Clean Food

My Mom bought this book and I am loving it. Clean Food: A Seasonal Guide to Eating Close to the Source with More than 200 Recipes for a Healthy and Sustainable You by Terry Walters. (Sterling Epicure, 2009)
My favorite features:
1. Has recipes divided into the four seasons using the fresh produce available.
2. Everything is Healthy.
3. The index is search able by ingredient particularly by vegetable. For example there are 13 recipes using Kale, 11 with lemons, 5 with parsnips, 9 for Quinoa, 20 with tomatoes and the list goes on
4. Recipes call for few ingredients and are simple
5. The intro has some great info.

We have tried the cookies and the Pad Thai and are trying more this week- black bean burgers and shepherds pie.

Available on AMAZON HERE

Banana Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are so yummy, you would have no idea they were healthy. These are definitely"guest" worthy. I get nervous about serving our 'healthy food' to other people, but definitely not these cookies. The original recipe is listed and my changes are in the parentheses. Also next time I might add in some ground flax just for fun. They would also be yummy with raisins, cranberries, nuts, be creative.

Banana Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 bananas, mashed
1/4 cup canola oil (I used melted Unrefined Coconut Oil)
1/4 cup Maple Syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup rolled oats
2/3 c brown rice flour ( I used whole wheat)
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
pinch of sea salt
1/4 cup chocolate chips (or raisins, carob chips etc.)

Preheat oven to 350. F
In medium bowl or stand mixer combine bananas, oil, syrup and vanilla. Mix until combined well and banana is well mushed. In a separate bowl mix together, oats, flour, baking soda, coconut and salt. Add to the banana mixture and lightly mix until just combined (do not over stir.) Fold in Chocolate Chips.

Place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper or silicone baking sheet. Bake for 14-15 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and place cookies on wire rack.

Makes about 1 1/2 dozen (we doubled it).

I am doing a bulk buy on the following items. Please order in 5 lb increments. Tax is being charged on these items. We should have them by the end of October. I do need payment before I order. I think the order due date will be the week of the 5th of October, but I am not absolutely sure. So For now please plan on getting Money to me or Melissa by the 5th. All prices are per pound, unless noted.

Item Price/lb Price w/Tax 5lb 10lb 15lb 20lb 25lb

Almonds 3.25 3.46 17.30 34.60 51.90 69.20 86.50

Pecan Halves 5.25 5.60 28.00 56.00 84.00 112.00 140.00

Sunflower Seeds 1.87 2.00 10.00 20.00 30.00 40.00 50.00

Pumpkin Seeds 3.43 3.66 18.30 36.60 54.90 73.20 91.50

Cashew Pieces 4.31 4.60 23.00 46.00 69.00 92.00 115.00

Sesame Seeds 2.25 2.40 12.00 24.00 36.00 48.00 60.00

Chia Seeds 4.95 5.28 26.40 52.80 79.20 105.60 132.00

Organic Flax seeds 1.89 2.02 10.10 20.20 30.30 40.40 50.50

Dattes (Chopped) 1.65 1.76 8.80 17.60 26.40 35.20 44.00

Diced Apricots 3.15 3.26 16.30 32.60 81.50 97.80 114.10

Shredded Coconut 1.91 2.04 10.20 20.40 30.60 40.80 51.00

Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil 1 gallon 48.00 51.17 with tax

Organic, Raw, Dark Agave 1 gallon 35.00 37.31 with tax

We are not shipping these Items out. This is for local people in Utah Valley and the Salt Lake Valley, unless you can make arrangements for someone to come and pick your things up. If you live out of the area you can order things yourself on green smoothie girl's website. She does ask that you not start ordering until Tuesday as she will be out of town.

Thanks! Heidi

Apricot Almond or Raspberry Almond Muffins/Bread

I've had a raspberry almond bread recipe that is one of my favorite quick bread recipes for over 15 years. I looked forward to raspberries every year just to make this bread. I have slowly been making it healthier, and this year I think I reached a point it is worth sharing. I also fixed the problem of how overly crumbly it was. I made it once this week with apricots, and the next day with Raspberries. It was great with both.

