Veggie Medley With Ginger Using Platinum Cookware

Two words. Platinum Cookware.  On my blog, I've talked a little about the Salad Master set that Dan and I purchased.  It is water-less, oil-less cooking, stainless steel cookware.  We were not happy with our Salad Master.  See...this cookware had a little opening on the top of the lid that would "click" when the food was up to temperature.  When it was up to temperature you would turn it down.  The problem was, sometimes the clicker wouldn't work, other times, if I needed to cook something like baked potatoes in my pot, I would need the temperature a little higher, like 100 degrees and the clicker would click nonstop, causing me to seriously flip my lid.  Ha ha!  No pun intended there!  

Our good friends Dave & Cindy (Cindy's recipes have been posted here before) and their daughter and son-in-law, Ritchie & Christina decided to make a business of selling Platinum Cookware.  They did a demonstration for us and we were SOLD!  This cookware is exactly what we have needed!  No clicking!!!  Woot!  Most veggies cook at about 60 degrees and the little dial on the lid would show us when it was up to temperature.  We would then turn our burner either off, or on low and it would keep it's temperature until the veggies were cooked, thus keeping the temperature low.  Boiling point is 212, if I remember right.  This keeps your food well below that and traps all the heat inside cooking your food.  It requires no water, if your veggies have been rinsed and are a little wet, and very little water if your veggies are dry.  NO OIL!  They actually bake cakes in these pans, with NO OIL!  It is like a magic show with these pans.  

I cook in them daily!  My kids love potatoes and veggies in them, not to mentions soups, stews, quinoa, rice, oatmeal, the list goes on!

Today I made these veggies.  VERY EASY!  Very delicious!  If you do not own Platinum, it is worth looking into, however, in the meantime, make sure you're using stainless steel.  It is still possible to cook your veggies on a lower heat.

Veggie Medley With Ginger

1 yellow pepper, de-seeded and cut in chunks

1 cup Brussels sprouts, ends removed and rinsed well

1 large handful fresh green beans, ends removed and rinsed well.

1 large handful or two of Asparagus, thick ends cut off and rinsed well.

1 inch ginger, peeled and thinly sliced

Combine all the veggies.  Bring up to 80 degrees.  Turn off heat, or remove from heat if your stove stays hot (ceramic).  Let sit for about 15-20 minutes.  Check.  I added my asparagus after the veggies were up to temperature.  They tend to cook quickly and were mushy if combined with the other veggies in the beginning.  

Sprinkle with 21 Seasoning Salute.  Enjoy!

21 Spiced Potatoes n Broccoli

It's all about simplicity! It's also all about Trader Joes 21 Salute seasoning! I LOVE this stuff! I put it in soups, sprinkle it in salads, but my favorite is putting it on my baked potatoes!
This was my lunch today...steamed broccoli and a couple of small baked potatoes, drizzle flax oil, a small amount of Braggs Liquid Aminos and sprinkle 21 Salute.  Enjoy!

Our Garden & How to Cook Beets

We put in several new 4x8 foot gardens in our backyard this year and I was anxious to see how they would do.  We planted swiss chard, beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, black kale, green/red peppers, bush beans, and some herbs (parsley, basil and oregano).  Outside of our boxes, in flower beds we planted tomatoes, zucchini, squash, cabbage, eggplant, and leeks.  Here are some pictures of the garden in July.  We have just finished harvesting most of our garden.  The only thing left are a box that is half full of beets!  Below I have posted how to cook beets.  We love fresh beets with lemon on them.  They are super delish on salads!  I love them hot, after just cooking them.  Our peppers and broccoli didn't do so well this year :(  Everything else was beautiful!  I already miss my garden :(  Can't wait until next Spring to begin again!!

Above: This is my Mom's garden box.  Her box does so well every year.  It is in a different part of the yard than our other boxes.

 Lettuce

 Bush Beans

 Dan harvesting beans

 Swiss Chard.  They are small in this picture, they were huge when harvested!  We actually harvested them a little at a time...

 Carrots and Cilantro that went to seed :(

 Cabbage!!  They were huge!

 Black kale.  We found these were delicious harvested young.  As we let them grow, they got a billion little white bugs that were a pain to wash off!

Above: Swiss chard, aren't the colors beautiful?!!! I love it that they look like veins and all those nutrients flow through our veins.  Love it!

 Italian Parsley

 Beans

 Dill (loved this in dressings and fresh on our salads!)

 Our garden, my daughter Rachel running through the tomato plants :)

 Room to grow!!!

How To Cook Beets

Thoroughly scrub the outside of beets, removing tops.  Place beets in a large pot.  Add enough water to cover the bottom about an inch or two.  Place lid on top and turn to medium heat.  When the water in the bottom is boiling turn to medium low heat and let steam until the beats are soft.  I use a butter knife to test, if the knife enters the beet and feels soft, they are done!  Remove from heat and empty hot water, fill pot with cold water and let sit for a few minutes.  As you see below the skins are loose and easy to remove.  Cut off tops and slice or dice.  

