a riff on beans & rice

Let's pretend you live in Austin. Maybe you do, maybe you don't. But have you ever gone to Mother's? It's a fabulous little cafe with one very important distinction: its menu is entirely vegetarian.

So we've been there a lot in the last year and a half. A lot.

A couple of visits ago, I decided it would probably behoove me to branch out, though I have some serious favorites, and work my way through everything on the menu. The garden salad with cashew-tamari dressing is a must on each visit, but since everything is me-friendly, I love the idea that I can try it all. No substitutions needed.

About halfway through the menu, I came across something simple: steamed vegetables served with sage mashed potatoes, brown rice, and black beans. And it is superb. As one friend put it, "Sometimes you just need someone else to steam your veggies." It's true. But that dish can just as easily be made at home (without the inimitable* cashew-tamari dressing, which is totally worth the out-to-eat pricetag).

Last night we had our first imitation: so easy, so healthy, so cheap, and pretty darn delicious. I'll leave the sage mashed potatoes to Mother's, but here's our latest riff on rice and beans.

This makes 4 full servings of the dish, plus enough beans for another dinner (which is still TBD). While this didn't wind up being a one-dish meal, it's easy and accessible, especially if you have a pressure cooker. This isn't so much a recipe as it is a recommendation; and if you don't want to cook dried beans, just open up a can or two, rinse, and heat 'em up. And really, you can steam any veggies you like. These were the two we had on hand.

There may have also been one or two green beans from yesterday's garden harvest. That being the entire harvest. Patience, patience, patience.

Rice and Beans and Veg

1 pound dried pinto or black beans (or 2 cans cooked pintos)

5 cloves peeled garlic

1 cup brown rice (dry, to make 2-3 cups cooked)

2-3 cups broccoli florets

4 large carrots

Soak the beans for about 9 hours, and then cooked them with the garlic cloves at full pressure for 5 minutes. (Read more about the pressure cooker here.) Cook the rice according to the package directions (I add a tablespoon of butter to brown rice while cooking, which makes me supremely happy). Peel and slice the carrots and steam them with the broccoli for about 10 minutes (sprinkle with a little salt, and drizzle with olive oil if you so please). Serve it all up in a bowl: rice, beans, and veggies. Then garnish and season with red pepper flakes, garlic salt, celery seed, shredded cheese, and pickled jalapenos.

* I say inimitable because I think that's truly the case. I tried to recreate it on a number of occasions with only limited success. My homemade versions are tasty, but they lack that certain... something. If you have a spot-on impersonation, please do share!

Read more ►

a sneak peak at the backyard farm

Oh boy. A couple of weekends ago, we welcomed a new member to our garden family, along with the help of some awesome folks (more about that soon, promise!). We've added more gardening space to our backyard than I think anyone was really prepared for, and have had to come up with creative names for our raised beds just to keep them all straight. Above you can see our original bed, Fat Man, which Ryan built single-handedly. Don't tell the other beds, but this one's my favorite. It's 4 feet wide, 8 long, and almost 18 inches tall. It fed us salad and greens for four solid months, and we're still able to harvest the swiss chard. The spinach, cilantro, and lettuce have all begun to bolt but I'm not ready to say goodbye.

This photo of our summer beds in full shade is a little misleading; they actually get about 5-6 hours of sun each day. But we're still going to chop down some hackberries to invite a little more sun in. We've got a 4x12 bed here (The Devers), two 4x10 beds (Little Boy East, Little Boy West), and then our two little 4x4 beds, which have yet to be named. Currently accepting suggestions, if you're interested.

Forgive the crummy pics, but rest assured I will take you on a tour of our backyard farm in the next few weeks, as I'm hopeful most of the summer crops will have put out blooms by then. (Ryan and I have taken to referring to the plants growing in our beds as our "crops," not just our "veggies.")

It takes a number of hours each week to keep up with our urban farm, but we are beside ourselves with excitement for the summer crop to take off. Ryan's mentioned, only halfway joking, the phrase "booth at the farmers' market" more than once, and we're batting around names in case that ever becomes a reality.

But for now, we're happy—oh so happy—watching our eggplants, tomatoes, bush beans, sweet peas, malabar spinach, squashes, corn, and more grow little by little. So that's what we've been up to. Sowing crops in the backyard.

Oh, and the neighbor might get chickens, for the win!

Read more ►

newsworthy: Bittman, Oatmeal, and McDonald's

Soapbox alert: Fast food is NOT HEALTHY and it shouldn't be a part of anyone's daily diet. Can we agree?

Before you tell me that your life is too busy to live without fast food, I want you to ponder the effects that most fast foods have on our health and our environment. Cheap calories, as Mark Bittman points out in this opinion article, are often the unhealthiest of the bunch. From corn-fed beef to chemical-laced breakfast options, there's nothing healthy that comes off a fast food menu. (To be fair, I do enjoy Chipotle and think they offer good options, including organic vegetarian black beans and locally-sourced vegetables. But that's the only fast food place you'll catch me at!)