Ingredients:

2 c Whole Wheat Flour

2 Tbsp Fresh groudn Flax Seed

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp almond extract

1/2 c yogurt

1/2 c milk (You can substitue 1 Tbsp lemon juice and 1 cup of rice milk for the yogurt and milk)

2 eggs (or an additional 2 tbsp flax mixed with 1/4 c water)

1/2 sugar

1/2 c coconut oil

3/4 c toasted almonds

1 c diced apricots or Raspberries, or fruit of your choice. I used fresh in both cases, but I can't see why dried fruit wouldn't work. I also nkow that frozen raspberries work well, just keep them frozen until you add them to the batter.

If you are using the milk and lemon juice option, mix them together and set aside.

If you are using the Flax and water in place of eggs, mis together and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix all dry ingredients together.

Melt coconut oil by placing in a bowl within a bowl of hot water.

Mix the coconut oil into the dry ingredients until it resembles wet sand.

Add the milk, yogurt, eggs and almond extract. Mix until evenly mixed and no dry pockets remain.

Gently fold in the nuts and fruit.

Makes 1 9x5 loaf or about 18 muffins

The muffins take about 20-25 minutes (Mine were perfect after 23).

The bread will take 50 minutes to just over an hour.

Bake until toothpick comes out clean.

If baking in loaf pan let cool ten minutes before inverting or it will fall apart. Both the muffins and the bread will firm up as they stand.

No Cook Ketchup

This was great- I don't think we'll ever buy ketchup again. It's so much cheaper to make your own.

1- 4 ox can tomato paste
1- 4 oz can water
1/3 c Honey
1 Tb Molasses
1 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
1 tsp Onion Powder
1 tsp Salt

Mix in a bowl. If you want to fill a Ketchup bottle then double this recipe.


BTW: I recently found these blogs and can't wait to try out some new recipes
http://www.greenereating.com/
http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/

Vegetable Fritters

Ingredients:

1 Medium Zucchini

1 Large Carrot

1 Walla-walla onion along with 2 inches of the stem

Chard (I used 2 stems, you could use more)
4 cloves Garlic

1/4 c bread crumbs

2 eggs (If you don't use eggs, this would work great with 2 T ground flax seed soaked in 1/4 c water)

Basil

Thyme

Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Grate Zucchini and Carrot, place in Medium mixing bowl

2. Roll Chard into a bundle with Herbs and chop roughly, Add to bowl

3. Dice onion add to bowl. *

4. Mince Garlic and add to bowl. *

5. Add bread crumbs and eggs to the bowl along with salt and pepper. Mix.

*If your family has issues with onion blend the onions, garlic and even the herbs together in the blender.

Red Onions would make this even prettier, but it wouldn't taste quite as sweet.

Take 1/4 cup at a time and fry in a lightly oiled frying pan (Non-stick really works best). Let cook 3-5 minutes then flip and cook through.

Serve- These would be great with a little tahini warmed and drizzled over the top, some Aioli, or just plain.

This would be great with a little tahini warmed and drizzled over the top, some Aioli, or just plain.

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

After Melissa's Sandwich post I thought some of you might like this recipe. We have been eating it non-stop for the last month. I found the original here, but it had quite a kick. Some in my family don't like that much kick (Or any kick for that matter) so I tweaked it just a bit and came up with this. It still has all of the great flavor without the kick.

1 can or 2 c Garbanzo Beans

4 Oz Roasted Red Pepper (About 1 Red Pepper)

3 T Lemon Juice

1 T Olive Oil

1 1/2 T Cumin

1/2 t Salt

3 T Tahini

3 T Water

1 T Paprika

3 Garlic Cloves

Place all ingredients in food processor or blender. Blend until Smooth.

Use as a dip for veggies, a spread on sandwiches or any other way you might enjoy.

Tahini

1 c Sesame Seeds

1/4 c Olive Oil

Place sesame seeds in frying pan over medium heat (NO oil yet). Stir until starting to lightly brown. Put into blender and add olive oil. Blend until smooth.

The Vegetable Sandwich

This recipe is for Liz, by special request.
Thank you to Courtney for introducing me to these.

Step 1: Cut up your fresh veggies. Whatever you like. (as long as it

is a vegetable. - sorry no bacon here.) Almost any veggie will work. Be sure to add the avocado, with it, you won't miss the cheese and meat. As a grown up, if you don't like some veggies, slice them super thin and put them on anyways, you won't know they are there - but your kids will and eventually they will eat it too, if they see you eating it.

