Remembering Maui - The Food

The food in Maui was amazing. We were on the lush side of the island so food grew so abundantly. Everyday Dan and I would peek around the land gathering all the newly ripe fruits. Avocados fell off the trees daily & we ate them with vigor. Thimbleberrys, papaya, banana, lilikoi (passion fruit), soursop, pineapple, were all in season on our property while we were there and other fruits were brought to the stand we worked at by the locals. The food was always fresh & it was very easy to eat healthy.

One morning I found a dish in the community fridge containing a strange looking mixture. Another girl on the farm, Ashley, told me it was her breakfast of sprouted buckwheat, chia seeds, banana, & cinnamon. This meal intrigued me because it was so simple & healthy. A combo of foods I would have never thought to put together but would love to try. I was surprised at how sweet it was having only the banana & cinnamon to flavor it.

Since coming home I haven't had any bananas. I don't usually buy them unless they are in the discount (otherwise we would throw these away) section, because I try to buy as locally as possibly and bananas just don't grow well in Northern California. Yesterday though, someone left one at our house so I immediately thought of the chia/buckwheat porridge.  Last night I sprouted the buckwheat and this morning I dined on a memory of Hana, Hi.

Raw Chia Buckwheat Porridge (makes 2 servings)

1/2 cup buckwheat

4 tbsp chia seeds

1 large banana (or 2 small)

healthy sprinkle of cinnamon (to taste)

Cover the buckwheat in water and soak over night. Drain and rinse. Place in bowl and sprinkle with chia seeds. Add just enough water to cover the seeds. Let sit for half an hour. Mash in the banana and add cinnamon to taste. Enjoy!

Garden Fresh Tabbouleh

The garden here is overflowing with various greens right now so I am constantly trying to come up with tasty ways to eat them. I have found this tabbouleh recipe is a great way to  use up all the parsley and mint we have growing here. Traditionally, tabbouleh uses bulgar wheat as the grain but I prefer the snap & protein pack of quinoa. I also like the idea of kicking out wheat here and there when its convenient. This nourishing side dish has a wonderful fresh flavor that makes "getting your greens in" no trouble at all.

Garden Fresh Tabbouleh

1 cup cooked quinoa (cooled)

1 1/2 cup fresh parsley, minced

2/3 cup fresh mint, minced

1/2 cup fresh onion, chopped

1/3 cup dice tomatoes

3 tbsp lemon juice (or more to taste)

3 tbsp olive oil

salt to taste

Mix together all ingredients together in large bowl & serve. Can be made ahead of time and refrigerated. 

Healthier Homemade Cheese Crackers

Tomorrow I'm leaving for a camping trip, so the day today was spent preparing food to take with us. We will have to hike in all our food which means lots of dehydrator action to save some weight. Currently I have 8 trays going full of lentil stew with garden veggies, peanut butter kix snack bars, blackberry apple peach fruit leather, and fruit chunks for oatmeal breakfasts. I only made one thing today that caught some oven time... Homemade Cheese Crackers!
Dan and I love cheese crackers and they make the perfect savory snack for camping trips. I decided this time around to health them up a bit so I threw in some whole wheat flour and ground flax seeds. These bad boys still have a good amount of butter, and of course cheese so they are not the healthiest snack. But, they are made with whole wheat flour and flax, so you can feel just a little bit better about that extra handful.

Healthier Homemade Cheese Crackers
1 cup Flour
1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1/3 cup ground flax seeds
1 1/2 cup shredded cheese of your choice
1/2 cup butter cold, cut into cubes
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
fresh or dried herbs of your choice (thyme, marjoram, basil, rosemary, etc.)
1 tsp salt
dash of pepper




Place all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until well incorporated. Slowly add cold water one tablespoon at a time till dough comes together. Separate dough in to two balls, wrap in plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator for 1 hour. 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
Take out one ball of dough and roll out to about 1/8 inch. Use a small cookie/garnish cutter or cut in to roughly 1 inch squares. Repeat with the other ball of dough. Bake for 15 min. Let cool, then enjoy!

Fun with Nasturtiums

 Nasturtiums pretty much grow like weeds here in California. Most people know these edible flowers have a nice spicy flavor that make a great addition to salads. But there are other things you can do with them as well. The whole plant is edible: flowers, young seeds, leafs and stalks. Here are a couple of other options for putting nasturtiums to use in your kitchen.:

I headed out around my neighborhood with bags in hand and collected both flowers and young seed pods.

