Lemony Chard Soba Noodles

These soba noodles are dressed in a zingy lemon sauce, tangled with wilted chard and beet greens and studded with sour and salty capers. A perfectly light, spring-time meal that’s ready in a flash.

Wow, it's been a long time! I confess to feeling like a piece of me is lacking without the usual frequent posts to Produce On Parade. I'll try to be better. I wish I could tell you the same ol' story of how the cookbook and our home construction have been taking up most of my time, but it wouldn't be entirely true. The house is in a sort of lull while we tackle the valley that is our driveway and with only a couple more recipes to go for the cookbook...I'm finding it very difficult to pick the last, lucky ones. 

“Quiet people have the loudest minds.”

— Stephen Hawking

To me, the calm before the storm is certainly worse than the storm itself. Being in a perpetual state of unknowing is by far my greatest menace in life, and a big source of suffocating anxiety. I've been trying to be gentle with myself and welcome a wee bit of senioritis and willful adjournment with a 10 mile backpacking trip, and bingeing on audiobooks during long runs and walks.  I'm so glad I have been! Check out Instagram, Twitter, and/or Facebook for some awesome Alaskan backcountry photos. 

This week, I've found it really difficult to muster on and conclude the last remaining recipes for the cookbook due mostly to a very strange reason...the weather.  It's been in the high 80's all week! Too hot to sleep, too hot to be outside, and certainly much too blistering to turn on the oven! Yesterday Todd joked with wide eyes, "I'll crush you if you turn on the oven." Now I can finally understand those oven-related gripes from those in The Lower 48. Rarely do we have such a problem up here in Alaska. I generally welcome any opportunity to fire up the oven; leaving the door ajar after cooking has ceased to help warm the house. Not this week. 

Lemony Chard Soba Noodles

Recipe by Katie @ Produce On Parade

This is a wonderful dish if you’re looking for a departure from the usual peanut butter laden soba noodle bowls! These soba noodles are dressed in a zingy lemon sauce, tangled with wilted chard and beet greens and studded with sour and salty capers. A perfectly light, spring-time meal that’s ready in a flash. - NOTES - If you don’t have beet greens, any other leafy green vegetable such as kale, collard greens, mustard greens, or simply additional chard will work beautifully. This is an exceptionally lemon-intense dish. If you’d like, start with only 2 tbsp (30 ml) of lemon juice to lessen the intensity and if you like, add more. I like incorporate the chard stems into my dishes, but discard them if you wish. Dijon or regular yellow mustard can be swapped for the stone-ground mustard.

Ingredients

• Greens -
• 1 tbsp (15 ml) olive oil
• 2 (10 g) garlic cloves, minced
• 1 bunch (200 g) fresh chard, chopped
• 1 bunch (53 g) beet greens (or other leafy greens), chopped (see note)
• Dressing -
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• juice from 1 large lemon, about ¼ cup (60 ml) (see note)
• 1 tbsp (15 g) stone-ground mustard (see note)
• ½ tsp kosher salt
• dash of red pepper flakes
• ---
• 6 oz (180 g) soba noodles, dry
• 2 tbsp (34 g) capers

Cooking Directions

1. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-low. Add the garlic and saute a couple of minutes until fragrant.
2. Add in the chard and beet greens. Stir uncovered for about 3 minutes until the greens have wilted slightly, you may have to add them in batches if the pan cannot accommodate all the greens at one time. Once they have wilted slightly, cover and allow to cook over low heat for about 10-15 minutes, until completely wilted.
3. While the greens cook, bring a pot of water to a boil for the noodles. Soba noodles only need 4 minutes to cook, so wait to add them when there’s only a few minutes left on the greens.
4. Add all the dressing ingredients together in a small bowl and whisk to combine.
5. When the greens are wilted and the dressing is ready, add the noodles to the boiling water and cook for 4 minutes. Next, drain the noodles and add them to the greens. Stir in the capers and the dressing, using tongs to incorporate all the ingredients evenly.
6. Serve warm.

Information For The Day

I really needed a good laugh and this guy delivered. You need to watch this hilarious vegan rap and brighten your day!!

Wild Blueberry Crisp

“Become loyal to your innermost truth. Follow the way when all others abandon it. Walk the path of your own heart. ”

— Unknown

I made this crisp a few days ago, with the blueberries leftover from last year's late harvest. If you want to see exactly where my berries came from see this post from last year, and this one from last week. There's some gorgeous Alaskan photos!

I'm not at all ashamed to admit that I ate half this pan of crisp the day I made it, and the other half the next day. This is why I don't post a lot of dessert recipes on the blog, in case you ever wondered. Dreams of this crisp still fill my head at night.

I'm staunchly anti-cobbler. Not sure why, really. You know how sometimes you just plain and simple don't like something when you know you should but you just don't. It's like that. I'm the same way with root beer floats and donuts. Every few years I will try a root beer float to see if I'll like it. Nope. Still hatin' on them for 20 straight years. Crisp is far superior to cobbler in every way. 

However, crisp can be a very fastidious and personal dessert. It might not seem that way with regards to how easy it is to throw to together, I know what you're thinking. But some people like it dry, and some like it soupy and sloppy (like me). Some like it sweet, and some not-so-sweet. I love the tartness of a little lemon juice to cut through the flavors, but others won't have it. It really depends on your preference.

Then there's the ice cream debate. I'm in the no-ice-cream crowd. Ice cream should be consumed all on it's own...in my opinion. 

