Jun 21, 2012
we have loved our csa share (community supported agriculture) and are getting ours from {farm indy} this year.
this year is our first year and i am pretty certain we will never go back. we used to just try and make regular trips to the farmers market on saturdays, but honestly because i work in the world of photography, summer weekends are pretty hit or miss with weddings, so we never were consistent. so the ease of picking up a big box full of fresh delights each week…is amazing!
i love the challenge that i am encountering with a variety of local vegetables that i wouldn’t have necessarily picked. though we can customize out box, i am trying to stretch myself and not always cook with the same veggies. with my first box came creations such as wilted arugula, roasted kohlrabi and radishes & turnip au gratin (all three of which will be repeated in our home). Did you know that roasted radish is really good? i had no idea.
here is a quick picture of our first share (i didn’t include the huge bag of mixed salad greens – which happen to be the best salad greens we have ever eaten)
did i say i love my csa?
so my first creation was slightly sweet, wilted arugula with toasted pecans, topped with raw cheese. i like arugula in salad, but i knew that it can be pretty bitter and wasn’t sure how my little boys would do with it. that is where the honey came in. i figured adding a little sweetness to help balance the bitter may convince a 17-month old and 3-year old that this was good. it actually worked, though i did have to give a long, drawn out explanation to my 3-year old about the sweet, honey sauce i made to convince him to try it.
next time, i will cut off the stems on my arugula. it was a little tough and the stems were definitely bitterer. I may also cut the pieces as they were pretty big bites.
| wilted arugula with toasted pecans {sweetened with honey} |
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Recipe Type: side dish
Author: the sprouted life
- 1 large bunch fresh arugula
- ½ c. pecans
- 2-3 Tbsp. olive oil or coconut oil
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2-3 Tbsp. honey
- pinch of unrefined sea salt
- on medium-low heat toast pecans until light brown in oil of choice
- when pecans begin to brown, add in finely chopped garlic & sauté for about a minute
- stir in honey & arugula until evenly coated.
- heat on low until arugula is fully wilted (just takes a few minutes)
- add sea salt to taste
- serve immediately and top with raw shredded cheese (feta would be good too)
2.2.6
Jun 11, 2012
our family has cut back on the amount of gluten free grains & seeds that we eat dramatically, but in attempt to eat through our pantry (before we move) we have been consuming more quinoa and rice than typical. i have been making a list of ingredients i have on hand and really trying to use them up instead of running to the store. one complete pantry/freezer dumping dish is this black bean quinoa salad. the nice thing about it, is that it can be eaten hot or cold, making it very versatile.
though i would like to say that i always “properly prepare” my grains/seeds by soaking and sprouting first…it doesn’t always happen {i really do believe in the practice of soaking and sprouting…and i’ll share more on why in another post}. one thing i have been pretty strict about is that if i am cooking a rice or quinoa for a meal, that i always cook it in homemade bone broth instead of water. Not only for the amazing amount of nutrients/minerals found in bone broth, but also for the depth of flavor that it adds to a dish. you can use beef or chicken, but since i find that i use my homemade chicken broth so much faster, i typically opt for beef broth in this recipe.
every single item in this recipe, i had on had, making this a quick, flavorful, budget-friendly meal.
| black bean quinoa salad (hot or cold) |
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Recipe Type: entree
Author: the sprouted life
black bean, corn & quinoa mexican style salad
- 3 c. of homemade beef bone broth (chicken works also)
- 1 ½ c. organic quinoa
- 1 medium onion
- 2 Tbsp. olive oil
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 2 pint jars of black beans (we can our own, but two 14.5 ounce cans would work)
- 1 can of tomatoes with green chilies
- 2 cups frozen organic corn
- 2 tsp. cumin
- 1 tsp. coriander
- splash of cayenne
- sea salt & pepper to taste
- in a stockpot, bring 3 cups of broth to a boil and then stir in dry quinoa
- boil for 1 minute than reduce heat to low and cover until all liquid is absorbed (approx. 15-20 minutes)
- stirring occasionally
- while quinoa is cooking, finely chop onion and garlic and sauté in large skillet, over medium-low heat
- when onion is translucent, add in drained black beans, can of tomatoes with green chilies and frozen corn, stir in and heat through
- mix quinoa into skillet and add seasonings (cumin, coriander, cayenne, salt & pepper)
- measurements of seasonings are a rough estimate, as i always create this dish to taste and adjust accordingly
- can be served warm or eaten as left-overs cold
2.2.6
May 31, 2012
strawberries, strawberries, strawberries! i feel like i have been staring at them all morning. last night we took the boys strawberry picking and today’s project is freezing them all. this is round two for us already this week, but we love having strawberries year round, so it is definitely worth a little extra time now. i will be making a strawberry rhubarb tart tonight, so i will share that recipe later.
