Beans and Rice

Boil 2 cups of brown rice in 32 ounces of organic tomato juice. I really don't measure my spices very well when I make this, so here are my estimations.

Add:
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder

When rice is almost completely cooked (about 30 minutes), add about 2 cups already-cooked kidney beans* and cook another 15-20 minutes or until tomato juice is completely soaked up.

We top this with cheese because this tastes AMAZING when topped with cheese (raw, organic).

*Here is how I cook my kidney beans: I soak about a pound of dry kidney beans in a pot of water until they start to sprout (about 48 hours). Then, I strain them, add fresh water, bring to a boil, and then simmer them on the stove top for a LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time until they are nice and soft (about 4-6 hours). I then store them in the fridge and use them throughout the week in recipes like this (and others).

Strawberry Chicken Salad

This recipe is fairly simple. I am just going to list all of the ingredients, and then you go ahead and throw them together to form a salad:

Mixed greens (whatever you want)
Strawberries
Walnuts
Feta Cheese
Chicken (I should really post a recipe for how I boil a chicken and then tear it apart and use it in things such a this. It is really quite simple, but I would have never known how to do it if I hadn't read about it first.)

Poppyseed Dressing - I'm still in the process of perfecting this, but here is what I've come up with so far:

1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 tsp ground dry mustard
1 T poppyseeds
2 T raw honey
(I usually just put this in a jar and then just shake it up really good.)

That's it.

Smiley Apples

If you haven't tried an apple with cheese yet, now is the time to do so. It is one of life's greatest pleasures. An apple without cheese is like a kiss without a squeeze.

Here is a cute little recipe for you:

• Cut apple into slices.
• Spread two slices with some organic cream cheese. (This is hard to do with a knife. "Use your fingers," my daughter told me. "It works better." And it does. So use your fingers to spread the cream cheese.)
• Cut some cheddar cheese (organic and raw) into little squares that you will stick on the cream cheese and use for the teeth.

Isn't it cute? (Answer: Yes, yes it is very cute.)

Chicken Chow Mein

Chicken meat, cut up, however much you want, I don't care. (I probably use the equivalent of 1-1/2 chicken breasts.) Once every couple of weeks I will boil a chicken in 4 quarts of water overnight. In the morning, I will take the meat off the chicken and divide it into 4 or 5 sections which I will throw in the freezer. I will also freeze the broth that this makes as well.
4 carrots, sliced
3 stalks celery, sliced
1 cup chicken broth
1 scoop stevia
1/4 cup tamari
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 clove garlic, minced
8 oz bean sprouts
Water chestnuts, if you have them (I never do... haven't used them in this recipe once)

Put everything in the slow cooker (although, I'm not going to use a slow cooker anymore because of the coating on it and stuff, but I always used to. I'm giving our slow cooker to my mom because she's okay with stuff like using slow cookers and getting her gallbladder taken out. I am not. Now, I will just cook it slowly in the oven).

Anyway... Then stir, cover, and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. Serve over rice.

P.S. You can add some (3 T) cornstarch 15 minutes before serving (pre-mixed in 1/4 cup water) if the mixture is too juicy for you. I just leave it because I'm okay with the juiciness.

Mariah's Curry

I call this recipe Mariah's Curry because she made this for me, brought it to me postpartum, and then gave me the recipe. It's out of her curry cookbook (I've altered it slightly to accommodate for what I usually have on hand... ie, ground cinnamon instead of cinnamon sticks). Here is what you'll do:

Ingredients
3 T coconut oil
3 bay leaves
2 tsp cinnamon
6 cardamom pods
8 whole clove
15 black peppercorns
Small onion, diced
Sirloin tip steak (grass-fed, organic, you know the drill)... It actually doesn't matter what type of meat cut you use. I just choose whatever is priced best. Just get something that can be cut into chunks. The original recipe actually calls for lamb.
4 potatoes, cut into chunks
2 carrots, cut into chunks
1/4 tsp turmeric
1T ground coriander
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
1 can (14 oz) coconut milk, well stirred

In a big skillet (or big saucepan, whatever), heat coconut oil, then put in bay leaves, cinnamon, cardamom pods, cloves, and peppercorns. Add onion. Add meat, potatoes, carrots, turmeric, coriander, cayenne, salt, and 1 cup of well-stirred coconut milk. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 50 minutes. At this time, you could cook the brown rice that you are going to serve this over (we use 2 cups of brown rice, 4 cups water) so it will be ready. After 50 minutes, check to make sure everything is tender (which is should be), add the remaining coconut milk, heat through, and serve over the brown rice.

