I was walking through Whole Foods with my shopping list, because you know if you go to Whole Foods without a list, you may leave without your wallet. It's not that I think (like so many others) that Whole Foods is excessively expensive, it's just that there is so much temptation in my path. Even if I stay away from the deli counter, and buy only real food, there's SO MUCH real food, and it all looks so good.
If I stick to 365 brand and focus on specials, the food prices aren't bad. But like I said, there's temptation at every angle. Unexpected temptation. And I'm weak.
A few weeks ago, for example, I was wandering among the fruits and vegetables when I happened upon the most bizarre item I've ever seen in a produce department.
I was looking at citrus fruits and WHAT??? I couldn't believe my eyes at the weirdness I was seeing. It took me a while to understand that I was looking at a citrus fruit. I spent quite a lot of time admiring the selection of Buddha's hand, but at $6.99 each, I decided it was an extravagance I should live without.
But as soon as I got home I was distressed that I'd left the incredible thing behind. Naturally, whenever we went back to WF, there was not a Buddha's hand to be found. Until just the other day, when I was there as I said, with my list, searching out an organic orange to use in an orange bundt cake. There they were — two little ones, a big one and a freaking enormous one. They're all the same price, so I went for huge. I justified the purchase by thinking I could use one of the fingers for the zest in the cake. Oh yeah. Sometimes you just have to give in.
Buddha's hand, it turns out, is a variety of citron. It is basically thick peel and pith, but unlike oranges and lemons, the pith isn't bitter. It is very fragrant and is used for perfuming rooms or clothing, or in cooking for making jams and jellies, for zest in baked goods or for scattering onto salads or on top of sweet or savory dishes. You can slice the fingers in half and eat them, but I have to admit, I had a hard time cutting off one of the fingers for my cake. It just seemed wrong. The cake, however, was great, and will be the subject of a future post.
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Testing 1, 2, 3
Non-traditional arroz verde (with a link to the recipe!)
I've been testing recipes for cookbooks again. Above is a non-traditional arroz verde created by Michael Natkin of Herbivoracious Blog. Michael is sending me only vegan recipes to test, and this one is wonderful. It's kind of like a fresh herb pesto with rice. I'm giving you the link to the recipe on his blog, but I have to tell you that I doubled the amount of rice but not the herb topping. I prefer much less oil in my food than some people so I needed to reduce the fat content, but I highly recommend that you try this, whether you decide to make it full strength or not. It's easy and amazing.
I'm also testing recipes for the new Urban Vegan cookbook and the first thing I tried was Tuscan bean dip. It was so delicious I couldn't believe it had so few ingredients and was so fast and easy to make.
This is hearty and humble vegetable soup — a great use of barley and so delicious.
I also made cream of broccoli soup — another winner. I feel so lucky to be making these wonderful recipes.
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Portlandia
I know all the folks in Portland have a good sense of humor, so I can post this video. The one thing I can't understand is how the makers of the video left out the vegan scene.
