Roasted Chickpeas and Veggies over Quinoa

It's snowing outside and I wanted comfort food. I took a look around and came up with this for dinner. The flavors were rich and warmed my hubby and I right up!

I'm not a photographer, this dish tastes so much better than it looks-just ask my husband he went back for thirds!

 Ever had roasted chickpeas? They are the best mock meat ever. No mushy beans here, they have a chewiness to them that will satisfy all who bite into them. 

 These have been flavored with basil, garlic, olive oil, and veggie broth

Tomatoes, garlic, onions, olive oil, and black pepper flavor the dish so well

 cook the quinoa in veggie broth and fluff it up

 Place the roasted chickpeas and veggies on top of the quinoa and serve it up! 

Ingredients

1 cup cooked quinoa

2 1/4 cups veggie broth

5 cloves garlic chopped into thirds

1 large onion chopped in large pieces

8 small vine ripe tomatoes, sliced in thirds

1 can chickpeas (garbanzo beans) rinsed and drained

1 Tbsp dried basil

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

A few dashes of cayenne pepper 

Directions

Heat oven to 375 and place the rinsed and drained chickpeas onto a cookie sheet. Drizzle  olive oil over the top and roll the beans around until they are coated. Sprinkle dried basil and cayenne pepper over the top along with 1/4 cup of the veggie broth and bake in oven for 1 hour, stir them every 20 minutes.

Chop up the garlic, onion and slice the tomatoes. Place them onto another cookie sheet and drizzle with olive oil and grind some black pepper on top.  Put the cookie sheet on the rack next to the chickpeas. Roast them for 35 minutes.

With 15 minutes left measure out 1 cup of quinoa, rinse it and cook it in 2 cups of water or veggie broth.

Banana Peanut Butter Hemp Smoothie

I've been adding Hemp Protein to smoothies and I am really enjoying it in my banana peanut butter smoothie.

Banana Peanut Butter Hemp Smoothie
1 frozen banana chopped
1 Tbs peanut butter
2 Tbs hemp protein
1 1/2 cups non diary milk
5 drops of liquid stevia or 1 tsp raw sugar
4 ice cubes

Peel a banana wrap it up and freeze it for 5 hours. Chop up the banana and put it in the blender along with the other ingredients. blend until smooth.

Make sure the banana is frozen otherwise the texture will be goopy. You can adjust the thickness by adding or decreasing the milk.

Spicy Vegan Chili

I won the prize for Hottest Chili at my church's chili cook off in September 2010. It's been cold and rainy here in Seattle so I'm thinking that I need to make this again to warm up!

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced
• 2 stalks of celery, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 tsp fennel ground up with turmeric and coriander
• 2 orange bell peppers
• 4 chopped jalapeños
• 2 cans of 28 oz. crushed or diced tomatoes (with juice)
• 4 cups of cooked, drained beans (a combination of what you like-black, garbanzo, kidney, pinto, Great Northern, cannelloni, etc.) soak 1 1/3 cups of dry beans overnight, drain, and cook until tender if not using canned beans.  
• 1 tsp tbsp cayenne pepper
• 2 Tbs cocoa powder
• salt/pepper to taste
• 1 cup broth (vegetable)
• Chipotle Tabasco sauce 2 Tbs or 3 dried chipotle peppers
• 1 tsp fennel ground up with turmeric and coriander
• Feel free to throw grass fed beef in. If money weren't an issue I'd always add it in!

Heat oil over medium/low heat in a large pot. Add the onion, carrot, bell peppers, and celery, cook for 15 minutes (or until soft). Add the garlic, cayenne pepper, fennel spice blend, jalapenos  and salt/pepper for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the cooked beans, tomatoes, cocoa, chipotle seasoning, and veggie broth. Simmer for 20 minutes after stirring well. 

Detox with Beets

I've been juicing in the morning to start my morning by hydrating, getting my body packed with nutrients, and rejuvenate after working out. Check out a short video from PCC about the benefits you can get from beets. Green Lemonade also has a great article about beets. Below I posted my favorite mix of fruit and veggies to juice each morning. 

1 apple, 2 carrots, 1 cucumber, 1 lemon, 1 beet and include the greens. Send these through the juicer and you'll have a great detox drink to start your day!

It's best to drink nutrient rich juice like this on an empty stomach and wait about an hour or 2 before eating. This way the nutrients will be digested easily and your stomach won't get upset.

Mmmmm...Drink up!

Teff Breakfast Muffins

No sugar needed for theses tasty treats. All the sweetness comes from apples, dates, raisins, and stevia. These will be made again very soon!

Info on teff from Whole Foods Market:

This ancient grain has a sweet and malty flavor; it’s a rich source of calcium, magnesium, boron, copper, phosphorus and zinc, too. Contains twice as much iron as wheat and barley!

Dry ingredients 2 cups teff flour 1/2 cup tapioca flour 2 Tbs ground flax meal 1/4 cup coconut 1/4 cup raisins 2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp xanthan gum 1/2 tsp sea salt 1 tsp cinnamon 1 pinch nutmeg Wet ingredients 1/3 cup coconut oil 1 1/2 cups pureed squash 8 pureed dates 3/4 cup water 1/2 tsp liquid stevia 1 small apple cut into chunks Topping Coconut or sunflower seeds

Preheat oven to 350. Mix the dry ingredients  in a large bowl.  Puree squash in a food processor and pour into a medium sized mixing bowl. De-pit the dates and place in a food processor. Add a few Tablespoons of the squash puree and blend until smooth. Pour into the squash. Add oil, water, and stevia to the squash and date puree. Whisk together. Add the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until just combined. Stir in the apples. Grease 2 muffin tins and drop the batter in each cup. Sprinkle coconut or nuts on top of each muffin and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the muffins and let cool on a wire rack.

