Free Organic Cookbooks Recipe

This organic chickpea and black-eyed pea salad is great for those summer days that are just too hot to cook. You know, those days that are so hot you say, "Nope, I won't even look at the stove!"

Served cold, this salad is refreshing. It's terrific with grilled summer foods, such as organic Portobello burgers or vegetarian bratwurst.

Although this salad is delicious as a side dish, it's so hearty that it can be the centerpiece of the meal. This organic salad is high-protein, so you get plenty of mileage with this meal; you will not be hungry in just two hours! It's terrific served with hearty whole grain bread on the side, preferably organic and baked by a local baker, to sop up the vinaigrette.

Ingredients:

• 2 15 oz. cans organic chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
  
• 2 15 oz. cans organic black-eyed peas
  
• 2 15 oz. cans organic artichoke hearts
  
• 4 large organic tomatoes
  
• 2 large organic onion
  
• 6 large fresh organic garlic cloves
  
• ½ cup organic olive oil
  
• 1 cup organic balsamic vinegar
  
• A few pinches of dried organic parsley
  
• Fresh ground salt and pepper to taste

Let start cooking!

Drain chickpeas and black-eyed peas, and dump them into a large bowl. Chop artichoke hearts (into eighths if they're whole, or into quarters if they're already halved). Chop tomatoes and dice onion; dump artichokes, tomatoes and onion into bowl. Crush garlic gloves with garlic press and add to the luscious pile of goodies. Whip olive oil and balsamic vinegar together in a smaller bowl, then pour over the pile.

Your mouth should be watering now ;)

Add a few generous pinches of parsley, then salt and pepper to taste. Stir all the ingredients thoroughly with a large spoon to distribute them evenly and coat them with vinaigrette.

You can increase the ratio of balsamic vinegar to olive oil if you like the vinaigrette to taste tangier! And you can increase the overall amount of oil and vinegar if you want the salad to be more juicy.

You can also experiment with which type of vinegar flavor you like best. Red wine or raspberry balsamic vinegar taste great in this dish.

As for the fresh ground salt and pepper, you can either add them to the oil and vinegar mixture; just sprinkle them onto the ingredients before stirring, or both.

Adding fresh chopped basil--or any fresh organic herb you think would harmonize well with this dish--is also an option. You can also substitute organic scallions (green onions) for the diced onions, which also adds more color.

The trick to delicious recipes is to cook by your own taste, not necessarily by following the recipe verbatim. Besides, how fun would cooking be if you couldn't sample the dishes while you're creating them?

This dish, which serves 6 or more, also works great for summer pitch-ins, especially if you're vegan. You can't always count on non-dairy, high-protein dishes at such gatherings, but you can definitely depend on this hearty summer salad!

Who says you have to be a carnivore to enjoy the sweet, spicy flavors of Jamaican Jerk cooking? Jamaican Jerk kabobs not only provide plenty of protein, but will seriously boost your daily intake of fresh fruits and vegetables!

Kabob ingredients:

• 2 8 oz. packages of chicken chunk alternative or organic chicken (plain, no breading)
  
• 1 15 oz. can organic pineapple
  
• 1 organic red pepper
  
• 1 organic yellow pepper
  
• 1 organic orange pepper
  
• 1 8 oz. package organic portobello mushrooms
  
• Some organic onion

Jamaican Jerk marinade ingredients:

• Some organic packed brown sugar
  
• 8 organic garlic cloves
  
• 4 Scotch bonnet peppers
  
• 2 bunches organic escallions (green onions)
  
• 1 tablespoon organic ground thyme or 2 tablespoons organic thyme leaves
  
• ½ cup organic allspice or 1 cup ground organic allspice berries
  
• 1 teaspoon organic cinnamon
  
• 1 teaspoon organic nutmeg
  
• 2 tablespoons organic soy sauce
  
• Salt and pepper to taste

Dump thawed vegan chicken chunks in a large shallow dish. Use a fork or meat fork to punch holes into the chunks, which will allow them to absorb more marinade. In traditional Jamaican cooking, the meat is scored and rubbed with the sauce for more flavor.

