Lentil Soup

This is my tried and true recipe. I use to make it with meat stock. Now I use vegetable stock. I will give it to you both ways. It is very good and makes a huge amount. We will eat on it for days.
Though this recipe has curry in it it doesn't taste like a curry dish. There isn't enough in there to really make it a curry dish. Just enough to give it that little something extra. It is an important flavor component.

3 large onions, or two large onions and one leek. Doesn't matter. Chopped
4-6 carrots peeled and sliced
2 Tbl. butter (I don't use this in my vegetarian version)
2 Tbl. olive oil. ( use 4 Tbl. in my vegetarian version)
3 (32oz. boxes beef stock.)(I use vegetable stock)
8 cups water (you can use all stock if you prefer
4 Cups dried green lentils, rinsed
4 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. Herbamare vegetable salt (optional)(most grocery stores have this on their spice isle.)
1-2 tsp. curry powder
1/4 cup sour cream (I don't use this in my vegetarian version)
juice of half a lemon (optional)

Place oil and butter (if using) into large stock pot over med-high heat. Add chopped onions/leeks. Cook till the onions start to soften and add the carrots. Continue to cook for another 3 minutes stirring frequently. Add dried lentils and stir. Add stock and water. Then add the dried thyme, pepper, salt, Herbamare seasoning, and curry powder. Stir. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and cover. Cook till lentils bust open and are tender. Stir frequently as lentils will sink to the bottom of the pan and you don't want them to burn. When they are tender (30-40 minutes) take off the heat and add the sour cream (if using) and add the juice of half a lemon (this is optional. It just brightens the flavors. It isn't necessary though.) Also, season to taste with salt and pepper or more Herbamare.
NOTE: Watch for broth content. Add extra broth or water as necessary. It should be thick but still have a good amount of liquid. You want it like a soup or stew not like a thick mash.
Enjoy!

Vegetarian Asian Lettuce Wraps

 Once again I have to thank The Pioneer Woman for a wonderful recipe. I wish she would share more vegetarian recipes with us loyal followers of hers. She was vegetarian for many years before she met and married her rancher Cowboy. So I'm sure she has a good many delicious recipes. I think I will write her and beg.
I made these tonight for dinner. Not only were they absolutely delish, but they were super fast and easy to make. perfect quick week night meal.

I did change a few things. Mainly just the amounts of seasonings. I will list the recipe as she has it and note my changes. Like everything it is a personal taste decision. Also like most recipes I doubled the recipe for my large family and it pretty much was gone.

I know the pictures aren't that great. But it gives you an idea of what it looked like.

She says this serves 6

2 tsp. peanut or olive oil

1 (12-14 package) extra firm tofu, drained well

1 1/2 Cups frozen corn ( used a little more as I had half a bag left and used it all. It was probably more like 2 Cups.)

1 tsp. chilli powder

1/4 Cup soy sauce (I used 1/4 +1/8 cup Tamari Sauce)

1/2 tsp. balsamic vinegar

Romaine lettuce hearts

sliced avacado

Heat oil in nonstick skillet over med-high heat. Throw in the tofu, break it up into very small pieces. Cook till almost all the liquid is cooked off and it will start to turn a golden brown. The dryer it is the firmer it becomes. I use a potato masher to break it up into small pieces. Works good. Stir it frequently to keep it from sticking. Once it has a little color on it add the corn. Cook and stir till corn is heated up (3-5) minutes. 

Add chili powder and soy sauce. Cook till most of the liquid is absorbed. Turn off heat and add the balsamic. Stir to blend

Pile into romaine lettuce leaves that you have pulled apart. Top with sliced avocado (optional.)

These are just great. We loved it. I'm going to take the filling and incorporate it into a stir fried rice as another optional way to serve. It would be good with some crunchy snow peas in it. The options are endless. We will be making this frequently at our house for the ease and the wonderful flavor.

 Enjoy!

Oh my good gosh, is that really my hair? Baking Soda shampooing and ACV conditioner.

