Taters!

Potatoes get a bad reputation as empty carbs and an unhealthy vegetable, when in fact the opposite is true! In fact, 1 potato has DOUBLE the potassium of a banana, 70% of your daily Vitamin C, 30% of your daily B vitamins, AND 4 grams of protein! 

They're also incredibly versatile. From warm and hearty potato leek soup, to mashed potatoes, or even morning home fries, there are a million ways to eat these healthy, delicious tubers. The trouble comes in choosing the RIGHT potato, so we've made a quick little guide. 


Starchy: Russets or Idahos are starchier potatoes, which means they have lots of starch but tend to be drier. This results in a fluffy texture that is perfect for baking or frying or even boiling like for mashed potatoes or a baked potato bar. It also means this is not a potato that will hold it's shape very well once it's cooked, so skip it for potato salads or a potato gratin.

Waxy: Fingerling, Red, or New potatoes are waxy potatoes, with a very low starch content but a lot of moisture. They are great when you want to retain the creamy texture of a potato, as in a gratin, or home fries, or a potato salad. If you're making a soup, however, skip these ones.

All-Purpose: Yukon Golds are a good example of an all purpose potato that balances starch and moisture. They can be used in any variety of soups, gratins, mashes, or roasting, and even make pretty good fries! 


Now that you know your potato types, simply look up any heirloom variety of potato you might find at your market as starchy, waxy, or all purpose, and you'll know how to best use it! Pro Tip: If you're not sure what kind of potato you've got, slice into it. If milky white juices seep onto your knife and cutting board, it's a starchy variety. If it slices easily with no liquid coming out, it's waxy! 

Secret Veggie Cheese Crackers!

Homemade Cheddar Crackers!

When you’re on the go and trying to keep kids fed and occupied while running errands, waiting in line, or in a high chair, one of the go-to’s for moms everywhere are cheesey crackers. They might be shaped like fish, rabbits, or little squares, and boy do they do the trick! Downside is they aren’t cheap, and they often have loads of sodium, oil, preservatives, and dyes.

Well we decided to create our own and in classic Peas of Mind fashion, we added veggies! Just a little pumpkin puree we had on hand (though you could use carrot or sweet potato) gives the crackers an extra boost of vitamins that we can feel good about.

We created an easy, quick, cheddar cracker recipe with just a few whole ingredients. Instead of oil we used real butter; we shredded some sharp cheddar cheese and we used whole-wheat flour. The dough freezes beautifully, or you can cut them into your desired shapes and freeze them on a baking sheet. Once the little shapes are frozen, simple bag them up and they’re all ready to bake whenever you want them!

Equipment : Food processor, oven at 350^o F

Ingredients :

2.5 cups whole-wheat flour

1 cup pumpkin puree

8 oz grated cheddar cheese

4 tbsp unsalted butter

1 tsp salt

Add all ingredients to the food processor and pulse until it forms a dough. Chill the dough in a plastic wrapped disc for 1 hour. Roll out the dough as thin as possible (less than 1/8^th inch thick) between two lightly floured pieces of parchment. Take the top parchment off and leave the bottom parchment in place. Cut the dough into a grid using the tip of a pairing knife (to look like the classic cheese-it). Place the piece of parchment with your cut shapes on a sheet tray and put into the freezer for 5-7 minutes (this makes the crackers a breeze to simply flip over onto a fresh sheet of parchment). Line a sheet pan with parchment and flip dough onto the tray. Bake at 350^o F degrees for 10 minutes, then watch closely as they go from perfect to…well done and remove from the oven when slightly browned. Let cool to crisp up! Keep in the fridge for up to 7 days.

New Year, New Kitchen

January is the month of new beginnings! It’s a new year, a new you and we’re here to encourage you to get a NEW KITCHEN.  Now, we’re not saying it’s time for a full on kitchen remodel, no, no, no. We think it’s time for some major kitchen organization, with the intention of keeping things neat and tidy, but most importantly, with the resolution to healthily (yep, we just made up a word) your kitchen.  We laid out five simple steps to give your kitchen a new year make over and we promise that a few hours of out with the old, in with the healthy, you’ll feel like you’re in a new kitchen.

1) Make a mess.  We’re big believers that it’s important to make a bigger mess before everything actually gets clean.  Make sure you have LOTS of free table and counter space and COMPLTELEY empty your refrigerator, pantry and cupboard.  Divide everything into four categories:

1. The expiration date has passed and it's time to compost it.
2.  Too many ingredients you can’t pronounce and not something you feel good about eating.
3.   Even though it’s open, it hasn’t expired and still looks good.
4.  Yummy, I’d eat this tonight!

2) Compost, recycle and throw away everything from category one and two.  Wipe off, organize and repackage everything from category three and four. (Here at Peas of Mind we love storing our grains, beans and baked goods in mason jars…it looks so cute and makes the ingredients last longer). 