*Note: to remove the phytic acid and get the most nutrients out of this recipe, be sure to soak the teff flour overnight. Mix the 3/4 cups of water with the 1 1/2 cups of pureed squash and add 1 tsp of apple cider vinegar. Then stir in the teff flour.  

gluten causing more problems than tummy aches

I recently read this article on being gluten intolerant by Elaine Fawcett, MJ, NTP. I'll list some points that stood out to me. The article is long, but oh so good! 

It'll bite you back "Gluten is difficult for humans to digest. Ancient humans intuitively knew this as they transitioned from hunter-gatherer to agriculture societies and fermented or soured grains to make them more digestible."

Breeding " this already difficult-to-digest grain has been hybridized over the years for higher gluten levels, and methods of storing wheat in this country fosters the growth of toxins that denature the protein, making it even more antagonistic to the body." 

Genetically Modified " Many children in the US and Europe have developed life-threatening allergies to peanuts and other foods. There is a possibility that introducing a gene into a plant may create a new allergen or cause an allergic reaction in susceptible individuals. A proposal to incorporate a gene from Brazil nuts into soybeans was abandoned because of the fear of causing unexpected allergic reactions. Extensive testing of GM foods may be required to avoid the possibility of harm to consumers with food allergies." Deborah Whitman from csa.com

Overload "wheat dominates the American diet. We simply eat way too much of it, improperly prepared. "

It Can't Hide "Once you’ve gone gluten-free and done some research, you develop gluten antennae–the ability to see the telltale symptoms in a great many people especially those closest to you."

Not Listening... "Apparently the thought of getting through parenthood without the aid of mac-and-cheese and goldfish crackers is too overwhelming for most parents, even if it means giving their children prescription drugs instead."

How many are affected? "One in three Americans is gluten intolerant, one in three!, and that more than 80 percent of us are genetically predisposed to a gluten intolerance. Once those genes turn on, it means that your immune system is armed and poised to attack every time gluten, which it now recognizes as an infectious agent, enters the body. The spooky thing, according to Fine’s research and other studies, is that most cases of gluten intolerance don’t manifest as gut symptoms, so people have no idea they’re gluten-intolerant. "

Getting tested "EnteroLab is a direct to consumer lab, testing for antibodies to gluten and other foods using stool samples. But consider this, antibodies to gluten are made in the digestive tract. That is where EnteroLab looks for them and so far it has a 100 percent success rate in confirming celiac disease, a form of gluten intolerance that creates an autoimmune reaction in the small intestine. Conventional medicine still relies on blood tests and intestinal biopsies for a diagnosis. Unfortunately, you’re likely to get a negative result with a blood test until your condition is very advanced and antibodies are spilling into the bloodstream. You don’t want to wait that long. " 

Here is what happened when I waited too long

 "It manifests differently for different people–joint pain and inflammation, dermatitis, asthma and other respiratory tract issues, poor brain performance, autoimmune diseases, behavioral issues, digestive issues galore–the damage often begins in the gut.... undigested gluten and other proteins escape into the bloodstream, creating a chronic immune response. One’s overall health slowly erodes, various allergies and food intolerances develop, cancer risk increases, degenerative diseases set in, and the risk for developing autoimmune diseases runs high."

Autism "gluten also acts as an opiate by attaching to opiate receptors in the brain and producing a narcotic effect, which explains why so many comfort foods are wheat-based. This effect creates powerful behavioral responses in autistic children, while making gluten highly addictive to them. It’s no wonder these parents complain their children will only eat gluten and dairy foods, (casein in dairy acts in the same way)"

Temper tantrums normal? " Three days after both my children were gluten-free, and my youngest was also dairy-free, the daily tantrums, the night terrors, and the uncontrollable behavior dried up"

Symptoms from glutenfreedom.net 

• Fatigue
• Addison’s disease
• Gastrointestinal distress (gas, bloating, diarrhea, constipation, vomiting, reflux)
• Headaches (including migraines)
• Infertility
• Mouth sores
• Weight loss/gain
• Inability to concentrate
• Moodiness/depression
• Amenorrhea/delayed menarche (menstrual cycles)
• Bone/joint/muscle pain
• Dental enamel hypoplasia
• Short stature
• Seizures
• Tingling numbness in the legs
• Abnormal liver test
• Addison’s disease
• Alopecia
• Anemia
• Ataxia
• Autoimmune hepatitis
• Chronic abdominal pain
• Chronic fatigue
• Crohn’s disease
• Dermatitis herpetiformis (a “sister” of celiac disease)
• Down syndrome
• Epilepsy
• Family history of celiac disease
• Gall bladder disease
• Hyperthyroidism/hypothyroidism
• Total IgA deficiency
• Insulin-dependent diabetes (type 1)
• Infertility/spontaneous abortions/low birth-weight babies
• Iron deficiency
• IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome)
• Malnutrition
• Multiple sclerosis
• Non Hodgkin’s lymphoma
• Osteoporosis, osteopenia, osteomalacia
• Pancreatic disorders
• Pathologic fractures
• Peripheral neuropathy
• Primary biliary cirrhosis
• Psoriasis
• Recurrent stomatisits
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Scherosing cholangitis
• Sjogren syndrome
• Systemic lupus
• Turner syndrome
• Ulcerative colitis
• Vitiligo