Happy Earth Day!

 

Photo Source: www.munpl.org

If I am being honest, I am a bit frustrated. I would like to know when trying to do the right thing became crazy??? When I started this makeover on my life a lot of factors went into the decision. I wanted to be healthier (please don’t get me started on the word “healthy” that is a different day and a different post) I wanted to do my part to help our environment. I wanted to educate others so that they could make informed decisions for their own families. Maybe the most honest one of all, I needed something to focus on and control. Sometimes the world spins so fast and it can be overwhelming. There is a sense of peace that comes from knowing that the only thing you have complete control over is yourself. Deciding how to use that control is empowering.

For whatever reason our society doesn’t care, it has a why bother mentality.  Unless, of course you mention youth military in Uganda, then everyone pretends to be outraged! How many of them would actually do anything to stop it…yes I went there. Whether it’s global warming, eating organic or voting for our president, you hear the same response: it doesn’t matter; it’s a crock.  There is a part of me that can see this point of view. We have been BOMBARDED with a Y2K and STORM WATCH 2012 media for years. They hype up the littlest things and then what????…nothing. So it makes sense that people stop listening and stop caring. They feel that in the end its all hype and everything will work its self out. But I have a feeling it is more than that. Frankly, as Americans we are greedy and lazy and the combination of the two, are proving to be deadly. We consume and take so much from our planet because we feel that it is our right and we are too lazy to put in a little work or give back. So often, I see someone trying to explain why they are doing something that they feel is good, only to be met with criticism. People almost seem excited to be the barer of bad news! They want to shut down what you are saying and poke holes in your do good efforts. They are quick to give resistance and excuses. But why??? Are they doing better?? Do they have any ideas themselves? It has been my experience that the answer is no. They are just lazy. If they poke holes and find faults then they have an excuse not to try. But, “Excuses are the nails used to build a house of failure.” As said so by Don Wilder.

Instead of failing why don’t we all just put a little effort towards repairing our once beautiful Planet.  Give back instead of take. I challenge us all to make one change. I don’t care how big or small. Maybe it will be shopping at farmers markets, eating less meat, remembering to use your shopping bags, turning off the lights, riding your bike more often…It is more of the effort that I am after.  Just make a pact with yourself and your family to make one NEW change. Once you conquer it, I think it will help you to realize that there are probably other changes that you can make and it may not seem so daunting after all.

I have complete faith in today’s kids. Just a few weeks ago, an almost 3 year old reminded me to recycle :)  Lets not completely destroy their Planet before they have a chance to enjoy it!

Everyone had different reasons for making changes in their lives. All that matter is that we are making them. Don’t be lazy. Stop making excuses. Don’t be greedy. JUST START CARING!

Happy Earth Day!!!

Sharing is Caring

The other night, it was brought to my attention
 that I go into people’s homes and hog all the salad, drink all the good wine and eat all the macaroons. Geesh, WHAT kind of person does this????  I may need to enter some sort of rehab for this soon but in the meantime I would like to “give back” by sharing some of our recent favorite REAL FOOD recipes! 

If you have known me for any length of time then you should know that I have an obsession with bean and cheese burritos. Although, it has calmed down a bit in recent years there was a time when I considered myself an honorary Mexican due to my EXTREME love. True story…I almost had some serious consequences for telling a co-worker that…Not only did he not find it funny, he thought I was very rude! I promise that I didn’t and I don’t mean any disrespect. I just love them! And I am not as funny as I think I am. I am a purest when it comes to burritos. There are only 3 expectable ingredients: warm soft tortilla with a slight chew, perfectly creamy refried beans, and cheese but not too much. If you are feeling wild you can add a little hot sauce in there.  Anything else is a taco plate wrapped up in a tortilla!

Let’s start with the wrapper. This was the first REAL FOOD recipe that I tried and we loved it. It is soooo easy that a toddler helped me make it! You could use it as a vehicle for some many flavors but my current favorite is the BCB.

Whole-Wheat Flour Tortillas

By: 100 days of real food

Yield: 12 tortillas

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup warm water (heat in the microwave for 1 min)

Directions

1. In the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer set with a dough hook, pour in the flour, oil and salt. Beat with the paddle until crumbly, about 3 to 5 minutes. Scrape the sides as needed. If your hand-held mixer comes with dough hooks those can be used as well.
2. With the mixer running, gradually add the warm water and continue mixing until the dough is smooth, about 3 minutes.
3. Take out the dough and divide it into 12 equal sized pieces. I do this by making the dough into a big log shape that is about 8 – 10 inches long. Then I cut it in the middle. Then I cut each of those pieces in the middle and so on until you have 12 pieces.
4. Using the palms of your hand roll each piece into a round ball and flatten it out on a baking tray or board. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for at least 15 minutes or up to one hour.
5. Heat a cast iron skillet, griddle or 12-inch skillet over med-high heat. The pan should be fairly hot before you begin cooking the tortillas.
6. On a lightly floured board or counter top, use a rolling pin to turn each ball into a 8 to 10 inch flat circle (measure against your recipe if printed on a 8.5X11 sheet of paper). Be careful not to use more than a teaspoon or two of flour when rolling out each ball into a tortilla because too much excess flour will burn in the pan.
7. Carefully transfer each tortilla, one at a time, to the pan and cook until puffy and slightly brown, about 30 to 45 seconds per side. Set aside on a plate to cool slightly. Eat within an hour, or refrigerate or freeze.

