Coconut Lemon-butter Sea Scallops

I love this one-pot meal.  It is simple and quick for those night when you are scratching your head when they ask "What's for dinner?'  The best part is it still a delicate and delicious flavor that feels like a special occasion.

What you will need:

1 stainless steel pan
Sea Scallops (I used frozen Raw Sea Scallops)
Spinach
4 Tbsp Coconut Oil (I get mine at Mountain Rose Herbs www.mountainroseherbs.com) 
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tsp Thyme
1 tsp Rosemary
Sea Salt and Pepper to taste
I used stir fry noodles here, but I have also used organic semolina pasta before.

In the pan on Medium heat melt the 4 Tbsp of Coconut oil, add water and lemon juice.  Once they are incorporation place as many scallops are desired inside the sauce to cook.  I had to wait for my scallops to thaw a little and I started by sprinkling thyme over them lightly.

At this point I filled the pan up with Spinach to cook down.  You want the scallops to brown, so while they are simmering you can boil your pasta with a teeny bit of oil.  I used coconut oil.  This way it doesn't get sticky.  When you are done strain it and set it aside.

The spinach will create excess water in the pan as it simmers down.  I dumped a little out because the water evaporates but not at a rate that will help the oil brown your scallops.  Once your scallops have browned nicely, pour this mixture over your noodles and stir.  I sprinkled the finished product with some rosemary.  I liked the light herb mixture with the lemon and it didn't overpower the flavor of the oil and scallops, which both have a little sweetness to them.

Bon Apetit!

Spotlight on Dr Seuss

I thought I would take the time to highlight the very important Children's Author Dr Seuss.  It is true that I am two classes post graduate from a an endorsement in Reading, and that I find many reasons that his books build early reading skills in phonics, building vocabulary, and much more.   I am writing this post as a parent however and thought I would pay tribute to what it has done for my son to introduce him the the beginning readers before the age of two.  Lets review the imagination of Dr Seuss.

 Just a few of the books introduced before age 2......

and some good internet games at:
www.seussville.com

Dr. Seuss ABC's.........  I love that they mix upper case and lower case to help children identify uppercase and lowercase together.  I love the buzzy words that make the Alphabet fun.  My toddler says the letters on each page with me.  Some of them are hard, like X, and H, and W, but it's fun when we do it together.

      
The pictures are silly, and create character to the letters.  I like that they form complete sentences that start with each letter instead of one word.  Each sentence is vocabulary rich and doesn't give the child a memory of A is for Apple.  Well....."What else starts with A?" Names and people do too.

This book is so silly and thoughtful.  My son says "Think"!  It sounds like he's saying "Sink!"  The point of the book has however been reached.  There are so many Word families.  He got the -ink part.  There is also -eft, -op, -ink, -ight. 

When we get to this page, he says "Daddy!"  and points to the tall snuvs, and then he points to the little snuvs and says his own name.  What an imagination!

When we get to this page with the Rink Rinker Fink, he yells "Doggy!"

Then there are the sneaky vocabulary lessons placed in each book.  This one has taught him some household words.

He is not only learning the word family and sound for -amp, but also since reading the book,  he says "lamp!"

When we got to the Zlock, he learned the word "Clock!"

There are so many reasons why this collection of books introduced my child to a love for early reading, building new skills, and foster a vivid imagination!  I pay tribute to Dr. Seuss!

My Water Kefir

Water Kefir is a delicious way to get some of that good bacteria into your diet.  I have been brewing some water kefir throughout this spring from dehydrated grains.  So far I have gotten wonderful results.  There are many ways I would like to progress in the art of making kefir moving forward.  I have started with a basic method that I will share and with some tasty flavors that have been tested by myself and my husband. So far he doesn't mind.

