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Tuesday, January 11th, 2011
The snow is coming! The snow is coming! You know, being an adult in New England kind of sucks. Because you want to get reallllly excited about a snowstorm on its way. Especially one that has the potential to bring 14″ of snow.
When I was a kid I would wish and hope and hope and wish for snow. Because if it happened during the week, that meant a SNOW DAY! Bliss! No school! Sleeping in! Making snow forts all day long. Hot chocolate! Movies! Did I mention NO SCHOOL?
However, the MAJOR SNAG as an adult is that the majority of us hearty New Englanders have to heave our hibernating bodies out of snuggly, warm beds when it’s snowing. We brave the treacherous roads, risking life and limb, to get to work.
Yep, work. There is no snow day. No day off. It’s a total and complete bummer.
I want to stay up late and watch the first flakes start to fall! The storm should be rolling in by 2 a.m. and get progressively heavier by sunrise. Instead, I am trying not to be anxious about shoveling out of the driveway at a decent hour before getting stuck when the plow comes by. I worry about picking the least harrowing route to make it to work in one piece.
So, to ease the anxiety, Craig and I decided to throw a little snow party.
Translation, we made yummy popcorn on the stove.
Hey, whatever works, right?
Tags: gratitude, laughter therapy, winter hibernation
Posted in Cooking Adventures, The Daily Balance | No Comments »
hot water with lemon and fresh ginger
Monday, January 10th, 2011
New year… new drinks! Can’t believe I am actually saying this, but over the past two weeks I have fallen in love with drinking hot water.
I know, I know… drinking hot water?
Well, supposedly it helps aid digestion, improve blood circulation, and detox the inner gunk swirling aboot our systems. I don’t know yet if any of this is really helping me, but I do know that drinking hot water has this supremely calming effect. Especially at night after dinner when I’m feeling particularly agitated or restless.
Here’s how I am loving my new-found hot water “tonic”:
I bring the kettle to a boil and let it sit for a few moments while I gather my ingredients and tools.
I squeeze two fat, generous slices of lemon into a mason jar and grate fresh ginger (roughly 1 tsp give or take) over the top.
Then I fill the jar with hot water, stir, and enjoy.
The taste is tart and tangy, refreshing and rejuvenating. I just feel really good when I am drinking it. It’s this perfectly warm and cozy winter beverage that is so satisfying. And easily refillable with more hot water.
If you’ve never been a hot water drinker, I dare you to give it a try. Delight in knowing that it counts toward the great water hydration challenge, too. If you already are a hot water drinker, what do you like to put in yours?
Tags: ginger, gratitude, hot water, lemon, the great water hydration challenge, winter hibernation
Posted in Cooking Adventures, The Daily Balance | 2 Comments »
homemade egg rolls
Monday, January 3rd, 2011
Yesterday I got all wild and crazy in the kitchen as I tend to do in winter. This time I attempted my first ever batch of vegetarian egg rolls. And they came out really well for a first-timer!
First, prep the filling. Roughly chop up about 3 cups of organic green cabbage.
Next, shred 3 fat carrots.
Then, chop up a handful of green onions.
Ready to go, start by stir frying some freshly grated ginger in a little bit of organic olive oil.
Let the ginger get golden brown and then add the chopped organic green cabbage, carrots, green onions, and a large handful of bean sprouts.
After a few minutes, I added 3 tablespoons of one of my favorite sauces/marinades: Trader Joe’s Island Soyaki.
Remove the stir fry from the heat to cool before beginning to fill the egg rolls. For the roll part, I used Nasoya egg roll wraps.
To make an egg roll, lay out the wrapper on the diagonal and add a generous scoop of filling in a line along the center.
Then you wrap it up!
Once you have tucked it in, you fold in the sides—sort of like making an envelope.
One more fold over, and you are near the end.
Dab the top triangle with a little bit of water to seal onto the top of your wrap.
Lay out the 12 filled egg rolls on an olive oil coated cookie sheet (to keep the egg rolls from sticking) and brush the tops with a little organic olive oil. Then pop them into a 400°F oven for about 15 minutes to get them golden brown.
I turned up the oven to 450°F for 5 more minutes at the end to crisp them up.
They tasted wonderful! You feel like you’re eating bad-for-you egg rolls, except that the ingredients are veggie and yummy and they are baked versus fried. These would make great party appetizers, too!
I will definitely make egg rolls again and continue to experiment using different filling options. Do you make egg rolls or spring rolls? What fillings do you like to use?
Tags: bean sprouts, cabbage, carrots, ginger, green onions, olive oil, vegetarian, winter
Posted in Cooking Adventures | 2 Comments »
how to make bone broth
Saturday, December 4th, 2010
Post-Thanksgiving is a great time to make bone broth using the turkey bones and carcass. Really, any time you have roasted a chicken or turkey, or have grassfed beef bones on hand, you can save the bones to make bone broth. Plus, you can freeze the bones to use for later if you don’t feel inspired to make bone broth right away.
