All The Bread

Many have asked about the bread recipes we use, so I thought it would be easiest to post them in a follow-up to our food post from last week. :)

Assortment of rolls from The Bread Bible

We use both of these recipes below on a weekly basis:

Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread

This recipe originally came from our good friends, The Hammari's, but Jon has adjusted a few of the ingredients for our family as we've worked with it for the past year. It can be a bit crumbly, so we are going to keep experimenting, but overall this bread is easy to make, has great flavor and the kids love it! Also, if you aren't used to making bread already, whole wheat bread is a combo of wheat and white flour. If you use ONLY wheat flour it will be incredibly dense. Trust us. Just don't do it.

Ingredients:

2 cups white flour

2 cups wheat flour

1-3 Tbsp sugar (depending on preference)

1-2 tsp sea salt

1 Tbsp active dry yeast

1.5 cups warm water

1 egg

2 Tbsp oil

optional ingredients: 1/3 cup chia seed, 3/4 cup oats

Directions:

Mix all dry ingredients together (including yeast).

Add in wet ingredients all at the same time.

Knead by hand (or with machine, like your Kitchen Aid mixer) 5-10 min on a lightly floured surface until ingredients are fully integrated. Be careful not to overwork the dough! When it looks like things are good and combined, stop and coat the big ball of dough with oil or butter.

Jon typically leaves the dough in a mixing bowl to rise for 40 minutes. On a warm stove-top is ideal. Place a damp towel over the top of the bowl so that the dough doesn't dry out.

Take out dough and shape it into a greased bread pan.

(This makes 1 large loaf)

Let this rise again for about 25-30 minutes. Place the damp towel loosely over the top again while it rises. When the dough is done rising, lift the towel off gently so that it doesn't flatten your bread.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
Top should be golden brown, and the bottom of the bread will sound hollow when it is tapped.
Cool in the bread pan for about 10 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.
I LOVE eating this bread hot out of the oven!

***

Hamburger Buns recipe click here!

These aren't the hamburger buns, but these rolls are still freakin' delicious :) Get a bread recipe book and go crazy!

We hope you have a fantastic winter indoors with your house smelling of successful baking experiments! :D

Eating to Live

This post is way past due. I have lots to say. But I'm going to try and keep it colorful and to the point!

 About a year ago our family completely changed our way of eating. While living with Jon's parents we spent the better part of the last couple years editing our diet consistently to include less salt and less red meat. I've also been as dairy free as possible for the past 5+ years. So when I took my first child development class last fall, and we talked about nutrition, I felt REALLY passionate about jumping into clean eating.

What does that mean? Well, let me tell you the main motivations: as I discovered my lactose intolerance years ago, I have become increasingly aware of food allergies, sensitivities, and really legitimate health problems that can arise from eating improperly, in both myself and friends. Especially with having little kids and Edwin about to start solids last fall, I felt like I have this responsibility to teach them how to take care of their bodies in the best way possible, and that starts with our example at home. I have also had friends and family dealing with cancer over the last couple of years, (like my cousin-in-law who is Jon's age and has three little kids, dealing the past couple of years with breast cancer. It is scary stuff!) and, as many of you know, when cancer starts to hit close to home, it's a wake-up call.

You know when you have a pair of pants that doesn't zip up easily and is so uncomfortable that you can hardly breathe? You know what I mean, that every time you sit down you unbutton them just so that you have a little bit of space, and of course each time you wear these pants you wonder why you even still own them? Well that's kind of how eating with a food intolerance feels. Except a million times worse. I get so sick when I eat dairy that it isn't even worth it to eat it anymore, and you realize that you would rather eat delicious things that you don't have to suffer through, or take pills just to digest, just like how it really feels so much better when you finally buy new pants that really fit.

I have noticed the same things with friends. I want them to enjoy social activities with us where food is present, and not feel left out, but also, nobody wants to be sick when they eat. Food should be enjoyable, but similarly, we don't LIVE TO EAT, as society often feels. We should EAT TO LIVE and enjoy the experience as a side effect of treating our bodies well.

