Instant Pot Great Northern BeansWhen Should You Salt Beans?

White beans with olives, artichokes, peppers, and avocado.

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Easy to make in your Instant Pot
It's easy to open a can of beans but it's not all that hard to make them from dried beans in your Instant Pot. Here's a simple recipe that's perfect for summer since it can be served warm, at room temperature, or even chilled. Bring to a pot luck, serve as an antipasto when entertaining company, or make it a meal on a bed of greens. 

To Salt or Not to Salt
A while back I read a post on Serious Eats about whether or not you should salt your beans when soaking and when cooking. You should read the entire article to appreciate the testing but their results were: "For the best, creamiest, most flavorful beans, season your bean-soaking water with one tablespoon of kosher salt per quart (about 15 grams per liter), rinse the beans with fresh water before cooking, then add a pinch of salt to the cooking water as well." 

This goes against everything we've been told about how salt during cooking will cause beens to be tough or that the skins will burst. If you've listened to this advice, you probably realize how tasteless unsalted beans are and how hard they are to flavor after they are cooked. After reading this article, I've started soaking my beans in salted water and adding salt to the pot when cooking. They come out great! So give that a try when you make this recipe.

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Mediterranean Great Northern Beans
Vegan, Gluten and Dairy Free
[makes 6 servings]

Plan ahead to soak the beans the night before.

Ingredients
For the beans:
1 cup dry Great Northern Beans
Water
2 1/4 teaspoons salt, divided
1/4 cup small diced roasted red pepper
4 marinated artichoke quarters, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons sliced kalamata olives
1 avocado, diced

For the dressing:
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon balsamic vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
1 clove garlic, pressed
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
1/8 teaspoon black pepper, or to taste

Directions
The night before: Pick through the beans for rocks and rinse. Place them in the Instant Pot and cover with 4 cups of water and 2 teaspoons of salt. Cover and let sit over night.

Drain and rinse well. Return to the Instant Pot and cover the soaked beans with 1 1/2 cups of water and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Secure the lid, press the “Manual” button, and set for 6 minutes at high pressure. When done, press the “Off” button and let the pressure release naturally. After 10 minutes you can release the pressure. Then, remove the lid carefully with the steam vented towards the back. Drain the beans and set aside.

Most of the skins are intact and the beans are soft and creamy.

Combine all the dressing ingredients in a large bowl and stir to combine. Add the drained beans, the roasted red peppers, artichokes, olives, and avocado. Gently mix to combine and serve.

Bad Weather Getting You Down? Cooking Will Cheer You Up! Make Vegan Pasta Puttanesca

I added chopped artichokes to this Puttanesca sauce.

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Bad Weather makes me want to Cook

Many parts of the U.S. are covered with snow, others with ice. In California, we're finally getting the much needed rain and this weekend promises more of the same. Cold, rain, snow, and ice all have the same effect on me and many others - it makes us want to head to a nice warm kitchen and start cooking!

And what's more comforting than pasta? This particular recipe can be made with ingredients from your pantry since you might not be able to get out of the house and shop for fresh veggies in a snow storm.

Today's ingredients come out of the pantry.

Puttanesca

The name of this sauce is derived from the Italian word puttana which means whore. You may be wondering why this dish is named after a lady of the night. 

The explanation I've always heard is that it was such an easy dish to make, it was often made by prostitutes who didn't really have much time to cook - after all, time is money! There are several other explanations floating around but I'm sticking with this one.

Puttanesca sauce is usually made with olives, capers, and anchovies. I've left out the anchovies today as my vegan followers avoid fish and many others cringe at the very sight of anchovies. But my pesca-vegan and other fish loving friends can add them in as they give Puttanesca a nice, salty flavor. They would be added, along with some of the oil from the can, while cooking the garlic. (Anchovies are also a good source of EPA and DHA omega-3 fatty acids.)

I also tossed in a can of artichokes just to add some more veggies to the dish. You can use artichoke bottoms or artichoke hearts as either would work fine. Artichoke hearts, however, contain more heart-healthy fiber.

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Pasta Puttanesca with Artichokes

Vegan, Gluten Free (with Gluten-Free Pasta)

[makes 6 servings]

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 cup finely chopped onions

4 cloves garlic, minced

14 ounce can artichoke hearts or bottoms, chopped

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/8 teaspoon black pepper, or to taste

28 ounce can crushed tomatoes 

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/2 cup pitted and sliced kalamata olives (about 20)

3 tablespoon small (non-pariel) capers

1 pound pasta

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil for the pasta. 

