Basic Breakfast

I was watching Oprah yesterday and Dr. Oz was on talking about fiber. He was saying that we should be aiming to get 7-10 grams of fiber in at breakfast every morning. Now, those of you who know me know that I don't really need much encouragement to add more fiber to my diet. And in my blissful fiber-pondering state I can't remember if he suggested Grape Nuts, or if I remembered that from somewhere else but either way, that is where my mind went.

Now I remember in high school eating something that I thought was Grape Nuts. A friend of mine ate them all the time so I tried them. They looked like dog food to me (they were shaped like giant rectangular "O"s and they looked awful) but they had this sweet aftertaste that made them actually quite delightful. So when I went looking for grape nuts, that is what I looked for... unsuccessfully. So I settled for these.

Add 1/2 cup of grape nuts and 1/2 cup of light soy milk and this is what you get:


I recommend letting this sit for a minute or two as grape nuts are very crunchy (too crunchy in my opinion). But after a little soak in the soy milk they are great. Each 1/2 cup has 7 grams of fiber - not shabby.

Prior to my grape nut re-discovery I had been eating blueberries and peaches for breakfast. The fresh blueberries are so good right now, I cannot stay away! And the peaches at Costco looked good too so this is now a daily treat:


Mmmmmmm....

Shepherd's Pie

Yesterday I was inspired by Roni over at Greenlitebites to make a Shepherd's Pie. I have never made a Shepherd's Pie before and the idea never really appealed to me until I watched Roni make one. You can watch the video of her making it live here. She had so many vegetables in hers that I thought it would be easy to convert the recipe into a vegetarian version and I am glad that I did.

Spoiler: The topping was my favorite part!

First I steamed up some vegetables that I happened to already have in my refrigerator (although I did go to the store for a zucchini this morning).

Since I didn't add any meat to mine, I added some leftover Garden Burger Wrap mix, garbanzo beans and cranberry beans (more on cranberry beans later- but for now, think of them as kidney beans). I steamed it up and it looked like this:


I also added some leftover whole wheat noodles from last nights dinner just for fun and to bulk it up some. Then I spread it out in a casserole dish and added some whipped sweet potatoes on top (I used a hand mixer but you could also mash them by hand).

I added some fresh thyme from my garden on top and then put the whole thing under the broiler for about 8 minutes.


Here's my plate:

This was pretty good although I want to think of a way to give it some more flavor. It was a little bland for my tastes and it would have been good with more beans instead of just what I had on hand. But the topping.... the sweet potato topping made the whole thing worth it and I never would have thought of it on my own.


Oh, and I was on my own in the kitchen this evening, because someone was too tired to help...




This may be the cutest picture of Zoey ever. So she is totally off the hook tonight.

Tomatoes from scratch

Now, I have grown tomatoes before. Or to be more exact: I have grown 1 tomato once before. Back in Montana I didn't have a yard so I attempted to grow some tomatoes out on my deck in large containers. I had good intentions, but after caring for 3 tomato plants all summer I ended my journey with 1 tomato. It was good, but no better than what I could have gotten at the local farmers market so I didn't attempt my adventure again. Well, this summer is different.

As I mentioned in my previous post, apparently tomatoes grown in Oregon are on the "do not eat" list because of the salmonella outbreak. So, I am taking matters into my own hands. I now have 3 baby tomato plants growing in the back yard. And this one just sprouted flowers! I am not sure how long it takes to grow a tomato from a flower, but I am very excited.

So excited in fact, that my neighbor has become suspicious of my frequent visits to the back yard. Last night when I was walking back there to water he stopped me and said "You must have something really special growing back there". How am I supposed to respond to that?

I thought I was being reasonable by checking on them about 5 times per day. 1 time to water. 3 times just to check to see if they need more water or if they have grown any flowers. And 1 more time to take pictures like the one above. Totally worth it, and I am looking forward to the taste of fresh tomatoes once again.

Spaghetti with Vegetables

When I say that we are having spaghetti for dinner, this is what I mean. I always end up with this giant pan of vegetables and sauce and I love it. Now, in my defense, I intended to make this dinner when my mom was here visiting, so it was intended for 4-6 servings. Since we ended up having a different dinner one night, that means that I had lots of leftovers. But this is just as good leftover!

Spaghetti with Vegetables:

whole wheat pasta
pasta sauce of your choice
2 heads broccoli
3 carrots
4 stalks celery
1 green zucchini + 1 yellow zucchini
2 tomatoes
1/2 red onion
3 cloves garlic
** Note that you can use any combination of vegetables that you like. These are just my favorites. And note that there are no tomatoes in the picture because apparently they aren't safe to eat right now in Oregon. This makes me very sad, but I am adapting!

