Category: Healthy Living

Yesterday, I made a simple but tasty black bean vegetable stir fry on our wood stove.

 

I pulled out my cast iron skillet.  It’s about as old as my hand hammered stainless steel wok. This skillet is over twenty years old. I’ve had it since college. Besides black beans, I added other ingredients such as garlic, red onion, ginger, cauliflower, carrots, tomatoes, and other ingredients such as tomatoes. My daughter ate two bowls and asked for me to make it again today.

I dislike canned beans. When I cook my dried beans, I tend to make a large batch and use throughout the week. This past Thursday, I’d prepared these dried black beans on our wood stove. I cook my dried beans in large batches, and freeze into meal sized portions which are then consumed throughout the week.

My daughter loves tomato soup, simple to make but oh so flavorful…

 

After school, my daughter said she wasn’t that hungry so I made her a light meal. Since I know tomato soup is one of her favorite soups and she hasn’t had it in a while, I surprised her with a flavorful bowl of tomato soup.

The tomatoes were grown in our garden, they’d been harvested and stashed away in the freezer. Freshly juiced carrot juice was added to the soup, along with fresh lemon juice (to taste).  A few cloves of garlic/ginger were ground. I let that simmer for a bit and then added some  seasonings and a few chunks of her favorite cheddar cheese. Since the soup was hot, the cheese melted quickly and it was ready for her to eat. A simple meal but my daughter loves it, and it never lasts.

Last evenings dinner was a lazy meal for us. I tossed a few ingredients in the wok and my daughter ate it quickly.

 

I’m not sure what I call this dish… perhaps a vegetable noodle stir fry?

I fried an egg in a little bit of olive oil in my wok. After the egg was done,   I added diced garlic, ginger, and chopped broccoli and cauliflower. I let that cook for a few minutes and then added the wheat free pasta. My daughter loved this simple dish and has already put in a request for it again later this week.

I have a picture to share, since I remembered to take a picture before  I served the food.  I usually remember after the food has been eaten by my daughter. She comes back for seconds and sometimes thirds.  Since she’s skinny, I ask her, where are you putting that food? She has a high metabolism, just like me.

 

 

Look, the sprouts are coming along nicely. We sprout a variety of seeds, but these are mung beans. Sprouts are a favorite in our household. We mainly eat them raw.

Black Sheep: The Choice is Yours

The past few days, I’ve been experiencing cold like symptoms. Besides upping my intake of raw garlic (which is anti-bacterial) I’ve also been increasing my intake of select juices.

This morning I juiced carrot, ginger, and garlic (all three awesome for cold prevention). And promptly drank the blend. It tasted great. Juiced carrots are sweet, ginger added a spicy kick, and garlic was added since its my go to ingredient when fighting a cold.

I started juicing religiously about seven years ago. I did a lot of research on the topic, and finally purchased a Green Star juicer. It’s a solid juicer that easily juices whatever I toss at it including the harder vegetables like beets and jicama. It’s a bit expensive costing me well over $300, but it has definitely paid for itself since purchasing freshly made juice would have been more expensive.

My daughter loves freshly made juices also, and seems to enjoy when I create something new. I like that she prefers freshly made juices/smoothies over the overly the sugary beverages (devoid of nutrition) that flood our supermarkets.

Last week I made curried hominy, it’s a favorite in our house and never remains long.

Hominy is corn that has had its outer shell removed. It’s then soaked in a mixture that makes it swell. This gives it a soft texture. It’s commonly thought of as a Southern dish, but plenty of non-Southern folks seem to enjoy the dish also.

As a child, my mother made hominy a few times each month… usually on Sunday mornings. Sausage, biscuits, eggs, and gravy were usually on that menu too. I liked the texture but I wasn’t too fond of the simplistic way it was served and couldn’t wait until I was older to spice it up a bit.

In my twenties, when I cut loose in the kitchen, one of the first things I did was to give hominy a makeover. Results?  I loved the upgrade! I never went back to eating plain hominy again. I only prepare hominy once every few months. There’s too many foods we enjoy, that settling on a few dishes isn’t going to happen.

 

I prepared this dish in my lovely wok. I added curry, cauliflower, broccoli, curry, a bit of cumin, garlic, and salt to taste… simple but delicious. Occasionally I’ll add additional items like tomato, carrots… it all depends on what’s wanted.

 

 

These pictures were taken in December 2012…

 

Although it’s winter, we’re still receiving produce from our garden; Collards, Kale, and turnips…

 

To give you an idea of the size of our turnips I took a comparison shot, shot alongside an apple, and that is one of our small turnips. We use turnips in a variety of dishes, salads, turnip and potato patties but my favorite way to prepare it is eating it raw or adding it to soup.

One of my daughter’s favorite dishes in vegetable fried rice.  She likes a variety of vegetables…

I used to puree vegetables for her when she was an infant, and have cooked vegetables in a variety of ways. So she’s aware of how good they really are. Even though she’s not vegan like myself, she still prefers vegetables and fruits over animal products.

 

I don’t make stir fry as often as I’d like, so many other dishes to make it’s hard to just focus on one you know? I do like that it’s a quick meal to prepare, since you just toss in vegetables, eggs, and a variety of spices. The meal is on the table in minutes, and since finding my much beloved wok towards the end of last year (I’ve had it for over twenty years and it’s well seasoned) I’ve been using it for a lot of our meals. I’ve always loved woks…

I’m still undecided on what I’ll be making for dinner, perhaps bean burgers and I know I’ll be making some type of greens smoothie later today. If I remember, I’ll write down what I add to the smoothie and post it here.