This is not really a recipe. This is intuitive. You toss it together to please your taste buds and give your tummy that happy, satisfied feeling. And we love that to be easy, right?

This salad was inspired by “Oh my gosh, Robert is here and I want to feed him something delicious and he is totally vegan.”  And it turns out that everyone loves this salad.

Ingredients

1 cup of cooked quinoa (red or black)  *Easy recipe

10 oz of cooked and cooled lima beans

Chopped cooked beets. I used fresh, however you could use canned. Be sure to drain them really well.

2 T Sesame Seed Oil.

Rice vinegar to taste

a  pinch of sugar

This salad is beautiful.

Mix Sesame seed oil and rice vinegar in the bottom of the bowl.

Add lima beans and quinoa.

Garnish top with beets.

Day 2. Mix leftover bean salad with fresh greens. You may want to add more sesame seed oil and rice vinegar.  Yummy!
*****************************************************

The easiest way to cook quinoa:

Rinse one cup of red or black quinoa.

Put in a saucepan and add 2 cups of water and bring to a boil.

Put on a lid and turn the stove off.

The quinoa will be perfect in about twenty minutes.

Quinoa is really handy to have in your refrigerator. It is a complete protein which you can easily add it to many things. I enjoy it beneath a fried egg, with a little cottage cheese in the morning.

More on Quinoa

The truth is that many vegetarians  will sit down to the traditional table with no intention of eating the turkey, but with a deep hope that the green beans will be free of bacon. And please pass the mashed potatoes.

I have found Channa, and Indian bean dish made with garbanzo beans, to be a perfect side dish for Thanksgiving. The vegetarians sigh in relief and I always get asked for the recipe.

No need for the vegetarian’s mashed potatoes to be lonely, these slightly spicy beans are perfect. If you can open a few cans, and know how to saute an onion, you can do this!

You need whole cumin seeds, turmeric, olive oil, a yellow onion, at least one jalapeno pepper, a small can of tomato paste, a chunk of fresh ginger, four cans of rinsed garbanzo beans (organic if possible) salt and pepper and that’s it! Oh, and a pot with a lid, big enough for all of the above, plus a can of water. You also need a blender or a food processor.

Throw into the warmed pot a Tablespoon of whole cumin seeds.

As you get excited by the smell, add the chopped onion and enough olive oil to saute this little aromatic delight.

Cook until the onions are soft.

Pour this into a blender.

Add the can of tomato paste, a cut and seeded jalapeño pepper (2 if you like your food hot), chopped ginger (A piece of ginger equivalent to two index fingers: more or less?? You can’t mess this up!), at least 1T turmeric, and water. Blend this really well.

Add to original pot the four cans of rinsed garbanzo beans.

Add mixture from blender. Cook this on high until it boils.

Turn it down to simmer and cover. Depending on the beans, this could take an hour or more.

You may have to add more water. You want the beans to feel soft and a sauce to have formed.

Add salt and pepper to taste. That's it!

Of course, this tastes even better once it has cooled and been reheated. This is a favorite at my house. We eat it cold with chips or crackers, and sometimes blended like hummus.

Channa is also great with great with potatoes, rice, or mixed with chunks of cooked squash or pumpkin.

www.LisaCrunick.com

Helping You Change Your Mind

The standard advice is to eat three servings of fish a week, ground  flax seeds, swig some fish oil, or take those kiss killing fish pills that make me burp. YUK!  Nuts. 

Walnuts are good too, but how many of those are you eating? In my joyful world, the grinder is for coffee beans.  Sardines are lovely once a month.   Salmon is great about once a week. And mackerel is for the cat.  Dare I say that walnuts are for cookies?  Hear.  Here. I was not close to making the goal.

Then I discovered flax seed meal. No cooking, smelling like fish or burping involved.

The only rule of this salad is you must start with a beautifully crisp apple.  Pink Ladies are great.

