Yarn Along (3)

Joining in with Ginny this week for another fun Yarn Along! This is my week of reading and knitting:

I have started knitting my first project for myself! It is going to be a simple hat, as this is only my second hat, and I don't need to be getting in over my head. Oh my, bad pun, I know. I started this project well over a week ago thinking it would be a quick job, finished in a few hours. Well, two things have hindered that. The first was a MAJOR yarn entanglement issue, that still is not fully resolved (oh no), and the second was the other half of this Yarn Along. The book. Oh the book. It has overtaken my life, and in a very good way, believe me. This is my third Ken Follett book, and a birthday gift from D. He is well aware of my love affair with Mr. Follett, and fully supports it, in a strictly literary sense. This is the first in the Century Trilogy, and at a whopping 1000 pages, is a feast of story, and it has fed me very well so far. I am about 700 pages in (and started reading only a week ago, I might add), and am taking every spare second to read. So hence the lack of knitting progress. Mr. Follett has an amazing talent at writing epic novels that have a ridiculous amount of characters, and making you love (or hate) every one of them. He is best known for his incredibly popular, The Pillars of the Earth (amazing!), and it's sequel, World Without End (even more amazing, if possible). Please, if you haven't read any of these, go to your local used book store or library, and find them. Apologize to your family in advance for neglecting them, and then sink into these gorgeous books. You will be satisfied, believe me. Happy reading (and knitting)!

Brenna

Recipe: Asian Kale Salad

Today I have a recipe that we created out of inspiration. We recently went to our local organic market and purchased a raw kale salad from their deli. We enjoyed it so much, we decided to make our own at home, but with a bit of an Asian flare for variety. And here it is:

This salad is a great way to introduce raw kale into your diet. Kale is full of good stuff, like Vitamins A,C, and K, as well as fibre, antioxidants, calcium, and iron. It is widely available during the winter months, making it a great alternative to lettuce. It tastes great, and is wonderful in soups, pastas, and pretty much anything else you want to add greens to. Here is the recipe for our salad (sorry, I didn't really measure everything, just taste it as you go and adjust as needed):

Asian Kale Salad

serves 2

4-5 stalks kale, rinsed and torn into bite sized pieces

1/2 avocado, chopped

1 tomato, chopped (canned or fresh)

1/4 red onion, finely sliced

handful pumpkin or sunflower seeds

half of a handful of sesame seeds

Dressing

3 tbsp olive oil

1.5 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp low sodium soy sauce

1/2 tsp sesame oil

Toss all ingredients together and let marinate for about 10 minutes. 

Enjoy!

Brenna

Green Alternatives: Plastic Wrap

I am going to be starting a new series of posts called Green Alternatives, that will be focusing on alternatives to every day wasteful products. This first post will be about plastic wrap.

Plastic wrap is not very nice to our dear Mother Earth. It is intended as a single use product, and will literally take hundreds of years to even begin to break down in the environment. It is typically made out of highly toxic PVC (polyvinyl chloride) or PVDC (polyvinylidene chloride) and also contains phthalates, which are known to cause developmental problems in children and hormone disruptions. And we use this stuff to wrap our food. Gross. It is also entirely unnecessary, and there are some lovely alternatives. Aluminum foil is probably the most "convenient" (a word I despise) alternative, and probably the most universally available, but it also has it's drawbacks. It takes an amazing amount of energy to produce aluminum foil. However, it can be reused numerous times, unlike it's vile counterpart, and can be recycled in most cities. But lo and behold, I have discovered something even more amazing.

These lovely things are called Abeego Flats, and they are an entirely natural, reusable alternative to plastic wrap. They are made of a hemp/cotton fabric blend and coated in beeswax and plant extracts to make them sticky and pliable. This particular set is from The Good Planet, a great Eco store located on Vancouver Island. I received these as a Christmas present from D, and I love, love, love them! They come in packages of three different sizes which will work on any sized dish. You simply roll them out and stick them onto your desired bowl, and they mold and stick beautifully to it! After you are done with them, simply wash them in cold water and store for later use. Ok, they may not seal quite as well as the plastic wrap, but they lock in moisture and keep food fresh. I don't require my wrapped food to be able to withstand upside down flips and shakes. My fridge always remains in an upright position.

But the best part of these is their smell. Sweet beeswax that is mixed in with a light, natural fabric scent that makes me want to dip these in my tea or suck on them. Mmmm. No more nasty weird plastic smell, and I am no longer wary of wrapping food and envisioning chemicals leeching into my delicious home cooked meals.  I am one happy eco geek! Do you have alternatives for environmental no-no's? I would love to hear what you have discovered!

Brenna

On My Mind...

Joining in with Rhonda Jean again this week for On My Mind.

