Savory Black Bean Muffins

Delicious and Plant Strong Black Bean Muffins

sauté in medium high pan (no oil!)

• 1/2 onion chopped,
• sliced mushrooms (1/4 pound?)

cook until onion is tender

•  add chopped garlic
•  1/2 red pepper chopped

cook until slightly tender (because these are going in the oven & they’ll finish cooking there)

• add 1 cup frozen corn,
• a few handfuls of spinach (fresh or frozen)
• I had some roasted sweet potatoes so I mashed those a bit with my fingers and tossed them in too.

Heat until the frozen corn is thawed.

In a big bowl,

• drain and mash one can of black beans (I used Whole Foods no salt added)
• Add chopped chipotle to taste,

toss in the onion mixture and add

• 1/2 can drained black beans ( do not mash, this gives you a texture change)
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts.
• 1 t baking powder
• the juice of one lime
• 2 cups oat bran
• add some water if the mixture seems dry. It should NOT be as wet as the mighty muffin batter.

Mix gently

Spray muffin tins very lightly with cooking spray and fill to make 12 muffins.

Bake at 375 for 30-45 minutes or until they look done. Let stand in pan for about 5 minutes to firm up before removing.

They are so good – we’ve had them for breakfast, or as part of dinner with some salsa. It’s kind of a “clean out the fridge” recipe and I’ll make them again. They were also very pretty with the red pepper, orange sweet potato, green spinach, and black beans.

I know you are marveling at the special effects used in the video -  that’s what happens when you’re Plant Strong!

There have been very few posts on the blog and only a handful on the Facebook page.  I could give you the long laundry list of why this is true, but it’d bore you to tears.  Let’s just say, I’ve been a bit busy.

Now it’s April, and almost my birthday (!) and I’ve made some huge changes in my food life.  In February, I decided to go Plant Strong and follow the Engine 2 Diet – I hate calling it a diet because it’s a lifestyle.  Here’s a blog post about my transition.  And here’s one about one of the rougher days.

Lotsa Yum Blog is going to live on in its new Plant Strong focus.  I’ll post the good recipes I find, ways I navigate eating out – which is ridiculously difficult – and hope to encourage you to put more veggies into your diet.

I know this isn’t everyone’s cuppa tea, but if you’ll give it a chance, you’ll see I’m not all hippie-tree hugging-nutty (not that there’s anything wrong with that).  I’m just a woman in her 50′s, trying to improve my health by changing my diet.  And in case you’re wondering, it’s a delicious pursuit!

Faithfully yours and now Plant Strong!

Cynthia

bee at work

Just in case you didn’t know it, squash is the bunny equivalent of the garden world.  One green squash and one yellow squash plant are plenty for most households.  I think I have 12 plants, and that’s a conservative guess.

So I can either yank out most of the squash plants and send them to an early death, or I can cook with the blossoms and 1) get some interesting new dishes, and 2) avoid having 2 tons of ripe squash this summer.

So here’s my dilemma:  How do you use squash blossoms?  At what stage should I pick them?  How do I store them?  And besides making an egg batter and frying them, what can I do with them?

squash can get as big as your head

I need your help.  All suggestions appreciated.

I was craving potatoes so I checked out the potato plants. This was my happy discovery! Special thanks to Doug Earle for sharing his seed potatoes.

Mirepoix

Carrots, onions, and celery:  so many delicious dishes begin with this trinity of aromatics.

So instead of letting them hang around my photo library, unused and unloved, I’m going to post a photo or two each week; not real blog posts, no recipes – okay, maybe a few recipes.

Let the deliciousness begin!

Red Chile Enchiladas - a delicious taste of New Mexico

I was hungry for Santa Fe; the food, the smells, the beauty of the high desert.  Luckily I had some dry red chile in the freezer, from El Portrero Trading Post in Chimayo, NM.  I used the Cilantro Rice recipe from the Cafe Pasqual’s cookbook, and made a pot of pinto beans using the last of the “new beans” my mom had sent.

It was a delicious meal.

Julie Powell’s blog turned into a book and ultimately turned into an award-nominated film by Nora Ephron:   Julie & Julia on IMDB

Well, things have come full circle.  Now a college student, Lawrence Dal, has decided to watch the movie Julie & Julia every day for a year and blog about the experience.  Here is his blog:  The Lawrence/Julie & Julia Project Again, plenty of swearing and sexual innuendo but funny, and I suspect harrowing before it’s all over.

