Finally, a brown rice-fried rice that works

Here's the recipe I used (which is sure to be a repeater and can easily vary the veggies....I adapted the recipe from this site http://www.theperfectpantry.com/2007/08/brown-rice.html) here's my version:

Veggie Fried Rice (with Brown Rice!)


2 tsp olive oil
1 egg, lightly scrambled
1/4 cup diced mixed vegetables -- onion and red pepper
1/4 cup carrots and corn
1 cup cooked brown rice, any variety, chilled
1 1/2 tsp oyster sauce
1 1/2 tsp soy sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp sesame oil

Heat the oil in a wok over highest heat, and add the egg and vegetables, and stir. Add rice, oyster sauce, soy sauce, and salt and pepper, and stir for 1 minute; the sauce should be absorbed and the rice grains should be separate. Add the sesame oil, toss, and serve hot. Reheats well too!

I served it with my mock PF Chang's lettuce wraps (with cabbage as the wrapper)

My new utensil holder present

Usually there are more utensils in it, but a lot are in the dishwasher, which is currently running! It's so pretty and clean looking on the countertop! THANKS!!!

Really, we don't eat THAT much meat!

So....for a family who eats several meat-free meals a week (at a minimum) it seems strange that our freezer looks like a meat locker. This is for several reasons: (1) all the fruit and veggies are buried under the pile o' meat (2) we recently purchased a half of a lamb from a local family farm (3) I just picked up our 1/4 hog that was butchered from a different local family farm and (4) we found an amazing deal on salmon when we were in Washington for the holidays and so we brought back 5 whole fish with us (and have 10 more in the in-laws freezer!)

All this meat means that we're sure to be incorporating more meat into our meals, but it will be a fun challenge for me as I don't plan on meat being the "main" portion, but more an accent to some whole grains and vegetables. I have tentatively planned out the following menu for the following week:

Monday - Roasted Salmon with Lentil/Couscous/Herb/Veggie Salad (a favorite repeat around here!) (and tonight I will make some fish stock to freeze and make a salmon chowder later on)

Tuesday - Salmon Tacos with the leftover salmon....with a mexican cabbage slaw and some fresh cooked black beans. I am hoping to handmake some corn tortillas for this meal, but it all depends on if I get to the store to get my tortilla press before then.

Wednesday - Pork Chops in the crockpot with a jar of my home canned BBQ sauce (first time to try the sauce!)with roasted potatoes and squash

Thursday - Leftover pork shredded with sauce on homemade sourdough baguettes for a pulled pork type sandwich with a cabbage cole slaw type salad

Friday - Soup, possibly potato-leek or a squash soup from the freezer (something meat free for sure!)

Wonderful World of Sprouting

After a brief conversation with one of my brother-in-laws over the holidays, I was inspired to try sprouting again. (For history, I have only sprouted a couple things over the years, and while both were a success I just didn't continue for some reason.) So, it was serendipitious that while I was at our local natural foods store stocking up today I spotted some little sprouting screens with instructions and jars (regular mason type) on display....so for under $5 I'm going to give it another try! Also, they had a whole section (albiet small section) of bulk seeds/legumes that were specifically labelled for sprouting. I got a small baggie of both the sandwich mix and the salad mix - they look tasty. We'll be down at my parents for New Year's, but I'll get them going when we return!

(Oh, and it turns out that the sprouting screen is from a local company...even better!)

It's raining cookbooks.....

I decided that each of my new books from the holidays deserves its own post. Here's the first and my favorite thus far! I haven't cooked from it yet, but have been overjoyed to read it....lots of info and recipes.

I also discovered a website by the same author that has actual videos (with a humorous slant) of a lot of the recipes in the book. Very helpful for a visual learner such as myself!

Laptop Lunch Frenzy Begins

My kiddos got Laptop Lunchboxes for Christmas and they couldn't have been more thrilled! My 5 year old danced around the room and declared emphatically that she needed this because she is going to start having lunch at school. Her 2 year old sister jumped up and shouted "I needed it TOO!" I asked the 2 year old why she needed it and she looked perplexed, shrugged her shoulders and simply stated "I JUST needed it!" Who can argue with such impecable logic? Simply stated, I often "just need" things too!

You can check out these little creations at http://www.laptoplunches.com/ and see them put to great use (although much more creatively than I am sure I will be!) at http://veganlunchbox.blogspot.com/

Next week the actual school lunches start, so I wanted to do a trial run with said lunchboxes this week to make sure, among other things, that my child could actually open it when she was at school! Attached is a photo of some things from the fridge that I threw together for lunch today -- it's whole wheat penne with homemade marinara, pear slices, baby carrots, 2 late July crackers sandwiched together with nut butter, and yogurt in the dip cup, as this was the item that they were both most excited about). They were both SO excited to eat out of their lunchboxes.

Ahhh.....fresh produce!

