The Experience of Grilled Pizza

I don't have a recipe for these delicious pizzas  (or vege flatbreads) but I can tell you what I did: 

1) First I made a simple pizza dough using whole wheat flour (for nutritional purposes) but you could use white flour if you so desired. But to make the dough more elastic and stretchy and non-stick I added probably a 1/4 cup olive oil to the dough, and let the dough rise for 1.5 hours in some olive oil. 

2) I used a charcoal grill (and real charcoal) to grill up some veges: eggplant, onion, red pepper, and zuchinee (you can use what ever vegetables you like)

3) after the veges were grilled I took the pizza dough I had prepared (by rolling it out on a floured surface) and threw it on a really hot grill. It is critical that the grill is REALLY HOT. I grilled it on both sides. Took it off the grill to add toppings then put it back on the grill just to melt the cheese. 

4) I sprinkled the pizzas with some fresh chard from my garden. 

5) SAT DOWN and ATE it with a beautiful side salad with lettuce  and nasturiums (an edible flour) from my garden. 

bon appetite!

Garden Booty!

 my purple string beans are growing up stalks of tomatoes

 swiss chard , and a slug trap

A day's Harvest: beets, tomatoes, and swiss chard

I finally got around to taking some pics of my full grown garden. The babies I planted in the spring are now all grown up (AWWWWW).  As of now my garden is quite a jungle. And the slugs are everywhere! But I have devised a slug trap that works pretty well. Put stale beer in cups throughout your garden; the slugs dive in,  get drunk... and die. (not a bad way to go for a slug)

 

Tomato pies

Before: Pies are not cooked 

The finished product: (garnished with a garlic scape)

Lilah copping the tomatoes from Wishingstone Farm

The first step of this recipe (for 1 pie 8 inches feeds 4 hungry people) is going to the farmers market and picking out the best possible tomatoes. I like getting a combination of different heirloom varieties. Even though they cook at different rates it adds to an interesting texture in the end. While you're at the farmers market pick up 2 onions and a hard cheese - I like Gruyere. As usual this recipe is great if the ingredients are great quality. 

After you return from your "pilgrimage to the farmers market" (yes I do consider the farmer's market my Mecca) your ready to get messy in the kitchen. As most of you know my kitchen is tiny so a mess is inevitable; luckily most of the mess ends up in my compost, which gets turned into soil that goes back into my garden. It's a beautiful system when I actually get around to cleaning. 

Now for the recipe: 

The crust. After talking to a couple of people I have come to the conclusion most are afraid of crust either because they fear the fattening (gasp) stick of butter used , or they are afraid that their crust will be a hard dense rock. I say to those people: butter is delicious (it makes things taste good and keeps you full) and don't make the dough too wet otherwise your crust will be the dense rock.

Directions:

Place 1 stick of butter chopped up in 2 of whole wheat flour with a 1/2 teaspoon salt

and break down the butter into the flour with your hands (Note: this is highly therapeutic)

Once the butter is completely invisible and the dough is clumping... add approx. 3-4 tablespoons of ice water. work the water into the dough until you can form a ball. Wrap the ball in plastic wrap and put it into the fridge for 30 minutes. 

Note: I never make this recipe the same way twice. Sometimes I don't have whole wheat flour, sometimes I don't add any ice water, sometimes I add a little more flour. 

After 30 minutes roll out the dough on a floured surface till it is somewhere b/w 1/4-1/6 inch and it should be around 12 inches in diameter

The filling: 

caramelize the two onions: put a tablespoon of butter in a sauce pan and add a little sugar. Stir those onion at a medium heat till they are brown and soft. 

grate 3-4 ounces of gruyere cheese

slice up your favorite kalamata olives

1/2 pound sliced tomatoes

Layer: olives, cheese, onions, then tomatoes, then more cheese on the top into the middle area of the uncooked crust and fold the remaining crust over the filling. 

Bake : 30-45 minutes at 375 degrees. 

Where did July go?

Posts that have been delayed due to the lack of rainy days in July:

recipe for tomato pies - (secret ingredient: my best friends!)

the experience of grilling pizza - and yes it is an experience

the fact I grew 1/4 of an inch - its official I am 5'7

family gatherings

Nantucket - a destination vacation /babysitting trip

my babies are all grown up: I have tomatoes!!!

how to get rid of this years #1 garden pest- the SLUG!!!

Delicious summer starter: Eggplant, roast red pepper, feta, and arugula

1) preheat the oven to 400 degrees : 

2) Slice eggplant(s) length wise at a 1/4-1/8 inch thickness. Brush the eggplant slices with olive oil on both sides and sprinkle with salt. Put them in the oven! and every 10-15 minutes flip them and check them. You want to cook them till they are brown and super soft so they melt in your mouth. I would estimate 12 minutes each side. No one wants a soggy undercooked eggplant. In the summer simply throw the slices on the grill. 

