Honey-Balsamic Bean Salad

This is the recipe I tried last night in a pinch when I didn't know what to make. I found it on an awesome blog 101 Cookbooks, who I later found out is written by the same author who wrote Super Natural Cooking- a cookbook I've admired and it's purchase is long overdue. It has now definitely made it to my short list, because everything I've tried from her site has been fantastic and easy to adapt to the available ingredients in my pantry.
What I ended up with is a fairly far departure from the original, but fantastic nonetheless. I adapted the original recipe to include more vegetable so the kids would not look at a plate of canned beans and wonder what else we were eating. The dressing: I followed to the "T" and it was stellar. Even little T noticed that the dressing tasted like honey. It had such great flavor and it was gluten-free (something not available on the grocery store shelves near us)!

Ingredients
1 (14 oz can) EACH cooked beans: chickpeas (garbanzo beans), pinto beans, black beans
1 small head romaine lettuce, chopped
1/3 cup sliced almonds, toasted
1 large carrot, peeled and finely chopped
1/2 cucumber, finely chopped
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
5 sprigs fresh thyme

Dressing:
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons runny honey
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4+ teaspoon fine grain sea salt

Combine the beans with all the vegetables, and the almonds. To make the dressing, combine all ingredients and whisk together. Serve immediately.

Blueberries

This summer I have fallen in love with blueberries. Living on the island is strange in the fact that the blueberries I eat have traveled like five thousand miles to get here. If I buy the regular packs at the grocery store, they quickly turn rancid after a day or two. But somehow, the berries at Costco are far superior in taste and quality. Of course, I have to buy a pound of them at a time!
Fruit salads have abounded in our house this summer because of the large quantities of strawberries, raspberries and blueberries I indulge on from Costco. But, sometimes, there can be a little bit too much of a good thing. Like bananas when they sit on the counter too long, they are reincarnated into an awesome banana bread. Blueberries, too have a future destined for a delicious baked good, where blemishes are no longer seen and purple-y goodness melts in your mouth.
Last night, a pregnancy craving overtook me, and I was compelled to sympathize with this aging batch of blueberries and incorporate them into a cobbler. It was already 8:00 by the time these fantasies took over, so I was pressed for time, needless to say. Using small souffle dishes, I made four individual cobblers in about 15 minutes. Super easy, delicious, and just what the doctor ordered.

Ingredients:

2 pints blueberries
1/4 cup organic sugar or evaporated cane juice
2 cups granola cereal (I used Quaker Naturals- it had little slices of toasted almond in it that added a great texture and flavor)

Combine blueberries and sugar in a bowl. Divide equally among four souffle cups. Top with equal amounts of cereal. Place all on a baking sheet and cover with foil. Bake at 400 degrees for ten minutes (the last couple minutes take off the foil to brown the cereal a bit). They will be done when you see the blueberry goodness bubbling up from underneath the cereal topping.

Note: These weren't as good the second day, so reconsider saving one for breakfast like I did. Enjoy!

I've got two pounds of hamburger...now what?

I have this strange thing against casseroles. Really it expands beyond casseroles to anything that was invented in the 50s and involves a strange concoction of meat, sauce, noodle, and a vegetable in one dish. I just hate making them, they are an embarrassment to serve because no one looks at them and says "hmmm, that looks delicious". What's strange is that I think I am alone in this aversion. What tipped me off was this great little cookbook from a church group that has loads of favorite recipes from women my age. I am amazed at how so many of them are still cooking the dishes their grandmothers made.

Now, I am not against family tradition- some of my favorite dishes from my childhood (comfort food) are handed down from my grandmothers. But, most of them involved several processed and canned ingredients. My friend Jennifer told me what she made for dinner last night, it was Chicken Divan (I'd never heard of it- it's probably a classic Tuesday night meal in most households). She explained that it is the worst combination of ingredients, but her kids love it. In it was a boiled chicken, mayonnaise, cream of chicken soup, cheese, curry...I got nauseous after that and couldn't hear another random ingredient. 

I'm not saying we should all be cooking the South Beach Diet or asian fusion, but with today's global economy and local food craze, there are so many fresh ingredients available that are so easily thrown together, that it seems silly to raid the cellar for the evaporated milk and macaroni noodles . 

