I’m back. And I’m hungry. I’ve made a decision to try to keep up with my blogging. In the past few months I been training to be a Holistic Health Coach. It has reignited my passion for creating healthy recipes and one day I hope to put it all together to bring you a cookbook full of ways to live a healthy, delicious, extraordinarily happy life!
Eat better. Live better. Love better.
<3 Erin
First Forage & Backyard Harvest of 2011
Great bread to try if out if you haven’t yet. It comes in many flavors too! I highly recommend it!
This bread is awesome. It contains no flour, and instead is made with sprouted whole grains! I used to only see the Food for Life brand at expensive health food stores, but now it has made it’s way to Trader Joe’s, and into my kitchen!
Sprouting releases the nutrients, creates a living food, and creates more protein. Mmm…
I am tired of the fat hate in the animal rights community. Oppression is oppression. Speciesism extends to all living beings. Size should not have anything to do your level of compassion for someone. SOME VEGANS ARE FAT. GET OVER IT! Stop judging, start living.
Ramps
Recently a friend asked me to help her sort through the food fact madness. I gave her some reading material and some guidelines to start making healthier choices for herself and her family. These are GUIDELINES. Be realistic and open minded when you read them. Knowledge is power. Read on…
“Let’s talk about what you should be eating first and then what you shouldn’t.
First, Veggies! Fruit! Eat lots! But you knew that, right? Local Harvest is a great website to start looking for a farmers market or CSA in your area. CSA’s are great if you don’t know about them. You pay the farmer at the beginning of the season, then every week you pick up a box of a combo of whatever they are harvesting. Your area is probably great for this since the growing season is so long. Organic is best and heirloom is better. These should be making up most of your diet. Don’t forget about beans! They are super nutritious for you too!
Second, whole grains! Eat lots! At Whole Foods they have bulk bins of all kinds of grains. The are usually cheaper than buying boxes or bags of them. It’s a great way to try new stuff since you don’t have to buy a lot. Try barley, quinoa (red and white), teff, bulgur wheat, brown rice, black rice, chia…. there are tons and they are tasty. Eating lots of whole grains cuts the risk of getting any kind of cancer by 22%. Forget Atkins or South Beach baby, this is the new healthy you.
This recipe is more than just butternut squash soup. It’s butternut squash, potato, carrot, onion, cabbage soup. The veggies add a more complex flavor while adding more of the healthy stuff like vitamins and minerals. It’s also great to make when you have leftover mashed potatoes.
1 Butternut Squash
1 medium onion chopped
1 large potato
1/2 carrot, grated
1/2 cup green cabbage, sliced
4 cups of organic veggie broth
1 bay leaf
a pinch of caraway seeds
dash of nutmeg
olive oil, salt, and pepper
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Halve the butternut squash and clean out the seeds. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt. You can also bake the potato with the squash or you can boil it until soft. It’s your choice but if you want to bake it throw it in now. Roast the butternut squash (and potato) until it’s soft and can be scooped out of its skin. In the meantime, saute onion, carrot, and cabbage until soft. Add the broth, bay leaf, caraway, nutmeg and simmer gently with a lid on.
When the squash and potato are soft, scoop it out and add it to the broth. Remove the bay leaf and puree with a stick blender until smooth. Season to taste. Enjoy with some crusty bread. yum yum yum.
Butternut Squash Soup
Chinese long beans or snake beans are cool. They are a good source of protein, vitamin A, thiamin, riboflavin, iron, phosphorus, and potassium, and a very good source for vitamin C, folate, magnesium, and manganese.
Cool = Healthy
You’ll have to venture beyond your local grocery store to find them. Or you can can grow them. I challenge you. Here’s a recipe if you succeed.
Boil a pot of water and blanch the whole beans for two minutes. Remove and cut into segments about 3 or so inches long. Heat oil in a wok until hot and stir fry red pepper. Remove from wok and set aside. Do the same with the mushrooms and the onions. Stir fry the beans until they soften to your desired consistency. Add the pepper, onions, and mushrooms back to the wok with the beans. Add the ginger, garlic, black bean paste, and shoyu. Toss to coat and let the heat release the flavors. Garnish with lime juice and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve with brown rice.
