Fresh Salsa

As I’m sure I’ve mentioned here before, I do NOT have a green thumb.  At best, it’s like…mayyyybeee a sickly yellow.  I can’t keep a “real” garden because I don’t go out in our backyard that often, so it’s sorta “out of sight, out of mind”—I just completely forget to tend or water anything that isn’t regularly in my line of sight. 

So this summer, I did a fairly extensive (for me) container garden on our porch—we have a . I planted mint, basil, rosemary, some radishes, squash, turnips, lavender, and three kinds of tomatoes (cherry, yellow pear, & Federle).  The turnips & lavender were no-shows. I got about 4 squash before the vine borers got to my plants and demolished them.  My radishes made tons of greens but never grew bulbs—possibly because it was too hot.  However, my tomato plants ROCKED it, and are actually still producing!

My MIL was also bringing us gems from her garden, so we had plenty produce on hand all summer!

Which means…I actually grew more tomatoes than I could handle.  I love to snack on ‘maters and throw them in salads & on fresh pasta…but even that wasn’t keeping up with the supply.  So…of course…we made fresh salsa!

INGREDIENTS:

• 3-4 lbs. tomatoes
• 1/2 small onion, peeled (red or sweet yellow is best)
• 2  jalapeno peppers (seeds removed if you prefer a more mild salsa)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• large handful of cilantro (to taste—for us, that’s about half a bunch)
• 1 Tbsp dried parsley
• 1/2 t. red wine vinegar
• Juice from 1 lime
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 tsp chipotle powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin

 

DIRECTIONS:

Roughly chop onions, and peppers (tomatoes too if you’re using larger ones—we had a lot of cherry-sized).

Add all ingredients to food processor, and then pulse until the texture is to your liking.  Season to taste. It will keep in the fridge for about a week or two—but I doubt it will last that long!

Daniel Fast Days 10 & 11

Today’s Devotion: “Day 10- Seeing The Big Picture Genesis.50:20 ‘But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.’

I believe I can say with certainty that Joseph had no idea of all the adversity that his dreams would take him into & if he had of known I’m not sure he would have even began the journey. But as it is with any dream it will take great faith to walk it out. The things that he faced, the rejection of his brothers, sold into slavery, accused of adultery, cast into prison, would be enough to make some of us quit before we ever got started, but as it is with most things in life we don’t necessarily control everything that happens & I believe that is where the sovereignty & the providence of God comes in. If we will continue walking toward His purpose no matter what trouble we encounter we will eventually run into our destiny. This is exactly what happened with Joseph. His ability to stay faithful to the Lord in every trial eventually exalted him to second in command in all of Egypt & the purpose of his promotion was bigger than his life alone. Some of the things you’re walking through may not make any sense to you either but like Joseph you have to stay faithful in the journey. Open your eyes today & begin to See the Big Picture.”

I can empathize with Joseph. I’m sure we all can.  “Dreams” very rarely include the nasty bits of reality that come along with achieving them.  The recent college grad doesn’t think about the menial, mind-numbing tasks they’ll be given at their first job. The desperate “wannabeamom” doesn’t focus on morning sickness, or the complete lack of sleep after the little one comes, or “Baby’s First Blowout in the Bathtub”.  The new groom typically doesn’t stand at the end of the aisle  thinking about the fact that someday, he is going to see his blushing bride on the crapper--she may be 30, she may be 90, but it WILL happen.  The new entrepreneurs don’t think about the hours they’ll spend fending off advertising offers and requests for donations, or screaming at Quickbooks for generating duplicate entries, or trying to figure how many “servings” are in a head of lettuce *raises hand*.  At some point on every journey, there comes a moment, however fleeting (or not fleeting) of, “OMG…why did I do this to myself? This was my DREAM!  This was SUPPOSED TO BE FUN!!! WHAT WAS I THINKING???”  And in those moments, it can be near impossible to think about the Big Picture.  That each little crappy thing that happens to you is part of a bigger Plan.  That each of those crappy things changes you, in a way that you will need for the future.

As the second season of having The Scoop nears (assuming it ever warms up), I feel those knots re-tying themselves in my stomach. I think about all those un-fun moments that are surely waiting for us:  unexpected equipment failures, employee call offs, purchase orders, finding a new food vendor, and customer complaints and customer “suggestions” (‘I realize you only have this 500-square foot building and no extra space anywhere, but maybe you should get an oven bake your own bread, and get a giant ice cream maker, and you should probably install a drive thru on this building you don’t own, and maybe make your own waffle cones by hand, one at a time as people order them while you have a line out the door...’)… okay, maybe my thoughts on that one are transparent.  It weighs on me a lot.  But I know that God never gives us more than we can handle, so whatever His will, as long as I keep the faith, he’ll bring us through it.

