School lunches

Eliminating packaging from your kids' lunches is easy.  Go to Target, Kmart, Walmart, etc. and invest in some Pyrex storage containers.  I like the 1 and 2 cup sizes, which are holding most of my daughter's lunch in the above picture.  In case you're wondering, from right to left she's packing steamed broccoli (with a dash of salt), organically-grown red peppers (be sure to stay away from conventionally-grown bell peppers), and carrot salad.  Carrot salad is the only way she likes to eat carrots, and I make it by combining grated carrots, shredded coconut, raisins, and a drizzle of honey).

I also pack her either a sandwich or a bean and cheese quesadilla (remember my addiction to Mexican food?  She inherited it).  For this, I bought these nifty reusable bags called SnackTAXIs from Park + Vine, a great store that sells eco-friendly merchandise in Cincinnati.  

For her drink, I pack her water or milk in a reusable SIGG bottle.  All this stuff packs up in an insulated lunch bag I got for free at the All About Kids parenting conference.  It's pink, and not cute, so I won't bore you with a picture.  Any reusable lunch case will do.

Waffles

Every time I go to the store I'm tempted to buy frozen waffles.  They're so easy and yummy, but they're overpriced and over-packaged.  So I got my 5-year-old daughter a Belgian waffle maker for Christmas, and we made our own frozen waffles.  After cooling them on wire racks, I stacked them and slipped them into a bread bag, which I save for things like this.  Then into the freezer they go, until breakfast when the toaster oven heats and crisps them perfectly.

For the waffle recipe, I used Sally Fallon's soaked grain recipe which is more nutrient-dense than traditional waffle recipes.  Soaking grains in a soured or cultured milk, buttermilk, or cream breaks down the phytic acid in the bran of the grains, and allows our bodies to better absorb the many nutrients of the whole grain wheat. 

Serves 6.
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups buttermilk
2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
2 Tbsp maple syrup
2 Tbsp melted butter
1 tsp sea salt
4 egg whites
pinch of sea salt

Directions:
Soak flour in buttermilk on countertop for 12 hours. 
Stir in egg yolks, syrup, melted butter and salt.
In a clean bowl, beat egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff.  Fold into batter.
Cook in a waffle iron according to manufacturers instructions.

Unfortunately, although the flavor was good, the texture of the resulting waffles was also more dense.  I'll keep searching for a perfect recipe.

Unfried Beans

Yes, this is the second consecutive post about beans, but they are such a staple in my diet that I had to share another recipe.  Every Thursday night my daughter and I do Mexican night.  We dine on burritos which consist of a sprouted grain tortilla (I like Alvarado Street Bakery's tortillas) wrapped around avocados, lettuce, Organic Valley raw milk cheddar, sauteed bell peppers, corn, cilantro and onions, salsa, and re-fried beans.  So what was I to do without a can of re-fried beans?  I had a recipe for some kidney bean dip, so I decided to try and make it with pinto beans and a few other modifications.  It turned out deliciously.  Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, diced
3-4 cloves garlic, crushed and diced
2 cups cooked pinto beans
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
salt and pepper, to taste
1 lime, juiced

Directions:
Heat the oil and saute the onion and garlic until soft, adding the garlic after the onion has been cooking for a few minutes (this will prevent the garlic from burning). 
Add the pinto beans, tomato paste, and spices, and cook for a few minutes.
Take the pan off the heat, add the lime juice, and allow to cool for a few minutes.  Adjust salt and pepper to taste.
In a food processor, process the mixture, adding water to desired consistency.
Serve immediately, refrigerate for a few days, or freeze for up to three months.

Can the canned beans

Having been (mostly) vegetarian for the past 20 years, I have eaten more than a hill of beans, and I have grown to relish all the forms that beans can take.  Refried beans, baked beans, sprouted beans, bean dip, beans and rice, bean soup... they're not only versatile and delicious, but they're also dirt cheap!  To reduce the packaging associated with my bean consumption (read: addiction), I'm committing to forgoing the canned beans for the next year, instead buying my beans in bulk.  The cons are that soaking and cooking them takes more time than opening a can, but the pros are that it saves a package, the beans taste better, and although the process of soaking and cooking them is time intensive, it is not labor intensive.  Here's how I cook pinto beans, and most other dried beans:

• Rinse and sort beans, looking for any pebbles or foreign matter.
• Cover them with water (make sure the water level is much higher than the bean level, because they absorb a lot of the water)
• Allow to soak on the countertop overnight, covered.
• Strain the beans, and put them in a big pot, covering again with water.
• Add a strip of dried kombu (it's a seaweed that will help tenderize the beans, as well as adding iodine. You can buy it at health food stores and Asian markets)
• Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, and cook, patially covered, for about an hour, or until the beans are tender.
• Drain, removing the kombu.

Uncanny soup

Right now in Cincinnati with the temperature somewhere in the teens and a blanket of snow on the ground, nothing sounds better than a bowl of warm soup.  The trouble with packaged soups is that, first, they're packaged, and second, they're bland... unless you consider the taste of salt a flavor.  My goal for the year 2010 is to not buy any packaged soups, but to still have soup on hand that I can just heat and eat.  So I'll make 2 soups a week and freeze the leftovers.  Today I'm cooking up my favorite split pea soup, from The New Moosewood Cookbook, by Mollie Katzen.  Vegetarian and low fat, this is one of my all-time favorites.

SERVES 6 -8

Ingredients

• 3 cups dried split peas
• 7 cups water or vegetable stock (may need more)
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 2 cups onions, minced
• 4 medium garlic cloves, minced
• 3 stalks celery, minced
• 2 medium carrots, sliced
• 1 potato, diced
• fresh ground black pepper
• 1 to 4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, to taste (or red wine vinegar)

Optional toppings

• sesame oil (optional)
• fresh ripe tomato, diced (optional)
• fresh parsley, minced (optional)

Directions

1. Place first 5 ingredients in a large pot.
2. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer, partially covered, for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent split peas from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
3. Add onions, garlic, celery, carrots and potato.
4. Partially cover and allow to simmer for about 40 minutes, stirring occasionally.(You may need to add extra water).
5. Season to taste with pepper and vinegar.
6. Serve with a drizzle of sesame oil, diced tomato and minced parsley.