BreakfastSalad

Breakfast Salad with Leftover Oatmeal

Ingredients:

• Stalk of Celery
• Carrot, scrapped
• Banana
  
• Pear
• Apple
• Grapes
  
• Berries
• Walnuts or Almonds
• Cold Oatmeal, leftover
• Chunk of ginger

Preparation:

1. Dice all into bite size pieces
2. Squeeze the ginger in a garlic press over salad
3. Mix
4. Eat

This is one of those no recipe ideas that has become a staple.

Had the leftover oatmeal and started by adding grapefruit sections, celery, walnuts, and ginger. Liked it so much, that now use whatever fruit I have on-hand. The carrot makes it a very filling combination.

Always include the walnuts or almonds for essential oils. The ginger juice is the dressing and adds nutritional zing.

Make it with or without any of the suggested ingredients, including the oatmeal.




This is a sure way to increase the number of servings of fruit and vegetables you eat daily. It is fast to make, portable, and takes a while to eat.

Here is my to-go version minus the oatmeal and ginger juice. It gets me to the big city with something left over to munch on the way back home.

eRae

Tired Apricots Preserved

Holle

You know how you have dried apricots and you're eating them with almonds. Then one day the carton gets put out of sight or you start eating a different snack and well, the apricots get old and really tired looking. Well, that happened to me recently and here's what I did with them.

• Diced them into a microwave-safe bowl, fairly small dice, added some
• honey
• lime zest
• orange juice

Microwaved covered on 30% power for 2 minutes, stirred a few times, until they were soft. Yummy!

For a recipe, here's some approximations.

• 12 dried apricots, diced small
  
• 2 tsp honey
• 1/8 tsp lime zest
• 2 Tbspn orange juice

Adjust to taste, but don't overdo the lime zest.

I was thinking preserves and had them right away with whole-wheat biscuits.

Then, today I was making one of those salads with no lettuce or tomatoes but some of everything else and on top I put a spoonful of tired apricots preserved:

This turned out to be a good addition. Mixed up well with the ginger and olive oil.

eMom

BananaApple Muffins

BananaAppleWalnutBuckWheatSteviaNoOilMuffins

Holle, This morning I wanted to use a ripe banana that was lounging around in the fridge. Thought about digging out the generic muffin recipe and then decided it was time to practice what we preach...cook without a recipe.

So, here's what I tried. I remembered that the basic muffin mix is:

... one cup of dry stuff
... eighth cup of sugar
... half cup of wet stuff
... one egg
... eighth cup of oil

I mashed up the banana in the bottom of a measuring cup, added one egg, beat that up vigorously, added a packet (.035 oz or 1 g) of Stevia. The stevia has been in the pantry for awhile and it had become a wafer. I thought it would dissolve in the mixture but don't think that happened. Next time, I'll mash it up first; put it back in its original powder state. I'm experimenting using the Stevia in place of processed sugar or honey. The wet stuff:

• 1 ripe banana, mashed
  
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup rice milk
• 1 g Stevia
  

In my best ever small mixing bowl, which Momma gave to me years ago ( I recall that it was a gift she got from an oil company )...anyway it is the best because not only is it the perfect size, the bottom is a round bowl that makes mixing and scraping so easy, and it has a built-in handle on the rim that allows you to control the bowl during the mixing operation. Thanks again, Momma!

I used the following:

• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup measure filled with
• ...heaping dinner tablespoon of soy flour
• ...shy 1/4 cup of brown rice flour
• ...filled to top with buckwheat flour
  

I have become lazy about sifting dry ingredients, mostly because all the whole grain flours I like to use won't sift completely. Now, I just measure everything and use a wire whisk to mix it. These flours are just what I had on-hand today, no rhyme or reason to them except the soy flour , which I always add for nutritional value (1 tablespoon/cup of dry stuff per the Cornell Rich Formula) and I really like the taste of brown rice flour. The buckwheat I bought to try. I do like it, especially for muffins; it has a texture close to cornmeal. I tried it recently in a cobbler batter and probably won't repeat that one; the texture was different but ok; it was the flavor that didn't really complement the fruit.

