For the Health of It

“The food you eat can be the safest & most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison”

— Anne Wigmore

---

I reference this quote for a few reasons:

1. I have a special fondness for Ms. Wigmore because I believe she is correct. According to trusty Wikipedia it states that she is known as “the mother of living foods”, she was an early pioneer in the use of wheatgrass juice and living foods for detoxifying and healing the body, mind, and spirit.

2. She is from Lithuania & my last name’s Lithuianan (unless someone lied to me, but I’ll continue thinking that it is). So, this automatically gives her cool points.

3. After enduring winter in Eastern Europe followed by lots of masa’s (parties with LOTS of food) & holiday celebrations, I could feel my body starting to scream for mercy.

Finaalllyyy summer has arrived & we’ve jumped on the “treat-your-body-well-and-be-healthy” bandwagon. The change of seasons is accompanied by many more desirable options at the local piața for a much more reasonable price. This makes us smile because there are now GREEN VEGGIES in our diet and we can save a little more of that Moldovan Lei.

MDL- local currency

Now, that we are making an effort to not consume bread, potatoes, and candy bars- one of our favorite healthy substitues to prepare is what we call a ‘Green Smoothie’. Basically, we pull every green veggie from our refrigerator and blend it together. To be honest, these bad boys do not look appealing at all, but they’re super healthy. Plus, you can mix up the ingredients for variety by adding cayenne pepper or cinnamon.

Now, we understand that making such ‘Green Smoothies’ is not a new phenomenon and not every PCV is fortunate enough to have a blender. However, maybe we can motivate you to jump on the health kick as well and leave the poisoning of our bodies for weekend extravaganzas.

Ingredients:

♦Spinach     ♦Carrots    ♦Lettuce     ♦Cucumbers    ♦Cabbage    ♦Apples    ♦Lemon Juice

The components of our “Green Veggie Smoothie”

Final product of healthiness!

Granted it does not look remotely appealing. But I promise it tastes much better than it appears

 

Now, go eat a salad and save the pizza for another day! Your body will appreciate it and maintaining a healthy diet makes looking at yourself in the mirror much more enjoyable.

Cheers!!

 

Zucchini Wonders

Well….per norm, Sfecla & Spice disappeared for a bit. But, we have re-emerged from the depths of Moldovan chaos and, of course, expecting love and acceptance from you all.  On a serious note, forgive us because we are busy volunteers trying to fulfill the lives of everyone one while tending to our own personal needs…..like, remembering what day of the week it is because time moves way too fast these days.

**We actually have 2 months until we close our service in Moldova!!**

Now, lets take a journey back  in time, like…waayy back…as in last fall. It was during that time when I shared a post about purchasing ENTIRELY too many  kilos of zucchini at the local piața. What can I say? Sometimes, I’m attracted to shiny things just like a monkey– other times, my foodie mentality takes over. (Which clearly happened on this day).  That delectable  green zucchini just twinkled in my eyes.

I was feeling guilty about not exercising  that morning, but Due to my over excitement of green veggies, I conveniently worked in my strength training by carrying  a couple kilos of these green goddesses up 3 flights of stairs. Ironically, I think the local produce lady was proud that I finally stepped-up and bought more than 1/2 a kilo of a vegetables in a single visit. [The underlying fact is that I return 2 days later for the same thing, so…. why not buy it all at once?] <—- I know this what’s running through her mind.

So, here are some tastycreations for the “oops I bought too much dovlecei in the piața”

1 kilo = $0.47 USD

ZUCCHINI SOUP!! This looks like baby food from a jar. However, the taste is much more succulent! As much as we would love to share the recipe, we forgot. Shocker. We would blame the time lapse but is probably something along the lines of “Oh let’s Google ‘what to cook with kilos of zucchini’ and this is one of the things we discovered, threw together, and totally disregarded the recipe. To be fair, all recipes with zucchini soup are the same we added very little sour cream, only for texture, and it was amazing. So, old wise one “Master Google” will help you along for this one. Throw in some spice, or seasonings…. for PCVs– we did sautee the zucchini down to a soft texture and then you can mash it together in a gentle fashion.  Nothing is exact. Best of luck. It will taste great.

Zucchini Soup

ZUCCHINI CASSEROLE!! This dish is freaking amazing. Plus, you can make it more low calorie than a normal casserole dish! Per norm, I sort of glanced at about a dozen casserole recipes, then ignored the instructions and then did my own magic. To lower the calories, I did substitute sour cream for the mayo and added a little less cheese than one would expect from a traditional casserole.

