Shrimp Bowl Surprise!

Wow, it's been a whole month since I last posted! I've taken some photos and created a few recipes, but somehow they never made it here. This one turned out so well and interesting. It makes me realize that if I just focus on an ingredient or two, then check the 'fridge and pantry to add what others I feel are needed, sometimes unlikely magic happens!

This idea started with wild caught Red Argentinian Shrimp. Then I wanted something fresh and green. I was thinking kale, but I finished that in another recipe a few days earlier. Then I spied tiny yellow-green cabbages. . .Brussels sprouts! Yes! Then I needed crunch, hence the walnuts and for a bland flavor and texture, garbanzos seemed right to bring it all together. . .

Slice then sauté the Brussels sprouts in a big spoonful of Costco's Kirkland Organic Ghee. (I've tried several brands and also made my own - this is the absolute best ghee!) As that starts to brown, add a bit of bone broth or a splash of cooking Sherry, then stir in about a cup of rough chopped walnuts. Simmer-sauté these together then add 6-8 big shrimp cut into smaller pieces and half a small, sliced onion. Stir-sauté this until the shrimp is almost done. Season - I use Lawry's Garlic Salt and my blend of finely ground black and cayenne pepper. Just before serving, stir in half a can of drained-rinsed-dried garbanzos. Cover, turn off the heat. Wait about 5 minutes, stir and serve. . .Lin

A BIG Power-Packed (Vegan) Salad

A good, healthy salad is a Food Treasure! 

Year-round, my salad spinner is always in my 'fridge, filled with a fresh lettuce mix. If you don't have a good salad spinner, that would be my first recommendation. Washing the leafy greens and spinning them dry is easily accomplished. Mine was around $10.00 at Walmart, made by Progressive. The new ones look a bit different, but they work so well. "A good salad spinner" doesn't always equate to spending way more than this. 

My lettuce mixes alway include Romaine lettuce, cabbage, onion and other greens. If the mix will be used within a couple days, I'll add cucumber. Today my other greens are half a big bunch of fresh curly parsley. To that I added: half a red bell pepper, one sliced carrot, and -since I just ran out of cabbage- I used 4 big Brussels sprouts, sliced very thin, in place of that. 

About 1/3 of this fond its way into a big bowl for lunch. Then I added quite a few things. Drained, rinsed garbanzo and black beans - 1/2 a can of each, so I'll have the same left over for another big salad. There are also mushrooms, sprouted lentil, seasoned almonds, grape tomatoes, and half a big avocado.

The fresh, raw vegetables are good sources of vitamins A & C for sure, as well as many other nutrients. The canned beans, sprouts, almonds and avocado are full of protein and the entire salad has lots of great plant fiber.

I topped it with this favorite dressing, of mine and others, that I created long ago. I always have a 12oz-32oz bottle of it in my 'fridge. I'll graze on this for the next several hours.

If your stomach is sensitive to raw, you could steam the hard vegetables, then cool them a bit, before adding them to your bowl. In this salad it would be the carrots, onion and peppers. Salads are a great, clean reset for your body, if you find yourself eating less than healthy, and to get your food plan back on track. . .Lin

Tomahawk Black Bean-Yogurt Salad

Many, many ago, our family went to a pot luck at a friend of our daughter's cabin in Tomahawk, Wisconsin. She made a simplified version of this, using only black beans, a little onion, lots of celery and yogurt. I'm pretty sure it was my first time eating black beans. Also the first time I ever had a salad using yogurt in place of mayonnaise. I so love pot luck suppers! I always learn something new by trying other people's dishes! 

Drain, rinse well, then drain again:

1 can garbanzo beans

1 can black beans

Transfer the beans to a medium glass bowl, then chop and add the following:

1/3 lg. purple onion

1/3 lg. orange bell pepper

2 stalks celery hearts and tops

3/4c Chobani plain whole milk Greek yogurt

zest of 1 lemon + 2T fresh lemon juice

1t+ Lowry's Garlic Salt

1/2t finely ground black pepper

a pinch of cayenne (red) pepper

Sometimes all I want is a big plate of interesting vegetables!

Shown here from the top: this bean salad recipe — grape tomatoes and avocados dressed with a splash of red wine vinegar, EVOO, garlic salt and pepper — the Brussels sprout salad I made earlier. This is a late breakfast-lunch-early dinner that I'll graze on the rest of the day 😊

Not a fan of beans? Well, neither was I until I heard glowing reports about a Nutritionist in Wisconsin, Karen Hurd, who did the research and developed a plan using beans, yes, simple canned beans (!) to pull toxins from our bodies. I met with her 1:1 and also had a phone consultation or two afterward. I totally believe in her teachings. Here's an article by another bean-believer that explains Karen's Bean Protocol. . .Lin

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”. . .

Hippocrates was a very wise man

Sausage-and-Bean Spaghetti Squash Casserole

This began several days ago, and then, just stalled.

Ugh. . .the sauce didn't taste at all as I had hoped.

I tried it again this morning and realized the beans absorbed all the good flavors, leaving it SO bland, that I almost trashed it.

Then I analyzed a bit, and realized it needed flavorful fat: -butter-, texture: -mushrooms-, acid: -tomato paste and lemon-, and for a pinch of sweetness: -coconut sugar-, smokiness: -cumin and paprika-. . .Voilà! . .Now here we are, at the end of the second try!!

NOTE: I did NOT use sour cream (shown) in the first photo. . .

Finely chop the vegetables shown, then sauté, in 2T EVOO with 4 oz. mild Italian sausage, removed from its casing:

2 big celery stalks

2/3 bell pepper

1 med. onion

3 big cloves garlic

Then stir in a can of rinsed, drained garbanzo beans that have also been finely chopped.