Anyway, back to the muffins. You could make these gluten-free by eliminating the whole wheat flour and using a gluten-free flour or flour mix. To the flour I added:

• 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/3 teaspoon sea salt

Whisked briskly. Decided to grate up part of an apple that Daddy left on the cabinet. To the dry ingredients, I added:

• 1/4 apple with peal, grated with medium micro grater into the dry ingredients
  
• handful (1/3 cup) whole, raw walnuts, chopped medium fine

Stirred the apple and walnuts into the dry stuff until they were well coated. Made the usual hole in the middle. Poured in the banana, egg, Stevia, milk mixture. Using my cooking tablespoon, I mixed around the bottom, outside of the bowl to get the dry stuff in the bottom wet first, then quickly beat the remainder until all the dry stuff was wet. Used that great built-in handle on the bowl to hold it while I did the mixing.

Notice that I didn't add any oil. I recall reading that you can substitute banana or applesauce for oil. At any rate, I didn't add any oil to the batter.

Next I got out my 6 cup muffin pan and started preheating the oven to 400 degrees.

In the muffin pan, I pour a little puddle of olive oil in each cup, about 1/2 teaspoon. With the batter next to the muffin pan, I spread the oil all around a cup and up the sides, then filled that cup with batter. I finally figured out that trying to prep all the cups and then fill them wasn't working too good. It's better to prep and fill one cup at a time so that the oil is still on the walls of the cup when you add the batter.

Baked for 23 minutes in the 400 degree oven. As you can see, they browned up nicely. They are moist, not sweet, have that whole graininess that makes your body happy. Unfortunately, I got started late and Daddy already had cereal. I'll let you know the true test tomorrow, when he has some with jam..I'm thinking raspberry.

Love
eMom

Bean spreads and hummus

While you're munching on nuts and/or fruit, you can get organized to cook your entree. Or, you could make dinner using bean spread partnered with fruit and fresh veggies .. a complete meal:

1. mix up a bean spread or use hummus from the store
2. Spread on whole-grain crackers, bread, tortillas, or celery sticks
   
3. Sprinkle on sesame seeds
4. Add a topping:

• Sliced tomato and feta cheese on top
• like olives? slice some of those on there, too.
• Spice it up .. try some Louisiana Hot Sauce
• Grated carrots, sliced bell pepper, sliced pear

How to make bean spread.

You need a blender.

Search for hummus recipes; you just need to see the idea and then let your own taste take control.

Here's a basic recipe:

1. Can of garbanzo or black beans
2. 1/4 cup of olive oil
3. Juice of lemon or 1 Tablespoon, depending on taste
4. 1 teaspoon cumin

Process in blender until creamy.

I prefer to make hummus with tahini. Tahini is ground sesame seed paste; buy it in a jar like other nut butters or make your own.

1. can of drained garbanzo beans (also called chick peas), reserve the liquid
   
2. 1/4 cup of reserved bean liquid
   
3. juice of lemon or around 1/4 cup
4. heaping tablespoon of tahini (1 1/2 Tbspn if you want to measure)
5. 2 garlic cloves, crushed
6. salt..scant 1/2 tsp
7. 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

Process in blender until smooth.

Garbanzo bean hummus with Tahini

Here's a pic of my garlic press. Paid $2.89 for it at a local restaurant supply.

It not only minces the garlic but releases the garlic juice. All you have to do is take the peel off the garlic, press, scrape off with knife, use knife tip to collect garlic back into center of press, and press again. Throw out leavings unless you're stewing. You can press a garlic clove without peeling, but that doesn't suit my sensibilities.

The black bean tahini version we make:

1. can of black beans, drained
2. two (2) heaping tablespoons of tahini (about 1/4 cup measured)
3. 2 garlic cloves, crushed
4. 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
5. juice of a small lime or 1-2 teaspoons
6. 1/2 teaspoon cumin

Process all in blender until smooth.

Store the leftover in a jar in the fridge.

Black bean hummus with Tahini

How We Cook and Why .. for Starters

Had any seeds

..or..

nuts today?

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT

Gosh, there are so many great blogs written by passionate souls, but we are still compelled to chime in with ours. Here's our eating philosophy:

1. You are what you eat.

2. All things in moderation.

3. Cooking puts you in control.

4. You should like what you eat, even if you can't eat what you like.

5. Cooking for yourself = loving yourself.

6. Buy the best quality food you can.

7. Buy fresh.

8. Cook from scratch.

9. Try new foods, be adventurous - try combinations.

10. Enjoy!

We'll be sharing our conversations about what we had on hand and what we did with it. We'll be including some how-to's and info we've gleaned about cooking tools, too