it reached a boil, I turned off the heat and whisked a bit more. It had a nice consistency, very glaze-like. And no need for any added sugar, since oranges are plenty sweet on their own!

All in all, this sugar-free cake was dandy; moist, sweet-but-not-too-sweet, and flavorful. The only thing I'd change next time is the flour -- or I'd add another flavor to compensate for the flour.

Black Bean Burgers

My brother's friend arrived from England today -- and is staying at my dad's for the next month or so; in part to recognize her arrival and in part to celebrate my brother's birthday, we grilled at my dad's house for dinner. I made black bean burgers, which my dad threw on the grill along with some corn on the cob.

The black bean burgers were tasty and super easy to make, but a little on the squishy side for grilling; next time, I will probably modify the recipe a bit to make them sturdier and a little more grill-friendly. They stood up fine to the grill as is, even if they got a bit misshapen in the process.

I had mine with red chile, soy pepper jack, lettuce, and tomato on an onion roll. I made a double batch, so there are still a whole bunch of burgers in my dad's freezer waiting for our next barbecue!

Chocolate Summer Squash Bread

With the exception of the pancakes we had last weekend, I haven't made any breakfasty foods so far. And I really like breakfast, so that needed to change. Last night, I made two loaves of chocolate summer squash bread -- one to leave with my dad and brother and one to bring home for me and P.

The idea for the bread came from here, but I made a fair number of changes to it. I would have made slightly different changes in my own kitchen, but I was at my dad's house so I had to work with what he had. My modifications left out the eggs, oil, and sugar -- and added a tsp of baking powder and a mashed up banana. I also used a 10 oz bag of grain-sweetened chocolate chips in place of all of the chocolate in the recipe. I was at first planning to use the same quantity of chocolate as the original called for, but that left only a few chips in the bag . . . so I tossed the rest in. I originally bought the grain-sweetened chocolate for a recipe I planned to make for Karen's memorial, from a macrobiotic dessert cookbook called Love, Eric. I ended up making my own recipe of ice cream instead, which meant I had this chocolate around to use up! I also added an extra cup of flour at the end, because the batter looked much too liquidy -- I'm not sure if I would do that again in the future, but the squash I used was very juicy.

We had slices of the chocolate bread for breakfast this morning -- actually, a few pieces disappeared even before this picture was taken! The bread was dense and fudgey; maybe without the extra flour it would've been a bit lighter. The density wasn't a bad thing though! The bread was sweet but not too sweet -- perfect for breakfast -- and definitely very chocolatey.

I will absolutely plan to make this bread again with more of the summer squash we get; the modifications will be a bit different at home though, since I won't have bananas but will have access to other potential egg substitutes.

Beet Greens and Soyrizo with Polenta and Black Beans

Today was Thursday, which means that it was time for another CSA pick-up. This week, our bounty contained kale, beets, chard, carrots, more different beets, lime basil, broccoli, and five different summer squashes.

Thursday and CSA pick-up day also meant that we headed north to my dad's house, so that we could divide up our share and have a lovely dinner together.

For tonight's meal, I sauteed up all of the beet greens with soyrizo. P fried up some thin slices of polenta so that they got a little crispy, and we topped them with refried black beans and New Mexican red chile. It was a fast and simple meal, as my brother and dad both got home pretty late -- but definitely tasty.

Asian Seitan Salad and Scallion Pancakes

Today Zelda had a playdate with her friend who is three weeks older than her -- so we brought over some lunch to share with the other parents. The last vegetables from our share for the week were a head of lettuce and the green part of the spring onions. I decided to make a salad topped with seitan made with Asian spices and a similarly-themed dressing -- plus scallion pancakes on the side.

The scallion pancakes were mostly the same as last time, but with a bit of whole wheat flour used in place of some of the all-purpose flour. I also had more spring onions, so I doubled the recipe to make two big scallion pancakes instead of one.

For the seitan, I used the seitan o'greatness recipe with modified spices. Instead of the listed spices, I used ginger, garlic, Chinese five-spice, and red pepper flakes; in place of Worcestershire sauce I used an additional two tablespoons of tamari. In retrospect, the tomato paste should also have been replaced. The tomato-y flavor that came through in the finished product detracted from the seitan's Asian feel. Still, the seitan turned out deliciously.

The dressing was also sauce for dipping the scallion pancakes, and was made of peanut oil, red wine vinegar, tamari, garlic, ginger, salt, and tonkatsu sauce.

