Posts

Vegan Red Sauce

January 24, 2014/2 Comments/in Back To Basics, Eat It With A Fork /by Renee

Do you remember the commercial for Prince Spaghetti night with the little boy running through a city neighborhood, running up that stairs and sitting down to a big bowl of pasta with red sauce? (you can find it on my Pinterest Recipe page)

My house is similar! My kids love red sauce–they could eat it everyday.

I love red sauce because with the addition of peppers, onions and mushrooms it makes a very healthy meal. In this video I show you how to get around the “I don’t like’s”.

If you found this video helpful let me know! And Giada if you are reading my blog and want to come and cook with me . . . I’d welcome the opportunity.

Be blessed.

L.O.V.E.,

Renee

How-To Cut a Pineapple Video (and a quick dinner)

January 24, 2014/2 Comments/in Blog, Eat It Raw /by Renee

Pineapple.sweet.yellow.tart.awesome.love

Ok, so pineapple is not very local in Illinois. There I’ve said it! I have a goal in my mind of wanting to eat local, organic, veggies, everyday BUT somedays I end up eating something that is grown a million miles away. I’m still trying to reconcile the veganomics of the food I eat.

How to Cut up a pineapple

I love pineapple but they are sort of a sticky mess to cut up. I could buy one precut but then I start to think about all the things that could have touched my pineapple . . . then I get grossed out. So I buy a whole one and cut it myself.

My family runs hot and cold on food {does your family like something one day an not the next?}–one day it will be the favorite food and the next time I make it . . . not so much. We buy about 1 or 2 pineapples a month–my kids go “on” and “off” fruits and veggies, so I always ask before I buy one. This saves me from being crabby about what they will or won’t eat. (although now that I have a juicer, I’m way less crabby because I know I can juice the “off” food.)

The How-to Cut up a Pineapple Video!

In this video I cut a pineapple AND show you how I make a very quick meal of rice, broccoli, store-bought chicken meatballs and of course pineapple! This entire meal is ready to go in the time it takes for the rice cooker to finish. It would take even less time if you had the pineapple cut up ahead of time and prepped the broccoli.

[Tweet “I learned something new today @ Renee’s Kitchen! I’m going to be a rock star in my kitchen!”]

Vegan Tip: leave out the chicken meatballs and add black beans.

Pineapple is also on the Clean 15 list--go check it out!

pineapple is a symbol of hospitality

Be Blessed.

L.O.V.E.,

Renee

Food School: a 31 Day Course (Day 4)

October 4, 2013/2 Comments/in Blog /by Renee

Where do you get your food?

Such a simple question, yet a huge answer:

the grocery store
Target
the gas station
Walgreens/CVS
fast food
Farmer’s Market
CSA box (Community Supported Agriculture)
grow your own

the bigger question I’m going for is–are you intentional about where you buy your food? When you make health your priority, the next step is getting the best quality food and I’m pretty sure you will NOT get that at a gas station or from a drive thru!

I love gardening. Well, I love growing things–anything. Actually, I love watching things bloom. So it could be a plant in my garden or on my front porch, bringing a stray animal back to health or watching a kid with challenges learn his spelling words and then read! You get the idea.

We have been in this house for 2 full summers now–and I’m finally working out the best spots to plant. Each year I add at least one new “crop”. This year I added 36 strawberry plants and 18 asparagus. I’m not sure that the asparagus made it but the strawberries were phenomenal. I’m on a learning curve of what grows and how much time I have to devote to it. This year the kids were really into watering and picking the tomatoes, cucumbers, herbs and lettuce creating some wonderful salad combinations.

I also am very blessed to find a CSA, Tomato Mountain Farm, and they DELIVER to my door. (Even if you live far way–check out the website–awesome recipes and a peek into the life of Chris, a sustainable farmer.) They are super nice when I call to set up the size of my box–they have several options on box size. I do switch the size of my box depending on the season. I’m not the best at cooking with a variety of greens (yet) so I do not want to be wasteful–and I know if it takes “too much” effort I just won’t get to it. Those MENTAL HOOPS that we make ourselves jump through–I’m so guilty! But I will be posting a Top Ten list on jumping through Mental Hoops during this course.

Last night my CSA delivered two beautiful acorn squash. I typically just cut them in 1/2 and let them simmer in the crockpot or you could do the same thing on the stove–simmer in a pot with a cover. My plan is to make a entrée that features the acorn squash as the “meat” and I want the squash firm–so baking would be the best method.

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9wqu5r40l0′]

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_m547ILXheI’]

NOTE: The nutritional value that is on this recipe is just for the Acorn Squash–that would be a every day glitch that I need a creative solution to solve :-)

[yumprint-recipe id=’2′]I am actually making this dinner tonight. I will use onions, kale, red pepper and acorn squash from my CSA box. I will create a video of the process and add that to this post.

I thought about adding some dried cranberries but the ingredient list was a little too long! And it has the dreaded words “natural flavoring” and that just grosses me out these days. Food School: Day 3 I write about natural artificial flavorings.

If you have any questions please feel free to leave a message in the comments!

My your food be your blessing!

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