Broccoli Romanesco (Green Fractal Cauliflower) With Pasta

I found this cauliflower (called broccoli in Italy) at the Sunset Valley Farmer's Market.  It is delicious!  Slightly sweet and more delicate than white cauliflower.

I sauteed shallots and garlic in vegetable broth, added the cleaned cauliflower florets, and continued to saute gently, while I added fresh chopped basil and thyme, Himalayan pink salt, ground black pepper, and crushed red pepper (hot pepper worked well with the sweet vegetable).  The fresh herbs were what I had on hand.  I also added about 1/4 C. of pino grigio, and let it cook down a bit.  Set vegetable aside and keep warm while you prepare the pasta.

I used quinoa pasta, which has 4 grams protein.

I sprinkled a tiny bit of nutritional yeast over the finished dish.

Broccoli Rabe with Pasta

Very simple, rustic, delicious dish:

Clean the broccoli rabe by removing the tough ends of the stems.  Wash and pat dry.  I used 3 good-sized bunches, so I dried it in a small bath towel.

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil or vegetable broth.  Add the broccoli rabe in small bunches and keep sauteing and turning as it wilts.  Season while you cook with Himalayan pink salt.  Add crushed red pepper to taste.  Cook until thoroughly wilted.  Let sit while you prepare the pasta.

Serve over al dente whole grain and sprouted wheat grass thin spaghetti, or a whole-grain pasta of your choice.

Sunday Morning Veggie Tacos

Saute onion, garlic, mushrooms, zucchini, and jalapeno in vegetable broth.  Add black beans, fresh tomatoes, and cilantro (last).  Season with black salt.  Serve in warmed whole grain tortillas with salsa verde.  Would be good with potatoes in the mix also.  Sweet potatoes would be even better!

Dandelion Green Salad

Dandelion greens, rinsed, dried and torn into pieces
Arugula, rinsed and dried
(I used about 3 times as much dandelion greens than arugula, because it is what I had, but the ratios won't matter)
Grated carrots
Crisp pear, chopped into bite-sized chunks
Orange sections
Dried cranberries
Pistachios

Toss all with pomegranate chipotle vinaigrette (see earlier post for recipe).

5 Pepper Quinoa Chili

5 Pepper Quinoa Chili

Cook 1 cup quinoa in water and set aside

Chop:
1 onion, 4 or more cloves garlic, 1 each green and red bell pepper, 1 or 2 zucchini, 1/4 cup cilantro

Mince:
1 jalapeno pepper
1-2 T. chipotle in adobo

Remove the kernels from one ear of fresh corn

Saute onion in vegetable broth or olive oil, add garlic, 1 T. chili powder and 1 T. cumin, stir for 1 minute.

Add 28 ounces crushed tomatoes and about 1 1/2 cups black beans (rinsed and drained if canned), 2 cups vegetable broth, the remainder of the chopped vegetables and the corn, and 1 t. dried oregano, fresh ground sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste.  Bring to simmer, reduce heat, simmer for about 20 minutes.  Stir in the quinoa, reheat, and add 1/4 cup or more cilantro.

Milestone Met

I started running 3 months ago.  I have included running as part of my exercise plan in the past, but had not done so in a long time.  After 3 months of doing my daily 3 miles in intervals of run, power walk, run, power walk, I was today able to run the whole 3 miles!  Tiny, reachable goals are so much more important to me now than large, looming, all-or-nothing goals, and giving myself the time I need to meet them is also important.  Grasshopper is learning a thing or two.  I do have a large goal in mind, but it will remain a secret for the time being.


If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.  Author Unknown

3 Leftover Bananas Amazing Whole Grain Banana Apricot Pecan Muffins

1 1/2 cups mashed banana
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup spelt flour
1/2 cup ground flaxseed
2 Tbs. cornstarch or potato starch
1 1/2 Tsp. baking powder
1 Tsp. baking soda
1 Tsp. cinnamon
1 Tsp. ginger
1/2 Tsp. nutmeg
1/4 Tsp. salt
1/4 C. coconut sugar
1/2 cup pecan pieces
1/2 cup raw, unsulfured coconut
1/2 cup chopped apricots
1/4 cup melted coconut oil
1 1/3 cup room temperature soy milk + 2 Tbp. lemon juice

Mix the dry ingredients together, except apricots.  Mix wet ingredients, including apricots.  Fold wet mixture into dry mixture.  Fill sprayed muffin tins about 3/4 full.  This recipe yielded 19 muffins.  Bake in preheated 375-degree oven for about 16 minutes, until golden and toothpick comes out clean.  I put some coconut on top of the muffins, and it looked pretty.