 

mouth watering goodness- the picture does this creation no justice

 

Once again, we’ve been distracted and our meals have not been all that impressive……Okay, that’s a lie. We never slack when it comes to treating ourselves to a good meal. Forgive us, and we’ll have some of our made-up recipes that have helped us to survive these two years in Moldova posted soon!

Hai!

Early Spring Delights

Somehow winter escaped us without one single post to the blog.  So just imagine we put up some posts about just how we spent our culinary lives this winter: cleaning out the bounty of preserved veggies from the freezer, mastering an Asian quinoa-inspired millet hot dish, and producing always-delicious (but never once the same) brownies for the masses.  Oh and then there’s the Black Magic Cake, which will now steal the show more often in any Demmel dessert contest.

We’re sorry to inform you that over the course of the last 4 months, both Lindsey and Laura’s computers CRASHED!  Thus, months of documentation of our culinary work has disappeared!  Maybe it’s for your benefit (no jealousy or good-information-too-late that left you furious).  Our resiliency has been tested this winter, but we’re on the up and up… Spring is here!!! (And hopefully winter won’t come back until after we’re gone!)

This early spring weather brings the earliest spring produce.  My favorite are these little green leaves that, at first glance, can be mistaken for spinach leaves.  If only they were so!  Instead, they are what I will call “Padure (paw-doo-ray) greens”.  Handpicked from the “padure” (or forest in Romanian), a small bunch of these cost just 4 lei ($.0.30) from the kind, local market salesman!  They have a bite to them, much like an onion, but with the consistency of fine spinach.

Here’s one simple dish I made that was tasty and healthy.

Sauteed chickpeas and padure greens:

• Cooked Chickpeas
• Garlic, salt, oil (for sauteeing)
• Spices (try cayenne, thyme, oregano… you name it)
• Padure greens

Sautee the garlic, salt, and oil with the chickpeas.  Roast them until the pan is almost clean of oil.  Then add the padure greens for only a brief minute. I added just a touch of olive oil for taste and to not leave the dish dried out.  Tada!

Sauteed Chickpeas with Padure Greens

The second dish I made with padure greens was a “padure pesto”.  Here I used nothing you would find in a traditional Italian pesto, but my dinner guest approved (although he’s not hard at all to please).

Padure pesto:

• Padure greens
• Chickpeas, cooked
• Garlic
• Olive oil
• Salt, pepper
• Water
• Parmigiano (Luckily, I just returned from Italy!- I dare you to go hardcore Moldovan and try it with brânza!)

This probably requires some type of blender (sorry for those lacking!).  Chop the greens and garlic. Combine and blend all of the above but for the shredded parmigianno (at least half of my Magic Bullet was full of padure greens).  After mostly blended, add the cheese and continue to blend until it’s a rather smooth consistency.

Making some “Padure pesto”

Cook some pasta, and a minute before it’s done, drain most (but not quite all) of the water.  Add the pesto, stir until warm, and serve!  Bon apetit!

Pasta with Padure Pesto and Parmigiano

 

Moldovan Winter Survival Guide: 2013

Prior to Moldova, winter was simply that thing that happened to people who decided to live in really cold climates.

Me? Winter only meant we could not sunbathe…instead our  amusement derived from testing our physical skills on the beach….such as cartwheels.

Sullivans Island, South Carolina.
So beautiful!

Then, I applied for Peace Corps. I received my 1st preference for Sub-Saharan Africa where temperatures stay relatively high. I was pleased. However, not everything works out as planned. Joke was on me as I tackled my first “real” winter. Thanks, Moldova. I’m cold….and  I’m hungry.

The land here is beautiful. The nutrients so rich that you can spit a grape seed on the ground…years later a vineyard will appear. The flavor of the produce is succulent and the color beautifully vibrant. Fire engine red tomatoes vivid purple eggplant. Seriously, fruits and vegetables would make Whole Foods surrender and fall to its knees. Our meals come from the gardens we pass on our daily running trails. The juicy grapes that currently occupy a bowl on our kitchen table are cut from the vines of the host family’s terrace.

