Bean Dip

Beans are a nutrient powerhouse. In fact, if I could choose one food to eat for every meal, and quinoa wasn't allowed, I would choose beans. They are a good source of soluble fiber - the kind that grabs bad stuff from your body and makes it leave - as well as water-soluble vitamins, protein and important minerals. I am not as concerned as most about this, but, they are very low in fat. Beyond nutrition, they are delicious, easy to prepare and very versatile. Eat with nuts or cereals for a complete protein.

In classic fashion, I've laid out this recipe in skeleton form so that you can do with it what you wish.

Blend together:

• 1 cup cooked beans, or approximately half a can
• 1 - 3 T oil 
• 1 - 3 T acid
• 1/3 c nut or seed butter
• Flavors

I used red kidney beans with canola oil, lemon juice, tahini and garlic to make a mock hummus - but how about trying adzuki beans with sesame oil, rice vinegar, peanut butter and miso? Or Black beans with avocado oil, lime juice, cashew butter and chili flakes? Lima beans with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, walnut butter and basil?
If the dip is too runny, add more beans. If it's too thick, add water or another liquid. You can serve the dip with crackers, cut up veggies or pita.

If any one requests it I can post my skeleton pesto recipe. Now I'll enjoy a red onion and bean burger made with the leftover beans!

Sprouting: You Should Have Learned This Years Ago

I've never had a child, but I imagine the joy of bringing life into this world is somewhat comparable to how I feel when I sprout. If you can get past my hyperbolic nature, let me teach you.

We'll start with what you can sprout and in my experience this can been just about anything. If it's an organic, unprocessed seed with a bit of life left in it, chances are it wants to shoot something delicious toward the sky for you to eat. The short list goes something like:

Photo by: Sarah Goertz

Alfalfa
Almonds
Amaranth seed
Barley, unhulled
Buckwheat groats (not kasha, it is toasted)
Chia (salba)
Clover
Corn (popcorn)
Flax
Garbanzo
Lentils
Millet
Mung beans
Navy beans
Oats, unhulled
Peanuts
Pumpkin
Quinoa
Radish
Rice - brown or brown basmati
Sunflower
Wheat and wheat-relatives: rye, kamut, spelt

You can purchase a pack of sprouting seeds at a health food store or just pick up some of the whole grains, etc. and do some finger-crossing. To pull off this nutritious feat of botanical magic, you will also need a glass mason jar, a piece of cheesecloth and something to secure the cloth over the mouth of the open jar, like a rubber band or piece of twine. If you don't have cheesecloth, but do have skills, you may want to attempt using a coffee filter or thin piece of paper towel, taking great care.

Begin by placing about 1 Tbsp of seed into the bottom of your jar and filling it about 3/4 way to the top with water, then fasten the cheesecloth onto the mouth of the jar and let sit on the counter over night. This is called the introductory soak. After about 12 hours, dump the jar upside down, filtering all the water through the cheesecloth, and leaving the freshly soaked and rinsed seeds in the jar. Allow them to sit until late evening.

Now the only job is to rinse once or twice a day by removing the cheesecloth, filling the jar with water, replacing the cloth, and pouring the water out. Within 5 days or less you should see sprouts growing - they will look like little tails. Sprouts do well with a bit of sunlight especially during the first few days of growth. When they are long enough for your liking simply pop them in your mouth or favourite recipe. As a general rule, they're ready to go when the sprout (tail) is as long as the seed it began from.

Although my favourite way to eat sprouts is on their own, I also enjoy them in a sandwich, a salad, over a pasta dish or stirfry or blended into a bean dip.

As with anything, there are some exceptions to the rule. I think it's more fun if you find these out for yourself but here are a few to get you started:

• Amaranth is so small that it will not need to soak overnight. Try 2 hours.
• Buckwheat should not do an overnight soak and sprouts very quickly in sunlight.
• Quinoa must be rinsed before doing anything - this includes cooking it for dinnner

Sprouts have the highest nutritional benefit per calorie than any other food in the world. They protect us from disease and increase the digestibility of the foods we know and love. Take care of your sprouts and your sprouts will take care of you.

Why I Wash my Everything with Soap

Guest Blogger: Alexis Chadwick

I have been neglecting a visit to the dentist, mostly because last time I was there the dental hygienist scoffed at my career choice (after telling her I was satisfied with my humble position) and recommended I go back to school so I could make more money, like her. I guess she couldn’t tell that I’m a bit of a granola and would rather spend the day rolling in a field of flowers than rolling in money. I was both offended and annoyed and, being the brash decision maker that I am, decided to boycott not only my dentist, but the entire dental industry. In my search for alternative tooth-care, which included a consultation with a retired dentist who spoke out against the use of fluoride on teeth, I came to the conclusion that bar soap is not just for hands, but is good for washing out mouths, too.

I have two favourite parts of brushing my teeth with bar soap:
1. The “just-from-the-dentist-chair” clean feeling I have as I run my tongue over my teeth and,
2. The funny faces I make in the mirror because soap tastes less than fantastic

The kick in the teeth about toothpaste, for me, was learning that glycerin, contained in most toothpastes (including fluoride free ones that you can find in health stores, etc), stays on the teeth after rinsing. Once teeth are coated with glycerin, they cannot re-enamelize. Teeth naturally like to do so when they are clean and bar soap effectively cleans the teeth so they can. Soap washes off the surface by rinsing and once this happens the enamel, over time, can become thick, which makes teeth less sensitive to hot and cold.

