Sprouting Lentils

Sprouted Lentils

This doesn't really have to do with kids...Only on a rare occasion will Owen snack on these, but do you know about sprouted lentils??! I sure didn't...until recently. This is one of those things where I feel like, "Gah! Why didn't someone tell me about this sooner?!"

You may have guessed this by now, but i'm a huge advocate for the nutritional power of lentils. They are cheap, easy, high in protein and iron, and can taste really delicious. But did you know that if you sprout your lentils, you change the nutritional profile? It's true. Sprouting lentils starts the germination process which increases the amount of vitamins and minerals in the lentils and produces vitamin C, which is not present in dried lentils. You can eat sprouted lentils raw (they taste kind of like alfalfa sprouts) or you can use them to cook as you would dried lentils. Try putting raw sprouted lentils on salads or sandwiches. Try using sprouted lentils in a curry (use less water and cook for less time).

sprouted lentils over chickpea salad on spinach

 To sprout lentils:
Soak any amount of lentils (i usually do 1/2 cup at a time) in water over night. Drain and rinse and place in a mason jar. Cover with a cloth or paper towel and a rubber band or the ring part of the mason jar top. Lay jar on its side. You're going to leave it like this for a few days, but about once a day, rinse the lentils and drain and return to jar. Once the sprouts get to about 1/4 inch, they're ready to eat!

Kids Veg'n Nuggets

 Veg'n Nuggets

This is a recipe that will be there for you when you're busy/running behind/have a child pulling at your pant leg screaming...and you need to get a healthy lunch in their bellies in a HURRY!

It is a delicious recipe for nuggets that are packed with nutrition and fun to eat! They are crunchy and sturdy and perfect for dipping. They freeze well, so they can be ready in a flash for a quick, healthy meal. This recipe makes about 30 nuggets so that's more than 7 meals that will be ready and waiting in the freezer! It takes a little prep work, but this can be done in stages (see recipe below) or all at once. The trick is to just steam the veggies until fork tender and then cool them quickly in an ice bath. You don't want them to get mushy. The nuggets are tasty and simple on their own, or can be dipped in all kinds of dipping sauces: peanut, tomato, avocado, orange-miso....go nuts!

Ingredients:

 1 small head broccoli separated into little trees

4 large carrots peeled and cut lengthwise and in half

4 small fingerling potatoes cut into quarters NOT peeled (about 1 cup)

1 can garbanzo beans drained and rinsed

1/2 cup raw walnuts chopped up

2 T flax seed, ground into flax meal
1 cup breadcrumbs

1 plus 1/2 T nutritional yeast 

1 plus 1/2 t garlic powder

1/2 t onion powder

1/4 t salt

Phase 1 Prep (15 min):

-Spread walnuts out on a baking sheet and bake at 325* for about 5-6 minutes

-Fill large bowl full of ice water and set aside

-Get a large steaming pot ready, place potatoes and carrots on the bottom, each on their own side, and the broccoli on top. Steam for about 5 minutes for the broccoli, or until just fork tender and about 7 minutes for the potato and carrots, or until just fork tender (you don't want them to get too soft).

-Transfer steamed veggies to ice water bowl and submerge. Drain and transfer to another bowl.  

**If this is all the time you have right now, place walnuts in airtight container once they cool and set aside. Cover slightly steamed veggies and place in fridge until you can complete next two phases.

Phase 2 Prep (5 min):

 -Place garbanzo beans in food processor and pulse a few times until most are chopped up a bit, some beans will still be whole, and that's ok. Transfer beans into a large bowl. (This phase can be done with a potato masher if you don't have a food processor (or don't want to get your food processor dirty) see picture below).

-place slightly steamed veggies in food processor and pulse a few times until chopped up a bit. You don't want to over process, you want small chunks of veg. Transfer veg to bowl with beans. 

-Add walnuts, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, onion powder and salt. Mix.

**This is also a good stopping place if you can't finish the final phase right now. Just cover bowl and place in fridge until you can finish the nuggets.

For phase 2, you can replace food processor with potato masher. Follow same steps: first garbanzo beans, then veg. Only smash up. Leave small chunks.

Phase 3 Prep (10 min to make nuggets plus 30 min bake time):

-In small bowl add 6T hot water to the 2T ground flaxseed. Whisk together.

-Spread breadcrumbs out on a plate.

-Generously spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray.

-Set up your nugget-forming area by lining up nugget mixture bowl, flax bowl, breadcrumbs plate and cookie sheet.

-Start forming nuggets by taking a little over 1T of nugget mixture and forming into rectangles. Dip rectangle into flaxseed bowl and shake off excess flax mixture. Dip into breadcrumbs on both sides, then line up on cookie sheet.