Personally, we really enjoy going to the piata for fresh produce. Just to elaborate our L.O.V.E, occasionally, we must throw on a ‘restraining order’ on ourselves if visits are reaching day #4 that week.  Note- it’s barely open 5 days-a-week.  The local ladies know us- and yes, I’m disregarding the fact that we stand out like the obvious Americans that we represent. But, we truly enjoy purchasing produce straight from the Baba’s gardens. Actually, this is a prime example of how we can get a bit…carried away….

Lately, our obsessive produce purchasing habits benefited because we are on a mission…

Goal: Survive Winter 2013 in Moldova.

Objective: Take advantage of the current low cost veggies through creative freezing techniques while shoving our faces with stuff that’s still green.

So far, we are far exceeding our expectations. We have prepared & froze:

• About a dozen jalapeno peppers…that’s a lie. We did this little number as well ‘kitchen décor/future condiment’
• Ratatouille (vegetable bake dish)
• Stuffed Ground Pork Peppers with Hrisca (buckwheat)
• Eggplant
• Green Smoothies (a concoction of green veggies blended with lemon juice & tossed into a ziplock)
• Curried Zucchini Soup
• Cinnamon Zucchini Bread
• Sugar Cookie Dough (This is just a self-defense mechanism so we don’t eat the cookies in 48 hrs)
• Thai cilantro marinade

Now, fellow Peace Corps Volunteers who can manage freezer space or convince your host family to section out a 6 inches of their freezer for you……have fun with these recipes!

Zucchini Soup

*It was not until I picked 3 too many kilos of Zucchini & realized that I needed to do something with this green goddess of a vegetable. Especially, because they’re SO DELICOUS right now! Yeah, that’s right they actually have flavor!

Ingredients:

• Zucchini cut into chunks
• Soup Stock (Veggie or Chicken)
• Onions & Garlic diced
• Condiments- salt, pepper, curry, basil…whatever you please

 

 

The Magic: #1: Look up Zucchini Soup Recipe. Then read how I semi-followed it….

Throw all your diced garlic & onions in a pan & sauté. Dust with salt & pepper. Then add your stock, followed by your zucchini and let all that jazz simmer for….ohh….15-20 minutes? Enough to get the zucchini tender, but not mushy soft. After that add everything into a blender/food processor until a smooth consistency. Put in a pot to cool. Repeat. You’re finished. Yay.

Ground Pork stuffed Peppers with Hrisca

Basically, we took the abundance of peppers, cleaned them out, stuffed them with fully cooked ground pork, mixed with Hrisca (Buckwheat inst of white rice) because we try to be waist-line conscious, stuffed the mixture in the peppers & froze ‘em. When we’re ready to enjoy- all that is necessary is throwing the green guys in the oven until they defrost & the pepper is tender.

Zucchini Bread:

This recipe is amazingly easy and great to prepare since the veggie currently at a low cost!

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3 cups grated fresh zucchini
• 2/3 cup melted unsalted butter
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• Pinch salt
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon

For more Pizazz add:

• 1 cup walnuts
• 1 cup  raisins

Mix that stuff together & bake! It’s delish! If you want, it’s possible to also add more nutmeg, allspice, or something wintery along those lines….

The days are slowly getting a bit colder and it’s a Saturday morning. This means, time to get dressed in my finest & hit up the piața and start another day of cooking and freezing in the most valiant attempt to survive this winter.

Cheers!

Zuc·chi·ni

This will be a future post:

“What to do when you lose your cool at the piata & purchase 24 lei worth of zucchini”  (That would be $1.88 USD dent in my wallet)

I mean, how could one resist 6 lei/kilo of zucchini??

Of course, Baba, I need to buy your entire stock!  (Actually, I left her 4 zucchinis– trying to be thoughtful for others.)

1 kilo = $0.47 USD

……To Be continued!

Appearance Matters

Enchant, stay beautiful and graceful, but do this, eat well. Bring the same consideration to the preparation of your food as you devote to your appearance. Let your dinner be a poem, like your dress.