Directions:
1. Bring water to a boil and start cooking pasta noodles
2. Chop all the vegetables (I separate them into 3 bowls based on cooking times - see below)

3. See if Zoey wants to sniff the bowl with broccoli and zucchini:


She likes it!

Here is how I separate out the vegetables.

4. You can either spray the bottom of your cooking dish with cooking spray or add a little water. I steam the carrots, onions and garlic first.
5. After a few minutes add the broccoli.
6. After 2 more minutes add in the rest of the vegetables and allow to steam for 2 minutes.


7. Add sauce to taste. I ended up using the whole jar here, but normally I use about half the jar.


I served this over whole wheat pasta (You can see it boiling in the background). I generally eat just a little pasta and a lot of the vegetable sauce. This is my go-to meal when I want to serve a dinner with lots of vegetables and I am running low on creativity. This recipe is very forgiving, so you can add anything that you have on hand. And since I get carried away in the vegetable department, I always have leftovers for the next day- I love that.

Basic Beets

Nothing says summer like some fresh cooked beets out on the patio. I walk by the fresh beets at the grocery store every week, but I wasn't sure how to prepare them, which means that I haven't had fresh beets in years even though I love them.

This past weekend my mom was here visiting me and she taught me the finer ways of beet preparation (among other things of course).

Basic Beets

Fresh beets
water to cover them

I told you this was basic!

1. Chop the greens off the beets.
2. Bring the beets to a slow boil in a large pot. We made 9 beets, which may have been a little extreme for 2 people but I loved them, so no complaints here.
3. Allow them to boil gently for 25-45 minutes depending on the size of the beets.


You can test the beets for readiness by using "the fork test" shown here:



That's my mom holding the fork!

Once you can pierce them with a fork, allow them to cool in cold water and then peel them with a knife (or skip this step if you don't mind eating the skin). Slice them or quarter them and enjoy!

Note: After the Garden Burger Wrap warning in one of my previous posts, my mom and sister both begged me not to give a warning about beets, even though in my opinion it is warranted. So, I won't. But if you haven't had beets in awhile and the next day you become concerned.... call me.

That Barley Soup

Summer in Oregon is the best. We are lucky to be greeted with cool days that inspire me to get out my slow cooker and experiment with hearty soups. On days like this you can find Zoey at the window sniffing the sniffs of the world and me in the kitchen tossing together a new creation.
This soup was inspired by my love for barley. Aside from the taste, barley fills me up faster than any grain and keeps me full and satisfied so it is a great staple in this soup. I haven't thought of a name for this soup yet, and so it has become known at my house as "That Barley Soup".

That Barley Soup

1 teaspoon olive oil (or cooking spray)
1 onion
2-4 cloves of garlic (depending on your feelings about garlic)
2 fresh peppers (I used red and yellow)
1/2 cup dried barley
1 1/4 cup dried mixed beans
**( I used kidney, black, navy and garbonzo)
1/4 cup lentils
2 stalks celery
3 carrots
2-3 cans of vegetable broth
1 can diced or crushed tomatoes
1 T of dried Italian seasoning
** Or whatever herbs you have on hand

Directions:
1. Soak the dried beans in water over night (don't include the lentils!) In the morning, you will wake up to this:


2. Place the beans in your small slow cooker and cook on high for about 6 hours. Make sure to add water!


3. In a medium size pot heat the olive oil with the onions and garlic for about 2 minutes.
4. Add the vegetable broth, tomatoes, barley, lentils and the Italian seasonings. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat. Simmer for about 40 minutes.
5. Add the celery and carrots. Simmer for another 10 minutes.
6. Add the red and yellow pepper along with the cooked beans. Simmer for about 5 minutes so that everything is well heated. It will look like this:


I served this over brown rice, but it would also be good over some barley or with a side of crusty bread.

Strawberry Blueberry Bliss

This week I woke up with a major craving for blueberries. I rarely splurge for the delightful fresh berry so when the craving hit, I went to the most logical place. Costco. Well, that seemed logical at the time anyway.

For those of you who don't know, Costco is a warehouse store, the kind of place you go when you need a 50 pound bag of brown rice or a bunch of 25 bananas. So when the blueberry craving hit, I didn't want to waste time on the little plastic containers at the grocery store, I went all out.

As I was walking around the produce section of Costco with my prize blueberries and my happiest smile, I eyed some strawberries and decided somehow that if I had blueberries AND strawberries I would be more likely to eat all the blueberries so that none of them went to waste. I told you this was logical.

Well, I did eat all of the blueberries. And all of the strawberries (except for some that I shared). So that meant that my breakfast all week looked like this. This treat doesn't need a recipe, but it looked so pretty in the bowl that I thought I would share the picture and the idea.