Tried It! Liked It! Recipe: Millet Bowl with Black Beans and Vegetables

Thank you Whole Living, for being such a killer magazine, and for having such yummy vegan recipes within your covers.

From the "Change Issue: A Fresh Start" there was a whole detox plan. I didn't actually follow the detox plan because I was too busy gearing up for Health Month, and following along with other month long eating plans with Eating Rules. I did, however, try out this recipe!

Millet Bowl with Black Beans and Vegetables

I did omit the red cabbage because I couldn't find any at my farmer's market or any that was local/looked acceptable. I also omitted the dressing which kept the taste very clean. The beans cooked with ginger was really nice...I have never cooked black beans with ginger before and I really liked it, it was a good flavor combination. This recipe made enough for me to eat for dinner and pack the second half for lunch the next day! It is rare that a recipe will get into my regular rotation status...but I am pretty sure this recipe fits the bill!

Here is the recipe for those of you who do not like following links. (directly from Whole Living...I DID NOT write this recipe!)

MILLET
1/4 cup millet
One 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
Kosher salt
1 cup water

VEGETABLES
4 shiitake mushrooms (2 ounces), sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 medium carrot, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds
2 baby bok choy, halved
1/2 cup shredded red cabbage
1 scallion, thinly sliced
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons toasted sunflower seeds

DRESSING
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons apple-cider vinegar
Directions

Place millet, black beans, and ginger in a small saucepan. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt and water. Bring to a boil, stir once, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 25 minutes. Allow to rest for 10 minutes, then fluff with a fork.

Steam shiitakes in a steamer over boiling water, covered, for 3 minutes. Add carrots and bok choy and steam 4 to 6 minutes more. Remove steamer from heat.

In a small bowl, whisk together oil and vinegar to make dressing. Season with a dash of salt.

Transfer millet to bowls and garnish with steamed and remaining raw vegetables. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Pour dressing over top and sprinkle with sunflower seeds.

From Whole Living, January/February 2011

Thankful Thursday V.3

So I did not get to update yesterday with my Thankful Thursday post because I spent all day either curled in a ball or in Urgent Care.

Seems that my Tom Yum soup from an area thai food place (that I usually frequent and I will spare the online wrath right now), had SHRIMP in it! On Tuesday I was happily eating my soup for lunch during my planning period, and got 1/3 of the way through when I saw a gushy disgusting little shrimp hanging out at the bottom of my soup bowl...and on further investigation, I found THREE! I immediately threw out the soup and tried not to think about it. I have never had fish or seafood, and the sight of the shrimp made me sick to my stomach, but I tried to just move on with my day and focus on my fruits and nuts that I had for snack and ignore my grumbling belly.

Fast forward to Wednesday morning when I woke up at 5 am for work and immediately was sick. I tried to go to work, but alas could not make it as the sickness did not stop.

Thursday I fared a bit better and made it to work, but could not stay as I couldn't even make it through class without having backup come and watch my students...so I left to go to Urgent Care (at which point I spent my whole day there, waiting to be seen, getting tests, but then meeting with a very friendly doctor who was very very helpful).

Turns out I had food poisoning from improperly cooked/stored/handled shellfish. I know that I had some strain of Vibrio food poisoning but at this point I am not sure which one! I didn't think to write it down and just instead took my antibiotic prescription and sentence to eat bland ass food for days on end.

So these are the things I am WAY thankful for!

Having health insurance! Man oh man is it great to have health insurance from a full-time job. I realize how lucky this makes me and I am quite thankful.

Having a Benny card. I am not sure if these are even offered everywhere, I know I never had that option at a job before, but I am so happy that in NYC I have an option of setting aside medical bill money pre-tax from my paycheck. If your company has Benny card option, seriously take it! I use it for my transit and for my medicines...which include things like contacts and contact solution and bandaids/first aid stuff as well as birth control. That's right, money aside pre-tax for being safe when getting down!

Having a local family care place that takes walk ins and acts a bit like an Urgent Care. The staff was really helpful and it certainly beats sitting in an ER when you know damn well you shouldn't be at the Emergency Room.