This is not a spicy curry at all. Oh, and one more thing, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT bite into one of those cardamom pods. They are disgusting. You could fish those out (as well as the bay leaves, of course) before serving. (And I usually try to avoid biting into the peppercorns and cloves as well.)

Spinach Strata

I am calling this strata because it makes me feel fancier. In my mind I am actually saying egg bake.

Anyway, here is how you make it:

Ingredients
5 pieces of Food for Life sprouted bread (we prefer 7 Grain)
2 handfuls of baby spinach leaves
8 oz raw milk cheese, grated
1 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp salt (or more, whatever)
8 eggs
2 cups milk

Grease a 9x13 pan. Rip up the bread and put that on the bottom of the pan. Top with spinach leaves and grated cheese. In a separate dish, mix eggs and milk together, as well as the dry mustard, salt, and pepper. Pour that mixture over the stuff in the pan. You can either have this sit in the fridge overnight and eat it for breakfast/brunch the next day. Or you can do what I did: Make it in the morning, have it sit in the fridge during the day, and then bake it for supper. Either way, it is marvelous. Bake for 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes.

Yummy Bean Dip

I have posted my other "sour cream" recipes already (Sour Cream Lasagna and Beef Stroganoff). Well, this is the last of them... and this is what I make to use up the rest of the sour cream in my fridge. I make these meals during the same week, once a month. It's the week that I buy sour cream.

And it is ironic that I am posting all of these sour cream recipes when sour cream is one of the only "processed" type foods that we buy. I haven't figured out how to make a homemade/raw version of sour cream yet, so I have just been buying the organic stuff (it is still pasteurized, still packaged). And this whole recipe is probably the most processed thing that I make (packaged chips, canned beans, etc.). So, it is not necessarily following the nutritional guidelines I like to set for myself and all of you guys, but these meals are yummy nonetheless.

16 oz can refried beans
1 lb. organic, grass-fed beef
1 cup sour cream
16 oz jar of salsa
8 oz raw milk cheddar cheese
Tortilla chips

Spread beans on bottom of 9x7 dish. Layer beef. Mix sour cream with salsa and put on beef. Top with grated cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes (or until cheese gets all melty). Yum. Yum.

P.S. This was a hard dish to take a picture of because it is so goopy and hard to make look appetizing. I tried to scoop it out nicely so as to keep some of its shape, but it is a dip so it is going to be dip-like. It is kind of yummy to eat cold too.

Beef Stroganoff

I posted a recipe for Sour Cream Lasagna awhile ago, and the reason I started putting sour cream into lasagna is because of this recipe. See, I had sour cream in the fridge from this stroganoff, and I needed to find something else to do with it (thus, putting it into the lasagna). So, anyway, here is a recipe for some delicious beef stronganoff:

12 oz white button mushrooms, quartered (didn't have any, so didn't use)
3/4 pound beef tenderloin, cut into 1/8 inch wide strips
1 cup chicken broth
1 small onion, chopped
1 tsp tomato paste (didn't have, so used leftover spaghetti sauce)
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup sour cream

(If you have mushrooms, cook them first in butter or coconut oil.) Cook beef strips. Remove. Add 1/2 cup of chicken broth and cook until it reduces down to 1/4 cup (3-4 minutes). Transfer broth to bowl with beef. Cook onion. Whisk in remaining chicken broth and wine. Bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer about 2 minutes (you can add flour or cornstarch to thicken if you want, I don't). Add beef and broth (and mushroom) mixture back into the pan. With sour cream, stir in about 1/2 cup of the hot sauce into the sour cream first, and then stir mixture back into the sauce. Salt and pepper to taste (please don't be shy with this).

Serve over rice spaghetti lasagna noodles (because that is a better alternative to the usual egg noodles and just as delicious).

Blueberry Walnut Pancakes

Vernon makes pancakes for us on Sundays. Every Sunday. Here is the recipe:

Grind:
1 cup wheat (we should be soaking this, but we don't)
1 cup rice

Add:
1/4 cup olive oil
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
Water to desired consistency (2-1/2 to 3 cups)
Lots of blueberries and walnuts

Fry and top with butter and pure maple syrup or honey.

