Broccoli, Eggplant and White Bean Salad

I had eggplant and broccoli from our garden today and I wanted to find a recipe to use them both while they were fresh "off the vine". This was delicious and made enough for Corey and me for supper when eaten with a couple slices of yummy rye bread too. Very simple and very tasty.




3 tbsp olive oil
1 head broccoli, cut into flowerettes
1 eggplant, cut into 1" cubes
1.5 cups cooked white beans
4 dried figs, cut into eighths
10 black olives
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
Salt
Pepper

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.

Add 1 tbsp olive oil to a cast iron frying pan. Add the eggplant and broccoli and stir to spread the oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook for 10 minutes, stir, then cook for 5 more.

While the veggie are cooking, put the other 2 tbsp oil, vinegar and garlic into a bowl. Toss the beans into the dressing mix. Toss in the fig pieces and olives.

Once the veggies are cooked, toss them into the bowl. You can serve the salad straight away when it's hot or let it cool to room temperature or cool in the fridge. Season with more salt and pepper as needed.

We had it room temperature and it was great.


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Carrot Pulp Cake

I love my juicer. I have a Cuisenart Compact Juice Extractor and I use it fairly often, especially for carrot juice. But I am always concerned about the pulp that is left. I hate wasting it. I know people say that there is "nothing" left in the pulp of value but it is still food and I am loathe to waste it.

Today, I created about 7 cups of carrot pulp after making juice from "ugly" carrots at the market. I decided to try two ideas with the remaining pulp. One is still drying so I'll wait on sharing that with you but the other is carrot cake. I think it's yummy. Give it a try and let me know what else you do with juicing pulp please. I doubt I'll have any favourable responses from home if I try making cucumber pulp cake or something like that!

Carrot Pulp Cake

2 cups flour (I use Spelt all the time but regular is fine)
3/4 cups sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon

3.5 cups (or so) carrot pulp from juicing
3/4 cup melted coconut oil

1/2 cup carrot juice (you could use orange too)
3/4 cup apple sauce

Raisins and Walnuts as desired

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x11 cake pan or muffin tins.

In a large bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients with a large metal spoon. Mix in the carrot pulp and coconut oil. Make sure it is really well mixed.

Mix in the carrot juice and apple sauce. Again, make sure it is all really well mixed together. Add in the raisins or walnuts. The batter will feel really heavy, more like cookie batter than cake batter.

Spread in the pan. I used my hands to level it out. Bake for 45 minutes if you are making the cake. If you are making muffins, bake for 25 minutes then check that a knife in the middle comes out clean. Let cool. This cake is really orange. Maybe the orange juice would change the colour?













Now, if you want vegan icing, this is the best recipe ever.

1/4 cup tofutti cream cheese
1/4 cup vegan mayo
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1-2 tsp lemon juice as desired

Mix the icing sugar, cream cheese, mayo and vanilla together. Add 1 tsp lemon juice then taste. Add more lemon juice as desired. Spread on cooled cake.

I cut the cake in two and layered it. There was enough icing to do this.

Keep the cake refridgerated. Because it is so moist, it will quickly become "wet" and ferment.







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Eggplant "bacon" and Cashew "cheese" Sandwiches

Well, no. It tastes nothing like bacon. But it makes a nice layer for a sandwich. And no, it's nothing like cheese either but it is a tasty spread. Together with fresh tomato and lettuce, they are quite yummy! Especially nice as all the veggies and basil came from our garden today.

I have just discovered Earth's Oven carrot buns, (earthsoven.com) made in Calgary, and they are delicious. Unfortunately, the distributor here a restaurant and the owner quadruples the cost so if ever anyone is going to Calgary or coming from Calgary, please let me know and I'll order some carrot buns for pick-up!






Eggplant Bacon

1 large eggplant sliced 1/4" thick (about 20 slices)
2 tbsp soya sauce
1 tbsp maple syrup (or 2 if you like it sweeter)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp chili or 1/2 tsp cayenne
3/4 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp liquid smoke (or increase the smoked paprika)
Black pepper to taste

Mix all the sauce ingredients together and let the eggplant slices marinate for 1 hour. Preheat your oven to 350 and place the eggplant slices on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silipat mat. The slices can touch but not overlap. I needed two trays for mine. Pour the remaining sauce on top of the slices.

Bake 15 minutes then switch the trays (if you have 2) and rotate them. Bake another 15 minutes. Watch they don't burn.

The slices will crisp up a bit as they cool but some will be very crispy and others will be softer. Up to you if you put the softer ones back in the oven.






Cashew Cheese

1 cup raw cashews, soaked 2 hours in water
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp miso
4 sundried tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup basil

In a food processor, blend the cashews until they are well ground. Add the lemon juice, miso and salt. Continue processing and add water to get a smoother consistency. Add the tomatoes and basil and process again. Taste and add more salt as desired.

These two recipes are adapted from choosingraw.com


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