Tuesday, July 28, 2009

The icy hand of fate

First a friend gave me some black-raspberry ice cream she had made from berries that we picked during a trip to the mountains. It was delicious, and she said she has been having a lot of fun making ice cream.

Next, I came across Wheeler del Torro’s new book, The Vegan Scoop, chock-full of recipes for non-dairy ice creams in flavors ranging from vanilla to wasabi. Tempting … but I resisted, since I lacked an ice-cream maker.

Then I came across a used ice-cream maker – a Cusinart, no less - for $10. Clearly fate was pointing me toward homemade ice cream. And when fate points to something so pleasant, who am I to resist? I bought the maker, dashed over to the bookstore to get The Vegan Scoop, and finally to the store for the soy milk, soy creamer and arrowroot powder that form the base of most of the recipes in the book.

It was so easy to make a batch of Cherries Jubilee (fresh cherries and almonds in a vanilla base) - and it was so enjoyable - that I’m already thinking about the possibilities of an H.P. Lovecraft ice cream social. The old gentleman loved ice cream, as the story of him and two friends sampling all 28 flavors available at a parlor one afternoon in 1927 attests.

In addition to the fun of making the vegan ice cream, it will be interesting to experiment with such possibilities as making low-sugar ice cream, using stevia or artificial sweeteners; or making raw-foods ice cream….

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes

It’s that time of year when Southern gardens put forth their bounty of tomotoes, and gardeners press the extras onto their friends, neighbors, co-workers and anyone who happens to be passing by. I can’t seem to grow much of anything else in my small garden, but tomatoes—now those I can do! Last year was a bit of a down year for my tomatoes, but they’re going great guns this year. I made a point to do a variety of kinds this year: one each of Early Girl, Lemon Boy, Sweet Tangerine and Jet Star of the bigger size, and of the smaller size, my standby Juliet grape tomatoes (they approach small Roma size and always do well for me) and, new this year, yellow pear tomatoes that hang from the branches like Christmas lights, to steal my co-blogger Julie’s description.

I’ve had many of that Southern summer staple, the tomato sandwich. I’ve tossed them into big green salads. I’ve made salsa and tomato sauce. But my favorite way to use up the bounty is with a salad of tomato and fresh mozzarella, sprinkled with chiffonaded basil also from my garden. This year I got the brainstorm to add some avocado to the mix, and I think that’s a fine addition. Here’s my simple recipe (I never measure, just throw what amount of the ingredients looks right in a bowl):

Fresh Mozzarella and Tomato Salad
Grape tomatoes, cut into halves or thirds, depending on the size
Fresh mozzarella balls, cut into roughly the same size at the tomatoes
Firm, ripe avocado, cut into bite size
Good-quality olive oil
Red-wine vinegar (you could use balsamic, but I prefer red-wine for this)
Chiffonaded basil (cut into strips)
Freshly ground black pepper

I’m always looking for new ideas to use up my tomatoes, so I’d love some suggestions from readers!

Friday, July 10, 2009

New vegetarian restaurant

I just discovered that a new vegetarian restaurant, Butternut Squash, has recently opened at University Square in Chapel Hill. I’m so jealous of towns that have not one, but two, vegetarian restaurants! Not to mention the copious vegetarian-friendly restaurants. I loved Sage Vegetarian Cafe when I ate there and have been yearning to go back. But now I’ll have to check out the new place next time I visit. Oh, to have choices! I may just have to stay long enough for lunch AND dinner….

Check out Butternut Squash’s Web site here.

If any readers have visited, give us a report!