Sprouted Bean Experiment Concluded!

The other day I started some beans sprouting and this is what happened:


4 days ago I soaked a cup of white beans for 24 hrs. Then I put them in a jar with a draining lid and set them up to sprout. Three days and many rinsings later they were starting to show little tails!



















I rinsed them one last time and then cooked them in broth until they were soft and all the liquid was gone. I had to keep adding water. It was just like cooking regular beans, no different.

My conclusion about sprouted beans? I will continue to do it. They were delicious. I appreciate that when germinated they are much easier to digest. They take just as long to cook and I didn't really taste any difference. I think from now on I will soak for one day and germinate for one day, shortening it from a four to a two day process. We have beans about twice a week, with a two day soak I won't have to have multiple jars germinating just to keep us in beans. My kitchen isn't that big and I don't feel like branching out right now. Master bathroom with the skylight, I'm talking to you.

Last night's dinner was delicious. I made whole wheat tortillas, I made a wonderful salsa from tomato, onion, corn, garlic and lime juice.
















I cooked up some brown and wild rice, steamed about 2 cups of spinach leaves in broth with minced onion and made cashew sour cream.

Burrito night.














Roll your own :)



Today for lunch I sauteed some collard greens and minced onion in a 1/2 cup juice from the salsa. When the collard is thoroughly wilted and the onions are translucent I added a tsp of unsweetened cocoa powder and stirred it in until all dissolved. I added another 1/4 cup of water and let it simmer until the liquid was almost gone.

I served it over wild and brown rice with a scoop of "refried" sprouted beans.














When I say "refried" I mean re-heated with a little bit of water.


Today's smoothie was different.
2 Banana
1 big handful dried mint
1/4 cup Dried Kelp
3 tbs flax seed
Plenty of water














MMM-mm-Minty! It smelled just like summer time. I brought a bunch from the old house and planted it here. I sure hope it grows big. I'd like to plant more around the house but I need this bush to grow so I can make more bushes.

I hope you all had a nice holiday

We went to San Francisco.







Haight St.






The boy is spending the summer with his mother.








More Haight






We will see him again in August. Its going to be very quiet here, I think.

August 2nd we will go down to pick him up and to see a free show at Excelsior park on Jerry Day.

We had a great time. We went camping in Oroville.


This is where we rough it.






























Bagel and seitan grilled over mesquite fire.



















Once we got to San Francisco and got everyone together, we had a barbecue in the park





Sweet potato, onions, small sweet peppers and portobello mushrooms



















In a lettuce leaf.


Here is avocado with tortilla chips. Tortilla chips were my downfall.






I ate pretty high raw while I was there. Next month I will keep track exactly what I eat and of how much I spend on food.




















It was a long drive. I'm glad I wore flip flops.








The man didn't smoke in the car for the whole trip so we stopped at a lot of rest areas. It was a nice trip. No ashes in my eyes. Thank you, Baby.







Shasta with a cloud cap. Sunday afternoon on the way home.
















We drove through a wild fire just outside of Klamath Falls


















And now I am sitting having a smoothie and I'm so happy to be home with my kitty. He's pawing at me so I guess I should go see what he wants.











Smoothie is frozen banana
a plum
4 leaves of rainbow chard
1 granny smith apple
maca
hemp
e3live
chia seeds
flax seeds
If there was anything else in there I don't remember. It was very good.

The Condiment Chronicles: MOSTLY RAW Vegan Sandwich Spread Dressing Cruelty Free Mayonnaise, No Soy, NO Egg, No Dairy!

I have been working hard. Late nights in the lab. I have been trying to make a raw vegan mayonnaise sauce. I think I have done it.

I call it mostly raw because of the flax seed oil and the miso.

(MOSTLY) Raw Vegan Mayo

1/3 cup brazil nuts
1 clove garlic (optional)
1 tbs each:
Nutritional yeast
White Miso
Sesame
2 tbs each:
ACV
Flaxseed oil

Blend until very smooth and creamy, add water if needed to aid in blending.

It's yellow, it's runny, it's got brown flecks in it. It's the closest to mayo that I have tasted.

VEGAN Eggplant Manicotti Recipe

Filling
1 cup cooked nettles, drained very dry
1 med onion chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp oregano & thyme
2 tbs vege broth (or enough to mix it all well
1/3 cup eggplant
1/2 cup chopped seitan sausage

Processes all together with s-blade in food processor and set aside.

Assembly
Peel a large eggplant and slice it in to long, thin slices, like lasagna noodles
Put 1 tbs of filling on the skinny end of the eggplant slice and roll it up. Put it in your baking pan seam side down. Keep doing that until you fill the pan, I manage to get 12 out of mine, yours may vary.

Sauce
1 cup agar cheese or sunflower seed cheese
4 tbs yeast
1 cup vege broth
1 clove garlic
Blend well and pour over the rolls.
Sprinkle quinoa over the top
Bake covered for 2 hours.

Shown with baby greens salad, a salad made from kale, cucumber, sauerkraut and a spoonful of veganaise, some leftovers, and a slice of bread with vegan buttery spread.















I thought this was very good and so did the man but our dinner guest found it mushy and yucky.

Nettles Cooking on an Open Gas Flame...

