Category Archives: food

February 21, 2011 · 8:35 pm

Open

Thanks for all the congrats and best wishes on the clinic!

Saturday’s Grand Opening was fun.

The muffins and the Grape Kefir Soda were big hits!

There is even some interest around town in me giving a workshop on Kefir Soda!

Yesterday Tate and I stayed out of the office and got into the woods

Sadly it wasn’t long before we came to this

I think they are serious although it’s a little hard to tell from the blue cartoon penguin a…fish?

Oh so that’s razor wire

Yeah, they are serious.  They had surveillance cameras in the trees!

So we turned around

It was great to be on my bike, I’ve been seriously neglecting it since about November.  When I lived in Salt Lake City and Portland I biked many, many miles a week commuting to school than work.  Everything in Charlottesville is so close I usually prefer to walk instead of haul my bike out of the basement.  I do love the feeling of flying down a hill after working to get to the top though!  And it C’ville biking is all about peddle-coast!

Did you like the muffins?  Yeah, me too.  This is why you are going to be seeing a lot more filled muffins around these parts coming up, I’ve got big ideas!

A few of you asked about the coconut butter truffles so here you go.

I started making these babies a few months ago and instantly fell in love.  You can read about the first batch here.

For the first few batches I used Spectrum brand unrefined virgin coconut oil and they turned out amazing.  Then I started making coconut butter at home in an attempt to replicate Artisana’s unbelievable deliciousness.  Then I started adding cocoa and stevia to my coconut butter because…why not?

First of all, making coconut butter at home is as simple as buying unsweetened shredded coconut and throwing it in your food processor.  It will eventually start to soften up and create a ball, keep processing.  At this point you may need to start scrapping the sides every 30 seconds or so.  It’s ready when it’s fully liquidy and drippy but it will still have a tiny bit of texture to it (unless your food processor is miraculous).

I divvy out 1 teaspoon servings into silicon mini muffin cups so it’s easier to deal with once it hardens.

I store the morsels in an empty coconut oil jar and toss a serving on top of my oats for a hit of lauric acid and yummy richness.  And occasionally pop one straight into my mouth.

Back to the chocolate version.  Once it’s drippy and creamy add some non alkalized cocoa, stevia, a pinch of salt, and a splash of vanilla to the processor, mix thoroughly, taste test, adjust with more cocoa/stevia to desired sweetness.  If you don’t have silicon or paper baking cups you could wait just a few minutes for it to start thickening then spoon onto parchment paper to create disks.

These chocolates are so delicious on their own that I haven’t gotten too creative with other flavors but yesterday I left out the vanilla and topped each one with the tiniest pinch of lavender salt.  (Don’t have access to lavender salt?  No worries, tomorrow I’ll show you how to make your own!)

Lately if chocolate doesn’t have a little salt in it than I feel like a flavor layer is missing!  Love the contrast!

This can also be made with honey instead of stevia but it doesn’t harden as much.

I personally like the taste of stevia but it can certainly be a little intense.  My favorite brand is SweetLeaf.

The coconut oil version is more decadent and rich tasting and recommended for special occasions but it’s actually a little easier to make, just melt and mix.

I am a little sore from my Core Four workout yesterday!  It’s a doozy!

P.S I am working on a recipe page!

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February 15, 2011 · 2:22 pm

Valentines Lives On

I ♥ breakfast.

Oats ♥ my ♥. 🙂

Tate and I had a sweet 10th Valentines together, from the oats delivery to the midday picnic

Yay for the first picnic of 2011 being in FEBRUARY!

This salad rocked.  Arugula, white beans, beets, gorgonzola, and avocado dressed with Newman’s Own Low Fat Rasberry Walnut Balsamic, served with Grape Kefir Soda.

My Valentine ♥

The remainder of the day was spent in the clinic and at a Neurofeedback appointment with Jessica.  I am thrilled to report that I slept great last night!  My brain must be responding to the training!

Tate and I went out for an early dinner and were in bed embarrassingly early.

Do you know what those are↑?

Soaking black beans!

Last week reader Laura asked me a question about how I prepare beans.  Since I am a huge bean fan, and Tate is even more of a fan than me, this house sees a lot of legumes and I am more than happy to discuss this little wonder food.

Before moving to Peru canned black beans and garbanzos were a staple on our grocery list.   Growing up my parents always fixed beans from scratch but on my own it seemed so simple to buy the $.70 cans.

Canned beans are a novelty item in the bean culture of Peru.  Cans are expensive and wasteful, not to mention a serving size there is like a can a person! When in Rome Lima…I started soaking dried beans and cooking them on a regular basis.

This is a practice I have kept up with since returning to the land of cans and convenience. Cooking beans from scratch is both economical and ecological.  Sure, you can recycle cans but think of all the energy that went into producing that can, cooking the beans, transporting the cans to the bean factory to the grocery store to your house, not to mention the energy required to recycle.  You can reduce the impact (and sometimes the cost) even further by buying beans from the bulk bins and using reused produce bags (you are going to rinse and boil the beans so don’t worry about sanitation) to store them.

So what do you do with those little dry beans once you bring them home?  My preferred method is the long soak.  This method definitely takes some forethought but since we are always up for eating beans around here I always have beans soaking.

Here are the garbanzos in my fridge right now

Place dry beans in a container, cover plus a few inches with water, place in fridge or on counter for at least 12 hours, preferably 24 or more.   If you are soaking for longer than 24 hours I recommend putting your soaking beans in the fridge.  I often soak for days, I think those garbanzos have been in there since Wednesday.  The longer the soak the quicker the cooking time (and less gas-inducing complex sugars!).  Black beans can cook in as little as 20 minutes after a long soak.

Note: dry beans soak up a ton of water, check them after a few hours to make sure they are still completely covered.

I recommend soaking in glass so you don’t have to worry about the soaking water leaching toxins from plastic or metal.

When you are ready to cook your soaked beans pour them into a colander and rinse several times to clean them (beans never get washed prior to bagging!), dump into a pot, cover completely with water, bring to a boil, turn down and simmer until fully cooked (completely soft).

If you want to add salt to your beans DO NOT add it until the beans are very close to done, otherwise they won’t soften completely.  Drain and enjoy!

I recommend making large batches with this method and freezing the leftovers in freezer bags or jars.  This way you have beans ready to eat at all times and your freezer stays full (more energy-efficient).

This method is appropriate for any type of dry beans that require soaking (lentil and split peas are two that do not need soaked).

Beans are one of the healthiest and cheapest food sources so enjoy liberally!

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