Princess

Princess-hood is calling to me Babette!!...and who couldn't love the Story People illustrations??  Princess

Fire 'n Ice Summer Salad

(From the Kitchen of Deep South Dish)

Dressing:

1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup of red wine vinegar

1/4 cup of sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon horseradish

1 teaspoon celery seed

1 teaspoon mustard seed

Salad:

1 medium green bell pepper, cut into thin strips

1 small red onion, cut in half and sliced thin

1 jalapeno, chopped fine

3 large tomatoes, cut into chunks

2 medium cucumbers, peeled and sliced thin

Combine both of the vinegars with the sugar, salt, horseradish, and celery and mustard seeds in a small saucepan. Stir and bring to a boil, boiling for 1 minute. Set aside.

In a large glass bowl, combine bell pepper, red onion, jalapeno and tomatoes. Pour the hot vinegar and sugar mixture over the vegetables and set aside to cool.

Add the cucumbers, stir & cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for several hours. Use a slotted spoon for serving to drain excess liquid off when serving.

  

Morally Troubling

The Omnivore's Dilemma--Michael Pollan
"...how quickly you can get used to anything, especially when the people around you think nothing of it. In a way, the most morally troubling thing about killing chickens is that after a while it is no longer morally troubling."

"Another thing cooking is, or can be, is a way to honor the things we're eating, the animals and plants and fungi that have been sacrificed to gratify our needs and desires, as well as the places and the people that produced them."

"...imagine for a moment if we once again knew, strictly as a matter of course, these few unremarkable things:  What it is we're eating. Where it came from. How it found its way to our table. And what, in a true accounting, it really cost.  We could then talk about some other things at dinner.  For we would no longer need any reminding that however we choose to feed ourselves, we eat by the grace of nature, not industry, and what we're eating is never anything more or less than the body of the world."

The Hungry Soul--Leon Kass "to preserve their life and form living things necessarily destroy life and form.'"

McDougall's Baked Kale Chips

  

Fresh kale leaves

Seasonings as desired (see hints below)

Preheat oven to 225 degrees.

Wash the kale well and leave some of the water clinging to the leaves. Strip the leaves from the thick stems and cut into uniform sized pieces. (Mine are usually about 2 x 2 inches.) Place on a non-stick baking sheet or on top of parchment paper on a regular baking sheet and sprinkle with seasonings of your choice (do not oil the pan or spray kale with oil). Bake for about 30 minutes until crispy. Store in a tightly covered container to keep them crispy; they taste best the day that they are made.

Hints from Mary McDougall: I usually sprinkle mine with Parmesan cheese substitute (see the June 2010 newsletter) and some red pepper flakes. Try spraying them with a light coating of Bragg Liquid Aminos or balsamic vinegar before baking, or just a light dusting of sea salt. They are easy to re-crisp if you don’t eat them all right away, just put them back in the oven for a short time.

Tribe

Transcending the Tribe...something new to contemplate.....

Simple Truths video......Friends: the family we choose for ourselves......


"Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake." - Henry David Thoreau

Banana Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding 

(Vegan.com)

6 cups 1″ cubed stale bread (about 1 lb)

1 cup chocolate chips

3 ripe bananas, sliced ½” thick

2-2¼ cups rice milk, almond milk or soy

3 tablespoons arrowroot powder or tapioca flour

½ cup maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9 x 5 loaf pan with softened margarine. Place cubed bread in a large bowl.

In a small bowl whisk together ½ cup soy milk and the arrowroot powder till no lumps remain. Add 1½ cups soy milk, maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg and whisk to combine. Pour over cubed bread and stir to coat every piece. Allow to sit for at least 15 minutes for liquid to soak into bread. Depending on what kind of bread you use and how stale it is, add more soy milk (¼ cup at a time) and allow more soaking time till every piece of bread is saturated and there’s a little bit of extra liquid. Mixture should look mushy and wet. Fold in chocolate chips and bananas (using hands is the easiest for this), mashing up a little bit of the bananas. Pour mixture into loaf pan, patting down to make an even top.

Bake 28-35 minutes till top is puffed, slightly browned and feels firm. Allow to cool slightly before slicing and serving. Also pudding can be scooped with an ice cream scoop when slightly cooled.

Yield: 8-10 servings.

Seeing Clearly

I can see clearly now the rain is gone.....

...it's going to be a bright...bright...sunshiny 2013!!....

If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be without meaning. -- C. S. Lewis 

The hour is now........A Hopi Elder's Talk

Peruvian Quinoa Salad (McDougall Newsletter)

2 cups uncooked quinoa (or 4 cups any leftover grain)

3 cups water

8 dried apricots, finely diced

¼ cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes

2 ears of corn, cooked & cut off cob or 2 cups frozen corn

6 small green onions, sliced in rounds

2 tomatoes, diced

1 cucumber, diced

½ cup finely diced colored bell peppers

1 can artichoke hearts or bottoms, drained and chopped (reserve 2 bottoms for the dressing recipe below)

¼ cup toasted slivered almonds

2 avocados, chopped

Toast the quinoa in a dry skillet for a few minutes.  Add boiling water, apricots and sun-dried tomatoes.  Cover and cook over low heat for 15 minutes.  Add the corn kernels and let rest for 10 minutes.  Transfer to a fine mesh strainer and allow to rest for another 10 minutes so it is well drained.  Transfer to a large bowl.  Add the remaining ingredients and mix well.

Dressing:

2 artichoke hearts or bottoms, chopped

1 bunch cilantro, rinsed well, stems removed

4 stems basil, rinsed, stems removed (optional)

1 tablespoon honey or Agave nectar

½ cup rice vinegar

¼ cup red wine vinegar

juice of 3-4 limes

Place all dressing ingredients into a food processor or blender and process until well mixed.  Taste and adjust seasonings as desired, adding salt to taste (optional).  Toss with the quinoa mixture and serve.  The grains will absorb some of the tartness of the dressing, and it will seem milder when served with the grains.

Serves 8