It still begs the question of my post- I've got two pounds of hamburger... now what?

Which brings me to tonight's dilemma. I have an awesome menu planned for the week, but a couple meals are entirely new to me, and it's 4:40p. Dinner should have been started a while ago. Do I mail it in and whip up one of the three obvious choices: meatloaf, hamburgers or stuffed peppers? Of course, there is the whole spin on hamburger helper routine... no thanks. I basically feel like when I bought the hamburger it had a purpose, and to stray from my creative intent would insult the process. I saw it best served as an awesome baja style mexi-cali burger with beans, tortilla chips, and avacado. But, no buns in sight. It's definitely a weekend meal. So, it shall remain in the freezer until I can serve it in a way that truly is a delight to the senses.

My last resort- stick to what you have planned, no matter how daring and give this recipe a try. 

I'll put my own spin on it so it's big enough to feed us all as a main dish and let you know the results. It does have some of grandma's favorites in it: canned beans; so maybe the apple isn't falling too far from the tree after all. 

Chocolate Raspberry Cakes

This is my favorite dessert. It is super-simple to make, has few ingredients (all of which are easy to come by) and is tasty for days after it's prepared. Bonus: if you are mindful what chocolate you buy, they are Gluten-Free!

Ingredients:
8 oz bittersweet (dark) or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
14 tablespoons (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter, diced
2 tablespoons seedless raspberry preserves

4 large eggs
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

fresh raspberries
vanilla ice cream

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter six 3/4 cup souffle dishes or custard cups. Arrange dishes on a baking sheet. Mix chocolate, butter and preserves in a saucepan. Stir over low heat until chocolate melts. Remove from heat; cool to lukewarm, stirring often, about 10 minutes.
Whisk eggs, sugar and vanilla in large bowl to blend well, about 1 minute. Gradually whisk in chocolate mixture. Divide batter among prepared dishes. Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out with some moist batter still attached, about 20 minutes. Let cool 30 minutes (centers may fall). Serve cakes warm or at room temperature with fresh raspberries on top and ice cream on the side.

Notes:
I've made these without complication by omitting the cooling of the chocolate and the stovetop rest period at the end. (So delicious- we couldn't wait!) Makes 6 servings.

Bon Appetit, November 2004

The first day of School

Today was the first day of school. With our move, our summer began a bit early. Uhh... quite a bit early I should say. So after three and a half months of having my children right at my side, I released two of the three today to a new elementary school.
Now, we just came from Texas- a state that takes great pride in it's educational system. We also came from one of the best school districts in Texas. We have since moved to Hawaii. A state that, by reputation and statistics, is among the worst in the nation. While there are pockets of good schools, most fall significantly under the national standards. Of course, there is private or homeschooling, but with three kids in elementary school, either option would overextend us.
First impressions: There is a noticeable difference in the way Hawaiians do things. They are an extremely casual culture. I thought I would enjoy that, but when it comes to matters of safety, especially my children's safety, I tend to lean towards a more conservative route. Despite the normal chaos that the first week of school brings, there were still huge logistical holes in how the facilities are run and how the kids are received and dismissed. It's not that there is a bad plan, it's disturbing that there has never been a plan to begin with. Strange. Just like in Mr. Mom- "South to drop off, North to pick up!" This isn't a new idea people.
Upon entering their classrooms, the kids met their teachers (no "meet the teacher day" or dropping off your school supplies early, so we had to add both those monsters onto the first day of school jitters). Both teachers seem less than thrilled to meet my child or myself and offered very little in the way of reassurance or welcome. What was crazy-weird was walking into a room of 2nd graders that was completely silent. All the kids were in their desks and looked scared to death. I was imagining the horrible things the teacher had said just prior to my arrival in the room.
What hit me (with the usual first day of school tears I always get) was the fact that these people are obviously not going to love my kids the way I do. I had just spent over three months without them leaving my side. I had to trust that this year would still be a blessing despite the uncertainties of the outcome. Some of my original concerns like staying at grade level with the mainland are falling quickly to a secondary priority now. Currently, I am concerned for their basic well-being- something that I am not used to thinking about as seriously. I have abandoned any thoughts of convenience from my repertoire now that I need to get three kids not only to the curb of the school safely, but all the way to their classrooms, and the reverse at the end of the day. Not to mention, trust that the teachers will cherish the innocent souls of my kids despite the first impression I received that they may actually hate children.
This morning I left the school compelled to pray for them today. The work around the house didn't even compare to the urgency of praying for their safety and innocence today. What came back in answer to these desperate cries, was the encouragement that my job is going to not only be following their work closely, but also heaping tons of love on them at the end of each day. Our home may be their only safe place. I want this to be their haven for refreshment, security, trust, guidance and encouragement.
I sure hope they come home and say how great their day was. I pray that this year in Hawaii is a good experience for all of them, because right now, I want to run back to the safety and predictability of good ol' Texas schools.