Wild overgrown bush of nasturtiums

These flowers grow everywhere. I wondered around and collected from about 5 different patches in my neighbors front yards.

Young seed pods

 The seed pods grow in clusters of 3. You want to pick them when they are still green. As soon as they start to get tiny red spots or turn yellow its too late. They will be be woody and not very palatable.

I ended up with a full bag of flowers and just enough seed pods to fill a small jar.

The first thing I made was "Poor Mans Capers". Real capers are the seed pod of the caper bush, however, nasturtium seed pods taste remarkably similar when pickled.  I used the lacto-fermentation method of pickling for these.

Poor Man's Capers (lacto-fermented)
Young Nasturtium Seed Pods (enough to fill your jar with 1/2 inch space at the top)
zest from one lemon
1 small onion cut in to slices
clove of garlic cut in to 2-4 pieces
bay leaf ripped in half
3 or 4 small sprigs of thyme
about 6 pepper corns
1tsp salt


Mix all the ingredients (minus the salt) together in a bowl then empty in to your jar. The goal is to have the flavorings spread out somewhat evenly. Sprinkle in the salt then fill with water up to the top. Put cap on jar then shake well to dissolve the salt. Uncap the jar, place inside a dish (to catch any liquid that might spill over), then top with a plastic bag filled with just enough water to seal off the entire opening of the jar. Make sure all organic material is under water and not touching air. Let sit to lacto-ferment for 6 days. You should see a good amount of bubbles forming and the liquid should smell sour. 
You can use these capers the same way you can use the real deal. The only difference is these ones will cost you next to nothing, be hyper local, handmade, and great for your digestion.

The next thing I made was a quick tasty dressing/sauce using the nasturtium flowers.

Nasturtium Flower Dressing/Sauce

6 cups of loose nasturtium flowers (or one produce bag full)

2 cloves of garlic

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/8 cup apple-cider vinegar

1/2 tsp salt (or more to taste)

1/4 cup water

Place all ingredients in blender and process till smooth. 

This is a super basic recipe. Feel free to play with the ingredients. Add herbs from your garden, try a different type of oil/vinegar, or add other edible flowers. Each new ingredient will change the flavor just a little bit. Mess around till you find your perfect combo.

I used this sauce as a flavoring for a vegetable quinoa dish I made (below). I love the bright orange color and could imagine using this as a salad dressing, sauce on meat, or dip.

Quinoa with garden vegetables and Nasturtium dressing

Experiments in Lacto-Fermentation

I've been unconsciously adding more and more fermented & living foods in to my diet lately. It started with Kombucha, added Milk Kefir, and now I'm experimenting with Lacto-Fermented foods.

I first learned about lacto-fermentation sometime last fall. My local farmers market hosts free workshops every Saturday. This particular Saturday they were doing a marathon of workshops on all types of fermenting. I had never heard of lacto-fermentation before and was intrigued. It took a while before I actually tried it though.

The process is simple, uses basically no energy, and creates a raw, living, food with some very nice digestive benefits.

Lacto-fermentation in process. Pickling my garden veggies.

Here's what you do:
Gather the vegetables you would like to pickle. In the picture here I used runner beans, carrots, and summer squash. You can use anything you would normally pickle (cucumbers, beets, cauliflower, etc.) Cut everything up to fit the size of the jar you are using.
Gather flavoring items for your pickles (pepper corns, dill, garlic, celery seed, thyme, oregano, etc)
Pack everything in to your jar as tightly as possible. The goal is to have it so tight that nothing can move or float up.
Pour a mix of salt and water over everything till the jar fills. You want it to be approx. 1 tsp salt for each cup of water.
The most important part is to make sure none of your organic matter is touching air. The water level needs to be above all the veggies and flavorings and you need to have something to weigh everything down so it won't float up and touch the air. Some people use actual weights, I use a plastic bag with water in it. Just put enough water in so the bag/water will sit inside the lip of the jar sealing off the jar from any air.

Your pickles should be ready in about 6-7 days. If you use a little of the juice from a previous batch it will be ready even sooner (about 4 days). Look for the bubbles, you know it working right when you see lots of happy bubbles forming.
 
***If you would like your pickles to be extra crunchy put your veggies in a bowl of cold water in the fridge for a few hours before starting the fermentation process. You can also put a grape leaf in the jar with your pickles while fermenting to help keep everything crunchy.

