Pulp use (burger) and sprout update.

Hello everyone.  Well a new dawn begins in Chicago's history today.  We have a new mayor after 22 years of Mayor Daley and his father before him, seems strange.  Rahm Emanuel is our new mayor.  I came to this country in 1961 with my family.  There was a Daley in office then and seems I can't remember not having a Daley in office.  Will be a while to get use to it.  It's a little like the old timers of Chicago (me old - not) still calling Marshall Field's department store Marshall Field's even though it has been Macy's for a few years.  Go figure.


First my lunch: What I call "Noodle Bowl"



Noodle Bowl ala Ani

The idea came to me based on rice bowls that I've seem many recipes for.  In my SAD days I use to make them.  And, further thinking about my Kelp Salad from last week.  Here's the recipe that is just a base for your imagination.

one serving of Kelp Noodles (a bag usually is about a pound, with 3-4 servings per bag)
I soaked those for about an hour in warm lemon infused water to soften them.

about 1/2 cup each of julienned carrots, shredded savoy (or napa cabbage) and red cabbage
1/2 cup of sliced dried shitaki mushrooms (rehydrated)
1/2 cup of fresh mushrooms, whatever you have

combine the noodles and the veggies in a bowl.  arrange in a even layer.  this acts as the base for the "noodle bowl"

I garnished with:
 fresh clover sprouts (1/2 cup)
2 stalks of green garlic (pulled from my yard but they may be appearing in farmers' markets too) sliced
other garnishes might be cilantro, chives, green onions, red peppers diced - whatever is available

My sauce was pretty simple:

2 tablespoons of South River Garlic Red Pepper Miso (I only use South River Miso) love their product
They do very tradition miso making.  The base of this is chickpea, not a soy product.  They are all organic and small family run producer located in Conway Massachusetts.  They have a web site.  However, the only deliver in the cooler month.  Since their product is not pasteurized, very important.  Some Whole Foods also carry this product. Another miso that is good for the "noodle bowl" is Ohsawa Natto Miso.  Ohsawa is the big Macrobiotic name.  Its distributed through Gold Mines (one of my favorite vendors)  Natto Miso has Kombu and ginger in it.  Wonderful taste. 

so back to the 2 tablespoons of miso mixed with about a half cups of heated water

Pour this over your noodles and veggies and call it done.  Stir to distribute and mixed before you dive in.
It made for a wonderful, quick and portable lunch.

My other great food find for the day was green pulp burgers.
I got the idea from Gena over at http://www.choosingraw.com/ .  If you have never visited with Gena at choosingraw, please go on over and have a look.  She is wonderful in her presentation, ideas and information. 
 This is Gena's original recipe. (my take follows)

Gena’s Spinach Burgers (almost raw, vegan, GF, soy free if you use coconut aminos)

Makes 4-5 burgers
1 cup sunflower seeds (do NOT pre-soak)
3 tbsp tamari, nama shoyu, or coconut aminos
2 cups green juice pulp (kale, parsley, celery, romaine, cucumber, broccoli–whatever you have!)
1/4 cup flax meal
2 tbsp mustard
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp dried oregano
1) Place sunflower seeds in a food processor and process with the "S" blade till well ground.
2) Add remaining ingredients and process till well mixed.
3) Shape into 4-5 burgers (I had about four) and place on a Teflex lined dehydrator tray.
4) Dehydrate at 115 degrees for 4 hours, flip and do another 4 hours

My version




Pulp pattie after:

Pulp patties before:

 My take is very similar to the recipe above but with the following changes.  I used a mix of seeds, sunflower, pumpkin and sesame seeds.
I also used an basil infused Dijon mustard.  I take regular Dijon mustard and add to that some chopped up fresh basil, about a 1/2 tablespoon crushed garlic, 1/2 tablespoon of sweetener of choice, I used agave, mix the whole lot together.  It really depends on how much you are making.  I have cup size jars of this mustard made from last summer's basil harvest.  Another thing to do with basil, infuse.

I made three patties with my mixtures which was made  up of mostly parsley, kale and garlic greens pulp from the juice that I made.  I think there was almost three cups of pulp.  I made four "meatball" size smaller patties with the remain amount.  I dried the first half for three hours, turned them over and dried for the remaining 5 (to make 8 hours) hours.  They were really delicious.  Best rawburgers I've tasted.  Thanks Gena for the idea.  They were nice and dry on the outside but really moist inside (I'm sure it is the mustard that does this.)  Really delicious.  I was thinking that this recipe can be changed up quite easily too, depend on what you add.  I ended up making a wrap, ala falafel style with mine for dinner.  (More sprouts!) and collards.


Which brings me to my sprout update from the weekend.  My jar sprouts are all done growing their tales (except for the broccoli):
.

Sprouts with the "tales"
l to r: buckwheat lettuce, fenugreek, lentil mix

And the buckwheat lettuce ready to grow into lettuce.  These grow on a soil-less "baby blanket" support.  Available from the SproutPeople.  I will do a blog soon on how I grow my sprouts greens on soil-less support. 


buckwheat sprouts ready to grow into "buckie lettuce"


Long day.  Time to think about tomorrow.