Tag: real food (Page 20 of 20)

Recipe: Lindsey’s Zucchini Dolmas

August 4, 2009 / Lindsey / 2 Comments

Zucchini Dolmas, Olives, and Tomatoes

A few days ago, I wrote about how to make your own pickled grape leaves. It’s the easiest thing ever! I love how I didn’t have to make a special trip to the store to spend $4 on a jar of grape leaves (which usually contains preservatives 🙁 ). Also, the homemade ones are lacto-fermented, meaning your body gets a nice little health boost.

As promised, here’s my recipe for Zucchini Dolmas. I love these things! I served them this past weekend, and they got rave reviews! They make for a light and refreshing summertime dish, and they help to use up that overabundance of zucchini!

Lindsey’s Zucchini Dolmas

(Makes about 24 dolmas, & can easily be made a day ahead – but not more than a day! 🙂 )

Approx. 24 pickled grape leaves (1 jar, or make your own)

2 cups grated zucchini (skin and all)

1/2 cup finely chopped parsley (measured after you chop it up)

1/4 cup green onions, chopped

2/3 cup crumbled feta cheese

1/4 cup olive oil

1 heaping Tablespoon dried, crushed mint leaves

Salt to taste (I usually start with 1/4 tsp and add more)

Pepper to taste

Mix everything together in a bowl.

Lay out a grape leaf, underside up. Put a small spoonful of filling at the base of the leaf (you’ll get a feel for the amount). Fold up the bottom edges of the leaf, then fold in each side. Roll it up, tucking the edge of the leaf underneath. There you go! Isn’t it cute?

Place a spoonful of filling onto the base of the leaf...

Fold up the bottom edges...

Fold in one side...

Fold in the other side...

Roll up, tucking the edge of the leaf underneath. Voila!

Christmas-in-July Eggnog Ice Cream

July 29, 2009 / Lindsey / 2 Comments

Christmas-in-July Eggnog Ice Cream

While visiting the Blue Mountains in Australia a few years ago, I was introduced to the concept of Christmas in July. This “holiday” is more of just a marketing ploy (“Book your holiday brunch NOW!”), but it’s kind of neat because southern hemisphere dwellers can experience a northern-style Christmas with decorations, carols, snow, roaring fires, and eggnog. While I love all these things during the winter — and winter sounds pretty good during the oppressive scorch of mid-summer — I can’t seem get into the Christmas spirit in July. However, I have been able to choke down this eggnog ice cream — ya know, in honor of the season (*smirk*).

Click “Continue Reading” for the recipe…

Free-Range Chickens, and a Case for Raw Eggs

July 29, 2009 / Lindsey / 0 Comments

Healthfood Store egg vs. Pastured/Farm-fresh egg

I’ve always eaten raw eggs, and have never gotten sick from them. And for most of my life, the eggs I ate weren’t even the good kind…just the cheap, factory-farmed grocery store brand.

My mom used to warn me about raw eggs, so maybe I was just lucky. Obviously, the deliciousness & instant gratification of eating gobs of raw cookie dough eclipsed any long-range consideration of food poisoning. Still does.

More recently, I’ve been buying eggs from the health food store, which are organic, vegetarian, & cage-free. I can’t taste any difference, so I buy them more for the sake of the chickens they come from. However, these eggs aren’t quite as wholesome as they sound, even though the chickens are treated more humanely. I guess chickens naturally eat bugs and weeds/greens, so while “Vegetarian Fed” may sound good, this means they’re fed strictly on organic grains — ie., they aren’t outside on the grass, eating their native (and carnivorous) diet of bugs, grubs, etc.

And “cage-free” usually means that although they’re not confined to tiny cages, they’re still raised in a barn (warehouse? Quonset hut?) where the living quarters might still be cramped. They probably don’t go outside, either, lest they sneak a non-vegetarian grub or two.