Garlicky Green Beans with Almonds & Cranberries

I bring to you today the simplest side dish. Crisp steamed whole green beans tossed in garlicky olive oil, toasted almonds, and sweet yet tart cranberries.

Green beans are pretty standard fare, and almost everyone has their own version of a green bean dish for the holidays. Growing up, we always had traditional Green Bean Casserole with any turkey dinner, but in my older years I've really come to shy away from that gloppy dish and the usual canned ingredients that go into it. There are versions of whole food Green Bean Casserole out there, I just haven't had the interest to try them; I like green beans in their more pure form.

For the last few years, I've been in charge of green beans for our family Thanksgiving dinner. I brought them one year a while back, and after Matt's cousin ate two plates full and insisted on bringing home the leftovers, I was charged with forever bringing them again. I take that as a compliment? I've been making different versions of them for a while, but this one seems to be a real favorite. It has just enough color and flavor to feel like the holidays, but can be whipped together quickly and doesn't feel heavy like a Green Bean Casserole. It's festive, but healthy.

And of course, while I usually make them at Thanksgiving and Christmas, they by no means have to be served only at the holidays. I mean, green beans. Why not jazz them up for any time of year?

Garlicky Green Beans with Almonds and Cranberries

Serves 6-10 as a side dish

Ingredients
2 pounds frozen whole green beans (i.e., two 16-oz. bags)
2 tsp. sea salt
3 Tbsp. olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup raw sliced almonds
1/2 cup dried, unsweetened cranberries*
Salt & pepper to taste

In a large pot, place green beans, sea salt and a few tablespoons of water. Steam over medium heat until beans are tender yet still crisp. Drain and set aside. Do not overcook!

Meanwhile, heat a saucepan over medium low heat. Add oil and garlic, and cook just until fragrant (do not brown garlic). Add the almonds, and continue cooking for 3-4 minutes until the almonds are slightly toasted. Add the cooked green beans and toss to coat.

Finally, take off the heat and stir in the cranberries. Taste for seasoning and add salt & pepper to taste.

*Note: unsweetened cranberries can be tricky to find, but are so much better and healthier than sweetened versions like Craisins. I find mine in the raw nuts section of the grocery store, but you can also buy them online.

Wine Country Getaway & Oyster Mushroom Fettuccine

Last night we arrived home from a mini getaway to the Finger Lakes in upstate New York. Our friends Chris & Karla have been going to Seneca Lake every November for years, which is known for its huge array of wineries, beautiful scenery, farms, and local cheeses, chocolates and organic produce. All the wineries and restaurants pride themselves on serving locally grown and produced foods. Totally my kind of place. We've never been able to join them, but this year Matt's family offered to watch our babies for 2 nights so we could head off for a couples-only weekend away, and it was amazing. Matt and a few other of the others in our group are teachers and had off on Thursday/Friday, so we left early Thursday  morning and spent the better part of two days eating, drinking, hiking, playing card games, laughing and relaxing. It was so nice to spend some time just the two of us as well as quality time with good friends.

Some of my favorite stops included Silver Springs Winery (incredibly enthusiastic and knowledgeable wine maker, amazing malbec, and everything is organic), Magnus Ridge Winery (nice reds, they pair all their wines with cheese, and the service is great), and Glenora Wine Cellars (amazing lunch with a nice view). Grist Iron Brewing also had good craft beers, even better pizzas, and a view that can't be beat, and Two Goats Brewing was a good spot for a very casual night cap with the locals.

We stayed at The Fox and the Grapes Bed & Breakfast, and I would highly recommend it. Their view of the lake was gorgeous, and there were plenty of gathering areas both in and outdoors, so in the morning before breakfast you could sit and read quietly drinking coffee while gazing at the lake (one of my favorite vacation things to do), or chat with other visitors while drinking coffee and eating banana bread in the sitting room; and at night you could either drink wine and play games loudly in one area (clearly our preference), while others watched movies without being bothered in another area. The homemade breakfasts and snacks were also fantastic.

On our way home we stopped at the Ithaca Farmers Market, which my mom had told me was a must-do before leaving the area. She was right. The market was beautiful, filled with all kinds of local organic fruits and veggies, cheese, meat, popcorn (yes, local popcorn!), honey and bread vendors, as well as artisans selling pottery, wools, wooden kitchen tools and more. Not to mention there were about a million delicious things to eat onsite, and live music to top it off. I am so jealous we don't have a market like this by us; I would be there every Saturday.

We picked up a few things for the week, and when we saw the locally grown oyster mushrooms we had to have them too. I used them to cook dinner last night, and when you have mushrooms this delicate and beautiful, there is really only one thing to do. Pasta. I mean, what's one more day of carbs and butter after a weekend wine & cheese bender?

We scarfed down the pasta bowls before I remembered to snap a picture, but here is the basic recipe I threw together - and trust me, it was fantastic.