Run to the nearest PCC, or Health food store, refrigerated section and buy a bag of flax meal.   This is going to cost you a little over five bucks. Then pick up some vanilla yogurt. My youngest daughter was no yogurt lover until Greek Yogurt came along.  Now on arriving home, one of her first questions is, "Do you have any Greek yogurt?".  Folks, it tastes like cream.

For your first omega three salad, go for the Greek yogurt, because later, when you are completely hooked on the ease of this refreshing little booster, you will be happy with plain yogurt with a little honey added.

Cinnamon.  If you are lucky enough to have a place to shop where they sell cinnamon in big glass jars, go find one you love the smell of..my favorite is from Vietnam.

Walnuts. You always have walnuts on hand right?  A few walnuts give a nice mouth surprise. Vanilla ,walnuts, cinnamon, oatmeal… is this starting to remind you of cookie dough??

I suggest a beautiful plate. This will stop a cookie craving. Scoop a dollop of yogurt on the plate, add the flax meal , about a T of uncooked oatmeal (not necessary, but it will help your belly feel full). Now stir this and spread it out on the platter.

Next cut your juicy crisp apple in half.  Cut half in half again and then slice,  letting the pieces fall on top of the yogurt mixture. Sprinkle the apples with cinnamon. Dust with a few walnuts, crushed or not, and take your plate to a beautiful eating spot place and use a fork that feels just right in your hand.

Take one piece of cinnamon covered apple at a time and scoop some of the yogurt mixture with it. I just want to say, that if any one is in the house when I make this salad, I end up sharing.

They sneak up behind me, distract me, and STEAL a bite! Once you have had the ultimate experience, you can take short cuts.

In a smaller portion, this is a perfect snack to tide you over before dinner. "Refreshing" is what the thieves always say!

Ingredients: crisp apple, flax seed meal, cinnamon, vanilla or plain yogurt, possibly raw oatmeal

Do you eat too much sugar? I have written and recorded a beautiful two part hypnosis for you. It gently takes you through the process of changing your mind about sugar. As you begin to regard it as drug, you become more more discriminating. Your mind responds to repetition.

Listening to this as you fall asleep or first thing in the morning, allows you to gently change your mind.

Letting go of Sugar

Lisa Crunick Helping You Change Your Mind! 

Call for a free twenty minute consultation. 206-941-1287

You will need a heavy pot you can put in the oven. If it doesn't have a lid, you can use tinfoil.

Check to see if you have most of these spices: cinnamon, turmeric, cayenne pepper, coriander, cardamon,and ginger.

Sweet potatoes, or yams, at least three good sized ones Carrots, four to six Something green, peas, green beans; frozen works (1 cup? 2? you decide?) Olive oil, 1 onion, a red pepper, fresh garlic 1 28 oz can of tomatoes 1 can of garbanzo beans.

When this is baked you will want to eat it with Couscous. You cannot mess this up.

All will be well, even if you do not have everything  listed.   If you need a measurement for the spices, try 1 teaspoon each, but really, playing with the spices is part of the fun.

Quick,what else can you think of that has both garbanzo beans and yams? Yams, sweet potatoes, and carrots are good for your brain food. 

Do I need to say that changing your mind is easier when your brain is working?

Saute  chopped onion with a chopped red pepper, garlic and ginger root powder in olive oil. Add cinnamon (good for you), cumin, turmeric (good for you), cayenne, cardamon, coriander  (This is all good for you!) Now add 1 28 oz can of tomatoes (organic tastes way better here)

Add water. The tomato can half filled works! Now inhale as you stir your creation, and taste it. Do you want a little salt? more cinnamon? cumin?

When you are happy with it………sing ……. Add the garbanzo beans. 

Look at you! Now add the sweet potatoes (big pieces with skins on), carrots and green vegetable. (I have even thrown in a quarter bag of frozen mixed veggies here and lived to tell you, you cannot mess this up!)

Do not be stingy with the sweet potatoes. Cover and bake 2-3 hours at 350.

The last hour bake uncovered. Your home will smell like heaven.

If you can wait, let this cool and then reheat the next day. But you can eat it immediately. Eat it with couscous. OH MY!