With all of the research available these days on pros and cons of food and healthy eating, there is an overwhelming argument for every direction. It's really hard to know what is right, and what is a fad, and what is just made up.

So I'll just tell you what we ultimately decided on:

a whole foods, primarily plant based diet, dairy optional (sometimes Jon still likes it so I put it on the side), with no fillers, preservatives, artificial coloring, and refined sugars.

snack for the kids: homemade wheat bread, natural peanut butter, banana slices and blueberries

So I guess you could say we are 90% vegetarian, with 90% of that being vegan, a smattering of raw diet principles, and the remaining 10% or so is a once-a-month splurge on meat at a church activity, or group dinner (like when we go to a friend's house).

We still try to be flexible and understanding since not everybody shares our specific clean eating convictions. But when it comes to eating at home, we are as vegan as possible.

AND WE LOVE IT!!

Dinners started to take on more color like this:

And the basic idea is: less processed, less sodium, more veggies, more beans, more grains, no preservatives, more homemade, and simple ingredients. We don't do "substitutes" for meat really ever. (no, we DON'T eat tofu and soy everything. In fact, we don't eat tofu at all.) Instead I find recipes that are meatless to begin with: black bean burgers, zucchini fries, Mexican quinoa bowls, butternut squash soup, homemade pizza (dough from scratch) with all vegetarian toppings like artichoke hearts, mushrooms, spinach or kale, fresh tomatoes, yellow onions, and goat cheese (avoiding cow's milk). I even made a slow cooker bbq red lentil "sloppy joe" recipe last month. It was fantastic and all from scratch! You soak and cook the lentils, and make your own bbq sauce in the slow cooker. This new food journey has been so satisfying and empowering.

We started by re-thinking the whole way we shop for food. We already had a good habit of weekly meal planning, so all we had to do was build up a repertoire of vegetarian/vegan recipes, and then started reading labels of EVERYTHING at the store. If we do buy anything already made, we go for simple, organic, and/or non-GMO products.

And it's not just because "the internet says so". The next time you go to the grocery store I challenge you to read every label on everything you buy. Really see what is in your food. Start comparing products and see which ones you feel better about eating. Besides that, more natural foods genuinely taste better! It is literally what we were designed to eat.

The main goal really is less refined sugar, less fake, less fillers and additives. Instead you're eating the foods as close to straight from picking it out of your backyard as possible.

 And aside from what some people might try to tell you, eating this way is not just automatically going to be more expensive. Some snacks and things are, but we do so much more homemade now that it really balances out.

We make our own bread, our own hamburger buns, and when your dinner is mainly quinoa, beans, and veggies, you can make a little go a long way. Instead of goldfish, fruit snacks, crackers and chips, the kids snack on oranges, kiwis, or other fruits and berries, natural fruit leathers, KIND granola bars, roasted chickpeas, Quinoa bites, and Larabars.

I have rediscovered salads for lunch! I load everything up with extra almonds (good natural source of calcium and iron), and raisins (iron), and mixed greens like spinach and kale (more calcium) with a base of romaine.

I'm starting to learn what foods are rich in what key vitamins, and how they work for your body. Vegan diets get tons of protein, plenty of iron and healthy fats, all without the negative effects of an overdose of animal protein and processed sugars. More of the good + less of the bad = balanced, healthy, happy humans!

So start investigating the food matrix. :) When you know how to mix and match your foods, you can come up with so many fun and creative combinations. We also live by the bulk sections of our grocery stores. My ideal-perfect-dream grocery store would honestly be the natural and organic food selection of Broulim's with the prices and bulk section of WinCo. *cue heavenly angels singing*

Peanut/almond butter, agave, quinoa, arborio rice, and rice pasta in bulk? Heck yes! (also, apparently my new food processor can do nut butters. I haven't tried making them on my own yet, but I am thrilled!) #foodnerd

I compiled all of my research into a helpful conversion chart for the fridge. It is simple and covers all of the first step changes that I felt our family could realistically do. I reference it every time I plan our grocery list for the week. Click here to view it! Feel free to print, save, pin, and use it all over the place :)

In the end, with a whole foods plant based diet proven to reduce the risks of heart disease, and cancer, why would you NOT be motivated to change now? We didn't want to wait until one of us became seriously sick and then were forced into facing a plethora of unpleasant treatments and having to figure this all out at the same time. It is a big life change and would be totally overwhelming if it were also in the face of battling cancer and/or other diseases.

raw, no bake, vegan brownies!