I liked the book, Julie & Julia, and I enjoyed the film, but I certainly couldn’t watch it daily for a year.

Good luck Lawrence.  I’ll be cheering you on and reading about your brave endeavors.  Thanks too, to The Huffington Post for sharing some sites worth wasting time on.

Looks like Caponata for dinner.

I keep having thoughts about the obesity rate in America, wondering how many ounces are equal to one serving of fruit (4 ounces, it turns out,) and wondering if people really can eat this much apple.

I’m planning on using this one for apple juice. Or perhaps I’ll split the apple and share it with the girls.

“We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.”  ~ Aristotle

Pippin tests out the orange wheelbarrow. Sometimes he watches over the top of the wheelbarrow, and sometimes he relaxes and reclines.

Last week, I saw Chef Bayless was giving away signed copies of his new cookbook, Fiesta at Rick’s, and since he is a master tweeter, he created Twitter Recipe Photo Contest.  Here’s the how the contest works:  read Rick’s tweet, decipher the recipe, prepare the dish, then photograph, submit, and hopefully win a cookbook.  I thought, “What fun!” and, “Why not…”

Let me pause for a moment to remind everyone that tweets – twitter messages – are 140 characters long (including spaces).  I’m not at all convinced I could tell you how to make a glass of iced tea in 140 characters, but here we have Rick Bayless’ Roasted Vegetable Enchiladas with Creamy Tomatillo Sauce and Melted Cheese:

Rst 1#tomtllos,1 on,3 grlc,3
serranos;puree;sear n oil 2 thkn;simr w 2c broth,.5c crema.Oil,micrwv 12
torts,roll w rstd veg,sauce, chs, bake

Impressive tweeting RB!

A quick trip to the grocery store, and we’re off and cooking…

Roast 1 pound tomatoes, 1 onion, 3 cloves garlic, and 3 serrano peppers. Puree.

Onto the comal…  I left garlic skins on to roast, as well as the tomatillo husks, and roasted them on a comal I brought back from San Miguel de Allende.  You can also roast your tomatillos, etc in the oven or in a dry skillet.

Puree: Remove the husks from the tomatillos, take the skin off the garlic.  Remove the stem and seeds from the serranos; pop everything in a food processor or blender and let ‘er rip.

Sear in oil to thicken - this part was familiar to me.  I grew up in New Mexico and it is a regular part of the enchilada-making process to sear the raw sauce in oil and allow it to thicken.  How thick?  That’s personal preference.

Simmer with 2 C broth and 1/2 C crema (that wonderful thick, tangy, Mexican cream).  My sauce was pretty lumpy so I used an immersion blender to make is really silky.  Add salt to taste.

Oil and microwave 12 corn tortillas.  I’ve never tried this method of cooking the tortillas – it worked well.  I also tried oiling a few and then toasting them briefly on the comal – which also worked.  What I like about this method is that you can control how much oil you are putting into the food.  That’s a big plus.

Roll with roasted vegetables

For the roasted vegetables I used:   red poblanos, orange bell peppers, listada de gandia eggplant, tomato, zucchini, yellow crooked neck squash.  All vegetables came from the garden.

Place the roasted vegetables in the middle of each tortilla and roll tightly.  Place them close together in your baking dish so they stay rolled when baking and serving.

Top the enchiladas with roasted tomatillo sauce, add cheese, and bake

I used Asadero cheese on top, which complemented the firm texture of the roasted vegetables.

Bake in a moderate oven – say 350 degrees, just long enough to heat everything through and melt the cheese.  In South Texas, tomatillo sauce often includes cilantro.  I used a small amount of cilantro as a garnish and it added a lovely flavor element to the enchiladas.

The Twitter Recipe Photos Contest was fun and delicious.  Plus, I learned how to make a delicious tomatillo sauce.  I haven’t cooked with tomatillos before and I’m looking forward to trying this sauce in other dishes.

On top of all that – I won a cookbook!  Here’s the link so you can see all the winning photos.