Although there is no sauce in the picture, I did drizzle dressing over the salad -- and deposited a spoonful or two on the plate for dipping my scallion pancakes in. My neglecting to take a picture with the sauce can be chalked up to the two tiny humans and the World Cup game that were serving as serious distractions.

Kalezone

We got back from Massachusetts late last night, so tonight was the first meal I've actually made in a few days. I had been thinking of this as a "kalezone" . . . a calzone filled with kale, that is; but it turned out that I had less kale left than I thought, so it was filled with kale and beet greens.

They were awesome. The recipe made six calzones; I ate one and P ate two, so we have another meal's worth in the freezer for another night. The dough for the calzones -- given below -- came from the recipe in the Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook. I was not sure if using all whole wheat flour would make the dough be too dense, but it turned out perfectly.

The filling was made of tofu ricotta and sauteed kale and beet greens. The greens were sauteed in a little olive oil with the remaining spring onion bulbs; the tofu ricotta was based on a recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance and Veganomicon -- found here. That recipe is the basis for the tofu ricotta I use with great regularity; I use it so often that I hardly ever come near the original recipe anymore . . . but that is the source and the inspiration. The tofu ricotta and the greens were mixed together to form the filling, and the finished calzones were served with a side of tomato sauce.

Calzone Dough

• 1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
• 1 c warm water
• 1/2 tsp sweetener of your choice
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 2 - 3 cups whole wheat flour, more or less as needed

Place yeast in a large bowl and pour the warm water over it. Let rest 5 minutes. Add sweetener and salt, then beat in enough flour to make a soft but kneadable dough. Knead 5 minutes until smooth and elastic. Lightly oil a large bowl and place dough in it; turn dough over so it is lightly oiled on all sides. Cover bowl with a clean, damp kitchen towel and let dough rise in a warm place for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 400° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (or oil it, or mist with nonstick spray). Punch down dough and divide into 6 equal balls. Keep dough covered with the same towel and work with 1 ball of dough at a time. Place the ball on a lightly floured surface and roll into a 6-inch round. Place a heaping 1/2 cup of filling on one half of the round. Fold the empty side of the dough to enclose the filling. Seal the edges of the calzone by crimping them with your fingers or with the tines of a fork. Prick the calzones in a few places on top with the tines of the fork. Place them on the baking sheet as soon as they are formed. Mist tops lightly with olive oil (or cooking spray). Bake until golden brown, about 20 to 25 minutes.

Turnip Soup, Take Two

Emboldened by the rousing success of the Indian turnip & chickpea soup, I decided last night to try a turnip soup without the help of Indian spices. Unfortunately, I really didn't have enough turnips to pull anything off; P remarked that he'd never heard anyone say "I don't have enough turnips" before, and he doubted he would hear it again. But that didn't stop me from trying! I left out the carrots, the chickpeas, and the curry powder from the other version -- and added a few cloves of garlic and some black pepper instead.

We sliced up some delicious bread from the farmers' market to eat with our soup, and set to eating.


It was a far cry from the deliciousness of the last soup. I thought it was . . . fine. Edible, anyway. But not good. P didn't even think that highly of it. He said it was like someone made hot cocoa, only instead of chocolate, they used turnips.

I ate my bowl anyway, but P was not about to eat his. And I was not about to let the soup be a waste. His main complaints were that it was too thin . . . and that it tasted like turnips. So I doctored up the soup: thickening it up with some cornstarch, then adding a can of chickpeas and some curry powder that my friend Charlotte sent me.

As you can see, the soup looked a lot different after that. Yellower, lumpier, thicker. Also, spicier and tastier.


So I guess the lesson was learned: if I'm going to make turnip soup, it had better not be just turnips.

Pancakes with Raspberries

Yesterday, we got two containers of raspberries from the farmers' market in town -- the first of the summer. This morning, all I could think about were the raspberries . . . so I decided to make pancakes to go with them; really, the title of this post should be "Raspberries with Pancakes."

I made Isa Chandra Moskowitz's pancake recipe, available in Vegan with a Vengeance or Vegan Brunch. They were delicious and perfect, especially once they were covered with raspberries!

