Diggin' Good Earth Pie

With the warmth of these last days of January, the Spring Fever bug has bitten me! When this happens, I want to spend my days outside digging in the dirt, clearing the beds of leaves and debris, taking long walks, and soaking up the air! It is intoxicating to see the signs of new life bursting…just odd to see it in January.

The rose bush has a flush of new leaves.

The daffodils are sending their petals sunward in friendship to our day!

The Camilla is blooming with it’s elegant beauty.

The bees are busy collecting goodness from the Sweet Breath of Spring Winter Honeysuckle.

I started cutting back the old Liriope foliage.

I gave the foliage a good haircut!!!

I heard fluttering wings. Above my head, a nest was being fluffed with pomp and circumstance!

Yes….I feel the rhythm of the spring arriving earlier than I remember…maybe EVER in my memory.

It won’t surprise me if I don’t start getting shout outs from my gardening friends for the swapping of perennial divisions soon.

My black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia) are spreading into every bed, but I love leaving the seed heads for wintertime interest and for the little finches snack time. 

(Note to self…thin out the black-eyed Susans)

All of this digging, compost, and fresh air, made me hungry....so off to the kitchen to make….?????? I now went digging into the refrigerator and what I found was a little of this…a little of that…and so a recipe was unearthed! 

It reminds me of the ground and new growth and better than that…

IT TASTES GOOD!!! Don’t you love to take leftovers and add enough new ingredients to make a whole new creation? It is just like gardening. Adding in new plants, perennials or annuals to the existing landscape to bring new life and interest is just SO FUN!!! I like to do that in the garden AND with leftovers…then the family doesn’t realize…

THEY ARE LEFTOVERS…shooshshshs!!! 

In honor of playing in the dirt…I am calling this DIGGIN’ GOOD EARTH PIE.

I had some cooked spaghetti squash leftover and so I thought…hmmmm….What to do??? I had an eggplant, a bit of canned diced tomatoes, some frozen spinach, and a few vegan Boca crumbles in the freezer????? What to do??? What to do??? I had a compost of individual parts…now to design! 

DIGGIN’ Good Earth Pie Recipe:

(I used an 8” deep dish pottery pie plate…from Seagrove, NC – that’s

another blog…maybe later this Spring;-))

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

Cut 1 medium size eggplant in half. Brush cut sides with some olive oil and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour in 400 degree oven.

Allow eggplant to cool a bit and carefully peel by pulling just the purple peeling back with your hands.

(Place baked eggplant in bowl of food processor)

 (If you don’t have leftover squash…bake squash while baking eggplant…just halve…take out seeds and place cut side down in a baking dish and add a bit of water. Cover with foil and bake until the peel yields when pressed…1 hour to 90 minutes)

In a bowl, combine:

2 cups cooked and “raked” spaghetti squash

1 cup peeled and shredded or grated potato

¼ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. black ground pepper

¼ cup tapioca flour

(stir to combine…this will be the “crust” of the pie….)

Place squash and potato mixture in a lightly greased pie plate and pat evenly into the pie plate across the bottom and up the sides.

Spray surface lightly with oil and bake in a 400 degree oven for 35 minutes...depending upon the water content in each individual squash...you may need to pre-bake the "crust" a little longer than 35 minutes. The squash "crust" surface should be lightly brown and dry to the touch for easier cutting later.

(Can bake the “crust” along with the eggplant and the “crust” can be cooling a bit while you finish the filling)

To make the filling…I used leftovers and what was in the refrigerator…hahaa, but would do this again without having these leftovers…just sayin’!!!!!

In a skillet heat:

¼ cup olive oil

Add:

8 oz. package of sliced baby bella mushrooms

(Cook until caramelized on both sides….mmmmmm!)

(Place mushrooms in the bowl of food processor.)

Into same (now empty) skillet:

1 T. olive oil
Sauté:

½ cup chopped purple onion

1 clove minced garlic

(Cook until they are soft and translucent)

(Add to the food processor with the eggplant and mushrooms.)

Into the same skillet add:

2 T. of more olive oil

1 cup of frozen vegan BOCA crumbles

(Cook until all crumbles have a good sear and firmness)

Into the food processor that already has cooked eggplant, mushrooms, onions and garlic…
Add:

½ cup canned diced tomatoes

1 cup cooked black beans

(If you don’t have leftover cooked beans…drain and rinse canned black beans)

1/8 tsp. allspice

1/8 tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. garlic powder

½ tsp. onion salt

¼ tsp. table salt

½ tsp. red pepper flakes

1 tsp. dried basil

(Process until it is a “chunky” paste.)

Add to processed filling:

1 10 oz. box of defrosted and dry chopped spinach

Add:

Seared crumbles

½ cup of vegan mozzarella “cheese” shreds
(Stir well to combine the filling.)