Peppers in a Pot with Tulips














Pelicans paddling on pristine, picturesque Klamath Lake














Nettles and Leeks slowly simmering on the stove for soup supper















I put on my garden gloves and a long sleeve shirt, grabbed my garden clippers and large colander and stepped out in the yard. I snipped off the tops of about 7 plants ranging between 2 and 4 feet tall. I took them inside to the sink, with gloves still on and washed them with hot water, pulling the leaves off of the tough stems. I composted the stems this time, but I will juice them in the future. With gloves still on, I chopped the leaves with my big rocking cleaver. I love that thing.
They are now cooking in a pot with some leeks. They smell wonderful and taste really green and good. I will add potatoes to the pot later this afternoon.

I think we are gonna eat a lot of nettles this summer. I don't remember ever being stung by them and I want to touch them just to see what it's like. I can wait, though.

Today's question is:

Do you eat any wild edibles? Please tell me about it!

Green Smoothie Likes to Do Vegan Laundry and Carrot Tortillas Juice Pulp Recipe

Smoothy is
1 ripe banana
1 roma tomato
about 10 grapes
1 kiwi
1 kale leaf
1 handfull baby greens
1 tbs Renew me
1 tbs AFA
2 tbs flax
Water



That is my pile of cloth napkins. Well, part of it. I get them at goodwill. I wash them in laundry soap that I make myself.

I use soap ends that I buy at the natural foods store in town and borax. 1 part soap, 2 parts borax. Grate the soap and mix in the borax. I store mine in a lidded trash can by the washer and use a tablespoon of the stuff per load. I can't remember how much it costs but it's at least as cheap as commercial laundry soap and it doesn't contain bleach or harsh perfumes.

I made a video about it that you can see here!

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What do you do with all that pulp from Juicing? I am always looking for new recipes and trying to find something delicious to do with the leftover vege and fruit pulp when I juice. I compost some of it but it seems like sort of a waste, I know there must be more nutrition in that stuff!
Last night, in a fit of inspiration I made some carrot tortillas with juicing pulp.














Carrot Tortillas

1/2 cup or so of vegetable juice pulp. I used carrot and cucumber.
1.5 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbs olive oil
1/2 + 1/8 cup warm water

put in Food Processor with dough blade and process until the dough cleans the bowl.

Pull the dough out and knead with flour until "earlobe" soft. Then break it into eight equal pieces, flour the pieces and put them in a bowl let them rest for an hour or so. I left mine all day and they were quite easy to roll when I finally got around to it.














Roll very thin and cook them about 3 minutes on each side on a really hot skillet or grill. Don't cook them too long or they will get crispy.

Lined with a collard leaf, some leftover beans and sauerkraut.















Wrap it up and eat it.














Tasty!

Tell me, what do you do with your juicing pulp?

Raw Vegan Dessert Ideas! RAW Strawberry Shortcake

This is sweet and light. A refreshing raw dessert.

Inspiration from Rediscover Raw Food

Serves 3

Cakes!

1 cup pecans
5 dates
5 figs
2 tbs flaxseed, ground
2 tbs lemon juice
1.5 tbs coconut oil
Vanilla to taste
Puree until a dough is formed. Make 6 small cakes and dehydrate on parchment until firm enough to flip off the paper on to the rack.

Dehydrate until they are firm but not crumbly, About 8 hours at 115F.

Sauce!

1/2 cup berries
1 tbs sugar
1 med banana
1/2 granny smith apple
2 tbs lemon juice

Blend until positively saucy.

I made two sauces for extra color on the plate.

Put one cake on a plate, pour a bit of sauce and arrange some berries. Put the second cake on top and add more sauce. Garnish with blackberry sauce and serve immediately.

Iconoclast Cat Ruins Smoothie Photos

It was a really good smoothie.

Banana, avocado, fresh mint and Renew Me Total Body Blend













The cat thought he should be part of it and threw quite a fit, insisting on being in all the photos and even completely obscuring the smoothie at some points.














"I am far prettier and probably more nutritious than any smoothie. But don't eat me."



The small rainbow paratrooper was not available for comment.


















Last night's dinner was a lovely pot of cabbage and carrot stew with my famous garlic baked potatoes and this dish.















Still with the huge seitan sausage that I messed up last week.




The Man had his with barbecue sauce.

This was inspired. Layers of thinly sliced seitan with sauerkraut and seed cheese in between.

It was like a Reuben Sandwich and was quite a hit. I may make this with some good sausage and see how that tastes.

Food and the plants they come from...

Dinner last night

Clockwise: vege bread, butter lettuce, salad made from grape tomatoes, broccoli, avocado and I can't remember what else, leftover carrot curry salad, and a meatloaf that I made.
















The meatloaf was a franken-sort of thing. I made a seitan sausage that came out all wrong. I forgot the salt and the foil split while the thing was cooking so it puffed up instead of staying all dense the way the sausage should. Boo.
So I took a huge hunk of it and ground it up fine in the FP. Then I added and onion, some vege pulp, pecans, and some barbecue sauce, a wee bit of olive oil. I can't remember what other seasonings. I baked it in my silicone loaf pan for about 2 hours at 350F, covered, then let it cool to room temp. I baked it for another half hour at 400, uncovered. Yum.

Here it is in a butter lettuce leaf ready to be eaten by me.















Both of these salads were REALLY GOOD

















****************
PLANTS!!

I got a tomato plant from the Eco Store which is on east main. I couldn't find a online listing for it but I didn't look really hard. I don't think I have the name right.














Anyway, I bought a tomato plant and some swiss chard today, cheap.
I put the tomato in the Topsy Turvy that I bought months ago.


Swiss Chard
















My lily is blooming.































The new starts.
















A carrot top, rooting.

















My celery, rooting. It's growing a lot of leaves!

















Tonight for dinner is cabbage soup and something. Baked potatoes, maybe.

Cheers!