Clockwise from top right: nugget mixture, cookie sheet, bread crumbs, flaxseed bowl.

-Bake at 375* for 30 minutes, flipping the nuggets after 15 minutes

 To Freeze:

Cool completely. Put nuggets in freezer-zip bag and then place bag in air tight container. They will last for months.

To eat from freezer:

350* for 12 minutes

NUTRITION:

Broccoli is a super food. So many vitamins and minerals...if our kids are eating broccoli each day, we are definitely doing something right! Fingerling potatoes have their nutrients concentrated in the peel, that's why we keep it on. Vitamin C and potassium as well as carbs to keep our kids fueled. The garbanzo beans and the walnuts are our protein source in these super-healthy nuggets. Garbanzo beans also contain vitamins and minerals and significantly boost your intake of manganese and folate. Walnuts also have those awesome Omega-3s.

Almond Milk and Almond Meal

 Almond Milk

Ahhhhhh Almond milk. So easy to make and so delicious. 

If you are the kind of person that uses a lot of nuts in your daily cooking (like me) and you buy your nuts in bulk, this is definitely the way to get your milk fix. One cup of almonds makes over 4 cups of milk so again, if you're buying nuts in bulk, that comes out to be cheaper than buying the watery tasting almond milk you see on the grocery store shelves. PLUS there's the convenience factor. There's a lot to be said for the peace of mind you feel when you've run out of milk and need a splash in your coffee or a 1/2 cup for the soup you're making right now! ...you just grab your soaking nuts and blend them up and PRESTO! milk!

That brings me to another motto we have in our kitchen: Always be Soaking. 

Our kitchen counter constantly looks like we're conducting multiple middle school science projects at once. Between the cashews that are soaking for a quick velvety sauce, the sprouting lentils, the soaking beans and the almonds....there is a constant rotation of questionable looking mason jars on the counter.

RECIPE:

Sweetened Almond Milk:

1 cup almonds

2 plump dates (if your pitted dates are leathery, soak in hot water for an hour to re-plump)
1/4 t vanilla (more if you really like vanilla milk. I only like a hint of vanilla)
Small pinch cinnamon (a little goes a long way in this recipe)
Pinch of salt

you'll also need something to strain with: nut milk bag like this one or cheese cloth work best.

Unsweetened Almond Milk:

1 cup almonds

pinch of salt

Soak almonds in a bowl of water overnight. If you don't have that much time, I've made almond milk after soaking 4 hours and it still tasted great. After soak, drain almonds and add to blender with 4.5 cups water and the rest of the ingredients. (If you don't have a high powered blender like a Vitamix, use 3.5-4 cups water. A lower powered blender doesn't quite pulverize the nuts like a high powered.) 

Blend it on high for a couple minutes. You'll see the change from water to milk pretty quickly and it'll foam up a bit. Pour milk through strainer into large container and squeeze out all the liquid. Keep in refrigerator for a week to a week and a half in an airtight container. 

I usually do a batch of both sweet and unsweetened every couple weeks because I like them for different reasons....I like sweet in my coffee and oatmeal, unsweetened in recipes....and my 1 year old son likes them both equally for a special "milk juice" snack! The almond flavor when your make your own just doesn't compare to the store bought milks.

BUT WHAT DO I DO WITH ALL THIS ALMOND MEAL??

haha. 

You jump for joy because you are saving even more money!!

I use almond meal in pancakes, crumbles, cookies....I substitute about 25-50% almond meal in place of regular flour in these items.  I also bake it into our weekly loaves of sandwich bread by using the almond meal in place of the quinoa or oat flour in this recipe. The bread comes out dense and nutty. delicious!

RECIPE:

Almond Meal

spread out the almond meal you have leftover in your nut milk strainer onto a cookie sheet. bake in the oven at 200* for two hours. this will dry it out into the larger clumps you see in the picture above. then whiz it through a food processor to create the fine flour texture. store in an airtight container in pantry or in fridge.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:

Almonds do contain a good amount of Calcium, like you would expect to have in a glass of milk. The milks you buy in stores are fortified to contain vitamin D and added Calcium among other things....so obviously the milk you're making at home does not have those additives. The fact is, human beings do not need milk on a daily basis in order to maintain proper levels of Calcium and vitamin D. We eat Calcium in all types of food throughout the day (collard greens, broccoli, sesame seeds...) and do not need to rely on milk for our main calcium source. There are certain ages in your life during different developmental stages that your body requires more calcium and vitamin D (like children under age 2, teens ages 14-18) so it's important to do a check every now and again to make sure needs are being met. Plant sources of Calcium are more easily absorbed into the body than animal sources.