And as always, I am thankful for my little ones for being so understanding *cough cough Malomar constantly STANDS on my stomach while I'm writhing in pain* and keeping me company!

Sunday's Song

I love when this song comes on when I am on my way to work, or I am on a run, or walking my dog Malomar! There are so many amazing songs that I want to feature here, and artists that I really love...but I find myself on Sunday's always wanting to listen to something really upbeat...something that makes me want to get up and go and get a million things accomplished.

Here is Sunday's Song, Moving Units: Anyone.

PS, this video is hilarious. I love that this kid just made this video and put it out there. The internet can be so fun!

My favorite homemade pizza!

I absolutely love to cook!

I love cooking with other people or by myself. I like knowing what each ingredient is that I put into my food and then into my body, and I love the fresh smells, and feelings that I get when I am chopping my own vegetables or peeling fresh fruit.

Here is a recipe for my very favorite Vegan Pizza. I try to eat as many unprocessed things as I can...but I do make exceptions once in a while. This pizza has Field Roast chipotle sausage links on it...which are processed. But my motto is, moderation moderation moderation.

The sausages really don't have that many scary ingredients, but no,...I could not make them at home I don't believe...which is my main definition of what processed is. Are there ingredients that you cannot pronounce or would not ever have in your kitchen? Then I try to avoid those products. Here is a great blog post on unprocessed eating from Andrew Wilder over at Eating Rules.

Pizza ingredients:

Whole wheat pizza dough (recipe from Animal Vegetable Miracle)
3 tsp. yeast 11⁄2 cups WARM water 3 tbs. olive oil 1 tsp. salt 21⁄2 cups white flour 2 cups whole wheat flour To make crust, dissolve the yeast into the warm water and add oil and salt to that mixture. Mix the flours and knead them into the liquid mixture. Let dough rise for 30 to 40 minutes.

1 avocado
1 bosc pear
1 link Field Roast Sausage
fresh tomatoes OR tomato sauce
I use:

Preheat over to 350 degrees.

Spread whole wheat flour out on a pizza stone or cookie sheet. Roll out dough and assemble pizza with cut sausages, cut tomatoes or tomato sauce and sliced avocado and pear.

Cook at 350 for about 15-20 minutes (check regularly on process).

Variations:
~Cook pizza dough sans toppings for 4-5 minutes before prepping the entire pizza, then cut that time off of your total time.
~add avocado only during the last 5 minutes if you want the avocado less cooked

Good luck saving some for lunch the next day!

Thankful Thursday V.2

WOW! Today has been amazing so far!

I woke up to little Malomar being the littlest spoon which was hilariously cute and pretty much set me up for an awesome day. My alarm went off, my eyes opened and his head peaked up through my arm and he kissed me on the nose. PERFECT!

He is such an awesome little dude!

I am thankful for a dog so sweet and full of energy and love.

Malomar and I took our morning walk and I didn't need multiple layers or a winter coat because SPRING is on the way!

I am thankful for warmer weather, and no more THIS! *crosses fingers*:

Tonight I will be cooking whole and healthy food, as per usual. Last night I made awesome whole wheat pizza, with my favorite toppings (post with recipe to come soon!), tonight I will be making homemade salsa, and a detoxifying soup. I can't wait to cook!

I am thankful for such wonderful recipe books, and the ability to purchase and prepare healthy meals:

Every now and then when I get too rilled up from always expecting 100% from my students, and taking myself a little too seriously....I allow my students to poke fun at me a little. I had one of my 1st graders play the roll of me for a read aloud and make sure every student was actively listening and on their best behavior. His face is priceless as he pretends to give them my "look."

I am thankful for the energy and humor in children, and that I get to be around children every day for my work!

After going on a run, and cooking yummy food, I will be locking myself in my studio to focus on a new painting. I love having inspiring people around me that push me to create, focus, and work hard.

I am thankful for lovely and inspiring people in my life. People that push me to be a better, kinder person, a more focused artist and a more involved community member. Particularly these gems.

Don't Buy it, DIY it!