Dust crust with dried breadcrumbs or finely ground walnuts…or a combo of the two…helps to absorb the moisture of the squash.

Place filling into “pre-baked”  and "dusted" squash crust.

Dot the filling top with slices of black olives…I had seven black olives that I sliced into four slices per olive.

Sprinkle the top of pie:

½ cup more of vegan mozzarella “cheese” shreds

(For a crunchy top add:)

½ cup breadcrumbs

½ cup finely ground walnuts

1 T. nutritional yeast

½ tsp. garlic powder

½ tsp. paprika

¼ tsp. salt

2 T. olive oil

(Mix crumbs with fingertips and then sprinkle all over the top of pie)

Bake 400 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes until top is golden brown.

Allow to cool for 10 to 15 minutes before slicing.

I also made individual “nests” that would be sooo fun for a luncheon! Had extra so just experimented and just had to show you…

I served our good earth pie with a salad of baby spinach, celery leaves, tangerine segments, black olives, walnut “dust” (I use finely ground walnuts for EVERYTHING), and dressed the salad with a balsamic vinaigrette…soooo good!!!

So…I know you won’t have the same leftovers I did to create this pie. Next time I make this…I won’t probably either, BUT…I WILL make THIS combination again....regardless. I guess, my point is….it is fun to create something out of what is in your refrigerator and make it taste new and fresh. You feel in-tune to what is here now and that is sooo Spring-like!!! This recipe looks just like my garden right now and you may not appreciate that as much as I do, but it SURELY makes me smile….hahaaa!!!!

Ask any gardener…the very beginning of any planting starts with the soil. Preparing the soil makes all the difference. Good agriculture practices include allowing the ground a time to be fallow…a resting time. Studies have shown that ground that is given time to be fallow increases yield, the nutrients in the harvested crops are even greater, disease is reduced in the crops, and even the subsequent crops are positively affected for increased benefit. I LOVE DIRT!!! Dirt teaches me a great lesson about life…preparation determines growth. The small signs of spring bring great joy to me…fallow ground breaking forth with growth….

We all have periods in life, of being in a “fallow” time…it feels empty…void of growth. What I have discovered is...that following those times of seemingly “nothingness”... great growth or discovery follows. I now trust this fallow time as a rhythm of life that is confirmed by my garden. It brings less dis-ease, greater beauty, and greater yield to our lives…

Out of the dry and "deadwood" nothing….

Comes...New growth!

EVERYTHING in our past makes up the soil that nourishes each our lives. So many times I have hoped that I have tilled and nurtured my “soil” so as to keep growing and blooming...producing “good fruit”…that my roots are deep.  

I just keep reaching for the LIGHT.

Our lives, like our gardens, take time. They need tending, weeding, pruning, shaping, and most of all LOVING LIGHT!

Go outside…dig in some DIRT…or make

a Diggin’ Good Earth Pie!!! ;-)

Thoughtful Living Moment Today: Preparing the soil….leads us to greater beauty! What seems to be a time of fallow now, will be the source of great growth and beauty to come!

HELLO SPRING!!!!

Water Dragon Fruit Bars and Rain

Rain…rain…go away…come again another day! That has been the theme the last few days. The rain coming down sent all of us inside. I didn’t walk…NOT GOOD! Our dogs didn’t want to go out….NOT GOOD! The dogs just slept, as if to say…”Wake me when the rain stops.” I decided, I had a choice…to sleep, or “play” and I decided to “play!” My first act of “playing” was first to grab the camera and really look at the rain coming down.  Here is what I saw…rain is  nature’s jewelry…caught on surfaces…the refraction of the gloomy light displayed little beads of watery jewels….EVERYWHERE. The temperature was JUST cold enough to suspend the watery beads to my delight!!!! :D

On the deck railing….

On the pine needles over the driveway….

On the dormant potted ornamental grass…….

On the Japanese maple tree…….

And so, after being soaked in the rainy mist, I was chilled and ready for a hot cup of tea…the ONLY answer to cold dampness…just ask the smart people of Great Britain. While sipping my tea, I watched the TV coverage of the celebrations for the Chinese New Year and THE YEAR OF THE DRAGON. Not just any dragon, but the WATER dragon….haaaahhaaa. SO....the wheels started turning and I decided I would have a Year of the Water Dragon tea party and toast in the new lunar year with tea and a treat. No wonder we were having so much rain…the Water Dragon was arriving!!!!! Heheee!!! Hearing about the different customs in celebrating this 15 day festivity, fuelled my playtime. The dragon was roaring…and I was OFF!!!

It’s amazing what you find at Mom's house….heeeeheeeee!!!!

