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Fruits, Veggies, and Eggrolls

Ω March 16th, 2010 Ω Tagged Crofter's, eggrolls, fruits, grapes, oatmeal, peanut butter, raspberry, Saratoga Peanut Butter Company, vegetables, wattleseed Ω 15 Comments

Hi everyone! I’ve gotten so used to posting every day that the last week has felt very strange posting only every other day. Life gets so busy that I find it hard to take time out to do something that I really enjoy – but, it’s good to make time when I can!

Yesterday and today were very FULL days, so let’s run over the highlights. This morning, I tried out a new jam I picked up in Utah at the suggestion of these ladies a while back:

I was looking for a jam with minimal ingredients but rich, tart taste. This Crofter’s conserve definitely fits the bill! The ingredients are raspberries, sugar, pectin , vitamin C, and citric acid. The appearance and taste? Well, take a look:

Look at that gorgeous red. Trust me, it tastes as good as it looks.

I think I spent about 2.5 hours on my bottom in the car today. In the morning, I drove for an hour to set up a National Nutrition Month table with some of the other girls in the program at a DSS. Sadly, there were hardly any people around to talk with about healthy eating, easy recipes, and why the carrots and hummus we brought with us for them to sample are so darn tasty and good for you. No pics because, well, I forgot.

The afternoon was fun! We drove to another town about an hour away to teach a lesson on fruits and vegetables to a class of sixth graders. I was a little nervous about my first real teaching experience, but these kids were WONDERFUL! They were so nice and very sharp – when I was in sixth grade, I sure didn’t know the word “antioxidant”!

Teaching it up:

Yummy fruit & veggie cups for the kids:

Kaylan and I preparing the fruits and veggies:

Fun! I know that not all teaching experiences will be as easy or fulfilling, but this experience was a great introduction to the world of community teaching.

Since I’ve been so busy the past couple of days, Peter has been taking over the cooking. You know what he made today, master chef that he is? EGGROLLS. Yep.

Bowing to my need for veggies and my lack of need for anything deep-fried, he made a healthy version based on this recipe. The filling contains beef, chicken, ginger, scallions, and lots of cabbage.

Pressing the liquid out of the filling:

Filling the wrappers (Edited to add: 1/3 of the eggrolls had peanut butter in them, 1/3 had hoisin sauce, and 1/3 had extremely hot hot sauce in them.):

Ready to go in the oven:

The eggrolls came out of the oven crispy and flavorful (although they were not as crispy as deep-fried versions). The hot sauce eggrolls were a little much for me, but the PB and hoisin sauce eggrolls were delicious!

Served with a side of grapes (that may or may not be leftover from the teaching session today):

I’m so lucky to have a Peter to keep me awash in good food :)

Time to study for my Food Service midterm tomorrow … fun fact: did you know that the word “restaurant” originated in the 16th century to mean a food that “restores” and refers to a rich, highly-flavored meat-based soup thought capable of restoring lost strength? Me neither!

Have a nice evening!

Q: Here’s one we asked the kids today: what’s your favorite fruit and your favorite veggie?

» Filed under School » 15 Comments

Breakfast of Champions

Ω March 1st, 2010 Ω Tagged asparagus, blueberries, flax, oatmeal, peanut butter, wattleseed Ω 31 Comments

While I was reading a post written by the wonderful Homecookedem yesterday, I started thinking about my own relationship with breakfast. Unlike Em, I’ve always LOVED breakfast. Couldn’t wait to eat it.

When I was growing up, Sunday morning breakfasts were always decadent. Early in the day, my father and I would go out to the local grocery to buy the colorful Sunday paper (oh, those Sunday comics). We brought back doughnuts, pastries, bagels, etc. You would think that these delicious desserts-masquerading-as-breakfast foods would tempt my 12-year-old taste buds, but no. Instead, I would eat five of these:

[source]

That’s right. Five greasy breakfast sausages.

Now, don’t get me wrong – having the treats you really love once in a while is a smart move. But, thinking back on this Sunday morning ritual, what I most remember is the heavy feeling in my stomach and the hunger I felt not long after downing my Five. Having learned so much about how to nourish my body in the last few years, I know now the kind of breakfast that makes me want to sing from the rooftops: