we moved!

hi there-

we’ve moved our site over to eatlocalhawaii.org

please visit us and bookmark us there for more great recipes, ideas and ways to get green!

strawberries are best eaten in the garden

my new reward for gardening is getting my pick of the strawberries. as i’m watering the garden i’m picking the red ones, washing them off and popping them straight into my mouth. i used to bring them home to share with my family and friends but they get squashed and never taste as good. now my kids want to stop at the garden more often-they realized it’s the only way to get tasty strawberries.

anyway, it made me think how easy they are to grow. and you can grow them just about anywhere…in a pot on a windowsill even. so get growing and enjoy a fresh strawberry once in awhile.

waikalua loko fishpond needs your help- april 24

the next community day for waikalua loko fishpond (out in kane’ohe) will be april 24th. it starts at 8am, goes the noon, and they would love your help in maintaining the area, pulling out weeds, and they will provide a light lunch and an educational tour of the pond. its a great way to learn about the native hawaiian ways of fishing and sustainability… you must sign up and register at their site:

http://www.waikalualokofishpond.org/

don’t forget the sunscreen and your water bottle!

watercress salad with roasted beets, candied mac nuts and liliko’i balsamic vinaigrette

i love this quick and healthy salad…the vinaigrette is posted elsewhere

Salad:

2 bunches watercress, tough stems removed

3 medium beets with stems removed

4 cups mixed baby greens

1 small sweet onion, thinly sliced

1/4 cup maui goat cheese or Naked cow dairy feta

candied mac nuts

1/2 cup mac nuts

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp sugar

Lilikoi dressing

scrub beets, rub with oil, wrap in foil and roast in a 375° F oven for about an hour. cool, peel and slice into wedges. can be done ahead of time, refrigerate.

to make mac nuts (or walnuts), brown them in butter until sugar melts and carmelizes. turn out onto wax paper to cool.

make dressing.

in a large bowl toss together watercress, baby greens and maui onion with dressing. divide among plates arranging beets on top of greens and sprinkling with nuts and goat or feta cheese. drizzle with more dressing as needed.

simple saute watercress

cut 1 bunch watercress in 2-inch lengths and saute in olive oil with 2-3 sliced garlic cloves and 1 tbsp soy sauce until the watercress is just wilted. remove from heat and drizzle with mac nut oil, top with toasted mac nuts or mix with pasta.

watercress, hearts of palm, avocado and jicama salad

1 cup fresh hearts of palm (farmer’s market, about $4 for small package)

1 cup jicama, local found at farmers markets only) peeled and sliced thin

1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil (substitute mac nut oil for all local)

1 clove garlic

1 cup mayo

1/4 cup ketchup (not sure i like the ketchup added so i’ll work on a modified version)

1 tsp chili sauce

4 tsps sugar

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice, plus 1 tsp

2 tbsp chopped cilantro, local

1 avocado, peeled and choped

3 cups watercress, chopped

1/2 cup coarsely chopped toasted mac nuts

in a small saute pan heat oil over medium high heat and saute hearts of palm for 1 minute, add garlic and 1 tsp lemon juice and saute one minute longer. set aside.

in a small bowl, whisk mayo, ketchup, chili sauce, sugar and lemon juice. add cilantro and mix dressing.

in a bowl, place the hearts of palm, jicama and avocado and toss with enough dressing to coat.

place half a cup of chopped watercress on six plates divide vegetable mixture evenly on top and sprinkle with mac nuts.

victory garden video

this is a great video to watch:  Dig for Victory

thank you to city farmers for posting this fun, inspiring video…now get out there and dig your gardens!

sumida watercress farm

i finally got to visit the sumida watercress farm, with my son’s class. -you know it, it is across from pearlridge center and you see it as you go on the monorail, you drive by, and you (if you are like me at least) always wonder how its come to be that there is a big farm in the middle of pearlridge. wonder no more… there are fresh water springs that are dotted through out the pearlridge/pearl harbor area… (and all drain out to pearl harbor). one such spring feeds the 10 acre farm, where they grow and harvest watercress in about 8 weeks. they provide our state with about 70% of the watercress, which needs fresh water and lots of sunlight- and makes great salads.

as a coincidence, i found another article, below, about growing watercress on the mainland. its all the rage! stay tuned… i will try and get a recipe for you posted soon.

http://www.thelocalbeet.com/2010/03/26/whats-in-season-now-watercress/

bishop museum’s 3rd annual grow hawaii

so mark your calendars, sat, april 24,2010 from 9-3 will be an amazing collection of hawaiian artists, demonstrations, music & learning. the 3rd annual grow hawaii festival is taking place, native plants will be on sale, activities for the keiki, info booths on clean energy and energy conservation.

more info here…

this green house

i found this great book at the library and it certainly is a must read. it also kind of falls into the category of ‘the dangerous book for boys’ and ‘the worst case scenario book’ (and after writing this, i just found out that the author is the one and the same!!

where there are some great ideas about how to make your house more environmentally friendly. of course there are the ideas that everyone has, like turning cardboard into a dollhouse for your daughter, or capturing and resusing rainwater. there are great and easy instructions, as well as diagrams-

but there are some really cool ideas like making your own coffee grind charcoal, building a bat house (ok, maybe not so practical here in hawaii), constructing a green roof (yes, that means growing stuff on your roof… if your gutter is any indication like ours is, we already have a mini forest growing up there) and converting your car to run on grease!! ok. let me know how that one goes…

‘this green house’ by joshua piven