3) This is where the spring “cleaning” really comes into play.  Now that everything is empty, wipe off every surface, wash each vegetable drawer and really get into all the nooks and crannies of every corner, crevice and crack.  If your freezer is like ours and it needs a good makeover too; a quick way to defrost and wipe everything down without unplugging the whole fridge is to place a pot of boiling water in the freezer and let sit for 20 minutes.  After this time, you should be able to chip away the ice and wipe your freezer until it sparkles. 

4) Put everything from categories three and four into the appropriate storage space, admiring your new adorable jars, dust-free surfaces and all the free shelf space. 

5) Fill the free space with items from our Pantry Staples that will give you Peas of Mind blog post. Also stock your squeaky clean vegetable drawers with winter produce like kale and other wintergreens.  Put out a fruit bowl with winter fruit like oranges, tangerines, grapefruits and apples. You want this bowl to be easily accessible to everyone so that your whole family can easily enjoy winter’s natural candy!

Natural Food Coloring

Winter is officially here which means the days are shorter, the weather is colder and we are all spending more time inside.  So what do you do when you and your little ones are feeling cooped up indoors? You decorate cookies! Cookie decorating is a great way to get your kiddos excited about being in the kitchen AND make a delicious holiday inspired treat to give as gifts to family and friends. 

How do we give your cookie decorating party a Peas of Mind twist? That’s easy, by using homemade food coloring! So this year opt out of using store bought brands filled with chemicals and make your own with fruits, veggies and spices!

Natural Food Coloring

-2 C powdered sugar

-1 TBL water

-1 tsp vanilla extract

-pinch of salt

-pinch of turmeric (yellow color)

-1/2 tsp paprika (red color)

-juice of 1 carrot (orange color)

-juice of 1/2 C spinach (green color)

-juice of 1/2 C blueberries (blue color)

Combine 1 cup of powdered sugar with water and vanilla. Divide icing evenly into five small bowls.

For yellow and red colors: mix in the turmeric in one of the bowls and the paprika into another bowl. Stir until combined, adding more water or powdered sugar for your desired consistency.

For orange, green and blue colors: mix 1 tsp of the juice into the remaining bowls. Continue to add more juice and powdered sugar until you get the desired color and consistency.

Voila you now have food coloring that contains ingredients you can actually pronounce! Hope this brings a little Peas of Mind to your cookie baking party this year.

It's Shamrocky Shake time!

St. Patrick’s day is coming up and we’re so excited to welcome Spring with this magical March holiday. One of the coolest things about St. Patrick’s day is that it’s a celebration of the color green; green clothes, green leprechauns, green clovers and green food!  When it comes to food, you can’t get any better then green – kale, avocados, kiwi, spinach and (lets not forget about) broccoli veggie wedgies!  So why dye your food with artificial food coloring when we can just use what nature gave us to add some St. Patty’s Day festivities to our food?!

Nothing says St. Patrick’s Day more then the refreshingly minty Shamrocky Shake:

We’re reinventing this classic St. Patrick’s Day dessert and turning it into a tasty, vitamin packed treat, perfect for both you and all the little leprechauns in your life!

Ingredients:

·1 can of unsweetened lite coconut milk

·5-pitted dates

·2 heaping tbs of almond butter

·3-5 sprigs of mint

·1 cup of chilled mint tea

·1/8 tsp of peppermint extract

·1-2 leaves of kale

·3 cups of ice

Remove mint leaves from the stem and place in a blender with dates (make sure all the dates are pitted) and add the whole can of coconut milk and blend until smooth (you want to make sure that the dates and mint leaves are completely blended).  Combine all other ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth.  Add more ice and/or kale to get the desired consistency and color.

Makes 4 servings

Valentine's Day Reci-pea

Valentine’s day is a day overflowing with love, hearts, flowers, all things pink and CANDY, CANDY, CANDY! So on a day when candy, chocolate and cookies are supposed to be consumed for every meal how do you make sure that your family is eating healthy but still enjoying the holiday? Simple, you make this month’s reci-pea: St. Valentine’s Vegan Cornbread Muffins!  These sweet treats can be consumed as a healthy dessert or a yummy breakfast because they are low in fat and contain applesauce instead of butter and eggs.  We’ve also added beets, which not only turns the muffins a festive shade of pink, they add vitamin A and C.  Vitamin A is important for healthy bone development and vitamin C helps the body heal. Have a happy and healthy Valentine’s Day and enjoy!

St Valentine’s Vegan Cornbread Muffins:

• ½ cup white cornmeal

• ½ cup whole-wheat pastry flour

• ½ teaspoon baking soda

• ½ teaspoon salt

• ¼ cup applesauce

• 2 medium beets (should be about ¼ cup when puréed)

• ½ cup soymilk or other milk of your choice

• ¼ cup agave nectar

• 2 tablespoons canola oil

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Cut and wash beets (do not peel). Place beets in a pot and cover them with water.  Boil over medium heat for 20 minutes or until beets pierce easily with a fork.

Once the beets are cool enough to handle, gently rub the skins with your fingers until the skin peels off.

Roughly chop beets and place them in a food processor.  Add enough water to pulse into a smooth puree.  Continue to pulse until beets are very smooth.  I opted for the easier option of buying precooked and peeled beets from Trader Joes (this speeds up the recipe quite a bit).