*We like lemons juice over our beets, or plain.  

Spring Rolls - Guest Post

 This is another fabulous recipe that my friend Cindy has shared.  This is one of my favorites, because it is again so simple but the combination is so delicious!  Get this...it's just veggies!  I love it!  Cindy shared these with us months ago and the presentation was beautiful.  She had used Daikon Radish on the bottom with a little Bragg's Liquid Aminos on the bottom and sesame seeds sprinkled on top.  It was beautiful. I hope you enjoy these as much as I do!

Spring Rolls

Zucchini

Carrot

Green Onion

Cilantro

Avocado

Slice zucchini in very thin, long strips; set aside.  Slice cucumber, carrots and green onion into 3 inch matchsticks.  Remove stems from cilantro.  Slice avocado into 1/4 inch slices.  Place a zucchini strip on a flat surface.  Layer the end closest to you with a few matchsticks of each vegetable, slice of avocado and cilantro; roll up on a slight diagonal to secure fillings inside strip.  Garnish with a sprinkle of sesame seeds.  Serve with Dipping Sauce.  Refrigerated, sauce will keep for 4 days; rolls will keep for 2 days.

Dipping Sauce

1/2 cup raw almond butter

1/4 cup water

1 Tablespoon lime juice

1/2 tsp. Chinese 5 spice blend

pinch of cayenne pepper

Piece of green pepper

piece of green onion

grated lime rind

Blend all together in a food processor; thin with water to desired consistency.

Veggie Nori Rolls

 Any fans of Sushi out there?  We are big fans!  However, as we try to stick to a more plant based diet, we have found a way to make our own simple veggie rolls.  They are wrapped in seaweed that has been dried.  It feels like crisp paper and can be brittle.  We usually buy ours at an Asian market because we need to buy it in bulk.  However, you can usually find dried seaweed at your local grocery store in the Asian food section. 

Veggie Nori Rolls

12-14 Nori Sheets

1-2 carrots

4-5 green onions

1 cucumber

cilantro

1-2 avocado's, sliced

1 cup quinoa

2 cups water

In a small pot, combine quinoa and water.  Turn on medium heat and bring to a gentle boil, turn to low, cover and cook for 15 minutes.  With a Titan slicer thinly julienne your carrots, and cucumber.  Thinly slice your green onions (scallions) lengthwise.  Remove stems from your cilantro and wash the leaves.  Set aside on a plate as seen below. (Other veggies to add if desired: red peppers, zucchini, thinly sliced cooked beets, asparagus, lettuce, cabbage)

Prepare a small bowl with water for sealing the Nori.  

To Assemble:  If you have a mat to roll your Nori roll, you may use that, but it can be done without.  

 Place about 1/4 cup quinoa in the center of the Nori (make sure the quinoa is warm, not cool).  It doesn't have to be super neat.

 Place your veggies over the quinoa. I love more  veggies than quinoa in mine. 

 begin rolling the wrap with your hands.  It's okay if some of the veggies are sticking out, you will tuck them in.

 Using both hands tuck in the vegetables, still leaving a small part of the Nori unwrapped, as seen below.

 Dip your fingers into the small bowl of water and rub the water along the edge of the Nori.

 With your mat (or without, using your fingers to continue to tuck the veggies in), finish rolling the wrap tightly against that moistened edge.  It will stick together.

Your roll should look like this.  I like to eat mine just like this!  The seaweeds is very chewy, so it's not exactly pretty or easy to rip apart with your teeth, but I do it anyway :)  My kids like to cut theirs and dip it in Bragg's Liquid Amino's with a little wasabi.

Summer Zucchini Bake

 Have a few extra zucchini and yellow squash laying around, like I do?  Not quite sure what to do with it except maybe pour a cup of sugar on it and make Zucchini bread?!  I'm kidding.  I love Zucchini Bread!  I was on Pinterest the other day and saw some good recipes using summer squash but it was loading with cheese and butter.  I started brain storming about how I could make something like it without the butter and cheese and came up with this. It was a HIT!  Its very easy to throw together!

Summer Zucchini Bake

2-3 medium sized zucchini, sliced

1 yellow crookneck squash (any yellow squash will work), sliced

1/2 red onion, slices separated

5 garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons grapeseed oil

2 teaspoons basil

2 teaspoons oregano

1/2 teaspoon salt

5 tomatoes, sliced

1-2 cups bread crumbs

1 tablespoon coconut oil or grapeseed oil

Spray the bottom of a large cake pan.  I use an old roaster pan.  Layer the sliced zucchini, yellow squash, zucchini.  Drizzle the 2 Tablespoon grapeseed oil over the zucchini and yellow squash.  Sprinkle with herbs and salt.  Next, layer the separated sliced red onion, minced garlic with tomato slices on top.  In a food processor, process the bread crumbs and coconut oil.  Sprinkle that over the top of the tomatoes and Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  Uncover and cook an additional 10 minutes.  You could also broil it on low for about 3-5 minutes or until the bread crumbs are nice and toasty after baking it for 30 minutes.