steamed veggies, quinoa and chicken

This was a really tasty, well-balanced meal (well, probably a little heavy on the protein with the quinoa and chicken). But it was good!

What you need:

• Veggies of your choice (1 yellow squash and ~1/2 a large carrot for me)
• Quinoa (I mixed organic white and heirloom red)
• Chicken (free range, vegetarian fed)
• Choice of marinade or seasoning for the chicken
• 1 clove garlic
• Butter (soy margarine for me)
• Salt

What you do:

• If you want to marinate the chicken, prepare this in the morning so that the flavor has all day to soak into the thawed chicken and it will be ready to use by dinner time. Leave it in the fridge.
  
• Start your quinoa first since it will take the longest. Follow directions on package, which should be 1 part quinoa to 2 parts water. Cover and cook until tender.
  
• Clean and cut your veggies and place in oven-safe dish with minced garlic, a little butter (either cube or shave it - make sure to place in various areas of the dish so it covers all veggies when it melts) and a sprinkle of salt. Cover it with foil and place in the oven. I set the oven to 400 and steamed them for ~15 minutes.
• After the quinoa and veggies have been started for 5-10 minutes, prepare the chicken. Put a skillet on the burner and turn on to let it heat. While this is happening, season your chicken or take it out of the marinade. After the pan is hot, add a bit of EVOO, then put the chicken in. Cook thoroughly on both sides and use a lid or splatter screen if necessary.
  
• When all parts of the meal are cooked, make a bed of quinoa and add veggies and/or chicken on top.
  

bean sprouts!

I love sprouts - bean, alfalfa, broccoli and others. They're delicious on salads, in sandwiches or even just to snack on (ok well...the bigger bean sprouts are, at least). I have a large, empty applesauce jar that i've washed and had sitting on my counter and started thinking about sprouting some sunflower seeds. Unfortunately, I was not able to find raw sunflower seeds in either of the stores I went to last weekend. What I did find, was a bag of mung beans. The only sprouter kit I found was pretty pricey - almost $30 - and I was too impatient to order a cheaper version online, so what does a thrifty girl do? Improvise!

I purchased a 5-cup Rubbermaid Produce Saver container, because they have a little slotted tray that rests in the bottom of the container to keep your produce elevated for airflow. The lid also has a couple of vents on the side. Mung beans should be sprouted in a bottom draining container, so I figured I could somehow use this to do what I needed. Since the beans were the tiniest bit too small to rest on top of the slotted tray without following through, I slid the tray inside a knee-high nylon (I bought a couple packages of these for my Costa Rica trip - I put soap in them like I learned in Girl Scouts - and had an unused package left over). This still allowed for drainage but kept the beans from falling through the tray.

I rinsed my beans and put about 1.5 cups into the container. Then added enough water to cover them. Mung beans sprout larger when pressure is applied to them, so I put two saucers upside down on top of the beans, then put the lid on. I left the container in a dark corner on my counter until the next morning, when it would be time to rinse. The beans need to be rinsed about twice a day, so that they are soaking up fresh water while they sprout. To drain them, I just tipped the container to the side and let the water drain out of the vent on the side of the lid. This allowed the beans to stay pretty much in the same place without getting all jostled up and potentially breaking off the sprouts. So far, so good!

Honey Sunflower and Flax Seed Bread

I've gotten really into bread making lately. I despise high fructose corn syrup, and there are very few choices of bread that don't contain this gross ingredient. I also don't regularly eat much bread, so part of the loaf is sometimes wasted, which I hate doing. The bottom line is, I can bake a healthier, cheaper, smaller loaf of bread at home than I can purchase at the store. So here was my latest attempt!

What You Need:

• 1/4 cup honey (I used local - sold where I work from a beekeeper in town)
• 1/4 cup butter, softened (I used soy margarine, a vegan option)
• 2 eggs, beaten (free range, vegetarian fed)
• 1 cup whole wheat flour (I chose organic)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbs baking powder
• 1-1/4 cup ground/shelled sunflower seeds (I used raw/organic)
• 1 cup milk (local & organic)
• 1/2 cup whole/shelled sunflower seeds (raw/organic)
• 3 tbs flax seeds
  

What You Do:

• Beat honey and butter together; add eggs and beat well.
• In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and ground seeds. Add the honey, butter and egg mixture. Add the milk, and mix well. *At this point, I realize my batter was not as thick and is should be, and added a few tablespoons more flour*
  
• Fold the whole sunflower seeds and flax seeds into the dough, and pour the dough into a greased loaf pan. Sprinkle a few extra flax and sunflower seeds on top of the dough.
  
• Bake for ~60 minutes at 325 degrees, covering the top of the loaf with foil if necessary for the last 15 minutes.
• Cool on a rack for ~15 minutes, then removed loaf from pan.

