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!!!!