After being pretty much stranded in the house for a week straight and not being able to venture to one of my favorite places....the grocery store....the Organics To You produce delivery was a much anticipated part of today. With the exception of convincing my husband to jump off the bus and run into the grocery store for milk, eggs and cheese one night this week, we have gone without any outside groceries for the entire week. Luckily I have quite the storage of both dry goods, frozen items and a very well stocked pantry....but fresh produce was one thing that was lacking. We were down to one head of cabbage and some carrots in the fridge, potatoes and squash in the garage and a bit of fruit (yes, we are well stocked!) but now...problem solved! A HUGE box of delicious fresh items....take a look! By the way, this is the first week we have gotten the "regular" bin, as we were still well stocked veggie wise from the CSA we had been getting fruit box in the previous weeks. The variety and amount of produce in this week's particular box was remarkable and I am impressed by how much of it is sourced locally. I look forward to seeing what the next bi-weekly box holds!

The girls were so excited by the bounty that they literally cheered for the broccoli and demanded that I steam some up right away and then they began carrying the leeks around the house and poking things with them. Oh, kids will be kids....

Let it snow, let it snow, let it SNOW!

We haven't done a very good job of taking photos while we've been outside in the snow/ice this week -- too busy *trying* to stay warm! But here are a few - we apparently didn't take any the days that we had the most snow and ice on the ground. Oh well, if the weather forecast is correct, we'll have another opportunity this weekend.

This was the first smattering of snow earlier this week (the girls were just excited to be able to wear their new snow hats):



Loving the snow!


The girls love being pulled around the lawn in the sled (but are too afraid to go down the hill on the sled)


Here's today snow play:

Opening up the ornaments

The oldest with her ornament:


The youngest with her ornament:


Posing by the tree for Grandma:


Ornaments on the head:


Although this is a bit dated, I promised I'd send these photos to the grandparents and then forgot (gasp!) so I am posting them here instead....Every year my mother-in-law gets the girls' a new ornament for the tree. The last couple years the oldest has even gotten to pick it out at a lovely Christmas shop near the beachhouse we have stayed at on the Oregon Coast. This year they opened their ornament presents as we decorated our tree. They were SO excited to get a bear and a bunny to add to the tree!

This was a family tradition of their's and my husband has a great box (and nicely organized list) of ornaments from each year of his childhood as well. Some are cute, some are handmade, some are from trips that were taken during that year (think Disneyland), some are symbols of sports teams or other activities he participated in (newspaper, band, etc.) but all are symbolic of a certain thing that was important that year - kinda like a time capsule. It's really a neat tradition and I am happy to pass it on to my kids....although I need to start that list of what ornament was from what year because my oldest is only 5 and I am already forgetting!!

Update on the Ginger Beer

Well, I posted a while back on the making of Ginger Beer, courtesy of the book Wild Fermention. I had promised an update when we got around to sampling it (after the fermentation process ended) and that time came last night. My husband said he'd try it if I took the first drink. I said I'd take the first drink if he opened the container (I had a slight fear of an explosion of some sort!) And, thus, a deal was made. He opened. I sampled. It didn't explode. It wasn't that good. That sums it up!

For more detail.....quite a bit of carbonation did occur, which I thought was pretty darned cool. The taste however was very "beer-like" to me, but not "beery" enough for hubby. He said that it smelled like beer, but didn't taste like much. Fair enough assessment. I thought that it tasted a bit like beer, but not much like ginger and certainly all the sugars had been eaten up, since it wasn't sweet at all! This was disappointing to me.

I don't think I'll make it again, and not sure that all of this batch will be consumed, some might be contributing to our compost pile. But it was a fun experiment!

Still alive....just snowed in!

Several people have asked why I haven't been updating ye ole blog lately and quite frankly it's just because I've been busy doing other things.....since school has been cancelled every single day this week (and the week before Winter Break no less!) it's been pretty darned busy around the house keeping my kiddos occupied without our normal activities!

I found this fabulous website www.mathwire.com that has all sorts of great math-themed winter activities that my 5 year old has been furiously doing (she is working on the quilt activity as I type!) One of her favorites is the gingerbread man game....so much fun! Oh, and we did the dice rolling, draw a snowman game so many times yesterday I can't count them all.

I have been furiously baking, here are a few pictures and links to recipes when appropriate from my baking spree.

The latest project was a coconut bread that I just got out of the oven (and ate 3 large pieces of already!) I was a bit nervous about the recipe as I had to use my kitchen scale and convert things from the Australian measurements (mostly grams) and it seemed to call for an absurd amount of coconut, but, let me tell you, it is TASTY!! It is supposed to be a great breakfast bread and is served at an infamous restaurant in Australia....I can see why! The recipe can be found here http://www.lifestylefood.com.au/recipes/36/coconut-bread



One I don't have a photo for, but that was fabulous and on the "to make again" list is a vegan blackberry crisp. http://www.seattlevegan.com/recipe.php?id=3&cat=desserts It was especially delicious with a dollop of greek honey yogurt!

Here are some coconut bon-bons that I made today. I had to use up almost my entire stash of dark chocolate to coat them, but it was much easier than I thought it might be. Here's the recipe I used: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/coconut-indulgences-recipe/index.html (Oh, and I had to make my own sweetened condensed milk, which I googled a recipe for)



Next up.....I've made about 4 batches of bread this week, including some stellar sourdough baguettes that are on the "to repeat" list too! Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of them before I cut and toasted one of them into crostinis and froze the other 2 for later use. Other breads I tried for the first time are 2 in the Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Bread book - a oatmeal broom bread (REALLY good toasted with a boiled egg for breakfast!) and a power bread that used a raisin puree and a variety of grains and seeds and nuts - nice and hearty!



