Garden Happenings: Vegan Nachos w/ Corn & Black Bean Salsa, Chili Lime Salad & Local Books
#40: Winter Happenings @ Featherstone Garden
Welcome to Vol. #6 of Featherstone’s Winter Happenings Newsletter. Each week we share a rotating variety of garden updates: from heirloom seasonal produce features, to farm fresh subscriptions, veg-ed(ucation) content, plant-centered recipes, community partners, and more. As a subscriber, you will be the first to know all about our Garden Happenings. If you’re not a newsletter subscriber but would like to be, click below to signup.
Featherstone Gift Card Announcement!
We have officially wrapped up our Holiday Marketplace for the 2021 season, but if you’re in need of a last minute gift idea, why not give the gift of Garden Goodness? Our gift cards can be applied to any future purchase or subscription, and our shop page will be stocked with new items by the 3rd week of January, 2022.
Many thanks to everyone who purchased gifts from our holiday selection! We hope you & your loved ones enjoy our homemade goods, and we can’t wait to continue nourishing our friends, family, and community members in the coming 2022 season.
Chili Lime, Black Rice & Black Bean Salad Kit
For our final Winter Salad Kit of the season, subscribers will be receiving microgreens, black rice, black beans, pumpkin seeds, and chili lime dressing for 4 robust salads. Click below to view our original blog post & recipe for this salad and homemade dressing. You can also find more plant-centered recipes by heading to the Garden Goodness Blog.
Vegan Nachos w/ Chili Lime Corn & Black Bean Salsa
Our featured plant-centered recipe: Zesty Vegan Nachos w/ Chili Lime Corn & Black Bean Salsa— layered with loads of flavor! A great weekday snack, or turn it into a meal by adding crumbled veggie burger meat, seitan, or your favorite vegan protein. If you have a high powered blender at home, our vegan cashew queso is a must.
Pre-assembly tip: For a bolder flavor, make salsa 1 day in advance to allow the flavors to marinate.
Yields: 2-4 servings
Ingredients:
1-2 handfuls mixed greens and/or microgreens of choice, torn or chopped, per serving
large handful of tortilla chips, per serving
1 avocado, sliced
1/2 cup chopped cilantro, divided
1 cup black beans
1 can (1 ½ cups) sweet corn
1/2 cup cooked quinoa
1/2 cup red onion, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup tomatoes, chopped
1 lime, juiced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoon cumin
2 teaspoon sauce from canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (or 2 tsp sriracha)
1 Tablespoon nutritional yeast
2 Tablespoon vegan mayo (optional)
Suggested Garnishes:
vegan queso (recipe here)
vegan meat or protein of choice, cooked through (i.e. crumbled beyond burger, soy chorizo, seitan) (optional)
1/4 cup of pickled jalapeños (or 1 fresh jalapeño)
Directions:
Step 1
Preheat oven to 400F.
To prepare corn & black bean salsa: in a large bowl, combine 1/4 cup cilantro (set aside the remaining 1/4 c. for garnish), and the remaining ingredients from black beans down to the optional mayo. Mix well, taste, and add more salt, pepper, or spices if needed.
Step 2
On a tin foil lined baking pan or square dish, evenly spread tortilla chips. Top with enough corn & black bean salsa to cover the tortillas to your liking, and optional garnishes, such as: cooked vegan meat/protein of choice, lots of vegan queso, and fresh or pickled jalapeños. Bake for 4-8 minutes, or longer if needed.
Step 3
Layer the bottom of a large plate or a wide/shallow bowl with mixed greens. Carefully transfer the baked nachos on top of mixed greens; then garnish with remaining 1/4 cup of cilantro and sliced avocado.
Store any leftover corn salsa in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Enjoy!
Click below for our original Vegan Nacho + Cashew Queso blog post, or head to the Garden Goodness Blog for more plant-centered recipes.
27th Letter Books
This week, we’re shining our spotlight on our favorite Detroit bookshop. We hope you will consider supporting their small business and stocking up on books to read over the winter break!
27th Letter Books is a bookstore committed to bringing literature to the Detroit community, providing a range of books that focus on diverse, lesser known authors and good writing. Book lovers can find an eclectic range of nonfiction and fiction books for readers of any age. Opened in June 2021, our store is 50% veteran owned, 50% owned by people of color, and 50% woman owned. Book lovers can shop in our store at 3546 Michigan Ave in Detroit, or online at 27thletterbooks.com.
–Jazmine Cooper, General Manager/Co-Owner
Holiday Hours: They will be opened from 11am-7pm Tuesday through Thursday, 11am-5pm on Friday. Closed Saturday, December 25th through January 3rd, 2022.
Follow 27th Letter Books on Instagram to stay in the loop with what they’re up to!
Worthwhile reads
For your reading pleasure, the team members at Featherstone will occasionally share an article or link we found to be a worthwhile read. We hope you enjoy our pick of the week.
Renee’s Pick: A recipe for homemade Chicken Broth & Noodle Soup, via Woodbine Street Kitchen.
I originally shared this recipe on my substack food-newsletter, and with Covid on the rise, I felt like this was an appropriate time for homemade soup. If someone you know is feeling under the weather and stuck at home, they will thank you for this. And the batch is big enough to share with friends, while having leftovers for yourself. A win-win!
Wishing everyone a happy & healthy holiday season!!
This will be our last newsletter of the year! We will be back early 2022 for Veganuary to share new updates, garden happenings, and new healthy & nutritious plant-centered recipes with you.
For more about our garden, follow us on instagram (@featherstone.garden), and check out our website. Feel free to email us or comment below with any questions or suggestions. We’d love for you to share our newsletter with a friend by clicking the button below.
Have a great week,
Annie, Aaron, Renee, Jessi + Chili & Bean (our farm cats)
