Towel Sprouting or Growing Sprouts w/o a Jar

You can sprout seeds in a towel, too.

This is buckwheat. The sprouts shown are about 2 days old.

Soak seeds for the suggested time and then put about 2 tbs seed in a a damp towel.



















Roll it up and fold as shown and place in a glass or some other place where they will be safe and not too warm or cold.


















Don't let the cloth dry up but don't soak it, either. Check and re-dampen cloth as needed, twice a day should do it. If the seeds begin to smell sour, rinse thoroughly and re-roll in a fresh clean, damp cloth.

Allow sprouts to grow to your preferred age and eat, eat, eat!

Buckwheat sprouts contain Lysine which is an important amino acid.

Raw Lunch on Friday

I wrapped some tomato/cucumber salad and sprout salad in collard leaves.
Before:














After:

Reuse. It comes between Reduce and Recycle.

Being vegan is about reducing unnecessary suffering. I became a vegan as a direct off shoot of my desire to produce zero waste. Food that doesn't come in packages is mostly raw and vegan, really. The no-poo, the paperless kitchen, composting, and a bunch of other stuff are all about putting out less trash.

Reusing things is important. The less we buy new, the less we throw in the landfill.

Today I made a pitcher to hold my kitchen utensils out of an old blender carafe.

I took the bottom ring off the carafe, removed the blade (important!), replaced the blade with a with a small mouth canning jar lid then screwed the ring back on.


















































Ta-Da!















Leave a comment and tell me about your fabulous DIY Recycling by Reusing projects.

Dinner last night was cabbage and carrots with steamed with cumin, polenta, spinach and a three color tomato and cuke salad. A very good dinner all around.

Chana Masala, Smoothies and Garden Dreaming

The rutabaga is getting ready to bloom.

















I put a tsp of cumin in my smoothie this morning.















Basic smoothie, mustard greens, banana, apple, cucumber, flax seeds and cumin.
Delicious. I hear cumin is supposed to be good for you and I will use any excuse to eat more of it. I love it.

Dinner last night was Chana Masala over brown rice and black quinoa.














That is chopped jalapeno pickle on top which it didn't need, it was quite spicy.

Let's see. I wrote that recipe down somewhere...

Vegetable Chana Masala


1 tablespoon Earth Balance.
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic clove, chopped
1/2 cup chopped parsnip
1/2 cup chopped celery

Grind together 1 tsp each fenugreek and fennel and use
1/2 tsp ground fenugreek and fennel
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/2 roma tomato, finely chopped
1/2 cup water

1 15-ounce can chickpeas, with the liquid
1 teaspoon paprika
Juice of 1/4 lemon

Toss the EB or oil in a skillet set over medium heat. When melted, add the onion, parsnip, celery and garlic and cook until soft and beginning to brown.

Add the fenugreek and fennel, cumin, cayenne, and turmeric.
Stir until combined and cook until the spices are very fragrant.

Stir in the tomatoes and 1/2 cup water until well combined

Add in the chickpeas. Stir until combined, and then bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer.

Add the paprika and lemon juice. Cover and cook at a simmer until it gets thick.


We spent some time designing the garden last night, plotting out what would go where and why.
Tall plants like beans, tomatoes and cukes will go in the back, mid-sized bushy types like peppers and tomatoes and eggplants will got in the middle.
Short stuff like greens, zukes, pumpkin, WATERMELON! and herbs will go in the front.
Very exciting stuff! It doesn't stop freezing until mid June around here. I'm dreaming of spring. We had a pretty decent garden last year and it was just thrown together without much planning. This one is going to be even better.

Earth Mother is having a Giveaway!

Click here and follow the easy instructions to enter. Trust me, you'll love it!

Dinner Last Night

A quick and easy dinner.
















Green salad with sliced tomato, noodles, mixed veg and gravy.

The vegetable dish is onion and turnip sauteed in olive oil with some Italian seasoning garlic powder. When the onions were soft I added frozen peas and broccoli and some Gimme Lean sausage balls.

I bought a tube of Gimme Lean Sausage . It was on sale. I like to experiment with the analogs when they are on sale or when I get a coupon for them but I don't generally eat them.

This is, however, a very good review of the product. I am extremely happy with the performance. It really keeps its shape no matter what you do to it. Patties, balls, inside ravioli, crumbled in fried potatoes and stir fry, you can do ANYTHING to this and it stays in the shape you put it in. This is a VERY meat-like product. If someone served this to me, as a vegan, I would question it's plant-based status. E likes it a lot, except the sage spice is too strong for his tastes. I feel like if I buried it in the yard and came back in a year it would still be there. But it's delicious. It tastes and has texture just like breakfast sausage.

