Vegan Cuisine: Spicy Black Beans & collard greens

Aynaria 3 Comments
Black Beans & Collards.06.08.10.jpg

Spicy Black Beans & Collard Greens

When I think about the foods that I enjoy eating, I would have to put black beans and any type of leafy green high on that list. I really enjoy eating my dark greens. It wasn’t always that way.

Years ago I would eat dark greens because I knew they were healthy. However, if I were to be perfectly honest, I didn’t enjoy eating them. Which is why I tended to ‘cook them to death’ so I wouldn’t have to taste them, crazy I know… 🙂 I favored the lighter greens, which weren’t as healthy. Over time, my taste buds changed. That tends to happen the ‘cleaner’ and healthier you eat, and I began to crave dark leafy greens and now they’re part of my daily eating habits. Beans and greens can be made in numerous tasty dishes. They’re loaded with vitamins and nutrients, and if prepared correctly they are delicious.

Yesterday morning, I went out into the garden and picked a few leaves of collards. I decided I would prepare a simple breakfast of black beans and collards. Since our collards are huge, I only needed 4 leaves.

Calcium, vitamin A, B6, and vitamin E are a few of the nutrients you’ll find in Collard greens. Dark leafy greens are loaded with vitamins and minerals and should be included in your daily eating routine.

After picking the collard greens I decided I would add black beans to the meal too. I’ve included the recipe I made below.

Spicy Black Beans & sauteed collard greens

  • 2 cups collard greens; rinsed and chopped or shredded
  • 2 cups of black beans rinsed and drained
  • 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 1/4 tsp sea salt
  • 1 1/2 tsp freshly chopped ginger root
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 tsp curry
  • 1/2 tsp ground cumin seeds
  • 1/2 cup of water

Direction

  1. In a deep frying pan or large pot, heat the oil over medium heat.
  2. Add the onions, sautee until clear.
  3. Add garlic, pepper, and all other spices except for the sea salt
  4. Stirring frequently, cook the spices for a several minutes
  5. Add the collard greens, making sure to coat the greens with the spices and oil
  6. Sautee for about two minutes
  7. Add the remaining ingredients
  8. Turn heat to medium low
  9. Stir frequently, so the ingredients don’t stick to the bottom of the pan.
  10. Serve and enjoy!

If you like you can add the greens right before your serve the dish. In doing so, they are only lightly cooked. This is how I normally make any dish with greens. I enjoy the raw taste of greens. However, I did something differently and actually cooked the greens for a few moments. Since I drink them daily you know a green smoothie accompanied the meal.

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Recipes, Smoothies, vegetarian, whole food

Swapping themes and blogging update

Aynaria 4 Comments

For my few readers out there /waves you can see I’ve swapped themes again.

I’m simply not happy with the limited WP themes I have hosting my blog under WordPress so I know it’s only a matter of time before Not your Ordinary Momma moves to a hosted provider. I’ve used Lunar Pages for over eight years. I’m sure that’s where I’ll eventually move this site.

A little about my Vegetarian ways…
I swapped to Vegetarianism in 1992, moved onto Veganism not too soon afterwards. The transition wasn’t ‘hard’ for myself. I’d always been raised around a lot of vegetables (I’m fortunate, I know) and meat was mainly a side dish. With my family, animal products didn’t take over our entire meal. Strange I know since my parents raised chickens, turkeys, goats, etc., It just wasn’t done that way. In most cases, animal products were treated as a side dish. You know what? There were quite a few meals where animals didn’t even make an appearance. Ok, I take that back they did, but only to wind their flexible bodies around our feet at mealtime, meowing for a little treat or to place a well placed kick on our ankle (our rabbit.)