For more info check out these links:
http://www.simplebites.net/lacto-fermentation-an-easier-healthier-and-more-sustainable-way-to-preserve/
http://www.nourishingdays.com/2009/07/the-benefits-of-fermented-food-lacto-fermented-vegetables/
http://oreganicthrifty.blogspot.com/2009/03/lacto-fermented-foods-for-kids-15-tips.html

White Chocolate, Coconut, & Fig Cookies

Our wonderful little collective household has two new members currently in the process of moving in. These two lovely girls brought with them some tasty additions to our "shared food" cabinet which inspired me to get baking. Always a sucker for sweets, I immediately scooped up the white chocolate chips they brought and came up with an amazing new cookie recipe to share with the house.

I took my Lighter Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe and made it even healthier  by dropping some of the fat and sugar. This meant I needed to adjust the cook time and temp a bit as well.

White Chocolate, Coconut, & Fig Cookies

1 cup white flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/3 cup oats

1 tsp salt

1/3 cup coconut oil

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/8 tsp stevia

1/2 tsp almond or vanilla extract

1 egg

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

1/4 cup dried coconut

1/2 cup chopped or ground dried figs (I coarsely ground mine)

Preheat oven to 350
Combine all dry ingredients in one bowl. Combine all wet ingredients in another bowl or food processor (if you use a bowl make sure your coconut oil is liquid). Pour wet mix over dry and mix well. Form in to balls then press flat on to a greased pan. Bake for 10-12 min. Let cool and enjoy!

Easy Basic Bread Recipe

A few days ago I tried to get away with doing a lazy recipe post leaving out parts of the recipe saying something to the tune of "just do what you would normally do when making this". But of course you would not let me get away with this.

Basic Bread topped with Oats

As requested, here is my basic bread recipe:

Easy Basic Bread (hand kneaded)
2 1/2 tsp yeast
1 1/3 cup warm water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 tbsp sugar, honey, maple syrup, etc.
3 1/4 cup flour (I use white because that's what my house buys in bulk)
1 1/2 tsp salt


Place yeast and sugar in bowl the cover with the warm water. Let sit 2-5 min while you prepare the other ingredients. You should start to see the yeast get foamy. Pour oil in to the yeast water mixture. Add half the flour to the mixture the sprinkle the salt over the entire bowl. Add the remaining flour and mix well till the dough comes together. Once the dough has left the sides of the bowl on all sides dump it out on to a floured surface and knead for about 5 minuets. Form dough in to log and place in loaf pan. Let rise for about 2+ hours in a warm spot.
Pre heat oven to 350 then place the risen loaf in and bake for 30-40 min until the entire top is golden brown and loaf makes a hollow sound when thumped.

***When I am feeling extra crunchy and want to make this a bit healthier I add in 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup ground flax seeds, and 1/2 cup sunflower seeds right after the step where I add salt so all these extras are between the two applications of flour. Then mix, knead, and bake as normal.

Bike around town food inspiration: Coconut Cinnamon Rolls

While I was out riding my bike around town today I rode right by IKEA and was oh so tempted to pop inside and grab a box of cinnamon rolls. SO TEMPTED!
Somehow I convinced myself to keep riding on home and whip up a batch myself. I needed to make bread anyway so I made a double batch of my regular bread, then cut the dough in half. One half I put in a loaf pan and let rise. The other half I rolled out to a large rectangle and made just two small tweeks to a normal cinnamon roll recipe.
Instead of butter I used coconut oil, and instead of nuts I used some small dehydrated chunks of coconut. These two substitutions along with the normal cinnamon, sugar, and sprinkle of cornstarch were sprinkled all over one side of the rectangle then rolled up in to a log. I sliced off pieces about 1 1/2 inches thick then let them rise in a high walled baking dish for about two hours. Bake 350 for about 22 min and they are perfect!

The one down side about making them myself (besides time): I made way more than I ever would have gotten at Ikea and in turn, have eaten way more than I should have.

Puff Pancakes! So easy and so good.

I came across a recipe recently for puff pancakes and tried it immediately. It was delicious and I was instantly hooked.
But you know me, I can't leave well enough alone and just make a recipe the way it's been given to me. I made a few small tweaks and made this amazing breakfast food just a little bit healthier.