Lent - Day 21

I love my homemade pizza. Here is the recipe:

Mix 2-3/4 cup freshly ground hard red winter wheat with 2 T vinegar and 1-1/4 cup water. Soak overnight.
Grease 13x18 in cookie sheet with coconut oil and spread the wheat dough onto it.

Then, I used to mix up my own pizza sauce using a 14 oz can of tomato sauce (2 tsp oregano, 1 tsp garlic, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper), but since we shouldn't be eating canned tomatoes anymore, the only solution I can find for tomatoes in a glass jar is in the form of spaghetti sauce. I guess I could use fresh tomatoes, but I haven't done that yet. So, for now, I'm just using some organic spaghetti sauce. Spread that over the crust.

Add some spinach leaves.

Then, grate 8 oz. of raw cheese, and add that.

Lastly, dice a red pepper and slice a red onion and top the pizza with that. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. It's yummy.

Lent - Day 4

I wanted to mention some things that I love/appreciate that I think are too boring and/or inappropriate to take a picture of: my garage door opener, the fact that it didn't hurt when I peed after having sex last night, and Boston Rob from Survivor: Heroes vs Villains. I haven't watched Survivor for years, but I started watching it again because of Boston Rob. I don't have a celebrity crush on him or anything (like I do with John Krasinski, Jared Padalecki, and the kid who plays Matt Saracen on Friday Night Lights). No, my love for Boston Rob comes more from a respect for him as a game player. Not only on Survivor, but he really should have won that edition of The Amazing Race that he was on with Amber.

Anywho... there is another thing that I am thankful for today that I did not get a picture of. Here's the back story:

Ezra was on the kitchen counter. Sometimes it's okay with me when he is on counter because he is short and this is what he needs to do to reach things. In this case, he wanted to eat some ground up wheat that was in the mixing bowl (don't ask me why). But sometimes I don't like to have him on the counter because it gets too crowded when I'm trying to do things there.

So, today, he's on the counter and I'm trying to get a bowl out of the cupboard next to his head. I ask him to move his head because I can't get the cupboard door open. He's able to move it a little bit, and I can just barely open the door and get a bowl out of it.

But then I drop the bowl and it breaks.

I say to Ezra, "See... this is why I don't like it when you're on the counter."

His lip starts to quiver. His eyes get heavy. He chokes on the words as he says, "I'm sorry that I broke your bowl." And then he goes into his room to be alone.

I realize that I'm being a total jerk and I go to his room to apologize to him. "I'm sorry that I got upset with you. It wasn't your fault that the bowl broke. I'm the one who was reaching for it, and I shouldn't have made you feel bad about that. It was an accident. I should never make you feel bad when something like that happens and I'm sorry. Do you forgive me?"

He doesn't say anything and he wants me out of his room. So, I let him have his space.

After awhile, he comes up to where I am sitting and starts doing the Pee Wee Herman dance for me. See, I taught him this dance a couple of weeks ago (because this is what my kids learn in homeschool) and it makes me laugh like crazy every time I see him do it. He knows this. So, when he came to me and did this dance for me, it was his way of letting me know that he forgave me and that things were right with us again. It was a really nice moment. (I tried to get him to re-enact the dance for the sake of a photo, but he wouldn't agree to it.)

Okay... now, on to thankfulness with pictures. Almost every morning, Vernon makes me a smoothie:

It is nutritious and wonderful and delicious. This morning, he made it with raw eggs, blackberries, stevia, broccoli, coconut oil, ground flaxseed, ice cubes, and banana. It's different everyday. Other days he might include a combination of any of the following ingredients, depending on what we have on hand: spinach, protein powder, strawberries, peaches, blueberries, pineapple, carrots, and raw milk kefir. I'm not sure what the quantities for each ingredient are because the smoothie is always just there waiting for me every morning.