Meanwhile, make the sauce. Heat the oil in a 5-quart Dutch oven. Add the onions and cook on medium-low heat until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. 

Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about one minute. 

Add the artichokes, oregano, basil, and black pepper and stir for a minute until the artichokes are coated with the seasonings.

Add the tomatoes, red pepper flakes, fresh parsley, olives, and capers, and simmer on low heat while the pasta cooks.

Prepare the pasta according to directions. Drain, toss with the sauce and serve.

Per serving (regular pasta and artichoke hearts, not bottoms): 422 calories, 9 g total fat, 1 g saturated fat, 90 mg omega-3 and 1,229 omega-6 fatty acids, 0 mg cholesterol, 14 g protein, 73 g carbohydrates, 7 g dietary fiber, and 655 mg sodium.

Per serving (whole wheat pasta and artichoke hearts, not bottoms): 407 calories, 9 g total fat, 1 g saturated fat, 91 mg omega-3 and 1,220 omega-6 fatty acids, 0 mg cholesterol, 15 g protein, 73 g carbohydrates, 11 g dietary fiber, and 657 mg sodium.

Vegan And Gluten-Free Antipasto Salad The Perfect Start To A Holiday Dinner

Everyone loves antipasto salad- A real holiday pleaser!

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Antipasto Salad
You know it's Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Easter when my cousin's all post pictures of their gorgeous antipastos. But this year, I'm leaning towards an antipasto salad. What's the difference you might ask? Well, an antipasto is usually a large platter with ingredients such as olives, artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, etc., all laid out in a beautiful and creative fashion. If you're not vegan, you'll see provolone, bocconcini (small mozzarella balls) or chunks of salami on the platter as well. An antipasto salad has many of the same components but also has more raw salad ingredients such as cucumber, romaine lettuce, raw onions, cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, and more, in a Italian dressing. I find the antipasto salad a little easier to serve and you don't have your guests picking out their favorite ingredients :-)
So for those of you coming to my Thanksgiving feast this year, expect to see a huge platter of this delicious vegan and gluten free antipasto salad!

Feel free to substitute your favorite fresh salad or olive bar ingredients for the ones listed in this recipe. Or just add more ingredients. At dinner last night, while consuming (and testing!) an entire platter of this salad, my husband mentioned that I left out radishes, his favorite. So we quickly cut up a bunch of them and threw them on! So if I left out something you love, please don't hesitate to make modifications.

Box Beans - A Healthy Alternative to Most Canned Beans 
My father's favorite antipasto ingredient was garbanzo beans. Even though he is no longer with us, I always include garbanzos in my holiday salad to make me feel like he's at the table.

When shopping for garbanzos this week, I was very excited to discover that Whole Foods now sells them and other beans in little boxes that are BPA free! BPA, or bisphenol-A, is an industrial chemical that is commonly found in the lining of cans. Beans are one of the only things that I still buy in cans so it is worrisome. There are companies, like Eden Foods, that make cans without a BPA lining but these companies are few and far between. BPA is an endocrine disruptor because it mimics the body's hormones and is linked to an increased risk of infertility, obesity, breast and other cancers. So if you can find these cute boxes of BPA-free beans, they are a better choice than canned beans that have BPA linings.

Whole Foods sells beans in boxes.
A great option when trying to avoid
BPA linings in canned goods.

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Antipasto Salad
Vegan and Gluten Free
[makes 8 servings]

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive or cold-pressed hemp oil (or a mixture of both)
1 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic or red wine vinegar
1 large clove pressed or finely minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup sliced red onions
1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
1 cup peeled, halved and sliced English cucumbers
1 cup seeded and sliced red bell pepper
1/4 to 1/2 cup mixed, pitted marinated olives
1/2 cup marinated artichoke hearts
1/2 cup marinated button mushrooms
1 1/2 cups cooked garbanzo beans (15 oz can or 13 oz box)
1 large head of romaine lettuce, cleaned and chopped

Mix the oil, lemon juice, vinegar, garlic, salt, and pepper in a large bowl and whisk until combined. Stir in the onions and let them marinate while you are preparing the remaining ingredients.

Let the onions marinate in the dressing while
you prepare the remaining ingredients.

Add the remaining ingredients and toss until well combined.

Spoon onto a large, shallow platter and serve.