What’s the deal with bone broth? It’s chock-full of all the good minerals and proteins and nutrients and healthy fats to keep your body well. And with a little time and TLC, it is super cost-effective to make from scratch versus store-bought broths that are often high in sodium. To read up more on the benefits, check out this great article from Sally Fallon Morell at The Weston A. Price Foundation. There is also a great post about bone broth at Nourished Kitchen.
So, after last week’s Thanksgiving at Craig’s sister’s house, we were fortunate to get to bring home the turkey bones and carcass. The easiest way to make bone broth is to disassemble the turkey and get all the bones to fit in your crock pot. Then you want to cover all the bones (fine if there is still some meat left on them) with cold filtered water. I use enough water to nearly fill the crockpot. Then add about a cup of organic apple cider vinegar to the mixture.
Let the bones and water and organic apple cider vinegar “soak” for an hour. The organic apple cider vinegar helps to leach all the good stuff out of the bones before you start cooking. After an hour, turn your crockpot on to high for a few hours to get your concoction bubbling nicely.
Then turn the crockpot to low and let it go. Really let it go—24 hours is a good amount of time to get the bone broth humming along slowly and gently.
You can stir the mixture around occasionally to make sure the bones aren’t burning or getting stuck to the bottom of the crockpot. After 24 hours, (less is okay too if you are in a time crunch) turn off the crockpot and use tongs to discard the major bones. Strain the bone broth into a large bowl or bowls, and allow the broth time to cool at room temperature.
Cover and put in the fridge to give the naturally occurring fats in the broth time to rise to the top. After a day in the fridge, skim off the fat. Then you can re-strain the broth using a frying pan splatter shield into mason jars for easy storing.
Leave room at the top of the mason jars if you plan to freeze them. Bone broth keeps in the fridge for at least a week if you want to use right away to make soup or for adding to rice or a stir-fry. It keeps in the freezer for several months.
We try to keep bone broth on hand at all times so we have some nourishing goodness ready to go for making Sunday soups. I just take a mason jar or two out of the freezer on Saturday and give it time to defrost in the fridge. Then I use part bone broth and part water to make a soup base.
Tags: autumn, bone broth, gratitude, organic
Posted in Cooking Adventures, Reduce Reuse Recycle | No Comments »
leftover turkey? make bbq turkey pizza!
Friday, December 3rd, 2010
For Thanksgiving this year, Craig and I were wiped. In fact, we both talked about how amazing Thanksgiving would be to just stay at home and sleep all day. Bliss.
But, of course, we got our act together and shuffled off to Craig’s sister’s abode to hang out with her. We hadn’t had a chance to really hang with her lately, and she needed a little extra Thanksgiving TLC. So we all pitched in to make a pretty fun Thanksgiving meal, complete with a turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, turnips, cranberry sauce, gravy, rolls, and whatnot.
And we lucked out big time by getting to bring home a turkey-ton of meat. What to do with all those turkey leftovers? Besides the obvious staples, we used turkey to make easy and delicious BBQ pizzas. And you can make pizza year-round with any and all meats and veggies you happen to have on hand.
Start with your favorite crust. We pretty much always opt for Joseph’s Oat, Flax, and Whole Wheat Pitas. They are the perfect pizza base and require zero prep. Break out your pizza pan or a cookie sheet, grease it up with a little olive oil, and slap down your pitas. They can absolutely be frozen. We do 4 pitas total, two each.
We pretend we’ll have leftovers but, really, I think that’s happened once.
And then you create! Start with a tomato sauce base. Or white sauce. Or no sauce. Whatever you prefer. For our BBQ turkey pizzas, we went sauceless. Instead we tossed a whole bunch of baby spinach into a bowl and drizzled it with organic extra virgin olive oil and herbs like basil, oregano, and parsley. Then we piled the baby spinach onto the 4 pitas.
Next came piling on the veggies. Generous amounts of chopped onion, garlic, red pepper, broccoli, and grape tomatoes. Then I picked apart some turkey meat in a bowl and mixed it with some chipotle barbeque sauce we had on hand and freshly ground pepper. I divided the turkey mixture amongst the 4 pitas.
Into the 400°F oven it goes for 10 minutes. Pull it out and top with whatever shredded cheese you have on hand. Sometimes we use mozzarella. Sometime it’s cheddar. Sometimes it’s feta. Back into the oven for about another 10 minutes to melt the cheese.
And then done. Enjoy.
Homemade easy pizza—and a great way to use your turkey leftovers (fresh or frozen)! Other great toppings for pizzas we’ve made include artichoke hearts, turkey kielbasa, zucchini, summer squash, corn, garlic scapes, shallots, olives, and swiss chard.
Do you make homemade pizzas? What are your favorite topping combinations?
Tags: autumn, pita pizza
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