Farro with walnut and arugula pesto, spring asparagus and roasted mushrooms

This is a perfect spring main course, it is somehow light and rich at the same time. This makes a party sized serving and about twice as much of the pesto than you'll need...Which is great because it will keep for a week and be great on whole wheat pasta, veggie sandwiches, you name it.

Walnut and arugula pesto

1 cup raw walnuts
1 shallot
1 clove garlic
1 tsp toasted fennel seeds
1/2 tsp toasted yellow mustard seeds
1/2 cup rinsed and dried parsely
1 tsp of whole grain mustard
2- 3 cups rinsed and dried arugula
3- 4 T apple cider vinegar
1 T lemon juice
walnut oil
salt and pepper to taste

Pulse the shallot, garlic, and fennel in a food processor. Add the walnuts and a big drizzle of walnut oil, blend until you have a thick paste. Add the mustard. Then pack in the parsely and arugula and blend, adding oil to keep it smooth until you have a fluffy, bright green paste. Add the vinegar a tablespoon at a time, pulse to incorporate and taste. Add the lemon juice and a little zest. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

Farro with walnut and arugula pesto, spring asparagus and roasted mushrooms

1- 2 lbs of assorted mushrooms, trimmed
1 lb of fresh spring asparagus
handful of chopped parsley
1/4 cup of walnut oil
1 shallot finely diced
2 cups of farro cooked in salted water and drained, reserve 1/4 cup of the cooking water

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Toss the mushrooms in the walnut oil and toss with the parsley and a couple shakes of freshly ground pepper. Do not salt them! Lay the mushrooms out on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and roast them for 20- 30 minutes. You will know when they are done.

While the mushrooms are roasting, cook the farro. You can steam the asparagus over the boiling water.

Caramelize the shallot.

When the mushrooms, asparagus and shallot are done toss them all together and add a little salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon.

In the warm pot, mix the pesto with the reserved cooking water and toss the warm farro in the pesto.

Pile the farro in a big bowl and top with the asparagus and mushrooms. Serve warm.

Vegan Pea and Mint Soup

Bright green and so, so good! This soup could not be more simple and it is a light, healthy spin on the classic recipe which tends to include a substantial amount of cream or milk. The potato more than makes up for the lack of cream, and if you follow my recommendation and cook the broth and aromatics low and slow, the starch will get really sweet and the soup will become richly flavored. This makes a great first course or light lunch and would be spectacularly beautiful garnished with some edible flowers.

Ingredients
1 yukon gold potato (about the size of a fist), 1/4" dice (Could probably sub a yellow beet)
1 medium onion 1/4" dice
1 leek diced
High quality olive oil
4 cups vegetable stock
2 cups water
1 bag of frozen spring peas, refrigerator thawed
1 cup fresh mint, loosely packed
lemon zest
salt and pepper to taste

In a big soup pot with a tight fitting lid sweat the onion and leek in olive oil over very low heat for 10 minutes. Do not let the veggies brown. Add the diced potato and sweat for 5 more minutes. Pour in the stock and bring to a boil. Simmer over low heat for 30 minutes until the potatoes are soft. Add the water, continue to simmer for 15 more minutes and then add sea salt to taste. Drop in the peas and the mint and simmer for 5 more minutes. Purée, taste for salt and pepper, and serve immediately.

Serving suggestions: Top with sourdough croutons, a drizzle of roasted carrot purée, add some fennel bulb in with the leeks and onion...This soup offers itself up to many variations.

Breakfast Bars (Or, the ways in which I'm trying to not eat yogurt everyday!)

So, many years ago, my dad and I started playing around with home made alternatives to Clif bars. I learned a lot through those experiments and from time to time I play around with the recipe when I am tired of my usual breakfast options. Yesterday I made a "cookie" version with vegan chocolate chips and no veggies for class today and was inspired to share the "recipe" with you all. These are REMARKABLY similar to "Nikki's Cookies" on 101 cookbooks, but I think banana based treats are pretty standard to all health nuts.

Ingredients
3 big and really ripe bananas (You can sub a banana for 1/2 cup of pumpkin purée and make a wintry version too! I've never tried to go for all pumpkin, but it might work. I also sometimes use pumpkin butter instead of the purée.)
1/4 cup coconut, walnut or olive oil (I've only recently played around with coconut oil, but I think its my favorite for baked treats like this!)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinammon (Try more spices, especially if you're using pumpkin.)
1/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1/6 cup chopped dried tart cherries
1/6 cup chopped dried cranberries
1/6 cup pepitas or toasted sunflower seeds
1/3 cup chopped carrots (grated beets are great too!)
3/4 cup coarse almond meal (Can sub peanut meal or cashew meal. I just always have sliced almonds that I can grind up, but use whatever raw nuts you have!)
1 cup rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Spelt flour as needed

Preheat the oven to 350. Prepare a baking sheet by lining it in parchment paper.

In a large bowl mash the bananas. Add the oil (if using coconut oil you'll need to heat it so that it is liquid), vanilla, and cinnamon. Stir well.