A large shallow platter makes a nicer presentation
than a tall salad bowl.

Check out other healthy and delicious vegan and gluten-free Thanksgiving and holiday favorites. 

  

Vegan Bell Peppers Stuffed With Orzo, Mushrooms, and Kalamata Olives

Whole wheat orzo makes a nice stuffing for these bell peppers.
There are several gluten-free brands of orzo too.

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It's been a busy 2 days for Doug and I. We harvested over two and a half tons of Pinot noir on our organic vineyard here in Sebastopol. Knowing how little time and energy I'd have to cook after picking all these grapes, I made these stuffed peppers ahead of time for our meals. So if you're looking for a dish to make on Sunday and cook during the work week, try this one out!

Make-ahead meals are important when you
have a busy work week ahead of you!

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Orzo Stuffed Bell Peppers
Vegan, gluten free (with gluten free orzo)
[makes 4 servings]
Requires an 8" x 8" x 4" casserole dish with cover

4 large red bell peppers (4 lobes, 1/2 pound each)
1/2 pound whole wheat or gluten-free orzo
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 cup diced onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 pound crimini mushrooms
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, or to taste
3 medium tomatoes, diced or one (15 oz) can diced tomatoes
1/4 packed cup chopped fresh basil
8 pitted kalamata olives, thinly sliced
1/2 cup Daiya mozzarella shreds*
1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste

* non-vegans can substitute low-fat mozzarella


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Prepare the peppers. Select big, square peppers with 4 lobes on the bottom so that they will stand up nicely in the casserole dish. 

Square peppers with 4 lobes.

Fill a medium size pot with water and bring to a boil. You will be using this same pot for blanching the peppers, cooking the pasta, and preparing the filling. I hate dirtying too many pots!

Cut the tops off the peppers and remove the seeds. Boil, two at a time, for 2 minutes. Remove the peppers, leaving the boiling water in the pot. Drain the peppers well, and place in the deep casserole dish.

Place hollow, blanched peppers in deep casserole dish.

Bring the water back to a boil, add salt, and cook orzo according to directions. Make al dente.

Drain the orzo, rinse, and set aside. Dry the pot with a towel.

Heat olive oil in the pot and cook the onions for 3 minutes. Add garlic and cook one minute. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring frequently, until they soften and release moisture, about 5 minutes. Season with black pepper to taste.

Add tomatoes, basil, and kalamata olives to the pot with 1/4 cup of water and stir. If you are using a can of diced tomatoes instead of fresh tomatoes, you do not need to add water. Cook   for a few minutes.

Stir in orzo and mozzarella "cheese." Add salt if needed.

Stuff the peppers with the orzo mixture. You may cover and refrigerate at this point or add 1/2 cup of water to the bottom of the casserole dish, cover and bake in preheated oven until hot and bubbly, about 45 minutes. 

Remove from the oven and serve.

Each stuffed pepper provides 11 grams of protein
and 12 grams of dietary fiber!

Per serving: 375 calories, 9 g total fat, 1.5 g saturated fat, 101 mg omega-3 and 892 mg omega-6 fatty acids*, 0 mg cholesterol, 11 g protein, 103 g carbohydrates, 12 g dietary fiber, and 425 mg sodium.

* Essential fatty acids do not include any contribution from Daiya mozzarella shreds since that information is not available from the manufacturer.


For more delicious recipes, peek inside my eBook, Health Begins in the Kitchen.

Black-Eyed Pea And Vegan Feta Salad On Romaine

Marinated tofu is the "dairy free" feta in this delicious salad.
Black-eyed peas are eaten on New Year's day for good luck!

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Happy New Year!!
I'd like to wish you all a happy and healthy 2013. Thanks for inspiring me every day with your interest in healthy eating! 

My Annual Lucky Black-Eyed Pea Recipe
If you have been following my blog for over a year, you know that I always eat black-eyed peas on New Year's day for good luck- a southern tradition I picked up while living in Texas many years ago. This year I'm making a delicious salad with "vegan feta".

If you marinate firm or extra firm tofu in lemon, oil, salt, pepper and oregano, it has the taste and appearance of feta cheese. So for those of you who need to be dairy free or who are just trying to cut down on cholesterol, this is a wonderful substitution. To get some inflammation-busting omega-3 fatty acid in this recipe, I use some hemp oil in the marinade. Its dark green and nutty flavor compliments the extra virgin olive oil.

Besides being a good source of omega-3, this recipe is high in protein and dietary fiber.