Conclusion: It works just like sausage in recipes. Great flavor, strong on the sage, nice texture and ease of prep, just shape, heat and eat. If you like sausage, buy this. I'd like to try the regular kind sometime. I think it would be fun to make a meatloaf...

Sprout Salad

Sprout Salad

1 tbs lentils
1 tbs shelled raw sunflower seeds
1 tsp fenugreek seed

Place all in a jar with mesh lid and add water, 2 inches over the seeds.
Soak 12 hours.
Drain jar and set at an angle so water does not pool which can cause spoilage. The seeds should always be damp, but not be soaking in water.














Rinse no less than once and no more than 3 times a day for as many days as it takes.

Taste the sprouts daily so you can see when they are at peak tastiness for eating.

A view of the jar from the bottom:

Day 1, starting to soak. You can only see the lentils and fenugreek, the SFS are still floating.
















Day 2, tails are starting to form. They are bigger now and the SFS are mingling nicely.


















Day 3? I don't know what happened on day 3.


Day 4, ready to eat!

















When your sprout salad is grown, put a solid lid on it and store it in the fridge.
Cold retards their growth and they will keep up to 7 days in the refrigerator, longer if you rinse them daily.

Sprouts taste best when eaten fresh.

Eggplant for Dinner Last Night

Every week I make an eggplant for dinner. Every week I freak out all day about what am I going to do with it and then wind up making it pretty much the same way. Sliced and salted/marinated/fried and baked in some kind of sauce. This week was no different but it was especially delicous. Here's what happpened:

Weekly Eggplant Baked in Some Kind of Sauce

Pre-heat oven to 400F and put on a frying pan to heat about the same temp as you would make pancakes. On my electric stove that's about a 4.

Peel and slice one eggplant.
Marinate 1/2 inch eggplant slices in the marinade of your choice. I used the juice from a jar of olives. Really. It was pretty good.

Inspired by a recipe from Elena at Eat Healthy!!! Be Happy!!! Vegan Recipes, I made this batter:














Dip the marinated eggplant slices in the batter one at a time and cook them in the hot, lightly greased skillet pretty much like pancakes. (woo-hoo, I hear it's pancake day again! Color me confused)


Fry the coated slices in well heated cast iron pan until they are crispy on both sides, about 3-4 minutes per side. I used about 2 tsp of olive oil for the whole batch.
















Place the fried slices flat in pan and put about 2 tsp of lightly salted fermented seed cheese on top of each one.















You can use whatever kind of vegan creamy style cheese you have around. Raw Ricotta would work well.

Top each slice with 2 tbs or so of marinara. (I used DeCecco Pasta Sauce cuz it was on sale at BigLots! I love finding vegan food at BigLots!) and bake at 400F for about 20 minutes.















Served with red lettuce, sliced tomatoes and a heap of fried potatoes and onions.
















You're right, there are no sliced tomatoes on that plate.

Green Smoothie Blends Right Into Your Lifestyle

Today's smoothie

2 bananas
2 large mustard green leaves
2 tbs flax seed
1 cup green grapes
1 cucumber
1 sm zucchini
2 tbs orange pulp
1/2 roma tomato
Water
Blend

I am a Winner and I love Kale Chips

And now I can prove it!

I just won a $25 gift certificate to GlassDharma.com from Eat Healthy!!! Be Happy!!! Vegan Recipes.

It's shaping up to be a pretty good day :)

Yesterday I made Kale chips.

Spicy Garlic Kale Chips ::or:: How To Eat A Whole Head of Kale in One Sitting

1 Bunch Kale
1 tbs white miso
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbs rice vinegar
1/4 tsp dried cayenne powder

Wash kale and remove thick stems.














Don't throw the stems away.














They are very filled with nutrition, fiber and flavor. Use them for juice, smoothies or vegetable broth. I like to chop up the thick stems of greens and steam with other vegetables or add to stir fry.

Cut or tear the leaves into pieces and set aside.

In a large bowl mix miso, vinegar, garlic and cayenne powder and stir well.















Add kale to dressing and coat all leaves well with mixture.















Place on coated kale leaves on dehydrator rack and dry at 105-120F until crispy.














Would you believe I don't have a photo of them dry because they all got eaten last night? It's true. I thought there would be enough to get a photo of them in the sunlight this morning. No. All gone.

Super spicy and a deliciously sneaky way to get greens into people.

All photos were taken my my new photography assistant/intern:

Green Smoothie For Breakfast

A large green smoothie is a great way to start a raw day. You are already 1/3 of the way to 100% :D

Sprouted Fennel seeds and Granny Smith apple.
















