Fortuna Salad, for the last oozings of January

Our whole household has been ill with some sort of virus every week since before Christmastime. This is wearing on a mom. And these dreary days of winter are going to linger for many many more months.
Today I decided I needed a pick-me-up. And a little imaginary luck might just do the trick!
This bean salad was inspired by a Nava Atlas post I saw this morning (sigh, I *heart* her). I adapted it to fit with what I had on hand. Let me just say, it was spectacular! Bright and filling. I have heard it said that black-eyed peas bring good luck. If they do, bonus! They are full of fiber and nutrients and mixed with the black beans they made for a happy mommy mouth. And the grapefruit was like welcome sunshine to the taste buds.
(this recipe is vegan, but feel free to add some feta or prosciutto if you are feeling a little more adventurous.)

Fortuna Salad
1 14oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 14oz can black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed
1 red pepper, seeds removed and chopped
1 roma tomato, chopped
1/2 cup pimento stuffed olives, chopped
half of a grapefruit, segments removed and halved
juice of one lemon
1 teaspoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Italian Garlic Croutons (recipe follows)

In a medium bowl, mix all ingredients, except for the croutons, until well combined. Let sit at room temp at least 10 minutes to let the flavors marry. Top each portion with croutons before serving. Enjoy!
This makes about 2 largish dinner sized bowls, or three lunch portions. I paired mine with whole wheat bread drizzled with raw honey.

Italian Garlic Croutons

two slices good quality bread*, cubed
olive oil spray
italian seasoning, a pinch
garlic powder, a pinch

Preheat oven to 350. Place bread cubes on a cookie sheet. Spray lightly with the olive oil and sprinkle with italian seasoning and garlic powder. Toss to coat. Place in the oven until toasty on all sides (tossing after a few minutes), about 5 minutes.
When pressed for time, or if I don't want to heat up my whole oven, I put these in a toaster oven and put on the medium to dark toast setting.

*My family does not enjoy the heel portions of a sandwich loaf. I end up with a bag or two of just heels by weeks end and HATE to see them go to waste. I save them, or if I don't think they will get used up soon, will put them in the freezer. They are perfect for making croutons, or dried on the counter in cubes for stuffing, or, my favorite...breadcrumbs!

Oh Snap!

Can't get enough of me through here and facebook? Well, now I am now a bonified blog contributor for Oh Snap, Baby.

Oh SNAP!

RAW breakfast on a Tuesday

day 1 of RAW (if you recall i will have two of these a week)

for breakfast, a simple fruit stew.
orange segments
grapes
chopped lady pink apples
raw almonds
flaked, raw unsweetened coconut
*hint: keep the almonds and coconut in the freezer for a crisp, ice box cold, fruit salad.

it was actually quite satisfying, with help from the almonds.


there was even a bit left over for Sir Cohen.

A gift for Brother

Could not resist these bread slice shaped coasters I found at a thrift store. I cut out some photos of my children and affixed them inside. Voila! Picture frames for my brother. Hope you all had a very joyful Christmas. It was simply magical here in the south...

Travels in RAW: take 1-- Falafel Patties

Before I take on my New Years Resolution in full swing, I figured a trial run was in order. I am using the book RAW as a reference and decided to try out the Falafel Patties given inside.

First you are to sprout some chickpeas. I loved the happy little tails that started showing the next day.


















Then you pulse those and a bunch of other goodies, like onion, garlic, and cilantro in your food processor.














After a bit, it looks like this.























You then shape patties and dehydrate them at 90 degrees for about 8 hours. Your house will smell of cumin and onion. This is a good thing.













They are lovely when they are done. Speckled with green, crispy on the outside, and moist in the center. They have a nice "bite" from the onion and cilantro, but the chickpeas give it a nice mellowness in the end.


I ate mine on a bed of greens, with some homemade RAW cheese (with a touch of chili paste--cheating...i know), some chopped dates, a cucumber slice or two, and grape tomatoes. Oat crackers and an orange are great compliments.

