The Badass Vegetarian
Not your momma's green beans.
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Hearty Italian Crockpot Stew
I was inspired to make this hearty, yummy crockpot recipe when I heard my co-worker talking about how often she uses her crockpot. This was made with things I had in my fridge and pantry and are not hard to come by.
I love crockpots because there is rarely any fancy cutting or prep-work. Just dump it all in and stir it every now and then.
(Source: crockpotveggiestew)
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Roasted Winter Vegetables with Cannellini Beans and Orange-Infused Quinoa
Roasted Winter Vegetables with Cannellini Beans
Serves 4We were blasted with snow here in the beautiful Pacific Northwest last week, so what better time to make a recipe featuring hearty winter vegetables? As with most roasted veg recipes, this dish is easy to prepare and uses simple…
Robot Heart Recipes is an amazing blog with delicious dishes. I highly recommend her blog as well as this recipe. I look forward to trying it! I’ve never cooked with rutabaga before.
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How to Buy Coffee Cheaply
I would consider myself a fairly experienced person when it comes to buying, making and tasting coffee. I have been at the cup-a-day habit since my senior year of High School. I’ve had a lot of experience with coffee: cheap and expensive, good and bad, flavored and unflavored, artisan and name brand. I’m going to help you learn to buy the best bag of coffee possible as cheaply as possible.
The Price
You know those little price labels under every item? I bet you only look at the big number that tells you whether that item is more or less expensive than the ones around it. You may think you’re getting a deal when you choose the cheapest item by price but in a lot of cases you’re getting duped.
Let’s take an example:
You are looking at two bags of coffee, one is $7 and the other is $8.
The $7 bag of coffee contains 16 oz (or one pound) which means that it is approximately 44 cents per ounce.
The $8 bag of coffee contains 24 oz (or one and a half pounds) which means that it is 33 cents per ounce.
The $8 bag of coffee is clearly cheaper than buying the $7 bag because you’re only paying $.33/oz instead of $.44/oz.
In this case, the bags might look very similar and so you wouldn’t buy the “more expensive” bag but here we see that even though you’re paying a dollar more, you’re getting more for your money.
This is why looking at the unit price is so important. It will tell you how much a product is per ounce or per pound or whatever. In coffee, it’s normally price per ounce.
The Quality
You’re going to want to make sure you’re buying a coffee that you’ll actually like. Folger’s, Maxwell House, Nescafe might always be the cheapest but if you’re going for quality you’ve got to pick the good stuff.
You’re going to want to choose a whole bean, specialty brand. Look at the package and make sure it says 100% Arabica beans because this is the highest quality species of coffee. Make sure you always smell the coffee you’re about to buy. The smell will tell you many details about what it will taste like. Squeeze the bag and smell through the little one-way valve.
If it’s cheap, smells good and contains quality beans then most likely it’s going to taste good.
You can find out more about how to find, make and brew the perfect cup of coffee by reading How to Make the Perfect Cup of Joe, which I highly recommend.
Good luck and happy hunting!
[images courtesy of americanmadness.com, Clemson University, sorbentsystems.com]
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Are you a vegetarian?
If you’ve ever had this conversation you may just not be cut out for vegetarianism. And that’s okay. You just have to -admit- it.
Customer: “Is the chicken caesar sandwich vegetarian?”
Me: “No, ma’am. It has chicken in it. But we can substitute tofu if you’d like.”
Customer: “I don’t want tofu. Don’t you have any vegetarian meat?”
Me: “Vegetarian means no meat, ma’am. Would you like a non-vegetarian option?”
Customer: “No, I’m a vegetarian. Your menu says you have vegetarian options.”
Me: “We do have vegetarian options. Anything can be made without meat.”
Customer: “Why don’t you have any vegetarian meat?”
Me: “Are you sure you’re a vegetarian, ma’am?”
I hope everyone enjoys the funny story from notalwaysright.com!
