Mango Sorbet

I know I've mentioned this before but I love ice cream.  This love of mine doesn't go well with my dairy intolerance.  So I am constantly trying to come up with new non-dairy ice creams.  My girls are loving it too.  In fact one evening a week ago we'd been grazing a bit that day on random foods and we got home a little late and no one was real hungry for dinner.  So what did we do....we had ice cream for dinner.  It was awesome.   I didn't feel a bit bad about it either.  It was homemade and loaded with strawberries, bananas, almonds, and coconut milk.  Perfect ending to a very long, hot day.

I usually try to use local fruits that we've frozen for our ice creams, but this was an exception.  Randy had stopped at the store recently and came home with quite a few mangoes because they were having a stellar deal on them.  Well I pretty much forgot about the mangoes because our fridge is packed with all the fruit we've been getting at the farmers market.  I realized yesterday that they had gotten a bit soft so I peeled and froze them, with the intention of making something yummy out of them.  Well this is what I came up with last night.  So so good!

Mango Sorbet

Frozen mangoes

Pineapple (Canned or fresh)

Shredded Coconut

**I didn't measure things out but just added a bit at a time into the food  processor and played with consistency.  I froze 3 mangoes and by the end of the evening they were all gone.  (Norah and I did make a small batch for a snack as well earlier in the day!) I used almost half of a can of crushed pineapple but not much of the actual pineapple juice it was packed in.  I added in just a little bit of the shredded coconut while the mangoes and pineapple were mixing.  I then topped our bowls with a sprinkle of the shredded coconut.   My girls weren't huge fans of the texture the coconut created but of course it was ice cream so that didn't stop them for to long.

Viola' a yummy sorbet you can feel good about giving your kiddos, even if they didn't eat dinner!

Tabouli Chard Wraps...A.K.A. The Silly Green Burrito

 

Ever come up with one of those random, throw together in a pinch meals that turns out just fabulous?  I feel like I've been doing that a lot this summer.  All of a sudden it's lunch or dinner and I find myself thinking "well now what are we going to eat?"  Lots of random and simple meals happening in our house as of late.  Some are a success and some are not.   But it's summer and it's hot and I want to minimize my time in the kitchen so I can be outside playing too!  

So I got real excited when this recipe was actually a hit with my girls (and myself).  We had been outside playing and my girls started to get hungry.   I realized it was well past lunch time and nap time needed to happen soon.  I started rummaging through the fridge and found some leftover tabouli from the night before.   We had been weeding our little garden earlier that morning and I had been thinking about what I should do with all my swiss chard that was coming in.  Two birds with one stone as the saying goes.  So that's how this was created.  My kind of meal...no cooking necessary and oh so easy! 

Now I'm learning a few things about my 2 year old.  The first is that if she's involved in the prepping process she's way more likely to eat something.  The second is that if we give things funny names that increases our odds that she'll eat it as well.  So I let her harvest her swiss chard leaf out of the garden.  When I offered her the finished product, I presented to her in a very animated voice, the silly green burrito.  Apparently those two things combined worked because she was a bit skeptical at first but then quickly gobbled it up.  Whoa!  I was a bit surprised at this but I'm learning to never under estimate what kids will eat.  Even if they have protested it before.  Their taste buds are changing and I've read it can take over 15 times of exposing a kiddo to a new food before he/she will take to it.  That's a lot!!!  But that also gives us as parents hope.  Hope that enough times of presenting something eventually they will enjoy it.   So don't give up.
Here's my twist on tabouli:

Tabouli
2 cups cooked quinoa
Chopped Cherry or Grape Tomatoes
Chopped fresh mint
Chopped fresh parsley
Raw Sunflower Seeds
Lemon Juice
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Combine all of the above ingredients.  

The great thing about this recipe is that I don't measure anything out.  I know for some of you that may seem overwhelming but experiment with adding what is available and how much you have of each ingredient.  This is how I like to cook.  Everything is an experiment.  With the Tabouli recipe I add fresh mint from our garden, which I have a surplus of.  My parsley hasn't done real well this year so I only added a little bit of parsley to this batch.  I had quite a few cherry tomatoes so I cut them in half and tossed them in.  Tossed in some raw sunflower seeds for a little extra protein and overall nutrition boost.  Finally, I tossed it all with a bit of olive oil and lemon juice.  Just enough to coat it and to taste.  I know there's no definitive amounts but it's good to experiment and taste as you cook and see what you like and how you can adapt what you have to what you want to make.  Creative cooking.  It can be so fun!