.~.           .~.           .~.           .~.           .~. 

Today, I sautéed these ingredients together, in the order given, with enough time to brown the mushrooms well before adding the acids.

3T butter

2T dark thick Balsamic vinegar

12oz. fresh mushrooms, sliced

sprinkled with pepper, garlic salt and smokey ground cumin

1-2T tomato paste

1 lemon - zest + juice

I partially cooked the spaghetti squash by first washing and drying it well. Then in one area, I made several cuts (stabs if you will) to allow steam to escape, then wrapped the it in paper towels, and put it, with the cut side up, in the microwave. I don't remember now how long I cooked it, but I know I cooked it at 60% power, checking it every so often until it was starting to soften. When I squeezed it, it would 'give' a little.

At this point, let it cool a bit on the counter. Later, cut it in half, lengthwise. Scoop out and throw away the seeds and dark strings, leaving the lighter colored 'spaghetti.' With a sharp knife, cut through the spaghetti, down to the outer shell, so you don't have big long strings. Scoop this into a glass baking pan and cover with the sauce.

It's shown here, ready to be chilled, then baked tomorrow in a 350° preheated oven for 15 - 20 minutes. Sprinkle some shredded, hard-flavorful cheese on top before baking if you'd like. . .Lin

Beef, Beans and Greens

I've never been big on 'hot dogs,' but I saw these a while ago at Sam's Club and was surprised to read the label and find. . .they're almost healthy! Ever since, I've been craving them from time to time, so I was glad I had 3# and froze what I didn't use at first. 

Today I was going to combine them with homemade mac & cheese, but decided I didn't want the pasta carbs, so this happened instead.

4 stalks celery - sliced

3 BIG garlic cloves - sliced

2-3T single source EVOO

1 sm. onion - chopped

beet stems (and greens later)

kohlrabi stems (and greens later)

8-12oz. water

12oz. cut up beef hot dogs

12oz. cubed kohlrabi

1-2 drained-rinsed cans of garbanzos

3T black bean garlic sauce

1-2T coconut sugar

1t± garlic salt

a 2T corn starch + 3/4c water slurry as a thickener

Sauté the sliced celery and 1 clove of garlic in the olive oil until the celery turns a little translucent and the garlic browns. Add the water and stems only, of the beet and kohlrabi greens, and cook a little longer. Next, add the hot dogs and kohlrabi, turn up the heat and simmer covered, then stirring and uncovered for a bit.

When the kohlrabi turns translucent, add the garbanzos, the slice-chopped greens, sauce, and remaining ingredients. Simmer another 10-15 minutes until the greens are wilted.

This would be excellent with cornbread. . .Lin

A Cucumber Salad UPDATE!

As much as I've always loved this salad, (scroll down) for me, it's just not one that keeps well.  It's more of a one-shot serve-it-now-and-be-done kinda thing.  Leftovers are usually a favorite of mine, but in regard to raw foods and salads, they aren't always very good, even just the next day.  I had quite a bit still in the 'fridge today.  Decided to jazz it up - with a little bean protein!  For this, garbanzos (chick peas) are my hands-down preference!

Rinse and drain, then put in a medium sized bowl bowl.  If you still have this dressing leftover, pour it over the beans.  Warm this just a touch in the microwave, toss it with the original salad, add some gorganzola crumbles just before serving.  Be Creative - Happy Cooking Everyone! . . .Lin

A Coconut Vegetable Curry

½-1 can garbanzo beans

½ sm. yellow onion-chopped

1 lg. garlic clove-minced

1T± coconut oil

I had some garbanzos leftover from the other day, so I decided to brown them up a bit in my cast iron stock pot with the little bit of onion, garlic and coconut oil.  You'll probably need to cover the pot with a splatter screen since the beans will start snapping and popping when they begin to brown.  Once they reach that point, turn off the heat and finish your vegetable prep.

4 sm. sweet potatoes
6 quartered radishes

1 lg. turnip

3 cloves garlic

¾c golden raisins

(dried figs, prunes, apricots)

2t± fresh minced ginger

2-3T AROY-D yellow curry paste

2-4c water
~ 4-8oz. AROY-D coconut milk

~ ½ bunch cilantro or Italian parsley

Scrub the sweet potatoes, but don't peel them, just cut off the ends and slice off any skin irregularities or dark patches.  If your turnip's been waxed, cut it in quarters.  This should make it easy to pop the thin layer of wax off the skin.  Since turnip skins are nice and thin, like carrots, you don't need to peel them, just scrub them well, once the wax is off.  The skin gives you a bit more really good vegetable fiber.  Mince the garlic and add these ingredients to the bean pot, down to, and including the water.  Simmer a half hour or longer until the vegetables are cooked as you like them.

Add the coconut milk, greens, simmer a while and then check the flavors.  Serve as is (or over rice, quinoa or angel hair pasta).  Oh, I  SOOO love a really good, well-balanced, curry!  😊 . . . Lin

Avocado-Artichoke Hummus

2 cans drained garbanzo beans

1 can artichoke hearts

1 avocado

1 large garlic clove

3-4T roasted red pepper

1/4 - 1/2c extra virgin olive oil

1t-1T toasted sesame oil

1 lemon - zest and juice

2t± chili powder and/or ground cumin

a little water if needed

Combine everything in a food processor until it reaches your desired consistency.  Serve with sliced fresh vegetables, pita chips, bagel chips, or use in place of mayonnaise on a sandwich. . . .Lin