Recipes are simply formulas that offer ideas and suggestions about putting ingredients together. When our ancestors gathered wild plants from the natural landscape they didn't think much more about designing a recipe, than laying out their bootie only have it devoured in minutes. Due to supply and demand some seasons offered little, if any, options to these distant relatives.
As for living in the 21st century, we actually are inundated with choices! Drawing from those plants that offer the highest nutritional value per caloric intake (plant-based ingredients), we can actually design meals that are both truly scrumptious AND have a most appealing presentation. With access to a means of storage and preservation (refrigerators and freezers unknown to our great grandmothers) we can conjure up just about any delicacy at any time of the year.
Now here comes
the challenge: if we wanted to lessen our carbon footprint and eat those plants
that are grown closer to home (cutting food transportation/petrol costs), we
might want to sharpen our skills at redesigning favorite recipes by thinking
within the season.
It's nigh
February, the dead of winter, and I come across a well-loved pie recipe. It
calls for pineapple and blueberries. The only blueberries that I can get my
hands on at this time of the year would be a package of frozen ones from the
neighborhood market. And aside from jumping on a flight to Maui or Cabo, pineapple
just isn't grown in my hometown at any time of the year! So I set out to
explore 'local lovelies,' hummm...apples and persimmons.
Per the
following recipe, Blueberry Special,
I replace the pineapple
with 3-4 chopped apples and 1 1/2 cup apple juice; add1 /2 teaspoon cinnamon,
(allspice, or pumpkin pie spice); then substitute blueberries with fresh
Hachiya Persimmons, mashed (uncooked, drizzled as a topping); lastly, I garnish
this delight with chopped walnuts (or pecans if you are living in Georgia).
Winter, at least where I live, bestows her abundance with a plethora of
alternatives.
Lucky?
You bet we are!
I hope I've
encourage you to put on your creative/thinking cap and let your mind wander
your neighborhoods and farmer's markets where winter's blessings come in the
forms of: citrus (oranges, tangerines, tangelos, mandarins, grapefruit, lemons,
kumquats), apples, pears, kiwi, persimmons, dried fruits, greens, broccoli,
cauliflower, cabbage, roots (carrots, beets, potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, turnips,
ginger, parsnips), nuts, seeds, beans, lentils, grains, mushrooms ... Yummers!!!
Blueberry Special
Servings: 8
Preparation
Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 18
minutes
Crust:
1 1/2 cups Grape
Nuts cereal
3/4 cup frozen
unsweetened apple juice concentrate, thawed
1/2 teaspoon
vanilla
Filling:
1 8-ounce can
unsweetened crushed pineapple, undrained
1 cup frozen
unsweetened apple juice concentrate, thawed
1/4 cup quick
cooking tapioca
5 cups fresh or
frozen blueberries
Preheat oven to
350 degrees. Place cereal in a Ziplock bag and crush with a rolling pin.
Combine apple juice concentrate and vanilla. Mix cereal and apple juice mixture
together. Press into bottom and sides of a 10-inch pie pan. Bake for 12
minutes. Cool.
Meanwhile, place
pineapple, apple juice and tapioca in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Cook
and stir until thickened, about 3 minutes. Add blueberries. Cook an additional
3 minutes. Pour into crust. Cool and serve.
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Recipe from The
McDougall Program - Regain your lost health and appearance