Puff Pancakes (with oat flour)

1/4 cup Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

1/4 cup oat flour (oats ground up in a spice grinder/food mill/food processor)
1/4 teaspoon salt
small pinch of nutmeg
1 tablespoon (1/2 ounce) granulated sugar
1/2 cup (4 ounces) milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon lemon zest
2 large eggs
1/2 a lemon to squeeze over the pancake

fresh fruit, syrup, or jam for topping the pancake

Preheat the oven to 425°F.

Whisk together the flour, salt, nutmeg, sugar, milk, vanilla, lemon zest, and eggs till fairly smooth.

Pour the batter into a lightly greased 12 inch oven safe skillet or pan. Bake the pancake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until it’s very puffy and golden, with deeper brown patches. Remove it from the oven, and sprinkle with the lemon juice, then top it with topping of your choice. The puff pancake will un-puff a bit once it gets out of the oven.

2-4 servings. (or just 1 if you are like me)

Ginger Sunflower Seed Dressing and Dip

Many years ago I went to a little work exchange weekend at a hot springs in Northern California. I helped them build a garden and they fed me and let me play in their many pools filled with natural hot spring water all weekend. One of the things they served in our meals was a delicious sunflower seed dressing for the salads. As soon as I got home I searched around the internet and came across various versions of sunflower seed dressing. Over the years I have honed it down to this lovely treat. You can make it as is and have an amazing salad dressing or use a little bit less water and it will be a ticker dip, perfect for dipping vegetables. I love love love it with carrots and bell peppers.

This versatile dressing is my absolute favorite and gets made often in my home. Give it a shot!

Ginger Sunflower Seed Dressing/Dip:
1/2 cup Sunflower Seeds (soaked overnight, drained)
juice of one Lemon
2 TB Apple Cider Vinegar
1/2 inch thick round of Ginger root - peeled, sliced
1 clove Garlic
1/4 cup Soy sauce
1/3 cup Water (use only 2 tablespoons water for dip, add more water later if desired)
1 TB Sweetener:(sugar, honey, stevia etc.)
1 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 tsp. Mustard


Simply place everything in a blender and blend away till it's all smooth and incorporated well. This will thicken a little bit in the fridge so you might find yourself adding a little bit of water the next day if you prefer a thinner dressing.
Enjoy!

Lemon, Ginger, Mint Tummy Tonic

The last few days I have had what I can only assume is a stomach flu. The pain has kept me up at night and constant ache left me not wanting to do much during the day.
Yesterday I whipped up this delicious little tonic for some temporary relief. It's quite tasty and I would totally recommend it as a nice spring/summer drink as well as a tummy ease.

Lemon Ginger Mint Tummy Tonic:
Ingredients:
Juice of 2 lemons
3 dates
small shake of stevia (optional for extra sweetness)
peeled chunk of ginger about 1/4-1/2 inch thick (to taste)
4+ mint leafs
1+ cups of water

Throw all the ingredients in to a high powered blender and go crazy. You want this to be as well blended as possible. If you don't mind a more smoothie like consistency you can drink as is or pour through a pasta strainer or cloth straining bag and squeeze all the juice out. I drank it with all of its pulp but I think next time I'm going to strain it out.

Sip away, and relax that tummy.

A Lighter Tastier Chocolate Chip Cookie

Girl on Bike's Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have a pretty major sweet tooth. I will not deny this fact. I love baked goods. If you ask my housemates, they will tell you I'm an addict constantly whipping up something sugary and fattening. The worst part is, as soon as said baked goods come out of the oven, they are consumed whole by my accomplice (Dan) and myself. It's bad, I know it. That being said, I have however been working for many years on my recipes coming up with nifty little tricks to reduce the fat & sugar, as well as add fiber, to my baked goods. I figure, if I'm not willing to give up on eating these tasty morsels, I might as well make them better for me.

This Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe drops the fat down less than half and cuts the sugar by a third (compared to traditional Toll house cookie recipe). The coconut oil ads a delicious subtle flavor, and along with the applesauce, helps cut the cholesterol down to only 1/4 that of the original recipe. The applesauce and oats help add healthy fiber. You will love them!

Ingredients
*2 cups all-purpose flour (can use 1/2 whole wheat flower if you have it)
*1/3 cup rolled or quick oats ( can be whole or ground to a flour)
*3 tbsp ground flax seeds (optional)
*1 teaspoon baking soda
*1 teaspoon salt
*1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened
*1/4 cup extra virgin coconut oil
*1/4 cup applesauce
*1/2 cup granulated sugar
*1/2 cup brown sugar
*1/8 tsp stevia
*1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
*1 large egg
*1+ cups of chocolate chips

PREHEAT oven to 375° F.

