Vegan MoFo ~ Fave Herbs & Spices

Just a quick post today but still sticking with the Vegan MoFo prompts...today's being...my favorite herbs and spices!  This one is probably going to be non-climatic because I pretty much like them all for different reasons.  So I guess I will point out a few individual ones to keep this months posts consistent!

Basil

I LOVE the way it looks, smells, tastes, and grows!

We've had a LOT of luck with Basil - both indoors, outdoors, in a rooftop garden, and on a window sill garden!

Turmeric 

One of the healthiest things you can consume - some say!  And my favorite Turmeric to buy by far is from The Raw Food World!  Turmeric is one of the most powerful therapeutic herbs on the planet – it is highly regarded in the ancient Ayurvedic healing tradition of India and one of the most popular spices in the world. Turmeric is used in traditional Indian medicine as an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antiviral*. This Raw Wildcrafted Turmeric extract is made of pure turmeric root harvested by local farmers in the wetlands of India, low temperature dehydrated and cold water extracted to a standard of 95% Curcuminoids.

Dill

Helps Digestion.  A teaspoon a day can reduce 80 percent of bloating in only three days.  Its antibacterial oils not only kill any possible stomach bugs but also help in the breakdown of carbohydrates and proteins.  Plus I love the smell and taste!

Cayenne

It has thermogentic properties that increase your blood flow and metabolism. Individuals who only use cayenne infrequently also find it reduces hunger.  I just like to give my foods a KICK every once and a while and Cayenne certainly makes that easy!  I think the BEST quality Cayenne can be found online...HERE.

Curry

And you can't go wrong with Curry!  I mean...want can't you do with curry!  Check out some of the curry flavored products you can easily find online!  And of course with fall and winter near Curry is the perfect addition to many dishes!

Kitchen Garden Update & Fruit Finds of the Weekend

Check out this photo of the progress of my herbs that I'm trying to grow in my kitchen! 

At first - the Basil was the one to sprout and I was afraid the Chives and Parsley weren't going to do anything BUT then the Parsley REALLY took off and there are a few sprouts for the chives now, too! 
As of this morning the Parsley is in first place!  Not that it's a race but I LOVE seeing the progress of each one!

Speaking of progress in the Kitchen Garden Department...here is the Celery I have been attempting.  I ended up cutting it right after I took the photo.  I had been removing the not-so-good parts from the bottom for a while not and it looked like it was at it's peak of growing.  So I grabbed it and gnawed on it.  It was a more intense flavor of celery and I really want to do more of this soon!  I think next time I will try and transplant it...but I will keep you posted on that - if I do it or not.  I really thought it would get taller but - again - it was only my first time trying it.

Now...on to some Fun Fruit Finds for the weekend! 

First up...OPAL APPLES.  I was drawn to these because of the unusual YELLOW color as well as their enormous size!  They are bigger than a good sized grapefruit!  THEN...I saw the name and could help but think of my blogging buddy OPAL. 

What a wonderful surprise to come across these apples!  We bought TWO of them to try.  Last night hubby and I had them for "snack" and neither one of us was able to eat the whole thing!  While reading up on these apples they are one (of the few) apples that never turn brown.  So after cutting them up I covered the slices and took them out the of frig this morning to bring with me for a snack today and this is what they looked like!  They stood up to the claim of NOT turning brown!  How COOL is that!  (No Lemon Juice needed)  I have to say I DO like these apples!  They might be my 3rd favorite at the moment!  I still like the Pink Ladies and Kiku Apples better than the Opal as far as flavor and personal preference is concerned.  But I wanted to mention them on my blog here because it was an interesting find for me...I don't see a lot of the produce that they may see in California, for example.  I know the variety of many produce items is stronger out there!  Oh!  By the way...I purchased these apples at Wegman's.

Another great Fruit Find of the weekend were these grapes!    I couldn't find too much info about them, really.  I see that some of the Wholefood Markets have sold them on occasion.  I ended up getting them at Sam Club.  I think they were like $6 or so for 3 pounds!  It was CRAZY!  It has Gioia as the brand/name and they are Extremely Sweet Pinkish Green Color Grapes that are supposed to be seedless.  Eventho I have only had a few handfuls so far - I have found about half of them to have seeds and the other half of them to be seedless.  I think they might be similar to these grapes but they look a tad different.  Each grape seems like half is a pale and fading green that morphs into a pale and fading pink.  They are really interesting!  At first I thought they might be the Cotton Candy Grapes that Christine blogged about a while back but they aren't.  They don't fit the taste profile.  These grapes taste more like a cross between an orange, grapefruit, and grape.  So...if anyone has seen or ate these grapes before let me know your thoughts and if you can find them online - I wasn't able to find a website for them, specifically.  Since this post was a little long winded I think I will stop there but I do have a lot more to blog about from the weekend so swing by again soon!