As Bittman points out with the oatmeal scenario, it is actually faster, cheaper and umpteen times healthier to make your own oatmeal at home. (I think the same can be said for salads, sandwiches and even french fries; and we should all just quit eating corn-fed beef burgers and mechanically-separated chicken nuggets cold turkey. Ahem.)

In the spirit of offering you an inexpensive, easy, and fast oatmeal recipe (even though I highly recommend this pumpkin oatmeal), here's something to fit the bill. It's ready, from scratch, in about six minutes. It's sweet without white sugar, and packed with protein, potassium, fiber, omega-3's, heart-healthy whole grains, and deliciousness. To add to the healthy factor, we always use local honey, local and organic pecans, and organic rolled oats, bananas, and almond milk. Mmmmm.

Banana Oatmeal

1 cup milk (we use unsweetened almond milk to add more protein)

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 very ripe banana

1-2 tablespoons honey, to taste

2 tablespoons ground flax seed

2 tablespoons pecan pieces

In a small saucepan, stir together the milk, cinnamon, and vanilla. Using the back of the spoon, mash up the banana in the saucepan. Heat this mixture on medium just until it begins to boil. Add the rolled oats and stir. Add the honey, flax seed, and pecans, and continue stirring and heating until the oats are cooked through, about 3 minutes.

Read more ►

honey, there's a food source in our backyard.

The mornings are usually a little hectic around our house. For me, at least: I tend to run around like a busy-body while Ryan knows how to keep it nice and relaxed. I start with the best of intentions—going for a jog, perhaps, or waking up a little early to make breakfast or even earlier to make it to sunrise yoga. The alarm goes off, I let myself fall back asleep for a little while, and then by the time my eyes open, it's 7:15 and I think of all the things I want to accomplish before going to work at 9.

Today we were rolling along quite nicely, though; I took Fin for a walk around the 'hood while Ryan did a workout, and then got home in time to get ready at a leisurely pace. We talked, we laughed, and then I remembered I had yet to pack my lunch.

Now, I pride myself on packing my lunch almost every day. Commendable, I know! It's just so I can justify buying hot pink lunch boxes and these awesome reusable organic cotton snack bags from Etsy.

I digress! When I went to pack my lunch this morning, suddenly in a rush, I realized I was out of lettuce. But I wanted to pack a sandwich, and being a vegetarian, I really needed lettuce to make it worth my while. Otherwise I was looking at a cheese-and-apple sandwich and I don't care how gourmet the bread/apple/cheese is... that's not a full lunch. (This is the sammy I had in mind, but with sprouted whole grain bread, lightly toasted—yum!)

Then I had a revelation. We have a food source in the backyard. Well, let me just walk ten yards away, then, and cut some fresh lettuce from our garden.

All this to say how unbelievably awesome it is to have a food source literally in our backyard. I am so proud of our baby lettuces (we've been eating our lettuce and spinach all week, see that gorgeous salad?!) and can't quite express how excited I am about more veggies springing forth from our raised bed.

Major props to my husband for building the most beautiful garden bed. I can't believe I haven't showed you photos yet! Here it is covered in snow; you'll notice my super-duper cat barricade, consisting of wire on top of the soil and then bird netting draped over PVC pipe arches, tightly secured around the perimeter with garden stakes. Yep. No cats allowed. More (better) photos to come as I remember to take and post them. Duh.

Read more ►

comfort food from another place

After a long and surprisingly hectic day at work, I had one thing on my mind: comfort food. I wanted something warm, spicy, and rejuvenating. Dinner had to be easy, cheap, and use up some things I already had on hand: a tall order.

Suddenly, a craving for Indian food hit. My previous experiences trying to cook Indian food didn't go over too well, but then I happened upon this recipe for chickpea and spinach curry. Easy! Healthy! Almost identical to what our friend's mom had made for us months ago! Exactly what I wanted! And I could cheat a little with a magical ingredient called Red Curry Paste. Ha-le-lu-jah.

It also called for spinach, which was the one veggie in the garden ready to harvest. Before covering up the raised bed (again) for our latest, greatest cold snap, I carefully trimmed back our baby spinach, brought it inside, and rinsed it. Ryan took one look at it, then looked at me to exclaim, "Wow! It looks like real spinach!"

Indeed. Real spinach. Real, delicious spinach. From our backyard. A gal could get used to this.

This was one of the easiest recipes I've thrown together in a while—not to mention one of the most satisfying. Even if you've never cooked Indian food before, you'll be able to master this in one try. We scooped it up with multi-grain tortillas from Central Market, which we lightly toasted in a dry cast iron skillet (they're great toasted, too). And maybe we added a little butter on the top. Just maybe a little. . . a little bit of butter. Yeah.

I actually followed this recipe at Jen Loves Kev (which she got from off of broadway) pretty square-on, resisting the temptation to add yogurt at the end or put more ginger in at the beginning. But, feel free to riff on the general theme. Who knows what you might discover.