We have been eating up a large bag of grapefruit I got for the holidays. I started saving the emptied halves in a ziplock baggie over the weekend, with the intention of making candied grapefruit peel. My mother used to make this sweet (with just a slight bitter edginess) during the holiday season when I was young. I remember thinking how we were SO lucky if a friend or relative would send a box of those enormous ruby red grapefruit in that heavy, rectangular green and white box. The fruit would be individually wrapped in a thin tissue paper and nestled in nests of green straw-like grass that seemed SO wonderfully special to me as a child. Mom would make the candied peel, and I thought it was so amazing to utilize every last bit of this special gift of fruit. My job as a young girl was to roll the cooked/candied peel in the sugar… and then sneak a taste….haahaa. It is amazing to me, that as a kid, I found grapefruit peel such an appealing flavor!!! I think of the grapefruit as such an unusual sensation on the taste buds of the tongue….especially the peel. It seemed we only had grapefruit at special times….thus the candied peel meant SPECIAL… AND STILL means special to me today. So….the empty grapefruit halves had been in the refrigerator waiting to be candied. I candied them and there they were drying on the cooling rack....it was meant to BE!!  On TV, I heard about the Chinese custom of candied fruit during the New Year’s festivities and especially about the gifts of oranges or tangerines…ALMOST a grapefruit. Then I thought…HEY….why not make a bar cookie and add the candied grapefruit. With a cup of green tea and a baked treat….. WhooooHOOOO! I could have a Chinese New Year’s tea party!!!! Thus, Water Dragon Fruit Bar was born…from the watery depths of this rainy, Chinese New Year’s Day!!!! I will show you how I made the candied grapefruit peel, but you could just as easily use candied orange peel for a sweeter taste. It’s just what I had to use and makes for an interesting flavor in the cookie. Making candied peel is not hard…just takes some time…that is why I did it over the weekend. Here are my steps if you want to make your own candied peel of ANY CITRUS. 

(You could still make the bars without the peel…just a different flavor with out the bitter "dragon" zing of the grapefruit….)

Candied Grapefruit Peel:

An explanation of a somewhat lengthy process…but great for a day when it’s cold and rainy, OR SNOWY….maybe someday???

(We had eaten the segments so all that remained in the halves were the membranes and pith. I had 2 full grapefruit or 4 halves)

Place the empty halves in a large pot and cover with water.

Bring water to boil and lower heat to simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes. 

Remove grapefruit halves.

Allow the grapefruit halves to cool somewhat so you can handle them comfortably. Use a large spoon (I used a soup spoon) and carefully scrape the membranes and pith from the inside of the grapefruit halves. Go gently so you have some peel left to candy….hahaa.

Now, using a serrated knife…cut the halves into strips.

(I cut the half into quarters and then made the strips across the length 

of the peel.)

Place strips in a pot and cover with fresh water. Bring this to a boil. Pour off the water and place fresh water over the strips. Bring the strips and water again to a boil. Do this for a total of four (4) times. This process seems repetitive, but it helps to take the astringent bitterness from the peel. After the last time of draining…Leave grapefruit strips in the colander while making the simple syrup.

Place 3 cups of water and 2 ½ cups natural sugar in the pot over medium low heat. Stir sugar into water as the water heats to dissolve the sugar. Once the sugar is dissolved, place strips of grapefruit into the clear simple syrup. Cook the peel until the strips are tender and translucent. I added some peeled and thinly sliced strips of fresh ginger to cook along with the grapefruit. I LOVE candied ginger and wanted to include it along with the grapefruit. I just did a few pieces as too much ginger would flavor the grapefruit peel too much.

I cooked the grapefruit for about an hour and the ginger about 90 minutes. You can see the fruit and ginger become tender and translucent.

I spooned out the strips with a slotted spoon and placed the candied fruit and ginger on a cooling rack with a sheet pan underneath the rack to catch the sugary drips.

Spread the strips for air to circulate around each one. Allow the strips to dry 

4 to 6 hours or even overnight.

When they are tacky to touch, roll them in natural sugar or for a real sugary crunch some demerara sugar.

(Demerara sugar, is a natural large-crystal sugar that is golden in color and smells of molasses…yummy)

I LOVE candied ginger!!!!!  (Dragon breath....mmmmmm)

Allow strips of peel and ginger, to air dry and then pack away in an air-tight container for sweet snack or to add to muffins, or in this case BAR COOKIES!!!!! Okay…so candied peel is an easy process…just a little time involved, but it is not difficult at ALL. You do as you wish….

Now for the BAR COOKIES! My second “playing” for the day, came in creating this recipe! It has a little bite from the grapefruit peel and ginger like the dragon, but enough sweetness to soothe the fiery beast!!! 

Enjoy!!!!