In My Kitchen ~ April

I thought I would get a JUMP START on the IN MY KITCHEN ~ April Edition!  A few items of interest in my kitchen for this upcoming month are highlighted in this post!  Let me know what you think of them - if you have used or done and thing with any of the items listed or if you have any questions.  Questions help me think of future posts - so I ALWAYS welcome them!

First up...

Dried items!  If you visited my blog last week you saw that I accepted Opal's Dehydrator Challenge.  I REALLY enjoyed that adventure and her and I have been trying to put together a weekly blogging Linky to get more people to BUST OUT their dehydrator!  Let us know if this is something that would interest you!  We would LOVE more participants!  One of the many things I hope to do with my Excalibur Dehydrator this month is to dry more fruit and herbs to use in my teas and tonics.  I would like to start off with citrus!  Another item in my kitchen as of late is TEA.  Well, I always have tea with or around me - pretty much throughout the day and evening.  One of the companies I have been into lately is Pelican Tea.  WHY?  Because it stands out in the sense they use peppers and spices to add a HOT KICK to their tea flavors and blends.  I think this really sets them apart from many/most other tea companies!  They have some really interesting flavors and I hope to review some of them over at Sororitea Sisters soon!

Another item in my kitchen is the 'growing of the herbs' attempts.  I will say that I am somewhat disappointed in the Chives and Parsley.  I don't think they are going to sprout.  That's ok...I won't give up...I will be trying to resprout another batch soon!

On a more positive note...

The Basil has sprouted!  YAY!  I LOVE Basil!  I hope it continues to grow!  I started it from seed but I will most likely be getting a starter plant at some point, too, but I know I will use it!  I use a lot of Basil!  I will probably be getting more starter plants for herbs as well.

I have been buying more Dates lately, too!  That is one thing you will find in my frig most of the times any more.  I get them from my local herb lady.  I have been using them in my Vitamix when I made Salad Dressings and Smoothies.  I have also been using them in my Breakfast Bars when I try and make them in my Dehydrator.  A little bit goes a long way and I appreciate them much more now that I am older.  I'm NOT saying I didn't like them when I was younger it just wasn't something we had a lot of fresh in the house growing up..so maybe it's like my 2nd Childhood when it comes to dates?

These little gems may have been in previous posts but I cannot get enough of them!  RED Lentils!  They are my FAVORITE Lentil, after all.

Lentils are one of the worlds HEALTHIEST Foods!  They are a Fiber ALL-STAR!  They are Heart Healthy!  They are an energy booster!  They help stabilize blood sugar!  They are a good source of Iron, Vitamins B1 & B6, Protein, and Magnesium...among others.

I have been getting into my NuNaturals Products again and will be having a giveaway in the near future of some of their products!  If you would like to receive updates on when that is going to happen in addition to any new posts on my blog - sign up for my email alerts. 

On of the many NuNaturals Products I'm intrigued with is this one.  Oat Fiber.

It's a way to add more fiber to your diet.  I don't think I have a problem with that but I'm interested in this product as a whole and also interested in possible passing a bit of this on to my mom and dad as my father is trying to increase his fiber intake.  

NuGrain™ Oat Fiber is naturally produced from food-grade oat hulls through a proprietary process. This is a chemical-free process, turning organic hulls into various organic fibers. Oat fiber has many uses in baked goods, adding to smoothies, porridge, smoothies, and other recipes where you want to boost the fiber content of the foods your eat.

Substitute 3 tablespoons NuGrains™ Oat Fiber for every 8 servings per recipe. For example if recipe yields 24 cookies and serving size is 3 cookies, then substitute 3 tablespoons for flour in your recipe.

What's in YOUR Kitchen for April!?  Let me know in comments!

What's Growing In My Kitchen & Produce Nook

I have a lot to be thankful for and a lot of things to blog about.  I will try and pair 'like subjects' in each post but there will be a couple per day so I can try and catch up from when I was away.