(Source: notalwaysright.com)
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Supermarket[ing]
“We found that labeling all foods and beverages with a simple red, yellow and green color scheme to indicate their relative healthiness led patrons to purchase more of the healthy and fewer of the unhealthy items … [and] moving items around to make the healthy items more convenient and visible led to further improvement in the nutritional quality of items purchased.”
Supermarkets are controlled by the same rules of marketing that dominate the rest of American society. We may think that item placement in a supermarket is arbitrary but it is actually the product of an intricate bidding system. Huge food companies pay money to be at eye level where you will see them more easily and be more inclined to buy their product.
Have you ever noticed that “healthy” cereals are located high up on the shelves or out of the way tucked at the ends? This is because of the bidding system. Food companies are multi-billion dollar industries because, let’s face it, who doesn’t eat?
Staying conscious of how marketing affects you in the supermarket will help you make better, more informed choices.
[Image courtesy of sciencedaily.com]
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Easy Salmon Sandwich with Red Bell Pepper
Recently, I’ve been feeling abnormally hungry. I finally pinned down that I’m probably not getting the protein I need. When this happens, it’s important to act quickly and get your body a little boost. So I made myself a super easy salmon sandwich with red bell peppers and green onions. Here’s how we do it.
Ingredients
6oz can salmon, drained of water
1 red bell pepper
2 stalks green onion
1 tbsp mayo
2 tsp mustard
2 slices of your favorite whole wheat bread
Pepper
Salt if you desire
This recipe makes two small sandwiches or one monster sandwich. You decide. I went the “monster” route. If you do two small sandwiches consider using a sandwich roll instead of slices because they tend to be smaller.
So first off, open the salmon and drain the water. Get the salmon into a bowl along wit the mustard and mayo.
You’re going to use about 1/4 of that bell pepper. Take the quarter of the pepper and cut the ribs out as well as remove the seeds. The ribs are the bitter white membrane inside the pepper. Go ahead and dice it and put it in the bowl with the salmon
Take the two stalks of green onion and chop them finely making small little rings. For best results, use a very sharp knife. When you cut them, press down and then pull back a little bit for a clean cut. Add the green onions into the bowl and proceed to mix and mash.
You should probably taste it to see whether you want to add any more salt or pepper. Toast up your bread if you like and serve!
Notes: Remember to always wash your produce and check the expiration dates on cans!
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Freezer Necessities
There are some things you need to have in stock in your kitchen that you just can’t keep fresh all of the time. These are a few things that I have always found come in handy!
There is a huge myth that frozen fruits and vegetables are less nutritious because they packaged and processed. This is completely untrue for the most part. Frozen produce is usually more fresh and more nutritious than what you will find in the produce section of your grocery store and I’ll explain why. When the produce arrives at the processing plant it has probably been in transit for a few hours at least. The produce is taken inside lightly processed, usually involving a flash-steaming and then flash-frozen. This prevents any of the nutrients from degrading further in transit or in sitting in the store. There is a lot of time that passes between a piece of produce being picked and eaten between the transit time and waiting time. During all of that time, the piece of produce is aging and the nutrients are degrading. This is why frozen produce is a necessity in any kitchen.
My all time favorite is frozen chopped spinach in a bag. I prefer the bag because I can break off as much as I need whereas the frozen “block” of spinach makes you defrost the entire thing before using it. I use frozen spinach in soups, quiches, indian dishes, etc…
Secondly, I love to have a bag of frozen mixed vegetables. You can find many different kinds of vegetable mixes including asian-style mixes and french-style mixes. You may keep one or two big bags of your favorite mixes on hand for a quick and easy weeknight dinner. These can be used in stir-fries, side dishes, soups, quiches, casseroles, etc… Use your imagination!
Thirdly, I love to have some sort of frozen berry mix. Fresh fruit in the winter-time is often extremely expensive and not very tasty. These can be used in smoothies, pancakes, desserts, oatmeal and many other things. It’s a great thing to have on hand should you need a large amount of fresh berries!
I hope this helps you out in your shopping endeavors. As always, drop me a line if you have a question!