Water Dragon Fruit Bar Recipe:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

Lightly oil or spray oil into a 9 X 9 square baking pan…

Combine wet ingredients:

2 T. flaxseed meal (ground flax seed)

6 T. of water

4 T. Earth Balance Melted (vegan spread)

2 T. agave nectar

1 tsp. pure vanilla

In a bowl place dry ingredients:

¾ cup unbleached flour

(Grind in processor or blender Old fashioned rolled oats…finely ground like flour)

½ cup old fashioned rolled oats

½ cup almond flour

(FINELY ground almonds…Bob’s Red Mill…or make your own)

½ cup brown sugar

1 tsp. ground allspice

½ tsp. ground ginger

¼ tsp. ground cardamom

½ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. baking soda

(Whisk the dry ingredients well)

Add:

½ cup of chopped candied grapefruit peel

(Stir to distribute peel through the dry ingredients.)

Add wet into dry and stir. Pour the batter into prepared 9 inch pan and with lightly greased fingers press the batter into the pan so it is evenly distributed and level. Bake in 350 degree oven for 15 minutes.

While bottom layer is pre-baking...prepare the middle fruit layer and streusel topping.

½ cup Peach Polaner fruit with fiber spreadable fruit

(No added sugar…just fruit and pectin)

(Heat preserves in microwave for 35 seconds to help in spreading over the pre-baked bottom layer of bar cookie)

Streusel Top Layer:

2/3 cup unbleached flour

1/3 cup old fashioned oatmeal (no need to grind)

1/3 cup chopped almonds

¼ cup brown sugar

½ tsp. allspice

½ tsp. cinnamon

(Stir well to combine)

8 T. or 1 stick of Earth Balance (vegan spread)

(Cut vegan buttery spread into dry ingredients)

2 T. of chopped crystallized ginger (homemade or packaged)

Once bottom layer has pre-baked for 15 minutes, remove pan from oven and carefully spread peach spreadable fruit…not quite to edge…of the pre-baked “crust” layer of bar.

Now pile on the streusel…spreading to edge and leveling across the surface of the peach layer. Chop 1 T. of candied peel to “dot” across the surface.

Bake bars for 30 minutes in the 350 degree oven.

Remove bars and sprinkle with 1 T. of the coarse demerara sugar.

Cool before cutting into squares to get nice edges on the bars. 

(Remember these are for tea…so cut small)

I brewed myself a pot of tea and enjoyed my Water Dragon fruit bars!!!

Tea time is such a wonderful ritual. Filling the kettle…warming the pot…measuring the tea…timing the brew…the little treats…the smell and warmth of the hot liquid…sitting…sipping…being…..just the thing for a grey, rainy day!!!

It’s interesting how the weather has a way of affecting how we experience the day. When it snows….ESPECIALLY in North Carolina….EVERYTHING stops. Schools close, businesses close, everyone STOPS. We look at the snow as a gift, unless of course it lasts too long…hahaa! We all say, ”Wish it would snow!” Of course that sentiment changes when it really DOES snow…(well not for me!!!) When it rains…people complain…we feel sleepy…we feel inconvenienced…it’s a PAIN! We all want it to STOP!!! Then…when the sun again shines…all is right with the world. People are out and about…”Beautiful day!”, is heard down the street….We feel energized….happier somehow…until it gets too hot! Weather is a powerful determiner of our daily experience. Weather shapes our conversations. When people don’t know what to talk about…what do they talk about??? THE WEATHER!!!! What I found this week in the mist of my days is…RAIN IS A GIFT!!! Ask the farmers, the plants and trees, the animals, our rivers, our streams…our sources for drinking. RAIN, is a gift! I saw that through my camera lens this week. 

Rain is a jewel…a glistening bead that sustains life as we know it.

I have found that the very things I think I don’t like…are the very things by which I learn the most about myself and LIFE.! It’s so hard to realize this, especially when we are stressed, or hurt, or sick, or lonely, or anything else where we find ourselves “RAINED ON”!!! The GOOD NEWS is…Life is a cycle…and the rain doesn’t last forever…the sun surely finds its way back into our days. Rather than complaining, my hope for all of us…is that we will look more closely…more carefully…more objectively…more trustingly…at the moments that bring “rain” to our days. Because…just as my camera lens found the jewels of raindrops…all of us can look for the jewels in the rainy mists of daily life. Usually, it’s the search that leads us OUT of the rain. Sometimes…we need rain. The Chinese New Year has promise…a promise that 2012 is a year of excitement and intensity, yet with the calming influence that water brings to the dragon. Water does that…calms the savage beast in all of us. So…let it rain…and when it does….stop….put on the kettle…and…HAVE A TEA PARTY with some Water Dragon Fruit Bars!!!

Chinese Dragon Statue bought by my father in 1960…..

Chinese Pug Dragon Will…..

See the resemblance?????hahahaha!!! 

The Year of the Water Dragon Cometh....

Thoughtful Living Moment Today: The rain doesn’t last forever…look closely…trust deeply…as deeply as the rain soaks the earth...and know…out of the rainy mists comes LIFE!!!