To make thing worse, berry crisp can have a dramatically different texture if made with frozen berries or non-frozen. A different flavor, if using supermarket berries or wild. Whether the berries are super ripe and sweet, or underripe and tart will influence the taste. And finally, whether or not the berries are juicy will affect the amount of liquid in the crisp. Yep, it can definitely be a roll of the dice sometimes. 

Let's be real for a second though. Blueberries, maple syrup, oats, butter, pecans, and spices all mixed together will never ever be a bad thing, no matter how it turns out. You need this delightful end-of-summer crisp. There's even a little flax thrown in. Vegans are obsessed with flax. 

print recipe

Wild Blueberry Crisp

by Katie @ Produce on Parade August-15-2014

A fresh, wild blueberry crisp with lemon, maple syrup, flax, and pecans. You won't be able to resist it's deliciousness!

Ingredients

• Non-stick cooking spray
• 1 lb. 4 oz. frozen, wild blueberries (keep frozen)
• 3 Tbsp. ground flax seed, divided
• 2 Tbsp. maple syrup
• 1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
• ½ tsp. vanilla extract
• ½ cup whole wheat white flour
• ½ cup packed brown sugar
• ½ cup old-fashioned rolled oats, dry
• ¼ cup whole pecans
• ¼ tsp. kosher salt
• ¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
• dash of freshly ground nutmeg
• ¼ cup chilled vegan butter, rough chopped

Instructions

Spray an 8x8 inch square glass baking dish with a nonstick cooking spray and preheat oven to 375 F.In a large bowl, add the frozen blueberries through and including the vanilla, using 2 Tbsp. of the ground flax. Mix well and spread evenly in the baking dish.In a food processor, add the flour through and including the nutmeg, using the remaining 1 Tbsp. of the ground flax. Pulse a few times to mix. Now, add the butter and pulse several times until it resembles a coarse meal and the butter chunks are no bigger than a pea size. Spread the mixture over the berries evenly.Bake in the oven for 40 minutes. I like to place a baking sheet under the crisp in case it boils over, but it rarely happens. Remove from the oven when the liquid is boiling around the edges and the top is browned.Once done, allow to rest for 10 minutes. This is very important, especially if you’ve got a soupier crisp. In addition, the leftovers will firm up quite a bit. Serve warm.

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 40 mins Total time: 50 mins Yield: 6

After half a pan of bluberry crisp on a dark and blustery evening, it felt right to just lay in bed and read. #noshame

German Word of The Day

Blueberry --> Heidelbeere (Highdel-bearah)

Good Deed of The Day

This is absolutely heartbreaking. Palm oil producers are poisoning pygmy elephants. Help take a stand. Call on the Prime Minister of Malaysia to protect the unique wildlife and stop the further destruction of rainforests, and restore the forest corridors to allow elephants to wander their remaining habitat. As a consumer, vote with your fork. Stop contributing to these monstrosities by refusing to buy products with palm oil. Many peanut butters, butter spreads, and snacking chips along with many other food products contain palm oil. 

Creamy Lemon Cashew Pasta with Kale

I don't have too much to say today, except that yesterday we nearly reached 3,000 visits! Whaaa? Yes. People, that's like half of my town just perusing Produce On Parade...it's so weird to think about.  Anyways, not wasting anytime, let us move along to this delicious pasta dish.  Tart and tangy lemon combines with luscious cashews to make one smooth, thick and creamy sauce for penne pasta that pairs with sauteed carrots and wilted kale. Hold up. Cashews? As a sauce base?! Oh the veganity! I know, I know...if you're not vegan, a cashew-based sauce may seem a bit odd. However, rest assured that you don't have to be vegan to enjoy this hearty dish. It's a tastier, healthier, friendlier, and downright jazzier alternative to a boring alfredo dish.

 So go make it! And enjoy all the vegany goodness. 

Creamy Lemon Cashew Pasta with Kale

Inspired by An Officer and A Vegan

Serves 6

• --For The Sauce--
• 1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked
• 3 cups vegetable broth
• 2 lemons, juiced
• 3 Tbsp. cornstarch
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 1/2 tsp. dried basil
• 1/4- 1/2 tsp. turmeric
• 1/4 tsp. onion powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
• --For The Pasta--
• 18 oz. dry Penne pasta (or pasta of choice)
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 3 medium carrots, sliced thinly 
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 bunch of kale, de-stemmed and chopped
• fresh parsley, chopped for garnish

Place the raw cashews in a small bowl and fill with water to cover the cashews. Microwave for 2 minutes and let sit until ready for use. Drain and rinse before use. Place all the sauce ingredients in a blender followed by the drained and rinsed cashews and whirl on high until smooth.

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Once boiling, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain and set aside. While the water boils, heat the olive oil in a large frying pan. Add the onions and carrots and saute for about 5 minutes, then add the garlic and continue to saute for another few minutes.

Now, add the sauce and saute another 5 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Don't worry, I know the sauce seems thin but it will thicken up as it cooks. Next, add the kale and allow to cook a couple more minutes, until the kale has just wilted. 

Add the cooked pasta into the sauce and veggie mixture and stir well to combine. Serve hot with plenty of fresh parsley atop. 

I thought I'd share this wonderful quote. It really sums up how I feel quite perfectly. I'm ever changing and always surprising myself, but one thing that stays true is that I really have always tried to better myself (some things more than others...knitting...yea, it's not meant to be).

There are lots of little things we can do to help make ourselves healthier and happier and the world a more peaceful place. They don't have to be big changes. Sometimes the littlest changes turn around to be the most profound influences.

[yumprint-recipe id='4']

And of course for fun, what am I listening to? Langhorne Slim – On the Attack