Wildly Affordable Organic Recipes

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Linda Watson’s book, Wildly Affordable Organic is one of the top resources for eating organically on a tight budget! Linda is such a joy to speak to and learn from. Please enjoy some of her fabulous recipes as well as her most recent interview! ~June

Noodles in Spicy Peanut Sauce with Seasonal Vegetables

This brightly colored, spicy dish tastes like it comes from a fancy Thai restaurant, but it takes only few minutes more time than it takes to just boil noodles. It’s super healthy, too: high in protein and full of veggies. Make a double batch of sauce, refrigerating or freezing it for a quick meal later.

 

Noodles

Noodles in Spicy Peanut Sauce with Seasonal Vegetables

Active time: 18 minutes

Total time: 18 minutes

Makes 4 servings, about 1 cup each

Seasonal Vegetables

Spring

  • 2 carrots, cut into matchsticks but not peeled
  • 2 cups shredded green cabbage
  • 24 pods sugar snap peas, strings removed and cut into bite-size pieces
  • 1/2 cup chopped spring onions, cut into
  • 1/4-inch rounds

Summer

  • 1 cup chopped green beans, ends trimmed and cut into bite-size pieces
  • 2 cups shredded green cabbage
  • 1 bell pepper, cut into matchsticks
  • 1/2 cup thinly sliced purple onion basil ribbons, optional

Fall and winter

  • 2 carrots, cut into matchsticks
  • 1 cup broccoli florets and peeled stems, cut into matchsticks
  • 2 cups shredded green cabbage
  • 2 spring onions, cut into 1/4-inch rounds

Noodles

  • 3 cups high-protein organic rotini or other pasta shape
  • 7 cups water

Sauce

  • 2 teaspoons minced or pressed garlic
  • 2 teaspoons finely grated or minced ginger
  • 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon peanut butter (144 grams)
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 11/2 teaspoons sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon chipotle or cayenne, or to taste
  • 1/4 cup hot water

Directions: 

1. Prepare vegetables that will be cooked—carrots, green beans, and broccoli.

2. In a medium pot, cook rotini in one more cup of water than usual to make room for vegetables (page 170). Once water boils, set timer for two minutes less than usual and add green beans to pasta.

3. To make sauce, mix all sauce ingredients in a large bowl, taking hot water from pasta pot. Stir sauce until smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings.

4. Prepare vegetables that will be used raw—again, depending on the season: cabbage, sugar snap peas, spring onions, bell peppers, purple onions, or basil.

5. Two minutes before rotini should be done, put carrots and broccoli into the pot. Continue boiling for another two minutes, until noodles are tender. Drain and add noodle mixture to sauce. Stir in cabbage, sugar snaps, and half the onions, saving a few snow peas, remaining onions, and basil for garnish. Stir to combine.

6. Just before serving, slice basil ribbons if using (page 43). Top noodles with basil and remaining garnish and serve immediately. Refrigerate any extra. The sauce freezes well by itself.

Notes: This recipe shows the exact amount of vegetables used in the menus and shopping lists, but be flexible. Get the best quality produce for the best price and be open to trying other vegetables.

This dish reheats well if it will then be eaten right away. But although it seems like a great dish for a party or picnic, it does not keep well at room temperature or over low heat. The pasta will absorb the sauce and the whole thing will turn into a rubbery brick.

Jicama Stars with Carrot-Ginger Puree and Fennel

I found the inspiration for this elegant, inclusive hors d’oeuvres at the gala for the International Association of Culinary Professionals this week. At the party after the awards ceremony, we were offered dime-sized rounds of jicama with a dab of dark, intense jam, perhaps pomegranate jam. The slightly sweet crunch of the jicama contrasted with the tartness of the jam to create a explosion of flavor and texture. Yet the beautiful tiny bites had no meat, dairy, eggs, or gluten so nearly everyone could enjoy them.

Jicama Stars with Carrot-Ginger Puree and Fennel

Jicama Stars with Carrot-Ginger Puree and Fennel

In this recipe, I cut the jimaca into stars about the size of quarters and topped them with pureed carrot and ginger, then crowned each one fresh fennel. I’ll use the frames left around single stars to decorate servings of mashed sweet potatoes and chop the rest to tucked into tacos.