The best part is that now when we have friends who end up with food issues, I don't have to be worried about cooking for them. I know the snacks, treats, desserts, and meals that will work for everybody, and I'm not intimidated by my kitchen. While Idaho has been a bit of an adjustment (especially in the restaurant area), we eat primarily at home, so that makes this way of eating incredibly doable. Man, we were just so spoiled by Whole Foods, Sprouts, Pushkin's Bakery, and the Sunflower Drive-In back in Sacramento!

***
From an LDS perspective, here is what the scriptures have to say about healthy eating habits:

Doctrine and Covenants -- Section 89
10 "...all wholesome herbs God hath ordained for the constitution, nature, and use of man—

 11 Every herb in the season thereof, and every fruit in the season thereof; all these to be used with prudence and thanksgiving.

 12 Yea, flesh also of beasts and of the fowls of the air, I, the Lord, have ordained for the use of man with thanksgiving; nevertheless they are to be used sparingly;

 13 And it is pleasing unto me that they should not be used, only in times of winter, or of cold, or famine.

 14 All grain is ordained for the use of man and of beasts, to be the staff of life, not only for man but for the beasts of the field, and the fowls of heaven, and all wild animals that run or creep on the earth;

 15 And these hath God made for the use of man only in times of famine and excess of hunger.

 16 All grain is good for the food of man; as also the fruit of the vine; that which yieldeth fruit, whether in the ground or above the ground—

 17 Nevertheless, wheat for man, and corn for the ox, and oats for the horse, and rye for the fowls and for swine, and for all beasts of the field, and barley for all useful animals, and for mild drinks, as also other grain.

 18 And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones;

 19 And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures;

 20 And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint."

***

SOME OF OUR GO-TO PRODUCTS OR BRANDS:
Califia Farms almond milk
So Delicious coconut milk products (frozen "ice cream" and yogurt) if you like coconut, then you will be in heaven!
If you don't then Almond Dream is a great alternative. (although I don't always care for everything to taste so nutty).
Silk yogurt (soymilk, which I've only found at WinCo)

ALSTON FAMILY DINNER FAVORITES:
First of all, My Vegan/Vegetarian Pinterest board is an invaluable tool for weekly meal planning.
Here are some of our major tried-and-true favs (that you should absolutely make this week, without delay!)
BBQ Lentil Sandwiches
(made in the slow cooker. extra awesomeness.)
One-Pan Mexican Quinoa
(basically everything on DamnDelicious is exceptional)
Vegan creamy garlic pasta with roasted tomatoes
(Minimalist Baker also so so good)
Quinoa Chili has a southwestern twist.
(my husband is a chili purest and he LOVES this recipe)
And in case you're like, "show me the beans!!" we really enjoyed this three-bean slow cooker chili.

I could go on and on. If you have questions, please ask! We are so excited about this food adventure, and it just keeps getting better and better. Here's to healthier, happier tummies, and a world full of delicious food that doesn't make anyone sick :D

Sasquatch Rising

 Magical creature night has become somewhat of a pastime for the Beverly's clan. The month of April brought BIGFOOT NIGHT.

 

Naturally we had BigFOOT pizza...

 

 

Drinks, ala bigfoot! Ingredients included bigfoot toenails, fur, and other unmentionables...

 

(aka root beer and squirt)

 

As the provider of Bigfoot night dessert, I scavenged some possible Sasquatch Hairballs. Commoners call these bird's nest cookies. We, of course, see them for what they really are.

 

 

As always, there were magical creature night crafts!

