RBR with andouille - ooowee!

we nicked this from here after a quick web search. Gosta. Gostu.

Ingredients:
1 pound dried red beans
1 1/2 pounds smoked sausage cut into chunks (we use andouille of course)
1 ham hock or ham bone (whatever)
1 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic minced
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon sage
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt to taste
freshly cooked white rice (or brown rice if you care about nutrients)

Preparation:
Soak beans overnight in cold water. Drain and put the beans in a large pot or Dutch oven. Add fresh water to cover, along with the sausage and ham, onion, garlic, thyme, pepper, sage, and cayenne. Bring to boil over medium high heat.

Reduce heat to medium low, cover and simmer until beans are tender, adding more water if necessary to keep them from drying out. This will take 2 to 3 hours. Add salt to taste. Discard ham bones. Remove about 1/4 cup of beans from mixture and mash; return to Dutch oven and stir. Simmer 15 more minutes.Serve over hot rice.Serves 6.

where are all the seasonal recipe blogs?

to be clear - its easy to search for recipes and i get both good and bad online - from sites dedicated to recipes to blogs. but im having trouble finding that perfect site where i can find recipes based on seasonal, local, fresh food while leaving out all the processed shizzle.

i mean no more canned stuff or produce that comes from far away. like right now - i need squash recipes and i need okra recipes and i really really needed turnip recipes like last week.

im trying to be positive.

banana milk which i invented

i tried to make rice milk the other day and it was not good. so today i was making a sweet potato pancake (dont get excited its processed like a mother) and wanted to use some kind of milk instead of the water it called for.

so i put half a banana in the blender - boom. then i added some water - boom. banana milk. and the pancake rocked my socks off.

i made some more tonight for the sweet sweet couscous. delish.

remember who invented it - me.

a vegan experiment

so i am trying to go vegan. so far ive been doing it two weeks or so. im not gonna go crazy but slowly ease on in. it just seems like the right thing. ill talk about it more on my gym blog.

sweet sweet couscous

i was looking at grains at the local grocery and decided on some golden organic couscous. i dont think ive ever had couscous before but a friend was eating it the other day and i thought what the hell.

tonight i tried it with a recipe from bobs red mill. here it is:

This dish is of grain consistency and is best served with additional soy milk.

INGREDIENTS:
3 cups Soy Milk (guess what i used banana milk, which i invented)
3 Tb Almond Butter *
1/2 cup Raisins (Unsulfured) ( i used organic currants because they were cheaper)
1/4 tsp Sea Salt
2/3 cup Golden Couscous
1/2 cup Almonds (Sliced)

Bring soy milk, nut butter, and raisins to a boil. Add remaining ingredients and return to a gentle boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand 10 minutes.

*Cashew or peanut butter can replace almond butter.Makes 10 servings.

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
Servings Size: 1 serving (102g)
Calories 160, Calories from Fat 60, Total Fat 7g, Saturated Fat 0.5g, Cholesterol 0mg, Sodium 50mg, Total Carbohydrate 20g, Dietary Fiber 2g, Sugars 5g and Protein 6g.

Rating: five high fives (out of five)

eatin diffrent

bekah had another great idea the other day.

feeling a need to look more closely at what we were putting into our bodies after we read something my brother showed us (basically it said it's more important to eat food that hasn't been processed than anything else) and inspired by the book Plenty, we started shopping for locally produced food. This blog's recipes will from now on reflect that.

pizza crust recipe

so even though pizza isn't the best thing to eat (what with the amount of bread and cheese therein) we can't seem to shake it. the next best thing, then, is to make it at home. we've been trying different recipes - the last one went way wrong - and this one seems just right. we used wheat flour and it even works for calzones.

Oven 400 Degrees
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup water
1 tbsp cooking oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Prepare pizza pan by spraying with non-stick cooking spray.
Combine dry ingredients in mixing bowl.
Add liquids and stir to incorporate dry ingredients.
Knead dough by hand 6-8 times on a lightly floured surface.
Roll dough thinly.
Place rolled dough onto prepared pizza pan, add favorite sauce and toppings.
Bake at 400 degrees for 18-20 minutes, depending on crust thickness.

i stole this from www.easypizzacrusts.com.