Meatless Monday

I love that alliteration, and I love the group energy and consciousness when we are all making the same effort at the same time. Here is our dinner last night, so delicious, so easy, so healthy and so inexpensive both to our pocketbook and to Mother Nature!

Enjoy a read about Madhur Jaffrey, and her approach to food, among dining out! I share her joy in eating food prepared at home!

Moong Dal (From An Invitation to Indian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey)
1 1/2 cups moong dal (can use red lentils)
2 cloves garlic, peeled
2 slices peeled fresh ginger, 1" by 1/2" approximately
1 t chopped cilantro
1 T ground tumeric
1/4 t cayenne pepper (or less)
1 1/2 t salt
1 1/2 T lemon juice
3 T ghee (I used 2 T)
Pinch of Hing (asafeteda- optional)
1 t whole cumin seeds

Rinse the moong dal under running water. Add it to a pot along with 5 cups of water and bring to the boil. When it comes to the boil, let is simmer for a few minutes and remove the foam at the top. Now add the garlic, ginger cilantro, tumeric and cayenne. Lower the heat for a continuous simmer for about 1 1/2 hours. Stir occasionally.

Up to this stage the meal can be made in a slow cooker. Although removing the foam is not possible, the dal will cook throughout the day and be ready for you to add the remaining ingredients.

Adjust the seasoning in the dal, now adding the salt and the lemon juice. Have the cooked dal in your serving dish before pouring over the ghee with cumin, described below.

Melt the ghee, when hot enough to sizzle the seeds, add the cumin seeds and the ghee. Turn off the heat, swirl the pan. When the heat calms down pour this over the dal.

Serves 4 for dinner

Finishing Touches to the Meal
Add chopped spinach to the hot dal. It will cook quickly and give some color and added nourishment to the dish. Serve with brown basmati rice, and another vegetable. We enjoyed a delicious salad! Not a traditional Indian combination, but one that kept all of us happy, and satisfied!

Cost (approx numbers)
Dal - $3.00 (plant based proteins are cheaper)
Rice - $1.00
Salad - $4.50
Dressing - $.50
 

Soured Milk

Don't throw it out, or pour it down the drain! Sour milk is like a buttermilk, it acts with raising agents (baking soda in particular) to make baked items particularly fluffy. If the smell of the milk is strong, then do not use it. Otherwise, bake away!

I have just made some chocolate cupcakes with outdated buttermilk. Super moist cupcakes, great structure to the cupcake as well.

Just be sure to slip the soured milk deep into the refrigerator so that thirsty teens do not try to drink it!

Peace

What Will Change

Saving the butter wrappers to be used later for baking, putting every possible piece of paper in recycling,  these acts will not change the world at large. But they will change your world. It changes the meaning and interactions that you have, helping you to go to a meaningful and conscious part within.

This IS what will change the world at large. Our awareness of the needs of Mother Earth, and of one another, gives the greatest meaning and opportunity for sharing in the journey.

Care and share!

Wheat Germ Nummie Muffins!

A friend gave me a jar of toasted wheat germ that she was not going to use. The wheat germ came with a muffin recipe. It called for shortening, and that was enough to motivate and inspire me to create a healthy and tasty recipe for the mothering Mother crowd.

The buttermilk that I used in this recipe was extra active. It was past date buttermilk! It reacted so quickly with the baking soda that the batter was starting to rise before the muffins went into the oven. Soured milk is excellent in muffins! Don't toss it out! Any soured milk is fine in place of the buttermilk. Use rice milk and add some vinegar, or lemon juice and let it sit for 5 minutes.

Okay, I must confess, that on the day that I baked the muffins, they were so tasty that I ate 3 of them! The coconut oil and the pumpkin seeds seem to agree with my body, or at least I am telling myself that!

1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup oatmeal

The photo does not do it justice! It must be tasted!

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 t salt
1 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t allspice
1/2 cup sucanat
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
1 1/3 cups buttermilk
1 egg or Egg Replacer - 2 fl oz of combined applesauce and safflower oil
t = teaspoon

Combine the wheat germ, oatmeal, flour, salt baking powder, baking soda, allspice, sucanat, raisins and pumpkin seeds in a mixing bowl. Set aside. Combine the milk, egg replacer and coconut oil and pour over the bowl of dry ingredients. Stir until combined.

Scoop the batter into muffin cups and bake at 350 F for about 20 minutes. Check to see that the center of the muffin is cooked. Let the muffins sit in the pan for 5 minutes before removing carefully with a knife. Cool on a wire rack. Enjoy!

Makes 12 muffins.