We like spinach or lettuce, sprouts, carrots (grate or use your vegetable peeler to make thin slices,) cucumber, tomato, peppers -red yellow or green, avocado, onion, zuchinni (again with the vegetable peeler), and fresh herbs (cilantro or basil.) Try to get as many different colors as you can - then you will be getting a wider range of nutrients.

Step 2: Pick a sandwich spread --mayonaise, vegenaise, soy mayo substitute, pesto; spread it on a couple of slices of whole wheat bread. Layer on the veggies. Everyone gets to pick what they want on their sandwich. If they don't want it on their sandwich, they get to try it anyways-just one bite. Just make sure they have something to dip it in. Top off your sandwich with some salt and pepper, and a squeeze of lime.

Step 3: Eat it. yumm.

Then make another one and eat it too. Its ok, its just vegetables.

My girls really do actually eat this, they call it the "begetable sandwich". Its funny though because the vegetables they want usually changes each time we have it. And sometimes they want to pick their sandwich apart and eat it bit by bit seperately, thats ok too.

Also, we like veggies in a tortilla or pita with hummus. Delish!

Eat more fresh veggies! They supply your body with enzymes that help you digest your food, anti-oxidants to stop cancer causing free radicals, lots of vitamins and minerals, and fiber to maintain a healthy digestive system.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Smoothie

I found this recipe HERE. We ALL loved it. We could definitely drink this smoothie everyday.
(the bag is to hide my messy counter)

Peanut Butter Chocolate Smoothie

2 C Rice Milk
2 Handfuls Spinach
2 Tb Peanut Butter
2 Tb Honey
2 to 3 Frzn Bananas
Ice (optional)
Small Handful Chocolate or Carob Chips

Blend all ingredients in Blender.

Cabbage Rolls!

Not as complicated as they look and so Yummy! My husband just kept eating them and eating them and eating them... (I used couscous instead of Bulgar, brown rice would probably be good as well)

Bulgar Stuffed Cabbage

½ cup cooked bulgar or Couscous

1 head cabbage (remove tough outer leaves)

2 tsp olive oil

1 red onion, chopped

1 red pepper, chopped

4 oz sliced mushrooms (optional)

1 zucchini (sliced)

½ tsp basil

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp thyme

¼ tsp pepper

1 egg white

2 tsps lemon juice

1 can 8oz tomato sauce

Serve with Rye bread and Green Salad

Prep 25 minutes, cooking 1 hour

Serves 4 Adults

1. Cook couscous or bulgar and set aside
2. Place cabbage in boiling water for about two minutes, then remove four leaves, repeat until you have 12 leaves
3. Heat oil in skillet over moderate heat and sauté onion, red pepper, and mushrooms, sauté 5 min
4. Stir in zucchini and cook for a few more minutes, until tender
5. Remove from heat add to couscous, stir in lemon juice and egg white
6. Stuff each cabbage leave like a burrito with the filling
7. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place rolls in baking dish, then spread tomato paste along top.
8. Cover with aluminum foil and cook 25 min, remove foil and cook 10 more minutes

P.S. The leftover cabbage was really good in stir-fry the next day.

10 to Buy Organic

I am not entirely convinced on the whole organic movement (mainly because of cost) but I found this list and thought it was cool. I found the list HERE

To Buy Organic (the numbers to the side show the percentage of washed fruit that still contains pesticides):

1. Nectarines – 97.3%
2. Celery – 94.5%
3. Pears – 94.4%
4. Peaches – 93.7%
5. Apples – 91%
6. Cherries – 91%
7. Strawberries – 90%
8. Imported Grapes – 86%
9. Spinach – 83.4%
10. Potatoes – 79.3%

Probably Okay to Buy Conventional:

1. Asparagus
2. Avocados
3. Bananas
4. Broccoli
5. Cauliflower
6. Kiwi
7. Mangoes
8. Onions
9. Papaya
10. Sweet Peas

Notice that most of the ones that are not so scary to eat conventional are those with tough skins. So, that's probably a good rule of thumb, if it's protected by inedible skin, save the money and buy conventional. Then spend your savings on good organic raspberries!

Granola

We are big fans of oatmeal around here, but in the summer a steaming bowl of oatmeal just doesn't sound right. So we eat granola.