To create the wrap I cut the stalk of the leaf off.  I put a scoop of the tabouli in the swiss chard leaf and rolled it up like a sushi roll.  I then used my kitchen scissors to cut on either side of the rib of the leaf.  So essentially I cut it in half and removed the tough part, which makes it the perfect size for little hands to handle.  

This tabouli makes a great side dish with any meal or wrap it in a swiss chard leaf and you've got yourself and Silly Green Burrito.

Strawberry Vegan Ice Cream

I LOVE ice cream.  Really, really LOVE ice cream.  Especially when the heat of the summer sets in.  Oh my goodness.  It's always been my indulgence.   When I have it and I eat it slow and treasure every bite and don't feel a bit bad about it.  Now my stomach on the other hand doesn't have this same agreement.  I don't tolerate dairy well.   I had no problem giving up milk, cheese, yogurt, or any other dairy products when I realized years ago that dairy was the culprit to my feeling ill.  Now ice cream was a whole different story.  That's the one thing I had a hard time giving up, and really would just say forget it and eat it anyway.  But I would pay for it with feeling very ill.  It got to the point that my husband would start gently reminding me of the way I would soon feel after eating and request I not order it because he really didn't want me to feel sick and ruin our day.  I realized I needed an alternative.  Soy ice creams, Rice Dream Ice Cream, sorbets...none of them were cutting it for me.  And then I discovered Coconut Ice Cream.  That was it! Creamy and rich.  A very close alternative.  There aren't a lot of offerings for flavors but they are oh so good.  Now the only problem with this is that they are quite expensive so I had to pick my ice cream eating indulgences carefully and on special occasions.

After having my first baby, I was very careful to eliminate all dairy from my diet while I was nursing.  I had read a lot about the issues a lot of babies have digesting dairy, even in the small amounts they are getting from their mama's milk.   Sometimes babies can have symptoms that are quick to be labeled colic simply because they are having reactive issues from things in their mama's milk or formula.  Dairy is probably the biggest trigger of a lot of these symptoms and issues in new babies.  So I decided to be extra diligent about removing all dairy from my diet while nursing, which was benefiting not only my baby but me as well.

So this continued my non-dairy ice cream quest.  And I am happy to report after several years of experimenting and looking for recipes I finally have some fabulous VEGAN ice cream recipes that I LOVE.  In fact, ice cream making has become a fun little hobby around our house in the summer.  My girls get real excited when they see us pull the ice cream maker out or we talk about making ice cream.  At this point they have no clue that there are all these cute little shops where you can walk in and buy ice cream.  All they know is that mama makes ice cream.  It's a kind of funny thing. 

This is our favorite vegan ice cream recipe for several reasons.  First, because it tastes so good.  Second, because it's quick and easy and I always have the basics on hand to make it.  It also doesn't require an ice cream maker but just a good food processor (perhaps even a good blender could do the job)  There is no prepping or chilling ahead of time.  It's one of those "it's really hot tonight and I think I want some ice cream right now" kind of recipes.   I hope you enjoy!

Strawberry Vegan Ice Cream (recipe adapted from The Vegetarian Mother's Cookbook)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup almonds (or walnuts, pecans,...)
1 cup frozen sliced bananas
1 cup frozen strawberries (can substitute any frozen fruit you have on hand)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 to 1/2 cup coconut milk (full fat coconut milk makes for a creamier version or you can substitute other non-dairy milks)


Directions:

Place almonds in food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped.  Add frozen fruit and bananas.  Pulse until fruit is coarsely chopped.  Add milk, a little at a time, through the top of the food processor until it reaches a creamy consistency.  Viola.  Homemade, wholesome vegan ice cream. 


This is best if eaten directly after it is made.  It is possible to freeze it and eat later but it won't taste quite as delicious. 

When we make this just for my husband and I we will sometimes add a little chocolate syrup or some vegan chocolate chips.  Amazing!

If your not introducing nuts yet to your little one you can omit the nuts and still have a delicious creamy dessert to share with baby!

The coconut milk can be omitted and homemade raw almond milk added to adapt this to a raw vegan ice cream.  Possibilities are endless!

Happy Ice Cream Making!

Stay tuned this summer for more vegan ice cream recipes.....