Lightly grease a muffin tin with pan spray.

Combine white cornmeal, wheat flour, baking soda and salt in a large bowl; stir in the beet purée and applesauce, soymilk and agave.

Pour mixture into a muffin tin.

Bake for about 15 minutes. (To make sure they are fully cooked check by inserting a toothpick to see if it comes out clean). 

Makes 6 Muffins.

Fight the flu (part two)

If you read our last post you know that here at Peas of Mind we’re staying healthy and fighting the flu by washing our hands, getting enough sleep and eating our veggies.  But because desperate times call for desperate measures we’ve turned to our Peas of Mind Facebook followers to see what other things we could be doing this month to stay healthy. We got some great suggestions, so get out a pen and paper, take some notes and get ready to fight the flu (part two)!

Start your morning off right.  Michelle recommends a healthy shake/smoothie in the morning.  It’s much easier to load your day with fruits and veggies when you start it off with a bang.  This morning we drank a green smoothie that had a two cups kale, 1 cup of orange juice, ½ cup of blueberries, a banana, a peeled orange, an apple and a tablespoon of chlorella.  This made about two smoothies and it was so tasty!  Be creative and try different fruits and fresh juices always adding some type of green.

Christena suggests oil of oregano (one of our favorite health secrets).  It’s a powerful antibiotic and antimicrobial and is great when you feel like you might be getting sick.  It’s not for everyone so do your research and use cautiously.

Sarah recommends good old-fashioned exercise.  Exercising on a regular basis helps to lower stress and speed up the rate our white blood cells fight off illness; this has a major immune-enhancing effect.

Micheal says he uses Echinacea tea and also drinks a tall glass of water with a dash of Bragg Live Foods raw apple cider vinegar and honey.  Sounds interesting and so easy to add in pre smoothie.

The last two helpful hints from Jennifer and Kathy are so easy and oh so important: drink lots of water and get your vitamin D.  These are two key pieces in keeping your immune system up and ready to take on any germs that come your bodies way.  So this afternoon (if it’s sunny) grab a big glass of water and sit in the sun for 20 minutes – simple AND relaxing!

We hope this helps you stay happy and healthy the rest of this flu season!

Pizza Sandwiches!

We've combined America's favorites!

This bread smells just like pizza! It's super easy, low in fat, and makes for a great substitute when the kids want pizza for the 3rd night in a row. It slices up great and is perfect as sandwich bread. Skip the mayo and try our Spinny Tomato Sauce; it's full of Vitamins K and A for strong bones, smart brains, and healthy immune systems!

Pizza Bread:

• 3/4 cup shredded cheese (cheddar or mozzarella)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup of your favorite pizza sauce (smooth not chuncky)
• 2 Tbl olive oil
• 1 large-sized garlic close, chopped
• 1 tsp fried basil
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano

Preheat over to 375F. In a large bowl combine the cheese, flour, baking powder and baking soda; set aside. In a medium bowl lightly beat the eggs then add pizza sauce, olive oil, garlic, basil, oregano and mix together. Add the sauce mixture to the dry ingredients. Stir only until the dry ingedients are moist. Generously grease a bread pan and pour batter into pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. When finished, turn onto cooling rack.

Spinny Tomato Sauce:

• 1 cup of frozen spinach (or for added protein, grind up 1 Eat Your Greens Puffet instead)
• 1 cup chopped fresh tomatoes
• 3 Tbl organic ketchup
• 1/2 tsp salt

Puree all the ingredients using a food processor or blender. When bread is cool; slice bread and spread Spinny Tomato Sauce instead of mayo. Add lettuce, tomato, cheese, and veggie pepperoni. Cut in half, and your kids will love your new Pizza Sandwich creation!

Sometimes Cooked Veggies are Better for You!

Cooked vegetables have been getting a bad rap lately. The raw food movement has made some of us fear that perhaps the only way to get all the nutrients out of our vegetables is to eat them o'natural... But let's face it, certain vegetables just taste better cooked, and cooked a certain way. For example beets, first of all, you have to cook them, and they are MUCH better roasted than boiled. And, it's a shame to think that we couldn't enjoy that delicious spinach in garlic side dish because it no longer has any nutritional value... OR DOES IT???

Check this article out: http://www.ift.org/cms/?pid=1001999

Turns out cooking doesn't always ruin nutrient content, in fact, in some cases it actually increases nutritional value. Here's the recap of the article and what you need to know:

• The highest antioxidant loss was observed in cauliflower after boiling and microwaving, peas after boiling, and zucchini after boiling and frying.
• Green beans, beets, and garlic were found to keep their antioxidant levels after most cooking treatments.
• The vegetables that increased their antioxidant levels after all cooking methods were green beans (except green beans after boiling), celery and carrots.
• Artichoke was the only vegetable that kept its high antioxidant level during all the cooking methods.

This was enlightening and exciting!! Looks like we can all enjoy our spinach side dishes and beet and goat cheese salad.

But all that said, when it comes down to it, if your family (especially the kids) like to eat their vegetables a certain way, listen to them, at least they'll eat um...