If you’d like to try your hand at Rick Bzyless’s Twitter Recipe Photo Contest, you can follow him on twitter:  @Rick_Bayless and get the details of the challenge here.

Thank you, Rick Bayless, for a challenging and delicious contest.  Amazing things have happened in my life as a result of Twitter.

Cynthia

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Cynthia McKenna is a therapist specializing in anxiety, depression, and healthy living.  You can learn more about her work here.

A lovely bride & groom were celebrating their wedding on the beach last night.

Its the longest day, the shortest night, and also known as “midsummer.”

Spring temperatures have been mild for this part of Texas, and those mild temperatures have brought oodles of tomatoes.  I am noticing that the tomato harvest is starting to slow down a bit, and I see less fruit setting on the plants – both quite normal for mid-summer.

I want to celebrate summer, harvest, and great tomatoes with a little guessing contest – are you ready?

Here is a photo of this weekend’s tomato harvest.  The tomatoes were picked Saturday and Sunday.

Close up of the bowl of tomatoes:

Close up of the basket:

And a size comparison:

The Contest

Guess how many pounds of tomatoes I harvested this weekend.  Leave your guess (pounds and ounces) in the Comments section (found at the bottom of this post).  Be sure and enter your email address when you comment so I can reach you when you win!

Enter soon because the contest ends Wednesday, June 23rd, 10:00 a.m. CDT

But what do I win?

This nifty Klip Kitchen Timer from American Innovative

• Klip Is a versatile timer designed for use in the kitchen and around the home
• Features countdown timer with elapsed time graphic
• Clock can be set at 12 or 24 hour display, stopwatch function: up to 24 hours
• Keypad lock prevents settings from being disrupted.
• Battery, belt clip, fridge magnet, countertop stand & detachable lanyard included

So friends, how many pounds of tomatoes do you see?

The last time I did a giveaway, the winner actually got her daughter involved.   This tomato estimating might be a fun math related activity for your child.  But whether you ask the kids to guess or you just make a guess yourself, I hope you have fun.  I know I have fun weighing the tomatoes, and am constantly astonished at how much they weigh…

Contest Review

• leave your guess in the comment section,
• guess in pounds and ounces
• be sure to include your email address when you are offered the option
• winner will be the person whose guess comes closest to actual weight without going over.
• contest is good in the US only.  This is a low budget blog
• contest ends Wednesday, June 23rd, 10:00 a.m. CDT
• Have fun and good luck!

Special thanks to Karen Harris, Holland Hall Upper School Science Teacher and good friend, for consulting with me about weights and measures.

Cynthia

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Cynthia McKenna is a therapist specializing in anxiety, depression, and healthy living.  You can learn more about her work by visiting her website:  www.cynthiamckennacounseling.com

Gazpacho has a long and interesting history.  It’s a traditional food from Spain and it has its origins in the Moorish and Roman conquests of Spain  Gazpacho was probably originally a soup made from bread,
olive oil, garlic, and water.  Tomatoes are “new world” foods and were added to diet about 200 years after they were introduced in Europe.

Here’s what goes into my gazpacho:

• Juicy fresh tomatoes, cored and cut into chunks
• 1/2 cucumber, peeled and seeds removed
• 1/2 orange, red, or yellow pepper (I don’t like green peppers so I don’t use them)
• 1 jalapeno, seeded
• 2-3 garlic cloves
• 1 small red onion
• juice of 4 key limes
• red wine vinegar
• a few sprigs of cilantro, oregano, or basil
• cumin to taste
• salt & pepper
• LOTS of recipes call for one or more pieces of bread.  I don’t bother with it but you are welcome to add a slice or more of good quality white bread to your soup.  Just process it with the tomatoes.

Start with the jalapeno, garlic, a few tablespoons of olive oil & vinegar, lime juice and herbs in the bowl of my food processor.  Process these to a fairly fine chop.

Add the tomatoes in batches and process to a fine puree, or you can leave your soup chunkier if you like.

I actually made a batch of gazpacho by hand once, finely chopped all the ingredients – it was a lot like a cross between pico de gallo and gazpacho.  I’m mentioning that in case some of you don’t have food processors.  You could also do this in a blender or using an immersion blender. 

Pour your pureed mixture into a big bowl and continue processing the tomatoes and remaining ingredients.  Add the cumin to the last vegetables and then mix thoroughly in the bowl.  Adjust salt and pepper.