 

And, of course, he makes one for each of the kids as well:

Sour Cream Lasagna

I have invented this scrumptious recipe for lasagna that involves putting sour cream into it. Why did I put sour cream into my lasagna, you may ask? Well, I had sour cream in my fridge because I needed it when I made Beef Stroganoff. I didn't know what else to use the sour cream with, and I didn't want it to go bad, so I thought... I'll put it into the lasagna. A more delicious idea has never been thought of. And look... I even took my very own picture of it. (This time, I decided to but a decorative table runner underneath it for the photo so you couldn't tell that I put it on the carpet, like last time.) I wonder if I am the first person in the world who has ever thought to put sour cream into their lasagna. Maybe I should patent this idea. It's so creamy and really, really wonderful. Anyway, here is the recipe:

Brown 1 lb grass-fed organic beef

Add 1 onion, chopped, and

2 cloves of garlic, then add

14 oz tomato sauce

8 oz tomato paste

14 oz water

2 tsp oregano

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

Let this all simmer for an hour or more. The secret to a good sauce is to let it simmer.

In the meantime, grate 1/2 lb of raw milk cheddar cheese.

And, in a bowl, mix 2 eggs with 1/2 cup of sour cream.

Also, get some baby spinach leaves out and ready for action.

Now, put a little bit of the sauce into your lasagna pan, just to coat the bottom of it. Then, add 3 uncooked rice lasagna noodles. Never boil your lasagna noodles ahead of time. It's a waste of your time. It turns out just as good if you just put them in there uncooked.

Then, start your layers. It will be noodles, 1/3 of the sauce, a handful of baby spinach leaves, 1/2 of the egg/sour cream mixture, and 1/2 of the cheese. Do this twice, then top with a final layer of noodles and the last 1/3 of the sauce.

Cover pan with tin foil and bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. Remove tin foil and cook for 15 minutes more.

I will eat 3 pieces of this lasagna. Vern will eat 3. And the kids will eat 2 or 3, depending on how hungry they are. Most kids would probably only eat 1 or 2 pieces though because it is filling. My kids can just eat a lot.

Coconut Oil is the Best Natural Lubricant Ever!

In my attempt to have no chemicals enter my body whatsoever (except for when they do), we have started using coconut oil as a lubricant when we have sex. Is this too much information? You know what? I don't care. Coconut oil is awesome. If any of you out there are breastfeeding, you all know how important it is to have a a good lubricant. Am I right people?

It still hurts when I pee after we have sex, and I'm not sure what that can be attributed to. But I'm almost certain that it can be remedied by: 1) doing more kegels, or 2) not having sex and giving more hand jobs (Hi, Mom!).

Anyway, the only downfall to this whole coconut oil / lube thing is that Vernon gets a boner every time we use coconut oil for cooking. (Hi, Vernon! I'm kidding... right?)

Chicken Stir Fry Soup

I made the most delicious soup, and I even took pictures of it! Yes, that is my (not that appetizing-looking) picture... I'm somewhat troubled by it because I set the bowl of soup on the carpet by the window (so that I could capture it in the natural light coming in from the window). Which will inevitably bring about the questions, "Why is the soup on the floor? Who puts soup on the floor anyway?" It doesn't make any sense. I'll have to try something different next time, but, hey, at least it's better than taking a picture off the internet because it looks similar (as I did in the case of my squash soup).

Here's the recipe:

1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup tamari (a healthy version of soy sauce)
2 tsp ginger
3 cups chicken stock
2 cups water
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 little scoop of stevia
1-2 cups worth of cauliflower (and broccoli too, if you have it, which I didn't)
1 cup of cut-up chicken (Every couple of weeks I will boil a whole chicken in four quarts of water overnight and then I'll separate the meat from the bones in the morning and divide said chicken meat into four or five piles, which I wrap in tin foil and throw in the freezer. I will save the broth I get from this as well)

Cook onions and garlic together until tender and then add all the rest of the stuff. Bring to a boil, then cover and let simmer for 30-60 minutes (or however long you want to, really).

This is uber-yummy.

Cooking with Crap

Do you all ever get tired of cooking?

I do kind of enjoy cooking, for the most part. But, day in and day out, three meals a day (well, actually only two meals for me because my husband usually takes care of breakfast) with no end in sight because, 1) We all have to eat, and, 2) Eating is fun and it tastes good.

I wonder if it would be easier if I sold my soul and started making convenience foods.

