Vegan Borscht Recipe

My friend, Jessica, made some borscht for us this valentines day. There have been giant beets at the winter farmers market in Brunswick lately, so I thought I try my hand at making my own. It's a super hearty vegetarian dish for a snowy day here in Maine.
Here's what I did;
Ingredients;
4 large beets
2 medium onions
1 small cabbage
5 cups of veggie stock
balsamic vinegar (I used a bunch, but I love it. Add a little, taste, adjust and repeat.)

Boil the beets until semi-tender, about 25 minutes. Strain the water and then dunk the beets into a bowl of cold water, peel them in the water to make the skin come off more easily. Then trim then and cube them. Whatever size you like, just pick a size and try to stick with it.
At this point you may want to take out some pieces for your toddler to munch on... Ok, and some for you too.

Back in the pot saute the onions and beets in a little oil until tender, about 5 minutes. When veggies are soft add stock, vinegar and cabbage. Bring the whole thing up to a boil then down to a simmer. Let simmer for at least an hour, or until you taste it and all the flavors are blended together.

The Best Quinoa Recipe Ever.

It's a big claim, I know. Considering the once unheard of grain has recently become the darling of the health-food crowd. And man it doesn't look like much, really just a brown bowl of mush when you see it but you are just going to have to take my word for it and cook it yourself. You won't even have to eat it to believe me, just wait till you smell it.

Ok, maybe I've talked up the recipe too much. But it really is great, it's easy to make, cheap, hearty but guilt-free and just a little spicy. In fact, up the spices if you are just cooking for grown-ups or you grew up in the southwest. But for my toddler and mild New England family, it's just right.

Ingredients:

Oil
1 Cup uncooked quinoa (Please buy it in bulk at your local natural food store where it is likely organic and inexpensive. There is no need to buy the 11 dollar box from a traditional grocer.)

1 Large Onion

1 8oz can of tomato sauce

2 Cups water

1 teaspoon of chili powder

1 teaspoon of curry powder

Directions

Saute onion in oil over med.high heat for about 5 minutes until tender. Stir in the quinoa for 1-2 minutes more to lightly toast it. Then add water, tomato sauce, chili and curry powders and stir. Bring up to a boil then reduce heat to med. low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. That's it! Best if eaten warm, as in, directly from the pot on the stove with your wooden spoon because it's so good.

Easy Home-made Granola Bars

I always keep granola bars in my car for emergency hunger. (Which happens a lot when you are breastfeeding!) It can be tough to stop and get out when you have a little one (finally) asleep in the carseat and the other option, drive-through, isn't good for anyone.
Unfortunately, granola bars themselves have lately become just health-nut candy bars and expensive ones at that. (I am also not convinced that there really should be over 20 ingredients in a granola bar. What is 'natural flavor' anyway?)
So, like with so much else in my life, the thing to do seams to be a switch to homemade. I was surprised at how easy these were to make and REALLY tasty! Much better than store-bought! Enjoy!

I got the inspiration for these from MotherEarth news here. But here's my own spin on it:


Ingredients:
3 cups rolled oats (I guess instant could work)
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup honey (the MotherEarth version also uses sugar, but I found it to be almost too sweet with just honey. I might put even less next time.)
1/2 cup chunky peanut butter (the only ingredient should be 'peanuts'!)
1 cup raisins
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Spread the oats on a baking sheet and, once preheated, bake them in the oven for about 20 minutes.
While that's cooking, heat the butter, honey and peanut butter in a saucepan on low heat and let it simmer while the oats toast. Like so:

Pull the oats out of the oven and stir in raisins.

Take the honey mixture off the heat and add the vanilla. Then pour the hot liquid over the oats and stir until it's well covered. Push this down into a greased pan and then back in the oven for another 20 minutes. That's it! Wait until they are cool to cut them up.

Honey Baked Lentils

Josephine and I have been snowed in for a few days. The best thing to do on a cold day, I've found, is cook something warm and fragrant. This recipe hits the spot. This is the first time I've made it and I found it delightfully sweet and hearty. This is based on a recipe from the happyfoodie blog. Here's how I made it;

Preheat oven to 350. Throw all ingredients into a pot.

1 cup of lentils

2 cups of water

1 tbsp of oil

2 tbsp of honey (put the honey in your tablespoon right after the oil and it's slip right out)

2 tbsp of soy sauce

1 clove of garlic

1 onion

couple of carrots

(I think this would be great with any winter veggies that you have on hand. I would add more next time a make it.)

Cook, covered, until tender about 90 minutes! That's it- enjoy!

How to make your own healthy cereal

If you are looking for a healthy cereal you might be surprised at how little options you really have. (Particularly after reading about grain extrusion. There is a great article here.) I thought I would be stuck with oatmeal forever until finding this great recipe in a raw food book. It's actually very easy to make a great, simple, healthy, crunchy cereal by sprouting and dehydrating raw buckwheat groats. It takes some planning but the real active work is minimal. Here's the play-by-play;

1. Take your buckwheat (usually available by the pound at natural food stores) and soak them for at least 4 hours. I generally just throw them in a bowl of cool water when I get home from the store and then move on to step two before bed.

2. Rinse groats and let them sit in a strainer (or sprouting bag, if you have one) Every few hours (or whenever you remember it) rinse them again. Don't just pour water through the strainer, dump them into a bowl and stir it around with your fingers to get them a good rinse. They will have this film coming off them and that's good.

See the sprouts starting to stick out the bottom?

3. After a day or so you will have sprouts! Like so;
See all those beautiful little tails? That's how you know it's ready!

4. You can really start eating them right now. Use them like you would use bulgur in tabbouleh or any salad really. But if you want them to keep and be crunchy in your morning cereal- you need to dehydrate them. I don't have a dehydrator so I just put them in my oven on the lowest setting and let them go for about 4 hours or until they are crunchy. (Think grapnuts) You might want to stir them a few times to make sure they come out even. And that's it!

Throw them in with your favorite nut/animal/soy milk and enjoy! I add raisins or other dried fruit, but that's a personal call. If you make them really crunchy they will keep forever in a mason jar. If you like them a little chewy eat them in a week or so or keep them in the fridge or they will get funky. Stay well.

-Courtney