Vegan Chorizo with Greens

For lunch today, I had my first ever reuben, courtesy of my bff Sarah. She made Vegan Dad's corned beef, we made vegan Thousand Island dressing, and bought some sauerkraut from the farmer's market. In general, I don't like salad dressing, I don't like swiss cheese, I don't like rye bread, and I don't like sauerkraut . . . but this sandwich was really, really good. P calls this the gin-and-tonic effect; gin and tonic are both pretty awful on their own . . . but magically, together, they form a delicious cocktail.

Anyway, I don't have a picture of this glorious masterpiece. It was exquisite looking, especially with the nice salad on the side made from lettuce, arugala, tomatoes, and scallions Sarah got from the farmers' market. Oh well. Instead, I have a picture of our rather unphotogenic dinner: vegan chorizo with kale and beet greens.

Just because something tastes good doesn't mean it looks pretty in a photo, as tonight's dinner will attest. I made a variant on the chorizo sausages from Vegan Brunch -- making them extra spicy! -- and sauteed the greens with two of the sausages. The greens and sausage mix were served over Spanish rice made with brown rice.

Something went wrong with the sausages while they were steaming, though, and they ended up much softer than they normally do. As a result, it was more the crumbly style of chorizo rather than the slicey kind. It still mixed up well with the greens though! P thought the sausages might've been a little too spicy; I liked them how they were, but I'll probably tone down the spice the next time I make them. There are still two more of these extra spicy, crumbly sausages to use up. I'll probably make some whole wheat pasta with kale and the other two sausages later this week!

Vegan Beet Halwa

With our Indian-themed dinner, we needed an appropriate Indian dessert. Conveniently, we had a bunch of small beets in the CSA share -- perfect for beet halwa! Halwa is typically made from a ton of ghee and milk . . . not exactly vegan; this version uses canola oil and s'milk instead. There's also usually sugar, but a bit of agave nectar works just fine.

Once all the beets were grated, it yielded about one and a half cups, but there's no reason you couldn't scale this recipe up or down.

Vegan Beet Halwa

• 1 1/2 cups grated beets
• 2 tbsp canola oil
• 1 1/2 cups soy milk
• 1 tbsp agave nectar
• 3 cardamom pods
• a handful of cashews

Fry the grated beets in the oil for about two minutes. Add the milk and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the beets seem cooked. Stir in the agave nectar and cardamom pods, then simmer until the liquid is gone, still stirring occasionally. Once the liquid is gone, remove from the heat and add the cashews (I crushed them into smaller pieces first). Serve warm or allow to cool.

Indian Turnip & Chickpea Soup

I have to start off with a confession: I am totally afraid of turnips. Or I was anyway -- until tonight's soup changed all that. It's not that I never had turnips before, it's that I never liked how they were prepared. So tonight I gave turnips one more chance -- but I was still skeptical.

To use up half of the turnips from this week's share, I decided to make an Indian-flavored soup featuring chickpeas and turnips; Indian food is my favorite, so I figured that if anything was going to salvage turnips . . . Indian spices would be it!

Still, just to be safe, I fried some tofu in an Indian sauce to make sure there would be something else to eat in case the soup turned out horribly wrong. It turns out my precautionary measure was totally unnecessary -- the soup was awesome.

All four of us -- me, P, my dad, my brother -- had seconds; some of us even had thirds. The tofu got eaten, but only as an afterthought. Let me say it again. The soup. Was. Awesome.

Granted, it isn't terribly photogenic . . . but I am willing to forgive it on that point. You can see a bit of the tofu peeking out from behind the bowl, as if trying to remind me that it was there. Sure, sure. I see you, tofu. But getting back to the soup . . .


Indian Turnip & Chickpea Soup

• olive oil
  
• 1 spring onion bulb, chopped (regular onion would be fine too)
  
• about 2 cups of turnips, chopped into small chunks
• 2 15-oz cans of chickpeas, drained
• 2 small carrots, chopped
• about 2 tbsp curry powder, to taste
• a dash of salt
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 1 1/2 cups plain soy milk
  

Drizzle a bit of olive oil in the bottom of a pot big enough to hold the soup, sautee the onion until brown. Add the turnips through the salt, stirring to make sure the spice is distributed well; add the vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, then allow the soup to simmer covered for at least 20 minutes until the turnips are soft and tender. Remove two cups of soup to be pureed in a food processor or blender, then return to the soup. Add the s'milk and mix everything back in. Gently warm up the soup to make sure it is heated throughout, then serve.