 Since I'm on a roll in finding healthy and natural alternatives to store bought chemical filled products, I thought I would try this. I loved it so much that I thought I would share. I will admit I'm still in a little shock that it worked so well and was so cheap and easy. I'm still asking "how can this be so?" Well so far folks it seems to be so.
Here's the story. I posted a facial wash with honey a few days ago. As I said in that post we are hunting cleaner (for the Earth and for us) products and of course less toxic chemicals in our daily lives. I was doing a search on youtube (can I say I'm in love with youtube.) and stumbled across a number of different recipes for home made shampoos and conditioners. Now I was looking for home made deoderant. I have found a few recipes and will post once I find a Tried and True recipe that I think works.

I found a wonderful assortment of recipes that included Dr. Bronners (which I have used in the past as shampoo and still always have in the house.) Dr. Bronners dried out my hair, so I quit using it as shampoo ages ago. I still use it once in a while as a clarifying shampoo but not my regular shampoo. The recipes with Bronners also had a bunch of different oils etc... They looked great and I was really leaning towards trying one of those. However I kept seeing vidoes for washing with just baking soda/water, and doing a rinse with Apple Cider Vingear/water. Now we have known in our house a long time the wonderful uses for ACV. I don't mean any ACV. I mean raw, organic, unfiltered with the mother apple cider vinegar. Braggs is all these things and the only ACV I use.  My husband has used it for a few years as an after shampoo rinse. I haven't used it because I have very very curly hair. Naturally curly hair also tends to be dry. So I have always used heavy moisturizing shampoos and conditioners on my hair to keep it tame. So here I sit reading this stuff and thought what the heck. I already use healthy and wonderful soaps from my favorite web site (sheaterraorganics.com) and their body products. I just invested in new cosmetics that are organic and made with food grade products. I'm still working on a new face program. I have found my good face washes. I have learned to make my own Vit. C serum. I use a great night time mixture for moisturizing that my face loves. I just haven't found my day time light moisturizer yet. I'm still working on it. Okay, back to this post.
So I went to my bathroom with my handy dandy plastic bottles (cheap ones I purchased at the kitchen store. You can get them anywhere. I know most beauty supplies stores carry the plastic bottles to mix products in.

Ok, you need two bottles. In one place one Tbl. of baking soda and mix it with 8 ounces of very warm water and shake to dissolve. The warm water is so the baking soda dissolves. Next in the other bottle place one Tbl. apple cider vingar and 8 ounces of water. This water doesn't have to be warm.

Now you aren't going to want to get either of these in your eyes if you can help it cause it will sting. Just letting you know. Most shampoos would sting or do sting. The ones that don't have products that actually numb the membranes of your eyes so that it doesn't sting. YIKES.

Alright, now the confession. I had not washed my hair in two weeks. Yes....I said it two weeks. I know, its horrible. I'm ashamed. Since my college semester started my life has fallen apart. Maybe I have fallen apart and I'm taking my life with me. Either way, I'm just now getting my balance back. Back to the hair. My hair was very dirty. So I was super curious to see how this would work.

I wet my hair and just kinda gently scrubbed my scalp and hair to get it  good and wet. I took the bottle of baking soda and water and put the tip close to my scalp and started saturating my scalp with the mixture. I sprayed and scrubbed. I used about 3/4 of the bottle on my scalp and then used the rest to saturate the rest of my hair. When I had used the whole bottle ( I don't know that using the whole bottle is normal. My hair was so dirty. I just decided to use the whole thing. I gently scrubbed my scalp for a minute and then worked the mix into the rest of my hair. Then I rinsed well. Almost immediately my hair started squeaking. You know that squeaking clean squeak. I was a little shocked. I rinsed it all out and then followed up with the ACV rinse. I also used the whole bottle on my head and hair. Then rinsed. Don't worry your hair will not smell like vinegar when its all said and done. You wont walk around making people crave salad or anything. I promise. 

So after I was done. My hair was very very clean. It worried me at first cause it didn't have that normal soft almost waxed feeling that the store bought conditioners give my hair. So I was fooled into thinking that my hair would be super dry and fly away. I combed it out. I couldn't believe how easy my hair combed out. I thought it would be a tangled mess (remember the very naturally curly hair I have. Also my hair is past shoulder length.) I took about 1/2 tsp. of Jojoba oil and rubbed my hands together and rubbed it into the ends of my hair and then with what was left on my hands ran it through the rest of my hair closer the my scalp. Then ran a comb through it again. Now if you have oily hair you probably wouldn't need the Jojoba oil but for me I always use either Jojoba oil or Argan oil in my hair even with store bought products. 

