roasted carrot ginger turmeric soup & dukah

November 19, 2017 By Wendy Ellen Thomas in Appetizer, dinner, Lunch, Soup, Vegetables Tags: -, carrot soup, carrots, dukah, ginger, NYT cooking, soup, turmeric 15 Comments

I’ve got a new gig I’m loving. We are finishing up the second month of Star Route Kitchen food club. We’re preparing and delivering from scratch, whole food menus to a handful of Orcas Island residents. Check out my new Star Route Kitchen page where you can get some ideas of your own for plan ahead foods to have for the week.

We are currently in R&D mode these last few months of the year. I’m asking for feedback on recipes, logistics of packaging and delivering and getting my cooking chops back on track. Chloe and I are having a blast on Mondays cooking and on Tuesdays delivering. We may add next year, a second menu option such as anti-inflammatory or something in that direction. The goal, in season at least, is to use our garden goods and island farm produce and stay on the wonderful trend that has been happening… Keeping it local. And I clearly state that is not exclusive. I will buy from around the world but always organic when available. The food that leaves my kitchen is the quality of the food we eat at home and my standards are high.

Last week, this carrot, ginger, turmeric soup with a coconut milk and veggie stock base rocked. Not to toot my own horn… or Ollie’s (my awesome, jazz trumpet playing husband for any new readers). It was warming and tasty especially with the Dukah we made to garnish it. And here I added a little goat yogurt.

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Carrot, ginger, turmeric, cashew smoothie

March 26, 2017 By Wendy Ellen Thomas in Beverages, breakfast, Fresh and healthy, Juicing, Vegetables Tags: carrots, cashews, ginger, lemon, Smoothie, turmeric 9 Comments

AKA “Golden Bliss smoothie” – thought I should just say what it is straight off there in the title but I like Golden Bliss:)

We’ve been drinking this colorful, energy packed smoothie many a winter morning and straight on into spring. It’s packed with protein, immune boosting and anti-inflammatory properties.

I could drink it everyday because it tastes so damn good but we alternate with the berry spinach smoothie. The carrot conversation was happening for me as we (me again at least) have been influenced by media that carrots are high sugar (albeit natural) and carbs and then the Glycemic Index (GI) gets thrown in there and that sounds serious. In the last decade research on not only GI is readily available but also GL- Glycemic Load- which is how the body processes the food. It’s similar with our cholesterol scores. You’ve got to read the fine print- HDL LDL and ratio… Here are a couple links to check out on GI and GL ….. TTYL (just kidding).

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Golden turmeric ginger milk

February 9, 2015 By Wendy Ellen Thomas in Beverages, Fitness and Health, Fresh and healthy, Juicing, Nuts and Seeds Tags: almond milk, coconut oil, ginger, Golden milk, medicinal, turmeric 35 Comments

I had a friend recently ask me about turmeric milk. Not being in my repertoire, I thought it sounded interesting and only imagined how it would stain my nut bag. Well, for starters I learned you don’t strain it. Although my champion juicer has a permanent yellow hue. This one is for you Becky!

A lot of recipes call for powdered turmeric and/or ginger or often will have you grate it/chop it and simmer it and then strain it. But I have been juicing fresh turmeric over the past year and decided to juice it and fresh ginger. These amounts are what I used and honestly I think it’s to your personal taste. I like it heavier on the turmeric.

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chunky chocolate ginger snaps

December 10, 2013 By Wendy Ellen Thomas in Baked Goods, Chocolate, Cookies and Bars, holiday Tags: chocolate, chocolate ginger snaps, Chocosphere, ginger, molasses, valrhona 38 Comments

I’ve always had a thing for ginger.

When we are sick, the first home remedy is fresh, peeled ginger brewed with lots of pressed lemon juice and raw honey.

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Shaved Asparagus and Mushroom medley

May 29, 2012 By Wendy Ellen Thomas in Asian inspired, Side dishes, Vegetables Tags: asparagus, button mushroom, garlic, ginger, oyster mushroom, shiitake 34 Comments

A wee bit more asparagus…really, you will soon be missing it when the lovely, fresh local spears are gone and the long hauled, pithy ones return.

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French Macarons… A cinnamon and ginger duet.

April 1, 2012 By Wendy Ellen Thomas in Cookies and Bars Tags: chocolate, cinnamon, ginger, macaroons, Nigella Lawson, Pierre Herme 48 Comments

PHEW… what an exciting weekend. Thursday night I was doodling around checking to see if my new post was getting any action and yes, I was up to 35..45.. yes 75 in one day. This garnished excitement in my new little blogging world. Then about 8pm I looked and I had 140 hits. Hmmm… then 250 and I thought bummer I’ve been hacked spammed infiltrated. Then I had the notion to check freshly pressed and saw a familiar picture on the front page. Holy shit. How did that get there, not to be self deprecating, which I also have a knack for. I am pleased with my blog and the learning curve. However, if I had thought THIS chicken and glass noodle post would be seen by thousands I might have at least included a printable recipe. Must have been those scallions. Despite being catapulted into 15 minutes of blogging fame, my internet was still going off at 9pm (teen in the house) not to come back on till 6am. I checked my iphone till about 11pm. I woke up about 5.30 barely able to contain myself. O offered to make tea and keep me company till I could log on. I wasn’t sure if I should play all cool like ‘yeah whatever’ freshly pressed… that’s nice. But I’m not really a cool person and I wear my heart on my sleeve, so I can’t lie. What a thrill this has been. I’m enjoying seeing so many new faces and sites and don’t mind the occasional real estate broker hotline or tennis shoe extravaganza that seem to slip through the spam cracks.

All that being said… back to work- or fun I should say. I’m loving responding to comments but wanted to get this out next. I had Rosenkuchen planned for this post but found out Friday night through Biscuits and Bobbins about a macaron contest over at traveling foodies. I love making macaroons. Could I pull it off in a day? Make them and write a post? It was worth a shot. Here’s the round-up of their March Macaron Madness. Great photos and a lot of info!

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For the love of Kale…..

February 5, 2012 By Wendy Ellen Thomas in Asian inspired, Fitness and Health, Salad, Vegetables Tags: apples, cabbage, carrots, garlic, ginger, Kale, raw, slaw 15 Comments

Ok… I’m at it again. I’m loving making these videos. I will probably continue unless I hear how boring they are to normal people. Well, honestly, then I may still continue doing them because they are self gratifying. So I’d love to get some feedback. Or not. No really I want it…. thx wt

I’m placing it here, up top, so you have the option to watch…. or you can scroll past to the recipes.

Kale is in. In season. In fashion. Just plain in. It’s a funny thing kale. It’s a great summer salad and really can be grown in the pacific Northwest at least, and I’m sure here in Germany, year round. Just at the peak of heat, it bolts, but usually there’s another patch just coming up and it’s only a short kale eating pause. (Baby red russian kale in summer is great raw in green salads.) But we think of it being “in season” in winter. Certainly here in Hamburg, it’s out in kilo size bags. I think because it is also often the garden Savior. The plant you can knock the snow off of and still harvest. It’s even sweeter after a frost. It has to be very very cold to kill the kale. And it only asks for a light cover such as remay (lite woven fabric) to give that bit of protection to hold out through the freezes.

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