Recipes

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Carrot Peanut Soup

This soup is awesome.  If you like things spicy, add some more chiles.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 chile perrón (if you don’t have these, a serrano or a jalapeño would work fine), de-seeded and minced
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon minced ginger
• 2 tablespoons oil (vegetable or olive, though peanut oil would probably be awesome – or sesame – but I can’t get those…)
• 10 carrots, chopped
• 2 potatoes, chopped
• 1 cup of peanuts, blended with 1 cup of water
• 1 handful of cilantro, chopped
• Salt to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1. Sauté the chili, garlic, and ginger with the oil in a large pot for 5 minutes
2. Add carrots and potato. Cover with water.
3. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes
4. In a food processor or a blender, puree the carrot mixture until smooth. Add water to get desired thickness.
5. Just before serving add salt, peanuts and cilantro.

Serves 4-6 for main course (add some nice bread!)  Serves 8 for first course.

 

Black bean salad

This is a great salad, full of fresh raw veggies and rich protein from the black beans. Can be a side dish or a light meal.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cups black beans, cooked and drained
• 1 bell pepper, yellow or orange
• 1 small purple onion
• 1 jalapeno pepper
• 2 roma tomatoes
• 1 handful cilantro
• 1 or 2 limes
• salt

DIRECTIONS

1. Chop vegetables finely (de-seed the peppers and tomatoes!)
2. Toss together beans and vegetables with cilantro and the juice of one lime
3. Add salt to taste
4. This salad tastes better if it sits for a couple of hours in your refrigerator before serving.

 

Tea for all seasons
We have two big lemon verbena plants near the main house, and lots of smaller plants which have been propagated by cuttings throughout the forest. The smell of the leaves alone is a great reason to find a way to have it in your home garden – sweet, lemony goodness!

We make tea with lemon verbena alone, but this combination of ingredients has become a favorite tea to sip on after meals. The jamaica (hibiscus, in English) is rich in vitamin C, the lemon verbena relieves stress, and the ginger aids digestion – making it the perfect after dinner drink.

You can use cheese cloth as we do in this recipe, or you can simply strain the tea into a new pot.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 handful dried jamaica, or hibiscus flowers
• 1 handful fresh lemon verbena leaves, torn
• 2 T chopped fresh ginger
• 6 c. water
• honey, if desired

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine herbs and fold into a cheesecloth – secure with string.
2. Bring 6 cups of water to boil. Remove from heat, and add the bundle of herbs.
3. Let steep for 5 minutes, remove herbs and serve! Offer honey if you desire, although I like this tea just the way it is – tart! This serves 6 people one cup of tea.