Good Eats

I think, in general, there has not been enough talk about food around this blog. Food is pretty darn wonderful and right now I am loving it. And I am re-loving getting into making food for myself and my family. Steamed kale, home baked muffins, plenty of cookies... you name it, I'm making it. So let's chat food, shall we?

In the last week we've ventured into at least 3 new recipes with wonderful results. First, Kale Chips. You know know how if you hear something more than once you're supposed to pay attention? I heard about Kale chips 3 times in one week so I knew they were worth checking into. The March 2011 Yoga Journal (the one with the dude on the cover) has a recipe. I tried a slightly different one but essentially you put a little oil on a baking sheet, line the sheet with slightly seasoned (salt, garlic salt, vinegar or something) Kale and bake it at 300 for 15 minutes or until the edges are good and crispy flipping once. YUM! The mom I first heard about this from said that it is the only thing her 4 year old cheers about... "Crispy Kale! Crispy Kale! Crispy Kale!!!" That's exactly how I feel too! I liked the recipe in the April/May 2011 Natural Health magazine.

Next we tried making our own veggie burgers. My husband severely dislikes mushrooms (they're fondly called "the devil" around here) so that somewhat limits our buying of veggie burgers. It definitely has limited my making of them. But again in the March 2011 Yoga Journal they had a great recipe for Black Bean Oatmeal Burgers. I was a little worried that they wouldn't go over well, but they DID. We made them on Monday and have happily snacked on them ever since. I will definitely be keeping this recipe.

and finally, Granola Bars. We get slightly addicted to Cliff and Luna bars around here. I think they're not SO bad as eating just a plain old granola bar, and certainly not as bad as eating a candy bar when I need a sweet fix. What bothers me about them is that they're individually wrapped (as they must be) and so it creates so much excess trash when we eat them. I feel like I'm always picking up Luna bar wrappers. So we tried a recipe that is from an old Yoga Journal, sorry I don't know the date on this one. It is adapted from a recipe in Petit Appetit by Lisa Barnes (blog here). UM. Yum. And totally irresistibly delicious! Totally IRRESISTIBLE. I made them yesterday and there are two left.

That's why there aren't any pictures of any of these treats. There really aren't any left for me to photograph. Next time I'll document the process for you.

All in all I'm using spring to get back on track in eating in a way that really fuels me, my life, my family, and my practice. With options like these I'm very happy each time I sit down to eat. YES! it's a win in all directions. I think there will be more food talk to come on this blog. Just seems like a good thing to talk about.

Contemplation: What's fueling you and your practice lately?