3) Roast some red pepper(s)- I do it on my stove top burner (yes probably a minor fire hazard but simply hold the red pepper with tongs over an open burner). But once again if a grill is available- by all means grill! cook the peppers until the  skin is blackened. Let the peppers cool in a paper bag and peal the skin off. Slice the red pepper into thin strips and add about at tablespoon of quality balsamic vinegar to the mix. 

4)LAYER!

eggplant- pepper with balsamic- sheep feta-arugula leaf----garnish with salt and olive oil- and in this case garlic scapes. 

Note: eggplants aren't in season right now! I suggest waiting till July/August...to give this recipe a try. 

Sunshine Lentil Soup

This soup is easy and delicious, but organic ingredients make it extra yummy. Hence the name, it is a soup that I usually make on a rainy day when I don't feel like going out since all the ingredients are staples in my kitchen.

1.5 tablespoons canola oil

1 onion 

2 carrots

2 teaspoons of ground cumin 

(saute these four ingredients till the carrots are tender and the onions are translucent)

then add:

1 cup red lentils

1/3 cup rice

stir for 10 seconds then add:

8 cups broth or water 

LET it COOk for 25-30 minutes till the rice is done and lentils are mushy

then squeeze the juice of 1-2 lemons and salt to taste and garnish with some fresh parsley sprigs.

As it is true with most soups - this soup is always better the next day 

The no-carb variation: 

skip the rice!  add 1/2 cup extra lentils - decrease the water or broth to 4 cups instead of 8 and Puree! wah-laa you still have a thick and yummy soup. I also like to add a sauted yellow pepper to the mix for a little extra sweetness. 

Justin's yummy muffin recipe

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Stir wet and dry ingredients in seperate bowls then combine both into one big bowl.

When ingredients are combined add the berries, and spoon into the muffin pan. (The most important things with muffins is not to over-stir the batter just make sure the ingredients are well combined). After all the ingredients are mixed spoon the batter about 1/3 cup per muffin into a greased muffin tin or muffin cups .  After 15-18 minutes you will have 24 delicious muffins waiting to be eaten. 

3 cups all purpose flour (or a mix of whole wheat mix)

1/3 cup flaxseed

4 tbsp wheat germ

1/3 cup bran

2/3 light brown sugar

1 tbsp cinnamon

4 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt 3 eggs

1 mashed banana

1 cup lowfat plain yogurt

1/3 canola oil

1/3 cup applesauce

BERRIES - whatever kind you like I do half raspberry and half blueberry 

I like this muffin recipe because unlike some muffins these muffins aren't overly sweet cupcakes... they give you REAL energy and will keep me going till lunch. They are also easy to freeze if you can't eat them all in one sitting. 

Return from the hiatus

I have been getting phone calls, emails, text messages all saying the same thing: When are you going to update the blog? Why haven't you updated? Where did Zebra Tomato whatever-the name-is go? 

Truth:

These past two weeks not only have I NOT updated the blog, I have NOT done my laundry, I have NOT cashed two checks, I have NOT checked my text messages, and I have NOT inserted the grammatical corrections that my dad suggested into the blog. 

Why? 

It's not that I am falling apart- not to worry. I have been very busy, cooking for clients, catering for a party, working for a local resturant. I have been having a great time!  But on the other hand,  as my yoga teacher would say, I have been going on automatic pilot. As someone who loves cooking, I have not been cooking for myself. I have been eating on the go, shoving food into my mouth without paying attention to the taste, forgetting to breath, and literally waking up with my hands in fists. Lets face it: it is easy to take care of ourselves when we have nothing else to do, it is when we are busy schlepping (yiddish) things around that we forget about ourselves. We forget to nourish ourselves properly. Lately: I have been forgetting about myself, and for that matter about the blog. (Notice without judgement if you fall into the category of someone who always finds something else to do except nourish yourself) - I must be watching to much entreatment...hahhahha

But as my yoga teacher says: all you have to do is START again. That's all you have to do: begin again over and over and over again. That's really easy to say but it hard to do when you are not on vacation. So here is a free voucher I am inviting all of you to try it... as I am doing right now even though there are dirty clothes all over the floor of my room, and my blog is not grammatically correct.... and... and.... START again. invite yourself to start again.

It is a constant battle to stay present with yourself; the easiest way I find is to prepare a meal for yourself. Even if it is take out: take the meal out of the wrapper, sit down!, put the food on fine china with your favorite beverage and enjoy it! Sit down, don't eat it out of the refrigerator!

On that note- 

Bon appetite

love Mollie 

The experience of Cooking for 100 people

As my mom says reflecting on the experience: "Mollie you were cool as a cucumber"

It's true, no tears were shed to make all this food. Overall it was a very meditative experience. The key was time management, and listening to my new favorite Julie Delphy CD on re-run over and over and over again, and of course my taste tester and cooking guru (mommy). 