CSA Booty

Thursday is veggie pick-up day! And not a moment too soon, since we used up the last of our vegetables in last night's dinner . . .

Thursdays are also normally the day we head up to my dad's house. We split our CSA share with my dad and brother, so it's the day where we divide up the veggies and I make dinner for the family. More on that later.

Here's what we got this week:
From left to right: kale, beets (with greens), carrots, spring onions, mustard greens, giant head of lettuce. In the front, big ol' pile of turnips and head of red lettuce.

Glorious, isn't it?

Scallion Pancake and Spicy Tofu with Mustard Greens

The only veggies left from this week's CSA share were mustard greens and three spring onions, so . . . that's what we used for dinner! Spring onions and scallions are very similar; the long green part tastes basically the same, but the spring onion has a much bulbier bulb at the bottom -- much more like an onion than the white part of a scallion. The long green part of the spring onion was used to make scallion pancakes, while I saved the onion-y bulbs for use with the mustard greens in the tofu stirfry.

When I'm cooking, I tend to just eyeball recipes -- not exactly helpful for sharing with others -- but I have a reasonable guess as to quantities. If nothing else, the relative amounts are true. In the future, I really should try measuring things out if I am going to be writing it down! For now, this is what I have.

Spicy Tofu with Mustard Greens

• 1 pound of tofu
• 6 tbsp peanut oil
• 3 tbsp tamari
• a splash of apple cider vinegar
• a splash of lime juice
• 2 tsp chinese five spice
• 2 tbsp red pepper flakes
• 1 bunch of mustard greens
• 3 spring onion bulbs

After pressing the tofu for at least half an hour, combine the peanut oil through the red pepper flakes in a bowl and allow the tofu to soak up the sauce-y goodness. The red pepper flakes will make the tofu spicy, so feel free to use more or less as desired. I like to use the container the tofu comes in for mixing up marinades, since it is exactly the right size -- and it gives the plastic carton another use before it heads to recycle land.

While the tofu is soaking, chop up the greens and the onions. After allowing the tofu to marinade for at least twenty minutes on each side (flipping the tofu makes sure that the top and bottom both get coated well), slice it into chunks for pan frying (and if you slice the tofu while it is still soaking, it allows the marinade to seep into the tofu even more). The leftover marinade can go right in the pan, and begin by sauteeing the onions in the mixture. Add the tofu next, flipping it to make sure it gets brown and a little crispy on both sides. Add the mustard greens last, as they don't need too much time before they are well-cooked.

Scallion Pancake

• 1 cup of flour
• 1/2 cup hot water
• 3 scallions or spring onions (excluding the bulbs), chopped
• peanut oil (or olive oil)
• salt

Put flour in a bowl, then slowly add the water in a steady stream. Continue to mix the flour and water while the water is being added, until it forms a ball of dough. Cover with a damp cloth and allow to sit for about thirty minutes.

Roll out the dough onto a floured surface, then brush with a small amount of oil. Cover the dough evenly with the scallions, then sprinkle a bit of salt over the entire thing. Carefully roll up the dough and scallions into a long cylinder. Once you have rolled it into a snake, tightly coil the roll like a cinnamon bun. This coil can now be rolled out into a fairly flat pancake. The pancake should be fried lightly on both sides, until each side is a golden brown; this takes about five minutes per side.

Vegan Omelette with Spinach and Green Chile

When I first became vegan, I concocted a vegan omelette recipe which -- while delicious -- was far too time-consuming to make on a regular basis; the omelette had to be first baked and then pan-fried. For breakfast today, I made my first attempt at a new and easier recipe.

While extremely tasty, the texture wasn't exactly right; it is still definitely a work-in-progress. I loved omelettes before my vegan transition, so I am very picky about their vegan variants. If it isn't exactly right, I'm not interested.

This omelette was stuffed with sauteed spinach from the CSA and, at P's suggestion, smothered with green chile. Mmmm.


My favorite vegan omelette can be found at The Lone Wolf in Amherst, MA. Theirs is a fluffy, delicate wonder made from rice flour and coconut milk. My version is primarily made of chickpea flour, but it has the same kind of fluffiness as the Lone Wolf's omelette. While the Lone Wolf omelette has a hint of sweetness, the omelette I made this morning was purely savory. Black salt (kala namak) is a key ingredient in my omelette . . . and in my tofu scrambles and all of my other vegan egg dishes. When you smell black salt, you instantly understand why that is; the salt has an extremely sulfurous smell, and it gives a distinctly eggy flavor to everything it touches.