COMBINE flour, oats, flax baking soda and salt in small bowl.
Beat butter, coconut oil, applesauce, sugars, stevia, egg and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy.
Gradually mix in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips.
Drop by rounded tablespoon onto greased baking sheets.

BAKE for 9 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

San Francisco Style Oat Cakes

Quite a few years ago I worked for a green business program teaching businesses how to set up and successfully use city composting and recycling bins. During this time I had one coffee shop I went in to often. They had these wonderful dense apricot oat cakes that I have never been able to forget...or find again.
I did a lot of searching online, and it turns out there are a few other people out there who are searching for the recipe and coming up with recipes of their own to try and recreate these oaty hockey pucks of joy. I have taken some of these other recipes, twisted them around and tweaked them till I have what I consider the closest thing.

SF Oat Cakes
3.5 cups Rolled oats
1.5 cups Flour
¼ teaspoon Baking powder
2/3 cup Plain yogurt
½ cup Sugar
½ cup Honey (or just use all sugar if you don't have honey)
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 Egg
1 cup Dried fruit (I like using apricots, peaches, or a berry blend)

Thoroughly grind rolled oats in food processor or blender. Mix with flour and baking powder. Chop dried fruit into small pieces.
In a separate bowl, "cream" together yogurt, sugar, honey, egg, and vanilla. Add dried fruit. Combine wet and dry ingredients. The dough gets pretty stiff and is hard to mix. You may even have to knead it with your hands like bread dough!
Form dough in to roll about 12 inches long. Using a bread knife and a sawing motion, cut off 1 inch slices and place them on a non stick (or greased) cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes.
Cool completely and store in refrigerator. These keep well and may be frozen.

Back to Basics - Making Homemade Applesauce

I love applesauce.
I eat it straight up, used in place of oil in cake and bread recipes, and love to add spices and berries for a light dessert.
Recently I bought a bargain bag of apples from my local grocery store. Some were beautiful and perfectly ripe ready to be eaten as is. Others were a little ugly and a little brused. I took the latter and decided to make some applesauce. It's oh so simple to make and can be made in small batches or large.

Simple Homemade Applesauce: (raw/uncooked)
*3 washed, cored, and chopped apples (cut in to roughly 1 inch segments)
*1/3 cup water
*2 tbsp lemon or lime juice
*1 pitted date *optional* (only if you like your applesauce sweeter)

Place all ingredients in to a blender and process till smooth. Add more water a little at a time if needed to get the blender to move smoothly.

I prefer not to use the date to sweeten but some people really like that sweeter flavor so go nuts and add dates to fit your taste.

Top 5 posts of 2010

I had such a great year in 2010 with this blog. Some post really exploded gathering more attention than I could imagine (though you can't tell from the comments...really, you folks need to comment more), others just kind of petered out. These are the top 5 most popular posts I made in 2010 for Girl on Bike:

#5
Urban Foraging N. Oakland
Here I talked about finding a tasty fruit tree in my new N. Oakland neighborhood.


#4
Homemade Wall Hanging Bike Rack
The 5 bike wall mounted rack Dan and I built in our dinning room


#3
Super Cheap and Healthy Pesto
Eating well for less :) How to substitute some of the most expensive ingredients in pesto from some healthy less expensive ones and still get great tasting results.


#2
Toothpaste Alternatives - Homemade Toothpaste
Recipes for DIY teeth cleaners

#1 (this post far surpassed all others in views)
Homemade Deodorant
This post continually showed up on message boards and re-posted by other bloggers. It makes me very happy to know so many people out there are interested in healthier products and reducing the waste that comes from all the commercial products we buy.


Thanks for being such wonderful readers in 2010. I hope to share much more internet time with you in 2011!

Fig Ginger Jam Recipe - Guest Post

There has been some interest in the Fig Ginger Jam I mentioned the other day so I got my mom to do a guest post to give out the recipe. Enjoy:

(image from eatingoutloud.com)

"I have used this recipe several times and the results always come out well. When you have a fig tree you always have more fresh figs than you can eat and this is a good way to put them up for use later in the year.

