Roasted Sweet Potato, Quinoa, and Avocado

When I arrived at work this morning, an avocado had magically appeared on my desk. Actually it was a gift from Sandra at work who had bought a bunch and they all ripened at the same time! Not wanting to waste a delicious avocado, Tiffany made us roasted sweet potato, quinoa and avocado for dinner. It's super cheep and easy.

First just peel and chop a few sweet potatoes, roll in olive oil, sprinkle with some herbs, put on a cookie sheet and roast in the oven for about an hour. They should be tender with a crunchy caramelly texture on the edges. Sweet potatoes are loaded with Vitamin C, fiber and iron.

Prepare quinoa just like you would make rice. We use a rice cooker, makes rice or quinoa super easy. It's a perfect protein and gluten-free.

Avocados contain 25 essential nutrients. We like them on the side, just cut one in half longways, remove the pit, cut it into slices and scoop the slices out with a spoon. Thanks Sandra!

Eat a Salad

Salad, what a novel idea! Salad's never been very exciting to me but then I discovered balsamic vinaigrette. Here in Greenville, Palmetto Olive Oil Company has an assortment of delicious vinaigrettes, I highly recommend. They come in different fruity flavors like raspberry, etc, but I have a bottle of regular flavor and it's one of my favorites. It's a little pricey, but a bottle lasts a few months. And if that's what it takes for me to eat salad, it's well worth it.

We love the fresh, local greens from Swamp Rabbit, but in a pinch Publix has good organic greens for a nice price as well. Spinach and greens are some of the best things you can eat. Tasty and simple.

New to the Kitchen

After years of using cheap knives, this holiday we finally moved up to some legit cutting instruments.

We were given the coolest little kitchen knife, the Kuhn Rikon Ergo paring knife. It comes with a non-stick coating and plastic sheath for protection.

Also, we invested in a nice Kyocera Revolution 8" ceramic chef's knife. My old chef's knife crushed tomatoes about as much as it cut through them. This knife is seriously sharp. It stays wrapped in a towel to protect our fingers from the knife and to protect it's delicate ceramic blade from other knives.

Both are available at Cook's Station downtown Greenville, SC. The paring knife is pretty affordable costing about $10. The chef's knife is a bit of an investment at $50, but looks to be worth every penny. Definitely cheaper than reattaching digits due to a dull knife.

January Challenge: Week 2

We've completed the second week of our January challenge. The first week was easier, this week was more like reality. But we did pretty good. We spent about $50 this week to add to our $30 from last week so we're in good shape. Our big purchases have been soy milk, tofu, almonds, cheese, fruit and vegetables, pasta, and a little meat.

Our food has been quite healthy, all natural, but not always organic. I'm learning that to eat all-natural, you have to plan a few hours ahead. To eat organic (and not spend more), you have to plan many months ahead and freeze, can or dry during the growing season. Needless to say, this is helping us plan for this coming summer as we assess what to purchase in bulk to preserve.

Beef, Barley and Shiitake Soup

It's been cold cold cold here in Greenville which is the perfect weather for a good hearty soup. We made this beef, barley and shiitake soup recipe with a few modifications. 

We used a cheap top cut of meat, about 3/4 pound. Added the garlic and leeks first, got them sweating and then just added the steak.

Then added an extra 1/4 cup of barley, water, fresh chopped tomato, carrots instead of parsnips, celery, shiitakes from our local asian market and a sprig of rosemary. Also added a bit of beef bouillon, salt and pepper to taste.

Yum, chunky goodness. A great way to incorporate the health benefits of barley and shiitake mushrooms.

Eating Healthier is More Expensive...

A lot of people might say that eating healthy is too expensive and that's why they don't do it. Well, we're trying to eat healthy AND slash our grocery budget at the same time. We've found we actually save money when we eat healthier--especially when we eat vegetarian. 

I stumbled across the other day and thought I'd share: 

vs.

These graphics go along with an interesting article from the New York Times called "Is Junk Food Really Cheaper?"

Tea leaves

Growing up in Michigan, our family acquired a mint plant. It loved the fertile soil so much that it took off into the lawn and into the farmer's lot beside ours. Perhaps my love for mint was acquired as I regularly hit the mint plant with the lawn mower trimming back it's domain and sending up the nicest scent. As a child I made my grandma "mint tea" by boiling water and placing a few fresh mint leaves in it. She'd tell me it was wonderful and take a sip.

The other day, I purchased some dried spearmint leaves with the thought to make my own mint tea. With big expectations, I crumbled them into a tin and prepared a cup. The results were underwhelming. The tea was minty with a nice garden quality. A second cup made twice as strong (two big teaspoons) and steeped for longer (five minutes) was better. The water acquired a little tint to it, but still lacked a full flavor. So the question is, is it worth it?

The dried spearmint cost $3. It yielded about 1/3 the amount in a typical store bought container of tea. In my opinion, it wasn't as high of quality as your typical Amanzi tea. Perhaps it needs to be blended with another leaf to produce a fuller flavor. I would try it again if: 1. it was peppermint (my favorite), 2. the leaves were picked at the right time, and 3. the leaves were free (from my garden). So this spring, peppermint might go on my garden list and we'll try this again. But I'll otherwise stick with store bought teas.