Grain-Free, Sugar-Free Sweet Potato Breakfast Spread

Eating seasonally is great.  The produce is fresher and almost always cheaper than it would be out of season, plus if you begin to listen to your body you will find that you crave the fruits and vegetables in season.  As the weather has turned colder, my thirst for raw salads and tropical fruits has died and been replaced with a craving for warm, hearty, filling and heavier dishes like beans, squash, soups and apples.

Today our grocery store had sweet potatoes, 4 pounds for $1!  So as you stock up, know that you don’t just have to eat the iconic sweet potato and marshmallow dish, but can enjoy sweet potatoes in a myriad of ways- for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  I got this idea from a health magazine from my local health food store- sweet potatoes for breakfast!

Need:

– 1 good sized sweet potato

– 1 ripe banana

– a little bit of orange juice (all I had was pineapple juice and it worked)

– cinnamon and nutmeg to taste

– chopped pecans or walnuts

– dried cranberries

– raw honey (optional)

Place sweet potato on a microwave safe plate and poke a few holes in it with a fork.  Heat for about 5-6 minutes until very tender.  Scoop out flesh and put in a bowl.  Add the ripe banana and a little bit of juice.  Add cinnamon and nutmeg to taste.  Blend with an electric mixer until uniform and fluffy.  Spoon into a bowl and add chopped nuts, dried cranberries, more cinnamon (if desired) and honey (optional).  I ate it without the honey and was surprised at how yummy this was!  You can easily eat this right off the spoon and is especially great for those on a grain-free or grain limited diet.  I really like it as a spread though.  I toasted some sprouted organic bread and slathered it with butter, then topped with a spoonful of the sweet potato.  Top with nuts and cranberries and you have a filling, seasonal nutritious breakfast!

 

Simple Rosemary Quinoa and White Bean Soup

I love soup anytime of year.  I think it is one of the most nourishing things you can eat, especially if it is homemade.  But this morning we woke up and it was actually a little cold outside!  Oh, how I love soup weather!

This is  a really simple soup.  I sort of just threw together what I had on hand (that is another beautiful thing about soup).  I based my recipe off of this recipe I found.

First, cook your quinoa.  After rinsing the quinoa well, I just followed the directions on the package.

Heat 1-2 Tbsp oil in a large pot over medium high heat.  Add half of an onion, diced and one carrot sliced.  Heat until tender.

Add 1/2 tsp sea salt, black pepper to taste, chopped fresh rosemary, one can of white beans (drained), 2 cups vegetable stock and one cup of water (more if you like more liquid).  Bring to a low boil, simmer for 15 minutes.

Add 1 Tbsp fresh squeezed lemon and 2 cups of cooked quinoa, stirring to combine.  Let simmer for a few minutes or let warm off of the heat to blend the flavors together.  Serve hot.

Enjoy! (And I know you will!)

 

 

Discovering the Pumpkin Patch

With October comes a trip to the orchard to visit this year’s pumpkin patch.  We’re still in tank tops, shorts and flip flops here but Fall is definitely here!

 

We left with a pie pumpkin for me and a little tiny, child size pumpkin for her.  My husband and I are moving towards living more sustainably, so this year instead of buying pumpkins to decorate our porch then tossing them when the month is over, I thought I would actually use the pie pumpkin to bake with.  It is after all, fresh produce, is it not?  I want to thank blogger at Live.Learn.Eat.Love. for posting her instructions on how to make homemade pumpkin puree!

Out of the one pie pumpkin I got about 5 cups of pumpkin puree and about 1 cup of pumpkin seeds.  The seeds I soaked and then dried in a warm oven (150 degrees) for a few hours then stored in empty and clean jelly jar.  I’m thinking they will be great on salads, in granola or just to munch!  I used three cups of the pumpkin puree to make pumpkin casserole (see picture above).  I got the recipe from the book Simply Vegan by Debra Wasserman and wanted to try it because it contains no flour and very little sugar.  The pumpkin puree combines with organic chopped apples, organic dried cranberries (or raisins), cinnamon, nutmeg and walnuts (I used pecans) and two tablespoons of maple syrup then baked until hot.  It doesn’t hold together like a pumpkin bread, but I found it actually to be very good smeared on a piece of whole wheat toast, with a tiny drizzle of raw honey over the top.  I think “warm vegan pumpkin butter” is a more apt title!  I froze the rest of the pumpkin puree and can’t wait to make more goodies with it.  We loved going to the pumpkin patch this year!