So, then I was talking to a hair-dresser friend who was saying that hair is made up of the same scientific sounding something as fingernails and teeth, and that what you can use on your hands you should be able to use on your hair, (chemical-free, let that be the default perspective). Naturally, I took the bar to my hair. I can only speak from my own experience, but I now wash my hair less often as it does not become as oily as quickly, and soap provides me with a fantastic lather that I love. I appreciate knowing what goes into my soap, whereas shampoos are often a mysterious myriad of unpronounceable words. Making my own soap is my next endeavour.

I feel that knowledge has been taken away from us, that the recipes of old, the wise sayings, and the warnings have been packed up and lost in the move from generation to generation. I want that autonomy back. I want to know that I don’t have to rely on corporations to deliver my foods and fancies… that I can do it myself. There’s a freedom that comes with that ancient education that I dream of reclaiming. Soaps with scents and herbs, for disinfecting, cleaning, and healing are a small way for me to start unlearning my corporate reliance.

Alexis Chadwick is a wordsmith, an indie music lover and the most proficient woman in old-world skills that you will have the pleasure of meeting this century. Her vintage clothes make thousands of people jealous daily and if you ask her, she will share with you. Ten times out of ten.

Essential Oils for Pest Control

I don't love the idea of chasing a fly all over the store I work at just to trap it in a container and set it free. Nor do I like the idea of navigating a spider onto my finger and giving him a free ride to my balcony - however, I think if you can save a bug, save a bug. There is something morally weird about killing being the first option. That's why I am not okay with pesticides, aside from what they do to the food I eat. If your company researches, creates and distributes chemicals that cause things to die, some soul searching might be useful. That's why I like to use essential oils to re-route little pests that what to eat the vegetables I have been growing for me and my household.

Bugs have certain scents that really bother them and if you use a hint of that oil they will instantly pull an about-face  and leave your sacred area alone. I've also used them to communicate with my sister's cat that ' no I'm not leaving these gluten free muffins on the stairs for you to eat ' and also, ' this jacket looks nicer without your hair on it, thanks '.

The best way to do this is with some water in a reusable bottle. A few drops of essential oil in 500ml should work. For ground crawlers you can actually drizzle the liquid in a line on the ground around your plants or other chosen boundary. For flyers, spray it on the leaves of your plant.

This list of which oils to use for specific pests looks about right from what I'm come across usually. It's taken from aroma-essence.com:

Photo by: Sarah Goertz

ANTS - Peppermint Spearmint
APHIDS - Cedarwood Hyssop Peppermint Spearmint
BEETLES - Peppermint Thyme
CATERPILLARS - Spearmint Peppermint
CHIGGERS - Lavender Lemongrass Sage Thyme
CUTWORM - Thyme Sage
FLEAS - Peppermint Lemongrass Spearmint Lavender
FLIES - Lavender Peppermint Rosemary Sage
GNATS - Patchouli Spearmint
LICE - Cedarwood peppermint Spearmint
MOSQUITOES - Lavender Lemongrass
PLANT LICE - Peppermint Spearmint
MOTHS - Cedarwood Hyssop Lavender Peppermint Spearmint
SLUGS - Cedarwood Hyssop Pine
SNAILS - Cedarwood Pine Patchouli
SPIDERS - Peppermint Spearmint
TICKS - Lavender Lemongrass Sage Thyme
WEEVILS - Cedarwood Patchouli Sandalwood 

You can also dilute these in a carrier oil like sweet almond or apricot kernal, and then use it as a bug repellent on your skin.

About the Name

I have relocated my eco-lovin' blog to blogspot where posts connect more easily with Facebook and Twitter, there is a focus on community and like-blogs, and I am already signed in because the account is through my Gmail.

I decided to change the name of my blog to "My Idea of Happiness" so that I could include more off-beat banter like the support of independent businesses, or wellness through exercise. It seemed too many topics did not fall under the category of "But Nature More."

With this blog I can invite guest bloggers to share their wisdom to my readers, and I already have a few lined up!

The name comes from a famous Tolstoy quote, reiterated in the life-changing movie, Into the Wild.

"I have lived through much, and now I think I have found what is needed for happiness. A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people whom it is easy to do good, and who are not accustomed to have it done to them; then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one's neighbor - such is my idea of happiness."

Starbucks Veganized: Marble Carob Loaf

Calvin, Jordan and I have just moved to a new apartment building called Sugar Creek Village. In my mind I am calling it Stevia Creek Village, but nonetheless… My long time friend Perrie lives in the next building over and is a strict vegan. I decided to convert a favourite recipe so that she could enjoy a slice.

Sadly, due to lack of ingredients in the new place, my final product does contain eggs and milk so unfortunately I can’t share this batch with her, but I had already succesfully converted the recipe in theory so here is a Starbucks copy cat recipe I swear by, in a vegan version:

Ingredients:

* 1/3 cup vegan margarine
* 1 cup raw sugar
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 2 cups flour
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 2/3 cup almond milk
* 3 Tbsp ground flax in 3 Tbsp water
* 1 ounce unsweetened carob chips, melted
* 2 tablespoons hot water
* 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Preparation:

Preheat to 350.
Cream margarine and sugar together. Add vanilla. Add flax and water mix.
Mix flour, salt and baking powder together.
Alternate adding dry mix and milk to wet mix until everything is smooth.
In a seperate bowl mix carob, water and soda. Add 1/2 the batter and mix.
In alternating spoonfuls, add white and carob batter to a greased loaf pan. Using a fork, whirl around to make a marbled effect.
Bake one hour, five minutes.
Serve with vanilla bean coconut milk ice cream.

To make this gluten-free use Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Gluten Free Baking Mix!