FRESHtruck

2007-05-17T23:54:00.000-07:00

Today's FRESH menu:
*Kale/chard/tomato bruschetta
*Bike powered SMOOTHIES!!! with strawberries, bananas, mangos, almond milk, chocolate soy milk, regular milk, and some raw hemp protein powder.

Been dying to do this for ages, ever since my friend Kipchoge visited New Roads School over a year ago, and lent his bike blender for the afternoon. Finally got my own "juice peddler", and we gave it a whirl for FRESH...awesome. We only have one more workshop, and will definitely make smoothies again.

Will pedal for food!

2007-05-02T16:29:00.000-07:00

FRESH estilo espanol

•Acelgas a la Catalana (Catalan style chard sauteed w/ garlic, raisins and pine nuts)
•Tortilla Espanola (Spanish omelet w/ potatoes and onions)
•Ensalada Mixta (Mixed salad)
•Pan con tomate (Bread rubbed w/ tomato, drizzled w/ olive oil and salt)
•Bananas con dulce de leche o crema de nueces (Banana slices w/ dulce de leche (dairy) or nut cream (Vegan)

In racking my brain for yet another chard-in-a-wok variation, decided on one of my favorite Spanish dishes - espinacas catalan, only with chard. Sauteed with garlic and olive oil, combined w/ toasted pine nuts and soaked raisins, lovely.

Learned that you really shouldn't let chard grow waist high....oops. Starts to get bitter, and tasted a bit salty. Something in the soil?

Kamilah and Antonia were all over the tortilla, i.e. Spanish style omelet. Not ideal to cook in a wok, tough to flip, but we managed.

Billy rocked another dessert creation, banana slices cooked with a bit of dulce de leche. I just give him the ingredients and he takes over from there with a few willing sous chefs....

The tortilla support team, prepping onions and potatoes, and some lovely plum radishes for the salad.

An overly ambitious menu today, yet again no time to snap photos. Only a few classes left, and yet so many new plantlettes coming up in the garden! Will have to try out some FRESH mobile cooking classes this summer.....

2007-04-29T08:08:00.000-07:00

What's FRESH today?

• Farfalle pasta w/ low-fat béchamel sauce, cherry tomatoes, and fresh herbs
• Mixed greens salad w/ fresh mozzarella and lemon vinaigrette
• Spiced apple tart w/ nut cream filling (vegan)

After learning the origin of "farfalle" or bow-tie pasta (dates back to the 1500s, originally from Lombardia and Emilia-Romagna in Northern Italy) we dove into mad action without a second to lose....class was cut 20 minutes short by an assembly.

Fortunately, this seasoned group is used to my running around barking instructions.....and sometimes even have their own, better ideas of how to construct a dish. Like Billy's fine tuning of my half-baked dessert idea:

I brought in a graham-cracker crust, a bunch of soaked nuts and dates, and a big bag of Pink Lady apples. Idea was to make a nut cream, blending nuts, dates, and fresh OJ, a sort of raw, vegan whipped cream, speading this on the crust, and layering w/ thinly sliced apples.

Billy was skeptical, so decided to wait patiently for a clean wok, and labored well into our lunch period, sauteeing the apples tossed w/ lemon juice and spices, carefully layering onto the crust, and sprinkling w/ low-fat granola.

Students line up w/ biodegradable plates in hand, eagerly eying the pomme pastry......

New Roads recently went Zero Waste, to my great excitement. We've been using biodegradable, potato-starch based forks in our workshop for over a year now, wonderful to see this ethic spreading.

Kelly strikes a spring pose, strutting another of
her show-stopping ensembles.

2007-04-18T18:21:00.000-07:00

Today's FRESH menu to the left, a beautiful sunny day for some outdoor cookin'!

And the chard abundance continues.

Matt and Jake harvesting carrots and chard.....

Lilly and Charlie harvesting.....more chard:

Our ricotta-filled blossom creations, and a fresh strawberry topped meringue...

And two living examples of the good vibes that fresh food spreads.

2007-04-11T14:42:00.000-07:00

FRESH SPRING!!!

Today's Menu:

*Pasta Primavera - vegan and dairy;

*Mixed green salad w/ beets, garbanzo beans, and homegrown carrot-lettes in a balsamic vinagrette;

*Amazon chocolate cake w/ fresh strawberries (vegan)

Today was a super fun class....we made a fresh pasta primavera, with broccoli, asparagus, Mexican spring squash, mushrooms, tomatoes, and pine nuts. The non-vegan option had a parmesan-cream sauce, definitely a dairy indulgence! This was a winner.

Our star pastry chef Billy, with sous chefs Lilly, Isis, and a bevy of others eager to taste the crumbs, created an extraordinarily beautiful Chocolate Cake extravaganza.