May 25, 2012
i am far from being a germ freak. i am one that actually believes that our world is far to sanitary, kids don’t play in the dirt enough and our world’s dependence on “anti-bacterial” products is partially responsible for killing the good bacteria our bodies need.
with that said, the thought of fermenting & culturing my own food sort of freaked me out at first. my first though was something like this: “you want me to sit things out on my counter to spoil and then feed them to my precious children?’” obviously, i have lost that fear, as making yogurt, water kefir and fermented veggies are now regular staples in our household.
but when i first started, one of my big questions was, “how do you know, when fermenting actually, goes bad?” i read a ton of info on different ways to make yogurt before i began and people would always say it is common sense, obvious signs are really off smell, or visible pink or grey weird surface. curious what that, pink or grey weird surface looks like?” well, i’ll show you.
here is a good yogurt
here is a bad yogurt (with obvious growth on the surface). i know, it’s gross looking.
so what did i do to make this batch go bad? really it was an “i know better than that” mistake. i typically am pretty careful about always sanitizing my jars/tools etc. before creating any fermented food, but this last time as i got my jars ready, i noticed some, stuck on junk in the bottom of one of the jars. so i grabbed a dish sponge (so, not germ free) and wiped the residue out. sure enough, that jar got contaminated with bad bacteria as it cultured. in all of my batches of yogurt, i have only ever had 2 little jars go bad (which is pretty good odds).
happy yogurt making!
May 22, 2012
i first attempted making my own yogurt about 2 years ago, when i was completely dairy free. though we have now reintroduced some dairy into our home, we have still held onto this recipe as one of our weekly favorites. at first, i was pretty intimidated at the thought of making yogurt, but honestly it is really easy and takes very few ingredients. we ferment ours typically about 18 hours, which yields a creamy, slightly sweet, slightly tart final product. if you are used to the sweet store bought yogurts, the tartness of homemade yogurt can be a slight adjustment, but it is so good!
the basic ingredients are coconut milk, honey, vanilla, a probiotic starter and some thickener (i typically use agar-agar).
thoughts on coconut milk:
we typically use native forest organic canned coconut milk. mainly because the cans are bpa free. the downside is that there is guar gum as a stabilizer and i am not a huge fan of it. this week, i am making my own coconut milk from dried organic coconut flakes and i am going to try that in our next batch of yogurt. i will let you know how that turns out!
thoughts on thickener:
we have found that agar-agar
is our favorite thickener for the yogurt. i have tried tapioca starch
, arrowroot
& guar gum
and all of them work fine also. i am planning on trying to use plain gelatin
sometime, but haven’t gotten around to trying it yet.
thoughts on yogurt makers:
i have a little yogurt maker by waring
, i got it for about $25 at tuesday morning (a random discount store) we have here. the one thing i did right away was toss all the plastic containers that came with it (i hate bpa) and instead it fits 7 half-pint mason jars perfectly. the nice thing about using a yogurt maker is that it keeps the temperature perfectly consistent at 105 degrees and i can just set the timer and forget about it. a lot of people use their crock-pot, or oven with light on, or excalibur dehydrator
, so really it is just preference. a yogurt maker is actually not necessary to culture yogurt.
other hints:
- make sure you sterilize jars and utensils before beginning. this is important! (i will show in another post, how to know if your yogurt is bad)
- a good yogurt starter probiotic is gi-prostart , it is dairy free and works well with nut and coconut milks
- a candy thermometer is perfect for making sure you are at the right temperatures (to high of heat will kill your probiotic culture)
| coconut milk yogurt |
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Recipe Type: breakfast
Author: the sprouted life
slightly tart, slightly sweet coconut milk yogurt
- 3 cans organic coconut milk (full fat)
- 3 Tbsp. raw honey
- 2 tsp. agar- agar
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1/8 tsp of probiotic starter (I use GI-Prostart)
- in a saucepan heat coconut milk & honey (stirring constantly)
- bring up to 185 degrees and then whisk in agar-agar or thickener of choice
- remove from heat and add in vanilla
- at this point i pour my mixture into my vita-mix and blend on high to really whip in thickener (but this is not a necessary step)
- allow too cool down to 105 degrees (quicker is better, hint is to set pan in ice water bath)
- as soon as mixture reaches 105 degrees whisk in culture (probiotic starter)
- pour contents into sterilized mason jars (recipe yields 7 half-pint jars)
- place in yogurt maker and set for 12-18 hours (depending on desired tartness)
- when yogurt is done fermenting, it will still be fairly thin until it cools off in the refrigerator
- cap jars and refrigerate (keeps for 7-10 days)
- serve with fresh fruit or granola
2.2.6
shared on: monday mania, slightly indulgent tuesdays, fat tuesday, allergy-free wednesdays & pennywise platter
May 21, 2012
so i just thought i would share a quick post that our favorite almond flour is on sale today! which is a good thing, because i just finished off the last of the 25 lbs that i had in my freezer. yes, i buy it in bulk, freeze it in mason jars and always have one in the fridge ready to bake with.
hint: you always want your almond flour dethawed before you bake with it. if not, it sticks together in obnoxious clumps. i have learned this the hard way, more than a few times.
we prefer to use blanched almond flour because it bakes so much better and is so much finer than typical almond meal. anyway, the sale goes through tomorrow (tuesday at 6:00 pm) and it is for 15% off your entire order. check out honeyville’s web site here…the discount code can be found in the upper right hand corner of their page!