Interviews with Children: Cohen

Name: Cohen Joshua

Age: 3

What do you want to be when you grow up? a heffalump or a bridge builder

If you could be any animal, which one would you be? giraffe

Why is the sky blue? Because it helps the moon go up.

If you could be any movie character, which one would you be? Piglet

Favorite word? apple

What is your favorite book? *points to all the books*

If you could have a super power, which one would you choose? Superman

What is your favorite food: apple

If you discovered something AMAZING on Neptune, what would it be? Superman will throw in the sky and throw him down on the snow.

What is your favorite school subject? color pages

If you could have any talent, what would you want the most? To read books.

If you were conducting this interview, what question would you ask yourself?
How do you...? I don't know. I can't talk.

A Goodies Basket for Christmas

*spoiler for any member of the RHE Co-Op...

Traditional fare... and not so much. For the ladies and children at our Homeschool Co-Op.

Pumpkin bread slices, itty bitty banana chocolate chip bread loaves, peppermint bark, and
sunflower seeds (remember these?) all tied up with red yarn. Also (not shown), a whole tin filled with chocolate peanut butter fudgle.
fudgle: (fuh-j-l) n. a rich substance, somewhat like fudge and somewhat like a truffle...except not so rich.

Merry, Merry Christmas.

Interviews with Children: Keaton

Name: Keaton William Jackson

Age: 6

Favorite color: Probably green

What do you want to be when you grow up? A builder

If you could be any animal, which would it be? Lion. No, a snake.

Why is the sky blue? Uhhh....because it makes His world beautiful...?

If you could be any movie character, which one would you be? Aragorn

Favorite word: God

Favorite book: Ottie and the Star

If you could have any super power, which one would you want? Just.....strong

Favorite Food: pizza

If you landed on Neptune and discovered something AMAZING, what would it be? An alien

Favorite school subject: Math

If you could have any talent, which would you wish for most? Building really well.

If you were conducting this interview, what question would you ask yourself?
How do you make legos?
You get something plastic and then you cook it down and it makes legos.

Interviews with Children: Ashton

Name: Ashton Ellison

Age: 9. Well, almost 10. 9 and 1/2

What is your favorite color? dark pink or almost white pink

What do you want to be when you grow up? a vet


If you could be an animal, what would you be? a horse or a wolf

Why is the sky blue? I don't know. That's how God made it..?

If you could be any movie character, what/who would you be? Spirit

Favorite word: manipulate. I like to say it. ma-nip-u-late.

Favorite book: I have three. Moonlight Shadow, Spring of the Poacher's Moon, and When Someone Leaves


If you could have any super power, what would it be? being invisible and having a force field

Favorite food: french toast


If you were to land on Neptune, and discover something AMAZING, what would it be? A unicorn

Favorite school subject: Science and History

What talent would you love to have? being a famous trick rider or a singer

If you were conducting this interview? What question would you ask yourself?
If you could have any pet in the world, what would it be?
A dragon. Or, a unicorn. No, a horse.

the husband purchases a dehydrator for his wife

Dehydrator's first use:


If I had known that homemade raisins were this delicious, I would not have been wasting my money on the nasty, gummy imitators that you can get at the store. And, they are HUGE compared to their mass produced brothers. The flavor is deep and intense, and almost sun-dried tomato like. I am in love.

nesting

i like these little guys. birthday present to myself, actually.

nesting tea cups, starbucks, $9.95.

i especially like the one-handled sides. they snuggle very
nicely in the palm and are perfect for individual pot pies or a brew of hot chamomile tea. (i also tried french onion soup...sigh...forgot to take the picture...it was perfection, though).

buy them for someone you love.

new year eats

my new year resolution lists are usually very small and simple. last year, my list said, "be healthy(er). laugh more. cook breakfast."
i did OK.
this year, my list reads, "be a runner. wake up early(er). eat raw 2 times a week."

a visit to S.F., CA a few years back, yielded me an interest in the RAW movement. the place was called Cafe Gratitude and there i feasted on items given names such as: I am Insightful and I am Cheerful. really. it was revolutionary [to me].

this book (shown above) reads like a life guide. and the simplification of instruction, as in: chop. mix. munch. ......

