Yummy, Healthy Recipes

This past Sunday, I hosted the Sisters Midwifery Quarterly Seasonal cooking class at my house!  It was quite fun for me.  

You all may or may not know that when Jonah was a baby I took a series of cooking classes at the Natural Epicurean school, loosely affiliated with Casa de Luz.  I was also employed for a year as a dessert baker at Casa de Luz.  Since then I have expanded my palette to include meat, eggs and dairy.  In fact, I have a little farm and raise my own eggs, milk my goats, make cheese, have "meat birds" that I have processed myself, and recently ventured into homebrewing.  I enjoy raising, cooking and eating local whole foods and foods that I have been "involved" with through the whole growth process, whether of vegetable or animal sources.  

The cooking classes Sisters Midwifery offers are of the vegetarian variety :) and are hosted with the intention of helping clients feel comfortable preparing wholesome nutrient dense foods high in protein, vitamins and minerals, and fresh greens of all kinds

I thought it would be fun to share the menu and recipes that we "chefed" up on Sunday, so you could enjoy the recipes yourselves and to entice you to come to the next class!

The menu:

Black bean pate

Quinoa - taste test between white and red quinoa varieties

Dandelion green/pecan pesto (eaten with crackers, sweet potato chips, and on quinoa)

Sweet potato chips

Seasonal salad - all ingredients from Boggy Creek Farm  I love this place - good people and good food in east austin

You should know that I usually don't follow recipes exactly and I rarely measure things :)

Black Bean Pate

2 shallots

2 cups green onions

3/4 cup cilantro or mild roasted green chili pepper

1 cup white onion, diced

1 cup mushrooms

2 tsp peppercorns

3 cups cooked black beans (canned okay)

6 TBSP tahini

2 TBSP miso 

3/4 cup dry roasted pumpkin seeds 

1 tsp sesame oil

Preheat oven to 350

In food processor, blend shallots, green onions, cilantro, and white onion until very fine. Add peppercorns, grind coursely.  Add beans, mushrooms, tahini, miso and pumpkin seeds. Process till smooth.

Oil loaf pan, spread mixture evenly into pan. Bake until golden crust surrounds edges, 1 1/2 -2 hours.  Remove from over and put parchment paper over top and add a weight.  Let cool to room temperature.  At this point the pate can be cut into slices or eaten as a dip.  Will keep in the refrigerator for two weeks.

Quinoa

Cooking ratio 1 cup quinoa to 2 cups water.

Bring water to a boil and add quinoa, cook at gentle bubbling until most of the water has been absorbed, add 14 to 1/2 tsp sea salt, cover with lid and turn off heat.  Let sit for 10ish minutes before eating. 

Dandelion Pesto

1 clove garlic (or to taste)

1 bunch dandelion greens

1-1 1/2 cups pecans

1/2- 1 cup parmesan cheese

1/4-1/2 tsp sea salt

1/4 cup olive oil

Pulse garlic in food processor till finely chopped.  Add dandelion greens, pecans, cheese, and salt.  Process while slowly adding olive oil until smooth paste is formed.  Taste and add more salt, cheese, oil as needed.

Sweet Potato Chips

2 Sweet Potatoes

Salt

Coconut oil

Slice sweet potatoes 1/8-1/4 inch thick

Toss in bowl with slightly warmed, liquid coconut oil

Layer on baking sheet

Season to taste with salt and any other desired seasonings

Bake in oven at 350-400 degrees until crispy