Charles Pierre Monselet, French author (1825-1888)

When living in Moldova, it is important to always look your best when you meander into the public eye. Clothes must be ironed and shoes should have no reminisce of dirt (even after you trek a couple kilometers through the mud pitted road). The way you present yourself is very important. It speaks volumes on your behalf. Basically, you will always be judged. So, unlike in the US where you can easily pass off pajama pants & a hoodie as acceptable attire for a quick trip to the convenience store, it is in one’s best interest to not attempt such antics here. Yes, this can get a bit irritating, always having to be mindful of your appearance. However, I have come to the realization that I, too, have a pet peeve about presentation…. with food.  After  residing in Moldova for 13 months, I’ve noticed that food preparation, in actuality, is an immaculate aspect of my daily life. Not only am I mindful that if I don’t make the food look gustos și frumos, it makes me appear like a real slacker.  When plating a meal, my mind works a little like this…..

 Should I use the square bowl….or the round one? Blue plate or white plate?… Oh, of course the garnish! Which one highlights the appearance of the dish better- the fresh parsley leaves or basil?

Yep- it’s sad. Even worse, this obsessive behavior has rubbed off on my roommate, who will now take pictures of all the prepared food before we eat a meal.

“Repshas! Did you take a picture of this? Where’s your camera?….Wait, I can’t find it, but this plate color blends in with the veggies, don’t ya think? We should change it…for the picture”

We seriously don’t take our first bite of the meal for an unnecessary length of time as we reposition plates, adjust the lighting, and simply admire the work of art. Most of our friends have become accustomed to this strange food photo shoot ritual. Usually, they respectfully tell us the food is getting cold and they’re really hungry because it took over 1.5 hrs to prepare dinner. *Sigh* They are correct, but I believe you eat with your eyes. The taste buds are the followers to the brain. When the brain like what it sees, the taste buds are already convinced the dish will be delicious.

A toast to Moldova, for reinforcing that we all have an OCD pet peeve of and personal concern for “appearance”…..in one form or another. Now, we are trying to make an effort to not simply gloat about how delicious the meals are or how well we eat considering we are Peace Corps Volunteers…so, we will hopefully strive to provide you our not-so-secret recipes more often. [The problem with this….we only follow recipes with scones, cookies, and marinades. Therefore, please attempt every recipe with your own personal judgment…]

Hummus This is a fun side dish to create because you do not have to go with the traditional ingredients of tahini and garlic. Be bold, experiment, and let your taste buds lead the way!

• Google “Hummus Recipe”
• Check out the basic ingredients: Garbanzo beans, salt, oil, water, lemon juice. Check. Use them.
• Look in your spice cabinet & refrigerator…decide what you feel like making, then  add in the fun ingredients

I was feeling a little Mexican and decided to sauté some jalapenos, onion, garlic, and bell peppers in olive oil. Then I threw everything into the blender with the chickpeas, added some cumin and cayenne pepper for a bit of a kick, and blended together. Honestly, I didn’t measure out a damn thing on this. Just kept blending and adding ingredients until I got the consistence and taste that I wanted.

Jalapeno & Cumin Hummus

Greek Briam or better known as Ratatouille  After living on the Greek Island, Santorini, I was required to prepare this everyday for guests on the boat. It’s one of my favorites- delicious, easy, and healthy.

• Dice tomatoes, onion, zucchini, eggplant, and garlic.
• Put in a big pan for baking.
• Add condiments to taste (salt, pepper, basil, oregano, ect)
• Drizzle the top with oil & fill the pan almost half way with some water. The amnt of water obviously depends on the size of your pan.
• Put it in the oven at a reasonable temperature to bake for approx. 30 minutes.
• Sit enjoy a glass of wine & catch up on facebook or skype with family across the globe
• Return to the oven when the timer goes off or you suddenly remember it’s in there
• Indulge

Ratatouille fresh out of the oven

Scones  A Demmel family recipe. These are delicious and so easy to bake! Also, this is the ACTUAL recipe that we follow and recommend enjoying these with a cup of French pressed coffee

• 2 cups Flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• ½  tsp salt
• ½ cup butter
• 1/3 “special” ingredient (raisins, cherries, blueberries, etc.)
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream

Mix dry ingredients together, cut in butter. Add cream & special ingredient until the stuff can be molded into a ball. Knead, but knead it kindly- don’t touch it too much. Roll in circle to 1 inch thick. Cut into 6 triangles like a pie.  After arranging individually apart on a baking sheet, sprinkle each piece with a little sugar. Bake at 400 for 12-15 minutes.

For a savory twist, add chives and cheese as your “special” ingredient.  Decrease the amount of sugar in the scone.

Demmel’s Blueberry Scones- a morning’s bliss

We’re back!!