Tofu marinated in lemon, oil, and seasonings tastes like feta!

Black-Eyed Pea and Vegan Feta Salad

"Mostly Raw" Vegan, Gluten Free
[makes 4 servings]

For the dressing/marinade
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons cold pressed hemp oil
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 teaspoon salt
For the salad
1/2 block firm or extra firm tofu, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced or sliced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced or sliced
1/2 cup red onion, diced
12 pitted kalamata olives, cut in half
1 1/2 cups no salt added canned black-eyed peas, rinsed
2 small heads Romaine lettuce, sliced

Prepare the vegan feta. Mix the salad dressing ingredients in a large bowl until the salt is dissolved.
Add the tofu and toss gently until well coated. Set aside for 10 minutes, tossing occasionally, while you prepare the rest of the salad.

Make the salad. Add the rest of the salad ingredients, except the Romaine lettuce, to the bowl of marinated tofu. Toss gently until well coated. 

Divide the Romaine into four large bowls and place one quarter of the salad mixture over each bowl of lettuce. If you would rather mix the lettuce in the large bowl with the tofu before serving, you can do that too.
Serve immediately.

Per serving: 289 calories, 18 g total fat, 2 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 1.3 g omega-3 and 6 g omega-6 fatty acids, 12 g protein, 23 g carbohydrates, 6 g dietary fiber and 600 mg of sodium.

Vegan Roasted Garlic And Kalamata Olive Hummus

Roasted garlic and kalamata olives make a great tasting addition to hummus!

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Hummus - So Versatile!
There are so many ways to make hummus. You can try different beans and add all kinds of ingredients for different flavors. (See my GuacaHummus with avocado or Spicy Red Pepper Hummus that I use as a topping for Portobello mushroom burgers. Or check out one of my most popular posts, Raw Hummus with Sprouted Garbanzo Beans). 
A few weeks ago I picked up some olive hummus at the store. It sounded interesting and I wanted to give it a try. It was really good but I was wondering how to make it even better. Of course what could be better than garlic? So I tried adding an entire head of roasted garlic to some hummus along with a respectable amount of chopped kalamatas (my favorite olive). I think you're going to really like this!


Roasted Garlic
A entire large head of garlic may sound like a lot, but once garlic is roasted, it gets a sweet and mellow taste. In fact, I recommend throwing in a clove or two of raw garlic when making the hummus for an added kick. I will probably even add a second roasted head the next time I make it. Can you ever get enough garlic?

To roast the garlic, just cut the top, drizzle a tiny bit of oil and water over the cloves, wrap in foil and bake!

The roasted cloves pop out easily!

I find it easier to chop the olives in the food processor.

Roasted Garlic and Kalamata Olive Hummus
Vegan, Gluten Free
[makes 4 (1/2 cup) servings]
For the roasted garlic
1 large head garlic (3.5 ounces)
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon water
For the hummus
1 large head roasted garlic (above)
15 kalamata olives
1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained (1 1/2 cups)*
1 clove raw garlic, chopped (optional)
2 tablespoons sesame tahini
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
* reserve some of the juice in case mixture needs more liquid.


To roast the garlic, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cut a square of aluminum foil.
Slice top off garlic head deep enough to expose the tips of the cloves.
Place garlic, root side down, in middle of aluminum foil. Drizzle oil and water over exposed cloves.
Wrap foil around garlic and close tightly. Place in a small ovenproof dish and bake 1 hour, until tender.
To remove cloves, break off individual pieces and press from bottom, squeezing the cooked garlic clove out of the trimmed top. Remove all cloves and set them aside.
To make the hummus, place kalamata olives in a food processor with an S blade and pulse until chopped (do not over process). Remove chopped olives and set aside. Wipe out the food processor to remove the olive residue (or you'll end up with a yucky colored hummus).
Add garbanzo beans, clove of raw garlic (if desired), tahini, salt and lemon juice to the food processor and process until smooth and creamy. If too dry, add a tablespoon or more of reserved garbanzo liquid.
Add roasted garlic cloves and pulse a few times until just blended.
Pour mixture into a bowl and stir in the chopped olives.
Serve with baked chips or use as a filling for a vegetarian sandwich.


Per (1/2 cup)serving: 163.5 calories, 7.3 g fat, 0.7 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 7.8 g protein, 21.6 g carbohydrates, 4.3 g dietary fiber and 560 mg sodium.