Chill thoroughly and serve.

I usually garnish my gazpacho with croutons and chunks of avocado.

Here’s to the fruits of summer!

Cynthia

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Cynthia McKenna is a therapist specializing in anxiety, depression, and healthy living.  You can read more about her work @ www.cynthiamckennacounseling.com

Notice the resemblance?

Spring is now here, in fact, we are edging into the heat of summer.  Something, (probably cabbage loopers,) was eating on the kale leaves.  I've heard that when the bugs move in, it means the season is over.  So I harvested all of the remaining kale, and a few onions from the garden and made our favorite kale dish:

Potato + Kale = Love

Ingredients

• 2 lbs red potatoes
• 2 bunches kale
• scallions, shallots, or red onion
• 1 pkg feta
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt & pepper

• Boil potatoes in salted water until done (approx 20 minutes) Drain.
• Tear kale into large, bite sized pieces.  Remove stems if they are particularly woody, 
• Steam kale until tender (5-10 minutes)
• While kale and potatoes are cooking, chop some red onions or scallions
• Combine cooked potatoes, kale, and onions in a large bowl, then add
• One package feta cheese, broken into bits
• drizzle with olive oil, salt & pepper to taste, then serve warm.

One of the great things about this dish is that you can adjust the flavors to suit you.  I adore onions, so I put a lot of onion in mine.  If you are restricting your fats, you can use less olive oil and less feta and still have a great dish.  In fact, you could serve onions, olive oil and feta on the side and let everyone make a bowl to their own liking. 

We had some nice Suxx wine left from a special bison dinner, and it went
beautifully with this dish. 

A big thank you to Lorrie Lynn King, my kale-loving friend in Atlanta, who developed this dish and wrote about it on her blog. 

So long dear kale.  See you again in the winter of 2011.

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Cynthia McKenna is a psychotherapist specializing in anxiety, depression and healthy living.  You can learn more about her work @ http://www.cynthiamckennacounseling.com.  Cynthia blogs about organic gardening, cooking, and living in the Texas Hill Country. 

We usually pick our first tomato around May 1st.  Texas has had a long, cool spring, and I wasn’t really expecting any tomatoes till mid-May.  This morning, I was happily surprised to find a lovely little Sun Gold ready to be picked.

While I wanted to pop it in my mouth, I’ve established a little ritual with the first tomato of the season, and it involves Tallulah

This is a photo of Tallulah in her favorite spot, outside the garden gate. Tallulah adores tomatoes, and spends her summers keeping vigil just outside the garden, in hopes of getting a tomato hand-out.

I usually give her one.

This very short video shows the ritual of the first tomato.  Mr. Pippin also has a brief cameo role.

http://www.youtube.com/v/lztO1KhODC4&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0×234900&color2=0x4e9e00

You’ll have surely noted that I dressed up for the video – that is my best gardening outfit.

I love summer tomatoes and sharing them with my friends, including our dear Tallulah (whose nickname is Tomato Boo)

Now the Giveaway

A few weeks ago, I attended TECHMunch in Austin, a SXSW event for food bloggers.  I met some great people, professional food writers and food enthusiasts, and got some cool gifts including a wonderful gardening book, Grow Great Grub:  Organic Food from Small Spaces.

Grow Great Grub includes planting information, pest control and even delicious recipes for your garden harvest.  Its a beautiful book with some great gardening and cooking ideas.

In celebration of the first tomato of the season, I am giving this book away to one of my blog readers (US addresses only).  All you have to do is leave a comment below and answer this question:

What’s your favorite garden vegetable?

Be sure to input your email address when you leave your comment – the comment box will offer that as an option.

You can comment as many times as you like, but the contest closes at midnight April 29th.  I’ll pick the winner at random and notify them by email on Friday the 30th.  You’ll have 5 days to get back to me with your mailing address or I’ll give the book to the next person on the list. Enough rules & regs -

What’s your favorite garden vegetable?  Leave a comment below and I hope you win!

Happy First Tomato day!

Cynthia & Tallulah

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Cynthia McKenna is a psychotherapist in private practice.  She helps clients heal anxiety and depression and find peace through living healthier lives.  You can learn more about her work here.