Today's smoothie was simple and good.

A handful of collard greens
















A broken up banana
















an apple, seeds left in, stem took out, cut in 8 pieces
















a shot glass full of flaxseed
















'Bout a 1/4 cup of sprouted fennel


















2 tbs Renew Me!

















Some pure water.
















Our well water is fantastic. Ice cold, pure, no chlorine. I feel blessed every time I take a drink of water.


Blend in the Vita-mix




















Pose...
















Have a great day!

If you don't have a high speed blender grind the seeds first. You can put them dry in the blender or use a coffee or herb grinder.

The 'sleeves' I'm wearing in the photos were a gift of sox from Connie that I made into fingerless gloves and the Ed Hardy glasses (a whole set of 4!) were from Katrina. Thanks, ladies!

Simple, Quick Vegan Marinara Pasta Sauce, Fresh Tomato Sauce Recip

2 ripe roma tomatoes
3 peeled cloves garlic

Blend until smooth

Put in saucepan with about 1 cup water

Add
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp vinegar
1 tbs italian seasoning (contains basil, thyme, rosemary, oregano)

Simmer until reduced by about 1/3
Add
2 tsp cornstarch in warm water, stir.
Take sauce off of the heat and add cornstarch/water mixture.
Stir well and put back on low heat, simmer until thick and rich and dark red in color

Serve over pasta.
This is enough for two people to have a big bowl of pasta with sauce.

Dinner Last Night and Bolting Rutabagas

It was sort of an abomination, a freak of nature, if you will.









It looks like its screaming at me.





I toasted some rosemary/olive bread, put a dollop of marinara on the bread, put a ravioli on the toast, more marinara, some bread crumbs on the top.

Baked in the toaster oven at 400F for about 20 minutes.

Kind of a ravioli bruschetta...

I served with Sprouted Fennel Salad.
Erik hated the salad. he took one bite and pronounced it inedible. I ate it. I thought it was fantastic but I eat dandelions out of the yard, soo...


Here is the rutabaga top that I put in water a couple of weeks ago.



















It's starting to bolt and I wonder if I can collect viable seeds from it?

Baking Bread

Not many things smell better than baking bread, IMO.















Once a week I make a big lump of dough and freeze it so I can have fresh bread whenever I want it, given 2 hours notice.

This is a photo of the bag of white flour. It's the basic recipe I use for bread, pizza, buns, whatever...



















Here is my adapted recipe:

Basic Bread Dough Recipe

2 cups warm water*
2 tbs active dry yeast
mix together and set aside while you mix the dry ingredients:

4 cups Bob's Red Mill Unbleached White Flour
1 cup Bob's Red Mill Whole Wheat Flour
2 tbs sugar
2 tsp salt

Wisk together dry ingredients then add warm water and yeast and 4 tbs olive oil.

Knead until you have a smooth, elastic ball. Add more flour if necessary.

Put ball in an lightly oiled bowl and cover with a towel. Put it in a warm place for about 1 hour or until it doubles in size.
Punch down dough and knead about 5 minutes to remove all the air.
Split the dough into 4 lumps and freeze individually in ziplocks or other freezer safe containers.

I like to bake one of these in a small loaf pan, it makes enough for the two of us to have bread with dinner and a couple of sandwiches or toast the next day.

Three bags of dough ready for the freezer and one small loaf of rosemary/olive bread ready to bake
















Today I made a Rosemary/Olive loaf by kneading 1 tsp ground rosemary and about 2 tbs chopped green olives into one of the 4 lumps of dough. I baked it in a greased pan at 350F for 45 minutes.






* Water should be warm to the touch but not turn your skin red, approx 105-115F. Just a bit warmer than your body temperature. Most people's hot water from the tap is 140F.

Sprouted Fennel Salad

Fennel sprouts take 5-7 days to sprout. I did these in a jar, rinsed them once a day.

















"What're you gonna do with them there sprouts?" is a question I get a lot.















Why, eat them, of course!


This is a colorful and crunchy salad with a delicious fennel flavor. Sweet and savory with the hint of black pepper, it's today's favorite.

I'm going to serve it as a side for ravioli with a simple marinara and some fresh baked bread.


















Cut up kale, 2 cups
2 carrots, grated
1/4 cup fennel sprouts
2 tsp sesame oil
black pepper
pinch of salt

Juice of one orange
3 cloves garlic

Mix kale, carrots, fennel sprouts, sesame oil, pepper and salt in a large bowl
Blend together OJ and garlic and pour over the rest of the ingredients.
Mix well.
Let stand up 1 hour or overnight in the fridge.