I learned to cook at an early age (four.) My mother saw my interest in cooking, and actually encouraged it. Naturally the meals I prepared at that age was limited, and heavily supervised but that began my love affair with cooking (or uncooking.) 🙂

About three years ago, I swapped to a raw food lifestyle. My eating intake has always been high raw. Although I don’t get into % when it comes to things such as that I’ll do so now, to give you an idea. On average, I was eating about 80% raw foods. I’d been eating that way for years, and although I had a high amount of energy (I think that is due in part to the way I eat — whole foods) I did notice even more of an improvement when I went 100% raw. I stayed 100% raw, for over a year. These days I’m upping my intake of raw foods again, so moving past my 80% raw intake.

Remember when I talked about my green cravings? Odd since I already eat a high amount of greens but I didn’t really question it, I just upped my intake. If we listen, our bodies can tell us what we need. Anyway my increase in raw foods happened about the same time as those cravings. These days, I’m up to around 98%.

Similar to when I went to 100% raw foods, the results are the same. I’m having more energy than I already have (which is great because my activities have increased recently) and I feel even better. Initially, when I went to raw, I found that shocking. Wait, you mean I can actually feel better than I normally do? I’ve always felt great, Menstruation was never something I had to worry about after swapping to vegetarianism.

My diet was whole foods (close to the source as possible) and ‘unnatural sugars’ and junk food’ just didn’t fit my lifestyle. I knew the impact of putting unhealthy foods into my body. I’ll try to get into a habit of posting more recipes on this site related to cooking and just simple environmentally friendly household, gardening, and skin care products you can use. I make and use them at home.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been following the Waist Whittling Wordsmith. The Wordsmith, is documenting her weight loss and has been incorporating healthier meals into her daily routine. I’m always inspired when I encounter people who are working to make improvements in their lives. Along with reading her blog in my RSS feed, I’ve tweeted with @WaistWhittler. Watching her progress, is serving as a positive reinforcement for myself, to keep working on the goals that I’m trying to achieve. If you get a chance, stop by and visit the Waist Whittling Wordmsith’s virtual home. She’s also thinking about switching to vegetarianism so if you’re veg pop by and give her some tips.

Regarding those goals…
Recently, I’ve been wanting to do more when it comes to helping others. It’s something I’ve always done (and it’s something I enjoy) but over the past few years I’ve eased up. Sure I still volunteer at homeless shelters and animal shelters too, but it’s not as it used to be, and so I’m changing that.

One of the first things that were cut was video games. I love games and although I never spent hours playing a game, I felt I needed a break and I took one. Guess what? I don’t miss it at all. Sure I’ll go back to playing computer and console games at some point but at the moment there are more important aspects in my life.

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Raw food

Raw Recipe: Almond butter

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Almonds.06.05.10.jpgWow, what a busy week. Gardening, volunteering, cleaning, and of course hanging out with my lovely daughter are a few things I’ve done this week. My daughter is officially out of school for the summer, and I’m enjoying having her around.

Plenty of simple, nutritious, and delicious vegan meals have been prepared although finding the time to post them hasn’t been happening. Hopefully I’ll have a chance to post some of them this weekend.

A few days ago I made one of my favorite dishes Dhal with brown rice. It had the three qualities I enjoy; simple, nutritious, and delicious. Yesterday I made roasted root vegetables. They had those three qualities too. My daughter devoured both dishes.

Yesterday, I decided to make a nut butter. I have an overabundance of raw Almonds so that was what I made. Nuts are a healthy fat, and many are good for you. I decided to include some of almonds benefits below.

Almond Benefits

    1. Heart Healthy

Numerous studies have been done on the health benefits of nuts the British Journal of Nutrition published a study linking consumption of nuts with a lower risk of heart disease.

    1. High in antioxidants.
    2. Whole almonds provide the most heart healthy benefits

The Journal of Nutrition published a study showing that 20 flavonoids can be found in the skin of the almond.