Growing up, I consisted on a diet of: Macaroni and Cheese, Spaghettios, Velveeta Shells and Cheese, toastie dogs, Pizza Rolls, tomato soup, pop tarts, cereal, chips and cheese dip, and BBQ Fritos. My parents owned a restaurant I would get a bacon cheeseburger with french fries from there on occasion (it was always a bacon cheeseburger with french fries, even though I could have had anything I wanted).

When my mom did make a homemade meal, these are the only things I remember her making... ever: homemade milk and cheese (which was really just homemade macaroni and cheese but we referred to it as "milk and cheese" in order to differentiate it from the packaged Macaroni and Cheese that we usually ate), no-peekie stew, swiss steak, lasagna, spaghetti, potato sausage, hotdish.

That's it.

I'm not trying to hold it against my mom for how she fed me. It wasn't a big deal. It's not like she circumcised me or anything. She just didn't know any better. And I didn't know any better at that time because I continued to eat that way when I moved out of the house.

But by then, my diet had become even more limited because I was on my own and I was extremely cheap: Macaroni and Cheese (where I would save some of the noodles and add them the next day to the...), Tomato Soup, microwaved baked potatoes with ketchup, an entire box of generic scalloped potatoes with ketchup, Spaghettios, and these Spaghettio-type things called Dinosaurs (which they don't make anymore). That's it. I would literally spend less than $30 a month on groceries for myself. (But I would probably eat out at least once a week because this was back before I was married with children and Vernon and I would actually go out on dates on a regular basis.)

Then, after Vern and I were married, I graduated to the likes of Hamburger Helper, frozen pizza, Bisquick and other random forms of processed crap that ALDI had on sale.

I was also very anti-fat. I would not eat fat on anything. If I was at an event that had dinner rolls already buttered (is that a mid-western thing?), I would take a knife and scrape the butter off and look at the hostess with contempt. I would not add butter to my macaroni and cheese or scalloped potatoes. (I would not even add milk because I didn't want to buy it, so I used water.)

But now, as I've talked about before, I am very PRO fat. And I am very PRO food. I don't cook convenience foods. I don't cook foods with chemicals in them, red food dye #2, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, artificial flavorings, etc. I don't eat or feed my family refined sugar or white carbs (except for me at Mom's Night Outs, restaurants, and holidays).

Would my life be easier if I did?

Maybe, but it wouldn't be worth it.

So, I'll keep being a food snob and feed my kids their grass-fed beef, free-range chicken, organic veggies, kombucha, kefir, cod liver oil, raw honey, etc. These are the things that THEY'LL remember, which is kind of nice...

Orgasmic Squash Soup

I made this soup for the first time the other night. I originally had this soup for the first time at Jen's blessingway. When I tasted it, I literally said, "Mmm... This tastes like an orgasm in my mouth." And the ladies who were standing around me said, "Ew... that doesn't sound good." And I'm all, like, "No, I mean, it's as awesome as an orgasm. Oh, never mind. I'll stop talking now."

So, anyway, I didn't take a picture of the soup, so I just grabbed this picture off the internet since basically all squash soups look the same. Everybody in my family loved it as much as I did (and I refrained from making any orgasm comments at the table).

As usual, all of the ingredients should be organic (for obvious reasons). This is a great way to get some  yummy, good-quality fats into your diet (the butter and raw cream), as well as good-quality vegetables.

Here's the recipe:

4 cups butternut squash, peeled and diced
3 cups chicken stock
1 cup apple cider
1 medium apple, peeled and large diced
1 cup chopped carrots
1 medium onion, large diced
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp crushed red peppers
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 stick butter
1 cup raw cream

Place all ingredients (except syrup, butter, and heavy cream) in pressure cooker; secure lid. Set pressure cooker to soup or allow pressure cooker to rise in steam until probe lifts. Timer should be set for 10 minutes. (If you do not have a pressure cooker just cook everything until tender.) When cooking is complete, add syrup, butter, and heavy cream, puree soup with immersion blender or in a standard blender and serve.

Note: That isn't a photo of the soup I made. I just grabbed it off the net since I forgot to take a picture and pretty much all squash soups look the same.

Christmas Food

I know I can be sarcastic at times (okay, basically ALL of the time), but I am not being sarcastic when I say this: I've eaten 4-5 times more than I normally do, every day, while on holiday. That is an amazing amount of food, but that is how I roll nonetheless.