Almost a shame to cut it....but not quite.

We also had a visit today from Master Gardener Lissa Carter, who will help us in Herb's absence to wrest control of our garden back from the aphids, and plant more veggies to use in our cooking class. Doesn't get more local than our own backyard.

This group rocks, always makes my day preparing and eating good, fresh food together. If we had a kitchen, we'd be dangerous!

2007-03-16T08:43:00.000-07:00

Today's FRESH:
*Vegetable stir fry with peanut sauce;
*Napa cabbage salad with cilantro and roasted peanuts;
*Rice pudding with quinoa, flax, and coconut

Jasper and Sergio harvesting the never ending chard. Every week we use chard in something, and every week theres more! We also picked fresh sweet peas, a head of cauliflower for the stir fry, and some salad greens. Sadly, the beautiful little brussels were covered with aphids....and freaked the kids out.

Fortunately no one had peanut allergies....the kids' peanut sauce was outstanding - garlic, ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil, peanut butter, and tons of fresh veggies.

And the verdict? Two thumbs up!!

2007-02-28T14:36:00.000-08:00

FRESH slam

MENU:
*Tuscan white bean salad w/ garlic-sauteed garden chard;
*Tri colored crostini w/ pesto, red-pepper spread, and tofu-garlic pate;
*Fresh green salad with shredded beets, carrots, and green goddess dressing;
*Strawberry-chocolate tarts w/ organic granola crust, ricotta-mint filling,
and vegan-chocolate filling

Today I REALLY had no time to take photos, only managed to snap some quick ones. There was a last minute poetry slam in the courtyard during workshop, so our class had a little audience. We did our best to cook quietly, I ran around whispering directions, while listening to some absolutely incredible works.....

The students' poetry blew me away. Even moved to tears. Some kids I remember back from 8th grade, squirrelly punks turned graceful young-adult poets.

Wanted to get a picture of our beautiful lettuce, chard, and kale before picking....sent Jake running to the garden to pick more during class. Amazing how much an armful of kale/chard cooks down....

Students' comments "how cool is this that we can pick stuff straight from the garden to cook in class!" made my day. That's what this is all about.....from garden to table, fresh organic foods grown without petroleum, without pesticides, prepped with care, and eaten together, in community.

2007-02-21T14:10:00.000-08:00

Today's FRESH: Mediterranean-style
Had I known the vultures would descend so quickly, and had such an appetite for falafel, I would've made more! Food disappeared today in about point 5.

*Homemade Hummus w/ Whole Wheat Pita
*Falafel
*Greek Salad
*Super-local Sauteed Califlower and Chard - from our garden.
*Fruit Platter

Sergio deeply focused on tomato-prep;

Girls rock the Greek Salad.....
and an artistic fruit platter below. How'd Jasper sneak in that photo?

Makin' hummus, and using some mad math skills in the process, multiplying recipe by about 7.

The crowd gathers, food evaporates, and the response:

thumbs up, just make more next time!

2007-02-01T00:06:00.000-08:00

Today's FRESH Menu:
*Roasted vegetable medly w/ balsamic vinagrette;
*Bruchetta w/ garlic, sweet basil and olive oil;
*Kiwi-strawberry-tangerine fruit tarts; (vegan and non)

Billy and Lilly creating edible fruit-art. The decorating skills of these kids,.....

Antonia and Jasper grilling organic veggies and toasting bruschetta....

.....and preparing for the onslaught.

Too little time to take many pix.....nor did last week's taco bar - homemade tortillas, salsa, guacamole, black beans and rice, and sweet plantains - leave time for photos..... We did talk a bit about why were doing this - that our food system requires TREMENDOUS amounts of petroleum, and that eating local/organic is a huge step towards curbing our oil appetite.

2007-01-17T16:13:00.000-08:00

Time to start recording some of our New Roads experimental organic cooking experiences. Always chaos, always fun, and always super tasty thanks to our local farmers, our Master Gardener Herb, and the creative efforts of my FRESH students.....

Harvesting the Jerusalem Artichokes. Planted last spring, grown 15 feet, and yielding a staggering amount of food.

Antonia and Kamilah skeptical of these so called "artichokes"; Isis amused....

Displaying the.....tubers of our labor?

And Billy working his culinary magic, as always.

MENU:
*Penne w/ tomato basil sauce, topped w/ garlic-sauteed jerusalem artichokes;
*Garden fresh salad w/ sliced apples, crumbled feta, and pine nuts;
*Garlic mashed "potatoes" (cauliflower posing as potato);
*Organic chocolate-chip cookies

(Basil, greens, and jerusalem artichoke grown on campus)