    1. Almonds may help you lose weight

International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders conducted a study with 65 obese adults. Those on the almond rich, low calorie diet lost more weight than those on the low calorie, high carbohydrate diet…

Those eating almonds experienced a 62% greater reduction in their weight/BMI (body mass index), 50% greater reduction in waist circumference, and 56% greater reduction in body fat compared to those on the low calorie high carbohydrate diet

As you can see, nuts can be extremely healthy. I don’t tend to gorge myself when I do eat them (even though some of them are quite delicious.) Yesterday as I was preparing the roasted root vegetables I decided to make some raw almond butter but I decided to add a few seasonings; I’m including the recipe below.

Raw Almond Butter

    1. 2 cups of Raw Almonds
    2. Olive or coconut oil

-use as needed

Seasonings (optional)

  • teaspoon of natural sweetener; honey, stevia, etc.,)
  • dash of sea salt

Directions

    1. Grind nuts in a grinder
      I use a coffe grinder, when I’ve used larger amounts of nuts I’ve used a blender (I used my Vita-Mix)

*If you use your Vita-Mix, make sure you don’t blend too long, since it will heat the nuts.

    1. Transfer ground mixture to food processor

*You can keep keep in the grinder, it just takes a but longer.

  1. Gradually add oil (one tablespoon at a time, until desired consistency is reached.)
  • Refrigerate, and enjoy!

Makes about 10 ounces.

*You’re almond butter will need to be refrigerated since no preservatives have been added. Although it can last a month this way, my butters never lasted more than a few weeks. Enjoy

My daughter and I enjoy nut butters, and we enjoy eating it on a variety of foods such as dips and sandwiches. Yesterday I made I added garlic instead of the seasonings I mentioned above. It was strong, but we still enjoyed it; next time I think I’ll roast the garlic, which will add some sweetness to the butter. Of course, my nut butter will no longer be raw but it still will be delicious.

 

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Recipes, Vegan, Vegetarian, vegetarian, whole food, Nut Butter

 

Twitter: Exchange tweets with CrunchyOpal…

Aynaria 4 Comments

twitter_logo.06.02.10.pngAre there any tweet peeps out there? Over the past few years, I’ve used Twitter off and on. I don’t have the original account I started with, having abandoned it when I got out of the habit of tweeting.

The other twitter account I recently stopped updating, mainly because I’m taking a break from gaming. Yes, it’s true that I’ve tweeted about gaming/non-gaming info but since I’m not actively playing anything (at the moment) I don’t want to be hammering my tweet gaming peeps with almost 100% non-gaming related posts. Make sense?

Anyway, if you’d like to follow my tweets you can do so by following CrunchyOpal.

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Social Media

Mulberry Smoothie; Healthy and Delicious

Aynaria 2 Comments

mulberry.05.31.10.jpgThe invasion of mulberries (in our back yard) is a definite sign that Summer is in full swing.

Mulberry harvesting is one of my most enjoyable gardening past times. The mulberries are thick. If you look down you won’t find a green grassy carpet instead you’ll find mulberries covering every inch of ground. You’ll also find them in the Mulberry trees too.

What makes mulberry picking even more enjoyable, is the variety of birds that pay us a visit during this time. They all converge to feast on those mulberries. There is such an overabundance of mulberries that you really don’t miss the ones that they eat. Mulberries are great in raw ice creams, mulberry jams, tossed into fresh and raw salads, sauces… they’re also delicious in smoothies too.

Yesterday, after arriving home from our carnival adventure, I decided to take some of the mulberries I had picked that morning and make a pitcher of Mulberry smoothie. Although this isn’t a green smoothie recipe the Mulberry smoothie is simple to make, and extremely delicious. I like the tangy (slightly bitter taste) of our mulberries so I normally don’t add anything besides a liquid (this time I used unsweetened apple juice) to sweeten it. However, you can choose another liquid or sweeten with a natural sweetener like honey or stevia.

Mulberry: Health Benefits
Mulberries are delicious, and they have the added bonus of being good for you too.

    • Mulberries are loaded with vitamins and minerals.

Mulberries contain; fiber, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, carbohydrates, iron and proteins which are great for ones health.

    • Mulberries have an antioxidant action.