This morning I awoke and had to change my batch to new sugar water.  I posted some videos of how to start from the beginning with dehydrated grains on my page, but here I will walk you through my own process with pictures.  The videos were made by a great company called Cultures for Health.  This is where I ordered my dehydrated grains:  www.culturesforhealth.com

This is what my beautiful kefir grain water looked like this morning.  The grains were in the bottom, and they had eaten all the sugar after 48 hours.  Time for a new batch!  Let me show you how it's done in my house.

We need supplies first.  I collected two extra quart mason jars and a strainer.  Make sure you sterilize your jars with some hot water.  You want to start with fresh sterilized jars when you are working with cultures. I got two because I need one for my water kefir that I am going to flavor and one for my new batch of sugar water to feed my kefir grains.

First I strain the sugar water batch that has fermented for 48 hours,.  I have the fermented sugar water in the jar to be flavored and the grains are in a strainer.  I have a stainless steel strainer pictured here.  The preferred strainer for kefir grains would actually be cloth mesh and they have them for sale at Cultures for health.

Here are the beautiful grains, they have been called many things in other cultures and the only one I seem to remember is Japanese Water Crystals.  They do look like water crystals.
I should add that the foreign object that is in there is in fact an eggshell.  After some research there are a few things I do to my water to make the mineral content high for the grains to eat.   There are other methods to getting this desired result once you get your feet wet.

Next I am picking a flavor for my batch that has finished its process.  I picked lemon and fig.  Mmmmm new recipe.   I am using 1/4 cup lemon juice and a handful of dried figs cut in half.  If you were doing lemon on it's own (which is delicious), you could use a full half cup of lemon juice.  I have tried a few I liked.  Lemon, Huckleberry, and dried pineapple (all separately) have been my favorite flavors.

Here are the lemon juice and the dried figs.

This is how it looks once in the jar, just put them in whole.

Lid on and give it a tip to incorporate your new flavor into your batch. This is going to sit for 24 hours to flavor.

I skipped a few pictures, but I will give the directions for your new sugar water.  You want 1/4 cup of high quality sugar with high mineral content.  I used this raw organic sugar, found at Costco.  You could also use or rapadura or molasses.  I boil my tap water to get rid of the chlorine content.  I use the warm water to dissolve the sugar and then fill the rest of the quart jar with cool water with about a 2 inch head space.  I then put in my grains, and secure the top with a coffee filter and a rubber band.  Set in a space out of direct sunlight and away from all other forming cultures at room temp for 24-48 hours.

This is what the color of my lemon and fig batch is after giving it another tip.  Happy brewing!  Feel free to contact me with any questions.

First Recipe; Indulgent Protein Bars

Indulgent Protein Bars

 (no bake, super easy)

We'll start off with my new version of these delicious protein bars.  They have been adapted from a recipe that I like from www.passionatehomemaking.com (Great website)

Ingredients you will need:

Don't let the long list scare you away, I measure them out and dump the bulk of them in the food processor with the dough blade.  Set aside the melted coconut oil and the vanilla extract.

2 cups of Almonds
1/4 cup flax seed
1/2 cup dried pineapple (I used Trader Joe's brand here)
1/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut flakes
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup Nutella
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup melted coconut oil (I order mine at Mountain Rose Herbs)
2-3 tspns vanilla extract

This is what my dehydrated soaked almonds looked like.

 The almonds were placed in the food processor first and I used to dough blade to chop.  It made a course mixture before I added more ingredients.

Dry ingredients before adding peanut butter, Nutella, coconut oil, and vanilla extract 

Forgot to mention I used Adam's Crunchy style peanut butter.

Right before pouring in coconut oil and vanilla extract mixture.  Blend this mix of ingredients a few times to make sure the oil incorporates.  Place the 1/2 cup coconut oil in the microwave for 20-30 seconds until melted.  When you take it out add the vanilla extract and stir. Then while you pulse the food processor pour in a little of the coconut oil at a time until it has an even consistency.  Pour the results into a glass Pyrex 8x12 or any size you have. (It will only change the thickness of your bars)  Place them in the refrigerator for four hours.