2014 EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival: Primavera Kitchen (Italy Pavilion)

Buon pomeriggio! Good afternoon!

Today is the last installment of the food reviews for the 2014 Flower and Garden Festival. I have been dragging my feet on this one because Italian food has always- even before gluten and food allergies- been my least favorite food. Part of this may be because I dislike tomatoes. But I also find pasta generally very boring. If I ever do (did, past tense, before going gluten free) eat pasta, it merely served as a vehicle for butter and cheese. Heh.

However, all that said, I'm sure if you like Italian food, you would like Primavera Kitchen. For a gluten free option, you will find Caprese (mozzarella, roasted red peppers, olive oil). On the not gluten free menu, you will find Three Cheese Manicotti and Lemon Cheesecake. All of the offerings at Primavera Kitchen are vegetarian.

Primavera Outdoor Kitchen (Italy Pavilion)
It was a rainy day, which made for good photos without people in them,
 but did cast an overcast hue in the photo. 

Passport Page for Primavera Kitchen

Caprese (Gluten Free)

Three Cheese Manicotti (Vegetarian)

I do not have a lot to say about Primavera Kitchen, since I did not eat anything there and cannot really get too excited about Italian food. I will whisper in your ear that there is a gelato stand across the way- the Italian coffee and gelato stand is there all of the time, not just during the food festivals. You know, in case you like pasta and tomatoes as much as I do ;)

This concludes the food portion of the 2014 Flower and Garden festival from the Healing Kitchen. I hope to post some of the garden highlights as well- I particularly liked the Urban Garden and the Water Wise Herbs & Vegetables displays. Lots of good ideas!

Ciao!

Heirloom Tomatoes to the Rescue

What perfect timing- I saw this video yesterday after posting about ECHO and their mission. This video is not about the ECHO organization, but is related to the type of work they do, and illustrates the role of agriculture in health in poor rural areas:

Image source

Heirloom Tomatoes to the Rescue

Guatemalan families look to their ancestors to solve modern malnutrition

http://www.takepart.com/video/heirloom-tomatoes-rescue

The video is only 4:34 long- it is worth watching. 

It does make one pause and feel grateful for things we may sometimes take for granted- such as access to food. We as a society might not always make the healthiest food choices- but we have choices.

ECHO Farm Global Conference

Last week, I had the pleasure of volunteering at ECHO, a non-profit organization whose vision is Honoring God through Sustainable Hunger Solutions. ECHO's mission is to equip people with resources and skills to reduce hunger and improve the lives of the poor.

ECHO is an amazing organization, and an amazing resource. The research facility is located in North Fort Myers, Florida. There they have a working farm, a seed bank, library, tropical nursery, and bookstore. ECHO provides training and technical assistance in the areas of agriculture, community organization and empowerment, and how organizations can work with the poor in underdeveloped areas to most appropriately meet the nutritional needs of the communities they serve.

Last week was ECHO's annual Global Agricultural Conference. Click here for more information about the conference and an overview of the speakers and topics presented. It looked like a really, really neat conference. This stuff is right up my alley. Although my background is in Public Health, not agriculture, many of the strategies for empowering communities and planning and evaluating programs is the same. In addition, agriculture, in the countries and communities that ECHO serves, is directly related to nutrition, which is Public Health. ECHO's agricultural work impacts healthy communities, maternal and child health, and disease prevention.

My role as a volunteer was to help prepare and serve lunch. I helped with salads- how appropriate! Haha- that was not planned, that's just how it worked out. At first, I was a little disappointed to see that the salads started with huge commercial size bagged salad mix, considering we were literally standing in the middle of acres of food, at an organization that teaches people how to grow their own food. But never fear, the salads were completely redeemed- to the base of salad mix (we were feeding 200 people, after all) we added lots of yummy edibles right from the ECHO farm- plenty of avocados, katuk, chaya, and, of course, moringa (if Kristi is reading this, I'm sure she's grinning). ECHO uses moringa for everything. Also available from ECHO farm produce: Tangerines, Fresh lemonade made from Meyer lemons, Lemonade made from Meyer lemons and red lime, and calamondon juice. One of the volunteers also made a jam from the pods of a cranberry hibiscus- which Joan and I actually have growing in the back yard. Sometimes I will add the hibiscus leaves to a smoothie or a salad, but I wasn't sure what else we could do with it. It was neat to learn that we could make a jam (I tasted it, it was good). The rest of the lunch was standard feed-large-numbers-of people fare: pasta in tomato sauce (with or without meat), garlic bread, rolls, fresh pears, apples, soft drinks and water. The food was donated by a local church.

Calamondin juice (I tried it, it was yummy) Those are calamondins on top of the cooler.

Everything is recycled or composted

Closer view of the "please compost" signs (click for larger image)

We might be able to grow bananas and papayas, but we don't grow apples : )
Ed, this photo is for you : ) 

There were hands-on sessions after lunch, and my role was to sit at the information table at the entrance to the farm and help point people in the right direction to find the sessions they were looking for. I noticed some of the afternoon sessions covered grafting, cooking ECHO edibles, and low-technology irrigation. Some sessions were offered in French for the Haitian and African delegates in attendance. I heard many languages spoken throughout the day, and lost count of how many different countries I saw printed on attendees' name badges.

Sitting under the papaya tree

Papaya

Not only was it a beautiful day to be outside, and a worthwhile organization to which to donate my time, but I got to meet other ECHO volunteers who were simply amazing people. I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed this day- being at the farm, feeling like I helped with something worthwhile, and meeting other kind, wonderful people with similar interests in food and faith. It was a beautiful day in a very deep sense of that word, and I was honored to play a small part in it.