Mulberries contain anthocyanins (pigments in the fruit) which also has an antioxidant action. Scientist has studied mulberries as a means to fight cancer and diabetes too.

    • Promotes health liver and kidneys
    • Helps eliminate constipation

I’ve used mulberries many times when I’ve had bouts of constipation and it has helped eliminate this condition.

    • Used to treat anemia.

Mulberries are high in iron, so is natural way to treat anemia naturally.

Mulberry Smoothie: Healthy and Delicious

    • 4 cups of Mulberries

fresh is best but if you are unable to get those, get frozen mulberries

    • 3 cups of apple juice

You can also try pineapple juice, or one of the natural sweeteners I mentioned above.

  • 2 bananas peeled and sliced

Directions

  1. Slice the bananas and place into a sealable container; freeze until hard.
  2. In an electric blender, combine the Mulberries, bananas, and bananas; process till smooth.

This smoothie is slightly thick, if you prefer a thinner smoothie add more liquid.

Instead of reaching for a sugary drink devoid of health benefits, why not choose a smoothie that’s not only taste delicious but is loaded with nutrients too? Enjoy!

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Recipe, Recipes, vegetarian, whole food, Smoothies

Memorial day; Local carnival and the rocket ship of terror

Aynaria 2 Comments

carnival.06.01.10.jpgFor those living in the USA, I hope you had a wonderful Memorial Day. My daughter and I attended a few Memorial Day events. No BBQ’s here, we kept it simple.

Since there’s a carnival in town I decided to take check it out with my daughter. I really had no choice, she’s been talking about it for days. Ever since seeing it as we went to school and church so yesterday was the perfect day to check it out.

Originally I thought the carnival would be packed, but being that it was early. It wasn’t. I imagine people were still out attending various events and most likely would be stopping by the local carnival when it got lively (evening-time.)

I paid the $20 per person for unlimited rides. Yeah kind of pricey, especially since the carnival was small but I had gone purchasing the tickets route I would have spent a lot more money. Having the bracelets wrapped around our wrists my daughter, and I could get on unlimited rides, and  our carnival adventure began.

Since it wasn’t crowded, my daughter and I were able to get on as many rides as she wanted without a line. Some of the operators were nice enough to let us stay on as long as we (she) wanted too. Many thanks to the nice operators out there, you really made my daughters day. We had so much fun hopping on the ferris wheel, bumper cars, big ol’ super slide. She enjoyed all the rides with the exception of one…

It’s rocket type ride. It was a lot like this one shown in the video, but ours was shaped like a rocket. Also, the rockets only carried two passengers and you are completely enclosed.

Daughter:Mommy, I want to get on that ride!

My seven year old daughter pointed at the rocket ship, impatiently yanking on my hand.

I look way up in the sky! I’ve been on this ride when I was younger and I know how it operates. I loved it but honestly didn’t think she would.

Me: (Glances at her, the rocket–looks doubtful) Are you sure?

Daughter: Yes mommy, come on! Come ON!!!

…and so we got on the ride. She was really excited until we got up to the highest peak and plummeted down to the ground.

Daughter: Mommy! (scared) I don’t like this ride! I want to get off! I want off! (screams)

Me: It’s ok, just hold on.

Lies! I knew it wasn’t ok, although she met the height, my daughter is slim (just like her mommy) some of those rides will toss you all over the place especially if you’re a string bean. The bar only goes down so far.

I grabbed onto her to so she knew I was there, hoping that would calm her down. Nope, not computing! My daughter is too scared and wants to get off NOW! The attentive operator heard her (seems he had his doubts too) screaming and me talking to her. (I had to talk loudly since she was screaming so much) and let us off the next time we coasted back to earth.

Daughter: Jumps over me and out of the ride.

Yeah that’s right she didn’t even wait for me to get out and help her out. The cab was very low to the ground though, but still…

Daughter: (chants and claps) I’m never getting on the ride again! I’m never getting on the ride again!