This week I have budgeting and cutting back on my mind, as I am considering going back to university to pursue a degree. I am currently not content in my job, and am feeling the urge to feed my brain and indulge academically for a while. In order to be able to afford that, I will need to dip into my savings a bit and make up a stricter budget. Taking courses means reducing my amount of time spent working, but keeping my job in order to pay my fixed costs and food. I already adhere to a fair budget, but there is a lot of room for improvement. If you check out Rhonda's blog, she has some truly amazing posts on budgeting and living on less, and they are so helpful and encouraging. I like the idea of getting into the habit of cutting back and living on less, because our future holds children and I would like to be accustomed to living this way so that I can stay home with the kids. But for now, this is a strictly selfish decision, but it is something that I am so excited for. I have a few more months before the summer semester starts, so I will be saving as much as possible before then, and looking into ways of reducing my spending. I researched how to make my own yogurt at home today, something that I will be attempting next week and will post about. I will gladly bring you along with me during this new adventure and I would love to hear some money saving tips from you!

xo Brenna

Miso Soup with Mushrooms, Soba Noodles, and Spinach

Our regular Japanese place doesn't offer a vegetarian miso soup. In fact, there is only one place in our city that offers a fish-free option. So we thought we would attempt to make our own, in light of this goal to try and make everything at home. I found this great recipe in the Rebar cookbook, and customized it to our tastes and what we had in the fridge. I love the fact that it has all of these extra ingredients in it, compared to the traditional. It provides complete protein, fibre, and greens all in one bowl. Truly a meal in a bowl.

I LOVE this soup! It is very authentic tasting, but filling and so much more balanced. Delicious.

Miso Soup as a Meal

7 cups water

6 tbsp. low sodium soy sauce

100 g shitake mushrooms, stems removed, sliced

6 green onions, sliced

2 cups spinach

2 cups cooked soba noodles

1 block firm organic tofu, cubed

7 tbsp. red miso paste

Bring water and soy sauce to boil. Add mushrooms and green onions and boil for 5 minutes. Add tofu and boil for another 5 or so minutes. Add spinach and cook until wilted. Add soba noodles and heat through. Stir in miso paste until incorporated well, taking care not to bring mixture to a boil, as this will kill the microorganisms in the miso. Serve with a set of chopsticks, a spoon, and a side salad.

And for dessert? Strawberry Almond Bars, of course! Recipe and pictures to follow.

Happy Cooking!

Brenna

Enjoying the Food of Life

Whew, what a week! I am sorry for the long time away with no warning, but D's sister has been in town for a while and she ended up being stranded here for an extra few days because of the terrible road conditions. So we have been doing nothing but working and visiting. But, now I am back, and ready to start some new posts.

I just finished this great book, called French Women for All Seasons. It is a sequel to French Women Don't Get Fat, which I also enjoyed, but I think this one was a bit better. Now I know that they sound like unintelligent diet books, but they really aren't. The second book, especially, explains how French women (and men too, I am sure) manage to enjoy their lives, spend time in the moment, and in general are very happy people. They don't worry about rushing through life trying to get as many things done as possible throughout each and every day. They take time to eat, drink, talk, and in just enjoy themselves! They take great pride in what they eat, and take the time to prepare it and enjoy it together. I loved how the book went through each season and described how she gets pleasure from eating local, fresh food, and how you can incorporate her lifestyle into yours, however you please. She also touches on the North American lifestyle, and how it is all about quantity, not quality. I think that is an excellent point. Here, you have to search out good restaurants and quite often settle for subpar meals, not expecting greatness every time we eat. We do not take proper lunch breaks, or make time for breakfast or even dinner. We take no pride in making our own meals from scratch. In fact, it is considered a luxury to be able to make your own food. People who make their own bread or pasta are thought of as people who have nothing but time on their hands, and that their way of doing things is completely absurd. We no longer have family dinners together, everyone eating together and talking about their day. We all now eat in front of the TV, not even allowing our bodies to register that we are eating. We eat fast, cheap food, that has little or no nutritional value, and try to eat large amounts of it in record time so we can go back to whatever else we were doing. Fueling our bodies to be strong and healthy is not a priority anymore, and it truly is sad. We are the fattest continent, and our life expectancy is now lower than the generation before us.

Well, I say no more. Here at our house, we are all about the homemade, low salt, unprocessed food (most of the time), and I think that that should become the norm. No more fast food, packaged meals, or take out. I am making it a personal goal to try and make as much of our food from scratch as possible. And no, this is not a New Years Resolution. I hate those. I am not putting a number on this, or setting a standard for us to meet. I am simply going to incorporate this into our life as best I can. I am also going to sit down for every meal of the day and savour my food. No more breakfast on the go. I won't be perfect, and there will be the occasional night of pizza delivery. But that's what it is going to be: occasional. I challenge you all to look at your eating habits and try to incorporate more homemade, wholesome ingredients. How do you think you could get more pleasure out of eating? What changes would you like to make to your weekly meals? I would love to hear some feedback, and I will keep you posted on my progress!

Brenna

Gibanica

Just before Christmas, we made some Gibanica, a sweet walnut loaf that is tradition in D's family for Christmas morning. Since we decided to go to my parents' house this year, we thought we would bring some of this delicious bread to enjoy on one of the mornings we were there. We had made this bread once before with D's mom, who is the master of this recipe. The recipe takes pretty much the whole day, but it makes 4 big loaves, so it is worth the time.

This bread is amazing lightly toasted and spread with a thin layer of butter. It has a subtle hint of lemon zest and warm milk, and is oh so comforting. Here is a picture of the beautiful walnut swirl that is hidden until you slice into the bread:

I realize that all of my recent posts have been food, food, food, but that seems to be my activity of choice right now. And besides, who can get sick of looking at pictures of food? Hope you are all having a good start to your week!

Brenna