Next, not an edible project, but the kids and I made applesauce cinnamon dough ornaments early in the snow week....they turned out really well, were easy and kept the kiddos occupied for a while. What a winner!



Another project (this one didn't involve food OR the kidlets!) was that I have been doing a monthly quilting challenge at a local quilt store and this month's blocks needed to be completed before we left to visit relatives for the holiday. Luckily, being stuck at home due to the icy roads left a whole day I could devote. I am NOT a great quilter, but am giving it a try. It's kind of nice to challenge another part of my brain once in a while!



Finally, here's a fairly unattractive photo of some of the cookies (and fudge) that I made to take up to the relatives' house this next week. (Some of them were also from a cookie exchange that I attended this week, but sadly I made the majority of them this week!) When I get bored....I bake!



Well, off to pick up the produce bin this week, as we really could use some fresh fare. Hopefully it won't take me so long to post an update! Thanks to those of you who checked in on me!

Big day of sweets....

I guess I had a bit of a sweet tooth today as I have made homemade chocolate chip granola bars and a blueberry sorbetto today. I will try and get pictures, but it just might not happen!

A-DONG

I had a day full of errands with my little one, while my bigger one was at school today. It included Costco (lots of cheese....oh, and a new cookbook that I am very excited about....A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen by Jack Bishop -- it looks great and is organized by season, which I am really into lately) then we went to the local Asian market (A-Dong). I hadn't been there in many years and it was quite an experience. It can best be described as a dingy 7-11 type joint atmosphere, except that all the labels are in different Asian languages and there is a HUGE assortment of frozen sea creatures that resemble eyeballs of varying shapes and sizes. I did, however, get all the obscure items on my list and a couple "extras" including tapioca that I get to figure out what to do with!

Crazy for Coconut!

I *heart* coconut!!! Everything about it....I could go on and on, but I'll spare you all! Today I got to make coconut milk though. Which is a quite easy process of taking fresh coconut meat, blending it with hot water and then straining the solids out. I am making a pumpkin carrot ginger coconut milk soup for dinner tomorrow (with coconut cream freiche) and needed some coconut milk. As I took a can from the pantry my DH reminded me that "isn't it pretty easy to make coconut milk?" And that reminded me of the coconut meat that I had frozen for just such a purpose. Now I have the remanants of the coconut milk-making process toasting up in the oven so I can add it to some homemade granola.

Uses for Whey

In the past when I have made cheese I've just thrown out the whey (the by-product) but when I made yesterday's cheese I vowed to try and use it up! It seems like such a waste to just pour it down the drain. I googled and found a variety of uses and even toyed with making beet kvaas (kvass?) a whey and beet drink that is supposedly good for digestion, etc. But then figured that was likely to go down the drain as well! Maybe I'll get more adventurous and try that one some other time!



So far I made this fabulous bread with the whey - a peasant style wheat/flaxseed/honey combo. In fact, the bread is so tasty that I might just make another batch of it tomorrow.....I am also in the process of making a kale/potato soup for dinner that uses the whey in place of broth. It is looking really yummy too and I am feeling quite resourceful!

It's a BIG day!

So I got on a bit of a craze this afternoon and during little's one nap I have started several projects....

First up, GINGER BEER (not the alcoholic type). I have never made homemade soda before, and we don't drink any soda anyways, so it is a bit of a random project, but it looked fun. I'm using a recipe from the book Wild Fermentation. First you have to create a "ginger bug" with fresh ginger, water and sugar. I can't go to the next step until this starts to bubble, which the recipe states may take anywhere from 2 days to 2 weeks. Since it has been cold in the house lately it might be the longer time period....I'll report back on the next step when the time comes!



Next, I had to roast some more coffee beans. Which, since we had some heavy coffee drinking company this past week, I feel like I have been doing an awful lot of! Thank goodness for my i-roast. If I were still doing it in the oven I'd be REALLY tired of it!



Then I decided to make some more fresh ricotta cheese. The other day I was going to make a recipe, but didn't have any. Now, of course, I can't even remember what recipe that was, but I shall have it in the freezer for whenever I remember! The photos of the cheese making process didn't turn out that well (bad lighting) but here's one before it was strained and drained : )



Finally, I made some toasted buckwheat groat cereal (my 2 year old's favorite topping for her Nancy's yogurt). It's a simple recipe that requires toasting the groasts in the oven at 300 and then stirring in some natural almond butter and maple syrup.



Whew! No wonder I am tired and on my second pot of coffee! After all these projects we're having an easy dinner of some farm fresh eggs with grated cheese and homemade sourdough toast from my last batch of bread. I'll throw some veggies in my eggs, but have learned my lesson that the kids won't eat them if there's anything green in it!

Penzey's Spices

I finally made it to our local (read 1 hour away....) Penzey's Spices store. For those of you not familiar with it, I highly recommend checking out their website if you are looking to get totally lost in the wonderful world of spices. I have been ordering from Penzey's for a while now but have never made it to the actual real-life store....only catalog and web ordering up to now. Well, that all changed. My daughter had a birthday party which happened to be very near the spice store. I was restrained though and only bought what I needed....with the exception of a very large bag of very delicious crystalized ginger. I was excited to not pay shipping (although to offset the fact you have to pay shipping, the company always puts in a free spice blend jar, which is really great!) I know I'll be going back soon, if for nothing else, to smell all the spices and let the kids color at the little coloring nook they have so thoughtfully set up!

