A Boo-rific Meatless Monday with Top 5 Healthier Hallogreen Treats

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Hey guys! It’s me again!

Time for another round of Meatless Monday- ding, ding!!

With Halloween on Saturday how about a ghoulish dish for those goblins or guests you may be having over. The dish I’m going to share with you happens to be another eggplant dish because the plant is still flourishing in my mother in law’s garden and giving us beautiful eggplants to nourish ourselves with. Oh, and my love for eggplants may have something to do with it too.

PLUS- after finding the Faken’ Bacon recipe I also found this recipe…

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Simple & All Natural: Banana Honey Facial

Hi everyone. Happy October 1! Can you believe it’s already the 10th month! I don’t even want to think about it, right?! It’s all about the now…. so guess what that means- I’m telling you to go meatless again for the day because it’s World Vegetarian Day! 

Don’t worry it won’t kill ya- it’ll make you stronger!

Celebrate the day with this banana honey facial that I made as a recommendation from @GreenGeisha on twitter!

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Summary of Summer

Hey guys! Happy 09-09-09!  Still around. Database crashed and I wasn’t able to get to it until last night. Sorry about that!!

We had a jam packed weekend full of fun!

We took Tristan bowling and I even wore Clark for part of it. Don’t worry, I played it safe… & Tristan had a ball… LOL!

And as a last consolation for the summer and because our  membership is going to expire at the end of the month; we went to the zoo!

We BBQ’d yesterday at my in laws. I made a nice spinach salad and the neighbors actually made a raw dish! I was so impressed. It was a zucchini salad with lemon zest and sun dried tomatoes. Yum, yum!

This summer I’ve tried a few raw dishes and some new cooked ones. Our garden didn’t do as well as we’d hoped. This is the first year in five years that we’ve planted a garden and have not had much of a harvest. The insane high temps killed most of our plants or slowed their growth. We normally have tons and tons of tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant and peppers.  We hardly had any harvest of what we planted.  It was a bit discouraging but also part of gardening and the challenges you face. We’re determined to research some of the challenges through winter in hopes of a more successful garden next year. Hopefully, we  master composting by then and are able to provide the much needed nutrients we were possibly lacking and time of all things.  Thankfully, my mother in laws garden was flourishing because we’ve been eating some of her bounty.

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Meatless Monday: Spanish Breakfast Scramble

It’s MEATLESS MONDAY!

That’s right kick the meat to the curb today and indulge in fresh veggies and fruits instead.

Recently, I mentioned my interest in the raw foods diet. Much of what I’ve been doing lately is fueling my brain with tons of information on becoming a raw foodie. I’m really drawn to this lifestyle of raw foods- it’s pretty fascinating to me. Not eating cook foods and getting the most nutrition out of a vegetable or fruit seems almost like a no-brainer, right? I know this diet may not be for everyone but so far from what I’ve been reading it seems like it goes right along with my who I am. I’m so hyped on the recipes- from nut cheeses to nut milks, rawasgna, to grawnola, and ice cream (dairy free) – anything is possible in the raw foods world. Pizza, mexican food- yes, that’s right tamales- and the kicker it’s HEALTHY for you!!!

It has totally made me rethink my eating habits and even having our chickens for eggs! Anyway, I’m super thrilled to share our first raw foods recipe with you. I decided to go simple and easy on our first take- I don’t want to overwhelm myself. I’ve yet to take to leap either and invest in a Vita-Mix. I really, really, really want one! Our blender just recently broke and the food processor does not do the job like the blender did. I’m not even sure when I’ll make that step but hopefully, soon. For now, I’ll borrow my mom’s blender and juice it up with our Jack Lalanne juicer. We have the one featured in the video.

I figure it can’t hurt to incorporate a few raw meals into our daily lives… so without further a do…

Spanish Breakfast Scramble an Ani Phyo recipe…

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We enjoyed this dish for dinner. This recipe is easy peasy! Most raw recipes don’t require a lot of time in the kitchen. Major plus. My husband absolutely loved it- NO JOKE. He asked for seconds and kept raving about how much he liked the textures of the spinach and nuts. He said he could just eat the “Love the Chicks” pate plain. He also kept saying it was the perfect food for the outdoors. I agree. Tonight, we’re having a Mushroom Walnut loaf- stayed tuned!