Linda's Fire Roasted, Honey Balsamic Tomato Sauce - Serve On Pasta With Chopped Kalamata Olives

Serve this sauce over your favorite pasta and garnish with kalamata olives and chopped parsley

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One Final Recipe from the Visit
I've been featuring recipes that my children prepared during their visit. The first one was my daughter-in law's Garlic Vinaigrette Salad Dressing and the second was my son's slow cooked Red Bell Pepper Sauce which I love to serve on vegan apple sage sausages. Today I'm going to share my daughter Linda's Fire Roasted, Honey Balsamic Tomato Sauce. 
She made it for me last year when I visited her in Minneapolis. I came home and tried to duplicate it and didn't quite do it justice. So during her recent visit, I took much better notes so that I could share it with you. For those of you who avoid honey, you may try making it with agave but I think the honey is key in this recipe as it pairs up so well with balsamic vinegar.


About Servings
I always struggle when I list how many servings a dish makes. Where a pasta or veggie recipe might be just a side dish for a meat eater, a pasta or veggie dish is going to be the main attraction for a vegetarian. So the vegetarian serving needs to be bigger. I get really annoyed at recipes that say they serve 4 only to find that they barely serve 2. So when I list a serving, it's usually a real serving!
When you look at the back of a box of pasta, it calls 2 ounces a serving. That would mean that 1 pound of pasta serves 8 people. If I ever served 8 family members only 1 pound of pasta, they would expect several more courses to follow! (Our family definitely does not fear the carb). So for this dish, I'm compromising and saying that 1 pound of pasta serves 6 even though I know the standard is 8 and in reality, 4 hungry people could polish off a pound of pasta without breaking a sweat! In any case, this is enough sauce to serve with a pound of pasta and the number of servings you get out of that is entirely up to you. Just enjoy!

My daughter, Linda, preparing the ingredients

After cooking the onions and garlic, push them to the edge.
Add balsamic vinegar and cook it down a bit

Then add honey 

Cook honey briefly until it bubbles and cooks down a little

Then add herbs and stir everything together

Add fire roasted tomatoes, stir, cover and cook

Linda's Fire Roasted, Honey Balsamic Tomato Sauce
[Enough for 1 pound of pasta, 6 servings]
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 cup yellow onion, chopped 
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon raw, local honey
2 teaspoon fresh basil, chopped (or 1 teaspoon dried)
2 teaspoons fresh oregano, chopped (or 1 teaspoon dried)
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
28 ounce can Muir Glen fire roasted crushed tomatoes
1/2 to 1 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
1 pound of cooked whole grain pasta
3 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
18 or more kalamata olives, chopped


Heat oil to medium low heat in a Dutch oven or sauce pan and sauté onions for about 3 to 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook another minute. 
Push onions and garlic to the edges making a whole in the center of the pan.
Drop balsamic vinegar into the center of the pan and cook it down for about a minute. Don't let it get too dry.
Add honey over the reduced balsamic vinegar. Let it cook down about a minute until it bubbles and reduces slightly.
Add basil, oregano and black pepper and stir everything together.
Add crushed tomatoes and salt to taste. Add a few tablespoons of water to the can and swirl around to get the rest of the sauce. Add to pan.
Bring to a low boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook for 45 minutes stirring every 15 minutes.
If sauce seems too thin, remove the cover during the last 10 minutes of cooking.
While the sauce is simmering, prepare pasta according to directions.
Spoon sauce over pasta and top with chopped kalamata olives and fresh parsley.
Serve immediately.


Per serving (sauce only): 94.8 calories, 2.3 g fat, 0.3 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 0.3 g protein, 16.2 g carbohydrates and 0.5 g dietary fiber.


Per serving (sauce, pasta and olives): 371 calories, 5.2 g fat, 0.3 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 9.7 g protein, 71.4 g carbohydrates and 8.5 g dietary fiber.

Sweet And Spicy Kalamata Olive And Artichoke Tapenade With Hazelnuts - A Great Vegan Appetizer Or Sandwich Spread

Sweet and Spicy and other Wonderful Flavors

This olive tapenade has some unusual flavors. Dates and crushed red pepper gives this spread a nice contrast. I love the taste of hazelnuts and added them to give the tapenade a bit of a crunch. The marinated artichoke hearts and salty kalamata olives provide the background flavor for the dish.

Most of the Ingredients are in your Pantry!