“Humor keeps us alive. Humor and food. Don’t forget food. You can go a week without laughing.”  -Joss Whedon

We’ve done our best to keep laughing and definitely have had sustinence to sustain.  But truth be told it’s been too long since we’ve blogged because we’ve been in transit since the oven glass spontaneously shattered….hanging out in a temporary apartment without much ability to cook as we like. However, in the last week, we’ve moved into a new apartment with a very nice kitchen! We’ve jumped back into our normal routine and started this new week with lots of laughter and even more cooking.  Now, let us begin….

But first, I’ll share with you my culinary adventures in Europa. I had the pleasure in August to travel to Riga, Latvia; London, England; and Ireland for a few days.  Along the way, I tasted foods I hadn’t tried in over a year, and it was delightful!  Here’s a taste of my adventures:

If you visit Riga (which I highly recommend a 24-hour layover), check out the Galleria Terrace.  I decided to make a Belgium meal out of it with some fresh mussels, cooked in a good healthy mix of garlic, onion, carrots, and other light seasonings, garnished with some potatoes, and topped off with a fantasically flavorful Grinbergen Double beer.  (Beer and mussels- I hear it’s a Belgium thing)

So this image… made me feel a bit wonderful in a taken aback kind of way we’ll say, so that’s why it’s facing the way it is. For you to see how it makes you turn your head in wander about how delicious it was. (No, definitely not making you do that because of my lack of technological abilities.  No definitely not…)  This meal I found in an Irish pub just outside of Galway.  These fresh scallops with a light sauteed vegetable and lemon were so delicious.  And that bread sitting beside it with Irish creamy butter.   Deelicious.  I know you don’t see any Guiness in this picture but I definitely had my fair share while there.  I’m becoming more of a wino all the time, I think.

I truly am American… I think I had 3 burgers in the course of 6 days on my travels, and this one was probably the best. Bacon cheese burger… I’m not going to lie.  This Nebraska farmgirl did not regret one bit the intake of calories in this tasty, succulent bad boy!

This dish of some simple fish came with a rock-hard cover of seasalt.  They cook the fish under this salt cap, which leaves the fish tender and moist.

I knew that I was truly coming back to Moldova (via AirMoldova) when this was my breakfast on my red-eye flight.  Welcome back, Laura.  No more freshly baked scones still warm from the oven…  But alternatively, we’ve got a kitchen now so we can make them ourselves!!!

Most importantly, get excited (Sue Murphy) because we have many new culinary adventures, random recipies, and winter prep list to tease your taste buds!

Cheers!

Kitchen War Zone

For the record, after being in Moldova for 1 year we have become accustomed to the random and unusual “Did-that-really-just-happen-situations??”. However, this week our dearest Moldova took our level of disbelief to an entirely new level.

THE GLASS FRONT TO OUR OVEN SPONTANEOUSLY EXPLODED

(Best part- the oven was not even turned on…)

So, we are faced with a few minor technicalities
1. How in the world are we going to explain this to our landlord?
2. We won’t be making delicious scones with the ripe cherries or chive & cheddar biscuits anytime soon….

The day arrived for the Land Lady to grace us with her presence from the village…and I stress again…How do two Americans Explain to a Moldovan that the glass simply broke into a million little fractured pieces that I still step on a week later….Well, turns out, it was easier than we ever imagined. We told her about the situation, had pictures already pulled up on the laptop…and her response, “Oh, I don’t know. That’s normal”. Then she continued on discussing the bills. the mere 300 lei in bills that we accumulated for 1 month (which is nothing in relevance to USD).

Since we were baffled by this entire occurrence, there was some Google research was in order. Our main goal was to find out: “Are exploding glass ovens normal?” Evidentially the answer is…YES! *Note, Moldovans rarely fabricate, so when the Land Lady said it was ‘Normal’ she wasn’t kidding.

the glass in oven doors is shattering without warning and it’s happening with alarming frequency

http://www.wpxi.com/news/news/local/target-11-investigates-exploding-oven-glass/nWGYX/

Come to find out this is so common that Google finished the search for me before I could even type in “exploding”. This occurrence should almost come with a disclaimer printed on the front of the oven stating: “WARNING: This device will explode at anytime with no warning simply because it can. Please always wear safety goggles and long pants within 5 feet of the oven at all times”

…..Now, our next big dilemma- Do we attempt to use the oven again? Seriously, no baking for another 13 months sounds tragic….as well as a sure boredom to our food blog.