 

 

 

Homemade Pita Bread Panini Pressed Sandwiches or What I Like to Call a “Pitanini”

At our house we love panini pressed sammys.  They’re quick and easy on nights I just don’t feel like cooking.  I had recently bought some pita bread at the store and love slicing it open to reveal the warm heavenly soft middle and stuffing it full of vegan goodies like hummus, avocado, salad greens or red peppers.  Since I love baking bread so much, I wanted to try making pita bread myself too.  Once I got into bread making, I realized leavened breads are pretty much all the same.  The taste might depend on how long I let it rise, how long I knead it, or what seasonings I add to the dough.  And the shape is simply dependent on what I feel like rolling it into.  When I understood this, it wasn’t long before I was rolling out the soft round dough ready to make some delicious flatbread.

I used this recipe from The Fresh Loaf but incorporated this idea to cook them on my cast iron skillet.  

The dough made eight balls which I then easily rolled out with a rolling pin just so it was round and flat but not too thin.  Once my cast iron skillet was hot I dropped them in one at a time.  It only took a minute or so until they were beginning to bubble or puff on the top then I flipped it over.  When the other side was cooked and had some of that wonderful browning in spots I took it off the skillet and let it cool on a wire rack.  You can also cook these in the oven.  

The finished stack.  So good hot off the skillet!

When I make paninis, I usually use a sturdy english muffin bread but this time around decided to try and use the fresh pita bread.

 

Slice the pita bread horizontally to make two thin halves.  Then stuff it with whatever you like!  My husband likes turkey and cheese while I spread mine with mashed chickpeas with tomato sauce and oregano and of course toppings like red onion, avocado and tomato.  Place in a panini press and cook until fillings are hot and outside has lines across the top and bottom.  

my husband’s turkey and cheese

my chickpea and tomato

Chewy bread, hot filling, who doesn’t love that?  These would be perfect on a cold Fall day with some soup.  For a yummy hot breakfast “pitanini” I used peanut butter, thinly sliced bananas and cinnamon.  Just one more reason to love pita bread!

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner At Home

We were so pleased to have my mom and my husband’s parents over for dinner tonight.  We thought about going out to eat, but my husband and I suggested we have dinner at our house instead.  Eating at home is so much more intimate and special.  It allows the host or hostess the joy of serving, and the guests the joy of fellowship.  Eating should be a labor of love, and it should start in the kitchen.  I used to hate cooking, until I realized that I was going about it all the wrong way.  I often tried to make cooking easy- quick fast meals, easy preparation and few ingredients.  Then I started making a few meals the old fashioned way- from scratch, by hand and fell in love.  

A good meal starts with your mind as you think of all the wonderful dishes you could make, then your eyes as your search out the best ingredients, then your hands as you invest yourself to prepare it, and finally, a good meal ends in your mouth as you get to reap what you have spent so much time sowing.  Anything less than investing your best in a meal, your time and energy, heart and creativity, cheapens the meal, even just a little, and leaves everyone wanting.  Satisfaction comes from a meal that’s been long awaited.  

herb focaccia ready to put in the oven

I had such joy in creating this meal that by the time I was done making it, even if everyone hated it (which they didn’t) I wouldn’t have cared because I was so delighted by the process of creating it.  The menu: Simple lemon chicken, green beans, apricot and pecan salad with homemade honey vinaigrette, and (the star of the meal) homemade rosemary and thyme focaccia with olive oil for dipping.  I have never made focaccia bread before and I was so pleased how it turned out.  Baking bread is a ridiculous pleasure.  

The five of us polished off almost an entire focaccia loaf (I’m glad I made two!) and I thought the salad was the best salad I’ve ever had.  It was fresh and sweet and perfect.  I got the recipe for the vinaigrette here but I doubled the honey and the mustard. Salt and pepper to taste.  Dinner at home is so amazing in so many ways.  For me, I get to know that everything is really fresh and healthy (and vegan) and I can dig in without a care.  And I love the exclamations of delight from the guests as they enjoy my labors of love.  And it doesn’t hurt that my husband told me it was the best meal he has ever had.  Wow!  It doesn’t get any better than that!  Wives, what a wonderful way to bless your husband by investing yourself in your meals.  It is a joy and discipline I am eager to practice again and again.   

 

Black-Eyed Pea Corn and Avocado Salad or to the South “Cowboy Caviar”

If you’ve lived in the South at all, you might have heard of “cowboy caviar” a dish featuring a very Southern food, black-eyed peas.  But unlike many Southern food’s reputation of being heavy, buttery and fried, this dish is light and fresh and perfect for the Summer.  There are probably a few different variations of this salad, but I really like this one because it includes the bright flavors of lime, cilantro and avocado- flavors I can’t seem to get enough of right now.