--

Breakfast: Smoothie, made from strawberries, banana, blueberries, orange, pineapple juice, and spinach.  Yes, this would be a pretty spot on representation of the “Christmas Poop” smoothie I mentioned the other day.  But don’t judge by the color—it’s actually really tasty.

You can see now why I cried.

Lunch:  Vegan Minestrone

Dinner:  Trivia night again!  I tried to pick up some brown rice veggie sushi rolls for the Hubs & I, but when I got to the market they were already shut down and there weren’t any in the case.  So the Hubs (being the wonderful man he is) brought me some chips & salsa & a banana from home.  Then we split an order of herbed fries at trivia.

Best Fries On The Planet.  Thank you Finnegan’s Wake!

~~~

Woo—over halfway through!!!

Today’s Devotion: “Day 11: Enduring Mercy --Psalms 136:1 ‘O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth forever.’

If you look up Endure in Webster’s dictionary you will find that it means to continue in the same state; to last; to abide; to submit; to sustain; to bear; to undergo; to tolerate; That is an amazing fact especially when we are talking about the Mercy of God. His mercy is able to tolerate whatever foolishness you get yourself into. Mercy is “not getting what you deserve.” Now that is good news, not that you are living your life in foolishness, but that even in times when wisdom is not employed the Lord’s mercy never changes. His promise to us is that he will never leave us nor forsake us. We need to be thankful for his great mercy & allow that same mercy to flow out of our lives to others.”

Mercy is a true blessing.  We’ve all needed it from time to time, whether from God or from others.  I am the first to admit that I am flawed, however well intended.  One only need look as far as this morning, when I accidentally dropped an F-bomb while grabbing hot bread from the toaster.  If we tried to keep track of all our shortcomings throughout the day, we’d end the day feeling like utter failures.  But just as the troublesome screaming toddler is still loved by his stressed-out mama at the end of the day, God still loves us too, no matter how bad we screw up.  I’ve heard some agnostic/atheistic people state that “God” is just a substitute parent for immature & emotionally needy adults, because the God/Follower relationship so closely mimics to that of a parent/child relationship.  But the Bible states that “we are made in His likeness”; it just makes sense that our most hard-wired, intimate human emotion-- the unfailing love of a parent for a child (no matter how demanding & seemingly unreciprocated at times)-- would be the same that God, who created us, has for us.  Perhaps that’s circular logic, but it makes sense to me.  As teens, our parents are uncool and overbearing…but as we grow, we realize just how wise they truly are, and just how forgiving they’ve been to us. So we try to show them more appreciation, and try to love them as hard as they love us.

Breakfast: ½ whole wheat flatbread + 1 tbsp natural peanut butter, and an apple

Lunch: I had high hopes of getting a brown rice veggie sushi roll at the local supermarket….but alas, the Sushi Dudes told me they were out of brown rice.  They politely pointed at the brown rice rolls that were already out on display, but all of them contained meat.  BOO.  So it was a salad bar instead, with some Greek dressing with no sugar that I found after several minutes of searching (seriously…nearly all dressings seem to contain sugar. Even the “olive oil & vinegar” dressing I picked up.  Stop with the sugar!)

Dinner: Salsa Rice!

 

This is probably the ONE dish that we’ve had since on the Fast that was already a regular in my repertoire. We LOOOOOVE this dish.  So fresh and still filling.  And here, you get a little glimpse into my Typical Thursday evening routine—looking through the sale ads while we chow down.  I know, I know…our lives are uber-glam.

$1.68/lb for asparagus?  Looks like I’m cookin’ some asparagus next week!

So…tomorrow….Valentine’s Day!!! (…???)  Perhaps you’re wondering how we’ll navigate the Day of Chocolate & Champagne & Oysters & Cheese & Other Delectable Non-Fast Friendly Things?  ….Yeah, us too!  Tune in & we’ll see how it goes!

Salsa Rice: Versatile Dish Extraordinaire!

Once upon a time (i.e. 2009), there was a recession.  Wait, what?  Are we still in it?  I can’t tell—plenty busy here…
ANYWAY…in this Once-Upon-A-Time land, there were two friends:

(I promise she’s not naked.)

…who worked for a consulting company that catered to oil-drilling clients.  And crude oil prices had bottomed out to $40/barrel.  And you know what happens when the price of oil drops below $60/barrel, my friends?  Oil-Drilling Companies don’t drill.  It’s not cost-effective.  So our phones weren’t ringing, and we weren’t working overtime, and we were even FORCED to take one-hour lunches and leave when we hit 40 hours at the end of the week.  Tough times, I tell you.