Here is the Recipe:
Mix the following in a large bowl:
3 1/2 cups old fashioned oats - not the 1 minute kind

1/2 cup coconut

3 T Flax seeds

3 T Sesame seeds

1/4 c Sunflower or pumpkin seeds

1/2 c nuts - your choice I used sliced almonds

2 t Cinnamon

In a smaller microwaveable bowl mix:

1 t salt

1/4 cup Brown Sugar

4 T Honey, Maple Syrup and / or Molasses in any combiniation

**trick #1** Melt / caramelize the sweeteners in the microwave for 1 minute so they will coat the granola evenly.

Then add:

2 t vanilla

1/4 c oil

Stir together and add to the dry ingredients.

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper. Spread out the granola on the sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes stirring twice. The second time you stir lightly press down the granola so it sticks together. Remove from oven when it is the right color of golden brown. **trick #2** this is very important: Do not stir after you take it out of the oven. Let it sit in the pan until it is completely cool. This will allow the caramelized sugar to make the granola stick together like it should. Then break it apart and add:

2 cups of dried fruit. I usually use raisins, but I am loving dried blueberries too.

Store in jars or Ziploc bags. I double or triple this recipe to make enough to last for a month.

We eat this with milk for breakfast, or with yogurt and fruit for lunch, and on top of ice cream with some strawberry jam for dessert. Not all three everyday of course. And if you are not used to eating flax seeds go easy until your body adjusts.

Dehydrating 101 In videos.

I came across these videos on you Tube a few months ago. She has recently added several more. They are the best videos and demonstrations I have found on dehydrating food. There are 10 vidoes on the series. She also has videos on making your own herbal teas that I thought were great as well. If you have thought about dehydrating, I would strongly recommend watching this series.

Video 1

After you watch the first video a link will come up for the second and on it will go until you finish.

I don't remember how I first found her videos. I am sure it was probably off of someone elses blog. I'm sorry I can't give credit.

Taco Bar

This is how we make Tacos- take whatever vegetables you have, slice, them dice them, out them in bowls and Enjoy!

Cheese-less Tacos
2 cups Rice
2 cups cooked beans (refried, black, Kidney)
1 yellow Onio, diced finely
1 cup Corn
Spices; Taco Seasoning, Cumin, Salt
Corn Tortillas
Vegetables

Cook the rice in a rice cooker or on the stove, add in 3 Tb lime juice, 1 Tb honey and some chopped fresh cilantro.
While rice is cooking prepare your beans. First saute your onion in a little olive oil, can add in garlic too. Add your beans, corn, about 1/4 cup water and spices to taste. Heat through.
Tacos fixing can include:

grated Carrot

grated zucchini
diced tomatoes
diced avocado
diced bell peppers
chopped red cabbage (optional)
greens (optional)

Golden Flax

We are always hearing about the benefits of eating flax because of it's Omega 3's. Other foods which include those essential Omega3 fatty acids are fish, especially Salmon, but those of us with Vegan tendencies need to eat Flax, Kiwis, hemp, flax and pumpkin seeds and oils, walnuts and leafy green vegetables... Omega 3's can be found in many plant foods.
This is one of our favorite breakfast cereals. It is made with whole grain wheat and toasted flax, one variety comes with dried Berries.


We toasted some flax seeds to add to cereal so we could make our own version of Uncle Sam's.

1. Set the oven to 350 degrees, spread your flax evenly onto a baking sheet.


2. Bake 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Let cool and store in a jar.

Vegetarian? Maybe?

Anyone thinking about becoming a vegetarian or leaning that way might want to read THIS. It is a vegetarian starter kit article. I thought it was very informative. For my family we are almost strictly Vegan, but we do eat eggs and meat occasionally.
http://www.vegetariantimes.com/2007/pdf/vegetarian_starter_kit.pdf

New Finds

This first one is a great for those of us who aren't ready to cut out chocolate entirely and make the switch to Carob. These are the "wholest" choc-chips I have found. and they weren't as expensive as I expected. The ingredients are Evaporated Cane Juice, Chocolate Liqour and Non-Dairy Cocoa Butter.
Secondly, as we are trying to cut back on our peanut butter consumption I have been trying to introduce my girls to new flavors of nuts and seeds. This is fast becoming a favorite- Sunflower Seed Butter. It is really spreadable even though it is refrigerated after you open it.

I was able to find both of these at our grocery store, Hy-vee, in their awesome Health Food market.

