Green soups, crepes and roasted mushrooms

 Vegan (no eggs or dairy) polenta cake with orange zest, ground pecans, raisins

own sourdough, wholewheat, caraway and walnut breads (also dairy and egg free)

mushroom leek bisque beginning to "sweat"

collards, mustard greens and spinach soaking

mix for the duxelle beginning to "sweat"

the complete mushroom & leek bisque

the asparagus and buckwheat noodle soup

rosemary-buckwheat crepes cooling

the completed duxelle for the mushrooms, cooling

Rejuvelak fermenting

Rejuvelak fermenting

Top of the fermentation

the larger fermentation bottle of rejuvelak

Wednesday March 13 th 2012..The weather is very odd lately, as of now the temp. is plummeting to below 60f and we are to expect a big storm coming in on Friday night through Sunday with day time temps in the mid 60's for 5 days, and a very cold wind...feels more like Winter than Spring!


For tomorrow I am preparing:
a blended spinach and walnut soup..a light take on a leek and potato, finished with coconut milk; an asparagus clear soup with buckwheat noodles; and a leek and mushroom bisque, again finished with coconut milk...all very nutritious and low salt.

For the entrees I am fixing..2 types of crepes, one buckwheat with sauteed asparagus and feta cheese; and another rosemary crepes with wilted greens and feta cheese..these are great baked in the oven, and served hot.

The key to good crepes is to keep the pans very hot and oil between crepes, then pour off the oil before adding the fresh batter. For all my crepes I like to use wholewheat flour and ground flax seeds, for extra nutrition...(note the flax seeds do thicken the batter (( as used in Vegan bakery as egg substitute for this reason))so dilute with either rice milk or water).


Also some roasted mushrooms filled with a duxelle of carrots, mushrooms, leeks, garlic, tomatoes,red onion, vermouth and sherry topped with fresh whole milk mozzarella.."Cilegine"...this melts down into the duxelle and creates a wonderful dish to top some fresh couscous...as with larger mushrooms this adds a steak like quality to a vegetarian meals.
I am also making a rustic wholewheat mushroom and roasted garlic tart, made with live yogurt, and fresh eggs.

With all my mushroom dishes I prefer to use either sherry or dry vermouth and grated nutmeg to give depth of flavor, and depending on the dish I also like to add some nutritional yeast.


I have also created a corned tempeh and cabbage for early St Pat's Day..sauteed red onion and garlic added some peeled and diced russet potatoes, cut up tempeh...cover with stock and cook for 15 mins. add caraway seed, coriander seed, dillweed red pepper flakes, salt, top with 1/4's of cored green cabbage and simmer with a tight fitting lid for 30 mins.
Remove lid and let sit for 20 mins then serve..it is wonderfully delicious and very low fat.


For dessert tomorrow I am making Vegan polenta cake..no egg cake that is really good flavored with orange zest and almonds and today made a berry sauce to go with it..tomorrow afternoon I might make up some wholewheat sourdough breads, while the humidity is low..the bread will not rise well in damp weather.,,I have been feeding my sourdough starter for the last few days, and it is getting nice and sour ( black liquid on top)

Rejuvelak:
Every week I make a fermented drink from sprouted rye berries, the original idea for this drink came from  a lady called Ann Wigmore in the 50's only she made it with wheat berries which I have found mold too quickly.
This is  a natural pro-biotic and reduces the acid in one's stomach and digestive system, and is completely dairy-free.
I use twice filtered water with crystals in it for extra power...the bottles of the fermentation in progress are photographed above.
After the ferment I strain the berries out and bottle the liquid.
I mix the ferment with spiralina for extra goodness and the dosage is just 6fl ozs at room temp. per day on an empty stomach either first thing in the morning or last thing at night..I have known people "swear by it" for years.