Sauteed brussel sprouts and cabbage

It's been awhile since I wrote a post, forgive me? Things have been crazy in my kitchen lately. What do you mean, you may ask? Ohhh, just this thing of me baking my gluten-free and vegan baked goods at a new coffee shop!

Last week, I prepared: gluten-free and vegan banana flax-seed muffins, gluten-free and vegan snickerdoodles, gluten-free and vegan pumpkin bread, and cranberry bran muffins. So, I have been busy baking, chatting with the general manager, and then working my full-time job, cooking all the time. It's been very busy. I have been very busy, so I needed a quick meal that wasn't going to take me long.

I have never had brussel sprouts, and I was walking through the grocery store just staring at all the vegetables and so I grabbed ten of them. I also grabbed two small heads of cabbage because they looked kind of good. The problem with me going grocery shopping, and being bored while I am grocery shopping means I grab random food I don't really know what to do with it. And then I realized you can pretty much cook anything and make it taste good if you saute it. 

The first think I learned when I started cooking so much, is that you always need to fry your onions and garlic first, because it just adds a totally different flavour. I have to say, it's kind of annoying to cook ALL the time. I am sure I would probably get annoyed with baking all the time, but this new adventure is something that will show me if I am cut out for baking a lot. I will still be working my real job, and then when I come home, I will be making gf and vegan banana flax muffins and gf and vegan snickerdoodles every day. It could be extremely tiring, but I am going to try. If it ends up being too much, I will try and work something else out so that I can still provide baked goods for them, but maybe not every single day. 

Anyway, getting back to this meal, it really turned out so much better than I thought it would be. I am sure it would taste even better if things were sauteed in butter, because honestly, butter! Like Paula Dean always talks about... butter, butter, butter. 

Roasting some sunflower seeds is what I did to add a little crunch to all the softness of the cabbage and brussel sprouts. I actually ended up loving the brussel sprouts just on their own--I don't know why so many people hate them! I think I enjoyed them so much. 

I had all these things sitting in the fridge for over a week, including asparagus, so I needed to cook them all. This last minute idea was pretty quick and delicious. And it was really filling. It's so nice to eat good food that makes you feel good. Even when you have a crappy day. It tends to lift you up.

Sauteed Brussel Sprouts and Cabbage
10 brussel sprouts
2 small heads of cabbage
1.5 c. roasted sunflower seeds
1 onion
6 cloves of garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil to coat pan

Wash all the brussel sprouts and the cabbage. Cut the brussel sprouts in half and shred the cabbage like would cole-slaw. Cut the onions in half and slice the six cloves of garlic.

Heat the oil in a skillet. Once heated, toss in onions and garlic. saute for 10 minutes until things get a little crisp. Add the brussel sprouts and cabbage. Cover with a lid and let cook for 15 minutes.

Once the cabbage has shrunk in size, toss the ingredients in the pan, and cover for a another 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, take the sunflower seeds and put them on a baking sheet and put in the oven at 350 degrees until they start to brown, about 10 minutes.

Once the sunflower seeds are done, toss them into the brussel sprouts and cabbage.

Toss them altogether in the pan.

Put in a bowl, grab some chopsticks, and enjoy!

White bean and Kale stew

I do a lot more baking than I do cooking. Or rather, I am more excited to bake than to cook. As you can tell from most of my posts, I am a baker at heart, and it's what I do for comfort and enjoyment. I am in the process of figuring out, or rather, trying to get the courage, to make a bakery happen here in Flagstaff. An all organic bakery that specializes in gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan baked goods. As well as baking up some treats that have all those things in them. Although, I am 100% positive that most people who would try my stuff would not even be able to tell that the desserts/baked treats they are consuming are gluten-free and vegan. I really am THAT good. You may think I am just being overly confident, but I don't know many people who have a strict diet like I do, and I tend to always bring baked goods to get togethers, and no one ever notices that the baked good they are eating, is free from all the things I am allergic too. It's pretty funny to see people's reactions when they ask me what's in it and the first thing I tell them are the things that ARE NOT in it. It makes me very happy and proud that I can create items that people enjoy.

I also believe in the importance of buying things local and organic. With the new Monsanto Act just signed (Why, America? Why?), it is even more important to pay attention to what we are consuming. There are a lot of studies out there that shows GMO's to be extremely harmful to all animals (they do testing on mice and rats, and it's just so sad to see what happens to them). We don't buy any GMO foods (how do you do this, you ask? You do the most obvious thing... you look on the package of an item for "no-gmo"). It really is quite easy. It's better for the environment, and it is better for us. There is much literature about the importance of an organic based diet, as well as supporting your local farmers. The produce is so much better when you get it local. And if you're lucky enough like me and my partner, you can plant a huge garden right in your back yard with all organic seed. If you don't have a huge yard, you can always plant lettuce in planters (you can fit a good 4-6 head of lettuce in a pot). There are ways to incorporate healthy food in your diet without pay a fortune. And growing your own foods is one of the best feelings in the world. It's nice to be working out in the backyard and picking a tomato or a pepper off the vine and biting into it while you're working.

Enough on that rant. I didn't take any pictures of this dish because it was so ridiculously easy and I needed to hurry out the door, but it is delicious. It's done in a crock pot, left to cook all day long, so when you come home after a long day at work, your house smells like someone has been cooking all day. There is something about crock pot cooking that makes me happy. I know I am using good ingredients, and only doing a little bit of work to make something so delicious. And there's left overs. :)

White bean and kale stew
6 servings

1 tsp. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2-4 garlic cloves, minced (I like things super garlic-y. if you don't, stick with 2)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tbs. balsamic vinegar
4 c. washed and chopped kale
1 tsp. dried oregano
5 c. water
2 15 oz. cans of white beans, unless you're patient like me and have some soaked overnight
2 tsp corriander

Either the night before, or the morning of, heat oil in a skillet and saute the onions until translucent. Add garlic, salt, and pepper, and cook for about another minute or two. Add the balsamic vinegar and stir to combine. If cooking the night before, store in a container in the fridge. If preparing the morning off, add to crock pot.

Add rest of ingredients except kale to the crock pot. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. About 30 minutes before you're going to serve, add the chopped kale. Cook for another 30 minutes, taste, and adjust seasonings to your liking before you're ready to serve.