Active time: 20 minutes. Total time: 20 minutes. About 60 stars and 20 reverse-star garnishes.

Ingredients

  • 1 jicama
  • 2 carrots (about 80 grams)
  • 1 tablespoon fresh ginger
  • 1 tablespoon coconut drink, apple juice, or water
  • pinch salt
  • 2 fresh fennel leaves

Method

  1. Peel carrots, cut into one-inch sections, and microwave in a covered, microwave-safe container on high until very tender, about four minutes.
  2. Peel ginger and slice crosswise into thin slices. Set up a food processor with the stainless steel blade. Turn on food processor, then drop in ginger slices. Turn food processor off, then add carrots, coconut drink, and salt. Pulse a few times, scraping down the sides, until mixture is a fairly smooth puree.
  3. Peel jicama, slice in half, then slice crosswise into thin sheets about 1/8th inch thick. Use a small cookie cutter to cut out stars or other shapes. Center your cookie cutter on smaller slices so the remaining outline can be used as a garnish. On larger slices, cut out as many shapes as you can. Arrange stars on serving tray. Save remaining jicama for other uses.
  4. Put carrot puree into a small plastic bag. Cut a small hole in one bottom corner of the bag. Squeeze a dab of carrot puree through the hole onto each jicama star.
  5. Remove fennel leaves from stems, then cut stems into lengths shorter than the stars are wide. Gently press one stem section or tiny spray of fennel leaves into each mound of carrot puree.
  6. Serve at once or keep chilled for a few hours.

Tips

  • If you have a pastry bag with a small tip, use it instead of a plastic bag for the carrot puree.
  • Pour boiling water over ginger peels and fennel scraps and steep for five minutes for a refreshing tea.
  • About jicama: it’s the tuberous root of the yam bean vine (Pachyrhizus erosus), which is in the bean family. It is crisp like an apple or water chestnut and slightly sweet. A cup of sliced jicama (130 grams) has only 46 calories and provides about 40% of the daily requirement for vitamin C.
  • Store unpeeled jicamas in a dry, room temperature spot, where they will keep for a month or two. Do not refrigerate.

Recipe and photo by Linda Watson © 2012 Cook for Good, used by permission.

Want to learn Linda’s tips for saving on organic foods? Listen to the interview!

If you want to live well, you have to eat well! Everyone knows that the best food on the planet is organically grown. However, there are still some people who have found buying organic foods is still too expensive and have a hard time finding good quality products. That is why Linda Watson, the ultimate Organic “Cook For Good” chef is here! Linda’s book, Wildly Affordable Organic: Eat Fabulous Food, Get Healthy, and Save the Planet–All on $5 a Day or Less is celebrating its one year anniversary! Talk about one wild year! WOA has been seen in the top 5 of Amazon’s organic cookbooks for eight months since it came out.

Linda Watson

Linda Watson

Linda’s new Wildly Good Cook series of videos, which will be available this summer, was filmed in the Meredith College food lab. The videos teach viewers to cook the Wildly Affordable Organic way! Linda is not stopping there! She is taking her WOA series to the classroom!  Her new Wildly Good Cook teachers program, will combine videos with trained local instructors who will do cooking demos and tailor the class to the participants.

If you have ever wondered if going vegan makes a difference, yes it does! Linda, a new vegan, will also talk about her tips for making delicious plant based recipes and how you can save on your favorite vegan foods!

In this segment of The Organic View Radio Show, host, June Stoyer will talk to Author, Linda Watson about her methods, valuable tips and tricks which can help you to eat organically for $5 a day or less! Listen to the show with the podcast player below!

16 thoughts on “Wildly Affordable Organic Recipes

  1. This is great.

    Lately I have started juicing daily and I definitely like tips on how to save $ on organic foods because my juicing recipes use natural organic vegetables and fruits.

    Thanks for the podcast/radio show.

    I have never heard of Linda Watson before…thanks for letting me know about her through the interview.

    Sincerely,

    ~Heidi (Juicing Blogger @ Juicingpedia)

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