I enjoyed my time off - we took Monday and Tuesday as vacation days.  My husband's Birthday was March 10th and mine was the 16th.  We decided to take his Fiat on some day trips.  It worked out well and we were able to hit up a bunch of places that we had been wanting to go but more importantly we were able to get out of town without having to get a place to stay because we came home each of the two nights.  More on where we went in various upcoming posts but I will tell you that we hit-up 3 states...New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. 

But for this specific post I will tell you about a few things that I have been working on in my kitchen in the way of Produce and Window Sill growing.    As you can see in this first photo I chopped off the bottom of my celery and am trying to regrow it in my kitchen.  I've talked to someone who has done this many times as well as chatted online with some people who have tried it with success, too!  Some have done it in just water - making sure that the water is FRESH...and others have started it in their kitchen and then transplanted it in a container or in the ground after it started sprouting from the middle.  So I'm going to try this! 

Another thing I started in my kitchen recently was herbs.  I've done this in the past but this time around I found these neat tins with holes in the bottom that sit on a try so the water can drain but also soak from the bottom.  I'm doing Basil, Chives, and Parsley.  Both of these attempts - the Celery and the Herbs - are on the Window Sill in my Kitchen.

Also in my kitchen - but ALWAYS in my kitchen - are fresh fruit and veggies.  This is a look at what I currently have.  Multi-Colored Sweet Mini Peppers, Onions, Tomatoes, 2 or 3 different kinds of Apples, Bananas, Mandarins.  I have my greens in the frig along with some bigger yellow and orange sweet peppers, a large cucumber, and a few others.

Last night - the Bananas were ripe - so I cut them up and put them in the freezer.  This is the only way I can tolerate Bananas.  LESS is MORE.  1 or 2 chunks at a time in smoothies.  I recently finished some sprouts in the kitchen and hope to start some more tonight.  What are some of the things you have going or growing in your kitchen these days!?

Vegan Roasted Coconut Curry Cauliflower, Simple Kale Chips, Kitchen Gardening, More Sprouting

Last night I really NEEDED to use a head of cauliflower and I decided to do some Roasted Coconut Curry Cauliflower.  Boy-oh-Boy am I glad I did!  I have to admit that I was egged on by Cedella Marley's post on Facebook. She was promoting her brother's Coconut Oil which I do enjoy!  I tweaked the recipe a bit because it called for Greek Yogurt and I used Vegan Sour Cream instead and used different measurements in addition to adding a Wildtree Product in there!  So here's what I did!  I roasted the Florette's for about 15 minutes - then took them out and covered them in the mixture below to then put them back in the oven for another 10 or so minutes.  The flavor was AMAZING!  I nibbled on 2 small pieces last night as a taste test but wanted to save the rest for dinner tonight!  Here's what I used for the sauce/coating for this dish!

3/4 C Vegan Sour Cream
1 T Lime Juice
1 T Coconut Oil
1 tea Red Jalapeno Powder
1 T Garlic Powder
1/2 tea Wildtree Rancher Steak Rub
1 tea Cumin
1 tea Curry Powder

Next up...you will see that I've done some more Kale Chips.  I went the Easy-Peasy Route and just massaged them in Wildtree 'Butter Flavored' Grapeseed Oil - but only a very little bit because I put them in my dehydrator overnight! 

I also used Organic Onion Flavored Sea Salt that I picked up somewhere a while ago.  This was a VERY FINE grain sea salt and OMG I should have used LESS.  You may know I'm not much of a salt fan.  Oh well...they were still edible!

 As for some Kitchen Experiments as of late...

I've noticed that my Onions have been sprouting shoots fairly quickly so I thought I would try and grow some in my kitchen and see if I could do it successfully.  I also am trying this with Kale.  I'm eager to try this with Lettuce, too, just need to get a nice starter one, first!  If I can do this successfully I will be very happy and looking forward to trying more! 

I also started sprouting again.  Today is day 3 after the soak and I have to take some photos soon!  I'm only doing a small amount but want to reserve a space n my kitchen to start doing more things like this! 

First up is the Red Clover Sprouts.  I've been craving some Radish Sprouts, too, and I hope to start those next!  I guess it slipped my mind that Red Clover Sprouts took 7 to 14 days!  That's ok!  I'm not in a hurry and if I was I have other seeds that sprout quicker!

Just when I think I don't have much to blog about I do!  I found a slew of new(er) Vegan Cookbooks I want to look into so I will be scheduling a post about that for the weekend, I think.  I also have photos of the rooftop we will be doing our Rooftop Garden!