Oh, and btw- I wanted to share a book with you that inspired me to become a vegetarian years ago- I’ve recently taken it off the shelves again…

I highly recommend it.

The Food Revolution: How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and The World- by John Robbins.

Happy Meatless Monday!

Meatless Monday Recipe

 

I loooove eggplant it’s one of my favorite vegetables. It’s so verastile! Eggplant is a very healthy and a tasty alternative to meat. When you’re looking to buy eggplant it should be shiny, plump, firm, unwrinkled and heavy for it’s size with no scars or bruises. If you press gently on the skin, it should spring back quickly. Eggplants are rich in fiber and antioxidants also light in calories and fat. We grow eggplant every year in our garden and they’re delicious fresh. Last year we grew 2 kinds the one pictured is Japanese eggplant they’re longer and thinner.

Here’s the recipe…

Deconstructed Eggplant Parmesan

Tomato Sauce:

1 tbs. olive oil

1/4 cup finely chopped yellow onion

1 clove fresh garlic, miniced (1 tsp)

2 tsp. dried oregano

2 cups of chopped fresh tomatoes

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1 large globe eggplant cut into 4 diagonal slice, each about 3/4- inch thich

2 tbs. olive oil

4 large leaves of fresh basil

1 ball fresh mozzarella, sliced vertically into 8 thin slices

Cooking Instructions:

1. Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook onions until almost translucent about 4 minutes. Add garlic and oregano, cook 1 minute more. Add tomatoes, bring to a simmer, and cook until tomatoes soften, about 8 minutes. Lower heat and simmer.

2. Meanwhile, heat large skillet over medium heat. Brush eggplant slices with olive oil, and cook in skillet, covered, about 4 minutes per side; they should be flexible but not mushy. Reduce heat to low. Pour tomato sauce around and over eggplant, then top each piece with basil leaf covered by 2 slices of mozzarella. Cover skillet for 1 to 2 minutes, until mozzarella just warms through.

3. Place 1 slice of eggplant on each of 4 plates, spoon additional sauce around eggplant.

Super yummy and super easy and quick too!

Enjoy~

Homemade Peanut Butter- Yum to the Tum!

Last week, I did a Make Your Own Mayo recipe-

This week I’d like to share a MYO Peanut Butter recipe…done the old fashioned way!!!

After realizing and mulling over organic peanut butter labels and finding out that it’s more than just peanuts they’re packing..it dawned on me that I could make it. The cost of ORGANIC PB is getting expensive- Especially if you like the MaraNatha!! This stuff is the best Peanut Butter ever in a jar- in my opinion, that is!!!! But, it’s almost $8.00 a jar. At Costco you can get two jars for that price and it’s organic. The Costco PB is always a backup when I don’t feel like eco-splurging on Maranatha! I know I’m paying for “Quality not Quantity” but for crying out loud, I don’t own a home in France, people!!! How about something a little more cost effective than that!? So, my little wheels started to turn and I remembered that our KitchenAid mixer will grind up nuts and make PB, Almond butter- whatever nut butter!

Anyway, over the weekend I had the opportunity to grind some nuts- and remember if you don’t have a KitchenAid Mixer or food processor, you can always grind nuts at your local health food store or a Whole Foods. It’s still going to be cheaper, taste freshier, and yummier…in the long run if done at home!! My total cost was for the peanuts $1.39 a lb.!! Bargain!

Here’s a recipe I found @ KidsHealth -

Ingredients:

www.kidshealth.org/kid/recipes/recipes/peanut_butter.html

Hope you will find this recipe enjoyable! Oh! and we used Coconut Oil instead of Peanut oil…it definitely helped give it some sweetness and a hint of coconut taste…delish! We love our homemade PB! It’s very smooth- just the way we like it and not really too oily!! This summer I hope to make jellies with strawberries and local fruits…so stay tuned for those recipes!!! Those will come from my grandmother’s recipe book!!

We love PB, Honey & Banana sandwiches!!  What’s your favorite kind of Peanut Butter Sandwich…???