In a separate bowl mix the oats, almond meal, baking soda and salt. Combine with the banana mash. If its looking really wet, add some spelt flour a teaspoon at a time. It should be like thick cookie batter when its ready.

Handshape little "bars" on the cookie sheet. Bake for 17 minutes until the bottoms and tops are golden and the bars are set. These don't really spread, so don't worry about giving them a ton of space on the cookie sheet. I'm still trying to figure out how to get these to be just a little less soft so that they're more transportable. If you figure anything out, let me know!

Makes about a dozen.

Quinoa and Lentil Salad in an Almond Dressing with Roasted Veggies and Radicchio

So, thanks to my magic tea, the cold is nearly gone. But, what is up with this rain?!

As we all know, the end of the semester is approaching extremely quickly. So, it is once again cookcrastination time in my house. (I'm hoping to get the cleancrastination bug this weekend...) I've been dreaming up this recipe all day. It is reflective of my current effort to really minimize the presence of all animal derived products in my diet. So, far breakfast is the only real challenge, but this would be a great brunch salad! And, this little salad is inspired by one of my favorite snacks- Raw beet "chips" with almond dip. To give that lovely snack a try, make the dressing and then mandolin a raw beet into chips. Its a great alternative to standard chip + dip options!

Dressing
3/4 cup raw sliced almonds
1.5 T walnut oil
the juice of one big lemon
1.5 t shoyu (more to taste)
3 cloves garlic

Place the almonds and garlic in a small food processor. Grind until finely chopped. Drizzle in the oil, lemon juice, and shoyu. Blend until you have a thick, chunky paste. Taste and add more lemon or shoyu if the balance is off.

Salad
1 cup red quinoa
1/2 cup french lentils
2 smallish beets peeled and chopped into bite size pieces
2 large carrots peeled and chopped into bite size pieces
1 smallish head of radicchio, coarsely chopped, rinsed and dried
1 large clove garlic
juice of one lemon
giant handful of chopped parsely
salt and pepper to taste (optional)

Preheat the oven to 400. Toss the beets and carrots in a drizzle of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon. Roast.

Toss the chopped radicchio in the lemon juice and stir in the minced head of garlic. Set aside.

Cook the quinoa (in 2 cups water) and the lentils (in 1.5 cups water). (I did the quinoa first, tossed it with the dressing and then used the same pot to cook the lentils.)

In a LARGE bowl toss the quinoa and lentils in the dressing while still warm. If there is a tablespoon or so of water hanging out in the pot, that's fine, it will just thin the dressing and make it easier to mix. When the veggies are done, toss them with the quinoa and lentils. Let the warm part of the salad sit until just a little warmer than room temperature and then toss in the garlicky radicchio. Toss and taste. Add salt and pepper if you want it. (I didn't.) Toss in a generous amount of chopped parsley. If you're going to hold this as leftovers, I would add the parsely as you go through the salad so that you maximize its flavor.

Serves 6. Seriously, it fills my 3.5 quart bowl.

Curried Lentil and Coconut Soup

Currently, I am beset by the nastiest cold/flu since last winter's never-ending viral debacle. I am also beset by panic regarding the nearing end of the semester, my as of yet unstarted papers, and of course that other thing, in new york. So, though the weather has been warm and I've been mostly eating guacamole for the last 2 weeks, today was a soup day. I'd be eyeing this recipe at 101 Cookbooks, but knew that it would need an added punch to satisfy me. So, here is my version:

Serves 4.

1/2 cup yellow split peas
1/2 cup red split lentils
3.5 cups water
2 medium carrots, diced
1 small sweet potato, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 tablespoons fresh peeled and minced ginger
1 fresh red chile, diced
1 tablespoon curry powder
2 tablespoons olive oil
8 green onions (scallions), thinly sliced
1 large clove garlic, minced
2/3 cup dried tart cherries (The original recipe called for raisins, which I almost never eat, so I used cherries. I really liked their tart kick in the rich soup. But, raisins are certainly the more traditional choice.)
1/3 cup tomato paste
1/2 can coconut milk
1/4 cup dried coconut
1 teaspoon tamarind paste
1/4+ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
salt to taste

Handful of chopped cilantro for garnish.

Throw the lentils and water in a soup pot. Bring to a boil, then add 1/2 the ginger, the carrots, and the sweet potato.

Toast the curry powder in a dry skillet. Set it aside. Heat the oil in the same pan, add the scallions, garlic, hot pepper, bell pepper, remaining ginger, and cherries. Saute for a couple of minutes until everything is really fragrant and add the tomato paste and a couple tablespoons of water. Saute for a couple more minutes. Add curry powder.

Once the lentils are soft, add the spiced tomato paste mixture to the soup. Stir well and then add the coconut milk, tamarind, and dried coconut. Let the soup simmer uncovered until it begins to thicken. Add salt and cayenne pepper to taste and the peas. Let the soup cook another couple of minutes so that the flavors combine and then serve with chopped cilantro if you have it.