Up Next…you guessed it! Homemade beans. These have the PERFECT consistency. You can’t get this out of a can folks! Plus, you make them while you sleep….It doesn’t get any easier than that.  For those of you that don’t like spice make them exactly as the recipe follows. DO NOT leave out the jalapeno. I would never steer you wrong and I promise there is NO heat, just a little flavor. If you do like to spice things up then you can do what I did and use this recipe as a launch pad for creativity!

Easy Slow Cooker Refried Beans

Adapted from allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 1 onion, peeled and halved
• 2 cups dry pinto beans, rinsed
• ½ fresh jalapeno or other hot pepper, seeded and chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ¾ teaspoons salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• One big pinch of cumin
• 6 cups water

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients in slow cooker.
2. Cook on high for 8 hours or overnight while you are sleeping.
3. Remove the bigger onion chunks and drain the excess liquid. If desired, save excess liquid until the final product is desired consistency.
4. Mash remaining beans with a potato masher and voila! You have homemade refried beans.

 The first time I made these I did them as is and they were good. But I am usually not satisfied with good. So, the next time I made them a made a few adjustments. First, I added the whole jalapeno with the seeds. Once the beans were done cooking I took the onion, garlic, and jalapeno and blended them up in a food processer or blender with a little cooking liquid and then added the mixture back in to crock pot and mashed those beans up. Remember to taste for seasoning. This is my base recipe. Whatever I don’t use that night I put in Tupperware and freeze. When I need beans I just defrost what I need. If I feel like I am in the mood for lime and chile beans then I add a little lime juice and a big pinch of chile powder or some chopped green chili. If I want something smoky or spicy I add a little chipotle…..and so on and so on. This recipe is so versatile. I do however like to keep the base recipe simple and then spice up each individual “can” if I feel the need to.

The next fav recipe was for my husband. We made this during our 10 day Challenge and I think it was this single recipe that got him through it and made him feel that he could “have it all”. My Grandmother was cleaning out her kitchen cupboards quite awhile ago (and I am talking years) and gave me an ice cream maker that she had. I was super excited to use it. I thought of all the great ice cream I was going to make. How everyone was going to be begging me to make them their favorite flavors and it was going to get so out of control that I would have to open up my own shop to keep up with demands. (If this blog is teaching me anything, it’s that I am more of a dreamer then I thought!) Anyway, fast forward to February 2012 and I haven’t made a sing batch of ice cream. I had looked at that machine it quite a bit. I had collected a lot of recipes but the truth is I don’t really like ice cream. I do like sherbet and sorbet but hubs not so much. If I made I tub of sorbet I would have to eat it all by myself and my thighs don’t need that kind of temptation. Thanks to Pinterest I found a recipe for Blood Orange Sherbet. I thought that this would be one he would like because the description said something about tasting like a 50/50 bar which is a flavor combo he LOVES! No sugar was used in the recipe just honey so it was the perfect dessert for us. We bought all the stuff and froze the canister overnight. I made the mixture and went to turn on the machine. I was sooo excite to make my first batch….can you guess what happened…it was broken. I don’t know what exactly was wrong. The motor just wasn’t working. I googled what to do and got nothing. I could hear that poor motor wanting to work but it just couldn’t pull it together to make my one single batch of sherbet! Back to google we went! I found a method that ended up working great and this stuff is sooo yummy and the color is beautiful.

 Blood Orange Sherbet

Adapted from yummymummykitchen.com

Ingredients

• 2 cups freshly squeezed orange juice, approximately 2 to 3 pounds oranges
• zest of one blood orange
•  1/4 cup honey (amount may vary depending on the sweetness of your oranges. I didn't use any) 
•  1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
•  1 1/2 cups whole milk

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together juice, zest, honey, vanilla, and milk.
2. Chill until very cold, about 1 hour.
3.  Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturers instructions.
4.  Transfer to freezer-safe container and store in freezer.   

The Method that we ended up using was slightly more time consuming but it wasn’t hard and the result was still fantastic!

Making Ice Cream Without A Machine
By David Lebovitz

1. Start with chilled ice cream mixture

2. Put a deep baking dish, or bowl made of plastic, stainless steel or something durable in the freezer, and pour your custard mixture into it.

3. After forty-five minutes, open the door and check it.As it starts to freeze near the edges, remove it from the freezer and stir it vigorously with a spatula or whisk. Really beat it up and break up any frozen sections. Return to freezer.

4. Continue to check the mixture every 30 minutes, stirring vigorously as it’s freezing. If you have one, you can use a hand-held mixer for best results.
 But since we’re going low-tech here, you can also use just a spatula or a sturdy whisk along with some modest physical effort.

5. Keep checking periodically and stirring while it freezes (by hand or with the electric mixer) until the ice cream is frozen. It will likely take 2-3 hours to be ready.

Transfer the ice cream to a covered storage container until ready to serve.

So, here you go. I think we have learned quite enough for one post but maybe the most import take away is this:

Hide yo wine, Hide yo roons, cuz I’m stealin EVERYTHING up in here!