In the picture with the muffin is a breakfast salad made with chilled, sliced ripe Bartlett pear on a bed of arugula.  Shredded carrots on top, and guess how I used the leftover pomegranate chipotle vinaigrette?  Yum breakfast salad and healthy muffin!

Barley and Fresh Vegetable Soup with Italian Herbs and Hawaiian Red Sea Salt

In a stock pot, saute onions (about 1/2, diced), with minced garlic, and chopped fresh celery, carrots, corn, mushrooms, and green beans.  I didn't really measure - I usually use a couple of carrots and ribs of celery, one ear of corn, a cup or more of mushrooms and green beans.  Add 4 cups vegetable broth and about 2 more cups of water, 1 cup of pearl barley, and a 15-ounce can of whole tomatoes (take the tomatoes out, crush by hand into the soup).  Add 1/2 to 1 cup frozen or fresh green peas (I used frozen local Texas peas from Central Market).  Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to medium low, and add pepper and salt.  Add fresh basil, oregano, parsley and thyme, and 2-3 bay leaves.  Simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour.  Stir occasionally.  The barley should get soft.  Taste and adjust seasonings.  I didn't add much salt, but I used Hawaiian Red Sea Salt.  It worked well with this dish.  I found it was better to grind a little of the salt onto each serving.  A very small amount of artisan salt added at the end of cooking or right before eating gives the dish a burst of flavor.  The experience of the actual salt crystal is enhancing as well.

Couscous Salad with Pomegranate Chipotle Vinaigrette

Prepare couscous (1 1/3 cup uncooked)
Chill (Works well to do the day before)
Add diced vegetables/herbs:
3 green onions
yellow and red bell pepper
carrots
celery
dried cranberries
chopped tomatoes
garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
chopped parsley or other herbs that suit your taste
Add dressing to taste; serve chilled or room temperature

Pomegranate Chipotle Vinaigrette
I made a standard vinaigrette (1/4 C. vinegar combined with minced garlic, fresh ground salt and pepper,  to 3/4 C. olive oil drizzled in while whisking)

I used Cowgirl Brands Texas Olive Ranch -  Pomegranate Balsamic Vinegar and Rattlesnake Chipotle and Pepper Olive Oil.  Pure heaven.  The balsamic vinegar is amazing, and the chipotle in the olive oil complements the vinegar perfectly.  I bought the vinegar and oil at the Farmer's Market, and I will definitely be trying some more varieties.  The prices are the same online (http://texasoliveranch.com/index.html), but you'll have to pay shipping, and you won't get to walk around on Saturday morning listening to acoustic guitar, eating black bean sweet potato breakfast tacos, and purchasing loads of beautiful organic vegetables.

This dish is pink!  It really is an appetizing pink, though.  It's delicious.

Literary Trail and Feeling Loved

It's always a delight when you start looking for something, and it leads you on a trail of finding things that were not what you were looking for.  I was looking for a Leonard Cohen book.  I remember seeing it on my shelf.  Now was the time to read it.  I could not find it on any bookshelves.  I checked my nightstand, then the drawer.  Lying right on top was a Leonard Cohen verse I had written on a slip of paper and stuck in my drawer.

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in

That led to my finding a poem my son wrote as a mother's day gift nestled next to the Cohen verse.  I delighted in reading it again - the unexpected literary gifts of the day.

Angels and Feeling Loved

I had a long day filled with serious medical information about my husband.  That can be brutal.  Then, I got to work early to hear of a former colleague's sudden death.  When I walked into my classroom, I was greeted by a painting of an angel that a child had left for me and "Mr. C."  So I guess there really are angels.  Mountain angels.  Tree angels.  Red-Tailed Hawk angels (saw a beautiful one yesterday on the road).  If nothing else, angels smooth out the brutal edges a bit.

Thanks for Wine and Chocolate

I am a busy teacher who has begun a journey of losing weight, exercising, taking care of myself, and exploring a plant-based diet.  Eating a plant based diet is not only making me lighter in body, but also in mind and spirit.  Therefore the Peace, Love and Plants title.  It just so happens that two of my favorite substances are plant based - wine and chocolate.  I usually have to work at least some portion of the weekend to stay afloat in my job as an elementary school teacher, but I DID NOT WORK THIS WEEKEND.  Therefore, up at 4:00 a.m. today, worked at home full speed to prepare for Monday.  Arrived at work at 6:30 a.m., worked nonstop until 7:00 p.m., due to the fact that I have to be out on Tuesday.  Whew!  I'm still breathing, but not much.  Therefore, for this post, I simply sing the praises of one of life's simple rewards that makes the end of a long, hard day bearable.  Chocolate.  Wine.  Not only sublime and delicious nectar and food of the gods, but also reasonable healthy for you in the right form and quantity.  Thank you, world, for these gifts.