I did have some anxiety: 

1) My number one anxiety was: is there going to be enough food... at one point I was thinking of making another Cake. I have quiet a starvation complex... and have been know to be like a chipmunk stuffing pancakes in my pockets. Reality check: THERE WAS PLENTY OF FOOD

2)Is my kitchen big enough? This was mostly what other people were saying:" there is no way you can cook for 100 people in your size kitchen." You can look at a post made earlier of me working in my kitchen . That's actually how big my kitchen is: TINY!. But I did it! (even when the dish washer broke I still did it). 

3) Will I hit someone in the whole foods parking lot by accident. I am a new driver.... and this was a serious concern.

4) Will a child with a food allergy break out in hives or worse go into shock? There was a serious peanut allergy on the premise... so at the last minute I had to adjust my menu from sesame peanut noodles to the lentil salad. 

5) "I CAN'T FIND WHOLE WHEAT ELBOW PASTA AT WHOLE FOODS"... that was a scary moment. 

This is a surprisingly short list of my various anxieties considering I probably have a mild anxiety disorder when it comes to other parts of my life. What can I say, cooking calms me down. Cookbooks have always been my preferred literature of choice ( I read them cover to cover like novels). The truth is: unlike standardized tests I have taken, I have been preparing for this party my whole life. Ever since I was a 5, I have been cooking with my mom delicious Vegetarian and Vegan food. We used to pretend we had our own cooking show: Chef Miller was mommy and I was Chef Bedick.... (that's a whole other posting) Stay tuned...

Wah-laaaa!

caio bella

Zebra Tomato first big project: Catering 100 person Party!

Menu: 

Lentil Salad:

2 cups cooked french lentils

1 yellow pepper

1.5 cup cherry tomatoes

.5 red onions (or to taste)

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley 

1.5 tablespoon fresh mint

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

juice of 1/2 lemon

1/2 brick of sheep's feta

2/3 cup black kalamata olives

Green Salad - from Baby Greens  visit http://babygreensri.blogspot.com

Sesame Dressing from Veganomicon - super yummy!

Mac and Cheese - Mark Bittman NY times recipe (delicious) - parents ate most of the "kid's food"

Birthday Cakes - Vegan chocolate and Vegan vanilla with organic edible flowers 

Pictures: from the Big Day

   Vegan Chocolate cake with Raspberry jam in the middle

 Vegan Vanilla cake with Strawberry jam in the middle

                                        Baby Greens - out of this world! with sesame dressing

Lentil Salad- (be sure not to overcook the lentils)

ciao bella

Hard at work

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

preheat oven: 375 

insides: combine all in a big bowl- pour contents into 9/13 pirex

4 stocks of Rhubarb

4 cups strawberries

1/3 cup sugar

juice of one lemon

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

outside/crust: blend/grind together - put on top of rhubarb mixture

-1 egg

-3/4 cup flour

-3/4 cup almonds (I used silvered/blanched)

-1/2 cup sugar 

-1/2 teaspoon salt

-1 teaspoon baking powder

Bake - 45 minutes

Grandma Reggie's Salad from Garden Grille

Completely Raw, Refreshing, and Delicious - go to Garden Grille to get it
www.gardengrillecafe.com

The First Poppy in the Garden

Recipe of the Day - from Veganomicon

Quinoa Salad with Black Beans and Mango

This recipe is so yummy! All you do is:

Combine the mango, red pepper, scallion, and cilantro in a mixing bowl. Add the red wine vinegar, grapeseed oil (I use olive oil), and salt, and stir to combine. Add the quinoa and stir until everything is well incorporated. Fold in black beans.
Check it out in the Veganomicon

Waaalaaaa
Enjoy

Zebra Tomato What?

picture of the baby zebra tomatoes

The name Zebra Tomato Tango was concieved to honor my love for Green Zebra tomatoes and Dancing. As of now my green Zebra tomatoes are just babies, but when they get bigger I will share lots of orginal Green Zebra Tomato recipes including a Salsa and a Savory Tart. But the way I like my Zebra tomatoes best is raw eaten like an apple.

The Tango part of the name honors my love for Argentine Tango Dancing. This week is the Alternative Argentine Tango Festival at Providence Tango, which I will be attending and blogging about. Argentine Tango is a gorgeous dance and to find out more about it visit http://www.providencetango.com/.

ciao bella

Zebra Tomato Who?

I'm a dancing -cooking-babysitting-yogi. When I am not standing on my head, or ocho-ing, you will find me in the kitchen sprouting lentils, making yogurt, baking bread, and constructing pastry bags.
I started this blog to show clients, friends, and strangers how fun and easy cooking organic, local, vegetarian food is. Most of my recipes are adapted from works of the whole food guru's (Molly Katzen, Deborah Madison, and of course the Vegenomicon gods). I also dabble in the art of creating 100% orginal recipes with ingredients from my very own backyard garden. Cooking for me is just another form of moving meditation...it brings me the same relaxation as a sun salutation. I hope readers may stumble upon the same bliss that I enter into when I enter the kitchen.
I am going to share recipes, favorite yoga poses, babysitting tips, and pictures of my various adventures. I will try to post bi-weekly.
Enjoy
and as my dad says: "May your peas rise to greet you"