Oyster Mushroom Fettuccini

Serves 4

Ingredients
3/4 pound fettuccini (about 3/4 of a box)
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp. olive oil
1 pound fresh oyster mushrooms, roughly chopped
1 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
3 Tbsp. fresh herbs, chopped (use woodsy herbs - I used what I had in my garden: an assortment of sage, rosemary, oregano, and thyme)
1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese, plus extra for garnish
Extra herbs for garnish
Truffled sea salt, to taste

Cook pasta according to package directions, leaving it slightly al dente.

In the meantime, melt the butter and olive oil over medium heat in a large saucepan. Add the mushrooms and cook gently for about 10 minutes, until softened but not browned. Add the salt, pepper and herbs, and cook for another 2-3 minutes.

Drain the pasta and add to the saucepan of butter. Toss to coat. Turn off the heat and add the parmesan cheese, then toss again. Pile the fettuccini into bowls, and top with a sprinkling of extra parmesan, herbs, pepper and truffled sea salt. Serve immediately.

Surprise Roses

Good morning friends! Hope your Monday is going great whether you're at work or enjoying a nice 3-day weekend. I'm soaking this extra day up since the next holiday doesn't roll around until Memorial Day in May.

Our Valentine's date night on Saturday took us to Scarborough Fair in Sea Girt, which was rated the "most romantic restaurant" by Open Table. I was excited to check it out, and even more excited to try the food once I found out it's almost all organic and locally sourced. Even the meats are humanely raised and organic, and the seafood is all wild.

We tried a medley of things, including escargot in puff pastry with brie and pernod, spanakopita bites and lobster bisque (we went a little nuts on the apps!). For my entree I selected the sea scallops with herbed risotto, asparagus and lemon thyme butter.

The scallops were so good, and tasted just as good when I ate them for dinner again the next night alongside a pile of fresh string beans.

The restaurant itself was quite cozy and romantic as they promised, but I felt extra special when the maitre d' delivered a big vase of red roses to our table that Matt had ordered ahead of time.

He's too sweet. They looked beautiful by our table, which was next to a window overlooking a snow covered wrought iron deck. So magical.

But they look even better at home where I can see them in all their glory every morning when I wake up. After all these years together I am still a sucker for getting flowers. They just make a girl feel loved.

The rest of our weekend has been spent relaxing around the house, hanging with Matt's family and checking things off our to-do list. We took Riker ice skating for the first time and he was a champ. He had to take a lot of breaks, but he had a blast out there.

One of our big items over the last few weekends has been moving Riker out of the nursery and into his "big kid" room, which is down the hall from us and slowly being decorated in a surfer style theme. He wasn't too keen on letting go when we first started the process...

Ha! Once he realized he was keeping his own bed and got to help pick out all the decor and toys for his new room, though, he was game. I was worried he'd have a hard time adjusting, but he slept perfectly fine in there the first night and actually loves it now.

After we finished picking out all the stuff for Riker's new room this weekend, we started looking at colors and themes for updating the nursery. We're changing it from Riker's safari theme to...I haven't quite figured that out yet. But some pink will be involved. ;)

I have to say it was a little emotional for me to take the plunge and not only move Riker into a new room, but to start throwing new paint on the nursery walls. My family and I decorated that room with such love and care and it makes me a little sad to know that Riker's outgrown it. But I dried my little tears and am looking forward to starting the process again with our baby girl. It also helped that it took Riker about .5 seconds to love his new room and realize that I was definitely more upset about this move than he was. I think us adults have a harder time with change than they do.

***

We just got home from some errands and I made us a lunch of seafood "tacos" in Romaine lettuce leaves (shrimp for Matt, mahi mahi for me, chicken for Riker), alongside veggie sticks with homemade cilantro lime hummus. Fresh and delicious.

Time to get started on my afternoon projects!

Eating Green

Good morning! Hopefully your weekend has been a good one so far. I've had a pretty busy week and haven't had a chance to post in a few days...in addition to the usual workday duties, my evening computer time has been spent doing something crafty for my sweetie and putting together Riker's cards for Valentine's Day. I finally finished everything up at 1:30 AM last night - thankfully just in time to order it in time for rush delivery on Friday. Phew!

Matt spent the night in Atlantic City last night with a bunch of our friends to celebrate my friend Heather's birthday (I opted out, being almost 6 months pregnant and finding it pretty tiring to stand around in heels), so Riker and I have been on our own since yesterday afternoon. I decided to do something fun for dinner with him instead of staying at home; we went out for a bite at Smashburger, where Lindsay and Ryan met up with us - Lindsay is due in a couple of weeks and she's glowing! It was so good to see her even for just a little while.

Other than fries last night (yes, I polished off every last fry that came with my black bean burger) and Friday night pizza with the neighbors - which I like to think I burnt off at yoga yesterday - it's been a pretty on-track week as far as meals planning goes. It feels so good to not have pregnancy food aversions anymore and be able to eat normally again!

Breakfasts

Smoothies, smoothies, smoothies. I've been drinking them every morning, usually with a side of Ezekiel toast and almond butter to keep me powered through till lunchtime.

Green smoothies are my norm lately, but I switched things up on Friday and just used frozen strawberries and raw chocolate protein powder. It tasted like ice cream!