Let the fermenting begin!

Well, my first attempt at fermentation begins....NOW! I have 2 quart jars of kraut beginning their fermentation process on the counter right now. I am using the method from Simply in Season and the new cookbook I acquired this weekend at the local Salem Public Market (the year round indoor market here in town). Both methods use shredded cabbage, a little salt (one had sugar, but I opted out of that) packed into mason jars and covered with boiling water. Left to do their thing! It was so timely because our CSA share this week had a nice head of cabbage. I can't wait to watch the fermentation process in action and I really can't wait to enjoy them with some nice sausage and potatoes! Yum, yum!

Organics To You

Here's what we got in our produce bin this week (it is every other week right now, but the kids eat right through the fruit!)

Big bag of grapes
6 bananas
4 red pears
2 bosc pears
2 barlett pears
3 asian pears
9 apples (honeycrisp and other variety)
4 oranges
3 kiwi
1 pomegrante

Pumpkin Ice Cream

As I have an abundance of frozen pumpkin puree I'm going to be trying out a lot of new recipes in the coming months! Here's one I am churning as I type.....

Pumpkin Ice Cream

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups pumpkin purée
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
2 Tbsp brandy

Method
1 Put the pumpkin puree, sugar, spices, and salt in a blender. Purée until smooth. Slowly add the cream, a little at a time, pulsing after each addition. Chill for 15 minutes (or longer, this part you can make ahead).

2 If you are using brandy, mix it in to the cream mixture right before churning. Churn in your ice cream machine 20 to 25 minutes. Keep in freezer until served.


I'm hoping to make some gingersnaps to serve with this ice cream as I think with that and a dollop of fresh whipped cream it is going to be delicious!

Navajo Stew

Here's what was for dinner last night....with some leftover homemade naan that I had frozen. It's an adaptation from Moosewood's recipe for Navajo Stew (I think from the Simple Suppers cookbook).

Navajo Stew

1 red bell pepper
2 medium sweet potatoes
1 small zuchinni
1 small onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
5 golden roma tomatoes (mine were frozen)
1 Tbsp. canned chipotles in adobo sauce
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
3/4 to 1 cup black beans
flatbread (tortillas, lavash, or pita)
sour cream (or plain yogurt)

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Lightly oil a baking sheet.
Peel the sweet potatoes and cut into 1-inch cubes. Stem and seed the peppers and cut into 1-inch pieces. Peel the onion and cut it stem end to root end into thin wedges. Cut zuchinni into large chunks. In a bowl, toss the vegetables with the garlic, oil, cumin, salt, and pepper. Spread on the prepared baking sheet and roast in the oven for about 10 minutes. Stir and continue to roast for another 10 to 15 minutes, until the sweet potatoes are tender but not mushy.
While the vegetables roast, puree the tomatoes, chipotles, and cilantro in a blender until smooth. Set aside. When the vegetables are tender, put them into a 2- to 3-quart baking dish, stir in the tomato-cilantro sauce and the beans, and return to the oven until hot, about 10 minutes.
A few minutes before serving, warm the bread in the oven. Serve the stew in bowls topped with yogurt or sour cream, with warm flatbread on the side.

No photos today

I've been too busy today dealing with some whiny coldy kids to take photos, but here's a brief snynopsis of what I've been up to today:

drying the last of the cherry tomatoes
cooking and pureeing sweet meat squash and freezing
baking pumpkin seeds
making homemade veggie stockand freezing for soup this coming week
slicing and freezing red bell peppers
preparing menu for the rest of the week and weekend (when family is in town)

All Natural Sugar Cookies

My 5 year old has been begging, whining and throwing fits to make sugar cookies for the past week.....she read in one of her kids' activity books about decorating sugar cookies and has had an insatiable desire to do so ever since! I haven't made sugar cookies in years, but the recipe I last used was full of white sugar and flours and I didn't really want to make that one again. Let's face it, no cookie is health food, but some are "healthier" than others. (Note: my daughter's book nicely informed her that sugar cookie dough is also available in a tube at the store....I shudder to think what all ingreidents that has!) Anyway, my google search came up with little that helped me, so I created my own recipe of sorts. It's chilling in the fridge right now, but I'll repost the results.

Sugar Cookie Dough

1/2 cup butter (1 stick) at room temp
3/4 cup Florida crystals organic cane sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 teas vanilla
1 cup plus half of a 3/4 cup organic whole wheat pastry flour
1 teas non-aluminum baking powder (I used Bob's Red Mill)

Cream together butter and sugar. Add egg. Stir in vanilla. In small amounts add dry ingredients and mix until well combined. Place dough in a covered pyrex bowl in the fridge for at least 3 hours (or overnight).

When they come out I will be rolling out the dough and letting my daughter's cut them into shapes to be baked at 350 for 5-10 minutes, until done. I am sure they will be covered with a nice layer of powdered sugar frosting, as I think that is the whole point of this experiment for my daughter!

I give up!