The verdict. My hair is clean, clean, clean! My hair is soft, soft, soft. My hair is shiny and not frizzy. Now I don't know long term how this will work. I will let you know. I am getting everyone in my house to try it out and see how it works on different hair types and skin types. But for now this is a winner and I will continue to use this cleaning method. How great is this? How cheap is this. I also don't think you have to use as much as I did but even if you do, its not that much. 

Give it a try. What do you have to lose but one more unhealthy chemical on your body.

Raw Honey Face Wash

You know sometimes something comes around and you just sit there baffled at your "ah ha" moment. We have been on a journey of eating better and improving our health since the holidays. I have also been researching natural skin care as well as cosmetics. Our skin is the largest organ that our body has and anything we put on it absorbs into it and into our blood stream. I thought to myself "What is the point of trying to not put junk into my body if I keep putting toxic junk on my body. Which goes straight to my blood stream and all my organs. Lets not get into the cellular damage done." So I am making changes. I have been down this road before and we use a lot of good earth friendly household cleansers etc...... I'm not totally there, but we are probably a good 80% green in our household as far as the products we use to clean go. So I have been playing around with my skin care.

Now anyone who knows me (Mom) know that I have spent TONS of money on good skin care. I don't mean good drug store skin care. I mean good Neiman Marcus skin care (think Cle de Peau, Kate Somerville Le Mer.....Need I say more). My skin is important to me and taking care of it has always been high on my priority list. One of my favorite things to use is a good vitamin C serum. My skin loves Vitamin C. Well I am now making my own and have saved myself  $80 a bottle and I get a better more active vitamin C without the high price. My skin is loving it. But that is not what this is about. As I have  been doing my research into DIY skin care I stumbled across information on washing your face with RAW honey. I was intrigued to say the least. Well let me tell you. I tried it. It is amazing, amazing, amazing. Did I tell you it is amazing? 

Here is how it goes:

Ok, let me say that I have not washed my face with honey with a full face of make up on. I have always removed my make up first and then washed my face as a routine anyway. So that is still the same. I remove my make up with coconut oil. The reading I have done says you can remove your make up with honey and remove you eye make up separately. DON'T USE THIS TO WASH YOUR EYES. Let me repeat, Keep the honey out of your eyes. Not for your eyes. Ok, now that we have that cleared up. I am going to try washing off my make up with this, but just haven't done it yet.

Of course this is not me in the pic (I wish. ha) You wet your face with a little warm water. I have done this on dry skin and it just worked better if my face and fingers were a little damp. Pour about 1 tsp. raw honey (it is important to get raw honey as any other kind has been processed and loses some of its natural properties. With that said I did read comments from women who couldnt find raw honey and still felt they had good results. I can't speak to that as mine is raw. I bought it at our local Whole Foods. It is raw and local honey. The best of both worlds.) on your fingers and massage it all over your face. Once your face is covered you can let it sit for a couple minutes ( 15 minutes is even better.) If you don't have the time then just rinse off. I let mine sit a couple minutes (or longer, depending on how quickly I need to be done) and then rinsed it off with warm water and a wash cloth. All I can say is "oh my goodness". My skin was soft, moist and bright. I am in love with this. Honey has anti-bacterial, microbial, anti-fungal, moisturizing properties in it. WHO KNEW? Duh, who'd da thunk it. Right. Of course when you do some research you see how old a practice this is. I was raised in a day and age that if its not in a bottle at the store with a huge price tag it can't be good. I'm learning.
So, since its food. I figured why not put it on my blog. I will add more DIY recipes as I find them and try them out.
Here is another thing you can do with honey.
Add a little baking soda to it and you have a great scrub. After rinsing take a cotton ball soaked with Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar diluted with water and rub it on your face as a skin balancer (you need to use Braggs or a vinegar that has the live mother in it. This is important.) This will help bring the ph of your skin back into balance after having used the baking soda. Wonderful wonderful.
Well there you go. Hope you give it a try. I think its pretty wonderful.