Drain juice from pineapple; reserve juice in a bowl, and add pineapple to the vegan chicken chunks. Chop peppers and portobellos intobite-sized chunks that will easily stay put on a skewer. Slice the halved onion vertically into wedges. Add peppers, portobellos and onion to the pile of vegan chicken chunks.

Chop escallions and thyme, if you're using thyme leaves. Add escallions, thyme and all other Jerk marinade ingredients to a blender or food processor; puree until smooth. When chopping the peppers, be sure to wear rubber gloves, and wash your hands thoroughly afterward.

And whatever you do, don't rub your eye! You can decrease the heat of the peppers by discarding the seeds and by reducing the number of peppers you use. Likewise, you can turn up the heat by retaining the seeds and increasing the numbers of peppers. You can add a little more soy sauce, or even some of the pineapple juice, to make the marinade more liquid if you like.

Pour the marinade over the vegan chicken and chopped vegetables. Traditional Jamaican Jerk cooking calls for marinading overnight, then cooking very slow over a low charcoal fire. But if it's winter or you're in a pinch for time, you can marinade the vegan chicken and vegetables in the refrigerator for an hour. Then place them on skewers and broil them until the edges of the vegan chicken and vegetables are crispy and beginning to blacken.

Scotch bonnet peppers are a staple of Jamaican Jerk cooking. They look like a Scottish hat, hence the name. They are similar to habanero peppers, which are the hottest peppers on the planet. If you can't find any Scotch bonnet peppers, try organic jalapenos.

You can also experiment with using different types of organic produce. Try cherry tomatoes, mangoes--whatever you like.

To make this meal truly traditional Jamaican, serve the kabobs with a side of hard dough bread. Red Stripe beer optional. Serves four. You be jammin', mon!

This pasta dish is just marvelous! And if you live somewhere that you can find farm fresh asparagus in early spring, it makes this dish simply to die for! The vinaigrette brings out the tanginess of the red peppers, and the hearty avocados add a modest coating to the
fettucine noodles.

Ingredients:

• 1 16 oz. package organic fettucine noodles
  
• 1 pound fresh organic asparagus (try to obtain local, farm fresh!)
  
• 2 organic red peppers
  
• 2 organic avocados
  
• Some organic onion
  
• ½ cup organic olive oil
  
• 1 cup organic balsamic vinegar
  
• Fresh ground salt and pepper to taste

Bring one large pot of water and one smaller saucepan of water to a boil. Meanwhile, chop asparagus into one-inch chunks. Dice peppers and avocados.

To dice the avocado, carefully cut around the entire circumference with a knife. Twist the two halves in opposite directions until they come apart. Squeeze the half holding the pit until the pit pops out. (If you rinse the pit off, it makes a silly temporary cat toy.) Use a knife to cut long parallel lines into the avocado, then cut lines perpendicular to those. Use a spoon to pop the cubes out of the skin. Slice onion very thinly, then cut each thin slab in half and separate layers to create slivers.

Whip oil and vinegar together in a smaller bowl; adjust ratio of vinegar to increase tanginess if you like.

When smaller saucepan of water boils, add asparagus and cook for only two minutes--no longer! The water may not return to a boil, which is just fine. You want the asparagus to be quite firm. Drain asparagus, then place back in saucepan and cover to keep warm.

Cook fettucine in large pot of water until it's al dente; in other words, until it's just done and still firm--not overcooked and mushy. Pasta is healthier if it's not overcooked.

Drain pasta, then place in large bowl. Add vinaigrette to noodles and mix until noodles are thoroughly coated. Whip up more vinaigrette to add if you like. Add asparagus, peppers, avocado and onion. Fold mixture until vegetables are evenly distributed throughout the pasta.

If you want a little protein to accompany this dish, serve it with a light-colored organic or local semi-hard cheese on the side, such as raclette. This dish also pairs nicely with white wine. It easily serves six.

This dish is addictive, so there won't be any leftovers--which is a good thing, because the avocados won't keep anyway!

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