After months of trying to convince my daughters to eat the Nancy's yogurt....I officially give up! My youngest would *sometimes* eat them with a lot of homemeade jam and toasted buckwheat groats, but my oldest wouldn't even touch the stuff. I cannot, in good faith, buy the horrible sugar-filled products that they really want, but today I gave in and bought a small tower of Wallaby yogurts. Maybe we can compromise?? (And I have to admit that I snuck in a pineapple coconut for myself!)

For the record, I still love Nancy's and will continue to buy it as it is a fabulous local product. We just might have to occassionally get some little organic sugar filled ones as well!

My new baby!

I get really giddy with a new cookbook. I read them at night when I go to bed and can browse through them forever, regardless of whether I make anything from them or they just go into "the collection" Well, today I decided to treat myself and, while shopping at the local natural foods store, decided to browse the book section. What a mistake! There were many titles that I put on my mental wish list, but this one, Simply in Season, stood out. I have looked at it online several times and receive a weekly email update from them as well. The premise is cooking from what is in season, produce wise. I can't wait to have time to settle down and read through it. Maybe I'll even get a chance to cook something from it this weekend!

Lame-O Dinner (Night #2)

So last night the plans for my husband and me to switch off kids at the end of the day so I could get a haircut changed at the last minute, so that left me scrambling for dinner. I boiled up a pot of water and tossed in some whole wheat spaghetti noodles. The kiddos had their noodles with butter and I had mine with some homemade pesto from the freezer (of which we always have an ample supply!) I also tossed in some quartered cherry tomatoes that arrived with our CSA share this week. It was delicious! So tonight I recreated the same lazy meal....gotta take a night off sometimes! (Although I did add in some fresh steamed green beans tonight!)

No Poo Update

So, it's basically 2 weeks since I have been trying the baking soda on my hair in lieu of traditional shampoo (see my previous NO POO post for more info on this...) and I have to say that I am impressed! With the exception of one day where I forgot to put the baking soda in my little travel bottle and, so, just put a bit of baking soda in the palm of my hand and made a paste which I spread on my hair (a common method for other no-poo-ers).....well, this didn't work for me! It left my hair feeling as though it hadn't been washed at all and it was just gross feeling. (I admit....on this day I did use a dab of shampoo, as I cannot stand unwashed hair!) Anyway, every other day I have used only baking soda (and sometimes a dot, really just a small dot, of conditioner).

Well, last night I went to get my hair cut at the salon I have been frequenting for years and my hair stylist said "What have you been doing to your hair?" To which I kinda panicked! Then she said "It is more full and vibrant than I have ever seen it!" I have to admit that I didn't tell her my trick....we'll keep somethings to ourselves!

The LAST Farmer's Market

The last Farmer's Market of the year was today. Sniff, sniff......my Wednesday ritual is over. And, to make matters worse, I missed the last outdoor Saturday market due to a day with WAY too many Halloween parties! I'm going to have to start frequenting the indoor Saturday market soon. Anyway, today the kids and I met their daddy and one of their aunts and stocked up on a few items. I really wasn't planning to get much, but, of course, was tempted by all the colorful produce. Let it be known, however, my haul would have been a lot smaller if I didn't have my 5 year old with me. She insisted on adding the strawberries, blueberries, green beans and purple cauliflower! And, yes, she'll eat it all!

I have a cold!

Our family has been bitten by the cold bug! My oldest child got it first, then my littler one and now me. Of course, the husband has yet to get anything! Luckily, this summer, I was asked to be a Sinupret tester and got samples of this great natural cold medicine, both for adults and kiddos. It is plant based and works well without that yucky "medicine head" feeling that I am accustomed to with the conventional OTC cold medicines.

In addition to getting to sample the Sinupret before it hit the market in the US (it's been abroad for a long time!) I also got a box of samples to hand out to friends. I gave a presentation to a local MOMS group about green shopping and gave out the first round to those in attendance. If you are reading this and are in the Salem area, let me know and I'd be happy to share one with you. I have a few left, so if you leave me a comment with your contact email I'll get in touch. (I took a photo of what you get in the goody bag....it's in a cute little tote and has a sample of the kids' medicine, a bunch of coupons, a little booklet, some kid toys and a box of kleenex!)

Kale and White Beans Recipe

I have had a bunch of kale hanging out in my fridge for a few weeks now. The glory of the produce from our CSA share is that it is so fresh it lasts and lasts! But the days were numbered for this particular one, so I needed to use it up. I tried out a new recipe and I must say it was delicious! Next time I will cut down on the sugar, as it was a tad too sweet for me and I would say that it is a must to serve it with some nice artisan bread....I had some of our homemade sourdough in the freezer and it went nicely!

Here's the recipe....the original can be found here (http://www.recipezaar.com/179716) but, of course, I doctored it up a bit!

This recipe served 2 people....with a lot of bread too!

1/2 bunch fresh kale, washed and stemmed and cut into strips
6 ounces cooked white beans (could use canned, I used some previously cooked and frozen)
3 garlic cloves, peeled and diced
1/2 medium tomato, sliced thinly or I sliced some cherry tomatoes
1/2 medium onion, peeled and sliced thinly
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Directions

Heat the olive oil slowly in a large frying pan. And saute onion and garlic over medium-low heat until they begin to turn color. Do not burn.

