Sunday, July 10, 2011

Grilled Shrimp with Garlic

  We started a new couples study for the month of July, and it involved doing meaningful, on-purpose relationship-building projects . One of them last week was to cook with your spouse. So let me just lay the facts on the table right now...I usually do the cooking in our family and am used to having full-control over the meal making process. It was REALLY hard for me to let some of that control go to another person, even (or especially) my husband! 

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Whole-grain Blueberry Muffins

 Last week, I started a summer activity that is fun but educational, called Alphabet Adventure with my 5 and 3 year old.  To be honest, I thought the kids would get bored with it after the first couple of letters, but they really got into this game and are excited about starting it up again this week. It's not just entertaining for the kids, but I am really getting into it as well (especially when it involves Donuts on letter D day!). We started with letter A last Monday and do four letters a week (M-Thu). I usually try to plan a fun activity, at least one food, and a coloring page for whatever letter we are doing.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Black Bean Veggie-Sushi Wraps

  Short on time? This meal takes 15 minutes from start to finish with NO cooking whatsoever. I don't know about you, but my summer got really busy all of a sudden and I have no clue how it happened. At the beginning of the summer, I thought I would have all this free time, but that hasn't happened yet! :)   


If you are experiencing really HOT weather (100*F and above) like we are right now, you will really appreciate this quick recipe. Plus you don't have to turn on your oven or stove, and heat up your house even more. YEY! 

The black bean spread that goes on these wraps is outstanding! I like to double the recipe and have the rest as a dip the next day. These would also be good for lunch, especially since they are not very messy and you don't need any utensils. Happy Summer!
  
The recipe is adapted from a cookbook called The New Vegan Cookbook by Lorna Sass . If you are interested in purchasing the book, check out the amazon link here.
Wrap Recipe 
Serves: 4 Prep: 10 minutes Cooking Time: 0 minutes



1 15oz can (2 cups) of black beans
1 TB toasted sesame oil
1 TB soy sauce
1-2 TB grated fresh ginger
1-2 tsp chili-garlic sauce (optional)

4 sheets of Nori
4 whole-wheat tortillas (8-9 " diameter)

1 cup red cabbage, finely shredded
1/2 red bell pepper, cut into strips
1-2 carrots, cut into sticks

1/2 cucumber, cut into 8 sticks

1. Add black beans through chili-garlic sauce into a food processor, and combine till smooth.
2. To assemble your wraps, stack 1 sheet of nori on a tortilla and with a pair of kitchen scissors trim the sheets into circles about 1/2" smaller than the tortilla.
3. Spread 2 TB black bean mixture on to tortilla.
 4. Sprinkle 1/4 cup cabbage over bean spread.
 5. Carefully press a nori circle on top.
 6. Spread another 2 TB of black bean mixture on top of nori.
7. Add veggie strips (2 red bell pepper, 2 carrot, and 2 cucumber) on top of black bean mixture.

 8. Wrap the tortilla over the vegetables tightly to make a roll. With the seam side down, carefully cut the roll in half, or cut into 5-6 pieces on the diagonal.

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Plan and Prep Ahead 

Here are some helpful techniques to make life a little easier once dinner time hits. These tips will especially help those that work full-time and don't have a lot of time to prepare dinner. 

~make black bean spread ahead of time and keep in fridge until ready to use.
~Cut up veggies and have on hand in the fridge until ready to use.


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Who likes to CHANGE IT UP? 

~Try a black soybean or white bean instead of black beans.
~Chop up some pickled ginger instead of fresh.
~Use chopped spinach, cilantro, parsley, chopped kale or sprouts instead of cabbage.
~Substitute sliced tomato, crisp green beans, sliced avocado or sliced red onion for the vegetables listed.
~Skip the nori all together if you don't care for the taste.
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