(Update: vegan omelette, take two!)

Curried Lentils with Kale

Tonight, after the Celtics game, we wanted to eat something quick and easy for dinner. We had a huge bunch of kale from the CSA this week and still had a bit left, so I decided to use the rest of it with dinner. The quickest thing I could think of, after a consultation with the pantry, was to make a big pot of lentils to go with the kale. I'm partial to Indian food, so curried lentils and kale seemed like the best way to go.


The lentils were fantastic. I didn't measure out anything exactly, so the measurements in the recipe below are approximate. The kale was also delicious; it was sauteed with some olive oil and a few diced cloves of garlic -- nothing fancy. We still have a ton of lentils left, even after seconds, but it'll make a good snack later this week!


Curried Lentils

• 2 cups of lentils
• 8 cups of water
• 2-3 tsp turmeric
• 2-3 tsp coriander
• 2-3 tsp curry powder
• 2-3 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2-3 tsp ginger
• salt to taste

After rinsing the lentils, simmer for approximately 20 minutes until most of the water has been absorbed. Stir in the spices and simmer for another 5 or so minutes. The lentils should be soft enough that they stick together a bit and scoop easily. The cayenne pepper makes the lentils spicy, but could be safely left out if you don't want the heat.

Taco Salad

P is a big fan of Mexican food, so it makes a regular occurrence in our meals. One of our standard staple meals involves beans, veggie meat, and salsa; store-bought veggie meat isn't on the list of foods, but wasting food isn't very environmentally friendly either. We had one package of Lightlife's chik'n strips in our refrigerator to use up, and this meal accomplished that! In the future, I'll make seitan or some other homemade veggie protein -- or just use beans alone.

Tonight, we had the standard Mexican blend over arugula and a mixture of lettuces from our CSA -- forming delicious taco salads! (In the background, you can see the jar of delightful iced hibiscus tea that accompanied my dinner.)


We filled deep bowls with lettuce, then spooned the bean-n-chik'n mix over it, and topped with a bit of salsa. The mixture is so easy to make there's not even a need to write it out like a full recipe. Just drizzle a little olive oil in a pan and saute a few cloves of diced garlic, then add the veggie meat. Once the veggie meat has had a little time to get brown, add about two cups of black beans and cover with just enough salsa (we used green chile) to keep it all moist while cooking. If you add too much salsa, don't worry -- it'll get soaked up by the veggie meat and beans while it cooks.


There are infinite variations on this very simple meal; perhaps this is one of the reasons why we have it -- in one of its many instantiations! -- at least once a week.

Blueberry & Cherry Ice Creams

This season of Karen-inspired eating really begins with the dessert I made for her memorial service: cherry and blueberry ice creams. The day before the service, we stopped at the farmers' market at the Rutgers Gardens in search of fruit. The only fruits available at any of the stands were cherries and blueberries, so we bought two containers of each. Each container held about one pint of fruit, so I had four pints total to work with . . . minus the few cherries and blueberries that were sacrificed to me and P. We just, y'know, had to make sure they would pass muster. And they did!

Once at home, I decided I would make one batch of blueberry ice cream and one batch of cherry ice cream. Each batch made 3 quarts of ice cream, so there was plenty to bring with us the next day!

Blueberry ice cream on top, barely visible cherry ice cream on the bottom.

Blueberry Ice Cream

• 2 pints blueberries
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 5 cups non-dairy milk
• 4 tbsp tapioca starch
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• stevia to taste (optional)

Cook the blueberries, lemon juice, and stevia (if using -- I didn't use any!) over low-heat in a saucepot until the berries start bursting and creating juiciness. Add four cups of the non-dairy milk (I used coconut milk creamer). Bring to a boil and then remove from heat.

While the mixture is boiling, whisk the tapioca starch with the remaining cup of non-dairy milk (I used plain soy milk for the last cup) until it is well-dissolved. When the mixture is removed from the heat, whisk in the tapioca-and-s'milk slurry. Mix in the vanilla, then set aside to chill. Freeze according to ice cream machine's instructions.

Blueberry closeup.