.....swoon.
i will break this poor book's spine by year end. mark. my. words.

one thing is for certain, though, this book betters you if you have a food dehydrator. which i have not. (note to persons in the action of gift giving: jami needs dehydrator with at least a 90 degree temp setting function).

the end.

Happy Holiday Season!

A soup for Autumn

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells

-- from John Keats poem, To Autumn







Autumn Bounty Soup, AKA Rock Your Socks Roasted Butternut Squash Soup (for the slow cooker)

2 medium sized butternut squash, unpeeled, halved, and seeds removed
1 medium onion, peeled and cut into quarters
6 whole garlic cloves, peeled
olive oil
kosher salt
fresh ground pepper
1/4 cup apple cider (or more if you like it sweeter)
3-5 cups broth or water (use more for a soupy consistency and less for a thick consistency)
1/2 cup instant potato flakes (used as a thickener and not absolutely necessary if you have an aversion to such things)
1/2 cup half and half
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon rubbed sage
3 to 4 good shakes of tobasco sauce (omit or decrease if serving to children or the heat impaired)

(special equipment: blender, mesh sieve)

Preheat oven to 350. On a cookie sheet place a quarter onion and a garlic clove or two in each seed cavity of the butternut squash halves (see picture above). This is not a necessary step, I just enjoy the way it looks and I don't have to scrape crispy bits of onion and garlic from the bottom of the pan later. Drizzle all pieces with copious amounts of olive oil, or less if you choose to not wear this soup on your hips. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground pepper to your taste preferences. Roast until squash is very soft when pierced with a fork, about 45 minutes to an hour. Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 15 minutes.

Once cool to the touch, use a spoon to scoop out the flesh, onions, and garlic away from the butternut squash skin and plop gracefully into a slow cooker. Try to not let any pieces of skin mingle with the flesh as this will leave unsavory bits of chewy matter in your finished product. Once you have removed all the roasted pieces, you can add the remaining ingredients. Place the lid on the slow cooker and set to low for about 4 hours. It is OK to have large scoops and pieces in your slow cooker as they will all be subjected to rigorous pureeing in the next step.

After 4 hours has passed you can now begin the process of pureeing. You need a large separate bowl and a mesh sieve set over the bowl ready to go. Some may find this a tedious thing and if you would like a more rustic and textured soup you may use an immersion blender to break up the big pieces and serve as is. I find a smooth as pumpkin pie consistency more palatable so I do put up with the extra step. In small batches, ladle the soup into a blender. Do not fill the blender more than a 3rd full or you will wear your soup to the dinner table. Pulse until you see nary a chunk and pour slowly through the sieve and into the bowl. Let drain while you begin your other batches. Repeat until all the soup has been pureed. Using a rubber spatula, squash down (pun intended) the soup leftover in the sieve, getting as much soup pressed into the bowl as possible. Discard any solids left over. Pour soup back into the slow cooker and give a quick taste test, adding more of any seasoning if you feel the need. Cook an additional hour.

When ready to serve, ladle into bowls and garnish with a dabble of cream, half and half, yogurt, or sour cream. A little chopped cilantro adds color and flavor. An extra splash of hot sauce is also devilishly satisfying. I served mine with a simple pear topped salad and toasted crusty bread with an ample wedge of melty cheese atop.

Yield: a lot
Should you have any remaining soup, it freezes well for up to 6 weeks.

Harry Turns One

A Very Hungry Caterpillar cupcake cake for Harry.






So very sweet.