 

We made necklace charms. This sasquatch is eating berries:

 

I made him purple because of Shayla's tote bag, which you will see below.

 

 

Lindsay's tote bag:

 

The term "Sasquatch Rising" comes from the Georgia Bigfoot Society, which we discovered while preparing inspiration online for our bigfoot crafts. The society is a "no kill" and "no capture" society who communicates with the Sasquatch people. We support that.

Their book "Sasquatch Rising 2013:
Dead Giants Tell No Tales: How DNA Breakthroughs and Backyard Visits Reveal the Greatest Story of Our Time" seemed truly inspired. Hence, the title of this blog post.

 

My tote bag:

 

The idea here was to capture a full portrait artist's rendition of the face of a bigfoot. The simple bold statement "Bigfoot Lives." clearly sums up the truth, and the pine tree curving around the edge gives the impression of where such a majestic creature can be found.

 

Shayla's tote bag:

 

 

As you can see, she paired with Lindsay and also went with a full landscape scene. I love that her sasquatch is purple. It reminded me of Grimace.

 

Hug A Bigfoot.

 

The real tragedy of  this night is that our movie, Harry and the Henderson's, never came! I ordered it 3 weeks in advance, and we found out the day AFTER bigfoot night that it got lost in shipping :( We had to improvise and watched Legend instead...

 

 

Not the same.

 

I also didn't get a picture of all of us together like I did on Unicorn night :(

 

I did, however, get a picture of Kate and Lindsay's kitty having a staring contest:

 

Magical creature night will continue! Stay tuned for Genies, King Kong, and Godzilla in the months to come :)

 



Cooking with Jon & Steph - Rosemary Strawberry Shortcake Pizza

Yes, it is officially August and Baby Alston has still not arrived. In the meantime we have been keeping up with friends and all sorts of delicious fun.

This recipe was from the latest issue of Better Homes and Gardens magazine. It is my nerdy homemaker side shining through. There are few things I like better than a good Better Homes and Gardens. I actually copied this recipe down on a napkin while we were over at the Joyner's a few weeks ago. I was THAT excited about it.

One thing I really liked is how the chef presenting this recipe suggested having everything totally ready to go and measured before starting to cook. A painter wouldn't start painting until they had all the colors they needed, a bowl of water and their brushes out, right? So it should be for less stressful cooking. Prep everything before you start putting together any food. It makes for a lot more fun and and easier baking! (I did not do this, unfortunately... and it made things much more interesting.)

I think the best part of this recipe was getting to use fresh Loomis strawberries. Man, I love those roadside stands in the summer. Best. Strawberries. Ever.

And we also used fresh rosemary from Jon's parent's garden. So awesome!

Rosemary Strawberry Shortcake Pizza

Prep: 30 minutes Bake: 22 minutes Oven: 400 degrees

Ingredients

1 quart (4 cups) strawberries. Rinsed and quartered.

1/4 cup honey or agave nectar

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 T chopped fresh rosemary or thyme

4 1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut in small pieces

1 3/4 cups whipping cream

1 egg white lightly beaten

2 T sugar

sweetened whipped cream

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In large bowl, combine strawberries and honey. Let stand, stirring occasionally while prepping shortcake.

In food processor, combine flour, 1/4 cup sugar, rosemary, baking powder and salt; pulse to mix.

Add butter to flour mixture; pulse several times. While pulsing, add cream, pulsing until dough begins to come together.

Turn out dough on lightly floured surface. Knead quickly. Roll dough to 9x13 inch rectangle (1/2 inch thickness).

Transfer dough to large parchment lined baking sheet. With sharp knife, score dough in 1 1/2 inch squares. Brush dough with egg white. Sprinkle with 2 T sugar.

Bake 20-22 minutes until golden brown.

Transfer shortcake and parchment to platter. Spoon strawberries on shortcake. Drizzle with juices.

Serve in tumblers or bowls with whipped cream. (or if you're Jon - try have a little shortcake with your whipped cream...)