This can be easily made out of pantry staples, which makes it even better: a can of garbanzos, a can of chopped tomatoes, and a few common spices. Looks like we'll be stocking red curry paste from now on, too.

And can I just point out how healthy this is? A high-protein, low-fat, antioxidant-rich, ginger-spiked dinner with a multi-grain side. Makes for great leftovers to boot. . .

What are you waiting for?!?

Read more ►

inspired: self-full.

Not a photo of food. GOAL, though.

So I had this a-ha! moment today while reading one of my favorite blogs, A Practical Wedding. Yes, its' technically a wedding blog (but in reality, SO much more!), and yes, our wedding happened, oh . . . about four months ago, but it is so very inspiring to me. I flirted with other wedding sites for a few weeks after our wedding, but have pretty well nixed my penchant for scrolling at 60MPH through inspiring (or aspirational) wedding photos. But I've stuck with my smart, sassy blog friends over at APW.

And while reading Tuesday's post, wherein author Meg encourages women to be self-full, I felt inspired. Inspired to keep doing what I'm doing, yes—but more so. I'm inspired to start doing it better.

Which brings me to this blog. January was so good to me, but most of that was because, wouldn't you know. . . I was really good to myself. I spent a lot of time laughing, running, working out with my husband, focusing on our health and well-being, and exploring yoga. I stretched limits both mentally and physically and found out that I have so much more space within myself in which I can expand.

I started reading a daily meditation and keeping a gratitude journal, where I write down five things I'm grateful for everyday. I set new goals and found little ways to improve across the board. And I shared all this with my husband.

In the kitchen, I renewed a commitment to local, organic produce. I harvested our first baby greens from our garden (which is currently covered with a tarp, because it's 20 degrees outside!), and have been putting together meals in the spirit of whole-ness.

It occurred to me that while this blog is mainly about creating fresh, healthy, and fun foods, it can also be a sounding board for inspiration. From now on, I'm setting a goal to post a newsworthy blog each week, sharing with you an interesting food-related article. I'll also bring you a post like this, albeit hopefully a little shorter, about something inspiring to me. Maybe food-related, maybe not; but always keeping the health of body, mind, and soul in the focus.

My hope? That my journey toward self-awareness and, dare I say, enlightenment might inspire others. So much of what has taken me through the last 31 days has come from what I've read, what I've experienced, and most of all, from really connecting with people around me.

So, in the spirit of my first yoga session of the week, I leave you with my favorite yoga teacher's most inspiring (paraphrased) instructions: Open to the winds of change, the winds of grace; let your heart shine. Be f*$%@g awesome.

Photo: Lululemon Athletica.

Read more ►

on thinking, then acting

After plenty of prodding from plenty of people, I ordered the Desert Island Sampler from Rancho Gordo. My heirloom beans arrived in all their glory this week, and even I was shocked at my level of excitement for cooking dry beans when I got home Tuesday night.

First up? The Rio Zape beans, which (according to their package) had hints of coffee and chocolate. While mulling over what to cook them with, I perused Rancho Gordo's bean-cooking instructions. "Cover with water, broth, or beer..." Wait—notes of coffee in the beans? Wouldn't you know, I had two Real Ale Coffee Porters in the fridge! (Best. Beer. Ever.) Dare I use our most precious beer to stew beans? Since I've seen it bottled and on tap at many of our favorite spots lately, I opted to use half a beer for the beans. The other half? For the cook, of course.

So the other revelation (beer + beans being the first) I had that night was to roast my two favorite vegetables together. After my cousins cooked dinner for us (Amy made awesome butternut squash risotto and Callie brought this incredible salad, complete with roasted broccoli and lemon-poppyseed dressing), it dawned on me that maybe, just maybe, I could combine the two.

Without so much as an effort to Google whether it had been done before, I immediately chopped up the squash and threw it in a baking dish. The broccoli followed, and 40 minutes later I was mmm-ing my way through dinner. The beans turned out great; they weren't as different from pinto beans as I was expecting, but they were indeed quite tasty. I thought the real easy weeknight show-stopper was the vegetable side. I'm biased, since these are my favorite veggies, but.... It's still darn delicious. And it's gorgeous. The greens and the golds and the flakes of bright red—just lovely.

Spicy Roasted Butternut and Broccoli

1 pound broccoli florets, fresh or frozen

1 pound butternut squash, peeled and cubed

2 tablespoons EVOO

salt and pepper to taste

crushed red pepper flakes, to taste

Preheat the oven to 425. Chop up the veggies and toss in a baking dish. Mix evenly with EVOO and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add about 1/2 teaspoon (or more, or less) crushed red pepper flakes. Give it all one more good stir and plop that baby in the oven.

Roast for 30-40 minutes, or until broccoli is slightly crisped and browned on the tips and butternut is fork-tender (or even softer).

Read more ►