You can change your mind about anything?  vegetables? cooking? relationships?

Lisa Crunick

Helping You Change Your Mind!

I want it right beside the mashed potatoes, for contrast.

Now in January, after record setting rains, high winds, cold weather and days of nothing that resembles a beach, I want fruit salad.

I encourage you to join me. You may, like me, get a reputation as being a healthy cook, when in reality, all you are doing, is exercising your ability to cut up fruit, while inhaling pleasantries.

The first ingredient: a pineapple. It needs to feel just slightly soft, yet be solid, and when you can easily pull out one of the leaves, it is ripe. If you pick up and smell it, you will really look like you know what you are doing.

Then choose some hard apples, granny smiths and braeburns are both good choices. You need two or three.

And then several large naval oranges. Produce people are amongst the friendliest in the world and they love it when you ask, "Which are _____are the best right now?"

You want the oranges to feel heavy for their size and the skins to not be too thick,'but don't be shy, ask a produce person.

You want this salad to last a few days, so choice your next fruits carefully. Pears are good, but they need to be a little firm, or they will become mushy.

Seedless grapes are good. Frozen rasperries work, but only if you are willing to have a red salad. Pomegranate seeds are fun. Make this salad to please yourself.

Choose a container that allows you to notice your fruit salad when you open the refrigerator.

Begin by cutting off the top of the pineapple and then cutting off the rough outsides. Then cut it in half from the top, and make the HUGE decision about how large or small you want your pineapple pieces to be. You will want to cut out some of the core, unless you enjoy a really LONG chew.

There is going to be pineapple juice all over the cutting board, and you will forget that it is winter. Then just keep cutting to your heart's content.

This is so relaxing. The orange smells like heaven and there is juice everywhere. You can stir your salad lightly as you make it; the color and textures are mesmerizing.

The best part is when you open the refrigerator the next day and there it is!!! Picking through the tastes, colors and textures is so satisfying. You can throw some plain yogurt on the top and a little bit of granola. Life is good.

Beans are a tradition for the New year in many cultures and as we were eating, I was musing about the beginnings and reasons for this custom.

My modern mind clings to the idea that after all of the "richness of holiday food" I am ready for the simplicity of a bean soup. "Roto rooter" comes to mind.

I imagine everything about my body is happy to receive the benefits of beans.

I decided not to peruse the history of beans for New Years.   Here is how you can make an easy and delicious soup.

• 20 oz bag of 16 bean Soup Mix
• 1 large can of tomatoes
• 2 Bay leaves
• several cloves of chopped garlic
• chili powder
• several chili peppers
• lemon
• onion to taste

Even if you think you do not know how to cook, you can make this.

Pour the beans into a pot big enough to accommodate them and water two inches higher than the beans. Turn the burner up to high. Boil this mess for two to three minutes. Let it set for an hour or longer.

Drain off the icky water, lessening your chance of flatulence by a large margin. Add fresh water and cook the beans with two bay leaves (they grow outside here in the Northwest) until the beans are soft.

You can pull some beans out of the pot with a spoon and blow on them. If the skin separates, you are ready for the next step.

Get out the blender. Throw in a lg can of tomatoes and however much onion you want.

Now here is a bit a truth because I am a terrible liar, but I put the tomatoes and onions in the blender because my youngest daughter will pick out both, especially the onions. She hates onions.

Well, she thinks she hates onions.

At dinner she told me again how much she loved the soup I made her. Feeling a twinge of guilt I said, "You know Haley, there were onions in there."

She said, "I just picked them out." I ended the conversation.

Blending the tomatoes and onions makes the soup pretty.

Add this to the beans along with a few whole chili peppers. (If you do not have access to the whole dried chili use more chili powder).

Throw in some chili powder dependent on your desire for spicy and the same goes for the chopped garlic.

I used about five cloves but this is totally to taste.

Cook this on a moderately low heat for about thirty minutes. Add salt and lemon juice to taste.

Like all soup this one is going to taste better one it has cooled and then reheated. Pick out the bay leaves and chili peppers before you eat it. Enjoy!