Green Machine Soup

This is the easiest, no-nonsense soup you will ever make. What's more, it tastes good!

Roughly chop up the edible part of one large leek, and peel and crush a few cloves of garlic. Wash and trim the stems of a large bunch of swiss chard (about enough to overfill a large collander) and chop roughly.

In a large pot, melt two generous tablespoons of coconut oil (olive oil is fine). Sautee the onion over medium low heat until translucent. Add the garlic and the greens and stir to cover with the oil. Sautee for a few minutes, then add some water. Don't cover the greens with water, as they will wilt, so a few inches is fine. You can always add more if necessary later.

Bring the water to a boil and cook the greens until they are completely wilted and soggy.

Spoon some of the greens into the container of a food processor with some of the liquid. Process until completely smooth. Repeat until all the greens and liquid have been processed.

Serve hot with a sprig of parsley and some fresh bread.

French toast stuffed with cottage cheese

If you live near a farm where homemade cottage cheese is sold, I recommend it for this recipe. The commercial cottage cheeses tend to be watery (not to mention that they're packed with a few too many sketchy ingredients) so they wouldn't work well here. The cheese I used here, as well as the wheat bread, comes from Nezinscott Farm in Turner, Maine.

In a flat-bottomed bowl, mix three eggs with 1/4 to 1/2 cup of milk (rice or soy is fine) and salt to taste. Spread about 1/4 cup of cottage cheese on a slice of wheat bread, trying to stay away from the edges. Cover with another slice of bread and pat down. Place the cottage cheese sandwich in the egg-milk mixture, letting each side soak to the degree of sogginess you like. Be careful when turning the sandwich over, especially if it is soaked. Fry in butter on a heavy skillet until brown on both sides. Serve hot with more butter and applesauce and whatever fruit you like. Cinnamon is always good as well.

Curried tofu and mixed vegetable salad

This salad is both warm and cold, soft and crunchy, and bursting with flavor. It makes a great main dish when served with another salad and hearty wheat bread. Followed up with a nice cheese and then a couple squares of dark chocolate, the meal seen here is perfectly balanced and purely healthy and satisfying. All of the fresh ingredients seen in the picture come from either my mom's garden, Nezinscott farm in Turner, Maine, or Josh and my own's garden. Vive l'automne for healthy eating!

Cube half a block of firm tofu and half a large summer squash. Heat a generous amount of olive oil in a non-stick pan. Add the tofu and summer squash with about 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric, a teaspoon of curry and salt and pepper to taste. Sautee over medium-low heat until just browned and set aside.

In a large salad bowl, mix a large garlic clove, minced, with about a teaspoon of salt. Add a generous tablespoon of fresh squeezed lemon juice (or vinegar if you don't have a lemon). Mix well, and then add two generous tablespoons of olive oil.

Peel and chop two large carrots into thin rounds. Half peel, quarter and chop a cucumber. Thinly slice a very small onion (about 1/8 to 1/4 of a cup).

Strain and rinse half a can of red kidney beans.

Add all the ingredients to the salad bowl and stir to cover with the dressing. Add a generous handful each of fresh chopped parsley and basil and mix again.

Red lentil mush

This is a simple, warm side-dish to add protein to any vegetarian meal or color to a meat and potatoes dinner.
For two to three people, add about 3/4 red lentils and 1 1/2 cups cold water in a pan with a generous teaspoon of turmeric and salt to taste. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered, until the lentils have turned to mush (about 30 minutes). Before serving, finely chop a good handful of fresh basil leaves and stir into the lentils and adjust salt if necessary. Sprinkle with chopped fresh chives and serve with a slice of lemon.

Mixed veggie and chick pea salad

Some of the recent litterature I have read has made me aware that eating a strictly raw vegetable and fruit diet works miracles, like bringing terminal cancer victims back from the brink and visibly shrinking the unsightly look of cellulite. Now that's food for thought, but I can't say that I would be willing to convert to this kind of diet as a lifestyle because I simply like cooked vegetables a bit too much. Nonetheless, I am experimenting lately with mixing cooked and raw vegetables in salads. This one, which includes vegetables and herbs from my garden and the local farm stand at Paisley's farm, was particularly yummy! The portions given here served two people.

Slice 3 small fairy eggplants and sautee them over low-medium heat in a generous amount of olive oil. Add a half a can of drained and rinsed chick peas. Cook until the eggplant and the chickpeas are browned. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a medium-sized salad bowl, mince a few cloves of garlic and mix with a generous amount of salt. Add 1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar and stir. Add two tablespoons olive oil and stir again.

Thinly slice half a small red onion and cube a few red tomatoes. Half-peel a few cucumbers, cut in half and cut into half moons.

Add all the veggies, the eggplant and the chickpeas to the salad bow. Top with a generous handful each of fresh chopped mint and parsley. Stir until everything is covered with the dressing and serve.

Green Pie

Everything about this pie is heavenly, from the creamy chevre cheese to the silky combo of eggs and fresh cream to the buttery pie crust! This recipe makes one pie, enough for four hearty servings. Serve with roasted potatoes and a side of baby greens salad for a healthy brunch.

Preheat the oven to 375.

Crust: Make your own trusted recipe or try this: mix 1/2 cup white flour and 3/4 cup wheat flour with a tsp. of salt in a food processor with the steel blade. Add one stick of butter, cut into chunks. Pulse until all the butter is incorporated into the flour. Leave the machine running and feed about 1/4 cup cold water through the feed tube. Add some more flour if too sticky, which it most likely will be. Turn out onto a floured surface and roll flat. Place into a pie dish. Make a few holes in the bottom of the crust with a fork. Layer the dish with crumbled chevre. Be generous!

Filling: Fill a six quart pan with loosely packed baby greens (I used beet and mustard, but spinach would be great, I am sure) and a little water. Bring to a boil and let the greens just barely wilt. Remove from heat, strain fully and chop up the greens with a sharp knife. Layer over the cheese in the pie dish. In a small bowl, beat four eggs and then add 1 cup good heavy cream. Salt generously and pepper. Pour the egg/cream mixture over the greens. Sprinkle the top with nutmeg and bake for about an hour.

Garlicky creamed baby beet greens

The beet greens just keep a comin', which suits me just fine since I love them! This little side dish is so easy you could make it with your eyes closed, and so good that you'll be eating them with your eyes closed, too, as you savor the garlicky creaminess.

Melt a few tablespoons of good butter on very low heat in a stickproof pan. In the meantime, mince 3 large garlic cloves. When the butter is nice and hot, add the garlic. Toss the garlic around by lifting and shaking the pan and let it cook until just translucent. Add enough baby beet greens to the pan so that it almost overflows as you stir them. Stir to coat with the butter and the garlic, and salt generously. When barely wilted, add some good, fresh heavy cream to the pan and heat through. I use Smiling Hill Farms cream; the processed kinds don't have the same taste.

Serve in separate bowls as a side dish with a piece of toasted bread or baguette to sop up the cream. Believe me, you will want to sop up the cream!