Stir in the brown sugar, oregano, and thyme. Stir gently for another minute or two until the sugar has disappeared.

Stir in the chopped kale into the hot oil mix. Stir the kale gently for a few minutes, just long enough to cook it down a bit. Do not let it become soft.

Stir in the beans, the balsamic vinegar, and the salt.

Lay the tomato slices on top.

Sprinkle the parmesan cheese on top of the tomatoes.

Turn off heat, cover and let steam for 5 minutes. Serve hot.

Last days of the CSA

We have belonged to the Denison Farms CSA for several years now. (More information can be found at www.denisonfarms.com) Each week I eagerly anticipate driving across town to pick up our fresh bin of produce. This week's bin came with the weekly newsletter listing what's in the bin and some helpful recipes/hints as well as what's going on on the farm. However, on the newsletter was also a reminder that the farm share season is nearing its end....only 4 weeks to go. As the kidlets ate all but 4 of the raspberries on the car ride home and I added the little tomatoes to our dinner, I realized how much I am going to miss the month's without these produce bins.

Round 2: vegan pumpkin choc chip bread

I made another loaf of the previously posted recipe today. I omitted the nuts at request of the person who will be getting the bread and threw in a few more chocolate chips....just because!

Vegan Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

I made another recipe from my Vegan Lunchbox cookbook today.....it's a heavy and hearty pumpkin bread. I adapted the recipe from said cookbook to create this:

1 cup plain canned pumpkin or pureed squash (I used pumpkin that I baked up from an uncut jack-o-latern pumpkin last night)
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup oil oil
2 TB whole flax seeds (blended until ground)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 2/3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/3 cup chocolate chips
½ cup almonds, chopped
Cinnamon-Sugar (I used Penzey's brand....my favorite!)

Preheat the oven to 350º. Spray a bread pan well with nonstick spray. Set aside.

Put the pumpkin, water, canola oil, ground flax seed, and vanilla in a blender and process on high for at least one minute, until light in color and well-blended. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the whole wheat pastry flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, kosher salt, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice. Add the pumpkin mixture and mix well with a wooden spoon or large spatula until well-blended. Fold in the chocolate chips and almonds.

Spoon the batter into the bread pan. Sprinkle the top with some Cinnamon-Sugar.

Bake for 45-60 minutes, until a cake tested inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then use a spatula to gently lift from the pan. Finish cooling on a wire rack.

**My notes: I was horrified at the amount of sugar in this recipe and would definitely scale it back next time I make it! It had a good flavor, but was a really heavy, dense bread, not light and airy at all. Not a problem, just not exactly what I expected. Also, the bread stuck to the bottom of the pan, so I would suggest HEAVILY greasing it. Could also be made into muffins.**

Update on the Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

I took the before mentioned Pumpkin Cinny Rolls to a Halloween Party yesterday and, although I had eaten one while plating them, I forgot to enjoy one at the party! I left the rest for the hosts, who said they thouroughly enjoyed them, but I did not satiate my craving. SO, I made a second batch today. I tweaked the flours a bit more to accomodate what I had on hand (and decided that this recipe is VERY forgiving!) I also froze half of the batch before I baked them so we can enjoy some warm rolls later too. The last change I made was that I subbed fresh orange juice from our organic produce delivery for the liquid in the frosting and it was an absolutely delicious addition. I find myself going back and licking up spoonfuls of the leftover frosting.

A week without Starbucks....will I survive?

So it has become part of my almost-daily ritual to stop at a local coffee shop, whether it be Starbucks, Java Crew or another joint. Due to a combination of lack of sleep and an overscheduled life, it has become systematic to have my pot of coffee in the morning at home, then stop for a mocha pick-me-up and often times finish up the afternoon with another small pot at home. This is definitely adding up -- both money wise and calorie wise. SO, it is my goal of this week to go without any coffee beverages that are not made in my home (so I can make coffee and mochas still, it's not the point to go without! The one exception to this is if I am meeting a friend or attending a function that is at a coffee shop, I can indulge then, but only then!) DH wanted to stop at Starbucks today so we went and split a Venti Caramel Macchiato. This will be the last one for a while....sigh!

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls - Vegan No More

This has become one of my favorite cinnamon roll recipes. It was originally a vegan cinny roll recipe from www.donteatoffthesidewalk.com, but I adapted it a bit, both to non-veganize it, for ingredients I had on hand and to add more spice to the mix. You can check out the original recipe too though....(and you can easily re-vegan up the recipe by replacing the milk with soy milk and the butter with Earth balance)

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

Dough:
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
3/4 cup Pumpkin or Squash Puree (today I used sweet dumpling squash)
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup melted butter
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 t cinnamon
1 teas pumpkin pie spice
3/4 c whole wheat pastry flour (I use MUCH less)

Filling:
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
6 tablespoons brown sugar
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons melted butter

Glaze:
3/4 cup sifted powdered sugar
1 tablespoon hot water
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large bowl, combine the warm water with the yeast and whisk together with a fork, let stand for 5 minutes. Add the pumpkin, milk, melted butter, and sugar in with the yeast, and lightly mix. Add two and a half cups of flour, and spices and beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Then switch to dough hook (or knead by hand) and knead, adding enough flour from the remaining 3/4 cup, until the dough is elastic but soft and still a little sticky to the touch without being floured.