Beets & Beet Greens

Beets.  Oh glorious beets!  We are just hooked on beets and lately on beet greens.  I've been buying fresh beets from the market the last few years and I have discovered a new favorite food.  I was very skeptical at first to buy beets.  I had no idea what to do with fresh beets.  I  also had distinct memories of pickled beets that my mom used to can, which as a kid weren't my favorite food to say the least.  So all this to say, I decided a few years ago to buy some beets at our local farmers market, and wouldn't you know, I LOVED them.  My husband began to love them.  My kids absolutely love them.  They are a staple at our house these days.

Well this year we joined a CSA for the first time.  It has been so great and I've been learning so much about different foods and cooking and preping tips.  At this point the CSA has consisted of lots and lots of greens.  I've been playing around and getting creative with lots of different ways to use greens and how to incorporate all these greens into our food.  Not only are we getting all these greens from the CSA but we also have a little garden that is producing lots and lots of kale and swiss chard.  All of this at the same time that my oldest daughter has begun picking the "green" things out of her food.  Hmmmm, not great timing for her to all of sudden go on strike against the greens!  Another reminder of how much we learn to release control over everything as parents, right? 

I was at the market a couple weeks ago and got really excited to see some fresh beets.  I've known for the past couple years that the greens on top of the beets are edible and actually quite good for you, but I've just never gotten around to using them before they went bad.  The leaves go bad quickly so it's important to use them as soon as possible, and they taste so much better as well.  This year I made it a point to use those leaves.  And again, wouldn't you know, I LOVED them.  They are tender, milder tasting green.  They are a great substitute for any recipe calling for spinach, or just use them raw in a salad.  We've even thrown the beet greens into our green smoothies.  I'm hooked on these beet greens right now.  Surprisingly my 2 year old, who has been doing some protesting over greens, gobbles them up in a recipe.  The taste is so mild I think she forgets she's been protesting.

Beets are very high in nutrients.  They contain an excellent amount of folate, which is great for pregnant mamas or those hoping to become pregnant.  Beets are also a good source of iron, vitamins A and C, carotenes, and fiber.  Really they are just super fabulous for you and your kiddos.

Our favorite is roasted beets.  I just toss diced beets  in my oven or toaster oven with a little olive oil and cook for about 45-60 minutes at 350.  I don't usually don't even peel beets. I rinse them in water and will use my veggie scrub brush lightly on them.  I've recently read that there really is no reason to peel beets because there are some great trace minerals that lie just below the surface of the skin of the beet.  If you want to peel them another way to roast them is individually in foil with a bit of oil.  When they are done you can unwrap the foil and let them cool to the touch and the skins will easily slide off after the beet is roasted whole.

Roasted beets make an excellent finger food for babies.  Just make sure you cut them into sizes that are appropriate for you baby's age.  My girls both loved eating beets.  Have a bib handy because babies and beets will create quite a mess but all of those amazing nutrients they are getting is completely worth it.  Additional warning:  beets can create some coloring of the stool so don't be alarmed if you or your kiddo eats beets and the next day or two have some reddish color in the stool or even urine.  This is normal!

There are other great ways to use beets besides roasting them.  Raw beets grated into a salad are quite tasty.  Juicing beets gives fresh juice a vibrant color and flavor.  Perhaps try steaming beets.  There are even lots of recipes out there calling for beets in brownie and chocolate cake recipes.  (I have yet to try these because I don't do much baking but they always sound real interesting).

One of my favorite way to use beets raw is in this Firecracker Beet Slaw recipe from Vegetarian Times.

Ingredients

• 3 raw beets, peeled and shredded (3 cups)
• 1 Granny Smith apple, shredded (1 cup)
• 4 green onions, thinly sliced (1/2 cup)
• 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
• 3 Tbs. olive oil 2 Tbs. Dijon mustard
• 1 Tbs. agave nectar or 2 Tbs. sugar or 1 Tbs. Raw Local Honey
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (2 tsp.)
• 1 tsp. minced canned chipotle chile in adobo sauce (this does have a strong flavor with a bit of kick to it so if your kiddos don't like much spice you may want to omit this or just add half the amount of chipotle to half the recipe and save the other have for the kiddos)
• 1/2 tsp. salt

 Directions


1. Toss together beets, apple, and green onions in bowl. (I shred these in my food processor which make it super easy)

2. Blend vinegar, oil, mustard, agave nectar, garlic, chipotle chile, and salt in food processor until smooth. Add to beet mixture, and toss to coat.  Enjoy!

So if you find yourself at a local farmers market this week, maybe you pick up some beets and begin experimenting with the beets and the beet greens.  I hope you discover a nourishing new food that you enjoy!