I want to add that I have read that it is very good for acne. You put it on as a mask and leave for 15-20 minutes and rinse.

Healthy Mexican Rice

I love this Mexican rice. We serve this with a side salad of choice and it makes a great meal.

2 Tbl. olive oil

1 small red onion, chopped

1 small yellow onion, chopped

3 small bell peppers, seeded and chopped into small pieces

1 carrot, cut into small pieces

10 oz. frozen corn

10 oz. frozen green peas

1 tsp. ( I use more, but I eyeball it.) chili powder

1 tsp. cumin (I use more, but I eyeball it)

3 Tbl. chopped fresh cilantro

10 Cups brown rice cooked with a little Turmeric for color and fluffed.

salt and pepper to taste
optional: tofu cream (drain soft tofu and mash with a sprinkle of cumin and some salt to taste) I top my rice with a little dollop of the tofu cream. You can use sour cream or nothing at all.What ever makes you happy.

Heat oil in large skillet over med-high heat. Add the red onion, yellow onion, peppers, carrot, corn, peas. Stir fry for about 2 minutes. Then add the chili powder and cumin. Cook another 10 minutes or so until veggies are crisp tender. Stir in cilantro, and rice, salt and pepper to taste. Mix well and cook a few more minutes till everything incorporated and heated through.  Taste for seasoning. Serve with Tofu cream and a side salad.

Stir Fried Vegetables over Brown Rice

Not my picture. I just wanted to give you a visual.

I was vegetarian years ago. This recipe was a staple in our weekly menu. I love it. It does use Mango Chutney which has sugar in it. So if you are trying to avoid sugar, you might want to skip this one. It is not one I make a lot now because we are trying to do away with the sugar and processed foods. But once in a while this really hits the spot.

I double the whole recipe for my family. As written it will serve about 4 people.

1/4 Cup toasted sesame oil

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

one 1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled, and minced
1 med. red onion, chopped

2 med. carrots, cut in large matchsticks

1/4 small green cabbage, chopped

1 small broccoli, stems separated from florets and chopped. Cut  florets into bite size pieces.

1 yellow bell pepper, cut in half, seeded, then sliced into thin strips

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Stir fry sauce: (I like this so much that I double it. It is not written in doubled form.)

1/4 Cup Tamari soy sauce

2-4 Tbl. Mango Chutney or honey

Salt and pepper

Cooked brown rice

Heat oil in large skillet over med-high heat. Add the garlic, red pepper flakes, ginger, and onion. Cook, stirring frequently until the onion softens, about 5 minutes. Add the carrots, cabbage, broccoli stems only, and bell pepper. Cook stirring frequently, until the vegetables are crisp tender, about 10 minutes. Add walnuts, broccoli florets, soy sauce and chutney. Cook stirring frequently for 3 minutes. Taste for seasoning. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve on cooked brown rice.

Black Bean Chili

We are trying to eat better after a culinary overload during the holidays. This is a good way to do it. I never miss the meat in chili when we have this. It is very low in fat and high in fiber. It tastes great too. 

Black Bean Chili

4-5 Cups dry uncooked black beans. (Two of the small bags of black beans is what I used.) Rinse and put in large pot and cover with water. Allow them to soak for 4 hours or longer. 

After they have soaked. Pour the beans in a colander and drain the soaking water. Place the drained beans back into large pot and add 8-10 cups of water. Bring to a boil and turn down to a hard simmer and cook till beans are soft. This should take 1-2 hours. When the beans are tender add:

2 Cans chopped Rotel tomatoes

2 Tbl. Cumin

2 Tbl. Chili Powder

2 tsp. Smoked Paprika

2-3 tsp. salt (to taste.)

Allow to simmer while you cook the veggies.

Chop the following:

2 onions

2 bell peppers (I like yellow)

 3 Carrots

2 Tbl. Olive oil

20 garlic cloves, minced

2 Cups frozen corn

To a skillet add 2 Tbl. olive oil and add the onions, carrots and peppers and fry till almost done and add the minced garlic and continue to cook for another minute. Add the corn and cook till corn is thawed and heated through. Add everything scraping the skillet well into the beans. Allow to simmer for another 10-15 minutes. When done add:

1/4 or more chopped Cilantro. Stir well and taste for seasoning.