Cherry Ice Cream

• 2 pints cherries, pitted and chopped
• 5 cups non-dairy milk
• 4 tbsp tapioca starch
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp almond extract (optional)
• stevia to taste (optional)

Once the cherries are chopped, cook with stevia (if using -- I used about 1 tsp) over low-heat in a saucepot until they get juicy. Add four cups of the non-dairy milk (I used coconut milk creamer). Bring to a boil and then remove from heat.

While the milk and cherries are boiling, whisk the tapioca starch with the remaining cup of non-dairy milk (I used plain soy milk for the last cup) until it is well-dissolved. When the mixture is removed from the heat, whisk in the tapioca-and-s'milk slurry. Mix in the extracts, then set aside to chill. Freeze according to ice cream machine's instructions.

The Rules

I have set five simple few rules to guide me along this journey; after all, the notion of "healthy" eating can be very vague.

1. No meat, no dairy, no eggs. This is an easy one; Aunt Karen eschewed meat, dairy, and eggs in accordance with macrobiotic principles -- but I became vegan about three and a half years ago, so I can handle this without blinking an eye.
2. No sugar. Most sweetening should come from fruit; stevia, maple syrup, and agave nectar are allowed judiciously.
3. Only local produce. We have been getting fruits and vegetables from a CSA for the past four summers, so most of our produce comes from there anyway; any supplemental produce will come from the weekly farmers' market or from a farm stand.
4. No processed foods. There is a limited list of foods that we'll allow ourselves to buy from the grocery store that aren't available at the farmers' market -- but these foods are mostly ingredients rather than finished products. For instance, vital wheat gluten is acceptable but pre-made seitan is not.
5. Limited dining out. It is hard to be sure where food comes from or what it contains when you have not prepared it yourself. This is a limit on restaurants, not on friends' homes; food at a friend's house is always made with love -- the most important ingredient of all. In the last few months of my pregnancy and these first few months of Zelda's life, we have eaten out (or gotten take-out) quite often -- as I lacked the time or the will to cook; for the duration of the summer, we will limit ourselves to two meals out of the house per week.

These rules are mostly guidelines; the idea of this project is not a burden or a punishment. If a rule is not followed exactly to the letter, there is nothing lost. My goal in stating these rules is simply to lay out the game plan, to clarify what exactly it is that I intend to be doing for the next several months. The spirit of my journey is in the feeling I get when I prepare, serve, and eat these meals; the rules are only there as helpful suggestions to aid me in achieving that feeling.

The Beginning

I grew up in one of those families where food is love; feeding others is a way to share your love in a way that words just don't cover. My Aunt Karen always stood out because of the way she cared about food. She was always very focused on healthful eating; local, organic, unprocessed. When I was young, I didn't really understand what the big deal was -- but I knew that it mattered a lot to Karen . . . and that her collard greens were better than any vegetable we ever ate at home (sorry, mom and dad).

Over the past four years, I finally began to feel like I understood. My relationship with food has shifted dramatically since childhood, but I began to realize that I thought about Karen a lot when I was making decisions and forming opinions about the kind of food I would consume. Without even realizing it, I had gotten an education in healthy, natural eating from my aunt.

My daughter Zelda entered the world just two months after Karen left it; she will never get to experience those collard greens or the insanely delicious apple pie Karen made every Thanksgiving. There was a memorial service for Karen this Saturday, held among the gardens that she so lovingly tended; my cousin, Karen's daughter, mentioned that you could really, truly feel her mother's presence there -- and she was completely right. In a quiet, private moment, I introduced my baby to her Great-Aunt Karen. When I nurse Zelda, I find that I often think about Karen -- a huge supporter of breastfeeding; while feeding her there, in a place where I could feel Karen beside me, the entire world felt right. I knew that Aunt Karen was pleased by the way that I was nourishing my baby.

Occasionally, I have a similar sensation when I prepare meals at home; I look at what I have created and think to myself, Aunt Karen would approve of this. Not that it is necessarily a meal Karen would make herself -- but that it is a meal I can really feel good about, a meal that I could share with Aunt Karen. Feeding others, after all, is a vessel for love.

On the long drive home from Karen's memorial service, I made myself a promise: for the rest of the season, I would strive to make those kinds of meals. Healthy meals, made with local organically grown produce and whole grains. Delicious meals, filled with flavor and love. This promise will be my summer project, my personal memorial for Karen. I plan to document these meals here -- not for the world to see, but for me. I want to have a record of this personal tribute to Aunt Karen, so that I can look back on it in the future . . . and, maybe one day, share it with Zelda.