A few of the reference books available for purchase. Topics included everything from fruits and vegetables, to llamas, chickens, and goats; even program evaluation and public health.

Bananas on the tree!

This is not the Cavendish variety you find in your local grocery store.

I sincerely look forward to volunteering again at ECHO. If you live in or visit the Southwest Florida area, I would highly recommend that you visit the farm. They have farm tours at 10am and 2pm each day except Sunday, and an annual Farm Day event in March.

Raw Vegan Dinner Party

Another delicious dinner to share. This is not a fancy photo, but will post more photos and recipes in a later post. For now, I just wanted to share the big picture- because it was delicious, and I'm excited about it:

This was an all raw vegan meal! It was really fun to make so many Mexican-themed dishes.

The menu included: 

• Chili rellenos
• Empanadas
• Mexican "rice"
• Salsa verde
• Mole sauce
• Star fruit salsa that I forgot to include in the photo
• Margaritas (yes, raw)

The mexican rice and the star fruit salsa were each new recipes. I'm really happy with how they turned out- in fact that is what I will be having for lunch today :)

This was one of two raw vegan meals that I made during my brother's visit (the other was pad thai). I really wanted him to try some of the things I've been making over the past year, so he could taste how amazing raw food can be, and also experience for himself what I've been babbling on about and posting photos of for the past 12 months. I think he enjoyed the food- at least, he said he did : )

The raw vegan mexican-themed dinner with Joan and Vince was a lot of fun, and to top it all off, we watched Jeopardy! which is always more fun with 3 people playing along. (I think Bailey knew all of the answers, but he kept them to himself. He's a smart dog.)

I'm sad that my brother is on his way back to his home state now, but I am still smiling from the great time we've had this week. I'm so glad we got to spend time together during his visit.

Yummy dinner

Last night's Raw Vegan Thai meal was fabulous. All due to the company, of course, but the food was yummy too. Dinner guests included my neighbor Joan, my brother Vince, and myself. And Bailey. Of course, Bailey didn't get to eat Thai.

Photo from the last time I made Pad Thai

Never a dull moment, right before dinner, we had the added challenge of a water main break on the island, and a boil water notice for the next 48 hours. That makes washing veggies and dishes a little more challenging! We didn't really need water for (un)cooking, but raw meal prep tends to use a lot of bowls, knives and blenders, plus you need to wash the produce.

Water main break aside, my brother helped prepare the veggies. He washed them in a clean bowl with bottled water. Kindo of like camping :) Then he spiralized the noodles. There is something really fun about spiralizing.

For this dish, there is not a lot to do other than chop veggies. So the prep was pretty easy. Then all of the ingredients for the sauce go in the Vitamix, and that's it!

Joan brought a delicious raw vegan carrot-ginger soup as a starter. This photo doesn't really do it justice, but it was the best we could do given the light available. You should have seen it- Vince was holding the living room lamp up in the air, at an angle, to try to get better light for the photo. It was quite funny. Probably why the photo is also out of focus- because I was laughing and couldn't keep the camera still :)

We also tried lemongrass soda and ginger beer (no alcohol, it's like a root beer but ginger flavor). The consensus on the drinks was: BLECH! But the soup, and the pad thai were great!

Another poorly lit photo:

I'm not too worried about the photos- it was fun! Thanks to Joan and Vince! Let's do it again... say, Monday? : )

Allergy-friendly Egyptian falafel

I am so excited about how these turned out. Honestly, I thought this was going to be one of those recipes that took several attempts to get right. But to my surprise, they were perfect on the first try!

Egyptian falafel use fava beans instead of the traditional chick peas found in Mediterranean falafel. I also omitted the cayenne pepper (nightshade), used corn-free baking powder, and gluten-free flour.

Egyptian Falafel (adapted from this recipe)
Makes approximately 12 falafel

Ingredients

• 1 cup dried fava beans 
• 1 cup onion, roughly chopped 
• 2 Tbsp fresh parsley, minced 
• 2 Tbsp fresh cilantro, minced 
• 3-4 cloves of garlic 
• 1 tsp sea salt 
• 1 tsp cumin 
• 1 tsp homemade corn-free baking powder 
• 4-6 Tbsp of your favorite gluten free flour mix (whichever you prefer, or use this one)
• Light olive oil for frying (or any oil you tolerate)

Instructions
Put the dried fava beans in a large bowl and add cold water to cover by a couple inches. Let soak overnight, then drain. (Note: Purchase already shelled dried fava beans, otherwise you will need to shell them after soaking)

Place the drained, uncooked fava beans and the onions in the bowl of a food processor and pulse a few times to mix.

Add the parsley, cilantro, garlic, salt, and cumin. Pulse in food processor until blended but not pureed.

Sprinkle in the baking powder and 4 tablespoons of the flour, and pulse. Add enough flour so that the dough will form a small ball and will not stick to your hands. Note: I thought that the dough felt pretty wet, and I wasn't sure it would hold together, but it did.

Place mixture into a bowl and refrigerate, covered, for several hours.

When mixture has set, form the fava bean mixture into balls about the size of a golf ball.

Heat oil in deep fat fryer or sauce pan to 375°F.

Fry one ball to test. If it falls apart, add a little more flour to the dough mixture.

Then fry in small batches for a few minutes on each side, or until golden brown.

Drain on paper towels. If your oil is the correct temperature, they will be crisp on the outside, soft on the inside and steaming hot. Not greasy at all, nothing really to "drain" on the paper towel. Yum!

Serve with lettuce wraps along with desired toppings, such as chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, lettuce, and lemon-tahini sauce. I wrapped mine with romaine and shredded carrots and used a raw vegan basil sauce for dipping.