Place the dough in a large bowl coated with oil, turning to coat the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, for 45 minutes or until doubled in size.

Punch the dough down; cover and let rest for 5 minutes.

Combine the sugar, brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Add melted butter and stir.

Divide dough in half and roll each into a large rectangle on a floured surface. Sprinkle each with brown sugar mixture. Roll up the rectangle tightly, from the long side, pinch seam and ends to seal. Cut roll into(1-inch) slices. Place the slices on a cookie sheet with a silpat or sprayed with oil. Cover and let rise 25 minutes or until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 375°.

Bake the rolls for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 15 minutes in pan on a wire rack.

Sift the powdered sugar into a small bowl. Add the water and vanilla, and whisk until smooth. It should be thick, but easy to drizzle. If it’s too thick, add another 1/2 teaspoon of water. (I usually don't need as much water as called for)

**My photo is before they were drizzled with the frosting. They look even better when glistening with the glaze!**

Freezing Garlic

I have never tried freezing garlic before, but have often bought those little glass jars of pre-minced garlic and kept them in the freezer to scrape out what I need for a recipe when I don't have fresh garlic on hand. I recently discovered that you can preserve garlic by mincing it and freezing it in a 2:1 mixture with oil. I used the Costco olive oil as that's what I had on hand in quantity. I didn't puree it in the food processor with the oil because I couldn't tell how much garlic I had, so I poured it into my freezer container first and the oil won't really stay mixed in (it keeps settling in the freezer) so I am stirring it at 30 minute intervals so it will hopefully freeze okay. Next time I'll just buck up and put the mixture back in the food processor and give it another whirl. Would have saved time in the end!

Organics to you...

So for over a year I have been lusting after the organic produce boxes that my friends and relatives in the Portland area have been receiving from a company called Organics To You (www.organicstoyou.org) I belong to a CSA during the growing season and HIGHLY recommend them. I'll try to make a post specific to that later....However, during those cold winter months, local produce is a bit harder to come by. I tried the Pioneer Organics delivery service twice but was not terribly impressed by their quality and they definitely did not make an effort to get local produce (considering that their website, now called spud.com, labels produce from Chile as "local" Hmmmm......) Anyway, after sending a couple emails to the Organic To You contact email and requesting service in Salem, nothing but a standard response that they would let me know if they ever did....THEN, at the Green Sprouts festival in Portland this summer there was an Organics To You booth. The young man at the booth was very receptive to my request to get Salem delivery, telling me who to contact and that they may be able to do a drop point if there were enough interested customers in the Salem area (and he even fed my youngest some delicious grapes from their sample fare!).

Well, to make a long story shorter....after much emailling we got a good group of Salem area residents who are interested in ordering, a drop point location and a start date and TODAY is the first Salem delivery and we are trying out the Fruit box as we are still in the CSA season and don't really need more root veggies, potatoes, greens and winter squash right now! The kids are big fruit eaters, so I am hoping that this will be a nice addition and eliminate a grocery shopping trip.

Unfortunately, due to scheduling conflicts and a sick child, I think my husband is going to have to pick it up. I was really looking foward to the satisfaction of the actual hand off of the produce bin (as crazy as that sounds, at least it is tangible) Now I have to wait hours to see what is in the darned thing!

ETA: Our fruit box was so nice!! And no excess of plastic clamshells and bags. It was all just nicely put into a cardboard box. We got 2 bags of grapes, a bunch of bananas, apples, 2 kinds of pears, strawberries, a grapefruit, oranges, etc. It all looked great and will definitely encourage us to eat more fruit this week before our next box arrives. Next time I'll take a picture of it. It was so late when we got home all I wanted to do was unpack it and collapse!

I failed!

I wish I had some great green or foodie story today, but I pretty much failed on all attempts! Here's what our day's food looked like:

Breakfast
Little one: oatmeal, brown sugar, milk
Bigger one: cereal, milk
Me: coffee (I forgot the "food" part of breakfast)

Lunch - the most embarrassing part!
McDonald's....between the 3 of us we polished off a plain double cheeseburger, 10 chicken nuggets and an order of fries. I also picked up a mocha at a local coffee shop. My excuse for this horrible, in all ways, lunch is that we had to leave straight from my daughter's school to go to the airport and I was not organized enough to pack a decent roadtrip lunch for us all. I did pack heavy snacks...multi-grain crackers, pears, apples, roasted pumpkin seeds, nuts, etc. but, of course, those got mainly untouched in favor of the McDs.

Dinner
Kids: whole wheat spaghetti with butter
Us: Crockpot lentil soup (as we were gone all day). This was a new recipe and I thought it was pretty uninspiring. So much so that I am not posting it and don't plan to repeat it. Luckily we had 2 bowls of the coconut black rice pudding left (of which I claimed the larger one) and my mom brought back some fresh caramel corn with peanuts that I finished off the bag of.

Let's hope for a better day tomorrow!

Our FAVORITE Pumpkin Muffins

I think that the girls would eat these every day if I made them that often....I usually make up a large batch and try to get some in the freezer before they are gobbled up as they make great quick breakfasts and car snacks. Since we have to go up to Portland tomorrow and since we got *another* organic pie pumpkin at the Farmer's Market today I thought I'd whip up a batch. The little one is on my lap eating one (now she is on her 3rd or 4th one) as a pre-bedtime snack as I write....