Budgeting... (ick)

Now that the dust has settled, the final purchases involving moving have been made, and a full month's of adjusted paychecks have started rolling in; it was time to revaluate the household state of the union from our family head of treasury. Better known as "Budgeting." Not everyone's favorite thing, but absolutely necessary since we are now living in the most expensive place on earth.
We quickly found out that the Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) was not only necessary, but entirely accounted for with such things as elevated prices for water, electric, gas, cable, groceries, movies, you name it- it all costs more! So, our family's goal is to actually enjoy living here, so we will be doing creative cost-cutting in the departments of eating out, groceries, electricity, and fuel.
Strangely enough, these major departments are all areas that fall under my passion of living more self- sustained. So, I have built my library wish list to learn as much as I can on these various subjects and how to scrimp and save and pull ourselves "away from the grid". At this point, we won't be installing any permanent fixtures or any of those big changes like solar water heaters or geothermal energy. But, we will be heavily pursuing techniques that basically save money running our current slew of technology.
One area I will take great pleasure in sharing will be how we manage to significantly cut our current grocery bill from the $800 a month it is currently costing us. Although, I do have to take one major factor into account  for the substantial increase is that I am eating for two. Of course, so is the husband! We do have a wide variety of ice creams, salty and sweet things, and tons of fruit. In addition, the restaurant fare is both limited in selection and out of our price range, therefore, we are eating at home a whole lot more. Add to that the fact that the kids have been home for the summer, munching and snacking us out of house and home. So the increase isn't entirely geographic but also circumstantial. Nonetheless, we will be slashing it!
I am looking into affordable, nutritious, and easy to prepare dishes that are rarely the obvious selection when cutting back. It's easy to cut back and eat more processed meats and canned vegetables, but so much nutrition is cut out. Plus, there's only so many pots of spaghetti I can stand making after all! I'd like to focus on whole foods, as close to their natural state as possible with lots of fresh ingredients and without the whole foods price tag. We'll see how that goes!
So today, I'm off to the grocery store. We'll see with my well-planned menu how much I walk out of there spending. With three kids in tow, there will no doubt be some superfluous choices thrown in the basket as well!

Long Overdue Update

Since it has been incredibly long between posts- let me give you the short version of the last 8 months:

-Spent the better half of november through february battling migraine-like headaches that attacked nearly all day, every day. Saw specialists and natural health gurus, had CT scans and cranial x-rays, prayed for healing, you name it. Did not find relief until I upped the vitamin D and cut out gluten. They haven't disappeared entirely, but are much less frequent and more manageable. I will be sharing how gluten sensitivities can develop in those who do not actually have Celiac disease in another blog. Inspiration was running short, frustration and eating out were on the incline so blogging just didn't seem genuine- sorry!

-Spent the early spring months planning a move completely around the world to Hawaii. Definitely not easy moving to the most remote place on the planet. We are still in the process of getting all our animals here and still have boxes stashed away that we are swearing to avoid!

-Found out we were expecting baby number four in April, just weeks before our move across the world. Morning sickness and fatigue definitely dominated much of the late spring and early summer. Again- motivation was severely lacking!

-Now that we are settled and the house entirely remodeled, more and more emphasis needs to be placed on reacquiring those good habits we were working on and keeping up our health, especially with a little one on the way!

-Life in Hawaii has turned out to be as expected. Beautiful weather, laid back communities, lots of bugs, and very expensive. It has been really hard to be away from all our friends in Texas, and connecting with a church just doesn't feel the same.

-Keep a watch for new recipes, cookbook recommendations, green and sustainable living, pregnancy updates, and parenting info. Hopefully staying in touch a world away will be made a little easier with the blog.