What you will need: 2 quarts chopped fresh figs, 3/4 cup water, 6 cups sugar, 1/8 cup graded ginger, 1/4 cup lemon juice
To prepare figs: Pour boiling water over figs, let stand 10 minutes, Drain, stem and chop figs.
To make Jam: Sterilize canning jars. Measure and add 3/4 cup water and sugar to figs. Slowly bring to a boiling, stirring until sugar dissolves. Cook rapidly until thick. Add ginger, stir frequently to prevent sticking. Add lemon juice and cook 1 minute longer. Pour hot jam into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe jar rims and adjust lids. Process 5 minutes in a boiling water bath or steam bath caner.
Enjoy!

Mom"

Comfort Breakfast - Oatmeal with peanut butter and fig jam

Oatmeal with Peanut Butter and Fig Jam

I eat this meal quite often. It's simple, comforting and even a bit healthy :) The flavors all go quite well together.
I specifically use my mothers homemade Fig Ginger Jam. I steal a big jar or two of it every time I go to visit. The flavors all go quite well together.

Speaking of my mother...today is her Birthday! Happy Birthday Mom! I love you.

Super CHEAP and healthy Pesto!

Traditionally pesto is made with lots of high quality, pretty expensive ingredients. The pine nuts alone will set you back $19 or so a pound.
I love pine nuts but just can't stomach shelling that much out for a nut.
This year I decided to come up with a super easy, healthy and CHEAP recipe for making delicious pesto.

Ingredients: (all are rough estimates)
*1 cup packed basil leaves (got mine from my garden)
*3/4 cup packed chard or spinach leaves (also from my garden)
*1/3 cup almond meal (this was the cheapest available nut at Trader Joes. It came already ground in to a meal and was cheaper for the same weight than buying whole nuts. If you want to make it even cheaper you can use Sunflower Seeds)
*2 garlic cloves (add more to taste)
*Drizzle olive oil till it gets to the consistency you like. I used about 1/4 cup+
*Salt to taste
Make sure you wash the greens well, especially if you pick them from your own garden.

This recipe is so easy. Quite literally you throw all the ingredients in to a food processor or blender and go crazy.

Last night we enjoyed the pesto on some tortellini and it was really good. I plan on making this many times while my basil lasts. I may even freeze some so I can enjoy it later as well.

Mango Ginger Green Tea Kombucha

I've been drinking a TON of iced tea lately. I'm talking a pitcher every two days. So a few weeks back I put a request out on freecycle and got so much tea an entire shelf in my kitchen is dedicated to holding it all. This got me thinking about Kombucha. I've tired it a few times. It was one of those things I wasn't too fond of at first taste, but each sip after that tasted better and better till I had a full on craving for it. I've never made it though, and I finally feel ready to try. So, I answered a post on freecycle offering up a mother culture scoby. Last night I picked that culture up (thanks Sam) and started my first batch of Kombucha this afternoon.

This is what the culture looks like. It's several layers that were peeled off the top of another mother culture.

I chose some delicious Mango Ginger Green Tea (one of my freecycle scores). First I boiled the water at a rolling boil for 5 minuets to make sure anything that could interfere with the mother culture was boiled out. Then I added about 1/2 to 3/4 cups of sugar and stirred till it dissolved. I turned off the heat then put the tea bags in letting it steep and cool down for about 2 hours.

Once cool, I poured the liquid over the scoby , covered it with a cloth so no dust would get in and possibly introduce contaminants. Now I wait. I marked the date on the glass container so I know when my 7-10 days are up and I can sip away.

Hopefully I did everything right so I'll have some yummy kombucha and a healthy culture to share with others once mine establishes itself.

Green Smoothies - the official drink of summer!

It's summer time again, that means the return of my beloved Green Smoothies!
During the winter I lost all urge to sip down these wonderful concoctions; I was always in the mood for something warm instead. Now that the heat has begun to return, these green cups of goodness have slowly been returning in to my diet and I feel like I've got an old friend back in my life.

If your not hep on the Green Smoothies, these smoothies are just like any other BUT GREEN. Ok, ok maybe it's not as simple as that. Traditionally these drinks are a vegan raw food staple. They are made with any blend of fruits, nut milks, and dark leafy greens. You are free to add your own twists of course to fit your diet.

I usually tend to sip down a blend of:
bananas (from the "so ripe were discounting you section")
berries
any type of milk I have on hand (almond, soy, cows)
flax meal
and a HUGE handful of spinach

This smoothie with a piece of peanut butter toast is enough to keep me going for hours.

I'm not going to post a normal recipe with amounts to follow. It changes every time I make it and it should for you too. It's incredibly simple, throw in what ever you have, blend it up, enjoy.