Creamsicle Green Smoothie

This smoothie is amazing. I have been meaning to try it for awhile and we finally did. My two year-old said "I love this green ice cream". It really tastes so much like an orange creamsicle.
I wish I could take credit for this amazing recipe, but I found it HERE.

Creamsicle Smoothie

1/2 to 1 cup water
1 cup vanilla Rice milk
(or use plain and add 1 tsp vanilla)
2 large Tbsp. Orange Juice Concentrate
2 Big Handfuls of Spinach (or more)
2+ Cups Frozen Peaches

Put in blender and Puree to your hearts content. Enjoy.

Dehydrated Strawberries

I was at the grocery store when I noticed a display case of strawberries marked down to 75 cents per pound. I grabbed 4 and on the way home pondered what to do with my bounty. I decided to try dehydrating them.

It worked so well! I wish I would have been able to find my egg slicer, but I think I threw it out on my last kitchen purge, so I cut them up the slow way.

Here are the steps I followed

1. Spray strawberries with white vinegar and rinse.

2. Hull Strawberries (Remove the section with the leaves.)

3. Slice strawberries. I sliced them about 1/8 of an inch thick. I have read to do up to 1/4 inch. They dry a lot faster if they are thin, but they take up more room in your dehydrator.

4. Lay the strawberries out carefully but not touching.

5. Set dehydrator to 135 and let dehydrate for 4-5 hours. You can set it lower, they will just take longer. They are done when they are still slightly pliable, but no longer squishy. Some of the thinner ones were almost crisp.

6. Place all strawberries in a jar and put a lid on shake every few hours so the hydration of all strawberries evens out.

Use as a snack, in granola, cereal, or however you would like. In waffles, pancakes. Oh the possibilities are endless.

I also dehydrated some bananas that were about to move past their prime. Exact same steps, but add a soak in lemon juice or spray with lemon juice. I soaked mine and I can taste the lemon juice so next time I will just lightly spray them

.

Now that I can make strawberry season last all year, I can't wait for it to begin.

Whole Wheat Pasta

I was lucky enough to grow up in a home where my mom made homemade noodles on a fairly regular basis. My little brother liked to come home from school and make them for his afterschool meal. They are really easy, once you get the hang of it. I love them because I can make them whole wheat and add yummy things like spinach to them.

Ingredients

2 c Whole Wheat flour (can be made with white flour as well If possible when using white flour use 1/3-1/2 of the volume of flour as semolina flour)

3 lg eggs (I use 3 T powdered eggs and 6 t water)

2 c fresh spinach (I add a few handfuls of baby spinach, the more you use the darker they are)

Extra flour and water to adjust consistency

Directions:
Food Processor (the easiest method)

Place four and spinach in bowl of food processor. Process until spinach is pulverized and mixed thoroughly with the flour.

   

Add eggs and process for about 1 minute. The mass should form one main ball, about the consistency of playdough. If it is just in little chunks add water 1-2 tsp at a time until it comes together. If it is too sticky, add flour 1 Tbsp at a time until it is manageable. 

If you don't have a food processor, blend the eggs and spinach up in a blender.  I don't know why but when I do it this way more the noodles loose more color (and I assume other goodies) when they are cooked, it doesn't happen when I pulverize the spinach with the flour.   Form the flour into a well and pour the egg and spinach mixture into the well. Mix the flour into the egg until a dough is formed Knead 5-10 minutes adding more flour or water if necessary.

Wrap in plastic wrap, or place in covered bowl and let sit 20 minutes. If using 100% whole wheat flour this is especially important to allow the flour to hydrate.

Then roll it out.  If you are especially strong, you can roll it out by hand.  I don't know anyone who can roll whole wheat thin enough by hand, but you can give it a try.  I run it through a pasta roller.  It is one of my favorite kitchen gadgets.  They are often found at thrift stores and garage sales, as well as most kitchen stores.   If you have a kitchenaid they make a roller attachement I have used, and I loved it.   You can also find motors for the regular machines but they can be pricey.  The motor (or Kitchenaid) makes it easy for one person to do by themselves.  Without the motor I would recommend 2 people. 1 to crank and 1 to feed the dough and catch it as it comes out.  For JR prom this was the "activity" we went to one young mans house and made pasta.  I think it upset he and his parents that I had actually done it before, but I was the only one out of a group of about 10 people.