Yesterday morning I wanted something hot, though, so tried a new paleo pancake recipe for the fam. It was the best version yet! The mixture included:

- Smashed bananas

- Eggs

- Coconut flour (only 3 Tbsp. was enough to hold the batter together)

- Cinnamon

- Baking soda

- Salt

That's it! I couldn't believe how much the texture resembled regular pancakes - the coconut flour definitely works better than nut flours.

I made a wild berry compote (just frozen organic berries + raw organic honey) to spoon over top, which set them over the edge. Matt and Riker also ate theirs with slices of farm raised peppered bacon.

Afternoon Snacks

Brown rice cakes (or Ezekiel toast) + almond butter + fruit slices (apples or pears) + cinnamon. It's my new addiction.

I love it for snacks and even for dessert if I'm hungry after dinner.

Lunches

Greenery!

Mostly salads, but also some sandwiches. I told you, I eat a LOT more carbs when I'm pregnant. ;) My green sandwich has smashed avocado, arugula, English cucumber, green peppers, a squeeze of lemon, and shards of sharp peppercorn parmesan cheese from Trader Joe's. Ahhhmazing. I ate this baby with a bowl of Amy's Organic tomato soup. Love all that vibrant red & green.

Dinners

Dinners on the meals plan this week included some old favorites, like lox & arugula with fried eggs. I never get sick of this one and it takes all of 15 minutes to make.

I also made a batch of Hawaiian curry with tofu from my Eat Clean cookbook. It made a bunch so we were able to eat it for a few meals.

This recipe was fantastic. It was spicy but also sweet, with the addition of raisins, raw coconut and banana slices. 

Desserts

Um, do you remember all the dark chocolate we bought at TJ's last weekend? I've actually been pretty good about having all that good stuff in the cabinets, and only broke into the stash twice this week. I've actually been craving fruit way more than I've felt like eating chocolate lately. I'll take it!

***

Speaking of food, time to get lunch going. Once Riker goes down for a nap I'm going to take a break from all things productive and park myself on the couch to watch the Olympics for a while. Love the winter games.

Have a great rest of your Sunday!

Quick & Crunchy Asian Slaw

Happy Friday everybody! This week has flown by for me, and I'm ready to power through this final work day and welcome the weekend with open arms. Hope it went by quickly for you too. Plans for the weekend here include:

- A trip to Trader Joe's tonight (I know, how fun, but we are seriously running low on a bunch of staples)
- Another baby shower tomorrow
- Superbowl Sunday! (Exclamation point on paper but not in heart, since the Pats are not playing ;)

I woke up this morning in the mood for a smoothie for breakfast. No surprise there since I've been drinking them almost daily for the last few weeks, but I was extra in the mood for it today since Matt reminded me last night that we had a full bag of frozen peaches hidden in the back of the freezer. Over the summer my MIL brought me a bunch of peaches she hand picked from a local farm, which I peeled, cut and froze, and then totally forgot about. Love peaches in my smoothies!

Into the blender went:

- About 2/3 cup plain Greek yogurt
- About 1 cup frozen peaches
- 1/2 scoop raw protein powder
- 1/2 pouch Cocozia coconut water
- A small drizzle of raw honey (I don't usually put sweetener in my smoothies, but I realized after tasting it that the peaches were tart, which combined with plain yogurt made for a pretty mouth-puckering little drink. The honey evened everything out.)

A while back Cocozia sent me a case of their organic coconut water to try, and I've been enjoying it a lot. Coconut water is not sweet or thick like coconut milk, so it's perfect for hydration when you just need something other than water, like after the gym. I also like adding it to my smoothies rather than milk or plain water.

If you like coconut water, definitely give Cocozia a try. It's 100% organic and totally pure - it doesn't have any sugar or other additives like some mainstream varieties - and it has a nice fresh flavor. I like that the pouch also has a straw so it's easy to drink on the go. You can pick some up on Amazon here.

But the title of this post is "Quick & Crunchy Asian Slaw", so let's get to recipe sharing. Earlier this week I came home from a work day in the city to an awesome meal courtesy of Matt.

He had thawed some wild caught tuna steaks we had in the freezer and cooked them with black & white sesame seeds, virgin coconut oil and a splash of Bragg's Liquid Aminos. They were delicious (and huge - I could only muscle down half of that steak), but the real star was the slaw he made on the side. I literally could not stop eating it until it was all gone. When he told me he was making tuna steaks for dinner I suggested using up our Napa cabbage by making an Asian slaw on the side, but I honestly didn't expect it to taste this good.

It's slightly sweet, salty, crunchy - everything you need in a bite. I think it would even be good stuffed into pitas for Asian style fish tacos. Mmm. Maybe I'll make those this weekend.

Quick & Crunchy Asian Slaw

Serves 2

Ingredients
1/2 head Napa cabbage, shredded
2 carrots, shredded
1 Tbsp. sesame oil
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/4 rice wine vinegar
1 Tbsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds (plus extra for garnish)
2-3 Tbsp. chopped scallion

Add everything to a large mixing bowl, and toss well until combined. Let sit for about an hour before serving.

***

Have a great weekend!