Ingredients:

1/2 of a 1 lb bag of dry black-eyed peas- sorted, rinsed, soaked overnight then cooked according to package directions (or you could use 1 can of already cooked black-eyed peas)

about 1 c of frozen corn, thawed

1 can of diced tomatoes, with liquid drained (or fresh tomatoes diced)

1/2 ripe avocado peeled, pit removed and diced (1 whole if you want more avocado)

1 red onion, diced

extra virgin olive oil

sea salt and black pepper to taste

fresh cilantro, chopped and some for garnish

1 lime

Simply mix the black-eyed peas, corn, tomatoes, avocado, onion and some chopped cilantro in a bowl.  Season with salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle the olive oil over, squeeze the entire lime into the salad and then season again with salt and pepper to taste if necessary.  (I learned from watching Jamie Oliver that you always want your dressing to be a bit too acidic, meaning add just a little too much lime  because the flavors will mellow).

put it all in a big bowl

so colorful!

Garnish with more fresh cilantro and a wedge of lime. Dig right in with a fork or eat like a dip with your favorite tortilla chip. Chill in the fridge to let the flavors mingle. Enjoy!

Confessions of Traveling Vegan

a good vegan meal of lentil stew and brown rice

A few months ago I decided to begin eating vegan.  I love the purity of the vegan diet.  No meat, no dairy, no cheese, no eggs, no animal products of any kind.  To me, it wasn’t about what I was saying no to, but what I was saying yes to.  Whole grains, gobs of vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans and legumes which is basically the foundation of every anti-cancer, anti-heart disease (both run in my Dad’s side of the family), anti-whatever-is-bad-for-you diet.  But becoming vegan right before our Summer travels made me a little nervous.  Would I be able to keep it up?  Find good food?  I have to be honest, being vegan is not that hard at home when you can control the ingredients coming in your house, but outside of the home it is harder.  The biggest hurdles?  Surprisingly, for me they are butter and honey.  Vegans don’t eat honey because it comes from an animal- therefore an animal product.  I’m on the fence with that one, because I really like honey and truly believe that raw local honey can be a good, even health beneficial replacement for refined sugar.  And butter is not that big of a deal because I buy non-dairy butter, but eating out I realize that pretty much everything is probably cooked with a little butter.  Even being as safe as I can and ordering vegetables, beans and a potato out at a restaurant, I’m pretty certain the veggies were cooked with butter and the potato comes with butter already on it.  I could ask for no butter, but then my taste-buds might stage a revolt against me.  I mean, I want to eat yummy things too.  That being said, I haven’t even ventured into my travels yet.  So, I have to admit, I have some confessions to make…

So far I love eating vegan, I love how fresh, light and satisfying vegan meals can be, but besides not always having access to vegan meals when eating out, there is something else.  There is, of course, the desire to throw away all my convictions and pull up a chair to a plate of something meaty, buttery and cheesy.  As far as traveling goes, I was doing pretty well.  I brought some vegan snacks with me for the plane (peanut butter, vegan granola bars, crackers) and even requested a vegan meal for the plane ride (which wasn’t too bad actually, although too spicy) but when I arrived in Scotland, I was weary, tired and very hungry from traveling and just wanted a comforting meal, I didn’t really care what it was.  I underestimated my relationship with food.  No matter how much we try to distance ourselves emotionally from what we eat, I’m convinced it can’t be done.  Eating is as much a social, emotionally, and cultural event, as it is a physical one.  Sometimes a salad and some beans just won’t cut it when you need something deeply warming and filling.  So the first week I was here I wasn’t really sticking to a vegan diet.  At first I was more vegetarian since I incorporated butter and dairy (Dairy inside of food that is) but one night I even sat down to a fish dinner with my husband!  Now I really don’t have a lot of bad things to say about meat, fish and dairy.  I like them.  I have just chosen to not eat  them so I can focus on eating other good for you foods, but it had been so long since I had incorporated them into my diet, that it actually made my stomach hurt for a while.  So back to being vegan as much as I can.

Although traveling vegan can be tricky, I have had some small successes.  I’ve learned that if I see something on the menu that I like I can ask the waiter if they would leave off the cheese or something else to make it vegan, and I’ve never had anyone say no.  Yesterday I went into this cute little cafe.  It was so lovely.  Scones and cakes looked delicious under the glass.  Organic goodies were everywhere.  Tea and coffee were being made in the back.  I asked her if any of the treats were vegan.  She said no, but that she would bake something vegan this week and told me to come back!  I talked to her a little bit and turns out she was trying out being vegetarian for 30 days.  How awesome is that?  Of course this was a little, privately owned shop- you probably couldn’t walk into a Starbucks and get that same kind of service.