Most pasta machines come with 2 attachements, one for making spaghetti and one for making fettucini noodles.  You can also just roll it onut in flat sheets for use in lasagna (no precooking necessary) or filled pastas.  I love to make ravioli's in bulk and freeze them for later meals.  

Once the pasta is rolled out you can add it to boiling water and cook 4-5 minutes, less if you roll it really thin.  

If you make more pasta than you can eat in one sitting, you can dry the leftover pasta.  I ALWAYS do this.  It only adds a few minutes of rolling out, but I will make enough for 4-5 meals all at once. I either hang it on wooden spoons or dowels to dry, and I recently started laying it out in my dehydrator to dry.  It only takes about 45 minutes in a dehydrator, and worked great.

You can also do variations adding fresh herbs or other vegetables.  The possibilities are endless.

Good Luck!

Not Necessarily Green Smoothie

In our attempt to get the recommended 7-9 servings of fruits and vegetables daily we have begun incorporating green smoothies into our breakfasts. I will admit, at first they are hardly palatable, but once we tried a few different recipes we found they were quite good. The one year old loves them and can't get enough (the two 1/2 year-old still needs some coaxing).
Dr. Fuhrman, who wrote the book "Eat to Live" suggests that each adult eat 1 lb of leafy greens a day. Knowing we can't eat an elephant all at once, we have been taking it one bite or one drink at a time.
I have read up on the fancy $400 blenders, but haven't been able to swallow it yet. So far our Kitchen-Aid blender has done great. Just don't get too impatient and let it blend for a while, sometimes you may need to add more liquid (water, fruit juice, rice milk).

Here are some of our favorite recipes so far.
This first one is what I like to call the beginner smoothie- once you think this one tastes good, it is time to move on to more advanced smoothies.

Beginner Smoothie:
2 cups of frozen mixed berries (blueberries, raspberries, blackberries etc.)
1-2 cups frozen spinach
liquid as needed

In this smoothie the tartness of the berries overpower the spinach. Note: I buy a big bag of frozen berries at Sam's Club, as well as my frozen strawberries, mangos and tropical fruit.
Start with frozen spinach then move on to fresh. The fresh has a stronger flavor.

Idea #1
1/2 head of romaine lettuce
1 cup pineapple (I used canned with it's own juice)
1 large mango (I used frozen chunks)

Idea #2
1 cup pineapple (I used canned)
1 frozen banana
2 sticks of celery
1 handful of greens (whatever you like)

Idea #3
1 peeled orange with pith removed
1 apple cored
3 sticks celery
2 handfuls of fresh spinach
1 cup ice cubes

P.S. A good smoothie is said to be 60% fresh fruit and 40% greens- so go ahead and experiment.

Western Grains Casserole and Lemon Chicken

Western Grains Casserole
(taken from the Feel Good Cook book which adapted it from the "Nut Tree Restaurant" in Vacaville, CA)

When we made this I halved the recipe, then it made 4-6 large servings.

4 cups brown rice
1 cup of grains (whole wheat, barley, rye or other whole grain or mixture of grains)
10 cups of water
2-4 cans of cut green beans (drained and rinsed)

Gravy:
1/2 c whole wheat flour
3 cups water
1 tsp. salt
3 Tb. healthy mayo (Vegenaise)
Pepper to taste

Steam grains and water in rice cooker. Combine gravy ingredients in a small saucepan and simmer until thick and bubbly, stirring to prevent scorching. When grains are cooked (about 30 min) fold in green beans and gravy mixture. Optional: sprinkle top with Parmesan cheese before serving.

Our personal thoughts: we wanted more green beans, I think it would work with an even higher ratio of grains to rice, the original recipe didn't call for pepper


Lemon Chicken
This was a good compliment with the rice dish.

4-6 boneless skinless chicken breasts, thawed (we actually used skinless thighs)
1 large onion, cut into thin wedges (like whole orange segments)
2-3 large carrots, diced
2-3 stalks of celery, diced

Sauce:
1/2 c whole wheat flour
3 cups warm water
1/2 Tb salt
1 lemon juiced
1 Tb each of honey, onion powder, and basil

Saute chicken and vegetables in olive oil in a large skillet (may need to add a cup of water to help keep chicken from sticking and aid in cooking the chicken). Meanwhile, blend sauce ingredients and when chicken is done pour over. Simmer until bubbly. Serve over brown rice.