My daughter proceeds to hop around like an extremely hyper rabbit. She hopped around the ride, hops around me, the attendant. My daughter (still not satisfied) hops around some more. She burns off the nervous energy and is fine. The operator and I looked at her, we’re both relieved (and slightly amused too.)

Mommy Lesson Learned: If I have my doubts about a ride, you’re not getting on it.

After that incident, we got on several more rides. There were some we repeated many, many, many (did I say many) times because she really liked them. Since it was early, we were able to get on most of the rides without a line, hooray for her. Naturally, I won her a stuffed animal too. Hey, what’s the carnival without winning one of those ridiculously overpriced stuffed animals? Fortunately, I’ve always been good at those games, so I don’t spend a lot of money winning a big prize.

It was 92F (33.33C) yesterday. Yeah it was a hot (but enjoyable) day. Naturally, I came prepared. I was armed with a towel and water spray to keep my daughter cool.

Did we eat at the carnival? No, I was fully prepared to buy my daughter something if she wanted it. They actually did have some nice choices. Which was good! I wasn’t interested in anything for myself but she didn’t want to eat anything at the carnival. Regarding ‘junk food’ my feelings are similar to what Storm Talifero’s view on the subject.

I discovered The Garden Diet (website run by his wife and himself) a few years ago. I really appreciated the emphasis on eating whole foods. I don’t think you need to be a raw foodist, vegetarian, or vegan to be healthy but we do need to make healthy choices in regards to what we do put into our bodies.

Ok, back on topic…
Tired but extremely happy, we finally headed home. Of course, she told me numerous times she was never eVer eVEr eVER EVER getting on that rocket ship again!!!

I’m hoping everyone had a memorable Memorial day.

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Memorial Day, Carnival, Holiday

 

Memorial Day: Honoring those who've died while serving the military

Aynaria 3 Comments

Memorial-Day.05.31.10.jpgIn the USA, May 31st is the day we observe Memorial Day. Memorial Day is a Federal holiday.

Memorial day is a lot more than getting a day off of work and having celebrations with family and friends. Memorial day was created to recognize the those who died during the Civil War.

I love history. Over the years, I’ve read a lot about this particular holiday. Did you know In 1865, freed slaves took part in a huge celebration in Charleston, South Carolina? The celebration was held at the Washington Race Course now known as Hampton Park.

What’s interesting is that this location had served as a temporary Confederate prison camp for captured Union soldiers. Mass graves on the site contained Union soldiers. I found it fascinating that in 1865 freed slaves removed bodies from the mass graves and placed them into individual graves. They also placed a fence around the graveyard, and declared it a union graveyard.

On May 1, 1865 a crowd of up to 10,000 people (mostly African American) gathered at the Washington Race course. According to some records there were a lot of different activities that were held that day; speeches, sermons, singing, and family picnics.

If you’ve been following Memorial day history (like myself) you’ll notice that a lot of states have claimed being the first in regards to Memorial Day celebration however those claims didn’t start until around 1865. The largest scale Declaration Day (Memorial Day) event was conducted in 1861, by the freed African American slaves in Charleston, South Carolina.

Did you know that

Memorial Day: Did you know?

  1. Memorial Day used to be called Declaration Day
  2. Memorial Day was originally recognized on May 30th, but has since been moved to May 31st.

Across the United States, there are numerous events held to recognize those who’ve died while in military service. For example, the National Memorial Day Concert is an amazing event, and takes place on the West Lawn of the United States Capital.

I’ve included a few Memorial Day traditions below.

A few Memorial Day Traditions

How do I celebrate Memorial Day?
For myself it’s a time to recognize those who’ve died while in service, which usually means going to a specific location that has a ceremony. This year my daughter and I will be going to Fort McHenry, it will be a great chance for her to see some reenactments, check out some of the history I’ve told her about and interact with others too.

Question: Do you have any plans for Memorial Day?

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Memorial Day