Suggestions welcomed!!!

Beautiful Disasters

As we were sitting on the balcony drinking coconut water while gazing at the horizon…we concluded….

# 1. We do not have a balcony… We pretend our kitchen window is a balcony since it over looks a courtyard & park benches. Occasionally, we hear the echo of a masa nearby. A generous reminder that we were (once again) not invited to a neighbor’s party.

# 2. We do not have coconut water. However, we are experimenting with homemade Kumbucha tea. Yeah, you read that correctly, we’re simply harvesting live cultures to aid our digestive process.
*Disclaimer: We are amatures & do not encourage such tactics. Even if your fellow PCV offers to pay you 25 lei to drink 1/4 of it with a ‘floatie’ of live culture.
*Fact: Someone is 25 lei richer and still feels great after drinking the 1/4 cup of raw kumbucha w/un-identified floating live cultures

# 3. We take pride in our food, But….alas, we are humans. We are not perfect with our creations. After all, neither of us actually follow recipes. One night Demmel mimicked my every move of what seasonings I dressed my food- a little of this… a little of that… a pinch lemon pepper, garlic salt, balsamic vinaigrette, Lawry’s Seasoning Salt, and a dash of some Italian herb mixture from who knows where. Midway through mimicking my every condiment shake, she told me that she’s just following the person who knows best. (Great. This is the blind leading the blind)

This post is to show how we have royally destroyed some dishes to epic proportions. Ah, exposing our tender side for the first time…..reap pleasure in our failures. I would, also, like to note that we attempted to consume all meals, regardless of the damage. But sometimes, one of us will step-up to silently take reigns and makes the disaster disappear.

Angle Food Cake….or crumbs. It still tasted great with ice cream!

So, half the container of red chili peppers ended up in the veggies. Oops! This does not make for a good stir fry

Other failures:
Anything we bake. The oven has one setting: Broil.

Regardless, carry-on, be fruitful, and one day we will write down recipes in an effort to share them with you all…and I have no idea why I cannot remove the italics from this last part of the post. Eh, whatever.

Cheers!

Sensationally Splendid Summer Succotash

Don’t you hate it when people use alliteration for no good reason? Because I do. Starting a string of words with the same consonant does not make it sound cute, innovative, or more legit. Actually, 97.3% of the time it does quite the opposite. Anyway, moving on….I have more important things to rant about, for example, my latest obsession: Succotash!

Succotash: [suhk–uh-tash]A regional dish that traditionally consist of corn, tomatoes, and shelled beans (ie: lima beans, black-eyed peas)**The Local Palate contributed to this definition**

My Translation: Cheap summer food that enables the us to transform the readily available tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, and onions into a tasty treat while incorporating the abundance of American spices we have stashed in the apartment

My dearest M28 mentee was so thoughtful and remembered that I have an unhealthy fixation for the culinary world and brought me Charleston’s own foodie magazine The Local Palate. This magazine is glorious! The photos have inspired me to not settle for eating at a medicore level. I have standards. I want variety in my life and I will do what it takes to consume food that has that pizazz and embraces those starlet qualities that potatoes wish they had! Then on page 99, I found that diamond in the ruff. It was practically starring back at me- mostly because it was a half page glossy colored picture of the one thing that has been missing in my life. How could I have possibly forgotten about succotash?!?! After all, I am from the South and this side dish is tweaked and dressed accordingly with such precision to accompany any meal. Think of succotash as the under study to the seared tuna that was able to land it’s big debut.

The article gave a short description of it’s origins- beginning with how the Native Americans taught settlers to grow corn in which they were able to combine this with beans & lived happily ever after. Now, corn and beans are not so exciting, but when you do a little switch in the starting lineup by adding fresh tomatoes, zucchini, green onion, lentils, garlic herb dry marinade or some apple cider vinegar– Ladies & Gentlemen…we have a winner. On a serious note, succotash is so versatile, healthy, and easy to make that even Bethany could make an impressive dish! (Just remember to season the veggies, Bethy) Also, meat products can help enhance the already amazing succotash. For example, you lucky ducks in the states can toss in the award winning Nueske’s Bacon or my next experiment will be some Asian concoction with sesame seeds.

Now, go be carefree & let your imagination run wild! Impress your friends with your own succotash creations!

Delicious “Local Palate” inspired succotash