So there you are.  I’m a vegan who sometimes eats butter or cheese and even meat…I am still passionate about a vegan lifestyle, but it’s hard living in a world that revolves around meat and cheese.  And I don’t want to become a social outcast for the sake of my food choices.  If I’m hungry and there is truly nothing vegan around (although that is almost never the case, you can always find something vegan) you can bet I am going to eat something anyway.  I love this quote from Alicia Silverstone’s The Kind Diet on being vegan, “It’s a journey, not a destination,” and I always remember that.

Easy Vegan Vegetable Fried Rice

I don’t know who doesn’t love fried rice.  It could really be a meal all in itself!  But in these last couple of months that I’ve been eating vegan, I have had to find new ways to prepare old favorites.  I’ve discovered that vegan is anything but limiting.  It actually opens up many new doors to different foods I might never have tried.  This is an extremely simple and very tasty recipe for vegan vegetbale fried rice.

Need:

1 cup brown rice, uncooked

2 cups of vegetable broth

1 green zucchini squash, sliced

1 yellow summer squash, sliced

1/2 a red onion, chopped

2-3 carrots, sliced

2 stalks of celery, sliced

sea salt and pepper

a couple Tablespoons of olive oil

4 teaspoons of soy sauce

1. Cook brown rice according to the directions.  I did not have the instant kind so that took 45 minutes.  Feel free to use instant brown rice.

2. Once rice is tender and most of the broth absorbed, remove and spread out onto a plate.  Meanwhile, heat the oil over a skillet over medium high heat.  Add the vegetables and cook until tender (however tender or crisp you prefer), adding a few dashes of salt and pepper.

3.  Add the cooked rice, mixing and heating until all is well combined (add more pepper here if you wish.  I like seeing the pepper sprinkled throughout the rice).

4.  Add the soy sauce and cook for about a minute.  Remove and serve hot.  Enjoy!

 

 

 

My Summer Salad: Mango, Avocado and Cucumber Salad

This is a perfect, refreshing Summer salad.  I found it in a Real Simple magazine and knew I had to try it.  Can you believe I don’t think I have ever tasted a real, fresh mango before this time?  It was absolutely amazing!  Try it and you’ll see!

Need:

1 ripe mango, peeled of its skin and chopped into cubes (that is if you don’t eat all of it first!)

1 cucumber, peeled if not organic, and then chopped

several thin slices of a fresh red onion (yum)

1 small ripe avocado, peeled, pit removed and chopped (you can also add just a pinch of sea salt if you would like)

lime juice

dash of pepper

Combine all ingredients and toss gently.  At first I thought, pepper?  Really?  But the mango and the avocado are so sweet and delicious that the pepper adds just the perfect hint of spiciness that compliments all the juicy sweetness.  Enjoy! (Even my 15 month old loved to eat the mango and avocado chunks!)

Nourishing Breakfast: Blueberry Almond Steel Cut Oats

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day.  The day has just begun, I’m hungry and ready for something really yummy.  I’ve (pretty much) officially started eating vegan and sometimes vegetarian.  Contrary to what many may think, it is not limiting at all!  Actually, it’s opened up a whole new world of foods to me that before I never would have considered.  I’ve become familiar with foods like quinoa, barley and hummus.  While vegan breakfasts really aren’t that different from omnivore’s breakfasts (just swap out the dairy milk with non-dairy milk in your cereal) I still wanted to try something new and wholesome.  Steel cut oats are the second least processed type of oat.  The least processed oat are oat groats (read more here on types of oats).  What’s interesting is that I really don’t like oatmeal.  The instant oatmeal (least nutritious) is pretty good only because it’s laden with sugar and flavors, but the old fashioned rolled oats which are a little better nutritionally, I think, tastes like cardboard.  Still, I thought I would give steel cut oats a try- I knew I didn’t want to go back to the breakfast I had for years which was sugary cold cereals with cow’s milk.

So I soaked the steel cut oats overnight to soften them (and some believe this also makes them easier to digest) then cooked them over the stove top.  To my surprise, I found that they had a much better texture and flavor than old-fashioned rolled oats.

Top your steel cut oats with a generous pouring of your favorite non-dairy milk (or milk).  I like coconut or almond milk.  Then sprinkle on the cinnamon.  Top that with fresh fruit like blueberries or banana slices and sliced almonds.  Add a little drizzle of maple syrup and you will be in breakfast heaven!  This is a highly nutritious, warm, filling and satisfying breakfast for the whole family!