(Clean desk = not enough work.)

So what to do, when you’re not working, but you still have to BE at work?  Well, these two friends invented a game called “Google Dat”.  Which basically involved spending a lot of time on Google.  Don’t know the answer to a question?  Just Google dat.  What was the name of the guy in that one movie?  Google dat.  How long does it take to fly to Hawaii?  Google dat.  What’s the lunch special at Chung King today?  You should Google dat.  What’s on the Green Dragon Roll at Osaka?  Google dat.
So when one of these friends (aka: me) decided to test out Dr. Ian’s “Detox Diet” for two weeks, I needed a plethora of recipes that involved brown rice and beans, and no meat.  What’s a girl to do? 

You got it:  YOU GOOGLE DAT.

You know…because Pinterest didn’t exist yet.  Also, there were dinosaurs.

I still have a stockpile of recipes that we downloaded during this period of time, but this one is my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE. 

I still make it all the time because it’s quick, easy, super-flavorful & just really fresh-tasting.  And it goes with anything—or, is totally awesome on its own, because garbanzo beans are a nice protein source (1 cup gives you 29% of your daily requirement).

And normally, I make this with Minute brown rice for a quicker cooking time, however, we were out of that so instead, I finally used up the last of my Louisiana “popcorn rice”.

This rice was a gift from my friends the Trahans (pronounced “Trah-hahns”, not “Tray-hands”) and it comes from one of my favorite lil’ towns in Louisiana: Gueydan.

Which is, of course, pronounced “Gey-don”, not “Gooey-dan”.  Just FYI. It’s a fun word to say.  Particularly if you have or can mimic a Cajun accent.

ANYWAY…it’s a long grain rice that supposedly smells like popcorn while cooking…thus the name.  And it’s an authentic Louisiana product.  And it’s delicious and fluffy & cooks perfectly. If you’ve got the cash & the means, I highly recommend picking some up.

Ingredients (makes eight 1-cup servings):
2 cups uncooked rice
1 can beans (we used garbanzo this time, but black beans are equally awesome)
1 cup your favorite salsa (can add more to taste)
1 cup corn kernels (sweet Missouri corn preferred!)
1 handful fresh cilantro, chopped
1 tbsp black pepper
Juice of 1/2 lime

Directions:
Bring 4 cups of water to boil, add your rice, then drop the heat to simmer, cover, and let cook for 20 minutes. 
Then remove the lid, check for doneness, fluff with a fork, and remove from heat.
(Updated 2019: You can alternately make your rice in the Instant Pot--I like to use brown rice, which takes 2 cups rice and 2.5 cups water, for about 18 minutes, and then let pressure release for 10 minutes.)
Add all the other ingredients and mix thoroughly.  Taste for flavor—add more salsa or seasonings as needed.
Then NOM down!

NutriFacts: (per 1 cup serving)
Calories 233.3
  Total Fat 1.2 g
  Saturated Fat 0.2 g
  Polyunsaturated Fat 0.5 g
  Monounsaturated Fat 0.3 g
  Cholesterol 0.0 mg
  Sodium 323.2 mg
  Potassium 269.1 mg
  Total Carbohydrate 49.6 g
  Dietary Fiber 3.9 g
  Sugars 0.7 g
  Protein 6.5 g

Homemade salsa!

 

The base recipe for this comes from a handy little book called "100 Calorie Snack Cookbook”.

This book has come in handy when I have a craving—tons of good ideas divided conveniently by “craving type”: Crunchy, Salty, Creamy & Cheesy, Frozen, Beverages, etc.

This recipe will make about 4 half-cup servings.  Important note- the color of your tomato will determine the end result of your salsa, so if you want a nice, beautiful red salsa, get ruby red tomatoes, lest you end up with pink salsa (like I did).

Ingredients:

1.5 lbs ripe tomatoes, seeded & diced

1 small red onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 bell pepper, any color

1 jalapeno, seeded & chopped

1/4-1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

1/4 tsp cayenne

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp onion powder

Juice of 1/2 lime

Combine all ingredients together in a blender & stir,then Pulse 3-4 times to combine.

Let sit for 2 hours before serving (this is what the book calls for, however I think it tastes good right away, so it’s up to you!)

NutriFacts:

Calories 52.2

  Total Fat 0.7 g

  Saturated Fat 0.1 g

  Polyunsaturated Fat 0.3 g

  Monounsaturated Fat 0.1 g

  Cholesterol 0.0 mg

  Sodium 304.5 mg

  Potassium 405.8 mg

  Total Carbohydrate 11.7 g

  Dietary Fiber 2.5 g

  Sugars 1.4 g

  Protein 2.0 g

Shared on 33 Shades of Green's Tasty Tuesdays