With the exception of a very once in a while slip up or cheat day, I have cut HFCS out of my diet. That's right, bye bye high fructose corn syrup and all of the terrible things you do to my body, the awful homogenous agriculture that you create with your demand and your presence in SO.MANY.THINGS.

At my job we are provided with free drinks. That's right, coffee, teas, sodas, seltzer waters etc. We also have free snacks...and up until some magical fairy of good food came, the snacks were all Hershey's kisses, snickers mini bars etc.

Now we have apples and trail mix and oatmeal! OH MY! Vegan things I can eat for free at my work, it IS 2011!

That being said, seeing the gingerale in the break room every single day has gotten into my brain, and my belly. I NEED IT! However, the gingerale has that awful HFCS in it. So I decided to make my own!

Instead of:

Which has high fructose corn syrup as its second ingredient.
(Full ingredient list is: carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, citric acid, sodium benzoate, natural flavors, caramel color...yikes!)

Try this:

Homemade Ginger Ale!

Recipe:
4 cups club soda
1 inch knob of ginger, peeled and diced
1 cinnamon stick
a squeeze of agave or dash of raw sugar (optional)

Combine all ingredients in mason jar and chill for at least 30 minutes. If you don't want to strain the mixture (which is really not a big deal anyway), you can put the ginger in a sachet or tea ball...it will infuse it's lovely power into the club soda from its nesting place no problem!

Enjoy!

That's it! So simple!

Today for lunch I enjoyed my homemade ginger ale alongside an avocado, fresh salsa wrap on an ezekial tortilla. So quick and easy to make and filling!

Ingredients:

Avocado/Guacamole mixture:
2 Avocados
1 small yellow onion
1 tomato
Juice from one lemon
pepper and salt to season
(chop all ingredients and mix thoroughly)

Salsa mixture:
1 small red onion
3 vine tomatoes
1 green onion
1 jalapeno or serano pepper seeded and diced
1 handful cilantro
(chop all ingredients and combine in small bowl)

This is a cheap, easy to make lunch that is filling and healthy!

Weekend Recap

This Friday I was so so excited for the weekend! I had a short week at work and usually on Fridays I am so exhausted that I just pass out, but this week was different! Because I only had a few days of teaching, I was ready and revved up to go out and take charge of my weekend!

Friday night Alex and I went to Barcade, which is basically a genius idea. Hello arcade games and great beers on tap...what more can you really ask for?! (Okay to be fair I kept asking for wack-a-mole and skee ball...but still, Barcade rules despite it's lack o' carnival fare).

After getting silly and getting KILLED at centipede, we hit up Foodswings for a dose of deliciously processed junk food vegan snacks! I allow myself 2 days in which I eat processed food per week...and so when I go for it...I go for it! I got the bbq chicken and we both slurped up shakes!

Saturday was a day of travel and adventure getting my car back from Rye. Taking the train there from Brooklyn is already a fiasco but on a weekend with all of the planned service changes it was an all day ordeal! In order to get back from Rye, we decided not to take public transit again and that Saturday night would be the ideal time to teach Alex how to drive standard. In NYC. In traffic.

We practiced for a while in the Home Depot parking lot and then took on the challenge of driving the whole way home. I operated the stick shift the whole time and Alex operated the pedals as I talked him through the entire drive home. TEAMWORK!

Sunday is a day I always look forward to because I get so much done and Sunday is farmer's market day! I always support local agriculture and the more I purchase at the farmer's market the better. It is better for you and fun to cook what is in season, it is wonderful to know your farmers and not rely on produce shipped from California when it can be grown right here in New York. And if reducing fossil fuels and eating organic, yummy whole foods is not enough to sway you, farmer's markets are where you can usually get more bang for your buck! (Hello saving on the gas it takes to ship that kale across the entire United States).

After the market I made some local mushrooms and kale and then took Malomar for an adventure over to Liberty Sunset area in Red Hook. I tried to hit up a garden shop to start to get ready for this growing season, but had no luck in that department. Otherwise, a super success as it was beautiful out and such a nice place to take a stroll!

(Probably impossible to see in my taken-from-my-phone photo, but there is a great view of the Statue of Liberty. I need to remember to bring my Nikon with me everywhere again!)