This is a great last minute appetizer when guests drop in over the holidays since most of the ingredients can be bought way ahead of time and kept in the pantry. And if you have a little flower pot of fresh parsley on the window sill you have it made! It takes only minutes to prepare and it can be made ahead of time - even the day before. (I just ate the tapenade I made yesterday and it tasted even better because the flavors had a chance to meld).

Not Just an Appetizer

This spread makes a tasty foundation for a vegan sandwich. For a hearty lunch, put a generous amount on a slice of crusty bread with some veggies like: roasted red peppers, tomatoes, avocados, English cucumbers, butter lettuce or some grilled eggplant, Portobello mushrooms or zucchini.

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Kalamata Olive and Artichoke Tapenade

[makes 1 1/2 cups or 24 tablespoons]

1/4 cup raw hazelnuts

1 cup pitted kalamata olives

1/2 cup marinaded artichoke hearts

4 Medjool dates, pitted and chopped

1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped plus some for garnish

1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (or more to taste)

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

Place the hazelnuts in a food processor with an S blade and process until broken up.

Add the rest of the ingredients except a bit of the chopped parsley.

Process until the mixture is spreadable but not too smooth.

Garnish with parsley.

Refrigerate or serve immediately with crackers or a sliced vegan baguette.

Per tablespoon: 37.7 calories, 2.6 g fat, 0.1 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 0.2 g protein, 4.5 g carbohydrates and 0.8 g dietary fiber.

Orzo Salad With Raw Kale, Kalamata Olives, Heirloom Tomatoes And Hazelnuts In A Lemon Dill Dressing - Vegan And Vegetarian Recipe Options

Our Annual Summer Solstice Party

Our family started a tradition last year to gather at our home in Sebastopol, California to celebrate the Summer Solstice. This was our second celebration and I definitely think this tradition is going to stick! The kids, grandkids and extended family traveled here from Portland, Minneapolis, San Francisco and New York. A week of swimming, game playing, movie watching, cooking, visiting local attractions and soaking up the California sun culminated in a big party on Saturday evening.

With 29 adults and children, all with different eating habits, the menu becomes quite a challenge. So we typically have a combination of raw, vegan, vegetarian, seafood and BBQ'd turkey tenderloins so that everyone can find something they can enjoy. And of course, lots of Sonoma wines.

This year, everyone pitched in to prepare our feast. My daughter-in-law Karina brought tons of organic lettuce and other veggies from her garden in Portland and made a giant raw salad. She has now converted her entire yard to raised bed gardens (You can see her garden in my post, 10 Good Reasons to Plant a Garden). Another dish we served was an orzo salad that my daughter Linda prepared. It's a nice combination of organic pasta with lots of raw veggies and was inspired by our Garbanzo and Raw Kale Salad. I thought you would enjoy this fresh and healthful recipe. My Sweet and Spicy Vegetarian Baked Beans and Shrimp and Artichoke Salad were also well received.

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Orzo Salad with Kale, Kalamata Olives, Tomatoes and Hazelnuts

[serves 6 to 8]

For the lemon-dill salad dressing

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons brine from olives

1/2 teaspoon dried dill

1/2 teaspoon sea salt (or to taste)

1/4 teaspoon black pepper (or to taste)

For the salad

1/2 bunch kale, de-stemmed and thinly sliced (3 cups)

1/2 pound organic orzo, cooked according to directions and drained

2 medium heirloom tomatoes, diced

12 pitted kalamata olives, sliced

2 tablespoons grated parmesan OR nutritional yeast (vegan alternative)

3 tablespoon chopped hazelnuts

Combine and mix all of the dressing ingredients in a small bowl.

In a large bowl, massage the kale with a few tablespoons of the dressing and let sit while you cook the orzo. Let the orzo cool a bit and mix in with the kale. Add the tomatoes, kalamata olives and either the parmesan or nutritional yeast. If you are going to serve immediately, mix in enough dressing so that it is well dressed but not over dressed. If you are going to serve the salad later, add more or all of the dressing as the pasta will absorb it. Top with hazelnuts.

Per serving (8 servings with parmesan): 196.8 calories, 9.8 g fat, 1.1 g saturated fat, 1.4 mg cholesterol, 5.5 g protein, 26.3 g carbohydrates and 1.9 g of fiber.

Per serving (8 servings with nutritional yeast): 200.1 calories, 9.5 g fat, 0.9 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 6.2 g protein, 27.4 g carbohydrates and 2.5 g of fiber.