Banana, Wild Blueberry & Walnut Bread

I made this bread to bring along to a birthday party at a neighbor's house. It was a big hit - nothing but crumbs left in the bottom of the pan! The recipe is modified from a Better Homes & Gardens cookbook to add the blueberries and make it a little healthier.

What You Need:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour (I used unbleached)
• 1-1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt (organic sea salt)
  
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• splash of vanilla extract (not in original recipe, but I add to almost all dessert baked goods)
  
• 2 eggs, beaten (cage free, vegetarian fed)
• 1.5 cups combined mashed ripe banana (organic) and wild blueberries (try Wyman's frozen)
• 1 cup sugar (Florida Crystals Natural Cane Sugar)
• 1 single serving container organic vanilla yogurt (substituted for 1/2 cup oil or melted butter)
• ~1/3 cup chopped walnuts

What You Do:

• In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon & nutmeg. Make a well in the center of the mixture and set aside.
• In a medium bowl combine eggs, banana, blueberries, sugar, yogurt and vanilla. Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy). Fold in walnuts.
  
• Spoon batter into a glass loaf pan that has been greased on bottom and sides (to do this, I usually spread a little vegan butter around the pan using a napkin or paper towel).
  
• Sprinkle a few more chopped walnuts over the top of the batter, along with a pinch more of sugar before putting in oven to bake.
  
• Bake ~60 minutes at 350 degrees - check by inserting a wooden toothpick to the center to see if it's finished. Toothpick should come out clean. If needed, cover the top of the loaf with foil for the last 15 minutes so it does not get too brown.
  
• When finished, cool loaf in the pan on a wire rack for 10-15 minutes, then remove from pan OR transport in pan. Cut & serve directly out of pan when you're at your destination.
  

Diner Dinner

Call me late to the party, but I just made my first ever (successful!) omelet! Oh man...it's delicious! I've tried many a time to create one of these delicious egg dishes at home, but ended up with a scrambled mess. Recently a neighbor and I walked to a local cafe, where there is counter seating and an open kitchen. I took advantage of my perch and watched the chef whip up an omelet on the grill. I saw as he quickly scraped the sides up to make a barrier with the cooked edges so that the center could cook without oozing all over the place. Then he added his ingredients, folded, cooked some more and served. So that's what I did tonight.

For my omelet, I used two eggs from free range/vegetarian-fed chickens, red pepper, broccoli and shredded Mexican cheese. I made a side of guacamole with 1 avocado, a couple slices of onion, 1/2 a Roma tomato and multigrain tortilla chips. It's a healthier alternative to going full-out diner with the menu. Deeeeelicious!

Guac!

I made some delicious guacamole to share with my neighbors this afternoon, but we ate it all before I bothered to take a picture ;) This recipe was enough for 5 or 6 people to pick at while eating dinner.

What You Need:

• 3-4 ripe avocados
• Red onion
• Cilantro
• Jalapeno pepper
• Tomato

What You Do:

• Peel the avocados and cut away from the pit - add to a large mixing bowl. Some of my avocados weren't ripe enough to easily mash with a slotted spoon, so I took out the mixer. It made the avocado really fluffy, which everyone liked.
  
• Dice as much onion, tomato and pepper as you want for the taste.
• Add a small amount of diced cilantro.
• Stir it all together.
  

Live Pura Vida

I've spent 10 days of the last 2 weeks living and working in Costa Rica. It was the second time I've taken this trip, and I felt like I was home. Costa Rica is a beautiful country and the food is delicious. There are so many fresh, tropical fruits to enjoy and a rich, local cuisine.

A staple of just about every meal in Costa Rica is Gallo Pinto, or rice and beans. Most commonly used are dried black beans, although another variation is made in red beans and cooked in pipa water, or coconut milk.


What You Need:

Dried Black Beans - 1/2 cup
White or Brown Rice (not instant) - 1 cup
White Onion
Garlic (1-2 cloves)
Red or Green Bell Pepper
Fresh Cilantro (optional)
Cooking Oil
Salt




What You Do:

• Early Prep: Rinse black beans, put in a bowl and cover with water. Throw away any beans that float, and let the rest soak about 8 hours, then drain.
  
• Pour enough oil in a very large frying pan to almost cover the bottom
• Add uncooked rice and saute about 2 minutes. Add the onion and garlic - as much as you want to add as much flavor as you want (I used 1/2 a medium onion).
• Add the soaked and drained beans, the cilantro, the chopped pepper and 2-3 cups of water.
• Cover the pan and cook until both the rice and beans are tender (up to an hour).
• After the rice and beans are cooked and all the water has cooked out, add salt to taste.

Other Variations: Use your leftover Gallo Pinto for breakfast by scrambling eggs and reheating the rice and beans in the frying pan with the scrambled eggs. A side of "french toast" is also typical, although it's not prepared with thick bread as we would. Fresh fruit or slices of fresh avocado are also complimentary at any meal. For dinners, add a side of salad made with shredded cabbage, tomato, cucumber and avocado with a very light dressing.