Tag Archives: sprouts

Apr 25 2013
4 Comments
Main Dishes

Chickenless Salad Wraps

This was an inappropriately easy dinner. We’ve been busy trying to find a friend for our bunny so we haven’t had a lot of time to make anything elaborate. All we did was combine the following:

2 cups soy curls

1 cube bouillon

1/2 tsp herbes de Provence

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We covered them in water and microwaved one minute at a time until the water was absorbed. Then I added 2 tbsp vegan mayonnaise and a generous squeeze of lemon juice.

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We added it to a wrap with some spinach (I added that after I took this picture), home-grown sprouts, tomato and bell pepper.

It was sweet, savory, crispy, chewy, and satisfying.

This is Christie, signing off!

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Sep 30 2012
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Thoughts

Good News about our Giveaway!

We’ve got some potential winners and there’s still time. This is the last day of our sprouts giveaway (conditions for winning in this link) and we want you to win! What’s the best reason to want a pair of soft screens for your spout needs?

Screen means you don’t have to touch your sprouts when you wash them and minimal handling means reduced possibility of contaminating them with unwashed hands or naturally occurring skin bacteria or maybe something else that could ruin your sprouts or make you and your family sick.

We’ll be announcing the results on Tuesday! This is Brent and Christie, signing off.

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Aug 31 2012
8 Comments
Raw

Sprouts! … and a giveaway!!!

Sprouts are the freshest greens you can have in your house on a regular basis and for pennies. All you need is a jar, a rubber band, a piece of screen and some organic seeds for sprouting. I’m using mung beans (left) and a spicy sprouting mix (right) that I got from my local farmer’s market. You don’t need a lot, they get big fast. Place the screen over the mouth of the jar and wrap the rubber band around it to hold the screen in place.

Every day, at least once a day and preferably twice a day you’ll need to rinse the sprouts. To do this you’ll fill the jar with enough water to cover the spouts and empty it through the screen and into the sink. Do this 2-3 times. Don’t worry if they get stuck in the screen. They’ll be fine.

Somebody accidentally ate the spicy sprouts before she remembered she needed them for a photo opportunity but here are the mung beans below.

YUM! That tablespoon or so of mung beans made a whole jar of sprouts. Cheap, easy and delicious! This is actually a giveaway. When I bought the screen I had to buy a HUGE roll so I want to part with some. We need at least 30 entrants or September 30 (whichever comes first) and all you have to do is the following:

1. like and follow our blog

2. like us on FaceBook

3. comment below on what you favorite kind of sprouts are and your favorite way to eat them (mine is Mung bean sprouts in pad thai!)

Then I’ll ask each of the randomly selected winners (3 in total) to email us their address and I’ll send you 2 bright shiny pieces of screen for your own jar of sprouts! Thanks to Somer at Good Clean Food for the brilliant idea!

This is Christie, signing off!

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Mar 30 2012
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Snacks

Pumpkin Seed Salad Sandwiches

I was never a fan of tuna salad: a lot of the ingredients creeped me out, particularly tuna and mayo. Mayonnaise is a creamy mix of oil and eggs which never comforted me conceptually. This was even before I became obsessed with microorganisms starting in high school, afterward, anything containing animal products, mixed up and possibly left out for hours and hours at room temperature turned my stomach. Even so there are a lot of things about tuna salad that I like, other than the promise cruelty and fishy smells. We decided to make pumpkin seed salad sandwiches for dinner today taking all of the things that are awesome about tuna salad and omitting the parts that stink… literally. We combined the following in a food processor:

1/2 cup of pumpkin seeds (soaked 8 hours)

1/2 cup of flax meal (more if you want a dryer mix)

1 tbsp nutritional yeast

1 generous tbsp tahini

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1 dash hot sauce

juice from 1 lemon

I ran my food processor until the mixture was still chunky but relatively uniform and then I added a generous bunch of dill. I ran it until the dill was all mixed in and then added 2 stalks of celery that Brent chopped.

We put it on some bread that we toasted with some Follow your Heart gourmet cheddar cheese. This cheese was okay. The texture was pretty good and the flavor was reminiscent of the cheap orange cheddar that I was never particularly fond of anyways. It got soft when toasted but didn’t really melt like dairy cheese.

Back to the issue at hand, we smothered our sandwiches with our lemon dill spread and I have to say they were fabulous. If I had this to do over again, I might add a few tablespoons of veganaise  but it doesn’t need it. I might also try substituting sunflower seeds for pumpkin seeds but that’s also an arbitrary change.

We also included some sprouts that we started on Sunday. They’re usually ready by Thursday and make a difference for any wrap, salad, or sandwich by adding texture and spice. I also found some delicious multi-grain bread at a local farmer’s market so the guy was able to have a simple sandwich for the first time in a while. It was definitely a welcome change.

This is Christie and Brent, signing off!

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Feb 29 2012
8 Comments
Snacks, Thoughts

Your Own WHAT!?

Something that’s easier to do than you think is to have your own garden. I may live in sunny Miami with a lengthy growing season but my apartment is high above the ground where the growing usually happens. This is an awesome project if you have kids or something that can improve your cooking just because you’ve got a fresh ingredient. I’ve got two 24 inch planters on my balcony each with basil (Thai and traditional) bell pepper, eggplant, and cherry tomato plants (cherry is an easier to manage size).

This is a good combo for spaces with lots of sun but there’s something for every kitchen window (plus there’s nothing wrong with a basil scented kitchen, am I right?). If you don’t have the dedication or sun to spend months growing whole plants, consider growing your own sprouts.

All you need is some screen or cheesecloth, a jar and some organic seeds. This is my adzuki beans 7 days ago (above). These babies (below) will end up on a salad I’ll eat tomorrow for lunch but they can also end up in a sandwich or in stir fry. You can’t have pad thai without mung bean sprouts as long as I’m around. This was 7 days of emptying the water from this jar (without removing the screen), rinsing 3 or 4 times with distilled water, and then devouring the freshest greens you’ll find without dirt! Be careful to keep them clean: if your hands are dirty you risk contaminating them with E. coli or worse. They should smell sweet and herbal (especially if you grow mustard greens or broccoli for spicy sprouts) as they sprout, not sour or musty.

Fun fact: you haven’t tasted a tomato until you’ve tasted one that has never been refrigerated. They lose a lot of flavor when they get cold. I hope this is an incentive for you who have never tried a really fresh tomato. Additional fun fact: sprouted seeds are rich in essential amino acids. These are the amino acids that your body can’t make itself and you have to get from your food. These are high nutrient, cholesterol free, low calorie and great to cook with or just as a snack. Good luck with that green thumb!

This is Christie, signing off!

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