 

Makes 15 (2 square) servings - plus leftovers!

Of course we had to have our friends Kelly and Tadd over to taste test it for us. I think it was a success :)

***

In other adventures, we've been watching the Olympics, going on walks, trying to get out of the house and encouraging Baby Alston to come enjoy the world with us!

 We went out to Leatherby's on Monday for Breanne's birthday. (Thank goodness they have sorbet) Check out this sundae Jon had all to himself! It was so nice to be out with friends :)

Breanna came over to paint my nails on Tuesday

and drew some delightful stick figure versions of me and her as well as Margo on my big toes. We thought Baby Alston might really like the cave drawings on his/her birthday haha :)

Until then we are trying more delicious methods of bringing Baby Alston to the world. Tonight we had some Prego Pizza! Fingers crossed that I'll go into labor tonight.

6 Years of Being Rad

Friday (November 18) was mine and Jon's 6 year wedding anniversary!

Our plans for our anniversary changed many times over the past year. At first we wanted to go on a road trip down California's Coastal Hwy 1 starting up in Oregon and coming all the way down to below San Francisco. Then when I changed jobs and we realized we didn't have time or money to do that we thought about going to Tahoe for a day or two. Realizing that this would also cause us to want to buy a lot of things, we decided to stay home and go to a really fancy dinner instead :)

Enter: The Melting Pot. I had only been to this restaurant once before when we had desserts for my bachelorette party. So this was the first time that Jon and I had a REAL fondue dinner. It was basically 4 courses of awesome.

Spinach Artichoke cheese fondue with chips, breads, veggies and granny smith apples:

Jon had never tried apples and cheese before! So this was a great adventure for him. He loved it :) How did I survive a cheese fondue appetizer course, you ask? Lots and lots of lactaid pills. I risked it, and luckily everything turned out just fine :)

The second course was a salad. And let me just tell you... one thing some of you may or may not know about me: I. LOVE. wedge. salads. Like, I really really love them. I think they may be one of my most favorite foods in the world. I know it sounds silly, because it's really just a salad that you put together yourself. But for some reason I drool over them every time. I have never ever had a bad wedge salad, and if there is ever the option for one on the menu, I always go with the wedge!

The Main Event:

Contrary to my previous, uneducated belief... all fondue is NOT cheese or chocolate. In fact, the main course is all raw meats that you cook via fondue at your table. The base is usually a broth of some sort and then spices and seasonings are added, creating a boiling tub of fantasticness to cook your meal in. Our course included sirloin steak, teriyaki steak, shrimp, sushi grade tuna, and chicken along with sides of veggies and potatoes. The amazing dipping sauces that you see above included a gorgonzola sauce, chive sauce, plum sauce, teriyaki sauce, spicy cocktail sauce (which was an interesting experience of simulated fire inhalation for me...) and some other sauce that I don't remember because it wasn't my favorite so I mostly avoided it haha.

This dinner ended up being in my top 5 of most favorite dinners of all time. It was so much fun and absolutely delicious! Every part of it was amazing, and it was even more fun to spend a real date night with Jon having good conversation and talking about the past year.

 

We ended with a dark chocolate flaming turtle dessert fondue (complete with pound cake, rice crispy treats, strawberries, bananas, brownies, cheesecake, oreo covered marshmallows, etc to dip with) and then went to a comedy show in Sac at Comedy Sportz! We've been a couple times since one of Jon's friends plays at the venue. It's pretty fun and it's all ages, so the improv is clean and family friendly.

 

Of course, Jon let Johnny (the ref for the night) know that it was our anniversary and told him that anything he could do to embarass me would be appreciated. Of course I was called on stage for one of the skits (having NO previous idea that this would be happening) and performed a gibberish opera with one of the teams. Jon wasn't able to find my camera fast enough to record it, but the venue did take a picture of me in costume with the players, so that should be posted on their FB page soon for any of you who would like to check it out.

 

Thank you, Jon, for making this anniversary an awesome one! I can't believe it's been 6 years already. Only infinity to go :)