Pumpkin Pie Muffins (adapted from Ellie Krieger's recipe)

Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-grain pastry flour or whole wheat flour, or a combo of both, as I did tonight
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons unsulphered molasses
1/4 cup olive oil
2 large eggs
1 cup fresh pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup lowfat buttermilk

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Coat a 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray. (I use a silicone mini muffin tin and make 2 batches)

In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose and whole-wheat flours, baking soda, and spices.

In a large bowl, whisk the sugar, molasses, oil and 1 egg until combined. Add the other egg and whisk well. Whisk in the pumpkin and vanilla. Whisk in the flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with the buttermilk. Whisk just until combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared muffin pan. Bake 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center of 1 of the muffins comes out clean.

Let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the muffins to loosen them and unmold. Cool completely on the rack.

Vegan Black Rice Pudding

For my birthday (again, thanks Megan and Taylor!) I got the new edition of Vegan Lunch Box, a cookbook by Jennifer McCann, the same name as the blogger of veganlunchbox (go figure!)

I've tried a couple recipes in here so far and today finally got to try the Black Rice Pudding. It was SUPER easy, SUPER tasty and sure to be a repeat. My only irk is that it says it serves 6 and good thing I didn't make a 1/2 batch, because I am fairly certain I could eat half of the batch in one sitting.

Here's the recipe and above is a some-what blurry photo:

1/4 pound raw black rice (found mine at Lifesource), rinsed and drained
1 (14 oz) can light coconut milk (I happened to have a can, but next time I'm going for the full fat homemade version)
4 tab sugar (I used a tad less)
pinch salt

Cook the rice until tender in water to cover (30-40 minutes). Drain and set aside.
Boil the coconut milk, add sugar and salt and stir for 1 minute (to dissolve).
Spoon rice into 6 individual dessert dishes and pour coconut milk over them.

I already ate one bowl while it was still piping hot. I have the rest chilling in the fridge and will have them after dinner with a dollop of homemade whipped cream. Mmmmm..........

NO MORE POO

Well, it is Day #4 of my attempts at joining the "no poo" movement and all is going well. I first heard of this when I attended a sustainable living workshop and the idea has been floating around in my head for a while now. You can google it and get more info than you ever wanted, but some of the basic tenants are to get rid of shampoo packaging and eliminate the chemicals that are used in and to make the products themselves. Most people use baking soda to replace commercially available shampoo products and many replace conditioner with vinegar. This weekend I finally decided to give it a try. I bought a little travel sized shampoo bottle and each day I put a small amount (probably between a teaspoon and a tablespoon) in the dry bottle. When I get in the shower in the morning I add water to it and shake to dissolbe then dump on my head and rub it in. It doesn't lather like "normal" shampoo does and feels a bit grainy - that took a couple days to get used to. So far I am using just a teensy tiny bit of conditioner diluted with water after the baking soda. Many people experience and adjustment period to the No Poo, but so far my hair is feeling healthier and cleaner than ever.

Produce, produce, here I come!

Thank you Megan and Taylor for my birthday presents.....another part of it arrived today. My produce bags! I have been eyeing these at www.reusablebags.com for a while now. I hope that they will eliminate some of those pesky plastic produce bags and seem to accumulate with my purchases. At the Farmer's Market I just throw all my goodies in my big red basket, but the grocery store purchases can be a bit more problematic. I got 2 of the large bags (which are larger than I thought -- they should hold quite a bit!) and one small bag, which looks like the right size for a bunch of cilantro or a few small items.

I can't wait to try them out shopping!

What?!? My kids like mashed potatoes?

I know it seems silly, but I have never been able to get the kids to eat mashed potatoes. Granted, I have issues with making mashers, but all that has changed thanks to my recently acquired (read: spent too much $$ for) food mill. I have to get dinner made ahead of time tonight and, due to the marinara and ground beef for meatballs not thawing adequately, I decided to go with some leftover turkey/pork meatloaf, mashed potatoes and roasted brussel sprouts. I made the mashers and brussel sprouts during the little one's nap so it can all be reheated at dinner. But the girls ate so much of the mashed potatoes that there aren't many left for daddy! (Maybe they were so good because I added a lot of butter and half-n-half???) I even got the little one to eat a brussel sprout! Yippee!

I am addicted

Yes, I am an addict. Addicted to Zip-lock bags. Not the generic imposters either. The real thing is what I am talking about here! Mainly the freezer and sandwich sizes, but I have been known to use the gallon sized ones as well. I know it is not very green of me and I have kicked a lot of habits, but zip-locks are still holding on strong. HOWEVER, I am hoping that my newfound friend that I found at www.happy-sacks.com These are little fabric concoctions that are sewn by someone far craftier than I. They charged a very reasonable amount for shipping and enclosed a nice little eco-friendly card with the order as well. I am hoping that it will be a nice replacement for the snack bags that the kids go through rampantly throughout the day. Especially since the little one always tears the side of her bags and then all the snacks fall out, so it has to be replaced with a new baggie...and this cycle can be repeated several times with one snack.